In this comic and moving and completely true tale, Film School reveals what life is like at the elite school that trained Hollywood’s biggest names.

When Midwestern journalist Steve Boman applied to the University of Southern California’s vaunted School of Cinematic Arts, the world’s oldest and most prestigious film school, he had more than a few strikes against him: His wife was recovering from thyroid cancer. His beloved sister had just died of leukemia. He lost his job. He had three young children. He was in his late 30s…. And he had no experience in filmmaking.

As Boman navigates his way through USC’s arduous three-year graduate production program, he finds that his films fall flat, he’s threatened with being kicked out of the program and he becomes the old guy no one wants to work with. Defeated, he quits and moves back to the Midwest to be with his family. After he is urged by his wife to reapply, he miraculously gets in for a second time…only to have a stroke on the first day of classes. But instead of doing the easy thing – running away again — Boman throws caution to the wind and embraces the challenge. He slowly becomes a gray-haired Golden Boy at USC with films that sparkle. And then he does the impossible: While still in school, for a class project, he dreams up a television series that CBS catches wind of and develops into THREE RIVERS, a primetime Sunday night show.

This story of challenge and triumph—and what it takes to make it in the world’s most famous film school—is a must-read for anyone aspiring to become a Hollywood great or anyone just looking for a good story.

About Steve Boman

Steve Boman was just your average middle-aged ex-newspaper reporter and stay-at-home dad when he applied to be a student at the University of Southern California’s vaunted School of Cinematic Arts. Boman didn’t know what would await him at the world’s oldest and most prestigious film school, a place that has trained Hollywood heavyweights George Lucas, John Carpenter, James Ivory, Judd Apatow, Brian Grazer, Shonda Rhimes, John Singleton, Jay Roach, Conrad Hall, and many others.

Editorial Reviews

Film School is a must-read for anyone who has ever wanted to attend USC (myself included) or any other film program.  It’s also a great motivator for anyone who wants to change careers but worries that it’s too late (me again).  And have I mentioned how freaking awesome the cover is?   — from Chicks Dig Books.

His approach is reminiscent of the Harvard student who became an able-bodied seaman in the 1830s and sailed in a tall ship around Cape Horn to write the classic of experiential journalism, TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.- From David Howard’s foreword to Film School. 

“Read Steve Boman’s Film School to understand all the effort, heartbreak, creativity, begging, stealing, joy, backstabbing and stamina that it takes to make movies. Part exposé, part-American-Dream-come-true, Boman’s keenly observant and fascinating book takes the shine off of the glamour we know as Hollywood and shows us the real world of making movies.”
—Ali Selim, writer and director of SWEETLAND, 2007 Independent Spirit winner; director of episodes of IN TREATMENT, CRIMINAL MINDS

Book review: Steve Boman tells tales from ‘Film School’ at USC

The Chicago Tribune Book Review – January 31, 2012 (Excerpt)

I’ve always thought of advanced degrees in filmmaking as finishing school for misfits. Brilliant misfits, some of them. But misfits just the same.

Into the film school world stumbles Steve Boman, a former reporter seeking a midlife U-turn. Astoundingly, even to him, the father of three has been accepted into the graduate program at USC’s esteemed School of Cinematic Arts, where he will compete against hipsters half his age in the series of ever-larger student films over the course of a three-year program.

If you’re thinking “Paper Chase” for the movie set, you wouldn’t be far off. USC is, after all, the equivalent of the Harvard Law School of filmmaking, with all the quirks, all-night study sessions and faculty mind games such elite institutions seems to produce.

In “Film School,” Boman writes casually and very personally of his experiences. He doesn’t pull a lot of punches, but neither does he mock his cohorts and instructors, though the temptation must have been mighty. In true moviemaking fashion, he sets the scene and lets it play out for the reader:

“[Our instructor] appears to be sleeping or meditating or just plain ignoring us. We students file past and quietly take a seat. We hardly know each other, much less who this guy is. We think he’s the lead instructor, but maybe he’s a wayward parent or a homeless guy. A couple of my classmates look at me questioningly, wondering if I have a clue what’s going on. I shrug. I know as little as they do.” [Read the full article...]

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THE BLEEDING HILLS
A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss

I have fought a good fight,
I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith.
- 2 Timothy iv. 7

The Irish War is officially a part of history, but not for Finnean Whelan, an IRA veteran of almost 40 years. British Intelligence has produced evidence that he is the mastermind behind a conspiracy to assassinate the First Minister of Northern Ireland. For Whelan this is not only a mission of revenge, but marks the beginning of a journey into the past and the return to the one true love: Ireland. [More...]

The Bleeding Hills is available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Nobel, and any other good bookstore.

The Gothic tradition continues to excite the popular imagination. John C. Tibbetts presents interviews and conversations with prominent novelists, filmmakers, artists, and film and television directors and actors as they trace the Gothic mode across three centuries, from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, through H.P. Lovecraft, to today’s science fiction, goth, and steampunk culture. H. P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Robert (Psycho) Bloch, Chris (The Polar Express) Van Allsburg, Maurice Sendak, Gahan Wilson, Ray Harryhausen, Christopher Reeve, Greg Bear, William Shatner, and many more share their worlds of imagination and terror.

About John C. Tibbetts

John C. Tibbetts is an Associate Professor of Film at the University of Kansas. His sixteen published books include, most recently, Schumann: A Chorus of Voices (2010) and All My Loving?: The Films of Tony Palmer (2009). Other books include The American Theatrical Film (1985), Encyclopedia of Novels into Film (2002), and Composers in the Movies (2005). His articles on film, literature, painting, theatre, and music have appeared in Notes, Film Comment,Opera News, Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television, Journal of Popular Film and Television, and Literature/Film Quarterly. He has previously worked as a broadcaster for National Public Radio, the Christian Science Monitor Radio Network, Voice of America, and CBS television.Both of his radio series, The World of Robert Schumann and Piano Portraits, have been heard worldwide on the WFMT broadcast network and National Public Radio. He was awarded the 2008 Kansas Governor’s Arts in Education Award. Video and audio collections from his thirty years in broadcasting and education are currently being prepared for installation at the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center in 2012.

