Desolation Angels #3 (The Big Empty)

• ISBN13: 9781595140081
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

One year ago, a devastating plague called Strain 7 killed three quarters of the human race. Around the world, power systems failed and supply chains screeched to a halt. The surviving population of the United States has been relocated to the coasts; the heartland is now a wasteland called The Big Empty. But seven teens trying to put their lives back together will learn that the abandoned zone holds danger, secrets, and above all, hope.

The Great Plains, known for grasslands that stretch to the horizon, is a difficult region to define. Some classify it as the region beginning in the east at the ninety-eighth or one-hundredth meridian. Others identify the eastern boundary with annual precipitation li! nes, soil composi-tion, or length of the grass. In The Big Empty, leading historian R. Douglas Hurt defines this region using the towns and citiesâ€"Denver, Lin-coln, and Fort Worthâ€"that made a difference in the history of the environment, politics, and agriculture of the Great Plains.

Using the voices of women homesteaders, agrarian socialists, Jewish farmers, Mexican meatpackers, New Dealers, and Native Americans, this book creates a sweeping survey of contested race relations, radical politics, and agricultural prosperity and decline during the twentieth century. This narrative shows that even though Great Plains history is fraught with personal and group tensions, violence, and distress, the twentieth century also brought about compelling social, economic, and political change.

The only book of its kind, this account will be of interest to historians studying the region and to anyone inspired by the story of the men and women who found an opportunity f! or a better life in the Great Plains.

Questions are ! posed, w rites Norman Mailer, "in the hope they will open into richer insights, which in turn will bring forth sharper questions." In this series of conversations, John Buffalo Mailer, 27, poses a series of questions to his father, challenging the reflections and insights of the man who has dominated and defined much of American letters for the past sixty years. Their wide-ranging discussions take place over the course of a year, beginning in July 2004. Set against the backdrop of George W. Bush's re-election campaign and the war in Iraq, each considers what it means to live in America today. John asks his father to look back to World War II, and explore the parallels that canâ€"and cannotâ€"be drawn between that time and our current post-9/11 consciousness. As their conversations develop, the topics shift from the political to the personal to the political again, as they duck and weave around one another. They explore their shared admiration of boxing and poker, the nature of marria! ge and love, television, movies, writing, and what it means to be a part of this extraordinary family.

In the third installment of The Big Empty, the teens are on the run after making the shocking discovery that the leader of Novo Mundum, the secret community hidden in the middle of the evacuated Big Empty, is developing a new, even more dangerous virus.
The group faces a challenging trek through the forbidden zone as they search for someone they can trust. In a journey that will test their survival skills like nothing they've experienced so far, the teens' relationships are pushed to the breaking point, with one couple ripped apart for good. An unexpected reunion with someone from their past will prove to be a turning point-but will this familiar face bring salvation or ruin?

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Double Take

• Outrageously funny and charged with explosive action, hot young comedy stars Eddie Griffin (Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo) and Orlando Jones (The Replacements) team up for a fast-paced adventure in the tradition of Blue Streak and Rush Hour. Framed in a multimillion-dollar money-laundering scheme, upstanding investment banker Daryl Chase (Jones) suddenly finds himself running from the FBI -- and swap

Outrageously funny and charged with explosive action, hot young comedy stars Eddie Griffin (DEUCE BIGALOW: MALE GIGOLO) and Orlando Jones (THE REPLACEMENTS) team up for a fast-paced adventure in the tradition of BLUE STREAK and RUSH HOUR. Framed in a multimillion-dollar money-laundering scheme, upstanding investement banker Daryl Chase (Jones) suddenly finds himself running from the FBI -- and swapping identities with loudmouthed, low-life petty thief Freddy Tiffany (Griffin). Then, as he dashes for! the Mexican border in search of the one man who can clear his name, Daryl discovers his new alias is even more wanted than he is. With hilarious performances and nonstop excitement at every turn, buckle up for a riotous road trip as this wildly mismatched pair deliver the laughs in double time!For reasons that are still fuzzy even by the time final credits roll for Double Take, Wall Street hotshot Daryl Chase (Orlando Jones), framed for both financial wrongdoings and murder, heads to Mexico after exchanging identities with fast-talking Freddie (Eddie Griffin), who is either the key to his freedom or the engineer of his demise. The incomprehensible and supposedly madcap twists and turns that follow make mindless buddy flicks like Rush Hour seem giants of brainy plotting in comparison. The film even features one of those unintentionally hysterical moments in which the villain stops to explain the entire charade to characters who supposedly already know what's g! oing on--and it still doesn't make any sense. None of ! this wou ld matter, of course, if everything was propelled by some sort of internal screwball logic that had it playfully bouncing over its plot holes. But writer-director George Gallo can't streamline his potential assets--Jones's suave likeability and Griffin's take-no-prisoners crassness--into something that moves. Some of the throwaway comic asides work ("You keep campaigning for this ass-whuppin', you gonna get elected"), but every single one of the extended bits is painfully strained and overdone. Griffin, in particular, becomes desperately obnoxious, and saddling him with clumsy comments on race and social status in a comedy that is ultimately about neither doesn't help. Try 48 Hours instead. --Steve Wiecking

