The weekend’s here. You’ve just been paid, and it’s burning a hole in your pocket. What’s a pop culture geek to do? In hopes of steering you in the right direction to blow some of that hard-earned cash, it’s time for the Quick Stop Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…

I don’t often feature something that actually hasn’t hit shelves yet, but I want to make sure everyone heads over to their favorite online book emporium and pre-orders the trade collection of Josh Fialkov’s amazing comic series Elk’s Run (Random House, $19.95 SRP). Just do it… Then head back here and we’ll get on with this week’s shopping guide.

What I love so much about The Wire is that you never get the same show when you come back in for another season. The focus shifts and suddenly you’re dropped into a different arena. The third season (HBO, Not Rated, DVD-$99.98 SRP) focuses on the city’s faltering drug war, with a desperate mayor eager to claim some sort of victory before the upcoming election in the face of a police department running on empty. The 5-disc set features the full 12-episode run, plus a Museum of television & Radio Q&A, a conversation with creator David Simon, and five audio commentaries.

Smart and savvy, Brendon Frye (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has chosen to remain an outsider – but soon finds himself up to his neck in a high school crime ring when he tries to solve the murder of the girl he loved. Brick (Universal, Rated R, DVD-$29.98 SRP) is a sharp, brilliantly executed old school detective story, I can’t compliment Gordon-Levitt enough on a riveting performance that kept my eyes glued for the duration (which is no small task for a multitasker like me). Bonus features include an audio commentary, deleted scenes, and a featurette on the casting process.

Just when I begin to sink into a full-on depression about the state of comics today, the latest parcel from Twomorrows always brightens my spirits, bringing me back to far happier times and spotlighting amazing work worthy of the attention. Three releases worth snagging are the first volume collecting Roy Thomas’s Alter Ego (Twomorrows, $21.95 SRP), Danny Fingeroth and Mike Manley’s How To Create Comics: From Script To Print ($13.95 SRP), and my personal fave, Modern Masters: Walter Simonson ($14.95 SRP).

As a fan of Chappelle’s Show right from its premiere, I was incredibly leery of the trio of episodes cobbled together from the footage shot for the show’s third season prior to Dave’s abrupt departure. Based on just how much material was cut from the first two seasons because it didn’t quite make the bar, I can only imagine that a fair share of the sketches shot would have been cut long before a real third season would have aired, just in the natural vetting process. After viewing the Frankenstein-episodes featured on Chappelle’s Show: The Lost Episodes (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$24.99 SRP), my fears were entirely justified and, sadly, borne out by the material on display. Of the dozen or so pieces, only about 3 were truly worthy of the show’s legacy (and the bulk of that strong material is in the first episode presented here, most of which is a rather unsubtle look at exactly where Dave’s head was at and why his flight to Africa should have come as no surprise to anyone paying attention), while the rest range from average to abysmal. It really is a sad way for such an incredible show to go out, but I guess that’s business. Bonus materials include additional unaired sketches, deleted scenes, bloopers, a making-of, and audio commentary.

In one of those cases of “What do you mean a book like this hasn’t come out before?”, I wholeheartedly recommend, suggest, prod, and poke you into getting a copy of Steve Allen and the Original Tonight Show (Prometheus Books, $26.00 SRP), which details the formative era of late night television and one of its main pioneers, whose long shadow still looms large over his heirs.

As soon as I watched the pilot, I feared that Prison Break (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$55.98 SRP) was going to be one of those shows that had a high concept that would eventually run out of steam and collapse in a pathetic, clichéd mess (see Twin Peaks and X-Files). At least for the first season, the steam is still there, and I’m eager to see exactly how the brothers Scofield will make their break, what the big conspiracy is, and whether Michael can ever get that tattoo removed. The 6-disc set features all 22 episodes, plus select episode audio commentaries, a trio of behind-the-scenes featurettes, Fox Movie Channel’s Making the Scene, and alternate/deleted scenes.

When it first premiered, I absolutely adored Adult Swim’s Sealab 2021. It was odd, it was surreal, but it was also funny as hell in a decidedly bent fashion. However, the show hit a significant hurdle when the actor who played the loony Captain Murphy – Harry Goz – passed away. Unfortunately, the show lost a lynchpin, and never was able to recover the same level of, well, funny that they’d lost. By the time the final episodes of the series – contained in the new 4th season set (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP) rolled around, the writing was clearly on the wall and they very appropriately decided to close up shop. The episodes are certainly not their best, but I thank them for giving me Captain Murphy and a nice footnote to the long career of Harry Goz. The 2-disc set features the last 13 episodes, plus deleted scenes, featurettes, and an alternate ending to “Legacy of Laughter.”

Another Adult Swim original marking it’s final DVD release is The Brak Show (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP), which – although it ended on a much higher note – definitely stepped away as the well was beginning to run dry on the twisted suburban adventures of Brak, Zorak, Mom, and Dad. There are no bonus features on the 2-disc Volume 2 set – it’s just the last 14 episodes.

At first, I honestly wasn’t sure if the new Ween album, Shinola: Vol. 1 (Chocodog Records, $14.98 SRP) was complete genius or complete crap. Over its 12-track run, I vacillated between the two until I heard the last track, “Someday,” and it clicked – and I’m happy to say, it’s the positive rather than the negative.

