Beyond the Sea

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One of America’s greatest performers, Bobby Darin lived a rags-to-riches life. He worked his way from shady nightclubs to his dream destination, The Copacabana, where he wowed crowds with "Splish Splash," "Mack the Knife" and other hits. He was a marvel at singing, songwriting and performing â€" stealing the hearts of fans everywhere despite the suffering in his own hear.The chameleon-like actor Kevin Spacey is best known for playing pyschopaths (in Seven and The Usual Suspects) and capturing a creepy mid-life crisis in American Beauty--but surprisingly, playing crooner Bobby Darin, Spacey does some snappy dancing and top-notch singing. Beyond the Sea puts Darin's life through a bit of a kaleidoscope: While singing Darin's most memorable hit, "Mack the Knife," Darin suddenly stops the show, revealing that he's not at a nightclub, but in the middle of a s! hooting a scene about his life as a nightclub performer. Why has he stopped? Because he's just seen himself as a young boy, peering from behind a curtain. Such self-conscious narrative twists recur throughout the movie, turning Darin's fight for fame and respect into a love story between his adult and childhood selves. Sandra Dee (Kate Bosworth, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!), a hugely popular movie star in her own right, was supposedly the love of Darin's life, but she never holds his attention as does his childhood self (played by newcomer William Ullrich). It's a striking metaphor for the narcissism that drives such success-hungry entertainers. But despite (or perhaps because of) the complexity of the telling, the events never grip your emotions; though Darin's life featured hits galore and a few soap opera twists, his story lacks the seductive charm of his nighclub show. Also featuring Bob Hoskins, John Goodman, Brenda Blethyn, and Greta Scacchi. --Bret Fetzer!

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The Woman Who Fell from the Sky: An American Journalist in Yemen

• ISBN13: 9780767930505
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

"One is not born, but rather becomes a woman." Simone De Beauvoir's exquisite pronouncement on the social construction of gender in her Second Sex (1949) spoke to generations of women, and of a universal truth beyond countries and cultures. As an example of astonishing visual poignancy, "The Day I became a Woman" is the globally celebrated debut of Marziyeh Meshkini, a young Iranian filmmaker bringing her rich and diversified national cinema to bear on an enduring global concern, in a new crescendo of memorable subtlety and grace. "The Day" is repeated in three consecutive episodes-the memorial registers of childhood, adolescence, and old age-when three stages of "becoming" a woman is culturally m! anufactured and socially registered. Between Simone De Beauvoir and Marziyeh Meshkini, generations of women (and men), from all cultures around the world, will have much to learn and even more to achieve.Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Commentary (films not included). Pages: 72. Chapters: Maryam, Unruled Paper, Nader and Simin, A Separation, Be Like Others, The Day I Became a Woman, Taste of Cherry, Khastegi, Santouri, Children of Heaven, Offside, Heaven's Taxi, Crimson Gold, About Elly, The Night Bus, Baran, Noora, Turtles Can Fly, Marmoulak, Two Women, Dame sobh, The Wind Will Carry Us, The Circle, No One Knows About Persian Cats, Ekhrajiha, Secret Ballot, Bab'Aziz, The White Balloon, The Color of Paradise, A Time for Drunken Horses, Kandahar, Life, and Nothing More..., Through the Olive Trees, Half Moon, Bashu, the Little Stranger, The Song of Sparrows, Please Do Not Disturb, ! A Moment of Innocence, Farewell Baghdad, Lor Girl, Blackboards! , Duet, Hamoun, Saint Mary, Shirin, The Cow, The White Meadows, Iran Zendan, David & Layla, Marooned in Iraq, Ten, Tardid, At Five in the Afternoon, Daadshah, Fireworks Wednesday, Mehman-e Maman, Captain Khorshid, Baduk, Pedar, There Are Things You Don't Know, Colors of Memory, The World Intellectuals, Hokm, Leyli o Majnun, Letters in the Wind, Hello Cinema, American Fugitive: The Truth About Hassan, The Glass House, Abadan, The Mirror, Hajji Washington, In the Alleys of Love, Time of Love, Gabbeh, Bam 6.6, Dayere Zangi, Pari, The House Is Black, Qeysar, Football Under Cover, Where Is the Friend's Home?, Son of Maryam, Beyond Fitna, Strand, The Apple, The Hunter, A Man Called Brian, Once Upon a Time, Cinema, History of Cinema, One Night, Sara, Light & Quiet, Ganj-e Qarun, Smell of Camphor, Scent of Jasmine, Stray Dogs, Homeless, The Runner, Requiem of Snow, Tales of Kish, ABC Africa, Far from Home, Barefoot to Herat, Leila, The Bread and Alley, Close-Up, 10 on Ten, Duel, The Travell! er, Ballad of Tara, The Willow Tree, Nations Cultures, Still Life, ...Va man dar khoshbakhti-e shirin be donya amadam!, The Bicyclist, Green Faces, Burnt...Barbara Cook is one of today's most accomplished song stylists, and if you don't believe us, just listen to this live album. It's a master class in the art of singing. It documents an evening at Carnegie Hall during which Cook proved that she can dissect and extract the substance out of the simplest of lyrics. One of the best surprises is "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" (from Company), which is taken at an amiable trot and allows the singer to display its humor. Cook is not a swinging singer and uptempo is not her pace; give her a ballad, though, and she'll wring the last drop of emotion out of it. Her version of "Losing My Mind" (here paired with "Not a Day Goes By") is simply astonishing. The singer also performs songs that Sondheim has said he wished he had written, an awful lot of them by Harold Arlen. No com! plaints here. Guest Malcolm Gets solos on a few songs and duet! s with C ook on others, including "Let's Face the Music and Dance." This is classic material done masterfully by a classic singer. --Elisabeth Vincentelli 
 
