Dune, 40th Anniversary Edition (Dune Chronicles, Book 1)

• ISBN13: 9780441013593
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

The all-time science fiction masterpiece...now in a special hardcover edition.

"Unique...I know nothing comparable to it except Lord of the Rings."--Arthur C. Clarke

Here is the novel that will be forever considered a triumph of the imagination. Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who would become the mysterious man known as Maud'dib. He would avenge the traitorous plot against his noble family--and would bring to fruition humankind's most ancient and unattainable dream.

A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of wh! at is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction. Frank Herbert's death in 1986 was a tragic loss, yet the astounding legacy of his visionary fiction will live forever.This Hugo and Nebula Award winner tells the sweeping tale of a desert planet called Arrakis, the focus of an intricate power struggle in a byzantine interstellar empire. Arrakis is the sole source of Melange, the "spice of spices." Melange is necessary for interstellar travel and grants psychic powers and longevity, so whoever controls it wields great influence.

The troubles begin when stewardship of Arrakis is transferred by the Emperor from the Harkonnen Noble House to House Atreides. The Harkonnens don't want to give up their privilege, though, and through sabotage and treachery they cast young Duke Paul Atreides out into the planet's harsh environment to die. There he falls in with the Fremen, a tribe of desert dwellers who become the basis of the army with which he will reclaim wha! t's rightfully his. Paul Atreides, though, is far more than j! ust a us urped duke. He might be the end product of a very long-term genetic experiment designed to breed a super human; he might be a messiah. His struggle is at the center of a nexus of powerful people and events, and the repercussions will be felt throughout the Imperium.

Dune is one of the most famous science fiction novels ever written, and deservedly so. The setting is elaborate and ornate, the plot labyrinthine, the adventures exciting. Five sequels follow. --Brooks Peck

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The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

• Everyone in 1880s America knows Jesse James. Hes the nations most notorious criminal, hunted by the law in 10 states. Hes also the lands greatest hero, lauded as a Robin Hood by the public. Robert Ford? No one knows him. Not yet. But the ambitious 19-year-old aims to change that. Hell befriend Jesse, ride with his gang. And if that doesnt bring Ford fame, hell find a deadlier way.Friendship become

Jesse James was a fabled outlaw, a charismatic, spiritual, larger-than-life bad man whose bloody exploits captured the imagination and admiration of a nation hungry for antiheroes. Robert Ford was a young upstart torn between dedicated worship and murderous jealousy, the "dirty little coward" who coveted Jesse's legend. The powerful, strange, and unforgettable story of their interweaving pathsâ€"and twin destinies that would collide in a rain of blood and betrayalâ€"is a story of America in all ! her rough, conflicted glory and the myths that made her.

Hansen re-creates the real West with his imaginative telling of the life of the most famous outlaw of them all, Jesse James, and of his death at the hands of the upstart Robert Ford. James, a charismatic, superstitious, and moody man, holds sway over a ragged gang who fear his temper and quick shooting. Robert Ford, a young gang member torn between worshipping Jesse and taking his place, guns him down in cold blood and lives out his days tormented by the killing.2008 soundtrack to the acclaimed film starring Brad Pitt. The soundtrack's composers, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, come from the internationally celebrated bands Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, The Dirty Three and Grinderman. Cave and Ellis composed, played and produced this compelling and intense soundtrack for director Andrew Dominik's savage tale of the true West, The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford. This soundtrack perfectly captur! es the charismatic and unpredictable nature of the film's cen! tral pro tagonist. Like the film, Cave and Ellis' music cuts through the mythic figure of Jesse James to reveal the complex, contradictory man beneath. Daring and passionately delivered, this beautiful soundtrack retains its captivating power even without the benefit of Dominik's images. Mute.

Jesse James was a fabled outlaw, a charismatic, spiritual, larger-than-life bad man whose bloody exploits captured the imagination and admiration of a nation hungry for antiheroes. Robert Ford was a young upstart torn between dedicated worship and murderous jealousy, the "dirty little coward" who coveted Jesse's legend. The powerful, strange, and unforgettable story of their interweaving pathsâ€"and twin destinies that would collide in a rain of blood and betrayalâ€"is a story of America in all her rough, conflicted glory and the myths that made her.

