Arts and Culture Books


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Arts and Culture Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

Arts and Culture
Anne Taintor 2007 Engagement Calendar
Published in Calendar by Chronicle Books (2006-07-20)
Author: Anne Taintor
List price: $14.95
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Average review score:

Funny pictures
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-12
These pictures always make me laugh. Anne Taintor can creatively put words to what women may be really thinking to traditional 50's women pictures. There is also ample space to write within each day and there are a few pages in the back for jotting notes. I had the 2006 calendar and wanted to have more pictures to brighten my days so I bought the 2007 calendar!

Kitschy fun
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-11
This calendar is so much fun! Each week has a retro photo, featuring a 1940s, 1950s housewife and a hilarious slogan. For example, one photo has a girl smiling, snuggled up in bed with the typed-out slogan of "I love not camping." Some made me laugh out loud. The space for the actual calendar is on the small side, I think, with not a lot of room to write down appointments, etc., especially on Saturdays and Sundays. This calendar isn't meant to be for work though, but for fun, so keep that in mind. While this calendar isn't for everyone, if you have a good sense of humor and aren't easily offended by ironic semi-feminist statements, you'll like it.

So fun!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-10
I'm glad that I can finally use my 2007 engagement planner !! Every time I write something down it brings a smile to my face :-)

Hilarious
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-09
Nice size, ample room to write, hilarious pictures with quotes to keep me laughing all year!

Arts and Culture
Arbuckle And Keaton: Their 14 Film Collaborations
Published in Paperback by McFarland & Company (2006-12-13)
Author: James L. Neibaur
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Great book on a fascinating subject, superbly researched, wonderfully assembled! A must for comedy fans and everyone else!
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-01
Just in time for the 90th anniversary of the historic collaboration between silent-comedy giants Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Buster Keaton, film historian James L. Neibaur offers the marvelous McFarland & Co. paperback ARBUCKLE AND KEATON: THEIR 14 FILM COLLABORATIONS. This superbly researched and richly detailed volume is a valuable and vital addition to the libraries of comedy fans in particular and movie lovers in general.

Although the basic career outlines of both Arbuckle and Keaton are virtually common knowledge to most comedy aficionados, Neibaur brings a bright new perspective and a wealth of fresh historical material regarding his subject(s). The fourteen two-reel comedies produced by the Comique Film Corporation between 1917 and 1919, starring veteran movie funster Fatty Arbuckle with cinematic novice Buster Keaton in support, are analyzed in the order of production and release, permitting the viewer to witness not only what McFarland describes as the "collaborative chemistry" between Fatty and Buster, but also the creative growth and evolution of the two men during this prolific and rewarding period in their careers.

Too often, the story of the Arbuckle-Keaton comedies is told from the perspective of Keaton's staunchest supporters, heralding Buster's development from featured player to star while minimizing the contributions of Arbuckle--which is not only unfair, given that Fatty was a major box-office attraction of the period, an accomplished director, and the sole raison d'etre for the films in the first place, but also historically inaccurate. While Neibaur acknowledges that Arbuckle initially preferred wild, unbridled slapstick catering to what he regarded as the "twelve-year-old mentality" of the average filmgoer, and that Keaton was convinced even this early in his career that the audience was capable of grasping more subtle and intelligent comedy concepts, the author shows how both men complemented one another and benefited from collaboration on an equal basis.

In the earliest of the fourteen comedies, Arbuckle was already demonstrating a firm grasp of filmmaking technique and consistent comedy characterization, but he was still doggedly adhering to the tried-and-true "gags for gags' sake" formula of his earlier Keystone films, frequently throwing plot and logic out the window in the pursuit of nonstop laughter. With the benefit of Keaton's input--which Neibaur meticulously traces and pinpoints from one film to the next--the final entries in the Arbuckle-Keaton series were, in Neibaur's words, "critically applauded for offering less in the way of knockabout slapstick and concentrating more on thoughtful gags stemming from character and situation."

