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the
fanboy book shop:
 League
of Extraordinary Gentlemen 1898 by Alan Moore, Kevin O'Neill (Illustrator)
 Acclaimed
comics author Moore (Watchmen) has combined his love of 19th-century
adventure literature with an imaginative mastery of its 20th-century
corollary, the superhero comic book. This delightful work features
a grand collection of signature 19th-century fictional adventurers,
covertly brought together to defend the empire. The League of
Extraordinary Gentlemen comprises such characters as Minna Murray
(formerly Harker), from Bram Stoker's Dracula; Robert Louis Stevenson's
Dr. Jekyll (and his monstrous alter ego, Mr. Hyde); and Jules
Verne's Captain Nemo, restored to the dark, grim-visaged Sikh
Verne originally intended. There's also Hawley Griffin, the imperceptible
hero of H.G. Well's The Invisible Man, and Allan Quartermain,
the daring adventurer of King Solomon's Mines and other classic
yarns by H. Rider Haggard.
  The
Lord of the Rings (Illustrated Edition) by J. R. R. Tolkien, Alan
Lee (Illustrator)
This special edition of The Lord of the Rings celebrates the birth
of J.R.R. Tolkien with fifty gorgeous paintings full of beauty
and mystery, specially commissioned from the noted English artist
Alan Lee. In this one volume the three parts of The Lord of the
Rings are enhanced by the work of a dedicated artist whose vision
matches Tolkien's own.
Alan Lee was born in England in 1947. Inspired by Tolkien's work
to pursue his choosen path as an artist of the mythic and fantastistic.
He is a winner of the Carnegie Medal. Celebrating the birth of
J.R.R. Tolkien, this centenary edition of the classic volume is
illustrated with fifty specially commissioned paintings by an
artist whose vision matches Tolkien's own.
 Peanuts:
The Art of Charles M. Schulz by Charles M. Schulz, Chip Kidd (Commentary),
Jean Schulz (Introduction)
 This
beautiful album will dazzle fans of Charles M. Schulz, providing
an unprecedented look at the work of the most beloved cartoonist
of the twentieth century.
More than five hundred comic strips are reproduced, as well as
such rare or never-before-seen items as a sketchbook from Schulz's
army days in the early 1940s; his very first printed strip, Just
Keep Laughing; his private scrapbook of pre-Peanuts Li'l Folks
strips; developmental sketches for the first versions of Charlie
Brown and the other Peanuts characters; a sketchbook from 1963;
and many more materials gathered from the Schulz archives in Santa
Rosa, California.
 Monsters,
Inc.: The Essential Guide by Jon Richards
In the animated movie, Monsters, Inc., a corporation of monsters
makes a living by scaring kids and collecting their screams to
produce power for the city of Monstropolis.
 Now,
fans of this Disney and Pixar movie can get the inside scoop on
Monsters, Inc. CEO Henry J. Waternoose, Sulley and Mike, the firm's
best scarer team, and Boo, the little girl who wreaks havoc on
their simple monster ways. The Essential Guide provides biographies
on each character, as well as background information on the company,
Monstropolis, and the highly trained C.D.A. (Child Detection Agency),
devoted to protecting monsters from the dangers of child contamination.
Packed with fun facts and glimpses of scenes from the animated
movie, this guide is a must for all fans, human or otherwise.
 Driving
Mr. Albert : A Trip Across America With Einstein's Brain by Michael
Paterniti
Driving Mr. Albert chronicles the adventures of an unlikely threesome--a
freelance writer, an elderly pathologist, and Albert Einstein's
brain--on a cross-country expedition intended to set the story
of this specimen-cum-relic straight once and for all. After Thomas
Harvey performed Einstein's autopsy in 1955, he made off with
the key body part. His claims that he was studying the specimen
and would publish his findings never bore fruit, and the doctor
fell from grace. The brain, though, became the subject of many
an urban legend, and Harvey was transformed into a modern Robin
Hood, having snatched neurological riches from the establishment
and distributed them piecemeal to the curious and the faithful
around the world.