"I had no idea how to find my way around this medieval city. It was getting dark. I was tired. I didn’t speak Arabic. I was a little frightened. But hadn’t I battled scorpions in the wilds of Costa Rica and prevailed? Hadn’t I survived fainting in a San José brothel?  Hadn’t I once arrived in Ireland with only $10 in my pocket and made it last two weeks? Surely I could handle a walk through an unfamiliar town. So I took a breath, tightened the black scarf around my hair, and headed out to take my first solitary steps through Sana’a."-- from The Woman Who Fell From The Sky
 
In a world fraught with suspicion between the Middle East and the West, it's hard to believe that one of the most influential newspapers in Yemen--the desperately poor, ancestral homeland of Osama bin Lad! en, which has made has made international headlines for being a terrorist breeding ground--would be handed over to an agnostic, Campari-drinking, single woman from Manhattan who had never set foot in the Middle East. Yet this is exactly what happened to journalist, Jennifer Steil.
 
Restless in her career and her life, Jennifer, a gregarious, liberal New Yorker, initially accepts a short-term opportunity in 2006 to teach a journalism class to the staff of The Yemen Observer in Sana'a, the beautiful, ancient, and very conservative capital of Yemen. Seduced by the eager reporters and the challenging prospect of teaching a free speech model of journalism there, she extends her stay to a year as the paper's editor-in-chief. But she is quickly confronted with the realities of Yemen--and their surprising advantages.  In teaching the basics of fair and balanced journalism to a staff that included plagiarists and polemicists, she falls in love with her career again.! In confronting the blatant mistreatment and strict governance! of wome n by their male counterparts, she learns to appreciate the strength of Arab women in the workplace. And in forging surprisingly deep friendships with women and men whose traditions and beliefs are in total opposition to her own, she learns a cultural appreciation she never could have predicted.  What’s more, she just so happens to meet the love of her life.
 
With exuberance and bravery, The Woman Who Fell from the Sky offers a rare, intimate, and often surprising look at the role of the media in Muslim culture and a fascinating cultural tour of Yemen, one of the most enigmatic countries in the world.Tahir Shah Reviews The Woman Who Fell from the Sky

Tahir Shah is the author of The Caliph's House and In Arabian Nights. Read his review of The Woman Who Fell from the Sky:

Just about everyone I meet is writing a book.

At parties and dinners they usually trap me in a corner between a potted plant and a wall, and they harangue me about a their masterwork. As a published author they expect I’ll be able to smooth the way up the long hard slope to Print-hood and success.

Most of the time I tell Would-be-writer dinner guests that they're fabulous, and that they're assured easy success, because of their rare and blatant talent. I tell them that because most people only want attention and, when they've been given it, they move on to someone else.

Sometimes, at the end of a long evening of being savaged by Would-be-writers, I lash out and hint at the truthâ€"-that the first 100,000 words that most people knock out ought to be chucked in the trash right away. It’s the dirty water that comes through pipes that have never been used.

But once in a while you come across an autho! r who hits the mark first off in the most lively, and enliveni! ng way.< /p>

Jennifer Steil is one such writer.

It's clear to me from the first line of her sleek, intelligent and charming book, that she has done her time in that gymnasium of authorship, the newspaper world. There is nothing like it to build the craft, although the majority of writers these days seem to shun it like the plague.

As a result, Jennifer doesn't waste words. And, more importantly, she knows how to use them, like a mason selecting the right rock for a spot in a dry stone wall.

