"Rita Hayworth A Photographic Retrospective" is such an amazing
book it's hard to put into words.I'm a huge Rita Hayworth fan
and for a photo book of Rita to come out is a dream come true!
Caren put this book together perfectly as only a true Rita fan
could! Rita in technicolor is a real treat to behold!The photos
really speak for themself-The candids photos really show the
real woman behind the "image".

This truly is the most GORGEOUS photo book I've ever seen!!!
Anyone will love this book-If you love the golden age of
hollywood you'll love this book or if you just love photo books
this is a book you would enjoy!

Thanks for the Amazing book Caren!

This book is a beautiful retrospective of the lovely Hayworth in B & W photography as well as a few in color. While books about Marilyn Monroe seem to pop up every other week, a book like this about the "Love Goddess of the 40s" is a rare jewel and greatly appreciated. Rita was an interesting star whose life off screen was as complicated, in most cases, as the roles she played on screen. She was "vogue" before Madonna and her best known film, "Gilda" is a testament to old Hollywood glamor. The book follows Rita from her ascent as a B movie starlet to the woman who was at the top of her game at Columbia Pictures. It also allows us to see her as an older woman, still quite lovely, and follows onward to the shocking pictures of her shown the world over as a confused woman plaqued by Alzheimers disease. If you are a fan of Rita Hayworth or of the great black and white stills of the golden age of Hollywood, this book is worth the money. And Madonna was right, Rita indeed "gave good face"!

As a lifelong fan of Rita Hayworth I have to say this is the best book on Rita. The pictures are tremendous and many I have never seen before. Caren gives us a fully rounded portrait of Rita--she does not ignore the unhappiness Rita suffered but unlike another book on Rita she does not paint Rita's life as one of unending misery. This book conveys the same sense of joy and thirst for life that Rita exudes in the best of her pictures and performances. So slip Cover Girl or Gilda in your VCR/DVD player, open up this book and enjoy!

This is definitely not a book for beginners, but once you have got your feet wet with some origami, you may want to give it a try. An excellent collaboration between two top US folders, Montroll and Lang, this books starts with some easy models and quickly progresses up to some really tough stuff. My own favorite is the horseshoe crab, the finished product is wonderfully true-to-life on both the top and the underside of the crab. Definitely models in here that you will love to show off after several hours of careful folding.

Yes, this is an intermediate folders book, but its nowhere near as hard as Lang's Insect book. If you can fold the other Montroll models you can do the ones in this book. There are some easier models, basic fish, with the hardest being those with the most appendages, crabs etc. But I like folding fish. Origami just lends itself to fish models and these are wonderful.

I got this book a couple of days ago and must say I am truly amazed. The authors Lang and Montroll (who I consider two of today's best folders) say "Sea Life", and mean it. Not only does this book contain models from almost every order of water animals (not only fish and crabs, but also shells, echinoderms, frogs, whales...) but the resulting models truly look alive. I just finished my first Atlantic Purple Sea Urchin and it looks like the real thing.

Not for the beginner, though. Most folds in here are as challenging as they are cool.

Mr. Ray's Weekend Novelist is an excellent reference book. However, I wouldn't necessarily use it as a template for writing a novel . . . unless you plan on writing novels similar to Mr. Ray's or to Ann Tyler's "The Accidental Tourist", the novel that Ray uses as an template throughout citing it as a perfect example of a well written novel.

For those new to the daunting task of writing a novel, this book can pigeonhole you into thinking this is the only way to tackling writing. I came across that dilemma. After getting halfway through the book, doing the exercises and starting to write my own novel I began to abandon my old habits of writing and started to adopt Mr. Ray's. I started to feel that I couldn't put pen to paper UNLESS I completely plotted my novel, developed my characters and set up every scene. This didn't work for me. The natural flow I usually feel when writing was taken away and eventually I completely gave up on the process returning to my methods of writing: sitting down with a pad and pencil and allowing the ideas to flow. Then fine tuning the story only after I have a huge chunk of it written and some idea of what I want to convey. Not all novels are structured in Mr. Ray's manner, not all novels use Aristotle's incline to develop plot and storylines and not all novels can be written in 52 weekends.

