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12.18.05 by Widge @ 11:47 pm Here's yer DVD goodness...     DVD of the Week: Lifeboat. This Hitchcock film is based on the story by Steinbeck and features Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Hume Cronyn and more in this claustrophic tale of the survivors of an Allied ship adrift on the title in the open sea. This hits from Fox and like all their special editions, it holds up well: a film professor provides commentary, there's a making-of docu, and a still gallery as well. Wonderful mind games get played by Hitch, the master, in this film that you simply have to see if you haven't. (Buy it) TV DVD of the Week: Friends: The Complete Tenth Season. Well, the show that kept NBC sane for years finally ended with this season. All eighteen episodes are available here across four discs, and like always, these boxed sets are must-haves for any fans. The producers provide commentary on three episodes (including the series wrap-ups), a featurette talking with everybody about the end of the show, gag reels, a slightly terrifying music video, and DVD-ROM content as well. This hits from Warner Brothers. (Buy it) Categorized as: Recommendations
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12.18.05 by Widge @ 10:18 pm Each weekend, Needcoffee.com's staff of whackos will wrack our brains to give you interesting and new things to do over the weekend. Books, movies, whatever. We'll throw them out, you do with them what you will. And hey...if you have something you want to recommend--whatever it is--drop us a line. Incidentally, we've provided links where we can for you to buy the stuff or find out more if you're interested, courtesy of those Amazon types. Hey, come on, we can't be totally selfless in this, can we?     Audiobook of the Week: The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C.S. Lewis by Alan Jacobs. Well, as Aslan's roar destroys the box office, some of you might be looking for more reading material along those same lines. Why not go to the real primary source material--i.e., the life of Lewis himself. This Harper Audio release is read by the author, who wants to use the life of Lewis to tell you how and why Narnia came about as it did. Interesting background info for fans of the man and of the series. (Buy it) Biography of the Week: Greta Garbo: A Cinematic Legacy by Mark A. Vieira. If you are a fan of the actress, then this Abrams release is going need to hit your coffee table. Focusing on her filmography, it's part biography part excuse to trot out an incredible array of photos, some never before published. Like I said, the fan should go ahead and give in and buy. (Buy it) Comedy Book of the Week: Mommy Knows Worst: Highlights from the Golden Age of Bad Parenting Advice by James Lileks. Lileks rocks the house. He simply does. If you haven't seen his take on the food of yesteryear or the home decorating styles of yesterday then you have no idea how much of your ass is going to be laughed off by his take on the experting parenting advice of days gone by. It's amazing our parents (or anyone else for that matter) survived. This Three Rivers Press release is a must-have for Christmas, Mother's Day or Father's Day. Or just to chortle at by yourself. Trust us. (Buy it) Anthology of the Week: The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Second Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois. If you want to play catch-up on the latest in the genre, this St. Martin's Griffin release is definitely for you. Benjamin Rosenbaum, Vernor Vinge, Christopher Rowe, Catilin R. Kiernan, Michael F. Flynn and many more grace the pages, and at almost 700 pages, it can also be used as a blunt instrument in the wake of an EMP assault by aliens. Bonus. (Buy it)     Book of the Week: The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil. Kurzweil is the guy who thinks the future is going to get here faster than most would suspect...and all signs that I'm aware of point to the fact he's right. In fact, it's his idea of the singularity that informs a lot of the background for Dark Blue Monstropolis. In this book it's when the line between technology and biology blur that things are really going to take off. Are you ready for immortality? Where the hell do I sign? Check out this release from Viking. Fascinating, mind-bending stuff. (Buy it) Collection of the Week: Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace: 1951-1952. Fantagraphics gets much respect. Not only are they bringing us the complete reprints of Peanuts, but forty-four years of Dennis are in the offering. If you're smart, you'll get in on the ground floor of this one, which has all the entries from the first two years. There's nothing like getting to see these strips we've grown up with (usually in the comic strip version of "syndication" or "reruns") develop as they did as time passed. Most excellent. (Buy it) CD of the Week: Mad Dogs and Englishmen by Joe Cocker. What I decided a long time ago is that nobody...I mean nobody...can cover a Beatles song like Joe Cocker. Badass covers like "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" and "With a Little Help From My Friends" are just the tip of the iceberg on this two-disc remastered edition of the album, packed with lots of unreleased goodness and B-sides, just like all the deluxe editions from A&M and Universal Records. Snag it if you haven't already. (Buy it) Comedy CD the Week: Salvation: Oxford, November 11, 1992 by Bill Hicks. I'm of the opinion that you can never have enough Bill Hicks. So having a full-on two-disc unedited performance of his makes my eyebrows spin around with glee. On one hand, a lot of this you've heard snippets of spread across previous releases, but here you get the whole thing unexpurgated. Wonderful stuff where you really get to hear the gears in his head spin. This wonderment hits from Rykodisc. (Buy it) Categorized as: Recommendations
