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A drama series from the creator of Doll centered around an embalmer in Japan. As with all Mitsukazu Mihara manga, The Embalmer features some creative episodic stories, this time around with a life and death theme.Combines the 1996 'There Was Blood Everywhere' 7" EP & the 1993 'Rotting Remains' demo for the first time on CD.A CRAZED KILLER IS ON THE LOOSE IN THE CATACOMBS OF VENICE, ITALY. HE STALKS BEAUTIFUL WOMEN, DRAGS THEM TO HIS UNDERGROUND LAIR, KILLS THEM, THEN STUFFS THEM AND ADDS THEM TO HIS 'COLLECTION.'People, flowers, memories: how do we preserve the past? Set in Cumbria's Lake Dis! trict, the shifting mosaic of the narrative explores life, love and prejudice through three very different women: Ruth, a taxidermist; Madeleine, a widowed sheep-farmer; and, Lisa, an achondroplasic mathematician. As Lisa is drawn into the group it becomes clear that the other women have strange secrets: Ruth's essays on embalming have an increasingly dark theme. "The Embalmer's Book of Recipes" is a story about harsh decisions: eugenics in the post-genomic age; the politics of marginalising people and communities; the desperate responses to Foot & Mouth Disease; and, the illogicality of human love.But these stark themes are offset by the warmth and humour of the rural community to which the women are bound. 'An intriguing novel in a haunting setting, rich in texture, humorous and concerned, raising important questions about science and our relation to the natural world, to the individuals we know and to the communities we live in. A lovely book' - Jenny Uglow. 'A many-face! ted book of science, academia and contemporary country life in! the Lak e District. The account of the dreadful days of foot-and-mouth disease in the last epidemic is agonising and the Cumbrian accent is perfect' - Jane Gardam.People, flowers, memories: how do we preserve the past? Set in Cumbria's Lake District, the shifting mosaic of the narrative explores life, love and prejudice through three very different women: Ruth, a taxidermist; Madeleine, a widowed sheep-farmer; and, Lisa, an achondroplasic mathematician. As Lisa is drawn into the group it becomes clear that the other women have strange secrets: Ruth's essays on embalming have an increasingly dark theme. "The Embalmer's Book of Recipes" is a story about harsh decisions: eugenics in the post-genomic age; the politics of marginalising people and communities; the desperate responses to Foot & Mouth Disease; and, the illogicality of human love.But these stark themes are offset by the warmth and humour of the rural community to which the women are bound. 'An intriguing novel in a haunting ! setting, rich in texture, humorous and concerned, raising important questions about science and our relation to the natural world, to the individuals we know and to the communities we live in. A lovely book' - Jenny Uglow. 'A many-faceted book of science, academia and contemporary country life in the Lake District. The account of the dreadful days of foot-and-mouth disease in the last epidemic is agonising and the Cumbrian accent is perfect' - Jane Gardam.The Design/Saying is printed on the mouse pad, we use the newest & best technology to print the design with great inks that are cured into the product. This new high tech way of producing garments and mouse pads is very fade resistant. WE DO NOT USE TRANSFERS. It is great, since you dont have that thick transfer feeling. The feel is very smooth. T-ShirtFrenzy offers over 30,000 designs on tons of products to offer millions of variations. You can search our store for something for everyone on your gift list or shop fo! r yourself (our personal favorite). Please contact us with qu! estions.
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Jeremy Marsh is a born skeptic and a science journalist who specializes in debunking the supernatural. When he hears about ghostly apparitions in a cemetery in Boone Creek, North Carolina, he leaves his beloved New York City for this small, rural town-and what his instincts tell him could make a great story. What he doesn't plan on is meeting and falling hopelessly in love with Lexie Darnell, who is sure of one thing: her future is here in Boone Creek, close to the people she loves. Now, if the young lovers are to be together, Jeremy must make a difficult choice: return to the life he knows in New York, or do something he could never do before... take a giant leap of faith.
Told here for the first time, the riveting story of the most remarkable strike in American history
On January 12, 1912, an army of textile workers stormed out of the mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts, commencing what has since become known as the âBread and Rosesâ strike. Based on newspaper accounts, magazine reportage, and oral histories, Watson reconstructs a Dickensian drama involving thousands of parading strikers from fifty-one nations, unforgettable acts of cruelty, and even a protracted murder trial that tested the boundaries of free speech. A rousing look at a seminal and overlooked chapter of the past, Bread and Roses is indispensable reading.BREAD & ROSES - DVD Movie
Newbery-author Katherine Paterson's tale of the 1912 mill workers' strike -- in pape! rback!
