- GIGANTIC (DVD MOVIE)
Thus begins the true story of John Nash, the mathematical genius who was a legend by age thirty when he slipped into madness, and whoâ"thanks to the selflessness of a beautiful woman and the loyalty of the mathematics communityâ"emerged after decades of ghostlike existence to win a Nobel Prize for triggering the game theory revolution. The inspiration for an Academy Awardâ"winning movie, Sylvia Nasarâs now-classic biography is a drama about the mystery of the human mind, triumph over adversity, and the healing power o! f love.Stories of famously eccentric Princetonians abound--such as that of chemist Hubert Alyea, the model for The Absent-Minded Professor, or Ralph Nader, said to have had his own key to the library as an undergraduate. Or the "Phantom of Fine Hall," a figure many students had seen shuffling around the corridors of the math and physics building wearing purple sneakers and writing numerology treatises on the blackboards. The Phantom was John Nash, one of the most brilliant mathematicians of his generation, who had spiraled into schizophrenia in the 1950s. His most important work had been in game theory, which by the 1980s was underpinning a large part of economics. When the Nobel Prize committee began debating a prize for game theory, Nash's name inevitably came up--only to be dismissed, since the prize clearly could not go to a madman. But in 1994 Nash, in remission from schizophrenia, shared the Nobel Prize in economics for work done some 45 years pre! viously.
Economist and journalist Sylvia Nasar has written ! a biogra phy of Nash that looks at all sides of his life. She gives an intelligent, understandable exposition of his mathematical ideas and a picture of schizophrenia that is evocative but decidedly unromantic. Her story of the machinations behind Nash's Nobel is fascinating and one of very few such accounts available in print (the CIA could learn a thing or two from the Nobel committees). This highly recommended book is indeed "a story about the mystery of the human mind, in three acts: genius, madness, reawakening." --Mary Ellen Curtin âHOW COULD YOU, A MATHEMATICIAN, BELIEVE THAT EXTRATERRESTRIALS WERE SENDING YOU MESSAGES?â the visitor from Harvard asked the West Virginian with the movie-star looks and Olympian manner. âBecause the ideas I had about supernatural beings came to me the same way my mathematical ideas did,â came the answer. âSo I took them seriously.â
Thus begins the true story of John Nash, the mathematical genius who was a legend by a! ge thirty when he slipped into madness, and whoâ"thanks to the selflessness of a beautiful woman and the loyalty of the mathematics communityâ"emerged after decades of ghostlike existence to win a Nobel Prize for triggering the game theory revolution. The inspiration for an Academy Awardâ"winning movie, Sylvia Nasarâs now-classic biography is a drama about the mystery of the human mind, triumph over adversity, and the healing power of love.Stories of famously eccentric Princetonians abound--such as that of chemist Hubert Alyea, the model for The Absent-Minded Professor, or Ralph Nader, said to have had his own key to the library as an undergraduate. Or the "Phantom of Fine Hall," a figure many students had seen shuffling around the corridors of the math and physics building wearing purple sneakers and writing numerology treatises on the blackboards. The Phantom was John Nash, one of the most brilliant mathematicians of his generation, who had spiraled in! to schizophrenia in the 1950s. His most important work had be! en in ga me theory, which by the 1980s was underpinning a large part of economics. When the Nobel Prize committee began debating a prize for game theory, Nash's name inevitably came up--only to be dismissed, since the prize clearly could not go to a madman. But in 1994 Nash, in remission from schizophrenia, shared the Nobel Prize in economics for work done some 45 years previously.
