Red Devil 3167 1.5-Inch Double-Edge Blade

• Scrape any surface without gouging
• Extremely durable
• Lasts through tough jobs
• Resharpen with file
• Two scraping edges

This book is now a major motion picture released with the same title in August 2011. In 1987, Latif Yahia was taken to Saddam's headquarters to meet Uday, Saddam's eldest son, and told that a great honour had been bestowed upon him: that because of the great likeness between them, he had been chosen to be Uday's double. For many Iraqis it would have been the highlight of their lives, but for Latif, a peace-loving man who did not agree with Saddam's brutal regime, it was not. He refused. Following a week of torture, and realising he would be killed if he continued to refuse, Latif was forced to accept the role. After a gruesome training programme during which he was made to watch over thirty films of torture, hours of tapes of Uday, and undertake ! a final remodelling of his appearance, Latif was deemed ready. But it was only after the final test, a meeting with Saddam himself, that Latif made his first public appearance. And so began his life as Uday's double - a life on the perimeter of the inner circle of Saddam's eldest son, a witness to the horror of his insane life of debauchery, excess and brutality, and an experience for which he almost paid with his life on more than one occasion.Based on a gripping, unbelievable true story of money, power and opulent decadence, Lionsgate’s THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE takes a white- knuckle ride deep into the lawless playground of excess and violence known as Baghdad, 1987. Summoned from the frontline to Saddam Hussein's palace, Iraqi army lieutenant Latif Yahia (Dominic Cooper) is thrust into the highest echelons of the "royal family" when he’s ordered to become the ‘fiday’ â€" or body double â€" to Saddam's son, the notorious "Black Prince" Uday Hussein (also Dominic Coope! r), a reckless, sadistic party-boy with a rabid hunger for sex! and bru tality. With his and his family’s lives at stake, Latif must surrender his former self forever as he learns to walk, talk and act like Uday. But nothing could have prepared him for the horror of the Black Prince’s psychotic, drug-addled life of fast cars, easy women and impulsive violence. With one wrong move costing him his life, Latif forges an intimate bond with Sarrab (Ludivine Sagnier), Uday's seductive mistress who’s haunted by her own secrets. But as war looms with Kuwait and Uday’s depraved gangster regime threatens to destroy them all, Latif realizes that escape from the devil’s den will only come at the highest possible cost.After scene-stealing turns in The History Boys and An Education, charismatic Brit Dominic Cooper becomes a leading man--twice. Like Nicolas Cage in Adaptation, he plays two men with similar features and opposing personalities. In 1987, as Iraq is locked in a power struggle with Kuwait, Uday Hussein decides he need! s a fiday, or body double, so he selects former classmate Latif Yahia, and doesn't give the army lieutenant a choice. Upright Latif must put his scruples aside to take on the part of an insecure, misogynistic sadist. Though dazzled by the Black Prince's wealth, he finds his behavior horrifying, and discovers he isn't alone. Uday's security officer, Munem (Raad Rawi), his mistress, Sarrab (Swimming Pool's Ludivine Sagnier), and even his father, Saddam (Philip Quast, surprisingly sympathetic), all think he's off his rocker. When Uday's encounters with a couple of women come to a grim end, Latif runs away with Sarrab, who's just as anxious to make a new life for herself. New Zealand director Lee Tamahori, who came to fame with Once Were Warriors, consistently goes for the big, the bold, and the operatic, leading to an entertaining, if lurid Scarface-like spectacle. The more his camera ogles Uday's snazzy suits and sexy conquests, the more he seems e! qually bedazzled by this real-life Devil. Fortunately, Cooper ! rises to the occasion with two impressively divergent performances; he keeps you rapt no matter how ridiculous the proceedings get. --Kathleen C. FennessyBased on a gripping, unbelievable true story of money, power and opulent decadence, Lionsgate’s THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE takes a white- knuckle ride deep into the lawless playground of excess and violence known as Baghdad, 1987. Summoned from the frontline to Saddam Hussein's palace, Iraqi army lieutenant Latif Yahia (Dominic Cooper) is thrust into the highest echelons of the "royal family" when he’s ordered to become the ‘fiday’ â€" or body double â€" to Saddam's son, the notorious "Black Prince" Uday Hussein (also Dominic Cooper), a reckless, sadistic party-boy with a rabid hunger for sex and brutality. With his and his family’s lives at stake, Latif must surrender his former self forever as he learns to walk, talk and act like Uday. But nothing could have prepared him for the horror of the Black Prince’s psychotic! , drug-addled life of fast cars, easy women and impulsive violence. With one wrong move costing him his life, Latif forges an intimate bond with Sarrab (Ludivine Sagnier), Uday's seductive mistress who’s haunted by her own secrets. But as war looms with Kuwait and Uday’s depraved gangster regime threatens to destroy them all, Latif realizes that escape from the devil’s den will only come at the highest possible cost.After scene-stealing turns in The History Boys and An Education, charismatic Brit Dominic Cooper becomes a leading man--twice. Like Nicolas Cage in Adaptation, he plays two men with similar features and opposing personalities. In 1987, as Iraq is locked in a power struggle with Kuwait, Uday Hussein decides he needs a fiday, or body double, so he selects former classmate Latif Yahia, and doesn't give the army lieutenant a choice. Upright Latif must put his scruples aside to take on the part of an insecure, misogynistic sadist. Th! ough dazzled by the Black Prince's wealth, he finds his behavi! or horri fying, and discovers he isn't alone. Uday's security officer, Munem (Raad Rawi), his mistress, Sarrab (Swimming Pool's Ludivine Sagnier), and even his father, Saddam (Philip Quast, surprisingly sympathetic), all think he's off his rocker. When Uday's encounters with a couple of women come to a grim end, Latif runs away with Sarrab, who's just as anxious to make a new life for herself. New Zealand director Lee Tamahori, who came to fame with Once Were Warriors, consistently goes for the big, the bold, and the operatic, leading to an entertaining, if lurid Scarface-like spectacle. The more his camera ogles Uday's snazzy suits and sexy conquests, the more he seems equally bedazzled by this real-life Devil. Fortunately, Cooper rises to the occasion with two impressively divergent performances; he keeps you rapt no matter how ridiculous the proceedings get. --Kathleen C. FennessyIn 1987, Latif Yahia was taken to Saddam's headquarters to meet Uday, Sadd! am's eldest son, and told that a great honour has been bestowed upon him: that because of the great likeness between them, he had been chosen to be Uday's double. For many Iraquis, it would have been the highlight of their lives, but for Latif, a peace-loving man who did not agree with Saddam's brutal regime, it was not. He refused. Following a week of torture and realising he would be killed if he continued to refuse, Latif was forced to accept the role. After a gruesome training programme during which he was made to watch over thirty films of torture, hours of tapes of Uday, and undertake a final remodelling of his appearance, Latif was deemed ready. But it was only after the final test, a meeting with Saddam himself, that Latif made his first public appearance. And so began his life as Uday's double - a life on the perimeter of the inner circle of Saddam's eldest son, a witness to the horror of his insane life of debauchery, excess and brutality, and an experience for wh! ich he almost paid with his life on more than one occasion.Red! Devil 3 167 Scraper Blades, Double EdgeReplacement blades for double edge wood scrapers.Red Devil 3167 Scraper Blades, Double Edge Features:; 1 1/2" (7.6 cm) Blade (2); Carded; Blades made from high-carbon steel for maximum; sharpness and durability; Resharpen with file; Two scraping edges; Fits scraper 3140 (3673-5124); 1-1/2" wide; 2 per card

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Death Race 2000 (Roger Corman's Cult Classics)