 Visions
of Spaceflight: Images from the Ordway Collection by Frederick
I. Ordway III
Writer Frederick I. Ordway III worked with Werner von Braun in
the early days of NASA; he also spent decades collecting pictures,
paintings and diagrams of space voyages, real or imagined. With
hundreds of big images in glossy color, Visions of Spaceflight:
Images from the Ordway Collection makes available Ordway's hoard.
Etchings of 18th-century trips to the moon, with great vultures
and giant balloons, dominate one section; another includes a cover
from the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society (1934).
Collectors may love the sometimes garish rockets and grinning
spacemen from the 1950s periodicals Colliers and This Week.
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the
fanboy video store:
 Pixar's
15th Anniversary Gift Pak (Toy Story/A Bug's Life/Toy Story 2)
Toy Story: There is greatness in film that can be discussed, dissected,
and talked about late into the night. Then there is genius that
is right in front of our faces-- we smile at the spell it puts us
under and are refreshed, and nary a word needs to be spoken.
A Bug's Life: There was such a magic on the screen in 1995 when
the people at Pixar came up with the first fully computer-animated
film, Toy Story. Their second feature film, A Bug's Life, may miss
the bull's-eye, but Pixar's target is so lofty, it's hard to find
the film anything less than irresistible.
Toy Story 2: Although the toys look the same as in the 1995 feature,
Pixar shows how much technology has advanced: the human characters
look more human, backgrounds are superior, and two action sequences
that book-end the film are dazzling. The film is packed with spoofs,
easily accessible in-jokes, and inspired voice casting. But, as
the Pixar canon of films illustrates, the filmmakers are storytellers
first.
 Cowboy
Bebop - The Perfect Sessions (Limited Edition Complete Series Boxed
Set)
Each of the snazzy 25-minute installments from
the most popular Japanese animated TV series of 1998 is a satisfying
adventure tale about a futuristic hipster bounty hunter. This is
an elegant action-comedy anime, with smoothly integrated CGI space-flight
elements, gorgeous graphics, blues harmonica and sax riffs on the
soundtrack, and a no-sweat post-Tarantino attitude. Despite occasional
eruptions of gun-fu Asian-action violence, and some intimations
of heavy-duty drug use (in the first of 26 episodes, one especially
noxious narcotic is administered as an aerosol spray straight onto
the user's eyeballs), the tone is surprisingly convivial.
 Secret
Agent Aka Danger Man, Set 1 (1961)
Danger Man first aired in 1960 as a half-hour spy program on
British television. Taking heed of the James Bond craze and the
ratings success of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., the show was renamed
Secret Agent. This collection contains six vintage "Danger Man"
episodes. Patrick McGoohan stars as John Drake, who is dispatched
around the globe to quell cold war intrigue. Danger Man was a gritty
spy series, relying more on realistic stories of espionage than
on the gadgets and beautiful women popularized by 007.
 The
Big O (Vol. 1) (2001)
The art deco-influenced backgrounds and simplified character designs
give this series a look that's closer to Warner Bros.' Batman than
to anime series like Gundam Wing. The Big O begins with a premise
similar to A Wind Called Amnesia: the inhabitants of Paradigm City
somehow lost their memories 40 years ago. Since then, they've struggled
to survive in the half-ruined metropolis. Dashing Roger Smith, who
looks a bit like Pierce Bronson, is officially a negotiator who
handles difficult situations, but he's really a covert superhero.
Like Batman, he's fabulously wealthy, and his car and wristwatch
are loaded with deadly gadgets. But when the going gets tough, Smith
summons the Big O, his giant "Megadeus" mecha to slug it out with
other robots.
 Willy
Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (30th Anniversary Edition - Widescreen)
(1971)
Having proven itself as a favorite film of children around the world,
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is every bit as entertaining
now as it was when originally released in 1971. There's a timeless
appeal to Roald Dahl's classic children's novel, which was playfully
preserved in this charming musical, from the colorful carnival-like
splendor of its production design to the infectious melody of the
"Oompah-Loompah" songs that punctuate the story. Wonka gains an
edge of menace and madness that nicely counterbalances the movie's
sentimental sweetness.
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