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 FRED Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…
(Please support FRED by using the links below to make any impulse purchases – it helps to keep us going…)
There have been quite a few attempts to get a definitive, or at the very least accurate, sculpt of Harrison Ford in his iconic role as that most memorable to adventuring archeologists, Indiana Jones. Some have come close, but not even the mighty Hot Toys was able to crack it with their take on Indy from Raiders. Ah, but Sideshow, with their brand new 1/6-scale Temple Of Doom Indiana Jones ($229.99) has finally done it. The head sculpt is the best Harrison Ford we’ve ever gotten, and that’s including the numerous takes on Han Solo, as well. Thankfully, the costuming is just as spot-on, capturing the ragged, late-in-the-film sleeveless version of the character, ready to take on Mola Ram on the suspension bridge as the villain tried to reclaim the Sankara stones. And yes, you do get those three stones, plus the machete that Indy uses to cut the rope bridge, a pair of whips (coiled and uncoiled), his pistol, a satchel, and his trusty fedora. If that weren’t enough, the exclusive edition packs in an additional trio of Sankara stones, crafted of translucent plastic to give the look of the stones glowing.
From the “New Bacon-ings Burger” to the “Baby You Can Chive My Car Burger” and dozens more, The Bob’s Burgers Burger Book (Universe Publishing, $19.95 SRP) manages to take all of those wonderfully groanworthy background puns found on Bob’s dry-erase board in every episode and turn them into actual, honest-to-goodness, you can totally make these burger recipes, courtesy of Cole Bowden. There’s also plenty of show-worthy linking material and artwork from the creator Loren Bouchard, and the show’s writers and artists. Get this book. Get it.
When I was a kid, one of the things I always wanted to have was a Darth Vader Mask (Thinkgeek, $119.99). Now, thanks to Thinkgeek, I’ve been able to realize that childhood dream dark lord of the sith-ing it up. The most surprising thing? Just how massive the screen-scale mask is. Almost ludicrously so. It certainly drives home just how large a man actor David Prowse had to have been in order to pull it off without it looking ludicrous. Which it does on me. But who cares? It’s a Darth Vader mask! I may even be wearing it as I type this! I’m not. But I might be.
While I tend to gravitate towards their more comedic work, like The Hudsucker Proxy and O, Brother, Where Art Thou?, I can still appreciate the Coen Brothers’ more solemn, reflective works, like Inside Llewellyn Davis (Criterion, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.95 SRP), their somber ode to New York’s early 60’s folk scene. Now it’s gotten the Criterion treatment, with a brand new audio commentary, a conversation between the brothers and Guillermo del Toro about their process, documentaries, and more.
It’s not an instant classic, but I don’t care – I love seeing Amy Poehler and Tina Fey on screen together, and Sisters (Universal, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$34.98 SRP) delivers on that magic, as they play a pair of sisters intent on one last house party after they find out their parents are selling their childhood home. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, deleted/extended scenes, and a gag reel.
While he was a major focus in Ken Burns’ epic Baseball documentary series, there was more than enough left to craft the new documentary Jackie Robinson (PBS, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP), from humble beginnings to his legendary career and continued influence to this day. Bonus materials include featurettes and outtakes.
Caught between his mentor and his friends, Robin is in the unenviable position of being the focal point of the latest DC animated feature, Justice League vs. Teen Titans (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$24.99 SRP). This is certainly an adult take on the material, so best kept away from young Teen Titans Go! fans. Bonus materials include featurettes (including a look at the upcoming adaptation of Batman: The Killing Joke), and a pair of bonus cartoons. Oh, and if you buy the gift set, you get a nifty Schleich Robin figurine.
It’s an acceptably creepy horror film starring Game Of Thrones‘ own Natalie Dorner, which is enough of a reason to give The Forest (Universal, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$34.98 SRP) a spin if you’re in the mood for either of those things. The titular forest is creepy, too. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, storyboards, and galleries.
