Pop Chart

RAP-FASHION EDITION

GOOD WEEK/BAD WEEK

Jay-Z

Hova will help design the uniforms of the soon-to-be Brooklyn Nets, a team he partly owns.

Kanye West

Yeezy debuted his clothing line at Paris Fashion Week to mixed reviews.

FALL BOOKS SPECIAL

NOSTALGIA

For Those About to Write, We Salute You

2012 will be the year of the musician memoir (wait, isn’t every year?), with Courtney Love, Nas, Pete Townshend and Neil Young each set to release an autobiography.

VERBATIM

‘I grew up with a glue gun pointed at my head.’

ALEXIS STEWART, daughter of Martha Stewart, in her book Whateverland: Learning to Live Here. Mom took the jabs in stride, calling the tell-all “hilarious”

PRODUCT PLACEMENT

Protect Ya Wallet

New York hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan partnered with preppy retailer Gap to release a T-shirt (color: “canyon shadow”). Wu-Tang member Method Man has also written a rap song entirely about Sour Patch Kids. It’s all about the dollar dollar bills, y’all.

REVIEW

MOVIES

George Harrison: Living In the Material World

“I’m even more normal than normal people,” the quiet Beatle once said. We all should be so normal: a guitarist of sensuous power, the composer of “Something” and “All Things Must Pass,” a movie mogul (Monty Python’s Life of Brian) and a spiritual searcher. Martin Scorsese’s epic bio-doc, now on HBO, captures all the Georges, not least the one whose generosity moves many of his friends to tears. (“God,” says Ringo Starr after a memorial cry, “it’s like Barbara F—in’ Walters here, isn’t it?”) Come for the music, stay for the gentle weeping.

–RICHARD CORLISS

FALL BOOKS SPECIAL

TELEVISION

Corrections Set

Jonathan Franzen’s acclaimed 2001 novel is heading to the small screen. The author announced Oct. 1 that he is working on an HBO series of the book, about a dysfunctional Midwestern family. As opposed to HBO’s other shows about a dysfunctional Mafia family, a dysfunctional funeral-home family and dysfunctional noble houses.

TELEVISION

Playboy Canceled

After two weeks of underwhelming ratings and across-the-board pans, NBC killed ’60s drama The Playboy Club. In its place, the network has opted for the more conservatively dressed Brian Williams, who will debut Rock Center, a newsmagazine show, on Oct. 31. We’ll watch it for the articles.

LONG LIVE THE KING (OF POP)

Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour, a Cirque du Soleil tribute to the late singer, premiered Oct. 2 in Montreal. The show will be staged in 47 North American cities, including Detroit, home of Motown Records.

REVIEW

MUSIC

Feist, Metals

Four years after her hit album The Reminder (the one that gave us “1234,” that song from the iPod Nano commercials), Feist is back with Metals. This meticulously crafted album steers clear of any obvious crowd pleasers. It’s darker and brooding, and it probably won’t be used to sell you anything.

–CLAIRE SUDDATH

BIRTHDAYS

The gleefully subversive South Park returns for Season 15. The kids don’t look a day over 8.

1997

2011

VERBATIM

‘I would do it, but I just don’t want to be called the first black James Bond.’

IDRIS ELBA, on whether he would ever portray 007. Unfortunately, if he did, he would totally be called the first black James Bond

MUSIC

A Stand-Up Singer

Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers took home the Entertainer of the Year prize at the International Bluegrass Music Association Awards. The honor is no fluke: the comedian has played banjo since his wild and crazy days and has already nabbed two Grammys for his pluckin’ music.

4 THINGS YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THIS WEEK

1. Suffering through your hangover alone.

According to a new program that tracks Twitter users’ moods, we’re drunkest on Sunday at 2 a.m.–and we’re regretting it by 11

2. Johnny Depp’s honesty.

He readily admits that he films Pirates sequels because he likes making lots of “stupid money.”

3. Checking your mail.

The U.S. Postal Service reports that people receive a personal letter only once every seven weeks.

4. That illegal copy of The Hurt Locker on your computer.

Voltage Pictures has dropped 21,000 defendants from its class action against illegal downloaders.