Tarzan Forever : The Life of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Creator of Tarzan Review

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Tarzan Forever : The Life of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Creator of Tarzan ReviewI found Tarzan Forever well written, and often very entertaining and interesting, but very often just plain dead wrong - from badly and broadly misinterpreting texts, such as Lost on Venus (which Taliaferro just didn't get), to many specific mistakes.

Taliaferro regards Lost on Venus an example of Burroughs "climb[ing] on his favorite high horse, eugenics." (page 265) Specifically, Taliaferro refers to Burroughs' creation of Havatoo, a city-state in which eugenics has run amok, concluding that this nightmare city was an ERB utopia. But the depiction of Havatoo is Swiftian - gullible Carson can see only roses at first, but finds after many hair-raising adventures that the Havatoo are as spiritually dead as a race of zombies that occupy a city on the other side of the "River of Death" which separates the two cities. Utopia? Not even close!
And here's an example of a specific error: Taliaferro cites Carson's knowledge of aeronautics as the fact that persuaded the rulers of a kingdom on Venus to spare him. (page 266) But aeronautics came up much later. It was Carson's knowledge of astronomy that saved him. An unimportant detail, maybe, but Taliaferro's book is rife with such errors.
A mistake I found even more annoying - if not downright devious - was Taliaferro's claim that "on the final page" of Apache Devil, Shoz-Dijiji (the Apache Devil of the title) tells his sweetheart, Wichita Billings, "that he is white, nimbly sidestepping the unspeakable eventuality of miscegenation, a well-exercised Burroughs taboo." (page 224) This is as untrue as it is ridiculous! Shoz-Dijiji only tells Wichita he has a secret (i.e., that he is "white") to tell her later. But he never utters his secret to Wichita on the final page - or any other page of Burroughs' novel. In fact, Wichita professes her love for him despite his American Indian heritage. More to the point, as Taliaferro himself notes, Shoz-Dijiji's mother was "one quarter Cherokee." (page 216) Thus, Shoz-Dijiji, one of Burroughs' noblest heroes, not only is mistaken as to his racial heritage, he is also the product of the so-called "Burroughs taboo" against miscegenation! Here, we find a familiar Burroughs theme - individual honor and integrity are what matter, not the color of one's skin.
Those who have aired the tired old claim that Burroughs was a racist, and Taliaferro is solidly in this camp, have simply not been willing to recognize the subtleties of the Burroughs canon (yes, even adventure yarns can be morally ambiguous and complicated). Instead of reading Burroughs' works carefully, with an ear for the era in which they were written, Taliaferro and others skim the books and draw hasty, misinformed conclusions.Tarzan Forever : The Life of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Creator of Tarzan Overview

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Mr. Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers Review

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Mr. Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers ReviewPeter Sellers has been the subject of more than a few books, some significantly better than others. Aside from Graham Stark's beautiful memoir "Remembering Peter Sellers" (still only available in the U.K., unfortunately), this is the best. Certainly it is the most comprehensive, in part because it works from, and builds upon, the many books that came before it.
In more ways than one, "Mr. Strangelove" is not a light read. Sikov's research is extensive and detail is heavy, but his writing is surprisingly nimble over the 300+ page length.
The life of Sellers was fraught with private and public turmoil, and a significant career dry spell. Some previous studies of him and his work treated both with almost cruel insensitivity (and I haven't even read Roger Lewis' much-pilloried "Life and Death of..."), emphasizing the pain he brought into the lives of others. Meanwhile, memoirs like his son Michael Sellers' "P.S. I Love You" and Stark's book, while certainly willing to admit to Peter's faults, made a case for his personal pain and his virtues.
Happily Sikov understands Sellers' good side as well as his bad one. Though this is definitely a warts-and-all portrait of the man - his bad behavior on sets and his unhappy relationships with wives and children are not spared us - and sometimes painful to read, it is also sensitive, careful to stress Peter's humanity. (His fresh interviews with some of Sellers' colleagues do much to acheive this end.) In the end, this is the story of a man who, in Sikov's words, had an "essentially good heart".
Understandably some will be (and have been, to judge from other reviews) frustrated by the extremely detailed coverage Sellers' work, especially his films, are given. But to do justice to the life of such a gifted performer requires a close look at his work, and "Mr. Strangelove" covers his work more compellingly than any previous biography has, particularly where his more obscure films are concerned.
"Mr. Strangelove" is a full, rich portrait of a tragicomic life, one that will be compelling reading for those with even a mild interest in its subject...though once it's been read, "mild" may well turn to "major".Mr. Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers Overview

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Audie Murphy: Now Showing Review