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Firewall (Kurt Wallander Mysteries, No. 8)

• ISBN13: 9781400031535
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Seventh in the Kurt Wallander series.

A body is found at an ATM the apparent victim of heart attack. Then two teenage girls are arrested for the brutal murder of a cab driver. The girls confess to the crime showing no remorse whatsoever. Two open and shut cases. At first these two incidents seem to have nothing in common, but as Wallander delves deeper into the mystery of why the girls murdered the cab driver he begins to unravel a plot much more involved complicated than he initially suspected. The two cases become one and lead to conspiracy that stretches to encompass a world larger than the borders of Sweden.

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Enduring Love: A Novel (Sydney Cove)

• ISBN13: 9780800731786
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

On a windy spring day in the Chilterns, the calm, organized life of science writer Joe Rose is shattered when he witnesses a tragic accident: a hot-air balloon with a boy trapped in its basket is being tossed by the wind, and in the attempt to save the child, a man is killed. A stranger named Jed Parry joins Rose in helping to bring the balloon to safety. But unknown to Rose, something passes between Parry and himself on that day--something that gives birth to an obsession in Parry so powerful that it will test the limits of Rose's beloved rationalism, threaten the love of his wife, Clarissa, and drive him to the brink of murder and madness. Brilliant and compassionate, this is a novel of love, faith, ! and suspense, and of how life can change in an instant.Joe Rose has planned a postcard-perfect afternoon in the English countryside to celebrate his lover's return after six weeks in the States. To complete the picture, there's even a "helium balloon drifting dreamily across the wooded valley." But as Joe and Clarissa watch the balloon touch down, their idyll comes to an abrupt end. The pilot catches his leg in the anchor rope, while the only passenger, a boy, is too scared to jump down. As the wind whips into action, Joe and four other men rush to secure the basket. Mother Nature, however, isn't feeling very maternal. "A mighty fist socked the balloon in two rapid blows, one-two, the second more vicious than the first," and at once the rescuers are airborne. Joe manages to drop to the ground, as do most of his companions, but one man is lifted sky-high, only to fall to his death.

In itself, the accident would change the survivors' lives, filling them w! ith an uneasy combination of shame, happiness, and endless se! lf-repro ach. (In one of the novel's many ironies, the balloon eventually lands safely, the boy unscathed.) But fate has far more unpleasant things in store for Joe. Meeting the eye of fellow rescuer Jed Parry, for example, turns out to be a very bad move. For Jed is instantly obsessed, making the first of many calls to Joe and Clarissa's London flat that very night. Soon he's openly shadowing Joe and writing him endless letters. (One insane epistle begins, "I feel happiness running through me like an electrical current. I close my eyes and see you as you were last night in the rain, across the road from me, with the unspoken love between us as strong as steel cable.") Worst of all, Jed's version of love comes to seem a distortion of Joe's feelings for Clarissa.

Apart from the incessant stalking, it is the conditionals--the contingencies--that most frustrate Joe, a scientific journalist. If only he and Clarissa had gone straight home from the airport... If only th! e wind hadn't picked up... If only he had saved Jed's 29 messages in a single day... Ian McEwan has long been a poet of the arbitrary nightmare, his characters ineluctably swept up in others' fantasies, skidding into deepening violence, and--worst of all--becoming strangers to those who love them. Even his prose itself is a masterful and methodical exercise in defamiliarization. But Enduring Love and its underrated predecessor, Black Dogs, are also meditations on knowledge and perception as well as brilliant manipulations of our own expectations. By the novel's end, you will be surprisingly unafraid of hot-air balloons, but you won't be too keen on looking a stranger in the eye.Just when things seem to be looking up for John and Hannah Bradshaw, their world is turned upside down. Years ago, John was in prison when he was told his first wife, Margaret, died. So how is it that she shows up in Sydney Town looking to pick up where they left off?

