No comments about Malaysia.

5 comments about Globe Trekker - Italy.

1. Great product if you are planning a trip to Italy and want to get a feel for the italian way of life.. I was slightly disapointed that it didnt include Rome, but you can buy this on a seperate VHS



2. Globe Trekker is a really fun travel show with charismatic hosts. On this disc, popular host Megan McCormick explores northern Italy while Justine Shapiro journeys through southern Italy. We'll see some of the familiar sights, like Rome and Venice but also many less-visited locales which offer their own unique character, culture, and cuisine. Some of the sights include the Dolomites (great for skiing), Ivrea's fun orange-pelting festival, Parma (home of Parmaggiano Reggiano cheese), an awesome Ferrari car museum, and Verona's casa di Giulietta.
   
   There's lots more, and Globe Trekker is fun to watch whether you're planning a vacation or enjoy experiencing new countries from the sofa.
   
   This disc contains 2 episodes from the show, so it's a good bargain for your bucks, too!



3. In my view is a quite typical travel guide for the eurotrash tourist, pulls all the stops for parties, multicutural experiences, BIASED view of the city and of the Italians (mafia...), politically correct blabber, and little or no geology, science, history of the city. EUROTRASH tourist guide for poor Europeans that think they are rich enough to pick others problems. Maybe the need to belong too???



4. PITIFUL!!!
   Silly commentary, sub-standard and grainy photography with dizzying cuts, and a general ignorance and obvious lack of taste on the part of the entire production team make this item an enormous rip-off!
   
   Thin on content, one learns little to nothing about what to see. Important treasures and antiquities are glossed over or omitted completely. None of the mysitcal beauty and abundant charm of this wonderful country is conveyed, and in fact, leaves the viewer disenchanted.
   
   If you're serious about learning about travel in a foreign country, stay away from Globe Trekker Productions, and look to Rick Steeves' video series for a great experience.



5. This is terrible, if what you are looking for is a travel guide.
   
   If you want to watch a sort of cute young lady's home movie of traveling in Italy, you might like this. It gives very little helpful information about traveling in the region.
   
   There are other companies who produce helpful travel guides.

4 comments about Austen Country.

1. This is a great Jane Austen documentary, that delves deeper into Austen's life; Informative and educational, as well as interesting, narrarated by a man with a fun British accent!

   This DVD tours the countryside, showing places and things having to do with Jane and her life. It offers some insight into Jane's views on things, what society and life was like for her at that time, and where she would have vacationed, what she would have done, etc.

   I enjoyed this very much, and I'm sure you will too! Highly recommended to any fan of Jane Austen!!




2. While there is a wealth of facts and items of interest presented here they are given in such a dry manner as to cause one's mind to wander. In particular, the narrator has all the charm and charisma of Miss Austen's least desirable male characters -- I would prefer a Mr. Collins sermon to this dull and droning creature!
   
   Perhaps A&E, the BBC or another organization will take the content of this well intentioned but compromised shoestring production and do something that engages and entertains while it educates.
   
   Jane Austen deserves better.



3. The video was fairly informative but the narrator had a tendancy to stray. There were a few too many shots of flowers as well.



4. It is an hour long tour of all that is Austen. Where she was born, various places that she lived and then where she died. The in-between places consist of her life with her family, and all about her family.

1 comments about Appalachian Trail Reflections.

1. As thru hikers Windtalker and Mom did a great job capturing the essence and the spirit of the trail. As a 2006 thru hiker I often dream of the adventures and the sights and the sounds of the trail. Short of heading back to Springer and heading north, this is the second best thing to do. Thank you Randy and Georgia. Thanks for the memories! It would make an excellent present for any AT thru hiker, section hiker or hiker wanna be. Get it!
   - Catskill Eagle

1 comments about Tranquility Classics.

1. Coulter's music picks up your soul and takes you to a beautiful place - very peaceful and tranquil.

No comments about Turner in Switzerland.

5 comments about Rick Steves Best of Travels in Europe - Collector's Case.

1. This is a great selection of Rick Steves shows on DVD, showing some of the msot famous European countries, there are six dvd, Rick Steves makes travel seem easier and exciting and also is interesting how he meets with the locals and explains places history and everything. he makes it fun like a friend is talking to you. This is great for any one who is going to travel or who wants to and is unable too.



2. I am so happy with this DVD set! I watch a different destination each morning (at 4am!) before I start my day. (Peace time before I wake up my 3 boys and go to work)
   
   There are hours and hours of destinations. I like that he added Portugal, Turkey, Egypt and even Greece. These locations are not usually included, so it's new and interesting information.
   
   The Special Features add even more hours of great information. If you follow Rick's travel tips, you really will have a better vacation! I've been to Europe 5 times, and these techniques will make it easier to get around and communicate with the locals. This will reduce your own anxiety and stress. You can't beat this price, either!



3. What can I say, if Rick's syle and mode of travel meets your needs, then he is the one to follow.



4. Don't become another victim duped into buying a collection of travel DVD's under the impression that they are on par with other brands. The 2001 release date or the fancy cover shouldn't fool you. None of these episodes were shot anywhere remotely near the year 2001. The quality parallels that of your average freshman project in a high school film class. What's worst is a high school TV production project might just be more entertaining.
   
