Blindness

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A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" that spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and assaulting women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangersâ€"among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tearsâ€"through the barren streets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing. A magnificent parable of loss and disorientation and a vivid evocation of the horrors of the twentieth century, Blindness has swept the reading public with its powerful portrayal of man's worst appetites and weaknesses-and man's ultimately exhilarating spirit.

In an unnamed city in an unnamed country, a man sitting in his car waiting for a traffic light to chang! e is suddenly struck blind. But instead of being plunged into darkness, this man sees everything white, as if he "were caught in a mist or had fallen into a milky sea." A Good Samaritan offers to drive him home (and later steals his car); his wife takes him by taxi to a nearby eye clinic where they are ushered past other patients into the doctor's office. Within a day the man's wife, the taxi driver, the doctor and his patients, and the car thief have all succumbed to blindness. As the epidemic spreads, the government panics and begins quarantining victims in an abandoned mental asylum--guarded by soldiers with orders to shoot anyone who tries to escape. So begins Portuguese author José Saramago's gripping story of humanity under siege, written with a dearth of paragraphs, limited punctuation, and embedded dialogue minus either quotation marks or attribution. At first this may seem challenging, but the style actually contributes to the narrative's building ten! sion, and to the reader's involvement.

In this communit! y of bli nd people there is still one set of functioning eyes: the doctor's wife has affected blindness in order to accompany her husband to the asylum. As the number of victims grows and the asylum becomes overcrowded, systems begin to break down: toilets back up, food deliveries become sporadic; there is no medical treatment for the sick and no proper way to bury the dead. Inevitably, social conventions begin to crumble as well, with one group of blind inmates taking control of the dwindling food supply and using it to exploit the others. Through it all, the doctor's wife does her best to protect her little band of blind charges, eventually leading them out of the hospital and back into the horribly changed landscape of the city.

Blindness is in many ways a horrific novel, detailing as it does the total breakdown in society that follows upon this most unnatural disaster. Saramago takes his characters to the very edge of humanity and then pushes them over t! he precipice. His people learn to live in inexpressible filth, they commit acts of both unspeakable violence and amazing generosity that would have been unimaginable to them before the tragedy. The very structure of society itself alters to suit the circumstances as once-civilized, urban dwellers become ragged nomads traveling by touch from building to building in search of food. The devil is in the details, and Saramago has imagined for us in all its devastation a hell where those who went blind in the streets can never find their homes again, where people are reduced to eating chickens raw and packs of dogs roam the excrement-covered sidewalks scavenging from corpses.

And yet in the midst of all this horror Saramago has written passages of unsurpassed beauty. Upon being told she is beautiful by three of her charges, women who have never seen her, "the doctor's wife is reduced to tears because of a personal pronoun, an adverb, a verb, an adjective, mere ! grammatical categories, mere labels, just like the two women,! the oth ers, indefinite pronouns, they too are crying, they embrace the woman of the whole sentence, three graces beneath the falling rain." In this one woman Saramago has created an enduring, fully developed character who serves both as the eyes and ears of the reader and as the conscience of the race. And in Blindness he has written a profound, ultimately transcendent meditation on what it means to be human. --Alix WilberIn Blindness, a city is overcome by an epidemic of blindness that spares only one woman. She becomes a guide for a group of seven strangers and serves as the eyes and ears for the reader in this profound parable of loss and disorientation. We return to the city years later in Saramago’s Seeing, a satirical commentary on government in general and democracy in particular. Together here for the first time, this beautiful edition will be a welcome addition to the library of any Saramago fan.

A city is hit by an epidemic of! "white blindness" which spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and raping women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers-among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears-through the barren streets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing. A magnificent parable of loss and disorientation and a vivid evocation of the horrors of the twentieth century, Blindness has swept the reading public with its powerful portrayal of man's worst appetites and weaknesses-and man's ultimately exhilarating spirit. The stunningly powerful novel of man's will to survive against all odds, by the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature

 

