Book Description
If you're interested in Plato, you're reading the wrong book. If you're interested in difficult childhoods, sexual misadventures, aesthetics, cultural history, and the reasons that a club sandwich and other meals--including breakfast--have remained in the memory of the present writer, keep reading.
--from Feelings Are Facts
In this memoir, dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker Yvonne Rainer traces her personal and artistic coming of age. Feelings Are Facts (the title comes from a dictum by Rainer's one-time psychotherapist) uses diary entries, letters, program notes, excerpts from film scripts, snapshots, and film frame enlargements to present a vivid portrait of an extraordinary artist and woman in postwar America.
Rainer tells of a California childhood in which she was farmed out by her parents to foster families and orphanages, of sexual and intellectual initiations in San Francisco and Berkeley, and of artistic discoveries and accomplishments in the New York City dance world. Rainer studied with Martha Graham (and heard Graham declare, "when you accept yourself as a woman, you will have turn-out"--that is, achieve proper ballet position) and Merce Cunningham in the late 1950s and early 1960s, cofounded the Judson Dance Theater in 1962 (dancing with Trisha Brown, Steve Paxton, David Gordon, and Lucinda Childs), hobnobbed with New York artists including Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Morris (her lover and partner for several years), and Yoko Ono, and became involved with feminist and anti-war causes in the 1970s and 1980s. Rainer writes about how she constructed her dances--including The Mind Is a Muscle and its famous section, Trio A, as well as the recent After Many a Summer Dies the Swan--and about turning from dance to film and back to dance. And she writes about meeting her longtime partner Martha Gever and discovering the pleasures of domestic life.
The mosaic-like construction of Feelings Are Facts recalls the composition-by-juxtaposition of Rainer's work in film and dance, displaying prismatic variations from what she calls her "reckless past" for our amazement and appreciation.
Customer Reviews:
portrait of the artist as a young woman.......2006-11-02
This is a beautiful piece of writing and one of the most candid memoirs of the artist as a young woman that I have read. Although dance is not one of my major interests, I found Rainer's attraction to performing and her development as a dancer fascinating and applicable to anyone passionate about any field. Her descriptions of family members and her account of the difficulties of integrating sexual/intimate relationships and her work life are particularly moving and compelling. I was sorry when the book ended and recommend it particularly to young women trying to compose their lives. Also, the book itself is a delight to look at: great paper, interesting photographs and quality production.
Book Description
The author who revealed the myths behind J.K. Rowling's creatures now tackles literature's most beloved epic fantasy, by bringing to light the legends that influenced J.R.R. Tolkien-and answering pertinent questions ranging from "Why do Hobbits live in holes?" to "When in the world is Middle-earth?"
This book was not authorized, prepared, approved, licensed, or endorsed by the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien, New Line Cinema, Warner Bros., or any other individual or entity associated with The Lord of the Rings book or movie.
Customer Reviews:
Entry-level "Worlds".......2004-05-11
David Colbert is best-known for his "Magical Worlds of Harry Potter," a relatively matter-of-fact background guide. Now Colbert produces "The Magical Worlds of Lord of the Rings," with its insights into the literature, legend, and religion behind "Lord of the Rings.
Colbert does a fairly good job of giving us insights into the myths (Norse legends), literature ("Beowulf," the book "Babbitt," Shakespeare's influence on faeries and elves), religion (the source of Galadriel: Mary, mother of Jesus), and Tolkien's own opinions at the time (industrialization destroying the beautiful countryside where he grew up).
Colbert makes some rather obvious errors (usually linked with the "Silmarillion" rather than "Lord of the Rings"), but nothing too awful. Overall he does a pretty good job of addressing common questions like "How Many Languages Did Tolkien Invent?", "Who Was Tolkien's First Dark Lord?" or "How Did Orcs Get So Ugly?". He writes breezily and conversationally, as if addressing a bunch of listeners.
Does "Magical Worlds" stand above other Tolkien guides? Nah. It's a pretty good guide for entry-level fans, but long-time fans will already know much of this material. However, fans who are new to Middle-Earth and who don't know a lot of the background will probably find this invaluable. If you have only seen the movies, or are only just tackling the books, this is a good place to start answering your questions.
