Please provide your brief, but concise remarks on this writing about online book stores. Of course, it would be preferable for these remarks to be enhancing ones.
online book stores For Your Reading Pleasure
Selling Ebooks & Other Digital Goods on eBay
The sale of ebooks on eBay is a large market and it is a venture that can be filled with great opportunity and success for the seller, as well as the buyer. The great thing about ebooks is that many of them come with Master Resell Rights. What does this mean and how can it help the buyer and reseller?
Master Resell Rights are granted by the publisher of an ebook (or other digital product) to the sellers of their product. In turn, the buyer can turn around and sell it to other ebook buyers, keeping 100% of the profits they generate from their sales. No commissions or royalties need to be paid to the original publisher. (Please note that the copyright remains the property of the original publisher. Copyrights are not transferred, just the right to distribute the products.)
So, everyone profits from these Master Resell Rights.
Digital products, like ebooks, are easy to sell. Here are some examples why selling ebooks can be to your benefit:
1. Oftentimes, the publisher of the ebook provides cover graphics and a sales letter in web page format so that you can easily customize it with your own information and upload it to your own server for people to download after purchase.
2. No trips are required to the post office if you send via internet only. Some sellers opt to burn the ebooks onto a CD and mail it out via snail mail to their buyers. (By doing it this way, the seller rakes in more profits by charging for Shipping & Handling.) It is important to note at this point that if you are selling ebooks delivered via internet download on eBay that it is AGAINST eBay rules to charge Shipping and Handling for this transaction. Many ebook sellers charge S&H anyway, but I find it is best to follow all of eBay's rules. Keeping your nose clean is the best way to develop your reputation on eBay.
3. Selling digital products is not that time consuming. In the beginning, the set up is a bit time consuming, as the seller must upload all their ebooks to their server, as well as customize the sales letters and create eBay listings for the eproducts. When you have most of your digital deliveries on autopilot, you can spend a few hours a day developing your relationships with your buyers and potential buyers. By this, I mean following up on items purchased, developing new digital products for your buyers, and marketing your e-products on the internet as well as other sources.
eBay's new Digital Delivery System has really simplified and broadened the ability to sell digital goods on eBay. Although it does have its drawbacks, I find that it is really the best way to get your product to your buyer. To learn more about eBay's Digital Delivery System, please consult this informational area provided by eBay:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/selling-digital-items.html
With this new ability to provide the download location immediately to eBay buyers, sellers are able to free up much of their time because it cuts down on manually sending emails. When the download URL is made readily available to the buyer, you do not have to worry about the buyers' email spam filters or even their correct email address. As soon as the PayPal payment is processed, the location is disclosed on their receipt. In addition, buyers can access the download location again at any time by doing the following:
1. Sign in to the eBay account name under which the item was purchased.
2. Go to "My eBay."
3. View the "Items I've Won."
4. Select the item and view the ad listing again.
5. Click on the hyperlink provided: "View digital delivery information for this item."
eBay's Digital Delivery System does have some drawbacks of which you may want to be aware:
1. You must qualify to sell digital goods according to eBay's seller requirements as described in the hyperlink above.
2. The buyers MUST use PayPal and MUST pay immediately. No money orders, checks, or echecks!
3. Each digital item must be purchased individually, so invoices cannot be combined. This means the seller must pay the credit card processing fee for each transaction.
4. Digital goods can no longer be sold in Auction format. You are forced to use only Fixed Price or Buy it Now. In addition, you are restricted to list the item in only certain categories.
To amass a large selection of ebooks is pretty easy, they are all over the internet. Each ebook has its own terms of use and distribution rights that you will want to investigate and try to follow.
To sell ready-made ebooks, you will not need to know much about copyright law. However, if you create your own ebooks, you may want to read up on copyright law and make sure that if you quote or use an extensive amount of someone else's text that you know how to give proper credit for this, or if you need to give credit at all.
Now, on to the competition. Many people ask me about the nature of ebooks with Master Resell Rights. "Aren't you just feeding your competition, since they will be selling the same exact thing?" Yes, most definitely you will be. And that is what you want to do. There are reasons for this, and they all have to do with branding, affiliate programs, advertising, and joint ventures, among other things.
