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 9, 2004
Book of the Week:
by Max Barry. Set in a dystopia of commercialism run amok where you take the surname of the company you work
for, you can guess who the titular character is in with. Hack Nike, looking for a fastrack up the corporate ladder, unwittingly
signs up for a marketing campaign for new Nike shoes that involves killing kids who try to buy them. No, really. And
things just get more insane from there. Satire at its most wicked, it's fun and more than a little scary.
Audiobook of the Week: H.M.S.
Surprise by Patrick O'Brian, read by Simon Vance. Number three in the Jack Aubrey-Stephen Maturin series of
novels gets the unabridged treatment from Blackstone Audio. Set in the early 19th Century, it's time to make for India and intercept a fleet of French
ships and kick their asses--no big deal, right? Rrrright. Simon Vance does a decent performance and throws enough of
different character voices into it to make it an interesting listen. Check out the high seas while in heavy traffic.
Comic Book of the Week: Y: The Last Man #24
by Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra. It looked like it was going to be hard to pick a title for this month, since there were
a few good ones out--but then we grabbed this one. This series hasn't been quite as dead-on as it was for the first year,
but this time out, but when Yorick goes to seek absolution or even a sympathetic ear, we get to see what happened
on board an jumbo jet when the Event happened--yeah. Nice and harsh. Should be interesting to see where this goes from here.
TV DVD of the Week:
. This two-disc set sports the last eight episodes from this britcom that's so well written it'll make your
head hurt. Judi Dench and real-life hubby Michael Williams play two people in a relationship that should work, but
when things start to turn serious...will it? Acorn Media provides some cast and crew bios, but the show itself is strong
enough that it's worth your while to check out.
DVD of the Week:
. The artistic life in World War II occupied France is the subject of this Koch Lorber release. Director
Bertrand Tavernier tells the story of the French film industry while the Germans were in charge and the mandate was:
maintain just like everything was peachy keen. Two members of the community try to do what they can to stay afloat--you've
got a screenwriter who's doing everything to stay off the Nazi payroll and a director who is on the payroll--but also
working for the Resistance. Bonus stuff includes a photo gallery, trailer and production notes.
Anime DVD of the Week:
. It's a portait of a world gone batshit crazy in this Central Park Media release of the second film based on
the series by Rumiko Takahashi. It's Ataru, Princess Lum and the gang, all getting ready for their annual school festival.
Except...everything starts to go awry and change all around them...what the heck is going on? This Collector's Series
comes with an art gallery as well as a subtitled commentary track from director Mamoru Oshii.
Docu DVD of the Week:
. From the folks at Docurama comes this appetizer platter for those of you who are perhaps discovering that
docus can be just as interesting as your average feature. A bunch of short bits from the Full Frame Film Festival, held
each year in Durham, North Carolina. Seven films are here, showing that in the right hands, anything can be worthy of
docu-discussion: from swamp rats to a mad-or-brilliant artist in New York to a beauty paegant populated entirely
with octogenarians.
Kung Fu DVD of the Week:
. It's the old "Comic book artist's life starts to imitate his fantasy world" ploy. Actually, I'm not quite sure
how old the ploy is, but here there is fu. And fu is good. Yu Shu saves Ling from a prostitution ring and finds himself
being pursued by a master ass-kicker and the criminal underworld. He hids out in a noodle shop while being schooled on how
to lay his pen down and instead deliver some smackdown. This Fox release is a good way to get some fist-flying amusement for the
weekend.
Music CD of the Week:
by the Easy Star All-Stars. Reggae Pink Floyd. No, don't run away. I'm serious--this thing rocks some serious
balls. Retaining all of the music riffs and lyrics of the original and then taking them in a completely different direction,
even the biggest Floyd purist will need to give credit where credit is due. This is one of the best executed series of
covers you'll hear. They even pulled off a worthy rendition of "Great Gig," for God's sake.