TOP PICK
NBA 2K9
(2K Sports)
Our favorite videogame hoops series (for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) celebrates its 10th anniversary with its best outing yet. A new Shot Stick feature lets you change shots mid-air, and single-player opponents now adapt more readily to your style and strategy. And the five-on-five online multiplayer is more fun than a game of after-work pick-up. Plus, it still looks and plays like the real thing, without the messy armpit stains you'd get on a real court.
CD
Bob Dylan: Tell Tale Signs
(Columbia)
The eighth volume of Dylan's treasured Bootleg Series gathers 39 songs recorded between 1989 and 2006, when the singer-songwriter started making good albums again. The three discs include demos and live cuts that occasionally and drastically rework familiar Oh Mercy, Time Out of Mind, and Love and Theft tracks. Best are the alternate versions of songs you think you know. (It's also available as a two-disc, 27-track set.)
CD
Philip Glass: Glass Box -A Nonesuch Retrospective
(Nonesuch)
This 10-disc box compiles tons of music that spans the minimalist composer's long, varied career. Glass has dabbled in opera, symphonic music, movie scores, dance pieces and chamber tunes; this terrific set includes a little bit of everything. Our favorite: excerpts from his 1976 masterwork Einstein on the Beach, which originally clocked in at more than three hours. This is modern classical music with soul.
DVD
The Munsters: The Complete Series
(Universal)
Just in time for Halloween, this hefty box collects all 70 episodes of the '60s TV show about a family of ghouls. The Munsters were basically the Addams Family taken to their literal extreme: Dad looks like Frankenstein's monster, son Eddie is a werewolf and Grandpa is a horny old vampire. Some of it's funny, some of it's goofy. All of it plays like a goth sitcom. Two rarely seen movies - Munster, Go Home and The Munsters Revenge - round out the set.
DVD
Robot Chicken Season 3
(Adult Swim/Warner)
This stop-motion TV show hit its stride during its third season (which was preceded by an instantly classic Star Wars tribute). This two-disc set features all 20 episodes - including the one where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger takes on illegal immigrants Dora the Explorer and Speedy Gonzales. The Christmas special is also here, along with three hours of bonus material, including deleted scenes and commentary.
