Television Books

This was both informative and useful. Cynthia's use of examples are few, but powerful and relevant. I have read both this book and Michael Chase Walker's Power Screenwriting: The 12 Stages of Story Development, and if you have to choose one, buy this one.

I'd like to say more, but I'd be repeating myself. Highly recommended.

This book is practical, easy, and very encouraging. Cynthia knows you can do it, and she wants you to try. She gives really solid advice, along with some insightful anecdotes. I've read a lot of screenwriting books and I highly recommend this one. It'll get you going!

I'm writing my first screenplay and found this book to be invaluable. Worth its weight in gold.

I've read other screenplay books, watched videos and this book is the best! Not just telling you what to do but with real world suggestions. She rewrites movie endings for you so you can see how a good movie could have been a great movie. She shows you mediocre dialogue and rewrites it so it's great movie dialogue.
It's a great book for novelists too. Creating crisp believable dialogue, creating conflicted characters, pacing. It's all here.
She is direct and like a great movie, gets to the real issues fast.

Top of the line. Easy to read and pleasant-toned in layman's terms. Organized and simple. Demonstrates the usefulness of 3x5 index cards for story-plotting. Tells you how to make good characters, scenes, dialogue, plot, etc. by demonstrating good and bad examples in movies that we are very familiar with. Simplifies the Three Act Movie formula by telling you how many minutes in the movie you should be starting your act and the significance of each act.

Additionally, the book demonstrates correct formatting for a screenplay, explains screenwriting terminology, explains the "& vs and" in writing credits. Explains certain dos and dont's with your script when presenting to a agent/producer. Whitcomb also tells how she started off as a preacher's daughter who was not allowed to watch TV and ended up becoming a successful screenwriter. She's a prime example of starting from square zero and proves you don't need to know someone in hollywood in order to make it big.

For all beginners--read this book first!

So much has already been said & written about this amazingly talented man that although his talents have always been savored like fine wine....talking about his painstaking incredible stop-motion animation abilities almost seems to be redundant. Suffice it to say that so many of us monster kids sat in awe of Ray's work as we watched " The 7th Voyage of Sinbad " circa 1958.Harryhausen has always accomplished more on the movie screen with his special effects techniques than computers will ever be able to do. This book lovingly details all of the richness of Ray Harryhausen----Thanks for a great book, Ray !

Computer generated effects are standard in movies now, and any big-budget action film can be expected to have plenty. We didn't always have computers, so the effects such as putting fantasy creatures on the screen, like King Kong, had to be done with meticulous stop-motion filming, whereby a movie frame picture would be made of a model Kong, then the model's arm would be slightly raised, one more frame of the movie shot, and the process repeated until a smooth arm movement could be seen when the entire strip of film ran. It was Willis O'Brien who animated Kong and many other creatures in early movies. It was Kong who inspired Ray Harryhausen to start making stop-motion films. In _Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life_ (Billboard Books), Harryhausen and Timothy Dalton tell the story of Harryhausen's entire career, including his humble beginnings. He was crazy about dinosaurs as a kid, and at the age of thirteen, he was taken by his mother and aunt to see _King Kong_. He studied up on the movie's techniques afterwards, and started making his own movies, first using a home camera that he could merely hope took only one frame at a time when he tapped it, and then purchasing his own 16 mm camera with a one-frame shift. He was one of those lucky kids who knew early what he wanted to do in life, and was able to do it; Harryhausen was the special effects wizard behind _Earth vs. The Flying Saucers_, _Jason and the Argonauts_, and _Clash of the Titans_, among many more. This beautiful book, filled with photographs and drawings to show how the models and effects were made for each of Harryhausen's films (and pictures of the artist's work as a thirteen-year-old as well), is a fascinating record of a career that could only have taken place in a restricted window of time.

To start with a clearing of the record: Harryhausen's first model, a cave bear, was covered with fur cut from an old black fur coat hanging in his mother's closet, but despite reports to the contrary, his mother _did_ know all about it and _did_ give her permission beforehand. This reflects the support his parents gave him toward his youthful enthusiasm, and he is certainly grateful. Most of the book describes his work for the studios; it devotes pages and pictures to all his films, and he gives detailed descriptions of just how he managed particular shots. Harryhausen isn't boasting; throughout the book he lets us know what he thought worked and what didn't, what he is proud of and what he winces at. If stop-motion is no longer going to be an art form, it is good that we have this documentation of what he actually accomplished, for the complexity of his creations and the way they were shot is astonishing. For instance, the Hydra in _Jason_ not only had a serpentine body and a double tail requiring their own movements, but also seven heads. In every frame, the model's movements might be only a millimeter, but there were sometimes more than thirty movements to do. He would have to remember for each head whether it was in the process of going up, down, right, or left, if the mouth was opening or closing, if the neck was flexing, and so on. Astonishingly, he was so in tune with his creation that he did not keep notes on what each head was doing, except if he were taking a break at the end of a work period.