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Audie Murphy: Now Showing ReviewEmpire Publishing presents "Audie Murphy:Now Showing", celebrating the film career of Audie Leon Murphy ...born June 20, 1924 in Kingston,Texas...left us May 28, 1971 near Roanoke, Virginia.(plane crash) written by Sue Gossett who is an Audie Murphy historian...Gossett's first Empire publication "The Films and Career of Audie Murphy" received such wonderful reviews and praise.
Murphy was a top box office draw for various studios mainly Universal-International...most decorated US soldier of World War II...received the Medal of Honor, the highest award for military conduct above and beyond the call of duty, plus five other decorations from France and Belgium.
Audie made a total of 44 films, was also a successful rancher and businessman...bred and raised thoroughbred horses and owned several ranches in Texas, Arizona and California...released from active duty in 1945, struggled to make it as an actor and was cast in a starring role of "BAD BOY" (1949)..."THE KID FROM TEXAS" (1950)..."THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE" (1951)..."THE CIMARRON KID" (1952)..."GUNSMOKE" (1953)..."RIDE CLEAR OF DIABLO" (1954)..."TO HELL AND BACK" (1955), the film version of his autobiography which was a box office hit setting a record that lasted for twenty years..."WALK THE PROUD LAND" (1956)..."NIGHT PASSAGE" (1957), great western in which he played the Utica Kid, brother to James Stewart..."THE QUIET AMERICAN" (1958)..."NO NAME ON THE BULLET" (1959), another western with a twist in the screenplay and plot..."HELL BENT FOR LEATHER" (1960)..."SEVEN WAYS FROM SUNDOWN" (1960)..."THE UNFORGIVEN" (1960), as Cash Zachary brother to Ben Zachary (Burt Lancaster) in this epic story of the settlers and Indians who battle for the lost sister Rachel Zachary (Audrey Hepburn) only to find bloodshed and bring a family closer together..."POSSE FROM HELL" (1961)..."SIX BLACK HORSES" (1962)..."SHOWDOWN" (1963)..."BULLET FOR A BADMAN" (1964)..."ARIZONA RAIDERS" (1965)..."GUNPOINT" (1966)..."THE TEXICAN" (1966)..."40 GUNS TO APACHE PASS" (1967)..."A TIME FOR DYING" (1969), last film was never released in the United states, only shown in Europe.
This is a must have for any true Audie Murphy fan...with photos from films, lobby cards, publicity items and background comments from the author...more than 500 photo illustrations...complete filmography...foreign items and testimonials...interviews with many of the actors who appeared in the films...locations where the film was shot...short synopsis of each film which all "film-buffs" cherish.
Don't miss this one..."Now Showing" is appearing on Amazon and Empire Publishing ...Audie Murphy is still very much in our hearts when the films he has made appears on Turner Classic Movies, DVD and books like this one comes along...get your copy today. Great reading in the days and weeks to come...I guarantee it!
Total Page: 208 ~ Empire Publishing 9-780944 019382 ~ (10/18/2002)Audie Murphy: Now Showing OverviewTo celebrate the movie career of Audie Murphy, this book contains over 200 pages and more than 500 photo illustrations of advertising materials used to promote the 44 films given to Audie's credit. The contents include photos of movie 1-sheet posters, lobby and window display cards, half sheets, publicity items, complete filmography with brief synopsis of each film, foreign iitems and testimonials, interviews with actors who appeared in his films, author's comments, and more. A must-have for the true Audie Murphy fan!

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Black and White and Blue: Adult Cinema From the Victorian Age to the VCR Review

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Black and White and Blue: Adult Cinema From the Victorian Age to the VCR ReviewThis book could have been a lot better if it was written in more of a point A to Point B list syle of writing or rather more as a time-line. Instead the author took a lot of litery license with this book and tried to write it in the style of a romanticized novel. There is a lot of big descriptive words that were unnecessary and obscured the information that was presented. Even though it had some good information most of it got lost in all of the unnecessary words. It wasn't a total waste of money but not the best read.Black and White and Blue: Adult Cinema From the Victorian Age to the VCR OverviewIn the 1920s they were called stags, smokes, or blue movies; today it's adult films. But until now, apart from brief summaries in film histories and scholarly articles, there has been no complete history of the pornographic film industry. That gap is filled by this lively and insightful book that provides commentary on individual movies and traces the evolution of film styles and storylines through nearly a century of X-rated material. All the research for the book is based on viewings of the movies-many of the oldest are now archived on DVDs-and on interviews with living actors and producers. Tracing an arc from the masks and dim lighting of the earliest days to the realism and absence of trick photography in the 1920s and 1930s, the account then ponders the obsession with close-ups of body parts in later decades. The overview ends in the late 1970s, when the advent of home videos changed adult entertainment completely.

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Humphrey Bogart: The Making of a Legend Review