Keen on a musical kaleidoscope this weekend? Give a gander and a listen to Johnny Winter With Dr. John: Live In Sweden 1987 (MVS, Not Rated, DVD-$19.95 SRP, CD-$11.99 SRP), which features a concert pairing of the two titans, now available on both DVD and CD.
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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We’ve been repeating the same waiting game we played when DVD first debuted – the game of waiting for beloved films to finally hit the format – with Blu-Ray. We’ve gotten Star Wars (sort of), Jaws, Superman Blade Runner – just about all of the geek pantheon, really – but one of the most glaring omissions now gets its time to shine, and boy does it ever. To say that the restoration and mastering work done for 
Want a blindingly bright 600 lumen flashlight that’s tough and waterproof and will run for hours? The 
I’m all for Shout Factory’s recent forays into archive collections of an artist’s disparate work, starting with their must-have Ernie Kovacs set, and now 
It’s been over a decade since Rhino released a handful of episodes, but all these years later hell has frozen over and you can now get your very own complete series set of Chris Elliott’s short-lived cult classic 
Yeah, I’m starting to sour on 
There’s a delightfully old school fun about the horror of 
Forget the chair crazy man of recent memory and go back to a time when Clint Eastwood was merely ranch foreman Rowdy Yates in the back-to-back release of 
It certainly doesn’t have the laid back charm of the original, but the new 
As Halloween fast approaches, Warners digs into its catalogue for a pair of mostly seasonal-appropriate titles to give their high definition debut – 
This week’s TV releases also include the complete second season of Dana Delaney’s 
The shame about the NBC release of their 2-disc 
Fans I’m sure will devour the pink frosting puff pastry documentary 
How about a clutch of new releases from the fine folks at The History Channel? History gets covered with 
Much like the film it gets compared to most often, 
We’ve left the summer behind and I didn’t see a single firefly. I recall the summers of my youth being filled with fireflies. Well, I can alleviate some of that nostalgic disappointment with the electronic 
Often overlooked, the artistry that exists behind the action is explored and given a chance to shine in the latest installment of Disney’s incredible art series 
While it’s not the release of 1941 I was hoping for, I suppose it is nice to have beautiful high-definition editions of Spielberg’s dinosaurs via the 
Disney’s 
I’ve seen plenty of documentaries, and very few of them are as entertaining as 
If you’re not watching Idris Elba’s new series, then pick it up with the second release, 
There might have been an interesting film to be had with the idea of presenting exactly why fans feel so betrayed by George Lucas’s handling of the Star Wars franchise over the past 15 years, but 
Now only do you get 20 regular episodes in the 5th season set of 
Get your man flick fix this weekend with the high definition release of 
It’s been a few months, so it makes sense that we’re getting the second volume of the first season of 
I think it largely disappeared from theaters, which is a shame, because 
Want a little bit of quick, cheap work area light with the convenience of USB? Then the 
If you enjoyed the Ricky Gervais podcast, the animated versions made from those recordings and presented as 
After a smattering of single-disc releases, the long-awaited second volume of 
When I first saw 
The fourth season of 
Like most Ron Howard films, I found 
It’s in re-watching it that I fully understood just how mannered and poor man’s Wes Anderson (which, really, should be left up to Wes Anderson) Sofia Coppola’s 
ABC Family’s 
Yeah, Family Guy‘s Star Wars parodies are largely inferior to Robot Chicken‘s, but that’s largely due to the former’s shoehorning of their characters into the roles, instead of being allowed to just play with the universe as it exists. Thankfully, they’ve come to an end with the 3rd and final installment, 
It’s a daunting proposition, revisiting a film that defined the 80’s with the simple phrase “Greed Is Good”, and I’m not entirely sure Oliver Stone succeeds with 
For fans eager for its release the wait for the complete high definition release of 
The idea of carrying on a TV series in comic book form – written by the showe’s creator and writers – is actually a pretty good idea. Sadly, 
The Warner Archive Collection certainly has been going full bore when it comes to their catalogue releases, and have ramped up things considerably on the animated side. I mean, I don’t think anyone ever expected they might one day be able to purchase a complete series set of Hanna-Barbera’s short-lived 
I have nothing against the Coen Brothers’ remake, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the original Ealing version of 
Do you have a bunch of old albums lying around that no one’s bothered to release either on CD or digitally? I do. A ton of ’em. I’ve tried different digitizing solutions, but all have been rather awkward or delivered poor sound quality. With the 
There are some films that I can watch again and again – not by choice, but if I stumble upon them, I’m instantly drawn back in. 
