THE LIST: DVDs, CDs and books hitting stores week of Jan. 13

DVDS
  “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (PG-13): One of 2008’s top movies, Woody Allen’s latest serves up a bittersweet meditation on love, art and the way we live now as two American students in Spain (Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall) become involved with a seductive painter (Javier Bardem) and his troubled ex-wife (Penélope Cruz).
  Meanwhile, back at the ranch, hired guns Ed Harris (who also directs) and Viggo Mortensen clean up a New Mexico town, tangling with a ruthless cattle baron (Jeremy Irons) and a fetching widow (Renée Zellweger) in the Western “Appaloosa” (R).
  Elsewhere on the recent-release front, “Brideshead Revisited” (PG-13) revives novelist Evelyn Waugh’s classic tale of pre-World War II England, as a young artist (Matthew Goode) becomes embroiled with an aristocratic family (Ben Whishaw, Emma Thompson, Hayley Atwell).
  In the comedy “Swing Vote” (PG-13), a beer-guzzling Joe Sixpack (Kevin Costner) becomes the sole deciding vote in a deadlocked presidential election. And a professional cad (Dane Cook) unexpectedly falls in love with “My Best Friend’s Girl” (R), featuring Jason Biggs as the lovelorn best friend and Kate Hudson as the title character.
  Scandal threatens the long-standing friendship of two Atlanta matriarchs (Kathy Bates, Alfre Woodard) in writer-director Tyler Perry’s “The Family That Preys” (PG-13), while in “Mirrors” (R), a fire-ravaged department store harbors a horrific secret that threatens a cop-turned-security guard (Kiefer Sutherland). And in “Brick Lane” (PG-13), a Bangladeshi transplant to East London (Tannishtha  Chatterjee ), forced into an arranged marriage at 17, yearns to escape her passionless life.
  “Choose Connor” (not rated), meanwhile, leads off our “Welcome to Las Vegas” segment — even though it played the CineVegas film festival a few years back. Steven Weber stars as a Congressman who introduces a bookish teen (Alex Linz) to the dark realities of politics. And a disillusioned medical student (Jeremy Strong) finds himself stranded amid counterculture pot farmers in “Humboldt County” (R).
  On the documentary front, “The Order of Myth” (not rated) explores the history, and mysteries, of America’s oldest racially segregated Mardi Gras celebration. And Steven Spielberg and Sidney Lumet are among the filmmakers interviewed in “Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust” (not rated).
  Tuning in to TV transfers, the Emmy-winning 1976 miniseries “The Captains and the Kings” (not rated) chronicles the rise of a Kennedy-like dynasty; Richard Jordan, Patty Duke and Blair Brown lead the cast. New “Masterpiece Theatre” productions (all unrated) of “Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” “God on Trial” and “The Last Enemy” also join the DVD lineup, along with PBS’ “Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America” (not rated).
  Other TV titles (all unrated) arriving on DVD today include “Reba: Season Five,” “Dallas: The Complete 10th Season,” “Matlock: Season Two,” “Walker, Texas Ranger: The Complete Sixth Season,” “House of Payne, Vol. Three,” “Stargate: The Ark of Truth,” “Lovejoy: Season Four,” “Man vs. Wild: Season Two” and “Til Death: The Complete Second Season.”

CDS
  The Derek Trucks Band, “Already Free”: Last time he was in town, he damn near stole the show from 'ol Slow Hand himself.
  That’s right, when Derek Trucks played with Eric Clapton at the MGM Grand a few years back, some of Clapton’s fans openly grumbled about how much of the spotlight Clapton ceded to the much younger guitar ace.
  But if anything, Trucks demonstrated that he deserved the face time, his fleet, expressive playing lighting up the arena like a battery of bottle rockets.  
  Check out Trucks’ latest album, “Already Free,” for further proof that he can melt vinyl like he does stages.
  Also in stores: Shari Addison, “Shari Addison”; Crystal Aikin, “Crystal Aikin”; Crooked X, “The New Generation of Rock”; Heather Headley, “Audience of One”; (hed) p.e., “New World Orphan”; Kreator, “Hordes of Chaos”; Joshua Redman, “Compass”; and Saxon, “Into the Labyrinth.”

BOOKS
  There are a couple books hitting shelves this week that are geared toward younger readers.
  Ann Brashares, author of “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” introduces a new group of girls with “3 Willows: The Sisterhood Grows.”
  Polly, Jo and Ama have been friends since grade school. With high school approaching, the girls find themselves drifting apart, spending the summer separated from each other.
  Each girl faces her own challenges. Polly sets her sights on a more glamorous future, heading off to modeling camp. Jo, staying at her family’s beach house, tries to make in-roads with the cool crowd and has a fling with an older boy. Ama heads off to a camp that will give her school credit, but instead of doing research, she ends up on a wilderness trip.
  Another book of interest to kids is “Last Straw” by Jeff Kinney. Book three in the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series finds Greg Heffley under threat of being sent to a military academy if he doesn’t get with the program after his father, in an effort to toughen him up, enlists him in some sporting activities.
  Other books being released this week: “Mounting Fears (Will Lee Series)” by Stuart Woods; “The Best of Everything” by Kimberla Lawson Roby; “Kisses and Lies” by Lauren Henderson; “The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death” by Charlie Huston; “The Rules of the Game” by Leonard Downie Jr.; “Water Dogs” by Lewis Robinson; “Return to Sender” by Julia Alvarez; and “Mr. Lincoln’s High-Tech War” by Roger MacBride Allen and Thomas B. Allen.