Episode #120 for Men in Black 3 3D, in which our protagonist is happy to see the franchise get back to its roots, praises Josh Brolin for rocking a Young Tommy Lee Jones, and through another film entirely--comes to grips with his own impending mortality.

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Special thanks to PhantomV48 for the closing animation.

Previous episode here.

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Written by: Suzanne Collins, Billy Ray and Gary Ross, based on the novel by Collins
Directed by: Gary Ross
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks

Review: First off, no one is happier than me that child gladiatorial combat has become as popular as it is with this movie. But if you're going to go that route, why are you going to spend half your movie on dream sequences about bread instead of child-on-child brutality? And why is it okay for a movie to pit children against each other, but when I do it with the preschool class at that church on the corner, it's "an atrocity"? Mine turned out better than the movie, dammit.

Time: 22 seconds

• Click here to buy Hunger Games stuff from Amazon.

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If you, like me, thought that the most recent series of Doctor Who went south, I think there's little doubt now as to why: as cool as it must be to showrun Who, Moffat's clearly more in love with Sherlock. Just as Who sputtered and fell apart, Sherlock rocked the faces of everyone. This second series is just three feature-length episodes long but it's so good you won't care that it's over so quickly. This update-to-the-present day version gives you Benedict Cumberbatch delivering an incredible Sherlock that you'll be watching on the first viewing. I urge you, however, to watch it again for Martin Freeman. Upon subsequent viewings, once the stellar in-your-face awesome of the likes of Cumberbatch, Lara Pulver (Irene Adler) and Andrew Scott (Moriarty) have been seen and adjusted to, Freeman's wonderfully understated and pitch perfect Watson shines. "A Scandal in Belgravia" opens the season and is so good it pisses me off. The season closes with "The Reichenbach Fall" which is mind-blowing. Their "Hounds of Baskerville" is the low point of the three--it's not terrible but it definitely has a "Let's see how far we can stretch this modern day conceit" thing as well as taking Sherlock's mental powers to the point of deus ex machina. The Blu-Ray looks and sounds fantastic and you do have some bonus bits: a behind-the-scenes featurette and two commentary tracks. The first has Pulver and Cumberbatch along with Mark Gatiss and Moffat and crew on "Scandal," having a criminal amount of fun. The second is on "Hounds" with Russell Tovey on hand. I was hoping for Scott to join in on a commentary for the third episode but alas. Fans will want to own. Everyone else should at least watch and will probably wind up as fans. It's overall rather brilliant and highly recommended. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Here's a serious recommendation: if you dug the feature film version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, you owe it to yourself to see the original TV miniseries. The best way I can explain the difference is thus: the feature film is like the miniseries in concentrated form. You add some water (and the same level of thespian excellence but from old school late 70s Britain instead) and stir...and you've got it. And hot damn, but it's good. Again, the supporting cast is fantastic, but Sir Alec Guinness absolutely owns the role of George Smiley so well that you can see why Oldman played a similar version...not because he was ripping off Guinness or even necessarily paying him homage but simply because that's Smiley. The series is bloody brilliant. Enough gushing. What is the shot from this Acorn Media release: the whole series across two Blu-Ray discs. You get interviews with the director and author John le Carre plus deleted scenes. The only thing about the release is that the program itself has not been restored...so you're not getting a huge upgrade video and audio-wise. I believe the director interview is exclusive to the Blu-Ray, so you'll have to decide if that's worth the extra $16+ or so that the hi-def here is priced above the DVD. But spy fans will want to own it in some form or another. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

The 1998 24-part documentary maxi-series Cold War, originally broadcast on CNN, hits DVD from Warner Brothers. Narrated by Kenneth Branagh, it starts in 1917 laying the groundwork for the titular conflict that was to come. Using scads of archival footage and interviews, it lays out an array of subjects: Post World War II Europe; repressing contrary belief at home--on both sides; and the Space Race. It also comes with a vintage propaganda docu from 1952 and an extended interview with Castro. History buffs will want to give this a watch--how hardcore you are about history and the conflict this set covers will determine if it's a keeper or not. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Having grown up listening to The Beatles, it strikes me that I keep finding out things about George Harrison that I previously did not know. If you think about it, Paul's kept performing, Ringo's an ongoing character of his own devising, John's life and too early death has sort of kept him in the spotlight regardless...but George is a bit of a mystery. Look at the surface and you get, "That Beatle who got fascinated by the sitar. 'My Sweet Lord' is one of his, right?" So you must delve. George Harrison: Living in the Material World is definitely the product of Martin Scorsese delving. Grabbing enough interview and archival material to fill two DVDs--that's just for both parts of the docu--you get as much info as you could cram elegantly into one production. His time with The Beatles and the problems that occurred with living and playing in the shadow of Lennon/McCartney is covered, and his personal life is touched upon--as is his association with the Pythons. A great deal of never before seen material is here, making this a must-see for any Harrison/Beatles fan. You do have some bonus features with additional footage, but not a huge amount. There's going to be some aspect of his life that, even after viewing this docu, you're going to want to demand to know more about. I suspect George would have been okay with that. Fans will want to own. Everyone else owes it a watch. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

The final DVD release of the Ben 10: Ultimate Alien series has hit, with the last ten episodes of the second season here across two discs. He finds himself dealing with the alien conqueror Diagon and then an old friend (not-friend) returns towards the end to menace Ben and his actual friends once more. This is out to be ready for the new series to hit in June--and to Cartoon Network's credit, at least with this one they're putting out small sets, but doing them in order. This one clocks in at about $1.50 an episode, so that's not terrible. You only get alien files as a bonus feature, however. Ensure that you have the replay factor necessary to want to snag this now...but I don't know that we'll get better versions later on, so it's probably safe if you want to plonk coin. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Again, we look to the Warner Archive to bring Hanna-Barbera toons to Region 1 DVD and make lives harder for bootleggers at conventions everywhere. Here we have all thirteen episodes of Inch High, Private Eye. Voice veteran Lennie Weinrib plays High, who is exactly what his name says he is: a detective who, being literally an inch tall, can use that to his advantage in Fighting Crime. (Don't recognize the name of Weinrib? Three words: "Time for Timer." There you go.) With his niece Lori, her boyfriend Gator and Don Messick providing the voice of the dog (named Braveheart--no, really), they contend with getting fired from the Finkerton Detective Agency often. The release has no remastering or anything like that--nor bonus bits--but at $2 an episode, that's not bad considering. I would say rent it if you want to reacquaint yourself, but if you're a fan, this is the only game in town. No shame in restoring bits of your childhood to your DVD library. (Click here to buy it from the Warner Archive.)

Clueless was the film that put Alicia Silverstone on the map. I remember at the time some people were saying she was a dark horse for a Best Actress nom. And then I don't think she ever recovered from Batgirl. But to be fair: neither did we. But this was a simpler time: a high school film based on Austen's Emma in which Silverstone plays a matchmaker who stumbles into doing nice things for people and wants to keep doing them. And being the ditz she is, hijinks ensue. The film has a well-earned place in people's hearts, if not for the story or Silverstone, then for other actors, who many people met for the first time: among them Paul Rudd and the late Brittany Murphy. The Blu-Ray release here is a decent hi-def upgrade...but that improved audio and video is the only thing going: the array of small featurettes (among them a retrospective, one covering the script and others) were on the previous DVD release. There is a trivia game exclusive to the Blu-Ray, but those are never as much fun as they think they are. Hardcore fans of the film may want to upgrade, but if they don't already own: this one is only about $4 more, so going for hi-def seems fairly safe. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Things you should never do when trying to preserve a long term relationship: mail a sex tape of you--with someone else--to your girlfriend. Already, many males can feel better about themselves thinking about this. But then the madness continues unabated as a Road Trip begins to steal the tape before it can wind up in the girlfriend's hands. Worth checking out for Todd Philips, to check him out as he was working his way through decent comedies on his way to excellent comedies (The Hangover), or worth checking out for Seann William Scott, DJ Qualls or Tom Green (remember him?). It's here on a respectable Blu-Ray port of the previous unrated edition from DVD...only this time as a Best Buy exclusive. While the price is decent, if you do want this on your shelf bear in mind the previously released DVD is half the price. So decide just how much you need this in hi-def and act accordingly. (Click here to buy it from Best Buy.)

In Beautiful Wave, a young girl finds herself adrift (Jesus, I really don't mean to throw all these puns in here, sorry) after the death of her father. She is sent out to spend time with her grandmother and discovers a map of surf spots that leads her on a Surfing Quest. And because it's just that sort of film, she learns about herself, friendship, family and all the things one is supposed to learn about in a film that uses surfing as the backdrop for a coming of age tale. It's hard to tell who should have this film recommended to them--there are better surfing films that are better looking (indeed, the film doesn't look good enough in its hi-def outing so the surfing sequences, which might commend it, don't add much in the way of points). And it comes with no bonus bits. Rent it or Netflix it if you're a surfing completist. And please, please, people: he's Lance Henriksen. If you're going to credit what he's been in, Scream 3 should not be your first choice. I'm just saying. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

The original Dirty Dancing is a classic. I mean, it just is. Even if you don't give a crap about dancing (I don't), it managed to take what could have been a coming-of age story that we've seen a thousand times before and wrap it in excellent dance numbers and great music. And it had two solid leads who sold the entire thing, cheese and all. A Blu-Ray release of this is a no-brainer, and indeed, Lionsgate released it as such a couple of years back. In an attempt to get some more coin out of that release and knowing that the unnecessary more recent non-sequel/reworking of the film, Havana Nights, probably wouldn't sell on its own, they've released the two together in this collection. The original film does have a scad of bonus bits, including two commentaries, a location featurette, outtakes and tribute featurettes for those members of the cast we've lost. It's a decent array of stuff with a decent but not fantastic hi-def upgrade. The second film comes with a commentary, deleted scenes, multi-angle dance sequences and more. So who needs this? Well, bear this in mind: the "Limited Keepsake Edition" of the first film is still mysteriously available...and comes with a book...but from what I can tell, the book is all you're missing if you snag this version...and this version is about $10 cheaper. And no one can make you watch the second film if you don't want to pop it in. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Sometimes, you just want soldiers armored up to the teeth, fighting things. The back of the book Armored wisely invokes everything from Halo to Iron Man and well played, because what you have here from Baen is close to six-hundred pages of enhanced soldier-infused fiction. Among the usual suspects, you get folks like Simon Green, Jack Campbell, Daniel H. Wilson and Jack McDevitt. And the cover price is $7.99, which is pretty damn good for a mass market paperback (easily carried) that you can cart around and get your sci-fi fix. And it's edited by John Joseph Adams, the guy who brought you scads of Night Shade anthologies. If this is your bag, it's recommended. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Of course, with Avengers now destroying the box office, Lionsgate has two Blu-ray compendiums of previously released animated titles. The first is the Marvel Animated Features 3-Movie Collection, with Planet Hulk, The Invincible Iron Man and Doctor Strange. The Hulk adventure is based on the comic where they decided to shoot Hulk into space for the safety of mankind (previously, banishing him to an alternate dimension didn't work--not sure what they were thinking) and also so that they could turn him into a gladiator on an alien world (oh, right, that's what they were thinking). The story adheres as much as it can to the comic, following twists and changes regarding who owns the rights to what and whom, and probably won't piss off the faithful. The audio and video aren't stellar but it is stocked with bonus bits, including two audio commentaries, a making-of, some motion comics and more. The Iron Man feature predates the live action wonderment and probably would have gotten a better treatment if they had known what sort of juggernaut was coming. You get an origin story that ties in the Mandarin but doesn't really do anything superlative. I think it's mostly that I find the character design to be...I dunno, soft? Not sure how to put my finger on it. Again, serviceable audio and video but the main bonus bit is a short making-of that also involves the character's history. As for Dr. Strange, well, it's certainly better than the 70s TV movie. Again, I'm not crazy about the character design on it--it seems very, very Saturday morning to me--but you get the origin tale of the doctor whose injured hands end his career but send him on a quest that ultimately leads him to become the Sorcerer Supreme. You get the same sort of making-of/history featurette that came on the Iron Man release. All in all, if you did want to own these things, you're looking at $5/each, which isn't bad. But I would say rent them first to see if they warrant replay in your house. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Again, animation is my problem with the main two films in the Ultimate Avengers Movie Collection. It seems less Saturday morning and more afterschool, if you catch my meaning. In the first film, those pesky Chitauri (the new fangled Skrull) are up to no good and a team must be put together to stop them. I think this is probably familiar to you by now. In the followup, the Chitauri return and are after vibranium, which as we all know can be found at Wakanda. Which means The Black Panther and other hijinks ensue. My problem with basing films on the Ultimates series which are targeted at kids is that...a comic full of domestic abuse, sex and some really serious impressive violence is not one I think kids should be reading. Call me a conservative weirdo, but...well, kids don't need to see Giant Man beat up the Wasp. Anyway, main thing bonus-wise, you get a history of the characters in a featurette and also a discussion of the Ultimate reboot. I rather enjoyed Next Avengers--it seems much more in line with a decent kids flick and something that could easily be a series. After the Avengers died at the hands of Ultron, their descendents were kept safe but can't be kept safe forever. So now they get to suit up. It did not suck, honestly. I think only the hardcore would want to own these but the curious might want to rent them. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

It's hard to recommend stand-up, I find. Because the comedy either works for you or it doesn't. And once I got rid of cable, due to time restraints, that random finding of stand-up specials or clip shows places to sample things...that went away. So I really haven't gotten a lot of exposure to Patton Oswalt. I see now my mistake. His latest special hits DVD from Comedy Central, Finest Hour, and his rant about how liking a book (The Bible) doesn't mean he gets a Green Lantern power ring might be one of my favorite things I've heard this month. He covers other subjects like the lack of a William S. Burroughs for sugar (genius and true) and the trouble with the Spam Museum. Bonus bits include an encore, a still gallery of stuff, and Patton's "pre-show superstitions." Worth a rental most definitely, but fans of Patton will want to own. My mistake has been corrected. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.

