A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution

• ISBN13: 9780156028721
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

American Sign Language is a rich and complex language. Recently declared as an official language and recognized by 48 states as a foreign language, more and more high school teachers across the country are teaching American Sign Language as an elective.

 

Learning American Sign Language: Levels I & II â€" Beginning &Intermediate is designed to prepare teachers to successfullyinteract with American Sign Language (ASL) users. Lessons are structured around language needed for common-life situations, and examples are presented in the form of dialogues coupled with grammar and vocabulary instruction. Information is also include! d about the culture of deaf people in the United States.

 

Learners will discover that the book:

• Contains lessons designed around the conversational language needed for common life situations.
• Illustrates hundreds of sentences and vocabulary with over 2,000 high quality colorized drawings that aid in study and memory.
• Contains over 100 grammar and cultural notes, 72 exercises, and charts of the American Manual Alphabet (Finger spelling) and ASL number system.
• Teaches the rules of ASL in a natural order that is predictable and compatible with everyday language of native users of American Sign Language.
• Incorporates information about the cultural lives of Deaf people in the United States.
• Is supported by a video demonstrating all the conversations and important structures in the text.

Order the Video!

Vid! eo to Accompany American Sign Language, 2/e
Order No. 0! -205-275 54-0

American Sign Language students will find themselves captivated and entertained by this state-of-the-art Video that presents all 72 dialogues and each key structure from the text in a clear and natural way. Four internationally known Deaf actors animate the dialogues bringing life to the illustrations in the text allowing students to preview and review instructional materials at home to enhance their classroom learning.

 

About the authors:

Tom Humphries is Associate Director of the Teacher Education Program and also teaches in the Department of Communication at the University of California, San Diego. He is currently coordinating a program to train teachers of deaf children using a bilingual approach. Prior to this he taught at Gallaudet University in the Department of English for several years and later served as an Associate Dean for the San Di! ego Community College District where he coordinated the development of an ASL program and an interpreter-training program. He holds a Ph.D. in Cross Cultural Communication and Language Learning. Dr. Humphries is co-author with Carol Padden of Deaf in America: Voices from a Culture and several other books and articles related to ASL and the culture of Deaf people.

Carol Padden is a Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of California, San Diego where she teachers courses on language, culture and media. She is a graduate of Georgetown University and received a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of California, San Diego. Her recent research includes studies of reading development in young deaf children and she has written extensively about the cultural lives of Deaf people in the United States. She received a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, in addition to numerous other awards and grants for her work! . In addition to the books she has co-authored with Tom Humphr! ies, she has published several other books and articles on American Sign Language structure. Humphries & Padden (Learning American Sign Language, 2e).

This collection of remarkable quotations is a gem of discerning wisdom, lovely thoughts, and astute wit gleaned from the words of African-American Writers, including Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Toni Cade Bambara, Amiri Baraka, Mary McLeod Bethune, Arna Bontemps, Gwendolyn Brooks, William Wells Brown, Octavia E. Butler, Stokely Carmichael, Stephen L. Carter, Charles W. Chesnutt, Eldridge Cleaver, Lucille Clifton, Anna J. Cooper, Bill Cosby, Stanley Crouch, Countee Cullen, Edwidge Danticat, Angela Davis, Sarah L. Delany, Frederick Douglass, Rita Dove, W.E.B. DuBois, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Ralph Ellison, Mari Evans, Ernest Gaines, Marcus Garvey, Nikki Giovanni, Dick Gregory, Angelina Weld Grimke, Alex Haley, Virginia Hamilton, Henry Hampton, Lorraine Hansberry, Billie Holiday, Bell Hooks, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Harriet ! Jacobs, Joseph Jarman, Georgia Douglas Johnson, James Weldon Johnson, June Jordan, Elizabeth Keckley, Martin Luther King, Jr., Audre Lorde, Malcolm X, Paule Marshall, Thurgood Marshall, Claude McKay, Terry McMillan, Toni Morrison, Walter Mosley, Thylias Moss, Gloria Naylor, Ann Plato, Ishmael Reed, Al Roker, Thomas Sowell, Anne Spencer, Jean Toomer, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Henry Van Dyke, Alice Walker, Margaret Walker, Booker T. Washington, Cornel West, Dorothy West, August Wilson, Richard Wright, and Frank Yerby.


This collection of remarkable quotations is a gem of discerning wisdom, lovely thoughts, and astute wit gleaned from the words of African-American Writers, including Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Toni Cade Bambara, Amiri Baraka, Mary McLeod Bethune, Arna Bontemps, Gwendolyn Brooks, William Wells Brown, Octavia E. Butler, Stokely Carmichael, Stephen L. Carter, Charles W. Chesnutt, Eldridge Cleaver, Lucille Clifton, Anna J. Cooper, Bill Cosb! y, Stanley Crouch, Countee Cullen, Edwidge Danticat, Angela Da! vis, Sar ah L. Delany, Frederick Douglass, Rita Dove, W.E.B. DuBois, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Ralph Ellison, Mari Evans, Ernest Gaines, Marcus Garvey, Nikki Giovanni, Dick Gregory, Angelina Weld Grimke, Alex Haley, Virginia Hamilton, Henry Hampton, Lorraine Hansberry, Billie Holiday, Bell Hooks, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Harriet Jacobs, Joseph Jarman, Georgia Douglas Johnson, James Weldon Johnson, June Jordan, Elizabeth Keckley, Martin Luther King, Jr., Audre Lorde, Malcolm X, Paule Marshall, Thurgood Marshall, Claude McKay, Terry McMillan, Toni Morrison, Walter Mosley, Thylias Moss, Gloria Naylor, Ann Plato, Ishmael Reed, Al Roker, Thomas Sowell, Anne Spencer, Jean Toomer, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Henry Van Dyke, Alice Walker, Margaret Walker, Booker T. Washington, Cornel West, Dorothy West, August Wilson, Richard Wright, and Frank Yerby.

Now available in two-volume splits as well as the combined version.

Through! Women’s Eyes: An American History was the first textbook in U.S. women’s history to present an inclusive narrative within the context of the central developments of U.S. history and to integrate written and visual primary sources into each chapter. The result, according to authors Ellen Carol DuBois and Lynn Dumenil, was to "reveal the relationship between secondary and original sources, to show history as a dynamic process of investigation and interpretation rather than a set body of facts and figures." The enormous success of the first edition confirms that the field of U.S. women’s history was ready for a ground-breaking textbook that focuses on women from a broad range of ethnicities, classes, religions, and regions and that helps students understand how women and women’s history are an integral part of U.S. history.