Major idea to keep in mind: Ebooks are considered "viral" marketing tools, because they spread like wildfire.
The ebook market is big enough for all of us. What a seller brings to the market is what makes this a wonderful industry to be a part of. Each seller and ebook publisher is different. Each has a different niche, a different sales perspective, varying philosophies, and a different level of experience. It is best to see each ebook seller as a partner rather than competition. If you view them in this way, you will profit from your relationships much more than if you try to sabotage or bring them down.
It's all about helping one another to make some extra money. :)
So, keep offering new, quality products in subjects people are interested in and present them well. Equip your buyers with things they will need to sell these products. Develop relationships with other serious ebook sellers.
Unfortunately, as in every industry, there exists scam artists and those who do not deliver on their claims, or try to deceive you into thinking you will make zillions of dollars from just selling ebooks. Selling ebooks is work and one must put time into researching the market, and the best ways to get your products to your buyers. This is another reason why you should develop relationships with other ebook sellers. They can help you immensely in overcoming obstacles that are common in the business.
I spend hours and hours on this every day. Not every ebook seller needs to do this. I am just the type of person who is always looking to grow and expand my business. You CAN make money on selling ebooks, even as a nice little side income. Like everything else in life, what you get out of it is what you put into it. :-)
And, to be fair, there are some downsides to selling ebooks you should be aware of.
1. You will have to spend money before you earn money. Invest in a quality web hosting service and buy an inventory of newer and operational ebooks. If you are interested in creating your own ebooks, you may want to invest in a digital ebook compiler of some sort (to make PDFs and/or executable files) and graphics templates.
2. Ebay's rules can be confusing, but try to follow them to the best of your understanding and ability.
3. You must keep track of your ebooks. Once you start collecting them, I recommend creating various folders on your hard drive to house your ebooks in a system that you will be able to revisit again easily. Perhaps by resell rights permissions, then by topic, for example. Whatever works best for you.
Please keep in mind, I do not claim to be an ebook expert. I learn something new about ebooks every day. But I have been selling ebooks on eBay since early 2005, and have gained some knowledge on the business, especially how to do it in the eBay environment.
I hope this guide has helped you and has provided you with some insight into the every day world of selling ebooks on eBay.
If you are interested in learning more about creating, selling, or distributing infoproducts, please feel free to contact me at http://www.distinctivedownloads.com.
Thank you for time.
Wishing you the best of success,
Niki Rodino
http://www.distinctivedownloads.com
online book stores Items For Viewing
18" True Angle Tool
18" True Angle Tool
The Original True Angle tool is the worlds fastest & easiest angle making tool available. Just rotate the blades and read the dial. The hairline locates the exact angle within a tolerance of 5/1000ths. The blades rotate 360 degrees in both directions. To lock the blades, lightly tighten the finger nut. To unlock the blades rotate the top blade counterclockwise. The Original True Angle replaces every triangle, protractor, try square, bevel square, rafter square, framing square, combination square, or any other angle making template presently manufactured anywhere in the world. -------- We ship next business day via US Postal Service Priority ("Standard" - average 2-4 days) or Express ("Expedited" - guaranteed within 2 days). --------
Customer Review: Good but...
The tool is precise, easy to use, fairly durable (it will scratch). The dial gauge is very tiny and you can only read to about 1 degeree of accuracy at best, if you have good eyes and light. You must be careful of parallax also. For mitered inside corners parallax is a major issue and really hurts the ultimate accuracy of the tool. Even with these issues, this tool is less valuable than it may seem.
The main purpose fo the 18" and 23" true angle tool is for installing crown, chair rail and base mouldings. It is used to determine the true wall angle so your mitered joints match the wall angle. Some may even try to tell you that the difficult part of moulding installation (tight joints) will be easy now.
I can tell you the worst wall I measured was 91 degrees. Ok, 1 degreee will produce a gap. So it makes sense that a more precise measurement will correct this. right? wrong. The biggest "out of square" is not wall to wall. It is #1 the straightness of the ceiling that will impact these joints the most. Notice I said "most". Because the wall to wall, the ceiling to wall, straigntness of the wall and straightness of the ceiling ALL throw off prefectly mitered joints.