Harryhausen has real affection for his creations. He has used real animals in some films, like an iguana made to look like a giant lizard in _One Million Years BC_. The trainer in charge of the iguanas was ready to use an electric prod to rouse the usually torpid lizards, but Harryhausen would not allow any cruelty, so action could only be obtained by a little prodding. Nonetheless, it was a lot harder to get the iguanas to move in just the way he needed compared to his obedient stop-motion models; he says that using models would have been more cost-effective and more realistic, too. He refuses to call his creations monsters; they are mostly creatures who are simply out of place. Of the tyrannosaurus in _The Valley of Gwangi_, he writes that he felt sorry for him, "... because all he wanted to do was live his life and eat a few people along the way." When he had to dismantle one creature to use its armature for another in a succeeding feature, he confesses, "It always breaks my heart to have to cannibalize my models. It's like losing a close friend." Gentle, self-deprecating humor is a hallmark of all the chapters here, no matter how technical the descriptions become at times. This is a handsome, large format book suitable for the coffee table; however, along with the beautiful illustrations, the written record of work here to show how creature features were made before the computers took over will be enjoyed by any fantasy film fan.

This is a top-notch compilation of genius on the cutting edge of our cultural history.

Die-hard fans of special effects master Ray Harryhausen may recall Jeff Rovin's book "From the Land Beyond Beyond", which arrived in 1977. It was a welcome addition to the Harryhausen legacy, but was too subjective and fan-based for some tastes. Hard to believe it took almost thirty years for this definitive, color version of the Harryhausen story to arrive on the scene. Some will feel it is merely an extension of Ray's previous work, the Film Fantasy Scrapbook, and in many ways, it is, but there's so much detail here that this deluxe volume is worth picking up. Though of course modern special effects have become almost ridiculously complex, it's wonderful to hear Ray describe in great technical detail the processes and techniques he used to bring his animals and fantasy creatures to life in films like "7th Voyage of Sinbad" and "Jason and the Argonauts". He's also candid about which films worked for him (and audiences) and which somehow missed the mark. Even readers who prefer modern spectacles to Harryhausen's classical, stately epics should find something of value here, and there is plenty to inspire any animator, filmmaker, or budding cinematographer. This book isn't just a special effects guide, it's a valuable and integral part of the history of film: Harryhausen's career spanned five decades, and he worked with some of the greats in the industry--not only effects geniuses like Willis O'brien, but actors like Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, James Franciscus, Honor Blackman, Richard Carlson, Jane Seymour and Raquel Welch. A little pricey, but worth the cost. A must have for Harryhausen fans, naturally, but anyone interested in the movies will come away satisfied.

I just recently purchased Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life.
Mr. Harryhausen was influenced by King Kong for his remarkable career. I was influenced by his first movie released in theaters
entitled BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS. Ever since I gazed at the
incredible effects when I was six, I wanted to know why and how
something could seem so life like. Unfortunately, all I did was manage amateur special effects with an 8mm camera, but enjoyed thrilling friends and relatives with what talent I had. Now I can appreciate all the patience and imagination that this
genius has somehow transmitted to the screen. All of his movies are showcased with the wonderful behind the scenes stories and photos that made such magic in my childhood. Anyone who has ambition to follow the FX trade, should definitely read this book. Granted the technology is greatly improved today, but that even made Mr. Harryhausen seem more adept at his work. How tedious it is to move a model just a fraction of an inch until it appears fluid on the film...how educational it is to realize what props were used and what artistry was projected to make everything REAL. This coffee table book will be a treasure
in my collection of literature.

Well maybe not, but it is over 450 pages of Blackadder! "This book, sir, contains every word in our beloved language." Just kidding, I just had to say that. What this book does contain is the complete scripts for all 24 episodes of the entire Blackadder series written by Richard Curtis & Ben Elton, who are both "as clever as a stick in a bucket of pig swill." and starring the "quite brilliant" comedic talents of Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Hugh Laurie, and Stephen Fry, among others. If you have not seen Blackadder, you have no idea what you're missing. However, if you have seen it and don't like it, then I hope you get an extremely itchy rash on "the soft dangly collection of objects in your trousers." There are plenty of other things besides the scripts but I'll leave it as a surprise (or you can just read one of the other reviews). Keep in mind that these are the original scripts, not word for word what you hear on the show. For the most part it is exactly the same, but every once and a while there are different words used in the book. Don't worry, it doesent take away from any humor and the only person that will notice it will be someone, like myself, who has watched Blackadder over and over. Seriously, I put Blackadder III in my DVD player before I go to sleep and sometimes the last thing I hear is "Once upon a time there was a lovely sausage called Baldrick and it lived happily ever after." Anyway the book is essential for the Blackadder fan who can't get enough of the hilarious and original writing. Here are some lines you can read continuously for the rest of your life once you buy this book:

"Population: three rather mangy cows, a dachshund named Colin, and a small hen, in its late forties."

