Each weekend, 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? Okay, books and music first…
Book of the Week:Shadow Cities by Robert Neuwirth. There are a megaslew of squatters in the world, creating cities where there were none and doing it on land they don’t own. In this Routledge release, Neuwirth spent two years living in four giant squatter communities on four continents. As far as getting some insight into what those areas are like, the book is a marvel. It’s when Neuwirth tries to paint squatteropolises as even better than “real” cities that he kind of shimmies to one side a bit, and his opinion of private property is pretty laughable. But for reference and research, it’s a winner. (Buy it from Amazon.)
Audiobook of the Week: The Secret Language of Dolphins by Patricia St. John, performed by Bernadette Dunne. St. John has worked with dolphins, trying to figure out a way for dolphins and humans to communicate. In her work, she’s figured out a way to take what she’s learned with our fine swimming friends and apply them to autistic children. If you, like me, think that dolphins are more than likely smarter than we are, then you’ll enjoy this Blackstone Audio release. It’s unabridged, and comes on eight CDs. (Buy it from Amazon.)
Comic Book of the Week: Walking Dead #18 by Robert Kirkman & Charlie Adlard. This multiple Chazzie-award nominated series continues and holy hell, is this thing getting harsh. Holing up inside a prison seemed like a good idea at the time, but now somebody’s been going around killing the refugees. Now that the killer’s revealed, what punishment is going to be exacted upon him? Well, the cover might give you a clue. And as always, the ending’s a whopper that makes you want the next issue immediately. Teasing brilliant bastards.
Graphic Novel of the Week: James Bond 007: Goldfinger by Ian Fleming, adapted by Henry Gammidge & John McLusky. I honestly didn’t know that there had even been comic strips made of 007’s adventures until Titan started releasing their recent collections. I’ve never been a big fan of reading ongoing serial strips, but collected like this I can certainly deal. This book collects not only the title story but From a View to a Kill, For Your Eyes Only, and Thunderball. Fleming fans will want to check it out. Oh, and uh, vote Clive Owen for Bond! (Buy it from Amazon.)
Music CD of the Week: Best of Rusted Root: The Millennium Collection. Isn’t it a little early to give Rusted Root this treatment? Regardless, even if you’re sick to death of hearing “Send Me On My Way” (which seemed to be the Smash Mouth’s “All Star” of its day), there’s plenty of other good stuff on here–like “Ecstasy” and “Cruel Sun”–to take care of you if you don’t already own their albums. And this Universal Music release is pretty damn cheap too, so if you just want a sampler, then here you go. (Buy it from Amazon.)
