As if it wasn't enough to immortalize David Chang in a photo portrait, Esquire has now made him video-art fodder. The magazine has commissioned new-media artist Lincoln Schatz to compose trippy clips of the “most influential people of the 21st century,” and (following in the footsteps of George Clooney, Santiago Calatrava, and Marc Jacobs) the latest to spend an hour chilling in Shatz’s Cube (a ten-foot-by-ten-foot translucent box rigged with 24 cameras) is none other than the Changster — “the most celebrated young cook in America” — along with four members of his crew. Due to extreme artsy-ness, we can’t make much out other than the fact that they’re annihilating a carton of Pabst Blue Ribbon that ends up on someone’s head— if this is a portrait of the 21st century, help us all.

Enter the Cube: David Chang [Esquire]

Esquire has released the latest installment of its annual "Best Bars in America" list, and the New York selections have us totally baffled. At least on the Website, the meaning of the ratings isn't clear, nor can we figure out why some bars get a full write-up and others a single sentence. Certainly the national bar map is cool, and possibly even worthy of an On the Road–style pilgrimage. But how, we wonder, could generic watering holes like the Saloon and Grassroots Tavern make it onto a list that is, rightfully, largely composed of one-of-a-kind drink meccas like Pegu, Little Branch, Bemelmans Bar? And while we love the bar at San Domenico, and would rather have a Prosecco there than practically anywhere, it's relatively small and part of a formal restaurant. It's also a favorite gathering place of Esquire editors. We're also glad to see that Minetta Tavern made it in for its last year of existence, like an elderly actor who wins an honorary Oscar before passing away. (Of course, since there's no mention of the place closing, it's probably more oversight than elegy.) And Bill's Gay Nineties is still the best piano bar anywhere in the world. If you're traveling and want a drink, Esquire can tell you where to go.

The Best Bars in America [Esquire]

The September issue of Esquire is the gift that keeps on giving: Last week it introduced us to the foppish Thomas Crowley of Bar Veloce and his hilarious MySpace page; today it brings us “Angry Young Men,” a “new generation of mavericks” selected to wear $1,500 suits and glower for the camera. Two of our favorite mavericks made the cut: nightlife impresario Simon Hammerstein, looking tough with a burned-down cig and a stripy fall suit, and culinary “It” boy David Chang, mad as hell in classic houndstooth. We can see how running the Box would wear a guy out, but what got in D.C.’s craw? He looks like somebody just told him he had to use Boar’s Head bacon at Ssäm Bar. That said, he does look sharp.

Related: Bar Veloce GM Moonlights as Raffish Fop
What’s in the Box? [NYM]

We never know what to think when we see the “Best Dressed Real Men in America ” in the pages of Esquire . Are they freakish dandies, movie-set extras posturing for imaginary cameras, or are we just shlubby? The answer might be the former, going by Bar Veloce manager Thomas Crowley, who appears in the current issue. So who is he, really? A visit to Crowley's MySpace page reveals a veritable shrine to preening dorkery.