At the same time, Keaton was receiving valuable on-the-job training in support of Arbuckle, in preparation for his own ultimate stardom. Though his comic timing and physical prowess are remarkable to behold in the earliest collaborations, it must be admitted that he is less a character than an outline of a character. Working in close quarters with a charismatic (and generous) performer like Arbuckle enabled Keaton to grow and mature as performer, matriculating from merely another vaudevillian with a clever bag of tricks to a wholly believable human being. Also, Neibaur notes that Keaton's legendary "great stone face" was the end product of extensive trial and error throughout the Arbuckle films, in which Buster experimented with a vast array of broad facial expressions before finally settling upon the minimalism that worked best for him. (The familiar story of how Keaton discovered in childhood that he got bigger laughs by not smiling on stage is repeated herein: However, the author clarifies that it was Buster's painstaking apprenticeship with Arbuckle that led him to conclude that he could continue getting big laughs by not smiling in the radically different medium of film).

The book offers an insightful critical assessment of each film, with special attention given the brilliant and remarkably sophisticated parody melodrama MOONSHINE. And though he rightly cherishes these films as being just as "alive" and entertaining today as they were when first released, Neibaur also does a fine job placing the fourteen comedies in their proper historical context, most often by quoting rare contemporary print reviews that haven't seen the light of day for nearly nine decades. Mention must also be made of the author's skillful assessment of the appalling racial humor in one of the lesser films, OUT WEST. Where some writers would issue a blanket condemnation of the Arbuckle-Keatons on the basis of this one offensive film, while others would bend over backward trying to apologize for the most egregious gags as merely "products of their time", Neibaur takes a refreshingly brand-new approach to one of the touchiest issues facing 21st-century film historians.

The chapter I enjoyed most focused on the handful of two-reelers made by Arbuckle during the period in which Keaton was absent from the studio, serving in the Army. Although only two of these films are currently extant--and those have only been rediscovered in the past decade--Neibaur is able to persuasively argue that films at hand not only prove that Arbuckle was putting the lessons learned in his collaborations with Keaton to good use, but also that "Arbuckle's own abilities were the reason for the success of these two reelers", and that they can now be seen as a "transition" in the comedian's comic vision.

The thumbnail descriptions of Arbuckle and Keaton's careers before and after their collaboration offer much that is new and fascinating, including interviews with coworkers Lionel Stander (who appeared Arbuckle's final Vitaphone talkie short, 1933's IN THE DOUGH) and Lorna Gray (Keaton's leading lady in his first Columbia two-reeler, 1939's PEST FROM THE WEST). Especially noteworthy is Neibaur's take on the spectacular scandal that destroyed Arbuckle's career: Not only does the author observe that the comedian's starring features remained popular in Europe even though they'd been banned in puritanical America, but he also provides a fair-and-balanced compendium of facts and opinions demonstrating that the "whole truth" concerning Arbuckle's involvement (or lack of same) in the death of Virginia Rappe is a matter that is still--and always will be--shrouded in mystery and muddied by wildly contradictory first-hand accounts.

Finally, Neibaur pays brief but affectionate tribute to a pair of often-underrated contributors to the popularity of the Arbuckle-Keaton comedies: Fatty's talented nephew Al St. John, who of course went on to a rewarding "second stardom" as a B-western comical sidekick, and pert leading lady Alice Lake, whose subsequent life and career is here treated in far more depth than I've ever seen previously.

In short--BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!

Instant Classic
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-31
Jim Neibaur's "Arbuckle And Keaton: Their 14 Film Collaborations" is a nearly flawless book on Roscoe Arbuckle's silent film comedies of 1917-1920, which also happen to be Buster Keaton's earliest films. All 14 films discussed are studied in depth, including a look at Arbuckle's films sans Keaton while Buster was in the Army in 1918-19, plus interesting details on Roscoe's nephew and comic foil, Al St. John as well as his leading lady Alice Lake.

What is really refreshing about Neibaur's book is that he gives the vastly underrated Roscoe Arbuckle his WELL deserved due as a film comedy master, but never at the expense of the genius that is Buster Keaton.

If you are a Keaton and/or Arbuckle fan, your book collection is incomplete without this staple. It supersedes all previous work on the Comique years. And it's a good read!

David B. Pearson
"Arbucklemania"

Finally! An in-depth look at Arbuckle's movies
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-11
For years, discussions of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle mostly centered around the unfortunate scandal that ruined his career rather than his career itself. Based on a relative handful of circulating films, Arbuckle was deemed an amusing silent-era comedian who was never ranked alongside giants like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy. Recently, however, a number of Arbuckle's best comedies have been restored and made available for public viewing, and guess what? It turns out that good old Fatty (a nickname he disliked) was actually one of the greatest comedic performers of the silver screen, from ANY era.