   The plot of the collection is a simple-minded, middle-aged American male swaggers around the European continent's famed sites somewhere in the late 80's/ early 90's with, what seems like, a home video recorder. Somehow, after the long 10-20 second water-downed shots, exacerbated by the monotonous elevator music, Steves threw together this "DVD collection." With his facetious one-liners and signature blue button shirt with khaki pants, Steves manages to paint a humdrum picture of the very exciting world of international travel.
   
   Be prepared for many incoherent staged shots with scripted banal dialogue. The ONLY person who ever talks in the DVDs IS Rick Steves himself. No one is ever able to add an interview or sound bite without Rick's voiceover drowning it out. Then adding salt to our aching wounds, he repeatedly plays a repulsive, banausic music. I have actually watched a few episodes on mute out of dread for having to endure the soporific musical hassle inflamed by his layman remarks. Not to mention his humor attempts are reminiscent of Bob Saget.
   
   If the camera isn't on himself for the 90 minutes than it most likely is a close up of an innocent bystander without him/her aware(e.g. random tourists eating ice cream). The "travel tips" are outright futile(e.g. "how to take a picture", "how to visit a tourism information office", or "how to neatly pack your luggage")The technologies used at the time of production are now almost obsolete to the average traveler. For instance, Rick demonstrates how to use a pay phone or how to make a telephone hotel reservation.
   
   The special features atrocious. They`re not even Rick Steves`s own pieces; they're mostly jumbled 80's TV segments of whichever country he visited. The entertainment value ends at a good chuckle and click of the "menu" button.
   
   The reasons for a purchaser forking up $120 or so for the entire collection are beyond absurd. If you're serious about enjoying a good arm-chair trip to anywhere in the world look into "Globe Trekker" DVDs.
   Reasons why Globe Trekker surpasses these amateur videos include:
   1. They are up-to-date
   2. They include original ambient music(it is actually sold on CDs)
   3. The travel hosts vary and are likeable
   4. The entire episode is not a spotlight on the host, they actually let others talk
   5. The graphics are up to date and modish
   6. The entire production exhibits professionalism and successful research
   7. You can chose from almost any country in the world; you're not limited to just Europe
   8. You'll be hooked from the first episode



5. I always turn to Rick Steves and his travel guides when planning a trip to Europe. His books and dvds are fun, packed with information, helpful, useful and have excellent travel tips for budget conscious travellers. Rick himself is always entertaining, full of information and very experienced in helping travellers who want to make the most of their money. Thanks to Rick, I have discovered some hidden treasures in my travels to France, the UK and Germany - sites that are not as famous as the 'tourist traps' but are enchanting all the same.
   
   These dvds, to me, serve two purposes. Before the trip, they serve as excellent travel resources for planning and getting ideas on what to see and what to do. After the trip, they serve as a visual memento and souvenir of my visits to these lovely European towns and cities.
   
   I like Rick because he is more down-to-earth and more easily accessible than most travel guides. He really makes a point to meet the locals and recommends sites and accomodations that are budget-friendly but gems all the same. In all my travels to Europe, Rick has never steered me wrong. Highly recommended.

1 comments about Luxury Trains of the World: The South Orient Express.

1. I bought this as one of several from this great series to pass around to our family of train nuts. I know little about trains, myself, but have always loved British movies filmed onboard, especially the Orient Express.
   
   I had no idea that a train of this caliber was running in Mexico today, and then was further floored by the scenery and history behind this particular leg. I especially appreciated the narrator's respectful comments about the people of this land, and his encouragement for people to take this journey to this marvelous canyon (few Americans know about) if they can.
   
   This would make a wonderful commentary in a History or Spanish classroom, as well.

2 comments about Cold War Era Dangers On The Home Front.

1. This is not your typical documentary DVD. I was expecting something that would give me a lot of commentary on the vintage footage - like most of the films you find out there.
   
   This DVD on the other hand goes in the other direction - with surprisingly positive results.
   
   The footage is presented as is - you get clip after clip of propoganda films the way they were shown in the 50s and 60s and the editors leave it up to you to draw your own conclusions.
   
   The entire thing made me think of the way that America has really changed a lot in 40 or 50 years and taught me a good deal about just how paranoid we used to be.



2. When the governement is threatened, often its first choice is not to confront its enemies, but, rather, to scare its own people and get them to be on their side so that they can do whatever it is they need to do should war occur.
   
   You can see that in this day and age when our governement used paranoia after the World Trade Center attack to convince people that Iraq was a serious and current threat to our survival.
   
   This allowed the government to get permission and public support for a war that the people might otherwise have shied away from.
   
   These DVDs demonstrate that this method and attitude of propoganda is nothing new.
   
   At the end of World War II government officials were terrified that the next war would be with the Soviet Union or that communists might try to take over our government from the inside.
   
   They knew they could not let this happen, but since the Soviet Union was not doing anythin to justify war, they were worried that the people would not let them commit troops to the cause if they felt they had to.
   
   The result was a desire to "educate" the population about the dangers of both the Soviet Union and communinism. They figured that if people understood the threat they could generate more public support.
   
   So, they made a series of films to be shown before movies and in schools to demonstrate why the people should fear communism and the soviet union.
   
   When you watch these films you can see how seriously the government took the soviet threat. What's a shame is how often they exagerated the threat and went out of their way to make communists seem much worse than they were.
   
   That's what makes these DVDs so valuable. Becuase they give you a crash course in the history of what the government will do to protect itself and stir up public passions.
   
   They serve as an excellent cautionary tale and have allowed me to view what our current officials say with a more understanding eye.
   
   This should be required viewing for anyone who really wants to understand how our system works.

No comments about Branson.