Reviews Written By: A31Y9DLKVASJQYprovided by Amazon.com |
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 | The Boys of Winter : The Untold Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team | |
 | "Greatest Olympic Moment Ever" | 2008-06-10 |
| The book mainly covers the U.S. hockey team's amazing upset of the powerful USSR team, but also provides the background story of just about everybody involved. I'll never forget that game, and reading about it brought back the excitement of that night. I found myself almost cheering outloud when I read about the great plays. There will never be another Olympic story like this, because now the games are dominated by pro teams. We have "dream teams" instead of teams full of kids who would dream of doing what just about everybody thought was impossible. The background stories are great and give you a better understanding of what was going on in and before the games to get these guys to the point where they were able to pull off this amazing run. I don't know of any hockey fan who wouldn't like this book. | ||
 | Stonewall's Gold : A Novel of the Civil War | |
| "Great Adventure Story" | 2008-04-03 |
| This is a great little adventure story about the Civil War. The author obviously knows his history and just as obviously knows how to tell a good story. I'm not sure why, but I picked up the book having a feeling I was not going to enjoy it much. By the end of the first chapter I was starting to change my mind and by the end of the second chapter I was hooked on it. The story is about a young boy who gets his hands on a map, showing where a shipment of gold is hidden. The Civil War is coming to an end as he travels to find the treasure, finding quite a few interesting people along the way. It's a fun story and gives the reader a pretty good idea about what life was like in that time and place. I've got to go check to see if Mrazek has written any other books. This was his first novel, and I'm hoping he will write several more. | ||
 | Lucky Number Slevin (HD DVD) | |
| "Best Movie I've Seen in a Long Time" | 2008-01-02 |
| This is a very violent movie, but it's well-written, clever and has a lot of plot twists that will keep you guessing. The cast is outstanding, and I don't know why this movie wasn't more popular when it came out.
Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu, Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley star in this movie and all of them are outstanding in it. The movie will keep you guessing, wondering exactly what's going on and who the good guys are. The writing is crisp and funny, and there's not a dull moment in this film. It reminded me of "The Usual Suspects," and "The Spanish Prisoner." If you like a good mystery, do yourself a favor and buy this dvd. | ||
 | Lucky Number Slevin (Widescreen Edition) | |
| "Best Movie I've Seen in a Long Time" | 2008-01-02 |
| This is a very violent movie, but it's well-written, clever and has a lot of plot twists that will keep you guessing. The cast is outstanding, and I don't know why this movie wasn't more popular when it came out.
Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu, Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley star in this movie and all of them are outstanding in it. The movie will keep you guessing, wondering exactly what's going on and who the good guys are. The writing is crisp and funny, and there's not a dull moment in this film. It reminded me of "The Usual Suspects," and "The Spanish Prisoner." If you like a good mystery, do yourself a favor and buy this dvd. | ||
 | Taxi - The Complete First Season | |
| "Best Comedy Ever" | 2007-06-30 |
| Most TV shows take a while to get going. In some cases it takes a few episodes to introduce the characters and really get interesting. Some shows don't really hit their stride until the second season, but this show was funny from the first episode. The first season didn't include a bad episode, and did include some classic shows. My personal favorite was the episode where Elaine had to leave town, and left her son with the cabbies. They took turns taking care of him, and then showed up to cheer him on at his spelling bee. Louie was in top form, calling the other kids "losers" and trying to bet on the outcome of the spelling bee. The only negative comment I have on this set is that there was no bonus material at all. If you love to laugh and missed this show when it was on, or would like to see the shows again, you should buy it today. | ||
 | The Bob Newhart Show - The Complete Third Season | |
| "Great Show Just Keeps Getting Better" | 2007-04-23 |
| This is one of my all-time favorite TV shows, but when I watched the first season I was a little disappointed. It was still good, but not as funny as I remembered. The second season was much funnier and by the third season they were clicking constantly. The cast had really grown into their characters by this time, and nailed it time after time. The writing was outstanding, and every one of these shows was funny. The only negative thing I have to say is that if you're looking for extras these sets will disappoint you. The only extra in this one was a 9 minute featurette, which was just Bob talking about the show. It was interesting to hear, but there wasn't much of it. I can't wait to see season four! | ||
 | Black Flag: Guerrilla Warfare on the Western Border, 1861-1865 | |
 | "War At Its Worst" | 2007-04-07 |