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Humphrey Bogart: The Making of a Legend ReviewIf this were classified as fiction, I'd probably give this one 5* because it is one salacious and interesting tale. As a biography, it leaves something to be desired. The author makes a lot of assertions in this book, including an affair Bogart conducted with Bette Davis and an affair that supposedly went on between Ingrid Bergman and Bogie during the making of Casablanca. Since I don't know if there is any truth regarding either claim, it seems in the realm of possible but not exactly probable even though these two women had fairly busy sex lives. The author also asserts that Bogart's 3rd wife (the original crazy lady/booze-aholic Mayo Methot) was ploting to have Bogart murdered. While she was certainly capable of doing so as evidenced by documented behavior during a liquor fueled marriage in which both of the participants continually tried to one-up each other in the outrageous behavior department, it's a good yarn which apparently has never been reliably documented.
It gets better and it gets juicier as one reads on. Bogart's parents are supposedly upscale morphine addicts. There are winks at possible affairs both parents may have had. Bogart was a talented actor who was also a talented lover, having bedded over 1,000 women. He even played watchdog over FDR after a near drowning while FDR was visiting a just revealed new mistress near the Bogart family's summer place. In this book, Bogart is a 20th century Waldo even as a child as he just seems to be everywhere when something is happening.
The trick to writing a 'biography' like this is that there are enough facts (verifiable information) mixed with crazy assertions to make this yarn believable. By the end of this book, it is hard to decipher the truth from the fiction. In an odd way, it can be compared to RAGTIME by E.L. Doctorow. Everthing is tied together in some strange patchwork that blends fact with fiction.
My advice is read this book if you choose, but remember that a lot of it may not ring true and very well probably isn't.Humphrey Bogart: The Making of a Legend OverviewWhereas Humphrey Bogart is always at the top of any list of the Entertainment Industry's most famous actors, very little is known about how he clawed his way to stardom from Broadway to Hollywood.This radical expansion of one of Darwin Porter's pioneering biographies begins with Bogart's origins as the child of wealthy (morphine-addicted) parents in New York City, then examines the scandals, love affairs, breakthrough successes, and failures that launched Bogart on the road to becoming an American icon.Drawn from original interviews with friends and foes who knew a lot about what lay beneath his trenchcoat, this expose covers Bogart's life from his birth in 1899 till his marriage to Lauren Bacall in 1944.It includes details about behind-the-scenes dramas associated with three mysterious marriages, and films such as The Petrified Forest, The Maltese Falcon, High Sierra, and Casablanca. Read all about the debut and formative years of the actor who influenced many generations of filmgoers, laying Bogie's life bare in a style you've come to expect from Darwin Porter. Bogie, we hardly knew you.That's what readers will be saying after reading this dishy, myth-shattering biography of the screen's most famous movie star.Award-winning biographer Darwin Porter reveals for the first time what really lay under that trench coat.Exposed with all their juicy details is what Bogie never told his fourth wife, Lauren Bacall, herself a screen legend. It's all here:The screen icon's unknown affair with Bette Davis, his co-star in The Petrified Forest, and even details about his on- and off-screen romance with Ingrid Bergman during the filming of Casablanca-a tragic liaison which has been falsely denied for years. Detailing the inner secrets of Bogie's tumultuous life from his birth in 1899 until his marriage to Bacall in 1944, The Making of a Legend contains a new revelation on every page. One tantalizing tidbit, for example, provides lurid details about how his third wife, actress Mayo Methot of The Battling Bogarts, plotted his murder. In this biography, the mystery of Bogie's bumpy ride from Broadway to Hollywood has, like the enigma of The Maltese Falcon, been solved.A serial seducer, he enjoyed affairs with the sexiest sirens of Hollywood's Golden Age, including Marlene Dietrich, Barbara Stanwyck, Jean Harlow, Tallulah Bankhead, Joan Crawford, and a host of lesser but in most cases, fiercely ambitious divas. Within the pages of this book, pre-Code Hollywood-flappers, Prohibition, bathtub gin, and sex of all persuasions-is re-created. We learn about Bogie's longtime affair with Verita Thompson, a liaison that lasted longer than any of his marriages and which included a final deathbed declaration of their love. This revelatory book is based on dusty unpublished memoirs, letters, diaries, and often personal interviews from the women-and the men-who adored him.There are also shocking allegations from colleagues, former friends, and jilted lovers who wanted the screen icon to burn in hell. All this and more, much more, in Darwin Porter's newest celebrity expose, Humphrey Bogart, The Making of a Legend.

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Blockbuster Review

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Blockbuster ReviewI watch a fair amount of movies, but I would hardly call myself a "film buff". I was a little skeptical of the book, but I bought it anyway on Nick Hornby's recommendation in Polysyllabic Spree. It turns out that this is a pretty fascinating subject. I wouldn't have thought I'd be very interested in the making of Batman or Titanic, but I couldn't put the book down.
Shone has a very enganging writing style, and the book is as much a history of people as much as of movies. He starts with the first big blockbusters of 25 years ago -- Jaws, Star Wars, ET, Alien -- and recreates the excitement we felt when we first saw them. The latter half of the book examines Hollywood's hubristic blockbusters -- Gozilla, Last Action Hero -- and how we all went to see them anyway. I always thought of the big summer action films as something Hollywood slapped together to make a buck, but sometimes they represent somebody's dreams (Back to the Future). Then again, sometimes they really are something slapped together to make a buck, maybe crushing some dreams in the process (Batman, Godzilla).
If you're a movie snob, you may not like this book. Shone is going to take Spielberg over Scorcese, and you know if you're not going to like that. But if you can take that, I think you'll really like this book, and I say that as someone who hasn't even seen Jaws.Blockbuster Overview

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Blue Skies: A History of Cable Television Review

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Blue Skies: A History of Cable Television ReviewCommunications researchers now have a definitive scholarly chronicle of the cable industry. Parsons delivers an immense and exhaustive history of the industry, from its earliest days as a small town community antenna service to the modern mega-conglomerates delivering hundreds of channels of on-demand programming. Here we learn that cable isn't much younger than broadcast television, and the two industries have had a fractious but symbiotic relationship, made more complex by interloping technologies like satellite transmission and the Internet. Decades of inconsistent regulation by the FCC have added to the complexity of the industry's relations with the public. Parsons combines his strict chronological political and business history with the social construction of technology as a theoretical backdrop, showing that the public's changing perceptions of cable's technical possibilities and programming choices are a key influence on the development of the industry and its modern structure and practices. This extensive and encyclopedic tome will prove to be essential for interested students of the field for years to come. [~doomsdayer520~]Blue Skies: A History of Cable Television OverviewBlue Skies is the first complete history of cable television, the most influential technology affecting the lives of almost every American. Author Patrick Parsons writes about the early days of cable -- they go back farther than most people know -- and the pioneers in the last half of the twentieth century whose business skills, entrepreneurial instinct, and luck all played out to give rise to the most ubiquitous technology in the country-- still outpacing computers and the internet -- cable TV.

