Rejection is never easy. But some authors can't separate themselves from their work, and take rejection letters very personally. I get many emails from disgruntled writers who can't get past their anger to figure out why their work was turned down in the first place. So before you spend hours sticking pins in your editor voodoo doll, see if you recognize yourself below:
The complaint: "Editors practice age discrimination. I'm over 50 and editors believe only young authors can write for children."
The truth: Editors are interested in finding good books, period. It doesn't matter how old the author is. Take a look at the lists of award winners (ask your librarian, or do an Internet search for Caldecott or Newbery Awards) and note the ages of the authors. Many didn't start writing until their kids were in school full time, or took up writing as a second career. Editors also know that the best stories come from years of life experience, and older writers have more to draw from. Yes, occasionally a book written by a teenager will make the news, but more often than not it's the novelty of the author's age that gets the publicity, not the quality of the writing. And why does the editor know your age in the first place? There's no reason to mention it in your cover or query letter, unless it has direct bearing on the story. If you're writing historical fiction and you actually lived through the events in the plot, or your nonfiction book is based on years of study in the subject, then your age is a plus.
The complaint: "I'm a man, and editors think only women can write children's books."
The truth: Sorry guys, but this one's a little ridiculous. Again, look at that list of award winners. Men are well-represented. Glance through the names of editors in Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market published by Writer's Digest Books. Lots of men there too. The only time your gender might be an issue is with the readers themselves. For example, teenage boys might not buy a science fiction/adventure story written by a woman, or middle grade girls may think a man can't possibly pen a series featuring four adolescent girls at summer camp. They're wrong, but you can always use your first initial instead of your name to fool your audience.
The complaint: "They're just wrong about my writing! All editors want these days are famous names, not quality books."
The truth: Yes, many editors (especially those at larger houses) have to be concerned with making money for the publisher, and so rely on a certain number of established authors each year to pay the bills. But they also know they need to find new writers, because those standbys aren't going to be writing forever.
Sometimes it's almost impossible to interpret a rejection letter, and one or two form rejections does not mean you're a failure. Editors are people too, with personal tastes and the need to balance each list by subject matter and age group. However, several rejections in a row deserve a closer look. Are you submitting to appropriate publishers, who actually publish the kind of book you've written? Have any of the houses on your list recently published a book very similar to yours? Is your manuscript riddled with typos or grammatical errors? Even though a copy editor will fix these before the book's published, sloppy presentation can give an editor reason to reject a manuscript when she's got 50 others sitting on her desk waiting for her attention.
In most cases, though, it's the writing that gets the manuscript rejected. And since it's the editor's job to recognize good writing and help those authors make their books even better, there is a chance (admit it!) that the rejection is deserved. How can you tell? First of all, if you get personal comments about your manuscript in the rejection letter, take those to heart. Play devil's advocate and assume the editor's right, and see if those changes improve the work. Secondly, get objective input. Join a writer's group, get a professional manuscript critique, or pay for a personal critique session at a writer's conference (most Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators workshops--www.scbwi.org--have optional one-on-one critiques). Take writing classes, read books on writing. Do whatever you can to learn how to judge your work and make it better.
The complaint: "Publishers aren't interested in publishing books that will help kids."
The truth: Whoa! If children's book publishers didn't produce books that benefit kids, they'd go out of business in a heartbeat. Of course, we can all walk into a book store and find books that aren't worth the paper they're printed on, but that's true of any product. (Have you ever bought a T-shirt that disintegrated in the first wash, or a DVD player that self-destructed in a week?) I'm not saying that's a good thing, but our society seems to tolerate a certain amount of drivel in the marketplace. However, all publishers prefer commercially-appealing books that also have substance. This complaint consistently comes from writers whose goal is to "help kids," or teach them how to grow into solid, caring citizens through their books. This is admirable and even desirable, but very often the message is heavy-handed and preachy. The message smothers the story, and the book ends up sounded like a lecture. It's simply not good writing. Try reading several popular books wit h a message embedded in the plot (ask a teacher or librarian for recommendations) and work on the writing-improvement suggestions above.
The complaint: "I'm disabled/poor/have had a hard life and want to share my story, but no one will listen."
The truth: I imagine it's difficult for an editor to reject a manuscript that comes from someone who has struggled with adversity and is still determined to follow their lifelong dream of becoming a published author. The tough circumstances themselves don't work against the writer (very often they contribute to powerful stories) but an author's unique situation cannot outweigh less-than-stellar writing. What's on the page is what matters the most. If your story is too personal (it's about your life as an adult, or you haven't extracted the universal feelings and crafted them into a story that will be relevant to a wide audience), the book simply won't sell in the children's market. Again, learn what makes a quality children's book and get objective feedback on your manuscript. Remember, no one owes you a publishing credit just because you took the time to write a book. Writing is hard work, and requires self-education, practice, and persistence. There's no shame in p utting aside a manuscript that simply won't sell and writing something new. Every published author has a drawer full of those, and enough rejection letters to wallpaper an office. So join the club? it's worth the price of membership.
Article Tags: book, books, writing
|
school books Products we recommend
3" H Brushed Silver Monogram Letters - Letter "Q"
3" H Brushed Silver Monogram Letters - Letter "Q"
All 26 English Letters (capitals only) and "&" symbol available. Monograms can be created using different letter sizes if desired. These Brushed Silver Monogram Letters can also be used to personalize other decorations. Add to centerpieces, buffet tables, guest book tables, wherever... a perfect way to create a "signature" look.
Brisingr (Inheritance, Book 3)
Brisingr (Inheritance, Book 3)
Angela Lansbury's Positive Moves: A Personal Plan for Fitness and Well-Being at any Age
Angela Lansbury's Positive Moves: A Personal Plan for Fitness and Well-Being at any Age
VHS Tape! VHS Tape! VHS Tape!
Customer Review: Angela Lansbury's Positive Moves
Angela's tape is a joy to watch and listen to.
And even better if you actually do what she says!!!!
IH
school books in the news
Spencer's The Truth About Muhammad "banned, effectively, by the PC luvvies who infest the print media in Australia"
Thu, 16 Nov 2006 03:12:16 GMT
… books on sale about Mohammad of Mecca and Islam. Some of them are shamelessly hagiographical, but this book is shamelessly critical. It is therefore banned, effectively, by the PC luvvies …
Fort Collins Councilman Talks to Veterans
Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:21:00 GMT
Darryl Worley's song "Have You Forgotten?" blared from the corner of Colfax and Broadway in downtown Denver where a crowd adorning red, white and blue gathered to show support for the troops in Iraq and ...
Montgomery County: Statewide reading program kicks off with 'A Hope in the Unseen'
Sun, 24 Aug 2008 03:00:00 GMT
Montgomery County Public Libraries will participate in the first One Maryland One Book Reading Program designed to encourage the shared experience of reading and discussing the same pre-selected book.
rent audio books
Labels: real estate book | new books | memory books
A school books Artilce for Your ViewingWriting Children's Books: No More Excuses!
| |
Writing Children's Books: No More Excuses! | | Submitted By: Laura Backes | | | | |
|
Rejection is never easy. But some authors can't separate themselves from their work, and take rejection letters very personally. I get many emails from disgruntled writers who can't get past their anger to figure out why their work was turned down in the first place. So before you spend hours sticking pins in your editor voodoo doll, see if you recognize yourself below:
The complaint: "Editors practice age discrimination. I'm over 50 and editors believe only young authors can write for children."
The truth: Editors are interested in finding good books, period. It doesn't matter how old the author is. Take a look at the lists of award winners (ask your librarian, or do an Internet search for Caldecott or Newbery Awards) and note the ages of the authors. Many didn't start writing until their kids were in school full time, or took up writing as a second career. Editors also know that the best stories come from years of life experience, and older writers have more to draw from. Yes, occasionally a book written by a teenager will make the news, but more often than not it's the novelty of the author's age that gets the publicity, not the quality of the writing. And why does the editor know your age in the first place? There's no reason to mention it in your cover or query letter, unless it has direct bearing on the story. If you're writing historical fiction and you actually lived through the events in the plot, or your nonfiction book is based on years of study in the subject, then your age is a plus.
The complaint: "I'm a man, and editors think only women can write children's books."
The truth: Sorry guys, but this one's a little ridiculous. Again, look at that list of award winners. Men are well-represented. Glance through the names of editors in Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market published by Writer's Digest Books. Lots of men there too. The only time your gender might be an issue is with the readers themselves. For example, teenage boys might not buy a science fiction/adventure story written by a woman, or middle grade girls may think a man can't possibly pen a series featuring four adolescent girls at summer camp. They're wrong, but you can always use your first initial instead of your name to fool your audience.
The complaint: "They're just wrong about my writing! All editors want these days are famous names, not quality books."
The truth: Yes, many editors (especially those at larger houses) have to be concerned with making money for the publisher, and so rely on a certain number of established authors each year to pay the bills. But they also know they need to find new writers, because those standbys aren't going to be writing forever.
Sometimes it's almost impossible to interpret a rejection letter, and one or two form rejections does not mean you're a failure. Editors are people too, with personal tastes and the need to balance each list by subject matter and age group. However, several rejections in a row deserve a closer look. Are you submitting to appropriate publishers, who actually publish the kind of book you've written? Have any of the houses on your list recently published a book very similar to yours? Is your manuscript riddled with typos or grammatical errors? Even though a copy editor will fix these before the book's published, sloppy presentation can give an editor reason to reject a manuscript when she's got 50 others sitting on her desk waiting for her attention.
In most cases, though, it's the writing that gets the manuscript rejected. And since it's the editor's job to recognize good writing and help those authors make their books even better, there is a chance (admit it!) that the rejection is deserved. How can you tell? First of all, if you get personal comments about your manuscript in the rejection letter, take those to heart. Play devil's advocate and assume the editor's right, and see if those changes improve the work. Secondly, get objective input. Join a writer's group, get a professional manuscript critique, or pay for a personal critique session at a writer's conference (most Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators workshops--www.scbwi.org--have optional one-on-one critiques). Take writing classes, read books on writing. Do whatever you can to learn how to judge your work and make it better.
The complaint: "Publishers aren't interested in publishing books that will help kids."
The truth: Whoa! If children's book publishers didn't produce books that benefit kids, they'd go out of business in a heartbeat. Of course, we can all walk into a book store and find books that aren't worth the paper they're printed on, but that's true of any product. (Have you ever bought a T-shirt that disintegrated in the first wash, or a DVD player that self-destructed in a week?) I'm not saying that's a good thing, but our society seems to tolerate a certain amount of drivel in the marketplace. However, all publishers prefer commercially-appealing books that also have substance. This complaint consistently comes from writers whose goal is to "help kids," or teach them how to grow into solid, caring citizens through their books. This is admirable and even desirable, but very often the message is heavy-handed and preachy. The message smothers the story, and the book ends up sounded like a lecture. It's simply not good writing. Try reading several popular books wit h a message embedded in the plot (ask a teacher or librarian for recommendations) and work on the writing-improvement suggestions above.
The complaint: "I'm disabled/poor/have had a hard life and want to share my story, but no one will listen."
The truth: I imagine it's difficult for an editor to reject a manuscript that comes from someone who has struggled with adversity and is still determined to follow their lifelong dream of becoming a published author. The tough circumstances themselves don't work against the writer (very often they contribute to powerful stories) but an author's unique situation cannot outweigh less-than-stellar writing. What's on the page is what matters the most. If your story is too personal (it's about your life as an adult, or you haven't extracted the universal feelings and crafted them into a story that will be relevant to a wide audience), the book simply won't sell in the children's market. Again, learn what makes a quality children's book and get objective feedback on your manuscript. Remember, no one owes you a publishing credit just because you took the time to write a book. Writing is hard work, and requires self-education, practice, and persistence. There's no shame in p utting aside a manuscript that simply won't sell and writing something new. Every published author has a drawer full of those, and enough rejection letters to wallpaper an office. So join the club? it's worth the price of membership.
Article Tags: book, books, writing
|
school books Products we recommend
3" H Brushed Silver Monogram Letters - Letter "Q"
3" H Brushed Silver Monogram Letters - Letter "Q"
All 26 English Letters (capitals only) and "&" symbol available. Monograms can be created using different letter sizes if desired. These Brushed Silver Monogram Letters can also be used to personalize other decorations. Add to centerpieces, buffet tables, guest book tables, wherever... a perfect way to create a "signature" look.
Brisingr (Inheritance, Book 3)
Brisingr (Inheritance, Book 3)
Angela Lansbury's Positive Moves: A Personal Plan for Fitness and Well-Being at any Age
Angela Lansbury's Positive Moves: A Personal Plan for Fitness and Well-Being at any Age
VHS Tape! VHS Tape! VHS Tape!
Customer Review: Angela Lansbury's Positive Moves
Angela's tape is a joy to watch and listen to.
And even better if you actually do what she says!!!!
IH
school books in the news
Spencer's The Truth About Muhammad "banned, effectively, by the PC luvvies who infest the print media in Australia"
Thu, 16 Nov 2006 03:12:16 GMT
… books on sale about Mohammad of Mecca and Islam. Some of them are shamelessly hagiographical, but this book is shamelessly critical. It is therefore banned, effectively, by the PC luvvies …
Fort Collins Councilman Talks to Veterans
Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:21:00 GMT
Darryl Worley's song "Have You Forgotten?" blared from the corner of Colfax and Broadway in downtown Denver where a crowd adorning red, white and blue gathered to show support for the troops in Iraq and ...
Montgomery County: Statewide reading program kicks off with 'A Hope in the Unseen'
Sun, 24 Aug 2008 03:00:00 GMT
Montgomery County Public Libraries will participate in the first One Maryland One Book Reading Program designed to encourage the shared experience of reading and discussing the same pre-selected book.
rent audio books
Labels: real estate book | new books | memory books
So what is your verdict on this composition on amazon books? Are there anymore unanswered questions about amazon books in your mind?
A amazon books Artilce for Your ViewingChild Audio Books
Do you have to do a very long trip by car with kids ? One of the main questions you should be asking yourself is : How will we entertain them during most of the duration of the journey ? Child Audio Books can be an excellent answer for that. They can be a perfect way to spend time as they can make your children develop their imagination being very happy. In addition, listening to a different voice, that they don't know, can be useful to get the children attention. The age of the children is not an issue. There are different categories of child audio books, for very little ones, for not so little and also for teenagers. Perhaps you can play a child audio book for the youngest in the car's radio and let the older ones listen to another one in a portable MP3 player. Titles like Bob the Builder, Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are titles that can be played to the little ones, under ten year old. And perhaps for older ones, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, or the Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Maybe you can join the children and also listen your favourite audio book, too ! The duration of most child audio books is over forty minutes, so with a few of them you can keep your children attention during most of the trip, and letting them spend a very good time. And not less important : Let you spend a good and peaceful journey.
amazon books Items For Viewing
The Easi-Reader Bookstand
The Easi-Reader Bookstand
Holds reading material in a comfortable position for hands-free reading. Made of chrome-plated steel, this item folds away easily for storage.
Customer Review: Great for hardbacks, textbooks
Very simple and cheap, but not much is needed from a book stand. Some reviewers complain that it doesn't hold paperbacks, but one can easily see from looking at it that it wouldn't be good for that, so I didn't knock it.
I use this stand to hold my textbooks up while I'm reading and taking notes, which is really nice to keep from having to hunch over a book to read it flat on a table. Also it allows the book to take up less desk space, which is nice when reading and using a computer at the same time. Since it's light and collapsable, it's also very useful to take along to classes and have the same benefits in the classroom as well.
Customer Review: Grandmom says, Wonderful gadget!
This stand proved to be better that I expected. It holds large, heavy (read coffee table) books easily and is so portable as to be a pleasure. Folds very thin and can slip in the smallest tote or brief case. Also great for the morning paper (don't want to gump up your paper while you're buttering your bagel!); but if you are only a paperback reader, I'd give this one a pass. For the price, what's not to like!
