Thursday, January 19, 2012

Hypnotic Poison by Christian Dior for Women 3.4 oz Eau de Toilette Spray

  • Packaging for this product may vary from that shown in the image above
  • This item is not for sale in Catalina Island
Praise for HYPNOTIC: "I love her sass, her voice, her authenticity. You have to care about Rose." ~Jacquelyn Mitchard, Oprah's Book Club, NY Times bestseller. ~ Sixteen year old Rose Heart and senior quarterback Chaz Calloway risk everything to be together. Dangerously trapped between enemy football coach fathers and torn apart by searing tragedy in sudden death overtime, it's apparent Chaz is not exactly mortal. Rose must now decide how far she'll go to save the one she loves. But can she really make the ultimate sacrifice and give a vampire her blood? ~ A first kiss has never been more breathtaking than the one in this Hypnotic excerpt: 'Chaz centers the rose in the space between our lips. "With this rose, I thee vow to wed you, Rose Heart, until death do us part." ' H! YPNOTIC is Romeo & Juliet meets the Superbowl. A heartbreaking, young adult paranormal romance about disastrously forbidden love between a vampire quarterback and a rival coach's daughter. Exquisitely written by Marja Healy, once nominated for the Pushcart Prize, many passages are so gut wrenching and spellbinding, it's impossible to choose a favorite. And you'll never find a more riveting touchdown than the one in Hypnotic. Hypnotic discusses grief in regards to the loss of a beloved parent with unusual tenderness. This is a coming of age love story like no other. Hypnotic contains no extreme language or sexual situations. Suitable for 9th grade and up. Perfect for those who enjoyed Twilight and My Blood Approves.Praise for HYPNOTIC: "I love her sass, her voice, her authenticity. You have to care about Rose." ~Jacquelyn Mitchard, Oprah's Book Club, NY Times bestseller.

~ Sixteen year old Rose Heart and senior quarterback Chaz Calloway risk everything to be toget! her. Dangerously trapped between enemy football coach fathers ! and torn apart by searing tragedy in sudden death overtime, it's apparent Chaz is not exactly mortal. Rose must now decide how far she'll go to save the one she loves. But can she really make the ultimate sacrifice and give him her blood? ~

A first kiss has never been more fatally beautiful than the one in this Hypnotic excerpt: 'Chaz centers the rose in the space between our lips. "With this rose, I thee vow to wed you, Rose Heart, until death do us part." '

HYPNOTIC is Romeo & Juliet meets the Superbowl. A heartbreaking, young adult paranormal romance about disastrously forbidden love between a vampire quarterback and a rival coach's daughter. Exquisitely written by Marja Healy, once nominated for the Pushcart Prize, many passages are so gut wrenching and spellbinding, it's impossible to choose a favorite.

And you'll never find a more riveting touchdown than the one in Hypnotic.

HYPNOTIC discusses grief in regards to the loss of a belo! ved parent with unusual tenderness. This is a coming of age love story like no other.

HYPNOTIC contains no extreme language or sexual situations. Suitable for 9th grade and up. Perfect for those who enjoyed Twilight and My Blood Approves.

Get hypnotized by HYPNOTIC's book trailer on Marja Healy's page, link below.

And start your adventure with XANZEER: Ghost Ship of the Living Dead, a teen urban fantasy romance.Praise for HYPNOTIC: "I love her sass, her voice, her authenticity. You have to care about Rose." ~Jacquelyn Mitchard, Oprah's Book Club, NY Times bestseller.

~ Sixteen year old Rose Heart and senior quarterback Chaz Calloway risk everything to be together. Dangerously trapped between enemy football coach fathers and torn apart by searing tragedy in sudden death overtime, it's apparent Chaz is not exactly mortal. Rose must now decide how far she'll go to save the one she loves. But can she really make the ultimate sacrifice an! d give him her blood? ~

A first kiss has never been mor! e fatall y beautiful than the one in this Hypnotic excerpt: 'Chaz centers the rose in the space between our lips. "With this rose, I thee vow to wed you, Rose Heart, until death do us part." '

HYPNOTIC is Romeo & Juliet meets the Superbowl. A heartbreaking, young adult paranormal romance about disastrously forbidden love between a vampire quarterback and a rival coach's daughter. Exquisitely written by Marja Healy, once nominated for the Pushcart Prize, many passages are so gut wrenching and spellbinding, it's impossible to choose a favorite.

And you'll never find a more riveting touchdown than the one in Hypnotic.

HYPNOTIC discusses grief in regards to the loss of a beloved parent with unusual tenderness. This is a coming of age love story like no other.

HYPNOTIC contains no extreme language or sexual situations. Suitable for 9th grade and up. Perfect for those who enjoyed Twilight and My Blood Approves.

Get hypnotized by HYPNOTIC's book trailer! on Marja Healy's page, link below.

And start your adventure with XANZEER: Ghost Ship of the Living Dead, a teen urban fantasy romance.Tropical fruit, citrusy and mango-like aromas. Light, acidic and very tart at palate entry; the midpalate is refreshing, intensely juicy and almost sour. Aftertaste leans heavily on the tartness. - Paul (8/1/2003) - 85-89: Very Good/Recommended LiquorDiscover the secrets of written persuasion!

"The principles of hypnosis, when applied to copywriting, add a new spin to selling. Joe Vitale has taken hypnotic words to set the perfect sales environment and then shows us how to use those words to motivate a prospect to take the action you want. This is truly a new and effective approach to copywriting, which I strongly recommend you learn. It's pure genius."
-Joseph Sugarman, author of Triggers

"I've read countless book on persuasion, but none come close to this one in showing you exactly how to put your readers! into a buying trance that makes whatever you are offering the! m irresi stible."
-David Garfinkel, author of Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich

"I am a huge fan of Vitale and his books, and Hypnotic Writing (first published more than twenty years ago), is my absolute favorite. Updated with additional text and fresh examples, especially from e-mail writing, Joe's specialty, Hypnotic Writing is the most important book on copywriting (yes, that's really what it is about) to be published in this century. Read it. It will make you a better copywriter, period."
-Bob Bly, copywriter and author of The Copywriter's Handbook

"I couldn't put this book down. It's eye opening and filled with genuinely new stuff about writing and persuading better. And it communicates it brilliantly and teaches it brilliantly-exemplifying the techniques by the writing of the book itself as you go along."
-David Deutsch, author of Think Inside the Box, www.thinkinginside.com

"Hypnotic Writing is packed with so much great information it's har! d to know where to start. The insights, strategies, and tactics in the book are easy to apply yet deliver one heck of a punch. And in case there's any question how to apply them, the before-and-after case studies drive the points home like nothing else can. Hypnotic Writing is not just about hypnotic writing. It is hypnotic writing. On the count of three, you're going to love it. Just watch and see."
-Blair Warren, author of The Forbidden Keys to PersuasionIntroduced in 1998. Fragrance notes: strong scent of jasmine, with lower tones of amber, almond and woods. Recommended use: romantic.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Hearts in Atlantis

  • Based on a Stephen King novella, the film is set in the small-town Connecticut of 1960 and centers around an 11-year-old fatherless boy, whose life is changed when an eccentric man with a psychic gift boards at his home. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG-13 Age: 085392208128 UPC: 085392208128 Manufacturer No: 22081
Although it is difficult to believe, the Sixties are not fictional:

THEY ACTUALLY HAPPENED.