! Her marriage now null and void, Hannah is distraught. But she ! and John feel they must separate to allow John's first marriage to continue. But is Margaret hiding something after all? And just what will she do to get what she wants?

This conclusion to the Sydney Cove trilogy will draw readers in with its suspenseful, romantic, and tender narrative.

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National Geographic Readers: Dolphins

• ISBN13: 9781426306525
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Everyone loves the smile on a dolphin’s face. Though smart enough to become theme park tricksters, dolphins are first and foremost wild mammals. Melissa Stewart’s lively text outlines our responsibility to conserve their natural environment. This high-interest book also offers an interactive experience to boost awareness of these adorable creatures.

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The Alphabet Killer

• A ten year old girl is found brutally murdered outside the small blue-collar city of Rochester, New York, and obsessed police detective Megan Paige (Eliza Dushku of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and DOLLHOUSE) suffers a mental breakdown while trying to solve the crime. But when the child-killings resume two years later, Megan s return to the investigation also brings back her own horrific hallucination

Between 1971 and 1973, three young girls, ages ten to eleven, were found sexually assaulted and slain near Rochester, New York. The girls all had double initials for their first and last names and were found dead in suburbs with names in which the first letter co-ordinated with the girls' initials. Two prime suspects later committed suicide. A third suspect, Kenneth Bianchi, went to California where he went on to become one of the infamous Hillside Stranglers, but to this day he insists he had nothi! ng to do with the so-called Double Initial, or Alphabet, murders. The crimes remain unsolved, but interest in the case was re-energised with the release of a fictionalised motion picture loosely based on the murders. This factual account, the first book fully devoted to the case, explores the crime and the ongoing investigation.Between 1971 and 1973, three young girls, ages ten to eleven, were found sexually assaulted and slain near Rochester, New York. The girls all had double initials for their first and last names and were found dead in suburbs with names in which the first letter co-ordinated with the girls' initials. Two prime suspects later committed suicide. A third suspect, Kenneth Bianchi, went to California where he went on to become one of the infamous Hillside Stranglers, but to this day he insists he had nothing to do with the so-called Double Initial, or Alphabet, murders. The crimes remain unsolved, but interest in the case was re-energised with the release o! f a fictionalised motion picture loosely based on the murders.! This fa ctual account, the first book fully devoted to the case, explores the crime and the ongoing investigation.Between 1971 and 1973, three young girls, ages ten to eleven, were found sexually assaulted and slain near Rochester, New York. The girls all had double initials for their first and last names and were found dead in suburbs with names in which the first letter co-ordinated with the girls' initials. Two prime suspects later committed suicide. A third suspect, Kenneth Bianchi, went to California where he went on to become one of the infamous Hillside Stranglers, but to this day he insists he had nothing to do with the so-called Double Initial, or Alphabet, murders. The crimes remain unsolved, but interest in the case was re-energised with the release of a fictionalised motion picture loosely based on the murders. This factual account, the first book fully devoted to the case, explores the crime and the ongoing investigation.A ten year old girl is found brutally murdered ou! tside the small blue-collar city of Rochester, New York, and obsessed police detective Megan Paige (Eliza Dushku of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and DOLLHOUSE) suffers a mental breakdown while trying to solve the crime. But when the child-killings resume two years later, Megan’s return to the investigation also brings back her own horrific hallucinations.  Even if she can prove a ‘double initial’ connection to the slayings, will she hang onto her sanity long enough to catch a psychopath? Cary Elwes (SAW), Michael Ironside (STARSHIP TROOPERS), Bill Moseley (THE DEVIL’S REJECTS), Carl Lumbly (ALIAS) and Academy Award® winner Timothy Hutton co-star in this chilling thriller directed by Rob Schmidt.In the spirit of suspense films and television shows that focus on the sleuth’s attempt to make something out of senseless violence, Alphabet Killer is less about the murders it details than about the detective,! Megan Paige (Eliza Dushku of Buffy the Vampire Slayer), who suffers mentally for studying brutality. Though opening scenes show young girls slayed at various wooded Rochester, New York crime scenes, the film quickly digresses into Megan’s stressed relationship with her co-detective lover, Kenneth Shine (Cary Elwes), who watches her obsession with the case spiral out of control. As murders continue, Megan gets psychic leads and is haunted by the ghosts of the wrongly deceased, but cannot solve the case. Megan’s diagnosis as a schizophrenic complicates matters greatly, and elevates the film into deeper story, especially when one senses, through subtle filmic clues, the creepiness of Megan’s therapist, Richard Ledge (Timothy Hutton). Some silly, dramatized enactments of mental illness on Dushku’s part do not help convince the viewer through fine acting, though one may be willing to look past this in hopes for pending potential spookiness. And the conundrum posed by Megan in her therapy group is engaging: manic peop! le do often excel due to intuition, yet it is their ability to experience the world differently that gets them into trouble. Although the ghosts hallucinations are unconvincing, and Dushku probably could have used more research before she took the role, Alphabet Killer captivates because it shows how convoluted layers of reality can confuse even the sharpest detective. The disturbing thing about Alphabet Killer is not the film itself but the idea behind it: that the majority of what we know and trust is illusory, and that truth is discovered best through madness. --Trinie Dalton

