Arts and Culture Books

The book is well written and is a great overview of the VJ culture, the DVD is full of excerpts form live perfomances by the major artist around, interviews and CGI videos. A must-have for VJS!

Just finished reading this book and have to say its amazing.

very insightful cross section of the Vj community. Much to be learnt about the wide range of VJs out there.

It has a good mix between articles on specific issues, looking at the world of VJs, and technical articles explaining how established VJs have their setup.

The DVD has been produced to a very high standard, and like the book lots of informative content is on it.

The book looks beautiful with all the UV pages, and so much design work has gone into it.

anyone who has not got this book yet is missing out big time, recommended to the highest degree.

I was contacted by D-Fuse for an interview for a book a few months ago. I am a VJ as well and I was expecting some sort of paper bag book when it came out. I got it yesterday, a day after my birthday in fact and I have never seen a book (if you can call it just that) with so much detail and so much artistic value.

The audio-visual art + vj culture is one of those books you need to have in your livingroom for your friend to look up despite its content yet. Tp make it better there is so much information inside, even a graphic on how many VJs are per country.

Is a book compared to those of Frank Lloyd Wight. Is one of those books that make you feel like having one even you do not know what is about. The best thing is that you will learn a lot because of the way all reference are managed. And you know what? I'm on page 160!!!

Really good work regarding content and desing, I am very very impress. I am about to get another one, one to show to the people and another one for me.

This book is a brilliant piece of art as much as it is a great resource for beginning and established VJs. The presentation of pictures and graphics is stunning, and looking at all of the eyecandy in the book can be inspiring.

This book does a great job of showcasing the best talent in the business in the form of interviews and articles. There are also some really great tips and how-to guides that even the most experienced VJ can learn from. Equipment hardware and software is covered thoroughly and explained in detail.

This is truly a book all VJs should add to their bookcase because it will always serve as a great reference tool as well as entertain and enage you as a casual reader. I highly recommend this book to all VJs and people that have a passion for motion graphics and live performance art.

This book was several years in the making, and I admire the dedication of those involved in getting it to print.

Unfortunately, that means that in such a rapidly-moving field, it's a bit out of date. Several of the acts featured have disappeared off the radar by now, and there are some quite glaring omissions - such as the EyeWash DVDs, Resolume software (currently used by around a third of the world's top VJ's) and uh... PC's. This wouldn't bother me as much if not for the tagline on the back cover which touts 'full details of the hardware and software available for VJing are provided'. I'd suggest that 'examples of hardware and software available for Mac-based VJing are provided'.

If you get the impression that you need a pair of Mac Powerbooks to VJ from the setups and info given in this book, don't worry - that's not the case. The scene featured in this book is just one aspect of international VJ Culture, and it's been curated from a particularly Mac perspective.

It's a graphic-design triumph - you couldn't ask for more beautiful, slick presentation. The background of Faulkner and other members of D-Fuse as print-based graphic designers with decades of experience between them really shows. Personally, I find the layering and shiny panels a bit distracting and hard to read at one sitting, and I feel like I should put on gloves every time I pick it up as the slightest touch leaves great grubby fingerprints on some of the shinier pages. But it's a stunning, jaw-dropping book, which is just what the scene needed.

To be honest, I don't see this as a book to read so much as to show-off. VJing is a very visual artform, so what better way to communicate what it's all about than in gorgeous, awe-inspiring imagery? Even if it's a bit of a struggle to actually sit and read it cover-to-cover, it's the PERFECT coffee-table book. You couldn't ask for a better showcase for potential clients, newbie wannabes or... well... your Mum... to show what VJing is and why you're dedicating yourself to it despite the bad pay, the expensive equipment, the long hours, etc etc.

A friend of ours runs a Band House, where touring members of bands stay when they're performing in her town. She's a VJ, and so in a good position to plug 'have you thought about using visuals?' on a daily basis. She said this book's been the perfect way to do that - she just leaves a copy lying around and the muso's thumb through it over their breakfast.

