5 comments about Mtv'S The Real World New Orleans: Unmasked (Real World Series).

1. New Orleans is my favorite season of Real World thus far, and i am a little disappointed in the contents and layout of this book in comparison to editions for later seasons (ie, chicago and las vegas). Instead of putting cast member information in an orderly fashion, they throw around the facts over various pages. castmember david's fact sheet is also suspiciously missing. I didn't like the rw reunion junk at the back of the book to pad its length. they should have included the floor plans of the house and more photos taken by the cast instead of this.



2. This book is amazing!! anything you ever wanted to know is answered!! It even goes into a bit of stuff from other seasons, with pictures of Rachel(S.F) and Sean's (boston)wedding! as well as tonnes of pictures what they're doing now etc....etc.....
   You will really enjoy it!!



3. If you watched the Real World New Orleans, this is a great guide to what you didn't see. If you DIDN'T watch the show, well, then there's no reason to buy the book!
   My favorite part about the book was the information about the Kelley/Danny and Melissa/Jamie "feud." With quotes from the sources themselves, it adds even more drama than was on the show! VERY interesting!



4. I liked this Real world book a lot in fact I like most of them, all except Seattle which was incredibly boring . But this book gives you a lot of insight into what the camera didn't show. Some of the things mentioned don't seem to make sense b/c when you see the reunions on tv they don't act towards each other they way that you would think w/some of the comments that they have made about each other in this book. Besides that it is well worth your money and time to read it.



5. It's amazing how much is told in this book that wasn't revealed on the show. This book gives the show and the cast (which I think is the most interesting cast yet) more depth. The thing dealt with most in the book is something that wasn't hardly dealt with on the show, and that's Kelley and Danny's dislike of Melissa and Jamie. There's way more content than that, but that is what's focused on a bit. 'Unmasked' also put to rest the answer of some questions, such as "Why was Kelley not in the house a lot?" and "What did Matt really think of Julie the whole time she crushed on him?". All the cast members let out what they really thought about each other, and some of the results could be surprising. All in all, I found that this season and this book is the best ever. Can't wait until next season!

No comments about The Paper Canoe: Guide To Theatre Anthropology.

No comments about Theatre.

5 comments about Ventriloquism Made Easy.

1. I purchased this book for my daughter's 9th birthday from Amazon along with a ventriloquist dummy and several ventrioquism DVD's. The book is such a major disappointment.
   
   The author is too busy using the book as a means to push his religion and finding Jesus to offer anything of substance.
   
   This very thin book is filled with fluff. He tells the reader how to record an engagement in their calendar. In another section the author even writes out the alphabet not once, but twice for those poor folks who are not sufficiently familiar.
   
   A real dissapointment!



2. Ventriloquism Made Easy, by Kolby King, is a well written book, which "covers it all"! This is a MUST-HAVE for anyone who is seriously considering taking up ventriloquism! Kolby takes you through the basics of ventriloquism, in a well written, fun-filled book, that is WELL WORTH READING!!



3. 
   This book teaches ventriloquism about as well as a three-page pamphlet teaches nuclear physics. Sure, you will learn a trick or two, but I'd hate to perform with only this knowledge under my belt!
   
   And why, WHY do some authors insist on injecting their personal religious beliefs into what are supposed to be secular works? Evangelize in a book written to that purpose, please! About 2000 years ago someone said something about praying quietly and privately in one's own room . . .
   
   If you want to be a ventriloquist, there are plenty of sources far superior to this pap. Look for them.



4. Has only a tiny section on the really important stuff about the hard letters. The rest is padding. I'm going to look for something more serious.



5. I think that this book is great for beginers because it teaches basic stuff to advanced stuff. If there was anyone that was interested in becoming a ventriloquist this is the right book for you.

4 comments about Choreographing Difference: The Body and Identity in Contemporary Dance.