It would be enough for this first book to be a delight, which it is, but it captures something far deeper and far more poignant. Through it, she has reached the hallowed ground of the most successful travel writers. By this, I mean that she has triumphed in showing a place, revealing the sensibilities of a people and events, through anecdotes rather than direct description. It's something which most writers fail miserably at, but a one that has the ability to d! epict a society in the most enticing way-â€"from the inside out.

I won't waste space here detailing the ins and outs of Jennifer's story in Yemen, because I coax anyone with an interest in the East-West dynamic to read her prose for themselves. But I will preface the book by saying that it is an extraordinary achievement: both eloquent and elegant, hilarious in parts but, most of all, sensible to a society so differing from her own.

---

Questions for Jennifer Steil

Q: How does writing a memoir compare to writing news stories?
A: Writing a memoir is in many ways much easier than writing news stories. News stories require such intensive reporting and running around, and then must be written on very tight deadlines. I had a year to write this book, and nearly another year to edit it, which felt very leisurely to me! Of course the b! ook required research as well, but much of it was based on the! daily j ournals I kept during my first year in Yemen.

Writing a memoir is also a much lonelier business than writing news stories. When I am working as a reporter, I am constantly talking with people, either interview subjects or colleagues. Writing a book required long solitary hours in my office, and I found myself longing for someone to talk to at the water cooler!

Of course, there are also huge differences in structure. I found myself struggling with the structure of the book, whereas I can fairly easily structure news stories. I figured out the structure the book as I went along--with lots of help from my editors!

There are also some commonalities between book writing and news writing. Both memoirs and journalism require scrupulous reporting of facts. I always try to be as honest and fair as possible. A memoir, however, includes plenty of my own opinions and feelings, which news writing excludes.

Q: At one point, y! ou were surprised to find yourself sounding patriotic as you explained American constitutional rights to Farouq. How did being an expatriate affect your sense of what it means to be an American?
A: I feel that living abroad has deepened my affection for America, while also making me more critical of certain aspects of American culture. When I left the U.S., I was furious at our government and the country in general. A dedicated Democrat, I was bitter about the last two elections and outraged by pretty much everything George W. Bush ever did. I was embarrassed to be American and pessimistic about the future of the country.

Living in Yemen did not improve my view of the Bush administration, but it did make me grateful for the many privileges of life in the US. All the things I took for granted--drinkable tap water, free speech, freedom to dress however I wanted, a variety of healthy food available everywhere, dental care, good hospitals, decen! t education, diversity--became more precious to me. I felt pro! ud that I came from a country where I could rant about whatever I wanted without fear of the government tossing me into jail.

I used to complain about sexism in America, which does still exist. But it is nothing compared to what women are subjected to in Yemen--and in so many other places. I feel so lucky that by the sheer accident of my birth I grew up in a country where I have had the freedom to go to school, be critical of religion, make friends with men and women, and choose a career for myself. I appreciate the fact that in the U.S. I feel that I am seen as a person with an intellect and rights, rather than as property.

That said, one thing I liked about leaving America was shedding so many THINGS. I gave away or threw out most of my possessions (aside from books and notebooks, which I stored in my parents' barn) and it was really freeing to realize that I could easily live for a year with just two suitcases worth of clothes and other things. So! much about life in the U.S. seems excessive from here. I mean, do we really need 97 flavors of chewing gum and 53 flavors of iced tea? I would go to stores and just get overwhelmed by the choices.

I have become more critical of the frivolity of American life. It's hard to get worked up about my own small problems when Yemenis are worried about the most basic things: access to water, access to schools, starvation, sickness, and war.

Q: Despite the hardships, you truly fell in love with Yemen. What was the turning point?
A: There were many little turning points--meeting and having tea with my neighbors in Old Sana'a, finally finding time to eat lunch outside of the office (it made such a difference to get away for an hour!), figuring out how to do all of my shopping and errands in Arabic, and taking time to get out of Sana'a and explore more of this gorgeous country. I am glad I came here alone, because I got such a huge sens! e of accomplishment from finding my own way and becoming self-! sufficie nt in this strange land.

Perhaps my biggest turning point came as a result of getting the newspaper on a regular schedule. Once I had achieved this Herculean feat, I was finally able to spend more time with my reporters individually. I could give them the training and attention they needed. I could also spend some time with them outside of the office. This made my job suddenly much more enjoyable. I loved spending time with my staff. They are the reason I came to Yemen, and the absolute best part of my first year here was watching their progress and forming relationships with them.

Once we were on a regular schedule, I also had more time to explore Yemen and meet people outside of work.