Editorial Reviews

“Tibbetts (Schumann: A Chorus of Voices) brings a fan’s enthusiasm and a scholar’s acumen to the dozens of interviews of professionals in horror, fantasy, science film, art, and comics that make up this engrossing study of the Gothic and its commingling of ‘terror and wonder.’ Corralling the contents into nine loosely organized chapters (‘The Heroic Age of Fantasy and Science Fiction,’ ‘The Music of Terror,’ etc.), he presents his Q&As like private conversations recorded in rooms full of experts. Some chapters are fairly straightforward, among them ‘The Lovecraft Circle,’ which presents the words of Robert Bloch, Ramsey Campbell, Ted Klein, and other writers influenced by the horror tales of H.P. Lovecraft. His chapter ‘Postmodern Gothic,’ on the other hand, juxtaposes the insights of horror masters Stephen King and Peter Straub, to those of science fiction master Brian Aldiss and true-crime specialist Harold Schechter for a fascinating reflection on the modern evolution of the Gothic tradition. Entertaining and informative, this book proves that smart questions invariably elicit smart responses from masters of the fantastic in the arts.”–PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“John C. Tibbetts’ wild and exuberant anthology of interviews will certainly test your synapses as well as your literary prejudices.” – From the preface by Richard Holmes”Our literature starts with a vision of blackness, and I think that has a lot to do with the fact that our country at first was mostly untamable forest. There were truly bad things out there. Now, we don’t want to have that. We want to believe in the surface of things . . .But I think daily life is still filled with uncertainty, anxiety, and fear. Nobody’s life is really safe.” – Interview with Peter Straub

“What I want to do is use a scientific theory to give you experiences you’ve never had before . . .like ghosts you’ve never seen before, in contexts that you’ve never really experienced. [With] an underpinning and a mythos to what you’re seeing that it almost makes sense, and that’s what provides the scare.” – Interview with Greg Bear “Absolutely fascinating. Tibbetts has written a work of striking originality, demonstrating how important recorded oral history is to the serious study of mass culture.” – David Culbert, John L. Loos Professor of History, Louisiana State University and editor, Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television“With both the knowledgeable enthusiasm of a lifelong fan and the analytical expertise of an accomplished scholar, Tibbetts has managed to coax some shrewdly observed critical insights, revealing personal anecdotes, and sometimes bittersweet emotional ruminations from his wide range of interviewees, whether they be writers, editors, artists, collectors, or filmmakers. And he captures very well the highly individualized tone and personality of each of his subjects. Evocative and intellectually stimulating, this collection works both as a celebration of and an elegy about a bygone age of popular-cultural achievement.” – Kenneth Z. Jurkiewicz, Associate Professor of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts, Central Michigan University

John C. Tibbetts’s ‘The Gothic Imagination,’ reviewed by Michael Dirda

The Washington Post Book Review – December 28, 2011 (Excerpt)

The cover of “The Gothic Imagination” depicts a futuristic city threatened by a glowering satanic figure framed against a starry night sky. While John C. Tibbetts may teach film at the University of Kansas and write often about classical music and theater, that painting — and several drawings scattered throughout his book — make clear that he’s also a talented artist. Still, the key to this volume of “Conversations on Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction in the Media” can actually be found in Tibbetts’s middle initial, C.

Tibbetts’s father was an early science fiction fan who named his son after Edgar Rice Burroughs’s second great hero, John Carter of Mars. (The first, of course, is Tarzan, Lord Greystoke.) Unlike many sons, Tibbetts embraced his destiny and became a serious reader and collector of fantasy and sci-fi. The questions he asks in these far-ranging interviews — with H.P. Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi, artists Maurice Sendak and Gahan Wilson, 1950s television actor Frankie Thomas (star of “Tom Corbett, Space Cadet”), the cast of “Star Trek,” and a half-dozen important novelists from Robert Bloch and Ray Bradbury to Kim Stanley Robinson — reveal a deep knowledge of what fans call, quite simply, “the field.”

The book opens with a preface by Richard Holmes, in which the noted biographer and historian of the Romantic era attempts to define the Gothic imagination. Holmes points to “a quite old-fashioned notion: the inexhaustible wonder of the universe.” A few pages later Tibbetts adds that the writers of fairy tales, horror stories, science fictional prophecies and steampunk novels focus on “terror and wonder” rather than “sentimental love and reason.” Theirs, he adds, is a transgressive imagination. Later still, Harold Schechter, an authority on the American Gothic, reminds us that “we thrive on the kinds of entertainments folklorists call ‘wondertales’: beguiling, gripping, swiftly paced stories that trigger a very basic and powerful emotional response in the audience: astonishment or terror, laughter or tears, suspense or erotic arousal.” He insists that we all have a hunger for “violent spectacle, to feed that primitive part of ourselves that William James called ‘the carnivore within.’ ” [Read the full article...]

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CRIMSON DAWN
Book One of the Darklife Saga by Ronnie Massey

Two Women Hunting A Rogue Vampire

Vampire Valeria Trumaine must confront old demons and face new possibilities as she struggles to bring a rogue vampire to justice. Her best friend and powerful Sidhe princess, Irulan, joins the hunt. Valeria will find that Irulan’s motives for keeping her safe are not what she thinks. And soon she is faced with an undeniable attraction that makes her question everything she knew about herself. [Read More...]

Available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.

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Howard Cosell was one of the most recognizable and controversial figures in American sports history. His colorful bombast, fearless reporting, and courageous stance on civil rights soon captured the attention of listeners everywhere. No mere jock turned “pretty-boy” broadcaster, the Brooklyn-born Cosell began as a lawyer before becoming a radio commentator. “Telling it like it is,” he covered nearly every major sports story for three decades, from the travails of Muhammad Ali to the tragedy at Munich. Featuring a sprawling cast of athletes such as Jackie Robinson, Sonny Liston, Don Meredith, and Joe Namath, Howard Cosell also re-creates the behind-the-scenes story of that American institution, Monday Night Football. With more than forty interviews, Mark Ribowsky presents Cosell’s life as part of an American panorama, examining racism, anti-Semitism, and alcoholism, among other sensitive themes. Cosell’s endless complexities are brilliantly explored in this haunting work that reveals as much about the explosive commercialization of sports as it does about a much-neglected media giant.

About Mark Ribowsky

Mark Ribowsky‘s books include the New York Times Notable Book Don’t Look Back: Satchel Paige in the Shadows of Baseball. He lives in Plainview, New York.

Editorial Review

“Starred review. The definitive word on a loved, loathed, maddeningly complex broadcasting legend.” (Kirkus )

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Book review: ‘Howard Cosell: The Man, the Myth, and the Transformation of American Sports’

The Chicago Tribune Book Review – November 16, 2011 (Excerpt)

When ABC Sports guru Roone Arledge was suggesting Howard Cosell for “Monday Night Football,” NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle replied: “Cosell? Why don’t you just dig up Attila the Hun?”

Such was the reaction generated by modern broadcasting’s first Category 5 hurricane: How-wuuuud Co-sellll. The way he pronounced his own name dripped with chutzpah and self-promotion. In his day, Cosell may have been the most mocked man in America.

If the very memory of his nasal delivery is a form of aural torture, this book may not be for you. But if you remember Cosell as some sort of broadcasting pioneer, brave and occasionally brilliant, Mark Ribowsky’s new tome is worth your time. At 512 pages, it has the heft of a presidential biography, a fact that would not be lost on one of broadcasting’s early emperors. [Read the full article...]

