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?
April 10, 2003
Book of the Week:
by Robert Fulghum. From the man who told us “everything you need to know, you learned in kindergarten” comes another great collection of thoughts on just about everything. Fulghum expertly helps the reader look at both the tiny details and the big picture of life, while putting a positive spin on each. Especially in today’s world of negativity and uncertainty, this book is a breath of very fresh air.
Audiobook of the Week:
by Simon Winchester, read by the author. If the name doesn't mean anything to you, then where the hell have
you been? We're talking about the island that was essentially all volcano--and it did what volcanos do, which is erupt.
But it didn't so much erupt as it did explode and completely annhilate itself. Winchester, the man who brought us
The Professor and the Madman gets intrigued
enough to deliver an interesting history of the cataclysm and the rippling effect it had on life since then. He also does
us the favor of reading the book unabridged, so you've got twelve hours of goodness lined up for you.
Comic Book of the Week:
Exiles #25 by
Judd Winick & Kev Walker. Bye, Judd. He leaves on a stellar high note after launching this series and basically kicking
its ass to the Blue Area of the Moon and back. After its lead character and team leader, Blink, suddenly is exit stage
left, he switches to a three-parter about the very violent version of the Exiles, Weapon X. Here in the conclusion it's
Weapon X and an evil as hell Tony Stark (who makes Arno look like nothing) vs. the Inhumans. Wicked and brutal, baby.
We'll miss ya, Mr. J.
Graphic Novel of the Week:
by Michel Gagné. Where can something that looks sweet and innocent and light suddenly shift into planetwide
death and destruction? Welcome to the world of Gagné, and the twisted world of Zed. Zed's a genius, and he's created a
machine that can make simple stones into powerful sources of energy--but it all goes right to hell and starts to drag the
rest of his reality with him. Great art and a wild story and you've got a nice change of pace.
DVD Boxed Set of the Week:
. I know a whole bunch of people that were happy as hell to finally get this on DVD. And Buena Vista Home
Video has done an excellent job of bringing this French trilogy to digital. Not only do you get selected scene commentary
by the three stars, editor Jacques Witta and producer Marin Karmitz, but you also get film scholar Annette Insdorf doing
running commentary. It's a wealth of stuff that's so good it's almost Criterion-quality. Nice.
DVD of the Week:
. More testament to just how cool Campbell Scott is. This underappreciated film from last year gets solid
treatment from Artisan. Two commentaries, director Dylan Kidd on each; one with the cinematographer Joaquin Baca-Asay
and the other with Scott and Jesse Eisenberg. Deleted scene, nice looking transfer, a walking tour for crying out loud.
Nicely and surprisingly loaded, it's worth checking out.
CD of the Week:
. Two discs, sporting a total of twenty-eight tracks--solid tracks by such names as Etta James, Lena Horne,
Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald and Rosemary Clooney. Spanning multiple decades in a search for good female blues songs, this
collection from Capitol does not disappoint in the least.
Snackage of the Week:
Annie's Microwavable (Single Servings) Mac and
Cheese. Don’t be scared when you find this one in the organic food section—there’s no tofu or Brussels sprouts in this snack. What it does have is all-natural cheese and pasta that tastes as good as if it were homemade. Even though the ingredients are different from other instant mac and cheese dishes, the preparation is the same...just add water, microwave, and eat!