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Only Connect: A Cultural History of Broadcasting in the United States Review

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Only Connect: A Cultural History of Broadcasting in the United States ReviewI haven't really read this book (got is for school), but the little I have read it very historically detailed, which is interesting because we don't really cover that in the class.
It's easy to read and understand.Only Connect: A Cultural History of Broadcasting in the United States OverviewONLY CONNECT is a comprehensive history of American broadcasting from its earliest days in radio, through the rise of television, to the current era of digital media and the Internet. It presents broadcasting as a vital component of American cultural identity, placing the development of U.S. radio, television, and new media in the context of social and cultural change. Each chapter opens with a discussion of the historical period, thoroughly traces the development of media policy, the growth of media industries, and the history of U.S. broadcast programming, and closes with a look at the major ways that radio and television have been understood and discussed throughout American history.

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Joseph P. Kennedy Presents: His Hollywood Years (Vintage) Review

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Joseph P. Kennedy Presents: His Hollywood Years (Vintage) ReviewThis review refers to the Audible version of the book, since the new Audible site has disabled its review and ratings features (no buttons for this any more).
Joseph P. Kennedy Presents is an interesting book, although it's less engaging than Beauchamp's earlier book on Frances Marion, Without Lying Down. Beauchamp has done a lot of work in the archives and is able to trace Kennedy's business dealings in intricate, sometimes excruciating, detail. Although she dispels the idea that Kennedy was a bootlegger, she does point out that at the beginning of WWII he was able to send 200,000 cases of liquor back to the U.S., when such shipments were prohibited, by using his diplomatic status as U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James.
The Kennedy that emerges in this book is a brilliant businessman and a charismatic figure who had the foresight to invent new ways of structuring companies to maximize profits for himself, although in a classic case of shutting the barn door after the horses have escaped, many of these methods were later regulated out of existence, due perhaps in part to the wreckage that he left behind. Beauchamp points out that to Kennedy's way of thinking, this kind of wreckage was not his problem: if Gloria Swanson or others who trusted him did not look out for themselves, that was their fault for being too naive. The women left in the wake of his serial and incessant womanizing (as described here) were similarly at fault, in his mind, if they didn't manage to escape the charm offensive (and occasionally hands-on groping) that he continued to engage in throughout his life.
Lest this sound too negative, Beauchamp stresses Kennedy's love for his children despite absences from home that seem from this book to stretch for months at a time. Kennedy had charm, energy, intelligence, and charisma, and he could read a balance sheet like nobody's business. Ethics in business seems to have eluded him as a concept, but he had a powerful grasp of the idea of public relations. Although he used these in damaging ways (as during his isolationism in WWII), he's still a fascinating figure to read about.Joseph P. Kennedy Presents: His Hollywood Years (Vintage) Overview

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Fallin' Up: My Story Review

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Fallin' Up: My Story ReviewAn amazing read. Honest, touching and inspiring. I strongly recommend this book. Taboo writes frankly about his rise, fall and recovery with quiet, humble and forceful dignity... I think that this book could and will save a life or two....and for that I say thank you from the bottom of my heart!Fallin' Up: My Story OverviewTaboo, Grammy Award–winning performing artist and founding member of the Black Eyed Peas, shares the inspiring story of his rise from the mean streets of East L.A. to the heights of international fame. Few bands can ever hope to achieve the sort of global success that the record-breaking Black Eyed Peas have attained, selling more than 30 million albums since their formation in 1995. From their album The E.N.D., which debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts, to The Beginning, the Black Eyed Peas continue to dominate the music scene. The group recently broke the all-time record for longest successive stay at the #1 position on Billboard's Hot 100 list, and their song "I Gotta Feeling" became the first single to surpass six million digital downloads in the United States. But in this revealing autobiography—the first book to emerge from the group—founding member Taboo reminds us that great accomplishments are often rooted in humble beginnings. Born in East L.A. in an area notorious for street gangs and poverty, Taboo was haunted by that environment, which seemed certain to shape his destiny. Yet, steered by his dreams to be a performer and assisted by fate, the young Taboo was thrown a rope when he discovered the world of hip-hop, where talent and love of the music itself transcended all. Supported by his one true champion, his grandmother Aurora, Taboo chased his dreams with a relentless tenacity. He refused to surrender, regardless of what life threw at him— including becoming a father at age eighteen. But even after the Black Eyed Peas beat seemingly insurmountable odds and achieved stardom, it wasn't all Grammys and platinum albums. Taboo delivers a searingly honest account of his collision with fame's demons, including his almost career-ending struggle with drug addiction and alcoholism. He takes us deep into a world few of us can even imagine: a show-business heaven that became a self-made hell. But inspired by the love of his family and tapping anew into the wellspring of self-belief that had sustained him in the past, Taboo learns to keep his demons at bay, his addictions in check. Full of intimate glances into the highest reaches of the music industry—including a visit to Sting's castle, hanging out with Bono and U2, and, at forty-one thousand feet, the high-flyingest karaoke ever—Fallin' Up takes readers on a revealing, personal journey through stardom—and one man's triumph over adversity times two.