The DVD is a huge improvement over that provided with Spinrad's 'the VJ Book'. There's a load of great material on it, and most of it's of an equivalent standard to the imagery in the book - the glamour, high-end of the VJ scene. Positively wow-worthy, and the most impressive DVD collection of live VJing I've seen to date. Some of my favourite parts though were cut very short - eg just a minute or two long - and then there's the bizarrely out of place inclusion of long swathes of content by Elliott Earls, most of which has little to do with the VJ scene - eg a long mockumentary called the Saranay Hotel. Given that there was so much other great VJ content that could have gone on there, I can't work out why Earls' doco was included. It's got nothing to do with VJing or audio-visual art, and the quality is so vastly different to everything else on the DVD.

Like Spinrad's VJ Book before it, I've bought multiple copies of this book/DVD to give away whenever I can afford it. I take a copy to meetings with new clients, and I lend copies to newbie VJs that come along to our Plug n Play nights. The real problem is keeping a copy for myself, as everyone wants to take it home.

The VJ scene is really still very young - maybe equivalent to the DJ scene of two or three decades ago - and we need some impressive look-at-me Superstar VJ's to get the public to take notice, so that the rest of us can get on with doing what we do with hopefully a bit more attention being paid to what's going on behind the scenes on the screens.

I think this book is probably the single biggest factor so far in that process of getting the public to take notice. It's a lush, visually stunning celebration of a new phenomenon. Thanks so much to Faulkner and the rest of D-Fuse for giving this to the scene. Every VJ should own a copy. Or three.

VJ kattyb, VJzoo.com

The book is medium-it isn't an easy book you only play once and then you're bored, but it isn't very difficult. Some of the arrangements are needlessly crazy, but some are well done. A piano player of about 3-5 years is about the right level.

The piano and vocals are clearly printed which makes for a good quality score. Chords for each harmony are printed in the vocal sections but not in the introductary measures. Difficulty of music depends on the particular song for example, "Somewhere" and "One Hand, One Heart" are easier. I've enjoyed playing this music and would recommend it.

If you want to play/arrange/orchestrate or simply see the genius of Berstein, this is the way to go. As an arranger, I needed reference to orchestrate a West Side Story Medley for a show, and I'm not talking your regular "standard" tunes. This vocal score is also a piano reduction of the orchestrations and was aboslutely what I needed. You can see nearly every instrument line, counter melody, even instrument indications. This was the best $50.00 I may have every spent. Saved me hours and hours of trying to "lift" off the lines. They were all there, even for the dance sections from Cool & The Rumble, which is what I really needed. Don't hestitate if you're looking for the real Berstein stuff!

The music from West Side Story is captivating, and I love being able to relive it again and again. Hearing the music from the show takes you back to the story of a modern-day Romeo and Juliet.

If you're looking for a faithful translation from the full score, this is the one. This score is based on Bernstein latest revision as reflected in the Carreras Te Kanawa recording (1985).

But be warned, this score is only for upper-intermediate/advanced pianist, classically trained. It's not a fakebook, it's not a simplified/reduced piano score for casual use. The arrangement gives two alternatives for playing some part of the song, and you can choose to play it the hard way or the easier way (which is still rather difficult). The hard way is of course the most faithful to the orchestral score.

For example, the dance part in "America" can be played by using single notes of the left hands rather than using full chord, which is great if you're trying to cope with the tempo. The arrangement for the slow pieces such as "one hand one heart", "maria", "tonight", and "somewhere" is really beautiful.

Tip: Listen to the "west side story" conducted by Bernstein himself to get a grasp of the tempo, dynamics and phrasing.

As funky, ferocious, and fun as any big beat coming out a sound system in downtown Kingston on a summer night, this book brings Jamaican dancehall to life with some scintillating prose 'riddims'. A sensitive and vivid writer and a longtime student of all things Jamaican, Stolzoff goes everywhere, knows everyone, and brings it all together in the best book on popular culture that I have read in years. A must-read for anyone interested in contemporary music, African-American studies, or the Caribbean. Kudos also to the publisher for creating a beautifully designed book, with many superb photos from Stolzoff's camera. This book will be a classic for many years to come.

