1 comments about Public Speaking Handbook (2nd Edition) (MySpeechLab Series).

1. The book was excellent. Definitely the one if you want to learn to be a better public speaker. The price is even better!

3 comments about Radio Golf.

1. Radio Golf concludes August Wilson's 20th Century decade play cycle with a tale of a business man whose ambitions for progress and success ultimately come face to face with his past and his identity.
   Harmond Wilks was a child of privilege, growing up under the shadow of his successful father and his business in Pittsburgh. Now he is an ambitious mayoral candidate and head of a Hill District redevelopment organization planning to build an apartment and shopping complex featuring all the usual mall suspects; Barnes & Noble, Whole Foods, Starbucks, etc. With him is Roosevelt Hicks, an old friend and business partner, equally ambitious and unabashed in his drive to succeed, he is contemptuous of blacks stuck in poverty/anger/victim hood, and willing to get in bed with suspect real estate tycoons looking to take advantage of the government's minority ownership incentives.
   Their plan is set to go, but for a rundown house at 1839 Wylie. The house at 1839 Wylie proves, through the personality and character of Old Joe Barlow to be a personal boom but professional bust for Harmond and his wife, Mame.
   Radio Golf is a pretty quick read, and with five characters Wilson gets to the point quickly and with a subtle flavor, found mostly in Barlow and Roosevelt-both relative extremes in the 1990's Black American experience, with Harmond in the middle-and presents a question as to what progress really is. Full of the symbols and swift language of his other works, Radio Golf does focus for the first time on the middle class Black community and the according issues. Ambition or community, revitalization of desperate neighborhoods, the value of money versus community as well as the meanings of history within the interests of American Big Business.
   Not as epic or traumatic as King Hedley II or Fences or The Piano Lesson, but ever timely, spot on and important.



2. My students and I read Radio Golf in preparation for a video conferences in which professional actors were rehearsing a scene from the play for a show. The main character, Harmond Wilks, dreams of becoming the first black mayor of Pittsburgh, and it looks as if he has a good chance of doing so, but when he is confronted with evidence of an injustice that he can't ignore, and tries to right it, he stands to lose it all. A true, heroic figure, he soon realizes the ugly truth that "what is right is not always popular, and what is popular is not always right."



3. This is a proper finale to Wilson's century cycle, I read this play and the nine others as part of a college class and it wraps up the saga with Wilson's usual brand of honesty that makes his work so compelling. It speaks with sharp tongue about the ills of the black community but it all has the cathartic ring of truth. It is a bit slow to start but is an engaging story of redemption that is as funny as it is thought provoking.

5 comments about Three Plays: Desire Under The Elms, Strange Interlude, Mourning Becomes Electra.

1. Its the only play i read in the book. It was an interesting read. The dialect is sometimes hard to understand, only a few words though.
   The play is fast moving and interesting. The scandalous Eben-???(dont want to ruin it for you) relationship is unexpected and dramatic. Perhaps too dramatic, in a rome and juliet complex.



2. Oneill, death death death, this is rereleased in vintage 1958,
   mourning becomes electra , strange interlude, required reading
   for all playwrights of our era.



3. Each of the three plays in this volume are beautiful in their own way, with a poignant message that you'll be the better for hearing. O'Neill's genius is breathtaking and sometimes I wonder how he does it. Out of all his plays, there's not a stinker in the bunch.



4. i need a thesis for a paper on strange interlud



5. One of these three great plays by Eugene O'Neill is Strange Interlude which was written in 1923 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928 when it originally ran on Broadway. Its running time is over four hours and it is usually performed with a dinner break. It is a family chronicle, of sorts, following the life of Nina Leeds and her family in a small university town in New England - from her early days as a young woman mourning the loss of her ideal lover during WWI, through her middle age years. It is the story of a family's secret and their determination to keep this secret unknown by others, and sometimes even to themselves. The play's most unusual quality, though, is found in the words that each character speaks. Not only do they converse with each other using naturalistic dialogue, but they also voice their subtext, which is unheard by the other characters in the play, but is heard by the audience. This device brings to the surface the secret life that each character in the play carries with them but is not willing to reveal to others. It creates, in the audience, as if it were another character in the play, a "sharer" of these stage characters' secrets. Through it all we view the lives of these characters with a fondness, and we root for them. Perhaps we root for them because we know, very much, why they are doing the things they do to each other.