There are many tricks that are somewhat effective to making tight mitered joints but even if you have some good ones, you will have some bad ones.
The real answer is to forget this tool and cope. I resisted coping because it is not fun and is time consuming. AND you will STILL neeed to caulk ceiling and wall joints. Even perfect mitered or coped joints do not eliminate caulk. Your walls and ceiling will not be prefectly flat even if they are exactly 90 degrees.
So make coping easier by using a Easy Coper jig and a jig saw with a fine blade. You will get fast work, decent joints (Always because coped joints are more forgiving). It is structurally much better so even if the house settles or wood changes size, the worst you will get is a crack in the paint. Easily fixable.
HOWEVER, for outside corners it does help some. Again, all of the outside corners in my house were within 1 degree of square. And the biggest difficulty is the ceiling and wall straightness, NOT angle. So to get tight outside joints was still using glue, forcing boards to fit and then nailing them in place.
I consider the 18"/23" useless for moulding unless your walls are greatly out of square.
I do think the 7" version could be a handy tool, just not for moulding installs.
My Peek-A-Boo Soft Book
My Peek-A-Boo Soft Book
Children develop into eager readers when they're engaged at a young age. My Peek-A-Boo Book offers age appropriate language and activities that promote curiosity and motor-skill development. Dimensions: 6.25" H
The Magic School Bus: Blows Its Top
The Magic School Bus: Blows Its Top
Customer Review: Entertaining and educational
The Magic School Bus never lets me down! As a preschool science teacher, I use these videos to supplement what we are learning about. The little ones love MSB and request to watch them over and over again. In this video, they explore volcanoes and eruptions. The scientific language is used correctly and they illustrate each point in ways that children can understand. Two thumbs up for MSB!
National Treasure 2 - Book of Secrets (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
National Treasure 2 - Book of Secrets (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) sets out to find the lost 18 pages from the diary of Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth. One of the 18 missing pages has been discovered by Jeb Wilkinson (Ed Harris). On that page are the names of the Lincoln assassination conspirators. Thomas Gates, Ben Gates' great-great-grandfather, is listed on the page. After discovering this, Ben does not want Thomas Gates to be remembered "as a conspirator in the assassination of the man who brought this nation together." His quest to clear his family's name leads to unexpected twists and turns. Agent Sadusky (Harvey Keitel) tells Ben that a secret book has the information he needs. The president's "book of secrets" holds documents, for presidents' eyes only, of all the nations secrets; from the truth behind the JFK conspiracy, the missing minutes from the Watergate tapes, and Area 51. When Ben's request to see the book is denied, he says he must kidnap the president. Each clue leads him closer "to a discovery that the world isn't ready to believe."
Customer Review: Still Fun, But Not as Exciting
While delivering a presentation about his great-grandfather, Thomas Gates (Joel Gretsch) and his relationship to John Wilkes Booth and attempt to stop the assassination of President Lincoln, Ben Gates (Nicholas Cage) is challenged by a man, Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris), who claims to have a missing page from John Wilkes Booth's diary that suggests that Thomas Gates was actually one of the ring-leaders of Lincoln's assassination. In an attempt to prove his great-grandfather's innocence, Ben, Abigail (Diane Kruger), and Riley (Justin Bartha) begain a globetrotting adventure that takes them from Buckingham Palace to the Oval Office in the White House. Their journey ultimately leads Ben to "kidnapping" the President of the United States (Bruce Greenwood) and a perilous journey inside Mount Rushmore.
NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS is a fairly average action-adventure movie. Like the original movie, BOOK OF SECRETS boasts a decent mixture of actual history with tons of conspiracy theories to bolster an otherwise lackluster plot. However, there really isn't as much action as there was in the first movie. Things have been watered down, including the "villain", Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris). Harris' talents (as well as those of Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel, and Helen Mirren) are completely wasted in the movie, but so is his character. Wilkinson is intended to be an evil foil to Benjamin Gates, but instead by the end of the movie comes off as being a completely sympathetic person that was just trying to clear his family's name just like Ben is doing.