Mazda MX-5 Miata, 1990-1997 (Haynes Manuals)
Mazda MX-5 Miata, 1990-1997 (Haynes Manuals)
Manuals for the Do-it-yourselfer. All Haynes manuals explain how to carry out routine maintenance, restoration and servicing of cars and motorcycles, and are aimed primarily at the Do-it-yourselfer
Customer Review: mazda mx5, 90-97 (Hyayes Manuals)
Generally good but missing some basic instructions on removing some parts before completing the desired task.
Customer Review: Only as a last resort!
This book was purchased along with other "I just bought a used car" items (plugs, belts, you know the routine) at the parts store. Because I'd had good experience with Haynes manuals before, it seemed like a Good Idea At The Time.
If I'd known then what I know now... If Haynes was interested in releasing repair manuals for Miatae, they would've released two for the NA (1990 - 1997) series, because the 1990-93 was a 1.6L engine and the 1994-97 was 1.8L. There are enough differences between the engines to merit two different volumes, and Haynes doesn't do a great job of pointing out the differences between the two. The illustration about spark plug firing order, to name one example, is awkward enough to make you set your tools down and ponder before proceeding. Information in a repair manual should be succinct, not confusing. If you want good reference material for your Miata (why else would you be reading this?), use the following resources BEFORE cracking open the Haynes:
- www . miata . net - specifically, the FAQ and garage sections.
- Mazda's shop manual for your specific year, available from many online vendors. This is invaluable and will pay for itself over time.
- Rod Grainger's "Enthusiast's Manual" by for your flavor, 1.6L or 1.8L, also available from many online vendors (including Amazon.com!).
- Your local Miata club, also found at www . miata . net I'm not affiliated with any person, company, product, or web site I've mentioned in this review. I'm just one Miata enthusiast trying to help others.
The Rabbit Corkscrew
The Rabbit Corkscrew
Bid crumbling corks adieu. Award-winning design meets everyday convenience with this fast-as-lightning yet incredibly smooth-pulling corkscrew. Metrokane's Rabbit corkscrew opens any size wine bottle in just three seconds, and then automatically releases the cork. Features a user-friendly ergonomic design. Also includes a foil cutter. Handsomely packaged in a convenient storage case. Ten-year warranty.
Customer Review: How to use the Metrokane Rabbit
From a design standpoint, this is a very good product. But the documentation is pathetic, and was clearly never tested with new / real users. There is no explanation of how it's supposed to work. That understanding is very helpful: with it, you'll never have trouble, and will marvel at the clever design. Let's get started.
Have a bottle of wine handy on which you've already used the supplied (and very good) little foil cutter to remove the foil over the cork.
Take the unit in your hand and look at the movable parts. The overhead lever that swings outward / downward and then is reversed / brought back over the top - moves the spiral corkscrew up and down. To see this, operate the overhead lever with one hand while holding the clamping "side handles" with the other. When you move the overhead handle the corkscrew rotates.
Why is the corkscrew turning? Because it's forced to do that as it goes through a "guide" (the metal collar with gray plastic center). The gray plastic piece has an internal spiral track that forces the corkscrew to rotate as it passes through.
Here's the critical point: as long as the guide mechanism is locked in place and can't move up or down, the guide forces the corkscrew to rotate when going through.
What if this guide were locked in place on the `down-stroke,' but could move vertically on the `up-stroke'? Then the guide would force the corkscrew to rotate on the way down (so the corkscrew would penetrate the cork), but the guide would stay attached to (and _not_ rotate) the corkscrew on the way up - thus pulling the cork.
When the unit is operated correctly this is exactly what happens. But how?
Look more closely: Before using the Rabbit's `side-handles' to hold the wine bottle neck, the guide is locked in place by two protruding spring-loaded latches and can't move vertically. Try it: it won't budge. (You can actually see these small latches projecting over the top of the guide and keeping it from moving - by looking in the area above and to the far rear of the guide, near the smooth rod.)
On the other hand, when the clamping handles are squeezed onto the neck of a bottle, these latches above the guide _retract_, releasing their hold on the guide so it can move upward.
Do this now: Take your bottle of wine and, with the overhead lever rotated to its fully outward / downward position, place the guide directly over the cork and grip the neck of the bottle _firmly_ with the clamping side handles.
Look at the latches described above: they have retracted, and no longer restrain the guide from moving upward. This has no effect during the down-stroke / cork penetration phase, since the guide is already as low as it can go. Because the guide can't move, it forces the corkscrew to rotate when you operate the overhead lever - thus penetrating the cork. Perform this down-stroke.
Now watch what happens when the overhead lever is pulled back to withdraw the cork (while you at the same time continue to grip the bottle neck firmly with the side levers). Because the guide can now move vertically with the corkscrew, it imposes no rotation on the corkscrew. The corkscrew stays inside the cork as the overhead lever is moved outward / downward, and the cork is extracted. Do it. You now have the cork out of the bottle, suspended above the bottle neck, and are still gripping the side handles around the bottle neck.
Release your hold on the side handles and move the Rabbit away from the bottle. The cork is still attached to the corkscrew. Re-grip the side handles with one hand and once again operate the overhead lever, bringing it all the way back to its fully closed position again (as if you were on the original down-stroke into the cork).
As you get to the very end of the stroke, you will feel resistance and will hear a click: the latches have snapped back into place over the top of the guide, locking it in place. The guide is once again `captured' - and cannot move vertically. The cork is still attached to the corkscrew.
Finally, move the overhead lever back yet again to its fully open position (as if pulling the cork from the bottle). This time the latches _don't_ retract (because you're not using the side handles to grip the bottle neck) - so the latches again keep the guide from moving, and this forces the corkscrew to rotate `in reverse' as it passes upward through the guide. The corkscrew backs out of the cork and the cork drops off. It takes all of a few seconds once you get the hang of it.
Understanding the operating principles should help. None of this is well explained (or, indeed, explained at all) in the almost non-existent documentation.
Steve Ferris
Customer Review: Directrions?
Great packaging and well built. It works fine and as advertised but the directions are less than adaquate. Even a mechanical minded-friend had to fool around with it before he got it to work and could show me. I've always been a dunce at this kind of stuff.
Pasta Pro Pots with FREE Cheese Grater and Recipe Book
Pasta Pro Pots with FREE Cheese Grater and Recipe Book
Mama Mia! Pasta Pro Pots drain your noodles with no "oops!" FREE BONUS! Covered 2-qt. and 6-qt. Potplus Cheese Grater. Ever had half your spaghetti go down the drain? Then Pasta Pro is for you. The unique locking lid makes draining water or grease a snap. And the non-stick coating makes clean up just as easy. You get 2-qt. and 6-qt. Pots, both with covers AND a FREE Cheese Grater and Recipe Book. Brush up on your Italian, order ONLINE today! !!! Limited Quantities !!! Pasta Pro Pots with FREE Cheese Grater and Recipe Book.
Customer Review: Good Idea BUT. . .
This is a good idea but you can only get a few uses out of it before the non-stick coating starts coming off in the cooking/washing. It's also too light weight, not constructed well and flimsy. The lid locking design is hit or miss at best. Stay far away from this one.
Customer Review: Pasta Pot
These pasta pots are great because they are two products in one. First you cook the food in the pot and then drain off the water through the holes in the lid. Great for saving space in the kitchen. They are handy for camping trips and are easy to use.
3" H Brushed Silver Monogram Letters - Letter "K"
3" H Brushed Silver Monogram Letters - Letter "K"
All 26 English Letters (capitals only) and "&" symbol available. Monograms can be created using different letter sizes if desired. These Brushed Silver Monogram Letters can also be used to personalize other decorations. Add to centerpieces, buffet tables, guest book tables, wherever... a perfect way to create a "signature" look.
Headlines on amazon booksAFP - Rare J.K. Rowling book goes on display in TokyoThu, 03 Jul 2008 07:00:00 GMT
July 3, 2008 -- TOKYO (AFP) — Online bookseller Amazon on Thursday gave Japanese fans a glimpse of J.K. Rowling's first book since the phenomenally successful...
Two books, two styles, one target: Obama (AP via Yahoo! News)Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:07:29 GMT
Two hot-selling conservative books slam Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama: one using discredited rumors and allegations about his patriotism and personal life; the other claiming his public record doesn't match his image as a new style politician.
Se Sex and the City crea un bestsellerFri, 15 Aug 2008 03:32:10 -0700
Era prevedibile. Non c’è niente da stupirsi se, negli ultimi mesi, il libro delle “Lettere d’amore degli uomini illustri” diventerà, anche in Italia, un best seller. Il titolo non vi dice niente? Vuol dire che non avete visto il film Sex and the city, e quella scena in Carrie ne legge un brano a mr Big. Poco male. Poco male se non vi piace Sex and the city. Poco male da dove nasca la voglia di un libro. La cosa curiosa è che le copie residue di questo libro sono state prese d’assalto già su
piano books
Labels: black books | design books | science book
A amazon books Artilce for Your ViewingChild Audio Books
Do you have to do a very long trip by car with kids ? One of the main questions you should be asking yourself is : How will we entertain them during most of the duration of the journey ? Child Audio Books can be an excellent answer for that. They can be a perfect way to spend time as they can make your children develop their imagination being very happy. In addition, listening to a different voice, that they don't know, can be useful to get the children attention. The age of the children is not an issue. There are different categories of child audio books, for very little ones, for not so little and also for teenagers. Perhaps you can play a child audio book for the youngest in the car's radio and let the older ones listen to another one in a portable MP3 player. Titles like Bob the Builder, Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are titles that can be played to the little ones, under ten year old. And perhaps for older ones, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, or the Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Maybe you can join the children and also listen your favourite audio book, too ! The duration of most child audio books is over forty minutes, so with a few of them you can keep your children attention during most of the trip, and letting them spend a very good time. And not less important : Let you spend a good and peaceful journey.
amazon books Items For Viewing
The Easi-Reader Bookstand
The Easi-Reader Bookstand
Holds reading material in a comfortable position for hands-free reading. Made of chrome-plated steel, this item folds away easily for storage.
Customer Review: Great for hardbacks, textbooks
Very simple and cheap, but not much is needed from a book stand. Some reviewers complain that it doesn't hold paperbacks, but one can easily see from looking at it that it wouldn't be good for that, so I didn't knock it.
I use this stand to hold my textbooks up while I'm reading and taking notes, which is really nice to keep from having to hunch over a book to read it flat on a table. Also it allows the book to take up less desk space, which is nice when reading and using a computer at the same time. Since it's light and collapsable, it's also very useful to take along to classes and have the same benefits in the classroom as well.
Customer Review: Grandmom says, Wonderful gadget!
This stand proved to be better that I expected. It holds large, heavy (read coffee table) books easily and is so portable as to be a pleasure. Folds very thin and can slip in the smallest tote or brief case. Also great for the morning paper (don't want to gump up your paper while you're buttering your bagel!); but if you are only a paperback reader, I'd give this one a pass. For the price, what's not to like!
Mazda MX-5 Miata, 1990-1997 (Haynes Manuals)
Mazda MX-5 Miata, 1990-1997 (Haynes Manuals)
Manuals for the Do-it-yourselfer. All Haynes manuals explain how to carry out routine maintenance, restoration and servicing of cars and motorcycles, and are aimed primarily at the Do-it-yourselfer
Customer Review: mazda mx5, 90-97 (Hyayes Manuals)
Generally good but missing some basic instructions on removing some parts before completing the desired task.
Customer Review: Only as a last resort!
This book was purchased along with other "I just bought a used car" items (plugs, belts, you know the routine) at the parts store. Because I'd had good experience with Haynes manuals before, it seemed like a Good Idea At The Time. If I'd known then what I know now... If Haynes was interested in releasing repair manuals for Miatae, they would've released two for the NA (1990 - 1997) series, because the 1990-93 was a 1.6L engine and the 1994-97 was 1.8L. There are enough differences between the engines to merit two different volumes, and Haynes doesn't do a great job of pointing out the differences between the two. The illustration about spark plug firing order, to name one example, is awkward enough to make you set your tools down and ponder before proceeding. Information in a repair manual should be succinct, not confusing. If you want good reference material for your Miata (why else would you be reading this?), use the following resources BEFORE cracking open the Haynes:
- www . miata . net - specifically, the FAQ and garage sections.
- Mazda's shop manual for your specific year, available from many online vendors. This is invaluable and will pay for itself over time.
- Rod Grainger's "Enthusiast's Manual" by for your flavor, 1.6L or 1.8L, also available from many online vendors (including Amazon.com!).
- Your local Miata club, also found at www . miata . net I'm not affiliated with any person, company, product, or web site I've mentioned in this review. I'm just one Miata enthusiast trying to help others.
The Rabbit Corkscrew
The Rabbit Corkscrew
Bid crumbling corks adieu. Award-winning design meets everyday convenience with this fast-as-lightning yet incredibly smooth-pulling corkscrew. Metrokane's Rabbit corkscrew opens any size wine bottle in just three seconds, and then automatically releases the cork. Features a user-friendly ergonomic design. Also includes a foil cutter. Handsomely packaged in a convenient storage case. Ten-year warranty.
Customer Review: How to use the Metrokane Rabbit
From a design standpoint, this is a very good product. But the documentation is pathetic, and was clearly never tested with new / real users. There is no explanation of how it's supposed to work. That understanding is very helpful: with it, you'll never have trouble, and will marvel at the clever design. Let's get started.
Have a bottle of wine handy on which you've already used the supplied (and very good) little foil cutter to remove the foil over the cork.
Take the unit in your hand and look at the movable parts. The overhead lever that swings outward / downward and then is reversed / brought back over the top - moves the spiral corkscrew up and down. To see this, operate the overhead lever with one hand while holding the clamping "side handles" with the other. When you move the overhead handle the corkscrew rotates.
Why is the corkscrew turning? Because it's forced to do that as it goes through a "guide" (the metal collar with gray plastic center). The gray plastic piece has an internal spiral track that forces the corkscrew to rotate as it passes through.
Here's the critical point: as long as the guide mechanism is locked in place and can't move up or down, the guide forces the corkscrew to rotate when going through.
What if this guide were locked in place on the `down-stroke,' but could move vertically on the `up-stroke'? Then the guide would force the corkscrew to rotate on the way down (so the corkscrew would penetrate the cork), but the guide would stay attached to (and _not_ rotate) the corkscrew on the way up - thus pulling the cork.
When the unit is operated correctly this is exactly what happens. But how?
Look more closely: Before using the Rabbit's `side-handles' to hold the wine bottle neck, the guide is locked in place by two protruding spring-loaded latches and can't move vertically. Try it: it won't budge. (You can actually see these small latches projecting over the top of the guide and keeping it from moving - by looking in the area above and to the far rear of the guide, near the smooth rod.)
On the other hand, when the clamping handles are squeezed onto the neck of a bottle, these latches above the guide _retract_, releasing their hold on the guide so it can move upward.
Do this now: Take your bottle of wine and, with the overhead lever rotated to its fully outward / downward position, place the guide directly over the cork and grip the neck of the bottle _firmly_ with the clamping side handles.
Look at the latches described above: they have retracted, and no longer restrain the guide from moving upward. This has no effect during the down-stroke / cork penetration phase, since the guide is already as low as it can go. Because the guide can't move, it forces the corkscrew to rotate when you operate the overhead lever - thus penetrating the cork. Perform this down-stroke.
Now watch what happens when the overhead lever is pulled back to withdraw the cork (while you at the same time continue to grip the bottle neck firmly with the side levers). Because the guide can now move vertically with the corkscrew, it imposes no rotation on the corkscrew. The corkscrew stays inside the cork as the overhead lever is moved outward / downward, and the cork is extracted. Do it. You now have the cork out of the bottle, suspended above the bottle neck, and are still gripping the side handles around the bottle neck.
