Getting pummeled by snow here in the Northeast makes me want to do one thing: buy things. It’s my goal to bring you down with me. Below is this week’s list of new releases in music and movies that get our full approval. If we’ve missed anything you loved, share it with us in the replies.

MUSIC:
The Go Find – Everybody Knows It’s Gonna Happen Only Not Tonight
Galactic – Ya-Ka-May
Hot Chip – One Life Stand

Massive Attack – Heligoland
Pantha du Prince – Black Noise
Phantogram – Eyelid Movies (Bonus Edition)
Xiu Xiu – Dear God, I Hate MySelf (Bonus Edition)
The Watson Twins – Talking To You Talking To Me
Yeasayer – Oddblood

DVD:
A Serious Man (trailer)

Have you ever thought to yourself “I could do this for a living” while you were playing a game of Scrabble? If you’re like most people you probably haven’t. Word Wars is an eye opening film that follows the lives of several individuals who are obsessed with the game of Scrabble. So obsessed, in fact, that some live in near poverty conditions taking part-time, low wage jobs so they have enough time to memorize lists of words that can be used in the game. These gurus have no idea what the words even mean or how to use them in a sentence, but do know they are worth points. Amazing. Grab a seat, some Scrabble tiles and get ready to watch a documentary that is sure to be a triple word score in your movie library.

About Documentary Summer: As the Summer movie box office breaks record after record (biggest opening weekend, most popcorn shoved in mouths, etc), we can’t help but feel bad for the little guy & the films that are forgotten in the multi-million dollar marketing blitz coming from Hollywood. This why we have started our ‘Documentary Summer’ feature. A hand selected group of A&SB staff members will be doing nothing but sitting on their couches throughout the hot days of the coming months, remote in hand, watching documentaries. We will be creating write-ups for the finest ones (A&SB recommended!).

Red Sox vs Yankees, Chevy vs Ford, Ali vs Frazier, and of course Steve Wiebe vs Billy Mitchell. Few rivalries have been as intense and stood the test of time.  King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (trailer) is like watching a voyage back in time to a place where home game consoles were non existent and the dark video game arcades reigned as kings. TKOK takes a look at the intense battle of a science teacher as he struggles to dethrone a cuthtroat hot-sauce mogul for the Guiness high score of the arcade classic Donkey Kong. Watching this movie feels like watching Rocky for the first time, a true underdog story with twists and turns sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. After watching it you might even want to start playing some old 8 bit games again.

About Documentary Summer: As the Summer movie box office breaks record after record (biggest opening weekend, most popcorn shoved in mouths, etc), we can’t help but feel bad for the little guy & the films that are forgotten in the multi-million dollar marketing blitz coming from Hollywood. This why we have started our ‘Documentary Summer’ feature. A hand selected group of A&SB staff members will be doing nothing but sitting on their couches throughout the hot days of the coming months, remote in hand, watching documentaries. We will be creating write-ups for the finest ones (A&SB recommended!).

So its confessional time. At first, I was a Justice skeptic, even after Jason posted about them a few weeks back.

Now I have been converted to the awesome. The live album and tour documentary of the absolutely insane French Electronica outfit is up on Itunes as of yesterday. (real live versions of both coming Dec. 9) If you ever imagined going on tour with your guys/girls and having the most awesome sinful time imaginable, these guys are living your dream, so check it out.

p.s. super special THANKSGIVING post tomorrow. Enjoy your foods. I will enjoy my turkey sandwich.

pps. check out another clip from A Cross The Universe

by Tim Williams – A&SB Contributor

You don’t know it yet, but a certain moving picture is lurking in the dark corners of the Internet, waiting to worm (warm?) its way into your heart, and kick It’s a Wonderful Life to the curb. No, it’s not Italian Spiderman Part II. You may, however, be able to hogtie it, push it down, into some snakewater, and then illegally watch it on your computer.

This would be a travesty of justice. And not just because the Flaming Lips’ giant plastic concert bubble is starting to show its age and could use a tune-up. Also because The Flaming Lips need to make enough money on this to fund another movie.

Yes, it’s Christmas on Mars, and the universe has never felt so alive. I would summarize the plot for you, but all you need to know is: It’s the resulting explosion that would occur if David Lynch and Frank Capra had teamed up to make the musical adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Frontman Wayne Coyne has admitted as much, although with the caveat: “It’s sometime in the future; Mars has been sort of conquered, and there’s a space station on it, but the space program has gone into decline and these people are kind of stuck up there. The whole thing ends up very dilapidated, very un-futuristic, un-2001. There’s an element of confidence among the scientists, but the overall view is that things seem kind of doomed.”

There is also a startling variety of straight-faced vaginal imagery (the best one involves a mother entering her baby-feeding pod). There are obligatory more-or-less arbitrary cuts between black-and-white and a Technicolor Martian. There is a foul-mouthed captain who ain’t having none of this fairy Martian shit.

This would all be absolutely intolerable if it wasn’t accompanied by wildly creative images, pitch-perfect student film dialogue and acting, and a soundtrack to make you forget the Flaming Lips are perpetually one step away from post-emo Death Cab for Cutie.

That it works, and is by the final Christmas hymn rather touching, is more than a band pet project has any right to hold claim to. Unfortunately, unless you happen to live in a city and be paying attention when it comes to a hole-in-the-wall near you, you’ll have to wait until the DVD releases Nov. 11 to pay money to see it. And then buy two more copies of the movie and hide them where you’ll find them in a drunken stupor each Christmas Eve, so you can remember that, if you had grandchildren, you would be, right now, pointing excitedly at the television and failing to make them understand your generation.

So have you gotten a chance to check out Justice? What about getting the time together in your hectic schedule to see them live? Even better… What about being cool enough to be “back stage”? Probably not. Thanks to multi-award winning directors and intimate friends of the band Romain Gavras (“Stress” director) and So-Me (“D.A.N.C.E.”, “DVNO”, Justice will have a live DVD/CD/Documentary hit shelves on December 9th, just in time for you to buy it as a gift for your preferred religious holiday. This documentary covers their 3 week US March tour and shows you every gory detail of life on the road of this Grammy-nominated French duo. Check out the trailer after the jump.

JUSTICE ON MYSPACE

There are so many reasons to buy the new Bottle Rocket Criterion Collection ($36; DVD or Blu-Ray; Nov. 4th). One being that it’s director Wes Anderson’s first feature film, another being that it’s the film that put the Wilson brothers (Owen and Luke) on the map. Throw in some deleted scenes, digital remastering, director & writer commentary, the original Bottle Rocket short film from 1992, a booklet featuring an essay by executive producer James L. Brooks, an appreciation by Martin Scorsese, and original artwork by Ian Dingman… and you have yourself something that needs to be in your DVD or Blu-Ray collection.

$36 | BUY IT HERE ON DVD