Entertainment Books

Duchovny is a genius. He loves chickens and Lola-Lola. Anything he can do I can do better...like kissing and monkey loving his hot dog. Witness the prodigy in action.

The Secret Files X is the best series in television of the last 10 years, and the actors main characters are of the best. As much Gillian as David put him realism and it forces to the characterization of their characters. To my view the production of calendars and other objects make that the liking grows of the I publish super toward this series.

I always buy his calendar and this year is even better than last one... I just love it!!

This calendar contains some great David Photos for every month of the year. It is a muss for every fan. I can't wait to see the Calendar for the year 2002!

Daws Butler was the best of the best, right up there with Mel Blanc and Paul Frees. I am prejudiced as he was a friend of mine (My name appears twice in this book, grossly mispelled both times.), but he was the greatest. When he died, it took over 30 actors to replace him. This book, written by a friend and student of Daws, while hardly literary, is a well-researched labor of love, and a fine tribute to one of the nicest men ever to be the very best at what he did. If you loved Beany, or Huckleberry Hound, or Yogi Bear, Captain Crunch, or the classic Stan Freberg recordings, you'll find the story of the man behind the voices to be a terrific read. If you weren't privelged to know Daws, this book is as close as you can come now to a visit with this kind, wise man.

This book is much in the same pattern as design as Ben Ohmart's other books. I have he Paul Frees book and i have this one...Daws Butler became a part of my psyche somewhere in the 1980's. I was reading voice credits on cartoons on a USA Network series called "Cartoon Express". They aired a series called "Yogi's Treasure Hunt" as well as "Yogi's Space Race". Daws Butler's name was coming up. Later on i was in K-Mart reading voice credits on the back of cartoon home videos. I found a video of "The Jetsons meet the Flintstones". I read Daws Butler's name on there, too! I also found the names of Don Messick and Mel Blanc, too...all three top voice actor's. While Mel Blanc IS the most famous because of his work in theatrical cartoons and the fact that Mel's voice was on radio {over 30 years associated with the Jack Benny radio and TV shows!}...but while Mel Blanc had the more familiar name, Daws Butler was busy creating a large group of character voices for made-for-TV cartoons and in some cases, TV commercials. This book by Ben Ohmart tells the Daws Butler story...there are even passages and personal letters written by Daws sprinkled throughout the book. There was a PBS documentary about Daws that aired in the 1980's. It was called "Voice Magician". I have that video and it is amazing to watch Daws go from one character to the next. This book is a more expanded and comprehensive spin on that PBS show. Not many people realize that Daws Butler's voice graced the cartoons from the mid '40s through the mid '80s! They will learn all about Daws and his strong work ethic and his style of voice acting. For Daws, doing a "voice" required practice and training. He believed that voice actor's must play the part physically as well as vocally. This meant, Daws would become bouncy while doing the dialogue for SNAGGLEPUSS. He felt it helped him do a better vocal. YOGI BEAR, for example, Daws would stand with his shoulders rared back and bellow the words into the microphone. For HUCKLEBERRY HOUND, Daws would say that he would just think slow and talk slow and add in a southern accent BUT it must be the correct southern accent. A North Carolina southern sounds different from a Kentucky southern...or a Georgia southern. Known for his teaching, he opened up a voice actor work-shop and used his acting methods and beliefs to teach people the art of voice acting. The pictures in this book show Daws at various stages of his career. Stan Freberg is also talked about in this book...he and Daws were a team during the late '40s through the late '50s with a string of comedy singles AND a children's TV show "TIME FOR BEANY". Daws also narrated MANY cartoons for Tex Avery on MGM. At MGM, he and Don Messick became friends and both of them would later become the sound of Hanna-Barbera during the early years of made-for-TV cartoons, 1957-1967. On page 112, we see Daws in character as SNAGGLEPUSS. The look on his face almost makes one think he's saying: "Heaven's to Murgatroyd!". That picture is a good example of Daws physically getting into the character as well as vocally speaking the role. The SNAGGLEPUSS section talks about Bert Lahr...that's the actor whose voice Daws used as an inspiration for SNAGGLEPUSS. On page 93 we see Daws in the recording studio with Captiol Records exectives. Also in the picture are June Foray and Stan Freberg. Daws is standing beside June...Freberg is looking up into the ceiling...Foray is the only female in the picture and so she isn't hard to spot! On page 102 we see Daws in the studio with Don Messick and Doug Young. Young was the voice of DOGGIE DADDY and DING-A-LING to Daws Butler's AUGIE DOGGIE and HOKEY WOLF respectively. Don Messick was typically playing supporting roles and walk-on's during these two cartoon segments. As with the Paul Frees book, Ohmart lists nearly everything Daws was a part of during his long career. Daws only had ONE recurring theatrical cartoon character...the French speaking wolf LOOPY De LOOP, a nice wolf who was always getting into trouble because of what he was: a wolf! People would see Loopy as a wolf and automatically assume Loopy was dangerous and once again, Loopy would be running for his life! Hahaha. All the radio appearances are noted...all the characters...all the vinyl children's albums are listed...this, along with the Paul Frees book, are essential reading for voice actor fans or those wanting to read about the legends of voice acting!! I hope Ben Ohmart one day writes a book about two more voice giants: Mel Blanc and Don Messick.