Not to say this is a bad book at all. It's a wonderful reference book full of ideas and exercises to help you strengthen your writing. For example, it never occurred to me to create backstories and timelines for each of my characters giving them dimension and realism. Ray also offers exercises to help you set up scenes, write dialogue, write action and plot your novel. I now find that I refer to these exercises to help me develop my writing but I no longer follow the program.

This book is a great starting point for those interested in writing a novel but do not have an idea how to start (one more thing: you definitely have to have some idea of what you want to write BEFORE you start). However, for experienced writers you will find that this book is more useful as a reference guide rather than a program to follow.

Robert J. Ray's "The Weekend Novelist" can help just about anyone realize their potential as a novelist. I don't think any of us out there can drop everything to become a professional novelist (unless you're born into wealth, I guess). We all have to work sometime. So, Mr. Ray puts together a program that will allow you to not only write a novel on the weekends but also write a novel with depth and meaning.

Before I read this book, I wrote lots of short stories and the start of a few novels. I used this book to turn some of my old ideas into the reality of a manuscript.

I felt myself getting bogged down at first by following his program of hashing out the details of the lives of the characters. But I quickly realized the commitment that is involved in writing a novel. It's important to develop meaningful characters/structure before you start writing.

Thanks, Mr. Ray! I highly recommend this book to any aspiring writer.

I wish I had studied this book before I ever put pen to paper. I used to think that if only I had something very interesting to write about, then all I would have to do is start writing, and a great story would magically appear. Robert Ray helped me understand just how much planning and preparation go into writing a good novel, as well as what to focus on when plotting your story. There are three things in particular that this book taught me which were especially helpful.

First, this book taught me that what really drives a novel is the characters and their relationships to each other and to events. I looked at Grisham and Clancy and thought that smooth prose filled with action would make a novel into a bestseller. Although that is sometimes true, Robert Ray showed me that the real key to a compelling, meaningful story is a stellar character through which the reader can identify. A good character can drive the whole novel.

The second thing this book taught me, which was perhaps the most valuable for me, is that the basic building block of the novel is not the chapter or even the major plot points, but the individual scenes. Robert Ray shows that each scene is like a compact story within your story, with a set-up, a middle part for conflict and development, and a climax which pushes the story into the next scene. The section on scene building in this book was excellent, and it gave me the breakthrough I needed in understanding how to give a story real structure.

Finally, this book helped me understand the importance of the major plot points, and what has to happen in the scenes at these points in order to make your writing tight.

In addition to the above, this book has many basic tips on how to organize yourself, how to approach your writing, and how to work through the major revisions of your story. There's even an appendix at the end with tips on getting published.

For an amateur like me who has never had any classes in story writing, this book was the most helpful guide that I was able to find.

This book serves as a wonderful technical manual on how you 'should' make a film; usually, that means the most expensive way that independent and underground filmmakers (the target audience) cannot afford. When editing a film on video, you don't 'have' to complete an online edit, spending about $40 per hour at pro editing facilities. You can easily do a quick offline and release it much cheaper with almost the same results.

The book would be a whole lot better if it shared methods and tricks on cutting production and post-production costs down, enabling young filmmakers (with little or no money) to actually finish their films. That is the bottom line, really. The technical side of filmmaking is learned very quickly on your own. Making people think that they have to go the expensive way is counter-productive.

Still, an extremely helpful read.

-N. Foster Tyler

I'm getting into film production but don't have time to attend a real film school. And I'm basically interested in the mechanics of filmmaking - so this book The Filmmkaer's Handbook is perfect.

It gets down to all the basics of filmmaking. If you want to know what a line producer does, how light meters work and the ratio of film stock to projection, this is the book for you.

It's thick but easy to read with nice B&W illustrations. As a novice and somebody who wants to know how a movie is made this book is perfect. I was really impressed by how simple and to the point this book was on the mechanics and made it an easy read. I will keep in hand at all times for reference as well!

Very well done and exactly what I was looking for in a filmmaking book!

The media has traditionally been an extremely specialized, not to mention prohibitively expensive, field. With the introduction of digital production and editing, however, the material costs and requirements for video and audio production is decreasing rapidly, with quality levels already remarkably high and increasing annually.

