5 comments about Walt Disney's Epcot Center: Creating the New World of Tomorrow.

1. This book is great is because it's from when Epcot Center was just opening. It was published before the park even opened. Some things it discusses never even made it to the parks! For example, there are beautiful sketches of the Africa pavilion in the World Showcase, which never came to be. This book is not what I expected, it's better than I expected. I think every Disney fan should have one in their collection.



2. This book is really good for the beginning-advanced disney lover. Go ahead and get it if you would really like it.



3. I have a copy of the book and love it. If anyone needs the larger book (over 200 pages) let me know, I have two copies and have an offer for 100-120 for it currently.

   Kelly




4. I first read Walt Disney's Epcot Center right after the park had first opened. It's Awesome! If your a Disney nut like I am, you will definately like this book. It gives all of the ideas Walt Disney had for the Experimental Prototype Community Of Tommorrow.(EPCOT)



5. This book offered me a great chance to see EPCOT Center as it was formed and created. It also looks deeply into each of the origanal rides including both Future World and World Showcase areas. The conceptual art work in this book is also increadible. This book also has many photos of the inside and outside of the rides. For the avad fan or for the first timer I suggest this book

5 comments about Mountain, Get Out of My Way: Life Lessons and Learned Truths.

1. Having long admired Montel, I decided to read this book. What a fascinating life this man has led. From the ghettos of Baltimore, a child of hard-working parents, Montel became a good student and class president in high school. He started playing in a band, bass and trumpet, and also sang. His plan was to save money for college.
   Then he took notice of one of his brother's friends who had joined the Marine Corps, and how the friend had changed for the better. It was then that Montel began to think that the Marine Corps could provide him with a college education. He enlisted, and gained a great respect for the demanding, disciplined, character-building aspects of the military system.
   Eventually, thanks to his leadership potential, his superiors recommended that he apply to the Naval Academy Prep School, which led him to Annapolis. There he struggled with the rigorous curriculum, but made it through with his strong perseverance.
   Throughout the book, we are privy to Montel's challenges, trials, and triumphs, all the things that have led him to his monumental success today as a motivational speaker and TV host. He shares his thoughts on many subjects, and shows his concern for our younger generation.
   "We're in danger of becoming a mediocre society, shaped by mediocre minds, because we promote mediocrity in our schools."
   His thoughts on the breakdown of our society are compelling. "Once we legislated religion out of everything, we had to replace it with something else, so money and success became the gospel...all of a sudden, it wasn't good enough to be a hardworking person, making a living, supporting a family. Now we all have to be millionaires, and we have to be millionaires right away. Everyone's looking for shortcuts, but there are no shortcuts, not a single one."
   The title of the book comes from a line William's used to hear from a drill instructor, who got it from an old gospel song. Montel's mantra now, "Mountain, get out of my way, " means "if you have faith, you can move mountains. If you have faith in something bigger than yourself-in God, community, family, whatever- then anything is possible. Faith alone will give you the strength to clear any obstacle in your way."
   I found this book to be inspiring, enjoyable, and informative, and confirmed my impression of this fine man. I believe he's a tremendous role model, a man of grace and courage, who writes in a clear, concise, entertaining style. Highly recommended!



2. In Montel William's book, he brings much light onto the never-ending battle people have with frustration and "hard times." I was given this book as a gift from my mom. She said she heard from people at work that it was very eye-opening and motivational. I would be lying if I said I didn't agree. From the opening chapter, until the very end, you'll get a feeling of warmth and bursts of motivation as you read about the trials and tribulations of Montel as you begin to relate to your own life experiences. His recollection of a motivational lecture at a high school where he calls on a young boy to discuss issues of morals (chapter 2?) will put an ear-to-ear smile on your face. While this book is not a "billion-dollar" winner, it sure is worth a read. I find myself thinking about this book in particular when I come across situations in my life that require personal integrity and determination. I am now 18 and I still think about the words and wisdom that Montel had to offer. Do yourself a favor and give it a chance, it might be as influential on you as it was me.