Howard Cosell: Admired and Abhorred

The New York Times Book Review – December 2, 2011 (Excerpt)

Once upon a time, Howard Cosell roamed television draped in the ­canary-colored blazer of ABC Sports, smoking a cigar the length of a sequoia, covering his baldness with a toupee the size of a featherweight boxer and speaking of sports in a way no one ever had. He was loud, audacious, obnoxious, perspicacious, brilliant, narcissistic, provocative and haughty. He would doubtlessly agree with those descriptions — and add more if only to prove that he was, as he was wont to enunciate slowly, “HOW-id Cyo-SELL.”

His was the dominant voice of sports broadcasting for 20 years starting in the mid-1960s — defending the rights of black athletes like Muhammad Ali; calling boxing with a staccato delivery and know-it-all panache; playing the prolix agitator to Don Meredith’s white-hatted good ol’ boy on “Monday Night Football”; and producing some of the best sports journalism of his day. His pomposity also rose with his certitude.

Woody Allen was so drawn to Cosell’s style that he hired him to appear in his 1971 film “Bananas” as a broadcaster interviewing a Latin American dictator who had just been gunned down, a comic take on the way Cosell himself interviewed boxers. Cosell did not mind self-parody but refused Allen’s offer to play a pervert in “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex.” He drew the line then, but not a few years later when he was persuaded that he alone was capable of reviving the moribund variety show format with his own ABC series, “Saturday Night Live With Howard Cosell.” The venture was so ill conceived (singing a duet with Barbara Walters was the nadir or the highlight of the show) that it was quickly canceled, enabling NBC’s fledgling late-night comedy program, “Saturday Night,” to add “Live” to its name. [Read the full article...]

‘Howard Cosell: The Man, the Myth, and the Transformation of American Sports,’ by Mark Ribowsky

The Washington Post Book Review – December 16, 2011 (Excerpt)

In Woody Allen’s 1973 movie, “Sleeper,” a time traveler watches a tape of Howard Cosellwhile a 22nd-century historian tries to explain its meaning. “We weren’t sure at first what to make of this,” he says, “but we developed a theory: We feel that when people committed great crimes against the state, they were forced to watch this.”

Allen could assume that most of his audience recognized the irritating loudmouth who helped create “Wide World of Sports” and “Monday Night Football” on ABC. As the moviemaker understood, the broadcaster also transcended athletics to become a celebrity, an entertainer, an actor playing a character named Howard Cosell. But his fame was based not on love but loathing, on animosity more than admiration. He received so many threats that armed guards followed him at games. As Mark Ribowsky recalls, “Millions wanted to yell at their screens for him to shut the hell up.” [Read the full article...]

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THE BLEEDING HILLS
A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss

I have fought a good fight,
I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith.
- 2 Timothy iv. 7

The Irish War is officially a part of history, but not for Finnean Whelan, an IRA veteran of almost 40 years. British Intelligence has produced evidence that he is the mastermind behind a conspiracy to assassinate the First Minister of Northern Ireland. For Whelan this is not only a mission of revenge, but marks the beginning of a journey into the past and the return to the one true love: Ireland. [More...]

The Bleeding Hills is available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Nobel, and any other good bookstore.

Click on image to buy from Amazon.Com

A raw, poignant, and often hilarious look inside the troubled life and mind of an American comic icon

From his harrowing childhood filled with physical and emotional abuse, to a lifetime of alcoholism and self-mutilation, psychiatric hospitalizations and misdiagnoses, to the peak of fame and success as the longest-tenured cast member of Saturday Night Live (where his hilarious dead-on impressions of Bill Clinton, Dick Cheney, Chris Matthews, and a hundred other prominent figures ushered him to the peak of stardom), Darrell Hammond delves into the darkest corners of his life, both in front of and behind the camera, with brutal honesty and fierce comic wit.

About Darrell Hammond

Darrell Hammond is an award-winning actor and comedian who was a cast member on Saturday Night Live for a record-setting fourteen years. He has also appeared on Broadway and in the dramatic television series Damages and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. He most recently starred in the one-man play Tru at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, New York. He lives in New York City.

Editorial Review

“Hammond’s moving memoir contains surprising detours…[his] breezy style and facile storytelling will keep readers entertained even while reading about his struggle with alcoholism…this funny man’s serious life can be an inspiration to all.” – Publishers Weekly

‘SNL’s’ Darrell Hammond Reveals Cutting, Abuse

NPR Book Review – November 7, 2011 (Excerpt)

In 14 years on Saturday Night Live, Darrell Hammond did many impressions, including Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Sean Connery. Few of his cast members knew that Hammond struggled with drugs, alcohol and self-cutting as the result of childhood abuse.

In his memoir God, If You’re Not Up There, I’m F – - – - – -: Tales of Stand-Up, ‘Saturday Night Live’ and Other Mind-Altering Mayhem, Hammond details the systematic brutality he suffered at the hands of his mother, who beat him, stabbed him and tortured him with a hammer and electrical outlet.

“I’ve been in treatment since I was 19, and I’m 56,” he tellsFresh Air‘s Terry Gross. “That’s a couple of bucks and a long time.”

Hammond says that he was medicated during much of his time at SNL and that he frequently cut himself backstage. Before one of his most famous sketches — the Bush-Gore “lockbox” debate with actor Will Ferrell — Hammond says he started having flashbacks and momentarily forgot what Gore sounded and looked like.

“I was disoriented and frightened, and I was feeling every single thing that happened to me when I was in the kitchen once with my mother,” he says. “I’m not a doctor — so I can’t describe flashbacks well — but it is like you’re living it again.” [Read the full article...]

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THE BLEEDING HILLS
A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss

I have fought a good fight,
I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith.
- 2 Timothy iv. 7

The Irish War is officially a part of history, but not for Finnean Whelan, an IRA veteran of almost 40 years. British Intelligence has produced evidence that he is the mastermind behind a conspiracy to assassinate the First Minister of Northern Ireland. For Whelan this is not only a mission of revenge, but marks the beginning of a journey into the past and the return to the one true love: Ireland. [More...]

The Bleeding Hills is available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Nobel, and any other good bookstore.

