Diane Lane Books

I purchased several copies of this book to give to the women in our family, and friends. I feel it is a must read.

This is an excellent book and necessary for each one of us to read to better understand who we are and why we make the choices we have made and continue to make. If we want something different for our lives, this book introduces us to ways to examine the lives and choices of our mothers, grandmothers, etc., in an effort to make different choices......

I have never read a book that revealed more about black male female relationships. I've read this book three times, and I've given as a gift to other sisters in the struggle just as many times. I recommend this book highly to anyone on a search to understand themselves intergenerationally.

This book is an absolute MUST for any black woman (or man for that matter) who wants to deal with intergenerational scarcity beliefs which prevent us from truly experiencing love in our lives. Richardson and Wade do an excellent job of explaining how the slavery experience impacted every facet of black life and remnants of that impact are played out in our relationships with our family, friends, and mates. For instance, many of us can look back in our family tree to locate where different behavioral patterns (i.e. alcoholism, sexual abuse, obesity, etc.) developed and now play out in our own lives. The authors have you do a series of exercises, such as a genogram which lists the scarcity beliefs and self-destructive behaviors members of our families have developed and passed on to us, to help you begin to understand those internalized beliefs and behaviors which prevent us from experiencing real love. The book doesn't just focus on love relationships with mates but explores love relationships with ourselves, our family, and our mates. Personally, I found the chapter on anger to be the most provocative and enlightening. So much so that I have begun using the information I learned about my anger issues in my individual counseling sessions. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to deal with the pain of slavery and its reprecussions on our present day lives.

I cound not put this book down! I was amazed of the imact black slavery has on us today.The entire truth was never taught to me in school. I'm glad this book tells it how it is(or how it use to be)!This book taught me how to heal deep emotional scars that have been pasted down from one generation to the next. I had no idea what a profound impact past emotional abuse has had on my personal life and love relationships today. Don't live in the dark, buy this book and be enlightened to the abudance that was ment for you...

Renown deaf advocate Lane injects himself as Laurent Clerc to write the history of deaf work in America, which began in France.

Briefly this review will attempt to broadbrush some of the consistent historical strokes with which Lane's account through Clerc paints. First, from the outset the seemingly natural language of this minority language group (deaf) appears to be manually with sign, mime and fingerspelling. It is also apparent that there were initially Christian, religious inspiration and motivation for equipping the deaf for the power of words, thoughts and thinking processes. Of this, I am personally interested and indebted to its inclusion without apparent editing. Further, wonder if this has anything at all to do with subsequent intrusion of oral method, which seemingly also has removed much of religious instruction from sign language? This oralist movement fueled by likes of telephone inventor Bell has an unmoral edge to it (if this historical record is anywhere indicative of truth) of not caring at all about the deaf as human, but more substandard, without much respect for their humanity at all.)

What develops from these is the developments which drop this history off at our chronological doorstep. One might also check out the fascinating book by Winefield "Never the Twain Shall Meet: Debate between Galladet and Bell".

This book will certainly give great historical precedent to this continuing and complex debate for the hearing outsider such as myself, providing much to ponder and investigate. Primarily, will seek out the deaf to listen to their perspective. That is the great value of reading this book. We must listen to their viewpoint and give it weight.

This book is a historical exploration into the question of how the deaf should be educated, through sign or through oral speech. I wouldn't call it "a comprehensive history of the deaf" as advertised on the back of the book, and I wouldn't even call it "the history of relations between the society of hearing-speaking people and the community of deaf-signing people" as Lane suggests in his foreword. The book stays almost exclusively on the topic of education for the deaf, which in itself is quite interesting.

