Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Peter & Bobby Farrelly have always expressed an especially warm but unsentimental attitude in their films toward those with disabilities most notably in THERE&S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY & SHALLOW HAL THE RINGER which they produced (but neither wrote nor directed) takes this trait to feverish new heights JACKASS-cum-leading man stars Johnny Knoxville as office schmo Steve Barker whose request for more responsibility at his job indirectly results in the severing of four fingers from the hand of Stavi the mild-mannered office janitor When Steve requests financial help from his morally-questionable gambling addict Uncle Gary (Brian Cox) Stevie finds himself posing as Jeffy an athlete in the Special Olympics whose victory against track champion Jimmy (Leonard Flowers) could spell an end to Uncle Gary&s debts & the reattaching of Stavi&s fingers Though a basic description of its premise would make most viewers cry foul THE RINGER skirts the obvious charge of exploitation by making the mentally challenged characters the only ones to realise that Steve is only acting handicapped Steve&s fellow Olympians are cast with a combination of veteran character actors & real-life former Special Olympians (most notably Edward Barbanell John Taylor & Leonard Flowers) who while lending the film authenticity also spark with comic timing & the true joy of being on camera Knoxville once again makes an affable hero & Ricky Blitt&s screenplay while crass by nature keeps true vulgarity at bay in favour of a good nature that makes simplicity an asset ...

An ounce of courage A leap of faith Together they propel two young women to chase a new life-one that's reimagined from what they might have become In turn-of-the-century America a young girl dreams of a world that stretches beyond the confi nes of a quiet life on the family farm With little more than her wit & a cigar box of treasures Mable steps away from all she knows seeking the limitless marvels of the Chicago World's Fair There a chance encounter triggers her destiny-a life with a famed showman by the name of John Ringling A quarter of a century later Lady Rosamund Easling boards a ship to America as a last adventure before her arranged marriage There the twenties are roaring & the rich & famous gather at opulent Gatsby-esque parties The Jazz Age has arrived & with it the golden era of the American circus whose queen is none other than the enigmatic Mable Ringling When Rosamund's path crosses with Mable's & the Ringlings' glittering world she makes the life-altering decision to leave behind a comfortable future of estates & propriety choosing instead the nomadic life of a trick rider in the Ringling Brothers' circus A novel that is at once captivating deeply poignant & swirling with exquisite historical details of a bygone world The Ringmaster's Wife will escort readers into the center ring with its bright lights exotic animals & a dazzling performance that can only be described as the Greatest Show on Earth! Vibrant with the glamour & awe that flourished under the Big Top in the 1920s The Ringmaster's Wife invites the reader into the Greatest Show on Earth -Joanne Bischof award-winning author of The Lady & the Lionheart ...

The Rings of Saturn begins as the record of a journey on foot through coastal East Anglia From Lowestoft to Bungay Sebald's own story becomes the conductor of evocations of people & cultures past & present of Chateaubriand Thomas Browne Swinburne & Conrad of fishing fleets skulls & silkworms The result is an intricately patterned & haunting book on the transience of all things human ...

Please note this is a region B Blu-ray & will require a region B or region free Blu-ray player in order to play Set amongst the privileged elite of Oxford University The Riot Club follows Miles (Max Irons) & Alistair (Sam Claflin) two first year students determined to join the infamous Riot Club where reputations can be made or destroyed over the course of a single evening The Riot Club is directed by Lone Scherfig who most recently helmed ‘ One Day& & the Best Picture Academy Award nominee ‘ An Education& It is produced by Pete Czernin & Graham Broadbent of Blueprint Pictures (‘ The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel& ‘ Seven Psychopaths&) Screenwriter Laura Wade has adapted her critically-acclaimed play ‘ Posh& with development support from the BFI Film Fund & Film 4 & Posh& premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 2010 before transferring to the West End ...

Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Set amongst the privileged elite of Oxford University The Riot Club follows Miles (Max Irons) & Alistair (Sam Claflin) two first year students determined to join the infamous Riot Club where reputations can be made or destroyed over the course of a single evening The Riot Club is directed by Lone Scherfig who helmed One Day & the Best Picture Academy Award nominee An Education It is produced by Pete Czernin & Graham Broadbent of Blueprint Pictures (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Seven Psychopaths) Screenwriter Laura Wade has adapted her critically-acclaimed play Posh with development support from the BFI Film Fund & Film 4 Posh premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 2010 before transferring to the West End ...

Please note this is a region B Blu-ray & will require a region B or region free Blu-ray player in order to play Double bill of British crime dramas & The Rise & Fall of a White Collar Hooligan& (2012) follows Mike Jacobs (Nick Nevern) a football casual who is no stranger to finding himself on the wrong side of the law However the violence & intimidation he indulges in at football matches are one thing the credit card fraud schemes proposed by his friend Eddie Hill (Simon Phillips) are something else & Mike is soon in over his head In & The Rise & Fall of a White Collar Hooligan 2 England Away& (2013) Mike is living in Spain safeguarded by the Witness Protection Programme after testifying against several of his former associates Mike&s fatal weakness is his passion for the England football team & his problems begin when he is spotted attending a game Soon his life is turned upside down as those he betrayed seek revenge through the kidnapping of his friend Katie (Rita Ramnani) Actors Nick Nevern Simon Phillips & Rita Ramnani Director Paul Tanter Certificate 18 years & over Year 2012 ; 2013 Languages English ...

Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Paul Tanter directs this British crime sequel in which a reformed football hooligan who has testified against powerful London gangsters finds his safety under threat Mike Jacobs (Nick Nevern) was never entirely comfortable with the company he kept in London & now lives in Spain safeguarded by the Witness Protection Programme after his evidence put several of his former associates behind bars However Mike&s fatal weakness is his passion for the England football team & his problems begin when he is spotted attending a game Soon his life is turned upside down as those he betrayed seek revenge through the kidnapping of his friend Katie (Rita Ramnani) With less than a week to gather the two million pound ransom required to save her Mike&s quest will take him back to London & into grave danger Actors Nick Nevern Simon Phillips & Rita Ramnani Director Paul Tanter Certificate 18 years & over Year 2013 Languages English ...

In the century after the Civil War an economic revolution enhanced the American standard of living in ways previously unimaginable Electric lighting indoor plumbing motor vehicles air travel & television transformed households & workplaces But has that era of unprecedented growth come to an end? Weaving together a vivid narrative historical anecdotes & economic analysis The Rise & Fall of American Growth challenges the view that economic growth will continue unabated & demonstrates that the life-altering scale of innovations between 1870 & 1970 cannot be repeated Gordon contends that the nation's productivity growth will be further held back by the headwinds of rising inequality stagnating education an aging population & the rising debt of college students & the federal government & that we must find new solutions A critical voice in the most pressing debates of our time The Rise & Fall of American Growth is at once a tribute to a century of radical change & a harbinger of tougher times to come ...

Nine Greek biographies illustrate the rise & fall of Athens from the legendary days of Theseus the city's founder through Solon Themistocles Aristides Cimon Pericles Nicias & Alcibiades to the razing of its walls by Lysander ...

Winner of the 2010 WJM Mackenzie Prize for Best Political Science Book of the Year 2010 The relentless rise of Communism was the most momentous political development of the first half of the twentieth century No political change has been more fundamental than its demise in Europe & its decline elsewhere In this hugely acclaimed book Archie Brown provides an indispensable history that examines the origins of the ideology its development in different countries its collapse in many states following the Soviet perestroika & its current incarnations around the globe The Rise & Fall of Communism explains how & why Communists came to power; how they were able in a variety of countries on different continents to hold on to power for so long; & what brought about the downfall of so many Communist systems A groundbreaking work from an internationally renowned specialist this is the definitive study of the most remarkable political & human story of our times ...