Randy Lewis Assistant Professor of American Studies University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma

As a lover of the creative, colorful and very controversial culture known as Jamaican dancehall, I received this book ecstatically, but I wasn't quite sure of what to expect. I mean, this is a world that changes so rapidly that any attempts to document it have felt outdated even before their ink dried. I thought Stolzoff would play it safe and keep his approach as superficial as possible-a nice coffee table book perhaps, filled with eye-pleasing full-color pix of scantily-dressed dancehall queens, posturing dapper dons, maybe even the occasional text paragraph with amusing tidbits like, "Whatever happened to Wayne 'Sleng Teng' Smith?" Instead, I found a meticulously researched study packed with so much detail that several times I had to "wheel back and come again" (re-read pages) in order to digest it all.

Of course, this isn't the first piece of writing to cast a critical eye on dancehall; but past discussions (helmed mostly by staunch roots reggae apologists who make no bones about expressing their view of the subject as an anti-musical ebola responsible for devouring the innards of upright, "real" reggae as exemplified by the likes of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Burning Spear), irrespective of whether they have been pro- or anti-dancehall, have all revolved to varying degrees around the old dancehall "reggae" vs. "traditional" reggae issue.

Stolzoff distinguishes himself from the pack by sidestepping that stumbling block altogether: In (what I think is) a revolutionary move, he posits ALL Jamaican music, in essence, as dancehall-from the creolized drum and fiddle music of 18th century slave frolics to the thundering amplified bass blaring from contemporary Kingston sound systems. In short, he sees dancehall not as a distinct genre of music, but as an interactive method of experiencing music that might be specifically Jamaican.

Stolzoff's an anthropologist, not a rock critic, so rather than examining the music in isolation, he reconstructs the world that is dancehall's context, starting from the beginning with the sound systems, the cornerstone of the Jamaican music world.( Stolzoff scores a major coup by including extensive interviews with sound system pioneers like Hedley Jones, who provide a lot of insight into the Jamaican music experience prior to the birth of the local music industry-all other books on reggae up until this time have summed the whole era up in a sentence or two). Upon that foundation, Stolzoff layers the various social and ideological trends that have shaped the dancehall: rude boys, Rastafar-I, fashion, technology... You come to see that as chaotic as the dancehall universe appears to be, it is a well-ordered cosmology where everything has its place: sexuality, piety, violence, flamboyance, humility... They can all co-exist.

What I really, really love is the "career trajectory" Stolzoff maps out from his observation of the dancehall field. Using many of the aspiring and established dancehall stars he befriended, Stolzoff illustrates the stages of a career as a performer in the dancehall economy-which is an actual economy that employs millions of Jamaicans in various capacities.

I think this is definitely an important book and a complete must-read not only for fans of Jamaican music, but for anybody interested in the way that music and culture intersect with the daily lives of its participants.

This is an excellant book, written by a genuinely knowledgeable scholar of dancehall music and Jamaican popular culture. Dr. Stolzoff has done an incredible amount of research for this book and puts it altogether with Wake The Town. A must for all reggae and dancehall afficionados. This book will be a classic for a long time.

I would like to commend Mr. Stolzoff for an in depth and enjoyable study of dancehall reggae. Being a dancehall fan for some time now, it's wonderful to see the music and culture being taken seriously. Ready first hand accounts of artists like the great Tenor Saw was an unexpected and exciting part of the book. Mr. Stolzoff goes indept as he discusses the origins of dancehall back to Africa right up to today with the top artists like Buju Banton, Bounty Killer, Beenie Man, Sizzla, etc etc. As Ricky Trooper says in the begining of the book, if you haven't been to the dancehall before, you wouldn't understand it, dancehall it something that you have to experience. Great reading!