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The Los Angeles Diaries: A Memoir Review

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The Los Angeles Diaries: A Memoir Review"The Los Angeles Diaries" continue the tragic story begun in the book "Final Performance". dealing with the author, James Brown's
ability to cope with the issues of a tumultous childhood, which contributed toward the suicides of his older siblings Barry (a rising TV/movie star of the 1970's) and Marilyn.
The first part of the book describes the frustrations of the author (a college professor) at his ill-starred attempts to sell screenplays to Hollywood, and the familial way of handling disappointment with drugs and alcohol. Interspersed throughout
are vignettes (told in flashback) of his childhood, some sentimental, some chilling.
Brown also relates the difficulty of maintaining a sober facade before college professors and students(well acquainted with the
drug scene) who view him cynically.
One bright spot is the hilarious narrative of Jame Brown's attempt to mollify his angry wife with a pot-bellied pig as a peace offering.
The Machiavellian porker is named Daisy, and Brown's problems
burgeon in direct proportion to Daisy's expensive appetite -
and expansive girth.
Man and pig butt heads; in a contest between man and animal,
the animal will win hands down because it has "cuteness" on its side. (The end of the chapter is a riot...)
The second half of "The Los Angeles Diaries" is depressing, describing the downward spiral, and subsequent suicides of
Brown's brother, Barry, and his sister, Marilyn.
By the end of his life, Barry Brown was out of control: impersonating a police officer (a character from a movie) and
drinking compulsively. He shot himself to death at age 27.
Marilyn Brown attempted to wean herself from alcohol and drugs, but past demons prompted her one night to climb onto the railing of an overpass, then fling herself to her death in the dry riverbed below.
The book ends on an optimistic note; while in South Dakota, James Brown resolved to go cold turkey, or die - he made it.
But - his two books ("The Los Angeles Diaries" and "Final Performance") are touching memorials by the survivor to the siblings who didn't make it...
A new American classic.The Los Angeles Diaries: A Memoir Overview

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Raoul Walsh: The True Adventures of Hollywood's Legendary Director (Screen Classics) Review

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Raoul Walsh: The True Adventures of Hollywood's Legendary Director (Screen Classics) ReviewI have always loved Raoul Walsh's movies ... "High Sierra," "White Heat," "They Died with Their Boots On," "The Roaring Twenties!" I've loved them since I was a kid. And I've always wondered about the personal side of this director. Well, finally I know about him from reading Moss' book. This biography does a super job of telling us all who Raoul Walsh was when he was away from the camera. He was a great teller of tales, especially the ones he told about himself. Moss does a great job telling the reader about every aspect of Walsh's life -- his marriages, his relationship with his actors and actresses, and how important his movies still are in American cinema.
This is biography at its very best. Moss digs in and comes up with a vivid portrait of Walsh. He's right there on the page -- on every page of this book. She has researched her subject extremely well! If you finally want to know who Walsh REALLY was, look no further than this fascinating biography of this fascinating man!Raoul Walsh: The True Adventures of Hollywood's Legendary Director (Screen Classics) OverviewRaoul Walsh (1887--1980) was known as one of Hollywood's most adventurous, iconoclastic, and creative directors. He carved out an illustrious career and made films that transformed the Hollywood studio yarn into a thrilling art form. Walsh belonged to that early generation of directors -- along with John Ford and Howard Hawks -- who worked in the fledgling film industry of the early twentieth century, learning to make movies with shoestring budgets. Walsh's generation invented a Hollywood that made movies seem bigger than life itself.In the first ever full-length biography of Raoul Walsh, author Marilyn Ann Moss recounts Walsh's life and achievements in a career that spanned more than half a century and produced upwards of two hundred films, many of them cinema classics. Walsh originally entered the movie business as an actor, playing the role of John Wilkes Booth in D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915). In the same year, under Griffith's tutelage, Walsh began to direct on his own. Soon he left Griffith's company for Fox Pictures, where he stayed for more than twenty years. It was later, at Warner Bros., that he began his golden period of filmmaking. Walsh was known for his romantic flair and playful persona. Involved in a freak auto accident in 1928, Walsh lost his right eye and began wearing an eye patch, which earned him the suitably dashing moniker "the one-eyed bandit." During his long and illustrious career, he directed such heavyweights as Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Errol Flynn, and Marlene Dietrich, and in 1930 he discovered future star John Wayne.

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Cyberethics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace, Fourth Edition Review

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Cyberethics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace, Fourth Edition ReviewI teach a computing ethics course at an area University. I did not select this book as my text when I reviewed texts for use in the Fall 2004 semester. I did choose Spinello and Tavani's new reader; but this book--like most of the predecessors Spinello has written--would drive my students nuts -- and they wouldn't know why. Bottom line: poorly written and not easy to read -- lots of tough sentence choices made. However, as with Spinello's other books, there are some points he makes that no other computing ethics texts' authors do make! So, I'll glean those points out of his text and present them to my students rather than force them to work their way through and around his prose.Cyberethics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace, Fourth Edition OverviewCompletely revised and updated, the new fourth edition of this popular text takes an in-depth look at the social costs and moral problems that have arisen by the ever expanded use of the internet, and offers up-to-date legal and philosophical perspectives. It focuses heavily on content control and free speech, intellectual property, privacy and security, and features new content on blogging and social networking. Case studies throughout offer real-life scenarios and include coverage of numerous hot topics. In the process of examinging current issues, the text identifies some of the legal disputes that will likely set the standard for future cases.