No matter the format, Stephen King's work is spellbinding because the author himself is spellbound. The first hugely popular writer of the TV generation, King published his first novel, Carrie, in 1974, the year before the last U.S. troops withdrew from Vietnam. Images from that war -- and protests against it -- had flooded America's living rooms for nearly ten years. In Hearts in Altantis, King mesmerizes readers with fiction deeply rooted in the Sixties! , and explores -- through four defining decades -- the haunting legacy of the Vietmnam War.

As the characters in Hearts in Atlantis are tested in every way, King probes and unlocks the secrets of his generation for us all. Full of danger, full of suspense, and most of all full of heart, Stephen King's new book will take some readers to a place they have never been able to leave completely.With his idiosyncratic blend of patrician airs and boyish charm, narrator William Hurt provides a wonderful complement to this wildly imaginative collection of short stories by author Stephen King. Hurt carefully weaves the disparate elements into a cohesive whole, embracing the subtle complexities of each character; one moment a wizened sadness leaks into his voice as a haunted old man, pursued by demons, asks his 11-year-old lookout, "You know everyone on this street, on this block of this street anyway? And you'd know strangers? Sojourners? Faces of those unkno! wn?" Then, in a profound yet almost imperceptible switch, he ! exposes the boy's naive enthusiasm, "I think so." Right about here your neck hairs will stand at attention. Hurt's peculiar vocal style is in perfect pitch to King's dark, surreal vision of growing up amid the monsters of post-Vietnam America. (Running time: 21 hours, 20 CDs) --George Laney Bobby befriends a new lodger in the boarding house where he lives and learns that he has strange powers and is being hunted by people called the lowmen.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 3-FEB-2004
Media Type: DVDFans of The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption will feel a similar affection for Hearts in Atlantis, a Stephen King adaptation that again finds the horror writer in more mainstream waters, with a bit of dabbling in the supernatural. When mysterious out-of-towner Ted Brautigan (Anthony Hopkins) moves into the boarding house that 11-year-old Bobby Garfield (Anton Yelchin) shares with his self-i! nvolved mother (Hope Davis), Bobby jumps at the chance to befriend an adult who talks to him straightforwardly. Ted enlists Bobby to read him the newspaper daily--and to keep an eye out for the "low men" bent on capturing Ted, who possesses a strange mind-reading power. Hopkins is in fine form, ably matched by the phenomenal young Yelchin, but director Scott Hicks (Shine) more often than not flattens out the dramatic arcs of the story, despite all the intriguing turns the film takes. Thankfully, though, the schmaltz factor is kept to a minimum, making Hearts in Atlantis a heartfelt coming-of-age drama. --Mark Englehart

Full of It

Heat [Blu-ray]

  • When Al Pacino and Robert De Niro squarer off, HEAT sizzles. A tale of a brilliant L.A. cop (Pacino) following the trail from a deadly armed robbery to a crew headed by an equally brilliant master thief (De Niro). Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Ashley Judd and Natalie Portman co-star. Format: BLU-RAY DISC Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R Age: 883929073337 UPC:&nb
When Al Pacino and Robert De Niro squarer off, HEAT sizzles. A tale of a brilliant L.A. cop (Pacino) following the trail from a deadly armed robbery to a crew headed by an equally brilliant master thief (De Niro). Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Ashley Judd and Natalie Portman co-star.Having developed his skill as a master of contemporary crime drama, writer-director Michael Mann displayed every aspect of that mastery in this intelligent, character-driven thriller from 1995, which also marked the first onscreen pairi! ng of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. The two great actors had played father and son in the separate time periods of The Godfather, Part II, but this was the first film in which the pair appeared together, and although their only scene together is brief, it's the riveting fulcrum of this high-tech cops-and-robbers scenario. De Niro plays a master thief with highly skilled partners (Val Kilmer and Tom Sizemore) whose latest heist draws the attention of Pacino, playing a seasoned Los Angeles detective whose investigation reveals that cop and criminal lead similar lives. Both are so devoted to their professions that their personal lives are a disaster. Pacino's with a wife (Diane Venora) who cheats to avoid the reality of their desolate marriage; De Niro pays the price for a life with no outside connections; and Kilmer's wife (Ashley Judd) has all but given up hope that her husband will quit his criminal career. These are men obsessed, and as De Niro and Pacino know,! they'll both do whatever's necessary to bring the other down.! Mann's brilliant screenplay explores these personal obsessions and sacrifices with absorbing insight, and the tension mounts with some of the most riveting action sequences ever filmed--most notably a daylight siege that turns downtown Los Angeles into a virtual war zone of automatic gunfire. At nearly three hours, the film qualifies as a kind of intimate epic, certain to leave some viewers impatiently waiting for more action, but it's all part of Mann's compelling strategy. Heat is a true rarity: a crime thriller with equal measures of intense excitement and dramatic depth, giving De Niro and Pacino a prime showcase for their finely matched talents. --Jeff Shannon

Gigantic

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

THE GODFATHER: PART II AL PACINO 24X36 POSTER PRINT

The Banger Sisters

Audiovox Sirius SCV1 Backseat TV Audio/Video Tuner (Black)

Monday, January 16, 2012

Ancient Mysteries - The Black Death

  • What is the Black Death? Where did it come from? Scientists still do not know the origins of this deadly plague. Appearing miraculously in 542 A.D., the devastating outbreak claimed 100 million lives. Winding its way from Egypt, through Asia Minor and into Europe, the devastation lasted 52 years and disappeared as mysteriously as it arrived. Many believed that the plague was sent from God as punis
The year is 1348. Europe has fallen under the shadow of the Black Death. As the plague decimates all in its path, fear and superstition are rife. There are rumors of a village hidden in marshland that the plague cannot reach. There is talk of a necromancer who leads the village and is able to bring the dead back to life. Ulric (Sean Bean), a fearsome knight, is charged by the church to investigate these rumors. Joined by a young monk and a small consort of soldiers, the journey ahead will lead them ! into the heart of darkness where faith is challenged and put to the ultimate test.A potent combination of medieval combat and religious paranoia, Black Death serves as an outstanding example of how a genre film can smuggle in some surprisingly mature themes without missing a kinetic step. Set during the late 14th century, Dario Poloni's script follows a young monk (Eddie Redmayne) struggling with his faith as the bubonic plague runs rampant through Europe. As he contemplates fleeing England for a forbidden romance, he is tasked with leading a team of bishop-appointed mercenaries (led by Sean Bean) on their search for a rumored necromancer in the wilderness. After the group hacks their way through packs of infected marauders and nonbelievers, their search finally leads them to a pastoral town mysteriously free of the disease. When the town's beautiful leader (Carice van Houten) displays what appears to be mystical healing powers, the monk must decide which side God is! truly on. Director Christopher Smith, previously responsible ! for the commendably bent time-travel saga Triangle, creates a fantastically earthy environment for the film's increasingly supernatural possibilities to take hold. Bolstered by Bean's commanding performance, this is a terrifically grim--and occasionally terribly gory--action film that delivers an unsettling sting in its tail. --Andrew WrightSee dvd for this titles synopsis Studio: Magnolia Pict Hm Ent Release Date: 05/10/2011

La moria grandissima began its terrible journey across the European and Asian continents in 1347, leaving unimaginable devastation in its wake. Five years later, twenty-five million people were dead, felled by the scourge that would come to be called the Black Death. The Great Mortality is the extraordinary epic account of the worst natural disaster in European history -- a drama of courage, cowardice, misery, madness, and sacrifice that brilliantly illuminates humankind's darkest days when an old world ended and a new world was! born.