Release your hold on the side handles and move the Rabbit away from the bottle. The cork is still attached to the corkscrew. Re-grip the side handles with one hand and once again operate the overhead lever, bringing it all the way back to its fully closed position again (as if you were on the original down-stroke into the cork).
As you get to the very end of the stroke, you will feel resistance and will hear a click: the latches have snapped back into place over the top of the guide, locking it in place. The guide is once again `captured' - and cannot move vertically. The cork is still attached to the corkscrew.
Finally, move the overhead lever back yet again to its fully open position (as if pulling the cork from the bottle). This time the latches _don't_ retract (because you're not using the side handles to grip the bottle neck) - so the latches again keep the guide from moving, and this forces the corkscrew to rotate `in reverse' as it passes upward through the guide. The corkscrew backs out of the cork and the cork drops off. It takes all of a few seconds once you get the hang of it.
Understanding the operating principles should help. None of this is well explained (or, indeed, explained at all) in the almost non-existent documentation.
Steve Ferris
Customer Review: Directrions?
Great packaging and well built. It works fine and as advertised but the directions are less than adaquate. Even a mechanical minded-friend had to fool around with it before he got it to work and could show me. I've always been a dunce at this kind of stuff.
Pasta Pro Pots with FREE Cheese Grater and Recipe Book
Pasta Pro Pots with FREE Cheese Grater and Recipe Book
Mama Mia! Pasta Pro Pots drain your noodles with no "oops!" FREE BONUS! Covered 2-qt. and 6-qt. Potplus Cheese Grater. Ever had half your spaghetti go down the drain? Then Pasta Pro is for you. The unique locking lid makes draining water or grease a snap. And the non-stick coating makes clean up just as easy. You get 2-qt. and 6-qt. Pots, both with covers AND a FREE Cheese Grater and Recipe Book. Brush up on your Italian, order ONLINE today! !!! Limited Quantities !!! Pasta Pro Pots with FREE Cheese Grater and Recipe Book.
Customer Review: Good Idea BUT. . .
This is a good idea but you can only get a few uses out of it before the non-stick coating starts coming off in the cooking/washing. It's also too light weight, not constructed well and flimsy. The lid locking design is hit or miss at best. Stay far away from this one.
Customer Review: Pasta Pot
These pasta pots are great because they are two products in one. First you cook the food in the pot and then drain off the water through the holes in the lid. Great for saving space in the kitchen. They are handy for camping trips and are easy to use.
3" H Brushed Silver Monogram Letters - Letter "K"
3" H Brushed Silver Monogram Letters - Letter "K"
All 26 English Letters (capitals only) and "&" symbol available. Monograms can be created using different letter sizes if desired. These Brushed Silver Monogram Letters can also be used to personalize other decorations. Add to centerpieces, buffet tables, guest book tables, wherever... a perfect way to create a "signature" look.
Headlines on amazon booksAFP - Rare J.K. Rowling book goes on display in TokyoThu, 03 Jul 2008 07:00:00 GMT
July 3, 2008 -- TOKYO (AFP) — Online bookseller Amazon on Thursday gave Japanese fans a glimpse of J.K. Rowling's first book since the phenomenally successful...
Two books, two styles, one target: Obama (AP via Yahoo! News)Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:07:29 GMT
Two hot-selling conservative books slam Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama: one using discredited rumors and allegations about his patriotism and personal life; the other claiming his public record doesn't match his image as a new style politician.
Se Sex and the City crea un bestsellerFri, 15 Aug 2008 03:32:10 -0700
Era prevedibile. Non c’è niente da stupirsi se, negli ultimi mesi, il libro delle “Lettere d’amore degli uomini illustri” diventerà, anche in Italia, un best seller. Il titolo non vi dice niente? Vuol dire che non avete visto il film Sex and the city, e quella scena in Carrie ne legge un brano a mr Big. Poco male. Poco male se non vi piace Sex and the city. Poco male da dove nasca la voglia di un libro. La cosa curiosa è che le copie residue di questo libro sono state prese d’assalto già su
piano books
Labels: black books | design books | science book
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Beowulf (Unrated Director's Cut)
Spectacular animated action scenes turn the ancient epic poem Beowulf into a modern fantasy movie, while motion-capture technology transforms plump actor Ray Winstone (Sexy Beast) into a burly Nordic warrior. When a Danish kingdom is threatened by the monster Grendel (voiced and physicalized by Crispin Glover, River's Edge), Beowulf--lured by the promise of heroic glory--comes to rescue them. He succeeds, but falls prey to the seductive power of Grendel's mother, played by Angelina Jolie... and as Jolie's pneumatically animated form rises from an underground lagoon with demon-claw high heels, it becomes clear that we're leaving the original epic far, far behind. Regrettably, the motion-capture process has made only modest improvements since The Polar Express; while the characters' eyes no longer look so flat and zombie-like, their faces remain inexpressive and movements are still wooden. As a result, the most effective sequences feature wildly animated battles and the most vivid character is Grendel, whose grotesqueness ends up making him far more sympathetic than any of the mannequin-like human beings. The meant-to-be-titillating images of a naked Jolie resemble an inflatable doll more than a living, breathing woman (or succubus, as the case may be). But the fights--particularly Grendel's initial assault on the celebration hut--pop with lushly animated gore and violence. Also featuring the CGI-muffled talents of Anthony Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs), Robin Wright Penn (The Princess Bride), and John Malkovich (Dangerous Liaisons). --Bret Fetzer
Customer Review: Beouwulf
Have not watched it yet, so I can really pass on my take on the movie. I heard lots of good things about the movie from others and wanted to own it.
Customer Review: Flawed in the Re-telling
There are many good things in this movie: The actual characters from the Epic, the basic setting, the intense violence, Grendel, even Grendel's mother. However, and I admit that I am biased here,I just don't think you can re-write a mythic tale that has survived for 1000 years to satisfy a modern director's idea of a good plot.
This movie is not Beowulf, it is a movie based upon the Beowulf epic. As such, it changes the central theme of the actual epic: The war between heaven hell being fought on earth as a struggle between good and evil, man and monster. I suppose that modern ideas of heroism can not accept the mythic heroism of the epic, but I feel that those very ideas are what make the original epic a truly great story.
Taking those elements out make this movie a morality tale about a false hero reaching redemption at last. The movie reflects the cynicism of the modern era I suppose, but it loses the epic qualities of the original poem.
Jersey Boys (2005 Original Broadway Cast Recording)
Jersey Boys (2005 Original Broadway Cast Recording)
Recounting the rich history and reliving the timeless sounds of the phenomenal Frankie Vallie & The 4 Seasons, the new Broadway musical Jersey Boys answers the musical-and philosophical question, "How did four would-be wise guys from Newark, NJ, become one of the greatest chart-topping successes in pop music history?" Jersey Boys celebrates legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito, and Nick Massi who, as the 4 seasons, wrote their own songs, invented their own identity, and sold 175 million records worldwide-all before they were 30.
Customer Review: Awesome
If you loved the show, you will love this CD! Great music with clips from the Broadway production.
Customer Review: Great CD
I Loved the Jersey Boys Play. Saw it twice!!! Would see it again. The singing is awesome and the CD is just as great!
The Other Boleyn Girl
The Other Boleyn Girl
"Two sisters competing for the greatest prize: the love of a king When Mary Boleyn comes to court as an innocent girl of fourteen, she catches the eye of Henry VIII. Dazzled by the king, Mary falls in love with both her golden prince and her growing role as unofficial queen. However, she soon realizes just how much she is a pawn in her family's ambitious plots as the king's interest begins to wane and she is forced to step aside for her best friend and rival: her sister, Anne. Then Mary knows that she must defy her family and her king, and take her fate into her own hands. A rich and compelling tale of love, sex, ambition, and intrigue, The Other Boleyn Girl introduces a woman of extraordinary determination and desire who lived at the heart of the most exciting and glamorous court in Europe and survived by following her own heart. "
Customer Review: fascinating book
This was a terrific book! It grips you in the first chapter and doesn't let go! I am not a person who is all that much into reading period pieces but this was just an intriguing story that was well written.
I really enjoyed this book alot. Warning: this book will consume you! I found myself up reading until 2 am on many nights without even realizing it...
Customer Review: Tudor Harlequin Romance
I did not begin reading this novel expecting anything other than an easy weekend read, but was more disappointed than I could have imagined. An educated reader knows that in historical fiction, real characters are blended with fictional ones, and events are created or recreated to advance the plot. If the plot and writing are good, then the reader may suspend the facts momentarily for the sake of the work. In this novel, however, the historical inaccuracy and writing are so far-fetched as to cause the reader to pause frequently, thus interrupting the flow of the story.
If the book is about Mary (older sister, younger sister - historians in dispute), we are not given a very accurate picture of her true nature. There are established facts about Mary, such as that she was considered loose and had affairs with several men (including King Francis I of France, who called her "a great whore, the most infamous of all") which led to her dismissal from the French court. She was not the simpering dolt portrayed in the book.
The other interuption for me was the language. In places the dialogue represented the crisp, well-versed language one would expect of courtiers, while in others I felt like I was overhearing 21st century teenagers at the mall. One pet peeve of mine is the overuse of a word or phrase throughout a work. I feel that the writer simply could not bother to think of other descriptors or was unable to. For example, Gregory uses the word 'sulk' (not a bad word if used a time or two) and every other variant of the verb...'sulky' (adj - not very good word choice), and the worst...'sulkily' (adv. - I wasn't even sure these last two were real words - they are- but she uses this adverb form over and over. I actually wanted to go back and count how many times she used it.) Another instance of questionable usage was "D'you?" This was always used in dialogue, and I don't know if it was intended to be the recreation of a commonly used diction of the time. If it is not, it doesn't seem to fit in with the otherwise learned, courtly, formal speech used in every other case. In actual speech the pronunciation of "D'you" is probably much the same as "Do you." No where else is diction implied, so this contraction seems unnecessary and anachronistic.
At best the reading of this novel may inspire readers to become more informed about the Tudor period and the actual historical effects of the events in the book, which reduces the history to a mere backdrop for the unseemly behavior of a greedy and two-dimensional family. There are some excellent websites devoted to this period. You may find the portraits of the actual participants quite interesting as well.
Worse books have, of course, been written. For that reason only, perhaps this one deserves two stars - one and a half. Judging by sales, many people like Harlequin Romances. This book is probably a fair success on that level.
Unfortunately, I can't recommend this book as anything other than a Harlequin Romance, complete with heaving bosoms, soap-opera dialogue, and predictable, static characters.
New York Giants - Super Bowl XLII Champions - Commemorative Paperback Book
New York Giants - Super Bowl XLII Champions - Commemorative Paperback Book
Relive the greatest moments of Super Bowl XLII with this beautiful new commemorative book, capturing the action and pageantry of the New England Patriots and New York Giants title clash. It's the perfect addition to your sports library and for display in your home or office. This 128 page softcover book is filled with quality color photography and highlights of the Patriots Undefeated Season. Officially licensed by the NFL.
Customer Review: Great Story and a Poster Too!
The Giants may not have been perfect during the regular season but they were in the playoffs with one exciting win after another, each being more spectacular than the previous one! The Patriots came into the game forgetting the one big rule in most team sports that great defense will always beat a great offense!
The Giants grew as a team during the season and learned from each game. Having lost to Dallas, Green Bay and New England, they made adjustments to compensate for those loses and as rookie players began to shine, the Giants morphed into a team of destiny winning the most exciting Super Bowl ever! A must have for any Giants fan.
Comanche Moon
Comanche Moon
Texas Rangers Woodrow Call and Augustus McCrae pursue three outlaws, Comanche war chief Buffalo Hump, Comanche horse thief Kicking Wolf and a Mexican bandit king. Now in their middle years, they also struggle with their personal lives, Gus with Clara Forsythe, the love of his life, and Call with Maggie Tilton, the young prostitute who loves him. Meanwhile their partners-in-arms Deets, Jake Spoon and Pea Eye Parker help the Rangers protect the advancing western frontier from the defiant Comanches who are determined to defend their land and way of life. Prequel to Lonesome Dove, and based upon the novel by Larry McMurty.
Customer Review: A Bad western movie!
The acting and dialogue are bad. The file is slow and boring. The are no "fighting scenes" in the whole movies. What I mean is that in all those scenes, only one side was shooting at the other for a couple of minutes. Then it ended.
Save your money on this.
Customer Review: Excellent
If you love the Lonesome Dove series from Dead Man's Walk, Lonesome Dove, "Return to Lonesome Dove," and Streets of Laredo and then Lonsome Dove the series and The Outlaw years. Then your going to love Comance Moon. Now all we need is a better
Closure to Newt's life as a final chapter. If you don't understand this, start to watch from the biggining to the missing end.
Comic Life Deluxe: Comic Strip, Comic Book Creator (Mac)
Comic Life Deluxe: Comic Strip, Comic Book Creator (Mac)
Comic Life Deluxe gives you numerous ways to explore your creativity. With a comprehensive set of features, Comic Life makes it easy to liven up holiday snaps, tell a story&even create how-to guides. Lettering nowfaster and glitch-free Custom page sizes, normalized image filtering and zoom to fit images
Customer Review: Comic Life: Computer program for Macs
HIGHLY reccomended
I use this every year with my special needs class, they make comic books with it.
The kids still have to draw their own stuff, and you scan it in.
LOVE the program so much and so do my students!
Customer Review: Wonderful software for Kids or Adults
I have used this software on a Mac for several years but I understand it is now available for Windows users as well. This is a great value and offers a creative outlet for all types of projects. I have made photo pages for a scrap book, a comic birth announcement, and more. Not-for-profit institutions can purchase a "Site" license for all their computers for only $500 from the company (direct buy. Our local school district purchased that license for some 5,000 computers or .10 cents per machine. Many student with "writing problems" have enjoyed this software to write simple reports.
Easy to use and ties into your iPhoto library for Mac users.
Western Digital My Book Home Edition External Hard Drive - 320 GB, USB 2.0, FireWire 400, eSATA (WDH1CS3200)
Western Digital My Book Home Edition External Hard Drive - 320 GB, USB 2.0, FireWire 400, eSATA (WDH1CS3200)
E-SATA - USB 2.0 and Firewire 400 Interface
Customer Review: The Software IS Included!
Just fyi, but the software is included with this device. You need to enter the software key that is printed on a lable and stuck to the "installation guide". If you do that, the backup software shifts from being a "trial version" to a fully licensed and functional version. Thus far, it seems to work well.
Customer Review: Can't speak for the software, but the hardware is great!
Apart from making my other portable hard drives look rather frumpy, I have no complaints about this hard drive. It turned itself on when I first plugged it in and autoran the installer for the software that is included. I deleted the stuff, so I can't say whether it was good or not, but it was bundled software, so you can probably guess. Regardless, all I needed was more space to store my stuff, and the fact that it sits there all black and sleek and pulses with light in the front makes it good eye-candy, too. It's a portable hard drive, it works, it's cheap, and it's sexy. I win!
Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning
Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning
“Fascists,” “Brownshirts,” “jackbooted stormtroopers”—such are the insults typically hurled at conservatives by their liberal opponents. Calling someone a fascist is the fastest way to shut them up, defining their views as beyond the political pale. But who are the real fascists in our midst?
Liberal Fascism offers a startling new perspective on the theories and practices that define fascist politics. Replacing conveniently manufactured myths with surprising and enlightening research, Jonah Goldberg reminds us that the original fascists were really on the left, and that liberals from Woodrow Wilson to FDR to Hillary Clinton have advocated policies and principles remarkably similar to those of Hitler's National Socialism and Mussolini's Fascism.
