Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Ghost in the Shell: Anime Legends 2nd Gig

  • Condition: New
  • Format: DVD
  • Animated; Color; DVD; NTSC
GHOST IN THE SHELL - DVD MovieThe skillful blending of drawn animation and computer-generated imagery excited anime fans when this science fiction mystery was released in 1995: many enthusiasts believe Ghost suggests what the future of anime will be, at least in the short term. The film is set in the not-too-distant future, when an unnamed government uses lifelike cyborgs or "enhanced" humans for undercover work. One of the key cyborgs is The Major, Motoko Kusanagi, who resembles a cross between The Terminator and a Playboy centerfold. She finds herself caught up in a tangled web of espionage and counterespionage as she searches for the mysterious superhacker known as "The Puppet Master."

Mamoru Oshii directs with a staccato rhythm, alternating sequences of rapid-fire action (car chases, gun battles, explosions) ! with static dialogue scenes that allow the characters to sort out the vaguely mystical and rather convoluted plot. Kusanagi's final quote from I Corinthians suggests that electronic evolution may compliment and eventually supplant organic evolution. The minor nudity, profanity, and considerable violence would earn Ghost in the Shell at least a PG rating. --Charles SolomonThe skillful blending of drawn animation and computer-generated imagery excited anime fans when this science fiction mystery was released in 1995: many enthusiasts believe Ghost suggests what the future of anime will be, at least in the short term. The film is set in the not-too-distant future, when an unnamed government uses lifelike cyborgs or "enhanced" humans for undercover work. One of the key cyborgs is The Major, Motoko Kusanagi, who resembles a cross between The Terminator and a Playboy centerfold. She finds herself caught up in a tangled web of espionage and counterespionage as! she searches for the mysterious superhacker known as "The Pup! pet Mast er."

Mamoru Oshii directs with a staccato rhythm, alternating sequences of rapid-fire action (car chases, gun battles, explosions) with static dialogue scenes that allow the characters to sort out the vaguely mystical and rather convoluted plot. Kusanagi's final quote from I Corinthians suggests that electronic evolution may compliment and eventually supplant organic evolution. The minor nudity, profanity, and considerable violence would earn Ghost in the Shell at least a PG rating. --Charles SolomonThe Smash First Season Anime Extravaganza in one complete set.

Major Motoko Kusanagi is a beautiful but deadly cyborg that is squad leader of Section 9; the Japanese government's clandestine unit assigned to battle terrorism and cyber warfare. Surrounded by an expertly trained team, Motoko faces her ultimate challenge- the Laughing Man- a terrorist who orchestrated a kidnapping and extortion plot many years ago and has suddenly reappeared. In order to! discover the identity of this enigmatic criminal, Motoko and Section 9 are drawn into a deadly labyrinth and they'll have to use all their expertise to survive. This acclaimed anime series from Production I.G (Kill Bill) and features the amazing music if Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Behop) with stories by Kenji Kamiyama (Blood, Jin-Roh) and Dai Soto (Eureka SeveN).Studio: Starz/sphe Release Date: 09/15/2009 Run time: 660 minutes

The Young Victoria [Blu-ray]

  • Condition: New
  • Format: Blu-ray
  • AC-3; Color; Dolby; Subtitled; Widescreen
From Jane Campion, Academy Award winner of The Piano, comes a sweeping love story that will carry you back through time to experience the passion and romance between acclaimed poet, John Keats and his beloved muse. London 1818: a secret love affair begins between 23 year old English poet, John Keats, and the girl next door Fanny Brawne, an outspoken student of high fashion. This unlikely pair began at odds, he thinking her a stylish minx, while she was unimpressed not only by his poetry but also by literature in general.
Add Jane Campion's rich, sensuous, quietly thrilling Bright Star to the very short list of admirable films about writers. In this case the writer is John Keat! s (Ben Whishaw), the Romantic poet who died at age 25 believing himself a failure. The movie, set during his last several years, focuses on his playful friendship with and evolving love for Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish), the independent-minded young woman who lived next door in Hampstead Village and was, in her own fashion, an artistic spirit. Completing an ineffably fraught constellation--not exactly a romantic triangle--is Keats's host Charles Armitage Brown (Paul Schneider), who loves, esteems, and regards Keats with both pride and envy, and engages in an unstated rivalry for Fanny. All three performances are superb, with Whishaw adding to his gallery of artist figures (the olfactorily obsessed murderer in Perfume, one of the Bob Dylans in I'm Not There), and Cornish and Schneider taking top acting honors for 2009. As in Campion's The Piano, others are party to the central story, and they have identities, personalities, and claims to intelligence and ! understanding that we appreciate without having it announced i! n dialog ue. Kerry Fox (redheaded wild girl of Campion's An Angel at My Table nearly two decades ago) evokes Fanny's mother with a few brushstrokes, and Fanny's young sister and brother are watchful presences and de facto co-conspirators in the courtship. In addition, Bright Star is the rare period movie to convey--without being insistent--what it was like to be alive in another era, the nature of houses and rooms and how people occupied them, the way windows linked spaces and enlarged people's lives and experiences, how fires warmed as the milky English sunlight did not. And always there is an aliveness to place and weather, the creak of boardwalk underfoot and the wind rustling the reeds as lovers walk through a wetland. Poetry grows from such things; at least, Jane Campion's does. --Richard T. JamesonEmily Blunt and Rupert Friend star in the lavish historical drama, THE YOUNG VICTORIA. Resolved to establish her authority over those who rule in her stead! , a young and inexperienced Queen Victoria (Blunt) draws strength from the love of Albert (Friend), the handsome prince who’s stolen her heart. Based on the courtship and early reign of England’s longest-serving monarch, THE YOUNG VICTORIA is a majestic tale of romance, intrigue and power.