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The Kid Stays in the Picture Review

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The Kid Stays in the Picture ReviewBob Evans. What a guy. I must admit I loved this book. It is pure gossip and not exactly Dickens. But, Evans is completely honest and his own harshest critic. He tells fantastic stories (was there a woman in Hollywood he did not date between 1950 and 1980?). He takes responsiblity for the many, many mistakes in his life and spins fantastic yarns. Toward the end, it can be a bit annoying reading about how once again, he made the right choice and get railroaded by justice, but at the same time, you care about him. Those amazingly honest stories (particularly about his destruction of his marriages--the story on Phyllis George is a hoot) make the book even more interesting. A must read for film fans and anyone interested in one of our more fascinating Americans. Who else would tell stories about Jack, Warren, and Henry Kissinger? It ends in 1994, before his stroke and bizarre 10 day marriage to Catherine Oxenberg (and his highly medicore movies of the last 7 years or so); but that is nomatter. You'll want to hang at Woodland with Evans by the end. You might even be using "the kid stays in the picture" as your own mantra. Then again, maybe not. Just find a copy and read it.The Kid Stays in the Picture OverviewFrom his marriage to Ali McGraw, his cocaine bust, the accusations of murder, the friendships with the likes of Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman, to his legendary court case and bust up with Francis Ford Coppola, this is the tell-all autobiography from Robert Evans, the legendary Hollywood producer ("The Godfather", "Rosemary's Baby" and "Chinatown") who's lived the Hollywood dream.

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Bright Light: Spiritual Lessons from a Life in Acting Review

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Bright Light: Spiritual Lessons from a Life in Acting ReviewThis book is an autobiography, an adventure, a romance novel, and a comedy. It is also a spiritual book which doesn't preach "how to be happy in 7 steps" or "how to manifest with 4 simple laws", it provides real life examples of how to be happy, be joyful, to create everything and anything in your life, to consciously live ones bliss. I found myself totally involved in this book, so much so, that I didn't want to put it down. I laughed, I cried, I was deeply moved. Dee teaches through her own life examples and challenges and when I read them are my life challenges, in fact, they are every person's challenges. This little book is filled with so much on so many levels, whether I just wanted to get lost in a wonderful story or to discover my own Power to create the life I choose. Wow!!! Reading this book is such an inspiration. Thank you Dee Wallace for writing your (actually everyone's) story.Bright Light: Spiritual Lessons from a Life in Acting OverviewLike you, Dee Wallace came in as a bright shiny light, and she knew from the beginning that her soul quest was to keep that light shining and share it with others. This was a challenge growing up poor in Kansas amidst all the conflicting religious and social messages of her upbringing. But she stuck to this strong intent and followed her knowingness in a meteoric rise as an actress, becoming an acting icon after only five years with the success of E.T., and then faltering and losing her way only to reclaim the power of that knowingness later in life.Bright Light works as an autobiographical tale of an actor's life and craft, and how that journey applies to everyone's spiritual journey. It is the story of Everyman: the reclaiming of Self. Each chapter of Dee Wallace's story is characterized by a concept like intention, in which the narrative becomes an allegorical exploration of its qualities. Dee Wallace has rediscovered the wisdom that we all know but forget: that true success comes from following the heart's lead, and that the mind only creates form for spirit's creative manifestation. Our consciousness is our intelligence.

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Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy Review

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Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy ReviewFew college graduates kvetch about their unpaid internships these days; they're considered a given, on par with clunky freshman-year prerequisites like introductory composition or math. But as Ross Perlin points out in his excellent, wonderfully-researched book "Intern Nation," companies of all stripes have cashed in on this unquestioning attitude to a) substitute deserving paid workers with scores of interns, particularly in downturns; b) assign highly-qualified interns to menial jobs without any compensatory training; and c) make a quick buck in the process by tying-up with universities who offer internships for college credit.
None of this sounds particularly alarming until one starts tallying up the social consequences. For one, unpaid (and even paid) internships automatically disenfranchise tons of talented poor kids whose parents can't pony up the cash to support them (no wonder that hard-to-break-into industries like publishing and film remain the playground of trustfunders). Since interns aren't regular employees, companies needn't provide them with healthcare; interns can't even successfully sue for sexual harrassment in the workplace. Finally -- and this was the most shocking revelation for me in Perlin's book -- unpaid internships are illegal. They violate a host of labor laws. The government simply looks the other way.
Ross Perlin's "Intern Nation" is a spectacular piece of white collar muck-raking. Written in a fluid prose style that communicates a cool rage, and buttressed by hundreds of tiny stories and anecdotes, it ought to help undo some of the psychic damage being wreaked on unprotected workers by companies the world over.Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy Overview

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Jane Fonda: The Private Life of a Public Woman Review