It’s been attempted before, but it’s taken 
Also arriving in high-def is Akira Kurosawa’s take on King Lear, 
I do believe the packaging for the second half of the second season of 
Stephen Fry returns in the 3rd and final series of 
Exploring exactly how Adolf Hitler was able to survive over 40 assassination attempts, 
What’s the sign of a good documentary? It’s one that makes you interested in a subject you never fathomed that you would ever find interesting. Chris Rock accomplishes this feat with 
The final Bourne film arrives in high-definition as the latest of Universal’s new line of flipper single-disc Blu-Ray/DVD combos. I loathe flipper discs with a passion, so even though I understand the cost-cutting thought behind it, I can’t get behind the concept. Looking at the Blu-Ray side, 
Over here! The big wheel keeps on turning out more direct-to-video Scooby-Doo movies, the latest of which is 
Abby Cadabby and Elmo travel down the rabbit hole in the newest Sesame Street release, 
As some series wrap their release on DVD, there are still plenty of others waiting in the wings, which is why we’ve got the complete first season of 
I didn’t think I would, but I actually found the female-centric comedy 
With a cast that includes Gary Coleman, Ron Jeremy, Jason Mewes, and Scottie Pippen, it’s not without a small amount of embarrassment that one watches the sensationally titled documentary 
It’s not only the picture frame that’s expanded in the third season of 
OK, there is something blatantly geeky about keeping your change in a bank that’s also an exact replica of the 
Much like Freaks & Geeks and Arrested Development before it, another brilliant but short-lived series comes to DVD, where it will hopefully be discovered by those who didn’t get to experience it during its first go-round. So what series am I celebrating this time? 
For years now, I’ve been reiterating that you should buy, post-haste, the comedic sci-fi novels of Simpsons writer John Swartzwelder. Every one so far has been the delightfully quirky literary equivalent of a fine gem, and the greatness keeps on coming with his latest tale of slow-witted detective Frank Burly, 
As much as I love RiffTrax, it’s with Cinematic Titanic that I feel like I’ve come home to the Mystery Science Theater experience that I fell in love with lo’ those many years ago. Awful movie? Check. Brilliantly, hilariously eviscerating comedy at said film’s expense? Check. An endearingly goofy conceit prompting the experience? Check. The folks behind MST? Check. So what’s their latest target? A cheesy vampire flick called 
For years it’s been available in a sub-par 4×3 version, but finally the first (and best) Sesame Street feature film gets so much-deserved respect with the newly-remastered, widescreen edition of 
When a comedian decides – at the age of 32 – to write his autobiography, it’s understandable to be a bit wary. But when that comedian is Russell Brand – and the tome deals in large part with his years of heroin and sex addiction – my curiosity is piqued. The book itself – whimsically titled 
Picking up where Casino Royale left off, 
What many people consider to be the worst Bond film – even though it’s technically not in the Bond canon proper – is Sean Connery’s last turn, 
Add another must-have title to the list of those that have finally made it to Blu-Ray with the arrival of 
Letterman, Leno, Conan, and Kimmel may get all of the attention, but the brilliant dark horse of late night TV is Craig Ferguson. Most don’t know that the lost of The Late Late Show was also a stand-up, but you can easily rectify that lack of knowledge by picking up his brand new stand-up DVD, 
Knowing its tortured production history, I had pretty low expectations for the Disney (non-Pixar) CG animated film 
While most catalogue high-def releases have focused on comedies and action flicks, the drama side of things gets serviced with a trio of new releases to Blu-Ray – 
If you walked out of Watchmen wanting to recreate the aural experience, there’s a pair of discs that fit the bill. For the songs featured in the flick, you’ll want 
Of the more recent crop of Disney animated flicks, one of the few I’d say is a classic on par with their golden age is 
It was occasionally a bit rocky, but I wound up enjoying 
Filmed in 1993, Rod Stewart’s stint on Unplugged was a rousing, rollicking jaunt through his back catalogue, with Ronnie Wood by his side. The CD has been re-released with a pair of bonus tracks as 
I’m delighted that Paramount has decided to stick with their remastered, 2-disc special editions they’ve branded as the “Centennial Collection”. The latest releases are Alfred Hitchcock’s 
I am not a teenage girl or an emotionally needy woman, so the 
Many nerds noted the absence of the comic book story 
If you want a bit of the great outdoors this weekend, you might want to check out a pair of new releases from Animal Planet. 
