Alcoholics Anonymous - Big Book 4th Edition
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Paperback (10 February, 2002)
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Reviews (29)

Big Voodoo Spiritual Work
This little book is written in a style that contains a dreadful dilating force.Bill W.'s voice is the voice of what Freud called the reality principle; it is the voice of death and as you listen to it it takes a sledgehammer to the glass and tinselly rubbish of your life.The prose style is profoundly quirky, funkadelic, and throbs to the rhythms of an iron heart as it pushes and shoves new blood into your abused and decrepit veins.Sobriety is not a tea-chat.It is not a milk run or a tupper-ware party.It is life and death locked in an rutheless struggle for the future of your body and soul.
This book is not just for alcoholics.It's for any honest spiritual seeker who wants to get blasted into mental health by one of the premier spiritual texts of the twentieth century.
Worthy to stand alongside the great spiritual works of humanity: The Bible, the Koran, the Tao Te Ching, the Dhammapada, the Talmud, the Bhagavad Gita.
I'd give it ten but I'm reduced to giving it only five stars.

AA - Waste of Time
AA somehow became the go-to place for alcoholics.The main problem with AA is that Bill Wilson, the co-founder of AA, only figured out part of the problem.He correctly realized, in step 4, that fear was the root of the problem.However, his "cure" to alcoholism was basically abstinence and hanging out with other alcoholics in crowded, hot, church basements.This is like telling someone with a bladder infection to "drink cranberry juice and stop peeing." What I'm trying to say is that AA deals with the symptoms, and not the cause of the problem at all.They write off alcoholism as a "disease" and state that alcoholics were born that way.Rubbish. If AA was a good cure, then why do most AA members pick up smoking and drink a ton of coffee?Why are the members easy to have sex with?Because, they are simply switching from one bad habit - one addiction - to another.

Another fact that AA doesn't publish is that their success rate (if you want to call it that), is only roughly 5%.More people give up drinking on their own than that!

The bottom line is that to get rid of an addiction - any addiction - is to deal with the cause of it, which is usually fear.Buy Odyssey of the Soul by Dr. Hugh Harmon and Pamela Chilton to gain some insight into how dealing with your past can help your problems.Check out any other book on addiction that deals with healing your inner self.

Profound book
I'm an Addict and active member of NA. This book is very useful for addicts too. I have been reading it and have discovered that the alcoholic and addict condition are basically similar. When I read the book the first time through, I realized that it described the way out of addiction pure and simple. This is the book that I have been searching for half my life. It's too bad that outsiders and the rest of society put such a stigma on NA and AA. These programs if practiced by our society in general would be beneficial for sure. ... Read more

Isbn: 1893007170
Sales Rank: 1447
Subjects:  1. Recovery    2. Self-Help    3. Substance Abuse & Addictions - Alcoholism    4. Twelve-Step Programs    5. Self-Help / Substance Abuse   

N.A. Text : Narcotics Anonymous
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (01 December, 1991)
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Reviews (25)

IF YOU ARE AN ADDICT GET YOU ONE
This book is the heartbeat of NA if you have doubts you are an addict this book will convince you that you are. This book is not a replica of any other books it was written by addicts who are in recovery from this deadly disease of addiction. Get you a book. Go to meetings work the steps and dont use.

Different Strokes for Different Folks
Does the NA Basic Text work for some people?Of course it does.This book is well-written and practical.The only thing that I would suggest is that if you are in recovery, you check out all of your options.Another book I would suggest is The Small Book by Jack Trimpey.It is based on a program called Rational Recovery.Also, if you are going to get into Narcotics Anonymous, it can't hurt to pick up The Big Book
(the "basic text" of AA).But, overall, this is a must-read for anyone addicted to anything.