• The 1975 low-budgetic Death Race 2000 takes place in the year 2000, when America s national sport is the death race, a cross-country excursion in which contestants rack up points by killing innocent bystanders. Meanwhile, a revolution is brewing, and rebels disrupt the televised competition in an attempt to overthrow the morally bankrupt President. Will Frankenstein, the mysterious reigning champ

Genre: Action/Adventure
Rating: UN
Release Date: 23-DEC-2008
Media Type: DVDMayhem rules in Death Race, a head-over-heels remake of the Roger Corman cult classic Death Race 2000, in which cars become lethal weapons. The strength of this new version is its total single-mindedness about vehicular homicide; it has the virtue of no cluttering subplots or simpering sentimentality. And banish all memory of the original's wild satirical comedy: ! Death Race is as grim as a dinner tray to the face (a reference that will be explained in a key sequence). In a slightly futuristic maximum-security prison, cons take part in brutal races around the island prison, their violent deaths watched live by millions of viewers. Jason Statham, possibly cast because of his driving dexterity in the Transporter movies, plays a man wrongly imprisoned for murder. Joan Allen provides her brittle cool as the warden, who recruits Statham to assume the masked persona of a legendary driver called Frankenstein. Tyrese Gibson is Frankie's main rival, Natalie Martinez provides the fetching eye candy, but the acting honors go to Ian McShane, as the philosophical prison mechanic. One misses the cross-country race from the original film, as the setting here is claustrophobic and the cars are largely colorless and indistinguishable from each other. Director Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil) continues to display the sensibili! ty of a video-game addict, which will either be a recommendati! on or a turn-off, depending on your own tastes. At least it doesn't have the hypocritical moral blathering of something like the somewhat similar Condemned--who knew you could be so grateful for simple, straight-forward head-bashing? --Robert Horton


Stills from Death Race (Click for larger image)

DEATH RACE - Blu-Ray MovieMayhem rules in Death Race, a head-over-heels remake of the Roger Corman cult classic Death Race 2000, in which c! ars become lethal weapons. The strength of this new version is! its tot al single-mindedness about vehicular homicide; it has the virtue of no cluttering subplots or simpering sentimentality. And banish all memory of the original's wild satirical comedy: Death Race is as grim as a dinner tray to the face (a reference that will be explained in a key sequence). In a slightly futuristic maximum-security prison, cons take part in brutal races around the island prison, their violent deaths watched live by millions of viewers. Jason Statham, possibly cast because of his driving dexterity in the Transporter movies, plays a man wrongly imprisoned for murder. Joan Allen provides her brittle cool as the warden, who recruits Statham to assume the masked persona of a legendary driver called Frankenstein. Tyrese Gibson is Frankie's main rival, Natalie Martinez provides the fetching eye candy, but the acting honors go to Ian McShane, as the philosophical prison mechanic. One misses the cross-country race from the original film, as the settin! g here is claustrophobic and the cars are largely colorless and indistinguishable from each other. Director Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil) continues to display the sensibility of a video-game addict, which will either be a recommendation or a turn-off, depending on your own tastes. At least it doesn't have the hypocritical moral blathering of something like the somewhat similar Condemned--who knew you could be so grateful for simple, straight-forward head-bashing? --Robert Horton


Stills from Death Race (Click for larger image)

In the world’s most dangerous prison, a new game is born: Death Race. The rules of this adrenaline-fueled blood sport are simple, drive â€" or die. When repentant convict Carl Lucas (Luke Goss) discovers there’s a price on his head, his only hope is to survive a twisted race against an army of hardened criminals and tricked-out cars. Also starring Danny Trejo and Ving Rhames, Death Race 2 tells the explosive story of how the legendary race began. Strap yourself in for an insane thrill-ride!From the man who introduced us to Jack Nicholson, Francis Ford Coppola, Jonathan Demme, James Cameron and Martin Scorsese . . . Shout! Factory is proud to present a new collectors series of Roger Corman s most loved productions.