He's not as well known as Mel Blanc, but should be. Daws Butler was the voice of Yogi Bear, Huck Hound, Elroy Jetson, Mr.
Jinx, Quick Draw McGraw (and don't you fer-get it!) and Snagglepuss in the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons. He also
worked with the legendary Stan Freberg (from "Time For
Beany" to his radio shows and records). Toward the end of
his life, he served as mentor to the likes of Nancy Cartwright
(voice of Bart Simpson) and Dr. Demento's co-hort Whimsical
Will.

This is an enjoyable read for fans of cartoons and old time
radio. Ohmart and Beliacqua show us the man behind the voices, both at work and at home. Heavens to Murgatroyd!

Alright, I have to admit that I thoroughly under-appreciated this guy... but now I've got it right, thanks to the authors of this book. All I thought of Daws Butler was "great voice guy". Wrong! The title sets you straight right off. Here's a man that defined the term "actor" and delivered not voices but "characters". You can take a look at the pictures of the cartoon characters on the cover to which he gave life but that's only a small sampling. In fact there was more going on between Daws ears than you'd find at a NASA launch

Who would enjoy this book? Any obsessive thinking person into puppetry, early television, imaginative, brilliant and clever writing, satire, cartoon animation, radio drama and comedy and a host of other topics I just can't think of right now.

Rather than try to describe what the authors presented so well, let me just say here was a guy I wish I could have met. Not just for his talent but for his character.

Read the book; it's as close as you'll get to a uniquely facinating and wonderful man.

It's not a horrible product, but the shift to savage worlds has taken a bit of the life out of it. Instead of the various mystical types having individual powers they are all lumped together with various powers only available to certain mystic types.. The mad scientist rules are sparse, hard to understand, and lead to insanity just from learning a new power.

The good news is it still has all the classic flavor of Deadlands. Also the hucksters are now able cast a fair number of spells before they resort to gambling with evil spirits. (In older editions you tended to either not get your spell off or get backlash.) The book brings together a lot of the setting which required 3-4 books in the past.

Note that you will need to own a copy the core savage lands rule book. Also note that this is a really good book, but it's just not as good as 1st edition.

I have been playing Deadlands since it first launched and I own, in print, just about every deadlands book to come out. This is re-launch of the game with a new rules set that is slimmer and faster than pervious versions of the game, making it faster and more story intensive than prior versions of the game.

To be fair the older version has much more story content than this version of the game, if you need details on a particular part of the country there is piles of details you can use if you just go looking. My point on the story is that with lighter rules the stories you are telling tend to be more intensive and engaging. The older rules system was very complicated to learn, once you learned how to run the game it was much more intuitive but it never quite became invisiable. At the time games were experementing with differant types of systems, for example L5R intorduced a roll and keep system that was differant than anything else around at the time. Deadlands original system had you asiging dice types and then rolling a certain number based on traits or skills (wording in the first edition was a little confusing) and then keeping the highest. It also used Cards for initive and chips for damage mitigation as well as experience.

Savage Worlds refined the system dropping the extra dice for skills and traits. Before you would roll 3d12 for shooting, now you roll d12 to shoot. Combat resolution was refined by giving players only one card for initive instead of a dice roll and then multiple cards. Chips were dropped in favor of Bennies that do much of the same thing.