1. Albright has certainly accomplished a task few dance history scholars have: she gives us a comprehensive approach to dance from a variety of theoretical perspectives. However, I find her narrative style elliptical, and I also find fault with her seemingly overzealous application of theory. Albright applies many of the theorists currently en vogue in academia to dance study, often with great results. On the other hand, the variety of rubrics she uses obscures the most important part of her study: her point of view. Her pairings are stimulating, and certainly evocative. Yet what results is a good amount of speculation, not firmly grounded in rigorous historical/cultural research or in choreographic analysis. I found each chapter glittered with fascinating ideas and concepts which could have been better fleshed out. Albright presents those interested in applying theory to dance with an interesting challenge: how can dance theory change its reputation from being a field of dilettantism to a field of scholarship? I think the first step is to set out a cohesive analytic frame from the start of a study, rather than throwing a hodge-podge of post-structural/post-colonial theory to bat against a corpus composed of two hundred+ years of history and thousands of works.



2. An essential read for the socially concerned dance lover. This book navigates a tricky path that follows the dancing body through subjectivism and objectivism, and the identities that it cannot escape. Albright delicately manages to show how lines of gender, race, form, ability and other identities can be created and crossed by dances and the bodies that dance them. Recommended to choreographers, dancers, dance watchers and anyone who is interested in social constructs of identity.



3. this was a very beautiful book, ms. Cooper is a fantastic writer



4. I felt some type of connection to this book as I passed it in the shop. I have been a dance teacher for 13 years, and I have never thought to use dance as Ms. Albright has. Her section on Sex in Dance got many more students to join my class. Ms. Albright is an amazing author and some day I wish to see her dance. Her ideas are on dance are brilliant and artistic. This book has changed my life as a person, artist, but mostly as a dancer.

5 comments about The Art of Technique: An Aesthetic Approach to Film and Video Production.

1. "The Art of Technique: An Aesthetic Approach to Film and Video Production," is more of a primer than it is a critique of cinema. Yes, there is a big difference between this volume by John S. Douglass and Gleen P. Harnden and "Film Art: An Introduction" by David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson. The latter utilizes literally hundreds of frames from both classic and relatively unknown films to demonstrate cinematic techniques. "The Art of Technique" does the same thing with student models. Whether this has to do with the cost of using copyrighted images and/or transforming them into individual frames for use in a book, this is a major difference between the two textbooks. When Douglass and Harnden discuss something, like Ingmar Bergman's use of Extreme Close-ups (ECU) in "Scenes from a Marriage," they can only talk about the extraordinary intimacy it gave the production, without offering visual evidence to support their claim. However, the authors do use their "homemade" examples to good use at time; for example, when exploring the concept of framing they provide examples of "bad" shots (filled with distracting clutter) before showing better choices for the cinematographer.

   "The Art of Technique" is divided into two main sections. After an introductory chapter on "Interpretation and Treatment," there are six chapters focusing on the various ways a film can tell a story, essentially pre-production considerations. There is a nice little section detailing the basic types of stories Hollywood tells over and over again ("Jack the Giant Killer," "Fish Out of Water," etc.). Clearly the emphasis here is more on production than criticism, which makes the orientation of this textbook more towards the filmmaker than the movie audience. This first section ends with a look at Mise en Scene and questions of design. In terms of concepts covered, separate from the issue of how those concepts are presented in the textbook, the authors provided a comprehensive, well-organized presentation.

   The second half of the book covers "Techniques for Interpretation," which starts with a consideration of the trinity of how the camera, editing and lighting can be used for interpretation. Again, everything is here; I could not find a concept or technique that was an obviously glaring omission. The book concludes with a pair of chapters on Symbols and Significance, which get into the impact film can have on an audience. You might expect to find a glossary at the back of the book, but instead we have a pair of appendixes on Electricity and Measuring Light, which only serves to reaffirm that this book is geared towards the novice filmmaker. If you are looking for a textbook that because you are a budding film critic, then this is not going to be your first choice. I can even make the argument that by not saturating their textbook with frames from dozens of films, Douglass and Harden do their readers a favor, because instead of borrowing shots and techniques from the acknowledged masters of the art form, they are being asked to reinvent the wheel. Do not knock this, because that is basically how we think Orson Welles made "Citizen Kane."




