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06.05.06 by Widge @ 1:50 am    Animation DVD of the Week: Tripping the Rift: The Complete Second Season. The series that an animated online bit spawned returns with thirteen episodes across two discs, all from Anchor Bay. Stephen Root and Maurice LaMarche return in a series of adventures that involve identity theft in deep space, the crash at Roswell, and near death experiences, plus the same array of sick, twisted innuendo that fans appreciate the show for. Comes with a season featurette, bloopers and more. (Buy it) Sci-Fi DVD of the Week: Event Horizon. I know this movie didn't crank the tractors of many. But it did mine. I'm not saying it's perfect. By any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I'm disappointed the damned thing turned into Hellraiser in Space (before that movie was made), because sweet Christ, if they had just made the original script into a movie your heads would have exploded. But alas. Anyway, this new edition of the outer space creepfest sports a director/producer commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes with optional commentary, and more. (Buy it) Categorized as: Recommendations
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06.04.06 by Widge @ 10:19 pm    DVD of the Week: Brokeback Mountain. A lot of people swooned over this Heath Ledger/Jake Gyllenhaal film. It spawned more parodies than any non-genre film in history, I don't doubt. I even saw an ad in New York where a rough-looking cowboy was holding up a teddy bear and saying, "I wish I could quit you." It was an ad for a storage service. That's when you know you've gone beyond the pale. Anyway, this Universal release is obviously for those who dig it and can't wait for the uber-edition that's no doubt in the pipeline. It comes with three featurettes, and some interviews. (Buy it) TV DVD of the Week: Sentinel: The Complete First Season. Our hero, played by Richard Burgi, is an ex-soldier, now cop, who learns that he has hyper-senses. He also finds out that he's a Sentinel, a time-honored uber-warrior who must protect his people. Which means, in other words, he's Daredevil, if Daredevil could see, and if he was being written by JMS...except this is, as you can imagine, much cooler. This Paramount release comes with all ten episodes across three discs. (Buy it) Horror DVD of the Week: Incident On and Off a Mountain Road. Is it just me or does the cover art look like that dude is Crypt Keeper: The Early Years? Never mind. This is another in the series of TV movies made to capitalize on having access to a slew of great directors of the genre. Here we've got a Joe Lansdale story brought to life by the guy who was last seen making Bruce Campbell into Elvis. So that gives him points right there. This Anchor Bay release comes with a director/writer commentary, featurettes, interviews, and DVD-ROM bits as well. (Buy it) Crime DVD of the Week: The Big Racket. Revenge? Sure! Blue Underground brings you an Italian flick that feels like it could have starred Bronson had it originated here in the States. When a small town is the victiom of a protection racket, there's one cop who wants to break it up. But everything's against him and the criminals go after those who try to help him, until he's got to just go all Frank Castle on their asses with impressive results. Comes with a director's commentary. (Buy it)    Anime DVD of the Week: Viewtiful Joe, Vol. 2. Joe's girlfriend has been captured and he's on the way across Movieland, bouncing from genre situation to genre situation, to save her now that he's all powered up. Of course, he needs a sidekick as every superhero does, but his sidekick might just be a better hero than Joe. And he needs transportation, which he gets in this volume as well. This hits from Geneon and comes with character profiles and an art gallery. (Buy it) Brit DVD of the Week: Red Dwarf: Series 8. The crew returns for another series because it's British television and they can do that. Here BBC brings you the final ten episodes across three discs and if you thought the series thus far was weird, well, just wait. You get nanbots, odd voyeurism, prophecies, and death. Well, maybe. You get a commentary with cast and crew, a docu, some featurettes, deleted scenes, promo spots, radio sketches, and a blooper reel. Fans will want to gnaw on this and dream of the feature film. (Buy it) Biography DVD of the Week: Catherine the Great. PBS gives you a two-hour docu on the woman who started off as a German princess and would go on to be empress of Russia for three decades and then some. Here Catherine is portrayed by Emily Bruni and isn't going to light the documentary world on fire, but then again it's not supposed to. You've got the standard dramatic presentations of events plus Bruni reading some letters and whatnot, but hey, if you want an in-depth study go read a book. You remember those, don't you? Those seeking a quick overview will probably be fine. (Buy it) Categorized as: Recommendations