With Deadlands the chips are back adding back the poker flavor of the system. Metaphysics also re-intorduces the Poker hand for spell resolution, other than that the game is very similar in feel to previous editions while keeping most of the feel of Savage Worlds.

In short the game reinvents itself in the relm of Savage Worlds very effectively, old and new players will find much in common with this system. The writing remains effective, easily conveying the feel of the era. A great game all round.

A relaunch of the Classic Deadlands:the Weird West roleplaying game, Deadlands: Reloaded updates the timeline to 1879 and converts the mechanics to Pinnacle's Savage Worlds rules. Note that the Savage Worlds rulebook is needed to play the game.

Reloaded manages to bring in everything cool that built and supported the feel of Classic Deadlands with the faster and more Game Master friendly mechanics of Savage Worlds. This includes card based Huckster magic, hangin' rules and a new card based deuling system that really brings in some suspense for those showdowns at high noon.

Perfect for the fan of Westerns, Horror and/or Zombies, Deadlands: Reloaded derseves a spot on every serious gamer's shelf.

The world of Deadlands returns in this gorgeous 256 page volume. All that's needed to play is this book, and the Savage Worlds core rulebook.

It's a GM's dream come true. A game that generated a decades worth of material, over fifty or so supplements, boiled down to one user-freindly tome made for years of play. It's also ideal for new players, with it's self contained background and streamlined rules.

And the background is so friggin' cool.

Imagine a spaghetti western brimming with arcane magic, steampunk tech, post civil war strife, and tons of monsters, demons, and undead running around. Players take the role of gunslingers, Texas Rangers, shadowy agents, Indian shamans, card playing sorcers, and preachers that can smite with the fire of heaven. All this with a tounge in cheek, overly violent, Sergio Leone meets Sam Riami feel.

Stop reading now, and just buy it. And don't balk at the price, because you'll get enough background to easily cover three or for supplements for lesser games. Get it, you won't be sorry...

Dixie Dictionary I found the book very useful to refresh my vocabulary for Southern speech. Being born in the south I should understand most of what is being said, however, I've worked in California for over twenty-five years and just returned home to find that I haven't a clue as to what people are telling me. I'm a shamed face southern boy who has to learn to talk Southern all over again. Now it's easy thanks to The Dixie Dictionary. It really is a funny informative book also a great tool for writers who need Southern speech in their stories.