"I took over for the original electorate after he very sadly accidentally brutally cut his head off while combing his hair."

"I am delighted to have been instrumental in keeping your bosom free of arses."

"...eternity in the company of Beelzebub and all his hellish instruments of death will be a picnic compared to five minutes with me and this pencil..."

By the way, all royalties from the sale of this book go to Comic Relief UK. So you're actually doing two good things: Donating to a worthwhile charity and owning a book "so cunning, you could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel."

"Blackadder" is one of the most brilliant television shows ever. The star, Rowan Atkinson, along with other series regulars such as Tony Robinson (as the perpetual dogsbody with a cunning plan,) Tim McInnerny, Stephen Fry, and Hugh Laurie carry this show through four distinct historical periods, with more laughs than could possibly be expected. Series one starts in the fifteenth century, with Atkinson as Prince Edmund, the illegitimate and despised son of the lunatic king, Richard IV. During this season Edmund adopted the moniker "The Black Adder" only after Baldrick advised him it was much more awe inspiring than his original choice "The Black Vegetable." (Note that while his name is spelled "Blackadder" in the scripts, when it is used as a title in season one, it is spelled "Black Adder.") This season sets the stage for Blackadder as a conniving and scheming con man, a reputation he and his Blackadder descendants live up to through the rest of the series.

Seasons two and three see a progression though history with Edmund first becoming Lord Edmund Blackadder, in the court of Elizabeth I (who is delightfully played by Miranda Richardson,) and later becoming the butler to Prince George, the Prince Regent, who is the idiot offspring of crazy King George III. These seasons provide the most laughs of the series for me, and I am particularly enthralled with the episode "Ink and Incapability" in which Baldrick burns Doctor Johnson's new dictionary. This episode is the ultimate in Blackadder humor, witty and urbane, yet full of madcap comedic moments as well, especially when Blackadder introduces new and confounding words for Dr. Johnson's considerations: "Contrafibularities, sir. It is a common word down our way....I am anaspeptic, phrasmotic, even compunctious to have caused you such pericombubulations." (Of course in true Blackadder fashion this only gets him in trouble, as Coleridge, the poet and Johnson ally threatens to thrust an Oriental disemboweling cutlass up his "ignoble behind.")

The forth season of Blackadder sees Atkinson as Captain Edmund Blackadder in the British army during the trench warfare of World War One France. This series also had a lot of laughs, with my favorite episode being "Private Plane," in which Blackadder and Baldrick join the Royal Air Force and are forced down behind enemy lines. They are subsequently interrogated and insulted by the Red Baron ("How lucky you English are to find the toilet so amusing, for us it is a mundane and functional item, for you it is the basis of an entire culture.") and sentenced to teach home economics to a convent of nuns for the duration of the war. One thing about this season (and two of the others) is that in the last episode of the season the entire cast dies, which elevates the series into a peculiar blend of black comedy and social commentary which I have still not grown fully accustomed to.

The book is a collection of scripts and has several extras germane to the time period being satirized which are also well done. I like the excerpt from "Dr. Johnson's Dictionary" provided on page 106, with definitions such as "left behind - part of the sitting apparatus of a personage," and "leek - a long, thin Welsh tomato." There are also helpful lists of the "Duties of the Prince Regent," "Duties of a Butler of a Royal Household" which includes "Commissioning moleskins (as and when necessary)," and "Duties of an Underscrogman." Baldrick, being the Underscrogman serving under Edmund is responsible for (among other things): "Removing and making good all squoles, whiffen-plugs, and blunters," "Cleaning the wulger-hole," "Quilping," "Cliving," "Groving," "Arranging the sheep droppings into neat little pyramids," "Frossiking the hounds," "Folding the glut-pile," and of course, "Making sandwiches."

This is a wonderful book, though if you are unfamiliar with the series, I recommend buying the DVD set and watching the shows first; a subsequent reading of this book will ensure many more laughs. As a side note, profits from this book go to the charity Comic Relief, a brief history of which appears in the last three pages of the book.

I recommend this book very highly for intelligent wit, and I likewise recommend the television series on DVD interphrastically.

The Blackadder series, begun in the 1980s, was a comedic masterpiece set forth by Rowan Atkinson and his comrades. From start to finish, the first series was a masterstroke of wit, irony and comedic styling that fits both the contemporary and medieval situations perfectly. The combination of slapstick and intellectual humour blended well, and the literary types will not miss the occasional credit of William Shakespeare as a collaborating writer on some episodes -- this might well be the kind of comedy Shakespeare would have produced today.