Welcome to the year 2000, now a place plagued by a lack of morals and political unrest. The only thing that society looks forward to is the three-day Transcontinental Death Race, a high-speed competition that is won ! by the driver who collects the most points by killing spectato! rs and p edestrians. But this year the drivers have something to worry about other than getting killed by rival contestants: there is a group of anti-race activists trying to stop the race for good. The games all-time champion, Frankenstein (David Carradine), takes on such colorful characters as Machine Gun Joe Viterbo (Sylvester Stallone), Calamity Jane (Mary Woronov), Nero The Hero (Martin Kove) and Matilda The Hun (Roberta Collins) in this dark comedy-science fiction classic directed by Paul Bartel ( Eating Raoul). ?

Bonus Features:

* New Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) High-Definition Transfer From The Interpositive Film Element

* David On Death Race: Interview with David Carradine

* Audio Commentary With Roger Corman & Mary Woronov

* New Audio Commentary With Assistant Director Lewis Teague And Editor Tina Hirsh

* Playing The Game: Looking Back at Death Race 2000

* Ready To Wear: Interview with costume designer Jane! Ruhm

* Designing Dystopia A detailed look at the design of the films now-legendary race cars, costumes and futuristic landscapes with members of the production, design and costume crew

* Start Your Engines: Interview with author Ib Melchior

* Killer Score: An all-new interview with composer Paul Chihara on the creation of the films eclectic score

* Leonard Maltin Interviews Roger Corman About Death Race 2000

* Theatrical Trailer

* Theatrical Trailer With Commentary By John Landis

* TV And Radio spots

* 12-Page Booklet

* New World Trailers

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Combat of Giants Dinosaurs

• Roam the Jurassic world in full 3D and feel the depth of the jungle, crush trees and rocks to get special rewards.
• Perform real-time actions such as blocking, dodging, hitting and execute your new super combination attack with a unique fighting style for each dinosaur.
• Choose your favorite dinosaur among 18 breeds customize them with over 35 colors and patterns, your dinosaur will be more unique than ever.
• Wirelessly battle others player's champions when your 3DS' come into range of each other using StreetPass.
• In Combat of Giant Dinosaurs 3D players become the Dino of their choice, customizing it as they choose and leveling it up in order to challenge the top dinosaur, Arkosaurus.

Over 150 million years ago in a world dominated by Dinosaurs, natural disasters were changing earth and causing chaos.  In the fight to become the top predator, only the most powerf! ul dinosaurs could survive and had to battle the Arkosaurus, the most ferocious dinosaur species in the Jurassic world.

Combat of Giant Dinosaurs 3D for 3DS is a single player, handheld, adventure that blends dinosaur-on-dinosaur combat action with the modern functionality possible with the Nintendo 3DS.* Players engage in unique light role-playing game (RPG) elements in which a dinosaur champion is chosen that they will utilize in exploring the gameworld, as well as in battle against all challenging dinosaurs in a competition that will eventually decide ultimate power in the Jurassic world. Additional features include: fast-paced, real-time fights; dinosaur customization, Interaction with other players via Nintendo 3DS StreetPass functionality and more.

Story

Over 150 million years ago in a world dominated by dinosaurs, natural disasters were changing earth and causing chaos. In the fight to become the top predator, only the most powerful dinosaurs could survive and had to battle the Arkosaurus, the most ferocious dinosaur species in the Jurassic world.

Battle for supremacy in the Jurassic world as the dinosaur of your choice.
View larger.

Gameplay

Combat of Giant Dinosaurs 3D is a unique single player blend of action combat from the perspec! tive of dinosaurs, with light role-playing game (RPG) elements in which the goal is to become the top dinosaur and then challenge the main boss in the game, Arkosaurus. The game contains 4 groups of playable dinosaurs: apex predators, mid-level fast hunters, large aggressive herbivores and large defensive herbivores. Players choose one, customizing it as they see fit and controlling it in a series of rampages through the various environments found in the game. Along the way you must master the abilities of your beast as well as work on leveling it up by finding hidden items. More importantly you will also battle dinosaurs that you encounter. These will be both from your dinosaur's group and the other three. Battles require both offensive and defensive techniques in order to succeed at the highest level and special attacks are available. Additional gameplay elements are available via the 3DS' StreetPass functionality.