Contrary to what most people think, the Nazis were ardent socialists (hence the term “National socialism”). They believed in free health care and guaranteed jobs. They confiscated inherited wealth and spent vast sums on public education. They purged the church from public policy, promoted a new form of pagan spirituality, and inserted the authority of the state into every nook and cranny of daily life. The Nazis declared war on smoking, supported abortion, euthanasia, and gun control. They loathed the free market, provided generous pensions for the elderly, and maintained a strict racial quota system in their universities—where campus speech codes were all the rage. The Nazis led the world in organic farming and alternative medicine. Hitler was a strict vegetarian, and Himmler was an animal rights activist.
Do these striking parallels mean that today’s liberals are genocidal maniacs, intent on conquering the world and imposing a new racial order? Not at all. Yet it is hard to deny that modern progressivism and classical fascism shared the same intellectual roots. We often forget, for example, that Mussolini and Hitler had many admirers in the United States. W.E.B. Du Bois was inspired by Hitler's Germany, and Irving Berlin praised Mussolini in song. Many fascist tenets were espoused by American progressives like John Dewey and Woodrow Wilson, and FDR incorporated fascist policies in the New Deal.
Fascism was an international movement that appeared in different forms in different countries, depending on the vagaries of national culture and temperament. In Germany, fascism appeared as genocidal racist nationalism. In America, it took a “friendlier,” more liberal form. The modern heirs of this “friendly fascist” tradition include the New York Times, the Democratic Party, the Ivy League professoriate, and the liberals of Hollywood. The quintessential Liberal Fascist isn't an SS storm trooper; it is a female grade school teacher with an education degree from Brown or Swarthmore.
These assertions may sound strange to modern ears, but that is because we have forgotten what fascism is. In this angry, funny, smart, contentious book, Jonah Goldberg turns our preconceptions inside out and shows us the true meaning of Liberal Fascism.
Customer Review: Enough is Enough!!!!
I'M AM SICK & TIRED OF THE RIGHT VILLIFING EVERY LIBERAL! WE WERE'NT THE ONE'S THAT LEAKED A CIA AGENTS NAME, WE WERE'NT THE ONES THAT LIED GETING INTO THE WAR, & GETTING OUR TROOPS KILLED, WE WERE'NT THE ONE THAT TURNED OUR BACK ON KATRINA VICTUMS & VETS AT WALTER REED, & WE WERE'NT THE ONES THAT BULLIED 911 WIDOWS. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Customer Review: American Fascism: Progressives, Woodrow Wilson, FDR and Useful Historical Idiots
"History is written by the winners." So goes the discipline-denigrating cliché. A more accurate observation, as Jonah Goldberg's new book, Liberal Fascism, suggests, is that history is written by historians--and especially, in recent decades, by academics whose biases predispose them to serve as useful idiots for Joseph Stalin's defunct propaganda ministry. Though Goldberg's well-researched book doesn't focus minute attention on the culpability of leftist historians, it does provide convenient targets (Richard Hofstadter and William Shirer) who might be blamed for abetting the greatest intellectual ruse of the twentieth century--the absurd designation of fascism as an ideology of the political right.
Anyone looking for Coulteresque theater in Goldberg's work (the product of four years' labor) will be disappointed. The book isn't meant to toss "f-bombs" at liberals the way liberals regularly toss that seven-letter epithet at conservatives. Indeed, Goldberg reiterates again and again that he doesn't employ the word "fascism" as a synonym for Nazism, racism, or "evil." Rather, he uses the term to label a method of governing that expressed itself differently in different countries. Given that caveat, anyone who chooses to read this engrossing analysis of the origins of fascism will likely be rewarded with a paradigm-shifting experience that puts the history of the twentieth century in a new light--a history that places Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt in the same political neighborhood as Benito Mussolini.
The story of fascism, Goldberg notes, begins with the "holistic" philosophy of Jean Jacques Rousseau and his revolutionary progeny--men whose boundless conception of national communion (via a general will) led to the odd idea that dissidents would be "forced to be free"--a fate more benign than the guillotine that "freed" enemies of the state from error during the French Reign of Terror. Hegel's philosophy, where the state incarnates God's work in history, provides another piece of the ancestral puzzle, while Nietzsche's romantic and relativistic "will to power" adds a third leg to fascism's Continental heritage. A fourth progenitor was Otto von Bismarck, whose comprehensive welfare package for the new German Empire provided Western intellectuals with a top-down model of social policy that they yearned to replicate.
These historical connections aren't exceptionally novel, but the American branches of fascism's genealogical tree are unexpected--limbs that include the pragmatic philosophers William James and John Dewey as well as political writers like Henry George (Progress and Poverty), Edward Bellamy (Looking Backward), and Herbert Croly (The Promise of American Life). Drawing on these and other sources, Goldberg not only shows that European fascism is a product of the political left, he also argues persuasively that America's version of that system is rooted in the Progressive movement and was first given national expression in the war socialism of Woodrow Wilson.
Not surprisingly, Goldberg's first two chapters are devoted to Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. But contrary to the impression given by pop-history, Mussolini isn't relegated to the status of an absurd fifth wheel. Instead, Il Duce's role as the "Father of Fascism" is clearly laid out. The portrait of his rise to power in 1922--more than a decade before Hitler became Chancellor of Germany--is the story of an intellectual whose communist sympathies were developed from infancy. (Even his given names, Benito Amilcare Andrea, conjured up leftist heroes from the past.) Those socialist sentiments remained with Mussolini to the day of his death--alongside his obsession with sexual conquest and his contempt for Christianity.
As Goldberg notes, Mussolini's state-centered, anti-capitalist rhetoric could only be declared "right-wing" by ideologues who were fighting over the same political bone. In other words, it was the internecine struggle between fascists and communists that gave birth to the longstanding practice of separating the terms "fascist" and "socialist." This linguistic divorce was mandated by Stalin to stigmatize the socialist heresy Mussolini promoted in light of his comrades' nationalistic response to World War I.
Goldberg also emphasizes that fascism itself varied from nation to nation. Most significantly, the Jew-hatred that characterized Hitler's regime wasn't integral to Italian Fascism--a movement that included a disproportionate number of Jews. Indeed, Mussolini scoffed at the Aryan myth that animated German Nazism, preferring for his part to play the role of a latter-day Caesar who was destined to resurrect Rome's ancient greatness.
The most unexpected part of Goldberg's Mussolini portrait is the way the Italian leader was hailed in American Progressive circles (e.g. in issues of Herbert Croly's New Republic) and in American pop-culture. Even as late as 1934, Cole Porter's song, "You're the Top," exhibited this adulatory attitude toward the Italian idol. Only after Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in 1935 did this admiration begin to wane. Significantly, the American President that Mussolini praised effusively in 1919, three years before his march on Rome, was Woodrow Wilson.
As far as Hitler's left-wing credentials are concerned, Goldberg's discussion of the Nazi Party Platform does a good job of demonstrating that the word "socialist" in National Socialist wasn't mere window dressing. After summarizing that ambitious document, Goldberg offers this sarcastic conclusion:
"Ah, yes. Those anti-elitist, stock-market-abolishing, child-labor-ending, public-health-promoting, wealth-confiscating, draft-ending, secularist right-wingers!"
Analysis of the groups from which Nazism drew its support also shows that corporations weren't (as Moscow insisted) pulling strings behind the scene. Rather, Nazism emerged as a populist movement that was so cash-strapped Hitler frequently rode to rallies "in the back of an old pickup." As the historian Henry Ashby Turner concludes, corporate funding of the Nazi party was "at best" of "marginal significance." Were it not for decades of leftist disinformation, that conclusion would have been a foregone conclusion, given the virulently anti-capitalist language of Mein Kampf--language Hitler still employed in 1941. In short, Goldberg provides extensive evidence that Hitler's political program was just as "right-wing" as the politics of Leon Trotsky--whom Stalin also labeled a "fascist."
It is one thing to assert that fascism is a product of the political left--one of the "heresies of socialism" according to Harvard Professor Richard Pipes. It is something else to argue that fascism has its own American expression that grew out of the Progressive political tradition and that "Woodrow Wilson was the twentieth century's first fascist dictator." That, however, is precisely the proposition put forward in Goldberg's third chapter: Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of Liberal Fascism.
To bolster this hypothesis, Goldberg highlights connections between the intellectual milieu that fostered fascism in Europe and the milieu that begat American Progressivism. Henry George's Progress and Poverty, for example, was received enthusiastically in Europe where it helped to shape populist and socialist economic theory. Similarly, Edward Bellamy's utopian vision in Looking Backward (where a single municipal umbrella would one day shield all Bostonians from the rain) drew inspiration from Bismarck's top-down political example in Germany. These and other "holistic" visions of society fed into an American Progressive movement whose moral energy was derived largely from legions of Social Gospelers. As Goldberg notes, the party's 1912 presidential convention was described in the New York Times as a "convention of fanatics" and "religious enthusiasts." This fusion of social reform and religious fervor is central to what Goldberg calls "liberal fascism."
On the philosophical side of the ledger, American Progressivism looked to William James, John Dewey, and Charles Darwin. The former duo provided a relativistic and pragmatic outlook that coincided nicely with bold social experimentation. Dewey, in particular, advocated an "organic" Darwinian approach to society that consigned American individualism to the dustbin of evolutionary history. Darwinism also brought to the Progressive project a focus on racist genetics that (alongside the movement's militant imperialism) subsequent historians have been eager to forget. Furthermore, the polite moral relativism of James and Dewey echoed the unequivocal relativism expressed by Nietzsche (whose philosophy, according to H. L. Mencken, Theodore Roosevelt had swallowed whole). Finally, the attachment of elite progressives to Hegel's political philosophy (Goldberg notes that Woodrow Wilson "even invoked Hegel in a love letter to his wife.") reinforced the idea that society is an organic whole and that reformers are, quite literally, God's instruments on earth.
Woodrow Wilson is the unexpected villain of Liberal Fascism. Based on a review of his academic writings, Goldberg demonstrates that Wilson was a devotee of power--power utilized according to the pragmatic lights of John Dewey. Consequently, the twenty-eighth president denigrated, with the confidence of a divinely anointed leader, those constitutional provisions that limited his ability to mold the nation into a healthy organism that worked for the good of all. This "evolutionary" vision of history provided the intellectual justification for that modern legal theory that dissolves all governmental boundaries--the living Constitution. It also paved the way for an approach to education that transferred the locus of pedagogical authority from parents to the state. In Professor Wilson's words: "Our problem is not merely to help the students to adjust themselves to world life...[but] to make them as unlike their fathers as we can."
World War I gave President Wilson the crisis he needed to implement the top-down vision of social coordination he had written about for decades. Government instruments employed in this massive effort (whose only near precedent was Lincoln's response to the Civil War) included the War Industries Board, a vigorous and widespread propaganda ministry, and a justice department that, Goldberg notes, presided over the arrest and jailing of more dissidents than Mussolini incarcerated during the entire 1920s. From censorship, to price-fixing, to Palmer raids, to patriotic nursery rhymes designed for toddlers, mobilization gave Wilson's government unprecedented access to and control over people's lives. This whipping of individualistic Americans into collective shape was cheered by progressives like Walter Lippmann who saw in the war an opportunity to bring about a Nietzschean "transvaluation of values as radical as anything in the history of intellect." No wonder Warren Harding won the presidency in 1920 with a campaign that promised a return to "normalcy."
With the advent of the Great Depression, Progressives were given an opportunity to reprise the coordination achieved under Wilson's war socialism. The British journalist Alistair Cooke doubtless turned many heads when, in the 1970s, he announced on his popular PBS history series that America under FDR "flirted with National Socialism." Goldberg argues that the amorous relationship was a good deal more intimate--a relationship fanned by the populist hot air that emanated from Father Coughlin and Senator Huey Long and consummated by many of the individuals that ran Wilson's war agencies. A prime example of these fascist retreads was Hugh "Iron Pants" Johnson, whose "sock in the nose" style at the National Recovery Administration doubtless drew positive reviews from one of FDR's early admirers, Benito Mussolini. Even Germany's new Fuhrer had words of praise for the government-business partnerships that typified Roosevelt's New Deal.
The expansion of government under Franklin Roosevelt is well known. What isn't acknowledged in polite historical circles, as Goldberg notes, is how "the fascist flavor of the New Deal was not only regularly discussed" but even "cited in Roosevelt's favor." Why this inconvenient fact was dropped down the historical memory hole is clear. Leftist historians had no desire to link the paragon of modern "liberalism" with "right-wing" fascism. Stated more honestly, they didn't want to acknowledge that fascism was a left- wing philosophy and expose the ongoing historical ruse that kept conservatives (i.e. classical liberals) off balance.
The remainder of Goldberg's book (more than half) discusses progressivism's third wave of influence on American life in the 1960s and explains how its fascist traits have been incorporated into modern "liberalism." While not as narrowly focused as his first four chapters, these materials do give further definition to the concept of "liberal fascism"--a phrase coined in 1932 by H. G. Wells to promote an ambitious "liberal" variant of Europe's burgeoning political system.
Among the concepts that Goldberg identifies as integral to sixties radicalism are these: the romantic embrace of youthful impulsiveness and sexuality, the denigration of reason and tradition, the extension of politics into all areas of life, the exaltation of identity politics (initially in terms of race and gender), and the justification of violence committed by revolutionaries intent on creating a mythical heaven on earth (e.g. the Black Panthers). All these themes, Goldberg notes, have significant corollaries in the fascist regimes of Italy and Germany.
What separates these 60s street radicals from Great Society and contemporary progressives, however, is the smothering maternalism that characterizes the latter groups. Today's "liberal fascists," unlike their European and turn-of-the-century American forebears, promote a religion of the state that is non-militaristic. As such, it resembles Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, not George Orwell's 1984. No better example of this smothering maternalism exists than Hillary Clinton's magnum opus, It Takes A Village--a mythical world where helpful government programs cover the social landscape and where repetitive video messages inculcate useful parenting tips "any place where people gather and have to wait."
Another Goldberg chapter, Liberal Racism: The Eugenic Ghost in the Fascist Machine, shows how "eugenics lay at the heart of the progressive enterprise"--an assertion backed by historian Edwin Black, who noted that the eugenic crusade was "created in the publications and academic research rooms of the Carnegie Institution, verified by the research grants of the Rockefeller Foundation, validated by leading scholars from the best Ivy League universities, and financed by the special efforts of the Harriman railroad fortune." This embarrassing skeleton in the Progressive closet is compared with the implicit pro-abortion subtext in the best-selling book, Freakonomics--namely, "fewer blacks, less crime."
Regrettably, Goldberg's final chapter, The New Age: We're All Fascists Now, begins to treat fascist traits so eclectically that the precision and focus of earlier chapters is lost. Looking for fascist themes in Dirty Harry and Whole Foods Market is a bit like searching for grandmother's features in little Ricky's newborn mug. One is bound to find something, but isolated traits don't amount to a close likeness. A similar critique applies to Goldberg's afterword, The Tempting of Conservatism, where playing (perhaps badly) at the only governmental game in town seems to be confused with religious devotion to the political Weltanschauung exhibited in It Takes A Village.
Despite these end-of-book drawbacks, Goldberg has produced a popular book of rare historical depth and quality--a book that promises to scrap those ridiculous history-class charts that put democracy midway between "socialism" on the left and "fascism" on the right, then justify their totalitarian extremes by bending the linear ends into a globe where left and right magically "meet."
An old Soviet joke asserted that loyal comrades know the future; it's only the past that keeps changing. With Goldberg's assistance, Americans can begin to rewrite their own political history, this time putting the "fascist" label where it belongs. That single alteration would be a momentous accomplishment--one that would make the architects of democracy's future more sure-handed.
