Library
Tom Phippen
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2065 Items
Last Updated:
Apr 19, 2014
28 Days Later : Limited Edition (2 Disc Set) [2002]
Danny Boyle
Happyslapped by a Jellyfish: The Words of Karl Pilkington
Karl Pilkington
The Age of Reason
Thomas Paine, Moncure Daniel
The Rights of Man
Thomas Paine
Ratatouille [2007]
Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava As good a film as Pixar has ever put out, Ratatouille is a frantic, innovative movie, boasting some of the finest quality animation ever put on the screen.

Ratatouille tells the story of wannabe-chef Remy The Rat, who becomes drawn into the mantra of legendary cook Gusteau, that anyone can cook. The deceased Gusteau's ghostly image appears to Remy, and guides him to his restaurant, whose standards have been slipping since his death. Remy, through the manipulation of a lowly restaurant worker called Linguini, soon starts secretly cooking the food, and this unusual set up proves to be a trove of treasures that Pixar carefully picks through.

Ratatouille's trick is to tie its cutting edge animation techniques to old-school essentials. At times harking back to the frenetic style you'd expect of Chuck Jones, it threads an original narrative through its story, which itself is packed with memorable characters (none more so than Peter O'Toole's superbly-voiced restaurant critic). It perhaps runs a little too long, but it's so well-written and so lavishly entertaining that it's a churlish complaint to have.

For in an era of cynically-produced family movies, Ratatouille is really something special. With an appeal that spreads across generations, and a quality that puts it right up there with Pixar's finest, it's an outstanding piece of cinema, and one set to be enjoyed for many, many years. Unmissable. —Simon Brew
Karlology
Karl Pilkington
The Temporal Void
Peter F. Hamilton
SOE: An Outline History of the Special Operations Executive
M.R.D. Foot SOE The Special Operations Executive 1940- 1946 reads just as well now as it did when it was first published by the BBC in 1984 to coincide with a television series—not least because its author, M.R.D Foot, was appointed the official historian to the SOE just after World War Two and has had access to its entire archive. The SOE was hastily cobbled together in 1940 to wage subversive campaigns behind enemy lines, and by and large it made up the rules as it went along. It recruited where and when it could. As might be expected, the senior ranks generally came from the echelons of the public schools, the City, the business world and the armed services; but its agents were a bizarre mix of eccentrics and mavericks from all over the world—including North American newspaper editors, South American businessmen, Spanish smugglers, Abyssinian tribesmen, Norwegian mountaineers, schoolchildren, Dutch printers, Greek outlaws, Slovene peasants, Malayan rubber workers, Siamese noblemen, Naga hillmen, Polish and Czech railway guards and Chinese tycoons. All in all, however, SOE's total strength never totalled more than 10,000 men and 3,200 women. Often the training was crude and the operations were ill-thought out and as a result many failed. But that only serves to make those that succeeded against such long odds all the more impressive. Occasionally, such as its attack on the Norsk Hydro plant at Rjukan, SOE's operations were critical to the outcome of the war, but for the most part its successes owed more to the longevity of attrition rather than any immediate outcome.

The SOE spent much time engaged in diversionary activity. It was said that each day Hitler spent at least half an hour considering Abwehr reports on SOE activities and that he was never entirely sure of their place in the overall framework of Allied plans. But perhaps the greatest success of the SOE was the way it managed to foster a mentality of resistance in all areas of Nazi occupation. Populations that might otherwise have settled for an easy life were galvanised into a permanent state of mini-rebellion, thereby ensuring that the occupying forces could never relax for a moment. Foot is the ideal guide to walk you through this outfit of which much has been spoken but little is known, sorting out the fact from the fiction but he still finding ample room for storytelling. Your perspective on World War Two will never be quite the same again after reading this. — John Crace
Secret War Heroes: The Men of Special Operations Executive
Marcus Binney
Common Sense
Thomas Paine
Bad Science
Ben Goldacre
Neuromancer
William Gibson Case was the best interface cowboy who ever ran in Earth's computer matrix. Then he double- crossed the wrong people.… Winner of the Hugo, Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards.
Toy Story - 10th Anniversary Edition [1995]
John Lasseter There is greatness in film that can be discussed, dissected, and talked about late into the night. Then there is genius that is right in front of our faces—you smile at the spell it puts you into and are refreshed, and not a word needs to be spoken. This kind of entertainment is what they used to call "movie magic" and there is loads of it in this irresistible computer animation feature. Just a picture of these bright toys on the cover of Toy Story looks intriguing as it reawakens the kid in us. Filmmaker John Lasseter's shorts (namely Knickknack and Tin Toy, which can be found on the Pixar video Tiny Toy Stories) illustrate not only a technical brilliance but also a great sense of humour—one in which the pun is always intended. Lasseter thinks of himself as a storyteller first and an animator second, much like another film innovator, Walt Disney.

