Audiobook of the Week: Adverbs by Daniel Handler, performed by Oliver Wyman. Don’t recognize the name of Daniel Handler? Well, he’s better known perhaps as the man behind Lemony Snicket. Now you know who we’re dealing with. Here it’s a series of sixteen short stories all dealing with various aspects of love, and if you enjoyed the verbal gymnastics in the Unfortunate Events series, you’ll find more of that here, though obviously not for the kiddies. This hits on unabridged CD from Harper Audio. (Buy it)
Book of the Week: I Am 8-Bit: Art Inspired by Classic Videogames of the 80s by Jon M. Gibson. For those of us who couldn’t make the gallery showing, we can drown our sorrows in the pages of this book, which features more than a hundred pieces of art that are…well, exactly as the title describes it. This from a formidable array of artists and the end result can at turns disturb and amuse. From Chronicle Books, anybody who feels old when they think about those games of yesteryear should consider it. (Buy it)
Manga of the Week: Spawn Manga, Vol. 3 by Juzo Tokoro. This Japanese version of Spawn that is finally hitting these shores continues in a full-on manga, right-to-left kinda way. Here our hero (who’s not Al Simmons but a different Spawn, mind you) has to deal with a gorgonized female villain, our old buddy The Clown, and more. Art and a story that will appeal to manga fans, it hits from Image Comics. (Buy it)
CD of the Week: Pay the Devil by Van Morrison. Fans of Morrison are going to want to check out this latest album, wherein he lays his own versions down of classic country bits from the likes of Hank Williams Sr. and George Jones. There’s also three originals on here, but the new interps are what I find most interesting, such as “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “Til I Gain Control Again.” This is available from Lost Highway. (Buy it)
Comedy CD of the Week: A Night at the Met by Robin Williams. I had no idea this thing was ever out of print, but apparently so. It’s hitting again thanks to the folks at Sony. And if you don’t have it, you should grab it: some of his best bits are on here, from his covering why he had to give up drinking, to a discussion of the male private bits, to his classic stuff on raising a kid. Excellent stuff. (Buy it)
Soundtrack CD of the Week: The Triangle by Joseph Loduca. Well, if this Sci-Fi Channel mini-series was up your alley, you might want to consider this release from La-La Land Records. As long as you’ve already got the DVD and the novelization, might as well go for the trifecta, right? (Buy it)
Magazine of the Week: Alter Ego #57. TwoMorrows takes you back to the Golden Age of Marvel with this hundred-pager. The art will blow the top of your head off, with Simon, Kirby, Romita, Los Buscema, and scads more. There’s also a ginormous full index of all the Marvel super-hero stories from 1939 through 1957 (although bear in mind it wasn’t always called Marvel Comics…you know that, right?). Anyway, it’s huge and, as always, comes with more info than you can shake a tear-stained copy of Deadly Genesis at. You need it. (Buy it)
Just wanted to thank you for helping make people aware of our little effort, ALTER EGO.