5 comments about Kiss and Tango: Looking for Love in Buenos Aires.

1. This book is virtually unreadable. Insofar as plot and characters: vapid, pointless, doesn't go anywhere unless you consider trekking to Buenos Aires with no clear plot point "getting somewhere." Insofar as writing: it is as if someone made notes in a spiral bound journal about her vacation and its aftermath, intended to write a book from them, forgot to write the book, and only published the scribblings.



2. I can only confirm that this book is not about the tango but mostly about the personality of Marina Palmer. Given that the target group is that of TANGO lovers, not Marina Palmer fans, this book feels like a bait-and-switch.
   
   What it shows clearly, however, is that whatever you do and wherever you go, you will always take yourself along. Being professionally frustrated and having a low self-esteem makes one see the outer world in negative colors and attract wrong kind of people.
   
   I am sure that if Marina Palmer were to enter the world of, say, basket-weaving or table tennis she would find them just as wicked and disillusioning as her world of Argentine tango turned out to be.



3. I don't normally get caught up with reviews (and so I'll keep it brief) - but this time I believe it is this reader's duty to warn fellow Amazonians. Never have I read a worse book. It is sooo terribly written and says virtually nothing about tango. Save your money and hours of agony. I did like the book cover ; )



4. What a disappointment this book was - great subject (Buenos Aires and the fascinating culture of Tango) handled so poorly. This book actually made me wince at both the incredibly bad writing and the shallow values of the writer. I can't imagine why she would want to publish something so personal, so trite, and so confessional. This is a remarkably bad book.



5. Sometimes I like reading smut. This definitely ranks as smutty and, as a result, is an entertaining romp, but it gets old REALLY quickly. I found myself skimming through most of it just so I could say I got through it. I hear they're making a movie out of it now. Are you kidding me?
   
   I am North American who moved to Buenos Aires for a man I met in the tango. Knowing the milonga and the tango, the thought of someone finding The One in the tango scene is laughable, although my partner and I managed to find each other here and have been together for almost 2 years...and he is definitely not with me for my money, which is the typical attitude many of these tango dancers have toward foreign women. So, if you're thinking about coming to Buenos Aires to snag yourself a man, think twice. Tango is not all romance and passion. There is an undercurrent that is quite unpleasant. But, if you are coming here for a fling or two in a foreign country and are NOT looking for anything profound while you take advantage of the great dancing, by all means, come on down and enjoy!

No comments about Alice Invents a Little Game and Alice Always Wins: A Play.

No comments about Body Space Image : Notes Toward Improvision and Performance.

2 comments about Actors at Work.

1. This is not just another one of those "interview books." It is an interesting revelation of the things performers endure, transend and celebrate, as they develop their careers.
   
   An incredible group of A-List talent shares its experience in a very frank, and revealing manner. They talk of failure as well as success, of people who were mentors and those who were obstacles, of situations which were discouraging as well as those which help them move forward. They reveal ego as well as humility. Anxiety as well confidence.
   
   This book is interesting, entertaining and informative for any reader interested in the background of performers. Actors at every level will gain something from these pages. The insight shared is a treat and a treasure, filled with down-to-Earth lessons.



2. Marian Seldes is so old (or should I say, experienced) that she remembers the acting of Katherine Cornell, Judith Anderson, the school of acting she aspired to as a teenager in New York when she was first starting out; then along came Sanford Meissner and a different sort of acting school that knocked all of her ideas about how to proceed out the window--till they came crawling back as she, Seldes, began creating her own marvelous combinatory web of both styles, the elegance of the past and the electric presence of postwar Method Acting sense theory. Billy Crudup at the opposite end of the pole is so young that when he went to see his first play, Dustin Hoffman in DEATH OF A SALESMAN, Hoffman at 41 seemed older than time, easily ancient enough to play beatup, withered old Willy Loman (remember how controversial a choice it was to cast Hoffman in the part at the time!)
   