Lasseter's story is universal and magical: what do toys do when they're not played with? Cowboy Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks), Andy's favourite bedroom toy, tries to calm the other toys (some original, some classic) during a wrenching time of year—the birthday party, when newer toys may replace them. Sure enough, Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) is the new toy that takes over the throne. Buzz has a crucial flaw, though—he believes he's the real Buzz Lightyear, not a toy. Bright and cheerful, Toy Story is much more than a 90-minute commercial for the inevitable bonanza of Woody and Buzz toys. Lasseter further scores with perfect voice casting, including Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head and Wallace Shawn as a meek dinosaur. The director-animator won a special Oscar "For the development and inspired application of techniques that have made possible the first feature-length computer-animated film." In other words, the movie is great. —Doug Thomas
Wii Fit
Nintendo
Shaun White Snowboarding Road Trip -Wii Fit Compatible
Ubisoft
WALL-E (2 Disc Special Edition) [2008]
Andrew Stanton Pixar genius reigns in this funny romantic comedy, which stars a robot who says absolutely nothing for a full 25 minutes yet somehow completely transfixes and endears himself to the audience within the first few minutes of the film. As the last robot left on earth, Wall-E (voiced by Ben Burtt) is one small robot—with a big, big heart—who holds the future of Earth and mankind squarely in the palm of his metal hand. He's outlasted all the "Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class" robots that were assigned some 700 years ago to clean up the environmental mess that man made of earth while man vacationed aboard the luxury spaceship Axiom. Wall-E has dutifully gone about his job compacting trash, the extreme solitude broken only by his pet cockroach, but he's developed some oddly human habits and ideas. When the Axiom sends its regularly scheduled robotic EVE probe (Elissa Knight) to earth, Wall-E is instantly smitten and proceeds to try to impress EVE with his collection of human memorabilia. EVE's directive compels her to bring Wall-E's newly collected plant sprout to the captain of the Axiom and Wall-E follows in hot pursuit. Suddenly, the human world is turned upside down and the Captain (Jeff Garlin) joins forces with Wall-E and a cast of other misfit robots to lead the now lethargic people back home to earth. Wall-E is a great family film with the most impressive aspect being the depth of emotion conveyed by a simple robot—a machine typically considered devoid of emotion, but made so absolutely touching by the magic of Pixar animation. Also well-worth admiring are the sweeping views from space, the creative yet disturbing vision of what strange luxuries a future space vacation might offer, and the innovative use of trash in a future cityscape. Underneath the slapstick comedy and touching love story is a poignant message about the folly of human greed and its potential effects on earth and the entire human race. —Tami Horiuchi, Amazon.com
Family Guy - Series 7 - Complete
Family Guy The adventures of the Griffin family continue apace with this latest Family Guy boxset, which once again delivers many hours of quite brilliant animated comedy.

The show, for those new to it, follows the wonderful Griffin family, headed up by the daft but loveable Peter and the happily oblivious Lois, through to their teenage kids Chris and Meg. But as any seasoned Family Guy viewer will happily tell you, the gold of the show lies with the two characters who are the brains of the family. On the one hand there’s Brian the dog, and then on the other is the little baby Stewie. He, surely, is the absolute highlight, a maniacal evil genius of a child, who in this season seven set finally manages to kill Lois. Insert your own evil laugh here.

The 12 episodes on offer in the Family Guy season 7 boxset aren’t all vintage, but there are some cracking inclusions. The 100th episode special is a good place to start, and then there’s the small matter of President Bush’s underwear going walkabout. Throw in a bit of time travel for Peter, and it’s the usual oddball mix that helps make the show so strong.

With plenty of rewatch value and a continued ability to generate laughs, Family Guy is a show that’s still thriving on the evidence with this set. And frankly, the next collection of episodes on DVD can’t come quickly enough. —Jon Foster
Futurama - Bender's Game [2008]
Dwayne Carey-Hill
Extras - The Special
Ricky Gervais Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown of celebrity. Andy Millman (Ricky Gervais) is back and more miserable than ever in this darker and devastatingly funny finale to the Emmy-winning series. Though his sitcom When the Whistle Blows rates six million viewers, he is, as ever, mindful of the critics' barbs and jealous of colleagues landing the prestige film roles he covets. "I'm not proud of having Britain's No. 1 catchphrase," he grouses (actually, he has sunk to No. 3, now trailing "You are the weakest link, goodbye"). Worse, he has become a right bastard, arrogantly treating crewmembers and his one true friend, Maggie (a heartbreaking Ashley Jensen), like dirt. Andy finally drops his clueless and incompetent agent (series co-creator Stephen Merchant) and quits the show. "Don't worry about me," he proclaims. "The phone won't stop ringing."

Unlike the finale of The Office, this super-duper-sized episode really has no loose ends to tie up. In Andy's humiliating comeuppance (he sinks to portraying an alien on Dr. Who and joins the desperate housemates on Celebrity Big Brother), Gervais has the perfect vessel with which to rail against soul-sucking celebrity, degrading tabloid culture, and "the gutter press." As for Andy and Maggie, those longing for some kind of Tim/Dawn hookup may not get exactly what they want, but they will get what they need in the lovely final scenes. A-listers having a laugh at their own images have always been one of Extras' special treats. The finale features jaw-dropping cameos by Clive Owen and George Michael, performing community service yet again. —Donald Liebenson
Operation Avalanche: The Salerno Landings 1943
Des Hickey, Gus Smith
The Wire: Complete HBO Season 5
Dominic West It’s borderline tragic that one of American television’s finest shows of recent times comes to an end with season five of The Wire. Long-praised for its astonishing mix of character, grit and outstandingly scripted drama, the upside is that the show sure goes out with some style.

