Entertainment Books

if i could,i would give the book SIX STARS!!!!! this book is da bomb!!!

grea

The only reason I gave this 5 stars is because I like the wwf. It is true what the other person said it is not very organized and it sure beats surfing the web.

the pictures were real good i under stood it more than other stratiegies

This book is cool. It has very good graphics in it and a lot of moves. It's somethimg everyone wants who has the game. Don't take my advice try it out yourself

I love playing simulation games. This is one of my favorites when I don't want any war, just a lot of sandbox activity. The graphics are a little rough, but it looks good on the screen of my tiny laptop.

This book really enhanced my enjoyment of Zoo Tycoon. I initially didn't want to spend the money for this book when I bought Zoo Tycoon, but, some of the scenarios in the game are so difficult that I spent a lot of time searching forums on the internet for help. So, I decided to go ahead and give this book a try. It is definitely worth it. There are a lot of secrets in this book that really help you out. You won't regret buying it.

A wonderful book and a great help when building zoo's and dealing with fussy animals (and humans!)

Now is they can come up with a book for Dino zoo (the expansion)
it would be a greater help!!

This guide is a must for all Zoo Tycoon owners.It's easy to follow and understand.I hope they come out with another guide for the expansion Dinosaur Digs.

Definately worth the money spent. There is a lot of useful information. However, Sybex needs to hurry and give us strategy guides for the expansion packs!

This book is so entertaining and interesting... and will make you realize you don't have to get old... These people didn't!

This book was such an inspiration. I am 43 and so hope I can live until I'm 80+. The participants were honest, good and bad, about growing old in such a youth crazed world. I am going to buy at least 4 copies, from Amazon of course, for Christmas presents this year. A great wealth of knowledge.

This book is a must read for anyone who is 80, or who plans on being 80 one day. Your parents or grandparents will enjoy this book since they can compare their thoughts, feelings and experiences with those of the stars and celebrities they followed throughout their lives. Younger readers, and that means anyone not yet on social security, will learn how the 80 famous people discussed in this book have handled aging so gracefully, and with so much vitality. This is an inspirational book which reminds us that age need not affect how a person chooses to live life, and that life holds great rewards for anyone -- including people over 80 -- who choose to remain young at heart.

I've now sent this book to three people as gifts. This is a marvelous gift from all these famous 80-year-olds, to tell their stories of how they got there. Because each profile is in the first-person, I really feel as though I got to know many of these extraordinary people.

A wonderful read for anyone who thinks they're getting
on in years and wants to know how the 80plus set
keeps it interesting. It's a "How To" book that should be
on every night table and coffee table.

This book showed me that I dont have to live in LA or New York to get into acting. Also It gave me alot of helpful hints on all aspects in landing a role.

After reading this book, I couldn't stop shaking my head. I kept thinking to myself...why didn't I have this book years ago?? At first, I thought that there wasn't anything this book could teach me...I'm already an actor. Boy, was I wrong. If only someone had written this years ago, I could saved myself a lot of wasted auditions.

As an aspiring actor, I have taken many years of acting classes but always had a problem auditioning and nailing the part. Catrine McGregor's book made so much sense that everything really clicked into place. She covers every detail of the acting business from auditioning to unions. So many other books I've read contained facts but this book gives you clear, concise directions, examples, exercises, and the real inside scoop from an experienced casting director's point of view. my co-actors use it as a reference guide, too. I highly recommend it!!

A clear and concise guide to becomming a member of the acting community.A no bull map!A must for the neophyet actor caught in the maze of conflicting advise.

For so long the shelves of any given bookstore have been crammed with books claiming to be "the book that every actor needs", but yet they read like a foreign language and don't give the information an actor really needs for his or her big break. Ms. McGregor has broken through that barrier and released a book that spells out many of the details actors need to know about acting and the audition process. Intelligent and informative, the book is packed with everything an actor/actress could possibley need! A must for anyone trying to break into the business.

This is a must have for anyone who likes adventures in odyssey because it has the first epissode with the imagination station in it.

Where do they get the names for these albums? It's a great name and it contains many, many good episodes. We also get to meet Dr. Blackgaard in this album, which may be the highlight of it.

"Daring Deeds, Sinister Schemes" contains a mini-series in itself, which build a foundation for the ultimeate album, "Darkness Before Dawn" (#25) There are also several other stories that lead up to the awesome episode, "Waylaid in the Windy City" This album is definitly worth buying!

This set of six tapes (12 episodes) contains the original Dr. Blackgaard story line. Not all are related to that story arch, however.

It starts with the first IMAGINATION STATION adventure, in which Digger Digger Digwillow goes back in time to experience the death and resurrection of Christ. I'm now 26, have heard the program multiple times, and this simple two parter still moves me to tears.