A book chronicling one of the worst human disasters in recorded history really has no business being entertaining. But John Kelly's The Great Mortality is a page-turner despite its grim subject matter and graphic detail. Credit Kelly's animated prose and uncanny ability to drop his reader smack in the middle of the 14th century, as a heretofore unknown menace stalks Eurasia from "from the China Sea to the sleepy fishing villages of coastal Portugal [producing] suffering and death on a scale that, even after two world wars and twenty-seven million AIDS deaths worldwide, remains astonishing." Take Kelly's vivid description of London in the fall of 1348: "A nighttime walk across Medieval London would probably take only twenty minutes or so, but traversing the daytime city was a different matter.... Imagine a shopping mall where everyone shouts, no one washes, front teeth are uncommon and the shopping music is provided by the slaughterhouse up the road." Yikes! , and that's before just about everything with a pulse starts ! dying an d piling up in the streets, reducing the population of Europe by anywhere from a third to 60 percent in a few short years. In addition to taking readers on a walking tour through plague-ravaged Europe, Kelly heaps on the ancillary information and every last bit of it is captivating. We get a thorough breakdown of the three types of plagues that prey on humans; a detailed account of how the plague traveled from nation to nation (initially by boat via flea-infested rats); how floods (and the appalling hygiene of medieval people) made Europe so susceptible to the disease; how the plague triggered a new social hierarchy favoring women and the proletariat but also sparked vicious anti-Semitism; and especially, how the plague forever changed the way people viewed the church. Engrossing, accessible, and brimming with first-hand accounts drawn from the Middle Ages, The Great Mortality illuminates and inspires. History just doesn't get better than that. --Kim HughesWhat! is the Black Death? Where did it come from? Scientists still do not know the origins of this deadly plague. Appearing miraculously in 542 A.D., the devastating outbreak claimed 100 million lives. Winding its way from Egypt, through Asia Minor and into Europe, the devastation lasted 52 years and disappeared as mysteriously as it arrived. Many believed that the plague was sent from God as punishment for the world's sins. How was the cure for the plague finally discovered? Is it still with us today? These are some of the many questions we will explore in this program.

Trilogy of Terror (Special Edition)

  • Legendary producer/director Dan Curtis (DARK SHADOWS, THE NIGHT STALKER) teams up with writers Richard Matheson (I AM LEGEND, THE TWILIGHT ZONE) and William F. Nolan (LOGAN S RUN, BURNT OFFERINGS) to present three tales of horrific suspense in this made-for-television anthology that also showcases the tremendous acting talent of Karen Black (FIVE EASY PIECES, THE DAY OF THE LOCUST), who plays four
Sally, a young girl, moves to Rhode Island to live with her father and his new girlfriend in the 19th-century mansion they are restoring. While exploring the house, Sally starts to hear voices coming from creatures in the basement whose hidden agenda is to claim her as one of their own.Fondly remembered for scaring the Tab out of impressionable viewers, 1973's television movie Don't Be Afraid of the Dark stands today as a minor classic of irrational dream-logic horror, with an ending that goe! s straight for the worst-case scenario. Despite (or perhaps because of) its wonky effects, minimalist character development, and snicker-worthy Freudisms, it knows how to linger into the wee small hours. Cowriter-producer Guillermo del Toro's mash note of a remake is a superior movie in virtually all aspects, really, yet it somehow fails to ping the same whimpering neurons. Director Troy Nixey's film follows the same basic blueprint as the source material--a fractured family (Guy Pearce, Katie Holmes, and Bailee Madison) moves into a dark old house, only to be tormented by a gaggle of tiny chatterbox demons--but with a much greater emphasis on the mythology and back story of the creatures. Del Toro has long proclaimed his love for the original movie, and it's rather fascinating to see the filmmaker attempt to shoehorn his own trademark obsessions (grim fairy-tale origins, spooky little girls, odd Lovecraftian angles, etc.) into the existing material. Still, such Gothic curl! icues, however nifty, ultimately end up diluting the solid-sta! te night mare fuel of the premise. Aside from a few solid shocks and a strong performance by Holmes, this heartfelt redo is unlikely to have the same lasting effect on audiences as the much cruder original. Instead of focusing on the hows and whys, that one just wanted to freak the viewer out. --Andrew WrightSally, a young girl, moves to Rhode Island to live with her father and his new girlfriend in the 19th-century mansion they are restoring. While exploring the house, Sally starts to hear voices coming from creatures in the basement whose hidden agenda is to claim her as one of their own.Fondly remembered for scaring the Tab out of impressionable viewers, 1973's television movie Don't Be Afraid of the Dark stands today as a minor classic of irrational dream-logic horror, with an ending that goes straight for the worst-case scenario. Despite (or perhaps because of) its wonky effects, minimalist character development, and snicker-worthy Freudisms, it knows how to linger! into the wee small hours. Cowriter-producer Guillermo del Toro's mash note of a remake is a superior movie in virtually all aspects, really, yet it somehow fails to ping the same whimpering neurons. Director Troy Nixey's film follows the same basic blueprint as the source material--a fractured family (Guy Pearce, Katie Holmes, and Bailee Madison) moves into a dark old house, only to be tormented by a gaggle of tiny chatterbox demons--but with a much greater emphasis on the mythology and back story of the creatures. Del Toro has long proclaimed his love for the original movie, and it's rather fascinating to see the filmmaker attempt to shoehorn his own trademark obsessions (grim fairy-tale origins, spooky little girls, odd Lovecraftian angles, etc.) into the existing material. Still, such Gothic curlicues, however nifty, ultimately end up diluting the solid-state nightmare fuel of the premise. Aside from a few solid shocks and a strong performance by Holmes, this heartfelt ! redo is unlikely to have the same lasting effect on audiences ! as the m uch cruder original. Instead of focusing on the hows and whys, that one just wanted to freak the viewer out. --Andrew WrightIt's back! The classic TV MOW that continues to cast a spell almost 40 years after it was first broadcast; in a new remastered and enhanced edition. Sally (Kim Darby) and Alex Farnham's (Jim Hutton) marriage has a sinister wedge driven through it; when her occult "imaginings" threaten to derail his career after they inherit Sally's grandmother's house. Also starring William Demarest. Enhanced Content: Superfan commentary track from horror fans and pros Jeffrey Reddick, Steve Barton ("Uncle Creepy") and Sean Abley.

This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

An old house...a mysterious locked room... a terrifying secret. Elements that make a horror movie memorably chilling get a taut, spooky reworking in Don't Be Afraid of the Dark. Kim Darby (True Grit) and! Jim Hutton (The Green Berets) star as Sally and Alex, young marrieds who inherit a crumbling mansion. Despite warnings to leave well enough alone in her new home, Sally unlocks the mysterious room, opens a bricked-up fireplace - and unleashes a horde of hideous, whispering, murdering mini-demons only she can see and hear. Alex thinks she's imagining things. We know she isn't. And we know Sally should be very, very afraid of the dark!