The strongest thing about the movie is the characters. It is true that Benjamin Gates and Riley Poole and the rest of the cast are basically cardboard figures. However, they are cardboard characters that the audience actually cares about, even without ever having seen NATIONAL TREASURE. Abigail is beautiful and throughout the movie the audience roots that the adventure will bring her and Ben back together; Riley Poole is adorable and the audience keeps hoping he will end up with a fraction of the success that Ben has; etc.
Overall, though NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS isn't a great action-adventure movie and at times struggles to build excitement, it is a decent yarn involving some lovable characters.
Customer Review: Great movie!
National Treasure 2 is one of my favorite movies. It has a perfect balance of action, story, and humor. I also really like all the historical details that were added in.
The only thing I didn't like about it (and this is a very minor flaw to the movie) is that Ben Gates extols Abraham Lincoln, calling him one of his favorite presidents. I am NOT racist by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't think the "Civil" war was fought solely over the issue of slavery. I think history shows us that Lincoln had an agenda to bring about a highly-centralized form of government that few of our founding fathers had. (On this topic, I would recommend "The War between the States: America's Uncivil War.) You can leave a comment on this review if you disagree with me and I'll try to answer your objections to the best of my ability.
Despite this, I give this movie five stars. I think this movie is comparable with the first National Treasure (see my review on that movie for more details).
News about online book stores
How Iron Man was trounced by a scruffy car thief - Metromix
Thu, 08 May 2008 23:39:27 GMT
How Iron Man was trounced by a scruffy car thief Metromix, IL - Video games are sold online and in stores, a distribution model more like CDs and DVDs than newly released films. However, such similarities end there, ... |
Lunch for Thursday, May 8
Thu, 08 May 2008 17:22:49 GMT
Bertelsmann Updates on Quarter, as Executive Sends New Signals In a short first quarter trading update, Bertelsmann disclosed that sales fell almost 4 percent to 4.2 billion euros, as net income turned positive ...
booking hotel
online book stores For Your Reading Pleasure
Selling Ebooks & Other Digital Goods on eBay
The sale of ebooks on eBay is a large market and it is a venture that can be filled with great opportunity and success for the seller, as well as the buyer. The great thing about ebooks is that many of them come with Master Resell Rights. What does this mean and how can it help the buyer and reseller?
Master Resell Rights are granted by the publisher of an ebook (or other digital product) to the sellers of their product. In turn, the buyer can turn around and sell it to other ebook buyers, keeping 100% of the profits they generate from their sales. No commissions or royalties need to be paid to the original publisher. (Please note that the copyright remains the property of the original publisher. Copyrights are not transferred, just the right to distribute the products.)
So, everyone profits from these Master Resell Rights.
Digital products, like ebooks, are easy to sell. Here are some examples why selling ebooks can be to your benefit:
1. Oftentimes, the publisher of the ebook provides cover graphics and a sales letter in web page format so that you can easily customize it with your own information and upload it to your own server for people to download after purchase.
2. No trips are required to the post office if you send via internet only. Some sellers opt to burn the ebooks onto a CD and mail it out via snail mail to their buyers. (By doing it this way, the seller rakes in more profits by charging for Shipping & Handling.) It is important to note at this point that if you are selling ebooks delivered via internet download on eBay that it is AGAINST eBay rules to charge Shipping and Handling for this transaction. Many ebook sellers charge S&H anyway, but I find it is best to follow all of eBay's rules. Keeping your nose clean is the best way to develop your reputation on eBay.
