Nine times out of ten, Public Enemy’s advice to not believe the hype rings true. And then there’s Vivian Girls. You can sometimes measure the trendiness rank of a band by how much a CDR of their demo sells for on eBay ($63 in this case). The music of the Brooklyn (by way of NJ) trio isn’t especially new. They hit the scene in 2007 and found a vigilant following that quickly snapped up all 500 copies of their vinyl-only debut. Now available as a CD or a digital download, word has been traveling as quick as the 21:27, ten-song album. And I have to say, I love it.

While Cassie Ramone, Kickball Katy and Ali Koehler cite influences like The Wipers and Nirvana on their MySpace page, I hear echoes of late 80s Oxford band Tallulah Gosh and the C86 scene. What you’ve got here is a terrific mix of 60s girl groups, U.K. shoegaze, post punk, punk, reverb and irony. On that last note, since this isn’t a music blog, I want to point you toward their “uncensored interviews” in which the Girls briefly discuss what superpowers they’d like to have and how Vincent Gallo’s sperm is overrated. Their latest offering, the Surf’s Up Fun Pack, includes a T-shirt, 7-inch, button and postcard. Pick one up here.

The differences in men and women can be broken down by a few obvious lines of demarcation. But when it’s not a question of the anatomical and more a question of taste, there are a few more effective ways. The creative minds behind the new campaign for Israel’s Goldstar beer have picked up on a some of the contrasts between the fairer sex and the unfairer sex by displaying them in a series of three handy flowcharts. You can see the obvious disparity between male and females (but say nothing of shemales) in the arenas of clothing, toilets, and relationships. If you don’t know, now you know.

It’s great to see a classroom project launch a social enterprise company that is then able to provide for increased educational opportunities. That’s the case for Better World Books, “the online bookstore with a soul” founded by three Notre Dame alums that collect used books and sell new ones to help fund literacy efforts worldwide. Their newest partner is Invisible Children, a program that uses multimedia to discuss the ongoing war in northern Uganda and the need for improved classrooms and resources. The two organizations have invited high school and college students to host book drives as part of the “schools for schools” initiative and have raised more than a million dollars with the involvement of 2,000 schools. By visiting the Invisible Children partnership page on BetterWorld.com, online book buyers can have the proceeds of their purchases benefit Ugandan school children while helping inspire action education and hope in a place that desperately needs both.

You know we love Howie’s right? The British fashion line with a social consciousness that uses ethical means of manufacturing and organic cotton? Now they’ve come up with an eco angle that you never hear about — clothes that last. Howie’s new Hand-Me-Down line comes with a 10-year guarantee. Co-founder David Hieatt writes in a letter describing the products, “We live in times of limited resources but unlimited desire to consume them. The answer though is real simple: to consume less as a consumer; to make a better designed product as a manufacturer.” We couldn’t agree more. Then we had a look at the bags and coats Howie’s is offering — a little on the pricey side. You can always justify it by dividing the price by 10.

From dubbed out acid synth to the low key swing of French pop, Denver’s Spaceflight Orchestra (Bobby Collins) is sugary, rhythmic, and packed with the same hype, upbeat voice clips that are making a resurgance in general these days. For all its means, An Orchestra of One (Black Bridge) comes off sounding like P-funk more often than not. Now that we’ve filled your head with what to expect, maybe you should try it out for yourself.

When looking for furniture it’s important to find components that complement each other. A love-seat will often serve as Crockett to your couch’s Tubbs, and your boudoir may serve as the Abbott to your dresser’s Costello. When we caught a glimpse of Seefelder’s moon.table we were delighted to see that it was the Yin to it’s own Yang. The first collaboration between the German furniture producer and local designer Matthias Demacker features two companion tables, each with a well-proportioned bowl to signify the moon’s cratered surface. Overlapping or separated, the tables signify lunar phases. And your bag of chips — that’s a lunar rover.

Ah yes, the good ol’ days of dial-up modems and preloading screens. As our Internet connections get faster, the preloading screen is quickly going the way of the Zune dinosaur. Big Spaceship , a Brooklyn-based digital creative agency, created Pretty Loaded as an online museum of sorts to document some great examples of preloading screens. It is actually pretty interesting to see how creativity added entertainment to an otherwise boring moment. Check back often because they’re constantly adding to their collection. Now when your younger family members ask what things were like when you were a kid, you’ll be able to show them what we had to endure while waiting for our websites to load.