Rosaâs mother is singing againÂunion songs. Sheâs joined the strike against the corrupt mill owners. Rosa is terrified. What if Mamma is jailed or, worse, killed?
Jakeâs dad threatened to kill him if he joined the strike. For Jake, that is reason enough to do so.
Then Rosa, Jake, and the other children living in the middle of the strike are offered a very special opportunity: To live in Vermont until the strike is over. For Rosa, being away from her family is worse than seeing them in harmâs way. For Jake, itâs a chance to start over. For both of them, itâs a time of growing up.
Told here for the first time, the riveting story of the most remarkable strike in American history
On January 12, 1912, an army of textile workers stormed out of the mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts, commencing what has since become known as the âBread and Rosesâ strike. Based on newspaper accounts, magazine reportage, and oral ! histories, Watson reconstructs a Dickensian drama involving th! ousands of parading strikers from fifty-one nations, unforgettable acts of cruelty, and even a protracted murder trial that tested the boundaries of free speech. A rousing look at a seminal and overlooked chapter of the past, Bread and Roses is indispensable reading. Told here for the first time, the riveting story of the most remarkable strike in American history
On January 12, 1912, an army of textile workers stormed out of the mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts, commencing what has since become known as the âBread and Rosesâ strike. Based on newspaper accounts, magazine reportage, and oral histories, Watson reconstructs a Dickensian drama involving thousands of parading strikers from fifty-one nations, unforgettable acts of cruelty, and even a protracted murder trial that tested the boundaries of free speech. A rousing look at a seminal and overlooked chapter of the past, Bread and Roses is indispensable reading.
The new baking masterwork ! from the author of The Cake Bible and The Pie and Pastry Bible.
The Bread Bible gives bread bakers 150 of the meticulous, foolproof recipes that are Rose Levy Beranbaum's trademark. Her knowledge of the chemistry of baking, the accessibility of her recipes, and the incomparable taste of her creations make this book invaluable for home cooks and professional bakers alike.
"Understanding" and "Pointers for Success" sections explain in simple, readable language the importance of various techniques and ingredients demonstrated in a recipe, providing a complete education in the art of baking, with thorough sections on types of flour, equipment, and other essentials. Easy-to-use ingredient tables provide both volume and weight, for surefire recipes that work perfectly every time.
Recipes include bread made with yeast starters, quick breads, flatbreads, brioche, and much more. From ciabatta, semolina, rye, and sourdough bread! s to bagels, biscuits, crumpets, and pizza dough, The Brea! d Bible< /em> covers all the baking bases. 225 line drawings and 32 pages of color illustrationsRose Levy Beranbaum's The Cake Bible introduced readers to a newly illuminating baking-book approach--a precisely detailed yet accessible recipe format emphasizing baking science. The Bread Bible follows the same plan, offering 150 recipes, arranged by type, for a great variety of baked goods--from muffins, popovers, and English muffins to sandwich loaves, focaccia, rolls, hearth breads, rye bread, challah, and more, with a particularly vivid (and passionate) stop at sourdough loaves. Instruction is abetted by 32 pages of photos plus 300 step-by-step illustrations that depict, for example, bagel forming, in exact, imitable detail. In addition, an introductory section, "The Ten Essential Steps of Making Bread," includes a particularly lucid discussion on the way yeast works plus an invaluable comparison of kneading methods. Like the book's final look at ingredients, these "min! i-texts" provide information uncommon to most home bread books, rendered in simple language that allays fears of putting one's hand in the dough.
All this is impressive indeed, and readers bitten by the bread-baking bug will welcome the ultra-thorough Beranbaum approach. The less committed may find her technical demands too painstaking (her baguette recipe requires two starters, for example; though simpler loaves are, of course, offered) or even impractical (ingredient quantities using grams are sometimes given in minute fractions, requiring a special scale). The frequent inclusion of alternate mixing methods and equipment options can also make the formulas unwieldy. On the other hand, features like Pointers for Success and Understanding often yield exciting discovery as well as rewarding results. In short, this Beranbaum bible answers virtually every bread-making question, as well as providing exemplary formulas. It's the real deal for those willing to bake along wi! th Rose. --Arthur Boehm
Newbery-author Katherine Pa! terson's tale of the 1912 mill workers' strike -- in paperback!