Click on image to buy from Amazon.Com

Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin) is a generous and loyal pal to her engaged best friend Darcy (Kate Hudson). But after celebrating her 30th birthday, perpetual good girl Rachel unexpectedly ends up in the arms of Dex (Colin Egglesfield), the guy she’s had a crush on since law school…and who happens to be Darcy’s fiancé. In the frantic weeks leading up to Darcy’s wedding, Rachel finds herself caught between her long-time friendship with Darcy and the prospect of losing the love of her life. Based on Emily Giffin’s bestseller, this funny and touching romantic comedy also stars John Krasinski as Rachel’s constant confidante and conscience, who busily evades the affection of one of Darcy’s lovestruck friends while harboring a secret crush of his own.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Editorial Review

Chick-lit lovers, and those who love them, will flock to Something Borrowed, a frothy adaptation of Emily Giffin’s bestselling novel. Something Borrowed itself borrows some of the best bits from earlier romantic comedies like When Harry Met Sally…, 27 Dresses, and Sex and the City. Though Kate Hudson is the ostensible Big Star here, it’s Ginnifer Goodwin (Big Love, He’s Just Not That into You) who finally comes into her own as a winsome leading lady. The plot is fairly simple: Rachel (Goodwin) harbors secret feelings for Dex (Colin Egglesfield), the fiancé of her best friend, Darcy (Hudson). Along for the ride, and acting as a sort of stage manager/narrator à la Our Town, is Ethan (John Krasinski), who just may be harboring some secret longings of his own. Will the right boys end up with the right girls? Well, Something Borrowed is one of those comfy films in which the viewer knows who’s right for whom long before the characters do. And because of the light, easy direction of Luke Greenfield (whose previous works are mostly TV movies and series), and the sparky chemistry among the stars,Something Borrowed ends up delivering a delicious snack even more satisfying than the sum of its yummy parts. Krasinski, Egglesfield, and especially Goodwin shine in this ensemble, and fans of modern love stories–with a twist–will want to hold on to Something Borrowed. –A.T. Hurley, Amazon.Com Customer Review

Review

I rarely write movie reviews, so the fact that I am for this film already tells you something. I know the ratings for this have been all over the place, so I wanted to put in my two cents, which are that given what it was, I loved it!

Now none of you know me, so you dont realize how momentous that statement is, coming from me of all people. While yes, I am female, I hate – *utterly loathe* – American romantic comedies. I absolutely cannot stand them and the only 100% exceptions are Bringing Up Baby from 1938 and When Harry Met Sally … from 1989. So yes, it’s been awhile since I found one that broke the rule.

I wanted to see this movie, both because of the actors (love Goodwin and Krasinski) and because it’s a story (we hope) where the shy, quiet girl gets the guy. However, I went prepared to dislike it for two reasons. First, I was *very* apprehensive about the premise involving possible cheating, since I have trouble even reading about it in books or watching films like Closer. Second, it’s a romantic comedy! How could I possibly end up liking it?!

Turns out, I was dead wrong. SOMETHING BORROWED was hysterical – the writing was great and the delivery wonderful. The cast was also superb: John Krasinski, whom I adore in The Office, was hands-down unbelievably fantastic in his role; Ginnifer Goodwin, a lovely and talented actress, plays her part to perfection; and Colin Egglesfield, a quiet and subtle actor, makes for a great Dex. Darcy (Kate Hudson’s character) is ridiculously over the top, but whatever – I was able to overlook it in the face of all that was right with this movie.

Also, this movie was able to do what those in this genre usually cannot do: it was able to be somewhat realistic, while still giving us a wonderful happy ending – no sappiness or corniness involved (two of my main objections to romance movies). The main characters trip up – repeatedly – and sometimes you want to slap some of them upside the head (… was that just me?), but it feels very authentic! And re: the love triangle, I think one of the things that made it feel all the more authentic was the very real dilemma that Rachel, Dex, and Darcy are faced with.

I loved this film, because for *once* a romantic comedy did for me what it always seems to do for others: it made me laugh out loud and it made me cheer for the two main characters and hope that they would end up together. I definitely, definitely recommend it. – J. P., Amazon.Com Customer Review

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Boiled Peanuts

A Novel by John Patrick Doyle

A Peeping Tom Goes Nuts Over A Blind Girl

Paul Kirk is a librarian and one of his town’s quirkier residents.  In a childhood home lacking parents (his mother dying of MS and his father an alcoholic) Paul had imagined himself a member of the neighboring family. Now in his late twenties, Paul vicariously participates in the households of his community. His peeping-Tom proclivities express his awkward need for social bonding.

Then Paul meets Bronwyn, a counselor who is lovely, independent and blind. She has inherited her Aunt Phyllis’ house and is newly arrived in town. When Paul first sees Bronwyn at church, he knows he wants to be part of her life. As the mystery of Aunt Phyllis unfolds, Bronwyn and Paul become more deeply involved as they learn about Phyllis’ secrets and how they relate to Bronwyn and her past, but Paul’s peeping ways may ruin it all. [Read more...]

Boiled Peanuts is available through Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.

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Kevin Costner stars in and directs this triumphant masterpiece written by Michael Blake, based on his novel. On Blu-ray for the very first time, this breathtaking 20th Anniversary Edition includes an extended cut of the film and all-new exclusive extras. Winner of seven Academy Awards®, including Best Directing and Best Picture, this modern classic tells the story of Lt. Dunbar (Costner), a Civil War hero who befriends a tribe of Sioux Indians while stationed at a desolate outpost on the American frontier. What follows is a series of unforgettable moments – from Dunbar’s tender scenes with Stands With A Fist (Mary McDonnell), to the thrilling, action-packed buffalo hunt. Experience the excitement, emotion and sweeping beauty of this cinematic treasure as never before on Blu-ray!

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Editorial Review

Kevin Costner’s 1990 epic won a bundle of Oscars for a moving, engrossing story of a white soldier (Costner) who singlehandedly mans a post in the 1870 Dakotas, and becomes a part of the Lakota Sioux community who live nearby. The film may not be a masterpiece, but it is far more than the sum of good intentions. The characters are strong, the development of relationships is both ambitious and careful, the love story between Costner and Mary McDonnell’s character is captivating. Only the third-act portrait of white intruders as morons feels overbearing, but even that leads to a terribly moving conclusion. Costner’s direction is assured, the balance of action and intimacy is perfect–what more could anyone want outside of an unqualified masterpiece? –Tom Keogh

Review

Kevin Costner directed, produced and starred in the 1990 western epic “Dances with Wolves”, which was based upon the novel of the same name by author Michael Blake, who also wrote the film’s screenplay. Costner plays U.S. Army Lieutenant John G. Dunbar during and shortly after the U.S. Civil War. Following a victory with Union troops under his command, he requests an assignment to the western frontier and is assigned to an isolated military outpost in the Dakota Territory. John waits patiently for other troops to arrive at the outpost, but they never do. With no means to communicate with his superiors, John bides his time by taking care of the outpost and himself, as well as writing in his journal. A nearby wolf begins to take an interest in John. At first, he tries to chase the wolf away, but eventually, the wolf becomes John’s unwitting companion. Later, John realizes that there is a nearby Native American Sioux tribe. Members of the tribe meet John, but since they do not have a common language to speak with one another, they are somewhat suspicious of him. Later, they invite John to visit their encampment where he sees a Caucasian woman (Mary McDonnell) living with them. She remembers a little English is able to talk with him and tells him that her name is Stands With A Fist. Eventually, John learns how to speak Sioux and is adopted by the tribe after he helps them.