It's smaller in trim size than I thought it would be but handy and useful none the less. It's formatted like a dicitonary but it doesn't give background origins of the words/sayings. Almost as if you are a foreigner heading to the South and need a quick translation guide. For deeper meanings of the words you would need to go the internet.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this dictionary. This is probably the richest collection of Southern words in print. It is true that there are few etymologies provided and the entries are all concise. However, I would much rather have the work as it stands as opposed to having only half the number of entries with a detailed analysis. In fact many of the most interesting entries (i.e. those petaining to untranslateable concepts) do have a longer explanation. There are many entries contained here which cannot be found in Robert Hendrickson's "Whistlin' Dixie". On the other hand, there are a few entries Hendrickson uses that cannot be found here. Hendrickson also provides a more detailed descritpion of each entry and perhaps has slightly more toponymous expressions. If you are in doubt as to which dictionary to buy then, if you really love this dialect of American English, I strongly recommend that you buy BOTH. The two important works on Southern speech complement the other and are both reasonably priced.
First of all, I would like to say that "The Dixie Dictionary" is extremely rich in folklore entries. For instance, there are fascinating terms like 'belling' (a wedding custom), 'dumb cake' (a cake made in silence and used for fortune telling) and 'infare' (a feast the day after the wedding). There are literally dozens of unique words pertaining to various kinds of legendary monsters such as the 'Bingbuffer', the 'clew bird' and the 'galoopus' etc. There are also words connected with folk healing like 'chamber lye', 'nanny tea' and 'fasting spittle' as well as call words used to command animals (e.g. 'coo-sheep/coon-nan' and 'sukee' , etc.). Folk expressions concerning the weather and seasons are also represented in entries like 'blackberry winter' and 'dogwood winter' etc.
There are also many terms taken from the Civil War like 'copperhead' (a Northerner/Yankee who sympathised with the South. There are many nicknames e.g. 'Rackensack' (someone from Arkansaw) and a 'Cracker' (someone either from Georgia or Florida) etc. in addition to toponymous phrases like the 'Carolina robin' (smoked herring), 'Charsleston eagle' (buzzard) and 'Arkansas toothpick' (bowie knife) etc.
Another category of terms which reflects the devout history of the people is the religious terminology like 'amen corner', 'pound' (party for a new preacher), 'toadstool churches' (which grow up as a result of revivals) and 'pokeweed religion' etc. There are also countless terms associated with tobacco, moonshine/whiskey and games like marbles. Several entries do not constitute distinct words as such but rather dialect variants/different pronunciation e.g. 'ovair' (over there), 'leben' (eleven) and 'zactly' (exactly). Talking of the last word 'zactly', dialectologists, will be interested to encounter certain similarities with some West Country British dialects (which often use 'z' in place of 's'). For instance, in the Cornish dialect (many terms of which are derived from an ancient language akin to Welsh not English) I recognised the following entries : 'ashcat', 'cap'n', 'kilt', 'emmet' (meaning ant - in West Cornwall it is 'muryan' yet 'emmet is used in E.Cornwall and in Devon), 'furmety' and 'rassle' etc. This leads me to postulate that Cornish miners may well have settled in some places in the South.If any fellow-readers would like to purchase a Cornish dialect dictionary then search on this site (there are good dictionaries available by Jago, Phillipps and Ivey). If they are not available in Amazon.com then try the Amazon.uk branch. As you can probably detect from my review, I found this work most interesting. It is an important contribution to the culture of the South and to dialectology.

Compiled and edited by southern journalist Thomas W. Howard, The Dixie Dictionary: An Introduction To The Southern Language is a fun, enjoyable, and useful glossary of terms unique to American Southern English dialects. From "all vine and no 'taters" (a phrase to describe someone who is all talk and no action) to "whistle-pig" (groundhog), The Dixie Dictionary is packed from cover to cover with wry, flavorful phrases that most northerners have likely never heard of. Highly recommended for writers looking to pen southern-style dialogue, as well as anyone planning to visit or move to the South, or who just wants to have a good time paging through some truly unique and eyebrow-raising expressions, The Dixie Dictionary is a welcome contribution to personal and academic Language Studies reference collections.

If you want to know what really happened with Dudley Moore from the late 80's until his death, you've got to read this! Too many people believe tabloids and make their judgments from what they read in the newsstands. Read this and weep. I did.

Dudley Moore was an actor, a comedian, and the husband to a perfectionist wife: he left a promising career in jazz piano to become a comedian, then an actor - and his personal life was fraught with illness and trials. Prior fans of Moore who are familiar with him through a single facet of his acting or comedy career will welcome an opportunity to get to know him better in Dudley Moore: An Intimate Portrait, by an author who was a music columnist, pianist, and performer along with Moore.

Intimate Portrait offers a personal account of Dudley Moore's struggle with illness. The author's first hand account provides a touching portrait of a person who simultaneously experienced fear and hope, courage and defeat, yet never gave up. It was moving and clearly a close friends final tribute to her best friend. I would highly recommend it.

This is a book you will really look forward to reading, especially if you have had the chance to see one or more of Dudley Moore's movies ---from the everyman dreams of "10" to the wacky conductor of "Foul Play." Also to see him on stage or hear his talented piano playing.
I wanted to laugh again, and again at Dudley, the comic.
But the author, fellow musician Rena Fruchter, carefully weaves in the pain and suffering in this short man's too-short life:
"The tragedy is that Dudley Moore had so much left to do, to give, when his life was taken from him at the age of 66," she writes.
And an extra dimension for an author and even for a friend--Dudley spent the last five years of his life with Fruchter and her family. She held his hands when he died in March, 2002, with some of his own music playing in the background.
But Fruchter is able to give us a balanced portrait of this complex man, his four wives and ups and downs along the way.
I kept wanting more of the sheer joy of Dudley, which fellow comic Eric Idle touches on in the Foreward --where he thanks Dudley, or "Dud" as he calls him, "for just being you."
It is often written that one has to suffer a lot to be truly funny. Dudley followed that path. We thank him for all the laughter and music, and are glad to read in this excellent work that toward the end Dudley learned to accept himself and found strength and awareness...and also peace.
We miss you Dudley and thank you Rena for preserving so much of the man and his life in this book.