As with every season of The Wire, there’s an underlying theme running alongside the exploration of both sides of Baltimore’s drug problem, and this time it’s the media. Fighting cutbacks, yet trying to maintain quality, the staff of The Baltimore Sun prove to be a compelling addition to the mix. On top of that, there’s also Mayor Carcetti’s battles at City Hall with the budget, a stretched police force looking for easy statistics, and fractions among the city’s main drug dealers. Desperate times, ultimately, call for desperate measures, and it turns to McNulty to come up with a plan that threads through each of the city’s factions.

That The Wire has maintained its standards for five straight seasons is surely something to be celebrated all by itself. Yet what’s even more remarkable is the way that it leaves our screens, seemingly forever. No character is safe and nothing is black and white, right up to the quite wonderful final episode. And what a way to go that last instalment proves to be. Giving nothing away, it’s a superb fanfare to a genuinely stunning—and unequalled—piece of television drama. If you’ve not already, you really should find out what all the fuss about. —Simon Brew
Severian Of The Guild: The Book Of The New Sun: With Shadow of the Torturer AND Claw of the Conciliator AND Sword of the Lictor AND Citadel of the Autarch
Gene Wolfe
The Diamond Age
Neal Stephenson John Percival Hackworth is a nanotech engineer on the rise when he steals a copy of "A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" for his daughter Fiona. The primer is actually a super computer built with nanotechnology that was designed to educate Lord Finkle-McGraw's daughter and to teach her how to think for herself in the stifling neo-Victorian society. But Hackworth loses the primer before he can give it to Fiona, and now the "book" has fallen into the hands of young Nell, an underprivileged girl whose life is about to change.
Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan
Shrabani Basu This is the riveting story of Noor Inayat Khan, the descendant of an Indian Prince Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore, who became a British secret agent for SOE during World War II. Born into an illustrious Indian family in 1914 and brought up in the non-violent Sufi religion, Noor seemed an unlikely secret agent. Yet she became the first female radio operator to be landed in enemy-occupied France, and refused to abandon her post in Paris in 1943, continuing her work under extremely dangerous circumstances. Shrabani Basu tells the moving story of Noor's life from her birth in Moscow - where her father was a Sufi preacher - to her capture by the Germans. Noor was one of only three women SOE awarded the George Cross and, under torture, revealed nothing but her name - but not her real name, nor her code name, just the name she used to register at SOE: Nora Baker. Kept in solitary confinement, chained between hand and feet and unable to walk upright, Noor existed on bowls of soup made from potato peelings. Ten months after she was captured, she was taken to Dachau and, on 13 September 1944, she was shot. Her last word was 'Liberte'.
Anathem
Neal Stephenson
Carnivale: Complete HBO Season 1 [2003]
Nick Stahl, Clancy Brown Like a cross between TWIN PEAKS and THE GRAPES OF WRATH, HBO's acclaimed television drama CARNIVALE fashions an allegorical fable about the mythic battle of good and evil set against the surreal backdrop of a Depression-era travelling circus. Having lost both his farm and family to the 1930s Dust Bowl, recent prison escapee Ben Hawkins (Nick Stahl, IN THE BEDROOM, BULLY) joins an itinerant carnival in a desperate bid to escape poverty, the police, and his own discomfort with his miraculous healing powers. Ben's story is juxtaposed with that of California preacher Justin Crowe (Clancy Brown, THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION), whose evangelical ministries with sister Iris (Amy Madigan) take on increasingly sinister overtones and hint at an eventual confrontation between himself and young Hawkins—whose fate seems somehow intertwined with his own through the mysterious figure of former circus showman Henry Scudder (John Savage). As the series leisurely builds to this apocalyptic showdown, there is much drama to be found in the daily goings-on of the carnival denizens. Lorded over by the pint-sized Samson (TWIN PEAKS' Michael J. Anderson) and the strangely unseen Management, the ragtag collection of sideshow freaks features blind soothsayer Lodz (Patrick Bauchau); his bearded-lady companion Lila (Debra Christofferson); matronly snake charmer Ruthie (Adrienne Barbeau); her strongman son Gabriel (Brian Turk); Siamese twins Alexandria and Caledonia (Karyne and Sarah Steben); the lizard-man Gecko (notorious NEA Four performance artist John Fleck); and, most intriguingly, catatonic tarot-card reader Apollonia (Diane Salinger), who communicates telepathically with her sensitive but troubled daughter Sophie (Clea DuVall). Rounding out the eccentric troupe are wounded former baseball-player-turned-roustabout Jonesy (Tim DeKay) and a family of strippers and prostitutes comprised of mother Rita Sue (Cynthia Ettinger); her daughters Libby (Carla Gallo) and Dora Mae (Amanda Aday); and their pimpish father Stumpy (Toby Huss). Creator Daniel Knauf surrounds this impressive cast with impeccable period-piece production design, a rotating roster of directorial talent that includes Alison Maclean (JESUS' SON) and Rodrigo Garcia (fittingly, son of magical-realist writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez), and innovative storytelling that is at once supremely creepy, intellectually provocative, and emotionally gripping. This collection includes all 12 episodes of the series' highly addictive first season.
Carnivale: Complete HBO Season 2
Carnivale The second season of HBO's Depression-era gothic—John Steinbeck by way of Tod Browning—picks up where the first left off. Professor Lodz (Patrick Bauchau) is dead. Ben (Nick Stahl), the show's protagonist, appears to be the culprit. Samson (Michael J. Anderson) helps him dispose of the body. Later he tells the other carnival workers that Lodz "took a powder." Lila (Debra Christofferson) doesn't buy it. Meanwhile, Sophie (Clea DuVall), who lost her mother to fire the previous year, feels unmoored without her guidance. A few states away, Brother Justin (Clancy Brown) harbors ever greater delusions of grandeur—and inappropriate thoughts about his sister, Iris (Amy Madigan). In "Alamagordo, NM," he decides to establish a temple, which he dubs Jonestown, er, Jericho. At the same time, life amongst the carnies, who are heading towards Justin's California, is becoming increasingly tense. Ruthie (Adrienne Barbeau), for instance, is starting to see dead people—like Lodz—and Stumpy (Toby Huss) is no longer able to keep his gambling in check. As with the first season, the action continues to alternate between the carnival and the congregation. What binds the two is a man named Scudder (John Savage), who has connections to Ben and Justin. Although writer/creator Dan Knauf had planned to tie things up between seasons three and six, HBO did not renew Carnivàle a second time. Nonetheless, a surprising number of questions are answered, like the identity of "Management" (voiced by an un-credited Linda Hunt) and whether Ben and Justin will have a final showdown. The answer to the latter question is: Yes, they will—and there’ll be casualties. —Kathleen C. Fennessy
Vive La Revolution
Mark Steel 'An irreverent romp through the Gallic uprising...illuminating and funny'
Amazing...but False!: Hundreds of Facts You Thought Were True, But Aren't
David Diefendorf Edison invented the lightbulb - and motion pictures. Camels store water in their humps. Captain Kidd was a notorious pirate. What do these so-called facts have in common? Theyre all false! Every one is a myth that, through time, has achieved the status of reality. Finally, someone is here to set the record straight, once and for all. In this fully illustrated colour collection of popular misconceptions, freelance writer and journalist David Diefendorf uncovers hundreds of widely accepted truths in various categories: famous firsts, health and the body, history, misquotations and misusages, people, religion, science and technology, and more. Its fun and informative, and a great gift for any brainiac, trivia buff, or know-it-all. James Randi, the internationally-known debunker of pseudoscience and a brilliant magician, provides the entertaining foreword.
An Utterly Impartial History of Britain:
John O'Farrell A cantankerous history of Britain by one of our most popular humorists
Ice, Mud and Blood: Lessons from Climates Past
Chris Turney `Chris Turney's 'Ice, Mud and Blood' is lively, well-researched, and up-to-date. A summary of key discoveries by scientists about past climate change, it ranges widely across time and all over the planet. Turney begins many of these stories with delightful anecdotes about people who centuries ago stumbled on confusing observations that in time came to be understood as the result of climate change.'
In the Beginning...Was the Command Line
Neal Stephenson You may well ask what light cyberpunk maestro Neal Stephenson can shed on the subject of operating systems and interface design. He's better known for his novels: Snow Crash, a dystopian not-too-distant future of avatars, linguistic software viruses and rent-a-nukes; The Diamond Age in which Victorian values come a cropper of nanotechnology; and Cryptonomicon, his 900 page opus spanning the development of hacking from before Bletchley Park to a contemporary data haven in Southeast Asia, complete with an (imaginary, obviously) gay love scene in the woods outside New Haven involving cryptography pioneer Alan Turing.