"Magical Worlds of Lord of the Rings" is a pretty solid beginner's guide to "Lord of the Rings" and its background material. New to Middle-Earth? Then you may just find your answers here.
decent..........2004-02-08
Although easy to read, and good for those who have seen the movies and not read the book, I would not really recommend this to anyone who has read the books and is looking to expand on their knowledge of Tolkien's world. There are a few mistakes and often times (to my horror) characters are compared to Harry Potter characters. If you want a good bed time read this book is probably for you. But if you are serious about getting to know Tolkien, try something else first.
Colbert and Tolkien.......2004-02-01
I found David cobert's peice very informative, clear, and at times very profound. However, as a Tolkien fan, having studied The Silmarillion, and having read Tolkien's works numerous times, I found several errors in this book.
Certainly there can be different interpretations of works, but Colbert seems to have had misconceptions about both the Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. I found that most of the time he knows what he's talking about and is learned in the books, but I also find that he doesn't understand some of the things Tokien wrote. For example, Colbert says that humans were given Numenor as a reward for helping the Elves. It is quite clear in The Silmarillion that waht Colbert states isn't exactly what occurs. It was, yes, a land given to Men by the Valar, to not just any humans, but the Edain. These are not just Men, they have Elven blood in them. This is the place of the Edain, distinct from ordinary men of Middle-Earth. Colbert fails to make this distinction. Also, in Colbert's chapter on religion in The Lord of the Rings, he calls the Valar "angelic spirits." Indeed that they may be, but to the Elves these are like gods with Iluvatar being the supreme god and creator of the universe. Colbert states that Hobbits do not belive in gods, but when Frodo is stabbed by the morgul blade of the witch-king at Amon-Sul (Weather-Top), he screams out "O Elbereth! Githoniel!" which are in reference to the Valar. I found other discrepancies, but I will spare them for the sake of time.
Again, Colbert wrote this book for any one to read within a matter of hours ( I read it in 2) and wrote its very clearly. He does, however, fail to remain true to some of the facts in the history of Middle-Earth. Some elemtents are also not developed for the reader, whether having read Tolkien or not, to understand.
A guide to Middle Earth for both novice and fan.......2004-01-02
As of the writing of this review, the third movie installment of the Lord of the Rings has just been released into the theaters. With all the hype over each release of The Lord of the Rings, it seems incredible to me that there is anyone who is not familiar with at least the story line of this epic. Yet, it seems that almost daily I meet people who have not the faintest idea of what the trilogy is about. They have not seen the movies; they have not read the books, they do not know what Hobbits are, they never heard of an Ent, and they have no idea of what a Orc is. If this describes you, you need this book.
Well written and easy to read, it can serve as a primer to the uninitiated or as a resource to the most avid fan of LOTRs. What makes this book so interesting is that Colbert delves into the thinking of Tolkien as he wrote the Ring trilogy as well as the medieval literature that inspired him. Now before you prejudge this book and dismiss it as an uninteresting tome, I beg you to reconsider. It is really a fascinating read.
The huge success of the Lord of the Rings revival can be attributed to a large part to the September 11 attack. There is a war between good and evil, light and darkness going on and people need to know that good will prevail. But the Lord of the Rings is more complicated than merely good verses evil; it is a story of the complex motives and emotions that govern us. The Magical Worlds of the Lord of the Rings will help deepen you understanding of these great themes.
A mythological study of Tolkien for juvenile readers.......2003-12-21
Better than Leslie Ellen Jones's "Myth & Middle-earth": by not pretending to give anything more than simple, basic explanations of the most obvious mythic parallels, and delivering them in language not overly cutesy, Colbert succeeds at his modest task surprisingly well.
Amazon.com
"When legend becomes fact, print the legend."