Stills from The Alphabet Killer (Click for larger image)

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Fear Dot Com : Widescreen Edition

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• Widescreen

Four people all died 48 hours after logging on to a website named feardotcom.com. Tough detective Mike Reilly (Stephen Dorff) collaborates with Department of Health associate Terry Huston (Natasha McElhone) to research these mysterious deaths. The only way to find out though what really happened is to enter the site itself. Fear Dot Com is a total-dot-mess, but it's a stylishly graphic frightfest that horror buffs will probably appreciate. As he did with his 1999 remake of House on Haunted Hill, director William Malone favors trippy atmosphere at the expense of acting, character development, and plot. Belatedly jumping on the Internet-thriller bandwagon, the film follows a brooding detective (Stephen Dorff) and a public health inspector (Natascha McElhone) as they investigate the deadly influence of the titular Web site, which channels the innermost fears of its visit! ors until they die of fright 48 hours later. Why 48 hours? Don't ask; Josephine Coyle's screenplay is as incoherent as Malone's grasp of narrative momentum, leaving Dorff and McElhone with little to do but look frightened and doomed. But Fear Dot Com has its moments, especially after mad doctor Stephen Rea's gruesome villainy is fully revealed, and the proceedings take on the monochrome pallor of silent German expressionism. Too bad these fantastic visuals weren't servicing a better movie. --Jeff ShannonDVD

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Appaloosa

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• In Marshal Virgil Cole and deputy Everett Hitchs line of work, you shoot quick, you shoot clean, and you reload straightaway. No remorse. No looking back. No feelings. Feelings get you killed. Paired as rivals in A History of Violence, Ed Harris (who also directs, produces and co-scripts) and Viggo Mortensen stand together as longtime friends and for-hire peacekeepers Cole and Hitch in this charac

In Marshal Virgil Cole and deputy Everett Hitchs line of work, you shoot quick, you shoot clean, and you reload straightaway. No remorse. No looking back. No feelings. Feelings get you killed. Paired as rivals in A History of Violence, Ed Harris (who also directs, produces and co-scripts) and Viggo Mortensen stand together as longtime friends and for-hire peacekeepers Cole and Hitch in this character-driven, bullet-hard Western based on Robert B. Parkers novel. Blood will spill in the town called Ap! paloosa.The Western has been an endangered species, on and off, for something like 40 years now. Welcome to Appaloosa, Ed Harris's film of the Robert B. Parker novel--first because it exists at all, but even more because Harris as star, director, and co-screenwriter (with Robert Knott) has managed to bring it to the screen with no hint of fuss or strain, as if the making of no-nonsense, copiously pleasurable Westerns were still something Hollywood did with regularity. Harris plays Virgil Cole, one of those ace gunfighter-lawmen whose name need only be mentioned to make a saloon go still. Cole and his shotgun-toting partner Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) accept a commission to enforce law and order in the New Mexico town of Appaloosa. That basically means protect it from rapacious rancher Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons, looking right at home on the range), who murdered the previous town marshal like swatting a fly. Life becomes complicated when, about the time Bragg h! as been jailed to await trial, a fancy-dressing piano player c! alling h erself Mrs. French (Renée Zellweger) steps down off the train. Cole commences to have feelings, and as he ruefully reminds Hitch, "Feelin's can get ya killed."