Stills from The Young Victoria (Click for larger image)











The epic romance of one of the most celebrated poets in the English language

Coming to theatres in September 200! 9 is the tragic love story of nineteenth-century poet John Keats and the love of his life, Fanny Brawne. Keats died at the young age of twenty-five, leaving behind some of the most exquisite and moving verse and letters ever written, inspired by his deep love for Fanny. Bright Star is a collection of Keat's romantic poems and correspondence in the heat of his passion, and is a dazzling display of a talent cut cruelly short.Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend star in the lavish historical drama, THE YOUNG VICTORIA. Resolved to establish her authority over those who rule in her stead, a young and inexperienced Queen Victoria (Blunt) draws strength from the love of Albert (Friend), the handsome prince who’s stolen her heart. Based on the courtship and early reign of England’s longest-serving monarch, THE YOUNG VICTORIA is a majestic tale of romance, intrigue and power.


Stills from The Young Victoria (Click for larg! er image)












The Happy Man and His Dump Truck (Little Golden Book)

  • ISBN13: 9780375832079
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Tucked away in the rolling hills and hidden valleys of idyllic southern California, the Golden Door is the epitome of the luxury spa experience. As the quintessential holistic retreat, the spa is equally renowned for its inspired, bold, and innovative cuisine. In celebration of fifty sensational years, the Golden Door shares the secrets of its celebrated kitchen, bringing its famously fresh and healthful cuisine into your home.

With a focus on lean proteins, whole grains, fresh vegetables, and other wholesome foods combined in astoundingly delicious ways, Golden Door Cooks at Home shares Chef Dean Rucker’s most sought-after recipes, including:

• Spiny Lobster and Mango Gazpacho! Shooters
• Soft Rosemary-Lemon Polenta with Sweet Corn, Oyster Mushrooms, and Rainbow Chard
• Adobo-Marinated Grass-Fed Flank Steak with Spinach Salad and Roasted Poblano Dressing
• Grilled Lamb Chops with Rosemary Roasted New Potatoes and Apple-Mint Salad
• Blackberry Nectarine Crisp

Also featured are cooking tips from Chef Rucker’s popular cooking classes, information about how to boost flavor healthfully, recipes for easy-to-make sauces and vinaigrettes, and sidebars on fitness, nutrition, and other aspects of the unique Golden Door experience. Whether you’ve been a guest in the past or have only dreamed of getting a taste of the Golden Door, you’ll enjoy this culinary tribute to one of the world’s most restorative and nurturing destinations.This guidebook was published to help people of all ages and budgets move to Costa Rica successfully and make their dreams come true and is a candidate for the prestigious Benjamin Franklin Award f! or Publishing Excellence. Christopher Howard is Costa Rica's m! ost read authority on living and retiring in Costa Rica. He has resided in the country for 31 years and is a Costa Rican citizen. It is not surprising that he has first-hand knowledge and insight into all aspect of Costa Rica's culture, economy, language and its people He has appeared on the NBC Today Show, CNBC World News and is a frequent lecturer at international retirement seminars. People who read this book before coming here often know more about Costa Rica than many long term residents, according to the Association of Residents of Costa Rica (ARCR). For the last fifteen years Mr. Howard has also conducted award-winning relocation and retirement tours (liveincostarica.com) to supplement the information in his book and assist those interested in making the move seamlessly.
"Arguably the most useful for general readers. Clearly written, reasonably lean and on the whole, balanced in its assessments, it is an excellent primer." --Los Angeles Times