| Every time I read about the guerrilla warfare in Kansas and Missouri I'm amazed that they were ever able to settle the region again. Both sides had their share of psychopaths who used the war to justify robbery, rape and murder. Each side committed attrocities, which were used as justification for the attrocities committed by the other side. The book is well-researched, and filled with first-hand accounts of what went on there. Anybody who thinks of war as a glorious adventure should read this book and see how ugly it can become. The brutality of the way they killed one another and mutilated the bodies of their victims is shocking. Men surrendered, being told they would be treated as prisoners of war, only to be gunned down in cold blood. The murdered men were sometimes beheaded or scalped, and some of the killers rode around with necklaces made of body parts they had cut off of their victims. It's not a very pleasant book to read, but if you want to know more about that part of the war, this is a good way to learn about it. If you don't want to read something this violent, but still want to know more about this part of the war, you should read Ride With the Devil (a novel covering the same topic) or watch the movie by the same name. The novel and movie are plenty violent, but not nearly as graphic as this book. | ||
 | V for Vendetta (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition) | |
| "Best Movie of the Year" | 2006-11-28 |
| I didn't get out to see this one when it came out, but finally got to see it on DVD. I had high expectations when I started to watch it, and wasn't disappointed at all. Natalie Portman was outstanding and it was a great story with some unexpected twists. Her performance alone was worth the price of the disc. I'm generally not a big fan of action movies, but this was one of the rare action movies that makes you think. I found myself pulling for the terrorist and thinking about how things are rarely as black and white as they seem. The action scenes were fun, the writing was exceptional and the acting was outstanding. Normally, when I watch a movie on dvd, I'll watch about 30 minutes at a time, but with this one, I couldn't turn it off. Once I started to watch it I couldn't walk away. | ||
 | Caddy For Life : The Bruce Edwards Story | |
| "Great Book on Golf and Friendship" | 2006-05-26 |
| I've read several of John Feinstein's books, and have never been disappointed. This was one of his better efforts. It's the story of Bruce Edwards and Tom Watson. Edwards was a caddy, and was lucky enough to hook up with Watson back in 1973. He spent most of the next 30 years caddying for one of the best golfers and best people in the game. The book tells the story of these two remarkable individuals, and shows how well-liked they both were on the PGA tour. The last part of the book describes the 2003 season, and how tough it was for both of them. Edwards was diagnosed with ALS at the beginnig of the year, and struggled to make it through one final season as Watson's caddy. Watson is portrayed in the book as a great friend and boss. He realized how lucky he was to have Edwards as his caddy and friend for all those years, and Edwards was just as aware of how lucky he had been. It's just a shame they didn't have a few more years together. | ||
 | Caddy For Life: The Bruce Edwards Story | |
| "Great Book on Golf and Friendship" | 2006-05-26 |
| I've read several of John Feinstein's books, and have never been disappointed. This was one of his better efforts. It's the story of Bruce Edwards and Tom Watson. Edwards was a caddy, and was lucky enough to hook up with Watson back in 1973. He spent most of the next 30 years caddying for one of the best golfers and best people in the game. The book tells the story of these two remarkable individuals, and shows how well-liked they both were on the PGA tour. The last part of the book describes the 2003 season, and how tough it was for both of them. Edwards was diagnosed with ALS at the beginnig of the year, and struggled to make it through one final season as Watson's caddy. Watson is portrayed in the book as a great friend and boss. He realized how lucky he was to have Edwards as his caddy and friend for all those years, and Edwards was just as aware of how lucky he had been. It's just a shame they didn't have a few more years together. | ||
 | The West Wing - The Complete Second Season | |
| "Best Show Ever" | 2006-05-25 |
| A year or two ago, I watched the first season on dvd, and was amazed by the difference in quality from the first season to the last few. When Aaron Sorkin was writing (the first four seasons) it was the best show in the history of TV. In the final three seasons, it went from the best to being just a decent show. There were still a few very bright spots in each season, but it was nowhere near the quality of the first four seasons. I just started watching the second season and it was deja vu all over again. I can't take my eyes off the screen when I'm watching these shows. There are so many good lines in each episode that you can't help but appreciate it. Normally, I'm not a huge fan of the commentaries and the other extras on dvds, but with this show I love them. They give you so many interesting facts and stories about the show that it's worth the cost of the discs, just to get these extras. If you didn't get hooked on the show from the beginning, do yourself a favor and buy the first four seasons on dvd. If you like this show and haven't seen Sorkin's other show, go out and buy Sportsnight on dvd too. The show was only around for two years, but it was one of the best shows ever. | ||