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05.24.06 by Widge @ 5:31 am    DVD of the Week: Ten Commandments. Well, it's not like you don't know this story. I'll take the Mel Brooks version, myself, but for sheer spectacle you can't beat DeMille with a bigass stone tablet, that's for sure. Paramount delivers an impressive update for the 50th anniversary of the film, because this time around you get not only the Charlton Heston/Yul Brynner version, but DeMille's original 1923 version as well, with a historian's commentary on both versions this time around. You also get newsreel footage of the premiere, plus the previous making-of docu. (Buy it) TV DVD of the Week: Full House: The Complete Third Season. Lots of people grew up with the kids of the Tanner household. And lots of people frown on the "happy" sitcoms of yesteryear, but hey, if that's your thing, go for it. Just, you know, don't watch Saget do standup. It might blow the top of your head off. Here all twenty-two episodes of the show's third year hit thanks to Warner Brothers, and they're spread across four discs. The only extra is a montage of Coulier's impersonations, but the fact this is on DVD at all will be very pleasing to fans, who should definitely grab it so the seasons keep coming. (Buy it) Categorized as: Recommendations
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05.21.06 by Widge @ 10:10 pm     Audiobook of the Week: The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre by Dominic Smith, performed by Stephen Hoye. So mercury can give you serious issues--but of course, Daguerre didn't know this, and thus Smith puts forward a version of Daguerre that's suffering from poisoning. In his delusional state, he decides the world is ending and wants to get ten important pictures before the whole thing goes down the tubes, aided by Baudelaire and a prostitute. Sounds crazed? Which is why it's right up our alley--this hits from Blackstone Audio. (Buy it) Book of the Week: On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt. How could we resist this book? A scholarly look at the nature and purpose behind bullshit from Princeton University Press? Easy pickings, that's us. While it's a very small and short read, and of course it's amusing just in the topic it's covering, Frankfurt is taking a serious look at the amount of bullshit we must all contend with and why it's something to be overcome. I'm sure Penn and Teller would agree. An excellent find. (Buy it) Categorized as: Recommendations
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05.08.06 by Widge @ 11:53 pm Here's yer DVD goodness...and yes, it's late, but hey, the site's free, ain't it?     DVD of the Week: Stalag 17. When William Holden's Sefton is the prime suspect for an informer for the Germans in the midst of a POW Camp in World War II, he has to deal with the accusations of his fellow prisoners and figure out what's really afoot in this Billy Wilder-directed comedy/drama classic. It's one of the finest Paramount delivers a respectable edition, complete with a commentary from two of the actors and the co-playwright, two featurettes and a photo gallery. (Buy it) TV DVD of the Week: Knots Landing: The Complete First Season. Fascinating later on in the run when the death/undeath of Bobby on its parent show, Dallas, stayed put on this show, it basically made this the Earth-2 version of the Ewing family. Or something. But regardless, 80s soaps fans will rejoice that the first thirteen episodes are here across five discs. And, thanks to the Warner Brothers types, we also get bonus bits: cast commentary on two episodes, and an interview with Ted Shackelford and Joan Van Ark. (Buy it) Categorized as: Recommendations
