3 comments about 100 Years 100 Stories.

1. It seems that no matter what he writes about, from the introduction about getting older to his nurse readjusting his toupee, he does it so very well with humor. (I did not even know that he wore a toupee!)
   
   These are really short one to two page stories of incidents that had occurred during his lifetime. It may or may not have you laughing out loud. It will at the very least, bring a smile to your face.



2. This came out almost the day Burns passed away. This is a very funny anecdotal review of George Burns' entire life -- many of the stories go back to his childhood. (His one-liner when the tough Irish kids in his neighborhood demanded to know if he was Catholic is priceless! Good thing he was a fast runner....)
   
   He was a very funny guy, and the book reads as though you could bring him back for a day and hang out while he just sits and tells stories. A lot of fun -- too bad it seems to be out of print.



3. I bought this book with the intention of reading one or two stories a day. I couldn't put it down. I was laughing out loud and my children begged me to read them what was so funny. I would read them some and they enjoyed it as much as I did. What started out as a month or so of giggles turned into an afternoon of belly-laughs.

5 comments about The Composer-Pianists: Hamelin and The Eight.

1. These kinds of books are often dry, but here we have an accessible, beautifully written volume about some of music's most original thinkers. Each insightful chapter is supported by letters and quotes from the composer-pianists themselves. I particularly appreciated the many Russian sources Rimm has uncovered, through archival materials and interviews. Hamelin provides terrific commentary, and the book also includes in-depth interviews with Stephen Hough, Radu Lupu, Zoltan Kocsis and Krystian Zimerman.



2. --you DO need to know a lot about the composers rimm writes about to enjoy this book--but ENJOY is the word--the book is written more as on-purpose belles lettres than encyclopedia entry, much less introduction musicology, and I find rimm's writing a lot of the time poetic and funny--but that's not the problem
   --this book has stirred up a lot of hostility towards rimm's collaborator marc hamelin, one of the great pianists, because the problem is that marc is presented as expert in BOTH parts of the artist-type composer pianist--marc's contribution to the book on the subject of the life of a working virtuoso pianist is EXPERT (i mean what else would it be)--his contribution on the subject of the working life of a composer is...LOL why get nasty
   --instead a plug--STEPHEN HOUGH is no slouch as a working virtuoso pianist--HIS contribution to Rimm's book gets squeezed out in a page-and-half forward BUT i'm plugging that this guy has been composing some pretty AMAZING transcriptions for his instrument--check out his dropdead march of siamese children (KING AND I) on his piano album 2--go on from there



3. This exceptional book provides a crucial reference, not only to individual biographies of eight composer-pianists the likes of Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Medtner, Busoni, Godowsky and others, but in how Rimm groups them in pairs. One reads comparisons and contrasts between and among them in a way that provides historical context to the vital composer-pianist tradition. As a pianist who has played many works by these composers, I found stylistic and emotional insights page after page. The chapter on musical criticism is another highlight, with its wry look at the sometimes ephemeral perspectives of music critics, with some very funny and also unfortunate examples. The inclusion of Marc-André Hamelin was a brilliant stroke. Rimm doesn't begin to suggest that he is in the same compositional league as the others, but Hamelin, one of the world's foremost pianists, provides invaluable au courant perspective and context. The companion CD from Hyperion is also a gem.



4. At first, I wondered why Chopin and Liszt weren't included in a book called "The Composer-Pianists," but these eight form a closely interrelated league all their own. By extensively quoting their letters, diaries and writings as they relate both to themselves and to each other (including intriguing material from Russia apparently never before translated), Rimm illuminates their thoughts, motivations, desires and methods. Although Hamelin is not widely known as a composer, he is recognized around the world as among their foremost interpreters. Who else has in his/her repertoire all the Medtner and Scriabin sonatas, the Chopin-Godowsky etudes, the Godowsky Passacaglia, the Alkan Concerto and solo-piano Symphony, the Busoni Concerto, et al., and at such an Olympian level of technical achievement and musical eloquence? I've heard several of Hamelin's compositions both in recital and on recordings, and he demonstrates polyphonic and pianistic sorcery (with transcriptions as well) that clearly echo The Eight. As Rimm posits, though, it remains to be seen whether Hamelin will occupy a lasting place compositionally. He also offers a perspective toward the future with names like Kocsis, Pletnev, Hough and others. (Incidentally, Stephen Hough has written a fine foreword to this book.)
   