The e-book includes a sample chapter from the late Nobel Prize winner's final work, Cain.In an unnamed city in an unnamed country, a ! man sitting in his car waiting for a traffic light to change ! is sudde nly struck blind. But instead of being plunged into darkness, this man sees everything white, as if he "were caught in a mist or had fallen into a milky sea." A Good Samaritan offers to drive him home (and later steals his car); his wife takes him by taxi to a nearby eye clinic where they are ushered past other patients into the doctor's office. Within a day the man's wife, the taxi driver, the doctor and his patients, and the car thief have all succumbed to blindness. As the epidemic spreads, the government panics and begins quarantining victims in an abandoned mental asylum--guarded by soldiers with orders to shoot anyone who tries to escape. So begins Portuguese author José Saramago's gripping story of humanity under siege, written with a dearth of paragraphs, limited punctuation, and embedded dialogue minus either quotation marks or attribution. At first this may seem challenging, but the style actually contributes to the narrative's building tension, and t! o the reader's involvement.

In this community of blind people there is still one set of functioning eyes: the doctor's wife has affected blindness in order to accompany her husband to the asylum. As the number of victims grows and the asylum becomes overcrowded, systems begin to break down: toilets back up, food deliveries become sporadic; there is no medical treatment for the sick and no proper way to bury the dead. Inevitably, social conventions begin to crumble as well, with one group of blind inmates taking control of the dwindling food supply and using it to exploit the others. Through it all, the doctor's wife does her best to protect her little band of blind charges, eventually leading them out of the hospital and back into the horribly changed landscape of the city.

Blindness is in many ways a horrific novel, detailing as it does the total breakdown in society that follows upon this most unnatural disaster. Saramago takes his characte! rs to the very edge of humanity and then pushes them over the! precipi ce. His people learn to live in inexpressible filth, they commit acts of both unspeakable violence and amazing generosity that would have been unimaginable to them before the tragedy. The very structure of society itself alters to suit the circumstances as once-civilized, urban dwellers become ragged nomads traveling by touch from building to building in search of food. The devil is in the details, and Saramago has imagined for us in all its devastation a hell where those who went blind in the streets can never find their homes again, where people are reduced to eating chickens raw and packs of dogs roam the excrement-covered sidewalks scavenging from corpses.

And yet in the midst of all this horror Saramago has written passages of unsurpassed beauty. Upon being told she is beautiful by three of her charges, women who have never seen her, "the doctor's wife is reduced to tears because of a personal pronoun, an adverb, a verb, an adjective, mere grammatica! l categories, mere labels, just like the two women, the others, indefinite pronouns, they too are crying, they embrace the woman of the whole sentence, three graces beneath the falling rain." In this one woman Saramago has created an enduring, fully developed character who serves both as the eyes and ears of the reader and as the conscience of the race. And in Blindness he has written a profound, ultimately transcendent meditation on what it means to be human. --Alix Wilber

A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" which spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and raping women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers-among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears-through the barren streets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing. A magnificent ! parable of loss and disorientation and a vivid evocation of th! e horror s of the twentieth century, Blindness has swept the reading public with its powerful portrayal of man's worst appetites and weaknesses-and man's ultimately exhilarating spirit. The stunningly powerful novel of man's will to survive against all odds, by the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature

 

The e-book includes a sample chapter from the late Nobel Prize winner's final work, Cain.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.

"Blindness is a major novel . . . Every character and every scene is shot through with significance after significance."â€"The Times [London]

Blinded in an accident on his way home from boarding school, John Haye must reevaluate his life and the possibilities for his future. His stepmotherâ€"worried that, blind and dependent, he'll spend his life with herâ€"wants to marry him off to anyone who will take him, provided she's of the "right" social class. Contrary to her hopes, John falls in love with the daughter of the town drunk (who is also the town parson). She whisks John off to London, where in this strange city he is confined to a room above a major thoroughfare while she gets on with her life.

Blindness was first published when Henry Green was an undergraduate at Oxford. Highly praised as a master of high-modernism, Green went on to write eight other novels, including Concluding and Doting.Shortly after John Hull went blind, after years of struggling with failing vision, he had a dream in which he was trapped on a sinking ship, submerging into another, unim! aginable world. The power of this calmly eloquent, intensely p! erceptiv e memoir lies in its thorough navigation of the world of blindness -- a world in which stairs are safe and snow is frightening, where food and sex lose much of their allure and playing with one's child may be agonizingly difficult. As he describes the ways in which blindness shapes his experience of his wife and children, of strangers helpful and hostile, and, above all, of his God, Hull becomes a witness in the highest, true sense. Touching the Rock is a book that will instruct, move, and profoundly transform anyone who reads it.

