5 comments about Blood Memory: An autobiography.

1. This is an interesting book if you are into modern dance. Graham was, of course, one of the great innovators of an entirely new genre of artistic expression, modern dance, and she is very open about her constant struggles and triumphs. She is a true American original.

   In this book, you meet St-Denis, Eric Hawkins, and Merce Cunningham, and manz others, all of whom were influences on her and whom she influenced. They are fascinatingly placed in both personal and historical context.

   While the content of this book is exceptional and extremely valuable, it is oddly structured, kind of a series of vignettes that are not even broken down into chapters. This was disconcerting to me and it made the thread of her narrative hard to follow at times. It was edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, opne of her last books.

   I recommend it to those already interested, but not to those who are not deeply hooked on dance. This work is full of love, some pride, and the obscure tragedies of her life.




2. This is my favorite book ever. Martha Graham claims that she is simply a dancer but she is an excellent writer. And, from what I read from Blood Memory a formidable woman. An "artiste" whose thoughts, both deep and candid, are very profound. In all aspects she is truly an "Athlete of God."



3. Reading this book, I found myself eagerly copying down quote after quote of Martha Graham's philosophy. Although I'm not a dancer, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Martha Graham's perspective on modern dance, art, and life in general. Moreover, I have great admiration for a woman who has been said to encourage *vagina* envy. You go, girl!



4. This book was an excellent introduction into not only the dance world, but the world of a dancer. I was given the opportunity to read this for a beginning modern dance class in college and I completely enjoyed it. It provides a wonderful view of not only the style of dancing as a textbook would normally do, but provides a lens for the reader to understand what kinds of reasons an incredible woman such as Martha would have for creating her works of art. I highly recommend this book for anyone, not interested in dance even, as it is also a wonderful story. It made a great impact on me and especially in my reasons for creating a piece. I highly recommend this book.



5. I heartily recommend this autobiography to anyone who loves dance, or simply loves life! Martha's unique sense of humor and her trademark style make this book well worth your while

1 comments about The Elements of Public Speaking (7th Edition).

1. The Elements of Public Speaking is a textbook i used for the course of public speaking this year. Surprisingly, it's not only a textbook, but also an useful book for all communicators. It provides a clear concept to be a successful public speaker - good communication skills, avoid using jargons and comfortable eye contacts, etc. Anyways, it's a MUST-READ guidebook for all public speakers and communicators as well.

2 comments about Let the Sun Shine In: The Genius of HAIR.

1. Having read the other books of Mr. Miller and enjoyed them, I was looking forward to this little book. I think Mr. Miller has finally lost the plot! He is so uncritical of the show it's an embarrassment. His critical faculties have sailed out the window! HAIR's music is a Wonder but the lyrics and book (?) are atrocious and often gibberish. The revelatory experiences Mr. Miller claims his cast had performing a production are Not their audience's response,i would imagine. An audience cannot always appreciate the research a cast has invested, it sees the product not the process. Miller is looking at his subject from the inside. I am surprised that Mr. Miller has descended to this "tribal" love-stuff. He never steps back from his subject and discerns its weakness. His efforts have actually steered me away from this musical.
   Damien in Ireland.



2. This book covers everything you could ever want to know about HAIR, The American TRibal Love-Rock musical, it's background, it's creation, what everything in it means, how it fit in history, how ti changes peoples lives, everything!! If you love HAIR, you'll love this book!!

1 comments about Stage Manager's Handbook.

1. I hope to be a Technical Theatre major when I get into college (I am a senior in high school at the moment), and I found a copy of this book at my county library. I read it over and over! I finally bought a copy of my own, which I use as a 'bible' of sorts. When I do stage management for some of my school's productions I always tote this book around as a reference tool. I recommend this book highly; it gives great insight into all aspects of the stage manager's duties. It is also a good read!

2 comments about The Steward of Christendom.

1. It's no surprise that this play, one of the finest I have ever seen, won considerable international acclaim. I would not hesitate to rank it among the top ten masterpieces of 20th century drama.

   Plays come and go, but this one, first produced at London's Royal Court in 1995, has all the hallmarks of a timeless treasure. It's drama, and poetry, full of unbelievably rich characterizations and history of Ireland's Time of Troubles.

   Thomas Dunne, the seventy-something Da, anchors the play firmly, though not exactly in the play's here and now, about 1932.

   Three of Da's four children have relegated him to an Irish county home, not for lack of love. No, Da's gone mad, as his effervescent lapses into the past make altogether real.

   He is not so mad, though, not to know the truth of things, and there is the beauty in this Lear-like drama.

   Play-lovers will melt on reading or hearing the final 15-minute soliloquy of this masterpiece. Da tells about a dog he had as a child, a dog his father did not want him to have, one that he brought home anyway.

   "And I knew that dog and me were for slaughter. My feet carried me on to where he stood, immortal you would say in the door. And he put his right hand on the back of my head, and pulled me to him so that my cheek rested against the buckle of his belt....

   "And I would call that the mercy of fathers, when the love that lies in them deeply like the glittering face of a well is betrayed by an emergency, and the child sees at last that he is loved, loved and needed and not to be lived without, and greatly."