James L. Neibaur's ARBUCKLE AND KEATON: THEIR 14 FILM COLLABORATIONS goes a long way in reassessing Arbuckle's undervalued reputation, and finally gives the rotund funster his well-deserved due. Though this volume deals specifically with the short comedies that Keaton served as an apprentice to Arbuckle, the master, it also examines Arbuckle's career in its entirety, offering a wealth of facts and informative, trenchant observations.

If you think you're already familiar with Arbuckle's work, this book will make you seek out these films once more and perhaps solidify and/or rethink your opinions. If you've never seen Arbuckle at his peak, then this book will serve as the perfect guide to some of the funniest silent comedies ever made. Either way, ARBUCKLE AND KEATON is a real treat, and is highly recommended.

Silent Film Comedy Has Another Worthy Book
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-05
The recent books on Arbuckle have centered on his scandal (much needed though, to refute the horrible myths). This book focuses on the art, modus operandi, and the birth of the cinema Keaton. Mr. Neibaur not only gives us the facts of Arbuckle's superior Comique Comedies and his abilities as a filmaker, but he infuses this book with a love and respect for the art form of silent comedy. Mr. Neibaur also documents the historically neglected inputs from fellow Comiquians Al St. John and Alice Lake. The Arbuckle Comique Comedies from 1917-1920 are among the best of all silent comedy and provided the hot-house for future filmaker Keaton to bud, and how Arbuckle, through Keaton, influenced film comedy to this day. Well written and researched with much contemporary material, Mr. Neibaur will have you hooked after the first couple of pages. This book is a huge step in the rehabilitation of Roscoe Arbuckle and an important document on the cinema genesis of Buster Keaton, and I highly recommend it.

Arts and Culture
Art and culture: Critical essays
Published in Unknown Binding by Beacon Press (1989)
Author: Clement Greenberg
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Average review score:

Excellent
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-10
I was entirely satisfied with the conditions of the book. The content is by clement greenberg, so it is very "greenbergian"...

He may not always be right but he makes it interesting
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2005-07-18
Clement Greenberg was an art- historian and literary- critic who had major influence on the artistic world of his time. He is also a writer rich in ideas whose analyses and interpretations add new dimensions to the meaning of the works he interprets. In this work of collected essays he writes upon the forebearers of modernity, Renoir , Picasso, Braque, Soutine, Chagall . He also writes about more modern artists Marin, David Smith. He also writes on TS. Eliot, and on Kafka.
In a sense Greenberg was one of the critics who helped define ' modern art'. In this he equated modern art with the 'avant garde'. The avant garde artists were for him those for whom the subject of art had become art itself. The artists and poets he focused upon he understood as being without a kind of secure public that for a period of time in Western Art had supported the 'elite work' which is art. In this he saw Yeats, Rilke, Stevens as Rimbaud, Mallarme, and Valery poets whose real effort was in an effort to make a world of their own art- language and form.
We are now nearly half a century since Greenberg wrote these seminal essays. And it seems that while he may well have helped define a moment in the history of Art and even of Literature , Time and History have not stood still. And the question of a content in art and literature which comes from human life and experience, and too relates to our social reality is still with us, and has returned in greater strength. And this while it also possible to maintain that Greenberg's interpretative line really only partly defined the world of for instance a Stevens or a Yeats whose fictional and imaginative universes were too anchored in Key West and Sligo and other real spaces of our own dark beautiful and recalcitrant earth.

The best art criticism you will ever read
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 13 total.
Review Date: 2004-02-15
This is the best book of criticism of early/mid 20th C. art ever written, maybe the best one that ever will be written. it is the fundamantal text for the art of the period. Giving it 5 stars, or 10 stars, seems meaningless. If you want to know about the art of this time, look at the art, then read this book. After that you can get into the details.

Clement is a cool cat
Helpful Votes: 9 out of 14 total.
Review Date: 2000-07-02
Clement Greenberg does an excellent job of explaining how the individual and society experience and identify art. His essays on avante-garde, kitsch, and modernist painting are especially interesting, although his socialist "tendencies" tend to undermine objective discussion and mix art and politics (not always inseperable anyway, though). If you read Greenberg, you should also check out T.J. Clark, who takes issue with many of Greenberg's ideas.