Q: How do you hope the book will affect readers? What stereotypes would you like to overturn?
A: So many westerners I meet in the U.S. and England have not even heard of Yemen. If they have, they only know it as a hotbed of t! errorism, which is how it's generally described in the news. News coverage of Yemen is extremely skewed--western papers rarely write about the country unless embassies are being attacked or tourists are getting blown up.

What you hardly ever read about is the amazing hospitality and generosity of the Yemeni people. The overwhelming majority of people I have met in Yemen have been kind, open-hearted, and curious about westerners. Yemenis will invite you home to lunch five minutes after meeting you. And if you go once, they will invite you back for lunch every week. This kind of immediate and sincere hospitality is not often found in the west.

I hope my book helps eliminate the stereotype that all Yemenis are crazed terrorists. I want people to come away with the understanding that Yemen has a diverse population, and the majority are peaceful people.

Q: Most books about Yemen have been written by men. What's different abo! ut your perspective as a woman--a western woman at that?
! A : Western men have pretty much zero access to women in Yemen (and Yemeni men don’t have much more!). Therefore, the books written about Yemen by men are missing half of the story--the women's story. At least one male writer I've read admits he knows nothing of the world of Yemeni women, but adds that it is his understanding that Yemeni women may have little influence on political and public life, but that they rule the home. I did not find this to be true--certainly not for most of the women I have met here. The women I know have to obey the men in their family in every sphere--they are not free to go to school, fall in love, stay out after dark, work, go out, make friends with men, etc. without permission from men.

Because I am a westerner, I am sure there is still plenty I do not know about Yemen and Yemeni women in particular. While I've become close to many women who have confided in me, I am still ultimately an outsider. Yet some women confide in ! me because I am an outsider--they tell me things they are afraid of telling other Yemeni women, for fear of being judged.

Q: What is your next challenge as a writer and editor?
A: I would really like to write a novel. I've written one before, but I am not sure it should ever be published! So I'd like to start again. I think it would be fun to write something completely untrue for a change. Though it is tempting to write something about diplomatic life...

Photographs from The Woman Who Fell from the Sky

Jennifer Steil with Rocky the Kitten	Mountains in Haraz	Jennifer and Faris

Jennifer, Tim, and Their Bodyguards	Yemeni Minaret	A Staff Meeting

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Clear and Present Danger (Jack Ryan)

• ISBN13: 9780425122129
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

In CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER, Harrison Ford returns as intrepid CIA agent Jack Ryan. When his mentor, Admiral Greer (Jones), becomes gravely ill, Ryan is appointed acting CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence. His first assignment: investigate the murder of one of the President's friends, a prominent U.S. businessman with secret ties to Colombian drug cartels. Unbeknownst to Ryan, the CIA has already dispatched a deadly field operative (Dafoe) to lead a paramilitary force against the Colombian drug lords. Caught in the crossfire, Ryan takes matters into his own hands, risking his career and life for the only cause he still believes in -- the truth.The third installment in the cinematic incarnation of ! Tom Clancy's CIA analyst Jack Ryan and the second starring Harrison Ford, this follow-up to Patriot Games is a more complex, rewarding, and bolder film than its predecessor. Ford returns as Ryan, this time embroiled in a failed White House bid to wipe out a Colombian drug cartel and cover up the mess. The script, by Clancy and John Milius (Red Dawn), has an air of true adventure about it as Ryan places himself in harm's way to extract covert soldiers abandoned in a Latin American jungle. There are a couple of remarkable set pieces expertly handled by Patriot Games director Phillip Noyce, especially a shocking scene involving an ambush on Ryan's car in an alley. The supporting cast is superb, including Willem Dafoe as the soldiers' leader, Henry Czerny as Ryan's enemy at the CIA, Joaquim de Almeida as a smooth-talking villain, Ann Magnuson as an unwitting confederate in international crime, and James Earl Jones as Ryan's dying boss. The DVD release has a! widescreen presentation, theatrical trailer, closed captionin! g, optio nal French soundtrack, and optional Spanish subtitles. --Tom Keogh Widescreen/Blu-Ray. PG 13.Clear and Present Danger is a 1994 film directed by Phillip Noyce, based on the book of the same name by Tom Clancy. As in the novel, Jack Ryan is appointed Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Acting Deputy Director and discovers that he is being kept in the dark by colleagues who are conducting a covert war against drug lords in Colombia.The third installment in the cinematic incarnation of Tom Clancy's CIA analyst Jack Ryan and the second starring Harrison Ford, this follow-up to Patriot Games is a more complex, rewarding, and bolder film than its predecessor. Ford returns as Ryan, this time embroiled in a failed White House bid to wipe out a Colombian drug cartel and cover up the mess. The script, by Clancy and John Milius (Red Dawn), has an air of true adventure about it as Ryan places himself in harm's way to extract covert soldiers abandoned in a Latin Americ! an jungle. There are a couple of remarkable set pieces expertly handled by Patriot Games director Phillip Noyce, especially a shocking scene involving an ambush on Ryan's car in an alley. The supporting cast is superb, including Willem Dafoe as the soldiers' leader, Henry Czerny as Ryan's enemy at the CIA, Joaquim de Almeida as a smooth-talking villain, Ann Magnuson as an unwitting confederate in international crime, and James Earl Jones as Ryan's dying boss. The DVD release has a widescreen presentation, theatrical trailer, closed captioning, optional French soundtrack, and optional Spanish subtitles. --Tom Keogh The controversial bestseller from Tom Clancy, the all-time master of the techno-thriller. CIA Deputy Director Jack Ryan joins the war on drugs. And when three American officials are assassinated in Colombia, the U.S. response is swift-and shocking.At the end of the prologue to Clear and Present Danger, Clancy writes, "And so began something t! hat had not quite begun and would not soon end, with many peo! ple in m any places moving off in directions and on missions which they all mistakenly thought they understood. That was just as well. The future was too fearful for contemplation, and beyond the expected, illusory finish lines were things fated by the decisions made this morning--and, once decided, best unseen." In Clear and Present Danger nothing is as clear as it may seem.