Originally available as an exclusive pack in with Kung Fu Panda, the animated follow-up 
See just how fun, frolicsome, and positively risqué pre-Code Tinseltown was in the 
I’m not a terribly big fan, so the less I say about the CG animated Star Wars series the better. Suffice it to say, the first episode collection, 
I admit – I was wary of Wall-E. Cars had left me a little cold (and the creepy, post-apocalyptic, human-less but made by humans world it was set in was just disturbing), but Ratatouille was more enjoyable than I thought it was going to be, and my faith in Pixar was ready to be fully restored. And it was. It helps that I experienced the film sitting beside my 4-year-old nephew, who was in the process of taking in his very first movie on a movie theater’s BIG SCREEN. It was a magical time from start to finish, and the DVD brings it on home. If standard definition is still your cup of tea, then I recommend the 
Kudos to Stephen Colbert for reviving the tradition of a pundit holiday special – just like the George Plimpton celebrations of yore – with 
While I don’t think it’s quite the revelatory masterpiece that the hype made it out to be, I did enjoy 
After a pair of unsatisfying “best-of” compilations spanning the show’s entire run, we finally go back to the beginning for a proper complete first season set of 
After her turn in the Christmas special “The Runaway Bride”, some were worried about Catherine Tate reprising her role of Donna Noble as the 10th Doctor’s new companion in the fourth series of 
There’ve been a boxful of previous soundtrack releases for the Indiana Jones films, but now we’ve got 
If you’ve been patiently avoiding the single-disc releases for the next seasonal batch of that happy chap that lives in a pineapple under the sea, then you’ll rejoice in your purchase of 
Criterion sprinkles their cinematic fairy dust and delivers to film geeks another stellar special edition, this time for the acclaimed 1965 adaptation of John le Carre’s 
I view the remastered editions of the original Star Trek to be a unique aberration that sometimes succeeds in providing a richer experience than the original effects work, but often just plays as just an awkward exercise. Still, you can now wrap things up with the release of the final season, 
It’s been edited to remove Kermit, but Jim Henson’s 
By now, when one goes into a Werner Herzog film, one expects an experience wholly unique. That’s certainly what you get with 
Fans of The Who have been waiting years for a pristine release of the band’s 1977 concert in Kilburn, North London, and 
You know, I didn’t think I’d get anything out of 
When it first premiered, I had Bones pegged as one of those quirky shows that couldn’t possibly survive the network ignoramusi for long. But here we are with 
The idea of Will Smith playing an antisocial ex-superhero who gets hooked up with an image consultant played by Jason Bateman seems like it should delight me to no end, but 
The third season of 
A&E Home Video has leapt into the world of high definition with a pair of pre-existing catalogue releases that certainly set the stage for some nice drops in the future. First up is the inaugural season of their interstellar documentary series 
Full disclosure time. I consider my very first crush to be on Punky Brewster. Just to show how aware I was at the time, as a wee lad, I even knew that the precocious Punky was played by a girl named Soleil Moon Frye – who I vowed I would one day marry. At least that’s what I told my friends while we played in our junk wood playhouse at the top of the hill behind Quantico base housing all those years ago. I never did marry Soleil (her loss, really), but I did watch her show. Now, thanks to those pop culture machiavellis at Shout! Factory, I can relive that long-ago crush with all four seasons of 
It’s hard for them to dig themselves out of the hole the show has been going deeper and deeper into the past few years after its stellar first few seasons, but they at least attempted some course correction during the 7th season of 
It’s a legendary concert and now it’s gotten a suitably reverent release with 
