Weekly Recommendations!

Weekly Recommendations...from Needcoffee.com

Each Thursday (or Friday, since some weeks we seem to be running behind on everything), 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?

March 12, 2004

Book of the Week: by Sophie Kinsella. Do the names Agnés b and Anna Sui make you shiver in delight? Are you quite sure that Armani Exchange should be listed as a House of Worship? If so, then you will resonate with Kinsella's heroine, Becky Bloomwood, whose problems with spending will almost certainly put yours to shame. However, Becky isn't just a shallow shopper; she's clever, witty, and just plain nice...something you may not expect out of a Londonite. This one's perfect for nights when you need a bedtime story with a little Ferragamo...or maybe Peter Fox would look better?

Art Book of the Week: by Alex Grey. Perhaps familiar to Needcoffee readers as not only a talented artist and "that guy who shows people's colorful guts" but also as the brilliant maniac who created the artwork for the Tool album, Lateralus, Inner Traditions releases a massive book that covers the entire width and breadth of his journey as an artist, which excellent reproductions of Grey's work. Any fan of his work or of "psychedelic" art that's more than just a head trip will want to check this out.

Audiobook of the Week: by David Edmonds & John Eidinow, performed by Tsoutsouvas Sam. Hardcore chess fans are probably well versed in the details of the games that were played when Boris Spassky faced off against Bobby Fischer in 1972. However, the authors here bring forward details taken from declassified FBI and Soviet files on both players, delve into their psychology, and basically handle the gaps in the story that distance can let us fill in. Well read and fascinating, this HarperAudio release is a definite, be you chess lover or no.

Graphic Novel of the Week: by Marjane Satrapi. Satrapi's autobiography covers growing up female during the Islamic Revolution in Iran. In this Pantheon release, she manages to balance her grim reality with enough humor to keep it from drowning the reader in anguish. Her simplistic art style is stark but unnervingly effective. If you've enjoyed other real life tales, or if you want to learn what really went on during this point in history in this corner of the world, then this one should be on your list.

Comic Book of the Week: Street Angel #1 by Brian Maruca & Jim Rugg. One of the best new comics of 2004 has finally hit store shelves. Buy it or suffer our "we told you sos." Jesse Sanchez is a thirteen-year-old homeless skatepunk ninja, a character like you've never seen before, and she's out to save the world from the evil Doctor Pangea. And use a bullhorn creatively. Man, we dig the hell out of this. Check out a preview of this Slave Labor title here.

Animation DVD of the Week: . From producer Christopher Moll (of "Wrong Trousers" and "Adam" fame) comes this short stop motion film of an aardvark who dreams of being one of the beautiful people. He decides to head for the big city to make it as a drummer. Filled with cool music and humor (and David Thewlis providing the voice of Hamilton), this MGM release is actually pretty stacked, all things considered: you get a commentary, making of docu, and two featurettes. For a quick animation fix, it will do the trick.

TV DVD of the Week: . Ah, there was much joy in Mudville when Columbia Tristar revealed that this puppy was going to hit DVD. A casualty of a network that didn't know what they had, it shall live again in this kickass edition that features all twenty-three episodes from both seasons. You also get eight episodes with commentary, storyboards for one episode, featurettes and a making-of bit. Fans will want to not only spend the weekend re-acquainting themselves, but buy the thing as well.

DVD of the Week: . A stacked to hell and back Star Trek release from Paramount? I know, it's par for the course, but regardless, it's a damn good course. Say what you will about the feature film series as it pressed on, but they are doling out some serious bonus bits: a commentary with the director and screenwriter, text commentary by the authors of The Star Trek Encyclopedia, interviews, featurettes and a tribute to DeForest Kelley. See? Positively crammed with feature goodness, thus worth your while.

Anime DVD of the Week: . Ayane, though still in high school, dreams of being a professional wrestler. When challenged to a duel by a serious kickboxer, Ayane will have to work hard and sacrifice much if she's going to come out on top. This Central Park Media release is marked by excellent fight scenes, a plot that doesn't adhere to strictly predictable anime standards, and likable characters. For those that enjoy the butt-kicking, there's a feature to watch those in a video montage. Nice.

Adverse Video of the Week: . For the non-discriminating vampire film lover, there's this modernized take on the Stoker novel. For the rest of us, there's scratching our heads and wondering how Giancarlo Giannini got dragged down to Patrick Bergin's level. And the fun part is, turns out this was a mini-series in Italy, cut down to feature length. While they get some points for attempting some mildly clever updating, there's not a lot here to please. Deleted scenes mark the only true bonus.

Docu of the Week: . A&E draws upon its fairly wide resources to bring you a two-disc set that's a terrific step-above-a-primer for those wishing to know the story behind the Mafia. The first disc is a feature-length docu covering the entire history of the mob up through the present day. The second disc follows up with four Biography specials on Luciano, Lansky, Siegel and the Genovese family. That all stacks up to a quality five hours of content that will more than educate you over your weekend.

Music CD of the Week: by Various. Perhaps you're not familiar with the "Awww yeah" musical genre. Whether you are or not, you would do well to check out this collection of eighteen classic bits of smoothness from Hip-O. Starting off with Smokey Robinson's "Quiet Storm" and barreling through to "Fire & Desire" by Rick James, it's just about perfect. All the usual suspects are here, with a fine pick by Barry White ("Come On") and Earth, Wind & Fire ("Love's Holiday"). If you need some mood to be set this weekend, we strongly recommend it.

Comedy CD of the Week: Excess Baggage by Jeff Dunham. We were so pleased to get this CD in to take a look at--many of us had seen Dunham's act a long time ago, Jose Jalapeno's plaintive "On a steek" making its way into our own vernacular. I was especially impressed by a bit where all of the characters in his trunk seemed to give him crap all at once. But I didn't know the gentleman's name: Jeff Dunham it is, and this CD captures one of his live shows for posterity, including his perpetually pissed off Walter. Good news is that it's just as funny as I remember. Snag it from his website.

Magazine of the Week: Alter Ego. TwoMorrows does it again with this, Roy Thomas' comic fanzine. Geek out on the two covers alone, which puts the Justice League onto the poses of the first issue of Fantastic Four and also The Invaders onto Brave and the Bold #28, first appearance of the JLA. The flip covers are worth the price of admission. But then delve, and you find some serious good stuff: a huge feature on artist Mike Sekowsky, whose artist spanned both the ages of gold and silver; early work by Harvey Kurtzman; more word on what damage the Comics Code did upon its creation...and more. Know your comic history and buy.