 

Click here to read about packaging with the Women and Social Movements Database!

A definitive collection of the very best short stories by con! temporar y American masters

Edited by Joyce Carol Oates, "the living master of the short story" (Buffalo News), and Christopher R. Beha, this volume provides an important overview of the contemporary short story and a selection of the very best that American short fiction has to offer.

"How ironic," Joyce Carol Oates writes in her introduction to this marvelous collection, "that in our age of rapid mass-production and the easy proliferation of consumer products, the richness and diversity of the American literary imagination should be so misrepresented in most anthologies." Why, she asks, when writers such as Samuel Clemens, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor, Saul Bellow, and John Updike have among them written hundreds of short stories, do anthologists settle on the same two or three titles by each author again and again? "Isn't the implicit promise of an anthology that it will, or aspires to, present something different, unexpected?! "
In The Oxford Book of American Short Stories, Joyce Carol Oates offers a sweeping survey of American short fiction, in a collection of fifty-six tales that combines classic works with many "different, unexpected" gems, and that invites readers to explore a wealth of important pieces by women and minority writers. Some selections simply can't be improved on, Oates admits, and she happily includes such time-honored works as Irving's "Rip Van Winkle," Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," and Hemingway's "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place." But alongside these classics, Oates introduces such little-known stories as Mark Twain's "Cannibalism in the Cars," a story that reveals a darker side to his humor ("That morning we had Morgan of Alabama for breakfast. He was one of the finest men I ever sat down to...a perfect gentleman, and singularly juicy"). From Melville come the juxtaposed tales "The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids," of which Oates says, "Only Melv! ille could have fashioned out of 'real' events...such harrowin! g and dr eamlike allegorical fiction." From Flannery O'Connor we find "A Late Encounter With the Enemy," and from John Cheever, "The Death of Justina," one of Cheever's own favorites, though rarely anthologized. The reader will also delight in the range of authors found here, from Charles W. Chesnutt, Jean Toomer, and Sarah Orne Jewett, to William Carlos Williams, Kate Chopin, and Zora Neale Hurston. Contemporary artists abound, including Bharati Mukherjee and Amy Tan, Alice Adams and David Leavitt, Bobbie Ann Mason and Tim O'Brien, Louise Erdrich and John Edgar Wideman. Oates provides fascinating introductions to each writer, blending biographical information with her own trenchant observations about their work, plus a long introductory essay, in which she offers the fruit of years of reflection on a genre in which she herself is a master.
This then is a book of surprises, a fascinating portrait of American short fiction, as filtered through the sensibility of a major modern w! riter.

A rich narrative portrait of post-revolutionary America and the men who shaped its political future

 

Though the American Revolution is widely recognized as our nation's founding story, the years immediately following the warâ€"when our government was a disaster and the country was in a terrible crisisâ€"were in fact the most crucial in establishing the country's independence. The group of men who traveled to Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 had no idea what kind of history their meeting would make. But all their ideas, arguments, and compromisesâ€"from the creation of the Constitution itself, article by article, to the insistence that it remain a living, evolving documentâ€"laid the foundation for a government that has surpassed the founders' greatest hopes. Revisiting all the original historical documents of the period and drawing from her deep knowledge of eighteenth-century politics, Carol Berkin opens up the hearts and minds of A! merica's founders, revealing the issues they faced, the times ! they liv ed in, and their humble expectations of success."The majority of historians seem to suggest that the founders knew just what to do--and did it, creating a government that would endure for centuries," writes CUNY historian Carol Berkin in the introduction to A Brilliant Solution. Sitting atop the pedestals we've placed them on, these figures would be "amused" by such notions, she says, because in reality the Constitutional Convention was gripped by "a near-paranoid fear of conspiracies" and might easily have succumbed to "a collective anxiety" over its daunting task. The story of the birth of the U.S. Constitution has been told many times, perhaps best by Catherine Drinker Bowen in Miracle at Philadelphia. Berkin's rendition of these well-known events is clear and concise. It does a bit more telling than showing, but this seems to be in the service of brevity--the main text is only about 200 pages. (Another 100 pages of useful appendices follow, including the fu! ll texts of the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, plus short biographies of all the convention delegates.) Berkin is an opinionated narrator, unafraid, for instance, to call Maryland's Luther Martin "determinedly uncouth." She also points out that American government has evolved in ways that would make the founders cringe: they believed the presidency would be a ceremonial office (rather than the locus of the nation's political power) and that political parties were bad (when, in fact, they have served democracy well). Readers who want a sure-footed introduction to America's founding would do well to start here. --John J. Miller

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HDMI Cable 2M (6 Feet)

• HDMI audio / video cables are ATC certifie
• Provides the most reliable signal transfer for the purest picture.
• Unlike most HDMI cables, Inspire Audio video cables use individual, shielded twisted pair wires for unsurpassed video signal.

Perfect for connecting your HDTV, DVD/Blu-Ray players, gaming systems, and other home theater/entertainment components.These HDMI cables are ATC (Authorized Testing Center) certified, meaning you can count on them to pass a high-definition signal up to 1080p.

Need an HDMI cable? Get reliable signal transfer for your HD video/audio without spending a fortune--complete with a lifetime warranty--with this six-foot HDMI cable from Inspiritech.

Get reliable signal transfer for your HD video/audio without spending a fortune.

Six-foot length for nearby components.

24k gold-plated connectors.

Six-Foot Length

Perfect for connecting your HDTV, DVD/Blu-Ray players, gaming systems, and other home theater/entertainment components.

ATC Certified

These HDMI cables are ATC (Authorized Testing Center) certified, meaning you can count on! them to pass a high-definition signal up to 1080p.

Q! uality C onstruction

Unlike most HDMI cables, Inspire Audio video cables use individual, shielded, twisted pair wires for an unsurpassed video signal. Oxygen-free copper provides solid conductivity, and 24k gold-plated connectors won't corrode, for a longer lifetime.

Lifetime Warranty

Get some added peace of mind with your great picture and sound.

