Hi Bryan Here…

Hi folks.  Are you read for the ultimate Gift Guide?  Are you read to see what cool items you can purchase for that special someone, even if it is for yourself, that will just rock your world?  Well this is the ultimate gift guide for the holidays in the year 2010.

This gift guide will be set up in different sections.  Sections like: books, movies, art, toys, etc.  They will be also listed by sectionally by prices.  Prices for the frugal and big sales, prices in the medium range, and prices for the super rich.  There will be links to the product to purchase and find out more information about each product.

Consult this list before you shop for most likely you will be able to pick up everything here from this very page.

I hoe you enjoy and have a great and safe holiday shopping spree.

BOOKS

INEXPENSIVE ITEMS $.01 – $49.99

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents Earth (The Book): A Visitor’s Guide to the Human Race [Hardcover]  $14.00

The eagerly awaited new book from the Emmy-winning, Oscar-hosting, Daily Show-anchoring Jon Stewart–the man behind the megaseller America (The Book).

Where do we come from? Who created us? Why are we here? These questions have puzzled us since the dawn of time, but when it became apparent to Jon Stewart and the writers of The Daily Show that the world was about to end, they embarked on a massive mission to write a book that summed up the human race: What we looked like; what we accomplished; our achievements in society, government, religion, science and culture — all in a tome of approximately 256 pages with lots of color photos, graphs and charts.

After two weeks of hard work, they had their book. EARTH (The Book) is the definitive guide to our species. With their trademark wit, irreverence, and intelligence, Stewart and his team will posthumously answer all of life’s most hard-hitting questions, completely unburdened by objectivity, journalistic integrity, or even accuracy.

The Strain: Book One of The Strain Trilogy [Hardcover] $17.81

The visionary creator of the Academy Award-winning Pan’s Labyrinth and a Hammett Award-winning author bring their imaginations to this bold, epic novel about a horrifying battle between man and vampire that threatens all humanity. It is the first installment in a thrilling trilogy and an extraordinary international publishing event.

The Strain

They have always been here. Vampires. In secret and in darkness. Waiting. Now their time has come.

In one week, Manhattan will be gone. In one month, the country.

In two months–the world.

A Boeing 777 arrives at JFK and is on its way across the tarmac, when it suddenly stops dead. All window shades are pulled down. All lights are out. All communication channels have gone quiet. Crews on the ground are lost for answers, but an alert goes out to the CDC. Dr. Eph Goodweather, head of their Canary project, a rapid-response team that investigates biological threats, gets the call and boards the plane. What he finds makes his blood run cold.

In a pawnshop in Spanish Harlem, a former professor and survivor of the Holocaust named Abraham Setrakian knows something is happening. And he knows the time has come, that a war is brewing . . .

So begins a battle of mammoth proportions as the vampiric virus that has infected New York begins to spill out into the streets. Eph, who is joined by Setrakian and a motley crew of fighters, must now find a way to stop the contagion and save his city–a city that includes his wife and son–before it is too late.

The Fall: Book Two of the Strain Trilogy [Hardcover] $13.49

The vampiric virus unleashed in The Strain has taken over New York City. It is spreading across the country and soon, the world. Amid the chaos, Eph Goodweather—head of the Center for Disease Control’s team—leads a small band out to stop these bloodthirsty monsters. But it may be too late.

Ignited by the Master’s horrific plan, a war erupts between Old and New World vampires, each vying for total control. Caught between these warring forces, humans—powerless and vulnerable—are no longer the consumers, but the consumed.

Though Eph understands the vampiric plague better than anyone, even he cannot protect those he loves from the invading evil. His ex-wife, Kelly, has been turned by the Master, and now she stalks the city, in the darkness, looking for her chance to reclaim Zack, Eph’s young son.

With the future of the world in the balance, Eph and his courageous team, guided by the brilliant former professor and Holocaust survivor Abraham Setrakian and exterminator Vasiliy Fet, must combat a terror whose ultimate plan is more terrible than anyone first imagined—a fate worse than annihilation.