2. This book explores many aspects of filmmaking in a logical, easy-to-follow manner. A great find, albeit a bit pricy. I used it as my text for teaching a video class as it offers some aesthetic considerations for why techniques may or may not be used in a given situation. This approach helps to minimize the technique-euphoria beginners tend to have with techniques which are new to them (ala George Lucas in the new Star Wars...)



3. this book works very well as an introduction to the creative use of techniques for filmmaking. it is quite clear and concise and is not bogged down by too much technical details or dicussions on film theory. a good starting point.



4. I was shocked when I looked over this book. I had always relied on "Film Art" which is the standanrd intro to film but I wanted to branch out. I found this book to be a superficial approach to cinema, no probbing analysis or challenge to interpretaion of technique or narrative. Save your money and stick to the classics. No one seems to use this book in higher education film studies- ask your professor to suggest a book.



5. I teach filmmaking, and needed a book that covers all the basics in a few meaty and meaningful pages. This is it. Most books on filmmaking technique either wax philosophical on the author's pet theories or get lost in gee-wiz-you-can-do-this-neat-trick-with-the-camera mania. There's little of either here; instead, you'll find a focused, highly readable series of lessons on what really matters most--how to communicate a meaningful message on film or video. Unlike some VERY annoying books that give examples of lighting and other techniques via badly drawn line-art, this book shows every technique with actual stills from video shoots so you can see how lighting, framing, lens use, etc. actually change the appearance and impact of a scene.

   There are also numerous references to excellent classic and modern films with quite specific suggestions for examining the techniques that make those films work so well. Perhaps most important of all, the authors never lose sight of the fact that filmmaking is about interpreting and creating a reality that evokes a meaningful and powerful experience for the audience.

   So if you want a book listing all the oh-so-tacky transitions and effects that your new NLE will do, or a thousand-page treatise on the history of film, THIS AIN'T IT. But if you want a book that will help you quickly learn to put cameras, lighting, and editing in the service of your creativity--buy this one first.

5 comments about Let's Dance: Learn to Swing, Foxtrot, Rumba, Tango, Line Dance, Lambada, Cha-Cha, Waltz, Two-Step, Jitterbug and Salsa With Style, Elegance and Ease.

1. BEWARE: This book describes the International Style of ballroom dance. NOT the American style. Perhaps 10% of American dance students are learning International.

   EXAMPLE: THE WALTZ

   American Waltz:
   The basic figure is a square in which the man starts by stepping forward with the left foot and the dancers return to the starting position in 6 beats, making a square.

   International Waltz:
   The basic figure is a zig-zag. The man starts with the RIGHT foot and the dancers travel around the dance floor in a zig-zag pattern.

   It would be great if Paul Bottomer would write a similar beautiful book for American ballroom dancers.

   Dave Palmer




2. Many of the dances taught in this book are international style. If you plan to dance in the USA, you should know that social dancing is mainly American style for beginners.

   The book is richly illustrated with photos. However, the angle of the photos changes randomly. So if you see a dance couple facing different directions in consecutive photos, maybe they have turned, or maybe the photographer moved. You have to read the accompanying text to tell.

   I think this book is a good complement for beginning to advance-beginnning international dancers. You cannot completely rely on the book to learn techniques because while it does touches on them somewhat, it mostly concentrates on dance patterns. It will give you a rough idea of what a particular step looks like and give you the name of the step. If you have learned the step before, this would serve as a good review.




3. It's a good reference book if you know how to dance. If you're a beginner and try to learn from this book, you're in deep trouble. Unless you can translate "move you left foot to left, reflex your right knee, shift your weight on to the left on beat 3" description into movement right away, you'll go through one basic movement in hours. If you want to improve your dance skill, it may be helpful. Since I'm a total beginner, I can't say that for sure.