...It really DOES Work If You Work It...
First of all, if you are 1 of the many men and women WORLDWIDE suffering from an addiction that has completely taken control of your life, LISTEN TO ME when I say...THIS BOOK HAS SAVED LIVES. Both the NA fellowship along with THIS BOOK, "The Big Book", have literally CHANGED MY LIFE. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't always this confident in the NA program. You kno, at 1st I had the whole "meetings don't work, this is so dumb" attitude and the "I'd rather read the ingredients on a shampoo bottle than this damn book" attitude. I think EVERYONE goes thru that phase of cynicism at 1 point. It's understandable, BUT doesn't necessarily mean that NA isn't for you. I personally believe that if ur NEW to NA, the most helpful thing to have is...AN OPEN-MIND. When reading this book, you'll realize that YOU ARE NOT ALONE, it's NEVER too late to fight your addiction, and most importantly, you CAN turn your life around!
Check out stories about recovering addicts like urself OR find out what "The 12 Steps of NA" are really about OR, 1 of MY personal favorites, "Just For Today".

It really DOES work IF you work it :) ... Read more

Isbn: 0912075023
Sales Rank: 6233
Subjects:  1. Case studies    2. Drug addicts    3. Narcotics Anonymous    4. Recovery    5. Reference    6. Rehabilitation    7. Substance Abuse & Addictions - Drug Dependence    8. United States   

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
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Hardcover (10 February, 2002)
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Reviews (13)

An important part of a life-saving tool kit
One way to confront a problem with alcohol is to get to an Alcholics Anonymous meeting, get a sponsor, work through the "Big Book" & read this book, probably in that order.
The "12 & 12" offers insight into the 12 Steps beyond that found in the Big Book. It's thought-provoking & helpful for anyone in recovery.
At heart, some may come to realize that they're confronting as much a living problem as an alcohol problem & that the Steps (11 of which do not mention booze) offer a better way of life.
AA is not the only way to recover, but it has proven effective for millions around the world facing a problem with a high relapse rate & lousy prognosis. Anyone who's reached their wit's end with alcohol will find help in AA. The program has no religious requirement, & its members do not tell anyone what to believe. They only suggest a person be willing to believe in a power greater than themself, a god of their understanding. For all anyone cares, this could be a pet dog, as long as it's something to remove the notion that the person is at the center of the universe.
AA has been successful for decades, it is the model for all other 12 Step programs & it is the foundation of much recovery. The program helps members who follow the 12 Steps to restore their self-worth through practicing integrity. It encourages members to let go of self-pity about perceived wrongs done them, accept responsibility for their own lives, acknowledge their pasts & (& this is key) move on. Above all, it encourages living in the present rather than in the past or the future ... thus increasing the odds that one will actually live.
This book is one outstanding part of an arsenal available to alcoholics who want to see their disease go into remission. For anyone who finds the program not to their taste, a return to drinking is always an option.

I Agree With Brian
More religious nonsense.I guess when people are struggling with addiction, they are at a weak point, so they go to AA and get this weird insta-family who makes them feel better about all the bad things they've done, but also tells them they're diseased and insane!

What about SCIENCE?Instead of memorizing easy answers and being dependent on a cult for the rest of your life, why not do some research on your own?AA, for example, proves to be no less and NO MORE effective than any other type of treatment, including psychological counseling.

To invest in this fundamentalist "sin and salvation" thinking is easy, I guess, because there are lots of other converts out there, but at least take the time to read about the Brandsma study, the Ditman study, the work of Peele, Vaillant, Rand...

The best for *continued* study of the Steps
This book, called the 12 & 12 around here, is the best available source for studying the Steps in more detail. Of course, the Big Book ("Alcoholics Anonymous") is the place to start and it contains the program of action required to attain and maintain sobriety. What I have found to be an effective way to work the Steps is to use the 12&12 as a reference as I go along, with the Big Book as my primary text, and discussing all of this with a sponsor (an alcoholic who has made some progress working the Steps who shares his/her experience, strength, and hope with a newcomer on an ongoing basis). Some have found it possible to get sober using just the book(s) and/or meetings, but my observation is that most of these people end up working the Steps in a confused way, or worse, don't really work them at all. Sobriety is about a new way of life free of alcohol, and this life is meant to be happy, joyous and free, not merely "dry" and miserable. The best way to achieve this is to get a sponsor and make use of that sponsor, which will likely involve reading these books and considerable other action as well. See you at a meeting! ... Read more