When I saw the original theatrical cut of Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven, I was less-than-impressed by the cluttered, somewhat incomprehensible morass of it all. I’m happy to say that his revised and expanded director’s cut (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 SRP) is a vast improvement, taking what was a disappointing entry in his career and making film that – while not great – is certainly the mess it was. The 4-disc set features an introduction from Scott, audio commentaries, a 6-part feature-length documentary on the making of the film an its eventual director’s cut, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes featurettes on various aspects of the production, cast rehearsal footage, visual effects breakdowns, storyboard and conceptual art galleries, footage from the premieres, trailers, TV spots, and more.

It’s not your average Spike Lee flick, and maybe it was the surprise of something different that made me get a real kick out of Inside Man (Universal, Rated R, DVD-$29.98 SRP), an action set piece about a high stakes bank robbery gone pear-shaped, leaving a detective (Denzel Washington) to deal with both the robber (Clive Owen) and a power broker (Jodie Foster) with an agenda of her own. Bonus features include a conversation between Lee and Washington, an audio commentary from Lee, deleted scenes, and a making-of featurette.

Following the same release pattern of its companion show, He-Man, we get The Best of She-Ra: Princess of Power (BCI, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP). The 2-disc set features the original pilot film The Secret of the Sword, plus the top 5 episodes as voted by fans. The set is also packed with bonus materials, including a brand new behind-the-scenes documentary, an audio commentary on Secret of the Sword, a music video featurette, and more of the collectible postcards that have been featured in the He-Man sets, this time by Brandon Peterson and Joe Chiodo. Keep an eye out for the first seasonal volume in the near future.

Proving once again that they’re the only company out there who should be doing releases of cartoon shows, BCI has managed to make a special edition worth owning of the largely mediocre animated Flash Gordon series (BCI, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP). Running just 24 episodes, they’re all featured in this 4-disc set, which also contains a newly produced retrospective documentary, a trio of episode commentaries, storyboard-to-clip comparisons, a gallery, and more (plus another pair of collectible postcards). Why couldn’t BCI have been the ones to put out the Disney catalogue, such as DuckTales and Darkwing Duck?

Finally giving it the definitive edition it deserves, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Fox, Rated PG, DVD-$26.98 SRP) adds to the bonus features already found on the original DVD release, winding up with 2 audio commentaries, a making-of featurettes, a featurette on the real Butch & Sundance, an extended making-of documentary, a History Through the Lens documentary, interviews with the cast and crew, deleted scenes, trailers, and more.

The fourth season of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP)shook up the status quo by sending Will and Carlton off to college, and increasing the comedy with Uncle Phil (the always wonderful James Avery). The 4-disc set is, sadly, completely featureless… Come on, you couldn’t even get Alfonso Ribeiro?

With the release of second volume of season 4, the deluxe Starburst Editions of Farscape (ADV, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP) is drawing to a close, with only a single release remaining to finish off the series. So far, the Starburst sets have been worthy reissues, packed with new bonus materials that should satisfy the most diehard of fans (short of having Ben Browder and Claudia Black packed in every case).

Examining their formative years, Rolling Stones: Under Review 1962-1966 (Sexy Intellectual, Not Rated, DVD-$19.95 SRP) is a nicely presented analysis of the rock royalty as they exploded from a bar band to a worldwide phenomena.

Craig Armstrong’s music for Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center (Sony Classical, $18.98 SRP) is just as understated and subtle as you’d hope would accompany so touchy a subject matter, never devolving into unnecessary (and unwelcome) bombast that would turn the flick into a Hollywood cliché. Give it a spin.

Of the three films featured in the new Jayne Mansfield Collection (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP) – which include The Girl Can’t Help It and The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw – my favorite has to be the Madison Avenue satire Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, starring a young Tony Randall at his comic best as the titular adman desperately trying to climb the corporate ladder. Fox has taken a page from Warner’s beautiful catalogue releases by getting commentaries and classic Fox Movietone featurettes for each of the discs.

You know, the first season really didn’t phase me too much, as it was so much brainless eye candy, but the second season of MTV’s Laguna Beach (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$38.99 SRP) is when the contrived crap of it all really started to drive nails into my cranium. I truly, honestly, would not care if the sea along the beach they so adored just swallowed up each and every one of them. The 3-disc set features deleted scenes, cast interviews, home videos, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and more.

Regardless of the content, I love the designs of Xiaolin Showdown (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP), the first season of which is now hitting you local DVD emporium. It’s like a cross between Powerpuff Girls and Teen Titans, and it’s a dynamic I really dig.

Far from inheriting an exhausted license, McFarlane Toys has found new and quite fun permutations in their take on the Simpsons action figure line, with the latest release being the Couch Gag Playset (McFarlane Toys, $20.00 SRP), where you can mix-and-match the family’s positions via magnets located throughout the figures. Stack ’em wackily, and join me in hoping for a really nice Power Plant playset in the near future.

So there you have it… my humble suggestions for what to watch, listen to, play with, or waste money on this coming weekend. See ya next week…

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