"John Hull goes a long way toward taking us with him through his descent into total blindness...He lets us see with no trace of self-pity or self-praise how blindness has become far him a genuine acquisition, an unforeseeably rich gift that has made of him what so few of us are: excellent watchers and hearers of the world...triumphant in the teeth of ruin". -- Reynolds PriceA doctor's wife becomes the only person with the ability to see in a town! where everyone is struck with a mysterious case of sudden blindness. She feigns illness in order to take care of her husband as her surrounding community breaks down into chaos and disorder. Based on a novel by Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago.
Based on José Saramago's allegorical novel, Blindness is a haunting film that works like an unusual fusion of fable and gritty suspense. Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo star as an unnamed, married couple living in an unidentified city where a mass epidemic of blindness hits. Ruffalo's character, a doctor, is affected, but Moore's is not. When the two are transferred to a government-run quarantine facility complete with armed guards, they soon find themselves in a rapidly deteriorating situation. Criminals take over food distribution and extort possessions and sex from the innocent. Sanitation becomes a thing of the past. More subtly, rules that might govern one's judgement and behavior on an everyday basis simply vanish! , and personal and collective values rewrite themselves. Moore! 's chara cter hides the fact that she can see (except from her spouse), and thus becomes the audience's surrogate in the thick of so much misery. She also becomes an avenging angel at exactly the right time, and then a matriarch when the action shifts from the quarantine hell to the city's streets. The latter part of Blindness finds a handful of the inmates (played by Danny Glover and Alice Braga, among others) joining Moore and Ruffalo in a kind of post-apocalypse oasis, a chapter as touching as the previous chapters were nightmarish.

Director Fernando Meirelles deftly captures the film's spirit of mixed parable and horror, grounding the action but at the same time encouraging a viewer not to take it too literally. He honors Saramago's creative depiction of blindness not as a field of black but, in this case, as an ocean of white. He also does some tricky, disorienting things with the camera, shooting at odd angles, putting his frame around strange details in a scene--a! ll of it has a way of giving a viewer a feeling of what it's like to perceive the world in a whole new way. --Tom Keogh

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Ashes of Time Redux [Blu-ray]

• UK Import
• Region-Free
• Blu-ray

From Director Wong Kar Wai comes the definitive version of Ashes of Time, an epic martial arts masterpiece of larger-than-life characters, breathtaking landscapes and exquisite fight scenes. The story centers on Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung), a heartbroken and cynical man who spends his days alone in the desert, connecting expert swordsmen with those seeking revenge and willing to pay for it. As Ouyang narrates his tale, interweaving the stories of his unusual clients, old friends and future foes, he begins to realize the mistakes of his own past, and how his fear of rejection may have led him to a life of exile.A complicated, sparse, and beautiful film, Ashes of Time Redux is the slightly tweaked version of Wong Kar Wai’s 1994 film. Like some of his other work, the movie borrows a few characters from novelist Louis Cha, but the fi! lm is definitely classic Wong. Ou-yan (Leslie Cheung) is heartbroken, after losing the love of his life to his brother. His friend Huang (Tony Leung Ka Fai) also is broken hearted. Ou-yan provides an unusual service--he connects swordsmen with people seeking revenge. He faces a moral dilemma when he is hired by both a man named Yang and a woman named Yin to kill Huang. There is a clever secret about Yin and Yang's motives that unfolds nicely. The fight sequences are artistically choreographed by Sammo Hung and Wong lovingly presents the action in a slow motion blur that showcases the languid beauty of martial arts. Other characters meander in and out of the plot. The most compelling is a blind swordsman (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) whose wife has a connection to Huang. The storyline at times gets confusing, but the narration by the two male leads offers nice clarity. Wong chooses to keep his set uncluttered, letting the camera focus on one or two characters rather than a sea of ex! tras. Cinematographer Christopher Doyle enhances the melanchol! y tone o f the film by utilizing sepia tones and dramatic framing that captures an otherworldly essence. --Jae-Ha KimOuyang Feng has lived in the western desert for some years. He left his home in White Camel Mountain when the woman he loved chose to marry his elder brother rather than him. Instead of seeking glory, he ends up as an agent. When people come to him with a wish to eliminate someone who has wronged them, he puts them in touch with a swordsman who can do the job.A complicated, sparse, and beautiful film, Ashes of Time Redux is the slightly tweaked version of Wong Kar Wai’s 1994 film. Like some of his other work, the movie borrows a few characters from novelist Louis Cha, but the film is definitely classic Wong. Ou-yan (Leslie Cheung) is heartbroken, after losing the love of his life to his brother. His friend Huang (Tony Leung Ka Fai) also is broken hearted. Ou-yan provides an unusual service--he connects swordsmen with people seeking revenge. He faces a m! oral dilemma when he is hired by both a man named Yang and a woman named Yin to kill Huang. There is a clever secret about Yin and Yang's motives that unfolds nicely. The fight sequences are artistically choreographed by Sammo Hung and Wong lovingly presents the action in a slow motion blur that showcases the languid beauty of martial arts. Other characters meander in and out of the plot. The most compelling is a blind swordsman (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) whose wife has a connection to Huang. The storyline at times gets confusing, but the narration by the two male leads offers nice clarity. Wong chooses to keep his set uncluttered, letting the camera focus on one or two characters rather than a sea of extras. Cinematographer Christopher Doyle enhances the melancholy tone of the film by utilizing sepia tones and dramatic framing that captures an otherworldly essence. --Jae-Ha Kim