Other non-Blackgaard episodes include the classic Barclay family vacation in Odyssey (OUR BEST VACATION EVER) and the introduction of Wonderworld in the hilarious HEATWAVE.

The other episodes all revolve around the initial Blackgaard arch. They include A BITE OF APPLESAUCE, EUGENE'S DILEMMA, CONNIE GOES TO CAMP, THE NEMESIS, and THE BATTLE. These last three are two parters. As a whole, these make a great story, but are even more interesting when listened to in relation to later Blackgaard episodes. The summer they first aired, they kept my brother and I glued to the radio wondering what would happen next.

I highly recommend this great collection. It's radio drama at its best: good story telling and great characters.

This set of six tapes (12 episodes) contains the original Dr. Blackgaard story line. Not all are related to that story arch, however.

It starts with the first IMAGINATION STATION adventure, in which Digger Digger Digwillow goes back in time to experience the death and resurrection of Christ. I'm now 26, have heard the program multiple times, and this simple two parter still moves me to tears.

Other non-Blackgaard episodes include the classic Barclay family vacation in Odyssey (OUR BEST VACATION EVER) and the introduction of Wonderworld in the hilarious HEATWAVE.

The other episodes all revolve around the initial Blackgaard arch. They include A BITE OF APPLESAUCE, EUGENE'S DILEMMA, CONNIE GOES TO CAMP, THE NEMESIS, and THE BATTLE. These last three are two parters. As a whole, these make a great story, but are even more interesting when listened to in relation to later Blackgaard episodes. The summer they first aired, they kept my brother and I glued to the radio wondering what would happen next.

I highly recommend this great collection. It's radio drama at its best: good story telling and great characters.

This is a splendid book filled with hundreds of pictures of the rich and the famous and laden with Hollywood lore, be it Gable and Lombard or Hearst and Marian Davies -- the author of the book, Margaret Burk, knew most of them, as she was the wonderful public relations chief of both the Ambassador Hotel and Coconut Grove for many many years and she has written this star-studded memoir with wonderful anecdotes. The oversuzed book has a unique gold cover, and contains replicas of autographs (many owned by Ms. Burk, who now runs the prestigious ROUND TABLE book club in California) within the cover. This is a book for anyone who loves the movies! I was privileged to meet Margaret, when she invited me to introduce my own new book, "Someone To Watch Over Me," at the Round Table in La Quinta, Ca. in Jan. She's a terrific lady! Judi McMahon

This is an outstanding piece of work, it must have taken 10 years to gather all the marvelous photographs. The book was hard to find but is well worth the search.

Congratulations, I have just read Margaret Burk's wonderful book about the Ambassador Hotel. I am a documentary filmmaker doing research on the hotel for a soon to be produced film and found the book to contain a wealth of information. Starting from the opening date of the hotel until its unofficial closing. Each outstanding chapter is filled with Hollywood memorabilia such as: "Gloria Swanson:Birthday Girl," "The War Years," "The Cocoanut Grove," the Meca showcase for the most important performers of the time, "Death of a Hero," one of the most complete accounts of the tragic assasination of Robert Kennedy at the Ambassador, and many more. The pictures in the book feature some of Hollywood's greatest icons who passed through the doors of the famous land mark.
The end pages of the book features the autographs of some of the most renowned performers, Heads of State, and personalities of the era. I recently met the author at a ROUND TABLE WEST book club luncheon, the largest book club of its kind in America that features best selling authors, which she founded along with famed author Adela Rogers St. Johns at the Ambassador Hotel
over twenty-five years ago.
I was happy to learn that Margaret Burk is still living amongst the stars.

This book informed me of the incredible history that took place in the famous Ambassador Hotel of Los Angeles-Not just "Hollywood" history ala Cocoanut Grove but Robert Kennedy, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, F Scott Fitzgerald the list goes on...This book is filled with photos and in really a fun format also and has tons of stories that were obviously close to the authors heart. I hope others that read this book or have the urge to learn more of the Ambassadors history will join as I have the fight to save this historic building (that does not have landmark status) from the wrecking ball and the doom that presently faces this grand piece of our national history. I hope this book is part one of the Ambassador's long life in the heart of Los Angeles and that it is just taking a well deserved rest before it needed facelift and comeback hey where else but in L.A.? With your help maybe we can save history. Get involved.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Amazon.com for finding me this incredible piece of Los Angeles/Hollywood history. In it's salad years, the Ambassador Hotel was an incredible piece of architechure and it is really a shame what they (being the powers-that-be) have allowed to happen to the Wilshire Blvd. hotspot. We filmed a movie in the decaying building a little over a year ago (as so many others have done - "Pretty Woman" was filmed there you know) and I was still awe-struck to think of how many Hollywood and Political luminaries had been on the same carpeting that I was standing on. Thank you Amazon.com, for allowing me to hold on to a piece of the past by locating this photo-drenched book for me.