Originally released at 183 minutes (three hours), the film may seem long; but the characters, story and cinematography keep most viewers fully engaged. The extended director’s version is even longer at 236 minutes (four hours). The primary Sioux characters are Kicking Bird (Graham Greene, whose career in film was boosted greatly by this film), Wind in His Hair (Rodney A. Grant), the elder Ten Bears (Floyd ‘Red Crow’ Westerman) and Black Shawl (Tantoo Cardinal). The film won seven Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director (Kevin Costner), Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Music, Best Sound and Best Writing–Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Michael Blake). Kevin Costner received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, Graham Greene was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Mary McDonnell was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

Overall, I rate “Dances with Wolves” with 5 out of 5 stars not only for being a very engaging film, but also for its very positive portrayal of Native American life in the former western frontier. Some people may find the film too long, some may be offended by the negative portrayal of U.S. Army soldiers and some may be offended by the negative portrayal of Pawnee tribespeople. Unfortuneately, none of Costner’s works following “Dances with Wolves” have been as good. Films that Costner only starred in such as “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” (1991), “A Perfect World” (1993) and “Wyatt Earp” (1994) were entertaining; but films that he both starred in and directed were box office disasters: “Waterworld” (1995) and “The Postman” (1997). Perhaps his next directorial work (that he also stars in) will be better: “Open Range”, slated for release in May, 2003. – M. Hart, Amazon.Com Customer Review

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Boiled Peanuts

A Novel by John Patrick Doyle

A Peeping Tom Goes Nuts Over A Blind Girl

Paul Kirk is a librarian and one of his town’s quirkier residents.  In a childhood home lacking parents (his mother dying of MS and his father an alcoholic) Paul had imagined himself a member of the neighboring family. Now in his late twenties, Paul vicariously participates in the households of his community. His peeping-Tom proclivities express his awkward need for social bonding.

Then Paul meets Bronwyn, a counselor who is lovely, independent and blind. She has inherited her Aunt Phyllis’ house and is newly arrived in town. When Paul first sees Bronwyn at church, he knows he wants to be part of her life. As the mystery of Aunt Phyllis unfolds, Bronwyn and Paul become more deeply involved as they learn about Phyllis’ secrets and how they relate to Bronwyn and her past, but Paul’s peeping ways may ruin it all. [Read more...]

Boiled Peanuts is available through Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.

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Becoming Ray Bradbury chronicles the making of an iconic American writer by exploring Ray Bradbury’s childhood and early years of his long life in fiction, film, television, radio, and theater. Jonathan R. Eller measures the impact of the authors, artists, illustrators, and filmmakers who stimulated Bradbury’s imagination throughout his first three decades. Unprecedented access to Bradbury’s personal papers and other private collections provides insight into his emerging talent through his unpublished correspondence, his rare but often insightful notes on writing, and his interactions with those who mentored him during those early years.

Beginning with his childhood in Waukegan, Illinois, and Los Angeles, this biography follows Bradbury’s development from avid reader to maturing author, making a living writing for pulp magazines. Eller illuminates the sources of Bradbury’s growing interest in the human mind, the human condition, and the ambiguities of life and death–themes that became increasingly apparent in his early fiction. Bradbury’s correspondence documents his frustrating encounters with the major trade publishing houses and his earliest unpublished reflections on the nature of authorship. Eller traces the sources of Bradbury’s very conscious decisions, following the sudden success of The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man, to voice controversial political statements in his fiction, and he highlights the private motivations behind the burst of creative energy that transformed his novella “The Fireman” into the classic novel Fahrenheit 451.

Becoming Ray Bradbury reveals Bradbury’s emotional world as it matured through his explorations of cinema and art, his interactions with agents and editors, his reading discoveries, and the invaluable reading suggestions of older writers. These largely unexplored elements of his life pave the way to a deeper understanding of his more public achievements, providing a biography of the mind, the story of Bradbury’s self-education and the emerging sense of authorship at the heart of his boundless creativity.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Editorial Reviews

“A richly contextualized interpretation of Ray Bradbury’s personal experience, his intellectual and artistic life, and the cultural milieu in which his gifts developed. Becoming Ray Bradbury will be the definitive account of Bradbury’s development as a writer. –David Mogen, author of Wilderness Visions: The Western Theme in Science Fiction Literature

“Jonathan R. Eller traces a wide variety of influences on Ray Bradbury’s work, offering a detailed literary and cultural genealogy. Utterly compelling, this book contains a substantial amount of new material that will be invaluable for future scholars of Bradbury’s work.” –Gary K. Wolfe, author of Evaporating Genres: Essays on Fantastic Literature

About the Author

Jonathan R. Eller is a professor of English at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis, the senior textual editor of the Institute for American Thought, and the cofounder of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies at IUPUI. He is the coauthor of Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction and the textual editor of The Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury, Volume 1: 1938-1943.

Jonathan R. Eller’s ‘Becoming Ray Bradbury,’ reviewed by Michael Dirda

The Washington Post Book Review – August 17, 2011 (Excerpt)

Yes, “Becoming Ray Bradbury” is published by a university press, yet it isn’t at all academic. Every page is packed with fascinating material about one of this country’s most beloved writers, still with us in his 90s. If you’re a Bradbury fan, at the very least you’ll want to read it — and then, more likely than not, you’ll end up buying your own copy anyway.

Jonathan R. Eller knows his subject’s early life and literary career inside out, which is just what you’d expect from the co-founder of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis. This book isn’t, however, a full biography; it only traces Bradbury’s career up to 1953, when its subject is all of 33. This is when the young writer set sail for Europe, where he would help develop the screenplay for John Huston’s“Moby Dick.”

By then Ray Bradbury had already come a long way from the teenager who sold newspapers on a Los Angeles street corner, relied on the public library for most of the books he read and produced a fanzine called Futuria Fantasia. Because science fiction fandom resembles an extended family, its members often squabbling but indissolubly connected by a deep bond, early on Bradbury benefited from the mentorship of such masters of pulp fiction as Henry Kuttner, Edmond Hamilton and Leigh Brackett. Brackett, in particular, not only dissected the young writer’s juvenilia but also provided an early link to Hollywood. (As a young woman, Brackett worked with William Faulkner on the screenplay for “The Big Sleep”; nearly 40 years later, she worked with George Lucas on “The Empire Strikes Back.”) [Read the full article...]

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AMERICAN MALE PROSTITUTE

How I (Almost) Got A Book Deal Through Sex, Lies, And Deceit

Stuart Martin Berry has only three months left to find a publisher for his first novel. In a desperate attempt to reach his goal he leaves his home to live in New York. His wife has given him free rein to do whatever it takes to get a book deal. Her only request was not to give her any details on how he got there. If he fails he will be forced to give up his dream of being a famous writer and take a regular forty hour a week job. For Stuart this is sufficient motivation to start a three month adventure full of sex, lies, and deceit, without losing focus of the ultimate goal. When he finally reaches the finish line, he has evolved and become a top expert in the publishing world.

The question remains, what does it take these days to get a book deal with a traditional publisher? What do you do when, hypothetically, you are running out of time and mere talent is not the be-all and end-all?

Stuart Martin Berry has found the answer: If you can’t impress them with your talent, baffle them with your bull-shit. [Read more, including an excerpt]

American Male Prostitute is available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.

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Editorial Review

Pineapple Express, the first film to team James Franco with Danny McBride and director David Gordon Green, featured a loose-limbed, improv-rich approach to storytelling that hovered on the edge of self-indulgence. The medieval spoof Your Highness offers up more of the same shambling, hazy likability, only more so. Although undeniably hilarious at times, it often feels like the feature-length equivalent of Burt Reynolds slapping Dom DeLuise during the end credits of Cannonball Run. Beginning with an admirably tasteless gallows gag, the story follows a drunken, craven lout (McBride, who also scripted with his Eastbound & Down cohort Ben Best) who teams up with his more heroic, destined-to-be-king older brother (Franco) to rescue a damsel fair (Zooey Deschanel) from an unprintable fate by an evil sorcerer (a very funny Justin Theroux). Along the way, they stumble across a love-struck Minotaur, a village of bloodthirsty women, and a beautiful ninja type sworn to vengeance (Natalie Portman). Promisingly, instead of focusing on tired Lord of the Rings riffs, McBride and Co. here set their sights on such prime slabs of ’80s Velveeta as Deathstalker and Yor, films that were only one application of bronzer away from outright parody themselves. Unfortunately, for every inspired bit, such as a gloriously wrong encounter with a sage Muppet, there are maybe three instances where the joke simply involves mixing up the King’s English with modern-day profanities. (Which, admittedly, can sometimes be hilarious too.) Fans of the cast and crew’s previous efforts should definitely check it out, but there’s the lingering sense that the movie is probably only a quarter as much fun to watch as it was to make. Forsooth. –Andrew Wright, Amazon.Com Review

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Review

How … why … who … what…?

What just happened there?

Why am I laughing?

What, in the vernacular, the (…ahem) “heavens” was that?

Your Highness is wrong on so many levels. It ought to be a disaster. For reasons I can’t fathom, it isn’t. It is absurd, gratuitous, vulgar, childish, stupid and utterly incongruous. And I thought it was great.

Natalie Portman playing against Danny McBride: what kind of fevered imagination comes up with that sort of an idea? What sort of miracle worker makes it actually happen? What sort of genius makes it work?

And that’s just the start: There are jarring conflicts everywhere you look. Animal husbandry: You may cross a horse with a donkey and get a mule, but some hybrids just don’t go: You don’t play a Black Swan against Kenny Powers. You don’t cross The Princess Bride with Animal House. If you do, you sure as hell don’t throw in Bad Taste for good measure. You don’t blow millions on Industrial Light & Magic style digital effects one moment and then fill the screen with a cheap rubber alien wizard (a dope-smoking, kiddie-fiddling alien wizard at that) that looks like it came from a joke shop the next. You can’t rely on non-expectant swearing and expect to get away with it. At least, not fifty times. But all in all, it seems to work.

Danny McBride – last seen heading Eastbound and Down, more or less reprises Kenny Powers, complete with mullet and goatee (no method actor, Mr McBride, I dare say), only here he is a useless younger prince in a mediaeval kingdom in a land far, far, far away. On a different planet, indeed: there is a twin moon, and it is important to the plot (I suppose you could call it a plot).

Unlike most mediaeval kingdoms this is one where everyone intones smutty innuendos with English accents that come and go like rotating speakers. Kenny – I mean, Thadeous – is more or less The Black Adder to Fabious’ Prince Harry. Fabious (James Franco, swashing his buckles for all he is worth and for some reason channelling Steve Tyler from Aerosmith) has a whale of a time as a slightly dopey hunk. They are pitted against evil warlock Leezar (a superb Justin Theroux) a criminally under-explained villain who has bad teeth, worse hair, and who also has a whale of a time, vacillating between occult power and sexual impotence (there are knob jokes aplenty here). Theroux’ delivery of his actually pretty ordinary material is spot on.

Along the way there are entirely gratuitous scenes of every dimension: sand-encrusted nude barbarian vixens in the thrall of a large fat pink sorcerer (John Fricker) in a nappy, in a Thunderdome. Much violence, and more gay innuendo. Did I mention there are lots of willie jokes? There are the occasional outrageous visual gags. There’s a frisky minotaur. There is a scheduled coming together of the moons which will result in a rare event called … – well, you’ll just have to see it, because I don’t want to spoil it. Totally immature, but still I just about wet myself.

Natalie Portman boxes on far more gamely than anyone has any right to expect a recently minted Oscar laureate to. I constantly found myself wondering what on earth had possessed her to sign up for this project – perhaps relaxation therapy after a long dose of Darren Aronofsky – but being eternally grateful that she had. She is a tremendous sport throughout, and my regard for her is undoubtedly enhanced.

I have complained in these pages about the reliance on rote, formula and technology in place of proper drama in modern motion pictures. No complaints on that score here: while there’s absolutely no proper drama on speak of, you couldn’t fault David Gordon Green and his team for showing a bit of spirit. Instead of a tightly followed plan, there’s no plan at all (Do you think my methods are unsound? I don’t see any method at all, sir).

But when the alternative that passes for comedy these days is Meet The Spartans and Red Riding Hood (At least, I can only assume that’s intended to be a comedy) then this has to come well recommended.

Leave your maiden aunt, your kids and your critical faculties at home, come for a laugh and you’ll have a blast. - Olly Buxton, Amazon.Com Customer Review

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AMERICAN MALE PROSTITUTE

How I (Almost) Got A Book Deal Through Sex, Lies, And Deceit

Today’s publishing world is divided into two principle sections. First, there is the exclusive pool of traditional publishers, and, second, the help-yourself shark tank represented by the so-called vanity publishers.

Vanity publishers have a significant edge over traditional publishers in regards to brutality, business sense, and profitability. They ruthlessly pursue the infinite supply of aspiring writers who, in turn, are rejected by traditional publishers or literary agents. Ironically, in the world of traditional publishing, authors are rejected not necessarily due to lack of talent. Vanity publishers accept everybody and everything. No questions asked. Just pay your bill, but don’t come crying to them when you can’t sell a copy of your book.

The question remains, what does it take these days to get a book deal with a traditional publisher? What do you do when, hypothetically, you are running out of time and mere talent is not the be-all and end-all?

