over

Hot Wheels Over the Door Display Case
$14.99
I am a mother of 3 boys. My oldest two, ages 2 and 4, have an extensive hot wheels collection. I bought this item to provide them with an attractive, easily accessible storage option for their hot wheels. However, I was very disappointed with the durability and functionality of this product. It will only hold hot wheels cars. It does not hold trucks, vans or any of the more creative hot wheels designs. Most importantly the cloth straps which support it are stitched into the plastic seams on the face of the storage unit. This allows the front to tear easily away from the straps. The item only lasted a month in my home before the stitching was torn from the plastic seams, rendering it useless. It is disappointing that the name of such a durable toy was placed on such a flimsy storage solution. I would only recommend this product for use with much older children.

Over America [Blu-ray]
$19.99
This is a gorgeous video now available on Amazon in high def BLU-RAY for only about $10. If you're like me and you enjoy viewing spectacular landscapes from above, this video is hard to beat.

Over: The American Landscape at the Tipping Point
$45.00
If you have MacLean's previous book: 'Designs on the land' you'll enjoy this latest collection of looking down on the landscape. Though the book doesn't have as many photos as 'Designs' it does have the advantage of presenting them in a much larger format.

Each of the nine chapters (Atmosphere, Way of life, Automobile dependency, Electricity generation, Deserts, Water use, Sea-level rise, Waste and recycling and lastly Urbanism) starts on a spread with a short essay by MacLean and a US map showing the photo locations.

Many of the photos focus on the southwest states because it is here that the greatest population migration is taking place, land aplenty and cheap but unfortunately the whole area has a declining water table because of demand and made even more problematical with agriculture using nearly two thirds of what is available. There are some great photos showing communities in the desert stretching off into the distance, who's going to build apartment blocks when there is plenty of land for individual houses? This sprawl, of course, means that energy, water systems and roads are a drain on local government finances and everyone has to have a car.

As in all his books MacLean presents the perfect image, pin-sharp and full of detail but with Over there is more because the book is beautifully designed and printed (with a 175 screen) on quality paper. I was particularly impressed with the binding, at least half of the photos are two pages wide (almost eighteen inches) and they all line up across the gutter.

'Over' is one of those books you can open at any page and be grabbed by what you see. The look of the land was never more seductive.

***SEE SOME INSIDE PAGES by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.

Over British Columbia [Blu-ray]
$19.99
This 1996 production is not up to current high-definition video standard, and the audio soundtrack is 2 channel stereo. It's a disappointment as a Blu-Ray disc.