   Rimm's chapter on transcriptions, a large part of The Eight's performances and compositions, should be required reading for anyone interested in the transcriber's art, and the chapter on musical criticism is both sharply observed and funny. Whether one hears music in terms of eroticism is fairly subjective (and I don't), Rimm cites numerous examples from most of these composers, especially Scriabin, that indicate direct expression of eroticism and sensuality through their music.
   
   Well written and comprehensively researched, including photographs and letters not otherwise accessible, this book may well contribute to the renaissance of Medtner, Alkan, Busoni and Godowsky. Hamelin surely has!



5. Fact #1: Rimm is a mediocre writer at his best, and consistently quite poor as an expositor: if you come to this book already knowing the biographies and compositions of "the eight" you will be able to read him with an awareness of what he's trying to say; if you don't already know basic biographical facts about Rimm's "eight" you will often be at sea in his narrative.
   Fact # 2: Hamelin is a pianist of unique technical gifts who wastes those gifts by using too much sustain pedal to achieve multi-voice effects, but leave Hamelin the pianist out of it for the moment: Hamelin is an amateur composer, he is in middle age now and so far he has composed several little pieces for the piano: some etudes, a prelude & fugue, a transcription of Rossini, unpublished so far, but all "composed", according to Rimm, with great and long effort... Well, to place Hamelin and his little, laborious output, as Rimm does, in the class of Alkan, Busoni and the others is a mind-boggling, grotesque absurdity. That Hamelin seems not to have objected to such comparison reflects badly on him. A reviewer, who refers to Hamelin as "Marc", writes that Rimm is a friend of Hamelin. Maybe that explains things.

5 comments about Lynch on Lynch (Directors on Directors).

1. Perfectly pitched interview style book on the Great David Lynch. Much of his work is, if you will, impressionistic. And so you wonder what he intended in several places. In the book he doesn't offer any direct revelations, but the indirect revelations never stop coming, and the man comes across in print as intellectual, artistic, and mystical. Much like his work.
   
   If you love his work I can almost guarantee you will love this book. The best read I've had in some time.
   
   Highly recommended.



2. This is a book unlike any I have ever read. It is 95% questions and answers, so don't expect it to be anything like a biography. Some pointed questions don't get "straight" answers; Lynch doesn't think like that as he is very much his own mind and more of a feeling thinker than an intellectual one. This is actually a good window into his mind, and like his movies probably does well with more than just one reading.



3. This book is a thorough and inspiring look into David Lynch's head. The original (which ended at Lost Highway) was a good read, but I think they were a little too fast to put out the second version. The newest revision ends right at Mulholland Drive. This is great for the reason that you get to read about him doing an unexpected Disney movie and also his battle with ABC over Mulholland Drive. You even get to read a little about his practice of Transcendental Meditation, which is kept graciously short as the man could usually (and has) filled books on the subject. However, I feel they jumped the gun here. Just after Mulholland Drive, DavidLynch.com and DV recording changed the man's entire approach. Any aspiring film maker and/or Lynch fan would completely benefit from his insight on such endeavors. For someone who went to the American Film Institute to completely do away with film is phenomenal and demands discussion. The internet has really put a spin on his work as well, considering his newfound freedom. This book, while masterfully executed by Chris Rodley, needs at least one more revision on the aforementioned topics. Before that happens, we're not given the entire glimpse into the man's complete range and utter ability to adapt to the times. By all means, read this book, you just might want to wait for the third revision.