What's in the Box

Six-Foot HDMI Cable

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Duane Hopwood

• (Drama) David Schwimmer stars as Duane, a down-on-his-luck divorced father who works the night shift as a pit boss at Caesars Palace in Atlantic City. Heartsick about the demise of his marriage to Linda (Janeane Garofalo), he does nothing but work and drink. When his visitation rights are threatened after he's caught driving while intoxicated with his daughter in the backseat, Duane decides that t

DUANE HOPWOOD - DVD Movie

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Shadows of the Last War (Dungeon & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying, Eberron Adventure)

• ISBN13: 9780786932764
• Condition: Used - Like New
• Notes: 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Meet Buraki, the vicious, 200-meter long Imoogi serpent from ancient Korea. His army includes giant lizards with missile launchers, flying dragons, soldiers bred for evil and mega-intelligent dinosaurs. Together, they will destroy Los Angeles and possibly the world unless reincarnated warriors Ethan and Sarah can outrun them and resurrect the Good Imoogi, Buraki's ancient nemesis. Dragon Wars reveals every last detail of Earth's greatest battle, a war you'll only believe when you see it for yourself.Stunning computer-generated special effects are the main selling point of Dragon Wars: D-War, a Korean-made fantasy about ancient monsters wreaking havoc in modern Los Angeles. The complex plot, based on le! gend, pits an evil serpent and its demonic army against a young woman (Amanda Brooks) who is the reincarnation of a young woman imbued with the heaven-sent power to transform the creature into an all-powerful dragon. Jason Behr (The Grudge) is the reporter who discovers that he too is a reincarnated warrior bound to prevent Brooks and her power from falling into the wrong hands. The elaborate premise isn't helped by the script, which delivers absurd dialogue and situations with child-like naivete; thankfully, the presence of Robert Forster (as another reincarnated hero) and solid actors like Elizabeth Pena, The Office's Craig Robinson, and Chris Mulkey, help smooth over the frequent moments of unintentional humor. But this won't matter much to fantasy fans and (especially) younger viewers, who will tune in for the film's riot of special effects; director Shim Hyung-rae and his talented team offer scene after scene of exceptional CGI creations, most notably a a! erial dogfight between helicopters and winged lizards in the s! kies abo ve downtown L.A., and a climactic battle which makes good on the title's promise. The DVD includes a making-of featurette which outlines Shim's four-year struggle to complete the project, as well as storyboard galleries and an animatics display. -- Paul Gaita

The first adventure for the brand new Eberron campaign setting.

This full-length adventure for the newest D&D® campaign setting is designed to showcase many of the most unique traits of the Eberron setting. It will play out across the entire face of the Eberron realm and is designed to either be a stand-alone adventure or an immediate follow-up to the short adventure provided in the Eberron Campaign Setting™.

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Heist

• TESTED

Gene Hackman plays the veteran ringleader of a gang of theives (Delroy Lindo, Ricky Jay and Rebecca Pigeon as Hackman's youngish wife) that pulls off complex heists for a despicable fence (Danny DeVito). After stiffing the gang on a jewelry robbery, DeVito forces the gang to go after a Swiss gold shipment and to use his son (Sam Rockwell) in the crime. Mistrust runs rampant as double-crosses threaten the split-second operation.

DVD Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Theatrical Trailer

David Mamet's Heist is--not unlike many of his previous films--amusing, manicured, and fraught with an awkward tension. If you've seen The Spanish Prisoner or House of Games, you're by now familiar with the plot-subverting gambit of the double-cross turned triple- and then quadruple-cross. Heist sticks to the formula. Likewis! e, the quips and laconic wit that adorn what can most accurately be called "Mametspeak" are again on display: "Cute as a pail full of kittens," for instance, and "Everybody needs money; that's why they call it money." What you haven't yet seen in a Mamet film is the magisterial charm of Gene Hackman. In the role of Joe Moore, an aging criminal out for one final score before cashing in, Hackman shows us all (Mamet included) how it's done, embodying tough-but-clever effortlessly. Delroy Lindo, as Joe's partner Bobby, picks up on Hackman's ultra-cool and gives plenty in return. While the script and the remaining cast (Danny Devito, Rebecca Pidgeon, Sam Rockwell) are serviceable, Heist is entirely Hackman's show to steal. --Fionn Meade

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Civil Brand

• DVD Details: Actors: LisaRaye, N'Bushe Wright, Mos Def, Monica Calhoun, Clifton Powell
• Directors: Neema Barnette
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only)
• Number of discs: 1; Studio: Lions Gate
• DVD Release Date: January 27, 2004; Run Time: 95 minutes

CIVIL BRAND - DVD Movie

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Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London Movie Poster (27 x 40 Inches - 69cm x 102cm) (2004) German -(Frankie Muniz)(Anthony Anderson)(Hannah Spearritt)(Daniel Roebuck)

• Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London Poster (27 x 40 Inches - 69cm x 102cm) German
• The Amazon image is how the poster will look; If you see imperfections they will also be in the poster
• Full Size Movie Poster; Same Size That You See In The Theater
• Size is provided by the manufacturer and may not be exact
• Packaged with care and shipped in sturdy reinforced packing material

Features include:

•MPAA Rating: PG
•Format: DVD
•Runtime: 100 minutes
Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London Poster (27 x 40 Inches - 69cm x 102cm) (2004) German reproduction poster print

CAST: Frankie Muniz, Anthony Anderson, Hannah Spearritt, Daniel Roebuck

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The Deep End of the Ocean

• Michelle Pfeiffer, Whoopi Goldberg, High School Reunion, Treat Williams, Jonathan Jackson, Cory Buck

A #1 New York Times bestseller, Mitchard's suspenseful and moving novel is now available in trade paperback

Few first novels receive the kind of attention and acclaim showered on this powerful story--a nationwide bestseller, a critical success, and the first title chosen for Oprah's Book Club. Both highly suspenseful and deeply moving, The Deep End of the Ocean imagines every mother's worst nightmare--the disappearance of a child--as it explores a family's struggle to endure, even against extraordinary odds. Filled with compassion, humor, and brilliant observations about the texture of real life, here is a story of rare power, one that will touch readers' hearts and make them celebrate the emotions that make us all one.

"Riveting . . . twists that will spin you arou! nd." --Newsweek

"A drama with the tension of a thriller that moves deeply into the emotional territory of family ties." --People