Rosaâs mother is singing againÂunion songs. Sheâs joined the strike against the corrupt mill owners. Rosa is terrified. What if Mamma is jailed or, worse, killed?
Jakeâs dad threatened to kill him if he joined the strike. For Jake, that is reason enough to do so.
Then Rosa, Jake, and the other children living in the middle of the strike are offered a very special opportunity: To live in Vermont until the strike is over. For Rosa, being away from her family is worse than seeing them in harmâs way. For Jake, itâs a chance to start over. For both of them, itâs a time of growing up.
Newbery-author Katherine Paterson's tale of the 1912 mill workers' strike -- in paperback!
Rosaâs mother is singing againÂunion songs. Sheâs joined the strike against the corrupt mill owners. Rosa is terrified. What if Mamma is jailed or, worse, killed?
Jakeâs dad! threatened to kill him if he joined the strike. For Jake, that is reason enough to do so.
Then Rosa, Jake, and the other children living in the middle of the strike are offered a very special opportunity: To live in Vermont until the strike is over. For Rosa, being away from her family is worse than seeing them in harmâs way. For Jake, itâs a chance to start over. For both of them, itâs a time of growing up.
Judy Collins / Bread & Roses / Elektra 7E-1076 / Side One: Bread and Roses, Everything Must Change, Special Delivery, Out of Control, Plegaria A Un Labrador, Come Down In Time / Side Two: Spanish Is The Loving Tongue, I Didn't Know About You, Take This Longing, Love Hurts, Marjorie, and King David !
In 1981, Canadian Heavy Metal band Anvil released their first album, Hard 'n' Heavy. Years later, the likes of Metallica and Slayer would cite Anvil as a key influence, but lead vocalist Steve "Lips" Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner struggled to keep the band alive. Documentary filmmaker Sacha Gervasi follows Kudlow and Reiner as they struggle to keep their ambitions alive despite 35 years of missing the brass ring in Anvil! The True Story of Anvil, which paints a sympathetic but warts-and-all portrait of the unexpected consequences of the rock & roll dream.YEAR: 2009Is Anvil the real Spinal Tap? That's a label that could be applied to any number of hapless hard rock bands, but there's enough evidence in Anvil: The Story of Anvil to suggest that these guys may have, uh, tapped into the motherlode. The parallels are many, including getting lost on the way to a gig, playing before 174 people in a 10,000 capacity venue (in Transylvania, yet), inept management, ridiculous songs (even Nigel Tufnel and David St. Hubbins couldn't match "Thumb Hang," an Anvil tune about the Spanish Inquisition)⦠heck, they even visit (the real) Stonehenge. But dig deeper and you'll find some real heart in this 2007 documentary. Two hearts, actually--the ones belonging to singer-guitarist Steve "Lips" Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner (remove one "b" and you've got the director of This Is Spinal Tap). These two were there when the Canadian metal band formed in the early '80s and went on to share festival stages with the likes of Bon Jovi and Whitesnake. Now, a quarter century later (a new bassist and guitarist joined in the '90s), Reiner and Kudlow are in their fifties, living in Toronto with wives, kids, and menia! l jobs. But they still haven't given up their undying belief t! hat with a new album (their thirteenth) and couple of breaks, they will be rock stars.
It doesn't happen on a mostly disastrous European tour organized by a well-meaning but inexperienced fan. It doesn't happen when they reunite with British producer Chris Tsangarides (Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy) but find little interest in the new recording. But Kudlow, despite some bleak moments, is remarkably resilient (of the tour, he says, "Things went drastically wrong. But at least there was a tour for them to go wrong on"). And while it's a sad truth that Anvil just isn't that good--they're nowhere near the level of some of the bands they inspired, like Anthrax and Metallica--only the hardest of heart will resist rooting for them. Bonus material includes deleted scenes and commentary by director (and former roadie) Sacha Gervasi. --Sam GrahamIn the early seventies, when Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath ruled the world, Steve âLipsâ Kudlow and Robb Reiner, two young Jewish b! oys from the northern suburbs of Toronto, vowed to rock together forever. A decade later, their band Anvil released one of the heaviest records in music history, Metal on Metal, which influenced a whole musical generation, including the world-dominating bands Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax. Yet while these bands went on to sell millions of records, Anvil slipped straight into obscurity.