StreetPass

Social and wired like no Nin! tendo system before it, Nintendo 3DS brings fellow players tog! ether in exciting new ways with StreetPass communication. Simply set your Nintendo 3DS to Sleep Mode and carry it with you wherever you go. In Combat of Giant Dinosaurs 3D this means that your designated dinosaur champion can automatically battle other champions stored on other 3DS handhelds with StreetPass enabled that you come into wireless range of. Through StreetPass you can also exchange rare game items wirelessly. You control what data you exchange, making virtual connections with real world people you encounter in your daily life.

Key Game Features

• Dive Into a 3D Jurassic World - Roam the Jurassic world in full 3D and feel the depth of the jungle, crush trees and rocks to get special rewards. Enjoy as well a strong 3D storytelling between 2 intense fights.
• Spectacular Combat and Real-Time Fights - Engage in fast-paced fights with direct control over your giant creature. Perform real-time actions such as blocking, dodging, h! itting and execute your new super combination attack with a unique fighting style for each dinosaur.
• Ultimate Dino Customization - Choose and customize your favorite dinosaur among 18 breeds such as T-Rex, Stegosaurus, Velociraptor, Triceratops, Ankylosaurus, and Baryonyx. With over 35 colors and patterns, your dinosaur will be more unique than ever.
• StreetPass Functionality - Wirelessly battle others player's champions when your 3DS' come into range of each other.
• Light RPG Action - In Combat of Giant Dinosaurs 3D players become the dinosaur of their choice, customizing it as they choose and leveling up their stats in order to challenge the top dinosaur, Arkosaurus.

Additional Screenshots

18 dinos to choose from. View larger.

Diverse environments. View larger.

Extreme customization. View larger.

Unleash devastating attacks. View larger.

* Nintendo 3DS sold separately.

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The City of Ember (Books of Ember)

• ISBN13: 9780385736282
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

NOW A MAJOR motion picture starring Bill Murray, Tim Robbins, Martin Landau, Saoirse Ronan, and Harry Treadaway! This tie-in edition of The City of Ember features a movie-art cover and an 8-page photo insert. Jeanne DuPrau’s instant classic tells the story of the great, underground city of Ember, designed as a last refuge for the human race. But when the storerooms run out of food and the lights begin to fail, it’s up to two teens, Lina and Doon, to decipher the fragments of an ancient parchment and find a way out of Ember.It is always night in the city of Ember. But there is no moon, no stars. The only light during the regular twelve hours of "day" comes from floodlamps that cast a yellowis! h glow over the streets of the city. Beyond are the pitch-black Unknown Regions, which no one has ever explored because an understanding of fire and electricity has been lost, and with it the idea of a Moveable Light. "Besides," they tell each other, "there is nowhere but here" Among the many other things the people of Ember have forgotten is their past and a direction for their future. For 250 years they have lived pleasantly, because there has been plenty of everything in the vast storerooms. But now there are more and more empty shelves--and more and more times when the lights flicker and go out, leaving them in terrifying blackness for long minutes. What will happen when the generator finally fails?

Twelve-year-old Doon Harrow and Lina Mayfleet seem to be the only people who are worried. They have just been assigned their life jobs--Lina as a messenger, which leads her to knowledge of some unsettling secrets, and Doon as a Pipeworker, repairing the plumbing in th! e tunnels under the city where a river roars through the darkn! ess. But when Lina finds a very old paper with enigmatic "Instructions for Egress," they use the advantages of their jobs to begin to puzzle out the frightening and dangerous way to the city of light of which Lina has dreamed. As they set out on their mission, the haunting setting and breathless action of this stunning first novel will have teens clamoring for a sequel. (Ages 10 to 14) --Patty Campbell

City of Ember is now a major motion picture (releasing in October 2008) starring Bill Murray, Tim Robbins, Martin Landau, and many more. Enjoy these images from the film, and click the thumbnails to see a larger image in a new browser window.