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12.04.05 by Widge @ 11:49 pm Here's yer DVD goodness...    DVD of the Week: Newsfront. When you're one of the best there is at what you do--in this case, shooting newsreels--what do you do when your entire profession is about to be left in the dust of history--in this case, by television? Before Phillip Noyce directed Dead Calm, he helmed this highly acclaimed film, and it hits DVD thanks to Blue Underground. Not bare bones either, but it comes with an audio commentary, featurettes, and a slew of DVD-ROM features. (Buy it) TV DVD of the Week: The Adventures of Pete & Pete: Season 2. Nickelodeon's quirkfest of a series gets a respectable treatment in this two-disc set that contains all thirteen second season episodes. Not only do you get guest stars like Iggy Pop, Steve Buscemi, and Bebe Neuwirth, but there's audio commentaries from cast and crew, five of the short episodes and one of the original specials. This hits from Paramount. (Buy it) Categorized as: Recommendations
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12.04.05 by Widge @ 10:19 pm Each weekend, Needcoffee.com's staff of whackos will wrack our brains to give you interesting and new things to do over the weekend. Books, movies, whatever. We'll throw them out, you do with them what you will. And hey...if you have something you want to recommend--whatever it is--drop us a line. Incidentally, we've provided links where we can for you to buy the stuff or find out more if you're interested, courtesy of those Amazon types. Hey, come on, we can't be totally selfless in this, can we?     Audiobook of the Week: King Kong by Edgar Wallace & Merian C. Cooper, novelized by Delos W. Lovelace, read by Stefan Rudnicki. As we're all waiting to check out the movie that we hope will punt our asses out the back of the cinema, Blackstone Audio has a great way to get to the primary source material. In addition to an unabridged reading, there's comments from the likes of Harlan Ellison, Ray Bradbury, and Ray Harryhausen. Excellent warm-up act. (Buy it) Categorized as: Recommendations
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11.27.05 by Widge @ 11:44 pm Here's yer DVD goodness...    DVD of the Week: The Man With the Screaming Brain. And you thought you were having a bad day. Bruce Campbell, in his directorial debut, plays a guy who winds up getting killed, and having an ex-KGB operative slammed inside his head with him. Now with two--two--two brains in one, he has to go set out to avenge his own death. It's pretty freaking nuts, in other words. This Anchor Bay release comes with a commentary by Campbell and producer David Goodman, plus two featurettes, and behind-the-scenes footage. (Buy it) TV DVD of the Week: The Bob Newhart Show: The Complete Second Season. Fox brings all twenty-four second season episodes to DVD, spread across three discs in this set. And, gratefully, it's got more going for it than a lot of TV releases these days: there's a making-of featurette, plus selected episodes come with commentary by Newhart, fellow actors Jack Riley and Marcia Wallace, plus series creator David Davis. For those that grew up with only the more recent show with Newhart, you should probably check this out to get some inkling of where that series ended. (Buy it) Categorized as: Recommendations
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11.27.05 by Widge @ 5:48 pm Each weekend, Needcoffee.com's staff of whackos will wrack our brains to give you interesting and new things to do over the weekend. Books, movies, whatever. We'll throw them out, you do with them what you will. And hey...if you have something you want to recommend--whatever it is--drop us a line. Incidentally, we've provided links where we can for you to buy the stuff or find out more if you're interested, courtesy of those Amazon types. Hey, come on, we can't be totally selfless in this, can we?    Audiobook of the Week: A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 by Simon Winchester. If you took our advice and checked out Winchester's Krakatoa, then you know that you're not about to read a stodgy account of this massive disaster. No, Winchester will take you from one end to the other, talking about all the various reprecussions and keeping the whole thing interesting. And best of all, this Harper Audio release has him reading it himself, and he's a damn fine reader. (Buy it) Categorized as: Recommendations
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11.20.05 by Widge @ 11:57 pm Here's yer DVD goodness...     DVD of the Week: Cinderella. One thing we can always count on from Disney is that their classic films get kickass DVD releases. Granted, they normally include sneak peeks of unnecessary animated sequels--something else we can always count on Disney for--but so be it. This classic comes with a crapload of features in addition to the restored film which looks positively amazing: you get a docu with deleted scenes, a making-of featurette, deleted songs, a spotlight on the Nine Old Men along with Mary Blair, the usual slew of art galleries and much, much more. Definitely worth picking up. (Buy it) TV DVD of the Week: Penn & Teller's Magic and Mystery Tour. Chazzie award winners Penn & Teller simply rock. And we can never get enough of them. That's why we were pleased as hell to see the announcement that Acorn Media was releasing this show they did for Canada's CBC, in which they travel all over the world to perform their usual brand of zany irreverent magic. And, joy, there's bonus footage as well. Nice. (Buy it) Categorized as: Recommendations