"Take a deep breath. . . . This riveting story won't let you come up for air." --US magazine Oprah Book Club® Selection, September 1996: The horror of losing a child is somehow made worse when the case goes unsolved for nearly a decade, reports Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel columnist Jacquelyn Mitchard in this searing first novel. In it, 3-year-old Ben Cappadora is kidnapped from a hotel lobby where his mother is checking into her 15th high school reunion. His disappearance tears the family apart and invokes separate experiences of anguish, denial, and self-blame. Marital problems and delinquency in Ben's older brother (in charge of him the day of his kidnapping) ensue. Mitchard depicts the family's friction and torment--along with many gritty realities of family life--with the candor of a j! ournalist and compassion of someone who has seemingly been th! ere. Int ernational publishing and movie rights sold fast on this one: It's a blockbuster.Few first novels receive the kind of attention and acclaim showered on this powerful storyâ€"a nationwide bestseller, a critical success, and the first title chosen for Oprah's Book Club. Both highly suspenseful and deeply moving, The Deep End of the Ocean imagines every mother's worst nightmareâ€"the disappearance of a childâ€"as it explores a family's struggle to endure, even against extraordinary odds. Filled with compassion, humor, and brilliant observations about the texture of real life, here is a story of rare power, one that will touch readers' hearts and make them celebrate the emotions that make us all one.Oprah Book Club® Selection, September 1996: The horror of losing a child is somehow made worse when the case goes unsolved for nearly a decade, reports Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel columnist Jacquelyn Mitchard in this searing first novel. In it, 3-year-old B! en Cappadora is kidnapped from a hotel lobby where his mother is checking into her 15th high school reunion. His disappearance tears the family apart and invokes separate experiences of anguish, denial, and self-blame. Marital problems and delinquency in Ben's older brother (in charge of him the day of his kidnapping) ensue. Mitchard depicts the family's friction and torment--along with many gritty realities of family life--with the candor of a journalist and compassion of someone who has seemingly been there. International publishing and movie rights sold fast on this one: It's a blockbuster.Few first novels receive the kind of attention and acclaim showered on this powerful storyâ€"a nationwide bestseller, a critical success, and the first title chosen for Oprah's Book Club. Both highly suspenseful and deeply moving, The Deep End of the Ocean imagines every mother's worst nightmareâ€"the disappearance of a childâ€"as it explores a family's struggle to en! dure, even against extraordinary odds. Filled with compassion,! humor, and brilliant observations about the texture of real life, here is a story of rare power, one that will touch readers' hearts and make them celebrate the emotions that make us all one.DEEP END OF THE OCEAN - DVD MovieBeth Cappadora (Michelle Pfeiffer) is at her high school reunion when her 3-year-old son disappears from his brother's care. The little boy never turns up, and the family has to deal with the devastating guilt and grief that goes along with it. Nine years later, the family has relocated to Chicago. By a sheer fluke, the kid turns up, living no more than two blocks away. The authorities swoop down and return the kid to his biological parents, but things are far from being that simple. The boy grew up around what he has called his father, while his new family are strangers to him; the older son, now a teenager, has brushes with the law and behavioral problems. His adjustment to his lost brother is complicated by normal teenage churlishness, and the dad (Treat Will! iams) seems to expect everything to fall into place as though the family had been intact all along. It's a tightrope routine for actors in a story like this, being careful not to chew the scenery while at the same time not being too flaccid or understated. For the most part, the members of the cast deal well with the emotional complexity of their roles. Though the story stretches credulity, weirder things do happen in the real world. The family's pain for the first half of the film is certainly credible, though the second half almost seems like a different movie. Whoopi Goldberg plays the detective assigned to the case; casting her is a bit of a stretch, but she makes it work. All in all, a decent three-hanky movie in the vein of Ordinary People. --Jerry Renshaw

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Frost/Nixon [Blu-ray]

• Condition: New
• Format: Blu-ray
• AC-3; Color; Dolby; DTS Surround Sound; Dubbed; Subtitled; Widescreen

From Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard comes the electrifying, untold story behind one of the most unforgettable moments in history. When disgraced President Richard Nixon agreed to an interview with jet-setting television personality, David Frost, he thought he’d found the key to saving his tarnished legacy. But, with a name to make and a reputation to overcome, Frost became one of Nixon’s most formidable adversaries and engaged the leader in a charged battle of wits that changed the face of politics forever. Featuring brilliant portrayals by Frank Langella and Michael Sheen, Frost/Nixon is the fascinating and suspenseful story of truth, accountability, secrets and lies.Sounds like a good match: a historical drama from the author of The Queen, but! with an American subject in the generational wheelhouse of director Ron Howard. And so Peter Morgan's Tony-winning play morphs into a Hollywood movie under the wing of the Apollo 13 guy. Morgan's subject is a curious moment of post-Watergate shakeout: British TV host David Frost's long-form interviews with ex-President Richard Nixon, conducted in 1977. It was a big ratings success at the time, justifying the somewhat controversial decision to cut an enormous check for Nixon's services. The movie adds a mockumentary note to the otherwise straightforward style, having direct-to-camera addresses from various aides to Frost and Nixon (played by the likes of Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell, and Kevin Bacon); these basically tell us things we already glean from the rest of the movie, adding unnecessary melodrama and upping the stakes. In this curious scheme, the success of Frost's career, which could bellyflop if he doesn't get something worthwhile out of the cagey, long-win! ded Nixon, is given somewhat more weight than the actual revel! ations o f the interviews. Even with these questionable storytelling decisions, there's still the spectacle of two actors going at it hammer and tongs, and on that level the movie offers some heat. Michael Sheen, who played Tony Blair not only in The Queen but also in another Morgan-scripted project, The Deal, is adept at catching David Frost's blow-dried charm, as well as the determination beneath it. Frank Langella's physical performance as Nixon is superb, and he certainly can be a commanding actor, though veteran Nixon-watchers might find that he misses a certain depth of self-pity in the man. Both actors were retained from the original stage production, a rare thing in Hollywood--and probably Howard's best decision of the project. --Robert HortonFrom Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard comes the electrifying, untold story behind one of the most unforgettable moments in history. When disgraced President Richard Nixon agreed to an interview with j! et-setting television personality, David Frost, he thought he’d found the key to saving his tarnished legacy. But, with a name to make and a reputation to overcome, Frost became one of Nixon’s most formidable adversaries and engaged the leader in a charged battle of wits that changed the face of politics forever. Featuring brilliant portrayals by Frank Langella and Michael Sheen, Frost/Nixon is the fascinating and suspenseful story of truth, accountability, secrets and lies.Sounds like a good match: a historical drama from the author of The Queen, but with an American subject in the generational wheelhouse of director Ron Howard. And so Peter Morgan's Tony-winning play morphs into a Hollywood movie under the wing of the Apollo 13 guy. Morgan's subject is a curious moment of post-Watergate shakeout: British TV host David Frost's long-form interviews with ex-President Richard Nixon, conducted in 1977. It was a big ratings success at the time, justifyin! g the somewhat controversial decision to cut an enormous check! for Nix on's services. The movie adds a mockumentary note to the otherwise straightforward style, having direct-to-camera addresses from various aides to Frost and Nixon (played by the likes of Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell, and Kevin Bacon); these basically tell us things we already glean from the rest of the movie, adding unnecessary melodrama and upping the stakes. In this curious scheme, the success of Frost's career, which could bellyflop if he doesn't get something worthwhile out of the cagey, long-winded Nixon, is given somewhat more weight than the actual revelations of the interviews. Even with these questionable storytelling decisions, there's still the spectacle of two actors going at it hammer and tongs, and on that level the movie offers some heat. Michael Sheen, who played Tony Blair not only in The Queen but also in another Morgan-scripted project, The Deal, is adept at catching David Frost's blow-dried charm, as well as the determination beneath it. Fr! ank Langella's physical performance as Nixon is superb, and he certainly can be a commanding actor, though veteran Nixon-watchers might find that he misses a certain depth of self-pity in the man. Both actors were retained from the original stage production, a rare thing in Hollywood--and probably Howard's best decision of the project. --Robert Horton