This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Legendary producer / director Dan Curtis (DARK SHADOWS, THE NIGHT STALKER) teams up with writers Richard Matheson (I AM LEGEND, THE TWILIGHT ZONE) and William F. Nolan (LOGAN’S RUN, BURNT OFFERINGS) to present three tales of horrific suspense in this made-for-television anthology that also showcases the tremendous acting talent of Karen Black (FIVE EASY PIECES, THE DAY OF THE LOCUST), who plays no less than four! distinct roles. In "Julie," an aggressive college student se! duces an d ultimately blackmails his seemingly shy English professor. In "Millicent and Therese," two polar-opposite sisters become increasingly hell-bent on the undoing of one another. And in "Amelia," a woman falls prey to a murderous Zuni fetish doll.


A Girl Cut in Two Framed Poster Movie Italian 11 x 17 Inches - 28cm x 44cm Ludivine Sagnier Beno?t Magimel Fran?ois Berl?and Mathilda May

Friday, January 13, 2012

(27x40) Barney's Great Adventure Movie Friends Original Poster Print

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: A Novel

  • ISBN13: 9780060759957
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA YA SISTERHOO - DVD MovieGrab your tissues and send the guys away, because Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is the most pedigreed chick flick since Steel Magnolias. You can tell by the title and the novelish names of the Louisiana ladies from Rebecca Wells's precious bestseller. First there's Sidda (Sandra Bullock), a successful playwright still wrestling with her manipulative mother, Vivi (Ellen Burstyn), after a traumatic upbringing. Then there's longtime friends Teensy (Fionnula Flanagan), Necie (Shirley Knight), and Caro (scene-stealer Maggie Smith), from Vivi's secret club of "Ya-Ya Priestesses," together since childhood and determined to heal the rift b! etween Sidda and her mom. Through an ambitious flashback structure (including Ashley Judd as the younger Vivi), screenwriter and first-time director Callie Khouri (who wrote Thelma & Louise) establishes a rich context for this mother-daughter reunion. There's plenty of humor to temper the drama, which inspires Bullock's best work in years. Definitely worth a look for the curious, but only fans of Wells's fiction will feel any twinge of loyalty. --Jeff Shannon

When Siddalee Walker, oldest daughter of Vivi Abbott Walker, Ya-Ya extraordinaire, is interviewed in the New York Times about a hit play she's directed, her mother gets described as a "tap-dancing child abuser." Enraged, Vivi disowns Sidda. Devastated, Sidda begs forgiveness, and postpones her upcoming wedding. All looks bleak until the Ya-Yas step in and convince Vivi to send Sidda a scrapbook of their girlhood mementos, called "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood." As Sidda struggles to anal! yze her mother, she comes face to face with the tangled beauty! of impe rfect love, and the fact that forgiveness, more than understanding, is often what the heart longs for.

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood may call to mind Prince of Tides in its unearthing of family darkness; in its unforgettable heroines and irrepressible humor and female loyalty, it echoes Fannie Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.Wells is a Louisiana-born Seattle actress and playwright; her loopy saga of a 40-year-old player in Seattle's hot theater scene who must come to terms with her mama's past in steamy Thornton City, Louisiana, reads like a lengthy episode of Designing Women written under the influence of mint juleps and Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!. The Ya-Yas are the wild circle of girls who swirl around the narrator Siddalee's mama, Vivi, whose vivid voice is "part Scarlett, part Katharine Hepburn, part Tallulah." The Ya-Yas broke the no-booze rule at the cotillion, skinny-dipped their way to j! ail in the town water tower, disrupted the Shirley Temple look-alike contest, and bonded for life because, as one says, "It's so much fun being a bad girl!"

Siddalee must repair her busted relationship with Vivi by reading a half-century's worth of letters and clippings contained in the Ya-Ya Sisterhood's packet of "Divine Secrets." It's a contrived premise, but the secrets are really fun to learn.

Galaxy Quest

  • Comedy DVD
GALAXY QUEST (DELUXE EDITION) - DVD MovieYou don't have to be a Star Trek fan to enjoy Galaxy Quest, but it certainly helps. A knowingly affectionate tribute to Trek and any other science fiction TV series of the 1960s and beyond, this crowd-pleasing comedy offers in-jokes at warp speed, hitting the bull's-eye for anyone who knows that (1) the starship captain always removes his shirt to display his manly physique; (2) any crew member not in the regular cast is dead meat; and (3) the heroes always stop the doomsday clock with one second to spare. So it is with Commander Taggart (Tim Allen) and the stalwart crew of the NSEA Protector, whose intergalactic exploits on TV have now been reduced to a dreary cycle of fan conventions and promotional appearances. That's when the Thermians arrive, begging to be saved from Sarris, the reptilian villain who th! reatens to destroy their home planet.

Can actors rise to the challenge and play their roles for real? The Thermians are counting on it, having studied the "historical documents" of the Galaxy Quest TV show, and their hero worship (not to mention their taste for Monte Cristo sandwiches) is ultimately proven worthy, with the help of some Galaxy geeks on planet Earth. And while Galaxy Quest serves up great special effects and impressive Stan Winston creatures, director Dean Parisot (Home Fries) is never condescending, lending warm acceptance to this gentle send-up of sci-fi TV and the phenomenon of fandom. Best of all is the splendid cast, including Sigourney Weaver as buxom blonde Gwen DeMarco; Alan Rickman as frustrated thespian Alexander Dane; Tony Shalhoub as dimwit Fred Kwan; Daryl Mitchell as former child-star Tommy Webber; and Enrico Colantoni as Thermian leader Mathesar, whose sing-song voice is a comedic coup de grâce. --Jeff Shann! onFor four years, the courageous crew of the NSEA protecto! r - "Com mander Peter Quincy Taggart" (Tim Allen), "Lt. Tawny Madison (Sigourney Weaver) and "Dr.Lazarus" (Alan Rickman) - set off on a thrilling and often dangerous mission in space...and then their series was cancelled! Now, twenty years later, aliens under attack have mistaken the Galaxy Quest television transmissions for "historical documents" and beam up the crew of has-been actors to save the universe. With no script, no director and no clue, the actors must turn in the performances of their lives.You don't have to be a Star Trek fan to enjoy Galaxy Quest, but it certainly helps. A knowingly affectionate tribute to Trek and any other science fiction TV series of the 1960s and beyond, this crowd-pleasing comedy offers in-jokes at warp speed, hitting the bull's-eye for anyone who knows that (1) the starship captain always removes his shirt to display his manly physique; (2) any crew member not in the regular cast is dead meat; and (3) the heroes al! ways stop the doomsday clock with one second to spare. So it is with Commander Taggart (Tim Allen) and the stalwart crew of the NSEA Protector, whose intergalactic exploits on TV have now been reduced to a dreary cycle of fan conventions and promotional appearances. That's when the Thermians arrive, begging to be saved from Sarris, the reptilian villain who threatens to destroy their home planet.