3. Selling digital products is not that time consuming. In the beginning, the set up is a bit time consuming, as the seller must upload all their ebooks to their server, as well as customize the sales letters and create eBay listings for the eproducts. When you have most of your digital deliveries on autopilot, you can spend a few hours a day developing your relationships with your buyers and potential buyers. By this, I mean following up on items purchased, developing new digital products for your buyers, and marketing your e-products on the internet as well as other sources.
eBay's new Digital Delivery System has really simplified and broadened the ability to sell digital goods on eBay. Although it does have its drawbacks, I find that it is really the best way to get your product to your buyer. To learn more about eBay's Digital Delivery System, please consult this informational area provided by eBay:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/selling-digital-items.html
With this new ability to provide the download location immediately to eBay buyers, sellers are able to free up much of their time because it cuts down on manually sending emails. When the download URL is made readily available to the buyer, you do not have to worry about the buyers' email spam filters or even their correct email address. As soon as the PayPal payment is processed, the location is disclosed on their receipt. In addition, buyers can access the download location again at any time by doing the following:
1. Sign in to the eBay account name under which the item was purchased.
2. Go to "My eBay."
3. View the "Items I've Won."
4. Select the item and view the ad listing again.
5. Click on the hyperlink provided: "View digital delivery information for this item."
eBay's Digital Delivery System does have some drawbacks of which you may want to be aware:
1. You must qualify to sell digital goods according to eBay's seller requirements as described in the hyperlink above.
2. The buyers MUST use PayPal and MUST pay immediately. No money orders, checks, or echecks!
3. Each digital item must be purchased individually, so invoices cannot be combined. This means the seller must pay the credit card processing fee for each transaction.
4. Digital goods can no longer be sold in Auction format. You are forced to use only Fixed Price or Buy it Now. In addition, you are restricted to list the item in only certain categories.
To amass a large selection of ebooks is pretty easy, they are all over the internet. Each ebook has its own terms of use and distribution rights that you will want to investigate and try to follow.
To sell ready-made ebooks, you will not need to know much about copyright law. However, if you create your own ebooks, you may want to read up on copyright law and make sure that if you quote or use an extensive amount of someone else's text that you know how to give proper credit for this, or if you need to give credit at all.
Now, on to the competition. Many people ask me about the nature of ebooks with Master Resell Rights. "Aren't you just feeding your competition, since they will be selling the same exact thing?" Yes, most definitely you will be. And that is what you want to do. There are reasons for this, and they all have to do with branding, affiliate programs, advertising, and joint ventures, among other things.
Major idea to keep in mind: Ebooks are considered "viral" marketing tools, because they spread like wildfire.
The ebook market is big enough for all of us. What a seller brings to the market is what makes this a wonderful industry to be a part of. Each seller and ebook publisher is different. Each has a different niche, a different sales perspective, varying philosophies, and a different level of experience. It is best to see each ebook seller as a partner rather than competition. If you view them in this way, you will profit from your relationships much more than if you try to sabotage or bring them down.
It's all about helping one another to make some extra money. :)
So, keep offering new, quality products in subjects people are interested in and present them well. Equip your buyers with things they will need to sell these products. Develop relationships with other serious ebook sellers.
Unfortunately, as in every industry, there exists scam artists and those who do not deliver on their claims, or try to deceive you into thinking you will make zillions of dollars from just selling ebooks. Selling ebooks is work and one must put time into researching the market, and the best ways to get your products to your buyers. This is another reason why you should develop relationships with other ebook sellers. They can help you immensely in overcoming obstacles that are common in the business.
I spend hours and hours on this every day. Not every ebook seller needs to do this. I am just the type of person who is always looking to grow and expand my business. You CAN make money on selling ebooks, even as a nice little side income. Like everything else in life, what you get out of it is what you put into it. :-)
And, to be fair, there are some downsides to selling ebooks you should be aware of.
1. You will have to spend money before you earn money. Invest in a quality web hosting service and buy an inventory of newer and operational ebooks. If you are interested in creating your own ebooks, you may want to invest in a digital ebook compiler of some sort (to make PDFs and/or executable files) and graphics templates.
2. Ebay's rules can be confusing, but try to follow them to the best of your understanding and ability.
3. You must keep track of your ebooks. Once you start collecting them, I recommend creating various folders on your hard drive to house your ebooks in a system that you will be able to revisit again easily. Perhaps by resell rights permissions, then by topic, for example. Whatever works best for you.
