APP
Ready to take your obsession with Angry Birds to the next level? Looking to justify your purchase of that new, fantastically hi-res iPad? Look no further: Angry Birds Space comes out today, March 22. Rumors are scarce so far, but it looks like the terse birds and their porcine rivals will be going three-dimensional, bouncing from planet to planet and battling gravitational pull. For a taste of the new game, search YouTube for the very charming teaser video featuring NASA scientist Don Pettit in the International Space Station.
RADIO
If you’ve never cruised the thousands of free radio stations available through iTunes, you should — especially the hundreds of foreign-language stations. Plopping yourself suddenly into Spain or Senegal or India is a bizarre 21st century delight. But I particularly recommend a relatively new show called “Les Nuits de Lavige,” on the France Inter station (under News/Talk Radio in iTunes). Don’t let the language barrier turn you off. Sure, a fraction of the show consists of Laurent Lavige’s noir-ish, audiocinema stories in French, but the rest is in the universal language, with an unbelievably solid selection of (often rare) American soul, funk and R&B music. It airs at 3 pm on weekdays — perfect for picking you up during your mid-afternoon office coma.
SPORTS
They may not be as grand as the Tour de France, but the series of short, often-one-day races that mark the beginning of the professional cycling season can be just as exciting, and they’re shifting into gear right now. Local Comcast viewers can tune in to NBC Sports on Comcast channel 31 this Sunday to catch the two-day, three-race Criterium International, but the best of The Spring Classics run the following two weeks, as riders face foul weather, lung-busting hills and bone-rattling cobbles in the Tour of Flanders (April 1) and the Paris-Roubaix race (April 8).