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05.07.06 by Widge @ 10:52 pm    Audiobook of the Week: A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore, performed by Fisher Stevens. Someone's life is turned upside down when they take a new job as performing the function of Death? I've read this book before, haven't I? Well, if there's anyone we trust to smack this idea around some more, it's Moore, who we've admired ever since he made Lovecraft a character in Practical Demonkeeping. This Harper Audio release comes unabridged and is perfomed by Fisher Stevens (Buy it) Art Book of the Week: Autopsyrotica by Chad Michael Ward. If you're into dark and weird photography, filled with attractive and tattooed, slight demonic looking females--rejoice, because NBM is giving you this. The photos are great and could launch a thousand stories, but some of the text bits I'm not sure if they're descriptions, inspirations or what. Buy it for the photos if that's your thing. It's Fetishpalooza in there. (Buy it) Comic-Related Book of the Week: The Dark Age: Grim, Great & Gimmicky Post-Modern Comics by Mark Voger. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. And, honestly, it hasn't even ended. It was the period in the 90s when comics went really freaking grim. And while a few stories like that were good, the Big Two (and others) decided that if it worked for a few it should work for all...and here we are now: Infinite Catharsis and Civil Bore. Featuring interviews with the guilty parties, it's more of TwoMorrows work at documenting the good that was and the bad things have become. (Buy it)     CD of the Week: Liza With a Z by Liza Minnelli. Well, Mother's Day is coming up, so if for some reason you don't like this, there's that to think about. But regardless, it's a shame that Liza's...well, like the song says, let herself go. She deserves respect, not just because she could sing her ass off in her day--check out any of the tracks on this Columbia release to get the proof of that--and she was in Arthur, dammit. So just back off. (Buy it) Comedy CD of the Week: Comedian by Eddie Murphy. Another classic comedy album that was out of print and I never even realized it. Completely lacking in political correctness, it is, regardless of anything else, funny. And it contains some of his classic bits involving Mr. T, the Ice Cream Man, and his intro where he warns people away from thinking he's going to be wearing "the Buckwheat wig," which these days could just as easily be warning that he's not Donkey when in concert. Ah well. This hits, or re-hits, rather, from Sony Legacy. (Buy it) Graphic Novel of the Week: The Ticking by Renee French. Edison is a boy who loses his mother being born and loses his father in a much more subtle way: he looks like his father, possessing the same deformity. What follows in this Top Shelf release is a story that is, by turns, disturbing, touching, confusing, but at no point does it fail to engage. It's a fascinating look at the luggage that our parents carry and try to hand off to us. Do we accept it, or not? Highly recommended and will stay with you. (Buy it) Magazine of the Week: Draw! #12. TwoMorrows brings the noise yet again with this issue, focusing on art and the folks who make it. Kyle Baker is on tap for a nice (and huge!) interview, talking about everything from working with the Big Two to his technique to one of my favorite topics: self-publishing. Chris McCullough from Venture Bros. is on tap to talk about that insanity, plus an interview with artist Mike Hawthorne, tips and techniques that even this shmoe can understand--and more. If you're an artist, you need this. It's your friend. (Buy it) Categorized as: Recommendations
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04.30.06 by Widge @ 9:19 pm   Audiobook of the Week: How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion by Daniel H. Wilson, performed by Stefan Rudnicki. I can't tell you how grateful we are to have this drop in our laps from Blackstone Audio. Countless e-mails pour in: "Widge, we've got the scoop on how to deal with zombies, what about the robots? What about the freaking robots?" Calm thyselves...Wilson is here to give you the full scoop, a brief history of robotics, and then how to protect yourself from damn near anything going Skynet on your ass. Highly recommended. (Buy it) Book of the Week: Olivia: Dream Big by Ian Falconer. If you're looking for a nice gift to give anyone embarking on a new adventure, there's nothing better than our favorite fictional pig, Olivia, paired with inspirational quotes from a slew of notables. Nothing new under the sun here, but this Andrews McMeel release will tide the hardcore fans over until her next full-length adventure arrives. (Buy it)    CD of the Week: Unexpected Dreams. At first, when I heard about this lullaby album, "Songs from the Stars," it seemed like a recipe for disaster. No offense, but apart from the folks on this lineup we know can sing (McGregor, for example, or even Reilly), does Jeremy Irons covering Dylan frighten you? Well, rest