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Purple Dragonfly EVERYTHING Happens for a Reason COFFEE TRAVEL Mug NEW

• Travel mug holds up to 14 ounces, with a snug plastic lid and two openings for sipping
• Made of ceramic
• Lid swivels open and closed to prevent spilling
• Mug is approximately 6" tall
• Mouth of the mug measures 3-1/2" and tapers down to a 2-1/2" base.

Whether it's with you in your car or on your desk at work, this high quality, inspirational travel mug is a MUST HAVE. Beautiful, practical & convenient; a favorite traveling companion for years to come. The mug reads "Everything Happens for a Reason, Just Believe" on the front, with Dragonflies and Irises on the back. (This sale is for one mug only.) Travel mug holds up to 14 ounces, with a snug plastic lid and two openings for sipping Made of ceramic Lid swivels open and closed to prevent spilling Mug is approximately 6" tall No-slip rubber bottom. Dishwasher and Microwave safe

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The Last American Aristocrat: The Biography of Ambassador David K.E. Bruce, 1898-1977

• ISBN13: 9780316515016
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

An Unexpected Encounter

For a few moments on a moonlit balcony, Nicole Beaumont was just a beautiful woman catching the eye of the handsome Lord Devlinâ€"but she knew the illusion couldn't last. If the enigmatic aristocrat knew her secret, he'd realize that her disability left her unfit for love. So who could blame her for hiding the truth a little longer?

Devlin had never met a woman like Nicole. Her unique combination of innocence and wisdom left him utterly intrigued. Yet what was she hiding? For a man who did not trust easily, discovering her secret was devastating. Overcoming their pasts and forging a future would take faith, forgiveness and trust. And second chances could lead to new b! eginnings…

By the author of the acclaimed The Rise and Fall of the British Empire comes a “grand tour of the lives and impact of this truly remarkable breed.” (The Washington Times)

Aristocracy means “rule by the best.” For nine hundred years, the British aristocracy has considered itself ideally qualified to rule others, make laws, and guide the fortunes of the nation. Tracing the history of this remarkable supremacy, Aristocrats is a story of civil wars, conquests, intrigue, chicanery, and extremes of both selflessness and greed. 

Lawrence James also illuminates how the aristocracy’s infatuation with classical art has forged English heritage, how its love of sport has shaped its pastimes and values, and how its scandals have entertained the public.

Impeccably researched, balanced, and brilliantly entertaining, Aristocrats is an enthralling history of power, influence, and an extraordinary knack for surviva! l.

The Lennox Sisters--great-granddaughters of a! king, d aughters of a cabinet minister, and wives of politicians and peers--lived lives of real public significance, but the private texture of their family-centered world mattered to them and they shared their experiences with each other in countless letters. From this hitherto unknown archive, Stella Tillyard has constructed a group biography of privileged eighteenth-century women who, she shows, have much to tell us about our own time.