Just when you thought, they couldnt come up with anything new about Audrey Hepburn, they do! A wonderful book chock full of stills, lobby cards, and posters from around the world documenting Audrey's Paramount years (1953-1962). For some reason War and Peace is not covered (perhaps because she wore period costumes?). But most of Audrey's most loved movies from this period are here. Roman Holiday: Sabrina; Funny Face and of course, Breakfast at Tiffanys! A must book to have for any diehard fan and even casual admirers of Audrey. Audrey still lives on thanks to those who remember her and photographed her. How lucky for us!

This book is awesome!!! I received it almost immediately, and it was packaged just beautifully! Thank you Amazon!!

An affordable and well made book about Audrey.

Pictures are fabulous.

One of the best of this kind I have seen.

Like the previous reviewer, I wasn't sure when I first saw this book that there would be much new material in it, but there is! Know that the book doesn't cover Audrey's entire career, but focuses strictly, as the title indicates, on her films for Paramount. Within that parameter, no Audrey fan should be without this book in his or her library! Lots of behind-the-scene photos as well as international promo material not often seen in the US.

Because I own almost every book published on this iconic actress, I assumed that this one would offer little new material. I was wrong. This excellent collection includes international versions of posters, previously unpublished photographs, and unknown (at least to me) pieces of information. Hepburn's Paramount films are what launched her career and this volume is a beautiful sampling of her contribution to cinema.

I love to play hit songs on the piano, and I love the BackStreet Boys. This book is giving me the notes to their hits, and it's very easy to play. You can sing along while you play the piano too. I'm sure you'll love it !

I learned to play piano,(although all my music acreitablity still goes out the window)souly just to play their gr-8 songs,etc...that book showed me how.All my friends just love singing with it!And the layout is very well done. It rocks! KEEP THE BACKSTREET PRIDE ALIVE! YEAH!

I play the piano and I think this book is really cool. It has the music notes and the lyrics on it. I love it. I play the music almost everyday 'coz Backstreet Boys are my favorit band.

And a few days ago, I saw a copy of the BSB music book. I bought it (of course) for $20 or so and my next voice lesson, I had brought it. My teacher likes the music and lyrics so now I bet he's practicing. I had let him borrow it (and it's PAINFUL.) and before that, I would study and practice singing and following the right key and pitches. It sounds great on the piano and lets me know all the lyrics. I love practicing BSB music, and I bet you would too! :)

This is the best. i never liked taking piano lessons but now since i got this book i love it. I LOVE BSB!!

John Fraim has distilled the essence of the conflict between East and West and delivered it to us from many points of view that makes it clear why we are in the mess burned into our consciousness by 9/11.

This is a must read for people who just don't understand why the world seems to hate us.

Fraim does any excellent, and comprehensive job of covering an important piece of intellectual territory.

In our everyday life we often are oblivious to the impact the manipulation of symbols has on us. Marekting of consumer products, the images of our popular culture and the things we call 'entertainment'. And yes, politics......

All these topics are covered in some detail that canhelp you understand the sublte, and not so subliminal images and symbols which enter our lives everyday.

The last two years has rocked our world with a sharpening conflict of very basic symbols, values and beliefs. Fraim's book is a must read for anyone who wants to elevate thier thinking beyond the reactive mode and truly begin to understand how powerful the use of symbols is in shaping our core thinking, beliefs, attitudes and ultimately behavior--both in the grocery store and the voting booth.

This is a fascinating report of a time which has forever altered the course of the world, namely the months immediately following September 11, 2001.

Mr. Fraim, whose elusive position makes hime difficult to label or pin-down, analyzed and drew from various media sources almost daily thoughout this time period and what he ended up with sometimes feels more like a "thriller" than an alalysis or report on current events. Ambivalent and highly symbolic photos thoughout the book give this unique piece of work an enigmatic feeling.

If this topic interests you, once you have picked this book up you will find it hard to put down.

Symbols increasingly shape our lives but few understand their influence over us. This book offers a brilliant and fascinating primer on contemporary symbols. The author - a leading authority on symbols and creator of the Internet's most popular site for symbolism - takes symbols out of reference books, religions, psychoanalysis, literature and art and places them in the center of popular culture and the global battles being fought today. America is placed at the center of global symbol creation with Hollywood and Madison Avenue (entertainment and advertising) as the great creators of global symbolism, New York media as the communicator of symbols and Washington DC as the great manager of symbols. All of this is explored in the light of 9/11. A brilliant and essential new perspective on the world.

It has become a cliché in modern communications theory that perception is everything. Mass media create "views" of things and events, which are governed by a contest between symbols since the difference between contents is negligible ... Coke and Pepsi, Chevy and Pontiac, Walmart and Sears, Harvard and Yale.