3. When I first saw this book it was on the bargain/clearance rack at the local bookstore. Having seen Montel's wonderful TV show, I decided that I'd buy the book and take it home for immediate reading. I made a big mistake. Instead of finding glimmering little gems of wisdom and insight throughout the pages of the book, I found nothing but a lot of self-congratulatory references to Montel's supposed superior public speaking abilities and his assumptions that he has all of the answers for society's various ills. When I was through reading this book I experienced a feeling that I have never had before -- I wanted to slowly roast his book in my barbecue grill! No other author has ever managed to raise such a truly unpleasant feeling inside of me like this guy has. Before I read the book, I respected and even admired Montel, but after I read it I began to dislike him immensely. Maybe this would have been a better book if Montel had the common courtesy to check his ego at the door and focused on something other than how great he thinks that he is.



4. I purchased this book several years ago and found it to be very down to earth. I appreciate the fact that while Montel shared his not always so bright life with the public he was able to share lessons learned that could bless someone else who may have been going down the same path. I commend him as a man to be able to receive correction but to also admit fault and openly correct his behavior to make his future better. I also enjoyed the example of him standing up for his show and doing what he thought was a proper format not matter what the cost or what the network execs thought. Being an example for our youth is important and Montel showed that he could influence our children on their level and not preach at them. This book gives us all a reality check in things we can do to improve ourselves, our relationships, our children and our society. Continued success!



5. I loved this book. Montel puts alot of love in everything he does. Not only in the show but in his book as well. He really cares about his viewers and guests. I love his show and I think he is a gift from God for many.

5 comments about The Film Encyclopedia, 4th Edition: The Most Comprehensive Encyclopedia of World Cinema in a Single Volume (Film Encyclopedia).

1. This 5th edition is like all the ones before a very complete source of information on stars in the movie industie, but also about many others in de film industry.
   The best



2. This encyclopedia is a MUST HAVE for those who enjoy films at home or at the theatre.



3. Without a doubt this is still the best all-around film encyclopedia available to the general public. Actors and actresses, directors, producers, photographers, costume designers, composers, and screenwriters are all included, from the silent era to the present. Each person gets a short biographical entry with a fairly complete listing of all movies they were involved with (these listings can be quite extensive). Movie associations and film terminology are also listed and explained. Individual movies are not listed as separate entries, however. My only quibble with this 5th edition is with the statement on the editor's note page that claims "we continue to keep our word and do not eliminate any of the more than 8,000 entries" - which I assume means from previous editions. Yet in comparing it with the first edition (1979) in just the first 20 pages (out of over 1500) I count a half-dozen or so names that are missing that were included in the first. Perhaps these names were taken out in the 2nd or 3rd editions, but that still makes the claim hard to justify. But this is a minor complaint; this volume should be on every movie lover's shelf.



4. I updated from an earlier edition on this book. I consider this to be an esssential for the movie lover. Not a book with movie reviews, but a (large) volumn of info of all types. Bio's of the stars & performers list all of their films. Many articles on techniques, etc make this a 1 volumn source of info on just about anything movie wise.



5. This is the 3rd edition I have purchased, since the info continually changes. It's the most comprehensive guide to information about the movie industry and I will continue to buy each new edition. I highly recommend it to any one who enjoys movie history and trivia.

4 comments about Acting Games for Individual Performers: A Comprehensive Workbook of 110 Acting Exercises.

1. This collection of 110 acting exercises would be appropriate for beginning actors grades 9-12. Some exercises rely on specific events in order to practice them (going to the dentist, having a broken heart). Some exercises are to be practiced daily for an extended period of time (keeping a journal), and some can be accomplished in a just a few minutes. Many of the exercises ask the actor to watch clips from movies.
   
   Each exercise presented has questions for the actor to ask himself, different variations of completing the exercise (allowing the exercise to have more than one life), and states the purpose of the exercise. The book is divided into 21 acting elements (improv, physical, emotional recall, vocal, characterization, imagination, etc.) with 3-6 exercises in each element.
   