The Wolf at the Door: Stanley Kubrick, History, and the Holocaust [Paperback] $29.95

The Wolf at the Door explores the remarkable formal and substantive patterns of cinematic discourse on Germany and the Holocaust in Stanley Kubrick’s films. It is the first book on Kubrick to place his cinema into the full context of his life and times-his Jewish past, early years spent under the shadows of fascism and war, and his 1957 marriage into a German family of artists and filmmakers-all provoked his deeply ambivalent preoccupation with the history of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. While personal and artistic reservations caused Kubrick to abandon several plans for a film on the Holocaust, this preoccupation combined with related cultural discourses in the 1970s, and culminated in a curiously indirect but compelling Holocaust subtext in his 1980 horror film, The Shining. The Wolf at the Door draws on intensive study of all of Kubrick’s films, interviews with members of Kubrick’s immediate family, and archival research in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and Israel.

They Call Me Baba Booey [Hardcover] $12.81

Baba Booey! Baba Booey! It was a slip of the tongue—that unfortunately was heard by a few million listeners—but in that split second a nickname, a persona, a rallying cry, and a phenomenon was born. Some would say it was the moment Gary Dell’Abate, the long-suffering heroic producer of The Howard Stern Show, for better or worse, finally came into his own. In They Call Me Baba Booey, Dell’Abate explains how his early life was the perfect training ground for the day-to-day chaos that comes with producing the most popular radio show on earth.

Growing up on Long Island in the 1970s, the youngest of three boys born to a clinically depressed mother, Gary learned how to fend for himself when under attack.  Obsessed with music, he listened with religious intensity to Casey Kasem’s Top 40 every Sunday morning, compulsively bought 45s of his favorite songs, and nerdily copied the lyrics into a notebook. Music became an ordering principle to his life, even as the chaos at home got out of hand. Dell’Abate’s memoir sketches the trajectory from the obsessive pop-music trivia buff to the man in the beekeeper’s mask who handily defeats his opponents playing “Stump the Booey.” We learn about the memorable moments in his life that taught him to endure epic bouts of humiliation and get his unique perspective on some of his favorite Stern show episodes—such as the day he nearly killed the Mets mascot while throwing out the first pitch, or the time his mother called Howard’s mother and demanded an apology.

Hilarious, painful, and eye-opening, it’s Gary as you’ve never seen him before, telling a story that even Stern show insiders can’t begin to imagine.

How to Beat Up Anybody: An Instructional and Inspirational Karate Book by the World Champion [Paperback] $12.23

The most important book in karate history from the greatest martial artist: The World Champion Judah Friedlander.

Finally a Karate book that prepares you for real-life dangerous situations! This book includes chapters on how to beat up Bigfoot, how to beat up someone with one arm, how to beat up someone with three arms, and how to beat up someone on a unicycle. Plus how to beat up street gangs, attackers with weapons, ninjas, dinosaurs, and gangs of street ninjas with weapons riding on dinosaurs!

This book contains more than 500 photos! And lots of words! All guaranteeing that you’ll learn how to beat up anybody!

The World Champion is the greatest athlete in the world, has sex with lots of women, and is a role model to children. For the first time you can now witness his training techniques. Buy this book before he beats you up!

A.I. Artificial Intelligence: From Stanley Kubrick to Steven Spielberg: The Vision Behind the Film [Hardcover] $40.50

Film is the medium of the modern age, and in this spectacular, large-format publication, one of the pinnacles of contemporary moviemaking is celebrated. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) was a collaboration between two cinematic giants: Stanley Kubrick and Steven Spielberg. Here, the directors’ combined visions and sensibilities are presented along with the work of their remarkably talented colleagues—above all, Chris Baker, the film’s conceptual artist.

At the heart of the book are Baker’s drawings, many never before seen. Commissioned by Kubrick and used in Spielberg’s eventual production designs, the drawings display Baker’s imagination and rare technical skill. Accompanying the drawings are extracts from Kubrick’s notebooks, stills from the finished film, and photographs of behind-the-scenes action, highlighting the use of pioneering special effects, animatronic work, and the “virtual studio.” 300 color, 100 b&w illustrations.