Stuart Martin Berry has found the answer: If you can’t impress them with your talent, baffle them with your bull-shit. [Read more, including an excerpt]

Click on image to buy from Amazon.Com

NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) is more than just an action drama. With liberal doses of humor, it’s a show that focuses on the sometimes complex and always amusing dynamics of a team of special agents forced to work together in high-stress situations. From murder and espionage to terrorism and stolen submarines, these special agents travel the globe to investigate all crimes with Navy or Marine Corps ties.

Special Features

Review

“NCIS” continued its superb run as network TV’s top-ranked drama series into its eighth season, blessed by the return of an outstanding core cast with its fun team chemistry, and some exciting and entertaining story lines.

Mark Harmon returns as crusty Special Ageny Leroy Jethro Gibbs, leader of the NCIS Major Case Response Team, assisted by Michael Weatherly as wise-cracking Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, Cote de Pablo as former Mossad agent/newly-minted Special Agent Ziva David, and Sean Murray as computer whiz Special Agent Tim McGee, backed by Pauley Parrette as unique forensic tech Abby Sciuto and David McCallum as venerable medical examiner “Ducky” Mallard.

The season opener resolves last season’s cliffhanger, the team’s deadly confrontation with a drug cartel targeting Special Agent Gibbs. A midseason multi-episode segment reveals the complicated backstory of NCIS Director Leon Vance and his Israeli counterpart, while bringing Ziva face to face with her estranged father. In the case of a missing nuke, Robert Wagner makes a priceless return appearence as Tony’s father. Veteran comedian Bob Newheart has a sobering guest role as Ducky’s predecessor. And, we find out how Tony and Gibbs first met.

The highlight of the season may be the five episode story arc concerning the Port-to-Port Killer, a serial killer who preys on members of the Navy. Director Vance brings in a competing team from Rota, Spain, headed by Special Agent E.J. Barrett, to lead the investigation. The case will involve the CIA, some Navy secrets, and Gibbs’ mentor Mike Franks, while complicating the personal lives of Ziva and Tony. The final episode suggests the presence of an unknown traitor within the ranks of NCIS.

The “NCIS: Season Eight” DVD set is very highly recommended to fans of NCIS. – D. S. Thurlow, Amazon.Com Customer Review

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AMERICAN MALE PROSTITUTE

How I (Almost) Got A Book Deal Through Sex, Lies, And Deceit

Today’s publishing world is divided into two principle sections. First, there is the exclusive pool of traditional publishers, and, second, the help-yourself shark tank represented by the so-called vanity publishers.

Vanity publishers have a significant edge over traditional publishers in regards to brutality, business sense, and profitability. They ruthlessly pursue the infinite supply of aspiring writers who, in turn, are rejected by traditional publishers or literary agents. Ironically, in the world of traditional publishing, authors are rejected not necessarily due to lack of talent. Vanity publishers accept everybody and everything. No questions asked. Just pay your bill, but don’t come crying to them when you can’t sell a copy of your book.

The question remains, what does it take these days to get a book deal with a traditional publisher? What do you do when, hypothetically, you are running out of time and mere talent is not the be-all and end-all?

Stuart Martin Berry has found the answer: If you can’t impress them with your talent, baffle them with your bull-shit. [Read more, including an excerpt]

Click on image to buy from Amazon.Com

Of all the folks in long underwear to be tapped for superhero films, Thor would seem to be the most problematic to properly pull off. (Hypothetical Hollywood conversation: “A guy in a tricked-out, easily merchandisable metal suit? Great! An Asgardian God of Thunder who says stuff like thee and thou? Um, is Moon Knight available?”) Thankfully, the resulting film does its source material rather proud, via a committed cast and an approach that doesn’t shy away from the over-the-top superheroics. When you’re dealing with a flying guy wielding a huge hammer, gritty realism can be overrated, really. Blending elements from the celebrated comic arcs by Walter Simonson and J. Michael Straczynski, the story follows the headstrong Thunder God (Chris Hemsworth) as he is banished to Earth and stripped of his powers by his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) after inadvertently starting a war with a planet of ticked-off Frost Giants. As his traitorous brother Loki (the terrific Tom Hiddleston) schemes in the wings, Thor must redeem himself and save the universe, with the aid of a beautiful scientist (Natalie Portman). Although director Kenneth Branagh certainly doesn’t skimp on the in-jokes and fan-pleasing continuity references (be prepared to stick around after the credits, Marvel fans), his film distinguishes itself by adopting a larger-than-life cosmic Shakespearean air that sets itself apart from both the cerebral, grounded style made fashionable by The Dark Knight and the loose-limbed Rat Packish vibe of theIron Man series. Glorying in the absolute unreality of its premise, Branagh’s film is a swooping, Jack Kirby-inspired saga that brings the big-budget grins on a consistent basis, as well as tying in with the superhero battle royale The Avengers. –Andrew Wright, Amazon.Com Review

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Review

Comic book fans get a lot of flak for being nerds, dweebs and geeks; or at least they used to. Now comics are en vogue as millions of people attend geekfests like Comic Con; although whether that’s to see the movie and television stars in attendance remains to be seen. Comic book characters are our mythology, they rival the super powered beings and gods of ancient Greek, Mesopotamian, and Viking mythology. We as humans have always felt this need to look up to higher powers to sort out our lives, believing that the fate of our race is better left in the hands of someone capable of bending the rules of physics. It’s only natural then that eventually the worlds of comics and ancient mythology would collide as it does in the new Marvel movie Thor.

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is the arrogant first born son of King Odin (Anthony Hopkins) of Asgard, and the rightful heir to the throne. When Thor commits an act that could lead to war between Asgard and the Frostgiants, with whom they have a very shaky truce, Odin strips Thor of his powers and banishes him to Earth until he learns humility. On Earth Thor is found by astrophysicist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and her team (Stellan Skarsgard, Kat Dennings) as they study atmospheric disturbances in New Mexico.

Thor is one of Marvel’s lesser known properties, despite having been created by Stan Lee back in 1962. An integral character in Marvel’s super powered team The Avengers, the movie version of the comic book was announced not long after the success of Iron Man as part of Marvel Studios attempt to bring The Avengers to the big screen. While Marvel has had great success with the first Iron Man movie and to a lesser extent Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk (which is the closest Marvel Studios has come to failure so far), Thor was a risky proposition with the greatest potential for failure. How does one meld the worlds of the mythical Asgard and Earth seamlessly into a movie that is part of a bigger picture with characters that are based solely in our realm?