Isbn: 0916856011
Sales Rank: 5803
Subjects:  1. Alcoholics Anonymous    2. Alcoholism    3. Psychology    4. Recovery    5. Self-Help    6. Substance Abuse & Addictions - Alcoholism    7. Treatment    8. Twelve-Step Programs    9. Self-Help / Substance Abuse   

It Works : How and Why : The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Narcotics Anonymous
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (01 September, 1993)
list price: $9.50
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Reviews (4)

A must have if you are an addict
This book will help you find out if you are an addict it will teach you the steps and tradition of this fine group of Narcotics annonymous

IT WORKS IF U WORK IT!!!
this book helped save my life, along with a Higher Power,a sponsor, and a 12 step program!!
thanks NA!!(9/17/94)

Excellent reading for Recovery!!
This book is a must have for the Addict. Recovery is possible by following simple program. This book could save your life. ... Read more

Isbn: 1557761817
Sales Rank: 57991
Subjects:  1. Drug addicts    2. Narcotic addicts    3. Narcotics Anonymous    4. Rehabilitation    5. Twelve-step programs   

Zen of Recovery, The
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (06 January, 1993)
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Reviews (8)

True zen!
As a "recovering alcoholic", I have had MUCH trouble within and without the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous when people find out that I am a Buddhist skeptic who does not believe in the idea of a deity called "god".As a practicioner of Zen, I am pleased to see that Mr. Ash has a solid grip of the "Zen of recovery".

Those who criticize the book for being "too Zen" as opposed to other Buddhist traditions should have read the title, "The Zen of Recovery", before they bought it!How much so like the average A.A. member, complaining about things that are relatively silly.

This book spells out Buddhist detachment and the idea of a "power" that can "restore us to sanity", applying it skillfully to the 12 Step Tradition in the process.Most of what is IN the book has already been reviewed here, so let me end by saying that first of all, I don't go to a bunch of A.A. meetings anymore because of the culture of whining, glorification of the alcoholic history, and closed-mindedness towards any idea of "a power greater than ourselves" that isn't an anthropomorphic "god".However, I DO go to three meetings a meet where the envirenment is condusive to a true "spirituality", and I am definately going to be ordering many copies of this book to distribute to my many A.A. "peers" who actively criticize my "agnostic beliefs" and consider Zen to be a path towards relapse.

Get this book if you can relate to anything I have just written, adn especially if you are interested in Asian spirituality as an alternative to the Judeao/Christian approach most often endorsed by the loving members of Alcoholics Anonymous!

Good work, Mr. Ash.

This is a fantastic book
As a person with an addictive nature I cannot speak highly enough about this book - it is lovely! I want to buy copies for everyone I know - whether they are in recovery or not. As for the review saying, "any zen book can give you principles to quit drinking..."I don't think the purpose of this book was to stop ppl from drinking, but rather: to accompany ppl who may already struggle w/ a higher power w/in the twelve steps. I suspect that most ppl reconnect with themselves AFTER moving into the program and encounter obstacles along the way. For me, this book acts as a liason between the twelve steps and my internal obstacles.

Mel Ash's interpretation of the twelve steps is insightful and in no way contradictory to the program. His writing voice is simple and easy to follow; we are a culture who live in fear and this book delicately encourages those of us in recovery to find our bliss. When you see a flower, SMILE.The teachings are so simple - Enjoy!

Intelligent & Insightful
Mel Ash, using Zen as the spiritual component, adapts the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and zens it up. It's easy to swallow for me because the emphasis is not singularly recovery from alcoholism but also eating disorders, narcotic addiction, etc. The reading is gentle and doesn't underestimate or devalue the audience with sterile language. It gets awfully real world and how we can intermingle our recovery into our lives, which is what I wanted when I entered into recovery.