Everyone in 1880s America knows Jesse James. He’s the nation’s most notorious criminal, hunted by the law in 10 states. He’s also the! land’s greatest hero, lauded as a Robin Hood by the public. Robert Ford? No one knows him. Not yet. But the ambitious 19-year-old aims to change that. He’ll befriend Jesse, ride with his gang. And if that doesn’t bring Ford fame, he’ll find a deadlier way. Friendship becomes rivalry and the quest for fame becomes obsession in this virile epic produced in part by Ridley Scott and featuring gripping portrayals by Brad Pitt (winner of the Venice Film Festival Best Actor Award) as Jesse and Casey Affleck as the youth drawn closer to his goal…and farther from his own humanity.Of all the movies made about or glancingly involving the 19th-century outlaw Jesse Woodson James, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is the most reflective, most ambitious, most intricately fascinating, and indisputably most beautiful. Based on the novel of the same name by Ron Hansen, it picks up James late in his career, a few hours before his final train robbery,! then covers the slow catastrophe of the gang's breakup over t! he next seven months even as the boss himself settles into an approximation of genteel retirement. But in another sense all of the movie is later than that. The very title assumes the audience's familiarity with James as a figure out of history and legend, and our awareness that he was--will be--murdered in his parlor one quiet afternoon by a backshooting crony.

The film--only the second to be made by New Zealandâ€"born writer-director Andrew Dominik--reminds us that Dominik's debut film, Chopper (2000), was the cunningly off-kilter portrait of another real-life criminal psychopath who became a kind of rock star to his society. The Jesse James of this telling is no Robin Hood robbing the rich to give to the poor, and that train robbery we witness is punctuated by acts of gratuitous brutality, not gallantry. Nineteen-year-old Bob Ford (Casey Affleck) seeks to join the James gang out of hero worship stoked by the dime novels he secretes under his bed, but his glam hero (Bra! d Pitt) is a monster who takes private glee in infecting his accomplices with his own paranoia, then murdering them for it. In the careful orchestration of James's final moments, there's even a hint that he takes satisfaction in his own demise.

Affleck and Pitt (who co-produced with Ridley Scott, among others) are mesmerizing in the title roles, but the movie is enriched by an exceptional supporting cast: Sam Shepard as Jesse's older, more stable brother Frank; Sam Rockwell as Bob Ford's own brother Charlie, whose post-assassination descent into madness is astonishing to behold; Paul Schneider, Garret Dillahunt, and Jeremy Renner as three variously doomed gang members; and Mary-Louise Parker, who as Jesse's wife Zee has few lines yet manages with looks and body language to invoke a wellnigh-novelistic backstory for herself. There are also electrifying cameos by James Carville, doing solid actorly work as the governor of Missouri; Ted Levine, as a lawman of antic spirit;! and Nick Cave, composer of the film's score (with Warren Elli! s) and s creenwriter of the Aussie "Western" The Proposition, suddenly towering over a late scene to perform the folk song that set the terms for the book and movie's title.

Still, the real costar is Roger Deakins, probably the finest cinematographer at work today. The landscapes of the movie (mostly in Alberta and Manitoba) will linger in the memory as long as the distinctive faces, and we seem to feel the sting of its snows on our cheeks. Interior scenes are equally persuasive. Few Westerns have conveyed so tangibly the bleakness and austerity of the spaces people of the frontier called home, and sought in vain to warm with human spirit. --Richard T. Jameson

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The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

• The magical world of C.S. Lewis' beloved fantasy comes to life once again in PRINCE CASPIAN, the second installment of THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA series. Join Peter, Susan, Edmund Lucy, the mighty and majestic Aslan, friendly new Narnian creatures and Prince Caspian as they lead the Narnians on a remarkable journey to restore peace and glory to their enchanted land. Continuing the adventure of T