There are people who "get" Tim & Eric. I tried to get on board--have tried multiple times--and it's just not for me. But to each their own kit. Here in Tim & Eric's Billion Dollar Movie, they accept a billion dollars to make a movie, waste it, and need to get it back before Robert Loggia kills them (a palpable threat). Their scheme to get the money back involves trying to get a dying (or completely dead) mall back on its feet. Anyone familiar with their antics can imagine the wolves, pizza and slightly odd humor that ensues. While this isn't a screaming-for-hi-def sort of film, it does look pretty damn good, I must admit. It also has a nice stack of bonus bits, including a commentary from the guys themselves, deleted and extended scenes, interviews, promos, and a "Shrim Dance" screensaver. Yes. Fans will probably want to own this as it's nicely bonused out--but if their TV shows didn't work for you, this probably won't either. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

There is something glorious in the trailers of old. They are cinematic posterity in a capsule. You watch for a couple of minutes and you can get a taste of so much on a cinematic era in one fell swoop: the film itself, the style, the acting, the music, the attitudes and, sometimes best of all, the style of advertising. And no moreso than in an array of mad blaxploitation, grindhouse, horror and other trailers...the sort that hits Blu-Ray thanks to Synapse on their 42nd Street Forever collection. This is a Greatest Hits of sorts for previous DVD releases along these same lines. And there's also a commentary with reps from AVManiacs.com, Fangoria and Temple of Schlock. It's a "coffee table" Blu-Ray...you probably won't want to sit down and watch it straight through (not without friends and a lot of alcohol), but you can throw it in and get some joy. Some of the titles that are represented here? Werewolves on Wheels. Chained Heat. Flesh Gordon. Savage! Dr. Tarr's Torture Dungeon. Classic. The only thing you're missing are some of the radio commercials for these titles...they are a hoot as well, let me assure you. This is worth a rental for just about anybody but the hardcore enthusiast for film posterity might want to seriously consider owning. Sure, you could find most of these on YouTube...but having them from the finest source material on hi-def? Yeah, plonk this next to your David Attenborough collections, I say. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

I don't know how I missed the sub-sub-genre known as nunsploitation. I don't say that because I have some sort of weird Chicks in Habits Behaving Badly fetish. I have just, you know, seen a few films (of all sorts) in my time. Maybe I was aware of it and put it out of my mind. No idea. Regardless, another entry into this category is Killer Nun, hitting Blu-Ray from Blue Underground. The shot is this: Anita Ekberg plays a nun who is having health problems--specifically splitting headaches. Everybody tells her she's fine. Trouble is, she's not. She keeps going into terrible states of mind that leads her down a path of sex and murder and then more murder! This release looks about as good as a hi-def version of an Italian flick from 1979 is going to. The bonus bits here are the same as the DVD release: an interview with the director and the trailer. If you already own this, rent the Blu-Ray before double dipping to ensure you need the upgrade. If you don't, I would say rent it regardless and make sure you need it on your shelf. Who knows? Maybe you're a nunsploitation completist. We don't judge. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Here's a test. This Warner Archive release is Flareup, in which Raquel Welch plays a go-go dancer who sees a friend get murdered and becomes the murderer's next target. What was the test? Some fans of the actress stopped reading at the words "plays a go-go dancer." And no shame in that--this is late 60s Raquel Welch here. Kids, ask your parents...if you are old enough to do so. But yes, that's the gist: Welch on the run from a killer, the chase going from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. The DVD is a Region 1 legit release and Manufactured on Demand, so you're not getting any bonus bits nor should you expect it to be crystal clear or whatnot (though the website lists it as "newly remastered," I guess it is, you know, a 1969 film and you can only do so much). That being said, the Welch completist will want to snag this--if you have any doubts, rent it before plonking coin. (Click here to buy it from the Warner Archive.)

Ann Sothern is Maisie, a showgirl whose adventures spanned ten films and a radio show from 1939 to 1947. She starts off in Wyoming having to deal with romance, a suspected murder and other such intrigue. The first film is Maisie, of course, and she goes on to Africa in Congo Maisie, goes prospecting for gold in Gold Rush Maisie (no connection to the series, Rox--sorry), winds up (through a series of hijinks) as a maid in Maisie Was a Lady, and lastly (in this set) we get Ringside Maisie, where she winds up as part of a boxing love triangle. The set, Collection Vol. 1, is the Region 1 debut of these titles and is worth checking out for Sothern...although there's no bonus bits to help justify owning for anyone other than the hardcore fan. Assuming the rights were available, one of the radio shows would have been awesome--or, apparently there was a TV movie pilot in the 60s? Either way, some context for this series, which most modern film viewers were unaware of, would have been warranted. But either way, check out the first film and see if you want to roll with it from there. (Click here to buy it from the Warner Archive.)

Speaking as someone who was born in one of the Madison Counties that dot the United States, I can honestly say I never ran into anybody with a Pig Head. But yes, Damien is the masked killer of the film and he runs around in a style that give us a fantastic adjective (per the back of the DVD box): "hog-masked." So Madison County is about a guy who's seeking out the author of a book on a particular serial killer...and goes to the serial killer's stomping grounds along with some friends. Which is already fishy: if you know so much about a killer, why would you be in the same area code with him? Anyway, Hog Mask attacks, there's some backwoods brutality and college co-eds will suffer. If you want a slasher flick, then this Image Entertainment release should be right up your alley. It actually comes with some bonuses as well: an audio commentary with the director and producers plus a Q&A. If this is your genre of choice, then give it a rental and I think you'll be sated. I just came up with fifteen different hog-related jokes and vetoed every single one of them. You're welcome. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

So your reaction to a remake of the Troma Mother's Day is probably the same as mine: whoa, Rebecca De Mornay is playing the mother in that? Because you're probably, like me, expecting them to run in some direction of the backwoods brutality that the original film brought to the table. However, I guess figuring that that particular subgenre might be played out: they've taken the name and pretty much...nothing else. They've shifted the action into a home invasion thriller with added gore and violence. Those additional bits are probably no surprise, considering the director has three Saw films under his belt. Fans of De Mornay will definitely want to check it out, as she rules the film (as you might expect). But it's more of a rental or Netflix opportunity than anything else overall. The hi-def presentation looks and sounds good, and the DVD/Blu-Ray combo is only $5 than the DVD solo. So there's that. And the one bonus is a commentary with the director along with actor Shawn Ashmore. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Playback just shows you should be careful what you watch. Because that's how a high school senior, fascinated by a series of murders in his town's past, winds up unleashing an evil power that wants to use him for its own evil ends. Because that's generally what happens when you're fixated on murders of the past--evil gets hold of you. Or something like that. Something that, again, probably should be for the far end of your "I've depleted my Netflix queue" scenario, it's probably not going to need to be included on anyone's shelf--even one owned by the Christian Slater completist. Bonus bits are a short behind-the-scenes bit and a photo gallery. The hi-def presentation is decent, and it's only $3 more than DVD. Snag this on the cheap if you absolutely must. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Reality TV. It had to start somewhere, yes? Well, the grandparents of Big Brother and its ilk can be found in Cinema Verite. The story is this: in the early 70s, a producer (James Gandolfini) came up with an idea: find an American family and convince said family to let a camera crew document their lives. I know, what a wacky notion, right? Well, he found them in the Louds (Tim Robbins and Diane Lane) and the rest is television history: a family under the microscope has to figure out if they can get through the experience without completely falling apart. The film itself is worth checking out not only for the performances, but also for anyone interested in a window to how we got to where television is bloody riddled with reality TV. Major bonus bit is a commentary with the director and also Lane. Worth watching but uncertain about replay factor as far as a full-on purchase goes. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

If you were amazed at the puppetry of the stage version of War Horse and feeling a bit bummed at the feature film version (real horses, not awesome puppets), then you might want to snag War Horses of WWI. The docu hits DVD from BFS and clocks in at just under an hour but it spends it well. The shot is that horses were drafted into military service in WWI from all over Britain because you just couldn't find a better way of hauling, sending messages around and also of course being mounts for the cavalry. Here you get information on how this was handled, and they talk to some people who were there when the horses were taken as well as some veterans. The price is around $16 at the moment--and that's not terrible--but with no bonuses you'd need to be hardcore into WWI history to want to own. Rental should probably suffice. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

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This podcast generally covers music and other transgressions. This month's episode stars Dr. Rob Levy in the chair with Prof. Tuffley and Widge providing backup.

This episode's central topic is...ticket purchasing for live music events. Why is it such a pain in the ass? Also we remember Levon Helm, Earl Scruggs and Dick Clark. We talk Axl Rose vs. The Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, Weird Al vs. his label and Courtney Love vs. reality. Also, we check in with Record Store Day to see how it's holding up.

Download audio file (soundboard29.mp3)

Special thanks to Hyperbubble for our lead-in music. Show them love and buy their stuff.

If you have music you want to bring to our attention, ping us at sound board at (this domain).

To find Tuffley's Randomizer and other Spotify playlists, go here. And you can find him on Twitter here.

And to find Rob Levy at KDHX, go here. And his personal blog is here. And his Twitter is here.

BTW, you iTunes subscriber types can nab our overall podcast feed here. If you like us, why not rate us? We don't bite. Mostly. Or if you want to do something else with it, the feed feed is here.

For those just wanting to subscribe to The Sound Board, you can do that here. iTunes feed is here.

To download this episode directly, The Sound Board #29: Two Tickets to Paradise (Plus Service Charges), then do that thing. Previous episode can be found here.

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As an artist and craftsperson myself, I find Etsy to be a remarkable marketplace because there is not only something for everyone to be found there, but also the widest range of artistic endeavors, from beautiful creations that would be at home in a grand palace to things that would scare my dog. If you're interested in the latter, Regretsy is an excellent resource for the WTF items found there. Always excited about good art, however, I prefer looking at the amazing-in-a-good-way items. There's just a ton of good art and craft out there, and it should be shared and enjoyed.

So here we are. Each week I'm going to stop in and share some things that caught my eye.

This week's first pick is from an artist who lives in Germany, near an area where Grimm's Seven Dwarves apparently resided (which is pretty cool). The Curious Printery specializes in Victorian-era images printed onto pages from antique books. They have many mind-boggling collaged images, but this was the one that first caught my eye: Lady vs. Octopus Kraken. I'm a sucker for antique and vintage items to begin with, but the subject matter of this collage is just fabulous. Not only is our very proper heroine going up against a giant octopus (who inexplicably is not located in any body of water), but she's about to face it with a bow and arrow. Perhaps she was Hawkeye's great-grandmother. Whatever her background, I'm betting she'll win this battle.

Last (but not least) for this week are Jolie Marche's gorgeous printed French-inspired burlap and cotton pillow covers, all handmade in her studio in Tennessee. This peacock one is the first one I found, but there are many varied designs, mostly flora and fauna--all of which I want for my house. She does custom sizes of her designs as well.

There are so many excellent independent artists in the world, and with the convenience of shopping online these days, check out some of the good stuff on Etsy and other craft sites next time you need a gift for someone or just want to bring some beauty or whimsy into your life. And hey, if you find something you like, let me know about it in the comments.

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Photo of Jared Axelrod, by J.R. Blackwell.

A few weeks back, I hadn't slept well in days, and I came up with and posted the following:

STUPID IDEA ALERT! I'm REALLY FUCKING TIRED and so offering to creatives on my list SLEEP DEPRIVED INTERVIEWS!

Want to talk about your upcoming project release? Well cool! We might do that! Or I could spend several minutes asking you about what you see in specific directions, in the room you're in! WHO KNOWS?!

I know a few people working on things, but this goes out to Anybody on my friends list.

BUT BE AWARE BEFORE YOU SAY YES: I am VERY serious about this being completely chaotic. I'm VERY tired, w/ a shit ton to do, & need to keep my mind active.

ALTERNATELY! Anyone can interview me. About what? WHO KNOWS! I got lots going on. Same goes for my answers as my questions, so... Yeah.

Two people took me up on my offer, while I still had the steam, wit, and coherency to actually do anything with them, and I've two more folks waiting for the next time I feel sleep-dep'd and chatty, so expect a few of these, in the the coming weeks.

First up, we have Mr. Jared Axelrod, "an author, an illustrator, a graphic designer, a sculptor, a costume designer, a podcaster and quite a few other things that he's lost track of but will no doubt remember when the situation calls for it. He is a founding member of the daily flash-fiction website 365 TOMORROWS, and the writer and producer of two science-fiction podcasts, 'The Voice Of Free Planet X' and the serial 'Aliens You Will Meet.' He is not domestic, he is a luxury, and in that sense, necessary."

Here's what Happened when Mr. Axelrod Consented to this insanity:

Jared Axelrod: Let's do this! I am ready to be sleep-deprived-interviewed! Is it cool if we do this via Twiiter? I'm out and about.

Wolven: "Is it cool..." he says. OF COURSE it's cool! For the record, what is your name, quest, and favourite color?

JA: Jared Axelrod, to tell all the stories taking up space in my brain, and red.

W: Also, if memory serves, you just got the advance copy of your "Battle of Blood and Ink" [Now Available At Retailers Everywhere--also Amazon]. Tell us a little about how that felt and, if possible, describe the experience in some kind of non-cupcake-related pastry metaphor.

