"Who's the white private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks?"

Andy Barker?

Andy Barker is a roundish accountant with a mousey wife, a new practice that isn't paying, and a mortgage that needs paying. Enter the obligatory mysterious Eastern European accented woman in red, who drops 4 Gs on Andy's desk and implores him to find her not-so-dead husband.

You just know things are going to get strange, and it does when Andy's partners, Wally and Simon, enter the picture.

I was reluctant to watch Andy Barker, P.I., comedies that claim to be funny seldom are, but I wound up liking Andy and his cohorts right from the beginning. The characters are all caricatures, farcical in a Three Stooges kind of way, which is probably why I like them.

"The say that cat Andy is a bad m..."

"Shut yo mouth!"

"But I'm talkin' 'bout Andy..."

"We can dig it!"

You can pick up the pilot episode of Andy Barker: P.I. at the iTunes Store.

Everything at the iTunes Store isn't all fun and games, there some serious learning to be had if you're of a mind to.The iTunes Store offers all kinds of free documentaries and video lectures that aren't as boring as they sound. For instance; there's a whole mess of free professionally done video podcasts on our National Park Service that include video guides to Yellowstone, Katmai, and Valley Forge National Parks. These are excellent to view if you plan on going to any of these places, but they are also just plain cool to watch, and you may actually learn something: I did.

I didn't know that the geysers, hot springs, and hot mud holes in Yellowstone were the visible portions of an active volcano. I had believed that all of those geological features were due to some odd underground structures where subterranean streams and a lava vent happened to be close to each other resulting in superheated water that surfaces in different ways. Seems I was only partially right. The odd underground structure is an active volcano that rumbles and quakes over 1000 times a year.

The National Park Series are all free downloads, so go do some exploring.

OK, this has absolutely nothing to do with free stuff on iTunes, in fact, what I'm going to talk about isn't free at all, though it won't break the bank.

I'm a big fan of Stephen King. I read most of his books including The Stand (the extended version), Hearts in Atlantis (really good book), and In A Buick 8 (probably the oddest book King has written). I've also read The Dark Tower series, which I enjoyed immensely.

Recently Stephen King hooked up with the folks at Marvel comics - you know, the people who brought you Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four (Rise of the Silver Surfer coming soon to a theater near you!!!), and the X-Men - and they've released the first in series of graphic novels based on The Dark Tower series.

If you are a fan of The Dark Tower you are definitely going to love this series, if the first issue is any indication. The drawings are full color and first rate; it's as if the artists at Marvel had actually visited the place and time of Roland Deschain (the main character in the series), taken photos, and are using them as the basis of the artwork in the graphic novels.

Even if you aren't a fan you may find that you can appreciate the story better seeing it unfold.

Most the Dark Tower series is available at the iTunes Store in audiobook format if you prefer to listen, but check out the graphic novel series as well. It's good stuff. (Oddly, iTunes is missing the first book in the series; The Gunslinger. Luckily it's a fairly short read.)

Other free stuff on iTunes: