Top Hat Sasquatch

Back in December you got to witness my descent into Harry Potter fanboyism thanks to the Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets Ultimate Edition Blu-rays I reviewed. Fast forward a few months and the wife and I are certifiable Harry Potter geeks, eagerly waiting for the last two movies to hit the screen and eventually our media center, to complete the collection.

The Ultimate Editions are pretty awesome, and actually worth the double (or triple) dip if you’ve already bought the films before. Now, Blu-ray.com is reporting that the Prisoner of Azkaban and the Goblet of Fire are coming out in Ultimate form on October 19th. Prisoner of Azkaban is our favorite of the series, so I’m pretty pumped.

They will continue the Creating the World of Harry Potter documentary by adding Part 3: Creatures and Part 4: Sound & Music, which both should be very interesting. Each one will come in a sturdy box filled with collectible cards, photo books, and more.

Sign me up!

Saturday Morning Central loves DK Publishing. They publish all sorts of awesome books that are equally as cool for adults as they are for kids. Back in October they let me participate in their blog team for the LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary celebration they had, and it was a lot of fun. Now they’re back with another Star Wars book, the Star Wars Clone Wars Character Encyclopedia.

The title is pretty self-explanatory, and if you’ve ever had one of DK’s books before, you know what to expect: large spreads of images packed to the gills with information and trivia. This title is no different. It’s just over 200 pages long, and has just as many characters. Since this is a character encyclopedia, obviously there isn’t any sections devoted to ships or planets, but you probably already knew that.

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I’ve always liked Tim Burton movies. I realize the beef a lot of people have with his films, but I have always enjoyed them. Although his style may be getting a bit predictable, he seems to have fun making them and it comes through on the screen. That can definitely be said about Alice in Wonderland.

It’s one of his most heavily-stylized movies to date, to the point where it makes you wonder why he didn’t just animate it. They went as far as enlarging the Queen’s head significantly, replacing Crispin Glover’s body with CG, and using mainly CG sets and background characters. Still, it gives the movie a unique (if cluttered) look.

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The Tom and Jerry Deluxe Anniversary Collection is a 2-disc DVD set that aims to give you a cross-section of the famous duo’s entire career. It’s not a set for collectors who already have the Spotlight collections and the Chuck Jones Collection I reviewed previously. Completists will already have all the shorts presented minus the five that are new to DVD. That being said, this set is a great way to get introduced to a lot of the different versions of Tom and Jerry if you’re a casual fan.

Tom and Jerry have been around for a long time, and this DVD set does a great job of giving you glimpses at each of their main eras. But, there’s no need to buy it blindly, so here is a complete list of what you’ll find on the discs.

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The Autumn Society is an awesome collective of illustrators and fine artists who seem just as obsessed with nostalgia as I do. Well, this Friday they’re hosting the 80s Toy Show at Brave New World Comics, and I really wish I could be there.

There will be a lot of art there that I would be glad to put on my wall, including the Transformers by Dave Perillo. You may remember Dave’s Ghostbusters art I posted last year.

If you’re in the area and check it out, I’d be glad to post some photos from the event.