Our Picks Reviews - Page 16

Baseball and the Baby Boomer

By Talmage Boston

Hardcover, 288 pages (retail $24.95)

Anyone who grew up watching Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Carl Yastrzemski, Jackie Robinson, Nolan Ryan and Lou Brock will love this thoughtful combo of history, commentary and memoir. But fans of any age, background and team affiliation can appreciate its pure, passionate salute to the heart and soul of the game itself.

—Neil Pond, American Profile

from Amazon.com

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Released in conjunction with the recent 50th anniversary of the National Finals Rodeo event, this three-CD roundup will have you bouncing along in the saddle to the classic sounds of Gene Autry, Bob Wills, Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Vince Gill, Tanya Tucker, Charlie Daniels and dozens of others whose music has saluted the cowboy spirit.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

from Amazon.com

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A beloved sitcom debuts on DVD, with all 38 episodes from the 1963 season collected onto five discs. Part of the era’s primetime-TV rural roundup alongside “Green Acres” and “The Beverly Hillbillies,” “Petticoat Junction” featured the misadventures of Hooterville innkeeper Kate (Bea Benadret), work-adverse Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan) and a trio of beautiful hometown honeys, all buzzing around the Shady Rest hotel. Bonus features include cast interviews and vintage TV commercials.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

from Amazon.com

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How well do you gnow your gnomes? These longtime lawn ornaments and garden guardians get their due in this photo-packed tribute to gnome history, gnome lore, gnome collecting and the many roles of the gnome in pop culture, art and beyond.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

from Amazon.com

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The Order of Things

By Barbara Ann Kiper, Ph.D.

Softcover, 616 pages (retail $9.95)

Whose face is on the now-discontinued $10,000 bill? How many kilowatts does an electric blanket use in a year? What’s the left-to-right placement of an 11-piece place setting? A browser’s delight and a trivia lover’s treasure chest, this compact little compendium uses hundreds of charts, graphs, lists and rankings to neatly order and organize just about everything under the sun—which, you’ll discover, has seven layers. Can you name ‘em?

—Neil Pond, American Profile

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Austin Powers Collection: Shagadelic Edition, Loaded With Extra Mojo

DVD ($74.98)

The subtitle of this special-edition, released exclusively on Blu-Ray, pretty much says it all. In addition to all three “Austin Powers” movies, starring Mike Myers as the randy, stuck-in-the-swinging-’60s super-spy, there’s also a heap of hi-def extras, including dozens of deleted scenes, music videos (the Dr. Evil and Mini-Me duet on “Just the Two of Us” is especially hilarious), featurettes and commentary.

—Neil Pond, American Profile

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Killing Hitler

DVD ($9.99)

Watch Tom Cruise in “Valkyrie,” the new big-screen World War II drama about the failed plot within Adolph Hitler’s own German ranks to end his monstrous reign. Then compare notes with this new hour-long documentary, which traces the real-life roots of the true tale with archival footage, photos, recreations, commentary and present-day scenes shot on location where the real plot was hatched.

—Neil Pond, American Profile

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Subtitled “Forty Years of Photographing On the Set,” this striking collection of some 250 images taken by Mary Ellen Mark, one of the most acclaimed documentary photographers of all time, sweeps you behind the scenes of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Tootsie, Marathon Man, Apocalypse Now, The Blues Brothers and dozens of other landmark films, all the way up to the recent Appaloosa and the brand-new Australia. With first-person commentary by stars, directors and other moviemaking insiders, it’s an intimate peek into a fascinating backstage world few outsiders ever get to visit.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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Ever heard of the Pet Fat, a piece of simulated human blubber that’s been successful as a weight-loss motivator? How about Sportbinox, binoculars mounted to a headband to free up hands for other things at sporting events? Or the Diaperbridge, which turns any sink into a changing table? Writer Greenberg traveled the countryside to gather the stories of dozens of eccentric “Why didn’t I think of that!” inventions and their amateur inventors in this colorful, photo-filled tribute to American ingenuity, creativity and the entrepreneurial spirit.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

from Amazon.com

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Yogi, Boo Boo and Ranger Smith romp all over Jellystone Park and beyond (to Venice!) in this DVD re-issue of the 1964 theatrical movie starring America’s favorite picnic-basket-stealing, “smarter than the average” bear at the height of his TV popularity. No extras, but baby boomers will enjoy this feature-length opportunity to re-visit a vintage television cartoon character, the first “breakout” star from the now-classic Hanna-Barbera Studios that went on to become a pop-cultural icon.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

from Amazon.com

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