This book is too incredible to believe. For those of us who are into dancehall, when we are in the midst of it, study and academia seem so far away. I never thought it was something that someone could record on paper and carry the true vibes of the whole thing. Stolzoff has not only captured the vibes of the dancehall itself, but also the vibes of life for the dancehall community, the economy, and the realities of Jamaica today. For anyone who ever wanted to get away from the tourist fakeries of what you think Jamaica and reggae music are all about, this book is for you. Of course there is nothing like the true experience of the dancehall itself, but outside of that, this book is the next best thing. Buy this book, you won't regret it. Even most of us Jamaicans, can learn a thing or two from it. And for my anthropologists out there, this book is the most gripping, meaningful ethnography since Bourgois' "In Search of Respect : Selling Crack in El Barrio".

As a fan of Ron Galella and Andy Warhol this book is a must have! It's so wonderful to see Andy and all the glamorous superstars again! I would also highly recommend Ron Galella's The Disco years, I bought it last summer and it is still on my coffee table!

Andy and Ron, a perfect team who delivers stunning celebrity photography of the last 40 years or so. One feels Ron Galella was not just recording these moments as he was living them with the famous and infamous. He gets emotions from happy to bored from people we all read about in 'Life', 'People' and 'The Enquirer'(C'mon, you know you read it in the market checkout). If you lived through this time frame, Ron's book is an imaginative walk through the decades. It makes the current papparazzi glitter globe pale in comparison. Give us another Jackie O, Andy Warhol or Liz Taylor and their jet set pals again--that would be great! We're bored with teen idols who get arrested for DWI and get caught naked on their patios!

I love Galellas photos and his books are simply gorgeous,The Disco Years was my first and recently the Warhol book,cant wait for more!buy this book!!

Ron Galella just keeps on keepin on! This time he very admirably salutes Andy Warhol with a heartfelt compliment -- a sleek book of photographs in relation to Warhol and his Warholian World - it's a sentimental and sensational tribute to Andy's initial compliment about Galella. This is in some ways a thank you gift from an artist Andy Warhol called his favorite photographer. Who wouldn't be flattered? And that includes Ron Galella! Following The Photographs of Ron Galella, Ron Galella: Intimate Diary, and Disco Years - this brand new book takes its rightful place in the Ron Galella coffeetable photography books Hall of Fame.

Galella was Warhol's favorite photographer---not Steichen, Adams or Weegee, but the celebrity chasing, exploitation-driven paparazzo. This tome celebrates this fame with 200 of the photographer's pictures of Andy, alone and with the famous and infamous cast in his life. Larger than your average coffee-table book---add legs and it could serve as a coffee table---That's Great! offers a fascinating take into a rarified atmosphere. Warhol himself was terribly shy and suffered from several acute skin conditions, so he did "paint" himself, then adding a wig before being seen in public. Some of these photos, taken late in the evening, or rather, early in the morning, do not necessarily show Warhol at his best. However, Galella's signature photos document an era gone by, a decadent, selfish period of superstars and sluts, beauties and beasts, of media mad mavens recreating themselves to make a buck. Warhol is in all of the photos, as, indeed, the touchstone of the times, but it's the supporting cast, from Liza to Bianca to Jackie O to the complete cast of Studio 54 and the Warhol Factory that powers this collection. Galella's photographs suggest a toxic past that had to end; by some magic, only Warhol himself seems comfortable and at home in these pictures, while his friends and fans seem striving much too hard to have fun.

Norman's book is great for offering an historical account of the screenwriting trade, something that is usually overlooked in the Syd Field age. The only problem I had personally with the book is that the author seemed to become a little enamored with the auteurs of the 70s toward the end and didn't really talk about the dedicated screenwriters as much. While I think the stories about guys like Coppola and Lucas are interesting and eye-opening, it would have been nice to hear more about the trials and tribulations of the people whose names weren't above the title during those years.

Overall, a great book, though. It should definitely be on the core reading list of any screenwriting program--from the community group to the graduate level.

This exhaustively researched book starts at the very beginning then steps through each of the decades since D. W. Griffith's famous movie, all in a very entertaining manner.
Not satisfied simply with recounting the history of screenwriting and screenwriters in all their various guises, the author serves up cogent analysis about the business of movie making then comes to the conclusion that whatever else comes down the pike, in whatever form and whatever else screenwriters are called, there will always be a place for the content generator, or composer as he would prefer.
Excellent reading and enjoyable.