Review by Richard Kirk
Richard Kirk is a freelance writer and a regular columnist for San Diego's North County Times. His book reviews have appeared in American Spectator Online, Touchstone, The American Enterprise, and First Things. See his blog, Richard Kirk on Ethics: Musing With A Hammer.
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Interview: Daniel Arenson, Fantasy AuthorSun, 17 Aug 2008 12:31:39 GMT
Reprinted from The Website of Joan Reeves, August 2008, . Here's the information you need in order to ask your local library to order his book if it hasn't already done so or for you to purchase it from your ...
Medford murder case subject of upcoming bookSun, 17 Aug 2008 11:49:40 GMT
Chilling stuff in this morning's Medford Mail Tribune, which recounts the murders 24 years ago of Bill and Linda Gilley and their daughter Becky at the hands of their son, Billy Frank Gilley Jr.
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Beowulf (Unrated Director's Cut)
Spectacular animated action scenes turn the ancient epic poem Beowulf into a modern fantasy movie, while motion-capture technology transforms plump actor Ray Winstone (Sexy Beast) into a burly Nordic warrior. When a Danish kingdom is threatened by the monster Grendel (voiced and physicalized by Crispin Glover, River's Edge), Beowulf--lured by the promise of heroic glory--comes to rescue them. He succeeds, but falls prey to the seductive power of Grendel's mother, played by Angelina Jolie... and as Jolie's pneumatically animated form rises from an underground lagoon with demon-claw high heels, it becomes clear that we're leaving the original epic far, far behind. Regrettably, the motion-capture process has made only modest improvements since The Polar Express; while the characters' eyes no longer look so flat and zombie-like, their faces remain inexpressive and movements are still wooden. As a result, the most effective sequences feature wildly animated battles and the most vivid character is Grendel, whose grotesqueness ends up making him far more sympathetic than any of the mannequin-like human beings. The meant-to-be-titillating images of a naked Jolie resemble an inflatable doll more than a living, breathing woman (or succubus, as the case may be). But the fights--particularly Grendel's initial assault on the celebration hut--pop with lushly animated gore and violence. Also featuring the CGI-muffled talents of Anthony Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs), Robin Wright Penn (The Princess Bride), and John Malkovich (Dangerous Liaisons). --Bret Fetzer
Customer Review: Beouwulf
Have not watched it yet, so I can really pass on my take on the movie. I heard lots of good things about the movie from others and wanted to own it.
Customer Review: Flawed in the Re-telling
There are many good things in this movie: The actual characters from the Epic, the basic setting, the intense violence, Grendel, even Grendel's mother. However, and I admit that I am biased here,I just don't think you can re-write a mythic tale that has survived for 1000 years to satisfy a modern director's idea of a good plot.
This movie is not Beowulf, it is a movie based upon the Beowulf epic. As such, it changes the central theme of the actual epic: The war between heaven hell being fought on earth as a struggle between good and evil, man and monster. I suppose that modern ideas of heroism can not accept the mythic heroism of the epic, but I feel that those very ideas are what make the original epic a truly great story.
Taking those elements out make this movie a morality tale about a false hero reaching redemption at last. The movie reflects the cynicism of the modern era I suppose, but it loses the epic qualities of the original poem.
Jersey Boys (2005 Original Broadway Cast Recording)
Jersey Boys (2005 Original Broadway Cast Recording)
Recounting the rich history and reliving the timeless sounds of the phenomenal Frankie Vallie & The 4 Seasons, the new Broadway musical Jersey Boys answers the musical-and philosophical question, "How did four would-be wise guys from Newark, NJ, become one of the greatest chart-topping successes in pop music history?" Jersey Boys celebrates legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito, and Nick Massi who, as the 4 seasons, wrote their own songs, invented their own identity, and sold 175 million records worldwide-all before they were 30.
Customer Review: Awesome
If you loved the show, you will love this CD! Great music with clips from the Broadway production.
Customer Review: Great CD
I Loved the Jersey Boys Play. Saw it twice!!! Would see it again. The singing is awesome and the CD is just as great!
The Other Boleyn Girl
The Other Boleyn Girl
"Two sisters competing for the greatest prize: the love of a king When Mary Boleyn comes to court as an innocent girl of fourteen, she catches the eye of Henry VIII. Dazzled by the king, Mary falls in love with both her golden prince and her growing role as unofficial queen. However, she soon realizes just how much she is a pawn in her family's ambitious plots as the king's interest begins to wane and she is forced to step aside for her best friend and rival: her sister, Anne. Then Mary knows that she must defy her family and her king, and take her fate into her own hands. A rich and compelling tale of love, sex, ambition, and intrigue, The Other Boleyn Girl introduces a woman of extraordinary determination and desire who lived at the heart of the most exciting and glamorous court in Europe and survived by following her own heart. "
Customer Review: fascinating book
This was a terrific book! It grips you in the first chapter and doesn't let go! I am not a person who is all that much into reading period pieces but this was just an intriguing story that was well written.
I really enjoyed this book alot. Warning: this book will consume you! I found myself up reading until 2 am on many nights without even realizing it...
Customer Review: Tudor Harlequin Romance
I did not begin reading this novel expecting anything other than an easy weekend read, but was more disappointed than I could have imagined. An educated reader knows that in historical fiction, real characters are blended with fictional ones, and events are created or recreated to advance the plot. If the plot and writing are good, then the reader may suspend the facts momentarily for the sake of the work. In this novel, however, the historical inaccuracy and writing are so far-fetched as to cause the reader to pause frequently, thus interrupting the flow of the story.
If the book is about Mary (older sister, younger sister - historians in dispute), we are not given a very accurate picture of her true nature. There are established facts about Mary, such as that she was considered loose and had affairs with several men (including King Francis I of France, who called her "a great whore, the most infamous of all") which led to her dismissal from the French court. She was not the simpering dolt portrayed in the book.
The other interuption for me was the language. In places the dialogue represented the crisp, well-versed language one would expect of courtiers, while in others I felt like I was overhearing 21st century teenagers at the mall. One pet peeve of mine is the overuse of a word or phrase throughout a work. I feel that the writer simply could not bother to think of other descriptors or was unable to. For example, Gregory uses the word 'sulk' (not a bad word if used a time or two) and every other variant of the verb...'sulky' (adj - not very good word choice), and the worst...'sulkily' (adv. - I wasn't even sure these last two were real words - they are- but she uses this adverb form over and over. I actually wanted to go back and count how many times she used it.) Another instance of questionable usage was "D'you?" This was always used in dialogue, and I don't know if it was intended to be the recreation of a commonly used diction of the time. If it is not, it doesn't seem to fit in with the otherwise learned, courtly, formal speech used in every other case. In actual speech the pronunciation of "D'you" is probably much the same as "Do you." No where else is diction implied, so this contraction seems unnecessary and anachronistic.
At best the reading of this novel may inspire readers to become more informed about the Tudor period and the actual historical effects of the events in the book, which reduces the history to a mere backdrop for the unseemly behavior of a greedy and two-dimensional family. There are some excellent websites devoted to this period. You may find the portraits of the actual participants quite interesting as well.
Worse books have, of course, been written. For that reason only, perhaps this one deserves two stars - one and a half. Judging by sales, many people like Harlequin Romances. This book is probably a fair success on that level.
Unfortunately, I can't recommend this book as anything other than a Harlequin Romance, complete with heaving bosoms, soap-opera dialogue, and predictable, static characters.
New York Giants - Super Bowl XLII Champions - Commemorative Paperback Book
New York Giants - Super Bowl XLII Champions - Commemorative Paperback Book
Relive the greatest moments of Super Bowl XLII with this beautiful new commemorative book, capturing the action and pageantry of the New England Patriots and New York Giants title clash. It's the perfect addition to your sports library and for display in your home or office. This 128 page softcover book is filled with quality color photography and highlights of the Patriots Undefeated Season. Officially licensed by the NFL.
Customer Review: Great Story and a Poster Too!
The Giants may not have been perfect during the regular season but they were in the playoffs with one exciting win after another, each being more spectacular than the previous one! The Patriots came into the game forgetting the one big rule in most team sports that great defense will always beat a great offense!
The Giants grew as a team during the season and learned from each game. Having lost to Dallas, Green Bay and New England, they made adjustments to compensate for those loses and as rookie players began to shine, the Giants morphed into a team of destiny winning the most exciting Super Bowl ever! A must have for any Giants fan.
Comanche Moon
Comanche Moon
Texas Rangers Woodrow Call and Augustus McCrae pursue three outlaws, Comanche war chief Buffalo Hump, Comanche horse thief Kicking Wolf and a Mexican bandit king. Now in their middle years, they also struggle with their personal lives, Gus with Clara Forsythe, the love of his life, and Call with Maggie Tilton, the young prostitute who loves him. Meanwhile their partners-in-arms Deets, Jake Spoon and Pea Eye Parker help the Rangers protect the advancing western frontier from the defiant Comanches who are determined to defend their land and way of life. Prequel to Lonesome Dove, and based upon the novel by Larry McMurty.
Customer Review: A Bad western movie!
The acting and dialogue are bad. The file is slow and boring. The are no "fighting scenes" in the whole movies. What I mean is that in all those scenes, only one side was shooting at the other for a couple of minutes. Then it ended.
Save your money on this.
Customer Review: Excellent
If you love the Lonesome Dove series from Dead Man's Walk, Lonesome Dove, "Return to Lonesome Dove," and Streets of Laredo and then Lonsome Dove the series and The Outlaw years. Then your going to love Comance Moon. Now all we need is a better
Closure to Newt's life as a final chapter. If you don't understand this, start to watch from the biggining to the missing end.
Comic Life Deluxe: Comic Strip, Comic Book Creator (Mac)
Comic Life Deluxe: Comic Strip, Comic Book Creator (Mac)
Comic Life Deluxe gives you numerous ways to explore your creativity. With a comprehensive set of features, Comic Life makes it easy to liven up holiday snaps, tell a story&even create how-to guides. Lettering nowfaster and glitch-free Custom page sizes, normalized image filtering and zoom to fit images
Customer Review: Comic Life: Computer program for Macs
HIGHLY reccomended
I use this every year with my special needs class, they make comic books with it.
The kids still have to draw their own stuff, and you scan it in.
LOVE the program so much and so do my students!
Customer Review: Wonderful software for Kids or Adults
I have used this software on a Mac for several years but I understand it is now available for Windows users as well. This is a great value and offers a creative outlet for all types of projects. I have made photo pages for a scrap book, a comic birth announcement, and more. Not-for-profit institutions can purchase a "Site" license for all their computers for only $500 from the company (direct buy. Our local school district purchased that license for some 5,000 computers or .10 cents per machine. Many student with "writing problems" have enjoyed this software to write simple reports.
Easy to use and ties into your iPhoto library for Mac users.
Western Digital My Book Home Edition External Hard Drive - 320 GB, USB 2.0, FireWire 400, eSATA (WDH1CS3200)
Western Digital My Book Home Edition External Hard Drive - 320 GB, USB 2.0, FireWire 400, eSATA (WDH1CS3200)
E-SATA - USB 2.0 and Firewire 400 Interface
Customer Review: The Software IS Included!
Just fyi, but the software is included with this device. You need to enter the software key that is printed on a lable and stuck to the "installation guide". If you do that, the backup software shifts from being a "trial version" to a fully licensed and functional version. Thus far, it seems to work well.
Customer Review: Can't speak for the software, but the hardware is great!
Apart from making my other portable hard drives look rather frumpy, I have no complaints about this hard drive. It turned itself on when I first plugged it in and autoran the installer for the software that is included. I deleted the stuff, so I can't say whether it was good or not, but it was bundled software, so you can probably guess. Regardless, all I needed was more space to store my stuff, and the fact that it sits there all black and sleek and pulses with light in the front makes it good eye-candy, too. It's a portable hard drive, it works, it's cheap, and it's sexy. I win!
Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning
Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning
“Fascists,” “Brownshirts,” “jackbooted stormtroopers”—such are the insults typically hurled at conservatives by their liberal opponents. Calling someone a fascist is the fastest way to shut them up, defining their views as beyond the political pale. But who are the real fascists in our midst?
Liberal Fascism offers a startling new perspective on the theories and practices that define fascist politics. Replacing conveniently manufactured myths with surprising and enlightening research, Jonah Goldberg reminds us that the original fascists were really on the left, and that liberals from Woodrow Wilson to FDR to Hillary Clinton have advocated policies and principles remarkably similar to those of Hitler's National Socialism and Mussolini's Fascism.
Contrary to what most people think, the Nazis were ardent socialists (hence the term “National socialism”). They believed in free health care and guaranteed jobs. They confiscated inherited wealth and spent vast sums on public education. They purged the church from public policy, promoted a new form of pagan spirituality, and inserted the authority of the state into every nook and cranny of daily life. The Nazis declared war on smoking, supported abortion, euthanasia, and gun control. They loathed the free market, provided generous pensions for the elderly, and maintained a strict racial quota system in their universities—where campus speech codes were all the rage. The Nazis led the world in organic farming and alternative medicine. Hitler was a strict vegetarian, and Himmler was an animal rights activist.
Do these striking parallels mean that today’s liberals are genocidal maniacs, intent on conquering the world and imposing a new racial order? Not at all. Yet it is hard to deny that modern progressivism and classical fascism shared the same intellectual roots. We often forget, for example, that Mussolini and Hitler had many admirers in the United States. W.E.B. Du Bois was inspired by Hitler's Germany, and Irving Berlin praised Mussolini in song. Many fascist tenets were espoused by American progressives like John Dewey and Woodrow Wilson, and FDR incorporated fascist policies in the New Deal.
Fascism was an international movement that appeared in different forms in different countries, depending on the vagaries of national culture and temperament. In Germany, fascism appeared as genocidal racist nationalism. In America, it took a “friendlier,” more liberal form. The modern heirs of this “friendly fascist” tradition include the New York Times, the Democratic Party, the Ivy League professoriate, and the liberals of Hollywood. The quintessential Liberal Fascist isn't an SS storm trooper; it is a female grade school teacher with an education degree from Brown or Swarthmore.
These assertions may sound strange to modern ears, but that is because we have forgotten what fascism is. In this angry, funny, smart, contentious book, Jonah Goldberg turns our preconceptions inside out and shows us the true meaning of Liberal Fascism.
Customer Review: Enough is Enough!!!!
I'M AM SICK & TIRED OF THE RIGHT VILLIFING EVERY LIBERAL! WE WERE'NT THE ONE'S THAT LEAKED A CIA AGENTS NAME, WE WERE'NT THE ONES THAT LIED GETING INTO THE WAR, & GETTING OUR TROOPS KILLED, WE WERE'NT THE ONE THAT TURNED OUR BACK ON KATRINA VICTUMS & VETS AT WALTER REED, & WE WERE'NT THE ONES THAT BULLIED 911 WIDOWS. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Customer Review: American Fascism: Progressives, Woodrow Wilson, FDR and Useful Historical Idiots
"History is written by the winners." So goes the discipline-denigrating cliché. A more accurate observation, as Jonah Goldberg's new book, Liberal Fascism, suggests, is that history is written by historians--and especially, in recent decades, by academics whose biases predispose them to serve as useful idiots for Joseph Stalin's defunct propaganda ministry. Though Goldberg's well-researched book doesn't focus minute attention on the culpability of leftist historians, it does provide convenient targets (Richard Hofstadter and William Shirer) who might be blamed for abetting the greatest intellectual ruse of the twentieth century--the absurd designation of fascism as an ideology of the political right.