John Fraim's brilliant, witty and entertaining Battle of Symbols might, nevertheless, take the title of The Marketing of Soft Power. The emerging new paradigm of power, soft power, as John Fraim defines it, is the power of the information age, which replaces the hard power of the passing industrial era of economic growth. Fraim comes to this subject with background as the president of GreatHouse Company, a marketing and consulting firm. He is widely published in marketing and psychology journals.

Fraim quotes Joseph Nye from The Economist to the effect that "modern power has less relationship to the reality of resources and more to the hyper-reality of images and perceptions." The events of 9/11 are for Fraim a prime example of the power of symbols to establish and control thought, particularly regarding the question of why America is so intensely disliked around the world. The selfless champions of freedom and democracy (symbolically at least) could not understand the severe clash of symbols set loose in their Arabic adventure into Afghanistan and Iraq. Where does this attitude come from? What does it feed on? According to Fouad Ajami, a leading US Middle East scholar, "The Anti-Americanism is automatic, unexamined, innate. To Islamists (America) is a defiling presence; to pan Arabists, the backer of a Zionist project to dominate the region."

The Americans are equally biased. Harvard historian Samuel Huntington expresses the bias perfectly: "The underlying problem for the West is not Islamic fundamentalism. It is Islam, a different civilization whose people are convinced of the superiority of their culture and are obsessed with the inferiority of their power."

Others agree with this view. Columnist Andrew Sullivan sees the US engaged in a religious war: "The religious dimension of the conflict is central to its meaning." Islam carries with it symbolic weights and values that abhor the decadence of American culture, or lack of it. The outcome of the West/Middle East conflict will have profound culture impact on both sides whether each side is ready for it or not. The symbolic allegiances will shift.

Fraim deftly reveals the powerful forces of symbolism and their covert global inter-relationships with a page turning excellence of prose style. There is also a vein of choice quotable stuff throughout the book. Battle of Symbols is an eclectic yet focused study of symbol power. Besides the witty description of Islam as a "cool" medium borrowed from Marshall McLuhan and not to argue whether a religion is actually an independent medium of communication, Fraim invokes the best insights not only from McLuhan but also Arthur Kroker Edmund Carpenter, and Donald Theall et al.to add the high seriousness that the subject demands.

Fraim does an excellent job of cutting through the difficulties of information overload quoting pithily from Otto Rank: "For the time being I gave up writing ... there is already too much truth in the world ... an over-production which apparently cannot be consumed." His analysis of the effects of the Internet is rare in its perception especially of its propagandistic role in American political life. Even the dangers in understanding are dealt with insightfully: "There is a great paradox involved with understanding ... Understanding symbols offers the threat of reducing their power. In the same way that greater production leaves less time for observation." The book ends on an ominous demographic note: "The Arab world has a large youthful population while American has a large aging population."

Fraim's message, however, is positive and reassuring even in its deadly accurate treatment of the inadequacies of the present political and economic troubles multiplying from our lack of understanding of how vital it is to have a practical knowledge of symbolic values. I strongly recommend this excellent study to all students of communication.

Okay, don't take it all so seriously...it's just a ball right...so look at the darkside of the ball...the evils of golfswing-though...the art of club tossing, five mortal sins to avoid.....the truth about sandbagging.....how to be captain of your own ship (hmm thought it was golf...not sailing?) and being in the present moment ...golf is Zen but in what the authors call tghe putter in cheek book-- you learn how to lower your score...and improve your GOLF ATTITUDE -- NOT~! If you loved caddyshack-- you'll love this.....price is right-- every golfer in the world deserves this for birthday...or stock it in your Pro shop-- keep it on your shelf after a really BAD game...but it's a game remember and you can have a ball if you can't be the ball!

This book may not change your GAME - but it will change your attitude! And, attitude is 90% of the game ... the other half
is skill!

When I opened the package that contained a book "Being the Ball" by some guy calling himself Billy Balata, I thought that it had to be some kind of a joke. Like most Golf nuts, I enjoyed and still enjoy - "Caddyshack" as much as the next guy, but couldn't see how this book wasn't going to do the film a great disservice. I couldn't have been more off the mark....

I would recommend this book to anyone who has come to the conclusion that golf is as tough a game as there is to master -- we might as well laugh at our own shortcomings. Underscored throughout all of the examples in "Being the Ball" is that there is never a bad round of golf. It may be required reading for anyone who wants to share a round with me.

All I can say, is after reading this book and applying some of the principles, I cut 5 strokes off of my handicap. Enough said...

This is the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" of golf books. It had a provocative, perky spirit that moved my heart with every stroke. It is refreshing to see the dawn of a rising star among golf's rigid thinkers and bad dressers.

Its creative, witty approach to presenting golfs important features makes it a must read for all golfers. Your mantra after reading "Being the Ball" will be "Billy, Billy, Billy" as you check the line of the most pressure packed putt of your life!!!