Director John Ford's quote prefaces Based on a True Story: Fact and Fantasy in 100 Favorite Movies, a book that digs into the facts behind 100 movies that were--supposedly--based on true events including popular fare as Hoosiers, Ed Wood, Seabiscuit, and Erin Brokovich. Previous books of this lineage were usually written by historians who looked at every foible of a film. Here, authors Jonathan Vankin and John Whalen come from a more movie-centric position. They know filmmakers must telescope events, create composite characters, and give the Hollywood treatment to other elements to simply be produced and enjoyed. They are movie fans who can praise The French Connection as a grand film with terrific action sequences, but note the true events were far less visceral (leading to the book title's asterisk "but with more car crashes"). More modern films are examined in these 3-5 page segments with excellent further reading notes including Web sites. The authors also question how truthful a film should be, even great films, praising the accuracy of Ghandi and GoodFellas and delivering harsh blows to Monster, Braveheart, and A Beautiful Mind. Besides the usual chapters of factual films (war, sports, biopics), they also search out films "based" on paranormal incidents that can't keep the "facts" straight. Mentioned often, and placed at the end of the book, is Oliver Stone's JFK, the movie that "gave birth to this book." In one sense, the film "must be the most fact-heavy film in Hollywood history" but the sources materials are so questionable. Perhaps Stone realizes the power of Ford's quote better than any other Hollywood filmmaker. --Doug Thomas
Book Description
Exposing the real stories behind 100 hit reality-based movies, this captivating resource offers interesting facts about some of the most well-respected and much-loved films. For both film buffs and casual moviegoers, this invaluable guide explores Hollywood's ardent and often uncomfortable relationship with the factual accounts it converts into fantasy. Illuminating films such as A Beautiful Mind, Adaptation, Apollo 13, Black Hawk Down, Catch Me If You Can, Erin Brockovich, The French Connection, The Perfect Storm, and Titanic, this work reveals how Hollywood alters history for movie fans, leaving filmgoers often unable to tell the difference between fact and fiction. A riveting examination, this volume focuses on alterations to the "true story" such as concocted love affairs, annoyingly obvious character motivations, trumped-up endings, bigger explosions, more car crashes, and spontaneous songs, all created for the sake of entertainment.
Customer Reviews:
Informative and Accurate.......2006-05-03
Great book because it gives the other side of the "based on a true story" movie. Makes you look at movies in a different light.
Disillusioned - Over and Over Again.......2005-08-25
The authors do meticulous research and supply ample source footnotes in their reviews of one hundred movies dating from the seventies to many quite recent releases. Their analysis is so straightforward despite the liberal interjection of sarcasm that it is impossible to conclude that the great majority of Hollywood filmmakers couldn't honor truth if you paid them to, even though in many cases they apparently enjoy pretending to while being paid.
If you are a movie fan and look at cinema as a strong forcefor "truth and beauty" in the world this book will cause you to thing again. Is it possible that all the failed would be blockbusters are an indication that the audience has enough continuous access to viewing video products that even the most uncaring are better able to instinctively sniff out obscured incredibility and turn their noses up?
The fascination with mere flickering images may be over. We will see what happens as the means of production goes all digital and the price of entry into movie making goes down by orders of magnitude. It may be that everyone can get a shot at being a star. We also may be on the receiving end of many opinion pieces masquerading as documentaries. Yes I know, at least Michael Moore cares and believes passionately about his subject matter.
If you really want to hear about an instance of dishonest and ludicrous audience manipulation do an internet search on "lemmings to the sea" and find out about Disney's cruelty and venality in the 1958 production "White Wilderness". Suffice to say that lemmings never hurled themselves off cliffs committing suicide.