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Hamlet 2

• Condition: New
• Format: DVD
• AC-3; Color; Dolby; Dubbed; DVD; Subtitled; Widescreen; NTSC

HAMLET 2 - DVD MovieJust when it seems as if things can't get any worse for high-school drama teacher Dana Marschz (Steve Coogan), he quips, "My life is a parody of a tragedy." Yet that very ability to laugh in the face of defeat will allow this failed actor to triumph over adversity. A lovably ridiculous dreamer like Waiting for Guffman’s Corky St. Clair, Marschz lives in Tucson with his sarcastic wife (Catherine Keener) and their silent boarder (David Arquette). Though he tries to inspire, like Richard Dreyfuss in Mr. Holland's Opus, only two students (Spring Awakening’s Skylar Astin and Phoebe Strole) share his passion for theatrics. When the principal decides to eliminate his department, Marschz makes a bold move: he writes an original play, lets the class! contribute their own unique talents, and puts the whole thing on as a fundraiser (they'll need to bring in $6,000). Sure, everyone dies at the end of Shakespeare's classic, but in Marschz’s musical sequel, Hamlet 2, a time machine allows the Danish prince to turn back the clock to set things right. Just as his production starts to take shape and retired actress Elisabeth Shue (played by Shue) offers her support, his marriage hits the rocks, he starts drinking again, and the community protests against numbers like "Rock Me Sexy Jesus." (Amy Poehler portrays his ACLU attorney.) Though Andrew Fleming’s comedy follows the usual inspirational instructor trajectory, ribald humor helps the medicine go down and Coogan gives his most unhinged performance since Tristram Shandy. --Kathleen C. Fennessy


Stills from Hamlet 2 (Click for larger image)

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Garden of Eden

• ISBN13: 9780684804521
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

A sensational bestseller when it appeared in 1986, The Garden of Eden is the last uncompleted novel of Ernest Hemingway, which he worked on intermittently from 1946 until his death in 1961. Set on the Côte d'Azur in the 1920s, it is the story of a young American writer, David Bourne, his glamorous wife, Catherine, and the dangerous, erotic game they play when they fall in love with the same woman. "A lean, sensuous narrative...taut, chic, and strangely contemporary," The Garden of Eden represents vintage Hemingway, the master "doing what nobody did better" (R. Z. Sheppard, Time).

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The Phantom of the Opera (Widescreen Edition)

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In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, Cameron Mackintosh produced a unique, spectacular staging of the musical on a scale which had never been seen before. Inspired by the original staging by Hal Prince and Gillian Lynne, this lavish, fully-staged production set in the sumptuous Victorian splendour of London’s legendary Royal Albert Hall features a cast and orchestra of over 200, plus some very special guest appearances.The Phantom of the Opera, SoundtrackFor better or worse, Andrew Lloyd Webber's adaptation of Gaston Leroux's gothic horror/romance novel has done for stage musicals what Spielberg's Jaws did for fish stories, with worldwide sales of its original cast album approaching 25 million. While director Joel Schumacher's film turns on his typically ambitious visual verve, its new film soundtrack ! recording has been paradoxically focused in scope, yet beefed up dynamically via the brawny presence of a hundred piece orchestra and The London Boys Choir. This single disc version showcases all of Phantom's key songs (a deluxe, double-disc edition is also available), with Gerard Butler imparting a welcome, youthful sensuality to his Phantom, making a fine foil for Emmy Rossum's ever-conflicted Christine. Original show orchestrator David Cullen has fashioned compelling new contemporary arrangements to frame Webber's songs -- which now conclude with the lilting, upbeat new ballad he wrote for the film, "Learn to Be Lonely," sung by Minnie Driver. --Jerry McCulleyThe Royal Albert Hall in London comes alive to the passionate melodies and songs from the shows of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Enjoy the magic of this night of a thousand stars. Directed by: David MalletIn 1998 a concert at the Royal Albert Hall celebrated Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's 50th birthday and feature! d more than two hours of hits from a body of work spanning alm! ost thre e decades. In this keepsake of a memorable night, star after star steps on to a massive, Eurovision-style set to revisit golden moments in their long association with Britain's most successful composer of musicals. Elaine Paige in big frocks and an even bigger voice delivers "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" and "Memory" with her usual power; Michael Ball and Donny Osmond stretch the last vestiges of boyish charm to the very limits but still sound great; and Boyzone gets the youth vote. Then there are Kiri Te Kanawa, Bonnie Tyler, Tina Arena, and, of course, another encore for brother Julian Lloyd Webber and those Variations on the cello. But the stars are Sir Andrew's ex-wife Sarah Brightman in an outstanding selection from The Phantom of the Opera (probably his best work), Antonio Banderas (who really can sing), and Glenn Close, a stupendous, moving Norma Desmond in songs from Sunset Boulevard. All in all, a deserved celebration for someone who has given so many ! people a great deal of pleasure, and a treat for musicals fans of all ages. --Piers FordMusical Drama based on Andrew Lloyd Webber's celebrated musical phenomenon. The Phantom of the Opera tells the story of a disfigured musical genius (Gerard Butler) who haunts the catacombs beneath the Paris Opera, waging a reign of terror over its occupants. When he falls fatally in love with the lovely Christine (Emmy Rossum), the Phantom devotes himself to creating a new star for the Opera, exerting a strange sense of control over the young soprano as he nurtures her extraordinary talents.Although it's not as bold as Oscar darling Chicago, The Phantom of the Opera continues the resuscitation of the movie musical with a faithful adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's blockbuster stage musical. Emmy Rossum glows in a breakout role as opera ingénue Christine Daae, and if phantom Gerard Butler isn't Rossum's match vocally, he does convey menace and sensuality in such num! bers as "The Music of the Night." The most experienced musical! theater veteran in the cast, romantic lead Patrick Wilson, sings sweetly but seems wooden. The biggest name in the cast, Minnie Driver, hams it up as diva Carlotta, and she's the only principal whose voice was dubbed (though she does sing the closing-credit number, "Learn to Be Lonely," which is also the only new song).