To me, the book had a unique and rather odd approach, in which the author related the history through the vantage point of Laurent Clerc (the French deaf teacher brought to the US by Thomas Gallaudet). Throughout the first part of the book, the story is told entirely in the first person, as if Clerc wrote it, and Lane simply was the translator. But judging from the extensive footnotes, only a 20th century author could have had access to so many primary sources, so Lane must have been the author after all. But I was never 100% certain about the authorship, and that was a bit annoying. In addition, if Clerc wasn't the author, then Lane stretched his historical research a bit far in projecting attitudes and opinions into Clerc's voice that we really have no way of confirming, and would probably be unlikely for people in the 19th to have. Overall, the historical details are incredibly rich, often perhaps too much so, yet there is not a great focus on dates or chronology, making it difficult in places to identify when specific events took place.

The book makes an extremely strong argument for educating the deaf through sign rather than orally. More than that, the argument is that the deaf are best educated in residential signing schools, at least from a 19th century vantage point. It would seem that Clerc would most likely argue against modern-day mainstreaming as well.

I think most deaf people who read this book would agree that sign language is extremely important for all facets of life, especially education. Nevertheless, hearing parents of deaf children who are trying to decide how to educate their children may still cling to the idea of oralism in the hopes of helping their child better adapt to majority society. But as argued in this book, a deaf child who is mainstreamed and taught lip reading is handicapped, having curtailed abilities to interact with peers. Meanwhile, a deaf child who attends school with other deaf children is completely normal within deaf society. The choice between oralism or sign is really no less than choosing between making the child normal or handicapped - which would you want for your child?

As a hearing person, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to do a college exchange at a school which had a large number of deaf students. In fact, most of the students in my dorm were deaf. Almost immediately upon arrival, I began to observe the importance of sign language for communication. Deaf students who had not been exposed to sign language until their teenage years had obvious communication difficulties, and I was told that many of them probably never would develop the language skills that native signers had. It was obvious to me how much the deaf students at the school enjoyed being there and succeeded in their studies because they were supported with sign. These experiences convinced me that the best place for a deaf child to study is in a school with many other deaf children to sign with. On this point, I agree completely with Lane (and Clerc).

I picked this book up after reading Oliver Sacks's When the Mind Hears, and I am very glad I did. Without it, I might very well be blind to one of the world's most infuriating injustices: the attempt to gloss over deafness and discredit sign language. Moreover, the book is beautifully written and provides tons of information on the people and places involved. Everyone should read this book, because everyone who does will be motivated to help right the situation.

As a deaf person who has struggled long and hard to get my PhD in science and science education, this book with its history comes as no surprise to me. Harlan Lane is a hearing person who has taken up the cause of those in the deaf world with a vengence, and I do mean with a vengence! Dr. Lane has a tendency to write with immense vigor and sometimes his books tend to go overboard in stating the case. However, this book is a classic and is definitely one of his best written ones.

The history of the deaf in the United STates is strewn with great minds and small minds. We have had people who supported our education, and those who mistakenly viewed us as being less worthy of the normal needs and desires of life. This includes having a life, getting an education, living in society, being able to find gainful employment, getting married, and having children. The research of Dr. Lane is impeccable, and I have found it useful to refer to him in papers and use his references/bibliography for my own work on discrimination against the deaf in science education. Even if I sometimes do not agree with Dr. Lane's biased outlook on history of the deaf, I certainly appreciate all that he has done to bring the sometimes terrible prejudices and misdeeds to the attention of the hearing public. Yes, the deaf were and continue to be discriminated against, just as other differences are whether a disability or racial/cultural minority. Those who wish to understand the extent to which this discrimination went, should definitely read this book. To an extent, those of us with life-long hearing differences are learning to advocate for ourselves, and take pride in our accomplishments. It is thanks to people like Dr. Lane that we have been able to reach this point over the past 40 years. Karen Sadler, Science education, University of Pittsburgh

I picked this book up after reading Oliver Sacks's When the Mind Hears, and I am very glad I did. Without it, I might very well be blind to one of the world's most infuriating injustices: the attempt to gloss over deafness and discredit sign language. Moreover, the book is beautifully written and provides tons of information on the people and places involved. Everyone should read this book, because everyone who does will be motivated to help right the situation.