He talks a lot about how our denial *is* our sickness...from the 12 steps perspective and from the Zen perspective; that even those not in a compulsion may still suffer simply from the predisposed human condition. He speaks of our *dualistic* thinking [good/bad, right/wrong, black/white] as the manifestation of our human condition and more to the extent of our compulsions... How we in our compulsions/addictions are the magnification of the human suffering condition...just to the extreme.

This book is compassionate, intelligent, and worthy of top shelf status. It does not interfere with one's religious views but can enhance anyone's recovery. For me, this book, is what I have been searching for; the combined 12 steps with a spiritual component I can relate to. I really enjoy this book and know it will be favored by me in years to come, as it's more of a living philosophy within recovery and without. ... Read more

Isbn: 0874777062
Sales Rank: 64236
Subjects:  1. Adult children of dysfunctiona    2. Adult children of dysfunctional families    3. Codependency    4. Recovery    5. Religious aspects    6. Religious life    7. Self-Help    8. Spiritual    9. Substance Abuse & Addictions - General    10. Twelve-step programs    11. Zen Buddhism    12. Self-Help / General   

Twenty-Four Hours A Day
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 July, 1996)
list price: $10.95 -- our price: $8.76
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Reviews (3)

Help each day
This book is good for daily meditation. I would also recommend the book An Encounter with A Prophet to get closer to God.

Great Book !
I read this book every day, it is set up with a daily meditation and prayer. Although it only takes a few minutes to read I feel it has greatly helped me to stay sober for six years, by concentrating on 24 hours a day. Gary H.

A Daily Friend to Me
Primarily thought of as a book geared for the recovering alcoholic, this wonderful book could really apply to whatever addiction one may suffer, including selfishness.A wonderful book that compliments the AA program,that when read each morning it gets me started off on the right foot, andreminds me to put God and the needs of my friends and family first, thuskeeping my selfish tendencies under wraps.A great companion, andcertainly a great gift for someone starting recovery from alcoholism. ... Read more

Isbn: 0894868349
Sales Rank: 30782
Subjects:  1. Meditation    2. Recovery    3. Self-Help    4. Substance Abuse & Addictions - General    5. Self-Help / Substance Abuse   

Artist's Way, The PA (Inner Workbook)
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Paperback (28 February, 2002)
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Editorial Review

With the basic principle that creative expression is the natural direction of life, Julia Cameron and Mark Bryan lead you through a comprehensive twelve-week program to recover your creativity from a variety of blocks, including limiting beliefs, fear, self-sabotage, jealousy, guilt, addictions, and other inhibiting forces, replacing them with artistic confidence and productivity.

This book links creativity to spirituality by showing how to connect with the creative energies of the universe, and has, in the four years since its publication, spawned a remarkable number of support groups for artists dedicated to practicing the exercises it contains. ... Read more

Reviews (174)

It changes lives
I bought The Artist's Way because two people told me it changed their lives and I figured it must be pretty powerful. Just couldn't get into it. But I persisted and formed a group to study the book with me. Fantastic! I really think it's best understood as a group works through it, sharing ideas and insights. Obviously those who are already highly creative might not find it helpful, but most of us need help to find our creative selves. I've facilitated two creativity groups which have been meeting for several years. Cameron's book, I believe, has changed all of us, strengthening our sense of self and opening us to new creative possibilities. Some of the exercises may seem silly, but invariably the ones which felt crazy to me helped someone else and visa versa. The lady knows what she's doing; the universe does fling open unsuspected doors. It's changed my life in some amazing ways.

It inspired me to write this...
Firstly, I like it when people want to get creative, get down with the parts of themselves that they haven't done that, paint, write, do the things they want to and I truly wish this book would help would help rather than hinder that process.