JA: Amazing. I still breathe heavy when I hold it, it's so exciting. It's got Library of Congress info in it! How cool is that? Like being presented with a stack of pancakes after smelling them all morning. Except by "morning" I mean "6 years."

W: Masterfully done. To switch gears a bit, what's the main principle of story telling, for you? Beyond "Tell Good Stories," of course. What I mean is, do you have any Particular Type of thing you want your stories to accomplish in the world?

JA: The reason I write is to tell stories that aren't in the world already. That aren't saying something that I feel needs to be said. This is why I'm not really interested in writing Batman despite my love for the character. There's plenty of Batman stories already. Just by me putting them out there, they are filling a hole that I saw in the world. Beyond that I also like them to be entertaining. Stories are different. BATTLE OF BLOOD & INK is about community involvement. WAY OF THE DODO is about not letting others define you. COMRADE COCKROACH Is about the what is takes to succeed, after a lifetime of failure.

W: I like that idea. It's a good ethos for story creation. New topic: Look 4 inches in front of your left foot: Describe what you see. I've been a big fan of your Comrade Cockroach comics, actually. I love the determination and the will that character embodies.

JA: My bills and tax info, snug in their files. He is such a fun character to write. Again, he came out of a hole I perceived in the universe. Somehow, the concept of Batman has moved from "man who is good at everything" (my favorite) to "man who doesn't give up." OF COURSE he doesn't give up. In 70 years of stories he's lost, what? Once? Why would he give up? Why wouldn't he think he'd win? Clearly it would be more interesting to see someone who doesn't give up despite constant failure. And thus sprang the Cockroach!

W: Right, and even in the face of the kinds of things which OTHER people would regard as defeat, he's like, "Nah. Temporary setback."

JA: Exactly. He's never had a failure. Nor should he. I don't want to read a Batman story where he loses. That has no appeal to me. Which is one of the many, many reasons why UNDER THE RED HOOD is the worst animated Batman film. But I digress. #CmonBlackMask

W: That answers perfectly 1 of my next 2 questions, (Where does Comrade Cockroach come from?). So 2) What're taxes like for you? As a creator, I mean. Are they just a necessary evil? Or are they something you can use to remind yourself of What You Do?

JA: My day job takes care of most of my taxes, but I make sure to save a good chunk of my fiction money for the ones that apply to that. I should really get an accountant, because it's becoming more and more complex with each year. Last year was the first year I put "Writer" on a secondary income, and that was pretty awesome.

W: I had what I'd guess is a similar feeling when I got accepted to my 1st international conference. Like "it's Really For Real, now." Shifting topics: What music are you listening to, right now? Do you listen to music when you write/make comics?

JA: My wife and I have been in a sad place recently, so there's been lots of Adele and Tom Waits in the house.

W: I read about that. I'm sorry for your loss. There's not much that helps you inhabit & work through a Down Mood like Adele & Waits

JA: Everything FABLES OF THE FLYING CITY-related was written listening to the 2 Guy Ritchie SHERLOCK HOLMES soundtracks. Movie soundtracks are the best to write to. INCEPTION. TRON:LEGACY. RAVENOUS. GANGS OF NEW YORK. All the BATMAN movies. Also, P.O.S.'s "Never Better" album. Usually lyrics are distracting but I've listened to that album so much, I know them all anyway.

W: Kind of an "inhabiting the epic" idea?

JA: The whole point of film soundtracks is to elevate the mood. Which is very useful if the mood you're writing is being elusive. Plus, if you're writing something historical, it's nice if someone else has done the period sound research for you.

W: Good point. What's the most interesting sound you associate w/ "Fables of the Flying City?" What do you hear when you think of it?

JA: Why, gainscwa's theme, of course. Especially the end with the plane noises.

W: Hah! Of course. Well, we're going to pull this to a close, so 1) Where else can people find you? 2) Favourite Lovecraftian horror (and why)? & 3) Anything else at all you want to say?

JA: 1) http://www.jaredaxelrod.com/main/ http://www.jaredaxelrod.com/cockroach/ and http://www.fablesoftheflyingcity.com/

2) Shuggoths, natch

Photo, 'Yes, That's Definatly A Shuggoth,' by Kyle Cassidy.

3) This has been great. We should really do it again.

W: Agreed! Mr. Axelrod, if you ever find yourself in Atlanta--say, around Dragon*Con--let me know. We'll do this in person. ;)

JA: Fantastic!

• Click here to buy Jared Axelrod stuff from Amazon.
• Click here to buy Fables of the Flying City stuff from Amazon.

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Episode #119 for Battleship, in which our protagonist give you some time facts about when things start to happen (or at least when they stop not-happening), thinks they had a better movie on their hands than they knew what to do with, and wishes that a certain animal from another movie would have made a cameo to spice things up.

Direct link for the feedreaders. Downloadable iPod version here.

Want to subscribe to our Wayhomers as a video podcast? Here's your link.

Want to subscribe to all our video podcasts in one fell swoop? Here's your link.

Special thanks to PhantomV48 for the closing animation.

Previous episode here.

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Download audio file (wjustice051812.mp3)

Agenda:

Headsup: There's new Weekend Justice gear as well in the Zazzle store.

Thanks to Jon from The Unique Geek for helping us sound good.

As always, special thanks go out to Clutch for letting us use their absolutely badass song, "Promoter (of earthbound causes)" as our theme music for this.

Buy Blast Tyrant, which is where you can find "Promoter". Buy their latest album, Strange Cousins from the West. Send them love and coin.

BTW, you iTunes subscriber types can nab the feed for all Need Coffee podcasts here. Weekend Justice only? Get that here. If you like us, why not rate us? We don't bite. Mostly.

Or if you want to do something else with it, the feed feed for all our podcasts is here. And just Weekend Justice is here.

To download this episode directly, Your Weekend Justice #160: Non-Creepy Hugs and Sandwiches, then do that thing. For the previous episode, click here.

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David Bowie, standing in for Tesla. He too has Wizard Eyes.

Thanks to The Oatmeal, the world now knows that Nikola Tesla had what the kids at "Adventure Time!" aptly termed Stanky Old Wizard Eyes*.

And, really, is that surprising? The man was a Ghat Danged LIGHTNING WIZARD. In an age when people were still using the fart stank residue from oil wells to light their homes, Nikola Tesla created wireless electrical transmission and used it in his house. He showed off his ability to create ball lightning to his friend Mark Twain. And then...!

I mean... Just... WHAT THE HELL, people?!

I tell you this, for free: If I had a time machine, the first thing I'd do is go forward in time, dig up Tesla's corpse from the monument at which I'll have it buried, then I'd go back in time to the moment of Tesla's "death." I'd swap out his corpse for him, and bring him back to the present, where Modern-Day medical tech--much of which owes its existence to him--could revive and nurse him back to health. Just so he could SEE it, you know? Just so he could take it all in, and understand how much we rely on even the smallest of his works, and so he could do maybe ONE last thing with that mind of his.

That's what I'd use a time machine for. Yes.

Just Go read the comic. I can almost guarantee you'll learn something new, and even if you don't, it's an hilarious and touching tribute to one of the most amazing minds the world has ever known.

*Explained:

Direct link for the feedreaders.

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The Yankee Pedlar Inn is going to be closing its doors soon. You might not have heard of the Inn before, but that's probably because you're not into lists like "The Most Haunted Hotels in New England" and stuff like that. Because this would be on there. Before the place shuts down for good, the two last employees are going to try and sort out what's behind all the ghostly hullaballoo if it kills them. Cue sinister laughter. All seriousness aside, The Innkeepers is pretty much what you would want from a haunted hotel flick. So many horror films are busy trying to reinvent or subvert the genre--which is fine and to be commended--but director Ti West's film shows up to do its thing and then just does it. The Blu-Ray presentation here is actually pretty choice--you know I'm big on "Not everything has to be Blu-Ray," but I can tell that the audio and video here are a cut above. You get two commentaries as your centerpiece bonusness: one with the director and crew and one with the director and the two main stars. You also get a short behind the scenes featurette. Horror fans will want to give it a rental and then plonk coin as necessary. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Ah, Synapse films. You're constantly bringing me films I've never heard of and I have to wonder how in the hell I missed them. Especially when they have films like this, one of my favorites in recent memory, Thou Shalt Not Kill...Except. It's bad when you come back injured from Vietnam. Then you find your ex-girlfriend has been kidnapped by an insane cult leader who likes to torture people. But you are a soldier. And you have buddies. And there are guns. Therefore, mayhem. That's...pretty much the long and short of it. Oh, except that director Sam Raimi plays the lunatic cult leader. Fantastic. This being a Synapse release, the Blu-Ray looks better than a low budget flick from the 80s has any right to. And the features are fantastic: the original short, entitled "Stryker's War," which stars some guy named Bruce Campbell. There's also a making-of; two audio commentaries featuring the director, the star and Campbell; a new interview with Campbell; a deleted scene with optional commentary and more. If that level of insanity sounds like you're thing, it's definitely worth a watch. Especially for fans of Evil Dead alumni. And at $18.99 currently, if you decide to purchase, there is definitely no shame for a presentation like this. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

So you, like me, might be asking yourself what in the hell is up with a movie called The Wicker Tree, when it's very obviously tied to the classic horror flick The Wicker Man and we've been burned by a remake. Wow, seriously no pun intended there. Anyway, because The Law of Trilogies states that every film is "intended" to be part of a trilogy, original Wicker director Robin Hardy created this as a follow-up/side film to the original, based on his novel Cowboys For Christ. So it shares themes with the original. The shot is that two young folks decide to spread their Christian faith to rural Scotland. And if you've seen the original, I'm sure you can guess that that was probably a bad idea. For multiple reasons. Anyway, what you've got is something worth watching for fans of the original or for people who are Christopher Lee completists. The Blu-Ray presentation from Anchor Bay is quite decent, though the bonus bits are a little slim: a short making-of and some deleted scenes. Rent it first and then decide if the replay value warrants purchase. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

American Dad returns from Fox with its seventh DVD release, comprising all nineteen episodes of its sixth season. From an animation enjoyment perspective, I've never recovered from Family Guy's Monkey's Paw-like resurrection. And this was the spinoff that followed it, so it's not really worked for me from jump. I think what we're seeing is MacFarlane trying to make a transition to non-television work with stuff like this summer's Ted, which I'm sure is eating up a lot of his time...but hey, more power to him--that actually looks funny. But regardless, what you have here is what fans will want: a lot of the same. In this set, they hit their magic 100th episode, test parenting skills via cloning, try out marriage counseling, and get into a war with Santa. The set has some decent features: nine audio commentary tracks, a Patrick Stewart appreciation featurette, deleted scenes and their 2010 Comic-Con panel. Fans may want to consider owning--the price point of about $1.50 an episode is not too shabby for having it on one's shelf. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

I'm assuming that if you already own all the superlative Peanuts releases, you might be looking at something like Happiness is...Peanuts: Team Snoopy. The main feature, Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown, is a standalone special involving the gang's sport of choice, baseball, and the ins and outs of being a team manager--and being Charlie Brown. There's also an episode from the Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show. The entire thing, altogether, clocks in at 48 minutes for roughly $15. This is a better deal that what you would pay for the special on DVD--currently twice that amount. However, you can buy the entirety of the Show--all the episodes--for about $28 from Amazon Instant Video--which isn't available on DVD at all. And then rent or Netflix the special. Which makes much more sense. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Tom and Jerry: Around the World is another compilation DVD of the titular cat and mouse, putting twenty-two episodes across one disc for what is, at the time of this writing, a little more than $.50 an episode price point. And you've got a blend of classic cartoons and more recent entries from the Tom and Jerry Tales program. And yes, it is, if you haven't already caught on, a themed collection regarding them running all over the globe. Here's the thing, though: if you have a kid that wants some cat and mouse mayhem, spend a little extra coin. The entire first season of Tales--that's thirteen full episodes, not just segments (which are the bits that appear on here)--a two-disc set--is currently available for less than $11. And the first volume of the Golden Collection is available--on Blu-Ray--for less than $24. That's thirty-seven classic shorts. So, granted, the second season of Tales isn't available as a set yet, but full seasons or collections are better than compilations like this. Upgrade a bit and get more for your rugrats. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

The third Flicka movie is out with Clint Black back in the saddle again (yeah, sorry) in Country Pride. There's a family ranch/stable in trouble. They have a chance to win an equestrian event if only the daughter can get over the loss of her father and also get literally back in the saddle again. Can she overcome the jealousy of a rival and find true love and win? Can her mom also find true love and not lose her ranch? What do you think? It's a direct to video family-friendly horse movie. You are most assuredly getting what the cover implies. Smiling people. Horse. Horse riding. Currently it's available for rental from Amazon for just $4...so while the hi-def presentation isn't shabby, this doesn't scream hi-def to me. Also, you've got just a couple of short featurettes for bonuses, so not much there to commend it either. Rent it if you must.

