Sunday, November 20, 2011

Gulliver's Travels

  • ISBN13: 9780143119111
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
From the preeminent prose satirist in the English language, a great classic recounting the 4 remarkable journeys of ship's surgeon Lemuel Gulliver. For children it remains an enchanting fantasy; for adults, a witty parody of political life in Swift's time and a scathing send-up of manners and morals in 18th-century England.
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes! wireless delivery.To say this is a classic of political and social satire is unfair, because Swift INVENTED the genre with this raucous novel.

The wayward traveler - Lemuel Gulliver - ends up on a series of bizarrely populated islands. First he is a giant among little people, but then sees the situation reversed when he's surrounded by giants twelve times his size. Next he finds himself in the clouds, in a society of devoted but ultimately hapless mathematicians. Lastly, his journey brings him to an island where incredibly noble horses must deal with a race of uncouth, reviled ape-men: the Yahoos. The satire is thick and unrelenting, but certainly not specific to the time and situation when Swift wrote it, and thus it has been read and beloved for centuries.

The Phantom of the Opera (Widescreen Edition)

  • TESTED
Soundtrack to the long awaited film adaptation of the blockbuster stage musical.For better or worse, Andrew Lloyd Webber's adaptation of Gaston Leroux's gothic horror/romance novel has done for stage musicals what Spielberg's Jaws did for fish stories, with worldwide sales of its original cast album approaching 25 million. While director Joel Schumacher's film turns on his typically ambitious visual verve, its new film soundtrack recording has been paradoxically focused in scope, yet beefed up dynamically via the brawny presence of a hundred piece orchestra and The London Boys Choir. This single disc version showcases all of Phantom's key songs (a deluxe, double-disc edition is also available), with Gerard Butler imparting a welcome, youthful sensuality to his Phantom, making a fine foil for Emmy Rossum's ever-conflicted Christine. Original show orchestrator David Culle! n has fashioned compelling new contemporary arrangements to frame Webber's songs -- which now conclude with the lilting, upbeat new ballad he wrote for the film, "Learn to Be Lonely," sung by Minnie Driver. --Jerry McCulleyExpanded edition includes a bonus disc with 11 tracks.For better or worse, Andrew Lloyd Webber's adaptation of Gaston Leroux's gothic horror/romance novel has done for stage musicals what Spielberg's Jaws did for fish stories, with worldwide sales of its original cast album approaching 25 million. While director Joel Schumacher's film turns on his typically ambitious visual verve, its new film soundtrack recording has been paradoxically focused in scope, yet beefed up dynamically via the brawny presence of a hundred piece orchestra and the London Boys Choir. This deluxe, double-disc version showcases all of Phantom's key songs, with Gerard Butler imparting a welcome, youthful sensuality to his Phantom, making a fine foil for Emmy Ros! sum's ever-conflicted Christine. Original show orchestrator Da! vid Cull en has fashioned compelling new contemporary arrangements to frame Webber's songs--which now conclude with the lilting, upbeat new ballad he wrote for the film, "Learn to Be Lonely," sung by Minnie Driver. --Jerry McCulleyThe Royal Albert Hall in London comes alive to the passionate melodies and songs from the shows of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Enjoy the magic of this night of a thousand stars. Directed by: David MalletIn 1998 a concert at the Royal Albert Hall celebrated Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's 50th birthday and featured more than two hours of hits from a body of work spanning almost three decades. In this keepsake of a memorable night, star after star steps on to a massive, Eurovision-style set to revisit golden moments in their long association with Britain's most successful composer of musicals. Elaine Paige in big frocks and an even bigger voice delivers "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" and "Memory" with her usual power; Michael Ball and Donny Osmond stretch the last! vestiges of boyish charm to the very limits but still sound great; and Boyzone gets the youth vote. Then there are Kiri Te Kanawa, Bonnie Tyler, Tina Arena, and, of course, another encore for brother Julian Lloyd Webber and those Variations on the cello. But the stars are Sir Andrew's ex-wife Sarah Brightman in an outstanding selection from The Phantom of the Opera (probably his best work), Antonio Banderas (who really can sing), and Glenn Close, a stupendous, moving Norma Desmond in songs from Sunset Boulevard. All in all, a deserved celebration for someone who has given so many people a great deal of pleasure, and a treat for musicals fans of all ages. --Piers FordMusical Drama based on Andrew Lloyd Webber's celebrated musical phenomenon. The Phantom of the Opera tells the story of a disfigured musical genius (Gerard Butler) who haunts the catacombs beneath the Paris Opera, waging a reign of terror over its occupants. When he falls fatally in love wi! th the lovely Christine (Emmy Rossum), the Phantom devotes him! self to creating a new star for the Opera, exerting a strange sense of control over the young soprano as he nurtures her extraordinary talents.Although it's not as bold as Oscar darling Chicago, The Phantom of the Opera continues the resuscitation of the movie musical with a faithful adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's blockbuster stage musical. Emmy Rossum glows in a breakout role as opera ingénue Christine Daae, and if phantom Gerard Butler isn't Rossum's match vocally, he does convey menace and sensuality in such numbers as "The Music of the Night." The most experienced musical theater veteran in the cast, romantic lead Patrick Wilson, sings sweetly but seems wooden. The biggest name in the cast, Minnie Driver, hams it up as diva Carlotta, and she's the only principal whose voice was dubbed (though she does sing the closing-credit number, "Learn to Be Lonely," which is also the only new song).