4. In this revised edition of "Lynch on Lynch", two new sections have been added: one on the Straight Story and one on Mulholland Drive. As with the rest of the book the updated sections consist of Chris Rodley interviewing David Lynch. While some of the dialogue does become a bit repetitive, the questions really are well posed. In his answers Lynch gives a glimpse of his creative process and more; for example, he discusses the links between Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard and Mulholland Drive, talks about both his frustration with the TV medium and his attraction to it, as well as divulging more about his partnership with composer, Angelo Badalamenti (one of the most productive relationships between director and composer since Fellini and Nino Rota). Black and white photographs from sets are also included throughout.
   
   Considering the book in its entirety, it is a very comprehensive work, covering everything from the aforementioned material to Lynch's childhood, his early work in painting and the first experimental films he directed. This book is still THE one to get for fans of David Lynch. Reading it one comes away with the sense of having actually met and talked with the man himself -- none of the other books on Lynch really capture this feeling.
   
   Those who already own the old version of the book may want to think twice about purchasing the revised edition. The sections added are not all that lengthy and much of the material has already been discussed elsewhere.



5. This is a great book written by Chris Rodley that is basically a series of interviews with living legend David Lynch. If you're not into Lynch or his movies at all, I doubt you'll find anything insightful in here but if you appreciate the man at all, this is definitely a must read. It covers a lot of ground on his upbringing, film and art projects. What makes this book such a good read is that Rodley asks great questions to which Lynch answers in a very entertaining fashion. Reading this is probably the closest thing to actually speaking to him and he has an incredible, warm personality. While he doesn't give up his secrets too readily, he does share personal opinions on art in general (film, painting, photography, etc.) and what makes art powerful. He offers invaluable insight on the filmmaking process and some details on what it took to get his films made. He talks about his successes and debacles with equal parts candidness as well. I highly recommend this book to anyone who appreciates Lynch and anyone who digs offbeat filmmakers.
   
   (NOTE: Make sure that if you pick this up, you get the edition that has been revised and updated to include "Mulholland Drive")

1 comments about Japanese Theater in the World.

1. This book is actually a catalog published in conjunction with an exhibit of the same title shown at the Japan Society in Late 1997 and Munich, Germany in Mid 1998.

   It is a superb representation of Japanese Theater and so full of great pictures, you will soon forget its enormous price. I am a newcomer to Japanese theater, and it may take me a few years to actually get through all of the information in this book. From Kagura to Kabuki, No to Bunraku, even Buto...

   I stumbled across this book in the Downtown Houston Library and thought seriously about never returning it! Now I can obtain my own copy legally.

5 comments about Cybill Disobedience : How I Survived Beauty Pageants, Elvis, Sex, Bruce Willis, Lies, Marriage, Motherhood, Hollywood, and the Irrepressible Urge to Say What I Think.

1. I wanted to read this book mainly to see what Cybill would say about Bruce Willis and Moonlighting, one of my all-time favorite shows, and although I was left wanting more, she does give a few interesting tidbits about them. But even if she hadn't this would still be a page turner.
   
   Most references to Cybill Shepherd by the media over the years have been negative. I just wanted to hear her side of her story for a change and I have no problem with this so-called 'B-list' actor making a few bucks in the process.
   
   While I don't approve of or agree with everything Cybill says she's done or believes in, this little book is a small interesting slice of history and a record of how things work behind the scenes of the modeling and acting professions. The message I got is 'proceed with extreme caution - or better yet choose another career.'
   
   Also, my belief that Hollywood culture is depraved in general remains unshaken after reading this. And you certainly can't blame it all on Cybill Shepherd.
   
   Even so, I appreciate what I believe is Cybill's candor about herself, the people she's met and her experiences which is written with a witty humor and a verbal style I appreciate.



