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, both in the US, the UK and Canada.
Hey, come on, we can't be totally selfless in this, can we?
August 6, 2004
Book of the Week:
by George R. R. Martin. That's right, we're still plugging this series. Because it cranks our collective tractor, that's why. Book Two
of the series just gets wilder and more intense as the Seven Kingdoms get a bunch of different monarchs, all out to kick
each other's asses. And all the while something Bad and Wrong is still brewing in the North. Hurry up and read all three
released books so you can suffer like the rest of us, waiting for Book Four.
(UK)
(CAN)
Audiobook of the Week:
by Robert Kurson, read by Campbell Scott. This is the true story of how two divers found a sunken U-boat off
the coast of Jersey and decided to figure out just how in the hell it had gotten there...especially when, after figuring
out which one it was, it was supposed to have been sunk near Gibraltar. Campbell Scott gives this Random House release a
good, solid reading and--bonus--it comes with interviews with the two divers.
(UK)
(CAN)
Comic Book of the Week: Y: The Last Man #25
by Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra. More fun with our pal, Yorick, as he and his companions try to make their way towards
some answers as to why the males of the world have taken the celestial dirt nap. Yorick is taking time out for a little
R & R and runs into some Amazon believers again--lovely. This Vertigo title is one of the best comics out there, so if
you're not reading it, flog yourself and get on it.
TV DVD of the Week:
. Universal brings this to DVD and get over it, because your inner child, still stuck in the 80s, is rejoicing.
There's just something about George Peppard's style, Dwight Schultz' rampant improv, Dirk Benedict's smooth as an eel
workings and Mr. T's....well, he was Mr. T, all right. Only in the 80s could these guys be a crack military unit that could
make a cannon out of a toaster, some swizzler sticks, an orange and a dead badger. Guilty pleasure time.
(UK)
(CAN)
DVD of the Week:
. The reputation of this film preceded it. After premiering at Cannes in 2002, it went on to win and/or be
nominated for craploads of awards...and once you see it, you'll understand why. In Rio, where she doesn't exactly dance
on the sand, there are slums that the poor are relegated to. In them, two young men take markedly different paths: one
deals drugs, the other picks up a camera. This Miramax release comes with a docu only, but the film will carry you through.
Just brilliant.
(UK)
(CAN)
Anime DVD of the Week:
. Goro Mutsumi is a hapless young man who's unemployed, single and an animal lover. Of course, since the fates
don't like him, he's managed to wind up killing the animals in his life as well. One day he runs into a fortune teller,
who tells him things are going to improve--and how: three cute girls wind up in his apartment, and they can't wait to help
him out. This Bandai release comes with a small featurette and some character profiles.
(UK)
(CAN)
Docu DVD of the Week:
. If only every time the Smithsonian provided a new exhibition the History Channel would partner up and bring
it to the small screen. That's what you get in this release, which gives you highlights of the exhibit, including part
of the inside of a riverboat, classic cars, and a section of Route 66. And as a bonus, because they can do this sort of
thing, you get the Biography episode for Henry Ford.
(UK)
(CAN)
Animation DVD of the Week:
. Sorry, but we love this damn show. They manage to pack more surrealism and bizarrerie into a twelve minute
episode than we've been able to pack into the course of a lifetime. This Warner Brothers release gives you
thirteen more episodes, along with the original segment from Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast, deleted scenes, four
commentaries on various episodes, a music video, gallery, and more. Check
out the Cartoon Network's site.
(CAN)
Adverse Video of the Week:
. Films with cute animals in them are a terrifying prospect. And they never go away, either. Poor Reagan--they
were bringing up Bedtime for Bonzo in his obit, for God's sake. Well, anyway, DVD has made it even easier to put
these things out--take this sequel, for example. Nick Moran, who has slid quite aways since working with Guy Ritchie, plays
the biological father of a kid who has a soccer-playing dog. It's harmless enough, we guess. And it'll make a fortune.
They all do. That's why the MVP movies will eventually outnumber Leprechaun and Children of the Corn
put together.
(UK)
(CAN)
Comedy DVD of the Week: . Fans of Leary will appreciate watching him become the brunt of an evening's worth of comedian friends in this Paramount/Comedy Central release. Folks who didn't appreciate the thing being cleaned up for television will feel much better with this version in their player. Apart from the main fesitivites, you get Leary's uncensored rebuttal, bits from the Red Carpet Premiere, deleted scenes and other additional footage. (UK) (CAN)
Music DVD of the Week:
. Music Video Distributors throws almost an hour and twenty minutes of classic swing at you in this DVD release.
Featuring Benny Goodman and his band, along with Artie Shaw, Jimmy Dorsey, Hoagy Carmichael and Jack Teagarden. All of this
comes from 1937-1940. Tracks like "That's Right, I'm Wrong, "Basin St. Blues" and "Stars Fell on Alabama" will please
anyone who needs a nice big band fix.
(UK)
(CAN)
Music CD of the Week:
by the Original Broadway Cast. Hmmm, woman sings duets with inanimate objects. Didn't Disney bring this to
Broadway already? Heh. Not bloody likely. It's Louisiana, 1963, and Caroline is a maid for the Gellmans, and her interactions
with the young son of that family bring both the Gellmans and Caroline's family on a path to a collision. An opera in the
sense that it's completely sung through (like Falsettos, for example), this soundtrack is a nice way of getting those
in the provinces to experience the show.