Director Joel Schumacher, no stranger to visual spectacle, seems to have found a good match in Lloyd Webber's larger-than-life vision of Gaston LeRoux's Gothic horror-romance. His weakness is cuing too many audience-reaction shots and showing too much of the lurking Phantom, but when he calms down and lets Rossum sings "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" alone in a silent graveyard, it's exquisite.

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Those who consider the stage musical! shallow and overblown probably won't have their minds changed by the movie, and devotees will forever rue that the movie took the better part of two decades to develop, which prevented the casting of original principals Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman. Still, The Phantom of the Opera is a welcome exception to the long line of ill-conceived Broadway-to-movie travesties.

DVD Features
The special edition of The Phantom of the Opera has two major extras. "Behind the Mask: The Story of The Phantom of the Opera" is an hourlong documentary tracing the genesis of the stage show, with interviews of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, director Harold Prince, producer Cameron Macintosh, lyricists Richard Stilgoe and Charles Hart, choreographer Gillian Lynne, and others. Conspicuously absent are stars Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford. Both do appear in video clips, including Brightman performing with Colm Wilkinson at an early workshop, and Cr! awford is the subject of a casting segment. Other brief scenes! from th e show are represented by a 2001 production. The other major feature is the 45-minute making-of focusing on the movie, including casting and the selection of director Joel Schumacher Both are well-done productions by Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group.

The deleted scene is a new song written by Lloyd Webber and Charles Hart, "No One Would Listen," sung by the Phantom toward the end of the movie. It's a beautiful song that, along with Madame Giry's story, makes him a more sympathetic character. But because that bit of backstory already slowed down the ending, it was probably a good move to cut the song. --David Horiuchi

More on The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera (Special Exten! ded Edition Soundtrack) (CD)	The Phantom of the Opera (2004 Movie Soundtrack) (CD)	The Phantom of the Opera (Original 1986 London Cast) (CD)
Evita (DVD)	Andrew Lloyd Weber: The Royal Albert Hall Celebration (DVD)	More Broadway DVDs

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Trademark Silver Survival Knife With Survival Gear Knives, Silver

• 440 stainless steel
• The overall length is 12 inches from head to toe
• the blade is almost 6 inches
• Blade sharpening stone w special pocket on sheath
• The blade is partially serrated

At a full 9" in length when opened, this man-sized knife is a work of art as well as a useful tool for your groomsmen.The Full Tilt Survival knife is a dream knife for just about anybody. Dressed in silver, designed to do “business” it holds no surprises or setbacks. Just a super-strong blade, 440 stainless steel. From first impression, you know what its designed for, and it will do just that â€" what you ask of it. The overall length is 12 inches from head to toe, the blade is almost 6 inches, which means you get plenty of handle to hold onto when you are “at work”Hidden hollow handle with a compassmatches, needles, fishing hook and lineleather like sheath with belt loopBlade! sharpening stone w special pocket on sheathThe blade is partially serrated, allowing an expanded repertoire of functions. Steel pommel, capable of delivering deadly blows with a durable back rubber handle. Does what it looks like it can do.

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The Women

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Three sisters bond over their ambivalence toward the approaching death of their curmudgeonly father, to whom none of them was particularly close.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 23-MAR-2004
Media Type: DVDYou've got to admire a movie that embraces womanhood as so few mainstream movies do, and Hanging Up deserves credit for combining issues of sisterhood and elderly parent care while relying on neuroses to carry its unconventional plot. But you've also got to lament this botched "dramedy" from screenwriting sisters Nora and Delia Ephron (adapting the latter's novel) and director Diane Keaton, who lack a coherent plan for illuminating their trio of female siblings. Despite a sharp focus on Meg Ryan as the middle sister Eve--a capable Los Angeles event planner--the movie never quite seems to know where it's going, and ! you feel like the best scenes are merely happy accidents. In exploring the foibles of family, Keaton fared better with her earlier film Unstrung Heroes.

In addition to directing, Keaton plays the eldest sister Georgia, a celebrity magazine editor, and Lisa Kudrow is kid sister Maddy, a soap-opera actress who's nearly as self-absorbed as Georgia. They leave it to Eve to care for their declining father (Walter Matthau), a retired screenwriter who slips in and out of lucidity and is, at best, a cantankerous curmudgeon whose estranged wife (Cloris Leachman) has long since severed all family ties. This is potent material--at least it could have been--and Ryan admirably struggles to hold the film together. But it's ultimately a losing battle as the movie, so full of cell phones and disconnected people (hence the title), becomes disconnected itself, offering hollow humor and a few memorable moments with characters whose problems are too minimal to worry about. --Jeff ! ShannonYou've got to admire a movie that embraces womanhoo! d as so few mainstream movies do, and Hanging Up deserves credit for combining issues of sisterhood and elderly parent care while relying on neuroses to carry its unconventional plot. But you've also got to lament this botched "dramedy" from screenwriting sisters Nora and Delia Ephron (adapting the latter's novel) and director Diane Keaton, who lack a coherent plan for illuminating their trio of female siblings. Despite a sharp focus on Meg Ryan as the middle sister Eve--a capable Los Angeles event planner--the movie never quite seems to know where it's going, and you feel like the best scenes are merely happy accidents. In exploring the foibles of family, Keaton fared better with her earlier film Unstrung Heroes.

In addition to directing, Keaton plays the eldest sister Georgia, a celebrity magazine editor, and Lisa Kudrow is kid sister Maddy, a soap-opera actress who's nearly as self-absorbed as Georgia. They leave it to Eve to care for their declining father (Wa! lter Matthau), a retired screenwriter who slips in and out of lucidity and is, at best, a cantankerous curmudgeon whose estranged wife (Cloris Leachman) has long since severed all family ties. This is potent material--at least it could have been--and Ryan admirably struggles to hold the film together. But it's ultimately a losing battle as the movie, so full of cell phones and disconnected people (hence the title), becomes disconnected itself, offering hollow humor and a few memorable moments with characters whose problems are too minimal to worry about. --Jeff ShannonYou've got to admire a movie that embraces womanhood as so few mainstream movies do, and Hanging Up deserves credit for combining issues of sisterhood and elderly parent care while relying on neuroses to carry its unconventional plot. But you've also got to lament this botched "dramedy" from screenwriting sisters Nora and Delia Ephron (adapting the latter's novel) and director Diane Keaton, who ! lack a coherent plan for illuminating their trio of female sib! lings. D espite a sharp focus on Meg Ryan as the middle sister Eve--a capable Los Angeles event planner--the movie never quite seems to know where it's going, and you feel like the best scenes are merely happy accidents. In exploring the foibles of family, Keaton fared better with her earlier film Unstrung Heroes.