The fede! ral government's efforts to pick and choose among the multitude of immigrants seeking to enter the United States began with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Conceived in ignorance and falsely presented to the public, it had undreamt of consequences, and this pattern has been rarely deviated from since. As renowned historian Roger Daniels shows in this brilliant new work, America's inconsistent, often illogical, and always cumbersome immigration policy has profoundly affected our recent past.

Immigration policy in Daniels' skilled hands shows Americans at their best and worst, from the nativist violence that forced Theodore Roosevelt's 1907 "gentlemen's agreement" with Japan to the generous refugee policies adopted after World War Two and throughout the Cold War. And in a conclusion drawn from today's headlines, Daniels makes clear how far ignorance, partisan politics, and unintended consequences have overtaken immigration policy during the current administration'! s War on Terror.

Irreverent, deeply informed, and autho! ritative , Guarding the Golden Door presents an unforgettable interpretation of modern American history.
"I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"â€"the last line of Emma Lazarus's famous poem invites immigrants to enter a land of economic opportunity. Many have accepted that invitation; today, foreign-born workers make up nearly 16 percent of the U.S. workforce and account for almost half of workforce growth over the last decade. Rather than capitalizing on these gains, however, recent immigration reforms have resulted in an inefficient, patchwork system that shortchanges high-skilled immigrants and poorly serves the American public.

Beside the Golden Door: U.S. Immigration Reform in a New Era of Globalization proposes a radical overhaul of current immigration policy designed to strengthen economic competitiveness and long-run growth. Pia M. Orrenius and Madeline Zavodny outline a plan that favors employment-based immigration over family reunificatio! n, making work-based visas the rule, not the exception. They argue that immigration policy should favor high-skilled workers while retaining avenues for low-skilled immigration; family reunification should be limited to spouses and minor children; provisional visas should be the norm; and quotas that lead to queuing must be eliminated.

A selective immigration policy focused on high-skilled, high-demand workers will allow the United States to compete in an increasingly global economy while protecting the interests of American citizens and benefiting taxpayers. Orrenius and Zavodny conclude that "while not all potential immigrants who knock at the golden door should be admitted, the door should swing wide open to welcome those who desire nothing more than the opportunity to work for the American dream."A light and luxurious cuisine combining garden-fresh ingredients with classic French cooking.
(20030813)The updated and expanded 2002-2003 12th edition of the ! New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica offers ! invalua ble assistance to anyone looking for a safe, affordable place to live outside the United States. This useful book contains all the ins and outs and dos and dont's and much more indispensible secret insider information about all areas of living in Costa Rica. It guides you step by step and shows how to live on a budget; how to start a business and includes 100s of sure-fire tips for making money; how to stay busy and happy ; where to; live in Costa Rica; how to aquire residency; shortcuts for learning Spanish; how to take advantage of the many tax savings for foreign residents(make up to $80,000 a year tax free), how to find high-interest investments paying 13% or more annually; how to make the break from the rat race and start a new exciting life; and even how and where to find quality peo!ple for companionship. -What makes the Golden Door spa so unique, so legendary, and so magical?  Why is it consistently ranked the top health spa in the country?  Why do gu! ests return year after year?

Set against the lush landscape of southern California, the Golden Door is famous for its dedication to lavish individual service and a top-level fitness program.  And, three times a day, after sunrise mountain hikes, water aerobics classes, tai chi instruction, and hour-long massages, guests are treated to the high-flavor, low-fat cuisine created by Michel Stroot, the spa's executive chef since 1974.  A pioneer in the field of healthful cooking, Belgian-born Stroot brings classic French techniques and a European sensibility to America's freshest foods.  His contemporary, health-conscious food changes the way many of the Door's guests eat forever.