Medium Range Price: $50.00 – $199.99
75 Years Of DC Comics: The Art Of Modern Mythmaking [Hardcover] $126.00

Super heroes from the Atom to Zatara: 75 years of DC Comics

In 1935, DC Comics founder Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson published New Fun No. 1, the first comic book with all-new, original material—at a time when comic books were mere repositories for the castoffs of the newspaper strips. What was initially considered to be disposable media for children was well on its way to becoming the mythology of our time—the 20th century’s answer to Atlas or Zorro. More than 40,000 comic books later, in honor of the publisher’s 75th anniversary, TASCHEN has produced the single most comprehensive book on DC Comics, in an XL edition even Superman might have trouble lifting. More than 2,000 images—covers and interiors, original illustrations, photographs, film stills, and collectibles—are reproduced using the latest technology to bring the story lines, the characters, and their creators to vibrant life as they’ve never been seen before. Telling the tales behind the tomes is 38-year DC veteran Paul Levitz, whose in-depth essays trace the company’s history, from its pulp origins through to the future of digital publishing.

Year-by-year timelines that fold out to nearly four feet and biographies of the legends who built DC make this an invaluable reference for any comic book fan.

Simpsons World The Ultimate Episode Guide: Seasons 1-20 [Hardcover] $90.00

Look what you get in this cromulent compendium!

Comprehensive episode synopses for 20 seasons of The Simpsons, including 128 new gut-busting episodes never before covered! Stuff you may have missed! More screen shots than ever before! Over four hundred character profiles! Every chalkboard phrase Bart has ever written! Nifty new art throughout! Quotes and quips from all your favorite characters! Two or more jam-packed pages devoted to every episode!

As well as:
• Every couch gag
• A complete filmography of “Itchy & Scratchy”
• Every “D’oh” or “Mmm…” Homer has ever uttered
• Every song ever sung by the citizens of Springfield
• Every marquee message from the First Church of Springfield
• A tribute to star of stage, screen, infomercials, and filmstrips, Troy McClure
• The largest collection of Krusty the Clown merchandise outside of Bart’s bedroom
• A complete list of celebrity guest stars

And much, much more…

Packaged in the ultimate wraparound slipcase and weighing in at a hefty 8.8 pounds, Simpsons World The Ultimate Episode GuideSeasons 1-20 is meant for reading, not throwing!

The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force [Vault Edition] [Hardcover] $59.97

The Jedi Path, Fully Illustrated, with Removable Features and a Mechanical Vault

With the push of a button, the doors of the vault open in a wash of light and Star Wars sound effects. The inner platform rises, revealing this exclusive edition of The Jedi Path.

This ancient training manual, crafted by early Jedi Masters, has educated and enlightened generations of Jedi. It explains the history and hierarchy of the Jedi Order, and what Jedi must know to take their place as defenders of the peace in the galaxy—from mastery of the Force to the nuances of lightsaber combat.

Passed down from Master to Padawan, the pages of this venerable text have been annotated by those who have held it, studied it, and lived its secrets. From Yoda and Luke Skywalker to Count Dooku and Darth Sidious, they have shaped the content of the book by leaving mementos tucked within the pages, tearing out pages, and adding their personal experiences as tangible reminders of the lessons they’ve learned.

Through wars and rebellion, only a single copy of this manual has survived. It is now passed on to you.

The ancient Masters who wrote the text: Fae Coven, Grand Master and head of the Jedi Council; Crix Sunburris, Jedi Ace starfighter pilot; Restelly Quist, Jedi Chief Librarian; Skarch Vaunk, Jedi Battlemaster and lightsaber expert; Bowspritz, Jedi Biologist and expert on the Living Force; Sabla-Mandibu, Jedi Seer and Holocron expert; Morrit Ch’gally, Jedi Recruiter; Gal-Stod Slagistrough, Jedi leader of the Agricultural Corps.

Jedi who added personal commentary: Yoda, Thame Cerulian, Count Dooku, Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, Darth Sidious, and Luke Skywalker.