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Jane Fonda: The Private Life of a Public Woman ReviewGoogle "Jane Fonda +hate site" and you get 10 million results.
Sarah Palin, in contrast, gets 109 million. Obama: 101 million. George Bush: 106 million. Donald Trump: 37 million.
But it's not just raw numbers that matter here. It's context. Palin, Obama, Bush and Trump are contemporary figures. Jane Fonda is a 73-year-old actress who had her last box office hit thirty years ago. So why is she hated?
Mostly, it's for something that happened forty years ago --- at the height of the Vietnam War, she visited North Vietnam. There she not only sat on an anti-aircraft gun and made a "public service" announcement to American bomber pilots, she visited a POW camp. There she met some captured soldiers. They slipped her messages to bring to their families --- and she promptly turned them over to the North Vietnamese, who tortured (and, in one case, killed) those prisoners.
Wait! That never happened!!! But that untruth is a measure of the controversy that has swirled around Jane Fonda for most of her adult life. Actress, sex symbol, feminist, activist --- in every sphere, she presses buttons.
Some of these buttons reflect the sickness of our society. A sex symbol who likes sex and who plays a sci-fi goddess and a prostitute --- that gets our blood pumping. A public figure who skips the USO tour to organize coffee houses for dissidents in the military --- imagine what they've said about her at the VFW. A bra-burner who shows women how to feel strong --- that didn't fly with the crowd that likes their women barefoot-and-pregnant.
But there are also internal buttons --- the buttons pushed in her by her parents, her producers, her lovers. These are the fascinating buttons, because only by learning about them can we hope to understand why the best single word to define Jane Fonda is "driven." And these, blessedly, are the buttons that fascinate Patricia Bosworth in her massive (600 page) biography.
Patricia Bosworth is a biographer's biographer. She wrote the best book on Diane Arbus. Her Montgomery Clift biography is beyond compelling. It's not just her sensitivity and insight that make her so good. It's her life history (she was a Broadway actress for a decade) and her work ethic (the Fonda book took a decade). It doesn't hurt that she knows Fonda well and that, as a result, Fonda did not discourage friends and family from seeing her.
In this book, Bosworth delivers the ultimate goods --- the family story. It's well known that Henry Fonda was emotionally remote and that her mother committed suicide. Bosworth turns those observations into a narrative. She shows us, time and again, how Fonda mistreated his wife; as a little girl, Jane once watched her mother crawl naked across the room pleading with him to talk to her. (He didn't.)
Fonda has said, "All my life I've been my father's daughter." But her mother was also key. As a girl, Jane would come into her mother's dressing room while Frances Fonda was checking for the slightest weight gain. She told Jane: "Lady, if I gain any extra weight I'm gonna cut it off with a knife." Any wonder that Jane Fonda was obsessed with her body and became bulimic?
Pleasing a man. Showing no flaws. Expressing herself with her body. This is the triangle that will rule her life.
Bosworth can analyze brilliantly, but her real genius is as a reporter --- she takes you, again and again, into the room. Her account of her romance with Roger Vadim feels very much like the whole story. It was downhill from there. Bosworth's account of Fonda's relationship with activist Tom Hayden is simply shocking --- in this book, he lived off her, cheated on her, dominated her. Why did she stay with him so long? By then, you understand --- just as you understand why she stayed with Ted Turner, who cheated on her within a month of their marriage.
"An actress is more than a woman, an actor is less than a man," Oscar Wilde said. Maybe. But in Fonda's case, definitely. This is a woman who needed to be the biggest star in the world, and made it. And when that faded, she re-invented herself. Now she's doing it again, speaking out about the vitality that's still possible in the AARP years. Clearly, she'll never be satisfied.
You can look at a life like that and see desperation. Or you can see how a badly damaged child forges a successful identity --- or, at least, a workable persona. Patricia Bosworth sees it both ways. You will close this book with admiration for the writer, compassion for the actress ... and great relief that your life is so much less twisted.
Jane Fonda: The Private Life of a Public Woman OverviewBosworth goes behind the image of an American superwoman, revealing Fonda—more powerful and vulnerable than ever expected—whose struggles for high achievement, love, and successful motherhood mirror the conflicts of a generation of women.

As actress, activist, businesswoman, wife, and mother, Jane Fonda has pushed herself to the limit, attempting to please all, excel in every arena, be everything. We've read her version of her controversial life, yet nothing can prepare us for this genuinely revelatory account of Jane's engrossing, sometimes shocking journey.

Supplemented by the psychiatric records of her suicidal, bipolar mother, Fonda's FBI file, and interviews with her intimates, this perceptive portrait strips away hype and the subject's own mythmaking. Patricia Bosworth shows us what a toll Jane's quest to excel (and please her demanding father, Henry) exacted and sheds light on truths she's glossed over: her rejection of her mother before her suicide; the death threats and self-doubts of her antiwar crusade; her second husband Tom Hayden's habit of putting her down while spending her fortune; the emotional downfall that led her to stop acting and marry Ted Turner.

Lee Strasberg once said that Jane had "panic in her eyes," and it is this wounded but so familiar woman—human yet still heroic, the embodiment of a generation's conflicts and triumphs—whom Bosworth captures so utterly and definitively.


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Black and Blue: the Redd Foxx Story Review

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Black and Blue: the Redd Foxx Story ReviewA highly readable, informative, entertaining, affectionate and unabiased biography...you will so learn so much about the life and career of Mr. Foxx even if you are already a long-time fan. Mr. Starr really did his homework and it shows on every page.Black and Blue: the Redd Foxx Story Overview

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Infamous Players: A Tale of Movies, the Mob, (and Sex) Review