2. I don't know what compelled me to check this out from the library since I didn't really know who Cybill Shepherd was, but she kept me reading with her honesty and `dang-it-it's-true' breed of self-flattery. In this autobiography, the star of the '80's TV hit Moonlighting (when she mentioned Moonlighting, I was finally like, "Oh, I know who she is...") candidly talks about the cut-throat world of Hollywood, tells about how Hef, of Playboy fame, stole images from her nude scene and improperly published them, talks about an affair with Elvis (who "charmed" her by telling her in one of his pill-popping hazes about the time a doctor gave him an injection directly into the pupil of his eye!!!!!) and throws caution to the wind and dodges claims of skankhood by talking about a seemingly unending series of affairs with scores of married and unmarried men, from her beauty queen teen years in Memphis, well into her fifties. Shepherd name-drops and that's the making of this book since it's most interesting when the focus is not on her. She tells about having Orson Welles as a long-term house guest, about how she introduced Elvis to certain amorous technique, tells of clashes with Bruce Willis, whose ego was a match for her own, and provides tell-all revelations about some of the biggest stars in the movie business during the 1970's. Shepherd is also doggedly committed to certain feminist causes and gives ink to her views on them. This book is definitely a celebrity stroking her ego, but it's not dull or preachy and since it can be read in about two hours, it's not a bad way to spend a free afternoon.



3. Truly the title sums up the whole of this autobiography. I wonder if Ms. Shepherd hadn't believed so deeply in her ephemeral outer beauty, maybe others wouldn't have assumed that that's all she had going for her.
   
   Conspicuously absent from her story were her relationships with her siblings, which were touched on ever-so-briefly toward the end, tellingly admitting that they had a tenuous connection at best, their sibling bonds having been sacrificed at the alter of Shepherd's career.
   
   Cybill Shepherd spent her life being promiscuous, including involvment with married men, and lays it all out for the record, no matter how it makes her look. It's amazing to me that she never came away from fling after short-term fling not feeling used or taken advantage of.
   
   The comment that rings the loudest to me, out of everything she crammed furiously into this book, was the fact that she tried to make '5 minutes feel like 5 hours' with her kids, as if that were possible. Although she does go on to admit that it is simply not possible to do it all.
   
   Contradictory to me is the fact that Ms. Shepherd found lurid tabloid stories to be embarassing and insulting to herself and her children, but she voluntarily lays bare all her personal laundry.
   
   I picked up this book because I fondly remember Moonlighting as must-see TV of my teenage years, Maddie Hayes and David Addison being the best on-screen couple of my generation. Although that was just one small part of Cybill's story, I did find the Hollywood insider stuff a fun guilty pleasure.
   
   One last criticism - the subtitle is far too long and completely unnecessary, bordering on downright silly.



4. Cybill Disobedience : How I Survived Beauty Pageants, Elvis, Sex, Bruce Willis, Lies, Marriage, Motherhood, Hollywood, and the Irrepressible Urge to Say What I Think
   by Cybill Shepherd
   
   This was an interesting read and useful as a resource since it is a first person description of the kind of life one can lead as a liberated (using the pill) female. Not only was Cybill successful, but as she says, she was "a very, very, bad girl." Cybill did what she wanted to do.
   
   Regardless of whether or not this sort of life should be recommended, it is certainly a resource that can be referred to as an example.



5. Some interesting comments about show business, and about some of the people she worked with, and went to bed with. The last part, about her TV show, "Cybill," would only interest a BIG fan of the show. (Who did what and who said what about the show's individual episodes isn't exactly gripping reading.) (I'm glad it's a short book.)

2 comments about Five Plays.

1. Excellent plays by an excewllent playwright. Reminded me what it was like to be in college in the 60's



2. Michael Weller is not a flashy playwright, and though he has had great success over the years, I can't think of a "signature" style to his work. That is his strength. "Moonchildren" is one of the best plays about Vietnam (from the viewpoint of college students in the mid-60s). "At Home/Abroad" is about a couple realizing the limitations of their marriage, carried to a further degree by "Loose Ends". The pieces are all different, but share a seriousness hidden in wit. Weller is a playwright for actors who want parts with range and moments of revealing emotion; a playwright for directors who want to focus on the work and the text, with spectacle on a human scale; and a playwright for young adults who are beginning to recognize how love, career, and country still leave something lacking. I am glad to have discovered him, and I hope others will, too.