Minoru Kawasaki is a bizarre filmmaker whose bizareness is matched only by that of his films themselves. Don’t believe me? Check out the psychological thriller starring a 6-foot office-working 
Tick another one off the list, as the fifth and final season of 
One of my nephew’s favorite Nick shows is The Fairly Oddparents, so I’m sure he’ll eagerly devour 
I am not the target audience. At all. But I know the target audience is probably screaming in giddy anticipation for the release of 
A staple of my 80’s Nick At Nite viewing returns with its sophomore outing in the form of 
There were times during the 3rd season of 
The pants-loving foursome is back in 
I could say that the latest Cinematic Titanic offering, 
When I travel, I always have far too many electronics, far too many cords, and not nearly enough USB ports on my laptop to charge things. It’s always nice to have a backup plan, and the 
I’d say that reaching the 10th volume of the still-must-have collection of Charles Schulz’s groundbreaking strip is certainly worth celebrating – particularly when 
It seems that Criterion is systematically going back and revisiting some of their more popular catalogue titles and giving them rather stunning new high-definition transfers and some new bonus features, and the latest title to get the A+ treatment is Robert Altman’s 
Some may be watching slasher flicks this Halloween, but I will be celebrating All Hallow’s Eve by taking in the new Blu-Ray edition of Mel Brooks’s 
George Lucas managed to extend his death grip into another beloved franchise, clutching Steven Spielberg in one claw and Indiana Jones in the other, and managing yet again to produce a lame monstrosity instead of what should have been a triumphant return of a cinema hero. Such was the travesty of 
All of the focus is on his stellar performance in Iron Man, but another of Robert Downey, Jr.’s great turns is getting a new special edition DVD – his starring role in the life of The Little Tramp, 
I don’t think it was as strong as the first season, but I still enjoyed the second season of 
In the wake of the Star Wars, Marvel, and Disney Vault titles – those wonderful collections of text and reproductions of rare ephemera – we now get 
I’ll be perfectly honest with you – I was not a huge fan of The Matrix. I enjoyed the flick for what it was – a minor mind-f*** whose special effects and energy thankfully cancelled out most of its banal, overcooked pseudo-philosophizing and messianic overtones. But then came the sequels, which both – in quick succession – managed to top each other on the “Someone actually wrote this crap?” scale. Declining box office was proof enough – a fair number of fans who though The Matrix was the second coming (make your own jokes) left the theater feeling betrayed by creators who obviously had their grip locked firmly on something besides the story. Originally released in on standard DVD – and then the now-defunct HD-DVD – the 6-disc 
Packaged in a handsome lucite slipcase, the 
I caught an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba! the other day, and if any show can rightfully claim the mantle of “Kiddie Show Beloved By Stoners”, it’s this intriguingly bizarre combination of music and costumed characters, If you doubt me, check out 
While you’re pining for the next Spongebob season set, get a quick fix of recent episodes with 
In the VH1 series 
In these troubled, troubling times, I recommend anyone with an open mind should check out the wonderful documentaries of Richard Dawkins, conveniently collected in 
Easily the film that cemented William Hurt as an actor to be reckoned with – and a bizarre one, at that – was his turn in 
Sweeping and epic in the most glorious, classic sense of the word, the foreign language 
If you’re the head of NASA’s multi-million dollar manned mission to Mars and you find out that to send the astronauts would result in disaster, what would you do? Well, if you were the head of the mission in the cult classic 
It was truncated due to the writer’s strike, but the eighth season of 
It may not be brilliant, but there’s certainly something loveable about any show that casts both Patrick Warburton and David Spade. 