This book provides a superlative introduction and overview to all of the key subjects in producing a lower- to higher- budget film. Though the title makes reference to the digital age, analog equipment is discussed when pertinent as well, and compared to existing and emerging digital technologies.

The technicalities of optics for lenses is fully detailed, as are filters, microphones, stands and other equipment, recommendations for each field of what emergency supplies to have on hand, editing and previewing equipment, software, to name but a few of the countless topics covered. A truly comprehensive and detailed work.

Anyone with a serious interest in this field can learn from this book the fundamentals needed to get started in extremely high quality digital production. Given the materials and information provided, the cost of the book is truly remarkable. Any reader will complete any section feeling like an expert on the subject. One does not have to begin with experience in the digital arena, however, nor even in video production. Even as technical as this work is, it leads the reader very carefully through all which is pertinent and necessary.

A single possible minor shortcoming, is the description of the process of digitizing analog recordings or an actual/ambient environment, into a digital format. One totally unfamiliar with digital concepts may find the analogies provided a bit difficult to follow. It provides enough of a foundation, however, that an interested reader can seek out more technical and/or accurate descriptions of this process. A very small criticism to an otherwise truly excellent work.

This was a book that definitely should have been written, and thankfully Dave Thomas did us the favor. Second City was a breeding ground for most of the innovative comedians from the mid 70s on. Its contributions to comedy exceed John Mayall's to music. This book deals with those roots and continues to follow the SCTV show, which is the more ideal sketch comedy offsprings. Saturday Night Live, being on NBC, had its control shifted away from the performers to Lorne Michaels and the programming office, whereas SCTV simply translated their stage improvisation to low budget TV with little such interference. It makes for a fascinating study. Where this book falls short is somewhat obvious after a brief looksee. Dave Thomas is an unashamed packrat. He had, over those years, collected everything from the shows. The exhastive tabulation of every sketch in every episode in the appendix is evidence of that. However, that would also be welcomed by SCTV fans in a book outlining the development of each of the sketch characters and perhaps a sketch-by-sketch description with his recollections. Perhaps that should be his next book. (C'mon Dave, what else are you gonna do with all that crap?) Anyway, it's a good two sittings of reading entertainment.

This is like a sort of holy grail for SCTV fans. Tons of background information on how the cast(s) met and how they came together to create this unforgettable series. One of the things I liked about this book was how the writing process went for these people. It talks about how they got along with management and how passionate they were about getting their ideas on air. It also tells us what some of the highlights were for various cast members, but also some of the bad times. For instance, I didn't know how much tension there was among these people when Bob and Doug MacKenzie became stars. Even Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis were bothered by it, because they felt that those Great White North skits were not nearly the best things being produced on the show. It's also nice to see how things progressed over the years and how their outlooks on what they were producing changed. Just watch any first season episode and then one from a few years later and you will see what I mean. All in all, this is a very good read and is an ABSOLUTE MUST OWN for any fan of the show. You will definitely not be disappointed!

Dave Thomas - performer, writer, & producer on "SCTV Network" - gives us an insider's view of the great sketch comedy show which spawned such talents as John Candy, Martin Short, Harold Ramis, & Rick Moranis. Whereas "Saturday Night Live"'s backstage atmosphere was that of a snakepit, "SCTV"'s was friendly and harmonious, creating a more pure artistic statement (and one just as funny as "SNL," if not funnier). The show may have been less high-profile or propular than "SNL" when it was on, but it still has a large, loyal cult following and is often in reruns. That Thomas (most famed as one-half of "The McKenzie Brothers") was in the center of it all from it's inception guarantees the accuracy of all events reported. Plus, he gives generous space to the other writers and stars (among them Andrea Martin, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Robin Duke, & Tony Rosato - the latter two who were also on "SNL"), creating a full panorama of feelings and takes on different situations so that the "SCTV" story is told through the eyes of more than one person involved. A must-read for lovers of the show and anyone interested in comedy.

The African American Writers Handbook : How to Get in Print and Stay in Print by Robert Fleming is the most comprehensive book on writing and being African American in the publishing industry. This book gets beyond the promoting part of being a writer. This book delves into the real issues and explores serious questions such as agents and if and when race should be an issue. This book will soon be the standard for all writing courses worldwide.