No comments about Complete Speaker's and Toastmaster's Library: Speech Openers and Closers/Human Interest Stories/Remarks of Famous People/Definitions and Toasts.

5 comments about Cary Grant: A Class Apart.

1. Very intersting. My 2nd bio on Grant. I think you tend to rate things better if you are a fan of the person rated which I am. It put into a nice sequence the facts of his life. Kept me interested with photos, the factual and the gossip. Why else would we read about movie stars.



2. This book would doubtless be better known, and better publicized, were it not published by a reputable university press. Don't mislead yourself, however. There's nothing tedious about McCann's book, which is very well written and measured in its judgments. Those wanting gossip and sensationalism should look elsewhere. Even those who know Grant's background and career will learn new things here. In a word: a splendid interpretation of an insidpensable performer.



3. It's detailed and well sourced and actually has quotes from people who actually knew him and lived through these events with the man. I felt like I actually had insight to the man rather than the image and the decades of gossip which seems to have been taken as fact by most of the other Cary Garnt biographers. He tells Cary Grant's story respectfully, but doesnt white wash the facts. The anecdotes as told by Cary's friends are fascinting, sometimes hilariously funny and often sad. He approaches the gossip as a researcher would and doesnt try to speculate or parse subjects to support hiw own personal oint of view or agenda.
   
   This is the third biography I've read about Cary Garnt, and compared to the other very light offerings this was by far the best and most comprehensive. I learned for example that Cary Grant was not only a great charmer, but a shrewd businessman who consistently outwitted the studio bosses at every turn. I enjoyed learning about his incredible sense of honor which often times landed him in hot water and led to many of the vindictive rumors we are still hearing today. He hated the gossip columnists at the time and was embroiled in a very long and bitter battle with the likes of Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons, who he once told to mind her GD business. Got to love the guy.
   
   Great book.



4. Especially if your over 50. He looked, played & acted as the movie star he was. Women loved him. Men would have loved to be him. He was more often seduced than the seducer which was part of his charm. He never forgot who he was & where he came from: Archie Leech from Bristol, England. He was amiable & apolitical yet had a streak of independence & courage that led him to be one of the first stars to break with the studio system. That allowed him to be a free agent & pick the movies he wanted to do. It didn't always work out. Sometimes, the movies stank & he was the best thing in them. But most of his movies were money makers & that was really the only thing that counted. He was admired for his independence. He could be difficult to work with but was not tempermental. He was a professional working to perfect his craft as he liked to put it. This obsession with perfection did not work with the women he loved & he left four failed marriages in his wake. This failing apparently never occurred to him.
   He didn't have to be pushed into old man roles & retired on his own terms. A class act.



5. I wish I could say I wasn't disappointed in this book, since I was looking forward to a well-researched and engrossing book on a screen legend. However, I had to force myself to finish reading it and came away with very little enjoyment and appreciation for the subject. Very nearly ONE THIRD of the book (the latter portion) is not textual biography, but a glossary, filmography and voluminous footnote after footnote after footnote of data supporting the main body (2/3) of the book. Far too many distracting footnotes referenced on virtually every page of the book were significantly annoying, and in many instances a point was belabored ad infinitum. Many key points of detail and anecdotes relating to admired, classic CG movies weren't present, while others were - sorry - rather beaten to death. Supporting photographs were limited and failed to include more than good shots of the subject at a small, select time of his life. I expected a more linear, cohesive, colloquial narrative unencumbered by redundent grammatical 'precision.' The book was obviously well-researched, but extreme detail does not always do the subject or the audience justice.

5 comments about Robert Bresson (Cinematheque Ontario Monographs).

