Judging Books by Their Covers
The Five People You Meet In Heaven
By Mitch Albom
$19.95
Apparently, they're all carny folk. Wow, heaven has sure loosened up its requirements!
Angels & Demons
By Dan Brown
$7.99
Jack B. Nimble travels to Eastern Europe in a desperate attempt to avert nuclear Armageddon at the hands of Peter Pumpkineater.
The Time-Traveler's Wife
By Audrey Niffenegger
$14
Frustrated by her husband's refusal to ask for space-time- continuum directions, the time-traveler's wife goes off and has her own damn picnic.
Reading Lolita in Tehran
By Azar Nafisi
$13.95
"I don't understand, Ameena, why doesn't Nabokov's well-known fascination with butterflies reveal itself more strongly in this, his first English-language book? If only the Ayatollah had allowed us to study semiotic theory!"
The Sinner
By Tess Gerritsen
$24.95
A murder in the Emerald City draws Dorothy back to Oz, where she finds the Strawman is a corrupt politician, the Tin Man is hooked on crack and the Lion is doing porn.
DVDs
Alfred Hitchcock Signature Collection (PG) (5 stars)
$99.95
It would take too much space to mention all nine titles in this essential collection of thrillers by Hollywood's master of suspense. New to DVD are Dial M For Murder, Foreign Correspondent, Suspicion and The Wrong Man.
Clerks X (R) (4 stars)
$34.99
Does anyone else see the irony of Kevin's Smith's bargain-basement debut film, Clerks, being rereleased as a special three-disc, 10th-anniversary edition? Citizen Kane topped out at a mere two discs. Next Tuesday, Richard Linklater's kindred Slacker is being reissued in a two-disc edition ($39.95), and on tap is a four-disc "ultimate edition" of George Romero's already widely available Dawn of the Dead ($49.98). Is indie too big for its britches or what?
Wattstax (R) (3 stars)
$24.99
Eight years after the 1965 Watts riots, this docu-concert offered a nonthreatening peek into urban culture. There's plenty of great old-school R&B here: Rufus and Carla Thomas, the Bar-Kays, the Staple Singers, Albert King, Isaac Hayes and Richard Pryor as emcee. Director Mel Stuart surrounds the music with interviews and political discourse.
American Dreams: Season One (NR) (3 stars)
$89.98; Extended Music Edition
When it debuted in 2002, NBC's period drama looked to be another cynical attempt by producer Dick Clark to place himself at the epicenter of the '60s cultural revolution. Behind all the revisionism, though, was a decent prime-time soap that used American Bandstand as a backdrop for the struggles and triumphs of two Philadelphia families, one black and the other white.
The Ladykillers (R) (2 stars)
$29.99
Before it released the Coen brothers' remake last spring, Touchstone knew it had at least one blue-chip asset going for it: Tom Hanks. But, no matter how much rope critics gave the Coens, there was no way The Ladykillers could not be compared to the Brit caper from which it was adapted, and Hanks' performance to that of Alec Guinness. That said, there are some good things going for it, especially the Coens' quirky view of Deep South mores, T-Bone Burnett's gospel and scene-stealer Irma B. Hall.
Local CD
Rocktronic (3.5 stars)
Frank Klepacki
Frank Klepacki's second solo CD in two years is a tight mix, 10 tracks of electronica and rock coming out just as the mash-up trend hits the Vegas club scene. Sometimes sounding like the chase-scene soundtrack to a cyberpunk movie, other times like the opening or closing credits soundtrack to a cyberpunk movie, it's an impressive sophomore outing. Available at Tower Records.
PT's Calendar
PT's has recently come out with a calendar saluting the hardworking, and attractive, gals pouring you your favorite suds. Selling for $15—only $1.15 per month, or about 4 cents a day!—it's a bargain, and $1 of each sale goes to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. And, it even gives the girls' birthdays, so start shopping now! Here's a quick rundown of what else is inside:
12 visible tattoos
5 pierced belly buttons
12 coupons
15 cases of scantily clad women on top of things scantily clad women normally aren't found on
1 woman whose favorite drink is water
3 requests by guys here to "borrow" the calendar