The first series was set in the pre-Tudor royal family, projecting that Richard III won at Bosworth Field, and Richard IV succeeded him, until after many adventures, the entire royal family was done in, and Henry Tudor reworte history thereafter. The first series starred Brian Blessed and Elspet Gray as the King and Queen, and Robert East as their eldest son, the Prince of Wales. Rowan Atkinson played the second son, who with companions Percy and Baldrick (Tim McInnerny and Tony Robinson) create most of the comic scenes. BlackAdder variously becomes the Archbishop of Canterbury, the betrothed of the Spanish Infanta, a witch on trial, and finally, however briefly, King of England.

The second series sees Percy and Baldrick following a descendent of Blackadder in Elizabethan times; as befits the period, the characters are more vibrant and saucy, particularly Blackadder, who still seeks his fortune as one of the Queen's suitors. Here he variously becomes the royal executioner, a sea-faring discoverer, a bankrupt noble, and finally a traitor to the crown, albeit not without a sense of humour. Miranda Richardson puts in a spectacular performance as Queen Elizabeth, with Stephen Fry and Patsy Byrne in attendance. Stephen Fry will recur throughout the series.

In the third series, Blackadder is still close to the crown, as the butler of the Prince Regent, a despised position to a despised person. Baldrick is still around, and the Prince is played by Hugh Laurie, who will recur in the final series. Done almost as a period comedy, the very titles and situations pay hommage to the day of the Scarlet Pimpernel, Dr. Johnson's dictionary, and the conflict with France. Through an interesting set of circumstances, butler and prince trade places, and the Blackadder finally becomes his intended goal, albeit in the name of someone else.

In the fourth and final series, Blackadder has fallen from a great height, and is an officer in the trenches of World War I. Baldrick is still there, and Percy and the Prince have transformed into fellow field officers, with Stephen Fry playing a bellicose general here as he did Wellington in the third series. The main device of this series is the effort by Blackadder to escape the trenches, by variously becoming an artist, a theatre producer, a chef, but to no avail finally, producing a sombre end to the dynasty.

The book is a fabulous companion piece to the series, as the BBC is known to do with television series of success. The six episodes of each of the four seasons is laid out in script-narrative form, with a generous collection of side offerings, such as the Blackadder family tree, the menu of Mrs. Miggins' pie shoppe, and other pieces of interest related to but not found in the actual series. The cast is included at the beginning of each series section. The book concludes with a partial collection of some of Blackadder's best insults.

This book was printed in aid of Comic Relief, who give a brief outline of their history of funding good causes in the last few pages.

This is a must-have for any Blackadder fan. Regretably, it does not contain the addition special features (such as the Victorian Christmas of Blackadder), but for any devotee of the series, this is a requirement.

1983 saw the airing of a hilariously funny new British television show, Blackadder. This show had four separate seasons that chronicled the lives of four members of the Blackadder family: Edmund Blackadder in 1484, son of Richard, Duke of York; Edmund Blackadder, favorite of Queen Elizabeth I; Edmund Blackadder, butler to Prince George, son of King George III; and, finally, Edmund Blackadder, Army captain during World War I. This book is a companion to that wonderful series, filling in the holes left in English history, giving all sort of useful information drawn from the Blackadder family archives, and the full scripts of each of the shows!

This is a great book, and a must-have for any fan of the Black Adder. The scripts are great to have, and the other information demonstrates the same great humor as the show. Having been created in 1998, the book does not contain any information on the Y2K special, Blackadder Back & Forth, which makes sense. What doesn't make sense is that it completely ignores the 1988 Christmas Special! But, that said, this is a nice book, one that I highly recommend to every Blackadder fan!

I stumbled upon the Black Adder comedy series one night in the 1980s while channel surfing. Something was weird, I thought--there's this sniveling coward, and this even more sniveling sycophant, and then the dogsbody who has dung all over him. Looks interesting. And as I watched, I found it extremely funny, as well. It required a knowledge of history (or Shakespeare, as you see fit), yet wasn't afraid to do the occasional fart joke. Puerile, yet intelligent. That described me at the time as well.

The successive series (Blackadder II, Blackadder the Third, and Blackadder Goes Forth) shifted over into the more intelligent realm (with the third series being the most so), although the running jokes about Baldrick (the dogsbody) being little better than the dung he came from remained. Blackadder II, set in the court of the virgin queen, starred Miranda Richardson, who was perfect in her cruelty towards the hapless Blackadder. The third series had Hugh Laurie as the Prince Regent, a befuddled German idiot who is being taken advantage of by Blackadder, the butler (think of a dark Wooster/Jeeves match, where the Jeeves character retains his aplomb but becomes extra greedy). I never got to see the fourth series on television, so my experience with it is through this book alone.