No one could read a Stephenson novel and not recognise his frighteningly powerful grasp of social and political history, and of technology that underpins all his stories. Read the liner notes on Snow Crash and you'll realise this is a man who probably considers Apple's Human Interface Guidelines to be soothing bedtime reading.

In the Beginning...Was the Command Line gives Stephenson an opportunity to flex his own non-fictional muscles. Part memoir, part developer's history of operating systems, it trawls through CLIs (command line interfaces) such as MS-DOS to GUIs (graphical user interfaces), the then-as now—revolutionary Macintosh OS, and everything since: Windows 98 (note: purist Stephenson doesn't even consider this an OS), Unix and Linux.

By the end of his enlightening, exhaustive elucidation of these and other TLAs, you too may suffer the subject of one of the book's final chapters: "geek fatigue". Not to worry—if there's one thing of which you can be certain it's that Stephenson never takes himself, or his subject, too seriously, and anything that cites Dilbert cartoons and H. G. Wells as source material has got to be a giant step forward. —Liz Bailey
Netherland
Joseph O'Neill `Netherland, once read, will not be readily forgotten.'
"Bones, Rocks and Stars": The Science of When Things Happened
Chris Turney "A fabulous, entertainingly written account of the amazing science behind calendars, dates and dating objects. Essential reading…"
Stargate - Continuum [2008]
Martin Wood A feature-length adventure that bases itself around the universe of Stargate SG-1, Continuum makes the most of the increased budget clearly available, and serves up a hugely enjoyable, action-packed slice of science-fiction that makes you wish they'd all hurry up and make the next instalment.