I love this snappy, informative book with its vintage photographs, evocative memorabilia,great layout, and fact-filled text. The authors cover all aspects of the bowling phenomenon -- from the history of the sport to fashion, technology, and
architecture, and helped me understand the important social and cultural role of this sport. Two things really stayed with me: the authors' ability to connect bowling to American social history; and the fantastic design. This book puts me in a great mood! Intelligently written -- without being high brow--and full of entertaining anecdotes, Bowled Over makes a great present for bowlers and fans of popular culture.

A pleasant enough short history of bowling, giving just enough detail to be interesting without getting too technical though in some cases I would have appreciated more information, in particular the development of the automatic pinsetter (surely the one item that pushed the sport into the big-time) and the architecture of bowling lanes, the work of the architectural company Powers, Daly & DeRosa helped pull in the customers to the flamboyant lanes of the fifties.

The book is a neat square shape (seven by seven inches) and well produced with over a hundred pictures but before you order your copy you have to know that (amazingly) none of the pictures have captions! Some of them clearly are just graphics to help the design along but I counted fifty-two that really should have some explanation for the reader, for instance page eleven shows actor Telly Savalas just about to bowl, when was it taken and where? Page forty-seven shows the outside of the streamline Tower Bowl in San Diego (designed by Charlie Lee) I think readers should be told this in a caption, page ninety-six has a bowling championship in progress, where, when? I'm surprised that the publisher did not pick up this rather fundamental flaw in the books presentation.

A book I enjoyed more than 'Bowled Over' is 'Bowl-O-Rama' by Thomas Steele, essentially a visual history with hundreds of pictures (all with captions) and short introductions to the nine chapters. Oh and the cover shows part of a bowling ball with three holes punched right though the stiff cardboard.

The content of this book was interesting, but the thing that really stood out for me was the number of grammatical errors, particularly in subject-verb agreement and apostrophe use. In some cases, the errors were so egregious that I had to read the sentence two or three times to figure out what the authors meant. Everybody makes mistakes, but in the publishing world, that's what editors are for! I hope some of these mistakes are caught before the paperback printing.

Complaint aside, I did find the book rather interesting. I learned a fair amount about feminine figures in myth, history, and literature, although a majority of the figures covered are pretty well-known to most people. I also learned a bit about myself, via the warrior-type quiz at the back of the book.

The final thing I would like to note about this book is that the title is a bit of a misnomer. The authors spend almost as much time discussing male warrior archetypes as they do female archetypes. I understand that this is necessary in order to create a precedent on which to build the female archetypes, but then why is the warrior-type quiz and the chaper explaining how to interpret your results written towards both men and women? If the authors expect men to benefit from this study as well as women, then maybe they should change the title to reflect this.

This book is fantastic. Not only does it give a in-depth history of Women Warriors, it also takes the historical characters and relates them to present day women. The personality quizes in the back tie it all together helping you to realize which warrior personality you have and how that fits in to your daily life.

I was so looking forward to reading, "Under The Tuscan Sun". An avid traveler, I love to explore various places through books since having 3 kids doesn't allow me to travel as much as I used to. I assumed the book would be good considering it was a #1 New York Times Bestseller.

Maybe my expectations were too high. I found the book to be monotonous, laborious and rather self-indulgent. The relationships Mayes appears to have developed seem superficial at best and imagery of the old, deep south conjured in my mind as I read about her cook "Wille Bell" and her seamstress as a child in Georgia. I thought I would relate to this part of Mayes' life as I too grew up in Georgia, but, again, the absence of any emotional impact left me wanting just to finish the book and be done with it.

Aside from the rehabilitation of her home in Tuscany which was written about mostly at the beginning of the book, I found the book to have a lack of continunity and really any depth. The self-proclamed pagan describes churches and locations, but doesn't capture the romance, innocence and intrigue that will keep you flipping pages.

Mayes does appear to be a fabulous cook and I would probably like a cookbook by her. However, if you are looking for a novel with a plot to sink your teeth into, this is definitely NOT it. I much prefered "Eat, Pray and Love" and the first chapter (which I am now reading) of "Almost French" is wildly more clever and intriguing.