Anyone looking for Coulteresque theater in Goldberg's work (the product of four years' labor) will be disappointed. The book isn't meant to toss "f-bombs" at liberals the way liberals regularly toss that seven-letter epithet at conservatives. Indeed, Goldberg reiterates again and again that he doesn't employ the word "fascism" as a synonym for Nazism, racism, or "evil." Rather, he uses the term to label a method of governing that expressed itself differently in different countries. Given that caveat, anyone who chooses to read this engrossing analysis of the origins of fascism will likely be rewarded with a paradigm-shifting experience that puts the history of the twentieth century in a new light--a history that places Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt in the same political neighborhood as Benito Mussolini.
The story of fascism, Goldberg notes, begins with the "holistic" philosophy of Jean Jacques Rousseau and his revolutionary progeny--men whose boundless conception of national communion (via a general will) led to the odd idea that dissidents would be "forced to be free"--a fate more benign than the guillotine that "freed" enemies of the state from error during the French Reign of Terror. Hegel's philosophy, where the state incarnates God's work in history, provides another piece of the ancestral puzzle, while Nietzsche's romantic and relativistic "will to power" adds a third leg to fascism's Continental heritage. A fourth progenitor was Otto von Bismarck, whose comprehensive welfare package for the new German Empire provided Western intellectuals with a top-down model of social policy that they yearned to replicate.
These historical connections aren't exceptionally novel, but the American branches of fascism's genealogical tree are unexpected--limbs that include the pragmatic philosophers William James and John Dewey as well as political writers like Henry George (Progress and Poverty), Edward Bellamy (Looking Backward), and Herbert Croly (The Promise of American Life). Drawing on these and other sources, Goldberg not only shows that European fascism is a product of the political left, he also argues persuasively that America's version of that system is rooted in the Progressive movement and was first given national expression in the war socialism of Woodrow Wilson.
Not surprisingly, Goldberg's first two chapters are devoted to Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. But contrary to the impression given by pop-history, Mussolini isn't relegated to the status of an absurd fifth wheel. Instead, Il Duce's role as the "Father of Fascism" is clearly laid out. The portrait of his rise to power in 1922--more than a decade before Hitler became Chancellor of Germany--is the story of an intellectual whose communist sympathies were developed from infancy. (Even his given names, Benito Amilcare Andrea, conjured up leftist heroes from the past.) Those socialist sentiments remained with Mussolini to the day of his death--alongside his obsession with sexual conquest and his contempt for Christianity.
As Goldberg notes, Mussolini's state-centered, anti-capitalist rhetoric could only be declared "right-wing" by ideologues who were fighting over the same political bone. In other words, it was the internecine struggle between fascists and communists that gave birth to the longstanding practice of separating the terms "fascist" and "socialist." This linguistic divorce was mandated by Stalin to stigmatize the socialist heresy Mussolini promoted in light of his comrades' nationalistic response to World War I.
Goldberg also emphasizes that fascism itself varied from nation to nation. Most significantly, the Jew-hatred that characterized Hitler's regime wasn't integral to Italian Fascism--a movement that included a disproportionate number of Jews. Indeed, Mussolini scoffed at the Aryan myth that animated German Nazism, preferring for his part to play the role of a latter-day Caesar who was destined to resurrect Rome's ancient greatness.
The most unexpected part of Goldberg's Mussolini portrait is the way the Italian leader was hailed in American Progressive circles (e.g. in issues of Herbert Croly's New Republic) and in American pop-culture. Even as late as 1934, Cole Porter's song, "You're the Top," exhibited this adulatory attitude toward the Italian idol. Only after Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in 1935 did this admiration begin to wane. Significantly, the American President that Mussolini praised effusively in 1919, three years before his march on Rome, was Woodrow Wilson.
As far as Hitler's left-wing credentials are concerned, Goldberg's discussion of the Nazi Party Platform does a good job of demonstrating that the word "socialist" in National Socialist wasn't mere window dressing. After summarizing that ambitious document, Goldberg offers this sarcastic conclusion:
"Ah, yes. Those anti-elitist, stock-market-abolishing, child-labor-ending, public-health-promoting, wealth-confiscating, draft-ending, secularist right-wingers!"
Analysis of the groups from which Nazism drew its support also shows that corporations weren't (as Moscow insisted) pulling strings behind the scene. Rather, Nazism emerged as a populist movement that was so cash-strapped Hitler frequently rode to rallies "in the back of an old pickup." As the historian Henry Ashby Turner concludes, corporate funding of the Nazi party was "at best" of "marginal significance." Were it not for decades of leftist disinformation, that conclusion would have been a foregone conclusion, given the virulently anti-capitalist language of Mein Kampf--language Hitler still employed in 1941. In short, Goldberg provides extensive evidence that Hitler's political program was just as "right-wing" as the politics of Leon Trotsky--whom Stalin also labeled a "fascist."
It is one thing to assert that fascism is a product of the political left--one of the "heresies of socialism" according to Harvard Professor Richard Pipes. It is something else to argue that fascism has its own American expression that grew out of the Progressive political tradition and that "Woodrow Wilson was the twentieth century's first fascist dictator." That, however, is precisely the proposition put forward in Goldberg's third chapter: Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of Liberal Fascism.
To bolster this hypothesis, Goldberg highlights connections between the intellectual milieu that fostered fascism in Europe and the milieu that begat American Progressivism. Henry George's Progress and Poverty, for example, was received enthusiastically in Europe where it helped to shape populist and socialist economic theory. Similarly, Edward Bellamy's utopian vision in Looking Backward (where a single municipal umbrella would one day shield all Bostonians from the rain) drew inspiration from Bismarck's top-down political example in Germany. These and other "holistic" visions of society fed into an American Progressive movement whose moral energy was derived largely from legions of Social Gospelers. As Goldberg notes, the party's 1912 presidential convention was described in the New York Times as a "convention of fanatics" and "religious enthusiasts." This fusion of social reform and religious fervor is central to what Goldberg calls "liberal fascism."
On the philosophical side of the ledger, American Progressivism looked to William James, John Dewey, and Charles Darwin. The former duo provided a relativistic and pragmatic outlook that coincided nicely with bold social experimentation. Dewey, in particular, advocated an "organic" Darwinian approach to society that consigned American individualism to the dustbin of evolutionary history. Darwinism also brought to the Progressive project a focus on racist genetics that (alongside the movement's militant imperialism) subsequent historians have been eager to forget. Furthermore, the polite moral relativism of James and Dewey echoed the unequivocal relativism expressed by Nietzsche (whose philosophy, according to H. L. Mencken, Theodore Roosevelt had swallowed whole). Finally, the attachment of elite progressives to Hegel's political philosophy (Goldberg notes that Woodrow Wilson "even invoked Hegel in a love letter to his wife.") reinforced the idea that society is an organic whole and that reformers are, quite literally, God's instruments on earth.
Woodrow Wilson is the unexpected villain of Liberal Fascism. Based on a review of his academic writings, Goldberg demonstrates that Wilson was a devotee of power--power utilized according to the pragmatic lights of John Dewey. Consequently, the twenty-eighth president denigrated, with the confidence of a divinely anointed leader, those constitutional provisions that limited his ability to mold the nation into a healthy organism that worked for the good of all. This "evolutionary" vision of history provided the intellectual justification for that modern legal theory that dissolves all governmental boundaries--the living Constitution. It also paved the way for an approach to education that transferred the locus of pedagogical authority from parents to the state. In Professor Wilson's words: "Our problem is not merely to help the students to adjust themselves to world life...[but] to make them as unlike their fathers as we can."
World War I gave President Wilson the crisis he needed to implement the top-down vision of social coordination he had written about for decades. Government instruments employed in this massive effort (whose only near precedent was Lincoln's response to the Civil War) included the War Industries Board, a vigorous and widespread propaganda ministry, and a justice department that, Goldberg notes, presided over the arrest and jailing of more dissidents than Mussolini incarcerated during the entire 1920s. From censorship, to price-fixing, to Palmer raids, to patriotic nursery rhymes designed for toddlers, mobilization gave Wilson's government unprecedented access to and control over people's lives. This whipping of individualistic Americans into collective shape was cheered by progressives like Walter Lippmann who saw in the war an opportunity to bring about a Nietzschean "transvaluation of values as radical as anything in the history of intellect." No wonder Warren Harding won the presidency in 1920 with a campaign that promised a return to "normalcy."
With the advent of the Great Depression, Progressives were given an opportunity to reprise the coordination achieved under Wilson's war socialism. The British journalist Alistair Cooke doubtless turned many heads when, in the 1970s, he announced on his popular PBS history series that America under FDR "flirted with National Socialism." Goldberg argues that the amorous relationship was a good deal more intimate--a relationship fanned by the populist hot air that emanated from Father Coughlin and Senator Huey Long and consummated by many of the individuals that ran Wilson's war agencies. A prime example of these fascist retreads was Hugh "Iron Pants" Johnson, whose "sock in the nose" style at the National Recovery Administration doubtless drew positive reviews from one of FDR's early admirers, Benito Mussolini. Even Germany's new Fuhrer had words of praise for the government-business partnerships that typified Roosevelt's New Deal.
The expansion of government under Franklin Roosevelt is well known. What isn't acknowledged in polite historical circles, as Goldberg notes, is how "the fascist flavor of the New Deal was not only regularly discussed" but even "cited in Roosevelt's favor." Why this inconvenient fact was dropped down the historical memory hole is clear. Leftist historians had no desire to link the paragon of modern "liberalism" with "right-wing" fascism. Stated more honestly, they didn't want to acknowledge that fascism was a left- wing philosophy and expose the ongoing historical ruse that kept conservatives (i.e. classical liberals) off balance.
The remainder of Goldberg's book (more than half) discusses progressivism's third wave of influence on American life in the 1960s and explains how its fascist traits have been incorporated into modern "liberalism." While not as narrowly focused as his first four chapters, these materials do give further definition to the concept of "liberal fascism"--a phrase coined in 1932 by H. G. Wells to promote an ambitious "liberal" variant of Europe's burgeoning political system.
Among the concepts that Goldberg identifies as integral to sixties radicalism are these: the romantic embrace of youthful impulsiveness and sexuality, the denigration of reason and tradition, the extension of politics into all areas of life, the exaltation of identity politics (initially in terms of race and gender), and the justification of violence committed by revolutionaries intent on creating a mythical heaven on earth (e.g. the Black Panthers). All these themes, Goldberg notes, have significant corollaries in the fascist regimes of Italy and Germany.
What separates these 60s street radicals from Great Society and contemporary progressives, however, is the smothering maternalism that characterizes the latter groups. Today's "liberal fascists," unlike their European and turn-of-the-century American forebears, promote a religion of the state that is non-militaristic. As such, it resembles Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, not George Orwell's 1984. No better example of this smothering maternalism exists than Hillary Clinton's magnum opus, It Takes A Village--a mythical world where helpful government programs cover the social landscape and where repetitive video messages inculcate useful parenting tips "any place where people gather and have to wait."
Another Goldberg chapter, Liberal Racism: The Eugenic Ghost in the Fascist Machine, shows how "eugenics lay at the heart of the progressive enterprise"--an assertion backed by historian Edwin Black, who noted that the eugenic crusade was "created in the publications and academic research rooms of the Carnegie Institution, verified by the research grants of the Rockefeller Foundation, validated by leading scholars from the best Ivy League universities, and financed by the special efforts of the Harriman railroad fortune." This embarrassing skeleton in the Progressive closet is compared with the implicit pro-abortion subtext in the best-selling book, Freakonomics--namely, "fewer blacks, less crime."
Regrettably, Goldberg's final chapter, The New Age: We're All Fascists Now, begins to treat fascist traits so eclectically that the precision and focus of earlier chapters is lost. Looking for fascist themes in Dirty Harry and Whole Foods Market is a bit like searching for grandmother's features in little Ricky's newborn mug. One is bound to find something, but isolated traits don't amount to a close likeness. A similar critique applies to Goldberg's afterword, The Tempting of Conservatism, where playing (perhaps badly) at the only governmental game in town seems to be confused with religious devotion to the political Weltanschauung exhibited in It Takes A Village.
Despite these end-of-book drawbacks, Goldberg has produced a popular book of rare historical depth and quality--a book that promises to scrap those ridiculous history-class charts that put democracy midway between "socialism" on the left and "fascism" on the right, then justify their totalitarian extremes by bending the linear ends into a globe where left and right magically "meet."
An old Soviet joke asserted that loyal comrades know the future; it's only the past that keeps changing. With Goldberg's assistance, Americans can begin to rewrite their own political history, this time putting the "fascist" label where it belongs. That single alteration would be a momentous accomplishment--one that would make the architects of democracy's future more sure-handed.
Review by Richard Kirk
Richard Kirk is a freelance writer and a regular columnist for San Diego's North County Times. His book reviews have appeared in American Spectator Online, Touchstone, The American Enterprise, and First Things. See his blog, Richard Kirk on Ethics: Musing With A Hammer.
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Interview: Daniel Arenson, Fantasy AuthorSun, 17 Aug 2008 12:31:39 GMT
Reprinted from The Website of Joan Reeves, August 2008, . Here's the information you need in order to ask your local library to order his book if it hasn't already done so or for you to purchase it from your ...
Medford murder case subject of upcoming bookSun, 17 Aug 2008 11:49:40 GMT
Chilling stuff in this morning's Medford Mail Tribune, which recounts the murders 24 years ago of Bill and Linda Gilley and their daughter Becky at the hands of their son, Billy Frank Gilley Jr.
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This article on book forex is supposed to be very useful to one seeking more information on book forex. Do you think so?
A Featured book forex ArticleSometimes You Have to Abandon the Experts, Theories and Books and Trust Your Intuition
As the coordinator for the online think tank often we get into debates with experts and Ph.D.'s about specific details and they tell us that certain things will not work or that they are impossible or that they have never been done before. I submit to you after sitting through many of these talks, speeches, debates and discussions that sometimes you have to abandon the experts, their theories and their books and go with your own intuition. Many people accuse me of being a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants entrepreneur and yes in my past life that's what I did for a living, but now I analyze things deeply and yet still often I use my intuition to choose between lesser of two evils, compromises or ultimate solutions. Many people decry this methodology or the philosophy behind it, but it often works. This is why so many capitalist entrepreneurs have created billions of dollars in the marketplace by trusting their intuition and making decisions rather than being stuck in a box like a committee re-examining information endlessly. At some point a decision must be made and a plan must be created and it must be executed otherwise nothing will ever get done and therefore it doesn't matter how much education you have or how many research reports you have written. Just do It! I certainly hope this article is of interest and that is has propelled thought. The goal is simple; to help you in your quest to be the best in 2007. I thank you for reading my many articles on diverse subjects, which interest you.
book forex Products we recommendThe Age of American Unreason
The Age of American Unreason
Combining historical analysis with contemporary observation, Susan Jacoby dissects a new American cultural phenomenon--one that is at odds with our heritage of Enlightenment reason and with modern, secular knowledge and science. With mordant wit, she surveys an anti-rationalist landscape extending from pop culture to a pseudo-intellectual universe of "junk thought." Disdain for logic and evidence defines a pervasive malaise fostered by the mass media, triumphalist religious fundamentalism, mediocre public education, a dearth of fair-minded public intellectuals on the right and the left, and, above all, a lazy and credulous public.
Jacoby offers an unsparing indictment of the American addiction to infotainment--from television to the Web--and cites this toxic dependency as the major element distinguishing our current age of unreason from earlier outbreaks of American anti-intellectualism and anti-rationalism. With reading on the decline and scientific and historical illiteracy on the rise, an increasingly ignorant public square is dominated by debased media-driven language and received opinion.
At this critical political juncture, nothing could be more important than recognizing the "overarching crisis of memory and knowledge" described in this impassioned, tough-minded book, which challenges Americans to face the painful truth about what the flights from reason has cost us as individuals and as a nation.
