Read it!

The 100 Best Movies You've Never Seen
Richard Crouse
ECW Press, $19.95
Film critic Richard Crouse looks back through 70 years of cinema history to choose his favorite overlooked films. Standouts on the list include Happy, Texas, The Straight Story, Trees Lounge and waydowntown. A great reference for fans of off-beat films or those looking for something different the next time they are searching the stacks of their local video store.'

Ball of Fire
The Tumultuous Life and Comic 
Art of Lucille Ball
Stefan Kanfer
Random House, $38.95
For more than 50 years, Lucille Ball has been one of television's most recognizable faces. Kanfer traces her career from her lonely childhood in upstate New York, her time as a "B" movie actress, her superstardom on the small screen and her marriage and split from Desi Arnaz. The biography also examines her influence on television comedy, during a period that was dominated by men.

 



Play it!

Cranium Hoopla
$29.95
Not into marathon game playing? Hoopla, from the makers of the best-selling Cranium, takes just 20 minutes to complete as players try to beat the clock by sketching, acting and crafting clever clues to guess the people, places and things pictured on the game cards. A perfect diversion for those cold nights coming our way.


Know it!
Harley-Davidson 100th Anniversary
It all began in 1903 with four young men building a motorcycle in a tiny wooden shed. One hundred years later, Harley-Davidson has endured as an icon of American motorcycling.


Hear it!

 Underworld
Lakeshore
Nine Inch Nails member and budding producer Danny Lohner has assembled an engrossing, complex soundtrack that perfectly complements the stylish, gothic film. Underworld includes four songs featuring Tool/A Perfect Circle vocalist Maynard James Keenan and they are, unsurprisingly, the strongest offerings. He and Lohner (recording as Puscifer) contribute the track "Rev 22:20". Keenan also offers up two APC remixes, then joins David Bowie and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante on the sultry "Bring Me The Disco King" - a true departure for all involved. Dark but deeply tantalizing.

Thirteen
Nettwerk
This disc swings effortlessly from genre to genre, symbolizing not only the varied cultural stimuli that bombards the film's Los Angeles-based characters, but also the broad, wildly disparate musical tastes of today's youth. Hip-hop, pure pop and electronica all share the spotlight, with songs from indie darlings Imperial Teen, Clinic and especially the newly-mainstream Liz Phair. Acclaimed composer Mark Mothersbaugh (late of Devo) wrote the score for Thirteen, and includes two movements here that feature performances from drummer-to-the-stars Josh Freese (A Perfect Circle, Guns n' Roses) and DJ Swamp (Beck).

Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star
Hollywood
In most dictionaries you'll find the adjective "abstruse" defined as "difficult to be comprehended or understood; difficult to penetrate". Soon, it could be superseded by a photo of this soundtrack's cover art. Wait; that isn't entirely fair. It's not that the point of this disc is incomprehensible, it's more that it's so silly and literal an extension of the film's plot that it beats you over the head with a cute idea. Did you really need to hear Starsky & Hutch's David Soul singing "Don't Give Up On Us" or a veritable choir of former it-kids singing "Child Stars On Your Television" to get the joke? And then there's the entirely unironic Corey Feldman track…

- Mike McCann