An antidote for psychic pain at the multiplex.......2005-08-15
As an historian who is also a film buff, I try to be lenient when faced with a movie that bends the facts more than necessary. Anyone who has ever tried to write a screenplay, even one based on a novel much less on a real person's life or a real historical incident (and I have), knows you do indeed have to adapt a story (or real life) to the medium of film -- but there's a limit, and some flicks are just too much to take. The authors, talented entertainment-journalists, know this, for the most part. They obviously loved *Shakespeare in Love* and admit that it stuck close to the exceedingly few facts that are known about Shakespeare; likewise *Girl with a Pearl Earring* (a gorgeous film), since almost nothing is known about Vermeer. And they'll accept the rather minor biographical changes made in *Erin Brockovich* and *Norma Rae* as being simply unavoidable. But they really rake Mel Gibson over the coals (deservedly, I think), both for the perversion of English history committed in *Braveheart* (the Christ-like martyrdom of Wallace, they suggest, was practice for *The Passion*) and for the equally perverted treatment of the American Revolution in *The Patriot* (which pissed off a lot of people on the other side of the Atlantic with its suggestion of Nazi-style behavior on the part of the British). They come down hard on *The Hurricane* for claiming that Carter won fights that he actually lost, merely to reenforce the theme of racism, nor have they anything good to say about *Elizabeth*, the 1998 version, in which Cate Blanchett portrays a young queen so insipidly naive and trusting, "she wouldn't have lasted longer than a fortnight (or whichever ye olde calendar notation ye prefer)" -- in which they'll entirely correct. (I hated that movie.) They don't have much use for Spike Lee's egotism, either, especially in *Malcolm X*. They reserve real venom for the fact that *Amistad* not only jerks history around, the production company, Spielberg's Dreamworks, actually had the nerve to send out study guides to schools promoting wholly made-up characters as actual historical models to be emulated. In other cases, the authors simply wonder why liberties with real people were taken unnecessarily, as in *Seabiscuit* or *The Elephant Man*. Some of the biopics the pair analyze, such as *American Splendor*, probably don't belong here (Harvey Pekar is hardly "historical"), and some, like *Communion* and *The Mothman Prophecies*, don't belong anywhere, but they presumably had to come up with an even hundred. However, the film that led to this book being written is Oliver Stone's *JFK*, the most vilified film ever made -- before it was even released. As the subsequently published "documented screenplay" demonstrates, every voiced opinion in Stone's film came out of forty years of assassination research. "To its critics, *JFK* was a film that offended their deeply held view of the world. Stone questioned their religion." This is a good book to keep at hand while browsing through your DVD collection.
It Needed More "True Story" and Less Opinion.......2005-04-07
Based on a True Story tells the "real facts" behind dozens of movies that are supposedly based on real people and stories - from blockbusters like Erin Brockovich to more obscure films. The stories are often fascinating and revealing. But the authors' analysis often left me frustrated - they obviously give certain films more leeway than others when it comes to bending the truth. One film might ignore inconvenient facts, and it's dismissed as "blatant pandering", but another movie might do something almost identical and it's called "fulfilling the director's vision". It's quite obvious which types of movies the authors like and which ones they don't. I enjoyed the backstories behind the films, but after a while I started skipping over the authors' harangues.
Fun Read but...........2005-02-01
"Based on a True Story" is an immensly enjoyable mini-survey of the "real" story behind many of the fact-based films of our time with particular emphasis placed on how much "fact" there is at each films base. The breezily written accounts of these films are always fun to read and, if they don't "expose" many new factual mis-steps (How many film fans are there who don't already know how "fictional" the purportedly fact-based "A Beautiful Mind" is?)they do offer intelligent, brief, discussions of films that (wonder of wonders!) actually merit them. One major quibble though: For a book that is dedicated to exposing falsehoods in films of all sorts, it perpetuates one of the greatest. This is not the first book that attributes the line from "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" ("When the legend becomes fact, print the legend") to John Ford. Ford DIRECTED the movie. The screenplay was by James Warner Bellah & Willis Goldbeck, from a story by Dorothy M. Johnson. While it is notoriously hard to tell who did what in a film, one would think that the Screenwriters should at least be credited with the DIALOGUE!
Customer Reviews:
Bad subject, great presentation.......2003-02-13
Madonna is the ultimate emperor in new clothes (all pomp, no circumstance), but these Rolling Stone Files collections are well organized, easy to follow, and fascinating in their ability to let us follow a career via some of the best writing in the business. Madonna is a fascinating anomaly because of her almost freakish ambition combined with an appalling lack of real talent. That makes this a very readable collection, even if I never listen to the music or see the godawful movies.
Awesome.......2000-04-07
Great if you love Madonna, as I do. Also, good if you are just interested in reading about her. She is fascinating....always has been, always will be. Madonna is a living legend! Also recommend, Encyclopedia Madonnica.....Madonna is absolutely fabulous!
The 3 best books about Madonna.......1999-06-14
1. This one (Rolling Stone Files) 2. Encyclopedia Madonnica (Matthew Rettenmund) 3. Madonna Unauthorized (Christopher Anderson)
With these 3 books you will learn more about Madonna then she even knows about herself.
Mandatory for any fanatic who wants to know more about this show-biz lady, other then what they see and hear on radio, TV, onstage, and onscreen.