In his second directorial effort (following the 2000 biopic Pollock), Harris takes his cue from novelist Parker's often deadpan-comic touch, allowing action and character to accumulate in accordance with an overall eccentric rhythm. (The film's main disappointment is that it would benefit from more running time to allow things to stew a bit longer, especially in the second half.) The character work is choice, from the moment Tom Bower, James Gammon, and Timothy Spall step into view as Appaloosa's civic leaders; the director's father Bob Harris contributes a cameo as a mellifluous-tongued circuit judge, and an age-thickened Lance Henriksen turns up midfilm as gunman Ring Shelton, trailing affability and menace. In collaboration with Dances With Wolves cameraman Dean Semler, Harris sets up shots an! d scenes in such a way that we often see into and out of Appaloosa's various buildings simultaneously, to excellent dramatic and atmospheric effect, and there's a thrillingly vertical dynamics to a scene involving a train at an isolated water stop. The action is lethal when it needs to be, but never dwelt upon. "That was over quick," Hitch observes after one gun battle. Cole's response says it all: "Everybody could shoot." --Richard T. Jameson

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Monday, January 16, 2012

The Devil and Daniel Johnston PREMIUM GRADE Rolled CANVAS Art Print Unknown 11x17

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• Title: The Devil and Daniel Johnston
• Artist: Unknown
• Canvas
• Image Size: 11.00in. x 15.73in.
• Paper Size: 11.00in. x 17.00in.

Daniel Johnston is a manic-depressive genius singer/songwriter/artist, revealed in this portrait of madness, creativity and love. The Devil and Daniel Johnston is a stunning portrait of a musical and artistic genius who nearly slipped away. Director Jeff Feurzeig exquisitely depicts a perfect example of brilliance and madness going hand in hand with subject Daniel Johnston. As an artist suffering from manic depression with delusions of grandeur, Daniel Johnston’s wild fluctuations, numerous downward spirals, and periodic respites are exposed in this deeply moving documentary.This stunning collection of DANIEL JOHNSTON songs recorded by some of his biggest fans should prove to awaken the music world to just how special (and actually al! ive) he is - contributors include TEENAGE FANCLUB w/ JAD FAIR, EELS, TV ON THE RADIO, BRIGHT EYES, BECK, SPARKLEHORSE, FLAMING LIPS, TOM WAITS, CALVIN JOHNSTON, and more!Here we have a flawed but interesting introduction to the songs and recordings of one of the twentieth century’s great, maudlin pop musicians, Texas-based Daniel Johnston. This double CD has a pack of alt-rock superstars--among them Beck, Tom Waits, Vic Chesnutt, Bright Eyes and Calvin Johnson--tackling Johnston’s idiosyncratic and visionary songs, while the other disc has the originals, in the same order. With the exception of TV on the Radio’s Ubu-ish take on "Walking the Cow" and Waits' over the top version of "King Kong," there’s not much to say about the covers CD. Sincere indie-rock takes on Johnston's amazingly strong, emotionally intimate songs? How obvious and boring is that? Why have the work of one vocally eccentric artist interpreted by a bunch of wimpy dudes? However, as a sampler of hi! s work, disc two is exemplary, focusing primarily as it does o! n his '8 0s home recordings. If you look at this as a great mixtape that comes with some silly covers, you’ll enjoy it plenty. --Mike McGonigalHe is erratic, moody, adolescent, and unsettling, just as he is strikingly brilliant, and all depictions entwine on this collection that plucks from Daniel Johnston's most memorable work throughout a quarter-century of bare-bones recording. While his helium-pitched voice can often border on acquired taste territory, Johnston, who suffers from bipolar disorder, writes both gripping melodies and cutting, cunning lyrics--often about failed love, life's ambiguity and his passion for the Beatles and comic book heroes. Any Johnston follower might choose 21 different selections to represent such a catalog, but this package--culled mostly from his '80s songbook--is both symbolic and inclusive, including a pair of chord organ grinders that are among his most familiar: the childlike "Casper the Friendly Ghost" and the wistful "Speeding Motorcy! cle." Johnston's raw vulnerability shines most on "Never Before Never Again," on which he howls about a former girlfriend, and the fragmented and demented "Funeral Home," where he contemplates his last car ride (to the tune of Bruce Springsteen's "Cadillac Ranch"). Welcome to My World is ideal for any newcomers to Johnston's music, provided they are willing to peel away his torment and contemplate his true genius. --Scott HolterHephaestus Books represents a new publishing paradigm, allowing disparate content sources to be curated into cohesive, relevant, and informative books. To date, this content has been curated from Wikipedia articles and images under Creative Commons licensing, although as Hephaestus Books continues to increase in scope and dimension, more licensed and public domain content is being added. We believe books such as this represent a new and exciting lexicon in the sharing of human knowledge. This particular book is a collaboration focused! on Documentary films about mental illness.Daniel Johnston is ! lauded a ll over "indie rock" land for his crazy antics and insane musical writing skills.