The wealth of information contained in the African American Writers Handbook is indespensible, not only as a tool, but as a resource of tidbits and anecdotes never found in books of this sort. Handbooks are not generally meant to be entertaining, but merely informative and instructional. This book masters all. I truly ENJOYED reading it and discovering the fascinating stories behind the lives of many legendary black writers. Do not be fooled by the name. This handbook is for any writer with a desire to enhance their craft and gain insight into the lives of writers who have brightened the literary world. Mr. Fleming did a marvelous job. I would recommend this book to anyone who is serious about writing or simply wants a great read! A definite keeper.

This book is a definite must for any aspiring African American writer! For the reader, it's as if you're a fly on the wall taking part of some top-secret information. The handbook is chock full of information regarding:

1.Tips on submitting proposals, query letters, and preparing manuscripts for submission; 2.Advice on finding an agent and negotiating contracts that launch careers; 3.Interviews with top editors, agents, publishing executives, and bookstore owners; 4.Updated information on copyrights, subsidiary rights, and sales and marketing; 5.The trials and tribulations of self-publishing; and 6.The art of promoting your work and yourself to a wider audience

Not only does this book provide a comprehensive guide to the OTHER side of writing (the okay, now I got a book, what do I need to know now?), but it provides inspiration as well to the number of aspiring writers out there who might feel they will never understand anything beyond the writing-a-book stage... now you have a great beginning lesson to read on the entire publishing process.

If you're a true writer, and want to know about all the facets of the publishing world, this is a book you NEED to have on your shelf.

Shonell Bacon, author

Everyone who reads THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE comes away excited about the benefits of having a learning organization. Yet many get stuck in a rut as they try to implement what they learned in that superb book. THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE FIELD BOOK helps fill in that lack of understanding with dozens of questions, examples and exercises. You'll have a ball with this, even if you only use a little part to focus on where you need help. A great related book for building a learning organization is THE 2,000 PERCENT SOLUTION, which teaches a new thinking process that simplifies and speeds up learning for an organization. It also shows you where you need to get rid of old thinking that is holding you back. You should read and use both.

Senge's second serving of the Learning Organization is filled with practical tips and real-life examples from companies and organizations that have embraced the teachings of the Learning Organization successfully.

The Book is a collaboration of several writers who do a superb job of unraveling the web that is the learning organization. At times, it may seem to the reader that the book is a labyrinth of disjointed concepts and ideas. However, if you have read 'The Fifth Discipline' you will find no problems following the concepts introduced. In fact, you will even understand why the writers have chosen to introduce them in that fashion. If you have not read "The Fifth Discipline', do not despair, it will take a little longer to get 'the whole picture'.
The Book is divided into 8 main sections:

1) Getting Started addresses the basic concepts and ideas of the Learning Organization.
2) Systems Thinking (the fifth discipline) - Many people have argued that Senge should have delegated the fifth discipline until the end, however, without Systems Thinking, your vision is disjointed and incomplete.
3) Personal Mastery covers the area of individual development and learning. The chapters here are among the most valuable in the area of self-growth and self-improvement.
4) Mental Models - These are the pictures that you have in your head which represent reality.
5) Shared Vision - You've seen the whole picture, you've developed and you understand how you see the world. Now you need to find a common cause with the rest of the people in your organization, something that you all work for.
6) Team Learning - As you work with other people in teams or groups, you need to pass the stuff that you have learnt and the wisdom you've acquired to others. At this stage, the learning is no longer that of the individual, but the group.
7) Arenas of Practice - (Self explanatory)
8) Frontiers - Where do we go from here.

If you are interested in development, learning, growth, leadership, gaining a competitive edge whether at an organizational or personal level, then this book is for you. In fact, I'd venture to say that this is book is for everyone.

Bridging the gap between text and context, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook offers everyone a deep and refreshing look at what work can be and should be. The authors ground their stories, examples, exercises in five conceptual touchstones--personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning, and systems thinking. And these disciplines accurately reveal three core tasks in leadership: looking at self, developing others, and seeing the larger picture in order to chart a meaningful course. Stories enliven the ideas while examples and exercises offer practical models to use in any organization. Generous side margins, different colored ink, and graphic icons are visual treats as well as immediate graphic guides. And the narrative references to related issues make reading the book more intuitive, more interesting.