I picked up this book when it first came out and couldn't get through it because of the painfully detailed descriptions of the remodeling. This is less a book about beginning a new life in Italy and more about the remodeling of a house which just happens to be in Italy. I picked up the book again last week and did manage to finish it. I'm really surprised that this became a bestseller and would probably not read other books by this author. Julia Child wrote a wonderful, wonderful book called "My Life in France" that I would definitely recommend as a great example of travel writing.

The lanuage and visualizations are stunning. I enjoyed the pictures the author paints not just of the country itself but of the food and the people. The base story is a bit hard for me though, most of us that have such trials in our life can't afford to "buy" happiness so it makes the heroine a bit tiresome.

This delightful book is all about Tuscany and life in the author's adopted village and her in-progress renovation of an old stone country house (a huge place) and gardens with such a view!

Stories provide delightful reading about the trials and tribulations of renovating a once-fine old house in the Tuscan hills, using local craftsmen and materials. Characterizations of the local people are warm and humorous; challenges of working in another language and different culture of ancient, historic origins are described gently, with touches of humor. There are wonderful descriptions of great foods, festivals, and travels here and there in Italy that provide a definite feel for the terrain, buildings, and people. Oh, and there are a few mouthwatering recipes too.

All is very well written by an author with a fine way with words and knowledge of writing -- and life. Truly enjoyable.

The reading starts out fairly interesting and attention getting with all the desciptives of the Italian countryside, but starts to dddrraaagggg as you get towards to middle of the book. It does pick up the pace again towards the end. It's not one of those books that you just couldn't put down and had to finish reading in one day. I think I actually put it down ten or twelve times before I finished it. It's one of those books you can take with you when you're going to lay out in the sun on your day off. You can read it over a period of several sessions of sunbathing like I did.

Anthologies of this type are always hit or miss affairs. Even those with the big single title names vary in quality. This edition was, to my mind, utterly miserable. Even those authors who usually have something decent to contribute were a great disappointment.

I managed to trudge through Barbara Metzger's story, even though I couldn't stand any of the main characters. Two couples, and the only sympathetic person among them was the mistress! The mice were annoying.

I then forced myself to skim through Allison Lane's and Diane Farr's tales, but neither was worth it. Lane's situations were ridiculous and would never have occured in the time period. It started out well, but deteriorated once the house party ensued. As for Ms. Farr's story, I can't help but believe that the hero will one day rue marrying such a reckless girl. Her only redeeming quality was her peppiness, which was exhausting. I simply couldn't bring myself to even attempt the last two stories.

Avoid this one at all costs. It is dull and silly.

What a brilliant collection of stories! I hadn't read most of the authors in here - there are five stories and all by different writers - and they are about 1/3 of the length of a normal regency novel - maybe shorter. But all make really satisfying reads and at any time of the year, not just Christmas.

My favourite author of this bunch was Diane Farr who seems to have a special talent for making great fun characters - her Miss Ripley was a gem and the story a real cracker - about a very perservering young girl trying to make her way to Bath in time for Christmas. The story might seem a common one but Farr adds a fresh touch to it and it flows along with immense good humour.

A Regency Christmas Eve features stories from two new-comers, two veterans and one in-between. To begin with, Barbara Metzger's tale of treasure hidden in a little country church and uncovered by the Merry Christmouse (and family) will have you holding your sides, laughing as you read. A rakish viscount is reformed, and made to recognize his true love, while the vicar receives the lady of his choice, as well. The humans may not realize it, but they owe it all to the industrious little Churchmouse dynasty.

The weakest story (for me, at least) was The Marriage Stakes by Allison Lane. Dreary and bleak, with a bit of preposterous thrown in, I couldn't like the characters and the setting wasn't much better. In fact, I nearly didn't finish it at all, but other readers may find this style to be enjoyable and should form their own opinion.