Arts and Culture
Art Crime: The Montage Art of Winston Smith (Art Crime)
Published in Paperback by Last Gasp (1999-04)
Author: Winston Smith
List price: $24.95
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Punk is an art and Winston displays it as it is.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 1999-04-25
Punk is an art and Winston displays it as it is

Punk is an art and Winston displays it as it is.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 1999-04-25
Punk is an art and Winston displays it as it is

A delicious book for anyone who loves Winston!!!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 1999-03-07
Winston's work to me is so amazingly awesome that I can not define how great the book is. Check it out for yourself and you will understand

98 pages and worth every penny
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2000-10-30
Winston Smith takes retro drawings and paintings from thee original picture, and turns them into collages. Thee collages are intended to inform and amuse you. In thee opinion of me, Winston does with pictures what people like William S. Burroughs and Jello Biafra have done with words. Most of these pictures are very funny and very thought provoking. This book also makes for a great conversational piece for your coffee table or whatever. Also included are album covers he has done for Dead Kennedys, Green Day, Tijuana No! etc.. There is a four page pull-out of the banner for Tijuana No! and a two page pull-out for the cover to Dead Kennedys' album Bedtime for Democracy which you can find in thee music section of this site. I reccomend this book not only for punk rockers but for free thinkers of all shapes and sizes. There is so much to look at in one picture you can read this one again and again.

Arts and Culture
The Art of Brian Bolland
Published in Hardcover by Image Comics (2006-12-13)
Author: Brian Bolland
List price: $49.99
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Average review score:

One of the Best Celebrations of Any Comic Book Artist
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-03
For those of us who are self-taught artists and look to the work of other artists for inspiration and guidance, Brian Bolland's work is, in a word, intimidating. One of the deans of comic book artists working today, Bolland's clear, clear, virtuoso style is one of the most recognizable on the comics page, and looking at his work - deceptively simple - you can't help but ask yourself "How did he do that?" The Art of Brian Bolland showcases Bolland's work and will no doubt have you asking the same question.

Published by Image Comics - which has produced a number of excellent "art of..." books over the past few years - The Art of Brian Bolland is a retrospective of Bolland's career thus far, starting with his childhood drawings and continuing to the present day. There is a lot of text in this book discussing Bolland's career but, unlike so many "art of..." books, Bolland himself actually wrote the text, and he is amazingly honest and quite droll in his writing.

While this book is certainly on the expensive side, it is well worth it - at more than 360 pages, it seems to stretch on forever (in a good way) and showcases just how talented Bolland truly is. A good number of the pieces center on his Judge Dredd and DC Comics (largely Wonder Woman) work; also, most of the work pictured is in black and white. The book itself is exceptionally well-produced: sturdy and hefty, it is printed on nice, glossy paper and all of the images are reproduced with exceptional clarity. Any fan of Bolland or of comic book art in general, should pick this book up. Highly recommended.

This is great stuff
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-12
Very enjoyable ramble through all of his work, with lots of rambling thoughts and background thrown in. Gorgeous reproductions of some of my favourite images. Well worth the money!

Great Showcase of Bolland's Work
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-12
I'm a bit biased here, being a longtime fan of Brian Bolland's work, but I loved this book. I've bought a few of these types of books and it's ususally a collection of artwork, but this book gets a bit personal with great interviews, family pictures and funny stories. You really get a sense of the man and his development as an artist throught the years.

Highly recommended.

An outstanding tribute to a great illustrator's work!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-10
This is easily my favorite art/illustration book of the last several years! Bolland is an outstanding illustrator and this thick hardcover book offers a very comprehensive look at his work over the course of his career, from obscure early art in UK underground comics to the beautiful covers he is doing these days for DC/Vertigo. The quality of the paper, binding and reproduction is top notch - a must for any serious fan of Bolland, modern comic art, or quality illustration generally!