Speaking as someone who doesn't watch television--and by that, I mean I don't just sit down and turn it on--when I'm in front of it there has to be a reason--I find it fascinating that more and more shows feel like the visual equivalent of a graphic novel. What I mean by that is: it's much easier and more rewarding, it seems, to "buy the trade," or in this case, "buy the DVD." Then you can sit down and blow through it at your own pace--wait a week for a new episode? What, are you on crack? I'm glad I watched The Wire that way and Treme leans that direction as well. It's just easier to digest, what with all the characters and plotlines--if you can watch at your own pace. Over the course of the season, the characters struggle to rebuild, to just flat out build, to pursue their goals (musical or otherwise) and exist in a Post-Soft-Apocalyptic city. The four-disc set here has all eleven episodes plus an array of bonus bits: an in-episode bit that will give you info about the music as the episode plays; a Q&A with folks from Tulane University plus the creators along with actor Clarke Peters; a food featurette; a featurette about the Mardi Gras Indians; four audio commentaries; and music commentaries on each episode. I would say rent it for a watch-through and then see if the replay value is there for you. Some people are good having seen things once, some like them to sit on their shelf for just such a revisiting occasion. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

The first thing that strikes me about W./E. is simply a practical one: it's a bitch to look up. Gmail--when I was looking for the press release a while back--couldn't even locate it. That's not a reason to bash the film itself, just an observation...but one that leads into something. Stand by. Madonna's directorial debut involves the romance of Edward VIII with commoner Wallis Simpson. In case you didn't catch the bit from The King's Speech, Edward abdicated his throne because he wanted to be with Simpson and the Church opposed remarrying unless you were widowed. This is the story of the two of them as well as a modern woman fascinated with the story and dealing with issues of her own. It's not the definitive film on the subject, but like the title, it's the sort of thing a first-time director might do, warts and all. The Anchor Bay Blu-Ray has decent audio and video, and considering it was nommed for a Costume Design Oscar, you would want it to look good. The sole bonus bit is a making-of featurette. Even if you're a huge fan of the history, I would recommend giving it a rental before making the decision to purchase or not. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

World War II is a subject I find particularly fascinating. Probably because it seems like I find out some new, wild and interesting fact every few months. And considering how shabby the history classes were/are in Alabama schools, it's amazing I left them knowing who the primary protagonists and antagonists in the conflict were. Be that as it may, one badass thing I knew nothing about--and it appears neither did a lot of people--is the subject of Garbo the Spy, which is hitting DVD from First Run Features. How do you know you're a badass spy? You wind up getting decorated by both sides in the conflict. Juan Pujol Garcia convinced the Germans he was running a network of informants and agents and thus was able to feed all kinds of bullshit to the Axis. This includes running interference that allowed for the successful staging of D-Day. This docu is pretty stunning and recommended for at the very least a rental by anybody who's into World War II or just spies in general. Bonus bits include a fairly extensive interview with intel expert Nigel West, a WWII training film (these are always retro gold) and more. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

The Hitler Chronicles is a four-disc set from First Run, collecting four different docus about, well, guess. You start off--or I would, anyway--with Hitler: A Career, which takes you through what the title implies. An older docu, it still breaks down--in less than three hours--the life of the man. This sets you up for The Architecture of Doom: it's known that Hitler was a failed artist. Some have even said that had he succeeded in his art, he would never have gone into politics. So this docu explores what role art had in shaping Hitler's mad perspective. Then we have The Top Secret Trial of the Third Reich, covering the 1944 failed assassination attempt on Hitler using some actual footage. One of my favorites just because I've always been fascinated with the What If? nature of the numerous attempts to take Hitler out. And lastly, Dear Uncle Adolf, with an idea so elegant (and somewhat frightening) that it had to wait for the letters to be discovered before it could happen. Yes, the mail Hitler received, read out by actors. Sort of a fascinating glimpse into just what was happening in the minds of people while all this madness was playing out. The boxed set itself is what the cost of about two of these docus alone would be...but I would say if you're a WWII historical enthusiast, it's worth renting, then check it for replay value. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Talking again about spies, we have The Man Nobody Knew: In Search of My Father, CIA Spymaster William Colby, also out on DVD from First Run. And yes, no lie, the filmmaker is Carl Colby. The senior Colby started off with the OSS in World War II working to sabotage the Nazis and then on through his career until he finally ended up running the CIA. And then what happened after that. So you get a balance of the history of American intelligence with the mystery of a man who was separated from his family, even though they were around. It's a pretty big deal when some of the talking heads you have on hand are Bob Woodward and Donald Rumsfeld. Again, it's a docu that will be of interest to those wanting the history of spying in this country...and probably for general fans of good docus as well. The DVD does have extra scenes, as well as an interview with the younger Colby. Worth a watch...if you're hardcore, rent and then see if the replay factor will enable you to buy. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Funnily enough, just the other night I was comparing "How I Discovered Ministry" notes with someone. For me, it was coming across the Jesus Built My Hotrod CD single in Sunburst Records and saying, "What the hell is this?" I bought it, took it home and was not disappointed. What we have here is Fix, the Ministry docu that gives you the history, the backstage tour footage, the dirty laundry and plenty of context from folks like Trent Reznor and Maynard. I find it interesting to see Trent discussing someone who hasn't walked away from the madness like Al, especially since now Trent is busy getting nominated for Oscars and such. Regardless, the fan of the band will want to at least rent this for the feature alone. Bonus bits, though, exist: a second disc is a CD of music by ex-Ministry-er Paul Barker plus an array of additional interview footage. This is out from Gigantic Pictures. Again, fans should give it a watch and decide if they need this on their shelf next to copies of the Just One Fix CD single and Filth Pig. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Talk about a perfect storm of things that get me jazzed. Peter Gabriel. Realworld Records. Orchestra-infused re-workings of songs to turn them around and make them awesome in a new form. That's what you get with the two-disc release of Live Blood, featuring Gabriel with the "New Blood Orchestra." (We've previously talked about the DVD release.) Just when you think certain songs can't get bigger or more powerful, check out "The Book of Love" and "San Jacinto." And even something like "Intruder," which kicks things off (and is a great song, don't get me wrong)...I never considered it could get wide and enormous. But of course, something about an orchestra just does that. I actually prefer this--and I think Gabriel's in better form--to some earlier Gabriel live sets (Segways, anyone?). And I prefer this to the DVD because this is the sort of thing I'd rather hear than watch. I'd recommend this for any Gabriel fan...though I think any fan of orchestral work will want to give it a listen. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

In the wake of the zombie craze, you're going to get all manner of low budget films playing with it. This is known. And demonstrated. It doesn't take much to drop zombies (or zombie equivalents) into any setting you might have access to, since zombies are just people with messy makeup on (for the most part). And it's especially good for the budget if you limit your scope and setting. Hence, The Terror Experiment makes sense when you take the zombies-in-a-building thing and put the zeds down below and the survivors up top with no way to get down. Apparently, a guy decides to kick off a terrorist act by revealing the existence of a bioweapon that creates the equivalent of zombies...and gives it its debut by setting it off in a federal building. Hijinks ensue. Not up there with stuff like [REC], for example--this is one of those that you might decide to grab when your Netflix queue is shallow. Sole bonus bit is a commentary with the executive producer/director. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

One of the strengths of horror anthology films is that hey, if you're not digging one segment, just hang out and another will present itself shortly. That's the situation with The Theatre Bizarre, out from Image Entertainment. A woman goes into a theatre and is presented (by Udo Kier, who you think is creepy without makeup...just wait) with six stories of the weird and fantastic. Of note, two of the segments are directed by Richard Stanley (Hardware) and Tom Savini. They handed each director a budget, a schedule and the theme of 'Grand Guignol' and let them go nuts. And they did. The DVD also comes with commentary from the directors, interviews and behind the scenes material. If the notion of an anthology works for you, it's worth a rental. Just be aware...if you've got an issue with needles and eyeballs, well. You've been warned. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Waking the Titanic is a sort of generic-sounding title for a docu that manages to do something that--with all the Titanic-mania after the 100th anniversary of the tragedy plus the film before (and during)--I figured wasn't possible. Bring up a story that hadn't--to my knowledge, at least on this side of the pond--already been told. The Addergoole 14 were fourteen residents of Addergoole, Ireland, who were getting on the ship to head to America for a better life. Only three of them made it. The docu talks with descendents of the victims and survivors, who still have a ceremony each year for the loss. It also takes you through the story through re-enactments. Is it the slickest docu in the world? No, but the story is interesting enough for anyone who thinks they've heard it all. There's bonus material as well: additional interviews, deleted scenes and more additional footage. Worth a rental at least--those with a connection will probably want a copy for themselves. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

One of the benefits of having good friends that are also music geeks (and sharing a podcast with them) is that you are constantly shown that no matter how big a music geek you are, there is always something you haven't heard of before. And once you've seen it/heard it, you wonder...how the hell did I miss that? Of course, in the non-genre of "world music" (which is basically everything that's not American or at least not in English)...that's a pretty broad array of tunes to go play in. Thus I am still surprised I've never heard of Haiti's Orchestre Septentrional, the subject of this docu from First Run, When the Drum is Beating. A huge group with a badass horn section that's been around since 1948, standing firm despite everything the nation of Haiti has had thrown at it--that's them. Telling the story of the band, plus how it has survived all that and how it is putting in place plans to go on into the future--it's a must watch for anyone interested in Haitian music, "world music," or just want an angle into Haitian history. Main bonus bit is an interview with the director. Worth a watch--fans of the band--or if you become fans of the band--you'll want to snag it. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

The BFS Video release Scotland Highlands looks like, from its cover art anyway, another DVD release that will show you the titular geographic region...and that's about it. You know the sort of release I mean: wide sweeping aerial shots that might be awesome in IMAX or something, but not too hot on your set at home. Well, that's actually not what's happening here: Brit TV actor John Michie narrates you through some aerial sweepage, yes, but you're actually getting the history of the region with Michie talking to various historians and others to get the story told. You're getting a transition from a way of life to a group of folks getting killed and scattered...and it's not a cheery tale, no. This set is a good intro to folks who don't know this portion of Scottish history. It's a two-disc set and clocks in at around $27...so a rental, yes. And if the spirit moves you after you've tried it out for replay value, then by all means. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Speaking of which, another BFS release is Scotland Mountains, a 2005 docu that is of the sweeping vista variety. Aerial shots of Scotland comprise the six episodes: "The Trossachs to Rannoch Moor," "Nevis and Glencoe," "The Grampians," "Torridon and the Far North," "Skye and Kintail," and a "Best of the Mountains" episode. The music is well enough, the narration by Fiona MacKinnon is good and it's the sort of thing that, if you've ever felt like flying over the mountains of Scotland and just never had the opportunity--I can see where this might be worth a watch. However, only the hardcore will want to own. It's a bit of $4 an episode, and that needs some replay value to get snagged. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

The same treatment comes for Scotland Islands, also from 2005. Again, you get the aerial photography--this time with John Carmichael handling the narration. The six episodes cover the following regions: "The Isle of Skye and The Small Isles," "The Orkney Isles," "Islay, Jura, Colonsay and Gigha," "The Shetland Islands," "Mull, Iona, Coll and Tiree," and "The Western Isles." I prefer the MacKinnon narration, but Carmichael is fine for what he's there to do...narrate as you fly along. It's the same setup as before, except for islands, go figure. Same price point at less than $4 an episode, so rent it once if you need to. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

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Written by: Joss Whedon, based on a story by Zak Penn & Whedon, which was in turn based on the comic created by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
Directed by: Joss Whedon
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Clark Gregg, Tom Hiddleston

Review: As a Batman Loyalist, I hesitate to say this is the greatest comic book movie of all time, but only for a second. Because it was the GREATEST comic book movie of all time. The action was awesome, no character was under-utilized, and there were four separate instances that made me fall out of my chair laughing with glee. Also because the Hulk is my spirit animal. See it, and be more awesome for it.

Time: 20 seconds

• Click here to buy Avengers stuff from Amazon.

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Episode #118 for Dark Shadows, in which our protagonist likes Depp, Pfeiffer and not much else. He postulates this is his fault as he was expecting a comedy to be funny. He also for once wishes the trailer had been accurate.

Direct link for the feedreaders. Downloadable iPod version here.

Want to subscribe to our Wayhomers as a video podcast? Here's your link.

Want to subscribe to all our video podcasts in one fell swoop? Here's your link.

Special thanks to PhantomV48 for the closing animation.

Previous episode here.

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Download audio file (wjustice051112.mp3)

Agenda:

Headsup: There's new Weekend Justice gear as well in the Zazzle store.

Thanks to Jon from The Unique Geek for helping us sound good.

As always, special thanks go out to Clutch for letting us use their absolutely badass song, "Promoter (of earthbound causes)" as our theme music for this.

Buy Blast Tyrant, which is where you can find "Promoter". Buy their latest album, Strange Cousins from the West. Send them love and coin.

BTW, you iTunes subscriber types can nab the feed for all Need Coffee podcasts here. Weekend Justice only? Get that here. If you like us, why not rate us? We don't bite. Mostly.

Or if you want to do something else with it, the feed feed for all our podcasts is here. And just Weekend Justice is here.

To download this episode directly, Your Weekend Justice #159: Sally Field and the King of the Mole People, then do that thing. For the previous episode, click here.

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Episode #117 for The Avengers 3D, in which our protagonist is so drunk with glee he has to get Bailey to drive (and co-review), thinks Disney is feeling a lot better about their year and only has one nit that he has to pick. Otherwise, this is him drunk on just the film. He wants to make that clear.

Direct link for the feedreaders. Downloadable iPod version here.

Want to subscribe to our Wayhomers as a video podcast? Here's your link.

Want to subscribe to all our video podcasts in one fell swoop? Here's your link.

Special thanks to PhantomV48 for the closing animation.

Previous episode here.

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Download audio file (wjustice050412.mp3)

Agenda:

Headsup: There's new Weekend Justice gear as well in the Zazzle store.

Thanks to Jon from The Unique Geek for helping us sound good.

As always, special thanks go out to Clutch for letting us use their absolutely badass song, "Promoter (of earthbound causes)" as our theme music for this.

Buy Blast Tyrant, which is where you can find "Promoter". Buy their latest album, Strange Cousins from the West. Send them love and coin.

BTW, you iTunes subscriber types can nab the feed for all Need Coffee podcasts here. Weekend Justice only? Get that here. If you like us, why not rate us? We don't bite. Mostly.