Can actors rise to the challenge and play their roles for real? The Thermians are counting on it, having studied the "historical documents" of the Galaxy Quest TV show, and their hero worship (not to mention their taste for Monte Cristo sandwiches) is ultimately proven worthy, with the help of some Galaxy geeks on planet Earth. And while Galaxy Quest serves up great special effects and impressive Stan Winston creatures, director Dean Parisot (Home Fries) is never condescending, lending warm acceptance to this gentle send-up of sci-fi TV and th! e phenomenon of fandom. Best of all is the splendid cast, incl! uding Si gourney Weaver as buxom blonde Gwen DeMarco; Alan Rickman as frustrated thespian Alexander Dane; Tony Shalhoub as dimwit Fred Kwan; Daryl Mitchell as former child-star Tommy Webber; and Enrico Colantoni as Thermian leader Mathesar, whose sing-song voice is a comedic coup de grâce. --Jeff ShannonFor four years, the courageous crew of the NSEA Protector - "Commander Peter Quincy Taggart" (Tim Allen), "Lt. Tawny Madison" (Sigourney Weaver) and "Dr. Lazarus" (Alan Rickman) - set off on thrilling and often dangerous missions in space . . . and then their series was canceled!

Now, twenty years later, aliens under attack have mistaken the Galaxy Quest television transmissions for "historical documents" and beamed up the crew of has-been actors to save the universe. With no script, no director and no clue, the actors must turn in the performances of their lives in this hilarious adventure Jeffery Lyons (NBC-TV) calls "The funniest, wittiest comedy of the year."You! don't have to be a Star Trek fan to enjoy Galaxy Quest, but it certainly helps. A knowingly affectionate tribute to Trek and any other science fiction TV series of the 1960s and beyond, this crowd-pleasing comedy offers in-jokes at warp speed, hitting the bull's-eye for anyone who knows that (1) the starship captain always removes his shirt to display his manly physique; (2) any crew member not in the regular cast is dead meat; and (3) the heroes always stop the doomsday clock with one second to spare. So it is with Commander Taggart (Tim Allen) and the stalwart crew of the NSEA Protector, whose intergalactic exploits on TV have now been reduced to a dreary cycle of fan conventions and promotional appearances. That's when the Thermians arrive, begging to be saved from Sarris, the reptilian villain who threatens to destroy their home planet.

Can actors rise to the challenge and play their roles for real? The Thermians are counting on it, ! having studied the "historical documents" of the Galaxy Que! st T V show, and their hero worship (not to mention their taste for Monte Cristo sandwiches) is ultimately proven worthy, with the help of some Galaxy geeks on planet Earth. And while Galaxy Quest serves up great special effects and impressive Stan Winston creatures, director Dean Parisot (Home Fries) is never condescending, lending warm acceptance to this gentle send-up of sci-fi TV and the phenomenon of fandom. Best of all is the splendid cast, including Sigourney Weaver as buxom blonde Gwen DeMarco; Alan Rickman as frustrated thespian Alexander Dane; Tony Shalhoub as dimwit Fred Kwan; Daryl Mitchell as former child-star Tommy Webber; and Enrico Colantoni as Thermian leader Mathesar, whose sing-song voice is a comedic coup de grâce. --Jeff Shannon

Kenneth Cole Women's Blurred Animal Printed Dress, Black/Pearl, 8

The Great Raid on Cabanatuan: Rescuing the Doomed Ghosts of Bataan and Corregidor

  • ISBN13: 9780471037422
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From the critically acclaimed author whom The Wall Street Journal called "a first-class historian," here is a riveting account of one of the most spectacular rescue operations in history. On January 30, 1945, American troops staged a successful raid on Cabanatuan, a notorious Japanese POW camp where thousands of prisoners had been tortured and died. Based on interviews with the heroes who survived the raid, this book brings to life in electrifying detail the dramatic events that took place on that historic day.

Praise for William B. Breuer and his books

"A first-class historian." --The Wall Street Journal

"Fast-paced, detailed, and satisfyingly dramatic." --World War II Magazine o! n Devil Boats

"Another smasher by Breuer, who specializes in thrilling reports of WWII spycraft and warfare." --Kirkus Reviews on Race to the Moon

"Vivid . . . skillfully written." --Los Angeles Times on Retaking the Philippines

"Brings to life how airborne soldiers survived, how the human will prevails . . . against overwhelming enemies, tactical failures, and even death."--The New York Times on Geronimo: American Paratroopers in World War II

Early on the morning of January 28, 1945, a small detachment of volunteers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Henry A. Mucci, leader of the 6th Ranger Battalion, embarked from their base in the Philippines on the most audacious rescue operation ever undertaken. Their objective: Penetrate thirty miles behind enemy lines and liberate 511 POWs from Cabanatuan, the notorious Japanese POW camp where thousands of American prisoners had been brutally tortured and killed. Little did Mucci's Rangers know when t! hey got under way that morning that over the next few days and! nights they would be making history.

Written by acclaimed military historian William B. Breuer, The Great Raid on Cabanatuan is a riveting account of that rescue mission and the gallant soldiers who carried it out against overwhelming odds. Based largely on interviews with the heroes who survived the operation, and featuring twenty-eight previously unpublished photographs--many of them taken while the raid was in progress--it brings to life in electrifying detail the dramatic events that took place on the night of the raid, January 30, and during the harrowing days that followed.

In sketching out the many roads that led to Cabanatuan, Breuer brilliantly combines oral history with dramatic narrative to bring to life some of the most spectacular events of the war in the Pacific. We relive the hellish battles for Bataan and Corregidor, where in 1942 American and Filipino soldiers fought bravely to hold back the Japanese invasion force. We experience firsthand the horrors! of the Bataan Death March on which tens of thousands of prisoners lost their lives en route to Cabanatuan. And we learn of the American underground and guerilla operations in the Philippines during the Japanese occupation from the men and women behind them, including Margaret Utinsky, leader of "Miss U's underground," and Claire Phillips, the glamorous lounge singer turned spy- master.

A gripping chronicle of one of the most harrowing rescue missions ever undertaken as told in all its gritty detail by the heroes who made it happen, The Great Raid on Cabanatuan is both a first-class piece of military scholarship and a thrilling adventure story.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars Poster Movie 11x17 Natasha Henstridge Ice Cube Clea DuVall Pam Grier