Now, home cooks everywhere can learn the secrets of Stroot's remarkable cuisine with the two hundred recipes in The Golden Door Cookbook.  The recipes include light and healthful dishes for every course--hot and cold soups, crisp salads made with vegetable greens and grains! , fresh fruit compotes, creative chicken and fish dishes, hear! ty bread s, and refreshing, energy-boosting beverages.  Every recipe includes a complete nutritional analysis, and each one derives less than 20 percent of its calories from fat.  Baked Apples with Kashi and Raisins.  Vegetarian Won Tons with Plum Sauce.  Chilled Melon Soup with Mint.  Crunchy Chicken Salad with Apples and Bulgur.  Focaccia Sandwich with Grilled Vegetables Provençal.  Wild Rice Pilaf with Pineapple and Ginger.  Grilled Swordfish with Papaya-Kiwi Salsa.  Black Bean-Chicken Enchi-ladas with California Chili Sauce.  Blueberry Bran Muffins.  Mango-Banana Sorbet.  Apple-Lime Tofu Cheesecake.  Illustrated with sixteen pages of stunning full-color photographs, The Golden Door Cookbook is the next best thing to a week at the spa itself.

Bring the spa experience home with this collection of vibrant, low-fat recipes from the chef at the Golden Door spa.From a cookbook, you expect recipes: The Golden Door Cookbook provides 200! of them, all low-fat, plus much more. This book radiates the revitalizing care and spirituality which makes this spa nirvana for its guests. While reading it, you feel the nurturing power of food that is truly pleasurable for body and soul.

Proving that low-calorie spa food can be "interesting, healthful cooking," recipes which take you through the day include a whole-grain-filled baked apple for breakfast, a sybaritic Fruit Club Sandwich or cheese-rich Twice Baked Potato for lunch, and 7-Spice Bean Soup plus Whole Wheat Primavera or lavish Sultan's Curry for dinner. Beside fruit desserts, you can enjoy moist brownies and sumptuous cheesecake. There are also poultry and fish dishes.

Chef Stroot acknowledges that some recipes require many ingredients. You will see they are all readily available items--fresh fruits and vegetables, familiar herbs and spices--and that most of the preparations are easy. The combining of many flavors and Stroot's creati! vity make this a cookbook of unique culinary genius. --Dana! Jacobi A happy man thrills a group of farm animals when he takes them for a joy ride in his dump truck. This book is a true classic illustrated by the inimitable Tibor Gergely.

Friday Night Lights Mass Market TV Tie-in

  • ISBN13: 9780306815294
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
For four years, the residents and students of Dillon, Texas, have faced difficult choices on and off the field with courage, passion and perseverance. Now the time has come to find closure for problems of the past while pursuing new possibilities that will lead many beyond Dillon city limits. But, will everyone be up to the challenge?Saying goodbye to Dillon, Texas, won't be easy for those who've been with Friday Night Lights from the start--especially those who read the book or saw the movie. Over five years on NBC, students graduated, the high school changed (from West to East Dillon), and Eric and Tami Taylor (Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton) and Buddy Garrity (Brad Leland) remained constant! s, sometimes making mistakes, but always trying to do right by their kids--biological and otherwise. And few shows offered more believable relationships, from Coach and Tami to Luke (Matt Lauria) and Becky (Madison Burge), who rekindle their romance in the final season.

If the fourth year marked the end of an era, the fifth revolves around new beginnings: Tami returns to her role as guidance counselor (after a controversial reign as principal), Buddy takes his wayward son under his wing, Julie (Aimee Teegarden) has a rough start at college, Billy (Derek Phillips) becomes assistant football coach, Becky moves in with him and his wife, and quarterback Vince (Michael B. Jordan), who continues to see Jess (Jurnee Smollett), tangles with his recently paroled father, Ornette (Cress Williams). Naturally, there are a few new arrivals, but they don't make the same impact as returning Dillon veterans Landry (Jesse Plemons), Jason (Scott Porter), Matt (Zach Gilford), Tyra (Adrianne! Palicki), and Billy's younger brother, Tim (Taylor Kitsch), w! hose adj ustment to life after prison parallels Ornette's experience.

