5 comments about Full of Secrets: Critical Approaches to Twin Peaks (Contemporary Film and Television Series).

1. After there was no hope for the show's return, I found some of the essays from this book at my college library during the mid 90's. It is great to be able to own them!
   
   Sure, some of the essays are somewhat pretensious and in some cases in accurate, but you will not find the series analyzed like this anywhere else. This book is a very unique resource. If you are a fan of the show, then you will absolutely love this book.



2. Twin Peaks offered a door into that which is below the Matrix that we assume is "reality." In many ways it is like the red pill that Morpheus offers Neo. This book explores the various elements in the show that opens up vision. To see more does not mean there is some final answers. What does happen is-- what we assume proves to be wrong. When we hear the music of the show it is not just supportive sound, when we see people act they are not carrying out the cliches of the ordinary. We see the typologies of our pop culture but the cliches of their characters are violated or turned upside down. There is humor in the show because humor liberates and the apparent order of the town is seen to be an accomplishment of all kinds of human evnergy and possibility hidden below the cliches. If you hated the show-- the book will be of no value. IF you liked the show or are passionate about the work of David Lynch-- this book can give you words and pathways to walk to learn why.



3. If you've been wondering what serious academic scholars think about Twin Peaks,
   this is the book for you.

   On the other hand, if you want fun reading about a fun show, Agent Cooper's
   Autobiography or Welcome to Twin Peaks: Access Guide would be a better bet. ;-)

   A dozen in-depth analyses of the unique TV series, written by a raft of PhD's,
   including professors from leading universities. No matter how many times you've
   watched the programs, I guarantee that this book will tell you things you've
   never noticed . . . or even imagined. There's a complete listing of characters,
   a calendar/timeline, and 50 pages of scene-by-scene descriptions of all the
   episodes, plus the movie.

   The last chapter is a sort of free-for-all panel discussion (or, as the eight
   co-authors describe it, "a writing strategy that privileges the dialogic
   interchange rather than the monologic pronouncement"). Here are the concluding
   remarks:

   REEVES: Maybe David Lynch is possessed by BOB so he is not responsible
   for his actions.
   ALL: Hmmmm . . .

   In my opinion, this book's sometimes pompous, sometimes far-fetched, sometimes
   incomprehensible attempts to dissect the products of David Lynch's wild creativity
   are--if one takes a step back--wryly appropriate to Twin Peaks' own blending of
   the mundane and the weird.




4. "The echolalia and subvocal signs of the semiotic - what we might call feminine Twinspeak - therefore co-exist with and challenge both the patriarchal canonization of Laura Palmer and its Freudian subtext. (104)"

   The above sentence comes from arguably the best of the twelve essays contained within this book, Christy Desmet's "The Canonization of Laura Palmer." She makes some extremely insightful points, but to reach them, you have to wade through pretentious written-with-thesaurus-in-hand idiocy like the preceding paragraph.

   In general, those expecting to find opinions on what the Red Room really is, or whether coffee and cherry pie are a metaphor for something deeper, will have to parse through endless masturbatory babble, and for the most part will be ultimately disappointed by the lack of any revelations about the show itself (one notable exception is Angela Hague's interesting "Derationalization of Detection," which delves briefly into what actually happened to Cooper in the Black Lodge).

   Some essays, such as Jonathan Rosenbaum's "Bad Ideas..." might simply be re-titled "Why I liked Twin Peaks," as it comes off more like high-brow film criticism than anything else, revealing nothing about the show other than why the writer thought it was good. Ditto Marc Dolan's essay "The Peaks and Valleys...", which contains only speculation as to why the show might have lost its audience. Henry Jenkins' is awful, doing nothing more than chronicling ultimately irrelevant discussions on alt.tv.twinpeaks while the show was airing.

   A few of the feminist writers are equally terrible for different reasons. Martha Nochimson's "Desire Under the Douglas Firs..." had potential to be very interesting, but went on a "phallocentric" tangent, and from her we read insights like "The phallic nature of the thumbs up sign, and the phallic incapacity of the Old Bellhop, who cannot stand up straight, are complemented by the visionary presence of The Giant, a phallic presence, as emphasized by the visual foregrounding of The Giant's crotch. (153).

   In addition, I fear, some of these writers seem to be a little out of their depth, and readers who are specialists in any of the fields contained within might be able to find numerous mistakes. For instance, in the essay about music (my own area of specialty) Kathryn Kalinak misidentifies leitmotifs, writes musical examples in the wrong key AND mode, and generally reveals herself to be musically illiterate. She also assigns import and symbolism to things that deserve none. She notes that in one scene, "a country and western selection on the jukebox mysteriously disappears for Shelley and Norma's entrance only to reappear a few moments later," citing this as proof that Lynch is trying to make us aware of the line "between illusion and artifice." Nonsense. It was an editing mistake. I could wax philosophical that the chess game between Cooper and Earle (which contained impossible positions/illegal moves) was Lynch trying to symbolically demonstrate any number of things, but it was really just Lynch being lazy, and that's fine.