Stargate: Continuum follows on from the earlier feature-length The Ark Of Truth, and it focuses on a staple storyline of science fiction television, the alternate timeline. In this instance, it's an Earth where the Stargate simply hasn't been discovered, and nobody has any knowledge of the crew's adventures.

Wisely using this story mechanic as a basis rather than the main thrust of Stargate: Continuum, the action soon focuses on a well-realised attempt by the Ba'al to conquer Earth. It's exciting stuff, and while the credits arguably roll a little too early, it's very welcome work from the SG-1 favourites that builds up to a strong outing for all concerned. And in the midst of them is the returning Richard Dean Anderson as O'Neill, and very welcome he is too.

Stargate: Continuum makes good use of both the extended running time that a feature offers, as well as the extra resources that were clearly available in front of and behind the camera. It's inevitably going to be enjoyed most of all by SG-1's fanbase, but there's plenty in here too for the casual science-fiction enthusiast. —Jon Foster
Between Silk and Cyanide
Marks
The History of Hampshire County Cricket Club
Peter Wynne-Thomas
Misspent Youth
Peter F. Hamilton Peter Hamilton is famed for SF blockbusters of far-future interstellar adventure. By contrast Misspent Youth is a social comedy set in the year 2040 in England. When gene therapy rewinds Jeff Baker's age back to his early 20s he finds that wisdom and experience are no match for hormones...

The rejuvenation treatment, developed by federal Europe to impress laggard America, is so complex and expensive that only one person every 18 months can receive it. Jeff is the first because he's a celebrity inventor, father of the "datasphere" which superseded the Internet.

Family upheavals follow. An "arrangement" with his much younger, still beautiful wife Sue lets her enjoy lovers while the aged Jeff turns a blind eye: now things are different. Meanwhile their 18-year-old son Tim is struggling ineptly with teenage sexual pangs and the impossibility of understanding girls. All part of growing up, but Jeff's renewed youth brings farcical complications.

It's not just that Jeff now fancies Sue again. He can't resist even younger women. An early one-night stand is publicised all over the datasphere. Embarrassment escalates when he's seduced by the granddaughter of a long-time pub companion. Worse, several of Tim's ravishing female schoolmates are interested in Jeff the celebrity stud. The dishiest of all is Tim's latest, most hopelessly adoring girlfriend.

Can it be coincidence that the action mostly happens in Rutland?

This comedy of embarrassments and revelations has a darker background: Europe is plagued by separatist movements whose terrorist habits make the old IRA look like pussycats. The turning point in Jeff's tangled relationships comes when he attends a London conference surrounded by protest that breeds riot—with Tim among the protesters.

A foreshadowed twist leads to a finale that mixes cynicism with sentiment. En route Misspent Youth is a lot of fun. —David Langford
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Nintendo The third instalment in Nintendo's popular Super Smash Bros. fighter franchise debuts on the Wii in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Loaded with all the characters and features players have loved from the two previous versions, plus much more, it is a worthy addition to the series and yet another must-have title for the Nintendo Wii.

The Brawl comes to your Wii

Brawl with old friends .

Or new ones like Pit from "Kid Icarus." .

The Smash Ball is the key to success. .

Battle to your hearts content. . Characters: More Than Just Mario and Friends
The lifeblood of the Super Smash Bros. series has always been the depth of the character line-up that each instalment has been able to bring and Brawl not only keeps with tradition, but does it one better. Just as in Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros Melee, players can expect to pit their favourite Nintendo characters against each other in head-to-head and multiplayer battles, but instead of insisting on characters exclusively from the Nintendo universe, Brawl adds variety in the form of superstars Sonic the Hedgehog and Solid Snake from Konami's Metal Gear franchise. This is a first-time addition and one that will delight veteran players and newbies alike. But these two characters are only a sampling of the new additions to the game's line-up. The other ten come from classic Nintendo titles and bring the complete line-up of playable characters to a whopping 25. See the full list on combatants below:

New Comers: Pit from the Kid Icarus series, Wario, Zero Suit Samus, Ike from the Fire Emblem series, Meta Knight and King Dedede from the Kirby series, Pokémon Trainer, Diddy Kong, Lucas from the Earthbound/Mother series, Pikimin and Olimar from the Pikmin series and of course Sonic and Solid Snake.

Returning Veteran Fighters: Mario, Link, Kirby, Pikachu, Fox McCloud, Samus, Zelda/Sheik, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Princess Peach and Ice Climbers from the NES title Ice Climber.

The Rules of the Brawl
As in previous releases in the series, Brawl places players within a different, but easy to use fighting system. Players choose a character, select one of the numerous stages—which are levels based in the game worlds represented in Super Smash Bros.— and try to knock their opponents off the screen using a range of standard techniques and combos as well as a variety of special attacks and `Smash Moves' specific to their chosen character. A Smash Move can only be performed after securing a `Smash Ball.' These precious items, marked with the Smash Bros. logo, fall randomly and can be used by either player, but they must be cracked open before they can be used. To keep things interesting they can also can be stolen if not used right away, so when a player sees one it must be grabbed quickly and cracked to avoid an unfortunate turn of events.