I’ll be honest with you – the only real reason that I ever watched an episode of 
Indulge your schlock horror bone with the brand new Ghost House Underground imprint, formed by Ghost House Pictures founders Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, which debuts with 8 titles full of terror and gore aplenty (Lionsgate, Rated R, DVD-$19.98 SRP each). The launch titles include 
It could have been a hokey mess – and there is still some hokinees about – but 
His time in office may be fast coming to an end, but you can still watch the second season of 
Science nerds (like me) can geek out to the complete second season of 
It has been a long, long time since the release of the second season, but fans and interested parties can now partake of 
Terence Malick’s epic tale of Captain John Smith and the Jamestown settlement’s relations with the Native American populace, 
After years of begging, pleading, and borderline groveling, Warners has finally answered all those pathetic pleas with the long-awaited first volume of 
So, you’ve got a pair of computers and you want to transfer files between them quickly and easily. Sure, you could try and create a network connection, or send things over a instant messenger service in a pinch, but most ISPs are painfully slow on uploads, and you might not even have the option. No, the easiest piece of kit I’ve ever encountered is the 
It’s not nearly the groundbreaking revelation that was Scorsese and The Band’s The Last Waltz, but 
The Blu-Ray train has reached Clancy station (yeah, I just typed that – I may need a vacation), and that means we’ve got a quartet of high-definition, stunning looking versions of 
Spawned from the same animated era that gave us Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, and Pinky & The Brain, I always thought that 
Take the highway to the danger zone in gloriously crisp, high definition Tony Scott vision with the Blu-Ray edition of Top Gun (Paramount, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP). In addition to the uber-quality, you get the bonus materials from the recent special edition DVD release, including an audio commentary, making-of documentary, featurettes, galleries, music videos, and more.
Like most effortless surprise cult hits, the sequel to Harold & Kumar Go Two White Castle suffers from trying too hard. That’s not to say that 
Has it really been 10 years since 
It may be mired in its mid-80’s time period, but there’s a great ticking clock fun to 
Fans (and Paul Sabourin) will rejoice in the fact that not only will they get to re-watch the stunning conclusion of the saga, but the fourth and final volume of 
Anglophiles wishing to get a wonderful primer on the sceptered isle’s history will want to pick up a copy of Simon Schama’s in-depth 
Plunge back into the Fox vaults with a box set devoted to the 30’s George Clooney with the 
Start refreshing on the original before the new series launches this fall with the complete fifth season of 
If getting the series in separate sets wasn’t appealing to you, you can now get the entirety of 
In the annals of great cooking shows, a special place must be reserved for one of my favorites – Britain’s 
With season 7 of 
Spawned in the desperate post-Buffy bid to launch any kind of female action-hero series the networks could get their hands on, 
Growing up, the name James A. Michener meant incredibly massive TV miniseries based on equally massive books set in some period of America’s past. Such is the Wild West tale 
It’s a pleasant surprise to find just how much I look forward to each new installment of 
Based on the lackluster American iteration, I’ve largely avoided the show Trigger Happy TV. That proved to be foolish, as I just should have sought out the infinitely more intelligent – and dada funny – British original created by Dom Joly. It’s like an absurdist Candid Camera, and Joly is a compelling social observer. Drop everything you’re doing and pick up the 
It seems there’ve been a dozen collections over the past few years, but 
As with any potentially long-running DVD release, I feared that the first volume of the chronological Three Stooges might very well be a one-off. Thankfully, my fears have been allayed with the arrival of 
Nothing makes a weekend pass faster than having your own private Modern Marvels marathon, and you can certainly do that with 
Even though I thought the flick was abysmal, I enjoyed reading through the massive 
Unfortunately, much like the film itself, there’s not much to get excited by with John Williams’s score to 
It’s a damn shame that he’s still largely unknown in the US, but I’d recommend you rectify that by picking up 
Long before V or The X-Files, producer Quinn Martin gave us 
Slowly but surely, the DVD releases are catching up with the current episodes. The 2-disc 
The subjects of their quests are still as mythical as they ever were, but 
As someone who was not particularly ever a fan of the original Rambo films, Stallone’s resurrection of the Reagan-era icon in 
