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The Lord of the Rings - The Motion Picture Trilogy (Special Extended DVD Edition)

The extended editions of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings present the greatest trilogy in film history in the most ambitious sets in DVD history. In bringing J.R.R. Tolkien’s nearly unfilmable work to the screen, Jackson benefited from extraordinary special effects, evocative New Zealand locales, and an exceptionally well-chosen cast, but most of all from his own adaptation with co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, preserving Tolkien’s vision and often his very words, but also making logical changes to accommodate the medium of film. While purists complained about these changes and about characters and scenes left out of the films, the almost two additional hours of material in the extended editions (about 11 hours total) help appease them by delving more deeply into Tolkien’s music, the characters, and loose ends that enrich the story, such as an explanation of the Faramir-Denethor relationship, and the appearance of the Mouth of Sauron at the gates of Mordor. In addition, the extended editions offer more bridge material between the films, further confirming that the trilogy is really one long film presented in three pieces (which is why it’s the greatest trilogy ever–there’s no weak link). The scene of Galadriel’s gifts to the Fellowship added to the first film proves significant over the course of the story, while the new Faramir scene at the end of the second film helps set up the third and the new Saruman scene at the beginning of the third film helps conclude the plot of the second.

To top it all off, the extended editions offer four discs per film: two for the longer movie, plus four commentary tracks and stupendous DTS 6.1 ES sound; and two for the bonus material, which covers just about everything from script creation to special effects. The argument was that fans would need both versions because the bonus material is completely different, but the features on the theatrical releases are so vastly inferior that the only reason a fan would need them would be if they wanted to watch the shorter versions they saw in theaters (the last of which, The Return of the King, merely won 11 Oscars). The LOTR extended editions without exception have set the DVD standard by providing a richer film experience that pulls the three films together and further embraces Tolkien’s world, a reference-quality home theater experience, and generous, intelligent, and engrossing bonus features.

Price: $52.62

SIGN with your BABY Complete Learning Kit: US DVD Version, Book, Training Video (DVD), Quick Reference Guide

Sign with Your Baby Complete Learning Kit will enable you to communicate at new levels with your baby long before she can speak. This comprehensive package of book, video, and reference guide shows how simple gestures can communicate ideas like “I’m hungry” or “help me.” Caregivers grasp baby’s needs immediately rather than learn through trial and error. Dr. Joseph Garcia has designed the system so it’s not necessary to learn an entire new language, although it also provides a terrific start in American Sign Language for a hearing-impaired child. A fascinating introduction delves into the development of language in children and uses informative line drawings to demonstrate over 150 hand signs for all kinds of actions and nouns. The accompanying video provides practical tips for getting started, some insight into the hows and whys of this method from Dr. Burton White (director of the Center for Parent Education), and inspiring sights of young babies signing effectively with their caregivers. The laminated quick-reference guide lists some of the most common words in any parent’s day: cookie, no, and up are but a few. Garcia’s clear, concise methods make learning a breeze, and caregivers gain outstanding new abilities to give the best possible care for the babies entrusted to them. –Jill Lightner –This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Price: $29.97

SONY SRS-T57 Personal Travel Speakers

Personal travel speakers / Foldable design / Mega Bass sound system / Operates on “AA” batteries or AC adapter (both optional). SONY SRS-T57 — Add these Travel Speakers to your Personal CD or cassette player and hear great Stereo Sound penetrate your room.

Price: $33.24

Panasonic KX-TG5200M GigaRange Supreme 5.8 GHz DSS Expandable Cordless Phone

Panasonic’s KX-TG5200M utilizes 5.8 GHz DSS signal operation for increased call security and range and less interference. Call waiting/caller ID-ready, the phone offers a 50-call memory and dialer, accessible through the handset’s three-line backlit LCD. And, it’s expandable, accommodating up to three additional handsets (for a total of four).

You can pre-program frequently called numbers, even chain dialing for automated systems that require a series of numeric inputs. The KX-TG5200M is Caller IQ compatible, a service that allows you to receive updates on weather, sports, horoscopes, and more, that are sent directly to your telephone and displayed on the handset screen (requires optional service).