In fact, these physical details model the whole point of the book--that learning is essential for sustainable growth, for organizational and personal development.

Basquiat is one of my favorite artists. I was first captivated by his works that were used in conjunction with Mya Angelou's poem Life Don't Frigten Me None. I was entranced by his art! I looked all over for a book that would give me a retrospective of his art. I found it. This book is wonderful. Great color great art work. Check it out. You'll Dig it too.

THE best book on Basquiat out there! A very talented New York artist that started out doing graffiti on the New York Subways as SAMO and instantly became famous after one day meeting Andy Warhol and giving him a postcard of his artwork. They became quick friends and Warhol had a great influence on his very short career even though Jean-Michel's work is totally different. Jean Michel died tragically from a drug overdose. Cool little known fact - He dated Madonna! Great photos of the Jean-Michel and an incredible extended chronology in the back of the book. Best yet info on the artist existing anywhere in the the book. Color plates of his art work are superb, large, and mostly one per page, incredible color. I highly recommend this book if you are a fan of Jean-Michel or his friends Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, or Andy Warhol.

This is a great book with many of Basquiat's paintings and drawings. It also has various essays by art critics and people who knew him. I suppose the reviewers who slammed Basquiat also think anybody could knock over a couple of paint buckets and be Jackson Pollock. The genius of Basquit in my mind is his ability to create truly beautiful paintings while painting in a seemingly uncontrolled, primitive (I hate that word) fashion. The way he layered colors, and added details is incredible. My favorite is "Untitled (Skull)" 1981. Here is a brilliant example of how Basquiat combines dissarray, ugliness, harmony, and beauty all into the same striking painting. I know Basquiat idolized Hendrix and ultimately went out much like he did, unable to cope with his talent and the attention it brought. To me Basquiat's painting very much mirrors Hendrix's musical talents. They both created wild, noisy, seemingly unharnessed, unpolished art. But to the careful, sensitive observer the true beauty and magic is revealed.

This is a delightful, funny, amazing and inspirational book. It's the remarkable account of how one 23-year-old made a film on the cheap, and how hard he had to work (it was a labor of love, of course) to do that. This book also gives an insightful glimpse into the dazzling world of Hollywood glitz from the point-of-view of "an ordinary Joe" who suddenly finds himself catapulted into a world of limos, expense accounts, and who-you-know mentality. Included in the book are Rodriguez's famous "Ten Minute Film School" essay and the script for his film "El Mariachi" as he wrote it. (No, it's not in "proper script format", but since he wrote, directed, shot, and edited the whole film himself, it didn't matter. Rodriguez rule number one: You don't always have to follow the rules.)

Readers who aren't dying to make their own movies will still find this a tremendously good tale of how an ordinary, middle-class, almost-a-dropout can become a success. Rodriguez's formula for success is a true homily: 10% inspiration + 90% prespiration, and a little blood donated to science. Oh, and a whole lot of chutzpah.

For aspiring independent film-makers, this book is truly a must-read. For everybody else, it's a ripper of a true tale, well told and likeable.

Oh, and don't forget to pair it with the video of "El Mariachi", the film the book is all about. It shows how stylish a "cheap" film can be, and it's a lot of fun, especially when you know all the "inside jokes": cheat sheets, wheelchair dollies, why everybody always gets shot in the chest, etc.

Whether you are a filmmaker who has been in the field for many years or one who is anxiously ready to do their first film, I highly recommend reading "Rebel Without a Crew" by Robert Rodriguez. The book is literally reading Robert's journal and almost like being with him every step of the way as he gets the film "El Mariachi" created and more. From beginning to his next project, you can't help but keep reading and not wanting to put the book down. It's that good! If there is one thing I truly appreciate is that he writes without the B.S. and he tells you how he feels from the people he meets, the dinner he has, filming a movie with $7,000 and more. After buying and reading this book, please pick up the "El Mariachi/Desperado" DVD to further enjoy his work by watching the film, how he made the film and also to watch the popular short film he made, "Bedhead". Last, borrowing Robert's sentence that he emphasizes quite a few times through the book and DVD. "First step to being a filmmaker is stop aying you want to be a filmmaker". You are a filmmaker. Thank you Mr. Rodriguez for the inspirational book and proving to Hollywood and those in the industry that things that may have seemed impossible is possible.