I must confess that initially I tried to skim this book. But it was far too good, and I ended up spending hours totally engrossed in the lives, loves, and letters of the Lennox sisters--Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah. Author Stella Tillyard gives a second life to these 18th-century aristocrats, whose extended family included some of the most significant and colorful British political figures of the era. She mixes impeccable research, a sharp eye for detail, and a writing style that's both precise and lively to produce a biography of a ! clan that doubles as a panoramic history of the aristocracy in the 1700s.

Each sister's defining characteristics shine through her letters, portraits, and Tillyard's terrific storytelling. Caroline, the eldest, is deeply pessimistic, intelligent, and moral but fascinated by and attracted to "wickedness" (she eloped with the naughty-but-nice Henry Fox and lived happily ever after). Emily: beautiful, loving, dictatorial, and unbelievably fertile (22 children, 10 of whom survived into adulthood). Louisa was good, gentle, always unwilling to believe ill of anyone, and when she died, was mourned not only by family and friends, but also by the whole of the Irish town in which she lived. And Sarah--flighty, flirtatious Sarah, with whom the young King George III fell blushingly and tongue-tiedly in love. Who, after disgracing herself and her dull, uninterested husband with the moody younger brother of Lord Gordon (of Gordon riots fame), finally found happiness and respectabil! ity, in her late 30s, with an understanding soldier. Unmissabl! e. -- Lisa Gee, Amazon.co.uk

A rich social history of the eighteenth century that accompanies a BBC TV series, here is the story of four sisters as threads in the tapestry of a grand era. The daughters of the Second Duke and Duchess of Richmond lived in magnificence as mistresses of some of the most splendid houses in England and Ireland through turbulent times, from the Jacobite Rebellion to the French Revolution. Photographs reveal the spectacular treasure trove of houses, furniture, objects, and paintings that they had commissioned, while stills taken on the location of the TV drama show the actors in their settings and costumes. A historian and best-selling author takes you deep into their opinions, tastes, and habits, describing everything from how and where they bought their furniture and found their gardeners to the details of their lifestyle. A beautiful introduction to a majestic world. 208 pages, 135 color illus., 16 b/w illus., 7 3/4 x 9 1/2. NEW IN PAPERBACK!

You were living it up with Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and then the tides turned. Now the king and queen have lost their heads and you're stuck in a filthy jail without a morsel of pate to eat. Quelle horreur! Could anythi! ng be worse?An Unexpected Encounter

For a few moments! on a mo onlit balcony, Nicole Beaumont was just a beautiful woman catching the eye of the handsome Lord Devlinâ€"but she knew the illusion couldn't last. If the enigmatic aristocrat knew her secret, he'd realize that her disability left her unfit for love. So who could blame her for hiding the truth a little longer?

Devlin had never met a woman like Nicole. Her unique combination of innocence and wisdom left him utterly intrigued. Yet what was she hiding? For a man who did not trust easily, discovering her secret was devastating. Overcoming their pasts and forging a future would take faith, forgiveness and trust. And second chances could lead to new beginnings…An Unexpected Encounter

For a few moments on a moonlit balcony, Nicole Beaumont was just a beautiful woman catching the eye of the handsome Lord Devlinâ€"but she knew the illusion couldn't last. If the enigmatic aristocrat knew her secret, he'd realize that her disability left her unfit for love. So who could blam! e her for hiding the truth a little longer?

Devlin had never met a woman like Nicole. Her unique combination of innocence and wisdom left him utterly intrigued. Yet what was she hiding? For a man who did not trust easily, discovering her secret was devastating. Overcoming their pasts and forging a future would take faith, forgiveness and trust. And second chances could lead to new beginnings…David Bruce was the last of a kind - a wealthy American, country squire, spymaster and diplomat - whose friends ranged from Ernest Hemingway to Averill Harriman. This biography describes his military career, his two marriages and his diplomatic service as ambassador to France, Britain and China.

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Heist

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Gene Hackman plays the veteran ringleader of a gang of theives (Delroy Lindo, Ricky Jay and Rebecca Pigeon as Hackman's youngish wife) that pulls off complex heists for a despicable fence (Danny DeVito). After stiffing the gang on a jewelry robbery, DeVito forces the gang to go after a Swiss gold shipment and to use his son (Sam Rockwell) in the crime. Mistrust runs rampant as double-crosses threaten the split-second operation.