   That hint of the powerful closing, though, is just the beginning. For the play proves equally rich throughout. Alyssa A. Lappen




2. This is a wonderful play. I saw it performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and was drawn in by the beauty of the language and the power of the story. It's quiet, at first; and then the drama of a man left behind by history gradually insinuates itself into your consciousness and your heart.

4 comments about Gaffers, Grips and Best Boys: From Producer-Director to Gaffer and Computer Special Effects Creator, a Behind-the-Scenes Look at Who Does What in the Making of a Motion Picture.

1. A very good overall description of all the jobs associated witrh filmmaking. I thought that there would be a little more depth to the descriptions, but...



2. As far as I know there are two books on the subject, the other being William E. Hines' "Job Descriptions for Film, Video & CGI". From those two this book is certainly more prosa. Every major field of movie production is described through kind of essays written from industry insiders. Although the book is by no means an encyclopedia, the reader gets a good idea what those jobs really are about. If you want some insights instead of concise descriptions, buy this book.



3. I really enjoyed this book. I never knew what gaffers and grips and producers actually did, but this book explains all those jobs. The book is written in the order that each person comes into a film, so you first learn about how an idea is generated, what happens with it, who gets involved next, and so on.

   One thing I really liked was all the personal anecdotal information that each interviewee gave. For example, John Lithgow talks about working on the World According to Garp, and Charles Joffee talks about what it was like producing specific movies for Woody Allen.

   A great book for someone who wants an enjoyable way to understand the intricacies of the filmmaking process.




4. _Gaffers, Grips and Best Boys_ is a great title. Unfortunately the title is misleading. The fine print is "From Producer/Director to Gaffer and Computer Special-effects creato, a behind the scenes look at who does what in the making of a motion picture."

   If you're looking for good, solid information about "gaffing, gripping and best boying" forget it. It's just one of the subjects touched on in this book.

   It's a decent book allright, but the title is misleading. If I had seen it in a book store I would have passed it by.

5 comments about A Pound of Flesh: Perilous Tales of How to Produce Movies in Hollywood.

1. A Great read. As entertaining as is is informative, this is one of the better books on producing that I have read. The book is broken down in the same way a producer goes about putting together a project. From conception to birth, this covers it all. Many great stories and personalities are covered (esp. good is the section on the Untouchables and not being able to get David Mamet to write anymore because he was off working on his own film House of Games). Pick this one up and enjoy.



2. I have read this book and one by Lydia Obst ("Hello, He Lied"). I preferred the Linson by a mile - Obst is too full of herself (she even disses Linson!). Linson discusses the role of producer and his contribution to films such as "Car Wash" and "The Untouchables". There's a revelatory look at a film he worked on the DIDN'T get made, called "Arrive Alive". Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the process of motion picture production.



3. I saw bits and pieces of an interview with Linson on the new FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH DVD and when I found out he had a book out I decided to check it out. He's been involved as a producer with some of my favorite movies (HEAT, THE UNTOUCHABLES, FIGHT CLUB). This was a quick and enjoyable read. You'll learn a little about what a producer does. What I gleaned from the book was that a producer:

   A) Brings the elements (writer, director, cast) together
   B) Pitches the project to the studio and helps secure financing
   C) Greases the gears to keep a film production going.
   D) Takes a lot of crap from different creative prima donnas
   

   Can you learn these things any other way? Sure, talk to a real Hollywood producer. But if you don't have access to one, pick up Linson's book. There are some really fun anecdotes in here, like dinner with Hunter S. Thompson, talking wardrobe with DeNiro, and wrangling re-writes out of David Mamet.

   "A Pound of Flesh" will be of interest to aspiring producers and those who enjoy finding out what happnens before and while the cameras roll.

   Not a necessary read for all, but for those into the film world. Linson's writing style is highly conversational and pleasurable to read.




4. In an honest, engaging, and pithy memoir, Art Linson manages to convey not only what a producer is and does in modern Hollywood, but also why that individual is so important both in the creation and final success of the product. If American film stands at the nexus of creativity and enterprise, the producer is the individual who must mediate the inevitable clash between these immutable forces, and Linson openly recalls his successes as well as his failures. It's not always pretty, but it's always good.

   In fact,the book's great strength is Linson's success in divorcing himself - or his ego - from his topic, allowing the reader to learn with the author, rather than from him. The entire process of the creation of a film, from pitch to production to premiere, including unpleasant diversions like Turnaround Hell and rites like Test Screenings, is laid before us through Linson's formative years as a producer.

   What the reader ends with is an understanding of the filmmaking process that no textbook could convey, and that few insiders would be willing to impart to a tyro.

   This is truly a primer on movie production that belongs on the shelf of everyone from development executive to film student to movie-lover.




5. This book is about 100X better than Lydia Obst's egotisticalpiece. Indeed, Linson is remarkably ego-free - and he's worked with DeNiro, De Palma, Mamet, and others. His tales are entertaining, at times harrowing, and best of all, he describes the process of assembling all the elements to produce a picture. Not a knockout, but a solid, informative piece of work. I'd like to meet Linson one day.