4. This book outlines most of the ballroom dances from a pictorial point of view with the assistance of footstep illustrations. Its virtue is it is pretty comprehensive, with most of the ballroom dances discussed. Even some dances considered a little risque, such as the lambada, are discussed in the book. No doubt that professional instructors will find areas of disagreement in the advice and the patterns developed, but no book can cover all the idiosyncrasies of styling that exist in ballroom classes. A good book to have when learning ballroom, and the price is very reasonable.



5. Disappointed

   It looked like a very easy reading book, and it turned out to be a very confusing bunch of steps and pictures. And by the way, I have asked my swing instructor about the steps and he had found some mistakes.

5 comments about The Making of the Wizard of Oz: Movie Magic and Studio Power in the Prime of MGM.

1. MGM's movie,based on the book by L. Frank Baum,"The Wizard of Oz,"is nearly 70 years old. But its stars, Judy Garland, Bert Lahr, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Billie Burke and Margaret Hamilton, still shine brightly as ever, and the movie continues to be a particular favorite of young and old.
   
   Aljean Harmetz is the daughter of a woman who worked backstage at MGM. Harmetz's mother worked in the Wardrobe Department; she was able to estimate sewing costs on thousands of costumes, from 1937 to 1951 --including the nearly one thousand needed for "The Wizard of Oz,"alone.
   
   So starting from this birds' eye view, Harmetz is well able to explain how "movie magic and studio power in the prime of MGM" resulted in "the miracle of Production #1060." To that end, she did hundreds of interviews, with actors, singers, songwriters, cameramen, screen writers, costumers, directors, and technicians. She succeeded in bringing the great glory days of MGM, under its sentimental czar L.B. Mayer, to technicolor life.
   
   Harmetz explains how the Emerald City was designed and built; how the cyclone was created. She tells us how Judy Garland's immortal "Over the Rainbow" was nearly lost, as envious, nitpicking producers responded after the film's first screening: "Why does she sing in a barnyard? Take it out!"
   
   The author gives us fine portraits of Margaret Hamilton, who played the Wicked Witch of the West--"she enjoyed every moment screaming about those slippers." Binnie Barnes, who played the Good Witch Glinda, retiring to her pink and blue dressing room to await her next call. Bert Lahr creating the endearing cowardly lion-- his costume weighed over 50 pounds. "It was like carrying a mattress around with you," he said. And he could only sip liquids once in full makeup. Ray Bolger, the dancer who created the Scarecrow, " I have no bones. I have nothing inside me. It's just the wind holding me up." And Jack Haley who inherited the Tin Woodman's part after an allergic reaction to the aluminum paste makeup, put Buddy Ebsen, first cast for the part, in hospital.
   
   You should find you read these marvelously detailed pages with great enjoyment, and if you're as sentimental a fool as I can sometimes be, even with emotional involvement. If you love the movie, you might want to try to find this book.



2. The making of the Wizard of Oz is a wonderful book to anyone who has grown to love the Wizard of Oz. You don't even have to be an obsessive fan of the movie like myself to enjoy it. It is extremely well researched. If information is not known the author says it so and does not attempt to recreate history as some nonfiction works do.

   Perhaphs what makes the 1939 movie so wonderful is learning all the behind the scenes things that went into making it. This book gives respect and a knew sense of understanding as to what movie making was like in the biggest studio of that time. It is written so that it doesn't need to be read front to back. You can start in the special effects section and finish in the chapter about the script, or the music, or the directors (did you know there were four?).

   Did you know that the movie had the work of 10 writers or do you know how the surrender dorothy scene was done? Well, in this book you find out his and thousands more did you know facts to impress friends. I recommend this to anyone who has watched the Wizard of Oz. And if Oz didn't win an academy award for best picture in 1939 than that was because the academy didn't have this book to help choose.




