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?
September 18, 2003
Book of the Week:
by Richard Ellis. Everyone knows that of the giant squid we, ah, know very little. At least comparatively
speaking. Author Ellis takes what we do know and outlines it well over the course of this book. Ellis includes
not only biological research from centuries ago as well as today, but also an overview of the mythology, along with the
cinematic and literary history of the beast. And, joyfully, when you get to a place where the knowledge ends, Ellis will
tell you flat out that we don't know rather than go off the deep end. No pun intended.
Audiobook of the Week:
by Elmore Leonard, performed by Taye Diggs. Leonard's back with a collection of stories from Harper Audio, starring some old
favorites like Karen Sisco (from Out of Sight) and
Raylan Givens (from Riding the Rap and Pronto). You get nine stories, all capably performed by Taye Diggs,
and all unabridged so you can get that Leonard drive intact.
Graphic Novel of the Week:
by Tony Bedard & Paul Pelletier. Science fiction turned up to eleven, it's one of my favorite CrossGen titles,
and if you're not following it--go back and grab the first trade and get caught up to speed now. Take extrauniversal
alien abduction and mixing it with The Great Escape on steroids, and you get a good idea of what we're talking about.
Simply can't be missed.
Comic Book of The Week:Smax #2
by Alan Moore & Zander Cannon. Considering how light this title seemed to be--taking Smax and Toybox from Top Ten
and placing them in Smax/Jeff's homeland, which is a whacked out amalgam of fairytales--the dark, dark turn the second issue
takes is surprising and sobering. It wouldn't have worked half as well without the bit of a cliffhanger at the end, a
wonderful "oh shit" moment like only Moore can deliver. God, where's my second season of Top Ten? The fates are
too cruel.
DVD Boxed Set of the Week:
. Richard Chamberlain's nine-hour mini-series back from 1980 (Jesus, we're all so damn old) now hits DVD,
courtesy of Paramount. And it's not bare bones, gratefully. No, it's got an extensive docu on the making of the series,
three historical featurettes, and the director is around to do screen-specific commentary. Did we have to remind you
Toshiro Mifune is in this one? Nah, didn't think so. Perfect length to spend a weekend with. Go to.
DVD of the Week:
. No, it's not the album. Actually, it's a making-of docu from Eagle Rock, over eighty minutes long, chocked
full with interviews of all four members from the band at the time, performances, acoustic versions of "Brain Damage" and
"Breathe," and even Alan Parsons (yes, the guy with the Project, he was the engineer) is there to take you through the
tapes of the sessions. How cool is that? If you love the album, get in under the hood with this disc.
CD of the Week:
by Miles Davis. Okay...there shouldn't be anybody on this site who hasn't at least heard the album. If nothing
else, everyone's heard "So What" even if they didn't immediately recognize it as Miles. But regardless, it's not like it's
a disc anybody in their right mind can get tired of. So we're advocating a musical return to the classics for this weekend.
And hey, the new version even comes complete with an alternate take of "Flamenco Sketches". So it's righteous and then
some.
Magazine of the Week:
. If you've been around for a while, you know that we were a huge fan of Might magazine, which was so
wonderfully sick we can't even begin to tell you. Sadly, shortly after we discovered it, it died--which is the case with
so many things we care for. But now, we've found this--which is like some bizarre evolved state of Might. I mean,
come on: the latest issue is the swimsuit issue featuring Einstein, Burroughs and Dali. It has an article entitled "Why
You Don't Know Anything About Ezra Pound" with a sidebar called "6 Degrees of Ezra Pound." Not to mention a bit entitled
"Pet or Meat?" for the easily confused. Wow, we think we're in love.
Book of the Week:
by Richard Ellis. Everyone knows that of the giant squid we, ah, know very little. At least comparatively
speaking. Author Ellis takes what we do know and outlines it well over the course of this book. Ellis includes
not only biological research from centuries ago as well as today, but also an overview of the mythology, along with the
cinematic and literary history of the beast. And, joyfully, when you get to a place where the knowledge ends, Ellis will
tell you flat out that we don't know rather than go off the deep end. No pun intended.