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Wild Science Magical Crystal Oasis

• Includes over 12 activities and experiments with crystals
• Learn about chemical reactions, transfer of energy, structure changes and properties of matter
• Create Frosted Fantasy Forests, Rainbow Gel Corals and grow Floating Crystal Islands
• Chemistry -"Super saturation and Seeds", and "Salts, Silicates and Seahorses"
• Part of the Girl's Science Collection

CHRYSTAL - DVD MovieThe naive eighteen year old Chrystal has long had a fascination for rubber, a fascination that her stepmother Lady Arlen has heartily encouraged. Under the woman’s guidance, Chrystal has already enjoyed the sensuous feel of the rubber garments in her wardrobe. But now there’s to be a ‘new uniform’, one especially designed to conform seamlessly to Chrystal’s youthful body, based on a series of exacting measurements. With her sexuality beginning to bloom, her fetish for rubber only incr! eases with the prospects of her new attire. However, Lady Arlen’s plans for her charge take a number of unanticipated and, indeed, diabolical twists that Chrystal never expected. She’s taken to the garment’s maker, Mr. Eversham, who will take on the meticulousness task of fitting the uniform to her bodyâ€"a process that will take several hours. Each new article, from the stringent corset to the face mask to the horrid boots and mittens, give Chrystal cause for alarm. Soon she’ll be covered head to toe in her beloved rubber. However, rubber is not the only unusual aspect to her new clothes. With unique electronic features as part of its design, the uniform will not only be capable of giving her intensely erotic stimulation in her crotch and breasts, it will allow for both sensory deprivation and electro-punishment beyond her wildest imaginings. Nothing about this is what Chrystal expected. Soon she’ll be trapped in a prison of rubber with no escape, her body no lon! ger her own to control, her fate determined by strangers, and ! her cont act with the outside world quickly dwindling away. In this chilling first person account of Chrystal’s descent into slavery, the horror of her predicament amplifies with each new step she’s required to take.The naive eighteen year old Chrystal has long had a fascination for rubber, a fascination that her stepmother Lady Arlen has heartily encouraged. Under the woman’s guidance, Chrystal has already enjoyed the sensuous feel of the rubber garments in her wardrobe. But now there’s to be a ‘new uniform’, one especially designed to conform seamlessly to Chrystal’s youthful body, based on a series of exacting measurements. With her sexuality beginning to bloom, her fetish for rubber only increases with the prospects of her new attire. However, Lady Arlen’s plans for her charge take a number of unanticipated and, indeed, diabolical twists that Chrystal never expected. She’s taken to the garment’s maker, Mr. Eversham, who will take on the meticulousness task of ! fitting the uniform to her bodyâ€"a process that will take several hours. Each new article, from the stringent corset to the face mask to the horrid boots and mittens, give Chrystal cause for alarm. Soon she’ll be covered head to toe in her beloved rubber. However, rubber is not the only unusual aspect to her new clothes. With unique electronic features as part of its design, the uniform will not only be capable of giving her intensely erotic stimulation in her crotch and breasts, it will allow for both sensory deprivation and electro-punishment beyond her wildest imaginings. Nothing about this is what Chrystal expected. Soon she’ll be trapped in a prison of rubber with no escape, her body no longer her own to control, her fate determined by strangers, and her contact with the outside world quickly dwindling away. In this chilling first person account of Chrystal’s descent into slavery, the horror of her predicament amplifies with each new step she’s required to tak! e.