Director Joel Schumacher, no stranger to visual spectacle, seems ! to have found a good match in Lloyd Webber's larger-than-life vision of Gaston LeRoux's Gothic horror-romance. His weakness is cuing too many audience-reaction shots and showing too much of the lurking Phantom, but when he calms down and lets Rossum sings "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" alone in a silent graveyard, it's exquisite.

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Those who consider the stage musical shallow and overblown probably won't have their minds changed by the movie, and devotees will forever rue that the movie took the better part of two decades to develop, which prevented the casting of original principals Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman. Still, The Phantom of the Opera is a welcome exception to the long line of ill-conceived Broadway-to-movie travesties. DVD Features
The special edition of The Ph! antom of the Opera has two major extras. "Behind the Mask: The Story of The Phantom of the Opera" is an hourlong documentary tracing the genesis of the stage show, with interviews of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, director Harold Prince, producer Cameron Macintosh, lyricists Richard Stilgoe and Charles Hart, choreographer Gillian Lynne, and others. Conspicuously absent are stars Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford. Both do appear in video clips, including Brightman performing with Colm Wilkinson at an early workshop, and Crawford is the subject of a casting segment. Other brief scenes from the show are represented by a 2001 production. The other major feature is the 45-minute making-of focusing on the movie, including casting and the selection of director Joel Schumacher Both are well-done productions by Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group.

The deleted scene is a new song written by Lloyd Webber and Charles Hart, "No One Would Listen," sung by the Phantom toward the! end of the movie. It's a beautiful song that, along with Madame Giry's story, makes him a more sympathetic character. But because that bit of backstory already slowed down the ending, it was probably a good move to cut the song. --David Horiuchi

More on The Phantom of the Opera


The Phantom of the Opera (Special Extended Edition Soundtrack) (CD)

The Phantom of the Opera (2004 Movie Soundtrack) (CD)

The Phantom of the Opera (Original 1986 London Cast) (CD)
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Evita (DVD)

Andrew Lloyd Weber: The Royal Albert Hall Celebration (DVD)

More Broadway DVDs

Gunnin' For That #1 Spot (Special 2 Disc Set)

  • GUNNIN' FOR THAT #1 SPOT 2 DISC SET (DVD MOVIE)
GUNNIN FOR THAT 1 SPOT - DVD Movie It takes a while to hit its stride, but once that happens, Beastie Boy Adam Yauch’s Gunnin' for That #1 Spot does a terrific job capturing the hustle and flow of basketball, the sport it depicts. "They’re gonna be millionaires in about five years," says the P.A. announcer (a hip and hilarious character known as Bobbito) of the players from around the country who come to compete in the first "Elite 24 High School All-American Game," held in ’06 in Harlem’s Rucker Park, home to countless playground legends. For some, including 2008 NBA first-round draft picks Kevin Love, Michael Beasley, and Jerryd Bayless, it happened a lot sooner than that; for others it won’t happened at all. But at the time, all the studs on the Blue and White teams had big-time hoop dreams, and the Rucker event was a chance ! to strut their stuff on a big stage. Problem is, it takes the better part of an hour to get to the actual game; profiles of the players, including visits to their home towns and interviews with friends, family, and others, are perfectly amiable but end up being rather monotonous (fewer than half are included in the documentary itself, with the others found on the second DVD, which is devoted entirely to bonus material). But when they finally hit the outdoor court, the doc starts to rock (never were a sport and a music style better matched than basketball and hip-hop, so it’s no surprise that Yauch’s use of tracks by Ludacris, Nas, Jay-Z, his own band, and many others, including Old Skool R&B stars like Kool and the Gang, is nigh on perfect). The game is by far the best part of the show, with great court-level fisheye shots and deft editing (including the use of slo-mo and sound effects); Bobbito is a hoot (a personal favorite among his nicknames: Kyle "Wireless" Singler! ), and it’s a close, exciting contest to boot. Among the oth! er bonus material are deleted scenes, the players’ own home video footage of their trip to NYC, and even a section devoted to Beasley’s trash talk on the court. --Sam Graham

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Penguin Classics)

The Devil Came On Horseback

  • An up-close, honest, and uncompromising look at the crisis in Darfur, THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK exposes the ongoing tragedy in Sudan as seen through the eyes of one American witness. Using the exclusive photographs and first hand testimony of former U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle, the film goes on an emotionally charged journey into the heart of Darfur, Sudan, where in 2004, Steidle became
The Devil Came on Horseback is an intense, vivid autobiographical report from the heart of violent Darfur and a call to action by a former American Marine who became a military observer for the African Union. The first extensive on-the-ground account of the genocide in Sudan, it leads us through the tragic impact of an Arab government bent on destroying its black African citizens and the frustrating complexity of international inaction. At the same time, it is a powerful memoir of one soldier's ! awakening to conscience and his awkward, heroic transformation from Marine to humanitarian. While bearing witness to unmentionable atrocities, this compelling story offers evidence that the actions of just one committed person have the power to transform the world.
This intense, vivid report and call to action
from the heart of violent Darfur, by a former
Marine working as an unarmed military
observer for the African Union, is a powerful
memoir of a young man's awakening to
conscience and the first extensive on-theground
account of the genocide in Sudan.