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11.20.05 by Widge @ 11:07 pm Each weekend, Needcoffee.com's staff of whackos will wrack our brains to give you interesting and new things to do over the weekend. Books, movies, whatever. We'll throw them out, you do with them what you will. And hey...if you have something you want to recommend--whatever it is--drop us a line. Incidentally, we've provided links where we can for you to buy the stuff or find out more if you're interested, courtesy of those Amazon types. Hey, come on, we can't be totally selfless in this, can we?     Art Book of the Week: The Art of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, edited by Brian Wood. If you haven't read this series, then what the hell is wrong with you? Book Four is out...rejoice. And for those who have already inhaled the book and are now jonesing for Book Five, then Fantasy Flight Games has a nifty little hardcover that might help tide you over. For a few days at least. Included are a crapload of mostly excellent works of art spotlighting all the various locales and characters that make up Martin's saga. I recognized John Howe and Charles Vess, but there's plenty of different artists on display here, with the badass cover pic of Joffrey on the Iron Throne just the beginning. The comic strips in the back are a nice dessert treat as well. (Buy it) Biography of the Week: Cary Grant by Marc Eliot. Cary Grant was one of the coolest men to ever live. It's just that simple. And this biography, released in paperback by Three Rivers Press, does nothing to dispel the coolness. If anything it helps you understand what was going on under the cool: his childhood, his relationships, and the turmoil. His progression from Archibald Leash to Grant is a fascinating one and one that, once you've finished the tale, will simply endear him to you more. Excellent read for fans. (Buy it) Book of the Week: How to Cheat Your Friends at Poker: The Wisdom of Dickie Richard by Penn Jillette & Mickey D. Lynn. Chazzie-nominated author Penn is back with a book that's not really a how-to but instead a "life and times" of an accomplished card cheat. Sure there's some advice in here, but for the most part this St. Martin's release is a bio of a guy whose name has been changed to protect the guilty, and how he shafts people any way he can. Though there's plenty of pointers for the bastards among you. (Buy it) Comic Reference Book of the Week: The THUNDER Agents Companion, edited by Jon B. Cooke. This spy/superhero hybrid has probably gotten missed by a lot of folks my age. Think of it as Stormwatch: Team Achilles' grandfather. The book is from TwoMorrows, so it's everything you would expect: everything you'd want to know about the Wally Wood-created group, from interviews with the creative team's members, unpublished stories, gobs of artwork and more. Catch it now before an upcoming issue of Infinite Crisis has them all revealed to be raving lunatics who shoot at puppies. (Buy it) Categorized as: Recommendations
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11.13.05 by Widge @ 11:56 pm Here's yer DVD goodness...    DVD of the Week: Carlito's Way. Al Pacino is in fine form here (as is Sean Penn) in this Brian DePalma-directed flick about a felon trying to go straight (hmm, I've heard this somewhere else) who is having difficulties doing so. Considered a fine gangster pic, this gets a better release from Universal than we had previously, anyway. It comes with a featurette talking with DePalma along with deleted and extended scenes. There's also a making-of featurette and more. This was released, no doubt, to capitalize on the direct to video prequel. Well, take advantage if that's your thing. (Buy it) TV DVD of the Week: The Peter Jennings Collection. For any fan of the late newscaster, Anchor Bay has just the ticket for you. Here's six of his investigative reports, love em or lump em, from ABC...covering subjects from the drug ecstasy to American obesity to American privacy in a post-9/11 world. You'd have to be a serious hardcore fan to want to invest in this, but if nothing else, if you want to revisit, I'm sure somebody has it for rental. (Buy it) Categorized as: Recommendations
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11.13.05 by Widge @ 11:27 pm Each weekend, Needcoffee.com's staff of whackos will wrack our brains to give you interesting and new things to do over the weekend. Books, movies, whatever. We'll throw them out, you do with them what you will. And hey...if you have something you want to recommend--whatever it is--drop us a line. Incidentally, we've provided links where we can for you to buy the stuff or find out more if you're interested, courtesy of those Amazon types. Hey, come on, we can't be totally selfless in this, can we? Okay, books and music first...    Audiobook of the Week: Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin, performed by Mia Farrow. You remember the movie. It creeped the living hell out of you and for good reason. But now if you really want to get back to the source material and do it up right, check out the fact that this unabridged performance on CD from Harper Audio is done by Mia Farrow. That's right, from the movie to the words themselves. And oh, what a lovely--and screwed up--journey it is. This is six and a half hours across six CDs. Too bad it streets after Halloween. (Buy it) Categorized as: Recommendations
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