Removable features: A letter tracing the book’s history, a severed Padawan braid, a metal Jedi Credit medallion, a Jedi starfighter patch, a burned poster of the Jedi Code, a map of the Jedi Temple, a lightsaber diagram sketched on the back of a napkin from Dex’s Diner, and a note on the missing pages torn from the book by a Sith.

Created in collaboration with Lucasfilm—along with an acclaimed Star Wars author and revered Star Wars illustrators—this volume provides new insights into the history and lore of the Jedi Order while introducing never-before-seen ships, creatures, characters, and details about how one trains to become a Jedi.

The Jedi Path is for adults, and is intended for ages 14 and up.

The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back [Hardcover] $51.97

In this lavish thirtieth-anniversary tribute to the blockbuster film Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, New York Times bestselling author J. W. Rinzler draws back the curtain to reveal the intense drama and magnificent wizardry behind the hit movie—arguably the fan favorite of the Star Wars Saga.

Following his The Making of Star Wars, the author has once again made use of his unlimited access to the Lucasfilm Archives and its hidden treasures of previously unpublished interviews, photos, artwork, and production mementos. The result is a comprehensive behind-the-scenes, up-close-and-personal look at the trials and triumphs, risks and close calls, inspiration, perspiration, and imagination that went into every facet of this cinematic masterpiece. Here’s the inside scoop on:

• the evolution of the script, from story conference and treatment to fifth draft, as conceived, written, and rewritten by George Lucas, famed science-fiction author Leigh Brackett, and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan

• the development of new key characters, including roguish hero Lando Calrissian, sinister bounty hunter Boba Fett, and iconic Jedi Master Yoda

• the challenges of shooting the epic ice planet battle in the frozen reaches of Norway and of conjuring up convincing creatures and craft—from tauntauns and snowspeeders to Imperial walkers

• the construction of a life-sized Millennium Falcon and the swamp planet Dagobah inside a specially built soundstage in Elstree Studios

• the technique behind master Muppeteer Frank Oz’s breathing life into the breakthrough character Yoda

• the creation of the new, improved Industrial Light & Magic visual effects facility and the founding of the now-legendary Skywalker Ranch

In addition, of course, are rare on-the-scene interviews with all the major players: actors Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and David Prowse; director Irvin Kershner; producer Gary Kurtz; effects specialists Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Ken Ralston, and Phil Tippett; composer John Williams; and many others. Punctuating the epic account is a bounty of drawings, storyboards, and paintings by Ralph McQuarrie, Joe Johnston, and Ivor Beddoes, along with classic and rare production photos. An added bonus is a Foreword by acclaimed director Ridley Scott.

The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is a fittingly glorious celebration of an undisputed space-fantasy movie milestone. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.

Super Expensive: $200.00 – $15000.00

Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon: The Greatest Movie Never Made [Hardcover] $8500.00

Ten books in one tell the strange tale of Kubrick s unfilmed masterpiece

Tucked inside of a carved-out book, all the elements from Stanley Kubrick’s archives that readers need to imagine what his unmade film about the emperor might have been like, including a facsimile of the script. This collector’s edition is limited to 1,000 numbered copies.

For 40 years, Kubrick fans and film buffs have wondered about the director’s mysterious unmade film on Napoleon Bonaparte. Slated for production immediately following the release of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Kubrick s “Napoleon” was to be at once a character study and a sweeping epic, replete with grandiose battle scenes featuring thousands of extras. To write his original screenplay, Kubrick embarked on two years of intensive research; with the help of dozens of assistants and an Oxford Napoleon specialist, he amassed an unparalleled trove of research and preproduction material, including approximately 15,000 location scouting photographs and 17,000 slides of Napoleonic imagery. No stone was left unturned in Kubrick’s nearly-obsessive quest to uncover every piece of information history had to offer about Napoleon. But alas, Kubrick s movie was not destined to be: the film studios, first M.G.M. and then United Artists, decided such an undertaking was too risky at a time when historical epics were out of fashion.