The magical world of C.S. Lewis beloved fantasy comes to life once again in Prince Caspian, the second installment of The Chronicles Of Narnia series. Join Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, the mighty and majestic Aslan, friendly new Narnian creatures and Prince Caspian as they lead the Narnians on a remarkable journey to restore peace and glory to their enchanted land. Continuing the adventure of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe with more magic and a brand-new hero, Prince Caspian! is a triumph of imagination, courage, love, joy and humor your whole family will want to watch again and again.More exciting than The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian continues the movie franchise based on C.S. Lewis' classic fantasy books. The movie picks up where the first left off... sort of. It's been a year since the Pevensie children--Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), and Lucy (Georgie Henley)--returned to England from Narnia, and they've just about resigned themselves to living their ordinary lives. But just like that, they're once again transported to a fantastical land, but one with a long-abandoned castle. It turns out that they are in Narnia again--and they themselves lived in that castle, but hundreds of years ago in Narnia time. They've been summoned back to help Prince Caspian (Stardust's Ben Barnes, resembling a young, cultured Keanu Reeves), the rightful heir to! the throne who's become the target of his power-hungry uncle,! King Mr az (Sergio Castellitto). And he's not the only one threatened: Mraz's people, the Telmarines, have pushed all the Narnians--the talking animals, the centaurs and other beasts, the walking trees--to the brink of extinction. Despite some alpha-male bickering, Peter and Caspian agree to fight Mraz alongside the remaining Narnians, including the dwarf Trumpkin (Peter Dinklage) and the swashbuckling mouse Reepicheep (voiced by Eddie Izzard). (Also appearing is Warwick Davis, who was in Willow and the 1989 BBC Prince Caspian.) But of course they most of all miss the noble lion, Aslan, who would have never let this happen to Narnia if he hadn't disappeared. Prince Caspian is epic, evoking memories of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. (Some of the battle elements may seem too familiar, but they were in Lewis's book.) And it's appropriate for kids (Reepicheep could have come out of a Shrek movie), though the tone is dark and there is a lot of death, albeit bloodless. After two! successful films, Disney and Walden Media's franchise has proved successful enough that many of the characters are scheduled to return in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. --David Horiuchi




Stills from The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Click for larger image)

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Imaginext DC Super Friends Catwoman Figure with Motorcycle

• Catwoman Figure with Motorcycle

Favorite DC Super FriendsTM heroes and villains are back and ready for a showdown. This time, it's Catwoman -- and she'll be even trickier to trap because her cycle can transform into chase mode with the push of a button! Will BatmanTM and RobinTM trap this cat? Just imagine ... a whole new adventure every time kids play! Includes figure and motorcycle.

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Bronson (Widescreen Edition)

• In 1974, a misguided 19 year old named Michael Peterson decided he wanted to make a name for himself and so, with a homemade sawn-off shotgun and a head full of dreams he attempted to rob a post office. Swiftly apprehended and originally sentenced to 7 years in jail, Peterson has subsequently been behind bars for 34 years, 30 of which have been spent in solitary confinement. With an intelligent, p

BASED ON THE TRUE STORY OF ONE OF THE WORLD S MOST VIOLENT PRISONERS
In 1974, a misguided 19-year-old named Michael Peterson decided he wanted to make a name for himself, and so with a homemade sawn-off shotgun and a head full of dreams, he attempted to rob a post office. Swiftly apprehended and originally sentenced to seven years in jail, Peterson has subsequently been behind bars for 34 years, 30 of which have been spent in solitary confinement. Provocative and stylized, BRONSON follows the met! amorphosis of Mickey Peterson, who gave himself the nickname Charles Bronson, from a petty thief into Britain's most dangerous prisoner.Tom Hardy's performance in the lead role burns right through Bronson, the somewhat true tale of a real guy who, once the movie finishes, you'll be very glad is still locked up in an English jail. There's no obvious reason why Michael Peterson became what he proudly calls "Britain's most violent prisoner." His upbringing was normal, his parents meek but loving; he was even married with a child when, in 1974, he attempted a robbery that landed him in the slammer for the first time. Peterson saw this as "an opportunity to sharpen my tools" and make a name for himself; and that he did, eagerly taking on half a dozen guards at once and regularly spending time in solitary confinement (at one point for 69 straight days). A stint in "the loony bin," where he killed another patient, followed, as did incarceration in a hospital for the crimina! lly insane, a brief period on the outside (having been "certif! ied sane ," he went to live in an uncle's whorehouse, found work as a prizefighter, and fell in love), and then a permanent return to prison, where he decided to change his name to Charlie Bronson (after the American actor) and, improbably, became a pretty decent painter (a climactic scene with his art teacher perversely invokes the Belgian artist René Magritte). Not all of this really happened, but director and cowriter Nicolas Winding Refn's film is hardly a documentary; with its saturated color palette, surreal framing devices (Bronson tells some of his tale to a rapt audience in a large theater), and frequent use of black humor, this is a highly stylized and often strange piece of work. Hardy, who has also been seen in Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla and will be in George Miller's fourth Road Warrior epic, delivers an extreme performance; sporting a shaved head and a John L. Sullivan handlebar mustache, he is a credible if occasionally cartoonish presence, a leering, prof! ane, joyously violent cockney madman. Extras include interviews, a making-of documentary, and a featurette detailing the extremely buff Hardy's training for the role. --Sam Graham