Kurt Cobain loved him, Don't you do too?Title: The Devil and Daniel Johnston. Artist: Unknown. Image Size: 11.00in. x 15.73in. Paper Size: 11.00in. x 17.00in. PREMIUM GRADE Rolled CANVAS Art Print

This is an unstretched canvas print which will be rolled and securely shipped in a sturdy tube. All canvas prints should be cared for to avoid exposure to dust, grime or finger grease in handling.

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Air Bud (Special Edition)

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• The original Bud that started it all is back in a Special Edition featuring an exclusive Dog-U-Commentary with the entire BUDDIES family. Buddy, the sensational real-life hoop hound with 22,000 career baskets under his collar, stars in this hilarious and touching Disney comedy critics cheered as irresistible family entertainment! When Josh Framm, a 12-year-old boy, finds himself in a new city with

Buddy, the sensational real-life hoop hound with 22,000 career baskets under his collar, stars in this hilarious and touching Disney comedy critics cheered as irresistible family entertainment! When Josh Framm, a 12-year-old boy, finds himself in a new city with no friends, he's too shy to try out for the basketball team. However, while practicing, he meets Buddy, a runaway golden retriever, who surprises him with his ability to score baskets. Josh and Buddy eventually make the school team, and the ! dog's extraordinary talents spark a media frenzy one that attracts Buddy's greedy former owner (Evening Shade's Michael Jeter), who wants to cash in on the dog's notoriety. Boy and dog must keep one step ahead of the brute while at the same time rallying their school team to the state finals! Get ready to be delighted, moved and amazed by Air Bud, a timeless Disney favorite.

Bonus Features:  Dog U Commentary With The Buddies, the Buddies Dish About The Story That Started It All, Original Theatrical Trailer
Stills from Air Bud: Special Edition (Click for larger image)

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Celtic Woman: Songs From The Heart