Customer Review: Fascinating and very readable
Susan Jacoby has created a fascinating and very readable book. The best sections are in chapters 5, Middlebrow Culture from Noon to Twilight, and 10, The Culture of Distraction. The biggest drawbacks are in her attacks on conservatism and, often unjustified, support of "progressivism", a common replacement term for socialism. One example is her repeated claims that global warming is real scattered all through the book, and especially in chapter 9 Junk Thought. (Global warming, more precisely, anthropogenic global warming may be real, the evidence is seriously inconclusive. The problem is her non-reflective assumption that it is real and only irrationality or ignorance is behind any questioning of it.) Some of her examples of Junk Thought actually are, but others, for example, her attack on Steven Milloy, strike rather wide of the mark, and like her support for global warming make me wonder about her research. As another reviewer has also noted, it is inadequately documented. I definitely recommend it. (I also recommend a collection of essays titled, Dumbing Down: Essays on the Strip Mining of American Culture. It is out of print but not very expensive used. Another good book is Steve Allen's Dumbth.)
Customer Review: Good read, but flawed analysis
There is a rather easily discerned distinction between someone with standards and a snob. Ms. Jacoby clearly falls into the latter class.
I looked forward to a book detailing the dumbing down of educational standards and the media and the resultant ease in manipulating consumer tastes and public opinion by the powers that be. However, what we are given is a scattershot condemnation of right wing individuals of prominence. Left wing intellectuals receive their share of criticism, but mostly for their underestimation of just how stupid the populace is.
Again, I was prepared to agree with the thesis summarized on the cover. However, if Saturday Review, the New Yorker and Walter Lippmann are considered "middlebrow" sources whose main function is to cause the unwashed such as myself to aspire to higher intellectual attainment, I guess I belong to the class over which Ms. Jacoby despairs.
Unlike several of the other reviewers, I found the cultural history encapsulated in the first part of the book quite readable and worthwhile. However, it is interesting that uncritical acceptance of evolution is the litmus test for a rational outlook. Yet the "Social Darwinists" excoriated by the author as having distorted the valid conclusions of Darwin are themselves "rationalists." Are we not safe to live with the assumption that no one has all the answers, neither the fundamentalist preachers, nor the scientists?
I confess Ms. Jacoby lost me when she dismissed as "mainstream" Peter Paul and Mary singing "If I had a Hammer" at a civil rights demonstration addressed by Martin Luther King. If drawing a crowd automatically means that you are pandering to commercialism and have no legitimate artistic merit, I can only conclude that I have more in common with Britney Spears fans than with Ms. Jacoby. But then, who is left to buy her book?
4" H Brushed Silver Monogram Letters - Letter "I"
4" H Brushed Silver Monogram Letters - Letter "I"
All 26 English Letters (capitals only) and "&" symbol available. Monograms can be created using different letter sizes if desired. These Brushed Silver Monogram Letters can also be used to personalize other decorations. Add to centerpieces, buffet tables, guest book tables, wherever... a perfect way to create a "signature" look.
Targus TSM043US Radius Vertical Messenger
Targus TSM043US Radius Vertical Messenger
The radius Vertical Messenger is designed to fit the 13" MacBook. The notebook compartment is cushioned with EVA molded material to make sure your notebook is protected while on the go. The interior workstation features a key clip and customized pockets designed specifically to fit your iPod, Apple mouse, remote and power adapter. The messenger includes a convenient back pocket to store files and other documents and also features locking zipper pulls to secure the notebook compartment at school, in airports, hotels and other crowded areas. The padded removable shoulder strap and carry handle provide comfortable carrying options while the water-resistant material keeps belongings dry during wet weather. The vertical messenger features a slim design, which is easy to carry and includes plenty of space for your accessories.
Customer Review: Excelente producto, precio insuperable.
Me permite transportar mi laptop de 12.1 y mi PS2.
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Customer Review: TARGUS BAG FOR 13IN MACBOOK
The quality of this bag is excellent and I bought this while on sale for 24.99$. I like the design where you put the accessories like mouse, power supply, and even your iPod. What I don't like is once you put your Macbook 13" inside, you should be very careful closing the zipper because it will hit the corner of your laptop and scratch it. The bag is so exact and no allowance for the Macbook 13". Targus should put 1/2" allowance on the top and put small piece of nylon along with the zipper side to protect the laptop from zipper scratch.
Everlast - Clear Backpack
Everlast - Clear Backpack
Our clear Standard Backpack has room to carry anything from school books and binders to clothes and other items. The ergonomic design of our three-point support system has curved padded shoulder straps and an adjustable hip belt that evenly distributes the weight of the backpack on your body. This belt design takes a tremendous strain off the neck and shoulders. Clear for safety purposes, they also have mesh pockets, fabric lined seams, fully opening zippered sides and holders to better organize materials and other items.
Travelon Leather Expandable Shoulder Bag
Travelon Leather Expandable Shoulder Bag
Travelon Leather Expandable Messenger-Style Shoulder Bag
Customer Review: Travel bag
I purchased the Travelon expandable bag and though it is a nice bag it is not as roomy as they describe. The picture is deceptive. Read the dimensions of the bag and that will give you a better idea of how large the bag is
Customer Review: New bag
I just got this bag a couple of days ago. I just put all my stuff in it and actually used it out for the first time today while shopping. I like the fact that it has lots of room inside and lots of pockets. I got this for eveyday use and I know it will come in handy when out with my kids, because of all the stuff I end up holding for them. I haven't tried putting a water bottle in it yet, but am sure one will fit. The only thing I didn't like about it was, the strap kept digging into my neck, but I am sure that once I get used to it and get the strap adjusted right, it should be fine. I love that I can walk around a store and be hands free and not have to worry about someone walking off with my bag. I think the over the body design will also help with the shoulder and back pain I get from hauling around a heavy bag on one side.
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
When Chicago musicians Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) accidentally witness a gangland shooting, they quickly board a southbound train to Florida, disguised as Josephine and Daphne, the twonewestand homeliestmembers of an all-girl jazz band. Their cover is perfect...until a lovelorn singer (Marilyn Monroe) falls for Josephine, an ancient playboy (Joe E. Brown) falls for Daphne, and a mob boss (George Raft) refuses to fall for their hoax! Nominated* for 6 Academy Awards(r), Some Like It Hot is the quintessential madcap farce and one of the greatest of all film comedies (The Motion Picture Guide). *1959: Director, Actor (Lemmon), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography (B&W), Art Direction (B&W), Costume Design (B&W, winner)
Customer Review: Some Like It Hot
ESSENTIAL MOVIE!!! Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon & Marilyn Monroe star in this 1959 comedy which will make even the most serious of people laugh. Nominated for seven Oscars & winner of one (B & W Costume Design), Some Like It Hot entertains from beginning to end. The story takes place in Chicago during the Depression; Curtis (saxophone) & Lemmon (bass) are musicians that aren't doing well. They witness the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre & they're seen by the murderers, Lemmon's bass fiddle takes a few shots. Of course, they decide to run. They can't get a gig until they find out about an all-girl band that's heading for Miami & is short the same instruments they play. Marilyn Monroe is in the band & the comedy is only now warming up.
Curtis & Lemmon dress in drag in order to join the band because no men are allowed. Monroe likes to drink & Curtis & Lemmon are more than willing to aid & abet her. Curtis, teh playboy, wants to develop a relationship with Monroe so he takes on the persona of a rich bachelor. The farcical irony of this stems from the fact that Lemmon (in drag & makeup) has gotten an older, rich bachelor to fall for her(him). The part of the rich bachelor is played by Joe E. Brown. Curtis appropriates his clothes & yacht in order to pursue & woo Monroe.
It's a good thing that this movie was filmed in black & white. The makeup used on the two male leads appears to be garish even in this medium. The use of color film would have made this much too apparent.
George Raft, famous for his gangster role twenty years earlier, makes a featured appearance as the gangster who orchestrated the hit & who's now looking for the runaway musicians. And, of course, he ends up in Miami when the mob has their annual get together there. The ending is fast & furious with laughs abounding, not much is subtle here. The ending is a classic when Joe E. Brown proposes to Jack Lemmon's female personna. Lemmon makes every excuse possible why he/she can't marry him. Finally, Lemmon confesses he's a man & Brown's reply is hilarious. You must see it to believe it.
Customer Review: OUTRAGEOUS AND SOPHISTICATED - One of the Best Comedies Ever
"Outrageous" is the best word I can think of to describe Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot - unless it's "sophisticated." Some may think that a strange combination, but I don't think so. We have the burlesque element of two musicians - played by Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon - who are driven by lack of work to impersonate females so they can get jobs in an all-girl band that's heading to Florida. (One of the musicians, Curtis, also impersonates Cary Grant later in the film - not for work but love.) We have gangland, prohibition and the Chicago St. Valentine's Day Massacre, featuring George Raft as a gangster and Pat O'Brien as a police detective. (This is another reason our two musicians need to be incognito and heading out of town - they accidentally witnessed that holiday massacre.) We have the lush, tropical setting to which our heroes (heroines?) are fleeing: an exclusive Florida resort for retired millionaires. We have the gorgeously seductive Marilyn Monroe as the singer of the band in one of her hottest roles, not to mention her rendition of a pair of really hot songs. And we have one of the homliest comedians that ever graced the silver screen - Joe E. Brown - as the millionaire that takes a liking to Lemmon's female persona. It is definitely a combination of the outrageous and the sophisticated.
In order to pursue Monroe, Curtis doffs his wig and female padding and dons a blue blazer and captain's cap, a la Cary Grant; but he also blackmails Lemmon into keeping Brown occupied on shore so that he and Monroe can take advantage of the millionaire's yacht. In one of the great, classic scenes of cinema, we cut between Curtis and Monroe making love on the yacht, and Lemmon and Brown dancing at an outdoor restaurant. Curtis convinces Monroe that he has become frigid because of a lost love, so she decides to try to cure him. Cut to Lemmon and Brown dancing a tango to the same tune Billy Wilder used in Sunset Boulevard for the New Year's Eve party. Cut back to Curtis and Monroe kissing - he's starting to thaw. Cut to Lemmon and Brown dancing - they exchange a long stem carnation between their teeth. Back to Curtis and Monroe - his glasses are becoming fogged. Lemmon and Brown - they've blindfolded the orchestra!
When the two red-hot lovers meet back at their room, Lemmon tells Curtis that he's engaged. "Who's the lucky girl," Curtis asks. "I am," Lemmon coos, as he plays the shakers he's brought back from the restaurant. Curtis is stunned: he's done such a good job convincing his friend that he's a girl, Lemmon's ready to pick out china. Now he has to try to undo it, but it's not going to be easy - the deluded Lemmon is thinking about the alimony checks he'll collect if the marriage doesn't work out. It's all a lot of really outrageous - and sophisticated - fun.
Some Like It Hot was a high point in the careers of its three stars, as well as its director. Curtis and Lemmon would pair up again in The Great Race (1965), a wonderful Blake Edwards slapstick spoof, and make many more films as well - but this was one of their best. Monroe, on the other hand, appeared in only three more films before her death at the age of 36 in 1962 - so this was definitely the high point of her career. Billy Wilder would make about a dozen more films; but since this was his best comedy, it was a high point for him, too. Some Like It Hot was nominated for six Oscars, but only won Best Costume Design for a Black-and-White film, because it was competing against Ben-Hur, which swept the Oscars that year.
Waitsel Smith
The Land Before Time
The Land Before Time
This 1988 animated feature from Don Bluth (An American Tail) focuses on an orphaned young dinosaur, Littlefoot, who has to make his way to the paradise of the Great Valley in order to survive a plague. Along the way, he meets up with some other dinos from different species, and they all bond and travel together. On the way, they have plenty of adventures. Even with elements of suspense, this is a pretty relaxed movie that isn't in a particular hurry to roll out its story. Kids will like the originality of the concept, and the themes of friendship and cooperation are well woven into the fabric of the entertainment, plus the music is great. Bluth's artwork looks good, though--as always--he never seems to quite catch up with the quality of the Disney machine. --Tom Keogh
Customer Review: The Land Before All The Sequels
This is one of the better films made for kids. I watched it a ton when I was younger, and can now admit that I was positively terrified of Sharptooth.
Unfortunately, they couldn't stop making sequels. Now, our prehistoric heroes have been reduced to a bunch of computer generated dinos, prancing around singing annoyingly about diversity.
See the original. It's much better.
Customer Review: Pleasantly Surprised
My wife and I recently purchased this movie for my four-year old son and I have to admit I was very surprised at the quality of the movie from a productiona and storytelling standpoint.
I was very sceptical at first. I have never cared for Don Bluth's style (I thought he was generally too dark for a children's animator), although I never considered him lacking talent. I just figured I was in for another cheap kid's movie with nothing to find of interest to an adult and (hopefully) nothing very offensive.
Well, I was first struck by the brilliant orchestral score. I consider myself a mild aficionado of classical music and I will tell you, my firends, the score in this film is both musically complex and emotionally affecting. Listen closely neat the movie's opening, as Littlefoot pops out of his egg. The music's tenderness and joy is wonderful!
Next, having viewed the movie all the way through, I was really shocked to realize the thing was utterly devoid of ANY social or environmental message, the kind of drool-inducing pap they shove down kids' throats at every turn nowadays (anyone seen "Ferngully"?). Of course, one could make the case the movie comments about prejudice, but it also extolls virtues like perservereance, conviction and teamwork! It's just a great story, simply told, about dinosaurs! And what kid doesn't like dinosaurs?
And for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, don't worry about violence or any adult themes (like death). The adult themes are all handled with grace and tact, in the absolute best taste. And the violence is bloodless and done in a way that is exciting, but not scary. I'd recommend to any parents to get a good, well-illustrated book on dinosaurs before showing this movie to their kids - if they like the movie, you will have a great opportunity to spark their imaginations and share some great educational moments with them afterwards. My son and I went through a HUGE encyclopedia of dinosaurs after this movie and we had a great time!
Anyway, I can't speak for any of the sequels, but the original Land Before Time is a great family movie.
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Friday closing NY forex levels and commentsFri, 01 Aug 2008 13:02:10 -0700
Mkt High Low Last Chg Rng Vty MBI DVI PrL PrH EUR 15606 15515 15546 -47 91 -0.30 90 -4 15493 15595 CHF 10514 10460 10507 28 54 0.27 124 4 10440 10578 JPY 10796 10728 10766 -23 68 -0.21 93 -7 10713 10816 GBP 19840 19727 19739 -90 113 -0.46 92 -7 19671 19804 EJY 16841 16699 16739 -84 142 -0.50 94 -6 16675 16793 Not what one would have expected from an NFP Friday which featured 1). a .2% jump in unmployment to 5.7% 2). a significant spike in enry prices (which later faded) on news of an "Iranian
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A Featured book forex ArticleSometimes You Have to Abandon the Experts, Theories and Books and Trust Your Intuition
As the coordinator for the online think tank often we get into debates with experts and Ph.D.'s about specific details and they tell us that certain things will not work or that they are impossible or that they have never been done before. I submit to you after sitting through many of these talks, speeches, debates and discussions that sometimes you have to abandon the experts, their theories and their books and go with your own intuition. Many people accuse me of being a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants entrepreneur and yes in my past life that's what I did for a living, but now I analyze things deeply and yet still often I use my intuition to choose between lesser of two evils, compromises or ultimate solutions. Many people decry this methodology or the philosophy behind it, but it often works. This is why so many capitalist entrepreneurs have created billions of dollars in the marketplace by trusting their intuition and making decisions rather than being stuck in a box like a committee re-examining information endlessly. At some point a decision must be made and a plan must be created and it must be executed otherwise nothing will ever get done and therefore it doesn't matter how much education you have or how many research reports you have written. Just do It! I certainly hope this article is of interest and that is has propelled thought. The goal is simple; to help you in your quest to be the best in 2007. I thank you for reading my many articles on diverse subjects, which interest you.
book forex Products we recommendThe Age of American Unreason
The Age of American Unreason
Combining historical analysis with contemporary observation, Susan Jacoby dissects a new American cultural phenomenon--one that is at odds with our heritage of Enlightenment reason and with modern, secular knowledge and science. With mordant wit, she surveys an anti-rationalist landscape extending from pop culture to a pseudo-intellectual universe of "junk thought." Disdain for logic and evidence defines a pervasive malaise fostered by the mass media, triumphalist religious fundamentalism, mediocre public education, a dearth of fair-minded public intellectuals on the right and the left, and, above all, a lazy and credulous public.