The president, unsatisfied with the success of his "war on drugs," decides that he wants some immediate success. But after John Clark's covert strike team is deployed to Colombia for Operation Showboat, the drug lords strike back taking several civilian casualties. The chief executive's polls plummet. He orders Ritter to terminate their unofficial plan and leave no traces. Jack Ryan, who has just been named CIA deputy director of intelligence is enraged when he discovers that has been left out of the loop of Colombian operations. Several of America's most highly trained soldiers are stran! ded in an unfinished mission that, according to all records, never existed. Ryan decides to get the men out.

Ultimately, Clear and Present Danger is about good conscience, law, and politics, with Jack Ryan and CIA agent John Clark as its dual heroes. Ryan relentlessly pursues what he knows is right and legal, even if it means confronting the president of the United States. Clark is the perfect soldier, but a man who finally holds his men higher than the orders of any careless commander.

Along with the usual, stunning array of military hardware and the latest techno-gadgets, Clear and Present Danger further develops the relationships and characters that Clancy fans have grown to love. Admiral James Greer passes the CIA torch to his pupil, Ryan. Mr. Clark and Chavez meet for the first time. Other recurring characters like Robert Ritter and "the President" add continuity to Clancy's believable, alternate reality. This is Clancy at his best.! --Patrick O'Kelley

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Full Time Killer

• For many years O resides in an isolated world of killing and loneliness, after the death of his love Nancy. O owns a spotless apartment, and Chin who is hired to clean the apartment, has never before met her mysterious employer. Tok, flamboyant and reckless, fancies the thrill of killing and is driven to become theiNo.1 killer. He creates doubt in Chin's mind and Chin knows that Tok's inte

FULL TIME KILLER - DVD Movie

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The Encyclopedia of Small Business Forms and Agreements: A Complete Kit of Ready-to-Use Business Checklists, Worksheets, Forms, Contracts, and Human Resource Documents With Companion CD-ROM

• ISBN13: 9781601382481
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

* introduces students to a group-centered training program that emphasizes systematic learning of basic interpersonal skills and skills needed to become an effective communicator and member in groups

Those who wish they had a resource in which every possible small business form and agreement they have ever encountered was located can breathe a sigh of relief. The Encyclopedia of Small Business Forms and Agreements is the answer, as it will provide small business owners with ready-to-use checklists, worksheets, forms, contracts, and human resource documents. Inside these pages you will find over 250 essential documents for all your hiring, firing, intellectual property, Internet, technology, legal, me! rger, acquisition, money, fundraising, sales, marketing, and starting a business needs. In essence, this book is a small business survival kit packed with materials you can use for every aspect of your job.

This encyclopedia and companion CD-ROM focuses on the issues, situations, and tasks that you, as a small business owner, face every day when running your business, such as incorporation, board and shareholder resolutions, partnership agreements, business plans, insurance, employee applications, employment policies, termination, job descriptions, employee benefits, sales and service contracts, bills of sale, invoices, press releases, raising capital, venture capital, license agreements, confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, letters of intent, term sheets, domain names, e-commerce contracts, release forms, demand letters, litigation, and arbitration.