Academy award winner Marc Norman's "What Happens Next: A History of American Screenwriting" is as entertaining as a good movie. It can be studied as serious movie history--his description of the forces that moved the early movie industry from the East coast to the West is as good as any I've ever read--or perused as titillating, yet intelligent gossip. The men and women who wrote the words and stories so frequently disparaged and often disregarded by directors, producers, and heads of studios come alive in "What Happens Next" through anecdote, letters, and reminiscences.

From William Faulkner to Anita Loos (the highest paid screenwriter of her day), from Quentin Tarantino to Charlie Kaufman, this book is a delight for any movie fan or writer, or anyone who's ever enjoyed a juicy bit of scandalous gossip.

This book is phenomenal. Not only is it well-written and comprehensive, but it fills a horrendous gap in the legacy of screenwriting and its impact on movies.

Other than Ian Hamilton's terrific work on the early years of screenwriting, this book immediately becomes the cornerstone, the bedrock of the genre -- and for very good reason. It's not just a book about the writers themselves, but how the art and craft of screenwriting have evolved in the context of film. What we get is an alternate point of view that has for too long been neglected in entry-level cinema history.

Starting from Edison, Edwin Porter and D.W. Griffith, we travel the well-trodden (but freshly invigorated) path through the studio system and on into modern movie-making -- with the twist that the writer has not been brushed aside. In fact, we immediately see how crucial key scribes have contributed to the development of the art.

It's a cliche in Hollywood that the writer is abused and overlooked (ask a striking member of the WGA if you don't believe me). But other than a work stoppage, nothing can rectify the place of the writer in the public's awareness more than a historical overview with the screenwriter placed in his or her rightful place -- at the center of the creative process itself.

This is not a scree or a polemic, but a finely written, highly entertaining look at Hollywood. I find myself referring to it all the time. In fact, I've recreated my entire Netflix queue around areas of my movie history that could use some screenings. And I've become a big fan of Anita Loos! (You too will discover that at least 50% of the early screenwriters were women, with Anita being its first breakout star.)

Like a great film, this book immerses you in a world and rivets you to your chair. If you are a writer or a curious film buff, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy. It will reward you with many great nights of delight and discovery -- a claim not enough movies themselves can make these days.

As a "recovering screenwriter," I can bear witness to the sometimes painful, sometimes hilarious authenticity of "What Happens Next."
It's a history that needed to be told and Marc Norman has done it with head and heart.

Ed Watz' thoroughly researched and well-written book on the films of Wheeler and Woolsey deserves the highest praise. He approaches their career by examining their work on a film-by-film basis, providing very complete cast and credit information, production history, as well as biographical information on the two comedians. The book also includes a nice forward by their frequent co-star Dorothy Lee, who worked with the team since the 20s. Lee, who died in 1999, shares many memories of working with the comedians, and gives valuable insight into the making of these films.

Highly recommended for students and fans of stage and screen comedy.

This "sleeper" book, which I picked up because of my curiosity about the subjects (they are appearing regularly on the Turner Classic Movies station) is a revelation. Positively one of the best researched and entertaining books about a comedy team from the movies' golden age, the 1930s. To watch Wheeler & Woolsey is to understand what vaudeville-type comedy is (was) all about. Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey have been overlooked in favor of teams like the Marx Bros. or the 3 Stooges. This book corrects that oversight. It is also a highly readable accounts of Hollywood politics behind the scenes at some of the major studios. If you're a fan of vintage movie comedy, get this book.