   The interviewers in ACTORS AT WORK show a wonderful touch; they're always there, fielding questions, prompting the reluctant to speak more freely, they're catching the humor of the replies and volleying it right back, and yet they're not afraid to probe into unexpected areas of experience. I like the way that they often ask the actor to step back into childhood and describe what first lured him or her into the theater; or perhaps, as they ask Dianne Wiest, when you knew you wanted to become an actor, "Did your childhood support that in any way?" Now, that's the sort of question a prosecutor might not ask, for you're usually supposed to "know"what the witness will say before you ask the question. But most of the time the actors here jump right in and engage with Tichler and Kaplan.
   
   This book features what has got to be the longest interview I'm sure that Frances (SIX FEET UNDER) Conroy will ever be asked to grant! I'm a little puzzled about her prominence here; her name even pops up in questions T and K ask other actors, but maybe she's a client or something, or maybe she's the hidden master of acting on stage in New York, whereas, I just don't feel it from watching her on TV or in the movies. Are any of them a little vain? Yes, maybe, and their names are both Kevin, (oh, and one is called Mandy), but hey, they're stars, they deserve to be able to show off a bit from time to time. And yes, there are tons of insights into acting here; not only acting, but keeping it together; gathering up one's courage; combining political action with art; surviving the inevitable lean years when you become last year's critical darling, this year's who's that, I forget. For the most part the actors involved come off as real people, with human frailties but also something of the poet to all of them, it's a fine, fine book.

5 comments about Making Money in Voice-Overs, 2nd Edition (with CD): Winning Strategies to a Successful Career in TV, Commercials Radio and Animation (Book & CD).

1. This book was highly recommended to me by a producer in New York. I read it and immediately knew that this is who I wanted to learn from. Great tips throughout - she really wants everyone to succeed - she's not selfish with her knowledge at all. I subsequently contacted the author through her website (www.terriapple.com) and signed up to train with her while she was in New York. She's widely recognized as one of the BEST in the business; professional, positive, smart and she has a real "Go Team!" attitude that shows in her writing style. Without a doubt, this book is the first step in working toward a career in voice-overs.



2. There are so many typos in this book that it is actually frustrating to read. There is also so much repetition, not in general, but huge paragraphs that can be found word for word three pages earlier. Terri Apple is very good at cheerleading and she obviously knows the business but there's too much emphasis on LA contacts and way, way, way too many text errors to recommend this book. And I'm not talking about grammar. I'm talking about "The re" "and and" or whole words left out. I found myself struggling to read this book. Since it was published in 1999 some of the advice is out-of-date, like carry a pager (pre-cell phones) which is not Ms. Apple's fault, nor her editors, if she had one. I do find her responsible for the content of her book. With so many books on voice-overs out there, I would recommend another.



3. I doubt that Terri Apple even edited her book one-time through. There are a number of grammatical mistakes and spelling errors, making the meaning of several sentences nearly incomprehensible. Had she or an editor read this book, they would have caught many of the obvious mistakes ahead of time. The chapters were not very well laid-out and extremely inconsistent. The book's content was not organized well. Much of the information in each chapter did not coincide with the chapter title and she would skip ideas from one paragraph to the next. Also, she repeated much of the same information in several different chapters under different sections. Perhaps she wrote the book in between her many voiceover auditions. The information in this book is outdated since the industry has changed so dramatically since its publication. Terri Apple has proved that pretty voices should only be used when they have something to say. And that a pretty voice can be an ugly read.



4. Personally I expected more helpful hints and techniques for improving your skills in voice-overs but instead most of the book is concentrated on advising how to promote your talent. So if you want to know how to be a voice-talent this is propably not the best book for you, but if you feel you already have what it takes to be a voice-over artist, it gives you advise what to do to get yourself into business.



5. The massive amount of helpful information in this book is marred by only two things:

   o It desperately needs some copy editing to remove the sentence fragments and other "word-processing glitches," and

   o The discussions of technology need to be reviewed by someone with a firmer grasp of how such things actually work.

   Because of this, I would give it 4-1/2 stars instead of 5 if that rating were available.