Included in this comprehensive book are hundreds of easy-to-implement tools, contracts, forms, and ch! ecklists that will help you organize your business and make it! easier to manage while increasing your bottom line. With its professionally organized format, this book takes you step by step through the valuable forms, which may be easily printed out and customized, thanks to the convenient companion CD-ROM. <\p>

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Glory Road (Widescreen Edition)

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The studio that brought you REMEMBER THE TITANS now delivers another winner with this exciting and inspirational true story of the team that changed college basketball -- and the nation -- forever! Josh Lucas (SWEET HOME ALABAMA) stars as future Hall of Fame coach Don Haskins of tiny Texas Western University, who bucks convention by simply starting the best players he can find: history's first all-African American lineup. In a turbulent time of social and political change, their unlikely success sends shock waves through the sport that follow the underdog Miners all the way to an epic showdown with all-white, #1 ranked Kentucky for the National Championship!One of the greatest basketball games in NCAA history is immortalized in Glory Road, an engaging sports movie that dramatizes a pivotal milestone in the racial integration of college athletics. While it may not be as rousi! ng as similar movies like Hoosiers or Friday Night Lights, this fact-based drama gains depth and substance from the groundbreaking achievement of Don Haskins (well-played by Josh Lucas), who coached the 1965-66 team from Texas Western University to the NCAA championship, using the first-ever all-black lineup in the championship game and forever changing the rules of college basketball. Texas Western's underdog season is followed from anxious start to glorious finish, as Haskins recruits many of his black star players from the North, including Bobby Joe Hill (Derek Luke) and Willie Cager (Damaine Radcliff), and this typically wholesome Disney film doesn't flinch from the harsh realities of racial tension (including player beatings and vandalized motel rooms) that Texas Western's black players had to struggle against as their victories began to draw national attention. Jon Voight (under heavy makeup) makes a memorable cameo appearance as legendary Kentucky coach! Adolph Rupp, whose favored all-white team was no match for Te! xas West ern, and Haskins' unforgettable achievement is celebrated in an end-credits sequence that demonstrates the positive ripple-effect of his color-blind coaching. Glory Road relies a bit too heavily on sports-movie clichés, but its shortcomings are easily overlooked in favor of its greater historical significance. --Jeff Shannon

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Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country

• Anders Ostergaard s award-winning documentary shows a rare inside look into the 2007 uprising in Myanmar through the cameras of the independent journalist group, Democratic Voice of Burma.While 100,000 people (including 1,000s of Buddhist monks) took to the streets to protest the country's repressive regime that has held them hostage for over 40 years, foreign news crews were banned to enter and t

A young San Francisco widow is swept into a political uprising in Burma after her sister reluctantly drags her on a Southeast Asia tour.Working at the top of his form, John Boorman is a director who can pursue the poetry of his personal obsessions within the framework of a dynamic thriller and not shortchange the film. Beyond Rangoon involves a journey into unfamiliar territory: the rivers, jungles, and war-torn backcountry of Burma in 1988; But it also ventures into the mythic Arthurian te! rrain of such seemingly disparate films as Excalibur, Point Blank, and Deliverance. This time, uniquely in this director's work, the quester is a woman. American doctor Laura Bowman (Patricia Arquette) regards her life as having ended after the brutal murder of her husband and their little boy by home invaders. Her sister (Frances McDormand) has persuaded her to come along on a sightseeing tour of Burma. The trip leaves Laura numb until, impulsively venturing into the night alone, she becomes witness to a crisis moment in history: the beginning of the military dictatorship's violent crackdown on the rising democracy movement. The sight of Aung San Suu Kyi, the dissidents' inspirational leader, facing down a wall of armed soldiers with only the power of serene self-possession inspires Laura (an amazing scene--and it really did happen).