To vent my spleen first...Ms. Cameron's work is like being forcefed a nasogastric tube of industrial grade saccharine. To be blunt, I liked The Artist's Way better when it was Creative Visualization. I am familiar with self-help books remixing and recombining new ideas, but a lot of The Artist's Way seems entirely too much like Creative Visualization; I also feel that what Ms. Cameron adds can be detrimental rather than helpful.

Ms. Cameron's few reasonable ideas get caught up in reams of exercises that don't seem to lead to much in the way of artistic development and had me thinking " Well, I could write a story in the time it would take me to do Morning Pages and have a date with myinner artist child".
Throughout The Artist's Way,it seems that the only art being produced is cure-centric and it seems like Ms. Cameron has cornered the market on this particular malady. There are a few decent ideas--taking time for oneself is one, as is journaling--but the context, I think, saps them of any real usefulness.
Likewise, Ms. Cameron namedrops about the films she had produced, her plays and her former relationship with Scorsese, which strikes me as questionable at best; there is little said about her current efforts, which may be telling since it seems like The Artist's Way is it. At any rate, it does give me enough pause to mention it.
Plus, the suggestion of a week without reading or media struck me as really privileging one form of creative output over another; some artists thrive on the interplay of texts, the mixup between them and what happens when they collide and it rubbed me the wrong way. I also found her discussion of art and sexuality to be at the best, questionable (ie, her revelation that artists don't need to be promiscuous (or substance users )and that female artists don't need to be gay strikes me as tacky and yet another weird form of privilege that seems to lie under much of the text.

This book may help some people, but a lot of her approach really left me cold. For all of her insistence that there are many ways to be creative, there seems to be only one way--and that's hers.
(Likewise, something about Ms. Cameron's book really screams"Take the class and buy the notebooks too!")

Overall, I'm certain this book has helped some people, but it seems like it can leave a lot to be desired--the sexuality issue is a hot one for me, as is the unspoken praise of a particular kind of art. Still, journalling and meditating are good in whatever form you get them and I'm glad that this book has helped some people-- I just wish there wasn't all this weirdness to wade through to get there.

I'm guessing the audience for this book ismore of a suburban one that does need a wakeup call for a happier and/or more creative life. Good for them for wanting a wakeup call and working towards it and I do hope this book gets them some joy; however, I think that the cure may be worse than the disease in Cameron's work.

It will change your life if you let it
A very dear friend bought this for me - Nakissa if you read this get in touch! - and the book changed my life. I am a journalist by profession, but thought that I didn't have the right to write my own stories, only other people's. Well this book transformed all that, made me see where I had been blocked and all the internal baggage about what 'being creative' meant, that I had been carrying around without realising! Once I got clear of all that I started taking my dream of being an author and my creative impulses seriously, thanked the Creator for blessing me with this gift and I am now working seriously on my first novel. It's been a long time coming but I WILL get there. Thanks Julia. ... Read more

Isbn: 1585421464
Subjects:  1. Art    2. Creation (Literary, artistic,    3. Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.)    4. Creative Ability    5. Individual Artist    6. Inspirational    7. Inspirational - General    8. Problems, exercises, etc    9. Self-actualization (Psychology    10. Self-actualization (Psychology)    11. Self-realization (Psychology)    12. Art / General   

I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me! : Daily Affirmations By Stuart Smalley
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 October, 1992)
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Reviews (16)

I Can Enjoy This Book
I have read all of Al Franken's books up to this point with the exception of this one.I had been a fan of Franken since his days of Saturday Night Live, particularly his Stuart Smalley character.This book further demonstrates the depth and intelligence of his humor.

The book is very similar to the movie based on it (Stuart Saves His Family).Having already seen the movie, I was anticipating certain events in the book once I started reading.Despite my previous knowledge, I found the book to be laugh out loud funny. The humor of the Stuart Smalley character is based in him trying to help out others, yet being a mess himself as is demonstrated by his membership in several support groups.

Even people passing through my home who picked this book up from my coffee table and read a few pages have enjoyed what they read.It is not hard to get the joke.This is a easy, but fun read.