Nancy Butler (who won the RITA award for best Regency this year) shows yet another facet of her talent with a story that blends fantasy into romance for one enjoyable result. When Kit Herne goes into the forest looking for the wise-woman who lives there, he wants her to find a cure for his son's ailment. Instead, he finds her daughter, Pippa, who uses her own variety of magic to cure not only the son, but also his father.

Diane Farr serves up the lightest and happiest confection with The Reckless Miss Ripley and her hapless target, Fred Bates. A mere three minutes too late for the mail coach, Miss Ripley is forced to find another way to travel to Bath where she expects to meet up with her long-time (possibly imaginary) fiancé. She badgers the not-quite unwilling Mr. Bates into accompanying her, with all the travails, humorous and otherwise, that can befall such ill-prepared travelers.

And then, to close the book, Edith Layton tells a wonderful, heart-warming story with a twist. (Be sure to have the tissues handy--you'll need them.) On his way back from the wars to his home in England, Max Evers reads in the newspaper that his financial agent has been the victim of an embezzler and all is lost! When he sees his townhouse surrounded by clamoring bailiffs, that sad fact is made all too clear to him, so he turns away from all he'd been anticipating this Christmas season, taking great pains not to be found by anyone from his past life. Especially he turns from his fiancée who's been waiting patiently for him for five long years. However, all is made delightfully right again, however, on the most wondrous night of the year--Christmas Eve!

I've said in previous reviews that there are two downsides to anthologies: one being that the stories are frequently too short for good character and plot development, and the other that poor authors are mixed in with the better ones. This anthology suffers from both of these problems, and as a result is really not good enough to be considered a keeper.

The first story is Barbara Metzger's Little Miracles, an unusual tale centred around a poor and run-down parish church and the few remaining church mice, who try hard to hint successive vicars in the direction of St Cecilia's riches. Evan, the current vicar, is in love with Alice, daughter of the local squire. But his stipend is a pittance and the vicarage has a hole in its roof; how could he ever ask her to marry him? It's a sweet story with amusing moments, but too short for real character development.

Allison Lane's The Marriage Stakes is typical of this author; the characters are all far too informal with each other, and minor characters are one-dimensional caricatures. She uses a plot device which appears in many other novels, where the hero holds a house party in order to choose a bride. The heroine, Sophie, who has been offered shelter after her carriage met with an accident, somehow manages to spy on the various eligible young ladies and report back to Westlake. None of this is at all convincing, and there are a number of scenes which are simply embarrassing to read.

The Gift of the Spoons, by Nancy Butler, is an unusual story and I'm not entirely convinced that it works. It helps if you believe in magic and healing and psychic powers, which I don't. Christopher Herne's son is dying, and as a last resort he is tracking down a woman he's been told about, who has healing powers - Pippa Spoon. Unfortunately, the woman he finds is the original Pippa's daughter. Still, he persuades her to come home with him to treat his son. Lots of strange goings-on and fits of temper from Christopher, and the fact that he never calls his son by his name, make this a difficult novella to like. The resolution is also too quick, and the diagnosis pretty much incredible.

On to Diane Farr's Reckless Miss Ripley; shades of Georgette Heyer's Friday's Child here, but done very well in Ms Farr's usual style. Fred Bates is hurrying home to spend Christmas with his family. He's feeling very sorry for himself, and guilty, because the family's new state of poverty is all his fault. Taking shelter from the snow at an inn, he encounters a young lady travelling alone; it transpires that she's trying to get to Bath to stop her friend Harry from marrying someone else. Claudia persuades Fred to drive her to Bath, and a delightful story ensues.

Finally, we have Edith Layton's The Christmas Thief. Max Evers has lost all his money and can't even afford to buy his niece a Christmas present. Unable to come up with any other solution, he decides that he will steal something for her. But committing a crime turns out to be not as simple as he'd envisaged. This novella was a disappointment: there are too many unconvincing events and leaps of logic and I simply can't see how certain things would have happened. The element of romance is also far too brief: the heroine gets perhaps half a dozen pages in a 60-page story.