Viva Ciccone!
Triumphant!!!.......1999-05-04
Rolling Stone and Madonna?Why not.Her being in the cover on all reincartions deserves a compilation.Essential to all Madonnaics,here we could trace her humble begginings,rise to fame,the endless critical scrutiny...it's all here and more.Missing though are the tongue in cheek covers,picture,and one liners.(Perhaps,one need to buy RS coffee table book Covers,to totally enjoy the moment).Concise,right on track and enjoyable!!!
madonnaology.......1999-02-16
Being a Madonnaologists in my own write, I enjoyed this history. I also found the Madonna stuff in POSTMODERNISM FOR BEGINNERS, intriguing.
Book Description
Adaptations have long been a mainstay of Hollywood and the television networks. Indeed, most Academy Award- and Emmy Award-winning films have been adaptations of novels, plays, or true-life stories. Linda Seger, author of two acclaimed books on scriptwriting, now offers a comprehensive handbook for screenwriters, producers, and directors who want to successfully transform fictional or factual material into film. Seger tells how to analyze source material to understand why some of it resists adaptation. She then gives practical methods for translating story, characters, themes, and style into film. A final section details essential information on how to adapt material and how to protect oneself legally
Customer Reviews:
covers the basics well, but a bit dated.......2006-07-19
Seger does a good job of covering the basics of how to adapt a published work &/or a real-life story into a saleable screenplay. The final section of the book explains the legal aspects of optioning a script, and this is extremely helpful as well. On the down side, this book was published in 1992 and most of the examples Seger uses are from films that were released around that time. As someone who was born in the late 70s, I found myself skipping paragraph after paragraph about movies that I'd never seen, or that I hadn't seen in 10 years. The book is further dated when Seger gives mailing addresses and phone numbers of places to seek more information -- pretty much no one had a website in 1992. If you've recently watched Room With a View, Deliverance, Out of Africa, Reversal of Fortune, Driving Miss Daisy, and Field of Dreams, you'll probably connect with this book better than I did.
A Really Helpful Guide.......2000-03-23
Adapting a story from one medium and making it work in another is a daunting task -- far more difficult than someone who has never tried it might imagine. Dr. Seger clearly understands the challenges and gives writers useful information on how to tackle the job. Her book is useful not only for film and television writers, but for all writers who are struggling with the issues inherant in adaptation. I have adapted true stories (histories and contemporary events) for film and TV; novels for TV dramas; and feature films (including Pixar's "Toy Story") for interactive stories and games, and have found Dr. Seger's book a great help and support for all these situations.
The Art of Adaptation : Turning Fact and Fiction into Film.......2000-03-22
I've used the principles I learned from this book since I read it over a year ago. The adaptation techniques helped turn our reality based productions from around the world into character driven stories in three acts. Story development on our news magazine format is easier. The audience reaction has been amazing. I just recommended it to another producer.
An art of it's own.......2000-03-18
Having adapted stories to screenplays both before and after reading Seger's book I can recommend it highly.
Her Lack of Knowledge.......2000-01-20
This book is as bad as Seger's previous books. It's contents only go to show the depth of her lack of knowledge. Ask yourself something: How many adaptations has Seger written? Avoid this book and read Ben Brady instead.
Average customer rating:
|
Western Gunslingers in Fact and on Film: Hollywood's Famous Lawmen and Outlaws
Buck Rainey
Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0786403969 |
Book Description
Billy the Kid, Wild Bill Hickok, Belle Starr, Wyatt Earp, the Younger Gang, the Dalton-Doolin Gang and Bat Masterson-where does the truth end and the legend begin? Each chapter-length entry here first focuses on the known facts of the people's lives, then compares the truth to how they have been portrayed in the movies.
Customer Reviews:
A great gift for the western-nut.......2007-06-02
This book is a walk down memory land for those of us who grew up on western movies. I gave it as a gift to a friend who is truly addicted to westerns. Now if someone would only write a book on the movie horses the stars rode, we'd all be fascinated.
Enthusiastic encyclopedia`.......2006-03-24
For a change, a group of enthusiastic reviews of classic westerns, by someone who actually enjoyed them. Refreshing and enjoyable, not to mention informative.