   In the big picture, however, these are minor quibbles with a book that otherwise covers a lot of ground and answers a lot of questions that aspiring voice actors would have. It provides an in-depth look at the voice-over business (with particular focus on Los Angeles) from the perspective of a busy, in-demand performer who has paid enough dues to know what she's talking about, and because it is fairly new it covers recent developments that older books omit. Certainly well worth the modest investment for anyone wanting to know more about this business.

1 comments about Victor Herbert: A Theatrical Life.

1. This the book Herbert fans have been waiting for. Mr. Gould fills in the human gaps that Edward N. Waters skimmed over in 1955. You need to own both books to get the full picture. It is also wonderful to see Herbert treated with the respect he deserves. All too often books purporting to cover American musical theatre and Broadway history give short shrift to Victor Herbert, one of the foundations of it all. If you don't believe that statement, you need to read this book. Kern, Cohen, Berlin, Hammerstein II, they all followed the path carved by Victor Herbert and benefited from the legal and congressional battles Herbert and Sousa fought together and the organization Herbert help found - ASCAP - which protects every single musician who followed him. Yes, he's been gone for 84 years but he remains a giant in American Musical History and this book proves it!

3 comments about Shelley II: The Middle of My Century.

1. I absolutely loved this book. Shelley tells her wild and crazy story of an actor's life in the 1950's. This includes the intense and gratifying work of being an actress and the world famous people she worked with, socialized, lived with and loved. I can say that there is drama, tragedy, humor and love on almost every page. What an exciting life she lived and she's still a young beautiful woman at the end of this book. Buy this book today!!!



2. I liked this even more then the firt memory book.
   It makes a light on all of a period and point of view, I do like to read about words different of mine.
   She is (was?) a hard worker, a survivor, and as she recognises in her book not always a nice person to be with. But I like her and was very interested in how she sees the world.



3. Though it can be argued that Shelley Winters has assisted in creating her own legend (her ego is the real star of both highly entertaining autobiographies), there is a real flair to her writing and her memory for details (even allowing for the usual embellishment) is impressive. Her place in cinema is probably in question; two Oscars was a bit generous and her seeming insistence that she deserved to win Best Actress for "A Place in the Sun" over Vivien Leigh's Blanche in "Streetcar" is merely laughable today. But she did produce an impressive body of work (and relationships) on screen and stage and deserves credit for being larger than life, a trait that some actress of today could take a lesson from. Ms. Winters takes pride in her work and the craft of acting, which is to also be applauded, and she never paints herself in an angelic light when not appropriate. Overall, these are among the very finest autobiographies of any kind, celebrity or non-. Is it too much to hope for a third act to these treasured volumes?

3 comments about The Reluctant Film Art of Woody Allen.

1. I have read several books on Woody Allen and this is the most brilliant so far. Those who are tired of hearing about his squabble with Mia Farrow will be relieved to find that the author concentrates on his work and only mentions facts of Woody Allen's life that are relevant to his films. The book painstakingly analyzes the psychological and philosophical undercurrents in Woody's work, and especially delves into the issue as to whether art cand lend coherence to an otherwise contingent and random life. It'll help you see Woody's films from a broader standpoint but also set you brooding over your life as well.



2. Peter Baily establishes his thesis that a primary thread running through many of Allen's major films is an examination of the tension between art and life and the struggle of the artist to disengage from the real world to unleash the creative juices. Citing examples from many of my favorite Allen films and following through on his major premise Baily delivers a fine book that challenged me to look at this films from a new perspective. I highly recommend this to fans of Woody Allen. I am cueing up my DVD copy of Hannah and her Sisters as soon as I log off.



3. If you've ever wanted to reach right into the movie screen, shake one of Woody Allen's characters by the shirt collar, and say, "Snap out of it, bub," here's a book for you. Peter J. Bailey's The Reluctant Film Art of Woody Allen offers a fascinating, crystalline analysis of one of the most vexing questions to dog three generations of Woody Allen characters: Is the fictional world of art--especially film art--more a help or a hindrance in our difficult lives?