 | The Bob Newhart Show - The Complete Second Season | |
| "Great Show Really Starting to Click" | 2006-04-21 |
| This is one of my all-time favorite shows, so I was pretty excited to get the first two seasons on dvd last Christmas. I watched the first season and enjoyed every episode, but the second season was far better than the first. The first season introduces all of the characters and their relationships, and by season two that was all set, so they just worked on being funny. Bob's patients were pretty well established by this time, and they generated a lot more laughs than they did the first season. By the time the first season ended, we didn't need them to explain to us who Mr. Carlin was. They just brought him in, and let him crack us up. There were also a lot of stars showing up in cameo appearances. Terri Garr was outstanding as the dumb blonde secretary in two episodes, Henry Winkler was very funny as an ex-con patient of Bob's, Michael Conrad and Howard Hesseman were great as patients. Unlike the first season, this disc does include a short extra, which is an interview with Bob and one of the writers from the show. The collection brought back a lot of great memories, and provided quite a few laughs. I'm looking forward to season three. | ||
 | The Bob Newhart Show - The Complete First Season | |
| "Great Show (but no extras)" | 2006-04-07 |
| This is one of my all-time favorite comedies, so I was happy to see that it was finally available on dvd. The first two seasons were as good as I remembered, and the only disappointment was that there was no bonus material at all. Bob plays a psychologist from Chicago and he's got some pretty funny patients. Any show with Mr. Carlin or Bob's group sessions is worth watching. The rest of the cast is his wife, their neighbor, an orthodontist who works in Bob's building and the secretary they share with a few other doctors. All of them are good, but it's Bob and his patients who really make the show. It's also fun to laugh at the ridiculous clothes they wore 30 years ago. If you enjoyed the show, go ahead and buy the discs, but don't expect to see any extras on these discs. | ||
 | Touchdown Pass (Chip Hilton Sports) | |
 | "Stick with the original" | 2005-09-30 |
| I grew up reading the Chip Hilton books and loved every one of them. A few years back, Claire Bee's daughter and her husband decided to bring them back, which was a great idea. Unfortunately, they also decided to update the books. If you want a great sports book for kids, find the original versions of these books and read them, instead of these updated versions. You can tell the originals from the fakes by looking at the author's name on each book. The originals were written by Claire Bee, the fakes are by him, his daughter and others. One of the things I always enjoyed about the books was that they were written at a time when the rules in sports were quite a bit different than they are today. In football, for example, if the other team scored you had a choice between having them kick off to you, or you kicking off to them. The strategies and formations were a lot different too, and of course back in those days people still talked about good sportsmanship and it was important. The updated books don't make much sense, since they are still using the old strategies and rules, but the books are set in modern times. | ||
 | Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger - Precious Friend | |
| "Great Folk Disc" | 2004-11-16 |
| Every fan of Pete or Arlo should have this cd. It's got some great tunes and classic Arlo comedy. There's not a bad song on the two discs. This is my second favorite live recording by these two.
My favorite record of theirs is finally available on cd, and you can even buy it at Amazon now. It's called Arlo Guthrie & Pete Seeger Together in Concert. It came out in 1975 and the concert was shown on PBS. So my advice is to buy this one, and if you like it go get the other one too. | ||
 | GOOD AS GOLD | |
| "Classic Heller" | 2004-10-28 |
| Joseph Heller is probably the only writer who could always make me laugh out loud. This is a book about a college professor and writer who gets a chance to go to Washington to work for the President. An old friend of his works at the White House and invites him to come to work there, but won't tell him what the job is or when he can start. The friend tells Gold that they want to make a big announcement about the appointment, but want to keep it secret. Everything this guy says is an oxymoron. Meanwhile, his family is driving him crazy. His father and step mother live in Florida during the winters, but come back to New York for the summer. The whole family is anxious for them to go back to Florida, but they keep stalling. Gold's brother makes idiotic comments, constantly badgering him and trying to get him into a fight. Gold is always being put into a position where he can either argue and look like he's showing off, or ignore the comment and be criticized for ignoring the mistake in his brother's comment. If you've enjoyed any of Joseph Heller's other books, this is more of the same, so you should get a kick out of this one too. | ||
 | Tom Russell - Indians Cowboys Horses Dogs | |
| "As Advertised" | 2004-10-13 |
| I had never heard of Tom Russell until about a month ago when he was on David Letterman. He sang "Tonight We Ride," on the show and I ordered the cd a day or two later. This disc is exactly what the title says, a collection of songs about cowboys, indians, horses and dogs.