It's obvious that Patrick Lacy has done extensive research for this book from the minute you open it. The book is presented in Question and Answer format and deals with many issues about Elvis' life that have been misrepresented in various Elvis books. The author then arrives at a logical conclusion on what really happened, based on his research.
This is an excellent book for any true Elvis fan.

I will say that I fell for the "Is Elvis Alive" craz when it began in the late 1980s but after doing research, there's no way that Elvis is alive and he's not coming back. After reading this book, it did get me curious again to the possiblity of Elvis being alive but I know better. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and reading Patrick's opinions and the book, to me, is very well written and researched.

This is the book I wished I had purchased several books ago! Author Patrick Lacy has done painstaking research surrounding the last days - and death - of Elvis Presley. His sleuthing and subsequent documentation of various events plaguing both fans and interested observers alike are carefully laid down on paper. Without ego or arrogance, Lacy allows the reader to make up his or her mind by presenting as much detailed evidence as possible with as much coherence as possible. Elvis himself would have been proud. Definitely a book not to be without.

This book is a great resource. The author will ask a question and answer it by citing information from various sources. By contrast and comparison, Lacy than draws a conclusion. Whether you agree with the author's conclusion or not, the format for this book allows the reader the opportunity to examine information and come to an objective conclusion.

If you enjoyed "A Clockwork Orange" as a literary achievement and for its apocalyptic/dystopic vision, then this is a book for you. Look for it in used-book stores. I'm sure there were a few re-prints of it, so don't give up.

Anthony Burgess has written so many great novels. He is of course most famous for A Clockwork Orange, and that one sotry has overshadowed much of his other terrific work.

This book has three different storylines, including Trotsky and space travel, and its never clear as you read through the chapters how they are related, but the plotlines are captivating. And at the end, he does a masterful job of tying it all together. Simply fascinating.

It will be hard to find this book, but if you do, definitely buy it.

Anthony Burgess seems to be dangerously close to being passed over by history. The only book that he is now remembered for is now more likely to be cited as "a Stanley Kubrick film" than "an Anthony Burgess novel," and his many other works have been left to rot in used bookstores. While he's not certainly not the most visionary speculative fiction author of the 20th century, he deserves far more respect than he's received--I fully expect him to be "rediscovered" sometime soon.

I first read "The End of the World News" back in middle school (about ten years ago) and still remember it clearly. His parallel narratives--a future Earth waiting for The End, the waning years of cranky old Freud, and the libretto for a musical about Trotsky's visit to New York--work together beautifully, like a more coherent "Slaughterhouse-Five." Still one of my all-time favorites.

Sigmund Freud discovers the psyche in Vienna, Leon Trotsky discovers the worker's paradise in New York City and America waits for a comet to snuff out all life. Three very different tales spin around and through each other in another masterpiece by one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.

Like most Burgess, this is a vastly entertaining book, but you can't just stand back and admire the architecture of this tale. Human characters dealing with super-human problems draw you in to this discussion of the uses of power and the purpose of life.

At first, the interwoven stories jar. You hurry to get back to the interrupted story. What happened next? To whom? But each story blooms, each story comments nimbly on the others and takes its own place in a masterwork by a masterwriter.

This is a much needed resource that opens the door of the seemingly insular entertainment and sports industry to anyone with the interest or inclination. The comprehensive nature of the information provided in this book is incredible. Contact information, internship opportunities, industry events and more. Absolutely phenomenal!

This guide doesn't just give you contact information. It also has interviews with the power players themselves that could stand on their own as an excellent tool. If you buy it, don't set it aside for when you need a phone number; read it cover-to-cover first.

This book is necessary for anybody who seriously wants to break into the entertainment industry. It well done and packed full of great info!!!

WOW! As a writer/producer, I wish I had this book when I first moved to LA six years ago. What a difference it could have made, but thank God I have it now! It is a wonderful resource guide and an absolute must have for anyone who is an aspiring actor, writer, producer, director, executie, music artist, pro athlete, etc!