   Bailey, an English professor at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., demonstrated his gift for making sense of challenging contemporary literary art with Reading Stanley Elkin in the mid-'80s. In The Reluctant Film Art of Woody Allen, he takes on a more readily accessible subject but does not hold back any of the tremendous critical insight at his command. The result is a book both for serious film buffs--that is, buffs of serious film (a subjective distinction taken up in this book)--and for film scholars alike. I was impressed by Bailey's scholarly precision, yet after reading the first couple of chapters I wanted to dash out and rent Stardust Memories, Manhattan, and several other signature Woody Allen flicks. This book has actually made watching his movies a more intellectually stimulating experience without killing the comic moments so abundant in them.

   A college English instructor myself, I appreciate the challenge of leading a critical investigation of something fun and entertaining without making that subject, well, less fun and entertaining. Bailey succeeds admirably with this book, mainly because he never puts Allen on a pedestal. The author is a fan, to be sure, as indicated by his generous praise for what Allen does well--and has done well at a pace of roughly one film a year since 1972. This book's thesis, however, delves more deeply into a particularly compelling set of questions at the core of most of Allen's films: What do they say about the role of art in our lives? Is it a redeeming social force or merely a pleasant diversion from life's suffering? Are Woody Allen's films art or merely pleasant, entertaining diversions?

   Bailey combines his own convincing interpretations of Allen's film work with previously reported comments from Allen on these questions to show not only how equivocal Woody Allen movies are on the matter of art's benefits and costs, but how central a theme this equivocating is in those movies. To his great credit--and unlike many scholarly investigations of film and literary art--Bailey avoids overbearing suggestions that HIS interpretations are REALLY what Allen's films are all about. Rather, the author has found a thread running through Allen's work that he holds up to the light--a light that has lingered too long on the personality of Woody Allen and the attending tabloid drama. This more illuminating thread--the vexed relationship of art to life and the difficulty of reconciling the two, both in art and in life--is of such enormous importance in the broader conversation of American popular culture that the absence of details on Allen's personal travails reads as a virtue in Bailey's book.

   While Woody Allen fans will definitely find The Reluctant Film Art of Woody Allen most enjoyable and accessible, any moviegoer who has ever contemplated what distinguishes the cinematic good and bad from the ugly will find this book thought-provoking, perhaps at times profound. Ultimately, this is not a portrait of a filmmaker so much as the study of an intriguing film mind at work--and a snapshot of a possible film legend as a work-in-progress.

1 comments about The Comic Mask in the Commedia dell'Arte: Actor Training, Improvisation, and the Poetics of Survival.

1. Fava talks about an old and now rather minor art form. The use of comic masks in certain traditional Italian dramas. The book explains how the masks form the central aspect of the plays. Imbued with symbolism and spectacle.
   
   Naturally, the book includes many lovely colour plates of contemporary masks. These show a hilarious level of caricature and workmanship. Plus, some plates are centuries-old paintings or sketches of performers wearing these masks in various dramas. Establishing a vivid historical antecedant for what you are reading.

2 comments about The Heiress (DPS Acting Edition).

1. I am in the play presently and I play the main part Catherine, a girl of many personalities. The painfully shy insecure one around her father, the lover with her doting admirer, Morris, and the friend with her dear, sweet and hopelessly romantic Aunt Penniman. The various emotions and hidden meanings create a fascinating play with little bit of everything skillfully arranged in a captivating story.



2. James' "Washington Square" provides the basis for this adaptation of his novella. The story of Catherine Sloper and her romance with Morris Townsend provides not only good drama and well-crafted theatricality, but also paints a picture of a romantic love that is virtually unattainable in reality. Such notable actresses as Wendy Hiller, Beatrice Straight, Jane Alexander, Olivia de Havilland, and Cherry Jones have all played the role of Catherine. This is a marvelous example of the type of well-made made play that graced the Broadway stage fifty years ago.