It includes cover versions of some classic Dylan songs and new songs, and has playing in my car quite a bit. I'm not a big country fan, but to me this is not really country music, but a mixture of country, rock and even some folk. I bought the disc based on one song I heard and was not at all disappointed. The song I had heard was the best song on the disc, but there are some other great songs on here, and not a bad song in the group. I will be adding more of his discs to my collection. | ||
 | The Amateurs | |
| "Another great book from David Halberstam" | 2004-09-30 |
| I read this book in spite of the facts that I have no interest in rowing and know nothing about it. I read it only because it was written by David Halberstam, and I've loved everything I've ever read by him. This book was no exception. Even though I still know very little about the sport, I now appreciate how grueling it is, and how much training these guys do. You can't go wrong with a David Halberstam book, and this one's no exception. | ||
 | No Laughing Matter | |
| "A funny look at Guillain-Barre syndrome" | 2004-09-27 |
| Heller was one of my all-time favorite writers, and his books never disappointed me. This book, written with his good friend Speed Vogel, is a description of Heller's medical ordeal. Heller had Guillain-Barre syndrome, which is like a temporary form of polio. The muscles in his body shut down leaving him paralyzed. Eventually, the muscles started to work again, but he had to go through a long, difficult rehab process. He had to learn to do everything he had done without thinking about it before he got sick. Vogel helped him through the process and they decided to write this book to describe the whole ordeal. The book is full of funny stories of these two men, and their other friends. It was great to see that he kept his amazing sense of humor throughout his illness. If you've enjoyed any of his other books, you should get a big kick out of this one too. | ||
 | John Lennon - Rock 'n' Roll | |
| "Great Oldies Collection" | 2004-09-24 |
| This is a collection of songs from the 1950's. These are some of John Lennon's favorite songs from when he was a kid, and he does some outstanding covers of these songs. This is one of my all-time favorite cd's and has been for about 25 years now. That's the nice thing about classic songs like these; they never seem to get old. | ||
 | The Iowa Baseball Confederacy : A Novel | |
| "Another Classic Baseball Novel" | 2004-09-09 |
| W.P. Kinsella is one of my all-time favorite writers, and this is one of his better novels. If you've seen the movie, "Field of Dreams," or read his book "Shoeless Joe," which was the basis for the movie, you know what to expect from Kinsella. His stories of baseball and magic are written for readers with vivid imaginations. This is a story of a researcher looking for proof of an old league that nobody else can remember. He somehow ends up at a never-ending exhibition game between the 1908 Cubs and the all-stars from this Iowa league. As usual with Kinsella, the book is about a lot more than baseball. If you're the type of reader who can accept a story that seems totally unbelievbale, and if you like baseball, you should try this one. If you like it, he's written quite a few other books and I haven't found a bad one yet. | ||
 | A March to Madness | |
| "A Book Every ACC Fan Should Read" | 2004-08-27 |
| John Feinstein is a great writer, and this book is a look at one season in the ACC. He follows the teams around the conference for a season, giving us the background of the players and coaches and showing us the high and low points of the season. For those of us who didn't go to one of these schools, it's a great way to learn about the basketball traditions of the conference, the history of the rivalries, the conference tournament, the arenas, the fans, etc. Even if you're not an ACC fan, if you like college basketball you should enjoy this book. | ||
 | Ride With the Devil | |
| "Great Civil War Novel" | 2004-08-27 |
| This is one of the best Civil War novels I've read. It deals with the border war in Missouri and Kansas, where atrocities on both sides were far too common. The author did a good job of getting the facts right and keeping the story interesting from start to finish. His sense of humor lightens up a story that would otherwise be pretty depressing. If you'd like an idea of what it was like to live in that part of the country during the war, read this book or watch the movie (which was also outstanding). Whenever I read about the horrible things that happened in that part of the country, I'm amazed that the people there were able to put it behind them and get along after the war. It seems like it could easily have turned into our own version of the Middle East, where the fighting goes on generation after generation. | ||
 | Ride with the Devil | |
| "Great Civil War Novel" | 2004-08-27 |
| This is one of the best Civil War novels I've read. It deals with the border war in Missouri and Kansas, where atrocities on both sides were far too common. The author did a good job of getting the facts right and keeping the story interesting from start to finish. His sense of humor lightens up a story that would otherwise be pretty depressing. If you'd like an idea of what it was like to live in that part of the country during the war, read this book or watch the movie (which was also outstanding). Whenever I read about the horrible things that happened in that part of the country, I'm amazed that the people there were able to put it behind them and get along after the war. It seems like it could easily have turned into our own version of the Middle East, where the fighting goes on generation after generation. | ||
 | Bill Cosby - Wonderfulness | |
| "Cosby's Best" | 2004-08-04 |
| We grew up on Bill Cosby records. We had several of his records at our house and never got tired of listening to them. This is his best album ever. The three best cuts on this are Go Carts, Tonsils and Chickenheart.
