Monday, Oct. 24
Walter Isaacson's authorized Steve Jobs biography (titled "Steve Jobs") is out this Monday, pushed ahead of its original November release after Jobs' death sent pre-orders of the book into a tizzy. If you'd rather not read the nearly 700-page tome in full, check out the highlights in our handy-dandy Huff Post primer.
Coldplay's fifth studio album Mylo Xyloto also releases Monday, and while we're not expecting any great waves from the steady kings of indie pop, we're secretly excited for a new crop of inescapable pretty tunes to insinuate themselves into our lives. Chris Martin insists the album will deliver more than that; going with two nonsense words for the title, he told NPR, is symbolic of opening an unwritten chapter. Fair enough, Mr. M, but you know, that's actually a tune we've heard before.
Check out this preview of the first half of Mylo Xyloto. Sounds pretty to us!:
Tuesday, Oct. 25
Our favorite gravel-throated crooner returns with his first original album in nearly a decade -- Tom Waits' Bad As Me. The "lurid, cartoonish" title track and Latinate ballad "Back In The Crowd," mark an album that's a definite return to form. Good job Crazy Waits! You're free another 7 years.
The 900-page Haruki Murakami reworking of George Orwell's "1984" sold out within its first day of release in Japan. We expect to see a version of that enthusiasm for the English translation of the dystopian Tokyo tale, at least among the Murakami-reading slice of the American populace (you know who you are). Time will tell after "IQ84"s Tuesday release.
Thursday, Oct. 27
The couch potatoes inside us are stretching their slouching muscles for NBC's two-hour Halloween-themed block: in order, from 8 pm EST, "Community," "Parks and Rec," "The Office" and, er, "Whitney" (in truth, even a cameo by a former Party Downer can't get us that excited for "Whitney"). Expect all the staples of TV Halloween episodes, including above-average costuming and cozy horror story-telling sessions.
WATCH a preview for "Community"s Halloween ep:
WATCH a preview for "Parks and Rec"s Halloween ep:
Friday, Oct. 28