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 20, 2004
Book of the Week: Superheroes In My
Pants by Mark Evanier. This latest collection of essays and columns from Evanier (featuring illustrations and
additional mayhem by Sergio Aragonés) covers everything from comic creators to comic readers, from Julius Schwartz to Curt
Swan to conventions to "unfinanced entrepreneurs" and more. My personal favorite bit is the origin of Groo the Wanderer. For lovers of comics, it's a nice and quick entertaining read.
(UK)
(CAN)
Audiobook of the Week:
by Diana Gabaldon & Terry Brooks, read by Simon Prebble & Charles Keating. Random House's second part of the audiobook
for the second Legends release features two authors providing some additional stuff for their existing series.
Gabaldon breaks a out character from her Outlander saga for spotlight treatment and Brooks provides an addendum to Wishsong
of Shannara. For those a bit too busy to crack upon that monster tome, the audiobooks are split up nicely and Prebble
and Keating provide sufficient narration to get you through them.
(CAN)
Comic Book of the Week: Supreme Power #12
by J. Michael Straczynski & Gary Frank. JMS apparently has learned a bit about comic book pacing since he absolutely shat
all over Rising Stars. Here the pieces are starting to come together, nice and slow, of Hyperion, Zarda, Nighthawk...
and where is it all leading? To world domination? To a meta serial killer? To both? We have no clue, but we're digging it
thus far.
Manga of the Week:
. Young Akari has made her way to the water planet of Aqua
(formerly known as Mars, now terraformed) to become an "undine"--a sort
of gondolier for the booming tourist industry. The manga follows
Akari's life and that of her fellow undines as she attempts to make the
grade and is constantly charmed by the beauty and peaceful pace of life
on Aqua. The best thing is that you will be charmed too; Aria
reads like a refreshing vacation amid Dragonball clones that are
all battles and little substance. Highly
recommended for the art alone, but anyone who wants to read something
more positive and tranquil will love this one.
(UK)
(CAN)
TV DVD of the Week: . Paramount brings you this Comedy Central series' first season to your home in a two-disc set. It's the unreality show regarding a whacked out cadre of police officers in, you guessed it, Reno. Disturbed and humourous, it's definitely worth a watch on your weekend. Pretty much improv all the way through--which is fairly impressive--this set gives you fourteen episodes, four of which have commentary with cast members. There's also alternate and deleted scenes. (UK) (CAN)
DVD of the Week:
. An adaptation of Stephen King's novella from Four Past Midnight, it's Johnny Depp as Mort Rainey, a
writer having troubles whose troubles itensify when John Shooter (John Turturro) shows up, accusing Mort of stealing John's
story and screwing up the ending. This Columbia-Tristar release comes with a David Koepp director's commentary, deleted
scenes and an alternate ending with optional commentary, featurettes and some animatics as well.
(UK)
(CAN)
Anime DVD of the Week:
. What's a little parody among friends? Or, in this case, a lot of parody? ADV has all twenty-six episodes of
this series in this six-disc set, and it's all quite insane. Of course, so is our protagonist, Excel, who's out of her
freaking mind and her plan to conquer F. And to make Dindrane happy, it has cute creatures that will kill you. The set
comes with cleaning opening and closing animation, Japanese TV spots, an ad for Menchi, Menchi recipes, interviews,
and more. s
(UK)
(CAN)
Docu DVD of the Week:
. What did it take to beat Vegas...at least for a time? A bunch of math geniuses from MIT, who banded together
to create a method for winning. They then proceeded to win...a lot...all over the world. This History Channel docu takes
a look at their career of mayhem and what eventually brought them down. In addition, you've got an additional docu that
covers the history of gambling and an episode of Conquest on winning in Vegas.
(UK)
(CAN)
Comedy DVD of the Week:
. For me, what makes a great standup movie is not only how funny it is on the first viewing, but on the sixth.
Cosby's bit is rare in that in continues to be funny, because it's all so very true. Fox brings it to DVD at last, and it's
worth everybody checking out, whether you've seen it or not. Only bonus feature is the trailer, but it's funny enough to
carry itself with the film alone.
(UK)
(CAN)
Family DVD of the Week:
. One of Disney's most charming live-action flicks, they've released a DVD that's actually worthy of the film.
In it, our title hero looks to be replaced in his job as estate caretaker by the likes of Sean Connery (yes, that's him),
but just when things look their worst, he manages to capture Brian, King of the Leprechauns. The bonus features are few
but nice: a retrospective featurette with Connery, an effects featurette and the Disneyland episode, "I Captured the
King of the Leprechauns."
(UK)
(CAN)
Yakuza DVD of the Week:
. The choice is simple for Clan Onogi...accept their fate and fade away into Yakuza history or go rogue and
fight for their own survival. They choose to go for it...and the result? Blades, blades and more blades. If you like
your 60s Yakuza nice, raw and bloody, then Home Vision has got just the thing. Bonus features include the original Japanese
trailer, a filmography of director Yasuharu Hasebe and liner notes.
(UK)
(CAN)
Animation DVD of the Week:
. I can't remember the last time I saw an animated series where the episodes actually got funnier with each
time you watched them. Such is the case with this Cartoon Network/Warner Brothers release, which collects
thirteen episodes of the Adult Swim show, all ingenious in their ability to make you question your sanity. To help you
teeter on the brink are the bonus bits: the pitch pilot, alternate endings to the "I, Robot" episode, the
"Radio Free Sealab" episode uncensored and deleted scenes from another episode. Comedy gold.
Check out the official site.
(UK)
(CAN)
Music DVD of the Week:
. While Basie is headlining this Music Video Distributors release, it's literally a cornucopia of excellent
swing. Over thirty-two video bits are here, with Basie's "One O'Clock Jump," Louis Armstrong's "I'll Be Glad When You're
Dead, You Rascal, You," and Fats Waller's "Ain't misbehavin'." Also featured are Joe Turner, Henry "Red" Allen, Gene
Krupa, Lucky Millinder and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.
(CAN)
TV Show of the Week: Modern
Marvels. This History Channel series comes on weekdays at 7pm EST and is worth your time. Covering everything
from salt mines to submarines to the most recent episode on the subway system they're adding underground in Athens, Greece,
it covers the stories behind the titular subject matter. This coming week they're tackling spy tech, Civil War weaponry
and the technology of D-Day--ah, television that actually educates. What a nice change.
Music CD of the Week:
by NERD. Okay, personally I think it's hard not to like this album: from the beginning of "Don't Worry About
it" with its sophisticated raunch to the title track and its playful mayhem and on through "She Wants to Move" and
its relentless funk-factor, it destroys musical styles and remakes them in its own image. Coming in with some choice guest
musicians and excellent arrangements, yes, it's badass.
(UK)
(CAN)