But that's only the beginning of Laura’s movement toward enlightenment, and back to life. Beyond Rangoon ab! ounds in memorable encounters--with individuals variously supp! ortive a nd terrifying, and with locations and situations where hope and catastrophe trade off like valences of the same energy. As critic Kathleen Murphy has noted, "It's as though the fabric of reality shivers like water, racking focus into a new, altered pattern of experience." (Case in point: the startling image of a car's rear window star-shattered by a pursuer's bullet as Laura drives down an almost nonexistent jungle road--the pursuit car sharply irised in the bullet hole.) Boorman makes us feel the total chaos of a spectacularly beautiful land that is not only at the mercy of a brutal regime but utterly cut off from an outside world that doesn't, can't, know what's happening there. In this, Boorman's movie immeasurably increased awareness of Burma's tragedy, but it hasn't prevented the government of what's now called Myanmar from keeping Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest more than 20 years later. --Richard T. JamesonA young San Francisco widow is swept into a politic! al uprising in Burma after her sister reluctantly drags her on a Southeast Asia tour.Working at the top of his form, John Boorman is a director who can pursue the poetry of his personal obsessions within the framework of a dynamic thriller and not shortchange the film. Beyond Rangoon involves a journey into unfamiliar territory: the rivers, jungles, and war-torn backcountry of Burma in 1988; But it also ventures into the mythic Arthurian terrain of such seemingly disparate films as Excalibur, Point Blank, and Deliverance. This time, uniquely in this director's work, the quester is a woman. American doctor Laura Bowman (Patricia Arquette) regards her life as having ended after the brutal murder of her husband and their little boy by home invaders. Her sister (Frances McDormand) has persuaded her to come along on a sightseeing tour of Burma. The trip leaves Laura numb until, impulsively venturing into the night alone, she becomes witness to a crisi! s moment in history: the beginning of the military dictatorshi! p's viol ent crackdown on the rising democracy movement. The sight of Aung San Suu Kyi, the dissidents' inspirational leader, facing down a wall of armed soldiers with only the power of serene self-possession inspires Laura (an amazing scene--and it really did happen).

But that's only the beginning of Laura’s movement toward enlightenment, and back to life. Beyond Rangoon abounds in memorable encounters--with individuals variously supportive and terrifying, and with locations and situations where hope and catastrophe trade off like valences of the same energy. As critic Kathleen Murphy has noted, "It's as though the fabric of reality shivers like water, racking focus into a new, altered pattern of experience." (Case in point: the startling image of a car's rear window star-shattered by a pursuer's bullet as Laura drives down an almost nonexistent jungle road--the pursuit car sharply irised in the bullet hole.) Boorman makes us feel the total chaos of a spectacularly beau! tiful land that is not only at the mercy of a brutal regime but utterly cut off from an outside world that doesn't, can't, know what's happening there. In this, Boorman's movie immeasurably increased awareness of Burma's tragedy, but it hasn't prevented the government of what's now called Myanmar from keeping Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest more than 20 years later. --Richard T. JamesonWorking at the top of his form, John Boorman is a director who can pursue the poetry of his personal obsessions within the framework of a dynamic thriller and not shortchange the film. Beyond Rangoon involves a journey into unfamiliar territory: the rivers, jungles, and war-torn backcountry of Burma in 1988; But it also ventures into the mythic Arthurian terrain of such seemingly disparate films as Excalibur, Point Blank, and Deliverance. This time, uniquely in this director's work, the quester is a woman. American doctor Laura Bowman (Patricia Arquette)! regards her life as having ended after the brutal murder of h! er husba nd and their little boy by home invaders. Her sister (Frances McDormand) has persuaded her to come along on a sightseeing tour of Burma. The trip leaves Laura numb until, impulsively venturing into the night alone, she becomes witness to a crisis moment in history: the beginning of the military dictatorship's violent crackdown on the rising democracy movement. The sight of Aung San Suu Kyi, the dissidents' inspirational leader, facing down a wall of armed soldiers with only the power of serene self-possession inspires Laura (an amazing scene--and it really did happen).

