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?

December 6, 2002

Book of the Week: The World of Caffeine by Bennett Alan Weinberg & Bonnie K. Bealer. What a long, strange brew it's been. It's as simple as this--you need to know your history. And considering the subject matter, you can bet it's a wild and interesting one. Chock full of tables and charts, appendices--you need to know this stuff if you're going to be a true caffeine achiever.

Comic Book of the Week: Ultimate Spider-Man #32 by Brian Michael Bendis & Mark Bagley. Let's face it--if you like your stories about guys in tights to be the way they were fifty years ago, what are you going to do? Read Stan Lee? If you can stomach his DC series, then you've got better intestinal fortitude than yours truly. Bendis does quality work, and he's managed to make Spidey interesting for the first time in aeons. As this arc regarding Spidey's evil doppelganger comes to a close, the story just keeps getting more and more sweet.

Comic Book of Last Week: Global Frequency #2 by Warren Ellis & Glenn Fabry. We didn't do Recommendations last week because of Turkey Day, but I couldn't let this one go. Showed it to Bailey. All he could do is shake his head in awe and say, "Harsh." What happens when a badass team of civilians dedicated to cleaning up the world's UXBs is called in to mop up at a secret military installation where a weapon has gone seriously awry? Bad shit. Bad shit happens.

Art Book of the Week: CrossGen Illustrated by Pretty Much the Entire Crew at CrossGen. If there's one thing we like about CrossGen, it's that their artwork rocks balls. But bonus: we like more than one thing about their books. This book is a primer for their initial barrage of titles and more, giving you everything you need to dive in and start consuming mass quantities. Support the revolution and buy it now.

DVD Boxed Set of the Week: Malcolm in the Middle: Complete First Season. Fans of the show need look no further. Fox has actually concocted a pretty solid boxed set here--complete with an extended pilot, some bits of audio commentary by a respectable slew of cast and crew, and other extras like a gag reel and some featurettes. Nice season one bonuses for this show that's fairly amusing in its own right.

DVD of the Week: Serpico. What can you do? It's not just Pacino, it's classic Pacino. And though it's not completely stacked as a DVD, with a photo gallery that features commentary by director Lumet and some featurette action, but for God's sake--it's Serpico on DVD. Be grateful and check it out.

CD of the Week: Toxicity by System of a Down. So there I was, needing some music that invokes the feeling that many, many things need to be destroyed. And my eye fell upon this disc, which is just chocked full of thrash goodness. If for some reason you're one of the five people who have yet to hear this album, be sure to check out "Chop Suey!" and "Aerials" at the very least.