3. If you're a die hard fan of this classic film then you'll want to read this well-researched "making of" tome. The book is filled with all sorts of wonderful trivia tidbits but most of all it gives an insightful review of those behind the camera in a way I've yet to find in other "OZ" related books. The one and only shortcoming of this book is to be found in the number of pictures, in my opinion there could have been more, otherwise it's a behind the scenes look that most OZ fans won't be disappointed with.



4. It doesn't matter unduly if you didn't grow up watching MGM's 1939 color movie "The Wizard of Oz" in re-release or on TV. You might think that a "Munchkin" is what used to be called a "doughnut hole." You may think of Judy Garland only as Liza Minnelli's mother, and avoid prewar movies like the plague. Maybe you didn't feel that shock of recognition that "Cora the Coffee Lady" in Maxwell House TV commercials was none other than Margaret Hamilton, the green-faced Wicked Witch of the West.

   Of course, if you love "The Wizard of Oz" you've love THE MAKING OF THE WIZARD OF OZ all the more. I just read this book for the second time (the first upon its initial publication), and was astonished and pleased by how well it has held up. Author Aljean Harmetz has crafted a book relevant not only in terms of one particular "prestige" movie off the Hollywood assembly line; but indeed her insight, research and friendly presentation make the book stand as a metaphor of all Hollywood filmmaking during the height of the Studio Era, ca. 1940. Perhaps the late Irving Thalberg was one of the few Hollywood insiders who could "keep the whole equation of pictures inside his head," but Ms. Harmetz opens up this world for us, and shows us both its realism and its wonder.

   We return to an era in which studio moguls were as eccentric and powerful as today's software barons, when studio hands were nonunionized yet intensely loyal to their studios, when no movie studio even thought about a future containing broadcast TV, when movie stars were better known than Presidents or Kings, and when Technicolor would give you any color except the one you wanted. Nonetheless, solving the creative problems inherent in bringing L. Frank Baum's novel "The Wizard of Oz" to the screen was seen as an invigorating set of challenges to be met and conquered.

   Back then, MGM had a real "can-do" attitude. So no one had
   ever created a moving tornado for a film? After two tries the MGM tech people got it right, and the depiction of that horrendous twister so set the tintype for what a tornado ought to look like that it persists in our collective consciousness today, despite today's ubiquitous video cameras.

   There were no tape recorders. How, then, to raise or lower voices artificially for dubbing? This book tells how. What happened when Buddy Ebsen almost died from an allergy to aluminum dust he had worn as the (originally intended) Tin Man? Why was Margaret Hamilton burned severely and ignored, yet Billie Burke turned an ankle and was whisked off the set in a white ambulance? Why did the film need four directors and half a dozen screenwriters, yet was fondly recalled as a labor of love by practically everyone except a prematurely embittered Judy Garland? Was the film the great commercial and critical success you might think it would be? And, by the way, what about those Munchkins' alleged sexual proclivities? Excellent answers provided by excellent research present a fully-formed world view, warts and all.

   THE MAKING OF THE WIZARD OF OZ would be a wonderful companion to the new restored DVD version of the film, which is so crisp you can count the gingham checkers on Dorothy's blue dress (which was actually violet, to fool the Technicolor process). How were the ruby slippers made? What about that poppy field? Read on. Some critics have said that Harmetz's later work is not as excruciatingly well researched as THE MAKING OF THE WIZARD OF OZ, but I don't care. This book and the movie are not only as much fun as ever, but a great education in the good old/bad old days of the Hollywood "Dream Factory." Don't miss it!




5. "The Making of the Wizard of Oz: Movie Magic and Studio Power in the Prime of MGM--And the Miracle of Production No 1060" is just downright enthralling. It is an expose' that breaks down the machinery and the machinations of what it took to get a major movie made in the days of the autocratic studio heads. The book offers an entertaining and totally engrossing look at the legendary film. Judy, Ray, Jack, Bert, Margaret, and Toto, too, are all analyzed in this brilliant work. The songwriters, the respective directors, the many other craftsmen, as well as the "little people," in more than the figurative sense, are all here. Vividly embellished with stills from the production, the book's text is just as captivating. The familiar as well as the unfamiliar stories about the production make for a most satisfying read for any "Oz" fan. It is also a good primer for anyone with an interest in pursuing film as a career.

