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?
November 21, 2003
Book of the Week:
by Andrew Robinson. Basically what I take away from this McGraw-Hill release is that the Rosetta Stone and
the Egyptian hieroglyphs were the tip of the iceberg. The world is teeming with writing and nobody knows what the hell the
stuff says. From Easter Island to bits from the Mayans and elsewhere (seems just about every place has something scientists
can't read), Robinson takes you through it and keeps the whole thing much
livelier than you might imagine.
Art Book of the Week:
. Alex Ross is a badass. Granted. And yeah, we give him a hard time for using models constantly (I wanted to
interview the guy who models all the inanimate objects for him)--but you can't fault the results. His work is some of the
coolest comic work out there. But if there's anyway to make the whole thing rock even harder, it's to make a coffee table
book out of the whole deal and assign designing genius Chip Kidd to arrange it all. That's what you get in this offering
from Pantheon Books. Sketches, photos, studies and interesting tidbits--like what The Kingdom was really going to
be like--abound. Any fan of Ross or just DC in general will want to spend several weekend hours geeking out over this
particular tome.
Audiobook of the Week:
by Kurt Vonnegut, read by Ethan Hawke. Define a bad day: well, you're in the midst of a war, you've been
abducted by aliens who have basically "unstuck" you from time so that you're bopping around your own timeline like an
utter loon. Vonnegut's classic is brought to life through your car speakers by Hawke, who does a capable performance regarding
our friend, Billy Pilgrim. For a nice mindgrope this weekend, grab this Harper Collins release.
Graphic Novel of the Week:
by Jim Krueger and various. This Metron Press release isn't as scary as it sounds. Yes, it's a retelling of
some major stories of the Old Testament. And yes, it's written by the guy who made your brain bleed with Neighborhood X
or whatever it was called. But still--it takes the stories and brings them into the present by having them related to you
by a bartender in what could be referred to as the "common tongue" and also slams the thing home with stunning artwork by
a cadre of top talent. Bill Sienkiewicz does the story of Creation, Scott Hampton handles the story of Daniel and Sergio
Aragones (!) tackles Jonah. Incredible! Christians will want to buy copies and make them mandatory Sunday School reading;
non-Christians will appreciate reading the stories for what they are--good tales well told.
DVD Boxed Set of the Week:
. Kevin James' series gets the boxed set treatment from Columbia-Tristar, and fans of the series have reason to
be pleased. Not only do you get all twenty-five first season episodes (plus two bonus ones) across three discs, but
the pilot comes with James and the executive producer providing commentary. You get a behind-the-scenes docu and call it
good.
DVD Pair of the Week: & . Here's some fun--Paramount was kind enough to release both versions of the flick at the same time. So you get Michael Caine and Mark Wahlberg for your troubles. What a deal. Your original version comes with a commentary, three docus and a deleted scene with commentary. The new fangled version comes with featurettes out the yin-yang and some deleted scenes. Nothing like an evening of back-to-back heist flicks.
Anime of the Week:
. This ADV release is the follow-up to Blue
Seed, and it's two years later. Involving our friends at the TAC helping out the U.S.--as a scientist has figured
out a way to make new and improved monsters--it also has an American girl with the same powers as Momiji. This three-part
OVA series is worth watching just to see where the story goes, and also to see what happens when the animation quality gets
jacked up a few notches. Bigger budget? Well, yeah, thanks.
Documentary of the Week:
. Okay, so they didn't really find Nefertiti--or at least they can't undoubtedly prove it--but still, the process
for trying to get there is fascinating in and of itself. This two-hour documentary from the Discovery Channel is just the
right about of Egyptological stimulation that you might need in a weekend; just enjoy it--no need to strain anything.
Comedy DVD of the Week:
. The one-man transvestite mayhem crew that is Eddie Izzard--ah, if you have yet to experience it, then you are
terribly foolish and we pity you. But it's okay--grab this, watch it, laugh and we won't cast any more dispersions in your
direction. A hilarious show from New York City back in 2000, brought to life on this DVD from Anti, from it you get to learn about how Jesus preached to the dinosaurs
and the evil that is Jeff Vader. Twisted, truly.
Music DVD of the Week:
. This 1980 concert video has been out of print on VHS for a while now, so Simon enthusiasts are going to
want to snag the thing with all due speed. But hey, let's face it--when you've got this much classic Simon live, with
stuff like "Late in the Evening" and "Me & Julio Down By the Schoolyard" in fine form, it's kinda hard to resist the thing.
Save yourself the trouble of finding a bootleg version and grab it legit from Pioneer now.
Band of the Week: New August. A bit of a spotlight on this
group, fount of decent and relatively jaunty songs that sound both like something familiar and something new at the same
time. Think of it as pop-rock that doesn't offend your brain. Their album, Fall, isn't going to hit until February, so you'll have
to console yourself with checking out their tour schedule and catching a copy starting in December at their shows. If you
sign up for their mailing list, you can check out an MP3. What a deal. Check out the website
here.