Wheeler and Woolsey were second to Laurel and Hardy in the heart's of movie going audiences of the 1930's. Since then, however, their star has faded and their acomplishments have been relegated to footnote status in the history of the golden age of comedy. Thanks to Edward Watz, Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey are alive and kicking again in a definitive history of the lovable pair and their films. Exhaustingly researched and lovingly executed, the book chronicles the career ups and downs of the most unjustifiably forgotten comedians in the history of show business. Personal biographies are included, as well as detailed accounts of all of their features and short subjects. Long time leading lady Dorothy Lee lends her first hand account of the way things happend with a refreshingly candid foreward. She also shares her memories of each of the films that she participated in with a fascinating view that only an insider could relate. The later years are chronicled in the final chapter, featuring accounts of Bert Wheeler's career after the untimely death of his partner. All in all, this book ranks along side the superlative Laurel and Hardy, The Magic Behind The Movies, and Abbott and Costello in Hollywood, as one of the most enjoyable and informative demonstration's of film history as can be expected. If you love film comedy, you should not be without this book.

I love this book! To my knowledge, the only book around about Wheeler and Whoolsey. It made me eager to see more of their films. The author did a great job of research, which couldn't have been easy considering how long ago these comedians were active.

Ed Watz's book 'Wheeler & Woolsey' is a superb film history of a great and sadly forgotten movie comedy team. This volume evokes the golden days of both Vaudeville and Hollywood, as we follow the rise and sad fall of Wheeler & Woolsey. Mr. Watz also sets straight the historical record in that the boys were second only to the great Laurel & Hardy in the 1930's and certainly ahead of their rivals the Marx Bros., the Ritz Bros., and the Three Stooges! Readers of this book will want to go out and see the films of Wheeler & Woolsey. Watz's book is a lost treasure.

Shipped really fast, and the book was good for a paper i had to write

This is a truly great book and you won't be sorry if you get it, but I want to clarify that it is not huge and heavy. It is 8.5 x 11, normal paperback edition size and weight. The Judy Portrait in Art and Anecdote book, now that is huge and heavy!

One word can adequately describe this book. FANTASTIC. I was in heaven (Oz) while reading this book. It is the best book ever written about the making of "The Wizard of Oz". Jay Scarfone has out done himself. I have gone back many times to look at many of the rare photo's he has included in this book. I got it for Christmas and it was my favorite gift. Want to learn something about the making of this beloved classic GET THIS BOOK NOW!

Now in a newly revised and expanded edition, The Wizardry of Oz: The Artistry And Magic of The 1939 MGM Classic is a colorful companion to the 1939 classic movie that brought Baum's famous children's classic of a magical world to vivid life. Black-and-white as well as full-color photographs and a text that explores the movie's creation from its initial design concepts to casting, shooting, and release in theaters. The expert collaboration of Jay Scarfone and William Stillman, The Wizardry Of Oz is a superb treasure filled from cover to cover with little-known behind-the-scenes stories and is most especially recommended for dedicated movie buffs with fond memories of going over the rainbow and entering Oz!

This book is the greatest book I've ever seen on the 1939 MGM musical masterpiece. Any OZ lover will be in heaven over the vast amount of rare, and NEVER before seen photos -- all presented in top-notch quality, many of them looking astounding crisp and clear, like never before. Even the PAPER used in the book is thick and rich. The book is huge and heavy, and must be one of the bargains of the century. Only $19.95 list price? Astounding. You simply will be OVER THE RAINBOW when you read the insightful history of the production. These gentlemen are THE top authorities on OZ, and it shows. Click on the Buy Now button, and you will be so happy you did. If Ever Oh Ever a BOOK There Was, THIS One's THE One, the WIZARDRY one, Because, Because, Because, Because, BECAUSE : Because of the WONDERFUL Book It Is!