Laugh out loud funny - great gift for people in Recovery
When Stuart Smalley first came out I didn't quite see the appeal.Now with 5 years in The Program, I finally get the joke.I have lent this book to a lot of folks in my home group and we all agree that it's pretty impossible not to laugh out loud while reading it.What a funny, smart insightful man.Seriously one of the funniest books I've ever read, though I might not have "gotten it" without my familiarity with 12 step programs.

This Book is Funny No Matter What Mood I'm In
I keep this book right here beside me in my home office, so any time I need to get perspective on life I can open it to some random page and read one of Stuart's daily affirmations.Whether I'm in a good mood or feeling down, this book always picks me up!Thanks to Stuart, I now know that "I don't have to beat myself up", "I deserve good things", and "I refuse to live from crisis to crisis"!I have to keep reminding myself about that last one, because my computer connection keeps dropping out as I try to type this review.

I'M GOOD ENOUGH tells the story of how Stuart Smalley (a caring nurturer and a member of several twelve step programs, but not a licensed therapist) deals with his inner critic and his dysfunctional family through the pages of his daily journal.I won't give away the plot, but will just give you a hint that there are lots of ups and downs in Stuart's career and family which help him grow in unexpected ways (such as the day when he notes "This Time I Was in Bed for Only Five Days!")

If you ever need to laugh with love at life's foibles, this is the book for you!OK -- I'm not saying you HAVE to get this book, because then I would be telling you what to do.You are in control of your own life, and things are not black and white!So get this book if your feelings about how you feel about it feel right.I think you'll be glad you did!

-- Cynthia Sue Larson
author of AURA ADVANTAGE: How the Colors in Your Aura Can Help You Attain What You Desire and Attract Success ... Read more

Isbn: 0440504708
Sales Rank: 68163
Subjects:  1. Affirmations    2. American wit and humor    3. Form - Parodies    4. General    5. Humor    6. Movie/Tv Tie-Ins    7. Self-help techniques    8. Twelve-step programs    9. Self-Help / Affirmations   

Days of Wine and Roses
by Jack Lemmon Lee Remick Charles Bickford Jack Klugman
Director: Blake Edwards
Average Customer Review:
VHS Tape (05 February, 2002)
list price: $14.94
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Editorial Review

Days of Wine and Roses is one film not to watch if you are melancholic by nature, as this tale of middle-class alcoholism rings very true. Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick are the besotted couple who find that life is not always fun when viewed through rosé-colored glasses. He's the San Francisco business executive who marries Remick and seduces her into a cocktail culture that soon overpowers them both. It is not a pretty picture when their life shatters around them, but this film is extremely compelling for their performances. It is matched only by Billy Wilder's Lost Weekend and the more explicit Leaving Las Vegas. This was nominated for five Academy Awards and won for the title song by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer. Filmed by Blake Edwards in 1962, it is based on a Playhouse 90 television production from 1958, starring Cliff Robertson and Piper Laurie. --Rochelle O'Gorman ... Read more

Features

• Black & White
• HiFi Sound
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Reviews (30)

Choice of language in DVD's
I would like to comment on Reviewer's Allen Smalling "Constant Reader," (Chicago, IL United States) - when he said and I quote "THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES (1962) is a wonderful film, but this DVD is burdened with an unacceptable Director's Commentary." I would like to know if this gentleman knows that there is a choice of viewing this DVD WITHOUT the director's comment? Sometimes when we put the DVD in the machine it starts in a way we do not like, for example in a foreign language or with the director's commentary. In this case you go to Language, and choose your language and puff goes the director. I give 5 stars to this movie and I pray that they use it in AA groups.

Lemmon in his best portrait !
1962 was the most difficult year for awarding the Best Actor in all the Academy story . Consider Gregory Peck for To kill a mockingbird (who won with this role) , Peter O'Toole for Lawrence and Jack Lemmon for Days of wine and roses .
To me Peter O'Toole deserved this prize by far but Lemmon even his role was more introspective, tragic and harsh , made the best role of his career playing an alcoholic husband role . Lee Remick was fantastic too , but the sinister moments you watch to Lemmon for instance in the sequence of the garden in the middle of the rain night is simply outstanding .
The script is a perfect circle without any hole . A merciless story which typified many couples in the world .
A classic and bitter film!