   Unlike older acting games books on the market, this one utilizes a multi-media approach and is not geared toward group rehearsal.



2. This is an excellent resource not only for drama coaches and teachers but for teachers of language arts. The exercises are adaptable for many age groups. Wonderful if you are looking for ways to differentiate instruction in the classroom as well. Great read!



3. I have been through a million of books like this one but none have been more benificial than this one to my development. I recently refered it to my brother and in the short amount of time he's been using it I've noticed his abilities breaking new boundaries. I recommend this book to anyone from the average novice to the serious goal oriented performer.



4. This is an excellent tool for aspiring actors as well as wonderful resource for drama teachers. This book has a myriad of ideas; other disciplines such as language arts will also find a wealth of activities to spice up lesson plans. Students who may be shy about performing alone will find Levy's games motivating and inspiring. This is an excellent supplement to any theater arts program.

1 comments about The Long Christmas Ride Home: A Puppet Play With Actors.

1. My girlfriend and I read this in about an hour, and we were both impressed and moved by the clearly autobiographical expressions Paula Vogel shared and excercised. There is wonderful theatricality to be read (and seen if lucky) in the Bunraku-style puppets exemplifying the vision of her seminal anti-warm and fuzzy Christmas ride home with her brother, sister and parents.
   In many respects this is a heavily therapeutic work, almost something Ms. Vogel had been needing to present. The urgency to share her painful upbringing and the deep wounds that helped carve herself and her siblings proves startling when imagining the three children as puppets, beholden to their parent's traumatic relationship, trapped in cars and apartments, suffering so greatly on a night others are seemingly so happy.
   In conclusion it cannot be stressed enough how amazing it is to experience an artist's deepest, most painful and most loving visions of their life. It is what all artists strive for. In The Long Christmas Ride Home, Ms. Vogel shared her great love and pain, communicating them to me with pathos and wit.
   It is to be noted that in the version I read-no the Dramatists Play Service one-there is a collection of letters she received from her brother Carl, which were as interesting and moving as the play itself.

1 comments about Theatrical Scene Painting: A Lesson Guide.

1. This is a good book for beginners. It talks about the fundamentals for scenic painting: equipment, techniques, and terminology. It gives examples of how to paint brick, stone, foliage, drapes, wood, marble, cornice molding as well as higlights and shadow. It also touches upon griding and perspective. The drawbacks of this book are: ALL of the examples are shown in black and white and the examples are rarely on the same page as the text that refers to them. This book only covers the basics. If you are learning to do scenic painting this is for you. If you have done scenic painting and need a reference book this isn't the book you need.

2 comments about Walnut Street Theatre (Images of America: Pennsylvania).

1. Walnut Street Theatre is a beautiful collection of photographs and an interesting history of the oldest theatre in America. It includes early images of many of Hollywood's biggest stars who started their careers in live theatre (including Audrey Hepburn, Katherine Hepburn, George C. Scott, even the Marx Brothers!) There are some interesting anecdotes about the people who once worked here - including John Wilkes Booth's brother and Tom Thumb - and many theatre firsts that occurred at the Walnut - like the first ever curtain call! It's a great history lesson on what was happening in Philadelphia and the theatre scene over the last 200 years. A perfect collector's item for anyone interested in theatre or Philadelphia history.



2. The History of the Walnut Street Theatre is unbelievable! The stars that have graced it's stage from the early years (Barrymore's, Booth's, Forrest) are fascinating and the stars from the last century (Brando, Hepburn, Tandy, Poitier, Simon, Fonda and so many more)are amazing. The book is filled with rare photos of performances like Jane Fonda and Audrey Hepburn's first plays, and pages of contemporary stars early in their career. This book is a must for anyone who loves theatre history or hollywood stars, every page is interesting. At such an affordable price you should buy this book!

3 comments about BOSS BR-1180 Quick Guide.