Arts and Culture
The Art of Moral Protest: Culture, Biography, and Creativity in Social Movements
Published in Kindle Edition by University Of Chicago Press (1998-02-03)
Author: James M. Jasper
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Average review score:

A Pathbreaking Book
Helpful Votes: 11 out of 12 total.
Review Date: 2000-07-05
James Jasper's "The Art of Moral Protest" is one of the most important recent contributions to the scholarly literature on social movements and political and moral protest. The book's title signifies two important ideas. First, Jasper wants to restore the moral dimension to political protest, which of late has been reduced by many scholars to the calculated pursuit of material interests. Second, the book stresses the "artful" nature of protest, the fact, that is, that protest doesn't simply arise in some mechanical fashion from "structural" preconditions, but involves choices and improvisation by thinking (and feeling) individuals. Indeed, Jasper wants to reintegrate feelings and emotions, which scholars have studiously avoided in recent years, back into our understanding of moral protest. And he emphasizes how specific individuals with specific biographies (who, again, have been largely purged from the scholarly literature) matter for protest. The book weaves a powerful critique of dominant ways of thinking about protest through a series of fascinating studies of several movements and movement participants. In sum, this is an extremely important and pathbreaking book. It should be read by anyone with an interest in politics, social movements, or protest.

Still the best book on social movements
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-09-21
I use this book every year in my social movement class at the University of Texas at Austin. It provides an excellent overview of the social movement literature through the mid-1990s. More importantly, it provides a pathbreaking theoretical approach to social protest with rich empirical evidence.

My students are also very high on the book. It is a must read for all students of social movements.

Will be considered a classic by future generation
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2003-01-16
James Jasper offers one of the best books available on social movements. In "The Art of Moral Protest" it is mostly the cultural and emotional sides of social movements which is explored leaving aside the more traditional structural accounts of social movement theory. Jasper emphasize principally 4 dimensions of protest: culture, resources, strategies and biographies and divide movements into two categories: citizenship movements and post-citizenship movements. Interestingly however, the structure of the book do not follow these main dimensions and categories but propose a kind of linear logic of movements' evolution from the emotion (moral shock) which send people into action to the creation of a movement culture which help sustain participation to the relation between movements and the broader culture in which they evolve and try to change. An interesting last part deal with the author's own "normative view" of social movements exploring the pleasures associated with movement participation, the danger sometimes embodied in social movement (particularly those who harbour totalizing ideologies) but also the necessity of protest for our societies. The book is full of stories and historical details which help make sense of the arguments developed in the book and keep this theoretical book as interesting as a novel.

If I had to teach a course on social movements, I would probably chose two books for my students to read. The first one would be "Power in Movement" from Tarrow and the second one would be "The Art of Moral Protest". Many excellent books have been written on social movements but very few complement each other as well as these two books. They present the two current main branches of social movement studies.

If I had to find a few problems with the book it would be related to the reference system adopted. By placing all references and notes at the end of the book, the more interested reader easily get lost. It might sound silly at first, but since the book is quite thick it becomes quite annoying with time... especially when you are thrilled by the reading but still want to get that extra detail hidden at the end of the book.

The best recent book on social movements!
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2001-06-05
I loved this book. Anyone who likes the cultural side of politics will appreciate this book, Jasper's magnum opus. If you're writing a dissertation on social movements, you can't not read it.

Arts and Culture
The Art of Plotting: Add Emotion, Suspense, and Depth to Your Screenplay
Published in Paperback by Lone Eagle (2007-01-15)
Author: Linda J. Cowgill
List price: $18.95
New price: $10.49
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Average review score:

Enthusiastically recommended to aspiring screen writers everywhere
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-03
Plot is the meat and main course of any and all fiction scripts script regardless of film genres - without a good plot, it takes a miracle to have a good movie. "The Art of Plotting: Add Emotion, Suspense, and Depth to your Screenplay" covers all you need to know to make your plot the best it can be, explaining the complex principles, advice on integrating characterization and exposition to make the story more compelling, how to spot and overcome common plot problems, and demonstrate how plot can enhance everything else about your screenplay. "The Art of Plotting: Add Emotion, Suspense, and Depth to your Screenplay" is enthusiastically recommended to aspiring screen writers everywhere and deserves a place on any community library's Writing and/or Film Studies instructional reference collection.

A Good Book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-11
Someone famous once said, "This is the Emotion Picture Business." This book will help you add Emotion and Depth to your screenplays.