A Woman's View, by Jeanne Basinger, was rightfully the most interesting history based book I have ever read. Although it can be lengthy at times, it touches on subjects in which I had barely any knowledge of, and shows how it was reflecting the time period of the 30's, 40's, 50's, and 60's. Seeing as though this was about women right after the women's rights movement in the 20's, this book shows how Hollywood used female movie stars to incorporate the countries opinions on them. With that, I thought the introduction chapter on the genre of these types of movies was absolutely spectacular. It really made me have so much respect for women during these time periods. They had such class and such morals, which, sad to say, is starting to slowly fade away, or can at least be argued that it is.
A few of the sections of this book that I thought was the most interesting, were the ones about twin women in movies and the fashion and glamour of women. Before reading this book, I never really thought into the idea that being a woman in Hollywood, and acting a certain role represented something as a whole. These actresses were not just playing the part of their assigned character; they were representing women as a whole. With their fashion, their speech, and their actions, I found it truly inspiring to know that they were stepping out of their comfort zone and taking risks with the roles that they chose to act out.
One chapter, entitled Duality, included how Hollywood used twins in their movies to represent one specific point in these movies. This chapter, being one of the more detailed ones, showed how twins portrayed particularly two things: the good and the bad. The good twin, usually dressed in fashionably acceptable clothes and appropriate styles, was usually criticized by her twin, which represented evil, or the bad. I thought it was very much a shock to me how many of the so called "bad" twins in these Hollywood movies were constantly pretending to be their twin to confuse their family, friends, or even their husbands! Many of them did this only to find some sort of revenge on their twin for whatever reason they could think of. In my mind, I would have never thought of this as being presented in movies during these time periods, but I also have to remember that this was also a time when women were really standing up for what they believed in and stepping out of the ordinary molds they had always been put into.
What was so fascinating about this book was how Basinger found a way to represent women in film in such a respectable way, and not so much trashy as some may have viewed it at the time. Women like Loretta Young, Kay Francis, and Greta Garbo are true heroines when it comes to paving the way for all future actresses, and also for open our countries eyes to the lives of women, and really shows that they were becoming less and less like housewives and more like the hardworking entrepreneurs that they really were and always will be.

This book articulates for me why I have always loved this genre of film. The author highlights the work of many fine actresses of the period whose work is overlooked in many film books. Although the ideas they espoused may be dated, the desire of women to see the concerns of their private lives played out on screen still exists. I believe that the next century may bring a resurgurce of this type of film.

This is one of the most enjoyable "film studies" I have ever come across, essentially about "soap opera" 'women's pictures' of the 1930's and 1940's but expanding into the 1920's and 1950's a bit and touching on other types of films and the great women stars from this time period. From Kay Francis (who is the cover girl and Basinger's main muse for this tome) to Rita Hayworth, this is a wonderful book for any one obssessed with films from the era, it's like finding a new best friend to talk about these classic films. Basinger writes informatively yet in plain academic-free language making the book a pleasuer to read - and she knows when to crack wise and when to be serious, no mean feat. It's a skill a lot of "movie historians" don't have.

If you love movies you must read Ms. Basinger's marvelous study of "women's pictures" which encompasses the stars that acted in them, the directors that guided them, the writers that gave them life and the studios that distributed them. Hollywood history, women's history, art history all rolled into one readable and thought provoking volume. This one is right up there with Louise Brooks by Barry Paris as one of the best books on film and those who created it.

Jeanine Basinger is to be congratulated for shedding light on a too-little studied aspect of Hollywood history. She puts the movies and the stars she discusses in the context of how movie-going women perceived them at the time. In doing so, she concentrates not on the "greatest" stars, but rather on secondary figures like Kay Francis, Ann Dvorak, and Loretta Young, women who had (sometimes surprisingly) immense popular appeal while they were making movies but whose careers either faded, made the transition to character rather than leading-lady status, or moved to television. She reminds us that the "woman's picture" was far more than the drama of suffering and renunciation (like "Now, Voyager", "Back Street", or "Autumn Leaves") we most commonly think of today. She broadens her definition to include virtually any film that either focused on a woman as its central character or concerned itself with traditionally "women's" concerns.

What she makes clear is that, despite the pronounced limitations of the world view of the woman's picture, it represented a varied and vigorous film culture in which (as she writes) "on the screen ... the woman will decide. She is important. She matters. She is the Center of the Universe."

"A Woman's View" is that rare thing -- a scholarly examination of mostly obscure figures and works that is at the same time an excellent and entertaining read.