While everyone remembers the sinking of the Titanic, my enduring interest in early 20th century shipwrecks extends to the sinking of Cunard liner Lusitania, which was torpedoed by a German U-Boat in 1915, and was one of the pivotal, galvanizing moments in the first World War. The Discovery Channel special 
Get in a martial arts mode (just in time for the release of Kung Fu Panda) with a new pair of releases from the “Dragon Dynasty” label – 
Ride ’em in! Get a view of classic Clint Eastwood with the first volume of 
Meanwhile, Marshall Matt Dillon continues to keep the crooked in line in the second volume of 
Ever since seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark as a wee child, Indy’s iconic headwear has held a special fascination for me. Even going back 15 years, I contemplated trying to get a fedora of my own – but the price was quite prohibitive (or, at least, relative to my finances today). Still, the dream persisted, and on a trip to Disneyland a few years back I picked up one of their $35 officially licensed fedoras – and I was happy. It looked close enough to the real thing for me to feel like I finally got what I’d always wanted. Ah, but then 
We’ve now officially reached – and passed – the middle of 
With all that attention being paid to the man with the hat, let’s turn our eye towards the original Lucasian franchise that was driven into the ground with an unfortunate return, Star Wars. Before the release of the prequels – even before the release of the special editions – there was an incredible behind-the-scenes tome that was released. Though out of print for years, it was brought back into print a few years back, and it’s celebration of an unsullied Star Wars universe warms my frosted heart. Packed with hundreds of behind-the-scenes photos and detailed information, get your own copy of 
Although still largely unknown in the US, I’m quite the fan of mentalist/magician/illusionist/creepy guy Derren Brown. I heartily recommend you pick up the DVD documenting his live tour 
It’s been so long since their airing that I barely remember the episodes features in the 5th season set of 
Although his smarmy, opportunistic, and ultimately destructive behavior became cartoonish in his last years as prime minister, it’s a film like writer Peter Morgan and director Stephen Frears’ 
Long before her turn as Carrie Bradshaw, Sarah Jessica Parker was teamed with Amy Linker in the 80’s prototype for My So-Called Life, 
Longtime readers of this column will know I’m a sucker for historical documentaries, so keep that in mind when I say I watched 
If you’re an armchair adventurer, you might want to pick up a copy of 
If you’ve not yet seen 
Often – and unfairly – overshadowed by the much showier Platoon, 
After four seasons of Jim Nabors bumbling around as the titular 
You’ve got to love BBC period dramas – and I do. They’re lush, they’re dependable, and they’re usually packed with top-flight actors. Such is the case with 
I was an avid Saturday morning cartoon watcher during the 70’s and 80’s, and even I don’t remember that there was such a beast as the 
Not one to let the dead rest even a moment, George Romero returns with another installment in his seemingly never-ending zombie saga, 
If watching war flicks over the labor day weekend seems kind of old hat, you might want to try taking a look at the veritable wagonload of westerns making their way out of the vaults. First out the gate is Fox, which has dropped 
For sheer volume, though, MGM has opened up the floodgates with 
If you’re in the mood for a great drama that features Eddie Izzard (and really, who isn’t?), try the Region 2 release 
Surely I can’t be the only one that had zero interest in National Treasure, and even less interest in its sequel, 
Take Party Animal, mix in The Hills, and add a bit of the envelope pushing of Queer As Folk – oh, and set it all in the UK – and you’ve got the basic formula for 
The be-uniformed crusaders of the Judge Advocate General’s office return in the sixth season of 
I still believe the film is an unwanted return to a franchise whose potential was dashed upon the rocks of a mediocre first outing, but there is something to be said for Harry Gregson-Williams’ score to 
Hoping to fill the void left by Jeff Foxworthy’s departure from the sitcom scene, redneck compatriot Bill Engvall received the eponymous 
Broadway-philes can give a spin to the new revival cast recording from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s 
First and foremost, take a moment to celebrate the glorious demise of the ill-conceived American version of Spaced with the news that this July brings the release with the original Britcom that put Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jessica Hynes, and Edgar Wright on the geek map. Loaded with bonus features from not only the UK release, but also exclusive to the US edition, this is a must-have set. Keep an eye out at your favorite online retailer or DVD emporium.