Overall, just about so-so.

Four of the stories in this anthology were entertaining and helped me pass several pleasant hours on a winter evening. The fifth one, by Diane Farr, was simply outstanding! I was practically giggling in delight the whole time I was reading, especially from the moment I figured out that this was Fred Bates's story--the Fred Bates whose honor Trevor Whitlatch was defending in Ms. Farr's second novel, Fair Game. In this novella, we discover why Trevor was so eager and willing to help his friend out. Fred Bates is one of the most likeable characters I've ever come across, and the heroine in this story, Claudia, runs a close second. Their story is interesting and engaging. At the inevitable happy ending, you're giddy with joy right along with them. If you are a Diane Farr fan, you must find this book! Her story alone made this book a keeper.

HD makes this movie so much better. It was good before but HD makes its better

I am not gong to review the movie as everyone has seen it and I only bought it for the HD-DVD aspect.

Like a lot of older re-released high def movies, the studio did not take extra steps on the re-release to take advantage of the greater capability of HD-DVD. The result is that neither the visuals nor the sound knock your socks off like the do in a full-on HD-DVD release. If you have the DVD version, no need to upgrade. If you don't and want the movie, you might as well get the HD release, but buy it used for less than $15 (delivered)...or just get a used DVD for $5.

I love this movie and so when i had the chance to get it in HD for dirt cheap i took the time to get it. The HD version is chrisp and clear and the sound is very sharp. Get this movie as it should be a must for anyone who collects HD DVDs :D

If there were nothing else on I'd watch it again. This is just an average movie about a STORM based on true events. There is no real character development, no action, adventure or humor. Its a great STORM, just not a great movie.

Not that it was a bad movie, or lacked drama and good characterization, but there were enough technical inaccuracies to cause this mariner trouble.

First of all, let's ask some questions:

Why were the outriggers out and the paravanes down when the seas were in the 80' to 150' foot range (as depicted; more if you consider the last wave)? Why did the crew wait so long to batten down the wheelhouse windows? They knew the storm was coming. They knew how bad it would be. Why didn't they make proper preparations to meet it?

Why wasn't the crew in the wheelhouse? I've been in some bad blows, and when it gets really bad, everybody usually hangs out in the wheelhouse with their survival suits within arm's reach. When it's that bad, and the boat has to turn around in monster seas, riding out the turn in the fo'c's'le or galley is the last thing anybody wants to do.

Why would anyone think they could remount a SSB antenna in a 50 knot wind when the smallest whip antenna is about 23'? If the antenna doesn't rip your arm off, how are you going to splice the coax? And why not just lay out an emergency long wire antenna on deck?

Speaking of which: I thought the Andrea Gail had a long wire antenna and not a whip antenna. I believe that in the photo of the Hannah Boden, which Linda Greenlaw states is a sistership of the Andrea Gail, you can see a long wire antenna running aft from the masthead to the goal post.

By the way, Greenlaw states in her book that her boat, the Hannah Boden, was 100'. Sebastion Junger, the author of the book, stated on a pre-movie hype news program that the Andrea Gail was 80'. I tend to believe Greenlaw over Junger regarding LOA. And I tend to believe it had a long wire antenna. You'd think it would given its range of operation. Also, if the boat was 100' , the wave at the end would have been about 200'. My understanding is that the largest non-seismic wave ever recorded was 112', measured scientifically in the North Pacific by researchers aboard the USS Ramapo on February 7th, 1933.

Also....

Where can I get one of those blow torches that stays lit in 50 knots of wind and spray?

Don't get me wrong. I liked the movie. I liked the effects. I thought the film makers did some good things. But I don't think the movie paid homage to the crew of the Andrea Gail or commercial fishermen. I think Junger's melodramatic overspeculations of the sinking (not to mention his speculation about what it's like to drown) are an insult to the thousands of fishermen and other seafarers who've lost their limbs and worse in much less spectacular ways. In truth, the vast majority of commercial fishing accidents and sinkings aren't caused by gigantic Hollywood waves. They're the result of separate incidents and seemingly insignificant details stacking-up and falling like a house of cards.