This book gives you the opportunity to get a feeling of what your life may have been like living in the Jim Crow era of Georgia. My name is Bullard and I am a white genealogist. Eugene Bullard was the son of ex-slaves that were owned by a family named Bullard.

It is fabulous to see a black person rise out of impossible circumstances to become an expatriate combat pilot in the French Air Force during World War I. Jazz and Blues is what I listen to every day and the Jazz story in this book is very interesting to me.

Eugene Bullard was an African American man who was born in 1895 in Columbus, Georgia, and lived a really fascinating live. After leaving the U.S. in 1912 to escape the existing suffocating racist oppression, he stayed first in Britain, and then settled in France where he lived as a boxer, entertainer, jazz drummer, was a war hero in the trenches in Verdun, and become the first African American combat pilot in 1917 (in French service: the U.S. would allow black combat pilots only in 1941...). After the war, like so many other African Americans, he remained in Europe. He become a well known entrepeneur in the Parisian night club life during the 20s and 30s. At the German invasion in 1940, and after a brief stint in the French army, he went back to the U.S. where he died in New York in 1961. Revered in France as a national hero during is life, and completely unknown in his country until more than twenty years after his death, the life of this extraordinary man has in this book a much deserved homage and, probably, its definitive biography.

A very well documented biography on a genuine American and French hero. Unfortunately he was born during the Jim Crow era in the south (even though the constitution which was written over 100 years before his birth mentions "all men are created equal", this did not include any non-caucasian's or women, did it? Did not use the word minority since it denotes less than some majority, there are more non-caucasian's in the world anyway and what is really meant by that word is just that, non-caucasian. I find it odd that the USA was founded by European descendants like the English, French and even though the country prided itself on it's progresive nature, it did not include equality, even though Europe itself did not practice racial discrimination). He was born the seventh child of a large family and his father always had a premonition of a very distinguished future for him and let it be known to him when he was young. Talks about his travel through the south after he left home and was told early by his father of a country (France) where all men are truly free. This had a profound effect on him because he eventually made it to France via England first.

He began his livelyhood as a theatre performer and boxer; two opposing and similar avocations. He joined the military and became the first Black American and Black Frenchman aviator and was awarded medals for his bravery, dedication and skills. Very well liked, he had a contagious personality and started working at a famous Paris club later in life and eventually became a club owner himself. He met the famous of the day like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, Bricktop and many others. This biography also got me interested in Jazz age Paris to request both autobiographies of Hughes and Bricktop.

Slowly (too slowly) more is being known about this man and his acomplishments and contributions to the human race.

You won't be able to put it down. Jack Johnson's autobiography "In the Ring and Out" is another good bio of that era too.

I had earlier learned of some of Eugene Bullard's exploits, but Craig Lloyd's book spotlights an endless list of amazing achievements that seem unbelievable for any man to accomplish in just one lifetime. It's a shame Bullard's life has been up to now unexplored and uncelebrated. Hopefully this extremely well-researched biography will fix that.

Steve Mandich dwells deep into the life of evel knievel he did
well research on the book and now there is a made for tv movi
e about Evel staring George Eads Well written book

Simply stunning work by the obviously Knievel obsessed Steve Mandich. Really well researched and put together - this makes interesting reading for all those with an interest in the 'real' story of Buttes bad boy, but it will appeal to anyone who enjoys a good book. Buy it today and I'm sure you'll love it. Just don't go jumping any canyons.

Let's just say that the BBC documentary `Touch of Evel' would have
benefitted greatly if this book had been available at the time of
production! Mandich's masterly yet affectionate execution fills in all the
gaps - it is the quiet authoritative voice behind the hollering and bluster
of the legend. It shows meticulous research without descending into geekdom,
and hits the spot more accurately than Evel did in a thousand jumps.
Splendid.

The beauty of Mandich's incredibly well-researched book lies in it's deft handling of the myth and reality of the life of Evel Knievel. It's what makes it a compelling read for anyone, whether they be a die-hard Evel fan, rev-head or anyone with even a passing interest in one of the 20th centuries more interesting celebrity sporstman. The engaging writing style makes this not just a great biography but also a fascinating story.