New releases

Fresh off her stint as Faith on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," the Hub's own Eliza Dushku became Tru Davies, a night-shift morgue worker who finds bodies asking her for help. She then relives the last 24 hours, preventing murders, suicides, or other mayhem. After a slow start in which the show - like Tru's day - quickly became repetitive, the plot took a twist when Jack Harper (Jason Priestley) appeared as Tru's counterpoint - a dark figure determined to see death go on as planned. Just as things got interesting and morally ambiguous, Fox canceled the show. Relive 2003 with this eight-disc set and get ready for Dushku in Joss Whedon's new TV drama, "Dollhouse," airing this winter on, alas, Fox.

Comedy: Smart People
Drama: The Search for John Gissing
Family: Mulan and Mulan II, three-disc set
Documentary: Bra Boys
Drama: Brand Upon the Brain!
TV: Caroline in the City, season 1
TV: The Love Boat, season 1, volume 2
TV: That Girl, season 4
TV: The Wire, season 5
TV: South Park, season 11

Olde School (Decca)
The East Village Opera Company doesn't exactly perform "rock opera," rather the group imagines classical opera - with its over-the-top plots - as if staged today. EVOC was founded in 2004 by lead singer Tyley Ross and arranger/multi-instrumentalist Peter Kiesewalter, who assembled a rock band and recruited vocalist AnnMarie Milazzo. EVOC's third album puts a twist on works by Wagner, Handel, Puccini, Mozart, and Bach. According to the band's website, 14 engineers took a year to record and mix the contributions from 65 musicians in 10 studios for the 11 tracks. Indeed, the band promises to embrace both the pomposity of opera and the pomposity of glam-rock.

Rock: Jonas Brothers / A Little Bit Longer (Hollywood)
Christian Rock: Hillsong / This Is Our God (Integrity Media)
Pop: New Kids on the Block / Greatest Hits, re-release (Sony Legacy)
Jazz: David Sanborn / Here and Gone (Decca)
Soundtrack: The Clone Wars (Sony Classics)
Soul: Irma Thomas / Simply Grand (Rounder)
World: Various artists / Songs for Tibet - The Art of Peace (Art of Peace Foundation)
Post-Grunge: Pop Evil / Lipstick on the Mirror (Pazzo)

Xbox 360 (Microsoft)
A cross between "The Terminator" and Wagner's operas, "Too Human" features cybernetic Norse gods who seek to aid humanity against really bad machines that want to eradicate all human life. Players take the role of Baldur, son of Odin, who is bound to protect humans, and gods like Thor, Loki, and Freyja make appearances. There are lots of weapons, mayhem, and blood, of course. The game is the first installment of a planned trilogy, but there's no advance word if there's a ring of power as well.

(Archer)
The words "biker" and "poet" aren't usually mentioned in the same breath, but there is a long legacy of motorcycle riders who have put pen to paper as well as the pedal to the metal. Edited by Cape Cod poet Jose "JoeGo" Gouveia, this collection features 51 writers (16 of them women) with contributions from K. Peddlar Bridges, Susan Buck, Colorado T. Sky, Dr. Martin Jack Rosenblum, Harley-Davidson historian emeritus, and the late Allen Ginsberg. Like cowboys before them, these easy writers have created their own genre of wordsmithing, with feet on the accelerator and eyes on the horizon.