Or if you want to do something else with it, the feed feed for all our podcasts is here. And just Weekend Justice is here.

To download this episode directly, Your Weekend Justice #158: The Worst Podcast Ever (Arguably), then do that thing. For the previous episode, click here.

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The difference between Nick Fury the regular guy and Nick Fury the hero? The pose, baby. Just the pose.

That's right, finally tonight at midnight we Americans--currently frothing at the mouth and wanting to strangle our smug friends across the pond--will get to see The Avengers. But it occurs to me that some of you might not appreciate what it took to get to this moment, when for the first time we have an actual movie universe unfolding on screens. And no, I don't count something like Star Wars or Star Trek because those have their own movies. Really, the closest thing I can think of is the Godzilla series, but that was more, as I understand it, an accident of, "Well, let's try this...will it make money?" I could be wrong. But with Avengers, a comic book company that evolved into a film company decided to take their premise of individual comics happening in a single universe and bring it to the screen with a deliberate plan--that's what I'm talking about.

But there was a time, dear reader--especially you younger readers--when the tools to make something like The Avengers simply weren't available. And I mean everything: FX, costume fabrics, hell--a time when actors would find it worth their while to sign on for a franchise like this.

We're big believers in context. And in posterity. So I urge you--if you're not doing the $40 Avengers Movie Marathon tonight--have your own movie marathon...of the Avengers-esque films that have come before. Here's some recommendations.

Oh, and we can't leave this post without some of this. Sorry. But you knew it was coming.

Direct link for the feedreaders.

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The phrase "tip of the iceberg" comes to mind when talking about The Iron Lady, the film that surprised...well, me anyway...by giving Meryl Streep her third Oscar (she's one away from tying Katharine Hepburn). Nothing about her performance--I just try to predict the awards using mostly box office and politics. Speaking of politics, what you have here is the biopic about Margaret Thatcher, one of the most polarizing figures of 20th Century politics. From what I've been able to glean, looking from this side of the pond, the only thing that comes close here is the general feeling about Reagan. But there seems to be a lot more concentrated venom for Thatcher. Regardless, the film here does sort of just scratch the surface of what should probably be a television maxi-series, giving us touches of her life from World War II up until the present day when she's battling dementia. And regardless of how you feel the film was handled (the positions on it are across a wide range) it's pretty unanimous that Streep is fantastic. The Blu-Ray presentation looks fantastic--and even though this isn't a film I would think would scream hi-def--it hollers it pretty well. Bonus bits are short: a making-of that encompasses most of the content, plus mini-featurettes covering things like the performances of Jim Broadbent and Alexandra Roach. Worth a rental, and biopic fans or Streep fanatics will want to own. And some more bonus bits--a commentary, perhaps, or even some more background that would help us over here better contextualize things--would make it easier to swallow for $19.99. But it's not terrible as it stands. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

I'm not quite sure how I had somehow escaped the knowledge that the Logan's Run movie had been sent to television. I'm not surprised, mind you. But it did amuse me to no end to see a terribly young Gregory Harrison playing Logan when I snagged the set and perused the cover. If you're only familiar with the film, you might be amused to learn that on the run from being executed after hitting age thirty, Logan and Jessica are joined by Rem, an android. They then are on the run from one of Logan's co-workers (Logan, of course, used to chase runners for a living) who wants to impress the old guys who run things back home. Yes, some slight departures. But the series is content to run around and deal with a spot of time travel, aliens, mad scientists...the usual. It stopped airing after eleven episodes...and this set has an additional three episodes (that apparently never aired stateside) across its three-disc presentation. And that's really it's only bonus offering. You're looking at a little over $2 an episode at its present price point, so that's not terrible. But it's really for the true fan--and rent it first to see if you're among them. Worth renting regardless for the fun retro sci-fi value. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

It's no secret that I thoroughly enjoyed Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. After finding the first film tolerable, finding the second film infuriating and then skipping the third film (because, well, they'd gotten me twice and shame on me), Tom Cruise brought out the big guns to park my ass in a seat: he got Brad Bird to direct. Well, that got my attention and good thing too. Because the film is an absolute hoot. If the opening sequence before the titles doesn't rope you in, then you might as well flee, because this just isn't for you. But it's such a fun action-adventure film, that it makes sense when you watch the bonus bits and learn that Bird had Indiana Jones in mind--a character that's overmatched and is in True Jeopardy but keeps going, despite repeatedly getting his own ass handed to him. The Blu-Ray we're talking about here is the three-disc Best Buy Exclusive, which I would recommend getting. The extra hour of bonus material is worth it. You get no commentary on the film, but you do get Bird's commentary on deleted scenes. You also get a wealth of behind the scenes featurettes. One of my favorites: the car collision sequence doesn't work on the first take. You get to see what happens next. Also, footage of Tom Cruise swinging outside the 126th floor of a building is nothing to sneeze at. Fun film with an accompanying fun Blu-Ray presentation. Highly recommended.

The release of Astonishing X-Men: Dangerous marks the latest Shout! Factory/Marvel Knights motion comic release, taking the story arc by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday and bringing it to semi-life on DVD. The situation is this: someone or something inside the X-Family, as it turns out, is not very nice. In fact, it's downright lethal. And once it puts its cards on the table, those X-Types are going to have to watch their asses...because this enemy knows their strengths and weaknesses intimately. So the good news is if you liked the story arc that this is adapted from--you're getting that, for the most part. The motion comic thing doesn't really work for me...because the audio work isn't stellar and I don't know about you...but I get better motion and audio in my own imagination when I just read the original comic. But to each their own. What isn't helping matters is that this comes with no bonus bits, so even if you are gung ho and want to give it a watch...it's hard to recommend it for a purchase. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Fans of Mo Willems will want to check out this Scholastic Storybook Treasures set for kids: Mo Willems' Pigeon and Pals: Complete Cartoon Collection, Vol. 1 & 2. Yes, this is the man who gave you the Pigeon character from Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! And also Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed--those and four other stories are animated on this two disc set. In addition to the stories, perfect for kids, you get some bonus bits: a Spanish version of the Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale story, featurettes that give you some background on Willems and how he got started in children's books, as well as a read-along feature. If your kids are already fans of his work, then it's a no-brainer, but if you're uncertain, rent it first and see. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Another day, another inexplicable random array of episodes of a Cartoon Network show. This time it's the Regular Show, with this twelve episode "Slack Pack," pulling from the show's first two seasons. The show is...odd, to say the least. Mordecai the Blue Jay and Rigby the Raccoon work at a park and try to get out of work however they can, which is, as we all know, more work most times than actually working. There are other bizarre characters in their lives, like Skips the Yeti (voiced by Mark Hamill) and Mr. Maellard the Lollipop Man (voiced by David Ogden Stiers). Fans of insane animation will want to check it out--however, your best bet is to tune into the Network proper. The only bonus bit here is a short promo piece--and that's it. This is a release to draw out the people who can't wait to purchase things...but I advise you to wait and get the season sets if you truly want to own this for yourself. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Dark Shadows, the 60s soap opera that decided to go weird and thus made its mark in television history. Vampires, ghosts, witches, werewolves and more. The lead vampire was Barnabas, played by the sadly recently deceased Jonathan Frid. And as we prepare for the Tim Burton feature film version to play fast and loose with the concept--and as we realize nobody can really afford the complete series giant coffin boxed set--MPI is kind enough to release two sampler compilations that give you a taste without having to...well, I was heading towards a vampire pun without meaning to and I shall stop. Anyway, you have Fan Favorites and The Best of Barnabas, with the titles telling you the synopsis right there. Yes, they're hopping around as far as the selection goes, but introductions are provided to give you a bit of context so you're not completely in the dark as to what's going on. Sorry, punning again. Each disc comes with nine episodes and no bonus bits beyond the intros...but as a sampler plate, they do all right. And the "Favorites" release is only a $1 an episode, so it's worth considering. Rent it at least and then soap/paranormal TV aficionados may want to consider owning. (Click here to buy Fan Favorites from Amazon. Click here to buy Best of Barnabas from Amazon.)

So a very unlikely way to find love and whatnot is to inadvertently get someone's husband killed. Flippantly put, but that's the gist of Bounce: Ben Affleck's character stays behind and sends someone on in his stead on a flight--so he can enjoy the layover with some female company. Trouble is, the flight crashes and Affleck's character is now racked with guilt. So much so that he seeks out the guy's widow and...nothing really truly unpredictable proceeds to happen. Affleck and Paltrow don't deliver their finest hours here but honestly, it just feels like a Lifetime Movie to me...you know, the sweet and hanky-devouring but utterly unrealistic sort of flick? Yes, that sort. This Blu-Ray release is out from Miramax and Lionsgate and looks decent enough for hi-def (though this release doesn't really need hi-def IMO). You get a direct port of the two-disc DVD set's bonus bits: audio commentary with the director and producer; scene-specific commentary from the director plus Affleck and Paltrow; deleted scenes also come with commentary; gag reel and a behind the scenes bit and more. While I said this wasn't really a hi-def sort of film--at present it's just a few cents more than the DVD, so if you did want to buy this, your path would be clear. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

The Kate & Leopold Blu-Ray release finds Hugh Jackman as Leopold moving through a a portal in time forward from the 19th to the 21st century. He runs into Meg Ryan and the two strike up a romance, because that's simply what you do in Meg Ryan films. How does he reconcile himself to a life in the future? Can she find love despite wanting a career? And what century do you finally settle down in? A decent time travel romance flick (yes, that's an existing sub-genre), it looks well enough on Blu-Ray, though it doesn't blow your mind. (And it's not a film that screams hi-def to me, anyway.) You do get a port of the features from the original Director's Cut DVD release: audio commentary with the director, featurette, deleted scenes with optional commentary and a short costume featurette. True fans of the film might want to consider it if they haven't snagged it already: it's only $7.99 at the moment. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

The fifth season of Laverne & Shirley hits DVD from Paramount. The last Milwaukee season leads in with the second part of a two-parter from Happy Days (the first part of which they were kind enough to include on the set as its main bonus besides a gag reel) and then has various and sundry hijinks for the girls, including the two-part Army sequence guest-starring Vicki Lawrence, plus guest appearances from others including Ted Danson and Ed Begley Jr. While never groundbreaking television, it was never meant to be...it's just a light sitcom that has a great deal of nostalgic value for many. If you are among those many, you might consider snagging this: the price point puts it at a bit over $1 an episode--not bad. And that's twenty-five episodes across four discs. For anyone else unfamiliar with the show, rent a bit of Season 1 to acclimate yourself and then see if you want to delve further. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

I'm sort of stunned to see Blake Edwards films coming out from the Warner Archive, to be truthful. My understanding is that it's for DVDs that Warners wants to give a legit Region 1 release to...but not one that has enough sales to warrant a full-blown release. Either that or they're shifting some catalog titles to the Archive to see how it goes. Either way, this is Blake Goddamn Edwards we're talking about. And the three titles here are nothing to sneeze at.

Let's start with Skin Deep, an underrated John Ritter-starring gem where he's playing a guy who has issues about relationships and sex that he's trying to work through, with mixed results. Granted, yes, if you've seen the film (or not) there's a much ballyhooed scene that I won't even talk about lest it spoil things for people who haven't seen it, but goddamn, that's the first time since Arthur I remember laughing so hard at the movies. Just that oh-crap-I'm-going-to-hurt-myself sort of laughing. It's that good and Ritter's that good. (Click here to buy it from the Warner Archive.)

S.O.B. isn't my favorite Edwards--the film concerns a movie producer who's just had a tremendous, Ishtarian flop and figures the way to turn his luck around is also to assist with changing the image of his wife, America's sweetheart (played by Julie Andrews). There are some great bits in the cast, headed up by Richard Mulligan as the producer. But for me, it's ultimately hit and miss with the hits and misses coming at about fifty-fifty. That all being said, the funny bits make it definitely worth watching. (Click here to buy it from the Warner Archive.)

And of course we have Edwards' classic, Victor/Victoria, with Andrews back in the title role(s), playing a woman who must play a man who must play a woman. Look for Robert Preston and James Garner in freaking fantastic roles as well. This is the only one of the three releases to sport a bonus bit: a rarity for the Archive--but it's a port of the Edwards/Andrews commentary from the original release. (Click here to buy it from the Warner Archive.)

The good news is that these titles are back in print. The perplexing news is that they're out from the Archive, but c'est la guerre. I would say watch all three and then purchase as you see fit. If they had more in the way of bonus bits, they would be a much easier sell. But as it stands, if you already own, no need to revisit--and if you don't, at least consider them.

Here I was trying to sit and think about what I know Burt Lancaster for best--but damn, there's just so much. The hits just keep on coming: everything from Gunfight at the OK Corral to Dr. Moreau to, hell, Field of Dreams. He was excellent--and I urge you, if you're a Lancaster fan, to check out Conversation Piece (original Italian title: Gruppo di Famiglia in un Interno). Here he plays a professor whose peaceful life is overturned by new tenants that he takes on, and how he deals with having this disruption. It's not the sort of role that initially springs to mind for him--at least for my mind, anyway. But the Raro Video release here does it justice--the hi-def setup is solid. You also get a short interview with a critic who gives you some background on the film. There's also a small booklet with additional info. Lancaster fans will want to rent it but if they decide to add it to their collection--the Blu-Ray's currently cheaper than the DVD, so that's a no-brainer. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

The 1951 wagon train flick Westward the Women hits DVD thanks to the Warner Archive. The shot is this: if you think Mars needs women they don't have anything on the guys in California during the time of the Old West. A bride recruitment drive in Chicago turns up well over a hundred women ready to make the dangerous trek west and marry some guy they've never met. (Well, Match.com hadn't been invented yet, so what could you do?) Trouble is, they run into some trouble en route and head wagon train meister (played by Robert Taylor) finds himself woefully in short of manpower. You can probably see where this is going: the women step up and insist that they press on, despite the danger. An impressive film just for the fact that rather than playing lip service to the danger, there are serious casualties on the way westward. Making this a rarity are bonus bits: a film historian audio commentary and a vintage making-of featurette. Fans of westerns will want to give this at least a watch and then determine if they want to plonk it into the libraries. (Click here to buy it from the Warner Archive.)