In addition to directing, Keaton plays the eldest sister Georgia, a celebrity magazine editor, and Lisa Kudrow is kid sister Maddy, a soap-opera actress who's nearly as self-absorbed as Georgia. They leave it to Eve to care for their declining father (Walter Matthau), a retired screenwriter who slips in and out of lucidity and is, at best, a cantankerous curmudgeon whose estranged wife (Cloris Leachman) has long since severed all family ties. This is potent material--at least it could have been--and Ryan admirably struggles to hold the film together. But it's ultimately a losing battle as the movie, so full of cell phones and disconnected people (hence the title)! , becomes disconnected itself, offering hollow humor and a few memorable moments with characters whose problems are too minimal to worry about. --Jeff ShannonYou've got to admire a movie that embraces womanhood as so few mainstream movies do, and Hanging Up deserves credit for combining issues of sisterhood and elderly parent care while relying on neuroses to carry its unconventional plot. But you've also got to lament this botched "dramedy" from screenwriting sisters Nora and Delia Ephron (adapting the latter's novel) and director Diane Keaton, who lack a coherent plan for illuminating their trio of female siblings. Despite a sharp focus on Meg Ryan as the middle sister Eve--a capable Los Angeles event planner--the movie never quite seems to know where it's going, and you feel like the best scenes are merely happy accidents. In exploring the foibles of family, Keaton fared better with her earlier film Unstrung Heroes.

In addition to directing, Kea! ton plays the eldest sister Georgia, a celebrity magazine edit! or, and Lisa Kudrow is kid sister Maddy, a soap-opera actress who's nearly as self-absorbed as Georgia. They leave it to Eve to care for their declining father (Walter Matthau), a retired screenwriter who slips in and out of lucidity and is, at best, a cantankerous curmudgeon whose estranged wife (Cloris Leachman) has long since severed all family ties. This is potent material--at least it could have been--and Ryan admirably struggles to hold the film together. But it's ultimately a losing battle as the movie, so full of cell phones and disconnected people (hence the title), becomes disconnected itself, offering hollow humor and a few memorable moments with characters whose problems are too minimal to worry about. --Jeff ShannonYou've got to admire a movie that embraces womanhood as so few mainstream movies do, and Hanging Up deserves credit for combining issues of sisterhood and elderly parent care while relying on neuroses to carry its unconventional plot. But you'v! e also got to lament this botched "dramedy" from screenwriting sisters Nora and Delia Ephron (adapting the latter's novel) and director Diane Keaton, who lack a coherent plan for illuminating their trio of female siblings. Despite a sharp focus on Meg Ryan as the middle sister Eve--a capable Los Angeles event planner--the movie never quite seems to know where it's going, and you feel like the best scenes are merely happy accidents. In exploring the foibles of family, Keaton fared better with her earlier film Unstrung Heroes.

In addition to directing, Keaton plays the eldest sister Georgia, a celebrity magazine editor, and Lisa Kudrow is kid sister Maddy, a soap-opera actress who's nearly as self-absorbed as Georgia. They leave it to Eve to care for their declining father (Walter Matthau), a retired screenwriter who slips in and out of lucidity and is, at best, a cantankerous curmudgeon whose estranged wife (Cloris Leachman) has long since severed all family ties.! This is potent material--at least it could have been--and Rya! n admira bly struggles to hold the film together. But it's ultimately a losing battle as the movie, so full of cell phones and disconnected people (hence the title), becomes disconnected itself, offering hollow humor and a few memorable moments with characters whose problems are too minimal to worry about. --Jeff ShannonMothers, daughters, wives, friends: These are the women of The Women. Based on Clare Boothe Luce's Broadway success and the hit 1939 movie, this sparkling update (from Murphy Brown creator Diane English) set in Manhattan and featuring an all-star, all-female cast says a lot about what it means to be today's woman and all of it's funny! The story starts with beautiful, smart, accomplished Mary Haines (Meg Ryan) discovering her husband is cheating on her. It's a time when friends are needed, so Mary's gal pals (Annette Bening, Jada Pinkett Smith and Debra Messing) and mother (Candice Bergen) rally round with advice, cocktails and shopping. The Wife vs. the Other ! Woman (Eva Mendes): Sharpen your claws for a timeless and wonderfully witty battle.For fans of some of America's finest actresses, seeing a film with even one of the cast members of The Women would be a treat. But this remake of George Cukor's famed girl-trouble ensemble film features Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Jada Pinkett Smith, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Cloris Leachman, Bette Midler, Carrie Fisher, Joanna Gleason, and Candice Bergen--whew!--making it a film that fans of these terrifically talented women can savor. The remake may not have the cat-itude or camp factor of the original, but so what? The cast's chemistry really shines; friendship is thicker than water, it turns out--even stronger than the ties that bind women to their men. Ryan is the good-girl Mary Haines, whose husband, she and her friends learn, is cheating on her with the stunning femme fatale Crystal (Mendes, in the Joan Crawford role)--"a spritzer" at the perfume counter. Quelle horreur! T! he other women rally around the hapless Mary, staging interven! tions, o ffering snappy advice, and plotting battles on behalf of their friend. But it turns out that Ryan's Mary isn't quite as fragile as she seems. Gimlets and girl talk--lots of both--go a long way toward getting our heroine through her crisis, and onto a new stage in her life that surprises her husband and more than one of her pals. And the laughs by the appearances of Midler and Bergen, especially, are worth watching the whole film for. --A.T. Hurley

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Gram Parsons: Fallen Angel

• This definitive biography chronicles a Southern Gothic saga and is a fascinating look at "The Grievous Angel" and the heartbreakingly beautiful music he created. Dispelling myths that have grown to surround Gram, Fallen Angel shows us the essence of his artistry; it is a truly revealing account of his life and ongoing influence. On September 19, 1973, the musician and heir to a million-dollar f