With all due respect to the people of Gloucester and the friends and family of those who died on the Andrea Gail, and to the film makers and the actors, I humbly submit a different cause and effect scenario with regard to the sinking.

In my opinion, had the crew been given the time depicted in both the book and the movie, the ending might have been quite different. Those men were experienced and capable fisherman who had previously handled anything the sea had thrown at them. What probably happened was they started home with a freighted boat. It got rough, very rough, and the vessel started taking on water, probably from some insidious place in the stern, e.g. the rudder box or shaft seal. They didn't know she was taking on water until it was too late, at which time the vessel rolled and sank before they could launch the raft, get into their survival suits, or trigger the EPIRB. How many times has it happened that way? A freighted boat. A slow leak. Bad weather.

-seabgb

HD makes this movie so much better. It was good before but HD makes its better

I am not gong to review the movie as everyone has seen it and I only bought it for the HD-DVD aspect.

Like a lot of older re-released high def movies, the studio did not take extra steps on the re-release to take advantage of the greater capability of HD-DVD. The result is that neither the visuals nor the sound knock your socks off like the do in a full-on HD-DVD release. If you have the DVD version, no need to upgrade. If you don't and want the movie, you might as well get the HD release, but buy it used for less than $15 (delivered)...or just get a used DVD for $5.

I love this movie and so when i had the chance to get it in HD for dirt cheap i took the time to get it. The HD version is chrisp and clear and the sound is very sharp. Get this movie as it should be a must for anyone who collects HD DVDs :D

If there were nothing else on I'd watch it again. This is just an average movie about a STORM based on true events. There is no real character development, no action, adventure or humor. Its a great STORM, just not a great movie.

Not that it was a bad movie, or lacked drama and good characterization, but there were enough technical inaccuracies to cause this mariner trouble.

First of all, let's ask some questions:

Why were the outriggers out and the paravanes down when the seas were in the 80' to 150' foot range (as depicted; more if you consider the last wave)? Why did the crew wait so long to batten down the wheelhouse windows? They knew the storm was coming. They knew how bad it would be. Why didn't they make proper preparations to meet it?

Why wasn't the crew in the wheelhouse? I've been in some bad blows, and when it gets really bad, everybody usually hangs out in the wheelhouse with their survival suits within arm's reach. When it's that bad, and the boat has to turn around in monster seas, riding out the turn in the fo'c's'le or galley is the last thing anybody wants to do.

Why would anyone think they could remount a SSB antenna in a 50 knot wind when the smallest whip antenna is about 23'? If the antenna doesn't rip your arm off, how are you going to splice the coax? And why not just lay out an emergency long wire antenna on deck?

Speaking of which: I thought the Andrea Gail had a long wire antenna and not a whip antenna. I believe that in the photo of the Hannah Boden, which Linda Greenlaw states is a sistership of the Andrea Gail, you can see a long wire antenna running aft from the masthead to the goal post.

By the way, Greenlaw states in her book that her boat, the Hannah Boden, was 100'. Sebastion Junger, the author of the book, stated on a pre-movie hype news program that the Andrea Gail was 80'. I tend to believe Greenlaw over Junger regarding LOA. And I tend to believe it had a long wire antenna. You'd think it would given its range of operation. Also, if the boat was 100' , the wave at the end would have been about 200'. My understanding is that the largest non-seismic wave ever recorded was 112', measured scientifically in the North Pacific by researchers aboard the USS Ramapo on February 7th, 1933.

Also....

Where can I get one of those blow torches that stays lit in 50 knots of wind and spray?

