The 1 thing
Globe writers on the one thing you must do, see, or hear this week
THE 1 WELCOME USE FOR SPAM
Gratuitous junk mail usually leads to cursing and mass deletion. But for British illustrator Linzie Hunter, the bizarro subject lines of these offending e-mails inspire letter art prints. In Hunter's hands, "No girls laugh at me now. Ha-ha. I laugh at them." becomes a graphic pink-and-black speech bubble. I guess one man's spam is another woman's muse. "Secret Weapon," a postcard book featuring Hunter's work, will be available next month. In the meantime, check out her spam art at www.flickr.com/photos/linzie/sets. - COURTNEY HOLLANDS
THE 1 VOICE WE HAVE TO HEAR
Our leaders keep saying this is the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. What makes it even worse is that those leaders aren't exactly like the one we had during the Great Depression. Listen to some of Franklin D. Roosevelt's fireside chats and know that the economy isn't the only thing in tough shape these days: www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fireside+chats+fdr. - MARK FEENEY
THE 1 INGENIOUS iPHONE APP
So you're pushing your cart down aisle 2. You hear a song you like but have no way of determining the artist. None of the employees know, nor do your fellow shoppers. Sounds like a job for Shazam. Touch the icon. Hold your phone to the sky (not necessary, but to fun to do), wait, check the screen, exclaim: That's who that is? It works in bars, cars, at parties, and for TV commercials. Expect future upgrades to extract thoughts from the human brain. - WESLEY MORRIS
THE 1 NEXT JHUMPA LAHIRI?
Sana Krasikov's story collection, "One More Year," captures the experiences of US immigrants from the former Soviet Union. The title refers to people in search of a better life who find that temporary arrangements have somehow become permanent. Krasikov, now living in New York, was born in Ukraine and grew up in Georgia. She writes what she knows with amazing beauty and force. Next month she'll be recognized by the National Book Foundation as one of five fiction writers under 35 worth watching. And reading. - JAN GARDNER
THE 1 HAT TRICK
"Gutenberg! The Musical" has plenty of silliness and almost no set, costumes, or props. It's just two guys, acting every part in their terrifically terrible tuner about the invention of the printing press. Labeled baseball caps indicate the changing roles - and never more amusingly than in the dungeon scene, when two hats labeled "RAT" suddenly skitter across the floor and up Austin Ku's arms. Who needs a chorus line when you've got dancing rats? Downstage @ New Rep through Oct. 26. $10-30, 617-923-8487, www.newrep.org - LOUISE KENNEDY
THE 1 WAY TO MUSICALLY BE INDECISIVE
On those days when you can't decide what to listen to, Girl Talk - a.k.a. DJ Greg Gillis - is the perfect solution. "Feed the Animals," available online only until the CD is released in November, is that rare mash-up that transcends gimmickry. In Gillis's blender: David Bowie, Carole King, Jay-Z, Nirvana, Kelly Clarkson, Jimi Hendrix, and countless others. Eventually, you stop trying to separate out and ID the samples and just go with the flow. Girl Talk answers the question "Can we all get along?" in the affirmative. - MATTHEW GILBERT 