Johnny Knoxville (Jackass: The Movie, Walking Tall) shows off star power in his firstleading role as the hard-drinking, motorcycle-riding rock 'n' roll manager Phil Kaufman. When legendary singer Gram Parsons dies, Kaufman steals the body to keep his promise to make Joshua Tree Gram's final resting place. Chased by the cops, Gram's father and Gram's psycho ex-girlfriend, Betty (Christina Applegate), Kaufman embarks on a darkly comic adventure deep into the desert. Based on a truestory, this reckless ro! ad movie exceeds all limits.Johnny Knoxville (Jackass: The Movie, Walking Tall) shows off star power in his first leading role as the hard-drinking, motorcycle-riding rock 'n' roll manager Phil Kaufman. When legendary singer Gram Parsons dies, Kaufman steals the body to keep his promise to make Joshua Tree Gram's final resting place. Chased by the cops, Gram's father and Gram's psycho ex-girlfriend, Betty (Christina Applegate), Kaufman embarks on a darkly comic adventure deep into the desert. Based on a true story, this reckless road movie exceeds all limits.Soundtrack to 2003 biopic, starring Johnny Knoxville & Christina Applegate, features music by Starsailor, Primal Scream, Lemonheads, Gram Parsons, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Evan Dando, Wilco, Gillian Welch and more. Slipcase. Absolute. 2004.Johnny Knoxville (Jackass: The Movie, Walking Tall) shows off star power in his firstleading role as the hard-drinking, motorcycle-riding rock 'n' roll manager Phil Kaufman. Wh! en legendary singer Gram Parsons dies, Kaufman steals the body! to keep his promise to make Joshua Tree Gram's final resting place. Chased by the cops, Gram's father and Gram's psycho ex-girlfriend, Betty (Christina Applegate), Kaufman embarks on a darkly comic adventure deep into the desert. Based on a truestory, this reckless road movie exceeds all limits.This definitive biography chronicles a Southern Gothic saga and is a fascinating look at "the Grievous Angel" and the heartbreakingly beautiful music he created. Dispelling myths that have grown to surround Gram, Fallen Angel shows us the essence of his artistry; it is a truly revealing account of his life and ongoing influence. Fallen Angel features music from Gram Parsons’ groundbreaking career with The International Submarine Band, The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, as well as his highly acclaimed solo albums. Featured interviews include Peter Buck, James Burton, Emmylou Harris, Chris Hillman, Phil Kaufman, Bernie Leadon, Avis Bartkus Parsons III, Gretchen Parsons Carpenter, Diane ! Parsons, Polly Parsons, Keith Richards, Dwight Yoakam, and more.Cynics have suggested that death is a shrewd career move for some artists, and when it comes to singer-songwriter Gram Parsons, whose life, work, and demise are chronicled in Fallen Angel, they may be right. Although undeniably talented, Parsons never had a hit and made just six albums, and only one of them (the Flying Burrito Brothers' The Gilded Palace of Sin) is a bona fide classic. That's one reviewer's opinion, anyway. Yet three decades after he died (in 1975, at age 26), Parsons is revered as a country rock pioneer, a significant influence on Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones, and a colossal talent who never got his due. While that may all be true, what's beyond dispute (and it's confirmed by the great majority of those interviewed in director Gandulf Henning's documentary) is that Parsons was a screw-up, a drunk and drug abuser who squandered his opportunities and dug himself an early g! rave, even by rock star standards. It wasn't all his fault. An! y kid wi th a family background like his (his father committed suicide and his mother died from the ravages of alcoholism… possibly with the assistance of her second husband, Parsons' stepfather, who was a big drinker himself) is bound to have, shall we say, issues; Parsons was also well off financially, a fact that many interviewees (most notably Chris Hillman, who played with him in the Byrds and the Burritos) suggest might have attributed to his lack of driving ambition. Richards, duet partner Emmylou Harris, and other former bandmates are on hand to tell the tale, along with his widow, various surviving relatives, and close friends and associates. There's lots of Parsons' music on the soundtrack, as well as excerpts from a couple of Burritos promo films and some interesting footage of him singing with Harris. In the end, the film's most haunting moments concern the events that followed Parsons' death, when road manager Phil Kaufman commandeered (stole, actually) his casket and ! drove it to California's Joshua Tree National Monument, where he set it on fire, apparently according to the singer's wishes. Now that is the stuff of legend. --Sam Graham

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Blood & Chocolate

• Languages - English, French
• Subtitles - English, French, Spanish.
• Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
• Dolby Digital 5.1

As a young girl living in the remote mountains of Colorado, Vivian (Bruckner) watched helplessly as her family was murdered by a pack of angry men for the secret they carried in their blood. Vivian survived the attack by running into the woods and changing into a wolf. Ten years later, Vivian is living a relatively safe and normal life in Bucharest, Romania. Vivian spends her days working in a chocolate shop and nights trawling the city’s underground clubs, fending off the reckless antics of her cousin Rafe, and his gang of delinquents he refers to as "The Five."

Vivian’s life begins to unravel when she has a chance encounter with Aiden (Dancy), an artist researching Bucharest’ ancient art and relics for his next graphic novel. Aiden pursue! s Vivian until she relents and begins to see him, but she can’t bring herself to tell him the truth - and lives in fear of showing him who she really is. Even though Vivian has sworn never to kill, she is as much an animal as she is human, and her love for Aiden threatens to cast him to the very wolves who saved her life and who are waiting for their chance to hunt him as prey.

Stills from Blood & Chocolate (click for larger image)

Beyond Blood & Chocolate at Amazon.com

Gothic Horror on DVDs

More from Olivier Martinez

DVDs of "Things That Go Bump"

When graphic novelist Aiden (Hugh Dancy) travels to Bucharest to research the loup garou legend, he nearly gets devoured in the latest female werewolf film, Blood and Chocolate. In the tradition of Werewolf Woman and Ginger Snaps, Blood and Chocolate stars Vivian Gandillon (Agnes Bruckner), a girl who's forced to face her lupine tendencies in order to discover how capable of loving Aiden she really is. Based on a book by Annette Curtis Clause, the film chronicles the lives of the remaining loup garou who are an extended Romanian family waiting for their pack leader, Gabriel, to select his new mate. His desire for Vivian means trouble when her wish to be with Aiden results in her revea! ling too much about the clan's secretive lifestyle. In this fi! lm, were wolves look fully human until their eyes glow with colored contact lenses while they fly through the air to then land as full-fledged wolves. Gone are the days, apparently, of films showing the transformation in all its hairy, explosive detail. A lack of scenes describing the werewolf metamorphosis make this film more a love story than a monster tale, though two forest gatherings in which the loup garou hunt human sacrifices offer some grizzly satisfaction. Unlike the aforementioned femme werewolf films, Blood and Chocolate features a girl fighting her urge to kill in a bid to unite humans with her brethren, making this movie the most peaceful in its genre. With a tame wolf as protagonist, the potential nightmare is really just a pleasant dream to unite the two disparate worlds. The question is: Do we want that to happen? --Trinie Dalton

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