• Includes over 12 activities and experiments with! crystal s.
• Learn about chemical reactions, transfer of energy, structure changes of properties and matter.
• Create Frosted Fantasy Forests, Rainbow Gel Corals and grow Floating Crystal Islands.

Recommended Ages: 120 months - & Up

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Girl with a Pearl Earring, Deluxe Edition

• ISBN13: 9780452287020
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Delft Holland 1665. seventeen-year-old Griet must work to support her family and becomes a maid in the house of Johannes Vermeer where she gradually attracts the master painter s attention. Johannes and Griet must hide their inspiration of each other from his volatile wife Catharine. The wealthy and troublemaking Master van Ruijven senses the intimacy between the artist and his maid and contrives a paintings ever created but at what cost?System Requirements: Running Time 100 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG-13 UPC: 012236155225 Manufacturer No: 15522You wouldn't think a movie could look like a Vermeer painting, but Girl with a Pearl Earring is filmed with an amazing range of lumi! nous glows that evoke the Dutch artist's masterworks. Of course, it helps that much of the movie centers on Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Ghost World), whose creamy skin and full lips have a luminosity of their own. Johansson plays Griet, a maid in the household of Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth, Bridget Jones' Diary, Fever Pitch), who finds herself in a web of jealousy, artistic inspiration, and social machinations. Though the pace is slow, Girl with a Pearl Earring genuinely conveys some sense of an artist's process, as well as offering many chaste yet sensual moments between Firth and Johansson. Also featuring Essie Davis as Vermeer's bitter wife and Tom Wilkinson (In the Bedroom) as a wealthy patron with eyes for Griet. --Bret FetzerA Deluxe Edition of the National Bestseller with Over 2 Million Copies Sold:
• Eight Pages of Full-Color Plates Include Every Vermeer Painting Discussed in the Book
• Fre! nch Flaps
• Rough Front
• Larger Trim Size
•! Premium Stock
• With a New Foreword

Celebrate Tracy Chevalier’s modern classic Girl With A Pearl Earring, featuring a gorgeous new edition illustrated with eight pages of Vermeer’s masterworks. History and fiction merge seamlessly in this luminous novel about artistic vision and sensual awakening. The story of Griet, whose life is transformed by her brief encounter with a genius as she herself is immortalized in canvas and oil, is new again.With precisely 35 canvases to his credit, the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer represents one of the great enigmas of 17th-century art. The meager facts of his biography have been gleaned from a handful of legal documents. Yet Vermeer's extraordinary paintings of domestic life, with their subtle play of light and texture, have come to define the Dutch golden age. His portrait of the anonymous Girl with a Pearl Earring has exerted a particular fascination for centuries--and it is this magnetic painting that l! ies at the heart of Tracy Chevalier's second novel of the same title.

Girl with a Pearl Earring centers on Vermeer's prosperous Delft household during the 1660s. When Griet, the novel's quietly perceptive heroine, is hired as a servant, turmoil follows. First, the 16-year-old narrator becomes increasingly intimate with her master. Then Vermeer employs her as his assistant--and ultimately has Griet sit for him as a model. Chevalier vividly evokes the complex domestic tensions of the household, ruled over by the painter's jealous, eternally pregnant wife and his taciturn mother-in-law. At times the relationship between servant and master seems a little anachronistic. Still, Girl with a Pearl Earring does contain a final delicious twist.

Throughout, Chevalier cultivates a limpid, painstakingly observed style, whose exactitude is an effective homage to the painter himself. Even Griet's most humdrum duties take on a high if unobtrusive gloss! :

I came to love grinding the things he brought! from th e apothecary--bones, white lead, madder, massicot--to see how bright and pure I could get the colors. I learned that the finer the materials were ground, the deeper the color. From rough, dull grains madder became a fine bright red powder and, mixed with linseed oil, a sparkling paint. Making it and the other colors was magical.