Please keep in mind, I do not claim to be an ebook expert. I learn something new about ebooks every day. But I have been selling ebooks on eBay since early 2005, and have gained some knowledge on the business, especially how to do it in the eBay environment.
I hope this guide has helped you and has provided you with some insight into the every day world of selling ebooks on eBay.
If you are interested in learning more about creating, selling, or distributing infoproducts, please feel free to contact me at http://www.distinctivedownloads.com.
Thank you for time.
Wishing you the best of success,
Niki Rodino
http://www.distinctivedownloads.com
online book stores Items For Viewing
18" True Angle Tool
18" True Angle Tool
The Original True Angle tool is the worlds fastest & easiest angle making tool available. Just rotate the blades and read the dial. The hairline locates the exact angle within a tolerance of 5/1000ths. The blades rotate 360 degrees in both directions. To lock the blades, lightly tighten the finger nut. To unlock the blades rotate the top blade counterclockwise. The Original True Angle replaces every triangle, protractor, try square, bevel square, rafter square, framing square, combination square, or any other angle making template presently manufactured anywhere in the world. -------- We ship next business day via US Postal Service Priority ("Standard" - average 2-4 days) or Express ("Expedited" - guaranteed within 2 days). --------
Customer Review: Good but...
The tool is precise, easy to use, fairly durable (it will scratch). The dial gauge is very tiny and you can only read to about 1 degeree of accuracy at best, if you have good eyes and light. You must be careful of parallax also. For mitered inside corners parallax is a major issue and really hurts the ultimate accuracy of the tool. Even with these issues, this tool is less valuable than it may seem.
The main purpose fo the 18" and 23" true angle tool is for installing crown, chair rail and base mouldings. It is used to determine the true wall angle so your mitered joints match the wall angle. Some may even try to tell you that the difficult part of moulding installation (tight joints) will be easy now.
I can tell you the worst wall I measured was 91 degrees. Ok, 1 degreee will produce a gap. So it makes sense that a more precise measurement will correct this. right? wrong. The biggest "out of square" is not wall to wall. It is #1 the straightness of the ceiling that will impact these joints the most. Notice I said "most". Because the wall to wall, the ceiling to wall, straigntness of the wall and straightness of the ceiling ALL throw off prefectly mitered joints.
There are many tricks that are somewhat effective to making tight mitered joints but even if you have some good ones, you will have some bad ones.
The real answer is to forget this tool and cope. I resisted coping because it is not fun and is time consuming. AND you will STILL neeed to caulk ceiling and wall joints. Even perfect mitered or coped joints do not eliminate caulk. Your walls and ceiling will not be prefectly flat even if they are exactly 90 degrees.
So make coping easier by using a Easy Coper jig and a jig saw with a fine blade. You will get fast work, decent joints (Always because coped joints are more forgiving). It is structurally much better so even if the house settles or wood changes size, the worst you will get is a crack in the paint. Easily fixable.
HOWEVER, for outside corners it does help some. Again, all of the outside corners in my house were within 1 degree of square. And the biggest difficulty is the ceiling and wall straightness, NOT angle. So to get tight outside joints was still using glue, forcing boards to fit and then nailing them in place.
I consider the 18"/23" useless for moulding unless your walls are greatly out of square.
I do think the 7" version could be a handy tool, just not for moulding installs.
My Peek-A-Boo Soft Book
My Peek-A-Boo Soft Book
Children develop into eager readers when they're engaged at a young age. My Peek-A-Boo Book offers age appropriate language and activities that promote curiosity and motor-skill development. Dimensions: 6.25" H
The Magic School Bus: Blows Its Top
The Magic School Bus: Blows Its Top
Customer Review: Entertaining and educational
The Magic School Bus never lets me down! As a preschool science teacher, I use these videos to supplement what we are learning about. The little ones love MSB and request to watch them over and over again. In this video, they explore volcanoes and eruptions. The scientific language is used correctly and they illustrate each point in ways that children can understand. Two thumbs up for MSB!