I admired Rodriguez's work before I read this book, but I have to admit, now I'm a disciple. It's been weeks since I read this book, but it's still in my head. Does that mean I've been permanently changed? That's a pretty amazing feat for the diary of a filmmaker.

This book is the incredible tale (told in excerpts from Rodriguez's diary) of how Robert Rodriguez went from submitting film shorts to small-time film festivals to travelling to Hollywood, getting an agent, and finally winning an award at Sundance. (And you can see the epilogue of the book, as Rodriguez's most recent film, "Spy Kids" has almost reached $100 million domestically after only five weeks).

Since Rodriguez wrote his diary as his life was being radically altered, the reader really gets to make the journey with him from medical guinea pig to camera jockey to the most sought-after person in Hollywood... it's amazing.

The best part is that Rodriguez is also a teacher, and his book manages to be massively instructive as well as encouraging. Rodriguez gives practical advice about things like cameras, lighting, and films, as well as advice on more ephemeral topics, like staying true to yourself in filmmaking. Like a more-experienced older brother, Rodriguez tells us how to deal with the junk that Hollywood metes out, and how to emerge personality intact.

It's clear that Rodriguez is emerging as a Hollywood maverick and leader, much like other indie-turned-studio directors such as Steven Soderbergh ("Sex, Lies and Videotape," "Erin Brockovich" and "Traffic"), and this book is a veritable how-to manual. A roadmap to filmmaking, if you will.

Yes, it's a must-read if you are a filmmaker ("So you want to be a filmmaker?" asks Rodriguez. "First step to being a filmmaker is to stop saying you want to be a filmmaker... you don't want to be a filmmaker, you ARE a filmmaker.") But if you love stories of excruciating hard work mingled with blood and sweat, David taking on Goliath, and a super-big payoff ending, then this is a story you won't want to miss.

When's your next diary coming out, Robert?

Good craft teachers are able to teach their students all the skills it takes for their professional life. Great teachers go beyond that: they try to make their students Understand the craft. By telling them about its historical development, by developing their taste instead of just giving good recipes, by showing the inside. In The Elements of Typographic Style, Robert Bringhurst puts the why before the how. His work is a mix of a very elaborate history of typography, a wealth of discussions on all kinds of big and little subjects any typographer wants or forgets to consider - and yes, also practical advice. For instance, Bringhurst first makes clear why with some fonts, it is inappropriate to use bold - and then he goes on showing how to create up to six visually different levels of subheads without using bold once. Even in such cases, Bringhurst stays far away from soothing his readers with quick and dirty advices. As he explained after finishing the book, he wanted nothing more or less than simply to write a book about typography as good as he could - a truly genuine approach in an age where customer orientation is often taken to the extremes. No wonder Bringhurst values timeless typographical virtues higher than the fashions of the day. Some readers may find the result of this approach a bit too academical or lyrical. For them, other excellent books on typography are waiting on the shelf. For me, Bringhurst is a great teacher.

This book is amazing. Whether a newspaper copyfitter or a web graphic designer, this text contains useful and informative information that will help the serious designer firmly root themselves in this oft-overlooked science.

To be fair, this is not a quick, to the point text-- it was written with the serious professional/enthusiast as the target audience. There is no list of rules to follow within. Bringhurst instead explains with detail and enthusiasm the very purpose and history of typesetting, all the while furthering the reader's appreciation and style.

A must buy for anyone who ever has or ever will deal with the printed (on paper or the web) page.

The art of typography is given its due in this handsome volume. Bringhurst's prose is lucid. His brief history of type and his mini-essays on many of the most popular fonts will help anyone understand what separates great book design from merely good or adequate design. ¶ I work for a composition house which deals with many of the largest publishers, and I can tell you this: if more book designers were familiar with the principles so well and succinctly outlined in this little treasure, some publishers might be able to take their production costs down a notch. ¶ The book itself is wonderfully designed, although it's true that the gutter margin (complained of in another Amazon review) could be a little bigger. ¶ Overall, "The Elements of Typographic Style" is definitely an essential reference book for those involved with type on a regular basis, as well as a fascinating, well-researched read for anyone with a passing interest in fonts or book design.