Economist and journalist Sylvia Nasar has written a biography of Nash that looks at all sides of his life. She gives an intelligent, understandable exposition of his mathematical ideas and a picture of schizophrenia that is evocative but decidedly unromantic. Her story of the machinations behind Nash's Nobel is fascinating and one of very few such accounts available in print (the CIA could learn a thing or two from the Nobel committees). This highly recommended book is indeed "a story about the mystery of the human mind, in three acts: genius, madness, reawakening." --Mary Ellen Curtin! I>Â âHOW COULD YOU, A MATHEMATICIAN, BELIEVE THAT EXTRATERRESTRIALS WERE SENDING YOU MESSAGES?â the visitor from Harvard asked the West Virginian with the movie-star looks and Olympian manner. âBecause the ideas I had about supernatural beings came to me the same way my mathematical ideas did,â came the answer. âSo I took them seriously.â
Thus begins the true story of John Nash, the mathematical genius who was a legend by age thirty when he slipped into madness, and whoâ"thanks to the selflessness of a beautiful woman and the loyalty of the mathematics communityâ"emerged after decades of ghostlike existence to win a Nobel Prize for triggering the game theory revolution. The inspiration for an Academy Awardâ"winning movie, Sylvia Nasarâs now-classic biography is a drama about the mystery of the human mind, triumph over adversity, and the healing power of love.This Ron Howard film parlays the troubled story of Nobel laureate John Forbes Nash Jr., a gifted ! Princeton mathematics professor tormented for decades by paran! oid schi zophrenia, into something considerably richer than typical Hollywood triumph-against-all-odds fare. Howard has teamed here again with frequent collaborator James Horner, and it's the composer who deftly shades the film's difficult emotional landscape and helps impart a compelling humanity. Horner's first task is not inconsiderable: musically portraying the arcane realm of mathematical theorems that are the story's backdrop. In doing so, the composer leans heavily on modern minimalist technique, bright flourishes that recur briefly throughout an orchestral score that increasingly reflects Nash's bleak inner landscape in its quietly somber and brooding tones. And while Horner has frequently been accused of excessively repeating himself in his scores, the neo-minimalist gambit employed on this reflectively pastoral, postmodernist soundscape neatly nips such criticism in the bud. Nash's triumph is ultimately an intensely personal one, well reflected in Welsh soprano Charlotte Ch! urch's lilting performance of the Horner/Will Jennings ballad "All Love Can Be." This enhanced CD also features notes by the director and composer, as well as exclusive photos and the film's trailer. --Jerry McCulley Winner of 4 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, A Beautiful Mind is directed by Academy Award winner Ron Howard and produced by long-time partner and collaborator, Academy Award winner Brian Grazer. A Beautiful Mind stars Russell Crowe in an astonishing performance as brilliant mathematician John Nash, on the brink of international acclaim when he becomes entangled in a mysterious conspiracy. Now only his devoted wife (Academy Award winner Jennifer Connelly) can help him in this powerful story of courage, passion and triumph.A Beautiful Mind manages to twist enough pathos out of John Nash's incredible life story to redeem an at-times goofy portrayal of schizophrenia. Russell Crowe tackles the role with characteristic fervor, playing the Nob! el prize-winning mathematician from his days at Princeton, whe! re he de veloped a groundbreaking economic theory, to his meteoric rise to the cover of Forbes magazine and an MIT professorship, and on through to his eventual dismissal due to schizophrenic delusions. Of course, it is the delusions that fascinate director Ron Howard and, predictably, go astray. Nash's other world, populated as it is by a maniacal Department of Defense agent (Ed Harris), an imagined college roommate who seems straight out of Dead Poets Society, and an orphaned girl, is so fluid and scriptlike as to make the viewer wonder if schizophrenia is really as slick as depicted. Crowe's physical intensity drags us along as he works admirably to carry the film on his considerable shoulders. No doubt the story of Nash's amazing will to recover his life without the aid of medication is a worthy one, his eventual triumph heartening. Unfortunately, Howard's flashy style is unable to convey much of it. --Fionn Meade
The friendship between the handsome gardener and his elderly gay admirer is by turns tenuous, humorous, mutually beneficial, and ultimately rather sad--but to Condon's credit Whale is never seen as pathetic, lecherous, or senile. Equally rich is the rapport between Whale and his long-time housekeeper (played with wry sarcasm by Lynn Redgrave), who serves as protector, mother, and even surrogate spouse while Whale's mental state deteriorates. Flashbacks to Whale's filmmaking days are painstakingly authentic (particularly in the casting of look-alike actors playing Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester), and all of these ingredients combine to make Gods and Monsters (executive produced by horror novelist-filmmaker Clive Barker) a touchingly ! affectionate film that succeeds on many levels. It is at once a keen glimpse of Hollywood's past, a loving tribute to James Whale, and a richly moving, delicately balanced drama about loneliness, memory, and the passions that keep us alive. --Jeff ShannonOne of the most critically acclaimed films of 1998 and winner of several awards including the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, Gods and Monsters is a compassionate speculation about the final days of James Whale (1889-1957), the director of Frankenstein and 20 other films of the 1930s and '40s, who was openly gay at a time when homosexuality in Hollywood was discreetly concealed. Adapted and directed by Bill Condon from Christopher Bram's novel Father of Frankenstein, the film stars Ian McKellen in a sublime performance as the white-haired Whale, who is portrayed as a dapper gent and amateur artist prompted by failing health into melancholy remembrance of things past. Flashbacks of lost love, ! World War I battle trauma, and glory days in Hollywood combin! e with W hale's present-day attraction to a newly hired yard worker (Brendan Fraser) whose hunky, Frankenstein-like physique makes him an ideal model for Whale's fixated sketching.