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Wall AC Charger USB Sync Data Cable for iPhone 4, 3GS, and iPod

• Featuring a new, ultracompact design, this power adapter offers fast, efficient charging at home, in the office, or on the go
• It works with any iPhone and all iPod models with a dock connector

A beautifully heart-wrenching movie. Zhao, a middle-aged laid-off factory worker, longs for a wife; in the hopes of marrying a pushy divorcée, he agrees to pay for an expensive wedding. To raise money, he turns a derelict bus into a place for couples to rendezvous, and brags to his fiancee about how he manages the Happy Times Hotel. When the divorcée insists that Zhao give Ying, her blind stepdaughter, a job at the hotel as a masseuse, he convinces his friends to help him concoct a fake massage parlor where the girl can work. Happy Times begins as a delightful light comedy, but as the relationship between Zhao and Ying grows, this deceptively simple movie flows effortlessly back and for! th from sweetness to sorrow, culminating in a devastatingly moving ending. --Bret FetzerLeafing through a wealth of private photo albums and personal archives, Lee Radziwill offers a unique perspective of happy times: from the first trip to Europe and the Bouvier sisters to fond memories of Christmas in Palm Beach with President Kennedy, from her years in London to summer days in Conca, Lee Radziwill has enjoyed a very colorful and successful life. She brings alive, with humor and feeling, privileged moments with family and friends. Happy Times is the credo of a lady who, having witnessed historical moments and shared the lives of characters struck by fate, has made the deliberate choice of only remembering what's beautiful. Through anecdotes and pictures, personal notes and drawings, Happy Times offers readers a very personal perspective on a highly publicized life. Andy Warhol would have approved of close friend Lee Radziwill's autobiographical pictu! re book, Happy Times. A sort of postmodern photographic! journal crossed with a lovey Hello! spread, Radziwill's book offers a visually lush, mildly gossipy, somewhat surreal document--solely in photographs and brief reminiscences--of the younger Bouvier sister's unique brand of celebrity. As Radziwill explains in her introduction, friends had urged her to write a biography for years, but she felt doing so would "involve me in too many other lives." So she opted for a biography that focuses only on her "happy times" (hence the book title), and these, she says, happened mostly in the 1960s. The resulting slim volume is essentially a collection of gorgeous photographs, scattered haphazardly like a scrapbook, interspersed with Radziwill's selective memories and little handwritten comments. With a somewhat unconvincing naiveté ("memories should be of happy times"), each chapter is devoted to a particular "happy time" but in no special order. We have summers in Montauk with Mick and Bianca, Christmas with the young Kennedy family, a t! our of India with her sister Jackie, whole chapters devoted to each of Radziwill's many exotic homes.