1. My personal hero of the aforementioned European art-movie genre -- Robert Bresson -- is the subject of a new book edited by James Quandt. Robert Bresson includes interviews with the director by fellow filmmakers Jean-Luc Godard and Paul Schrader and French film critics Michael Delahaye and Michel Ciment. There are also homages from directors like Martin Scorsese and Rainier Werner Fassbinder, as well as essays by Roland Barthes and Alberto Moravia. One might wonder why such famous and accomplished people took the time to write about a French filmmaker whose movies are not known to the general moviegoing public. The answer is that the late Bresson actually was one of the great figures in cinema. His austere directing style relied on slow and beautiful imagery and much suffering on the part of his main characters, resulting in films that, once experienced, is never forgotten. One can describe Quandt's book the same way



2. last year i recieved one of the best christmas presents i could ask for: this book. while i wouldnt recommend it to anyone that isnt a bresson fan it holds plenty to mull over for those that are. while a few of the articles are dull and/or pretentious more often than not they are highly illuminating as to the director's methods. there are one or two articles devoted to each of his films and a few that are just about his films in general. this first section of the book ends with bresson's cinematographer for "diary," through to "joan of arc" writing about his love/hate relationship with bresson and an interview with the young man who played the lead in "the devil, probably." the second part of the book contains three interviews with bresson: the paul schrader, which is fidgety and odd; the godard, which is exhaustive, rambling and very enlightening; and the final one whose author slips my mind which is great but unfortunately short (conducted after the completion of what would be bresson's last film, "l'argent"). the final section of the book is basically several directors talking about why they like bresson. this section ranges from short, humorous stories (the fassbinder and aki kaurismaki) to long essays on bresson's style(malle, etc.). other directors quoted in this final section include tarkovsky, bertollucci, wenders, hal hartley, and atom egoyan.



3. Imagine a young film director making a somewhat controversial first film, with a script by someone on the order of Saul Bellow, followed by a more successful film with recognizable stars and a labyrinthine script by someone like Harold Pinter. Have him drop out of sight for four years, only to emerge from obscurity with a movie about a country priest, filmed (spectacularly) in rural (RURAL!) Massachusetts. Etcetera. There is really no way to imagine Robert Bresson otherwise. We owe it to the French film industry (if something so UNconsolidated could be called an industry) that Bresson was permitted to flourish at all. It wasn't simply as if he was waiting around, all his life, for a financier (14 films in forty years of activity). But where else on earth could this austerely Catholic artist have found work but in France, the most religiously cynical country in Europe? His films are a rebuke to anyone stupid enough to expect anything conventional. Bresson questioned everything in film - even the central point of the medium. His films deny the viewer the usual crutches en route to an idea. Bresson leads us silently, without promptings, toward a disbelief we had long since suspended but never seriously questioned. He makes the word 'genius' clean again.



4. Imagine a young film director making a somewhat controversial first film, with a script by someone on the order of Saul Bellow, followed by a more successful film with recognizable stars and a labyrinthine script by someone like Harold Pinter. Have him drop out of sight for four years, only to emerge from obscurity with a movie about a country priest, filmed (spectacularly) in rural (RURAL!) Massachusetts. Etcetera. There is really no way to imagine Robert Bresson otherwise. We owe it to the French film industry (if something so UNconsolidated could be called an industry) that Bresson was permitted to flourish at all. It wasn't simply as if he was waiting around, all his life, for a financier (14 films in forty years of activity). But where else on earth could this austerely Catholic artist have found work but in France, the most religiously cynical country in Europe? His films are a rebuke to anyone stupid enough to expect anything conventional. Bresson questioned everything in film - even the central point of the medium. His films deny the viewer the usual crutches en route to an idea. Bresson leads us silently, without promptings, toward a disbelief we had long since suspended but never seriously questioned. He makes the word 'master' clean again.



5. Editor James Quandt, an esteemed film curator at the Cinematheque Ontario, has assembled the best writings on Robert Bresson, intelligently balancing scholarly analysis (including that of Barthes and Moravia), filmmakers' homages (from Scorsese to Fassbinder, Cocteau to Duras), and accessible primers on the French director's work (by Susan Sontag and Andre Bazin, among others). Particularly noteworthy are the interviews Bresson conducted with Jean-Luc Godard, Paul Schrader, and the French critics Michael Delahaye and Michel Ciment. A MUST for anyone interested in film history and in one of the few directors worthy of the appellation "genius."

No comments about Techniques of Three-Dimensional Makeup.