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?

August 16, 2002

Book of the Week: The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe by Jane Wagner. A one-woman play that Lily Tomlin has performed many, many times...playing a whole slew of hilarious characters. Great to watch, but hilarious in paperback form as well. Buy the only book in the world that leaves dirty fingerprints on the cheese and makes the garage door flap up.

Graphic Novel of the Week: Heavy Liquid by Paul Pope. Meet S. He's addicted to a lovely little thing called...you guessed it, "Heavy Liquid." Like heroin poured in the porches of the ear, it has some very startling effects. But it can also be used as an explosive. And media for artwork, apparently. Pope is rapidly becoming my favorite creator of very strange futuristic near-dystopias. Between this and his currently ongoing 100%, I'm very very pleased. Go get pleased, too.

DVD of the Week: Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (Uncut). When you finally watch the uncut version of this film, you can almost understand why Warner Brothers suddenly lost their balls and released a cut variation. Or you can just figure that they worked up with the hype and released two versions to maximize coinage. Regardless. It's harsh, brutal and pretty damn well unforgiving. Just like future Batman should be.

CD of the Week: Phantom Planet's The Guest. Take Radiohead and Remy Zero. Throw them in a blender. Puree. Strain for five minutes. Allow to solidfy. Stick it in your CD player. Good, solid enjoyable soundscapes ensue. Favorite tracks are "One Ray of Sunlight" and "Wishing Well." Tons of musical fun.

Hot Tea of the Week: Asian Jasmine White Tea by The Republic of Tea. A light white tea (you only steep it for 30-60 seconds) that tastes like flowers. Heavnly and plenty strong despite the short steep time. If you've never tried immune-boosting white teas before, this is an excellent choice to start with.

Game of the Week: Cosmo. The people who brought you Cranium now give you the game that you leave sitting on your desk at work for people to wander by and engage in. More distracting than a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts, it comes complete with sticky-back questions, Cranium Clay, and letter blocks. If that wasn't cool enough, it kinda reminds me of the sphere from Phantasm. So, bonus. Click on the link to go check out an online sample.

Zine of the Week: The Gleaner. An art zine published by Sherylynne Carriveau, it's a beautifully packaged product containing a variety of art-related articles. Topped off by interesting and quirky inclusions, it's elegant, inspirational, and worthwhile. A few of the black and white images of finished projects may lack fine detail, but they are no less inspirational for all that--Besides, most starving artists don't want to be able to copy every detail of another's work as long as the costs stay low. Hand-bound with a cool collaged wallpaper cover, Issue #1 contained articles on Gypsy Cigar Boxes, Asian Boxes, and more. The motivational mixture of art and philosophy is well worth your time and cash. For more information, contact Sherylynne at PaperCollage@aol.com.

Weirdass Animal of the Week: Sea Squirts. The sea squirt uses its brain for only one thing--to find a place to which it can attach itself--then once it has a place of its own, the squirt eats it. The brain. It eats its own brain. I mean, it wasn't using it anymore. Remind you of anyone you've seen at the mall lately?