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, in the US, the UK and Canada.
Hey, come on, we can't be totally selfless in this, can we?
December 10, 2004
Book of the Week:
by Robert Anton Wilson. For anyone who hasn't read RAW, I highly recommend this trilogy of books. Definitely
a nice guerilla way of getting your brain to think differently and getting you to think for yourself. You don't have to
read them in order, though I recommend it. Here you get everything from conspiracy theories regarding the Catholic Church
and the Mafia to how High Weirdness can be dealt with using a model from the movie Harvey.
(UK)
(CAN)
Audiobook of the Week:
by Lemony Snicket, performed by Tim Curry & cast. Are you afraid of the upcoming movie? Of course you are.
With a good director who can keep Carrey under control, he can give an excellent performance. The trailers show that
Brad Silberling is not that director. So we say forget it, sit down with Tim Curry and this audioplay version of the story.
Harper Audio makes us wish Mr. Curry had been cast instead of Carrey. This eases the pain.
(CAN)
Comic Book of the Week: Fables #32 by Bill Willingham & Mark Buckingham. Ah, how we dig this book. In the
aftermath of the Adversary's attack on Fabletown and the mayoral election, the new sheriff, Beast, is learning the ropes.
The Fables are wondering if they didn't get the raw deal by electing Prince Charming. And someone from their homeland has
taken an interest in something in Fabletown, and is coming to check it out for himself.
Graphic Novel of the Week:
by Alan Moore & Zander Cannon. If you're like me, and you're waiting patiently, desperately for somebody to do
a second season of Top 10, then you can help yourself with this five-issue series, collected in a nice hardcover
edition. Smax, the big-ass blue dude, goes with his partner, Toybox, to his home and there finds something from his past--something
big and evil--still wants him dead. And his partner too. It's published in the UK by Titan.
(UK)
(CAN)
TV DVD of the Week:
. One of the best new shows on TV, this Fox TV release is quite worthy. You get all twenty-two episodes with
three crammed commentaries, the never-aired extended pilot, a behind the scenes featurette, Ron Howard's inside look, deleted/extended
scenes, a cast panel discussion which was held at The Museum of Television & Radio, a TV Land featurette, and more. Spread
across three discs, it's a weekend's worth of viewing.
(UK)
(CAN)
DVD of the Week:
. This three-disc set from Columbia-Tristar supplants the previous two-disc'er, and will keep even the most
drooling Hellboy fan busy for the weekend. There's the new unrated, extended director's cut version of the film, a brand-new
commentary by Del Toro with his video intro, a commentary by the composer with isolated score, the ginormous making-of docu
that's longer than the theatrical release (!), deleted scenes, commentary by the cast and more. Lots more.
(UK)
(CAN)
Docu DVD of the Week:
. Ed "Speedo" Jager wants to rock it at the demolition derby. He goes through cars like you or I go through
toothbrushes. Docurama brings you this look at one man and his obsession to sculpt metal into unrecognizable shapes using
a car. Interestingly enough, the commentary has not only the filmmaker but Speedo himself. You also get deleted scenes,
updates and a photo gallery.
(UK)
(CAN)
Animation DVD of the Week:
. Forget wanting just something for the weekend, these discs are impressive enough to own--the whole line of
Disney Treasures is like that. You get twenty-eight Pluto shorts from 1930 to 1947. Leonard Maltin, the genius behind getting
these things on your shelf, is on hand to provide intros, plus there's a featurette entitled "The Life and Times
of Pluto," a picture book, "Pluto's Pal Fergy," a profile of animator Norm Ferguson, a lesson on how to draw the pooch,
and galleries. They're limited to 110,000 tins. So get it now, because we don't want to hear you whining about it later.
(UK)
(CAN)
Anime DVD of the Week:
. The final three episodes of the series are yours for the taking on DVD, thanks to the folks at ADV. As our
heroines try to survive final papers and exams, they'll try anything from studying to rituals to garner luck.
Features include a mini-movie, character art gallery, production sketches, a collector's pin, a booklet that includes
translation notes, along with clean opening and closing animations.
(CAN)
DVD Boxed Set of the Week:
. This two-movie boxed set from Universal contains the same edition of Fast Times you may have seen before,
but the Dazed & Confused is new. If you haven't heard the commentary on Fast with Cameron Crowe and director
Amy Heckerling, then it's worth watching just for that. The Dazed disc comes with a commentary by director Richard
Linklater, deleted scenes and a "mock institutional filmstrip on the dangers of partying."
(UK)
(CAN)
Comedy DVD of the Week: . It's the return of Foxworthy, Engvall, White and...Larry the Cable Guy must be Porthos. Hell, I don't know. You get concert footage of the four of them doing their solo thing and then, as expected, they all get up on stage together to perform a song, discuss rules and other shenanigans. No features, but the jokes are enough to get you through on this Paramount release. (UK) (CAN)
Music DVD of the Week:
. Ten hours of live stuff is what Rhino has to provide on this set--so while it's not the whole thing, it'll
probably slake your weekend thirst. And as Tobias and I discussed, it's almost embarrassing to compare the sheer star power
of the British side of the equation to the American side. So you can bear that in mind as you check this out. It also
comes with a nifty booklet that features info on the Live Aid movement along with memorabilia
and program excerpts.
(UK)
(CAN)
Music CD of the Week:
by A Wilhelm Scream. I stumbled across the guys while trying to find a copy of the sound effect that they named
themselves after. And with a song title like "Brand New Me, Same Shitty You," how could I not investigate further? What I
found was a band that provides pulverizing songs coupled with fast-paced harmony and just a wonderful misanthropic attitude.
Suffice to say, it was exactly what I needed at the time and it still is. Dammit.
(UK)
(CAN)