What makes a good plot - here's the book with the answers
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-24
Ok, I've been writing scripts for decades now. What's the common complaint generations of script readers and producers make: Anybody can come up with an exciting idea, or a powerful hook. Anybody. And there are tons of ideas out there - just open a newspaper! The problem is execution - keeping a 90 to 120 page script exciting. We can all write 10 or 20 pages of exciting scenes - but most of us run out of gas. In one word, plot. The plot goes no where, or gets boring. How do you keep the plot interesting, emotional? Plot is the entire focus of Linda Cowgills's book, and she presents 180 pages of ideas and suggestions on how you can keep your entire plot exciting, eventful and emotional.

Answer this question - what's the difference between conflict and complication? Which one keeps the plot moving?


Table of contents:
1 - The Three Requirements of Drama
2 - Plot: Event and Emotion
3 - The Role of Conflict
4 - The Principles of Action
5 - The Tools of Plotting
6 - The Sequence of Story
7 - The Real Art of Plotting
8 - Common Problems in Plot Construction
9 - Tools for Analysis

Great book. Highly recommended.

Great asset to any writer's library
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-23
Great book, gives a lot of detailed information to lay the groundwork, then gets to the nitty-gritty with three terrific chapters at the end -- the real art of plotting, common problems in plot construction, and tools for analysis. These chapters are really specific about how you put your information together in your plot, as well as address specific problems writers encounter. A great asset to any writer's library!

Arts and Culture
The Art of Robots
Published in Hardcover by Chronicle Books (2004-12-30)
Authors: Amid Amidi and William Joyce
List price: $40.00
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Average review score:

great art inside
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-13
Has some really nice work inside and it's nice to see the process they went through making the movie.

Beautiful record of Robots evolution
Helpful Votes: 12 out of 12 total.
Review Date: 2005-03-14
If you are a fan of the Art of Pixar books, Robots is easily on par. It has some of the most talented, amazing and awe-inspiring pre-vis work I have ever seen in an art book. The entire Robots world is contained inside these pages, its entire evolution plotted out with hundreds of drawings, paintings and sculptures.

My biggest problem with "Art of" books is when they show too much finished film imagery. Why would I buy a book with the same images from the movie? I want to know where the film came from, not where it ended up. Art of Robots shines in this respect. In only a few places will you find actual images of the finished CG renders. The rest are raw, traditional works of art that give valuable clues into the films development. I especially like the pages that show a painted character and the photographs used to reference their color and texture for the film. Great information on the film-making process at Blue Sky.

Despite the obvious shortcomings in the film's story, this book stands on its own as one of the better "Art of" books I have seen. A real honor for all the artists who poured their talent into this film.

Fabulous Book
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2005-10-09
This book is fabulous! It is better than I thought it would be. It has so much wonderful art inside.

Arts and Culture
The Art of Storytelling: How To Write A Story....Any Story
Published in Paperback by Center Press (Westlake Village, CA) (1997-09)
Author: Michael B. Druxman
List price: $11.95
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Average review score:

Loved It!
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2000-07-22
As one of millions of people who have a story to tell, I was extremely interested in finding out how to do it. This book cut right to the chase and helped me organize my thoughts and transfer them to the written form. I was grateful to find a how-to book that is written in understandable English without long, dreary explanations. I did not have to spend weeks with a dictionary and magnifying glass trying to decipher the author's obscure meanings. I was able to read and comprehend Mr. Druxman's references and utilize his suggestions right away. This book incorporates humor and simplicity to educate and enlighten. His examples are right on point. Thanks for the help!

Good Storytelling a Must
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2000-07-22
I am new at the art of screenwriting. When searching for some basic information about story telling, I rifled through my mom's library and found "The Art of Storytelling" by Michael B. Druxman. I immediately liked the humor and intelligence of the author, but what made me really get with this book was the attention to simply stating the facts and getting on with the essence of storytelling. Making it complicated would have turned me off, but Mr. Druxman is wise to keep it simple. One thing that cools me on a movie is the lack of a real story. In my earliest reviews of movies (a school project), I noticed one thing that stands out as the most important element for a good time at the movies. You can have all the special effects, all the laughs, all the fascinating characters, all the flashy, attention-getting gimmicks in the world, but without a good story, told in solid, basic structure, you lose my interest. It's really the story that's important. I've found myself totally engaged in the quietest and simplest film experiences because the movie tells a good story. Sometimes the simplest, well-structured story, is the most awesome experience. Michael B. Druxman showed me how to write a good story and I am grateful for his book. It's sound advice gave my first screenplay effort the kind of quality that excites agents. I got one!

