Masterpieces (the Home Collection of Great Art

Endlessly imitated and parodied, Ingmar Bergman's landmark art movie The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde Inseglet) retains its ability to hold an audience spellbound. Bergman regular Max von Sydow stars as a 14th century knight named Antonius Block, wearily heading home after ten years' worth of combat. Disillusioned by unending war, plague, and misery Block has concluded that God does not exist. As he trudges across the wilderness, Block is visited by Death (Bengt Ekerot), garbed in the traditional black robe. Unwilling to give up the ghost, Block challenges Death to a game of chess. If he wins, he lives – if not, he'll allow Death to claim him. As they play, the knight and the Grim Reaper get into a spirited discussion over whether or not God exists. To recount all that happens next would diminish the impact of the film itself; we can observe that The Seventh Seal ends with one of the most indelible of all of Bergman's cinematic images: the near-silhouette "Dance of Death".

With 524 plates, 251 in full color The American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum is the home of America's most important and wide-ranging collection of the painting, sculpture, and decorative arts that have flourished in this country since our earliest days. Now for the first time the treasures of the collection are presented in a book that encompasses and celebrates the richness of our visual heritage. …

Scottish indie pop stalwarts the Trash Can Sinatras were founded outside of Glasgow in 1987 by singer/guitarist Frank Reader (the brother of ex-Fairground Attraction singer Eddi Reader), guitarists John Douglas and Paul Livingston, bassist George McDaid, and drummer Stephen Douglas. Initially formed as a cover band, they were performing in a local bar when they were discovered by Go! Discs label representative Simon Dine; their first single, the superb "Obscurity Knocks," appeared in early 1990, evoking the jangly guitar pop crafted by Scottish bands like Aztec Camera, Orange Juice, and Josef K a decade earlier. A second Trash Can Sinatras single, "Only Tongue Can Tell," preceded the release of the quintet's debut LP, Cake, which met with a positive response on both sides of the Atlantic; in the U.S., it became a particular favorite on college radio.

The British Museum is home to some of the world's finest and broadest collections, ranging from prehistoric times to the present and from ancient and modern cultures around the globe.