Was it too much sex and drugs and not enough rock ânâ roll? Was it the menagerie of pets that accompanied them on tour? Their uncanny knack for setting themselves on fire whenever a record company executive was watching? Now, almost thirty years later, like a real-life Spinal Tap, these unlikely musical heroes are still rocking, and still chasing their dream. Written in their own words, Anvil: The Story of Anvil charts the rise, fall, and eventual triumph of two men whose indestructible friendship, talent, and determination took them on a unique journey in the world of rock. A bitter! sweet and frequently hilarious hymn to the human spirit, playe! d loud i n power chords, it is a story of true brotherly love, living the dream, and never giving up.
Praise for the film documentary Anvil: The Story of Anvil:Poster to advertise and Anvil Concert in Seattle. One of 300 printed to advertise the show.
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The Pulitzer Prize-winning authorâ" "an immensely gifted writer and a magical prose stylist" (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times)â"offers his first major work of nonfiction, an autobiographical narrative as inventive, beautiful, and powerful as his acclaimed, award-winning fiction.
A shy manifesto, an impractical handbook, the true story of a fabulist, an entire life in parts and pieces, Manhood for Amateurs is the first sustained work of personal writing from Michael Chabon. In these insightful, provocative, slyly interlinked essays, one of our most brilliant and humane writers presents his autobiography and his vision of life in the way so many of! us experience our own lives: as a series of reflections, regrets, and reexaminations, each sparked by an encounter, in the present, that holds some legacy of the past.
What does it mean to be a man today? Chabon invokes and interprets and struggles to reinvent for us, with characteristic warmth and lyric wit, the personal and family history that haunts him even asâ"simply becauseâ"it goes on being written every day. As a devoted son, as a passionate husband, and above all as the father of four young Americans, Chabon presents his memories of childhood, of his parents' marriage and divorce, of moments of painful adolescent comedy and giddy encounters with the popular art and literature of his own youth, as a theme playedâ"on different instruments, with a fresh tempo and in a new keyâ"by the mad quartet of which he now finds himself co-conductor.
At once dazzling, hilarious, and moving, Manhood for Amateurs is destined to become a classic.
Th! is is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for ! quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition."Astonishing . . . Moving . . . One of the best books ever written about a sport." *Walter Clemons Newsweek
"A PENETRATING, FASCINATING AND REMARKABLY SUSPENSEFUL NARRATIVE." *David Guy Chicago Tribune In The Amateurs, David Halberstam once again displays the unique brand of reportage, both penetrating and supple, that distinguished his bestselling The Best and the Brightest and October 1964. This time he has taken for his subject the dramatic and special world of amateur ! rowing. While other athletes are earning fortunes in salaries and-or endorsements, the oarsmen gain fame only with each other and strive without any hope of financial reward. What drives these men to endure a physical pain known to no other sport? Who are they? Where do they come from? How do they regard themselves and their competitors? What have they sacrificed, and what inner demons have they appeased? In answering these questions, David Halberstam takes as his focus the 1984 single sculls trials in Princeton. The man who wins will gain the right to represent the United States in the 84 Olympiad; the losers will then have to struggle further to gain a place in the two- or four-man boats. And even if they succeed, they will have to live with the bitter knowledge that they were not the best, only close to it. Informative and compelling, The Amateurs combines the vividness of superb sportswriting with the narrative skills of a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent. ! "RIVETING." *Christopher Lehmann-Haupt The New York Ti! mes " [A] MASTERFUL JOB . . . Maintains the suspense to the very last stroke . . . Halberstam makes us care about the four men, their disappointments and the brutal testing of their friendships." *Dan Levin Sports IllustratedTitle: The Amateur Cracksman.
Publisher: British Library, Historical Print Editions
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is one of the world's largest research libraries holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats: books, journals, newspapers, sound recordings, patents, maps, stamps, prints and much more. Its collections include around 14 million books, along with substantial additional collections of manuscripts and historical items dating back as far as 300 BC.
The GENERAL HISTORICAL collection includes books from the British Library digitised by Microsoft. This varied collection includes material that gives readers a 19th century view of the world. Topics! include health, education, economics, agriculture, environment, technology, culture, politics, labour and industry, mining, penal policy, and social order.
