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 19, 2002
Book of the Week:
, edited by Mary Ann Caws. Now you're probably thinking what I did when I first heard about this little tome.
Surrealist means it's "How do I love thee? Let me count the orange fish pouring out of my ears." Nope. These are
pretty much sublime across the board, with entries by everybody from Salvador Dali to Octavio Paz and Frida Kahlo to
Pablo Picasso. If you need to get a gift for that intellectual literary type who you have more than a passing interest in,
this'll do the trick.
Comic Book of the Week:Scars #1 by
Warren Ellis & Jacen Burrows. Ellis is one of those writers who can open the dark spigot wide. Parts of his run on
Hellblazer spring to mind, as well as his previous work with Burrows on Bad World. But with this title,
I think he's got the dark garden hose out--and he's going to spray us. Which is fine, because it's disturbing to a purpose.
This cop drama has the makings of another fascinating trip into hell, thanks to The Warren.
Graphic Novel of the Week:
by Bill Willingham & Lan Medina. It's always nice when there are solid Vertigo books. Between Lucifer
and Y, we thought we were doing pretty good for a while. Now we've discovered this title, which is kind of like
Sondheim's Into the Woods--but without the songs and with swearing and guns. All the fables that you're familiar
with have fled their lands because of an "Adversary" and have settled into our New York City. So you've got Snow White
running the show behind figurehead mayor King Cole, the Big Bad Wolf now in human form and operating as the sheriff, and
Jack (from beanstalk fame) suspected of murder. Wild.
DVD Boxed Set of the Week:
. There's nothing quite like a DVD boxed set that you can wield during hand-to-hand combat. Not only does the
thing have more than one thousand hours of content, but you also have producer commentary for every episode, outtakes/bloopers,
the scripts for each episode...you could be in there for days. So bring supplies. If you love the series, you're set for
the next few weeks.
DVD of the Week:
. Okay, I will never get over the fact that there's no commentary. I just can't. But to make me feel better,
Uncle Mel put an hour-long documentary on the thing that's filled with talking to just about everybody who we still have.
And, let's face it, the film is a damn classic that's still funny all these years later. If you haven't seen it, for the
love of God, get this now.
CD of the Week:
. Ran across the version of the Pixies' "Wave of Mutilation" that appeared on this disc and was filled with
nostalgia. Now a guilty pleasure flick, you know you wanted to run your own radio station after seeing this. Hell, I
still do. Filled with some solid tracks, it's worth digging this one out and listening through. A nice change.
Book of the Week:
, edited by Mary Ann Caws. Now you're probably thinking what I did when I first heard about this little tome.
Surrealist means it's "How do I love thee? Let me count the orange fish pouring out of my ears." Nope. These are
pretty much sublime across the board, with entries by everybody from Salvador Dali to Octavio Paz and Frida Kahlo to
Pablo Picasso. If you need to get a gift for that intellectual literary type who you have more than a passing interest in,
this'll do the trick.