This 13-episode arc traces the road to the state championships and marks the end of one of television's most emotionally involving shows, always operating on the principle that everyone can change, and that there's still room on network TV for semi-improvised, documentary-style filmmaking. Deleted scenes, commentary tracks, and a featurette offer a comprehensive look back at a stellar series, truly one of the medium's very best. --Kathleen C. FennessyTV's hottest new drama, Friday Night Lights, touches down on DVD with all 22 Season One episodes in a 5-disc collection! In the small town of Dillon, everyone comes together on Friday nights when the Dillon High Panthers play. But life is not a game; and the charismatic players, new coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler), and the passionate fans find that their biggest challenges and obstacles come off the field in the compelling day-to-day dramas of their ! tight-knit community. From producers Brian Grazer (The Da Vinci Code) and Peter Berg (The Kingdom) comes the critically acclaimed TV series based on the best-selling novel and hit theatrical movie. Discover why The Associated Press calls it "breathtaking in how it captures ordinary life set against extraordinary passions."The first season of Friday Night Lights accomplishes something that few television dramas are able to do: It betters the 2004 film (starring Billy Bob Thornton) on which the series is based. Set in Dillon, Texas, where football--even on the high school level--is everything, Friday Night Lights is a compelling drama with a football subplot. Poignantly and effectively touching on racism, rape, steroids, jealousy, infidelity, and life-changing injuries, the series presents the inhabitants of Dillon as real people who are flawed, but remarkable in their ordinariness. Though the series struggled to find an audience during its inaugural year, it wa! s a critical favorite thanks to some fine acting by leads Kyle! Chandle r (as Coach Eric Taylor) and Connie Britton (who portrays his wife, Tami). Coach Taylor's career depends on his ability to get the Dillon Panthers to the state championship. If the team suffers a losing streak, he knows his family, which includes daughter Julie (Aimee Teegarden), will no longer be welcome in Dillon. Britton, who also played the coach's wife in the film version, is a phenomenal actress who shares simmering chemistry with Chandler. Not content at just being the coach's wife, she lands a job as a counselor at the local high school. That position plays a pivotal role in the season finale, which leaves viewers wondering whether Eric will leave Dillon to accept a coveted coaching job with a university. Though the majority of the twentysomething actors appear too mature to portray high school students, they have the mannerisms of teens down pat. Gaius Charles is perfect as cocky running back Brian "Smash" Williams, who'll risk his health to make sure he gets a foo! tball scholarship to college. Local sweethearts Jason Street (Scott Porter) and Lyla Garrity (Minka Kelly) are the high school's golden couple. When a football injury leaves him paralyzed, he finds strength in what the future holds for him, but Lyla finds herself in a short-lived affair with Jason's best friend Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch). Once the relationship comes out in the open, their classmates' reactions to the "traitors" show that sexual inequality is rampant even in the teen set. Tim's teammates briefly ostracize him, but just as quickly forgive him, especially since he's so valuable on the football field. But Lyla becomes persona non grata to the girls at school who take too much glee in calling the head cheerleader a slut. The hits she takes verbally are no less lethal than the ones the boys take on the gridiron. And the tentative relationship between Julie Taylor and Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford) is the best depiction of teenage love since Angela Chase fell for Jo! rdan Catalano on My So-Called Life. The actors do a won! derful j ob conveying the sweetness, pain, and hurt of falling in love without really understanding all of its implications. Peter Berg, who co-wrote and co-directed the film, has a strong presence as a writer on the series and evenly distributes the storylines between the kids and the adults. Friday Night Lights is a drama with teenage characters at its core. But the stories are universal. --Jae-Ha Kim

Return once again to the enduring account of life in the Mojo lane, to the Permian Panthers of Odessa -- the winningest high school football team in Texas history. Odessa is not known to be a town big on dreams, but the Panthers help keep the hopes and dreams of this small, dusty town going. Socially and racially divided, its fragile economy follows the treacherous boom-bust path of the oil business. In bad times, the unemployment rate barrels out of control; in good times, its murder rate skyrockets. But every Friday night from September to December, when the Permia! n High School Panthers play football, this West Texas town becomes a place where dreams can come true. With frankness and compassion, Bissinger chronicles one of the Panthers' dramatic seasons and shows how single-minded devotion to the team shapes the community and inspires-and sometimes shatters-the teenagers who wear the Panthers' uniforms. Includes Reader's Group Guide inside. Now a an NBC TV weekly drama series.
Secular religions are fascinating in the devotion and zealousness they breed, and in Texas, high school football has its own rabid hold over the faithful. H.G. Bissinger, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, enters into the spirit of one of its most fervent shrines: Odessa, a city in decline in the desert of West Texas, where the Permian High School Panthers have managed to compile the winningest record in state annals. Indeed, as this breathtaking examination of the town, the team, its coaches, and its young players chronicles, the team, fo! r better and for worse, is the town; the communal heal! th and s elf-image of the latter is directly linked to the on-field success of the former. The 1988 season, the one Friday Night Lights recounts, was not one of the Panthers' best. The game's effect on the community--and the players--was explosive. Written with great style and passion, Friday Night Lights offers an American snapshot in deep focus; the picture is not always pretty, but the image is hard to forget.

Hunter Prey

Filth and Wisdom