Don't get me wrong. I liked the movie. I liked the effects. I thought the film makers did some good things. But I don't think the movie paid homage to the crew of the Andrea Gail or commercial fishermen. I think Junger's melodramatic overspeculations of the sinking (not to mention his speculation about what it's like to drown) are an insult to the thousands of fishermen and other seafarers who've lost their limbs and worse in much less spectacular ways. In truth, the vast majority of commercial fishing accidents and sinkings aren't caused by gigantic Hollywood waves. They're the result of separate incidents and seemingly insignificant details stacking-up and falling like a house of cards.

With all due respect to the people of Gloucester and the friends and family of those who died on the Andrea Gail, and to the film makers and the actors, I humbly submit a different cause and effect scenario with regard to the sinking.

In my opinion, had the crew been given the time depicted in both the book and the movie, the ending might have been quite different. Those men were experienced and capable fisherman who had previously handled anything the sea had thrown at them. What probably happened was they started home with a freighted boat. It got rough, very rough, and the vessel started taking on water, probably from some insidious place in the stern, e.g. the rudder box or shaft seal. They didn't know she was taking on water until it was too late, at which time the vessel rolled and sank before they could launch the raft, get into their survival suits, or trigger the EPIRB. How many times has it happened that way? A freighted boat. A slow leak. Bad weather.

-seabgb

Amazon is the 3rd vendor I have tried to buy this movie from and all copies I got including the one from Amazon were bad. Something seriously was wrong and the disc wouldn't play at all in DVD player or on my computer.

I've tried to get this dvd twice and the dvd was defective both times.

After attempting to order this four times and each time receiving a defective DVD, I stopped trying to purchase this item.

OK first a 'neg' comment .... The tile of this film is so so wrong .... the cover blurb on the cover of a movie about 'Cold Blooded Killers' is wrong and even the picture of the two male leads holding guns is wrong too .... Whats with the gun thing here ... very little gunplay in this movie .. most of it was physical violence on torture .... So probably the producers tried to make this film seem like a ripoff of those 'Tarantino' Cold Blooded killer movies ....


This is a character study movie of a collector for the 'Irish' mob in Atlantic city befriending a down and out writer who seems to have lost his 'edginess' .....


Irrespective of the cold heartedness of the collector, the movie paints the Irish mob boss as so mean and vicious that we start to root for our hero. Seeing him walk into stores or restaurants and break legs of the people who have failed to pay almost becomes fun ....


Great great little film

Diane Lane is either the character in real life or has beautiful, understated acting skills. Her performance is worlds away from acting, it is real life character. I've seen her in other films but this is truth. I enjoy subtlety and understement, she made the character sweet, sexy, accessible, and hot, the gitl accross the street from the girl next door. I am impressed.

Amazon is the 3rd vendor I have tried to buy this movie from and all copies I got including the one from Amazon were bad. Something seriously was wrong and the disc wouldn't play at all in DVD player or on my computer.

I've tried to get this dvd twice and the dvd was defective both times.

After attempting to order this four times and each time receiving a defective DVD, I stopped trying to purchase this item.

OK first a 'neg' comment .... The tile of this film is so so wrong .... the cover blurb on the cover of a movie about 'Cold Blooded Killers' is wrong and even the picture of the two male leads holding guns is wrong too .... Whats with the gun thing here ... very little gunplay in this movie .. most of it was physical violence on torture .... So probably the producers tried to make this film seem like a ripoff of those 'Tarantino' Cold Blooded killer movies ....


This is a character study movie of a collector for the 'Irish' mob in Atlantic city befriending a down and out writer who seems to have lost his 'edginess' .....


Irrespective of the cold heartedness of the collector, the movie paints the Irish mob boss as so mean and vicious that we start to root for our hero. Seeing him walk into stores or restaurants and break legs of the people who have failed to pay almost becomes fun ....


Great great little film

Diane Lane is either the character in real life or has beautiful, understated acting skills. Her performance is worlds away from acting, it is real life character. I've seen her in other films but this is truth. I enjoy subtlety and understement, she made the character sweet, sexy, accessible, and hot, the gitl accross the street from the girl next door. I am impressed.