1. The book was good for the basics of setting it up and getting started. The problem is that if you want to learn more pratical ways of using the machine it's best to watch the video that came along with the product.



2. If you are new to the Boss BR-1180 multi-track recorder, this book might speed up the learning curve. It covers basic operation and gives examples of different ways to record specific to the BR 1180. If you already know the ins and outs of your recorder, you probably won't get much from this book. I would recommend it as an easier to understand supplement to the owners manual. If you're looking for a good home recording book, I recommend Home Recording For Musicians For Dummies.



3. This book is for all intents and purposes a recording primer. I could see it possibly being useful to someone who has absolutely zero recording experience, but that's about it. Since there's a ton of basic recording articles already available out there on the web, this book's recording-related contents can be had for free by doing some surfing or by hanging out at the Home_Recording Yahoo group for a couple of days.

   As far as its coverage of the BR1180 goes, if you've already attempted to record one or two songs on the unit and have read the manual through once or twice - and that's how I recommend you approach learning this unit - you've already learned more than this book will ever teach you. The author ducks the difficult topics - at one point saying something like, "Don't try to bounce, it's too complicated"!!! Again, you're time would be better spent hanging out at the BR1180 Yahoo group.

5 comments about A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting and Filmmaking.

1. "Film is like a battleground. Love. Hate. Action. Violence. In one word, emotion." That line of dialogue, ad-libbed by Samuel Fuller in Jean-Luc Godard's `Pierrot le fou,' seems to more or less sum up his philosophy of film making. Those of us who aren't fans of the film director may mourn the absence of words like `coherence' and `plausibility,' but there's no denying that most of Fuller's film literally burst with energy.
   
   As does his autobiography `A Third Face,' written with wife Christa at the end of a long and event filled life, even those who find Fuller's film a little too energetic will find this book interesting. Starting out in New York City, where he found working as a copy boy and reporter on Park Row more interesting than the high school he'd abandon without graduation, to his service in the 1st U.S. Infantry Division (the Big Red One) in World War Two, through to his post-war career as a screen writer and film director, Fuller is never boring.
   
   With the possible exception of `The Big Red One' (1980), a film that he'd nursed for years, Fuller's career peaked in the mid-60s with independent productions like `Shock Corridor' and `The Naked Kiss.' Although Fuller claims he was offered both `The Longest Day' ("My own vision of war and the world made me say no") and `Patton' ("After my war experiences, I didn't have the necessary detachment to do a picture celebrating the man"), it's as intriguing to contemplate how he might have directed these films as it is to wonder how serious were the offers. After all, as he admits, he `was prone to excess' and loved to grab the audience and shake them. Not necessarily what you look for in a big picture director. The third face, to Fuller, is the inner person that nobody else sees. "My third face was my own holy sanctuary... It was a storage room that nobody but me could enter... It wasn't just a concept for me but a very real locale, captivating and whimsical, cozy and seductive, the geisha girl of my brain." A Third Face is captivating and whimsical, cozy and seductive, too. A strong recommendation for this one.



2. I read Sam Fuller's, A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting, and Filmmaking, after seeing three of his more mainstream movies on dvd. Told in a tough-guy no-nonsense style (with a bit of mild profanity), the book is a blast.
   
   Parts one and two (the first 229 pages of the paperback's 562 pages of narrative) rank among the best memoirs I have read of the first half of the twentieth century. In the first part he tells of his youth in New York City's vigorous newspaper business in the 1920s--from selling papers to copy boy to crime reporter--followed by his years in the 1930s hoboing around the country doing free lance journalism, ultimately ending up in Hollywood writing for the Hollywood machine. Part two is his account of his years as an enlisted man in the First Infantry Division, the Big Red One. It is interesting to find out how many happenings in his film of that name actually occurred. If you have a friend who only reads about WWII, you can recommend this to him/her just for part two; s/he will thank you.
   