   The two other plays are well worth the experience of reading and/or seeing on stage. Mourning Becomes Electra, based on the Greek Electra myth, is especially wonderful. Its set in post civil war america and like Strange Interlude its length makes it a rare theatre treat to see performed on stage.

5 comments about The Wisdom of Big Bird (and the Dark Genius of Oscar the Grouch): Lessons from a Life in Feathers.

1. this book was written by carol spinney, fan of henson, who ended up working with him and doing big bird and oscar the grouch for years.
   
   i had seen an interview with him prior to reading the book where he equates working with henson to being asked to be a member of the beatles. just awesome.
   
   this book has many anecdotes of his times working with henson, on sesame street, the story of the girl they did "big bird goes to china" with, getting punched in costume by rappers, and he tells the story of hensons death and how it affected him.
   
   for any henson fan, it really is a must have.



2. To be honest, I have not kept up on Sesame Street since I was a regular viewer from say, oh 1974-77. So I was surprised that there was but a single guy playing Big Bird! I would have otherwise presumed the role was like Vader, a guy in the suit and a guy doing the voice. Moreover, the same guy did ALL the public appearances, award shows, White House dinners. I was floored; what an interesting time this guy had stemming from the Big Bird suit. He's very matter of fact about much of this so I am perhaps overly impressed? In any case, he comes across as very genuine and extremely kind and generally a good person. He also offers odd but intriguing insights into the puppetry world. A neat short read.



3. 
   The book was easy reading, took me about 3 hours and filled with life stories/lesson's from Caroll Spinney, the man behind Big Bird & Oscar the Grouch. I laughed and cried and totally enjoyed the book.



4. A fun read. Carol Spinney is a man whom I never knew much about besides seeing his name in the credits of Sesame Street, and other productions where Big Bird made an appearance.
   
   It was interesting to read about how Big Bird's character was developed, and how just playing the part of a lovable children's icon changed Carol's life.
   
   Worth your time. For sure.



5. I'm still in the middle of reading this book. but, I'm admiring the work of Carroll very much and every time I look at Big Bird or Oscar now I imagine the position that Carroll is in to make the muppet come to life.

5 comments about VO: Tales and Techniques of a Voice-Over Actor.

1. I purchased and read 9 different books about voice-over before buying VO:Tales and Techniques of a Voice-Over Actor. All of those 9 books were well written and one of them WAS my favorite. VO is now by far my favorite book about voice-over. H2 does a wonderful job of mixing the technical with the personal. Great stories mixed with priceless info. He teaches while he entertains. You'll learn AND laugh. VO is a good book to have for reference and I am going to be reading it straight through again in the very near future.



2. I really enjoyed Harlan Hogan's book VO: Tales and Techniques of a Voice Actor. I read it early last year, and have gone back to it several times since for wisdom and tips in my own Voice Career!
   The format of the book made it an easy read. Chapters from Harlans life and experiences mixed with Tips and Tricks of the Trade.
   A book for any aspiring Voice Over Library!



3. Harlan Hogan provides a lot of explanation of how things work in the VO world (or at least as they did in 2002, when this book was written). He gives great advice while lightly touching on subjects like running your business, jargon, union vs. "pre-union", etc. However, he also offers some insight that beginning voice actors aren't likely to find in a lot of other books. Harlan does this by recounting stories from his own experience that not only entertain, but relate to the major points of each section. He also lets the reader in on inside jokes of the trade like "Blooper's Soap" and the infamous Findus Foods session with Orson Welles. Sure, they're easily Google-able, but how are they woven into the fabric of the industry?
   
   I've done radio for a dozen years, switched to the computer tech side
   for another half-dozen and now I'm studying and working on figuring out
   where I will best fit into the VO market. This book not only confirmed
   a lot of things I felt instinctively, but it also helped me to not
   listen so much to the "what if" voice that we all carry with us.



4. I really enjoyed this book, it is really informative, entertaining and gives and inside look at voice over acting. This is one of the few books that I will re-read becouse of all the usefull information, a must read for anyone starting out or considering a career as a voice actor.



5. This book is excellent. It's packed with information about what one should expect if he/she wants to work in the Voice Acting industry, and it also includes many tips & tricks that voice actors could follow in order to advance in their careers.
   
   It's hilariously entertaining yet down-to-earth informative - a rare combination achievable in books.
   
   On top of that, it's easy to read, so you don't see much of those long-worded-jargons-which-you-will-find-in-technical-books for instance. Instead, you get cute cartoons replacing the too-much-information type of thing.
   
   As I've mentioned in the title, I'd give this book 100 stars if I could.
   