• DVD
• Celtic Woman
• Format DVD

GRACE OF MY HEART - DVD MovieThe traditions of old-fashioned melodrama are given a hip facelift in this homage to the Brill Building era (the late 1950s to the early 1970s) of pop-music glory, providing a perfect match between writer-director Allison Anders and her excellent cast. Illeana Douglas plays a singer-songwriter (loosely modeled after Brill recording artist Carole King) whose life runs emotionally parallel to popular music trends. John Turturro is a stand-in for "wall of sound" producer Phil Spector and Matt Dillon is a thinly disguised version of maverick Beach Boy Brian Wilson. It's a bit too schematic in the way the central character is always in the right place at the right time, but as a tale of fame and romantic highs and lows in the '50s and '60s the movie is funny, touching, and sincere. It's a lively and loving tribute to timeless! music and the colorful characters who created it. --Jeff Shannon A terrific sampler of greatest hits from the heyday of girl groups and the Brill Building--except that none of the songs are actually from that era. What we have here is an incredible simulation--from Allison Anders' unjustly overlooked 1996 movie about the tempestuous life and career of a Carole King- like singer-songwriter (the magnificent Illeana Douglas) who spends years writing for others before finding her own voice. But instead of just licensing the old Shirelles' recordings of Goffin-King hits, the filmmakers came up with the brilliant idea of doing original songs by combining the sensibilities of contemporary artists and their songwriting forebears. So, for example, Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach teamed up to write and perform the power- ballad "God Give Me Strength" (although I wish they'd also included Douglas's even more moving version from the picture); Leslie Gore te! ams with Larry Klein and David Baerwald for "My Secret Love" ! (perform ed by Miss Lily Banquette of Combustible Edison); Gerry and Louise Goffin team with Baerwald for "Between Two Worlds" (performed by Sean Colvin); J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. writes and sings some Brian Wilson/Beach Boys-type stuff ("Take a Run at the Sun," "Don't You Think It's Time"), and so on. Buy the record; see the movie. You won't be disappointed. --Jim EmersonTracks: God Give Me the Strength-Burt Bacharach & Elvis Costello, Love Doesn't Ever Fail Us-Williams Brothers, Take a Run at the Sun-J Mascis, I Do-For Real, Between Two Worlds-Shawn Colvin, My Secret Love-Lily Banquette, Man From Mars-Kristen Vigard, Born to Love that Boy-For Real, Truth is You Lied-Jill Sobule, Unwanted Number-For Real, Groovin on You-Juneo, In Another World-Portrait, Don't You Think It's Time-J Mascis, Absence Makes the Heart-Tiffany Anders & Boyd Rice, A Boat on the Sea-Kristen VigardThe traditions of old-fashioned melodrama are given a hip facelift in this homage to the Brill Bu! ilding era (the late 1950s to the early 1970s) of pop-music glory, providing a perfect match between writer-director Allison Anders and her excellent cast. Illeana Douglas plays a singer-songwriter (loosely modeled after Brill recording artist Carole King) whose life runs emotionally parallel to popular music trends. John Turturro is a stand-in for "wall of sound" producer Phil Spector and Matt Dillon is a thinly disguised version of maverick Beach Boy Brian Wilson. It's a bit too schematic in the way the central character is always in the right place at the right time, but as a tale of fame and romantic highs and lows in the '50s and '60s the movie is funny, touching, and sincere. It's a lively and loving tribute to timeless music and the colorful characters who created it. --Jeff Shannon Track Listing:
1. The Call
2. Fields of Gold
3. When You Believe
4. The Coast of Galiçia
5. The New Ground - Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears
6. Non ! C’è Piú
7. True Colours
9. Galway Bay
10! . Goodni ght My Angel
11. O, America!
12. Níl Sé’n Lá
13. The Last Rose Fantasia
14. The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress
15. My Lagan Love
16. Amazing Grace
17. Pie Jesu
18. Slumber My Darling / The Mason’s Apron
19. Danny Boy
20. You Raise Me Up
21. Finale / Mo Ghile Mear

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Dirt 3

• DiRT 3 delivers mud, sweat and gears the world over: from the intense weather-beaten rally stages of Europe, Africa and the US
• The game boasts more cars, more locations, more routes and more events than any other game in the series
• Rally returns with more than double the amount of the content.
• Gamers can test their car control to the very limi and drift, spin-dry and jump their way to stardom in all new Gymkhana events.
• For the first time in the Dirt series, players will enjoy the unique and exhilarating spectacle of racing on snow.
• Multi-stage rallyes are set at classic locations from the traditional rally heartland of Scandinavia to to the jungles of Kenya

Dirt 3 (PS3)

Dirt 3 is a popular rally racing game for PlayStation 3 that combines the feel of fast-paced arcade style racing action across multiple surfaces and enviro! nments with realistic features found on real off-road circuits. The third release in the acclaimed off-road racing franchise, Dirt 3 features a range of racing and driving disciplines at spectacular locations, more than 100 routes, the finest selection of licensed action-sports racing cars, multistage rallies set at classic locations, exhilarating snow racing action and mesmerizing Gymkhana race events.

More Cars, More Locations, More Everything

Dirt 3 boasts more cars, more locations, more routes and more events than any other game in the series, including over 50 rally cars representing the very best from five decades of the sport. With more than double the track content of 2009's hit, Dirt 3 will see players start at the top as a professional driver! , with a topflight career in competitive off-road racing complimented by the opportunity to express themselves in Gymkhana-style showpiece driving events. As players race to elevate their global standing, Dirt 3 delivers mud, sweat and gears the world over: from the intense weather-beaten rally stages of Europe, Africa and the US, to executing performance driving showcases and career challenges where car control is pushed to spectacular limits.