Indispensible reference.......2005-07-18
For the casual to the serious western movie fan this is THE reference. Much in the way of storylines, cast and credits. Of great value when deciding which western DVD release to add to your collection. And at the rate they are turning out new westerns today, this reference is unfortunately going to be current for a long time. Well worth the price.
Great Western Reference.......2005-07-16
Herb Fagen's The Encyclopedia of Westerns is a great reference book for Western movies. It includes entries for over 3,500 Westerns, with most getting a plot synopsis and some comments from the author on the quality or significance of that particular film. Fagen's comments are interesting and sometimes insightful, and the information provided is fairly comprehensive.
The Encyclopedia of Westerns is well written and is a "must have" for fans of the Western genre.
The Old West Lives Again in Movies.......2004-07-26
This is an excellent book for anyone who loves the Old West in Movies genre. I am going through it with a fine tooth comb and loving every entry I pass through. The movies are well entered and easy to read offering everything I want to know about the movie. Also, I'm finding quotes from the westerns which is something I really enjoy.
I could not recommend this book any better. I'm an author of Old West non-fiction and so I enjoy it as the Old West lives again in the movies for me. It's worth the money.
Average customer rating:
- Thank you "Good Morning America!"
- Laugh out loud.
- Nice Job!
- "Brand-new"? -- Not really . . .
|
National Lampoon's Big Book of True Facts
Manufacturer: Rugged Land
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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| Humor
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Love, Sex & Marriage
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ASIN: 1590710592
Release Date: 2005-05-31 |
Book Description
National Lampoon’s True Facts:
At long last, a completely new and unique collection of National
Lampoon’s wacky, true, and amazingly stupid True Facts.
Brief Description:
Before Jay Leno’s “Headlines,” before the New York Post’s “Weird but
True,” there was National Lampoon’s TRUE FACTS–hilarious real-life
advertisements, stupefying signs, weird wedding announcements, and
other completely absurd-but-true samples of real-life funny stuff.
Customer Reviews:
Thank you "Good Morning America!".......2004-07-23
I just saw this Bicycling Comedian guy on Good Morning America showing pictures of his funny road signs. I had to go out and buy the book! It doesn't disappoint.
Tons of great color photos interspersed with funny newspaper clippings. Must be the best collection of funny road signs out there, very cleverly put together with a theme on each page.
Everybody I've shown it to has laughed out loud, no matter what page they turn to. Reall funny stuff.
Laugh out loud........2004-07-07
Or maybe snicker and chortle. This big, colorful book is full of pictures that will make you giggle and true-but-strange news stories that will have you going to your friends and say "listen to this!"
Really funny!
Nice Job!.......2004-06-30
This book is a great collection of the 'best' of National Lampoon's famous True Facts section which started the whole "Weird News" category.
The new stuff is just as good, and the presentation of the material makes for a snicker-when-no-one's-looking book. A very guilty pleasure!
"Brand-new"? -- Not really . . ........2004-06-29
The editors of National Lampoon do not understand the term "brand-new." At least 75% of the material in this book comes directly from the 1995 collection "National Lampoon Presents True Facts: The Big Book." This 2004 edition should be marketed as a four-color reissue with some additions, not as a completely new work. The new material is not very funny, the editorial comments are rife with typos, and at least three images are repeated twice _in the same book_! What a sloppy, frustrating follow-up to the hilarious 1995 collection.
(...)
Book Description
From Jeff Lenburg's obsessive fascination with the subject comes this ultimate guide to cartoons. More than 2,200 cartoon entries encompass all aspects of this twentieth-century cultural phenomenon: creators, directors, production studios, voice talent, episode titles, and dates of release. With a forward by June Foray (the voice behind Granny and Rocky the Squirrel), more than 150 illustrations, and a nutshell history of American animation, this home reference details every cartoon and every cartoon character ever created.
Customer Reviews:
MIXED.......2007-05-16
A useful listing of US animated cartoons wth dates and credits, and with lists of individual theater cartoons.
The original 1981 edition covered theater cartoon series, listing individual films, and was a major reference.
This is the (1999) second edition of the 1991 expanded edition which organized the material into general categories - under theater cartoons (silent, sound and feature) and TV (specials and series) There is now much more on made-for-TV cartoons than I want, and even the cover and inside color-plates are largely TV characters. There is no attempt to list individual episodes of the TV series.
