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: Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd by Nick Mason. I dig the hell out of Pink Floyd. I like just about every iteration of the band, from the crazed WTF of “Bike” and “Several Species…” to The Wall to when it was just Roger Waters using the name to the Gilmour years of The Division Bell. For Floydians like myself, drummer Nick Mason has delivered an interesting tome filled to the brim with pictures and stories. While we’re waiting to see if they ever get up the gumption to tour or do another album, this will fill in the gap a bit. (US)(UK)(CAN)
Audiobook of the Week: The Devil’s Teeth by Susan Casey. Do you dig sharks? A lot of people apparently dig sharks. Some people are even crazy enough to go seek out these creatures, but not none of me. Casey, though, is hooked on checking these creatures out, and this is her story. About how she watched a docu, got the notion in her head, and sought them out. The book is read by Casey herself, and interesting enough–especially if you’re into the sea and its denizens. Comes with some bonus images on the CD as well. (US)(CAN)
Graphic Novel of the Week: The Matrix Comics, Vol. 2 by Various. Didn’t like the final movie? Of course you didn’t. The only people who enjoyed the third movie were the Brothers Wachowski. But never fear: there’s actually some good stories to be told in that universe, so it hasn’t completely gone to waste. Here a slew of writers and artists descend upon that virtual reality in order to serve up some kickass original stories: Michael Oeming, Poppy Z. Brite, Tim Sale, Ted McKeever, Paul Chadwick, Bill Sienkiewicz, Dave Dorman and others. Some very cool stuff in here, it almost makes us feel better about this franchise. Almost. Handled in the UK by Titan. (US)(UK)(CAN)
Comic Book of the Week: Oddly Normal #2 by Otis Frampton. The comic is named for the girl–a ten-year-old girl whose parents mysteriously vanished in some kind of incident that may or may not be her fault. Her aunt takes her in–in meaning over to the world of Fignation, where her new classmates include vampires, ghosts and zombies. And she’s just as much an outcast there as she was back in the “real world.” Wonderful. And she’s got her very own Snape-esque teacher to deal with. Bonus! Seriously, though, this is a great comic for kids. The story is something they could relate to and the settings and characters will make it that much more interesting, not to mention Frampton’s cartoonish style. Definitely a winner. I’m wondering how we’re going to wrap everything up in two more issues. I smell a Volume Two. We wouldn’t mind at all.
Music CD of the Week: The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. Yeah, we weren’t big fans of the movie. But we are big fans of the soundtrack. Because let’s face it: Seu Jorge doing David Bowie covers in Portugeuse is priceless. There’s nothing quite like sitting there and saying, “What is…wait a minute…oh, Ziggy Stardust!” And look at this way: you can get all the goodness without having to sit through a disappointing flick. What a deal! (US)(UK)(CAN)