   The essays alone really only merit two stars, but following them "Full of Secrets" has several excellent appendices which contain writing/directorial/acting credits, a Twin Peaks calendar of events, and a complete scene breakdown from the pilot through FWWM, all very well done and useful.

   For the rest of the book, well, you've been warned.




5. David Lavery's book is, beyond any doubt, a book to purchase for any fan of "Twin Peaks" or related Lynch material. This book of essays, focusing on different themes and messages in David Lynch's tv-serial, is most likely the best of its kind on the marked.
   Take a mesmorising trip through the fantastic of "Twin Peaks" or go looking for clues to unlocking its strange mysteries - this book will give you all the leads. So whether you are into exploring doubling, postmodern culture, detective fiction, the fantastic, or merely the world of David Lynch, I strongly recommend getting a hold of this book. An amazing a thorough read - even better than the otherwise strong "Weirdsville USA"!!!

3 comments about The Skit Book: 101 Skits from Kids.

1. My elementary school kids have used this book for YEARS to prepare skits for their school talent show, church talent show, and 4-H programs. The skits are easy and most require little speaking which makes it PERFECT for young children... or we adults who can't remember speaking lines! Youth leaders or school teachers would find this book very useful... I have loaned my book several times and am always careful to make sure it comes back to me because this is one that I DON'T want to lose!



2. Tired of suffering through absolutely terrible skits, I looked around for a good book. I found one! These skits are fun, easy to put on, and do not require being cleared by the Board of Censorship.



3. This book is a mother's dream. Easy to read, simply organized, and quickly put into action for an afternoon of great fun. I tried 3 of these skits on my own kids and they loved it. One skit calls for placing a raisin, posing as a fly, on a table. The first child comes in, pretends to take off the wings, and leaves. The second child comes in, pretends to remove the legs, and leaves. The third child comes in, utters aloud that it looks like a raisin, and eats it. The groans and giggles from the child actors and the audience were priceless! There are dozens of more tasteful skits and clever ones, too, along with the gross ones that kids like. A fine way to involve kids creatively without much preparation required.

5 comments about YOU CAN BANK ON YOUR VOICE: Your Guide to a Successful Career in Voice-Overs.

1. Good book for broadcast interest!
   Recommended reading



2. I've been taking classes in NY and everything I'm learning is what is in this book! I recommend it if you're thinking about getting into the business. There are helpful websites listed in his book that I went to before I spent money on classes and I have been able to find out even more information. I was amazed at how much information is in here that instructors charge so much money for. Do it. The voice over world is yours.



3. This book is a great addition to any person venturing into the voiceover business. Working with my clients in my private practice they benefit from accumulated knowledge. Along with reading books like this one my firsthand experience allows them to get a full picture of the industry and prepare them for the business.



4. I ordered the book and the CD's in one package. Not only is the book entertaining and informative, I read it in a couple of hours and have already put into action some of the advice. As a veteran broadcaster who is transitioning into the voice-over business, I needed a plan of attack. In purchasing the material, I was looking for a resource guide and mentor. That's exactly what I've found. The principle reason Mr. Saulsberry is enjoying huge success is because he works hard, enjoys what he does and doesn't mind sharing the information with people like me, Freddie Bell. I believe that by following the suggestions he makes and appyling your own common sense will help anyone reach their goals. I'm banking on my voice with the guidance from Saulsberry book. For the novice and the veteran alike, this book is a must have. I am a real person and can be reached for validation at freddiebell@voiceunique.com



5. Rodney open's up his heart and head and let's all the GOOD STUFF spill out on the page...The result is the ultimate guide to getting started and then succeeding in the lucrative world of voice-over. Any job, no matter if it's a comercial, a movie trailer or an animated character's voice, Rodney's book is required reading as you make your way towards becoming a PROFESSIONAL VOICE-OVER ARTIST. He shares concepts regarding auditioning, performing and training, as well as covering the personal, business side of being a voice-over artist(and so much more!). I'm forever indebted to Rodney for his friendship, his mentoring and of course, this very awesome book. Bravo, Rodney. THANK YOU FOR SHARING WITH ALL OF US.

2 comments about Little Caesar: A Biography of Edward G. Robinson.