Assuming the reader knows most of the big events of her life, Radziwill offers little in the way of context of these happy times, and it's this element that ultimately gives the project a surreal, celebrity-by-association feel. You wonder why you're reading this random assemblage of country-house photos and memories of Truman Capote; or, considering so much of the book is taken up by photos of the Kennedys, why you should especially care about Lee Radziwill. But it isn't without its charm, and as you flip through the book, Radziwill's breathless gratitude for her own good fortune becomes contagious. The book's final chapter, hand-drawn by Lee and sister Jackie in 1951, documents a summer trip to Europe. An odd inclusion but ultimately fascinating, it's the essence of Happy Times: you're not exactly sure what you're looking at, or why--but isn't it lovely? -! -Marisa Lencioni, Amazon.co.uk Hundreds of celebrity phot! ographs from Jerome Zerbe's archive of 50,000 are compiled here, with commentary by New Yorker writer Brendan Gill. Includes casual photos of Howard Hughes, Gloria Swanson, Noel Coward, Doris Duke, Gypsy Rose Lee, Tennessee Williams, Jean Harlow, Gary Cooper, Humprey Bogart, Kirk Douglas, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Maria Callas, Cary Grant, Carole Lombard, Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman, Gene Tierney, Buster Keaton, Thomas Wolfe, , Marilyn Monroe, and many others.Alex, Leah, their frog Hopkins, and Signing Time s Rachel Coleman return for a second series of charming animation, delightful songs and children signing that make any time Signing Time!

In Series Two, Volume 2: Happy Birthday To You you re invited to Leah s Birthday Party where you ll learn the signs you need to know to join in the birthday fun!

Signs included are: Happy Birthday, Party, Cake, Present, Thank you, Gift, Wish, Hat, Invite, Friends, CandleThis lightweight, compact travel or home wall charger pl! ugs directly into your phone to provide power to your phone. You can leave your cell phone 'ON' while charging but for faster charging time, turn the phone 'OFF' while charging. Integrated overcharging prevention I/C will help prevent battery explosion due to overcharging of the battery. Great for travel with the compact size and charges up most micro usb cell phones and devices. Also Compatible with NEW Apple iPhone 4S.

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Beerfest (Unrated Widescreen Edition)

• After a humiliating false start in Germany's super-secret underground beer competition, America's unlikely team vows to risk life, limb and liver to dominate the ultimate chug-a-lug championship. The laughs are on the haus!Running Time: 116 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: NR Age: 085391102076 UPC: 085391102076 Manufacturer No: 110207

Gamers, grannies and stoners unite! From Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions comes a raucously funny, "fish-out-of bongwater comedy" (Playboy) that'll have you rolling with laughter! Life is sweet for 35-year-old video game tester Alex (Allen Covert), until he's forced to move in with his overbearing grandmother Lilly (Doris Roberts) and her two roommates: oversexed Grace (Shirley Jones) and overmedicated Bea (Shirley Knight). To save face with his much younger co-workers and super-sexy new boss (Linda Cardellini), Alex brags about the "thr! ee hot babes" living with him, but soon that cat's out of the bag?and the real party at Grandma's house has just begun! If you love footie pajamas, techno-talk and karate-chopping chimps (and who doesn't?), grab your buds and watch Grandma's Boy!Gamers, grannies and stoners unite! From Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions comes a raucously funny, "fish-out-of bongwater comedy" (Playboy) that'll have you rolling with laughter! Life is sweet for 35-year-old video game tester Alex (Allen Covert), until he's forced to move in with his overbearing grandmother Lilly (Doris Roberts) and her two roommates: oversexed Grace (Shirley Jones) and overmedicated Bea (Shirley Knight). To save face with his much younger co-workers and super-sexy new boss (Linda Cardellini), Alex brags about the "three hot babes" living with him, but soon that cat's out of the bag and the real party at Grandma's house has just begun! If you love footie pajamas, techno-talk and karate-chopping chimps (and! who doesn't?), grab your buds and watch Grandma's Boy!SPECIAL! FEATURE S: - ORIGINAL THEATRICAL AND UNRATED FILM VERSIONS - AUDIO COMMENTARY - DELETED SCENES - AND MOREDisc 1: Dodgeball WS Disc 2: Grandma's Boy WS Disc 3: Freddy Got Fingered WSAfter a humiliating false start in Germany's super-secret underground beer competition, America's unlikely team vows to risk life, limb and liver to dominate the ultimate chug-a-lug championship. The laughs are on the haus!