Well, we recently told you about a 3CD/1DVD set from Eagle Rock covering The Jeff Healey Band, Full Circle. But some people just can't get enough--and if you snagged the last release and still crave more live music, then Live in Belgium might be right up your alley. For one thing, it's a CD/DVD release, so as I prefer, you get the best of both worlds: concert video...then dump the songs on your iPod for easy listening while on the go. Healey's guitar work is pretty damn fantastic--I still dig how he seems to effortlessly jam the living shit out of "Roadhouse Blues," and "Angel Eyes" still sounds excellent for a late 80s love ballad. It's all good stuff. The fan of Healey's work is going to want to snag this--and at $17.99 for both CD & DVD (and the same thirteen tracks on both), the price point isn't terrible. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

The docu/concert film Madonna: Truth or Dare has hit Blu-Ray thanks to Lionsgate. On one hand, it's supposed to give you a behind the scenes look at the tour but also at her life--and remember, this was 1991--the Blond Ambition Tour--and Madonna was huge then. She's still potent but--kids, ask your parents--back then it was insane. Technical issues, concert footage, celebrities, supposedly candid moments...it's all here. And I never got caught up in the gravity well of her celebrity, so it wasn't for me...and really, still isn't. This is primarily for somebody who believed and wants to revisit or still believes and actually wants the film in hi-def. I wondered about how it would look, knowing that a good portion of it was grainy black and white--and it looks good enough, especially for the in-color concert bits...but I don't have a DVD version here to compare with. That being said...at $7.99 and the same price as a DVD, it only makes sense to grab this if you want it. That also being said, there's nothing in the way of bonus bits on here...so even at that price, make sure it's something you want on your shelf before plonking coin. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Lionsgate has released three "4-Film Collections" which give you films featuring three different leading ladies. They're mostly bargain repackagings of what's come before, but the Kidman and Paltrow collections are $14.99 at present with Zellweger coming in at $17.99...so even with the later at $4.50 a film, that's not a bad deal. And these come with some bonus bits, so it's not like you're just getting the four films and nothing else. As is the norm with these, the mixing of the bag involved is part of the thing.

With Paltrow, you have Shakespeare in Love, Emma, Bounce and View From the Top. Of note here for Shakespeare is a costume featurette, a director's commentary and deleted scenes. Bounce comes with a commentary track and View comes with a number of featurettes. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

With Kidman, you get Cold Mountain, Rabbit Hole, The Others and Dogville. Dogville has a commentary track and Rabbit Hole has one as well with deleted scenes. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

And with Zellweger, you get Bridget Jones's Diary, Chicago, Cold Mountain and New in Town. New has a cast and crew commentary plus deleted scenes; Diary has a director's commentary as well as featurettes; and Chicago comes with a commentary, a behind the scenes featurette and a deleted song. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

All three are straight-up repackaging of previous releases, right down to the disc art. So there's nothing new under the sun here...however, the price is right if somebody wants to kick off a collection or needs these particular titles. No reason to double dip, however.

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Episode #116 for The Raven, in which our protagonist praises Cusack for an awesome performance as Poe (in a single scene), also praises Sparky the Wonder Raccoon and finally damns this film for doing a literary version of how Transformers 3 ruined a perfectly good moon landing conspiracy idea.

Direct link for the feedreaders. Downloadable iPod version here.

Want to subscribe to our Wayhomers as a video podcast? Here's your link.

Want to subscribe to all our video podcasts in one fell swoop? Here's your link.

Special thanks to PhantomV48 for the closing animation.

Previous episode here.

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Download audio file (wjustice042712.mp3)

Agenda:

Headsup: There's new Weekend Justice gear as well in the Zazzle store.

Thanks to Jon from The Unique Geek for helping us sound good.

As always, special thanks go out to Clutch for letting us use their absolutely badass song, "Promoter (of earthbound causes)" as our theme music for this.

Buy Blast Tyrant, which is where you can find "Promoter". Buy their latest album, Strange Cousins from the West. Send them love and coin.

BTW, you iTunes subscriber types can nab the feed for all Need Coffee podcasts here. Weekend Justice only? Get that here. If you like us, why not rate us? We don't bite. Mostly.

Or if you want to do something else with it, the feed feed for all our podcasts is here. And just Weekend Justice is here.

To download this episode directly, Your Weekend Justice #157: A Clash of Cigars & Cabbages & Kings, then do that thing. For the previous episode, click here.

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Episode #115 for Lockout, in which our protagonist--who's a bit of a loose cannon--feels like he's back home at the VHS rental store, appreciates the attempt at I Can't Believe It's Not Snake Plissken, and is also Randomly In Space.

Direct link for the feedreaders. Downloadable iPod version here.

Want to subscribe to our Wayhomers as a video podcast? Here's your link.

Want to subscribe to all our video podcasts in one fell swoop? Here's your link.

Special thanks to PhantomV48 for the closing animation.

Previous episode here.

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There is something to be said for the dramatic punch of losing children. And I don't just mean, you know, misplacing them in the mall temporarily. I mean Losing Children. Because we all feel, on some deep primal level, that it's simply not supposed to happen. We're supposed to be the ones getting buried by them, etc etc. Anyway, Angels Crest involves A Stupid Decision that ends up with a small boy dying. The film concerns itself with what happens in the small town atmosphere in the wake of this tragedy. Though it has an impressive cast list--Jeremy Piven, Elizabeth McGovern, Mira Sorvino--it doesn't take the notion and, for lack of a better term, run with it. The hi-def treatment does look and sound quite good--not that a film like this necessarily calls for such--and to Magnolia's credit it's not bare bones. You get deleted scenes with commentary from the director, interviews and more. If indie drama is your thing, you could give it a rental...but I would tell you to check out The Sweet Hereafter instead. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

When you start thinking of films regarding the occupation "private eye," then Chinatown is up at the top. Or damn near it. Jack Nicholson rocks as Jake, the guy who starts investigating a case only to, as is the time-honored tradition, wind up as a much bigger endeavor than anyone could have anticipated. It's just a freaking classic of the genre. And it's hitting Blu-Ray from Paramount. What you have is a port of the features from the previous Centennial Edition...but those were fairly good to begin with: Robert Towne and David Fincher are on hand to give a commentary; and four featurettes that take you through the creation, the making-of, the music and covers the legacy of the film. The fifth thing is a longer look at the L.A. aqueduct. So the bonus bits are the same...what you do get is a hi-def upgrade for video and audio. It's not the crispest thing ever...but I don't know that you really want this to look overly sharp, if that makes any sense. At present, this is cheaper than the DVD that spawned it, so a double-dip is reasonable and a first purchase is a no-brainer. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Spend twenty-four hours in the company of a rock and roll roadie at the end of his roadie career. That's the setup, after Jimmy (played by Ron Eldard, Super 8) gets canned by Blue Oyster Cult, the band that's kept him employed for two decades. With nothing in the way of career prospects, he goes home to Queens for some quality time with old friends and family. Well, no, in reality he goes home because he has nowhere else to go and this is a Dealing With Life sort of film. Worth seeing for anyone who appreciates Eldard's work or appreciates a good acting/character study. The only bonus bit is an HDNet feature on the film. The deal is it's worth a good rental but check it out before purchasing...it's not a film that screams hi-def, at least to me. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Sometimes lightning doesn't strike a third time. That's what you can say about Bob, which was Bob Newhart's follow-up to his first two classic runs of sitcom mayhem, The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart. Here, he plays a greeting card artist who gets tapped to revive a comic book character. There are reasons to snag this, even for someone beyond the Newhart fan. You get appearances by Tom Poston, Dick Martin and Lisa Kudrow. You even get a study in how a show can be completely retooled to try and save it--as the second season had an almost completely different cast and setup that the first season--bringing in Betty White, for example. All thirty-three episodes are here across four discs and there are actually bonus bits, which is decent: brief interviews with Newhart and White from Entertainment Tonight and a digital version of the first issue of the Marvel comic they did based on the "Mad Dog" character from the show. Fans of Newhart will want to check this out, but as to how much they need to own it, that's up to the individual. It never really caught fire but it did have a bit of a following. And it's less than $1/episode, so the price point isn't bad either. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Ah, Chris Elliott. I've liked him ever since "The Fugitive Guy" on David Letterman, aeons ago. (Kids, ask your parents.) Here, he joins the live action stable at Adult Swim with a cop show parody by the name of Eagleheart that features Chris playing Marshal Monsanto, who has a penchant for getting his partners killed (good thing he has two of them now). Together with straight laced Susie and even dimmer bulb Brett, They Fight Crime. And cause a helluva lot of carnage. The show here is all twelve episodes from the first series with a freaking ton of bonus bits. Twenty audio commentaries, to start with. No, your math isn't faulty. Some of the episodes come with cast and writers commentaries both, mixed and matched. You also get bits of the unaired pilot, deleted scenes and outtakes, their 2011 New York Comic-Con Panel and more. It's a pretty stacked DVD and though the episodes are of the short eleven-or-so minute variety, you're looking at a bit over a dollar an episode--and for the amount of bonus bits in store, for the fan of the show, it's probably worth owning. If you're uncertain, though...grab it on TV or rent it to give it a test drive first. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

With long-running TV shows, it appears that you get three types of people who have an interest in them. Either they're still enjoying the show, they used to love the show but it's since fallen out of favor with them, or they only sort-of-not-really enjoy the show but keep watching out of habit. (I always relate this to my habit of buying Green Lantern comics for years after I should have stopped, hating myself the entire time.) I say this because that seems to be what I hear from South Park fans (and former fans). As the show's fifteenth season hits Blu-Ray, it's either hit or miss with folks. As for me, I'm just wondering if there was this much poo humor from the beginning and maybe I'm getting old. Anyway, this set comes with all fourteen episodes from the fifteenth season--all of them uncensored across two discs. In addition, you get a making-of that takes you through the six days they use to go from start to finish on an episode (plus a supplemental making-of that focuses on a single episode), deleted scenes and mini-commentaries from Trey and Matt. As the show is hit and miss, you probably already know where you stand on this--and whether or not the replay factor would work for you. I'm pretty much in the watch-it-once camp on this show myself, but rent it or sample it and see for yourself. The Blu-Ray is $7 more than the DVD--and it looks great (though this is one of the few animated shows that doesn't, IMO, need hi-def) but YMMV. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Neverland is another SyFy original miniseries in which they take a classic bit of literature and give it the old SyFy Twist. I bet you didn't know that Peter Pan and Hook were acquainted with each other before falling out of London and into Neverland. And I bet you didn't know how Peter got his powers and such. Well, that's all the stuff this wants to answer and more, with Rhys Ifans as Hook and Bob Hoskins playing Smee again (no, you're remembering correctly--he was Smee in Hook). Charlie Rowe (Golden Compass) plays Peter and Keira Knightley provides the voice of Tinker Bell. The shot is this: when you go in with SyFy, you know what you're getting--although this is not in the "Original Movie" category and instead a miniseries...which means they do have a budget for once. Pan Purists (they probably do exist) will have an aneurysm, but if you are a fan of the story and not so tied to it you might find this version amusing. It does look and sound great on Blu-Ray and comes with a director's commentary, interviews, a green screen featurette, art gallery and more. I don't know that it's the kind of thing I'd want to watch twice but if it's you, then more power to you. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Something must be said for a film that makes no bones about what its intentions are. A 1975 giallo film called Strip Nude For Your Killer is about as subtle in promoting its agenda as...well, something that's not subtle. Something that shows up with a Powerpoint presentation. Or maybe just a flipchart, since we're talking mid-70s. The shot is thus: murders start happening which include models and those who work with them. The killer? A figure clad in leather and wearing a motorcycle helmet. (Streethawk? Is that you?) The aims? To show homicide and nudity with a happening soundtrack. All of this succeeds on this Blue Underground release. Not the best of the genre but a decent outing. The same can be said of the Blu-Ray: you can't get pissed because it's not the crispest looking thing in the world, since, well, it's from 1975. Also, there must not be a lot in the vault to trot out, since Blue Underground will trot anything and everything normally. Here, you get a couple of interviews. Now...this is the same spread (no pun intended) that was on the DVD that came out a few years back. I don't know that the hi-def upgrade is worth double dipping in this case, and indeed the DVD is nearly half the cost of the Blu-Ray. So the giallo completist will be hard-pressed to warrant snagging this over the less-def edition. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Pharaoh's Curse is one of those lost gems of the horror 50s, now resurfacing on a Region 1 DVD release thanks to the MGM MOD Limited Edition Collection. The gist is this: because they didn't learn anything from messing around in tombs--or at least they didn't watch the mummy movies of a couple of decades prior--a team of archaeologists find that one of them is now transformed into a living mummy--and not just any living mummy, but a blood-sucking living mummy! That's right, when bandages aren't enough, throw vampirism in there as well. A fantastic C-grade flick, those of you who are in the right demographic for this are already nodding. Bear in mind, though: no bonus bits (probably aren't a lot of them to be had--trailer, maybe?). Rent it before deciding if you need to add it to your collection. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Ah yes, the time honored tradition of "borrowing" the title of a popular song in order to give instant familiarity to your film. That's the case, naturally, with Girls Just Want to Have Fun, a film that I had somehow put completely out of my mind. In this Footloose-esque film about girls who want to dance and Various Powers That Be That Don't Understand And Wishes They Wouldn't (or at least let other girls have more "fun" than them), you get a way-pre-L.A. Story Sarah Jessica Parker and a way-pre-Mad About You Helen Hunt as two friends conspiring to get on the local dance show. If they can just get past the other popular girl in school, parents, boys and all that other nonsense, then they just might pull off their madcap schemes. It's 80s fluff and there's a reason you probably didn't know it existed. This Image Blu-Ray release comes with nothing in the way of bonus bits and doesn't look terribly exciting (though it doesn't really scream for hi-def, does it?). Of course, the odd bit is that the Blu-Ray is cheaper than the DVD at the moment by about $6...so if you do need to buy, you know what to grab. But I'm thinking a single rental to slake whatever curiosity you have should be sufficient. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Here we have The Sitter on Blu-Ray. The story is this: Jonah Hill plays a slackmonster who gets talked into a babysitting gig, which he becomes conflicted about when it conflicts with his ability to get sex from his girlfriend. Well, it happens. He decides to err on the side of penis and loads up the kids for a little field trip and then, as you might have expected, hijinks ensue. The main thing to bear in mind about the film is one line from the trailer. If a little girl confessing that she "sharted" is amusing, then you're probably good for the long haul. If not, then you might still want to tune in for Sam Rockwell, who is watchable in damn near everything--and after Moon has pretty much earned a solid pass from me. The audio and video on this release are both okay, but this isn't a film that screams hi-def to me, so that's not that big of a deal. As far as bonuses go, you get a range of extended, deleted and alternate scenes. You get both the theatrical and the unrated cut (which tacks another five or so minutes onto the film). You also get a gag reel, a making-of, and more--the more also contains the DVD and the digital copy. Jonah Hill completists might want to consider owning, but even if this is the sort of thing you want to grab and watch (we don't judge) then I'm still not certain about replay value. But to each their own. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