1. Edward G. Robinson seemed tough, but he had a sensitive side too that was most obviously expressed in his love of modern art; his collection of Renoirs alone was for many years the most impressive West of the Mississippi. He was said to have bought a masterpuece every time he made another film for Warner Brothers, to reward himself with some beauty for dipping himself in dreck. And yet Robinson's films still startle with their magnificent energy and passion. They too are works of art every bit as much as his Soutines and his Picassos.
   
   He was not a ladies man in the traditional sense of the term, but as Gansberg's fine biography shows, he was interested in all forms of beauty. And part of the reason he could so well play obsessed characters (such as his films with Joan Bennett in the noir cycle) is that he too was prone to obsession.
   
   The blacklist (or more strictly speaking, the graylist) affected his career badly. For some time offers of employment dried up, even though he was never a Communist or anywhere near it. The mere idea is laughable. Cecil B. De Mille of all people, the director and producer often thought of as a rightwing nut case, was the one who gave Robinson a solid job playing in his own remake of the TEN COMMANDMENTS. No other mogul in Hollywood would have had the balls to cast Robinson so promimently, not at that time when men walked scared of HUAC and its minions. It took a compassionate conservative to restore Robinson to the high echelon of film stardom to which he rightfully belonged.
   
   Robinson's own book, ALL MY YESTERDAYS, was famous for revealing so little about its subject. Author Gansburg gets right down to ground zero with Robinson's psyche, exploring his ups as well as his well chronicled downs. I wish I had been a fly on the wall when Gansburg interviewed some of his many Among his many films, TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN, THE VIOLENT MEN, SCARLET STREET, SOYLENT GREEN and NIGHTMARE have all undergone recent critical revision, while DOUBLE INDEMNITY< KEY LARGO, and THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW remain American masterpieces of the highest order.



2. This book, except for the Epilogue, was written in 1983, ten years after Edward G. Robinson's death. The author, Alan Gansberg, therefore had the opportunity to interview a number of key friends and relatives to gain insight into the man, and we are richer for it. Emanuel Goldenberg, aka Edward G. Robinson, was defined by his strong Jewish upbringing and the words of his father, who taught his children to improve themselves and to "Always live beyond your means. It will make you work harder." Robinson took both pieces of advice to heart. He was a life-long learner, a tremendous workhorse, and made the best of every talent he had. In his early efforts to get into acting, he sold himself with the line that he was "not good on face value, but good on stage value." And he delivered, got noticed, and found himself, in 1915, in the play "Under Fire," a war melodrama where Robinson played three different parts. The play opened first in Boston, and Robinson received a glowing review in the "Boston Globe." Shortly thereafter, the play went to New York, and Robinson again got good notices in "Vanity Fair" and "The Theatre Magazine." This was the turning point for Robinson. At 22, he dropped out of CCNY, bought a new wardrobe, and turned his full attention to his new career. And this book takes you through every aspect of that brilliant career, including the awful times of the early 1950s, where Robinson was forced to appear (twice) before HUAC to clear his name against anonymous charges that he was a communist sympathizer and even a Russian spy. Heading up the right wing and enforcing graylisting and blacklisting was the head of the Screen Actors Guild at that time, none other than Ronald Reagan, who knew which way the wind was blowing and made certain his career was never in danger. This book puts Reagan in a bad light as a manipulative, self-serving, self-righteous fellow with little compassion. The consequences of Reagan's indifference to the suffering of his fellow actors are apparent in Robinson's and others' suffering, including that of John Garfield. Robinson, like millions of others, was nothing more than an FDR liberal all his life, and wasn't shy about it. For this he was punished, and, in the Epilogue, Gansberg draws parallels to today's repressive national climate.
   I have always enjoyed Edward G. Robinson and am grateful to Turner Classic Movies for broadcasting Robinson movies from his Warner Brother years. Robert Osborne, the host of TCM, mentioned this book at the recent screening of "Larceny, Inc.," a 1942 "flop" that actually is pretty entertaining today, if a bit tiresome.
   The book has an excellent Appendix listing all the stage, screen, television, and radio appearances of Robinson. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to read about the life and times of a great actor and a warm, engaged person. Robinson's biggest fault, which he himself admitted, was that he wasn't a great fathter to his troubled son, Manny. That comes across in the book too. "This was a man" is a line from the Antony soliloquy in "Julius Caesar," which Robinson used in his first audition, in 1912, for the Sargent School, later the Academy of Dramatic Arts. The soliloquy describes Robinson himself.

4 comments about Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll.

1. Eric Bogosian has a knack for creating great little monologues that completely suck you in. As unpleasant, or even repelling, as so many of his characters are, their tales are nonetheless engrossing, sharp, raw and extremely funny. You'll plow through this in no time, anxious to read each next monologue. And you'll be quick to pick it back up for a re-read too.