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurette
Interviews
Other

While it didn't quite spark a trend in chug-a-lug brew comedies, Beerfest is the kind of zany time-killer that's a lot funnier if you're within reach of a six-pack and Doritos. In other words, this is yet another low-brow laff-a-thon from the Broken Lizard gang (Super Troopers) that's likely to draw a bigger audience on DVD than it did in theaters, especially since there's a lot of duds (and flat suds) to sit through while waiting for the next big beer-belly-laugh. It's the kind of movie that thinks masturbating frogs a! re funny (OK, you decide), while serving up a gang of guzzling Americans (the aforementioned Broken Lizard troupe, who also write this stuff with director Jay Chandrasekhar) who compete in an epic beer-drinking contest against the nefarious German challenger Baron Wolfgang Von Wolfhausen (played by German actor Jurgen Prochnow, whose starring role in Das Boot inspires one of this movie's better jokes). When it's not trying to top itself in terms of sheer stupidity and juvenile humor, Beerfest satisfies its target audience (basically, frat-rats and party animals) with some gratuitously bare-breasted babes, rampant consumption of alcohol, and the welcomed appearance of Cloris Leachman, who sort-of reprises her "Frau Blucher" persona from Young Frankenstein. So basically what you've got here is a dim-witted but energetic comedy called Beerfest that delivers exactly what you'd expect from a movie with that title. Who says truth in advertising is dead? --! Jeff Shannon

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The Borrowers

• ISBN13: 9780152047375
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Pod, Homily, and Arrietty Clock's huge adventures have been thrilling children young and old for fifty years--and their appeal is as strong as ever in these handsome new paperback packages. While the original beloved interior illustrations by Beth and Joe Krush have been retained, Marla Frazee's striking cover illustrations capture these little people with a larger-than-life appeal.

Anyone who has ever entertained the notion of "little people" living furtively among us will adore this artfully spun classic. The Borrowers--a Carnegie Medal winner, a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award book, and an ALA Distinguished Book--has stolen the hearts of thousands of readers since its 1953 publica! tion. Mary Norton (1903-1993) creates a make-believe world in which tiny people live hidden from humankind beneath the floorboards of a quiet country house in England.

Pod, Homily, and daughter Arrietty of the diminutive Clock family outfit their subterranean quarters with the tidbits and trinkets they've "borrowed" from "human beans," employing matchboxes for storage and postage stamps for paintings. Readers will delight in the resourceful way the Borrowers recycle household objects. For example, "Homily had made her a small pair of Turkish bloomers from two glove fingers for 'knocking about in the mornings.'"

The persistent pilfering goes undetected until a boy (with a ferret!) comes to live in the country house. Curiosity drives Arrietty to commit the worst mistake a Borrower can make: she allows herself to be seen. This engaging, sometimes hair-raisingly suspenseful adventure is recounted in the kind, eloquent voice of narrator Mrs. May, whose br! other might--just might--have seen an actual Borrower in the ! country house many years ago. (Ages 9 to 12)

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Knock Knock Hangover Recovery Kit

• Soothes regret, restores dignity
• Comes in a 2.75 x 3.75-inch tin box
• Contains 16-page remedy booklet, silicone bracelet, 5 affirmation cards, 5 healing bandages
• Contains a recovery certificate and metal charm

Vanity Fair presents 21 true stories of the new hard times

Where did all the billions go?

Commissioned by the editors at Vanity Fair magazine, The Great Hangover is an eye-opening collection of essays on the global economic crisis by fifteen of the most respected contemporary business writers in America, including:

Bryan Burrough (Barbarians at the Gate) on the atmosphere of uncertainty and fear that preceded the demise of Bear Stearns . . .

Michael Lewis (Liar's Poker) on Iceland's bizarre national implosion . . .

Mark Bowden (Black Hawk Down) on ! the decline of The New York Times and the threat to the ailing newspaper industry . . .

Mark Seal on the defining figure of the seriously tarnished New Gilded Age: the Grand Master of Greed, Bernie Madoff . . .

Along with compelling and sometimes hair-raising pieces from a dozen other Vanity Fair contributors on the recent recession's myriad villains and victimsâ€"and the worldwide impact of the financial downturn.

Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), Alan (Zach Galifi anakis) and Doug (Justin Bartha) travel to exotic Thailand for Stu's wedding. What could go wrong? Director Todd Phillips' explosively funny follow-up to his award-winning smash hit demonstrates that though what happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, what happens in Bangkok can hardly be imagined! Just when you were starting to sober up after The Hangover… along comes The Hangover Part II--a deft dose of hair of the dog that will keep fans of the original scr! eaming with laughter once again. Director Todd Phillips brings! back hi s great cast--Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, and Ed Helms for another splendid exercise in debauchery--and its painful aftermath. And perhaps surprisingly, The Hangover Part II keeps the laugh levels high. While the element of surprise is not here in the sequel, writer Craig Mazin, Scot Armstrong, and Phillips have upped the shock factor, resulting in humor that's sometimes not exactly politically correct, but is fall-down funny anyway. In The Hangover Part II, Stu (Helms) is marrying a Thai-American woman (Jamie Chung), and the entire wedding party is flying to Thailand for the ceremony. Quicker than you can say "bachelor brunch," the boys are off on some kind of mystery adventure that results in some pretty serious, and pretty hilarious repercussions. (There's an unfortunate tattoo incident, one not easily covered up; there's an unexplained monkey--in a Rolling Stones shirt--now added to the entourage; and one of the group is missing.) The ! setup is familiar, but the ensemble of actors is so confident, their chemistry so easy, that the viewer enjoys their long, strange trip with bust-out-loud laughs. And you can't ask for much more in a buddy comedy. --A.T. Hurley

Vanity Fair presents 21 true stories of the new hard times

Where did all the billions go?

Commissioned by the editors at Vanity Fair magazine, The Great Hangover is an eye-opening collection of essays on the global economic crisis by fifteen of the most respected contemporary business writers in America, including:

Bryan Burrough (Barbarians at the Gate) on the atmosphere of uncertainty and fear that preceded the demise of Bear Stearns . . .

Michael Lewis (Liar's Poker) on Iceland's bizarre national implosion . . .

Mark Bowden (Black Hawk Down) on the decline of The New York Times and the threat to the ailing newspaper industry . . .

Mark Seal on the defining figure of the seriously tarnish! ed New G ilded Age: the Grand Master of Greed, Bernie Madoff . . .

Along with compelling and sometimes hair-raising pieces from a dozen other Vanity Fair contributors on the recent recession's myriad villains and victimsâ€"and the worldwide impact of the financial downturn.

Vanity Fair presents 21 true stories of the new hard times

Where did all the billions go?

Commissioned by the editors at Vanity Fair magazine, The Great Hangover is an eye-opening collection of essays on the global economic crisis by fifteen of the most respected contemporary business writers in America, including:

Bryan Burrough (Barbarians at the Gate) on the atmosphere of uncertainty and fear that preceded the demise of Bear Stearns . . .

Michael Lewis (Liar's Poker) on Iceland's bizarre national implosion . . .

Mark Bowden (Black Hawk Down) on the decline of The New York Times and the ! threat to the ailing newspaper industry . . .

Mark Seal on the defining figure of the seriously tarnished New Gilded Age: the Grand Master of Greed, Bernie Madoff . . .

Along with compelling and sometimes hair-raising pieces from a dozen other Vanity Fair contributors on the recent recession's myriad villains and victimsâ€"and the worldwide impact of the financial downturn.

From the director of "Old School" comes a new comedy about a bachelor party in Vegas gone horribly wrong. Two days before his wedding, Doug (Justin Bartha) and his three buddies (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis) drive to Vegas for a night they'll never forget. But when the three groomsmen wake up the next morning with pounding headaches, they can't remember a thing and the groom is nowhere to be found. With little time to spare the trio must attempt to retrace their bad decisions from the night before in order to get Doug back to LA in time for his wedding. Soundtr! ack features performances by The Dan Band and Mike Tyson. Ever! y bad ha ngover starts with a great party album.Occasionally even the most temperate among us overindulge, and the next-day results are usually none too pretty. Offer a friend-or yourself-maximum relief from last night's over-the-top bender with our all-new Hangover Recovery Kit. It's guaranteed to turn your affliction into conviction. Soothes regret, restores dignity! More effective than a pint of hair of the dog! Tin box is 2.75 x 3.75 x 1.875-inches and contains 16-page remedy booklet, silicone bracelet, 5 affirmation cards, 5 healing bandages, recovery certificate, and metal charm.

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