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?
June 20, 2003
Book of the Week:
by David Mamet. Welcome to the Future. There's been a bit of a glitch in the system, though, you see--the
collective memory of the 21st Century has gone bye-bye. And...um...well, as Overlook's website states, "the past is reassembled from the downloaded memmories of Ginger, wife of
ex-President Wilson." I'm really not sure how else to explain it. The result is a tour of insanity in a strange post-apocalypse
in a way that only the witty, bleak Mamet can relate. Prepare to have your brain bent.
Audiobook of the Week:
by James Gleick, read by Alan Corduner. Gleick, the man who made my brain bleed with his book Chaos,
now brings us a very pared down portrait of the man we know of as being the father of physics. But it's not like he's
doing a Cliff Notes version, nor is he skipping around and leaving stuff out: to the point and fascinating is what you get.
Capably delivered by Corduner, it's a worthy listen from HarperAudio.
Graphic Novel of the Week:
by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill. As we get ready for the crapfest that is the movie adaptation, I would direct
your attention instead to this massive two-volume hardback, slipcased set that could be used as a bludgeon if the situation
called for it. Not only do you get the first six-issue mini-series super-sized for your convenience, but you also get the
complete Moore scripts for the issues as well--and they're just as dense as you might imagine. You could spend your weekend
reading this alone--and that's not altogether a bad idea.
Comic Book of the Week:Scars #6
by Warren Ellis & Jacen Burrows. The train finally stops at the place where all the trauma has been headed. John Cain's
finally had enough, and he is determined to make the butcher of a little girl pay for being a monster. The whole series
has been a rough ride and this is no exception. Burrows and Ellis manage to put across a great deal in spaces with
very little to no dialogue. Definitely worth reading for the wrap-up.
DVD Boxed Set of the Week:
. Well, it's nostalgia time again and you can't really blame us: boxed sets these days are littered with
massive amounts of television shows. This one's out just in time to bank off of/get you ready for the feature film version
with Sam Jackson and Colin Farrell. Surprisingly violent (and well-written and actually interesting in characters) for a
cop show in the 70s, this boxed set from Columbia-Tristar will be a
veritable hoot for fans of the series.
DVD of the Week:
. You might not know Stan Brakhage, but his influence can be recognized easily after you go through the
twenty-six digital transfers of his short films that are located on this Criterion two-disc set. You've got the best of the
best in this anthology, seeing as how they whittled the films down from the more than three hundred bits he's got listed
on the IMDB. And of course, because we are talking Criterion, you get some input from Brakhage on his work, as well as
an essay on the director. Challenging stuff to stimulate your brain which otherwise might sleepwalk through the weekend.
CD of the Week:
by The Aquabats. Ska-rock superheroes here to save your arse from musical weekend boredom. Gotta love any band
that has members with names like Chainsaw Karate and Crash McLarson. And also you gotta love any band that will fight
such menaces as "Giant Robot-Birdhead" and the "Thing in the Bass Amp". Keeping you save and grooving your ass, dig them.
Magazine of the Week:Reason. Another magazine to
enjoy, especially since its feature story concerns those who would try to do in pleasurable things: like fast foods, for
example. Revel in the destruction of pseudo-science with the latest issue.
Book of the Week:
by David Mamet. Welcome to the Future. There's been a bit of a glitch in the system, though, you see--the
collective memory of the 21st Century has gone bye-bye. And...um...well, as Overlook's website states, "the past is reassembled from the downloaded memmories of Ginger, wife of
ex-President Wilson." I'm really not sure how else to explain it. The result is a tour of insanity in a strange post-apocalypse
in a way that only the witty, bleak Mamet can relate. Prepare to have your brain bent.