   The remaining parts recount his experiences in Hollywood making movies, then the years when things fall apart, and finally his years as a famous man in France sought after by many young filmmakers. It is amazing to read how the Pentagon once called him to Washington (and he went!) to grill him about one of his movies and how J. Edgar Hoover objected to certain aspects of his films as un-American.
   
   The book's many illustrations are well chosen and fit the text where they appear.
   
   Fuller had an amazing life and an ever active imagination. In his last days he produced a book well worth reading even if you have never seen any of his films. Highly recommended.



3. Sam Fuller has a strong, cult like following. He made a couple great films, but to be honest, the rest were very choppy, B grade thrillers that get a bit overrated by that cult.
   
   A THIRD FACE is his greatest work.
   
   This is an absolutely wonderful autobiography. Following his early days as a newspaper writer, his time in WWII, and his years as a writer and director. This is honestly more fun to read than any of his films are to watch.
   
   The most amazing thing about the book is that it is written in his voice. If you ever saw him interviewed, or act in a film, he had a very distinctive voice. The book sounds just like he spoke. With short phrases, lots of exclamation points, just like he sounded!! It is the closest you are going to get to him reading it to you.
   
   Even if you aren't familiar with his films, this is a great read.



4. "A Third Face" is one of the great crusty, caustic autobiographies of recent years. Fuller died a few ago, an old cigar smoker of pithy phrase, maverick tendencies and artistic courage. As a crime reporter in New York in the 20s, as a hobo in the 30s, as a GI in World War II, as a novelist, screenwriter and director of noir and war movies ("Pickup on South Street," "House of Bamboo," "The Big Red One"), Fuller was a force of nature, a no-BS realist who knew how to tell a story. The photo on the back cover speaks volumes: raised pistol in one hand; a camera lens in the other. Yet he was, at core, a powerful pacifist. He was a survivor.
   
   Fuller's style is profane, anecdotal, street wise and hugely engaging. It's no wonder, since he was the young protege and buddy of hard-boiled writers like Gene Fowler and Damon Runyon.
   
   Fuller's account of his "dogface" years as a G.I. in North Africa, Italy, France and Germany is one of the best descriptions of WWII Army life I've read.
   
   Later, Hollywood studios offered him big money to make their blockbusters ("The Longest Day," "Patton"), but he turned them down so he could make little movies his own way. ("I make A movies on B budgets," he liked to say.)
   
   Out of curiosity,I recently rented a couple of his movies. "Pickup on South Street," with Richard Widmark and Jean Peters, just crackled. "Shock Corridor," with Peter Breck, was ambitious but flawed.
   
   Though I can't wait to see some of his other films, my hunch is "A Third Face" will stand as Fuller's single greatest artistic achievement.
   
   In later years, Fuller became mentor to many young directors: Jonathan Demme; Tim Robbins; Jim Jarmusch, Martin Scorsese. It's clear from Scorsese's introduction that they idolized him.
   
   As a writer, Sam Fuller teaches this lesson: Write fast; never give up; to hell with the naysayers. His final two or three paragraphs offers a capstone philosophy that all should embrace.
   
   I loved this book. It saddens me to finish it.



5. A Third Face: My Tale Of Writing, Fighting, And Filmmaking by Samuel Fuller (with the posthumous and collaborative assistance of his wife Christa Lang Fuller and longtime friend Jerome Henry Rudes) features a Foreword by Martin Scorsese and and presents the reader with an autobiographical account of one of Hollywood's most prolific and independent writer/director/producers. The late Samuel Fuller (1911-1997) made 29 tough, gritty films from 1949 to 1989. His film "Park Row" was inspired by his years in the New York newspaper business. His years of service in the army during World War II provided material for his films "The Big Red One", "The Steel Helmet", and "Merrill's Marauders. From "Pickup on South Street" and "Underworld U.S.A.", to "Shock Corridor" and White Dog", A Third Face provides the story behind the films and the man who created them. A Third Face is highly recommended and inherently fascinating reading for film buffs and students of 20th Century American Cinema.

No comments about The Best Women's Stage Monologues of 2007 (Best Women's Stage Monologues).