But that's only the beginning of Laura’s movement toward enlightenment, and back to life. Beyond Rangoon abounds in memorable encounters--with individuals variously supportive and terrifying, and with locations and situations where hope and catastrophe trade off like valences of the same energy. As critic Kathleen Murphy has noted, "It's as though the fabric of reality shivers like water, racking ! focus into a new, altered pattern of experience." (Case in point: the startling image of a car's rear window star-shattered by a pursuer's bullet as Laura drives down an almost nonexistent jungle road--the pursuit car sharply irised in the bullet hole.) Boorman makes us feel the total chaos of a spectacularly beautiful land that is not only at the mercy of a brutal regime but utterly cut off from an outside world that doesn't, can't, know what's happening there. In this, Boorman's movie immeasurably increased awareness of Burma's tragedy, but it hasn't prevented the government of what's now called Myanmar from keeping Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest more than 20 years later. --Richard T. JamesonSpain released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), German ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), Spanish ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), Danish ( Subtitles ), En! glish ( Subtitles ), Finnish ( Subtitles ), German ( Subtitles! ), Gree k ( Subtitles ), Norwegian ( Subtitles ), Spanish ( Subtitles ), Swedish ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (2.35:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, Scene Access, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: In a role originally intended for Meg Ryan, Patricia Arquette plays Dr. Laura Bowman in director John Boorman's film of an American abroad in a strange country. It's 1988 and Laura is desperate to flee the United States and the memory of her husband and son's murders. Accompanied by her sister, Andy (Frances McDormand), she heads for Burma just as the peaceful protests against the country's military government take a more violent turn. Andy and the rest of their party flee in a hurry, but Laura is forced to stay behind when she loses her passport. A former professor (Aung Ko) offers her guidance to the border of Thailand, where they both hope to make their escape. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Cannes Film Festival, ...Beyond RangoonBeyond Rangoon (1995) / REGION FREE DVD / Audio: English, Thai / Subtitles:! English, Thai / Actors: Patricia Arquette, U Aung Ko, Frances McDormand, Spalding Gray, Tiara Jacquelina / Director: John Boorman / 100 minutesWorking at the top of his form, John Boorman is a director who can pursue the poetry of his personal obsessions within the framework of a dynamic thriller and not shortchange the film. Beyond Rangoon involves a journey into unfamiliar territory: the rivers, jungles, and war-torn backcountry of Burma in 1988; But it also ventures into the mythic Arthurian terrain of such seemingly disparate films as Excalibur, Point Blank, and Deliverance. This time, uniquely in this director's work, the quester is a woman. American doctor Laura Bowman (Patricia Arquette) regards her life as having ended after the brutal murder of her husband and their little boy by home invaders. Her sister (Frances McDormand) has persuaded her to come along on a sightseeing tour of Burma. The trip leaves Laura numb until, impulsively venturing into the night alone, she becomes witness to a crisis moment in history: the beginning of the milita! ry dictatorship's violent crackdown on the rising democracy movement. The sight of Aung San Suu Kyi, the dissidents' inspirational leader, facing down a wall of armed soldiers with only the power of serene self-possession inspires Laura (an amazing scene--and it really did happen).

But that's only the beginning of Laura’s movement toward enlightenment, and back to life. Beyond Rangoon abounds in memorable encounters--with individuals variously supportive and terrifying, and with locations and situations where hope and catastrophe trade off like valences of the same energy. As critic Kathleen Murphy has noted, "It's as though the fabric of reality shivers like water, racking focus into a new, altered pattern of experience." (Case in point: the startling image of a car's rear window star-shattered by a pursuer's bullet as Laura drives down an almost nonexistent jungle road--the pursuit car sharply irised in the bullet hole.) Boorman makes us feel the total chaos ! of a spectacularly beautiful land that is not only at the merc! y of a b rutal regime but utterly cut off from an outside world that doesn't, can't, know what's happening there. In this, Boorman's movie immeasurably increased awareness of Burma's tragedy, but it hasn't prevented the government of what's now called Myanmar from keeping Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest more than 20 years later. --Richard T. JamesonBURMA VJ - DVD MovieKudos to Oscilloscope Laboratories for their decision to distribute this crucially important documentary, Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country. This Academy Award-nominated feature-length film charts the revolutionary tactics that a small media outpost, Democratic Voice of Burma, has undertaken to smuggle video footage out of their country. Director Anders Østergaard treats the narrative with reporter's accuracy, yet manages to convey the emotional upheaval and sheer grief that Burmese populations are experiencing under militaristic government rule. Burma VJ is narrated by "Joshua," an exi! led head reporter at the DVB's television station, which is in enough constant peril that they use a secret mail process to get all Burmese news footage directly shipped through courier to safe haven in Norway. Joshua, whose name was changed to protect his identity, describes the current political climate in Burma with gentle intelligence, while his video footage, shot from an unbelievably pathetic selection of what seems to be about five coveted video cameras and cell phones, illustrates his points. While there are short interview clips featuring citizens who risk their lives to speak out or put a hand to the camera for fear of discovery, most footage chronicles the 2007 uprising in Rangoon, where Buddhist monks lead the masses in a peaceful protest to free key military prisoners. Their demonstrations and the passions that permeate their formation are chilling and inspirational. Viewers beware, as one witnesses, following these gatherings, monks being violently beat up, bl! oodied, and even killed. To the film's credit, the violence is! edited so that it is potent and disturbing, but does not dwell on the deceased in a disrespectful or sensationalistic manner. Spending ample time listening to the monks' speeches, and on watching interviews with them directly, one develops sympathy for their pleas for help and would be hard-pressed not to become a converted supporter. An extras feature on the DVD offers longer interviews with several politically engaged monks, who intelligently and tragically explain their nation's crisis and their frustrations with lack of United Nations aid. By the end, one wonders why other countries, including the United States, have stood idly by while innocent citizens and holy men beg for help. Ultimately, Burma VJ is not only a rallying cry but also a meditation on the contemporary state of independent media outlets, analyzing what they can and can't achieve as solo endeavors. Essential viewing here. --Trinie Dalton

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