1 comments about Getting Closer: A Dancer's Perspective.

1. Dance is a notoriously difficult art to capture and hold onto. Even film rarely serves it well. Odd then that Rosalie O'Connor's incandescent photographs of her friends and colleagues at ABT as they rehearse, prepare, and perform should erupt so spontaneously with movement and emotion. I don't know why this should be: maybe it's her artist's eye; maybe it's her steady hand; maybe it's her obvious rapport with dancers, her knowledge and love of dance; maybe it's just incredible good luck. Whatever the reason, the results are astonishingly beautiful and present in this book. The accompanying text, by Ms. O'Connor and some of her subjects, is a wonderful bonus that both illuminates and grounds the images, even as they take flight. My only quibble is with the paper stock the University Press of Florida chose for this remarkable offering: it allows us to enjoy Ms. O'Connor's art, that's true enough; but it certainly doesn't do that art justice.

5 comments about Clark Gable: A Biography.

1. This is a well researched bio of Clark Gable. He was not a perfect man but some of his issues certainly had their roots in the crushing poverty of his youth. It seems that with him what you saw on the screen was pretty much the man. And what a man! I enjoyed this book thououghly and reccommend it to anyone interested in Gable and Hollywood movies of the 30s, 40s and 50s.



2. He lifted whole passages from Lyn Tornabene's bio "Long Live the King" but did not list her in the bibliography.



3. Book was in excellent condition and a wonderful read. Gable led an interesting life and it was revealed with great detail. If you interested in biographies on celebrities from MGM era, this is a book to read.



4. This is not a definitive biography of Gable by any means. Its merely o.k. The writer portrays Gable in a variety of ways from male/whore/pimp to broken down/shattered/griefstricken to a man obssessed with his masculinity and sexual prowess. Gable may have been the epitome of masculinity in the movies and it is this that earned him the title of "King". The writer attempts to portray Gable as a martyr throughout the entire book. The fact of the matter is that the truth lies somewhere in between. Gable was a womanizer and it is a well-known fact that he would have sex with anything with skirts on. It is also a well-known fact that Gable, by his own admission, was not THAT GREAT an actor. He was competent most of the time. He was brilliant in "It Happened One Night", "Mutiny on the Bounty" and "Gone With the Wind". It is no coincidence that he was Oscar nominated only for those performances. It is also a well-known fact that Gable had a homosexual encounter with William Haines (MGM's biggest male star of the silents)in order to advance his career. It is also a well-known fact that Gable used his first two wives to further his career, cheated on them and ultimately divorced them. But it is also well-known that they used him too. The writer wants to portray Gable as a saint. Saint he was not. The book has its merits. It reads well (albeit with inacurracies) and is interesting, if you can overlook the gossip, tabloid style with which it is written.



5. I just bought this book and noticed that Warren Harris list Clark Gable character in "Cain and Mabel" as "Joe Cain" instead of "Larry Cain" which is the actual name of the character.
   
   How many other things are wrong in this book?

2 comments about Physics and the Art of Dance: Understanding Movement.

1. I am a teenaged ballet student. I LOVED THIS BOOK. It helped me in my study of ballet in so many ways: understanding, balancing, executing movements, creating the illusions, improving my technique, and on and on. I love how the book is written, because it is easy to understand even if you are not a Physicist (but it also has Scientific material and some pages with the math and physics illustrated in equations, etc., as well). The chapters engage you with a question or puzzle that you have to solve. This makes you want to hurry up to get to the end of each chapter to see if your guesses were correct. You will learn how to create the illusion of floating in your grand jetes. You will learn how dancers suspend their movement that receives a 'gasp' from the audience that happens whenever something is held beyond what seems possible or expected. It is a book I needed in order to get beyond my limits as a dancer.



2. The question of how a knowledge of the science behind the movement of the human body helps students of dance learn to dance better is always discussed. Like the author, I too am both a physicist and a ballet dancer. I have found that the most important thing to learn in ballet is the imagery that works for you, and sometimes science can actually get in the way. Take walking for example: if we had to analyze ever movement in walking we would never be able to move. I should also point out that science still does not thoroughly understand walking, let alone dancing! Still, it is helpful in some places to understand, at least a little, what is happening in a movement or static pose. This book does a surprisingly fine job of covering most of the pertinent topics and some topics you would not have thought of asking about. I liked the fact that the author does not over simplify some topics, which is often done in elementary explanations. Science usually tries to abstract and simplify in order to explain phenomena, but this can lead to problems. Take, for example, the case of static balance on a point. If you approximate the human body as a rigid body, it is impossible to explain stable equilibrium on a point. Rigid bodies can only achieve unstable equilibrium over a point. But human beings are not rigid! In ballet, we can achieve stable balance over a point for an indefinite period of time(it is very difficult and rarely seen in performance but often in ballet class). This book actually mentions this and explains how it is done. It even includes a discussion of how much a cushioned floor will reduce shock to the dancer's joints. Many illustrations and photos are also included. This is the best book available on this subject, and for those who want to explore this topic further, this is the best place to start.