Entertainment: Music & DVDS

[November 22nd, 2006]

Gift. Cool Gift.

What do you get the person you love the most when they don't need a kidney or a bone-marrow transplant? The James Bond Ultimate Edition Vol. 1 and 2 ($90 each, Suncoast Video, Lloyd Center, 288-8797, and other locations) are a good place to start. Each boxed set comes with five double-disc editions of 007 in action, and each movie is loaded with tons of bonus features, including audio commentary, deleted scenes and comprehensive documentaries. Volume 1 includes Goldfinger and the not-all-that-bad The Living Daylights, while Volume 2 includes The Spy Who Loved Me and Thunderball. (DW)

More Bond, Please

For someone you really love, see the above listing. For someone who really loves James Bond, the only thing to get them is The James Bond Ultimate Edition Vol. 3 ($90, Suncoast Video, Lloyd Center, 288-8797, and other locations), which could easily be called the Best of 007. The five all-around best Bond movies, including From Russia With Love and On Her Majesty's Secret Service, all in one set, each with an extra disc of bonus material. We're talking close to 10 hours of viewing time per movie. What more could you ask for? (DW)

Never "Steal" Another Album Again

Rock and roll is a drug—just ask any 20-something audiophile with overdue student loans, a lousy job and a $10,000 music collection. Give all your import-junkie friends this Personal Library Kit for Audiophiles ($20, Hello Portland, 525 NW 23rd Ave., 274-0771), complete with old-school index cards and a universal date stamp, so they'll finally be able to keep track of who keeps "borrowing" their Television singles. Just make sure it isn't you. (BW)

Rock so Raw, It's bleeding.

Listen where you will; there's no band alive that can match Portland's Dead Moon for flat-out rock 'n' roll passion. Every real Portlander already owns at least one of their albums (right?), but you can get newcomers up to date with Echoes of the Past ($15, Music Millennium, 3158 E Burnside St., 231-8926 and other locations), a new compilation of 20 years of lethal tracks, from "I Hate the Blues" to "It's Okay." (BW)

Bittersweet Symphony

John Roderick, the frontman of the Seattle-based Long Winters, has a well-deserved reputation as one of the Northwest's most engaging showmen. What you may not have heard is that he's the best songwriter in Washington state. Don't believe us? Pick up Putting the Days to Bed ($14, Ozone Records, 701 E Burnside St., 227-1975, and other locations), the third LP from the Long Winters, for a shot of 150-proof indie-pop that'll knock your socks off. (BW)

Locals Take Flight

We've said it before and we'll say it again: The Decemberists' The Crane Wife ($16.95, Jackpot Records, 203 SW 9th Ave., 222-0990, and other locations) is freakin' awesome. Colin Meloy and company have moved beyond their pupal stage and emerged as a full-scale prog-pop phenomenon, dabbling in styles across the musical map, from funky pop ("The Perfect Crime #2") to metal ("When the War Came"). If you know anyone who doesn't own it already, now is time to get them on board. (BW)

Americana (for the Next Generation)

The Hold Steady's 2005 release, Separation Sunday, was a magnum-opus, career-topping kind of album—or was, anyway, until frontman Craig Finn went and one-upped himself with Boys and Girls in America ($14, Jackpot Records, 3736 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 239-7561, and other locations), a shit-kicking boozy tirade to end 'em all. Often called a punk-rock Springsteen, Finn passes on grassroots optimism and latches on to awkward conversations and deflated parties. It would be depressing if we thought for a moment that it bothered them, but the Hold Steady is too busy tearin' it up to care. (BW)

Investing for Scenesters

Haven't you heard? Ticket stubs for Beatles shows are selling for $150 on eBay! And it only took 40 years to turn trash to treasure. This holiday season, run out and buy the acid-free Ticket Stub Diary ($13, Presents of Mind, 3633 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 230-7740) for your concert-going buddies. Maybe in another five decades they'll be able to cash in all those Decemberists stubs for a brand-new liver! (BW)

Funkier than Jesus

You know what your Christmas party is missing? A wheelbarrow load of funk, that's what! Pick up Bootsy Collins' brand-spankin'-new Christmas Is 4 Ever ($18, Everyday Music and Movies, 1313 W Burnside St., 274-0961 and other locations), a boppin' blast of original, um, "carolz" and funkified classics. Seriously, Christmas has never been this synthed-up and dancificated before, so pump up the stereo and shake your holiday cheer. (BW)

That Creepy Christmas Feeling

That musical megalomaniac Sufjan Stevens would make it a family tradition to record a complete EP every holiday season only makes sense—after all, this is the same nutball who still intends to write albums for at least a few dozen of the 50 states. This year he's decided to unleash his joyful noises on the world with Songs for Christmas ($23, Music Millennium, 3158 E Burnside St., 231-8926, and other locations), a five-disc compilation of traditional carols and (completely sincere) original compositions that comes packaged with a sing-along songbook. Hint: this album + a lot of mulled wine = killer Xmas party. (BW)

Shred at Home

What's the American dream? I'll give you a hint: It involves amps, sweat, spandex and heavy metal! You can become the guitar god you always wanted to be with RedOctane's Guitar Hero II Bundle ($80, Best Buy, 11703 NE Glenn Widing Drive, 253-1177, and other locations) for PlayStation 2, a combo pack of the smash-hit rock 'n' roll game and the guitar-shaped controller that makes it so freakin' awesome. How else are you going to get to perform "Welcome to the Jungle" as Stonehenge? (BW)

Raving Rabids

Veteran games regoice—Sam and Max are back! The classic LucasArts characters get a much-delayed second chance with Sam & Max Season 1 ($35, telltalegames.com), six episodes of manic adventures with the canine detective and ravenous bunny. Buy the whole season, and you'll get a disk containing all six episodes at the end of the season in addition to the right to download them as they come. (BW)

^GIMME MORE

Frat Attack Replace the beer-opener belt buckle with a beer-opener baseball cap ($19, coolergadgets.com). Seriously, the hat opens beer on the brim. Perfect for church league softball games.

Buffy Bites In 1966, Barnabas Collins was 175 years old. He was a vampire and aged well. Remember him? C'mon, he starred on the hit ABC daytime-television drama Dark Shadows, one of those forgotten-till-someone-reminds-you shows. Catch up with the fangster on DVD ($60, Music Millennium, 3158 E Burnside St., 231-8926, and other locations).

Hoser Punk'd Remember Tom Green? Before him there was a dude called Nardwuar. Once he asked Mikhail Gorbachev which world leader has the biggest pants? But he also put out a punk-rock calendar with bands like Black Flag and the Ramones ($14, nardwuar.com).