Workshop of Filthy Creation: The Art of Johnny Ace and Kali Verra

I have loved cars since I was 4 years old. I remember drawing dragsters with crayons on the kitchen table. Johnny and Kali's art bring me back to a time of hang ten t-shirts,the Archies on 8 track, and Big Daddy Ed Roth's rat fink art. I have enjoyed reading it cover to cover. There is just so much there that each time I go back to look at it I find things I missed. Put this book on your coffee table and it's sure to start a conversation or two! The book is very fun and I highly recommend it!
K vick - 30roadster on the HAMB

Finally after what seems like, and may have been years It's here! These two are the most underated artists out there. No one comes close to matching the authentic feel of Monster art. The vibrant colors are a trademark of the thing with two heads that is Johnny Ace and Kali Vera. There's lotsa people doin Monster art out there but very few are doin it right. Ace and Kali are up there with Basil Gogos in my Book and if ya only buy one book this year make sure this is the one! Like The Pizz said, "Big Daddy Roth would be proud." And I'm proud to call these two friends! Buy it!

Having grown up during the 1960s and 70s, and enjoyed building monster model kits, reading Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, watching Creature Features on TV, drooling over any Big Daddy Roth and Rat Fink item, and so on, then spending the last 30 years playing in Punk ROck and Roll bands (The Thing, Electric Frankenstein, The Kung Fu Killers), this amazing book covers Pop Culture life in America with the kind of imagery that only Johnny Ace and Kali Vera can do, thanks to their long time experience in the scene and rich art skills.
Every page is exciting and grabs you immediately. Full rich vibrant color, drooling beasts, this is the closest anyone will get to vein of gold that Big Daddy Roth mined. But, this books also goes beyond simple homage to their roots, and shows the historical development of their unique American made style over the years.

Not only do you get a book full of cool poster art, but also you get a chance to see the many other projects that they have worked on so well.

Within the pages of this book, Johnny Ace and Kali Vera prove that they deserve a much higher profile and are due much more recognition than some of the more well known people in this field.

AND, in this age of laziness and instant crap, they actually do their own hand made drawings instead of using a tracing box! Imagine that!

You can't go wrong by getting this book!!!!

Ace & Kali have found a way to instantly transport you back to high school when you sat in class and studied the Big Daddy Roth t-shirt ads in the HOT ROD, CAR CRAFT mags that were hidden in your desk. The book contains other stuff too, like music theme posters, sculpted icons, and alot of other good stuff. My favorites are the hot rod monsters, but every rendering on every page deserves close examination. Suggest you buy two copies, 'cause you're sure to wear out the first one.

At last, it's HERE!!! As a long time Fan of Johnny Ace & Kali Verra's artwork, I have been anxiously awaiting the release of their book, Workshop of Filthy Creation. I had pre-ordered several copies so long ago that Amazon had canceled the order. I then reordered! When I received an e-mail that they were shipping and would arrive in a week, I ordered another copy with 2 day shipping. I just couldn't wait any longer. The first one arrived today and I was NOT disappointed!
In fact, I was pleasantly surprised. From the colorful hard cover to the kool forward by The Pizz to the neat vellum pages separating the various sections to the variety of ghoulish art by two of the most underrated "Kustom Kulture" artists today. One of the facts brought out in the book is that Johnny & Kali were "Kustom Kulture" before it WAS a "Kulture!" They aren't jumping on the "Rat Rod" bandwagon, they were mentored by Rat Fink's creator, Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.
Reading this book and seeing the vast volume of their work, it's easy to see why "Big Daddy" held them in such high esteem. They did, and continue to, carry the torch.
If you have any interest in Rat Fink or ghoulish art, I guarantee that you will enjoy this book. I'm ordering several more. Christmas is just around the corner.......

The best World's most Comprehensive and Up-to-Date Guide to Broadcasting.

This is a must have for Shortwave Listening. A wealth of information.

for anybody who have a problem to verify listening of the radio.
It is like litle cook book which you must have altough he know to cook.

Localy not so precise (maybe for litle cauntrys)

All you need to make DXing: info about countries, local & international radiostations of LW, MW & SW; interesting lists, ecc.

As a long time and long distance radio listener, I find this invaluable
to identify radio signals, where they are from and the language being
used.
Leo