And what a great book it is. Published to benefit Comic Relief, the organization trying to aid the poor and destitute in England and Africa, it contains the scripts to each episode of the four series with faux historical documents and a running summary of the line of Blackadder. For an American, the scripts are almost a necessity to catch some of the more obscure language used in the series--especially the curses. The endpapers have color pictures of the main characters in each series, and there are some black and white stills with humorous captions included within the pages.

To say that Black Adder is my favorite TV show is true. I liked the 1970s American sitcom, SOAP, as well, but from its hilarious beginnings, it tapered off into pure silliness (as most American shows tend to do). The nice thing about the Blackadder series is the way that the British limit themselves to sets of shows, rather than endlessly milking the cash cow. Yes, I would like to see a fifth Black Adder (I've seen the Christmas Carol, which was wonderful), but only if it can be of the same quality as these. If not, let's not ruin a good thing, shall we?

I offered this book to a friend who is into film production. He seemed to be really satisfied with the book content...

Eve has done a great job of encapsulating the logistical process of making a film. One could call Eve's book a filmmaking bible. No other book says it better.

Matthew Giovannucci
Student / Rockport College, Maine

Really helpful. If you are making a film, you need this book

Now in an updated and expanded third edition, The Complete Film Production Handbook by film production expert Eve Light Honthaner is a comprehensive, resource packed instructional reference enhanced with essential the "need-to-know" ins and outs of the film business, including checklists, example schedules for pre-production and post-production, guidelines for insurance policies, talent management, immigration details applying to actors and other film industry workers crossing national borders, forms used for the Screen Actor's Guild (among others), basic production forms and deal memos, and a companion CD-ROM containing numerous useful documents in easily printable form. A "must-have" for anyone seriously considering producing a film for the first time, The Complete Film Production Handbook is a practical, accessible, and essential reference for novice filmmakers, and is highly recommended resource for even the more experienced movie producer, whether independent or studio contracted.

It is quite a great book! I learned so much, and i learned where to learn more, after reading this book i came up with new doubts, and im solving them now. If you are serious about making a movie, this is a must have, this and other more.

Being from Toronto, I have always had a keen interest in Rick James' career. Toronto is where he really started on his musical journey.
I waited a long time for this book and when I got my hands on it, I couldn't put it down.
I liked the honesty, candor of Rick's writing: he put it all on the line, the good and the bad. Great insight and details, along with lots of fab pictures, complete the portrait of the man. Almost.
Some things that the book missed: Rick's embrace of Islam while in prison; it would have been interesting to know how that happened and why. As mentioned in a previous post, I wanted more on Rick's view of rappers using samples of his songs, especially MC Hammer. We don't know how Rick really felt about rappers and contemporary urban / rap music.
In addition to the discography at the end, it would have been nice to see the chart positions of his albums and singles / re-mixes. Maybe a list of awards would have been a nice addition, too.
Overall, it is an intensely personal and intimate memoir of a man who led an extraordinary life. It is bare, raw and real. Totally refreshing.
Thanks Mr. James for the music and the memories. R.I.P.

This was a great book. It's wonderful to read about the life of such a great talent. His life story tells so much about his music and influence on his lifestyle. Then it's NO HOLDS BARRED! He doesn't omit any names in the Hollywood life of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

Rick was something else. While I enjoyed his music, his writing was concise and entertaining all the way thru and I really enjoyed the pics.
Great insight into a musical genius the likes we may never see again.
DJ
Stockbridge, GA

After doing some (in-store and online) price comparison, Amazon's prices are definitely the better bargain "hands-down".

If you like Rick James this book is highly recommended. It is a book you will not be able to put down.

4.5 stars and that's about as good as it gets for 99% of literature. Book was better than the movie, and the movie was very good. Unfortunately, after seeing the movie first, albeit years ago, I couldn't divorce the movie imagery, diluting the novel's characterizations. Lesson learned: don't see the movie before reading the book. COOL HAND LUKE speaks to the past as driver of destiny, that no matter how much talent and luck, and even as master of one's own fate, past incidents and episodes can twist one onto a journey of self-destruction.

I wonder how Mr. Pearce's work had gone overlooked by the critics and scholars for so long. This is the second book I have read by him and so far I his best. If you liked the movie, read the book it is by far better.

"Cool Hand Luke" is an outstanding novel and one that any movie buff would find of interest after seeing the movie. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to read the story that the movie is "loosely" based upon. You will get a lot more out of the movie when you watch it again.

Cool Hand Luke is one of those books that has a lot to say but is hard to understand. Its a novel about crime and punishmnet, risk and rewards and ultimately good and evil. Cool Hand Luke has been compared to a Christ figure (which I do not see at all) and the story to Jesus' walk and journey. I'll let you figure that one out after you read the book.