DVD Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Theatrical Trailer

David Mamet's Heist is--not unlike many of his previous films--amusing, manicured, and fraught with an awkward tension. If you've seen The Spanish Prisoner or House of Games, you're by now familiar with the plot-subverting gambit of the double-cross turned triple- and then quadruple-cross. Heist sticks to the formula. Likewis! e, the quips and laconic wit that adorn what can most accurately be called "Mametspeak" are again on display: "Cute as a pail full of kittens," for instance, and "Everybody needs money; that's why they call it money." What you haven't yet seen in a Mamet film is the magisterial charm of Gene Hackman. In the role of Joe Moore, an aging criminal out for one final score before cashing in, Hackman shows us all (Mamet included) how it's done, embodying tough-but-clever effortlessly. Delroy Lindo, as Joe's partner Bobby, picks up on Hackman's ultra-cool and gives plenty in return. While the script and the remaining cast (Danny Devito, Rebecca Pidgeon, Sam Rockwell) are serviceable, Heist is entirely Hackman's show to steal. --Fionn Meade

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House of Flying Daggers [Blu-ray]

• Condition: New
• Format: Blu-ray
• AC-3; Color; Dolby; Dubbed; Subtitled; Widescreen

THE ILL-FATED ROMANCE BETWEEN AN IMPERIAL BODYGUARD & A PRINCETAKES THE LOVERS ON A DANGEROUS JOURNEY WHERE ROYAL FAMILYSECRETS ARE REVEALED.Curse of the Golden Flower, a fictionalized historical glimpse into the brutally complicated politics of Emperor Ping's (Chow Yun Fat) reign during the Tang Dynasty, shows the viewer just how far a megalomaniac must go to gain and retain power in medieval China. Lavish sets, massive ceremonial displays, and perversely fascinating battle scenes impress similarly to the special effects Americans have come to love and expect from Chinese action films like Zhang Yimou's previous House of Flying Daggers and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. An intricate plot involving the Emperor's wife, Empress Phoenix (Gong Li) and their three sons, Crown Prin! ce Xiang, Prince Jie, and Prince Cheng, most closely follows the Empress's secret plan to force abdication upon her corrupt husband as revenge for his slowly poisoning her with Black Fungus tea. Opening on the eve of the Chysanthemum Festival, 928 A.D., the Empress obsessively embroiders gold chysanthemums to adorn her army's uniforms while hatching plans with Jai to overthrow the Crown Prince for control of the throne. Meanwhile, a side plot develops as the Emperor's ex-wife and mother to Crown Prince Yu reemerges as Yu's lover. By the time the Festival occurs, family members are pitted against each other in a King Lear-ian web of lies that can only result in demise. The most sophisticated narrative aspect of Curse of the Golden Flower is that as the royal family crumbles, the Emperor's death grip on China remains unwavering. Gorgeous scenes set in the palace and costume design displaying China's upper class decadence cannot fail to entertain. The paradox bet! ween good and evil, here, is highlighted by how the Emperor su! ccessful ly rules despite, and because of, his utter cruelty. --Trinie DaltonFrom the director of Hero and House of Flying Daggers comes the martial arts epic masterpiece whose savage beauty and exquisite elegance has mesmerized and captivated audiences around the world. Set in the lavish and breathtakingly colorful world hidden from the eyes of mere mortals behind the walls of the Forbidden City, a tale of a royal family divided against itself builds to a mythic climax as lines are crossed, trust is betrayed, and family blood is spilled in the quest for redemption and revenge. Starring Chow Yun Fat of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as the embattled Emperor and Gong Li of Memoirs of a Geisha as his poisoned Empress, Curse of the Golden Flower grants you entry into a dazzling and spectacular world of betrayal, vengeance and passion that will change the way you think of martial arts forever.Curse of the Golden Flower, a fictionalized his! torical glimpse into the brutally complicated politics of Emperor Ping's (Chow Yun Fat) reign during the Tang Dynasty, shows the viewer just how far a megalomaniac must go to gain and retain power in medieval China. Lavish sets, massive ceremonial displays, and perversely fascinating battle scenes impress similarly to the special effects Americans have come to love and expect from Chinese action films like Zhang Yimou's previous House of Flying Daggers and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. An intricate plot involving the Emperor's wife, Empress Phoenix (Gong Li) and their three sons, Crown Prince Xiang, Prince Jie, and Prince Cheng, most closely follows the Empress's secret plan to force abdication upon her corrupt husband as revenge for his slowly poisoning her with Black Fungus tea. Opening on the eve of the Chysanthemum Festival, 928 A.D., the Empress obsessively embroiders gold chysanthemums to adorn her army's uniforms while hatching plans with Jai to overthrow th! e Crown Prince for control of the throne. Meanwhile, a side pl! ot devel ops as the Emperor's ex-wife and mother to Crown Prince Yu reemerges as Yu's lover. By the time the Festival occurs, family members are pitted against each other in a King Lear-ian web of lies that can only result in demise. The most sophisticated narrative aspect of Curse of the Golden Flower is that as the royal family crumbles, the Emperor's death grip on China remains unwavering. Gorgeous scenes set in the palace and costume design displaying China's upper class decadence cannot fail to entertain. The paradox between good and evil, here, is highlighted by how the Emperor successfully rules despite, and because of, his utter cruelty. --Trinie Daltongreat film .Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Named "Best Picture of the Year" by over 100 critics nationwide! Two master warriors (Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh) are faced with their greatest challenge when the treasured Green Destiny sword is stolen. A young aristocrat (Zhang Ziyi) prepare! s for an arranged marriage, but soon reveals her superior fighting talents and her deeply romantic past. As each warrior battles for justice, they come face to face with their worst enemy - and the inescapable, enduring power of love. Set against 19th-century China's breathtaking landscape, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is the action-packed, box office smash from acclaimed director Ang Lee (Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm) featuring stunning martial arts choreography by Yuen Wo Ping (The Matrix).