We all know that inside our brains we have neurons connected together by synapses and forming a neural network. Sebastian Seung, author of Connectome, is helping to map the brain and all of its various bits and bobs. For those keeping score, a human brain has around 100 billion neurons. So it could take some time...but luckily, Seung is helping to bring computers in to try and do it faster. This could lead to all kinds of breakthroughs, everything from why we are the way we are to the ability to back yourself up to tape (a la Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom). A nice round-up of where we are now with the science and a guide to where we might end up--one that doesn't melt the brain by using crazed jargon to discuss the brain. Recommended for those wanting to catch up on what might save us from brain rot. It's out from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

I love visiting New York, though I'd never really be cut out to live there, I think. Too many people squeezed into one place--both its glory and the thing about it that would make me insane. One of the many things I enjoy about the place, though, is how beautiful it can be. And thus, this Universe release, Seasons of New York, gives you a photo book filled with shots of the city through all four seasons, showing off the variety of gorgeous scenes you can get. Lots of Central Park, to be sure, as well as making lots of use of the colorful foliage that shows up in the green spots you do get. Plus some awesome winter shots that go positively monochromatic. This is a great book for anyone who's an New Yorker expat and wants to remember what things are like back home...or anyone who wants to glimpse without having to necessarily go there. You know, like me. And be among people. Recommended along those lines. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Do you remember that time the Beastie Boys met Donald Sutherland? No? Well, not all the Boys, at least not on screen: Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz made his feature film debut as a "troubled teen" who gets institutionalized and is thus in a Very Bad Environment in Lost Angels. His only ally: a psychiatrist played by Sutherland. Fans of the Beasties might want to check this out to see him in his first time on the big screen (he was apparently in an episode of The Equalizer) but may want to give it a rental. Only true completists will want to have this on their shelf with no bonus bits. Kudos to MGM for putting it out, though. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Sho Kosugi. There's a reason why I got so psyched about seeing him in Ninja Assassin a ways back. Anybody who delved into stacks of VHS fu back in the 80s knows Kosugi and, further, knows that he is a badass. So that's why it's awesome that MGM is releasing to legit Region 1 DVD Pray for Death. Kosugi plays a guy who emigrates to the States, wants to just get along with his family and relax. But it's Never That Simple. And this is a cautionary tale for mobsters and ne'er-do-wells. You never know when they guy you are pushing...IS A NINJA. Classic. Our own Bob the Zombie agreed here. Anyway, the true fu aficionado will want to heavily consider this...although what I really want is a boxed set of Kosugi with some bonus bits. Maybe if the sales are enough, they'll go for it. We shall see. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

The guys at the MGM Limited Edition Collection are stealing my schtick. Here we're talking about Sergeant Deadhead, which features Frankie Avalon as the titular character, who goes up into space with a chimpanzee only to have his mind and the chimp's swapped. The spiel on the back of the DVD then says "Complications ensue." In other word, hijinks. And how can you have anything but when you've also got Cesar Romero, Gale Gordon, Harvey Lembeck, Buster Keaton and others along for the ride? I think you can already guess--along with the American International banner on here--that we're not talking about sterling comedy, but a throwaway affair that might net some amusement--and that's about it. It's good to have for posterity, of course, finally on a Region 1 DVD release, even one that's MOD. But with no bonus bits, the $20 price tag is going to seem steep for all but the most ardent Avalon completists. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

I do like all of the presenters from Top Gear. They each have their own style. But there's just something about James May that I find so terribly earnest, that I enjoy him no matter what he's presenting, whether it's his excellent Toy Stories series or his moon documentary. This, though, is a series about retaining manly skills that are being lost as we hurtle towards the future. Hence, the first series of his Man Lab. All three episodes are here, taking you through such tasks as disarming a bomb, building a bar and dueling. There are no bonus bits on this BFS release...and while it's excellent to see this hitting stateside, I fear it's a bit pricey on a per-episode basis...over $7 each. So while it's definitely worth renting or snagging temporarily some other way--as I don't believe this ever aired over here--only a hardcore May completist would own, again, strictly from a cost standpoint. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

At the risk of drawing ire...I'm not sure where the Phil Collins hate comes from. You know what I mean. Sure, he's so 80s it's ridiculous...but what's wrong with that? Beer commercial or not, "In the Air Tonight" is a great song. His covers of "Groovy Kind of Love" and "You Can't Hurry Love"? Decent, both of them. And yeah, disposable hits like "Sussudio" and "Invisible Touch"...enjoyable. Sure, it's not the sort of thing I'd just throw on whenever, but if I were to be presented with a track here and there, I would be fine with it. That being said, a decent time is to be had with this Live at Montreux 2004 Blu-Ray release from Eagle Rock. Not only do you get twenty-four tracks from 2004, but they also include thirteen tracks from 1996 (as a bonus), where he has a big band backing him up. What you wind up with is close to four hours of music. Not bad. And at $16.99, the price point is quite decent as well, with the audio and video both very respectable. Collins fans will want to pick this up, people like myself will at least want to give it a watch. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Friends of Hanna-Barbera can continue to rejoice as Warner Archive keeps rolling out titles under their "Classic Collection" banner. Here we have all thirty-six episodes of Shazzan. Two kids are transported back in time to ancient Egypt after finding the two halves of a mysterious ring and joining them to summon the genie of the title. They also have a flying camel named Kaboobie. No, seriously. The series has our two young heroes entering into various hijinks that require them to get their fat pulled out of the fire by their genie friend. It's a 60s Saturday morning cartoon, though...not sure what else you want. It is an Alex Toth creation and your friend and mine, Kaboobie, is voiced by Don Messick. The price point here is more than decent--less than $1 an episode--but still, only your true fan of the show or an HB completist is going to want to plonk down the coin. Find an episode online and sample it before doing so. (Click here to buy it from the Warner Archive.)

Musical sequels are...interesting, to say the least. They seem to come out of nowhere...at least, that's how it seems to me. Like the recent Alice Cooper Nightmare follow-up. "What?" I think is the normal reaction. So when I heard that Jethro Tull head burrito Ian Anderson was doing a sequel to Thick as a Brick, that was my reaction to a tee: "What?" Does it really need a sequel? And how the hell do you follow-up their album-length prog rock classic? Well, I'll still take the original (my second favorite Tull to Aqualung) but I will say I was surprised how well Thick as a Brick 2 (Brick Harder?) holds together. It follows possible futures for Gerald, the fictional boy who formed the basis for the first album--four decades later. It's got enough classic Tull to it to make it flow from the original but it's not so I Can't Believe It's Not Tull to distract from the album itself. Anderson's vocals are still pretty solid and his playing is still bang-on. Tull fans will want to check it out--even if you've maybe been not entirely pleased with Anderson's solo career, I think this one will please. (Click here to buy the MP3 from Amazon. Click here to buy the CD from Amazon.)

Okay, we're friends here. We can admit something. Whether you dug Titanic or not (I did), I think we all agree: that Celine Dion song will make the most sane, civilized person want to bunch a bunny in the face. Let's grant that and move on. Because this is the 100th Anniversary of the Titanic, the movie is out in 3D and the soundtrack is re-released in different versions. The Anniversary Edition, which is what we have here, has something fantastic on it--which I prefer even to the commendable James Horner score: a second disc of authentic period music performed by I Salonisti. Who the hell are I Salonisti? The quintet of musicians assembled to play in the film (who did actually play) and who play songs that are supposed to be on the required be-able-to-play-this playlist for the White Star Line. And it's all really glorious stuff. I can't speak to the four-disc version, but this two-disc version is quite tasty (and worth snagging for the second disc alone) and the Anniversary Edition is presently going for $12 at the moment. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

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Written by: Joss Whedon, based on a story by Zak Penn & Whedon, which was based in turn on characters appearing in Marvel Comics
Directed by: Joss Whedon
Starring: Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston

Where to begin? Let me predict just one simple thing: Starting May 4th, you will believe the hype. The Avengers is everything you would want from a blockbuster movie. It's loud, fast, charming, funny and such a ride, you will want to see it on the biggest screen, in the best theater.

The story is pretty simple and uses a lot of the more subtle elements that were introduced in the "prequels" to this big superhero team-up: Loki (Hiddleston) is back in a big bad way, with the aid of an alien race, he is trying to conquer the world and to be worshiped as the god he is. In order to do so, he uses the energy cube we were introduced to in Captain America to arrive on earth. Since it has been analyzed by SHIELD, his arrival is neither unnoticed nor without consequence. Loki's escape and theft of the energy cube is the introduction to the movie and gives you a good idea what's about to come: a very fast and loud ride. Nick Fury activates the Avengers Initiative to fight Loki and protect the earth from whatever else might be coming.

The worst thing one could say about The Avengers is that the plot is not surprising at all. It would also be almost the only bad thing. Joss Whedon and the complete ensemble bring their A-Game (no pun intended). Whedon was probably the perfect man for this, since this movie is very close to the season finale of a TV show--and that he can write and direct those he has proven time and time again. If you know his work, you will find a lot of his handwriting all over the place. It's almost as if he had been honing his storytelling skills over the years and now has been given a big arena to play in. Not to spoil anything but what you have been coming to expect from Whedon, he delivers--if you know how he got you to care about his stories before, just be warned, he does it again and it works.

The emphasis of this being a team-movie could not be more accurate. What could have easily become a one man show for Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark titled "Iron Man and his Amazing Friends" works so well as a team movie, because not everybody falls in line behind one of the other heroes instantly. The dynamics, the struggle, the ego of Stark, the stubbornness of Thor--it's all there. The internal conflicts make Loki the perfect villain to oppose a team--and may I say: Tom Hiddleston truly plays a villain. Loki is devious, self-centred, loud, operatic and he is enjoying every moment. You love to despise him and can't wait to see him lose.

Rooting for the good guys has in turn rarely been this enjoyable. The fact that watching Downey Jr. as Stark is pure joy is no surprise. Mark Ruffalo plays Bruce Banner with such subtlety: just the slightest hint of the danger is present so that he might actually scare you. The best thing though: everybody gets their moment, whether it's a serious one or a truly funny one. Every character decision fits their...well, character and everybody gets to shine.

Besides not having enough time for its large cast, the other big danger hanging over this movie was the creation of plot holes. There is so much going on in the world of the movie, one might lose track of it all, especially since it is the focus point (and culmination) of Marvel's movie universe. Yet, the straightforward and simple plot manages to avoid major holes. Some things are explained by a simple line of dialogue and towards the end, there is a scene that will make you wonder--but not until after the movie. The fact is, The Avengers simply shuts your brain off by being so entertaining, fast and smartly told--you will not ask questions until the smoke clears. And even though you might have some questions after, at the end of the day I predict you will have a childish grin on your face and be happy--you'll have seen a movie with a brawl between superheroes and a final battle that truly deserves the name.

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Download audio file (wjustice042012.mp3)

Agenda:

Headsup: There's new Weekend Justice gear as well in the Zazzle store.

Thanks to Jon from The Unique Geek for helping us sound good.

As always, special thanks go out to Clutch for letting us use their absolutely badass song, "Promoter (of earthbound causes)" as our theme music for this.

Buy Blast Tyrant, which is where you can find "Promoter". Buy their latest album, Strange Cousins from the West. Send them love and coin.

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Or if you want to do something else with it, the feed feed for all our podcasts is here. And just Weekend Justice is here.

To download this episode directly, Your Weekend Justice #156: Creepy vs. Awkward, then do that thing. For the previous episode, click here.

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It's April 20th, or 4/20. Yes, that 4/20. The day where you could probably get a contact high from being on the Internet. This day is a little problematic for me. I have friends who indulge and I have no problem with that. But like many here at Need Coffee, we struggle with Hypnos, the God of Sleep. Marijuana isn't the best tool to battle such a being.