Cosby has a great talent for telling stories from a kid's perspective, much like Mark Twain did with Tom and Huck. These are mostly stories about his childhood and they still crack me up after all these years. When they finally put his records out on cd, I had to rush out and buy this one right away. The problem with most comedy albums is that they get old after you hear them a few times, but Cosby is such a great story teller, that it's fun to hear these records over and over. While most comedy records are just recordings of jokes, Cosby tells funny stories that you can enjoy hearing repeatedly. You really can't go wrong with any of his records, but if you haven't heard any of them and want a real treat, do yourself a favor and buy this one. If you enjoy this one be sure to check out "To Russell, My Brother, With Whom I Slept." If you ever shared a room with a brother or sister when you were growing up, this will probably bring back a lot of memories of the good old days. | ||
 | The Teammates | |
| "Great book about baseball and friendship" | 2004-07-02 |
| Back in the 1940's and 1950's Ted Williams, Dom DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky and Bobby Doerr were stars for the Boston Red Sox. Over the next 50 years or so, they remained the closest of friends. This book gives us a good look at that friendship, on and off the field, and at these four men. It's unusual for a group of friends to stay so close for so long, but reading about the friendship makes you wish you were part of the group. The book is full of humorous stories about their playing days and the years that followed. It also shows how close this team came to being a dynasty, but ended up only playing in one World Series (which they lost). Halberstam does a great job, as always, showing us what baseball was like in the good old days and how the friendship between these players grew and remained strong over the years. It's one of the best baseball books I've ever read. | ||
 | Red Smith on Baseball: The Game's Greatest Writer on the Game's Greatest Years | |
| "They don't write columns like this anymore" | 2004-06-22 |
| This is a collection of columns by Red Smith, one of the greatest sports reporters who ever lived. He wrote in an unusual style, telling a story in his colorful way, rather than reporting the highlights of the game and throwing in some quotes from the players. You need to pay closer attention to his columns than to the average sports story you'll see in a newspaper today, but you'll not only find out what happened the previous day, you'll also be entertained by his writing. I've been a huge fan of Red Smith's ever since I heard his classic line about the horrible Packers team that finished a season with one win, ten losses and a tie. He wrote that they overwhelmed one team, underwhelmed 10 and whelmed one. If you got a kick out of that line, you'll enjoy this collection of baseball columns. It also gives you a good glimpse of New York baseball in the 40's and 50's. | ||
 | Out of My League | |
| "Funny look at average fan trying to pitch to MLB stars" | 2004-06-18 |
| If you're not familiar with George Plimpton, he was a writer who was famous for trying to participate in pro sports. His accounts of his pathetic attempts to compete are always pretty funny. He's most famous for his book about his pre-season stint with the Detroit Lions ("Paper Lion"), but this book was his first experience as a participant. He had a deal to pitch to All-Star lineups from each league. The deal was that he would pitch his way through each lineup once, and whichever team had the most total bases against him would win the prize. His description of the beating he took is hilarious, and so are the notes from a friend he had in the stands. The guy told him that after the P.A. announcer told the crowd that George Plimpton, of Sports Illustrated would be facing the All-Star lineups the fans seemed confused. One kept asking who this "George Prufrock" guy was. If you've read any of his books and enjoyed them, you're sure to like this one too. If you try this one and like it you should check out his other books: "Paper Lion" and "Mad Ducks and Bears" - pro football | ||
 | The Best American Sports Writing of the Century | |
| "excellent collection" | 2003-10-21 |
| What surprised me about this collection was that some of the most enjoyable stories were the ones about sports I don't have much interest in. The mountain climbing, chess and horse racing stories were some of the best in this collection. As the title suggests, these are well-written stories, which cover a lot of ground. I normally wouldn't waste my time reading about something like chess, but I read and enjoyed every story in this collection. I knew I would enjoy the stories about the major sports, but some of the others surprised me. | ||
 | Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam (Pivotal Moments in American History) | |
| "Great brief history of Antietam" | 2003-10-21 |
| McPherson, one of the best Civil War writers alive, proves with this book that you don't need to write 500 pages to convey the horror of this battle. This is a great little book, which tells the story of the bloodiest day in American history. I would recommend any of his Civil War books. For a more in-depth look at the battle, try reading "Landscape Turned Red," by Stephen Sears, but if you just want a quick read to get an appreciation for what happened that day this is the book you want to read. | ||
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