Curse of the Golden Flower
From the director of Hero and House of Flying Daggers comes the martial arts epic masterpiece whose savage beauty and exquisite elegance has mesmerized and captivated audiences around the world. Set in the lavish and breathtakingly colorful world hidden from the eyes of mere mortals behind the walls of the Forbidden City, a tale of a royal family divided against itself builds to a ! mythic climax as lines are crossed, trust is betrayed, and fam! ily bloo d is spilled in the quest for redemption and revenge. Starring Chow Yun Fat of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as the embattled Emperor and Gong Li of Memoirs of a Geisha as his poisoned Empress, Curse of the Golden Flower grants you entry into a dazzling and spectacular world of betrayal, vengeance and passion that will change the way you think of martial arts forever.

House of Flying Daggers
"Prepare your eyes for popping," in this "martial-arts fireball that throws in a lyrical love story, head spinning fights and dazzling surprises" (Rolling Stone). "A gorgeous entertainment" (A.O. Scott, New York Times). Mei is an exotic, beautiful blind dancer, associated with a dangerous revolutionary gang, known as the House of Flying Daggers. Captured by officers of the decadent Tang Dynasty, Mei finds herself both threatened - and attracted - to the most unusual circumstances. Here, her heart and loyalties battle each other, amid warri! ors in the treetops and dazzling combat - the likes of which have never before been seen!A pair of police deputies at the end of China's Tang Dynasty attempt to save a beautiful dancer, with revolutionary ties, from capture.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 1-JAN-2007
Media Type: DVDNo one uses color like Chinese director Zhang Yimou--movies like Raise the Red Lantern or Hero, though different in tone and subject matter, are drenched in rich, luscious shades of red, blue, yellow, and green. House of Flying Daggers is no exception; if they weren't choreographed with such vigorous imagination, the spectacular action sequences would seem little more than an excuse for vivid hues rippling across the screen. Government officers Leo and Jin (Asian superstars Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro) set out to destroy an underground rebellion called the House of Flying Daggers (named for their weapo! n of choice, a curved blade that swoops through the air like a! boomera ng). Their only chance to find the rebels is a blind women named Mei (Ziyi Zhang, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) who has some lethal kung fu moves of her own. In the guise of an aspiring rebel, Jin escorts Mei through gorgeous forests and fields that become bloody battlegrounds as soldiers try to kill them both. While arrows and spears of bamboo fly through the air, Mei, Jin, and Leo turn against each other in surprising ways, driven by passion and honor. Zhang's previous action/art film, Hero, sometimes sacrificed momentum for sheer visual beauty; House of Flying Daggers finds a more muscular balance of aesthetic splendor and dazzling swordplay. --Bret Fetzer"Prepare your eyes for popping," in this "martial-arts fireball that throws in a lyrical love story, head spinning fights and dazzling surprises" (Rolling Stone). "A gorgeous entertainment" (A.O. Scott, New York Times). Mei is an exotic, beautiful blind dancer, associated with a dangerous re! volutionary gang, known as the House of Flying Daggers. Captured by officers of the decadent Tang Dynasty, Mei finds herself both threatened - and attracted - to the most unusual circumstances. Here, her heart and loyalties battle each other, amid warriors in the treetops and dazzling combat - the likes of which have never before been seen!No one uses color like