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From John Carpenter, the master of horror behind 1998's hit John Carpenter's Vampires and classics like The Thing and Halloween, comes a sci-fi thriller full of explosive action and bone-chilling suspense. Natasha Henstridge (Species) is Melanie Ballard, a headstrong police lieutenant on Mars in the year 2025. Humans have been colonizing and mining on the red planet for some time, but when Ballard and her squad are sent to a remote region to apprehend the dangerous criminal James "Desolation" Williams, played by Ice ! Cube (Three Kings), they discover that he's the least of their worries. The mining operations have unleashed a deadly army of Martian spirits who take over the bodies of humans and won't stop until they destroy all invaders of their planet. With a stellar cast including Pam Grier (Jackie Brown), Jason Statham (Snatch) and Clea Duvall (The Faculty), as well as explosive special effects, John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars is an intergalactic terror fest like you've never seen.Ghosts of Mars may not be one of John Carpenter's finer efforts, but you can't knock the veteran director for staying true to his roots--it's clearly a Carpenter film, reveling in its B-movie blood lust, and fueled by the director's rock & roll rebellion as well as the sex appeal of star Natasha Henstridge. This rickety sci-fi/horror hybrid recalls Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, with various connections from throughout the director's career--for ! better and worse. It's the year 2176, and human colonists on M! ars are controlled by a political "matronage," with women (for reasons unexplained) holding court in the capitol city of Chryse. Mars Police Force Lt. Ballard (Henstridge) has been sent to retrieve James "Desolation" Williams (Ice Cube), the planet's most notorious criminal, from a remote mining-colony prison. With her ill-fated crew, Ballard discovers that the colonists have nearly all been possessed by ancient Martian spirits bent on reclaiming the planet, turning them into an army of self-mutilating freaks suggesting an unholy union of Marilyn Manson and the sadomasochistic Cenobites from the Hellraiser films. None of this makes much sense, and the shaky alliance between cops and criminals is a predictable excuse for rampant battle scenes between surviving humans and the ghost-possessed maniacs. Exotic weaponry abounds (along with cheap special effects and some laughable dialogue), resulting in the gruesome dispatch of expendable costars Pam Grier, Joanna Ca! ssidy, Robert Carradine, and Clea Duvall. Driven by Carpenter's synth-metal score, this violent free-for-all has a few brief highlights, but it's suspenseless and ultimately absurd. It's not much, but for loyal fans it's probably enough. --Jeff ShannonNASTHASHA HENSTRIDGE, PAM GRIER AND ICE CUBE MUST BATTLE IT OUT AGAINST PRIMITIVE MARTIAN GHOSTS WHO WILL STOP AT NOTHING TOANNIHILATE THE HUMAN INVADERS WHO HAVE DISTURBED THEIR PLANET.Ghosts of Mars may not be one of John Carpenter's finer efforts, but you can't knock the veteran director for staying true to his roots--it's clearly a Carpenter film, reveling in its B-movie blood lust, and fueled by the director's rock & roll rebellion as well as the sex appeal of star Natasha Henstridge. This rickety sci-fi/horror hybrid recalls Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, with various connections from throughout the director's career--for better and worse. It's the year 2176, and human colonists on Mar! s are controlled by a political "matronage," with women (for ! reasons unexplained) holding court in the capitol city of Chryse. Mars Police Force Lt. Ballard (Henstridge) has been sent to retrieve James "Desolation" Williams (Ice Cube), the planet's most notorious criminal, from a remote mining-colony prison. With her ill-fated crew, Ballard discovers that the colonists have nearly all been possessed by ancient Martian spirits bent on reclaiming the planet, turning them into an army of self-mutilating freaks suggesting an unholy union of Marilyn Manson and the sadomasochistic Cenobites from the Hellraiser films. None of this makes much sense, and the shaky alliance between cops and criminals is a predictable excuse for rampant battle scenes between surviving humans and the ghost-possessed maniacs. Exotic weaponry abounds (along with cheap special effects and some laughable dialogue), resulting in the gruesome dispatch of expendable costars Pam Grier, Joanna Cassidy, Robert Carradine, and Clea Duvall. Driven by Carpenter's! synth-metal score, this violent free-for-all has a few brief highlights, but it's suspenseless and ultimately absurd. It's not much, but for loyal fans it's probably enough. --Jeff ShannonGhosts of Mars may not be one of John Carpenter's finer efforts, but you can't knock the veteran director for staying true to his roots--it's clearly a Carpenter film, reveling in its B-movie blood lust, and fueled by the director's rock & roll rebellion as well as the sex appeal of star Natasha Henstridge. This rickety sci-fi/horror hybrid recalls Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, with various connections from throughout the director's career--for better and worse. It's the year 2176, and human colonists on Mars are controlled by a political "matronage," with women (for reasons unexplained) holding court in the capitol city of Chryse. Mars Police Force Lt. Ballard (Henstridge) has been sent to retrieve James "Desolation" Williams (Ice Cube), the planet! 's most notorious criminal, from a remote mining-colony priso! n. With her ill-fated crew, Ballard discovers that the colonists have nearly all been possessed by ancient Martian spirits bent on reclaiming the planet, turning them into an army of self-mutilating freaks suggesting an unholy union of Marilyn Manson and the sadomasochistic Cenobites from the Hellraiser films. None of this makes much sense, and the shaky alliance between cops and criminals is a predictable excuse for rampant battle scenes between surviving humans and the ghost-possessed maniacs. Exotic weaponry abounds (along with cheap special effects and some laughable dialogue), resulting in the gruesome dispatch of expendable costars Pam Grier, Joanna Cassidy, Robert Carradine, and Clea Duvall. Driven by Carpenter's synth-metal score, this violent free-for-all has a few brief highlights, but it's suspenseless and ultimately absurd. It's not much, but for loyal fans it's probably enough. --Jeff ShannonGhosts of Mars may not be one of John Carpent! er's finer efforts, but you can't knock the veteran director for staying true to his roots--it's clearly a Carpenter film, reveling in its B-movie blood lust, and fueled by the director's rock & roll rebellion as well as the sex appeal of star Natasha Henstridge. This rickety sci-fi/horror hybrid recalls Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, with various connections from throughout the director's career--for better and worse. It's the year 2176, and human colonists on Mars are controlled by a political "matronage," with women (for reasons unexplained) holding court in the capitol city of Chryse. Mars Police Force Lt. Ballard (Henstridge) has been sent to retrieve James "Desolation" Williams (Ice Cube), the planet's most notorious criminal, from a remote mining-colony prison. With her ill-fated crew, Ballard discovers that the colonists have nearly all been possessed by ancient Martian spirits bent on reclaiming the planet, turning them into an army of se! lf-mutilating freaks suggesting an unholy union of Marilyn Ma! nson and the sadomasochistic Cenobites from the Hellraiser films. None of this makes much sense, and the shaky alliance between cops and criminals is a predictable excuse for rampant battle scenes between surviving humans and the ghost-possessed maniacs. Exotic weaponry abounds (along with cheap special effects and some laughable dialogue), resulting in the gruesome dispatch of expendable costars Pam Grier, Joanna Cassidy, Robert Carradine, and Clea Duvall. Driven by Carpenter's synth-metal score, this violent free-for-all has a few brief highlights, but it's suspenseless and ultimately absurd. It's not much, but for loyal fans it's probably enough. --Jeff ShannonGHOSTS OF MARS/VAMPIRES 2-PACK - DVD MovieGhosts of Mars
Ghosts of Mars may not be one of John Carpenter's finer efforts, but you can't knock the veteran director for staying true to his roots--it's clearly a Carpenter film, reveling in its B-movie blood lust, and fueled by the! director's rock & roll rebellion as well as the sex appeal of star Natasha Henstridge. This rickety sci-fi/horror hybrid recalls Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, with various connections from throughout the director's career--for better and worse. It's the year 2176, and human colonists on Mars are controlled by a political "matronage," with women (for reasons unexplained) holding court in the capitol city of Chryse. Mars Police Force Lt. Ballard (Henstridge) has been sent to retrieve James "Desolation" Williams (Ice Cube), the planet's most notorious criminal, from a remote mining-colony prison. With her ill-fated crew, Ballard discovers that the colonists have nearly all been possessed by ancient Martian spirits bent on reclaiming the planet, turning them into an army of self-mutilating freaks suggesting an unholy union of Marilyn Manson and the sadomasochistic Cenobites from the Hellraiser films. None of this makes much sense, and the shaky alliance bet! ween cops and criminals is a predictable excuse for rampant ba! ttle sce nes between surviving humans and the ghost-possessed maniacs. Exotic weaponry abounds (along with cheap special effects and some laughable dialogue), resulting in the gruesome dispatch of expendable costars Pam Grier, Joanna Cassidy, Robert Carradine, and Clea Duvall. Driven by Carpenter's synth-metal score, this violent free-for-all has a few brief highlights, but it's suspenseless and ultimately absurd. It's not much, but for loyal fans it's probably enough. --Jeff Shannon