I have a general aversion to a reference being arranged in alphabetical order. For looking up an item, that's easily covered by the index. For a reading overview, arranging chronologicaly - or by producing studio - would be more instructive.
It amazed me..........2006-07-12
The highest tribute that I can give to this book is that I could not find a single animated cartoon from my experience that it did not cover. I felt sure that I knew of a few obscure ones that would not be in here- and I was wrong. Moreover, I found much here that I wasn't familiar with. That absolutely amazed me.
This true encyclopedia is organised into five major sections 1) silent cartoon series, 2)theatrical sound cartoon series, 3)full-length animated features, 4) animated television specials, and 5) television cartoon series. There are numerous black and white illustrations of various characters included with the text, as well as color plates in the middle of the book. I suppose considering the scope of this reference it would have been difficult to illustrate everything. Still, it would have been fantastic to have model sheets for every single entry...
I have found myself getting this book down and browsing through it more times than I want to admit- while cursing the children's television "activists" that have robbed generations of the joy of experiencing many of these classics and near classics (and some of the classically bad.)
Great!.......2004-07-29
This is one of the best books. Except one thing: mistakes and lies. Ok, what is with the mistakes in the voice-actor list? I mean: April Winchell as Sebastin the Crab? Tress Macnille as LanchPaud? Did two people do the voice of Velma? Of course not, there are some HUGE lies. But at least it was a good book. but it, just avoid the lies.
A longtime prelude to bcdb.com.......2004-06-22
If you're in search of information regarding a certain cartoon,you'll find it in this book. This book was first released in 1981,long before the debut of the Internet and The Big Cartoon Database,aka bcdb.com. This book only lists motion picture cartoons. It does not list comicstrips. Theatrical cartoons,Saturday morning television cartoons,animated features,you'll find them all.
An excellent (if somewhat flawed) resource.......2004-01-06
Less of a book than a listing, The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons has an exhaustive listing of cartoons from the 'teens up until about 1997. Best of all are the titles for theatrical shorts and detailed listings of Emmy and Oscar nominees/winners. If you need (or want) to look up something about a cartoon, this is probably the best place to look.
However, this book is *not* perfect. Besides being some 6 years out of date, the book doesn't track direct-to-video movies and seems to neglect a few imported cartoons that had hit airwaves before 1997. Also, many '80s cartoons (particularly those from the great toy-license revolution) have incorrect series synopses, voice credits, and even entries (such as the listings for G.I. Joe). This book is invaluable, yes, but it is sorely in need of a third edition (and possibly a co-author who can research obscure and/or lesser regarded cartoons). Keep this in mind before purchasing the second edition.
Books:
- Film Art: An Introduction and Film Viewers Guide
- Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style, Third Edition
- Film Posters of the Russian Avant-Garde (Jumbo)
- Filmmakers and Financing, Fifth Edition: Business Plans for Independents
- Filmmakers and Financing, Fifth Edition: Business Plans for Independents
- Flash 8: Projects for Learning Animation and Interactivity (O'Reilly Digital Studio)
- From So Simple a Beginning: Darwin's Four Great Books (Voyage of the Beagle, The Origin of Species, The Descent of Man, The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals)
- Grandparents & Grandchildren: Shared Memories
- Great Books of the Western World (Great books of the Western world)(60 Volumes)
- Grindhouse: The Sleaze-filled Saga of an Exploitation Double Feature
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth-Century Atlantic Economy
- Dolphin Chronicles
- A Brief History Of The Smile
- American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World
- Cinema for French Conversation: Le Cinema en Cours de Francais, Second Edition
- Ernest Hemingway Audio Collection CD
- Collected Works of Sigurd F. Olson: The Early Writings, 1921-1934
- Intuition @ Work: & at Home and at Play
- Being Local Worldwide: ABB and the Challenge of Global Management
- Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process
Chance and Circumstance: Twenty Years with Cage and Cunningham
My Body, The Buddhist
Hollis Frampton: (nostalgia) (One Work)
A Woman Who...: Essays, Interviews, Scripts (PAJ Books: Art + Performance)
The Films of Yvonne Rainer (Theores of Representation and Difference)