Also, keeping with the game's "E" rating and player's affection for the characters, instead of displaying health bars the game uses a percent system to indicate character status and strength. The more damage done to a character, the higher the percentage and the farther back he/she is knocked back when struck by an opponent.

Many Ways to Play: Multiplayer and Single Player Options
Just as in previous instalments of Super Smash Bros. there is fun to be had whether you choose to fight in multiplayer or single player mode, but Brawl again pushes the envelope even further by providing additional ways to play within these areas and the possibility of others added later. Here are just a few of the modes that you can expect to see:

MultiplayerStandard Multiplayer Brawl - A standard battle between 2-4 players.Special Brawl - Take down your friends in matches which you can customize with as many rules as you would like.Tourney - Choose the number of players and rules you want and have at it in a round-robin battle against many foes.Online Multiplayer - For the first time play against registered friends or randomly selected opponents from anyplace in the world via a Nintendo Wi-Fi connection.Single PlayerTraining - Start on the path to Brawling like a pro as you learn to string standard moves together into combos.Classic - Fight your way through semi-randomly generated battles where each match features an arena or opponent from a particular game series and may feature unique battle conditions.Stadium: Target Smash - Practice your aim as you break ten targets within a set time limit."Subspace Emissary" - The world of Smash Bros. is invaded by an entity called the Ancient Minister and his army, called "The Primid. As this villain starts turning characters into trophies to harness their power, declare a peace with your quarrelsome companions and work together to defeat the invaders in an engrossing side-scrolling adventure.Stay in Control
Because the Super Smash Bros. series has a huge following and an even larger list of characters from the Nintendo catalogue, it only makes sense that players may have a preference for a particular Nintendo controller from the era of their favourite game. Because of this the game's creators have incorporated all four of the major Nintendo controllers into the mix. Whether you prefer the Wii Remote, the Wii Remote with Nunchuck, the Wii Classic Controller or GameCube Controller it makes no difference. All four are fully compatible with all the features of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, although the handling of each is a little different. Choose the one you are most comfortable with, or explore all your options. The choice is yours.

A Barrel Full of Customization
Finally, created with an eye towards providing year's worth of fun, Brawl comes with extensive built-in customization possibilities. Dive into the game's seemingly endless list of game modes/mini-games, battle stages, in-game items and musical playback options to make the game your own and Brawl the way you want to.
Futurama - The Beast with a Billion Backs [2008]
Peter Avanzino The latest feature-length DVD spin-off from Matt Groening's terrific Futurama, The Beast With The Billion Backs picks up directly after the recent Bender's Big Score, and the momentum and fun from that production comes along with it.

The story of The Beast With The Billion Backs follows, as you may have guessed from the title, the arrival of a strange creature on Earth. Said creature then takes control of Fry, who becomes the Pope of a brand new religion that soon begins to exert its grip on the planet. And without giving too much away, the panic and paranoia becomes just one part of an ambitious animated adventure, that makes a fair few points among its many, many laughs.

The good news for fans of Futurama is that The Beast With The Billion Backs really delivers, with more guffaws and a better all-round script than the mightily enjoyable Bender's Big Score. It's not without the odd problem, and still doesn't quite manage to match the highs of the TV show at its finest, but it's a very welcome fresh addition to the Futurama universe.

Two further direct-to-DVD movies are in the works at the time of this review being written, and with them comes continued hope for a full-on revival of one of the funniest animated programmes of the past ten years. It may not make suitable family viewing, but Futurama is brilliant television, and The Beast With A Billion Backs offers plenty of evidence as to why. Strongly recommended. —Jon Foster
Peep Show Series 5 [2008]
Becky Martin The multi award-winning and critically acclaimed comedy returns to DVD for a fifth series. Peep Show continues to delve into the innermost thoughts of Mark (David Mitchell) - the conventional one seething with inner rages and desires - and Jeremy (Robert Webb) - the loose cannon full of expressed rages and desires - but seething with even more rage on the inside.

Mark and Jeremy are entering their 30s with failed marriages behind them, few prospects, and a sense of impending crisis. Time is running out for them to sort out their lives. Jeremy's mother appears on the scene and it soon becomes clear why he's ended up as he is. Mark goes speed dating, and discovers money can buy you love. Jeremy and Superhans (Matt King) play at a Christian Rock Festival; the flat suffers multiple burglaries and the boys endure their worst ever night out - at the theatre.

Extras:
BEHIND THE SCENES with Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong guiding you through the production process, from how they get ideas for the series, read throughs and rehearsals with cast, to shooting on set and on location to the final product!

PEEP SHOW RELATIONSHIP TREE - your guide to whose slept with whom throughout all the Peep Show series'… this is a trip through Mark and Jeremy's love lives throughout series 1-5, with clips and graphics to explain the various connections!