Vampires
Talk about an opening. The first few minutes of John Carpenter's Vampires--in which James Woods's vampire killer leads a dawn raid on a New Mexico "goon nest" of bloodsuckers--not only suggests a horror movie that will not pull any punches, it even evokes some of the more disturbing dream-memories of American Westerns. Muscular and uncompromised, the sequence suggests a new Carpenter classic unraveling before one's eyes. Well, dream on. Things don't quite ! work out that way, but this is still a film to reckon with. There are a few serious (and surprising) misjudgments on the director's part, particularly a mishandling of Sheryl Lee's role as a prostitute poisoned by the bite of a "master vampire" (who pretty much wiped out Woods's team of goon terminators). But aside from some weaknesses, the action is jolting, the suggested complicity of the Catholic Church in destroying monsters is provocative, and the traces of Howard Hawks's continuing influence on Carpenter's storytelling are in evidence. --Tom Keogh

Ghosts of Mars may not be one of John Carpenter's finer efforts, but you can't knock the veteran director for staying true to his roots--it's clearly a Carpenter film, reveling in its B-movie blood lust, and fueled by the director's rock & roll rebellion as well as the sex appeal of star Natasha Henstridge. This rickety sci-fi/horror hybrid recalls Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, with various! connections from throughout the director's career--for bette! r and wo rse. It's the year 2176, and human colonists on Mars are controlled by a political "matronage," with women (for reasons unexplained) holding court in the capitol city of Chryse. Mars Police Force Lt. Ballard (Henstridge) has been sent to retrieve James "Desolation" Williams (Ice Cube), the planet's most notorious criminal, from a remote mining-colony prison. With her ill-fated crew, Ballard discovers that the colonists have nearly all been possessed by ancient Martian spirits bent on reclaiming the planet, turning them into an army of self-mutilating freaks suggesting an unholy union of Marilyn Manson and the sadomasochistic Cenobites from the Hellraiser films. None of this makes much sense, and the shaky alliance between cops and criminals is a predictable excuse for rampant battle scenes between surviving humans and the ghost-possessed maniacs. Exotic weaponry abounds (along with cheap special effects and some laughable dialogue), resulting in the grue! some dispatch of expendable costars Pam Grier, Joanna Cassidy, Robert Carradine, and Clea Duvall. Driven by Carpenter's synth-metal score, this violent free-for-all has a few brief highlights, but it's suspenseless and ultimately absurd. It's not much, but for loyal fans it's probably enough. --Jeff ShannonJohn Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars reproduction Approx. Size: 11 x 17 Inches - 28cm x 44cm Style A mini poster print

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Filth and Wisdom

The Forgotten Garden: A Novel

  • ISBN13: 9781416550556
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From the #1 internationally bestselling author of The House at Riverton, a novel that takes the reader on an unforgettable journey through generations and across continents as two women try to uncover their family’s secret past

A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She arrives completely alone with nothing but a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a single bookâ€"a beautiful volume of fairy tales. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife and raised as their own. On her twenty-fi rst birthday, they tell her the truth, and with her sense of self shattered and very little to go on, "Nell" s! ets out to trace her real identity. Her quest leads her to Blackhurst Manor on the Cornish coast and the secrets of the doomed Mountrachet family. But it is not until her granddaughter, Cassandra, takes up the search after Nell’s death that all the pieces of the puzzle are assembled. A spellbinding tale of mystery and self-discovery, The Forgotten Garden will take hold of your imagination and never let go.

Amazon Best of the Month, April 2009: Like Frances Hodgson Burnett's beloved classic The Secret Garden, Kate Morton's The Forgotten Garden takes root in your imagination and grows into something enchanting--from a little girl with no memories left alone on a ship to Australia, to a fog-soaked London river bend where orphans comfort themselves with stories of Jack the Ripper, to a Cornish sea heaving against wind-whipped cliffs, crowned by an airless manor house where an overgrown hedge maze ends in the walled garden of a ! cottage left to rot. This hidden bit of earth revives barr! en heart s, while the mysterious Authoress's fairy tales (every bit as magical and sinister as Grimm's) whisper truths and ignite the imaginary lives of children. As Morton draws you through a thicket of secrets that spans generations, her story could cross into fairy tale territory if her characters weren't clothed in such complex flesh, their judgment blurred by the heady stench of emotions (envy, lust, pride, love) that furtively flourished in the glasshouse of Edwardian society. While most ache for a spotless mind's eternal sunshine, the Authoress meets the past as "a cruel mistress with whom we must all learn to dance," and her stories gift children with this vital muscle memory. --Mari Malcolm

Read an excerpt and the reading group guide for The Forgotten Garden.

Amazon Exclusive: A Conversation with Author Kate Morton

Q: The Forgotten Garden has some marvelous parallels with Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden, and Burnett even makes an appearance in your book as a guest at a garden party. Did her book inspire portions of your story?

A: The Secret Garden was one of my favourite books when I was a little girl. Along with stories like The Faraway Tree and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, it's one of many classic childhood tales in which children escape from the adult world to a place in which their imagination is allowed free rein. However, it wasn't my intention to reference The Secret Garden when I first started writing.

In fact, The Forgotten Garden (which was called The Authoress unt! il the final draft!) began with a family story: when she was 2! 1, my grandmother's father told her that she wasn't his biological child. Nana was so deeply affected by this knowledge that she told no one until she was a very old lady and finally confided in her three daughters. When I learned Nana's secret, I was struck by how fragile a person's sense of self is and knew that one day I would write a story about someone who experienced a similar life-changing confession.

When I began to write about Nell, I knew that her mystery was going to lead her to an English cottage, but the other details were hazy. It was while I was auditioning English locations for my book that I came across mention of the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall. My interest was piqued, and I began reading everything I could find about this place: a grand country estate with astounding gardens that had been locked and forgotten after its gardening staff were killed during the first world war and the owners moved away.

When it was! rediscovered in the late 20th century, nature had reclaimed the estate, but the bones of the garden lay deep beneath the overgrowth. This story really fired my imagination and I knew that I'd not only found my location--Cornwall--but that I would also need a forgotten garden in my story!

I was also eager to play with 19th-century gothic conventions in The Forgotten Garden. I adore books like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, and I wanted a gloomy old house, wicked aunts, secretive servants, hidden identities, mysterious whisperings--the lot. But when my garden grew walls, I suddenly remembered The Secret Garden, and with my theme of fairy tales and storytellers and the vital role that such things play in a child's imagination, I couldn't resist introducing parallels (including a walk-on role for Frances Hodgson Burnett). It was a way of referencing my own childhood influences--Enid Blyton and the Famous Five get a! couple of nods throughout, too!--and was a lot of fun.
< a Q: Both The Forgotten Garden and The House at Riverton, your first novel, celebrate the imaginative lives of children, and the role that books and family legends play in inspiring their creative life. Which books fired your imagination as a child? Do you think fairy tales play a role in preparing children for life's harsher realities, and giving them courage? As children spend more time being entertained--by TV and video games--and less time inventing their own entertainments and exploring the natural world, what are we losing?