The friendship between the handsome gardener and his elderly gay admirer is by turns tenuous, humorous, mutually beneficial, and ultimately rather sad--but to Condon's credit Whale is never seen as pathetic, lecherous, or senile. Equally rich is the rapport between Whale and his long-time housekeeper (played with wry sarcasm by Lynn Redgrave), who serves as protector, mother, and even surrogate spouse while Whale's mental state deteriorates. Flashbacks to Whale's filmmaking days are painstakingly authentic (particularly in the casting of look-alike actors playing Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester), and all of these ingredients combine to make Gods and Monsters (executive produced by horror novelist-filmmaker Clive Barker) a touchingly affectionate film that succeeds on many levels. It is at onc! e a keen glimpse of Hollywood's past, a loving tribute to James Whale, and a richly moving, delicately balanced drama about loneliness, memory, and the passions that keep us alive. --Jeff ShannonOne of the most critically acclaimed films of 1998 and winner of several awards including the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, Gods and Monsters is a compassionate speculation about the final days of James Whale (1889-1957), the director of Frankenstein and 20 other films of the 1930s and '40s, who was openly gay at a time when homosexuality in Hollywood was discreetly concealed. Adapted and directed by Bill Condon from Christopher Bram's novel Father of Frankenstein, the film stars Ian McKellen in a sublime performance as the white-haired Whale, who is portrayed as a dapper gent and amateur artist prompted by failing health into melancholy remembrance of things past. Flashbacks of lost love, World War I battle trauma, and glory days in Hollywood comb! ine with Whale's present-day attraction to a newly hired yard ! worker ( Brendan Fraser) whose hunky, Frankenstein-like physique makes him an ideal model for Whale's fixated sketching.
The friendship between the handsome gardener and his elderly gay admirer is by turns tenuous, humorous, mutually beneficial, and ultimately rather sad--but to Condon's credit Whale is never seen as pathetic, lecherous, or senile. Equally rich is the rapport between Whale and his long-time housekeeper (played with wry sarcasm by Lynn Redgrave), who serves as protector, mother, and even surrogate spouse while Whale's mental state deteriorates. Flashbacks to Whale's filmmaking days are painstakingly authentic (particularly in the casting of look-alike actors playing Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester), and all of these ingredients combine to make Gods and Monsters (executive produced by horror novelist-filmmaker Clive Barker) a touchingly affectionate film that succeeds on many levels. It is at once a keen glimpse of Hollywood's past, a loving tribute to Ja! mes Whale, and a richly moving, delicately balanced drama about loneliness, memory, and the passions that keep us alive. --Jeff Shannon
Previously titled Father of Frankenstein, this acclaimed novel was the basis for the 1998 film starring Sir Ian McKellen, Lynn Redgrave, and Brendan Fraser. It journeys back to 1957 Los Angeles, where James Whale, the once-famous director of such classics as Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, is living in retirement, haunted by his past. Rescuing him from his too-vivid imagination is his gardener, a handsome ex-marine. The friendship between these two very different men is sometimes tentative, sometimes touching, often dangerousâ"and always captivating.
This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.Reacquaint yourself with myths so powerful that they remain woven into the fabric of the present world, resonating! with real-life relevance. The majority of the series devotes episodes to the rise of the Olympian gods, beginning with Zeus's battle with his father, Kronos, and the Titans. Images of Zeus with a ridiculous white lightning bolt painted across his face repeat ad nauseam throughout to supposedly show how Zeus took control of mortal earth until consumed by his "uncontrollable sex drive." Likewise, the episode "Hercules" depicts a well-oiled man in tight underwear roaming the desert to elucidate how he is the world's "ultimate superhero." Only scholars like Tom Stone, who humorously likens Hercules to Babe Ruth, or Mi! chael Fontaine from Cornell University, do any justice to the exploration of metaphorical connections between Hercules's 12-challenge quest and the ordeals humans were experiencing when the myth was popular. "Minotaur" better achieves its aim to link truths to the myth, by linking historical wars between the Cretans and Athenians to the horrific tale of the man-eating Cretan beast, deemed Athenian propaganda by historians like David George at Saint Anselm College. Also meaningful is the narrative thread in this episode about Theseus's dual fathers, one mortal and one god, and the fantastic connection between historical politicians, such as Alexander the Great, who believed that they too were conceived of two men. While "Medusa," the two-episode "Odysseus," and "Beowulf" do zilch to enlighten beyond basic redundant storytelling, the lamest episode of all is "Tolkien's Monsters," a heavy-handed look at how J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth was inspired by his days in the trenches! during World War I. While the information in this series is i! nformati ve and interesting, simulated drama and footage that repeats as if the History Channel ran out of material to edit in makes for possibly the worst series on mythology out there. Save your money and read the books instead. --Trinie Dalton