By the third season of 
For years now, I’ve been reiterating that you should buy, post-haste, the comedic sci-fi novels of Simpsons writer John Swartzwelder. Every one so far has been a gem, and he’s managed to keep the plate spinning with his latest tale of slow-witted detective Frank Burly, 
With a new Indy flick in the offing, it was a foregone conclusion that we’d see some form of re-release on the original trilogy – and so we have with the 
Cinema geeks rejoice! Universal has seen fit to collect 10 of their catalogue’s most genre-tastic titles into one box set – 
As much as I liked the “official” history found in the deluxe tome To Infinity And Beyond, it’s nice to have a complementary, unauthorized book about the early days and rise of Pixar to balance out the picture, and David Price’s 
The movie’s not yet in theaters, but everything I’ve seen of Kung Fu Panda has made me keen to do so. It’s taken awhile for rival studios that the way to fight Pixar is not to make knock-off Pixar flicks, but to realize the same thing that Warners did in their heyday – leave the heart to Disney and focus on the comedy instead. If you want to whet your appetite for this flick, look no further than 
I wasn’t alive to experience firsthand growing up in the 50’s, but I’m certainly aware of the shows and celebrities that made up the pop culture diet of that generation. If you’re as interested as I am in that period, you’ve got to get yourself a copy of 
It’s been 10 years since the passing of the Chairman of the Board, and Warners has seen fit to celebrate his passing with a quartet of box sets celebrating Frank Sinatra’s cinematic legacy – 
Everyone’s favorite sleuthing antiquities dealer returns in the complete third season of 
It’s not like I would have paid to see it in the theater, but 
The fourth season of 
Just when my nephews have nearly burned out the previous release, along comes 
One of my nephews is fast approaching the one-year mark, and getting him to sleep is quite a feat with all that teething going on. We’ve found that a big help in the seemingly never-ending battle is Nickelodeon’s 
The off-color puppets are back with 
Have you ever picked up a book and thought “This is an idea that was a long-time coming…”? I thought that very thing when I thumbed through 
You’ll weep, you’ll awww, you’ll get plenty of points from your significant other if you pick her up a copy of the new 
Like According To Jim, 
Surprisingly enough, Sean Combs acquitted himself quite well in last year’s TV adaptation of 
One of those programs that will always grab my attention if insomnia or boredom has me scanning channels at 4 in the morning is anything with forensic examiner Dr. Michael Baden. An all-new edition of 
I was a fan of the 
Make the wait for the next Spongebob season set a little easier to bear (and believe me, my nephew devours Spongebob like it’s air, so it’s not an easy wait) with the new 
Other artists have gotten a catalogue review, but I’m glad that the latest addition is 
Courtesy of a pair of new documentaries, not only can you learn 
It’s not Lawrence or Kwai, but David Lean’s 
It’s hard to believe it’s taken this long for there to be a career-spanning box set celebrating the prodigious half-century output of Willie Nelson, but it’s not until the release of 
While you’re at it, you can also pick up a copy of 
Three seasons in and I still can find nothing to like about 