TASCHEN s sumptuous, limited-edition tribute to this unmade masterpiece makes Kubrick s valiant work on “Napoleon” available to fans for the first time. Herein, readers can peruse a selection of Kubrick s correspondence, various costume studies, location scouting photographs, research material, script drafts, and more, each category of material in its own book. Kubrick s final draft is reproduced in facsimile while the other texts are tidily kenneled into one volume where they dare not interfere with the visual material. All of these books are tucked inside of or shall we say hiding in? a carved-out reproduction of a Napoleon history book.

The text book features the complete original treatment, essays examining the screenplay in historical and dramatic contexts, an essay by Jean Tulard on Napoleon in cinema, and a transcript of interviews Kubrick conducted with Oxford professor Felix Markham. The culmination of years of research and preparation, this unique publication offers readers a chance to experience the creative process of one of cinema s greatest talents as well as a fascinating exploration of the enigmatic figure that was Napoleon Bonaparte.

*Includes exclusive access to searchable/downloadable online research database: Kubrick’s complete picture file of nearly 17,000 Napoleonic images.

LaChapelle: Artists & Prostitutes (Photography) [Hardcover] $3149.80

Who’s the greatest star of star photography? It’s the inimitable David LaChapelle, the photographer whose singular style is perfectly unmistakable. He has photographed personalities as diverse as Tupac Shakur, Madonna, Amanda Lepore, Eminem, Philip Johnson, Lance Armstrong, Pamela Anderson, Lil’ Kim, Uma Thurman, Elizabeth Taylor, David Beckham, Paris Hilton, Leonardo DiCaprio, Hillary Clinton, Muhammad Ali, and Britney Spears, to name just a few. Once called the Fellini of photography, LaChapelle has worked for the most prestigious international publications and has been the subject of exhibitions in both commercial galleries and leading public institutions around the world. Celebrating the visionary LaChapelle’s truly extraordinary photography, this 698-page, XL-sized book is packed cover-to-cover with vibrant full-bleed images; the best of his entire career to date. Bursting at the seams with spectacle and drama, and saturated with colors that only LaChapelle! can realize, this limited edition pays tribute to the most daring and ambitious photographer in the history of portraiture.

Goat: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali (Greatest of All Time) [Deluxe Edition] [Hardcover] $15000.00

Muhammad Ali is one of the most remarkable personalities of our time and the greatest sportsman to ever walk the earth. To honor this living legend, TASCHEN has created a work that is both epic in scale and just as unique and vibrant as the man himself. It is more than appropriate that a worthy tribute to his life would reflect the scale of his achievements, and “GOAT – Greatest of All Time” proves itself up to the task.Four years in the making, and the most comprehensive look at Ali to date, “GOAT” tips the scales at 34 kgs (75 lbs) and is 50 cm x 50 cm (20″ x 20″) in size. 800 pages of archival and original photographs, graphic artwork and articles and essays – many of them previously unpublished – chronicle six decades of his life in stunning detail. To cap it all, the project takes place with the participation of Ali himself and those members of his inner circle who have been closest to him over the years: from managers and key ringside cornermen to friends, family and children; from spiritual and other advisers to broadcasters, essayists and journalists.

No stone has been left unturned in telling this remarkable story: the book features written contributions from hundreds of writers and photographers, as well as over 3,000 photographs of Ali’s dazzling life. Plus Ali’s own insights, writings and drawings, and reproductions of fight posters and classic memorabilia.

In addition, new work – commissioned from artist Jeff Koons – gives the Ali mythology a twenty-first-century edge and an entirely contemporary context. “GOAT” will come in two versions: the “Champ’s Edition”, limited to the first 1,000 copies and featuring a specially-commissioned congenial multiple by Jeff Koons as well as four silver gelatin prints by Howard L. Bingham, signed by the photographer and Ali himself. The remaining 9,000 copies come with a photo-litho made by Jeff Koons. All 10,000 copies are individually signed by Muhammad Ali and Jeff Koons.

Stay Tuned for More.

By Bryan Kluger

Former husky model, real-life Comic Book Guy, genre-bending screenwriter, nude filmmaker, hairy podcaster, pro-wrestling idiot-savant, who has a penchant for solving Rubik's Cubes and rolling candy cigarettes on unreleased bootlegs of Frank Zappa records.

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