A: I read voraciously as a child, and the more I write the more I realize that an essential part of my character (and certainly my inner writer) was formed in those early years. Enid Blyton was my first and my favourite (The Faraway Tree, The Enchanted Wood, The Secret Seven), sparking in me a lifetime love of English countryside, dark, creepy woods, an! d hidden mysteries. I also loved Anne of Green Gables, The Railway Children, Roald Dahl, and fairy tales of all description, and had a mighty impressive collection of second-hand Trixie Belden books (collected when my mum, an antique dealer, dragged us to second-hand shops with her).

I agree that fairy tales teach children about life's harsher realities. They are our society's fables and, in their true form, often contain messages that aren't easy to hear. There's something compelling about their simple (sometimes brutal) honesty though, and their heightened style creates a narrative distance that sets them apart from more realistic children's fiction so that the events depicted are understood to be taking place in a world that is not our own. I think we sometimes underestimate the ability of children to recognize and process intelligent concepts, and sort the literal from the fairy tale.

Q:! Both of your first two novels leap between the present and pa! st, with much of the story happening in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, in the lead-up to World War I. What fascinates you about that particular period?

A: The early decades of the 20th century fascinate me because they describe a moment of immense social, political, and cultural transition, and because change ignites conflict (on a large scale, as in the culminating war, but also on a much smaller inter-personal level), which makes it excellent fodder for a writer interested in stories about people. Sociocultural expectations of women and the lower classes were changed indelibly as a consequence of the first world war, so a person who was 18 in 1912 had a markedly different perception of their place in the world as compared to a person who was 18 in 1922.

I'm particularly interested in the way the past is tethered to the present: that is, I like to write about the past insofar as it is a place to which we are still connect! ed in some way. I have a rather gothic insistence on the refusal of the past to remain dead and buried!

The literary gothic (particularly that of the 19th-century novel) is a genre for which I bear a special fondness. I wrote my masters on Tragedy in Victorian Novels and my PhD topic concerns the use of gothic tropes in contemporary fiction. My interest isn't so much in the supernatural aspects of the gothic (apparitions and the like) as much as metaphorical ghosts--the haunting of the present by the past; guilt; memory; identity issues; twins and doubles; the complicated ties of family; anxieties over technology, etc. I think the gothic resonates strongly in our technological time, not least in matters of identity. Computers and the surfacing of social networking sites have changed the way we represent ourselves and interact with other people; medical advances mean we are able to alter our appearances in ways we never could before; we are eve! n beginning to manipulate genes and use science to aid and aff! ect conception. This is all fertile ground for a fiction writer!

Q: Your next novel, The Distant Hours, will be set in World War II England. Can you reveal any other details?

A: Not a lot, I'm afraid--I'm superstitious about speaking too much about my people when their stories are still unfolding!--but here's a little tiny taste: The Distant Hours is set in 1940, during the period in which the English were worried that the Germans might land on the beaches any day. It takes place in a castle in Kent (with a medieval tower and a huge ancient wood!), where the unexpected arrival of a stranger causes ripples in the household that trigger a tragedy....



Friday, January 6, 2012

Dial M for Murder

  • When American writer Mark Halliday visits the very married Margot Wendice in London, he unknowingly sets off a chain of blackmail and murder. After sensing Margot's affections for Halliday, her husband, Tony Wendice, fears divorce and disinheritance, and plots her death. Knowing former school chum Captain Lesgate is involved in illegal activities, Tony blackmails him into conspiring to kill Margot
DIAL M FOR MURDER - DVD MovieA suave tennis player (Ray Milland) plots the perfect murder, the dispatching of his wealthy wife (Grace Kelly), who is having an affair with a writer (Robert Cummings). Amazingly, the wife manages to stave off her attacker, a twist of fate that challenges the hubby's talent for improvisation. Alfred Hitchcock wisely stuck to the stage origins of Dial M for Murder, ignoring the temptation to "open up" the material from the home of the unhappy couple. The result ma! y not be one of Hitchcock's deepest films, but it's a thoroughly engaging chamber movie. It also features Grace Kelly at her loveliest, the same year she made Rear Window with Hitchcock. Dial M for Murder was filmed in the briefly trendy 3-D process, and Hitchcock shot some scenes to bring out the depth of the 3-D field; it's especially good for the nail-biting attempted murder of Kelly, and her desperate reach for a pair of scissors that seems to be just outside her grasp. However, the film was rarely shown with the proper 3-D projection, going out "flat" instead (a 1980 reissue restored the process for a limited theatrical release). Dial M was remade in 1998 as A Perfect Murder, a film that changed and expanded the material, with no improvement on the clean, witty original. --Robert Horton

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

House of Sand and Fog

  • ISBN13: 9780393338119
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The National Book Award finalist, Oprah Book Club pick, #1 New York Times bestseller and basis for the Oscar-nominated motion picture.

A former colonel in the Iranian Air Force yearns to restore his family's dignity. A recovering alcoholic and addict down on her luck struggles to hold on to the one thing she has left. And her lover, a married cop, is driven to extremes to win her love.

In this masterpiece of American realism and Shakespearean consequence, Andre Dubus III's unforgettable charactersâ€"people with ordinary flaws, looking for a small piece of ground to stand onâ€"careen toward inevitable conflict, their tragedy painting a shockingly true pi! cture of the country we live in today.Oprah Book Club® Selection, November 2000: Andre Dubus III wastes no time in capturing the dark side of the immigrant experience in America at the end of the 20th century. House of Sand and Fog opens with a highway crew composed of several nationalities picking up litter on a hot California summer day. Massoud Amir Behrani, a former colonel in the Iranian military under the Shah, reflects on his job-search efforts since arriving in the U.S. four years before: "I have spent hundreds of dollars copying my credentials; I have worn my French suits and my Italian shoes to hand-deliver my qualifications; I have waited and then called back after the correct waiting time; but there is nothing." The father of two, Behrani has spent most of the money he brought with him from Iran on an apartment and furnishings that are too expensive, desperately trying to keep up appearances in order to enhance his daughter's chance! s of making a good marriage. Now the daughter is married, and ! on impu lse he sinks his remaining funds into a house he buys at auction, thus unwittingly putting himself and his family on a trajectory to disaster. The house, it seems, once belonged to Kathy Nicolo, a self-destructive alcoholic who wants it back. What starts out as a legal tussle soon escalates into a personal confrontation--with dire results.

Dubus tells his tragic tale from the viewpoints of the two main adversaries, Behrani and Kathy. To both of them, the house represents something more than just a place to live. For the colonel, it is a foot in the door of the American dream; for Kathy, a reminder of a kinder, gentler past. In prose that is simple yet evocative, House of Sand and Fog builds to its inevitable denouement, one that is painfully dark but unfailingly honest. --Alix Wilber

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