The third release in the Dirt series contains more cars, more locations, more everything.
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Key Game Features

• Be a Pro - Dirt 3 puts players in the racing ! boots of a professional motorsports athlete. The beaten up RV of Dirt 2 is a thing of the past as gamers compete against stars including Ken Block and Kris Meeke across a range of racing and driving disciplines at spectacular locations across the world.
• More, More, More - Dirt 3 boasts more cars, more locations, more routes and more events than any other game in the Dirt series. There are now 100+ routes in the game compared to Dirt 2's 41. Dirt 3 offers the finest selection of licensed action-sports racing cars available and the largest line up to feature in any Codemasters racing game, including cars that represent 5 decades of rallying from classics like the Mini Cooper and Audi Quattro to Ken Block's rally spec Ford Fiesta.
• Rally is Back - After consulting fan-feedback, reviews and performing exhaustive data mining, the standout event from Dirt 2, Rally, returns with more than double the amount of! content. Multistage rallies are set at classic locations from! the tra ditional rally heartland of Scandinavia to the jungles of Kenya and the forests of Europe and the USA, taking players to the most dramatic, inhospitable and exciting terrain on the planet where only the most fearless drivers race.
• Express Yourself with Gymkhana - The 15 million-plus YouTube phenomenon pioneered by Ken Block now powerslides into to Dirt 3. Gamers can test their car control to the very limit and drift, spin-dry and jump their way to stardom in all new Gymkhana events. Set in specially created arenas packed with props, players can practice their skills, chain together moves, complete challenges or hang out online with friends in this spectacular video game first.
• Let It Snow - For the first time in the Dirt series, players will enjoy the unique and exhilarating spectacle of racing on snow. A highly advanced particle and physics model powers snow that builds up on the track, wheel tread and the car as it falls more h! eavily throughout the race. As players drive they will feel the change in the handling as the snow compacts at different rates depending on your speed, angle and cornering. This best-in-class feature delivers truly jaw-dropping visual and performance effects.

Additional Screenshots

A franchise first, snow racing. View larger.

Unique Gymkhana events. View larger.

Split-screen functionality. View larger.

Multiplayer madness. View larger.

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Half Nelson

• DVD MOVIE

Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling) is a young inner-city junior high school teacher whose ideals wither and die in the face of reality. Day after day in his shabby Brooklyn classroom, he somehow finds the energy to inspire his 13 and 14-year-olds to examine everything from civil rights to the Civil War with a new enthusiasm. Rejecting the standard curriculum in favor of an edgier approach, Dan teaches his students how change works ' on both a historical and personal scale ' and how to think for themselves.

Though Dan is brilliant, dynamic, and in control in the classroom, he spends his time outside school on the edge of consciousness. His disappointments and disillusionment have led to a serious drug habit. He juggles his hangovers and his homework, keeping his lives separated, until one of his troubled students, Drey (Shareeka Epps), catches him getting high after school.

From this ! awkward beginning, Dan and Drey stumble into an unexpected friendship. Despite the differences in their ages and situations, they are both at an important intersection. Depending on which way they turn ' and which choices they make ' their lives will change.

Sometimes people are attracted to each other because of their differences. When there's a nebulous attraction between a teacher and a young teenage child--as in the superb Half Nelson--the relationship has all the makings of confused disaster. Though there are a few uncomfortable moments when it's not obvious whether Dan (Ryan Gosling) and Drey! (Shareeka Epps) might cross the line, the attraction between ! the pair is culled less from sexual tension than desperation. Dan is an idealistic history teacher in an inner-city school. Drey is one of his brightest students. For both, drugs represent something that may help them escape their worlds. He takes drugs to dull his dissatisfaction with himself. She views drugs as a possible way to better her life, even though she knows her brother's foray into that trade landed him in jail. Bleakly filmed and well told, Half Nelson soars because of the immaculate acting by Gosling and Epps. With his impish smile, Gosling provides a character that is at once disarming, alluring, and pitiful. As the young girl who's already seen too much hardship in her life, Epps plays her part with just the right amount of hardened raw emotion. While the ambiguous ending may not please fans weaned on happy Hollywood finales, it's a fitting and believable close to a thought-provoking film. --Jae-Ha Kim

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Stills from Half Nelson (click for larger image)

Beyond Half Nelson at Amazon.com

The Films of Ryan Gosling

More Oscar Nominated Roles at the Amazon.com Oscar Store

The Soundtrack

DVD WITH ORGINAL CASE AND ARTWORK, JUST LIKE NEW, SHIPS USPS FIRST CLASS W/TRACKING!

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