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British Library Hornung, E. W.; 1899. 290 p. ; 8º. 012622.f.15. This book takes the student on a journey through his own mind and returns him to the chess board with a wealth of new-found knowledge and the promise of a significant gain in strength. Most amateurs possess erroneous thinking processes that remain with them throughout their chess lives. These flaws in their mental armour result in stinging defeats and painful reversals. Books can be boug! ht and studied, lessons can be taken -- but in the end, these ! elusive problems always prove to be extremely difficult to eradicate. Seeking a solution to this dilemma, the author wrote down the thoughts of his students while they played actual games, analysed them, and catalogued the most common misconceptions that arose. This second edition greatly expands on the information contained in the popular first edition.
A film that has spawned a thousand imitations but never been bettered â" Mamoru Oshiiâs legendary anime film GHOST IN THE SHELL returns in a stunning new edition remastered by Oshii himself. For this definitive Version 2.0 release, all the original animations are re-produced with latest digital film and animation technologies, including 3D-CGI. Set in a re-imagined Hong Kong at a time when cyberspace is expanding into human reality, the story follows top cyberwarrior Major Motoko Kusanagi as she hovers on the border of total immersion in the digital world.
Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 11/09/2010Coasting on the successes of Gods and Monsters and George of the Jungle, Brendan Fraser turns in yet another winning performance in this fish-out-of-water comedy in which Pleasantville meets modern-day Los Angeles, with predictably funny results. Fraser stars as Adam, who was born in the bomb shelter of his paranoid inventor dad (a less-manic-than-usual Christopher Walken), who spirited his pregnant wife (Sissy Spacek, in fine comic form) underground when he thought the Communists dropped the bomb (actually, it was a plane crash). Armed with enough supplies to last 35 years, the parents bring up Adam in Leave It to Beaver style with nary any exposure to the outside world. When the supplies run out, and dad suffers a heart attack, Fraser goes up to modern-day L.A. for some shopping and lon! g-awaited culture shock. More of a cute premise with lots of clever ideas attached than a fully fleshed out story, Blast from the Past is also supposed to be part romantic comedy, as the hunky Adam hooks up with his jaded Eve (Alicia Silverstone) and tries to convince her to marry him and go underground. The sparks don't fly, though, because Silverstone is saddled with the triple whammy of being miscast, playing an underwritten character, and suffering a very bad hairdo. Fraser, however, carries the film lightly and easily on his broad, goofy shoulders, mixing Adam's gee-whiz innocence with genuine emotion and curiosity; only Fraser could pull off Adam's first glimpse of a sunrise or the ocean with both humor and pathos. Also winning is Dave Foley as Silverstone's gay best friend, who manages to make the most innocuous statements sound like comic gems. --Mark Englehart
In Marshal Virgil Cole and deputy Everett Hitchs line of work, you shoot quick, you shoot clean, and you reload straightaway. No remorse. No looking back. No feelings. Feelings get you killed. Paired as rivals in A History of Violence, Ed Harris (who also directs, produces and co-scripts) and Viggo Mortensen stand together as longtime friends and for-hire peacekeepers Cole and Hitch in this charac
In his second directorial effort (following the 2000 biopic Pollock), Harris takes his cue from novelist Parker's often dea! dpan-comic touch, allowing action and character to accumulate ! in accor dance with an overall eccentric rhythm. (The film's main disappointment is that it would benefit from more running time to allow things to stew a bit longer, especially in the second half.) The character work is choice, from the moment Tom Bower, James Gammon, and Timothy Spall step into view as Appaloosa's civic leaders; the director's father Bob Harris contributes a cameo as a mellifluous-tongued circuit judge, and an age-thickened Lance Henriksen turns up midfilm as gunman Ring Shelton, trailing affability and menace. In collaboration with Dances With Wolves cameraman Dean Semler, Harris sets up shots and scenes in such a way that we often see into and out of Appaloosa's various buildings simultaneously, to excellent dramatic and atmospheric effect, and there's a thrillingly vertical dynamics to a scene involving a train at an isolated water stop. The action is lethal when it needs to be, but never dwelt upon. "That was over quick," Hitch observes after one gun b! attle. Cole's response says it all: "Everybody could shoot." --Richard T. Jameson
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This uniquely poignant and funny film focuses on the rekindling of a school relationship that has taken on a new twist.This book, the first in the Learning About Sex series for boys, aids parents in the often difficult task of introducing and explaining human sexuality. The simple, age-appropriate text and pictures in this book teach boys ages 4 to 6 that the similarities
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 weapon of choice, a curved blade that swoops through the air like a boomerang). 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 dazz! ling surprises" (Rolling Stone). "A gorgeous entertainment" (A! .O. Scot t, 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 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 u! nderground 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 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