So in an attempt to produce some alternative programming, I thought I would supply some suggestions for some caffeinated products to get pass the weeds as it were. We have the many, many, MANY energy drink reviews Widgett has produced. He has bravely risked his own body, like many of the best mad scientists, to tell us which concoctions will kick you into gear. We also have many articles and reviews of other caffeinated products for your perusal. But I would like to spotlight a few products for you now.

We have our excellent Need Coffee Coffee. You will get wonderful coffee from Colombia. You will also get some global ecological karma because the coffee is Organic, Fair Trade, and Bird Friendly/Shade Grown. Even more, you will help support Need Coffee Dot Com. Caffeine, karma, and supporting your fellow java junkies. What more can you ask?

There is also Foosh Energy Mints. This is a product that Widge himself uses. I have seen him put one {entire tin's worth} in his mouth with my own eyes. One tiny little mint contains 100 milligrams of caffeine. That is 25% more caffeine than in a Red Bull. Foosh doesn't give you wings--it gives you a jet pack. It also freshens your breath...but honestly you'll be too wired to care. Click here to buy Foosh stuff from Amazon.

My personal goto is Jolt Gum. What's great about Jolt Gum is that they went the extra mile and removed that bitter aftertaste you normally get with severely caffeinated material. So it's really like chewing regular gum. Except for the heart racing and the compulsion to do ten things at once. Each piece of gum has the same caffeine as a can of soda and comes in Spearmint and Icy Mint. Click here to buy Jolt Gum stuff from Amazon.

I was going to write some more but with the above suggestions and our many posts, you should have plenty to get your adrenal gland into fifth gear. And to be honest, a friend brought me some brownies and for some reason I'm having the hardest time concentrating. Weird, dude.

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I'm fortunate to live in an area of Atlanta that has a different international market on every corner. This opens up a variety of options to me as far as bizarre snacks, questionable ingredients and general experimentation. And I do love experimentation.

While we enjoy the cheap meats, hard-to-find ingredients and overall selection at the markets, one of our favorite things to do is to buy something strange-looking and just try it. You never know when you'll find that one thing that you didn't know you loved yet and can't live without. Personally, I tend to focus on drinks. You can tell a lot about a culture by looking at what they drink.

For example, people in Taiwan like things that taste gross. I'm not making this up. If you are lucky (?) enough to try a delicious (?), freshly chilled can of Mong Lee Shang's Pearl Soybean Drink (with tapioca ball) in Mung Bean Flavor, you'll agree that the Taiwanese sure do drink things that taste like mung bean. Ahh...tastes like cultural enlightenment to me!

MLSPSD(wtb)IMBF (as it's known in intellectual circles) is a thin drink but with those delightful gelatinous blobs known as tapioca pearls. I usually kind of like tapioca teas. At the very least, they're fun and chunky, and therefore, I identify with them.

To be fair, this drink isn't all bad. There's a lovely frappucino flavor...somewhere in there. The problem is that it's overshadowed by a grassy/beany flavor that kind of kills the whole effect. And with that grassy/beany flavor, the tapioca pearls become just grassy/beany-flavored chunks of goo in the mix. There's nothing cute or fun about them at all. I was left feeling cheated. I was also left swigging some Blue Monster to get the grassy/beany flavor out of my mouth.

I asked for second opinions from my cohorts, Jake and Joe (PhantomV48). When they finished glaring at me and making yuck faces, they agreed that while the Taiwanese people are lovely in general, they sure do enjoy drinking things that taste like mung bean.

We rated this one 2 out of 5 mung beans. In all honesty, it made me very curious to try other Taiwanese drinks to find out if this was just one bad drink out of the bunch. I'll report my findings.

So, hopeful that the next drink would be at least marginally more delicious, I decided to try Jumex's Tamarind Nectar (from concentrate). Now this is more like it. Reading the can, I see that tamarind is fat and cholesterol free and is a natural source of fiber. It's also a natural source of delicious. It tastes very similar to apricot. Obviously, Mexican people know what's up when it comes to nectars.

It's a lovely golden-orange color, and has a great balance of sweet and tart. I can imagine it in mixed drinks, maybe in place of peach or mango. You could do beautiful things with this and a flavored rum.

Reading the back, however, I'm a little disappointed to see that this is only 25% juice. It also has preservatives, which means that it won't ferment. To us, that means that we can't make wine with it. Bummer. However, we can use it to flavor wine, and so we may revisit that at some point.

We're giving this 4 out of 5 tamarinds. It's delicious, but still not completely mind-blowing.

Feeling positive, we venture onwards in hopes that our next experiment will prove as successful! We break open a bottle of Atomic Mauby Roots Drink (open with care). I have to be honest. The bottle doesn't say delicious. The bottle says "medicine your grandmother makes you take." True to that theme, the label has a lot of words. According to the aforementioned words, mauby is a bark which "makes a refreshing, energizing drink, packed with vitamins and minerals." Um. ...Yum?

This drink also contains sasparilla, chainey root, and a few other barks indigenous to Jamaica. There are also such diverse elements as; alfalfa, comfrey, dandelion, bee pollen, cloves, and aloe vera. Ah. ......Yum?

In fact: No. Not very yum at all. We had to pass this one around to figure out what that familiar flavor and scent was. Clove? Nope. Steak sauce? Maybe. Worcestershire sauce? THAT'S IT! (Much congratulating and back slapping ensued.)

It's also carbonated, which is a bit strange for something that tastes so much like Worcestershire sauce. Jake called it "effervescent and light with an aftertaste of blaaarrggghhhh." Overall, I don't have much to say about this one. We're going to save it and marinate something meaty in it. Maybe one of these fancy sheep heads.

Hmm. Sheep head. Fancy.

Maybe then we'll be able to give it an accurate rating, but for now I'll just say we're giving it 1 out of 5 mauby roots.

Anyway, that's it for this adventure. Join us next time when I'll inflict three new drinks on my minions in an attempt to educate and amuse you with our suffering. In the meantime, why not find your closest international markets and do some experimenting for yourself? You may find your next favorite thing. Just steer clear of the mung.

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Platform: Xbox Live Arcade
Price: 1200 Microsoft Points ($15)
Score:

Disclaimer: I suck at shoot 'em ups (also called "shmups"). I still struggle to reach the end of the second stage in Ikaruga, and even then, I usually die. Bangai-O was a fruit-filled nightmare for me. Heck, even the original R-Type is still hellaciously challenging. But I love the genre for its sometimes unabashed weirdness, cluttered design tendencies, and straight-up hardcore difficulty.

So, I was hesitant to pick up Sine Mora. It does, after all, fit squarely into the shmup mold, doesn't it? Well, not exactly. There are a couple things that the game does to distance itself from its brethren, the first of which is to present an honest-to-goodness story. The plot is filled with heavy themes not typically found in arcade-style games, including (but not limited to) genocide, free will, betrayal, time travel, and even sexual assault...all involving characters that look like humanoid animals. There's even a legless buffalo-man in a wheelchair. It's pretty strange stuff, but if you can follow along with the on-screen text preceding each stage in Sine Mora's story mode, you'll may be quite surprised to find yourself actually caring about what's going on beyond simply blasting everything in sight. And hoo boy, is there a lot of stuff to shoot.

Each stage presents something different in terms of enemies and their attack patterns. Flying your little airplane-submarine hybrid (you fight both in the air and underwater), you'll encounter smaller craft that pop off single shots, larger enemies that fire waves of bullets, and then there are the bosses. They fill up at least half the screen, tossing every conceivable projectile pattern and type at you, and some of it is just too much to handle. However, Sine Mora introduces time-manipulation mechanics that let you slow and even reverse time. So, when you see a wall of seemingly impossible-to-dodge orbs and missiles screaming toward your fuselage, you can hold down a button to trigger the time effect, letting your carefully dance through the maze of projectiles. You only get so much "fuel" for this ability per stage, so you have to use it wisely. Saving it up for a boss is usually the best way to go, if you can hold off. By itself, this tool is nothing special, as it's been seen in countless other games. However, Sine Mora's kill system is directly tied to the time you have left on the clock, which is constantly ticking down at the top of your screen. This is another of the game's truly unique aspects. When you destroy an enemy, time is added. When you get hit, time is taken away. When the clock reaches zero, you die. This presents a nice risk/reward proposition for the player; getting kills usually means putting yourself into an enemy's line of fire, meaning you could get hit if you're not quick enough. But getting that kill will add precious seconds to your life clock.

What really strikes me about the game is how fair it is, especially for a shmup. The controls feel responsive and precise. Not once did I feel like it was being cheap about killing me; I deserved to die every single time due to my own lack of reflexes and inability to conserve my time manipulation gauge. The game practically throws power-ups at you...but surely as it giveth, it taketh away. You may amass an impressive collection of red orbs that increase your main weapon's power and spread, but get hit just once and they're scattered to the wind, forcing you into a desperate grab-a-thon before they bounce away forever. The bosses all have their own unique attack patterns, but you're never forced to claw your way to them in every stage just to memorize those patterns. After you defeat a boss, it's unlocked in Boss Attack, which lets you practice for the real deal. Sine Mora is rife with challenges for the dedicated genre veterans, but also accessible enough for n00bs to dive in and enjoy. Eventually, they'll still get their asses handed to them on a platter, but just about everyone can find something to enjoy here. Just be aware that the amount of enjoyment you derive may be impacted by which mode you choose to play it in. While the story mode buffs your vehicle with a fair amount of shielding, arcade mode is an unforgiving return to the bullet-hell shooters of old. There is little room for error here, and death is usually only a hit or two away. This turns the story mode's relatively relaxed experience into a tension-filled, sweaty-palmed gauntlet.

Sine Mora is also a visual treat, with some truly unique art direction (think steampunk-meets-oil-painting) and graphical flourishes. The explosions look great, the backgrounds are intricate and full of movement, and the boss designs are marvelous. From an audio perspective, there's nothing too surprising here, but nothing that will get on your nerves or distract you from the action. Overall, the production values are truly impressive and the game oozes style. This is no surprise, since it was developed by Grasshopper Manufacture, home of weirdo design guru Suda 51.

Sine Mora is not available for PSN, so those of you with a PS3 are, unfortunately, out of luck. However, if you've got 1200 MS points ($15) to burn, it's a solid pick-up. It has some of the most wacked-out character designs I've ever seen, but also offers a genuine challenge for old-school shooter fans.

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So it is written, so it is done. The new episode of Help Me Rox beamed via Hobo-Satellite (a Pringles can with some tin foil, wrapped with twine and shot into space). Our own artist in residence, Rox of Spazhouse, takes your pleas for assistance and cries for advice and counsel...and delivers the goods. Like a hobo soothsayer, she bestows wisdom. Wisdom and beans.

Joining her on this quest to save your ass is Special Guest Expert Kim, the Candy-Coated Princess of Darkness. Also, the man working as fast as he can to engineer this beast as well as keep a taser handy in case Rox "Roxes out"...that's Jon Boutelle of The Unique Geek.

They number three--but their fu is mighty. Enjoy this second episode. If you want more, you know what to do: retweet this. Facebook it. Google Plus it. Whatever it. And leave comments. Hopefully nice ones. And even better: submit your question! Give the show a call at 404.382.0769 or on Skype at Need Coffee Live or even send it via email to help me rox [at] this domain dot com. If you can't figure out how to translate that into a workng email address, then Rox can help with that too--but you'll have to use the phone number. Enjoy.

Download audio file (helpmerox2.mp3)

You iTunes subscriber types can nab this feed here. If you like us, why not rate us? We don't bite. Mostly. Or if you want to do something else with it, the feed feed for all our podcasts is here.

To download this episode directly, Help Me Rox #2: Hey, Nice Bruegel Hat, then do that thing. Previous episode can be found here.

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Episode #114 for The Cabin in the Woods, in which our protagonist makes a pepper analogy regarding horror movies, is pleasantly surprised by a number of surprises, and tries to explain tweaks vs. twists.

Direct link for the feedreaders. Downloadable iPod version here.

Want to subscribe to our Wayhomers as a video podcast? Here's your link.

Want to subscribe to all our video podcasts in one fell swoop? Here's your link.

Special thanks to PhantomV48 for the closing animation.

Previous episode here.

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Download audio file (wjustice041312.mp3)

Agenda:

Headsup: There's new Weekend Justice gear as well in the Zazzle store.

Thanks to Jon from The Unique Geek for helping us sound good.

As always, special thanks go out to Clutch for letting us use their absolutely badass song, "Promoter (of earthbound causes)" as our theme music for this.

Buy Blast Tyrant, which is where you can find "Promoter". Buy their latest album, Strange Cousins from the West. Send them love and coin.

BTW, you iTunes subscriber types can nab this feed here. If you like us, why not rate us? We don't bite. Mostly.

Or if you want to do something else with it, the feed feed for all our podcasts is here. And just Weekend Justice is here.

To download this episode directly, Your Weekend Justice #155: We've Been Working On Catch Phrases for the Ellen Regime, then do that thing. For the previous episode, click here.

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I'm getting ready to kick the first season of Something Else to the Kindle. That's part of what's been keeping me occupied these days. However, my profanities hurled at a particular comma or my wrestling with digital formatting equals good stuff for you in the end. As evidence, my previous short story collection, Magnificent Desolation, is free on the Amazon Kindle for the next few days. Zombies. Cats. Demons. Sex. (Not all in the same story.) But it's there.

Go grab it. If you've already grabbed it, tell your friends to grab it. This is what we call Trying Something...and if it works we will Try It Again. It's a process, you see.

Thanks in advance for your support, friends.

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