1 comments about Breaking the Rules: The Wooster Group.

1. For the last 25 years, The Wooster Group has been one of the most influential and important experimental theatre groups in the country. They have managed, along with such contemporaries as Richard Foreman and Robert Wilson, to redefine the boundaries of what theatre is and what it can do while all the while having a wonderfully fun and zany time. This book not only gives in-depth analysis of seven of the group's pieces, but also manages to record the feelings and personalities of the group members through the countless interviews and dialogues represented. The result is a terrifically informative book which captures much of the unique collaborative process that goes into each work, each one a theatrical "explosion" of visceral excitement. However, like all experimental theatre, it is terribly difficult to really represent theatre that is not based on standard written texts; a production of the Wooster Group must be experienced first-hand in conjunction with this book to really appreciate what the troupe has achieved. Any reader must also recognize that although this is the only text devoted solely to the Soho performers, it is, at the time of this review, twelve years old and does not represent the current productions but rather the processes and experiements, constructions and deconstructions, odds and ends that led to what they are today.

5 comments about Mother Courage And Her Children: Methuen Student Edtion (Student Editions).

1. It is a good, good play,
   that is what they say.
   The English translation of the songs is pretty good.
   It is definitely great literature, even in translation.
   I've read Greek master drama/ tragedy that wasn't as convincing.
   The characters are realistic
   and the situations are true to life.
   But in the realism is the blow of a weapon
   that strikes us.
   Courage fails the brave mother
   as her children are stripped from her in death by war.



2. In what appears to be a permanent war in Iraq it is not untimely to address the question posed by Bertolt Brecht of how individuals caught up on the margins of warfare cope, for good or evil, with the traumas, unappetiting personal decisions and unmitigated horror of it. Brecht, the master Communist playwright, has taken a story of a working mother's struggle to survive as a camp following petty merchant in the Thirty Years War of the 17th century in Germany as his backdrop to investigate one aspect of that phenomena- the elemental struggle for individual survival. And it is not pretty. This mother is not the mother who gains increased political consciousness in another Brecht classic-The Mother. Far from it.
   
   If the simple moral of the story is that war does nothing to elevate the human spirit or bring out the better instincts of our nature Brecht has made his point in rather stark terms. The struggle of Mother Courage to keep her `mom and pop' business going at the cost of the lives of her children may not go down well with today's more squeamish audiences but the unfortunate fact is that all over the world, and most notably in today's Iraq, those very same kind of cold, calculating decisions are being made by families in order to survive. The fact that it is a mother, the source of life and supposed nurturer-in-chief, who is sacrificing her children only makes that observation more compelling. Brecht wants us to see that, while greed and acquisitiveness may not be eternal human characteristics, under conditions of scarcity that have dominated most of human history the struggle has led to some very strange behavior. In the end his play is not only a cry against war but the economic conditions that engender war as well. That would require some mighty big changes. But we better think about it.



3. There is not a single passage of entertainment in this play, or anything even scarcely enjoyable about the reading experience. You will never finish it unless you are at all interested in the Thirty Years War. If you're going to read anything by Brecht, try the witty 'Threepenny Opera', which succeeds at everything that Brecht needs to do to impart his political beliefs without putting his readers to sleep.



4. I read this book for my European History AP class...actually for the summer work. I chose it because it seemed short and easy to read. Boy was I wrong. I did not enjoy this book at all. My recommendation is to choose another play. Each scene was totally different, which I did not like. The language is a bit confusing. Overall, I do not recommend this book...sorry.



5. "Mother Courage and Her Children" is a repugnant play. With odious characters, a misguided plot, and pitiable dialogue, it's a marvel this play has survived the times. I would hate to see the play performed - pure torture. A waste of time, and I do not recommend.