Each Thursday, 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 13, 2001

Book of the Week: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. When the matriarch of a family dies, she has a dying wish that is her curse upon those she leaves behind. Told from the points of view of everyone--including the corpse--this is a book that breaks out of your typical narrative structure and smacks it around. A must read for writers.

Graphic Novel of the Week: Planetary: All Over the World and Other Stories by Ellis & Cassaday. Are they archaeologists? Superheroes? Detectives? They're a little bit of each. They're Planetary, dedicated to investigating the strange history of the Wildstorm Universe of comics. Warren Ellis does a damn brilliant job of skewing standard comic book stories while writing the backstory of an entire reality. Sweet.

DVD of the Week: The Abyss. The best thing about this DVD set is that it contains the full version of the film, not the haplessly trimmed one you might have seen in cinemas. With the cut footage restored...hell, the film actually makes sense, not to mention delivers a much more satisfying conclusion. Also contains a subtitled commentary you can have on during the film which is informative and sometimes downright hilarious.

Off the Beaten Path VHS of the Week: Fast, Cheap and Out of Control. Not out of print, luckily, but still not on DVD. This is a documentary, but it's no ordinary documentary. Four people who work in extremely diverse fields are interviewed about their jobs, their dreams, their ideas of the future--and the portrait that Errol Morris is putting together suddenly comes into focus. Illuminating and somewhat chilling.

CD of the Week: Like Stars in My Hands by Single Gun Theory. Two guys with samplers and a singer with a beautiful voice. The songs almost feel minimalist when compared to bands of today like Lamb and Supreme Beings of Leisure--but still, they're perfect for what they are. Chocked full of great lyrics, a bit of a classic.

Beverage of the Week: AMP. From the people who brought you Mountain Dew, it's Mountain Dew with an edge. They've taken the formula you know and loaded it with B-vitamins, taurine, ginseng--the usual high octane stuff. It's not half bad either. We always like to drink it very quickly so we can get the blood pumping as soon as possible.

Candy of the Week: Espresso Chocolate Truffles by Godiva. These things are orgasmic. Only buy a couple at a time because otherwise you will become addicted. The inside espresso chocolate stuff is so rich, it's almost guaranteed to knock you to your knees. And hey, what else can you want from chocolate?