2. Bogosian has a knack for creating compelling characters. A common aspect to all of his characters is desperation. Whether it the paranoid desperation of the "Artist" who stopped making art because "they" would know what he was thinking to the quiet despertion of the homeless "Bottleman" who finds comfort in collecting bottles or cans ("Bottles or cans, it makes no difference") so that he can enjoy an egg salad sandwich to the despertion of the man who calls "Candy" for a good time.

   Right from the beginning, Bogosian (both in writing and as the lone actor in a one man show) pushes the envelope in establishing characters who live on the edges of society and who feel the pressure of desperation in their lives. For those of you who are interested, the movie "Talk Radio" has Bogosian exploring themes similar to those explored in "Sex, Drugs, ROck & Roll."




3. This work amazed me. Acting is generally seen as a cooperative effort, but this collection of monologues proves that wrong. Usually funny and almost always far more insightful than anything in the movies, this work takes an often ignored route to exploring contemporary American culture. Some people may be offended by the vulgar nature of some of the monologues (such as Dirt, in which the only word in the first sentence that is not an obscenity is 'ya'), this very vulgarity is a reality of life that is necessary to accept in order to understand what Bogosian has to say.



4. Eric Bogosian is one of those writers, like J.D. Salinger or Raymond Carver, who makes me feel like I am not alone. I'm not the only detached observer wondering why the current state of humanity is so absurd. Bogosian always writes about junkies, losers, and heartless bastards. But they always have something that is perceptive and interesting to say. As the last charcter in the book, a nameless "Artist" says, "If they know what I was thinking, man...I'd be dead." I feel the same way with the wealth of "irrational" thoughts that float around in my head. Bogosian is also an expert satirist. Are you tired of self promoting, so called "charitable" rock stars? Read "Benefit," in which a Keith Richards-type figure encourages television viewers to support his "Amazonian Indian" fundraiser. Why? Because they don't even have Pepsi. After reading this book, I find like at least there was some one else who shares some of my views on life. And that revelation felt like it might have saved my life.

1 comments about Tell It Like It Is: Fifty Monologues for Talented Teens.

1. Peg Kehret's book of monologues for teens is a well-rounded, useful book for both classroom use and competition.
   
   The scenes range from funny (Too Much Homework pg. 3, Why It Took Me Four Hours to Make my Bed pg. 112) to sweet (Fatty Patty pg. 27, Grampa's Eyes pg. 36, Heavenly Dimes pg. 45) to sad (Ryan's Gun pg 53). Kehret has several monologues concerning animals (Doggie Delights pg. 8, Toto Tells the Truth About Oz pg. 15, The Day I Was a Dog pg. 25, Roadside Rescue pg. 36, A Home for Katie pg. 84) and rites of passages (The Tooth Fairy pg. 6, Goodbye, Old Jeans pg. 19, Changing Classes pg. 49). Also included in the offerings are historical monologues about segregation (Remembering Little Rock pg. 34), the depression (Dust Bowl Memories pg. 73) and Manifest Destiny (Wagon Train West pg. 94).
   
   She crafts both contemporary and historical characters with a large range of emotion and enough flow and peak to each monologue that beginners to advanced students in speech and drama will be able to utilize all 50 monologues. Many of the monologues are genderless which makes them even more useful. Each monologue presents a unique character voice that will challenge teens without making it impossible for them to sound natural while speaking. This is an excellent book and would make a smart purchase in preparation for the upcoming forensics season.

No comments about El Burlador De Sevilla.

No comments about An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein.

No comments about A Midsummer Night's Dream (The New Cambridge Shakespeare).

3 comments about How to Audition: For TV, Movies, Commercials, Plays, and Musicals (2nd Edition).

1. Great tips for those who want to be working actors. At first I perused this as a library book, but quickly realized how helpful it would be, so I bought it. It's been a few years since I read it all, but I still use advice from its pages (like "have something creative to do after the audition..." or "your audition is not over until you are out the door").
   
   It reminds me of Michael Shurtleff's 'Audition', though Gordon Hunt's book is a bit more contemporary.



2. I bought this book after checking nine more in the bookstore. Despite I have two more in my wish list, this was perfect for me, because I was going to an interview three days later. So I devored the book, specially the interviews with different casting directors, because you learn from first hand. I went to the interview with a handfull of resources, and very confident.
   I also recomend "Audition" by Shurtleff, the best of the best. And "Acting is everything", full of resources.



3. I bought this book simply because Helen Hunt's father wrote it. I want to be an agent, and I found the information provided in this book to be an incredible resource, and something I share with all the actors, and those wanting to break into the industry, that I know!