Price: $49.99

Toshiba SD-P1600 Portable DVD Player with 7″ LCD

Get a multifeature machine in a compact frame with this Toshiba 7″ Portable DVD Player. Watch standard, letterbox and anamorphic DVDs with the player’s widescreen TFT LCD display. Other features include digital picture zoom for zooming in and magnifying pictures, a JPEG viewer, WMA and MP3 playback and 3-D virtual surround sound. Plays DVD/DVD-Rs, CD/CD-R/RWs and VCD discs. Includes 2 headphone output jacks, A/V in and out, car cord adapter and remote control.

Price: $170.99

Uniden TRU8866 5.8 GHz Digital Expandable 2-Line Cordless Speakerphone with Dual Keypads

The Uniden TRU8866 cordless phone system offers an attractive bundle of features with room to grow. 5.8 GHz digital signal transmission offers increased call clarity and security while the impressive caller ID capabilities ensure that you’ll never miss a call or lose an important number. Plus, a duplex speakerphone in the base and a standard speakerphone in the handset provide hands-free conversation options.

Housed in a professional-looking, no-nonsense black case, the phone’s memory is shared between the caller ID log and the programmable memory dialing–100 names and numbers in the handset, and 100 more in the base unit. You can locate numbers using a alphabetic search tool similar to that of a typical cell phone, and the most commonly dialed numbers can be assigned to 10 speed dial presets accessed on the base unit.

Price: $109.24

Behold!!! The Protong (Paperback)

Szukalski was not only a prolific artist in a number of media but also an original thinker. In Behold!!! The Protong, he posits a theory that all languages derive from a single source, the protong. With selections from over 40,000 illustrations related to Zermatism, the book explores the universal search for humankind’s original language.

Price: $15.72

MAKE: Technology on Your Time Vol. 1

If you like to tweak, disassemble, re-create, and invent cool new uses for technology, you’ll love MAKE our new quarterly publication for the inquisitive do-it-yourselfer. Every issue is packed with projects to help you make the most of all the technology in your life. Everything from home entertainment systems, to laptops, to a host of PDAs is fair game. If there’s a way to hack it, tweak it, bend it, or remix it, you will find out about it in MAKE. This isn’t another gadget magazine. MAKE focuses on cool things you can do to make technology work the way you want it to. The publication is inspired by our bestselling Hacks series books but with a twist. MAKE is a mook (rhymes with book). We ve combined the excitement, unexpectedness, and visual appeal of a magazine with the permanence and in-depth instructiveness of a how-to book. Whether you’re a geek or hacker who delights in creating new uses for technology, or a Saturday afternoon tinkerer who loves to get his hands dirty, you’ll keep every issue of MAKE on your bookshelf for years to come.

Price: $10.19

Mad Professor

From super-secret Zoober Labs, hidden on the island of Kia Ora in the South Pacific, comes this book of experiments that the “budding mad professor can easily complete using materials around the house.” Each of these 25 projects is wonderfully illustrated–on laminated, spiral-bound pages–by author Mark Frauenfelder, a former editor of Wired magazine. Broken into four sections, the book provides a basic science lesson before getting down to the experiments, including bits on the scientific method and Asimov’s four rules of robotics. Explicit directions and safety tips follow, and each project ends with a How It Works nugget that unravels the mystery behind the science. The experiments include a bunch of old standbys that no budding mad professor should be without–rock candy, vinegar and baking soda volcanoes, returning tin cans– as well as a host of unfamiliar slimes and putties that should spark interest in how molecules work.

Price: $10.17

Koss DVP2161 Compact DVD with MP3/CD Player

Ideal for plugging into a television, computer, or car screen, the compact DVP2161 offers full-featured DVD and CD playback from a device about the size of a softcover book. While not quite portable in the traditional sense–the unit has no screen and requires AC power–the DVP2161 is much easier to move around, set-up, and use than a traditional component DVD player.

Price: $34.99