With all that put aside, the book is relatively good. I found myself disliking the character of Cool Hand Luke more than finding a hero status in him. He is basically a con man, a rapist, a murderer and a thief. He prides himself on being a glutton and at one point eats 50 hard boiled eggs within an hour. The story does have the aspect of brotherhood and the importance this can play when a man's freedom is lost.

The story utlimately revolves around the search for freedom and the forces that strive to take that away. It seems to be considered a classic novel, but that may be more because of the movie starring Paul Newman than for the book. A good, fast read but don't beat yourself up if you skip over this one.

By now "Cool Hand Luke," is of course, a legend. Unfortunately, this doesn't apply to the novel, but rather, to the well known Paul Newman film (referred to in the sitcom Cheers' inaugural episode as "the sweatiest movie ever made,").

However, I digress, back to the novel. This was Donn Pearce's first novel. I initially had no interest in reading it. Rather, I came to it in a backdoor sort of way. Being a World War II buff, I heard the good reviews of Pearce's latest effort, "Nobody Comes Back," a novel about the Battle of the Bulge. I bought it and read it. It was an excellent novel and since "Cool Hand Luke," is without a doubt his most famous book, it was inevitable that I would eventually want to read it.
It took a while, but I found a copy and I read it in a few days.

"Cool Hand Luke" is an excellent novel. The story is told in the form of flashbacks. In fact, the novel's structure is very close to Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." A mute witness narrator who records the events of a naturally tempestuous and outgoing personality in a strictly structured environment (in Kesey's book, it's an insane asylum, in Pearce's, it's a chain gang prison) and the incidents that flow from it. The one difference between Kesey's book and Pearce's is that Kesey worked at a mental hospital, but Pearce (who also has a very colorful resume in addition to being a novelist) did do time on a chain gang. So there's a definite real life experience in "Cool Hand Luke."

It's a great book. First time readers might be off put by the lack of quotes, but it's a small adjustment to make. For lovers of the movie, they will be surprised at how closely the movie follows the book. Of course, there is more characterization in the novel than the movie can give (this should be no surprise since Donn Pearce himself co-authored the script).

Still, it's a wonderful novel and is a quick read.

COUNTERPOINT, the frank account of the varied and exciting life of Joe Harnell, pianist, composer, arranger, bandleader, will be sure to appeal to anyone who's a fan of mid to late 20th century popular culture and it's major players, louis armstrong, marlene dietrich, etc.
While not always pretty (Harnell has no desire to gloss over the more unpleasent aspects of his life), it is an always honest and very revealing account of the artistic and personal development of a musician's musician. After reading this book, it is difficult not to be touched by Harnell's humanity whether or not one is aware of his work and contributions to popular and television music over the last five decades.

COUNTERPOINT, the frank account of the varied and exciting life of Joe Harnell, pianist, composer, arranger, bandleader, will be sure to appeal to anyone who's a fan of mid to late 20th century popular culture and it's major players, louis armstrong, marlene dietrich, etc.
While not always pretty (Harnell has no desire to gloss over the more unpleasent aspects of his life), it is an always honest and very revealing account of the artistic and personal development of a musician's musician. After reading this book, it is difficult not to be touched by Harnell's humanity whether or not one is aware of his work and contributions to popular and television music over the last five decades.

"Counterpoint" provides the reader with a rare perspective on a rich era in American Music written by one of the industry's giants about other musical giants of the time. Not only is Joe Harnell's personal journey told with extreme honesty, it's written with the light touch of a master humorist. He and Ira Skutch choose to divide the dazzling parade of musical legends by giving each one their own chapter, which makes it easy to refer back to a particular singer and reread a funny anecdote or insightful observation. This book succeeds on several levels: as a chronicle of music history; as a story of personal triumph; and as an important musical autobiography.

Joe Harnell pulls no punches in this great journey from boyhood to the present. Not only did I love the descriptions of the places and times Joe has traveled through, but the insight into the musicians and stars he worked with was rewarding. The fact that he is so out front with his personal life only makes you like him more for his human foibles and the peaks and valleys that we all experience. I'm from a younger generation but truly enjoyed reliving this time period through the words and music of Joe Harnell.

Not only a riveting expose of the music business over the last half a century, but also a revealing glimpse into the intimate life of a man with the sensitivity and temperament of a true artist and all the color and drama that go with it. Joe invites you along on his roller coaster ride of a life with stories you will never forget.

Not soemthing I would read cover to cover, but the individual "Hacks" that I have read are pretty good. I have lots of books along this line and this is one of the bet. I put it up there with Stu's "DV Rebels Guide" which is also incredible. If you like the Rebel guide, you will probably like this as well. Lots of good stuff. Enjoy!

Great book with great content I recommend it to anyone who want to take there film making a step forward and is to busy or lazy to download the information from the internet becaue it is all there. Spread around of course but you will find every piece of information even most of the pictures used in this book so. If you have time and dedication you can save yourself the money by looking it up on the internet.