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Infamous Players: A Tale of Movies, the Mob, (and Sex) ReviewI wanted so much to like this book. It's a real snooze. Every "story" it contains is covered elsewhere in better books. Seems like it was written in one day. No logical arrangement to the events Mr. Bart is talking about. Luckily it spares us the normal "I was born a poor kid in Brooklyn..." stuff these sort of books usually contain. It doesn't seem like anyone edited the book and it reads more like a compilation of previously published articles then a well-thought-out "tale" as the title suggests. Several times, Mr. Bart mentions the same event in different chapters as if it's the first time relaying it to us without adding any additional information or details to the event.Infamous Players: A Tale of Movies, the Mob, (and Sex) OverviewIn 1967, Peter Bart, then a young family man and rising reporter for the New York Times, decided to upend his life and enter into the dizzying world of motion pictures. Infamous Players is the story of Bart's whirlwind journey at Paramount, his role in its triumph and failures, and how a new kind of filmmaking emerged during that time.
When Bart was lured to Paramount by his friend and fellow newcomer, the legendary Robert Evans, the studio languished, its slate riddled with movies that were out of touch with the dynamic sixties. By the time Bart had left Paramount in 1975, the studio had completed a remarkable run with such films as The Godfather, Rosemary's Baby, Harold and Maude, Love Story, Chinatown, Paper Moon, and True Grit. But this new golden era at Paramount was also fraught with chaos and company turmoil. Drugs, sex, runaway budgets, management infighting, and even the Mafia started finding their way onto the Paramount backlot, making it surely one of the worst-run studios in the history of the movie industry.
As Peter reflects on the New Hollywood era at Paramount with behind-the-scenes details and insightful analysis, here too are his fascinating recollections of the icons from that era: Warren Beatty, Steve McQueen, Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Francis Ford Coppola, Roman Polanski, and Frank Sinatra among others.
For over five decades, first on the inside as a studio executive, and later as the longtime editor-in-chief of Variety, Peter Bart has viewed Hollywood from an incomparable vantage point. The stories he tells and the lessons we learn from Infamous Players are essential for anyone who loves movies.

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Stuntman: My Car-Crashing, Plane-Jumping, Bone-Breaking, Death-Defying Hollywood Life Review

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Stuntman: My Car-Crashing, Plane-Jumping, Bone-Breaking, Death-Defying Hollywood Life ReviewThis is the biography of the "Father" of the modern stuntman, Hal Needham. Hal leads you from his impoverished childhood as the step-son of a hardworking Arkansas sharecropper, and son of a depression era hardworking, non-complaining Mother... through his almost mythical rise to the top of the Hollywood stuntman empire. Along the way, more Hollywood big star names are dropped than you would hear by watching "Entertainment Tonight" for a week. Additionally you will learn the inside "tricks" and dare devil approaches to movie's magic stunts. **BUT-FIRST**... in a surprisingly unique beginning to this never dull, even for a minute story... when the introduction is presented exactly like the "coming-attractions" or "previews" when you watch a movie. The first nine pages are just enough name dropping and action teases to make you "run" at full speed into the rest of the book.
The story traces Hal's less than humble beginnings in Arkansas to his less than stellar school education which ended in the ninth grade. Hal volunteered for the armed services during the Korean War and later becomes a tree climber... which without knowing it got him ready to change the world of Hollywood stunts. From stuntman to stunt doubles for everyone from Richard Boone in his heyday as Paladin in "Have Gun Will Travel" to John Wayne. (Whom Hal says was his favorite actor to work with of all time. "THE DUKE, DUKE WAS DEDICATED. HE KNEW EVERY JOB ON THE SET AND COULD DO MOST OF THEM. HE WASN'T AFRAID TO GET HIS HANDS DIRTY. HE ALWAYS LOOKED OUT FOR HIS CREW AND TREATED PEOPLE WITH RESPECT. BUT HE ALSO KNEW ABOUT HARD WORK AND WASN'T AFRAID TO TELL SOMEONE THE TRUTH IF HE FELT THEY WEREN'T PUTTING FORTH ENOUGH EFFORT.") And yet Hal had the cajones to offer a suggestion to Wayne on how to throw a punch in a fight scene early in Hal's career.
Needham shares some of his secrets (Along with being a little insane.) in how stunts that include but are not limited to: walking and hanging on a plane's wings... jumping off buildings before air bags were invented (Which of course he assisted in... and not just the ones stuntmen landed on... but in being the first human guinea pig in a car crash test of air bags.)... controlling a stampede of over 2,000 horses... building and driving rocket powered cars... which led to him going over 600 miles per hour... and in him financing the first land vehicle to break the sound barrier (739.666 mph)... doing the research that led to the longest human drop from a helicopter in history... taking filmed car crashes to a whole new level... which helped create the whole large scale product placement explosion such as on "Smokey And The Bandit II" which... did I mention he directed along with "Smokey And The Bandit"... "Hooper"... and "The Cannonball Run"... among others... BUT getting back to product placement in "Smokey And The Bandit II"... required "TEN TRANS AMS AND FIFTY-FIVE BONNEVILLES "(FIVE FOR JACKIE GLEASON AND FIFTY FOR GLEASON'S CANADIAN LAW ENFORCEMENT BUDDIES.)...
And along this entire fuel injected sojourn... enough *ADULT-COCKTAILS* are consumed to drench the thirst of the Russian Army. Hal never met a job or a stunt that he not only thought he could perform... but he never met one that he didn't feel he could perform better than anyone had before. Along the way Needham somehow found the time for multiple marriages and redefining aspects of NASCAR... as well as breaking his back twice and breaking fifty-six bones. But as you can imagine... a stuntman doesn't call in sick very often... and playing hurt is part of the unwritten code. As great as this rollicking raconteur's stories are... you'll find yourself hungering for more!
Stuntman: My Car-Crashing, Plane-Jumping, Bone-Breaking, Death-Defying Hollywood Life Overview

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