In assembling such quotidian particulars, the author acknowledges her debt to Simon Schama's classic study The Embarrassment of Riches. Her novel also joins a crop of recent, painterly fictions, including Deborah Moggach's Tulip Fever and Susan Vreeland's Girl in Hyacinth Blue. Can novelists extract much more from the Dutch golden age? The question is an open one--but in the meantime, Girl with a Pearl Earring remains a fascinating piece of speculative historical fiction, and an appealingly new take on an old master. --Jerry Brotton

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Ancient Mysteries - The Black Death

• What is the Black Death? Where did it come from? Scientists still do not know the origins of this deadly plague. Appearing miraculously in 542 A.D., the devastating outbreak claimed 100 million lives. Winding its way from Egypt, through Asia Minor and into Europe, the devastation lasted 52 years and disappeared as mysteriously as it arrived. Many believed that the plague was sent from God as punis

The year is 1348. Europe has fallen under the shadow of the Black Death. As the plague decimates all in its path, fear and superstition are rife. There are rumors of a village hidden in marshland that the plague cannot reach. There is talk of a necromancer who leads the village and is able to bring the dead back to life. Ulric (Sean Bean), a fearsome knight, is charged by the church to investigate these rumors. Joined by a young monk and a small consort of soldiers, the journey ahead will lead them ! into the heart of darkness where faith is challenged and put to the ultimate test.A potent combination of medieval combat and religious paranoia, Black Death serves as an outstanding example of how a genre film can smuggle in some surprisingly mature themes without missing a kinetic step. Set during the late 14th century, Dario Poloni's script follows a young monk (Eddie Redmayne) struggling with his faith as the bubonic plague runs rampant through Europe. As he contemplates fleeing England for a forbidden romance, he is tasked with leading a team of bishop-appointed mercenaries (led by Sean Bean) on their search for a rumored necromancer in the wilderness. After the group hacks their way through packs of infected marauders and nonbelievers, their search finally leads them to a pastoral town mysteriously free of the disease. When the town's beautiful leader (Carice van Houten) displays what appears to be mystical healing powers, the monk must decide which side God is! truly on. Director Christopher Smith, previously responsible ! for the commendably bent time-travel saga Triangle, creates a fantastically earthy environment for the film's increasingly supernatural possibilities to take hold. Bolstered by Bean's commanding performance, this is a terrifically grim--and occasionally terribly gory--action film that delivers an unsettling sting in its tail. --Andrew WrightThe year is 1348. Europe has fallen under the shadow of the Black Death. As the plague decimates all in its path, fear and superstition are rife. There are rumors of a village hidden in marshland that the plague cannot reach. There is talk of a necromancer who leads the village and is able to bring the dead back to life. Ulric (Sean Bean), a fearsome knight, is charged by the church to investigate these rumors. Joined by a young monk and a small consort of soldiers, the journey ahead will lead them into the heart of darkness where faith is challenged and put to the ultimate test.A potent combination of medieval combat and religious ! paranoia, Black Death serves as an outstanding example of how a genre film can smuggle in some surprisingly mature themes without missing a kinetic step. Set during the late 14th century, Dario Poloni's script follows a young monk (Eddie Redmayne) struggling with his faith as the bubonic plague runs rampant through Europe. As he contemplates fleeing England for a forbidden romance, he is tasked with leading a team of bishop-appointed mercenaries (led by Sean Bean) on their search for a rumored necromancer in the wilderness. After the group hacks their way through packs of infected marauders and nonbelievers, their search finally leads them to a pastoral town mysteriously free of the disease. When the town's beautiful leader (Carice van Houten) displays what appears to be mystical healing powers, the monk must decide which side God is truly on. Director Christopher Smith, previously responsible for the commendably bent time-travel saga Triangle, creates a fanta! stically earthy environment for the film's increasingly supern! atural p ossibilities to take hold. Bolstered by Bean's commanding performance, this is a terrifically grim--and occasionally terribly gory--action film that delivers an unsettling sting in its tail. --Andrew Wright

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

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

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