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…

After 6 seasons of awkward and painful comedy, the brilliant Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) comes to a close with a season that certainly lives up to the squirm factor of previous outings, as Larry goes through a divorce that’s exacerbated by a family of Hurricane Katrina refugees living in his home. Suffice to say, if you haven’t yet seen this season – do so. Bonus features include a conversation with Larry David and Susie Essman, an on-set featurette, and a gag reel.

I’ve long been a fan of Monty Python alum Terry Jones’s series of historical documentaries, going back to his fascinating look at the Crusades. Jones presents the material with both a dramatic and affable flair, making intimidating subject matter as fascinating as it should be, while also illuminating oft misunderstood periods of history. His latest is Barbarians (Koch Vision, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP), a 4-part look at some of the most unfairly denigrated cultures of the ancient world, including in the Goths and the Celts.

We’re already up to the penultimate volume of DC’s 4-volume collection, Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Omnibus (DC Comics, $49.99 SRP), and I’m already feeling the impending depression once this glorious visit to Kirby’s tales of the New Gods is wrapped in a few short months. The classic 4-color printing and texture is captured perfectly, and to have that all wrapped up in a classy hardbound edition is just icing on an already rich cake.

The 4-part Pioneers Of Television (PBS, Not Rated, DVD-$24.99 SRP) documentary pretty much lives up to its title – featuring over 100 interviews, it explores the roots of late night TV, sitcoms, game shows, and variety. The disc also features extended interviews, for those left wanting more.

It’s taken 3 years, but my nephew has now been fully consumed by the SpongeBob virus, and has become Sqaurepantsed. With that in mind, I can guarantee that he will watch the new episode collection – SpongeBob Squarepants: To Love A Patty (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$16.99 SRP) – a few dozen times. The disc features 7 episodes, an animatic, and a karaoke music video.

The 8th season of ER (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP) marked the swan song of Anthony Edwards’s Dr. Greene, leaving Noah Wylie as the last man standing from the show’s original cast. The 6-disc set features all 22 episodes, plus unaired scenes and the always welcome gag reel.

Released in the late 70’s, The Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes (DC Comics, $19.99 SRP) was a multi-volume set of tomes presenting the histories of various comic book characters up to that point in the academic style of an Encyclopedia. Given full access to the DC library, author Michael Fleischer produced the first mainstream attempt at treating comics as an art form whose character histories were worth studying. DC has been re-releasing these long out-of-print editions, with the volumes on Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman currently available.

After whetting her appetite on The Shield, Glenn Close decided to jump into a TV series of her own with Damages (Sony, Not Rated, DVD-$49.95 SRP), which casts her as a complicated, heavily flawed top flight New York City personal litigator Patty Hewes, who spends the first season defending a wealthy CEO (Ted Danson) against a class action lawsuit. There’s plenty of intrigue to go around, most of it focusing on a first episode flash forward of Patty’s protégé Ellen Parsons… But I don’t want to spoil such a wonderful hook. Check out the complete first season, featuring commentaries, featurettes, deleted scenes, and more.

Through my nephew, I’ve been made aware of Nickelodeon’s CD version of Muppet Babies meets the Get-Along Gang, The Backyardigans. The multi-hued menagerie of backyard adventures have released a celebrity-studded album of songs from and inspired by the show, The Backyardigans: Born To Play (Sony BMG, $11.98 SRP). I’m sure this will get plenty of play around here, and is sure to give the Spongebob album a run for its money.

If you want a good lesson on how not to remake a film (and recent retake on The Stepford Wives wasn’t enough for you), then look no further than The Invasion (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, DVD-$28.98 SRP) – boring, almost insultingly disposable remake of The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig as psychiatrists who discover that people are… well, you know… when they fall asleep. After watching this film, I must have been replaced a half dozen times. Bonus features include a trio of featurettes and a making-of documentary.

Oh, Aqua Teen. I once loved you, and thought you were the bees knees. The episodes contained in the 5th season set of the once funny Aqua Teen Hunger Force (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP) are a microcosm of just ho far the show has fallen over the years, relying less on the funny and more on the gross. Sad, really. The 2-disc set features 14 episodes, plus promos, deleted scenes, featurettes, and more.

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…

-Ken Plume

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