This book covers many aspects of video. Labeling tapes, making excel spreadsheets for saving information, time code on tapes, how to achieve certain effects, lighting, and green screen effects just name a few. The book is general to most all video software and is a very usefull tool I'm glad I purchased. Don't let the term "HACKS' fool you it 's only refering to tips or tricks.

I found the book to be very practical and have the
kind of "nuts-and-bolts" pointers that I like. You
don't have to read it cover to cover (I didn't) but
can pick it up and go to the points that interest you
or where you are currently in need of help. It refers
to various "commerical products" that the author has
used to get the job done. I found this helpful. With so
many competing products to chose from it's nice to
hear, "If you get product X you'll be able to do Z,"
rather than buying and hoping (or not buying and
wondering). Kuddos to the author.

I learned so much from this book. In fact, I've already implemented several of the ideas and have had great results. If you're semi-professional (video has been added to your responsibilities but you have no experience with this medium) BUY THIS BOOK.

Who would have thought of parchment paper and clothes pins to diffuse light and create a softer, more natural light over the subject? That's just one of the great tips I've already started using.

I've bought several digital video books while trying to learn this medium, and this has been by far the most useful.

This is a wonderful collection of recipes many of us who are first generation ethnic Americans grew up with. I understand the author passed away in 2004 but not without leaving many fond memories of his FRUGAL GOURMET cooking show which used to air on PBS some time ago. I used to watch his show while living in New Orleans between 1982 and 1997. Of course my favorite section is THE LITHUANIAN IMMIGRANTS which lists recipes for Pressed Cheese (Suris), Kugelis Potato Pudding, Fresh Sausage (Kielbasa), Smoked Sausages (Kielbasa), Cold Beet Soup (Saltibarsciai), Pork in Gelatin (Koselina Saltiena) and Raw Sauerkraut with Caraway. My husband's favorites, of course, would be THE GERMAN IMMIGRANTS and THE IRISH IMMIGRANTS. The author really celebrates over 35 ethnic groups not only noting some of their best recipes but giving mini geography lessons and short descriptions of each individual culture before getting into detailing their recipes. In an era which only seems to highlight African, Greek, hispanic or Italian cooking, this book is a real treat!

How could a book on immigrant ancestors leave out the English? He covers Irish, Scottish, And Welsh immigrant recipes as well as recipes from many other cultures. Did all the English settlers become United Empire Loyalists and move north to Canada? I'm a Canadian and we ignore the English here as well. We have days celebrating every other culture except the English - Carribanna (in Toronto), Black history month, St. Patricks Day, Robbie Burns Day, St. Jean Baptiste Day (especially in Quebec) but no St. Davids Day (I don't even know when it is).

It's a good book but I guess I'll just have to look elsewhere for recipes for bangers and mash, bubble and squeak, fish and chips, trifle, etc.

I love this cookbook! I just pulled it out to look something up, noticed how torn up it has gotten, and thought I'd look online for a replacement copy. This is, hands down, my favorite and most used cookbook. Recipes are easy to follow and delicious. I've had "authentic" cooking from some of the countries included, so I can vouch for the fact that the recipes are right on target.

I never really watched The Frugal Gourmet when he was featured on Public TV. One of my Amazon Friends recently reviewed this book, and that review piqued my interest. I recently received my copy of Jeff Smith's "The Frugal Gourmet on Our Immigrant Ancestors: Recipes You Should Have Gotten from Your Grandmother." What a fascinating concept and what a nice set of recipes!

Smith begins by laying out the methodology of this book (Page 2): "We have traveled all over this great nation eating with immigrants, many of them grandmas, who know that it is terribly important to retain those characteristics of our immigrant ancestry, characteristics that will help us remember who we are." Hence, we have a cook book with a small set of recipes from many countries, from Armenia to the Basque region of Spain to Ethiopia to Jamaica to Ireland to Korea to Lebanon and through Yugoslavia (countries are in alphabetical order). I just received the book and have not had a chance to try out any recipes. But there are a number that I already find tempting and expect to begin trying these out soon!

The first part of the book is a standard discussion of cooking tools needed, a glossary of ingredients and condiments, and an essay on the immigrant experience. But it's the recipes that are the heart of this book. Let's take a look at a few examples.

Armenian Stuffed Meatballs. Ooh. This looks like some work, but it seems scrumptious! A meatball within a meatball. The inner meatball is made from ground lamb (or beef), onions, green bell paper, parsley, pine nuts, paprika, mint leaves, and a set of spices. After cooking these and rolling small meatballs, one makes the outer meatball, with a different set of ingredients.

From Ethiopia, Lamb and Cardamom. Some onions, a couple Ethiopian sauces (recipes included in this section), lamb, cumin, cardamom seeds, ginger, garlic, salt and pepper. Once one has assembled the ingredients this looks pretty straightforward--and tasty!