Unintentionally Hillarious
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 13 total.
Review Date: 1998-12-13
The author shows you the ropes of successful storytelling by mingling examples of his own screenplays with those of Casablanca and The Godfather. Note the fine print at the bottom of the page (Paraphrase:"My as yet unproduced screenplay"). HAW!

An excellent reference for the new or intermediate writer.
Helpful Votes: 9 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 1998-02-19
Many books on writing try to cover so much material that they offer little practical advice. Michael Druxman keeps his work focused. This easy to read and understand guide to writing is one of the best books on writing I've ever seen. For the beginner, Druxman offers simple and direct advice on story structure. The intermediate or advanced writer will find practical business advice in the later chapters of the book. This is a great resource and a great value to boot.

Arts and Culture
The Art of the Airways
Published in Hardcover by Zenith Press (2002-12-29)
Author: Geza Szurovy
List price: $39.95
New price: $26.27
Used price: $20.00

Average review score:

Great Nostalgic Fun
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-14
Impressive look back to early days of air travel. The posters are very clear and have been reproduced well. This is a keeper!

Up, up and away.
Helpful Votes: 12 out of 12 total.
Review Date: 2003-09-22
The main difference between early airline posters and later years was the size of the plane. The new winged transport was a prominent design element and the end location, if any, was hardly mentioned. Now, with air travel so commonplace and lots of airlines using the same jet (thanks Boeing and Airbus) the destination is the selling point. Geza Szurovy has selected some fascinating examples of the genre for his book.

Page eleven shows the first airline poster, the 1914 St Petersburg to Tampa route, in a tiny Benoist flying boat, that amazingly only carried one passenger. The venture lasted three months. Of the 170 posters shown there's plenty of choice to nominate your favorites, I like the ones that feature cut-aways of the aircraft and also the beautiful stylised airbrush rendering of New York that TWA used for their Transcontinental Boeing 307 poster from 1940, on page fifty-eight.

Presented in a book these posters create their own interest but I don't think many of them would have won any design awards. The typography and graphics, mostly paintings, just reflect what the airlines marketing department wanted. However ignore the type and look at the artwork and you'll see some wonderful illustrations from Cassandre, Jean Carlu, McKnight Kauffer, David Klein and Stan Galli and one from ace cartoonist Jack Davis, for Icelandic Air.

This is a large size all-color book but I was disappointed by the bland presentation, all the posters are butted into a light grey top-to-bottom panel on each page and even more annoying, on many pages, someone had the silly idea of adding small black and white photos of the planes that appear in the posters. This addition makes the depth of many posters smaller than they need be and the little photo, frequently showing plenty of detail, is just wasted. Fortunately this design treatment does not apply to every page.

If you are interested in the graphics of the airline business have a look at the beautifully designed 'En Route' by Lynn Johnson and Michael O'Leary, this concentrates on airline luggage label art and shows some super examples from airlines featured in 'The Art of the Airways'.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

Superb Book
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2005-01-09
This is a superb book. The posters are gorgeous and interesting-such as evocative scenes from North Africa in the 1930's and an airplane where the passenger seats were in the wing root. The text is intelligent and concise. Overall the book transports you to times and places far away. We have watched people aged 8 to 80 with no special interest in airlines spend far more time with it than they (or we) had expected.

Mr. Szurovy has had a life long love affair with airplanes, and it shows in this book. We highly recommend it for those who love airplanes, and those who want a great book of romantic and exotic posters from airline companies of yesteryear.

A lovely book
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2003-09-30
If you take an interest in world aviation history from the passsengers' viewpoint, this book should conjour up the romance and adventure of flying by air during the last century. And in the days when it was extremely expensive relative to sea and land travel, you can understand the need of the airlines to entice people to spend the money.
The book has posters from around the world, even from Australia's Qantas (which the author mis-spells as Quantas), but not alas from a New Zealand airline (but don't worry, the book "The Aircraft of Air New Zealand and affiliates since 1940" puts that right). All posters in this book are superbly reproduced, with an adequate commentary and the page design is very nice. Good stuff!


Books-Under-Review-->Society-->Ethnicity-->African-->African-American-->Arts and Culture-->84
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