Weekly Recommendations...from Needcoffee.com

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 26, 2003

Book of the Week:

by Frances Hill. Author Hill, not a newbie when it comes to this particular subject, gives readers both seasoned and green pretty much everything you need to understand one of the finest and most recent examples of what happens when religious whackjobs are in charge. This release from Da Capo Press has all the primary source material you could want, surrounded by author's commentary, a setup of the time period and culture, and then a look at our fascination with the event. Truly a godsend for anybody wanting to delve.

Reference Book of the Week:

by Don C. Benjamin. Probably the best book on the Christian mythos since The Five Gospels. Fortress Press brings you this edition which provides context on the Old Testament six ways from Sunday. Seriously, pun not intended. Anyway, not only do you get a grand tour of that half of the Bible, but you also get a bonus CD-ROM. This contains the full text of the book, citations, discussion questions and a bibliography. For those needing an introduction to the work or just a refresher, it's gold.

Audiobook of the Week:

. A terribly nice edition of Frost, because Random House is giving you not just the poet reading his own stuff (hence the title, naturally), but you also get an accompanying book with all of the poems included, listed in track order. And of course, you get all of Frost's "greatest hits," so to speak. We're talking "After Apple-Picking," "The Road Not Taken," and "Nothing Gold Can Stay," among others. A great way to get reacquainted with the man.

Comic Book of the Week: Smax #4 by Alan Moore & Zander Cannon. A book so good it almost makes me not want to hurl curses at the gods for denying me the second season of Top 10. Yet. Our big blue buddy Smax is on a quest to stop the dragon Morningbright and Toybox discovers something potentially hazardous to her own safety. Leaning more towards comedy than the harshness in this particular issue, we're all fascinated to see what happens in the climax.

Docu of the Week:

. While I've seen a number of documentaries covering film footage and stills shots during World War II, I must say that this release from Home Vision covers a subject I hadn't even considered: that artists were in the field and created work addressing what they saw, both for the Army and for magazines. In fact, although seven artists are the center of this piece via interviews, there were numerous others, and their work is getting focus for the first time since 1945. An excellent docu, it's a change of pace for your weekend.

DVD Boxed Set of the Week:

. Certainly--it's Candid Camera on methamphetamines, but hey, what the hell, it's entertaining. The pranks on this Paramount three-disc set are well-executed and amusing, Kennedy's many identities are hilarious, and the bonuses aren't bad either. You get all seventeen episodes, commentary by Kennedy on some as well as his intro, a convo with the creators, and some bonus footage.

DVD of the Week:

. At last! Criterion tackles another insane film, and as you might expect--being from Criterion--this sucker's stacked! Meet Bill Lee--our hero who is about to enter Interzone, have his typewriter turn into an insect, and lose his bug powder. Cronenberg's interp of Uncle Billy's novel is fantastic (literally) and so is the edition. You get a Weller and Cronenberg commentary, a making-of docu, a bit on the effects, some audio excerpts of Uncle Billy reading from the novel and lots more. I'd say any Burroughs fan should pick it up, but hell--it's Criterion. You all should.

Anime DVD of the Week:

. The final season, all twenty-five episodes, are available on this five-disc set from Viz. You get all the humor you've come to expect from this gender-shifting, Panda-transforming title and then some. Magical love mushrooms! Love battles! Depression-fueled fighting techniques! You know, the usual mayhem.

Adverse Video of the Week:

. Okay, so here's the deal. It's a semi-erotic thriller, so if you go into it with that in mind, you just might make it out okay. However, Master P, although given top billing is practically a no-show. So softcore plus bad dialogue equals a frenzy of MST3K possibilties! Exactly, Watson. If you have some heavy proof vodka on hand this weekend, you might just get some solid chuckles out of it.

CDs of the Week:

. Okay, yes, the movie seemed to fail everyone's expectations, no matter how low they were. Imagine my surprise when this soundtrack showed up and...well, it's pretty damn tasty! David Newman creates a musical score that can best be described by imagining what Danny Elfman at his most Burtonesque and the ghost of Carl Stalling might get together and create for the movie Being John Malkovich. The thing seems to shift gears at the drop of a, well, hat, and does so to great effect. Crazy shit. Don't listen on drugs. You've been warned.