A Lebanese dish, Baked Lamb Kibbe. Boneless leg of lamb, butter, pine nuts, onion, cinnamon, allspice, salt and pepper. Sautee the lamb in butter, and then assemble Kibbe (recipe on the preceding page), and move ahead. Again, a recipe that really sounds delicious.

And so on. It's fun just to skim recipes from different countries and enjoy contemplating what each would taste like! The book ends with a quotation from the author (Page 574): "The point of this book is simple. If we do not understand our ancestral table, I doubt that we can understand our history." Maybe a bit overstated, but that sums up the author's philosophy in this volume. Worth taking a look at!

My title blurb is a funny quote I remembered, Jeff Smith spoke on his entertaining PBS show. Before 'The Food Network' we had the witty and talented 'Frugal Gourmet'. This book deals with some simplistic, yet very good classic old world dishes. Nothing fancy, just great traditional food!

This is yet another excellent cook book by Jeff Smith! It's full of great recipes and stories by a very talented cook and writer. This one focuses on old world cooking. I have used many of these recipes and found them to be very good. Being a home grown cook myself and having had many of my grandmother's classic recipes handed down to me, I found this book to be very helpful in expanding my culinary taste buds.

Jeff Smith entertained us for years on his PBS program 'The Frugal Gourmet'. Not only did he teach us many savory dishes, he also educated us. Not satisfied with just cooking delicious meals for his viewers, he would give detailed history lessons about the origins of the dish and made it all a lot of fun!

This may be Mr. Smiths best cook book and it is a worthy edition to everyone's cook book library. I own and have read many, if not all of his cook books, not only for the man's knowledge of cooking, but his incredible wit! This guy was funny and I would have loved to have hung out and throw a few beers down with him.

Unfortunately, this man had some very seriously bad press released about his personal life and well..... I am not one to spread rumors.....he seemed like a great guy and sadly he died before he was able to clear his name.

R.I.P. Frugs!

I had to grab this book, I guess it was the first? MADicine is my new favorite, with that funny and fun and sarcastic House-like Alban Bane. Love that guy! So, naturally, I had to grab The Game. Well, it's quite different in some ways. Darker, and a little bloodier, because here Armstrong is spoofing up serial killers and Silence of the Lambs. You've got to love someone who can take on Hollywood knowing it'll probably kill a book-to-movie deal, because here Bane attacks Hollywood, reality TV. I love it. Because I read this backwards, MADicine first, I miss not having Ada Kenner and Pan the rock star around to be Bane's foil, but it was nice to see big old Arm and his two adorable but disturbed teenage daughters. So, I felt at home, and Bane's just as funny here, but it is darker. Just a warning on the ending, which gets intense. But Bane's as good as ever, House-like, funny, tough, sarcastic, charming, lovable.

Derek Armstrong's The Game is thrilling and enthralling. Witty repartee and snappy dialogue create moments of brevity in an otherwise intense roller-coaster ride of a story. This book reads like an action-suspense movie; Armstrong weaves an intense tale that manages to entertain while commenting on the fascination our country has for the genre of reality television. Armstrong skewers voyeurism and it is a pleasure to go along for the ride. I highly recommend The Game to anyone seeking a great book to fall into. You won't want to put it down-- and the book leaves the door open to the sequel, MADicine, coming soon from Kunati books.

There is simply not enough humor in this world. Since the sixties, ethnic humor is tabu, or is it taboo. Somehow we decided that the frailties of human nature shouldn't be funny, whether ethnic or otherwise, leaving us with almost no subject to dump our ridicule upon. However, there is salvation on the horizon and it seems that Derek Armstrong has found it. It is reality television.

In his novel, The Game, he has focused our attention on just how utterly ridiculous reality television really is. His story is a mystery sure enough, but basically he strips the veneer from the broadcasting genre and shown it for what it is and we discover that what it is, is just silly.

Red Evans author of On Ice

POSTED AT THE REQUEST OF ELINA McGEE: Capital punishment of a serial killer and a reality-television show with a warped twist, the setting of The Game, quickly intrigues the reader. The reality show guests, trapped in a haunted mansion, all become suspects when it becomes the scene of a copycat murder, follwed by a succession of killings. Character development of the game show participants, broadcasting crew and the pill-popping detective, Bane, with his comical sarcasm, serve to make this mystery thriller that much more captivating. When I finished the last page of The Game, I found myself wishing I could purchase the sequel immediately!

Derek Armstrong provides the best reason to turn off the TV--his exciting new novel THE GAME. It's a send-up of reality television, full of murderous action on the set of "Haunted Survivor", and a thrilling ride to the climax with detective Alban Bane. Don't wait for the movie--read the book!