Former United States Marine Brian Steidle served for six months in Darfur
as an unarmed military observer for the African Union. There he witnessed
first-hand the ongoing genocide, and documented every day of his experience
using email, audio journals, notebook after notebook and nearly 1,000
photographs. Gretchen Steidle Wallace, his sister, who wrote this ! book with
Brian, corresponded with him throughout his ti! me in Da rfur. Fired upon,
taken hostage, a witness to villages destroyed and people killed,
frustrated by his mission's limitations and the international community's
reluctance to intervene, Steidle resigned and has since become an advocate
for the world to step in and stop this genocide.


The Devil Came on Horseback depicts the tragic impact of an Arab
government bent on destroying its black African citizens, the maddening
complexity of international inaction in response to blatant genocide, and
the awkward, yet heroic transformation of a former Marine turned
humanitarian. It is a gripping and moving memoir that bears witness to
atrocities we have too long averted our eyes from, and reveals that the
actions of just one committed person have the power to change the world.
This intense, vivid report and call to action
from the heart of violent Darfur, by a former
Marine working as an unarmed militaryobserver for the African Union, is a powerful
memoir of a young man's awakening to
conscience and the first extensive on-theground
account of the genocide in Sudan.


Former United States Marine Brian Steidle served for six months in Darfur
as an unarmed military observer for the African Union. There he witnessed
first-hand the ongoing genocide, and documented every day of his experience
using email, audio journals, notebook after notebook and nearly 1,000
photographs. Gretchen Steidle Wallace, his sister, who wrote this book with
Brian, corresponded with him throughout his time in Darfur. Fired upon,
taken hostage, a witness to villages destroyed and people killed,
frustrated by his mission's limitations and the international community's
reluctance to intervene, Steidle resigned and has since become an advocate
for the world to step in and stop this genocide.


The Devil Came on Horseback depicts the tragic im! pact of an Arab
government bent on destroying its black Af! rican ci tizens, the maddening
complexity of international inaction in response to blatant genocide, and
the awkward, yet heroic transformation of a former Marine turned
humanitarian. It is a gripping and moving memoir that bears witness to
atrocities we have too long averted our eyes from, and reveals that the
actions of just one committed person have the power to change the world.An up-close, honest, and uncompromising look at the crisis in Darfur, THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK exposes the ongoing tragedy in Sudan as seen through the eyes of one American witness.

Using the exclusive photographs and first hand testimony of former U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle, the film goes on an emotionally charged journey into the heart of Darfur, Sudan, where in 2004, Steidle became witness to a genocide that to-date has claimed over 400,000 lives. As an official military observer, Steidle had access to parts of the country that no journalist could penetrate. Unprepa! red for what he would witness and experience, Steidle returned to the U.S. armed with his photographs, intent on exposing the images and stories of lives systematically destroyed.

A 2007 world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, this astonishingly propulsive and dramatic film from award-winning filmmakers Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern (The Trials of Darryl Hunt), is a heartfelt account of what this particular American witness saw and, just as important, what he did afterward.

DVD Features: Bonus Short Film: Supporting Survivors; Take Action Save Darfur: How to HelpThe Devil Came on Horseback presents a first-person account of the genocide in Darfur. Former Marine Captain Brian Steidle joined the African Union in 2004 to help monitor the cease-fire in Sudan. As he puts it, "All I had was a camera, a pen, and paper. I was totally unprepared for what I'd see." An unarmed military civilian, he describes his observations, via voice-over and audio record! ings, as filmmakers Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern alternate b! etween t heir contemporary footage and his images of slaughtered civilians and incinerated villages. When his contract ends, Steidle leaves in disillusionment. He wrote his reports and took his pictures, but nothing changed. Since reporters lacked the same degree of access, he goes to The New York Times, and they publish his photographs. The soldier-turned-activist proceeds to spread the word everywhere he can. Aside from Steidle, the film features his sister Gretchen Wallace, founder of Global Grassroots (an organization working with female victims in Sudan and Rwanda), and Senator Barack Obama, who has also made Darfur his personal mission. The title comes from a loose translation of janjaweed, the government-backed Arab militias behind the atrocities to which Steidle bore witness. (Steidle and his sister use the same title for the book they wrote together.) As in their previous documentary, The Trials of Darryl Hunt, Sundberg and Stern maintain a measured tone, but t! heir subject's horrifying images speak for themselves. The Devil Came on Horseback is accompanied by Wallace's Supporting Survivors, a short film about Global Grassroots. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Flight of the Red Balloon

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