Edwards' Recall"Laughed and Ran Away Like a Child at Play"
THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES (1962) is a wonderful film, but this DVD is burdened with an unacceptable Director's Commentary.This highly successful film was everything Blake Edwards, the director, could have wanted from it; or at least it is according to the many reviews and favorable critical comments I've read over the years.

Fresh from the thunderous reception of BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S, Edwards wisely stuck with Henry Mancini as the movie's musical composer (and whose theme for the movie won Mancini his second Oscar in two years, following TIFFANY's).For WINE AND ROSES, Edwards took his nearly legendary, trademark style--particularly the insouciant, almost breezy charm of the JFK years as represented in TIFFANY'S--and applied it to subject matter that is anything but screwball in nature:alcoholism.

A boozy, needy P.R. guy (Jack Lemmon) "meets cute" and befriends at work a humorous and intelligent, but slightly aloof executive secretary (Lee Remick).In 1962, words like "codependency," "enabling" and "dysfunctional" were not in most Americans' vocabulary but we can see them at work here...and at first they seem glamorous because of all the charm.Lemmon's character grew up the child of itenerant entertainers, and his standards of achievement are largely superficial and visual.He grew up "Eatin' peanut butter," and wants his life to "have class," whether it's a well-stacked "doll" in a cocktail bar, a high standard of living (and drinking), or rounding up a bunch of lovelies as "entertainment" for his firm's many clients.

But after Lemmon's character meets Remick's, his values begin to change.Remick's character got her integrity and stubborn faith in self-reliance from her Norwegian-American immigrant father (played with brilliant understatement by Charles Bickford) who, as a small businessman, cannot understand why large corporations need flacks like Lemmon to tint unfortunate events with a rosy hue.Lemmon's character comes to view his P.R. procurements (correctly) as a kind of glorified pimping.To get away from that and live a "classy" life he takes a lateral move within his firm . . . but is he simply copping out of a more demanding but satisfying career?While Lemmon's life coping with alcoholism becomes a little easier--at least for a while--what happens to Remick is fatal.He gets Remick, who "can't stand the taste of alcohol," to drink with him by exploiting her favorite jones, chocolate.Her first mixed drink is a Brandy Alexander, where the brandy is largely drowned out by Creme de Cacao.

Soon, though, Remick likes her hard-stuff straight, and the film itself moves onto the hard realities of two alcoholics' lives.Things gradually get less and less charming--and more and more on-point with the realities of full-blown alcoholism, until sanity arrives in the form of an Alcholics Anonymous sponsor, played passionately by Jack Klugman.Lemmon's character accepts the then-novel AA conception of alcoholism as a type of disease, but for Remick cutting down on the drinking is "just a matter of self-respect and will power."What will happen?

DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES is an extraordinary film not only for its style and great acting, and the way the charming plot eases us into the nightmare of full-blown alcoholism, but also for its psychological insights.Every time I see this movie I notice something new:from the symbolism of the cockroaches that Lemmon tries to aerosol-bomb in his girlfriend's "roach palace" of an apartment (look how the middle-class neighbors react); to the fact that Lemmon, whose metaphor for a deprived and rootless upbringing is "Eatin' peanut butter," tries to charm Remick with a box of peanut brittle!(Didn't Freud say that a present says more about the giver than the recipient?)

As such, DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES is an entirely different turn from the documentary-like, "hard-hitting" social-issue approach to alcoholism that started showing up in the films of the late Eisenhower period in the Fifties.Edwards himself, in the film's commentary track, remarks that in the early Sixties people were just beginning to get used to the kind of metaphors carried by the "roach palace" sequence.Unfortunately, that is one of the very few times the director's comments connect with what's going on up on the screen in any significant way.

