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?
July 4, 2003
Book of the Week:
by Diane Ravitch. Textbooks these days suck--this is not news. What you may not know, however, is just how
badly they suck and, moreover, whose fault it is. In a surprisingly balanced attack on both the political left and
right, Ravitch exposes the particular paved path to hell that the content being taught to American public schoolchildren.
Required reading for anybody with kids--read this and then thumb through your kids' books. You might be surprised and
appalled.
Audiobook of the Week:
, edited by Landon Y. Jones, read by Peter Friedman & Tom Wopat. We're not too fond of abridgements around
here. We always prefer everything--still, we're pleased that we at least get the highpoints of the Lewis & Clark journals,
edited by Jones and presented admirably by Friedman and Wopat (yes, that Tom Wopat). He's left out the mountains
of sheer data accumulated and instead presented some moments of humanity. It's a good primer to see if you want to check
out the full deal.
Graphic Novel of the Week: Judge
Anderson: Triad by Alan Grant, Mark Farmer, Mick Austin, Arthur Ranson & David Roach. That 2000 AD stuff
is some goood eatin'. And as much as Dredd is near and dear to our hearts, Psi-Judge Anderson is pretty crafty too. This
time around you get her dealing with psychic twins, a skeletal apparation--and Judge Death, although he's a completely
separate skeletal apparition. Readers in Britain are pleased because Titan Books has released it over there, but on this
end of the pond, you're going to have to import the sucker. But never fear--it's worth it.
Comic Book of the Week:
G.I. Joe vs. Transformers #1
by Josh Blaylock & Mike S. Miller. We weren't sure what to expect from this title, but you know the "vs." in the title
coupled with the properties at hand and, well, our geek-dar went off and we couldn't escape. But we're glad we didn't in
retrospect--Blaylock is taking a completely different approach to this than we expected. Forget what you know. In this
storyline, Cobra is a relatively unknown organization who excavates a cache of Transformers and appropriates their technology.
Transforming Cobra HISS tanks? Hell yes!
DVD Boxed Set of the Week:
. A fan of this show will have much to celebrate as the Hill family finally hits DVD. And they do so with
great style, thanks to Fox: you're looking at commentaries on eight episodes--from cast members in character on some, deleted scenes and a featurette, amongst other things.
A little slower to warm up to than say, The Simpsons, this Mike Judge is creation is animation worth checking out.
DVD of the Week:
. Bond afficionados...or, anybody who likes to look at Halle Berry (read: all males and a goodly number of
females)...will appreciate MGM's special edition treatment of this latest Bond film that managed to at least attempt to
swing the franchise back towards the positive. You've got two commentaries to choose from (one with Brosnan), a trivia
track, a docu, gadget featurettes and more. It'll fill the spy need in you, at least for a short while.
CD of the Week:
, score composed by John Murphy. So we dig the
movie. Can't be helped. But, we're pleased to say the soundtrack is pretty choice as well. Featuring Murphy's score,
it also has some other tracks, such as Granddaddy's "AM 180" (from the grocery store scene) and a kick ass version of
"Ave Maria."