National Treasure 2 - Book of Secrets (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
National Treasure 2 - Book of Secrets (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) sets out to find the lost 18 pages from the diary of Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth. One of the 18 missing pages has been discovered by Jeb Wilkinson (Ed Harris). On that page are the names of the Lincoln assassination conspirators. Thomas Gates, Ben Gates' great-great-grandfather, is listed on the page. After discovering this, Ben does not want Thomas Gates to be remembered "as a conspirator in the assassination of the man who brought this nation together." His quest to clear his family's name leads to unexpected twists and turns. Agent Sadusky (Harvey Keitel) tells Ben that a secret book has the information he needs. The president's "book of secrets" holds documents, for presidents' eyes only, of all the nations secrets; from the truth behind the JFK conspiracy, the missing minutes from the Watergate tapes, and Area 51. When Ben's request to see the book is denied, he says he must kidnap the president. Each clue leads him closer "to a discovery that the world isn't ready to believe."
Customer Review: Still Fun, But Not as Exciting
While delivering a presentation about his great-grandfather, Thomas Gates (Joel Gretsch) and his relationship to John Wilkes Booth and attempt to stop the assassination of President Lincoln, Ben Gates (Nicholas Cage) is challenged by a man, Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris), who claims to have a missing page from John Wilkes Booth's diary that suggests that Thomas Gates was actually one of the ring-leaders of Lincoln's assassination. In an attempt to prove his great-grandfather's innocence, Ben, Abigail (Diane Kruger), and Riley (Justin Bartha) begain a globetrotting adventure that takes them from Buckingham Palace to the Oval Office in the White House. Their journey ultimately leads Ben to "kidnapping" the President of the United States (Bruce Greenwood) and a perilous journey inside Mount Rushmore.
NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS is a fairly average action-adventure movie. Like the original movie, BOOK OF SECRETS boasts a decent mixture of actual history with tons of conspiracy theories to bolster an otherwise lackluster plot. However, there really isn't as much action as there was in the first movie. Things have been watered down, including the "villain", Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris). Harris' talents (as well as those of Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel, and Helen Mirren) are completely wasted in the movie, but so is his character. Wilkinson is intended to be an evil foil to Benjamin Gates, but instead by the end of the movie comes off as being a completely sympathetic person that was just trying to clear his family's name just like Ben is doing.
The strongest thing about the movie is the characters. It is true that Benjamin Gates and Riley Poole and the rest of the cast are basically cardboard figures. However, they are cardboard characters that the audience actually cares about, even without ever having seen NATIONAL TREASURE. Abigail is beautiful and throughout the movie the audience roots that the adventure will bring her and Ben back together; Riley Poole is adorable and the audience keeps hoping he will end up with a fraction of the success that Ben has; etc.
Overall, though NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS isn't a great action-adventure movie and at times struggles to build excitement, it is a decent yarn involving some lovable characters.
Customer Review: Great movie!
National Treasure 2 is one of my favorite movies. It has a perfect balance of action, story, and humor. I also really like all the historical details that were added in.
The only thing I didn't like about it (and this is a very minor flaw to the movie) is that Ben Gates extols Abraham Lincoln, calling him one of his favorite presidents. I am NOT racist by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't think the "Civil" war was fought solely over the issue of slavery. I think history shows us that Lincoln had an agenda to bring about a highly-centralized form of government that few of our founding fathers had. (On this topic, I would recommend "The War between the States: America's Uncivil War.) You can leave a comment on this review if you disagree with me and I'll try to answer your objections to the best of my ability.
Despite this, I give this movie five stars. I think this movie is comparable with the first National Treasure (see my review on that movie for more details).
News about online book stores
How Iron Man was trounced by a scruffy car thief - Metromix
Thu, 08 May 2008 23:39:27 GMT
How Iron Man was trounced by a scruffy car thief Metromix, IL - Video games are sold online and in stores, a distribution model more like CDs and DVDs than newly released films. However, such similarities end there, ... |
Lunch for Thursday, May 8
Thu, 08 May 2008 17:22:49 GMT
Bertelsmann Updates on Quarter, as Executive Sends New Signals In a short first quarter trading update, Bertelsmann disclosed that sales fell almost 4 percent to 4.2 billion euros, as net income turned positive ...
booking hotel
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