   This book truly is one of the BEST purchases I've EVER made.
   
   
   
   ~ Jessie

2 comments about One on One: The Best Women's Monologues for the 21st Century (The Applause Acting Series).

1. As a director of a professional theater, I can tell you that the right monologue is vital for a great audition. Finding the perfect monologue is a hard task for any actor and it's even harder for female actors. This wonderful resource provides a wealth of women's monologues for both the professional and educational theater. After providing solid advice for choosing the right monologue, Henry, Jaroff, and Shuman offer a robust choice of monologues from a wide range of playwrights and styles. Thoughtful, complex, and beautifully theatrical, these monologues provide plenty of choices for the perfect monologue. A must have for any actor's library!



2. Really funny monologues (Holly Hughes's, Christopher Durang's, Peter Petralia's, and Laurel Haines's); serious (William Gibson's, Neil LaBute's, and August Wilson's); and some just plain dangerous (Anna Deavere Smith's and Lydia Lunch's). The work is from 2000 and after--the playwrights are diverse, including Theresa Rebeck, Murray Schisgal, and Nilo Cruz. About seventy good parts to choose from--nice pieces by Maria Irene Fornes, Crystal Field, Young Jean Lee, David Simpatico, and Anne Elliott--way too many to count. Meryl Streep, eat your heart out!

3 comments about 13 by Shanley: Thirteen Plays (Applause American Masters Series).

1. I once took a Shanley scene study class in NYC at Circle Rep. Patrick Shanley came into the very last class and talked to us and critiqued our scenes. A very down to earth and inspiring man. He talked to us of how he sees no seperation of dreams and real-life when he writes. His early plays contained in this collection inspire some of his better known quirky characters(Savage, Murk, Danny, Roberta, Aldo) and stories(Savage in Limbo, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Big Funk, Italian/American Reconciliation) but all his work no matter how dreamy are always real as are his characters. There's a journey for all his characters in each play and a world of magic, if you believe in it, the characters and play will come alive. For actors, Shanley has to be filled with the right stuff, not pumped up.



2. If you've ever been involved in a relationship that gets deep, personal and reveals a you you never knew existed...Shanley's already been there and brilliantly written about it. His ability to peer into the dark, dank depths of the human psyche and then actually write something funny about it is unparalleled. I've seen many of his plays and always left with a sore stomach from laughing so hard. I wanted to read them, too, so I could take the time to savor the deeper understandings. I'm constantly lending my copy to friends to read after they come to me in the throws of personal or relationship crisis. I'm grateful for this collection and can't wait for the next one.



3. I found the plays in "13 by Shanley" to be as outrageous, quirky, beautiful, and redeeming as his screenwork. Shanley has the uncanny ability to make you read him twice, because one reading doesn't quite settle with you. I found myself reading a play in this collection, all the while thinking, "that's odd. I'm not too sure I care for that one. Oh, well." Then, I'd wake up the next morning, with lines from the play nagging at me. I'd go back to it and, sure enough... "it's brilliant. How did I miss that before?"

   Shanley isn't everyone's cup of tea. However, if you have any kind of appreciative bone in your body for passionately quirky romances like "Moonstruck" or moodily misunderstood fairlytales like "Joe Versus The Volcano" (my personal all-time favorite)... then I STRONGLY urge you to pick up "13 by Shanley" for 13 cultured tales of love, beauty, and self-discovery.

   Shanley's a genius. He's in a class by himself.

3 comments about Blithe Spirit, Hay Fever, Private Lives: Three Plays.

1. Noel Coward's talent for spinning gossamer plots into rapier-sharp comedy assures his reputation in theatre, and his comedies have such timeless appeal that they remain staples of both English and American theatre. This volume collects three of his most memorable scripts: the fantasy BLITHE SPIRIT, the farce HAY FEVER, and the razor-wicked PRIVATE LIVES.

   Of the three, BLITHE SPIRIT and PRIVATE LIVES are best known to the general public through various film versions and frequent revivals. BLITHE SPIRIT concerns a novelist who invites a medium to give a seance that he might learn tricks of the trade for the book he is writing--but the medium is no fake, and she unintentionally summons up the ghost of his first wife, who promptly moves in and makes his second wife's life a living hell. PRIVATE LIVES offers the story of a divorced couple who unexpectedly meet while honeymooning with their new spouses--whom they quickly abandon in order to resume their torrid passion for each other. Trouble is, although they love each other desperately, their personalities are about as compatible as two scorpions in a bottle. HAY FEVER, one of Coward's earliest successes, presents the story of visitors to an eccentric family who are very nearly driven mad before they are able to escape.