Jacoby offers an unsparing indictment of the American addiction to infotainment--from television to the Web--and cites this toxic dependency as the major element distinguishing our current age of unreason from earlier outbreaks of American anti-intellectualism and anti-rationalism. With reading on the decline and scientific and historical illiteracy on the rise, an increasingly ignorant public square is dominated by debased media-driven language and received opinion.
At this critical political juncture, nothing could be more important than recognizing the "overarching crisis of memory and knowledge" described in this impassioned, tough-minded book, which challenges Americans to face the painful truth about what the flights from reason has cost us as individuals and as a nation.
Customer Review: Fascinating and very readable
Susan Jacoby has created a fascinating and very readable book. The best sections are in chapters 5, Middlebrow Culture from Noon to Twilight, and 10, The Culture of Distraction. The biggest drawbacks are in her attacks on conservatism and, often unjustified, support of "progressivism", a common replacement term for socialism. One example is her repeated claims that global warming is real scattered all through the book, and especially in chapter 9 Junk Thought. (Global warming, more precisely, anthropogenic global warming may be real, the evidence is seriously inconclusive. The problem is her non-reflective assumption that it is real and only irrationality or ignorance is behind any questioning of it.) Some of her examples of Junk Thought actually are, but others, for example, her attack on Steven Milloy, strike rather wide of the mark, and like her support for global warming make me wonder about her research. As another reviewer has also noted, it is inadequately documented. I definitely recommend it. (I also recommend a collection of essays titled, Dumbing Down: Essays on the Strip Mining of American Culture. It is out of print but not very expensive used. Another good book is Steve Allen's Dumbth.)
Customer Review: Good read, but flawed analysis
There is a rather easily discerned distinction between someone with standards and a snob. Ms. Jacoby clearly falls into the latter class.
I looked forward to a book detailing the dumbing down of educational standards and the media and the resultant ease in manipulating consumer tastes and public opinion by the powers that be. However, what we are given is a scattershot condemnation of right wing individuals of prominence. Left wing intellectuals receive their share of criticism, but mostly for their underestimation of just how stupid the populace is.
Again, I was prepared to agree with the thesis summarized on the cover. However, if Saturday Review, the New Yorker and Walter Lippmann are considered "middlebrow" sources whose main function is to cause the unwashed such as myself to aspire to higher intellectual attainment, I guess I belong to the class over which Ms. Jacoby despairs.
Unlike several of the other reviewers, I found the cultural history encapsulated in the first part of the book quite readable and worthwhile. However, it is interesting that uncritical acceptance of evolution is the litmus test for a rational outlook. Yet the "Social Darwinists" excoriated by the author as having distorted the valid conclusions of Darwin are themselves "rationalists." Are we not safe to live with the assumption that no one has all the answers, neither the fundamentalist preachers, nor the scientists?
I confess Ms. Jacoby lost me when she dismissed as "mainstream" Peter Paul and Mary singing "If I had a Hammer" at a civil rights demonstration addressed by Martin Luther King. If drawing a crowd automatically means that you are pandering to commercialism and have no legitimate artistic merit, I can only conclude that I have more in common with Britney Spears fans than with Ms. Jacoby. But then, who is left to buy her book?
4" H Brushed Silver Monogram Letters - Letter "I"
4" H Brushed Silver Monogram Letters - Letter "I"
All 26 English Letters (capitals only) and "&" symbol available. Monograms can be created using different letter sizes if desired. These Brushed Silver Monogram Letters can also be used to personalize other decorations. Add to centerpieces, buffet tables, guest book tables, wherever... a perfect way to create a "signature" look.
Targus TSM043US Radius Vertical Messenger
Targus TSM043US Radius Vertical Messenger
The radius Vertical Messenger is designed to fit the 13" MacBook. The notebook compartment is cushioned with EVA molded material to make sure your notebook is protected while on the go. The interior workstation features a key clip and customized pockets designed specifically to fit your iPod, Apple mouse, remote and power adapter. The messenger includes a convenient back pocket to store files and other documents and also features locking zipper pulls to secure the notebook compartment at school, in airports, hotels and other crowded areas. The padded removable shoulder strap and carry handle provide comfortable carrying options while the water-resistant material keeps belongings dry during wet weather. The vertical messenger features a slim design, which is easy to carry and includes plenty of space for your accessories.
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Customer Review: TARGUS BAG FOR 13IN MACBOOK
The quality of this bag is excellent and I bought this while on sale for 24.99$. I like the design where you put the accessories like mouse, power supply, and even your iPod. What I don't like is once you put your Macbook 13" inside, you should be very careful closing the zipper because it will hit the corner of your laptop and scratch it. The bag is so exact and no allowance for the Macbook 13". Targus should put 1/2" allowance on the top and put small piece of nylon along with the zipper side to protect the laptop from zipper scratch.
Everlast - Clear Backpack
Everlast - Clear Backpack
Our clear Standard Backpack has room to carry anything from school books and binders to clothes and other items. The ergonomic design of our three-point support system has curved padded shoulder straps and an adjustable hip belt that evenly distributes the weight of the backpack on your body. This belt design takes a tremendous strain off the neck and shoulders. Clear for safety purposes, they also have mesh pockets, fabric lined seams, fully opening zippered sides and holders to better organize materials and other items.
Travelon Leather Expandable Shoulder Bag
Travelon Leather Expandable Shoulder Bag
Travelon Leather Expandable Messenger-Style Shoulder Bag
Customer Review: Travel bag
I purchased the Travelon expandable bag and though it is a nice bag it is not as roomy as they describe. The picture is deceptive. Read the dimensions of the bag and that will give you a better idea of how large the bag is
Customer Review: New bag
I just got this bag a couple of days ago. I just put all my stuff in it and actually used it out for the first time today while shopping. I like the fact that it has lots of room inside and lots of pockets. I got this for eveyday use and I know it will come in handy when out with my kids, because of all the stuff I end up holding for them. I haven't tried putting a water bottle in it yet, but am sure one will fit. The only thing I didn't like about it was, the strap kept digging into my neck, but I am sure that once I get used to it and get the strap adjusted right, it should be fine. I love that I can walk around a store and be hands free and not have to worry about someone walking off with my bag. I think the over the body design will also help with the shoulder and back pain I get from hauling around a heavy bag on one side.
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
When Chicago musicians Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) accidentally witness a gangland shooting, they quickly board a southbound train to Florida, disguised as Josephine and Daphne, the twonewestand homeliestmembers of an all-girl jazz band. Their cover is perfect...until a lovelorn singer (Marilyn Monroe) falls for Josephine, an ancient playboy (Joe E. Brown) falls for Daphne, and a mob boss (George Raft) refuses to fall for their hoax! Nominated* for 6 Academy Awards(r), Some Like It Hot is the quintessential madcap farce and one of the greatest of all film comedies (The Motion Picture Guide). *1959: Director, Actor (Lemmon), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography (B&W), Art Direction (B&W), Costume Design (B&W, winner)
Customer Review: Some Like It Hot
ESSENTIAL MOVIE!!! Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon & Marilyn Monroe star in this 1959 comedy which will make even the most serious of people laugh. Nominated for seven Oscars & winner of one (B & W Costume Design), Some Like It Hot entertains from beginning to end. The story takes place in Chicago during the Depression; Curtis (saxophone) & Lemmon (bass) are musicians that aren't doing well. They witness the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre & they're seen by the murderers, Lemmon's bass fiddle takes a few shots. Of course, they decide to run. They can't get a gig until they find out about an all-girl band that's heading for Miami & is short the same instruments they play. Marilyn Monroe is in the band & the comedy is only now warming up.
Curtis & Lemmon dress in drag in order to join the band because no men are allowed. Monroe likes to drink & Curtis & Lemmon are more than willing to aid & abet her. Curtis, teh playboy, wants to develop a relationship with Monroe so he takes on the persona of a rich bachelor. The farcical irony of this stems from the fact that Lemmon (in drag & makeup) has gotten an older, rich bachelor to fall for her(him). The part of the rich bachelor is played by Joe E. Brown. Curtis appropriates his clothes & yacht in order to pursue & woo Monroe.
It's a good thing that this movie was filmed in black & white. The makeup used on the two male leads appears to be garish even in this medium. The use of color film would have made this much too apparent.
George Raft, famous for his gangster role twenty years earlier, makes a featured appearance as the gangster who orchestrated the hit & who's now looking for the runaway musicians. And, of course, he ends up in Miami when the mob has their annual get together there. The ending is fast & furious with laughs abounding, not much is subtle here. The ending is a classic when Joe E. Brown proposes to Jack Lemmon's female personna. Lemmon makes every excuse possible why he/she can't marry him. Finally, Lemmon confesses he's a man & Brown's reply is hilarious. You must see it to believe it.
Customer Review: OUTRAGEOUS AND SOPHISTICATED - One of the Best Comedies Ever
"Outrageous" is the best word I can think of to describe Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot - unless it's "sophisticated." Some may think that a strange combination, but I don't think so. We have the burlesque element of two musicians - played by Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon - who are driven by lack of work to impersonate females so they can get jobs in an all-girl band that's heading to Florida. (One of the musicians, Curtis, also impersonates Cary Grant later in the film - not for work but love.) We have gangland, prohibition and the Chicago St. Valentine's Day Massacre, featuring George Raft as a gangster and Pat O'Brien as a police detective. (This is another reason our two musicians need to be incognito and heading out of town - they accidentally witnessed that holiday massacre.) We have the lush, tropical setting to which our heroes (heroines?) are fleeing: an exclusive Florida resort for retired millionaires. We have the gorgeously seductive Marilyn Monroe as the singer of the band in one of her hottest roles, not to mention her rendition of a pair of really hot songs. And we have one of the homliest comedians that ever graced the silver screen - Joe E. Brown - as the millionaire that takes a liking to Lemmon's female persona. It is definitely a combination of the outrageous and the sophisticated.
In order to pursue Monroe, Curtis doffs his wig and female padding and dons a blue blazer and captain's cap, a la Cary Grant; but he also blackmails Lemmon into keeping Brown occupied on shore so that he and Monroe can take advantage of the millionaire's yacht. In one of the great, classic scenes of cinema, we cut between Curtis and Monroe making love on the yacht, and Lemmon and Brown dancing at an outdoor restaurant. Curtis convinces Monroe that he has become frigid because of a lost love, so she decides to try to cure him. Cut to Lemmon and Brown dancing a tango to the same tune Billy Wilder used in Sunset Boulevard for the New Year's Eve party. Cut back to Curtis and Monroe kissing - he's starting to thaw. Cut to Lemmon and Brown dancing - they exchange a long stem carnation between their teeth. Back to Curtis and Monroe - his glasses are becoming fogged. Lemmon and Brown - they've blindfolded the orchestra!
When the two red-hot lovers meet back at their room, Lemmon tells Curtis that he's engaged. "Who's the lucky girl," Curtis asks. "I am," Lemmon coos, as he plays the shakers he's brought back from the restaurant. Curtis is stunned: he's done such a good job convincing his friend that he's a girl, Lemmon's ready to pick out china. Now he has to try to undo it, but it's not going to be easy - the deluded Lemmon is thinking about the alimony checks he'll collect if the marriage doesn't work out. It's all a lot of really outrageous - and sophisticated - fun.
Some Like It Hot was a high point in the careers of its three stars, as well as its director. Curtis and Lemmon would pair up again in The Great Race (1965), a wonderful Blake Edwards slapstick spoof, and make many more films as well - but this was one of their best. Monroe, on the other hand, appeared in only three more films before her death at the age of 36 in 1962 - so this was definitely the high point of her career. Billy Wilder would make about a dozen more films; but since this was his best comedy, it was a high point for him, too. Some Like It Hot was nominated for six Oscars, but only won Best Costume Design for a Black-and-White film, because it was competing against Ben-Hur, which swept the Oscars that year.
Waitsel Smith
The Land Before Time
The Land Before Time
This 1988 animated feature from Don Bluth (An American Tail) focuses on an orphaned young dinosaur, Littlefoot, who has to make his way to the paradise of the Great Valley in order to survive a plague. Along the way, he meets up with some other dinos from different species, and they all bond and travel together. On the way, they have plenty of adventures. Even with elements of suspense, this is a pretty relaxed movie that isn't in a particular hurry to roll out its story. Kids will like the originality of the concept, and the themes of friendship and cooperation are well woven into the fabric of the entertainment, plus the music is great. Bluth's artwork looks good, though--as always--he never seems to quite catch up with the quality of the Disney machine. --Tom Keogh
Customer Review: The Land Before All The Sequels
This is one of the better films made for kids. I watched it a ton when I was younger, and can now admit that I was positively terrified of Sharptooth.
Unfortunately, they couldn't stop making sequels. Now, our prehistoric heroes have been reduced to a bunch of computer generated dinos, prancing around singing annoyingly about diversity.
See the original. It's much better.
Customer Review: Pleasantly Surprised
My wife and I recently purchased this movie for my four-year old son and I have to admit I was very surprised at the quality of the movie from a productiona and storytelling standpoint.
I was very sceptical at first. I have never cared for Don Bluth's style (I thought he was generally too dark for a children's animator), although I never considered him lacking talent. I just figured I was in for another cheap kid's movie with nothing to find of interest to an adult and (hopefully) nothing very offensive.
Well, I was first struck by the brilliant orchestral score. I consider myself a mild aficionado of classical music and I will tell you, my firends, the score in this film is both musically complex and emotionally affecting. Listen closely neat the movie's opening, as Littlefoot pops out of his egg. The music's tenderness and joy is wonderful!
Next, having viewed the movie all the way through, I was really shocked to realize the thing was utterly devoid of ANY social or environmental message, the kind of drool-inducing pap they shove down kids' throats at every turn nowadays (anyone seen "Ferngully"?). Of course, one could make the case the movie comments about prejudice, but it also extolls virtues like perservereance, conviction and teamwork! It's just a great story, simply told, about dinosaurs! And what kid doesn't like dinosaurs?
And for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, don't worry about violence or any adult themes (like death). The adult themes are all handled with grace and tact, in the absolute best taste. And the violence is bloodless and done in a way that is exciting, but not scary. I'd recommend to any parents to get a good, well-illustrated book on dinosaurs before showing this movie to their kids - if they like the movie, you will have a great opportunity to spark their imaginations and share some great educational moments with them afterwards. My son and I went through a HUGE encyclopedia of dinosaurs after this movie and we had a great time!
Anyway, I can't speak for any of the sequels, but the original Land Before Time is a great family movie.
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Friday closing NY forex levels and commentsFri, 01 Aug 2008 13:02:10 -0700
Mkt High Low Last Chg Rng Vty MBI DVI PrL PrH EUR 15606 15515 15546 -47 91 -0.30 90 -4 15493 15595 CHF 10514 10460 10507 28 54 0.27 124 4 10440 10578 JPY 10796 10728 10766 -23 68 -0.21 93 -7 10713 10816 GBP 19840 19727 19739 -90 113 -0.46 92 -7 19671 19804 EJY 16841 16699 16739 -84 142 -0.50 94 -6 16675 16793 Not what one would have expected from an NFP Friday which featured 1). a .2% jump in unmployment to 5.7% 2). a significant spike in enry prices (which later faded) on news of an "Iranian
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