DELETED SCENES

SOPHIE'S POV - existing scenes from episode 6 written by Sam and Jesse from Sophie's point of view.
Weezer
Weezer Early word on the sixth album from Weezer—and their third self-titled record, although fans, sensibly, are referring to it as 'The Red Album'—is that this is their 'experimental' record. Luckily, Rivers Cuomo isn't interested in penning his own jazz odyssey; for him, experimental is just finding cunning ways to nuance Weezer's stock-in-trade—crunchy, candy-sweet guitars and vocal harmonies—with new pop tricks. The sardonic lyric of "Pork and Beans" hints at a new direction: "Timabaland knows the way to reach the top of the charts," Cuomo sings, "maybe if I work with him I can perfect the art". Actually, Timbaland's not on board, but producer Jacknife Lee brings a variety of drum machines and electronics, and Weezer rise to the challenge with some generally inspired messing around. "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Theme)" sees Cuomo adopt a gangsta rap slur over screaming sirens, while elsewhere, the other three Weezer members take a turn at the microphone. But it's Cuomo's songs that are the winners—notably "Heart Songs", a tribute to the songs that "never feel wrong" that swoops from melodic schmaltz to grunge scuzz with a deft invocation of Nirvana. Skip to the bonus tracks, meanwhile, for a great cover of "The Weight" that takes The Band's original and drenches it in chundering guitars.—Louis Pattison
Sin City (Collector's Edition) [2005]
Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, Frank Miller
Juno [2007]
Jason Reitman Somewhere between the sharp satire of Election and the rich human comedy of You Can Count On Me lies Juno, a sardonic but ultimately compassionate story of a pregnant teenage girl who wants to give her baby up for adoption. Social misfit Juno (Ellen Page, Hard Candy, X-Men: The Last Stand) protects herself with a caustic wit, but when she gets pregnant by her friend Paulie (Michael Cera, Superbad), Juno finds herself unwilling to terminate the pregnancy. When she chooses a couple who place a classified ad looking to adopt, Juno gets drawn further into their lives than she anticipated.