assured. The majority of these tracks are quite good, with only a couple of tracks having singers with qualities that set my teeth on edge. Scarlett Johanssen, much to the delight of men (and quite a number of women) everywhere, is a damn good singer. Lucy Lawless, John Stamos, all people you might not think of as singers conduct themselves well. This hits from Rhino. (Spare me the e-mails of somebody's ten-year history on off-off-Broadway musicals...I'm too tired to look up everybody on Wikipedia for a career check.) (Buy it) World Music CD of the Week: Ama by Yungchen Lhamo. Lhamo's new album hits from Real World Records, and comes with a nice mix of her own Tibetan lyrics and sounds plus chanting, choirs, percussion, guitars, and more. Annie Lennox even shows up to lend a hand. Fans should check out the opening track "Ranzen" and her reflection the tragedy of "9/11". (Buy it) Soundtrack CD of the Week: South Pacific. The point of contention for this recording seems to be Reba. Some people like her vocal take on the character, some people don't. Me, I'll give anybody from the cast of Tremors a free pass for most anything. Is that sad? I don't care. Brian Stokes Mitchell is...well, he's Brian Stokes Mitchell, so of course he's good. And Alec Baldwin sings as much as you'd expect from someone playing Luther to. So fans of the show will want to check out this Decca release. (Buy it) Categorized as: Recommendations
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04.24.06 by Widge @ 11:31 pm Here's yer DVD goodness...and yes, it's late, but hey, the site's free, ain't it?     DVD of the Week: King Kong. Well, it's no secret that I wasn't as blown away by the film as I wanted to be. Although now I can watch my favorite Skull Island sequences as often as I like--so that's cool. And because it's from Peter Jackson and WETA (by way of Universal, of course), it's packed with special features, including Jackson's production diaries, and featurettes on the period look of New York and, of course, Skull Island. (Buy it) TV DVD of the Week: 3rd Rock From the Sun: Season 3. Twenty-seven episodes featuring some of the funniest TV aliens in history are here across four discs from Anchor Bay, and fans will be pleased, we think. In addition to commentaries, there's a number of cast interviews, TV spots, bloopers and more. (Buy it) Categorized as: Recommendations
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04.23.06 by Widge @ 11:23 pm    Audiobook of the Week: Adverbs by Daniel Handler, performed by Oliver Wyman. Don't recognize the name of Daniel Handler? Well, he's better known perhaps as the man behind Lemony Snicket. Now you know who we're dealing with. Here it's a series of sixteen short stories all dealing with various aspects of love, and if you enjoyed the verbal gymnastics in the Unfortunate Events series, you'll find more of that here, though obviously not for the kiddies. This hits on unabridged CD from Harper Audio. (Buy it) Book of the Week: I Am 8-Bit: Art Inspired by Classic Videogames of the 80s by Jon M. Gibson. For those of us who couldn't make the gallery showing, we can drown our sorrows in the pages of this book, which features more than a hundred pieces of art that are...well, exactly as the title describes it. This from a formidable array of artists and the end result can at turns disturb and amuse. From Chronicle Books, anybody who feels old when they think about those games of yesteryear should consider it. (Buy it) Categorized as: Recommendations
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04.16.06 by Widge @ 11:44 pm Here's yer DVD goodness...     DVD of the Week: Class of 1984. This cult classic finally gets a decent DVD release thanks to the folks at Anchor Bay. It's the touching story of a teacher who goes to a crime-infested high school and finds himself at odds with the young crime boss who's running the show. Two men enter! One man leaves! Or something. This comes with a commentary with the director, a featurette, the screenplay on DVD-ROM and more. (Buy it) TV DVD of the Week: Charles in Charge: The Complete First Season. The twenty-two episodes hitting DVD thanks to Universal isn't my bag, but hey, maybe it's yours. Let's face it, there's a guilty-pleasure show for each of us that we can pull from the 80s, no doubt. Here, Scott Baio moves in to become a male nanny to some kids and tries to keep it all together--so of course, hijinks ensue. Comes with an 80s flashback featurette and a bonus episode from the second season. (Buy it) Categorized as: Recommendations
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