Chinese director Zhang Yimou--movies like Raise the Red Lantern or Hero, though different in tone and subject matter, are drenched in rich, luscious shades of red, blue, yellow, and green. House of Flying Daggers is no exception; if they weren't choreographed with such vigorous imagination, the spectacular action sequences would seem little more than an excuse for vivid hues rippling across the screen. Government officers Leo and Jin (Asian superstars Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro) set out to destroy an underground rebellion called the House of Flying Daggers (named for their weapon of choice, ! a curved blade that swoops through the air like a boomerang). ! Their on ly chance to find the rebels is a blind women named Mei (Ziyi Zhang, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) who has some lethal kung fu moves of her own. In the guise of an aspiring rebel, Jin escorts Mei through gorgeous forests and fields that become bloody battlegrounds as soldiers try to kill them both. While arrows and spears of bamboo fly through the air, Mei, Jin, and Leo turn against each other in surprising ways, driven by passion and honor. Zhang's previous action/art film, Hero, sometimes sacrificed momentum for sheer visual beauty; House of Flying Daggers finds a more muscular balance of aesthetic splendor and dazzling swordplay. --Bret Fetzer

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HALEY BENNETT - The Haunting of Molly Hartley AUTOGRAPH Signed 8x10 Photo

• HALEY BENNETT - The Haunting of Molly Hartley AUTOGRAPH Signed 8x10 Photo
• Authentic and Hand-Signed by Haley Bennett
• Certified Authentic with a Certificate of Authenticity
• Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity
• COA from TopPix Autographs - Member UACC & AFTAL Approved Dealer #103

MOLLY HARTLEY LOOKS TO PUT HER TROUBLED PAST BEHIND HER WITH AFRESH START AT A NEW SCHOOL, WHERE SHE SPARKS WITH ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR STUDENTS. BUT CAN HER SECRETS STAY BURIED, ESPECIALLY AS SHE LEARNS MORE ABOUT THE HORRIFIC TRUTH THAT AWAITS HER ONCE SHE TURNS 18?Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 09/13/2011 Run time: 85 minutes Rating: Pg13This is a great HAND-SIGNED 8x10 photo! You could own this picture that has been authentically autographed by this incredible actress. We never sell copies or reproductions of any kind; this photo has been hand-signed by Haley Bennett. This photo was signed in-person at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on January 25, 2011. Don't miss your chance to own this fantastic piece of memorabilia!

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The Day After Tomorrow

• A young American doctor haunted by his father's murder stumbles into a chilling international conspiracy and crosses paths with, among others, a weary L.A. cop investigating a series of surgically precise decapitations, a naive physical therapist and a hypercompetent German assassin.

In a Paris cafe, American surgeon Paul Osborn looks across the room and spots the man who murdered his father thirty years before. In London, a grizzled L.A. homicide cop named McVey joins Scotland Yard to unravel the mystery of a severed head and seven headless corpses. Neither American knows the link between the long-ago killing and the recent murders. But Paul's obsession to catch his father's killer will send him careening across Europe at breakneck speed, his life in the balance, his heart in the hands of a beautiful woman who may be his lover-or his downfall. Shadowing his every move is the relentless McVey! . And haunting them both is a secret organization larger and more embracing than any the world has ever seen, preparing for an apocalypse to begin...

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