The Vampire's Assistant (Cirque du Freak, Book 2)

• ISBN13: 9780316606844
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Darren Shan was just an ordinary schoolboy until his visit to the Cirque Du Freak. Now, as he struggles with his new life as a Vampire's Assistant, he tries desperately to resist the one temptation that sickens him, the one thing that can keep him alive. But destiny is calling. The Wolf Man is waiting.What if you were an unwilling vampire? You needed to drink human blood to stay alive, but you weren't some horror-flick villain; you were you, born human--a nice person, even. Thus is the dilemma of the young narrator-protagonist, Darren Shan, in this tremendously suspenseful, oft-sickening sequel to Cirque Du Freak: The Saga of Darren Shan. In the first book, Darren becomes a va! mpire's assistant to save the life of his friend Steve. In order to do so, he has to fake his death, get buried alive, and head out--half-human, homeless, and friendless--into the world. The Vampire's Assistant chronicles his new lonely life as a half-vampire, pumped with the cursed blood of his vampire guardian, Mr. Crepsley. Darren has much to learn about his freshly supernatural state. He doesn't grow fangs, for instance, like he thought he might. And he can't change shape or fly. Garlic just gives vampires bad breath... And they eat bagels. Some of the hardest lessons of all come when he joins the traveling freak show Cirque Du Freak, the show that got him and Steve in trouble in the first place. Readers won't be disappointed by this fast-paced, gory, but strangely amiable sequel. In fact, the plot is much better paced than the first and the dialogue far more natural. Deadly pythons, a snake boy, Cormac Limbs (bite off his finger and it gr! ows back!), and an entire cast of dreadfully creepy characte! rs offer excitement beyond expectation. Along the way, we come to really like Darren, who will do absolutely anything for a friend. British author Darren Shan promises more adventures in 2002. (Ages 10 and older) --Karin Snelson

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Charlie Bartlett : Widescreen Edition

• Widescreen

The kids at Western Summit High have "issues," and newcomer Charlie Bartlett is coming to their rescue. With a briefcase full of prescription pills and a head full of pop psychology, this rebel with a cause brings hilarious help to the student body and unending grief to their neurotic principal, Mr. Gardner (Robert Downey, Jr.). Suddenly, Charlie is the hottest man on campus and he's even caught the eye of Gardner's sultry daughter. An outrageous send-up of today's Prozac generation, Charlie Bartlett has your prescription for laugh-out-loud insanity!The ghost of Ferris Bueller haunts Charlie Bartlett. In John Hughes' classic comedy, a wily principal chases a clever student all over Chicago. In editor-turned-director Jon Poll's darker-hued enterprise, the hero of the title (Huff's preternaturally poised Anton Yelchin) gets kicked out of private school for selling fake IDs, so! his heavily-medicated mother (a reliably excellent Hope Davis) transfers her son to a public institution. Looking like a junior stockbroker in navy blazer and attaché case, he turns into a bully piñata, until he joins forces with surly dealer Murphey (Walk the Line’s Tyler Hilton) to sell prescription medication and split the profits (Charlie secures the meds from an assortment of pill-pushing psychiatrists). By listening to their problems and offering well-researched advice, the unlicensed doc becomes the most popular kid on campus. He even captures the interest of self-possessed drama queen Susan (The 40-Year-Old Virgin’s Kat Dennings), daughter of booze-soaked Principal Gardner (Robert Downey Jr. in top form). Gardner doesn't trust Charlie, but lacks the evidence to confirm his suspicions--so he sets out to secure some. Once he installs surveillance cameras, the game is on. By the end, the two competitors will have both lost... and won. Aside from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Charlie Bartlett recalls! Wes And erson's Rushmore, except Poll's Gustin Nash-penned satire trades counter-cultural cool for trenchant commentary about quick-fix solutions to deep-seated dilemmas. That means fewer laughs than its forerunners, but Charlie Bartlett presents a more penetrating analysis of today’s generation gap. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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The Charlie Bartlett Soundtrack

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Stills from Charlie Bartlett

Specs: Audio: English: 5.1 Dolby Surround
Language: Dubbed: English
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: Disc 1: Fullscreen 1.33:1, Disc 2 & 3: Widescreen:! 1.85:1, Disc 4: Widescreen: 2.35:1
Episodes-Bonus Featu! res:

• Disc 1 Side A: Charlie Bartlett
• Disc 1 Side B: Charlie Bartlett
• Disc 2: Back to School
• Disc 3: Home for the Holidays
• Disc 4 Side A: Richard III
• Disc 4 Side B: Richard III

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist is a comedy about two people thrust together for one hilarious, sleepless night of adventure in a world of mix tapes, late-night living, and, live, loud music. Nick (Michael Cera) frequents New York's indie rock scene nursing a broken heart and a vague ability to play the bass. Norah (Kat Dennings) is questioning pretty much all of her assumptions about the world. Though they have nothing in common except for their taste in music, their chance encounter leads to an all-night quest to find a legendary band's secret show and ends up becoming the first date in a romance that could change both their lives.In the big-screen version of Rachel Cohn and David Levithan's popular young adult novel, two! high-school seniors fall in love over the course of one eventful evening. A straight bass player in a queercore band, Nick (Juno's Michael Cera) has just been dumped by the two-timing Tris (Alexis Dziena). He's committed to making more self-pitying mix CDs until his bandmates convince him to help track down a top-secret rock concert. Meanwhile, Norah (Charlie Bartlett's Kat Dennings) and her hard-partying pal, Caroline (Ari Graynor), set off on the same journey. Nora had never met Nick, but she already had a crush on him (While attending the same school as Tris, she's been enjoying the mixes Nick keeps making--and Tris keeps throwing away). When the inebriated Caroline goes missing, they spend the rest of the night racing around the Lower East Side in his Yugo looking for the friend, the show, and trying to avoid Tris (Norah's ex-boyfriend, Tal (Tropic Thunder's Jay Baruchel), presents further complications). Peter Sollett's follow-up to Rais! ing Victor Vargas aims to please several audiences at onc! e. It st arts out like a less dirty-minded Superbad, morphs into a post-millennial After Hours, and ends as a Big Apple take on Before Sunset. It's sweet and funny, but could use more of its own identity, though Cera and Dennings make for an appealing couple and the supporting performers, especially Graynor and Kevin Corrigan in a wordless cameo, enhance the proceedings considerably. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Stills from Nick & Norah's Infinate Playlist (click for larger image)

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