But Juno is much more than its plot; the stylised dialogue (by screenwriter Diablo Cody) seems forced at first, but soon creates a richly textured world, greatly aided by superb performances by Page, Cera, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman as the prospective parents, and J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man) and Allison Janney as Juno's father and stepmother. Director Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking) deftly keeps the movie from slipping into easy, shallow sarcasm or foundering in sentimentality. The result is smarter and funnier than you might expect from the subject matter, and warmer and more touching than you might expect from the cocky attitude. Page's performance is deceptively simple; she never asks the audience to love her, yet she effortlessly carries a movie in which she's in almost every scene. That's star power. — Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com
Pommies: England Cricket Through an Australian Lens
William Buckland
Weezer
Weezer Widely credited with being the band who kicked off (and merged) the two sub-genres of punk-pop and geek rock, The Green Album is Weezer's attempt to wrestle back their crown from the upstart likes of Blink 182 and Wheatus. The Green Album, recorded nearly five years after their previous album, the widely ignored (but wholly excellent) Pinkerton, sees the band reunited with former Cars frontman Rik Ocasek, who produced their multi-platinum debut way back in 1994. The result is an album of catchy pop gems, more accessible than Pinkerton, and with a quicker pace and more sonic depth than Weezer. Though the high-pitched harmonies of former bassist Matt Sharp are missed (he left to focus on his own band, the Rentals), lead singer/songwriter Rivers Cuomo still has a way with an infectious hook and a sing-along chorus, especially on "Don't Let Go", "Photograph" and "Knockdown Drag Out". The album's first single, "Hash Pipe", kicks off with a bass-heavy, 70s-sounding metal riff, while "Island in the Sun" is as summery as its title suggests. At just over 30-minutes long, The Green Album may leave some listeners feeling a little cheated, but overall, this is a gem of an album, small yet perfectly formed. It is also a worthy return for a band whose influence is undeniable, if under appreciated. —Robert Burrow
The Tide And Its Takers
36 Crazyfists
The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing
Richard Dawkins
Trick or Treatment?: Alternative Medicine on Trial
Simon Singh Edzard Ernst
The Mismeasure of Man
SJ Gould
Boom Blox (Wii)
Stargate - The Ark Of Truth [2008]
Robert C. Cooper
The Ray Bradbury Theater (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Cop in the Hood My Year Policing Baltimores Eastern District: My Year Policing Baltimore's Eastern District
Peter Moskos
Dead Men Scare Me Stupid
John Swartzwelder One of a series of comedy science fiction novels featuring slow-witted detective Frank Burly. By John Swartzwelder, the writer of 59 episodes of The Simpsons.
Futurama - Bender's Big Score (with Limited Edition Lenticular Sleeve)
Dwayne Carey-Hill
A Sense Of Purpose + DVD
In Flames
Pinkerton
Weezer A hit single can be a bit of a mixed blessing for new bands, especially if said song gets you firmly lumped into the "novelty band" category. Such was the case with Weezer, whose runaway hit "Buddy Holly" touched a global nerve upon its release, then got on everyone's nerves after months of radio saturation. However, it did ensure that they sold millions of copies of their self-titled debut. Which is why it's so strange that their second album, Pinkerton, was soundly ignored. Perhaps it was down to that album's wilfully non-commercial first single, "El Scorcho", which crashed and burned out of the charts at a rate of speed usually reserved for the likes of Gary Barlow. Whatever the reason, Pinkertonsoon disappeared without a trace, which is a shame because it's actually a great album. Whereas Weezerhad the band revelling in their geek rock image, Pinkertonsaw singer / songwriter Rivers Cuomo maturing as a lyricist: From opening track "Tired Of Sex", which rants about the frustrating easiness of groupies, to the New Wave pop of "Getchoo", to the sheer, unadulterated epic genius of "The Good Life", the songs are much more diverse than the Pixies-influenced bouncey grunge of their debut. With the closing solo acoustic lament of "Butterfly", Rivers Cuomo hints at his mastery of the pop song as an art form, suggesting great things from this reformed geek in the future. —Robert Burrow
Maladroit
Weezer With the release of Maladroit, just over 12 months after The Green Album, Weezer appear to be in the midst of a particularly fertile creative period. After taking five leisurely years to follow up on 1996's Pinkerton, the Los Angeles power-pop band is apparently on a roll. "Dope Nose", which is easily stronger than anything on the last album, flexes a sinister shout-along chorus and vintage Van Halen riffs, while the potent garage-punk blast of "Fall Together" wipes out any lingering discomfort over the thoroughly Sugar Ray-sounding "Island in the Sun" (which, incidentally, is included again on this album). In a sense The Green Albumwas just a taster for this, the blissfully thunderous main dish. Sure, there are some deadpan emo moments ("Death and Destruction") littering the course, but mostly Maladroitis Weezer doing what they do best—inverting and embracing dumb rock stereotypes and somehow making them sound smart. —Aidin Vaziri
Weezer
Weezer Blending the best aspects of pop, punk and grunge, Weezer's eponymous debut came as a much needed bit of relief to the too-serious American indie scene of 1994. Produced (and strongly influenced) by former Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, Weezer blends churning, power-pop guitars with Beach Boys harmonies and the awkward lyrics of singer/songwriter Rivers Cuomo. On standout tracks such as "In The Garage" and "The World Has Turned And Left Me Here", Weezer introduced the wider world to the then-new concept of Geek Rock. However, it was "Buddy Holly"—and its corresponding Spike Jonze-directed video—that propelled this album into the charts. Unfortunately, this song also branded them as nothing more than another novelty act, an unfair fate for an album—and band— that's since had so much influence. —Robert Burrow
Make Believe
Weezer
Phil Tufnell: What Now? - The Autobiography
Phil Tufnell Peter Hayter
The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare (Twentieth Century Classics)
G.K. Chesterton
Five Days in London: May 1940 (Yale Nota Bene)
J Lukacs
Housekeeping Vs. the Dirt: Fourteen Months of Massively Witty Adventures in Reading Chronicled by the National Book Critics Circle Finalist for C
Nick Hornby
The Mirror's Truth
In Flames
The Wire: Complete HBO Season 4
Even if you missed the first three seasons (the character guides and thorough episode recaps on HBO's website are recommended), and with only one season left, it's not too late to get in under The Wire. In fact, season 4 is an accessible introduction for those who know The Wireonly by its street cred as arguably the very best show on television. For them especially, this season will be, as befitting its theme, a real education. Without resorting to melodramatics that other ratings-challenged series employ to gain that frustratingly elusive audience, The Wireshakes things up this season in a way that is true to the series and its characters. A major character, Dominic West's McNulty, plays a minor role as a contented street cop and family man, while a former supporting player, Jim True-Frost's Roland Pryzbylewski, goes to the head of the class as a new eighth grade teacher at beleaguered Edward Tilghman Middle School. It may take a couple of episodes to orient yourself to the Baltimore backrooms, squad rooms, classrooms, and street corners where The Wire's intense dramas play out, and new viewers may miss something in character nuance, but they will easily grasp the big picture. A politically motivated shake-up sends Major Crimes detectives Freamon (Clarke Peters) and Greggs (Sonja Sohn) to Homicide. The gloves come off in the mayoral race between black incumbent Clarence Royce (Glynn Turman) and idealistic white challenger Tommy Carcetti (Aidan Gillen). Gang leader Marlo (Jamie Hector) quietly and deliberately becomes the city's new drug kingpin, managing to subvert all surveillance efforts. Meanwhile, while "Prez" tries to reach his students, four highly at-risk kids will be drawn into the drug trade.

Mere synopsis does not do The Wirejustice. The series deftly juggles its myriad storylines and characters, all of whom make an impression, from Marlo's cold-blooded enforcers, Snoop (Felicia Pearson) and Chris (Gbenga Akinnagbe), to boxing instructor "Cutty" (Chad L. Coleman), determined to keep his young charges off the corners. There is not a false note in the performances or the writing. Richard Price (Clockers) and Dennis Lehane (Mystic River) again contributed episodes. That this series has only been nominated for only one Emmy (for writing) is a travesty. As engrossing as the finest novels and in a class by itself, this isn't television; it's The Wire. —Donald Liebenson
As Our Army Grows
Intense
Basingstoke Boy: The Autobiography
John Arlott
Intellectual Impostures
Alan Sokal Jean Bricmont
Basil D'Oliveira: Cricket and Controversy
Peter Oborne
Red Strangers (Penguin Modern Classics)
Elspeth Huxley
The Dirk Gently Omnibus
Douglas Adams
Dawn of the Dumb: Dispatches from the Idiotic Frontline
Charlie Brooker
The Origin of Species
Charles Darwin