   Coward was reknowned for his sophistocated and often acid turn of phrase, and all three of these plays contain enough outrageous situations and sharp-tongued lines to make even the worst sourpuss laugh loud enough to annoy the neighbors. Although those unused to reading playscripts may find HAY FEVER a bit hard to grasp, both BLITHE SPIRIT and PRIVATE LIVES read extremely, extremely well--so much so that you're likely to find yourself acting them out as you read! Wonderful fun, and strongly, strongly recommended.




2. I recieved my summer reading list for Honors English a few weeks ago, and under the section that held a list of three play titles to choose from, I came across Blithe Spirit. Having never heard of Noel Coward, or anything of the other two plays in this book (Hay Fever, and Private Lives) I decided to give the book a chance and I am pleased that I did. I am not a huge fan of reading plays, but after I read Blithe Spirit, I felt that I just had to keep going and read the other two. After reading this book, it is now very obvious to me that Noel Coward was a man with extreme talent, and an awful witty sense of humor. While reading these plays you come across some really interesting situations, and characters, and I guarentee that you will be smiling throughout the whole thing.



3. Noel Coward's _Hay Fever_, Evelyn Waugh's _Handful of Dust_, and Kingsley Amis's _Lucky Jim_ are, for my money, the three funniest things written in English in the 20th century. I was a drama critic for nearly 12 years, saw hundreds of productions of all kinds from coast to coast in the US and a few in London, and never laughed harder or enjoyed myself more than at a regional US production of "Hay Fever" in the late 1970's. Do it again! Do it again!

5 comments about Groucho And Me.

1. Excellent book, well written with Groucho's unique wit and sarcasm



2. I Liked the book and was fascinated by it. It met most of my expectations. MP



3. A very easy read. A nice blend of information and funny Groucho stories. If you are a fan of their movies, then you should enjoy Groucho's accounts.



4. This biography of Groucho is as touching as is through. The reader is wisked away into the comic world of one of America's greatest performers. The book is filled with humorous stories from Groucho's life. The author has woven in some of Groucho's most personal views and we hear his outspoken and sometimes controversial views on a wide array of subjects. Groucho was truly the first "Sssssshock jock!" The book ends on a decidedly melancholy note when in the twilight of his years Groucho meets a young man by the name of Anthony. The two share a touching moment in which the reader watches as the torch is passed from one generation of comics to another. (Anthony later goes on to become a renowed professor and comedic talk show host.) A great read and an exciting page turner for the serious reader...NOT YOU!



5. Even though, as others have mentioned, this isn't really a true autobiography per se, it's a very involving, fast, funny read. There are a lot of personal reflections, anecdotes, and the wonderful chapters about the Marx family when their boys were young and then their early vaudeville days, but there are a lot of seemingly important things left out; if you want to get a story told in a more linear format and with more concise personal information, you'd be better-served reading a more serious scholarly biography (though you probably won't laugh as much with that kind of book). The autobiographical accounts that do appear are priceless though; to most people, the people, events, and culture of New York in the late 19th century and early 20th century and on the vaudeville circuit in America is a foreign long-vanished world, a world where a dollar was still a lot of money and there were still neighborhood tailors and pants-pressers, where cars were positively dirt-cheap in comparison to how much they cost today. More celebrity autobiographies should be like this, fun and engaging and witty, not taking oneself too seriously or acting like this is a strictly factual account of one's life and like everything described happened exactly in the way it's described and with those exact words spoken. The picture section was also very nice. The only small complaint I have about it is that, being written in 1959, some of the references to people and things are a little dated and don't mean anything to or ring any bells for people who weren't around back then.

3 comments about Angelina Jolie: The Biography.

1. I liked this because it enlightened me to her past and how she is different from everyone else. Right from the beginning.



2. Loved this!!! Great pictures and great insight into a wonderful person's world. Being a fan I had heard most of the stories from Angelina interviews in the past, but there were some things that surprised me. It also offered a lot of information on her marriages and why they didn't work out.



3. I bought this book as my Christmas present to myself and I was not disappointed. I couldn't put the book down. Very well written and well-rounded. I feel like I know Angelina now as if I'd grown up with her. I respect and love her even more after reading this book. She literally transformed herself and morphed into the amazing woman she is now. This book is a must for all Angelina Jolie fans everywhere.