A few minutes into the commentary track, Blake Edwards wonders aloud if maybe he shouldn't have seen his movie fresh, so that he could better structure his comments about it.I sure wish he had, because most of the rambling, unfocused remarks he makes about his movie are repetitious ("You've gotta remember I myself was an alcoholic then"), or trite ("That's the way it was back then . . . everybody drank"), or irrelevant if sympathetic ("The last time my wife [Julie Andrews] and I saw Lee [Remick] was in the hospital . . .").We do hear a little about acting styles, particularly the way Lemmon's comically nebishy persona was harnessed to lighten up a dead-serious theme, but we hear next-to-nothing about the technical aspects of how the film was made.

So while THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES is a great movie, not a period piece but a charming bittersweet love story about a love that becomes besotten and horrible (yet not without the possibility of redemption), I feel I must downgrade my star-count from a five to a four because of unacceptable bells-and-whistles.Simply plunking even primary talent like a director or star in front of a film and expecting instant insight is not the way to go for DVD's.Sadly, this DVD has company; it's just among the worst of a field in which Audio Commentary's relevance, usefulness and anecdotal enjoyment are very catch-as-catch-can propositions.

... Read more

Asin: 6300269310
Subjects:  1. Feature Film-drama   

Farberware FSU255 55-Cup Electric Urn
Average Customer Review:
Kitchen
list price: $224.99 -- our price: $149.99
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Editorial Review

Standing handsomely on its pedestal base, this big coffeemaker is ideal for a buffet line, office, or any other situation where a lot of people drink a lot of coffee. It percolates up to 55 cups at a cup-a-minute rate and then automatically switches to keep-warm, serving-temperature mode. That's when the light goes on. And that's when the spigot shows off its no-drip capacity, perfect for spotless cup-and-saucer use. The urn is all stainless steel--for beauty and easy cleanup--except for a stay-cool base that won't harm any surface and stay-cool handles that make it simple and safe to move the urn from place to place. The urn's cover locks in place to prevent accidental spills. --Fred Brack ... Read more

Features

• Measures 12 by 14 by 22 inches
• Percolates up to 55 cups of coffee at cup-a-minute speed
• After brewing, automatically switches to keep-warm serving temperature
• Stainless steel with stay-cool base for placing on any surface
• Locking cover; nondrip spigot; stay-cool handles provide portability

Reviews (3)

Make sureit's "made in the USA"
We used this item about six times. It worked perfectly and was a beautiful addition to the buffet. The seventh time we plugged it in, nothing happened. We checked outlets, wiring etc, but it simply did not work. We contacted the Farberware Company by email and heard nothing. We contacted them again and received an email back saying call our 800 number. We called the 800 number three times and were on hold for over 10 minutes. We called the store from which we purchased it and they gave us another number. We called that number and the Farberware representative told us " If you have the original sales receipt and if the warrantly is still good we'll send you another one." We did not have the sales receipt. Then we called a local small appliance repair company who said "if it's made in the USA, we can repair it, if it's made in China, throw it away." Ours was made in China. We figure each pot of coffee we made with this pot cost $15 plus the cost of the coffee. We won't buy another one.

Perfect
I recently purchased this coffee urn for the prupose of entertaining. I live in anupsale area in Manhattan and have many guests over for dinner parties and such. This urn is beautifully built and adds another touch of class to any even tI throw. Not to mention it makes an amazing batch of great tasting coffee.

A Family Necessity
This Farberware Urn is a must for family gatherings.My mother has had the smaller version for several years and she just loves it!If I receive the 55 C in my bridal registry, we'll have one for decafe and one for regular coffee!I have even borrowed my mothers to warm apple cider- what a treat in the fall! ... Read more

Asin: B00004R949
Subjects:  1. Coffee Makers    2. (Coffeemakers)    3. (Faberware)    4. (Farberwear)    5. (Farber Ware)    6. Automatic    7. Coffee