Enter Kenneth Branagh. The success of Thor can largely be pinned on having a filmmaker with appropriate gravitas to ground the film. Branagh is a star of stage as well as film (for those of you unfamiliar with the name he played Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets). The presence of Branagh alone was somewhat curious considering he’s known more for directing acclaimed works like Hamlet (1996) and Henry V (1989) and even as an Irishman the English consider him one of the leaders in Shakespearean theater. It’s that knowledge of film and theater that really guides Thor as he borrows as much from Shakespeare’s Henry V as he does from modern action films.

Also adding to the weight of Kenneth Branagh’s credentials are a list of acclaimed and award winning actors and actresses such as Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard, Rene Russo, and Idris Elba. Not only do they have the opportunity to ground the movie, but they also look like they’re having fun. Part of why we enjoy this movie is because we can see that they enjoy the movie. No one ever really feels like they’re hamming it up or sleepwalking through their scenes, you get the sense that aside from the emotions they convey for their characters concerning their predicaments they all want to be on this set and that feeling is infectious. Also Tom Hiddleston’s Loki is a revelation at a time when I have to admit that Marvel Studio’s previous villains have been lacking a certain je ne sais que. Hiddleston plays the character with a secret, and a glimmer behind the eyes that slowly unravels like a ripe onion throughout the film holding on to his deceit with the hope of another day. He’s more complex than the previous villains that have come out of Marvel Studios, and I’m looking forward to his return in The Avengers.

The real linchpin for why this all works though is Chris Hemsworth. While having been around here and there in blink and you’ll miss it parts, Hemsworth got his first big break in JJ Abrams Star Trek reboot in the pivotal role of George Kirk, father of James T. Kirk. While his place in geekdom had been set in a small yet important role, the question of whether he could pull off the Norse god turned Marvel superhero. In a lot of actor’s hands this would have been a one note character bereft of emotion and humor. Hemsworth is a magnetic leading man, though, exuding charisma and confidence. His poise commands respect, and he effortlessly flows from emotion to emotion, arrogance to humility, with a comedic timing that leaves the audience in stitches but still doesn’t undermine his character.

As with most, if not all comic book movies, this movie tries hard to give you a lot of plot in a short two hour span (I say short because it leaves you wanting more, the way a good action movie should). Naturally, some things are a little undercooked but don’t ruin the movie. In the end, as much as I fell in love with Natalie Portman’s character (as I do with almost any character she plays) the romantic connection between Thor and Foster didn’t ring true because for most of the film he seemed somewhat disinterested only to find his infatuation with her later in the movie. Thor’s progression from arrogant strongman to humble hero also seems to be slightly haphazard as it really feels as though it could have used more time to flesh out. Hemsworth does an admirable job making the audience feel each twist and turn of the character, but each twist and turn feels a little too abrupt to be genuine.

All in all though, this was an excellent film: a piece of escapist entertainment that embraces Shakespeare as much as it embraces modern blockbuster pop-art. On the scales of Marvel I’d rate this just slightly under Iron Man and far above Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk. The fact that they were able to get Thor right gives me hope for The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers. If you’re a fan of comic book movies, Iron Man, or Marvel I highly recommend that you give this film a try. Not to mention, this is quite possibly the best use of 3D I recall since Avatar. Check it out! – Jason C. Wilkerson, Amazon.Com Customer Review

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AMERICAN MALE PROSTITUTE

How I (Almost) Got A Book Deal Through Sex, Lies, And Deceit

Today’s publishing world is divided into two principle sections. First, there is the exclusive pool of traditional publishers, and, second, the help-yourself shark tank represented by the so-called vanity publishers.

Vanity publishers have a significant edge over traditional publishers in regards to brutality, business sense, and profitability. They ruthlessly pursue the infinite supply of aspiring writers who, in turn, are rejected by traditional publishers or literary agents. Ironically, in the world of traditional publishing, authors are rejected not necessarily due to lack of talent. Vanity publishers accept everybody and everything. No questions asked. Just pay your bill, but don’t come crying to them when you can’t sell a copy of your book.

The question remains, what does it take these days to get a book deal with a traditional publisher? What do you do when, hypothetically, you are running out of time and mere talent is not the be-all and end-all?

Stuart Martin Berry has found the answer: If you can’t impress them with your talent, baffle them with your bull-shit. [Read more, including an excerpt]

Click on image to buy from Amazon.Com

Author A.A. Milne’s beloved bear, Winnie the Pooh, joins forces with his friends from the Hundred Acre Wood to help two of their own in Disney’s hand-drawn charmer. Though he describes himself as a “bear of very little brain,” Pooh (Jim Cummings) proves he’s all heart when sad-sack Eeyore’s tail goes missing and a terrible creature called the “Backson” abducts Christopher Robin (Jack Boulter), their human protector (the schoolboy actually leaves a note saying he will be “back soon”). Granted, our hero spends the entire journey dreaming about glorious pots of “hunny,” but when push comes to shove, he prioritizes his pals over his tummy, which rumbles and expands as his hunger pangs increase. Wisely, co-directors Don Hall and Stephen J. Anderson avoid the distraction of instantly recognizable actors in favor of animation veterans, like Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants), who voices the resourceful Rabbit. While Sebastian Cabot narrated the Winnie featurettes of yore, comedian John Cleese, who sometimes speaks directly to Pooh, ably steps into his shoes, and talk-show host Craig Ferguson also makes a mark as the know-it-all Owl. At 68 minutes, not including short film “The Ballad of Nessie,” this John Lasseter-produced feature should captivate most young viewers, even those accustomed to faster-paced, computer-animated features, like Lasseter’s directorial efforts for Pixar. Musician M. Ward and singer/actress Zooey Deschanel of the band She & Him add to the old-fashioned charm with their retro-sounding songs. And be sure to stay through the closing credits for the funny surprise at the end. –Kathleen C. Fennessy, Amazon.Com Review

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Review

Pooh is always in need of honey, but his own search for honey is put off when he hears that his friend Eeyore has lost his tail. Pooh and his other friends embark on a mission to find Eeyore a new tail, and as they work toward that goal, they discover that Christopher Robin is missing. His note says he has been taken by the fearsome Backson monster–either that, or he says he’ll be “Back Soon”. But no matter how many misunderstandings and missteps Pooh and crew make, they are always a delight to be around.

It’s good to be a part of the Hundred Acre Wood again. This film is a return to form for Disney, and it works marvelously and is easily better than the last three theatrical releases–The Tigger Movie, Piglet’s Big Movie and Pooh’s Heffalump Movie–combined. They were three cute movies, but they were mostly forgettable. 2011′s Winnie the Pooh is much more like 1977′s The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh with its adorable stories about the blustery day and the honey tree. In this film, there is a narrator that Pooh talks to, the characters are aware that they’re in a story, and there are many imaginative instances where the characters interact with the pages and the text that surround them.

The characters are as charming as ever. The new character designs are just a slight change from previous films, but the changes are very cool. Pooh and the others have a wider range of facial expressions now, which allows for some neat close-up animation angles as well as adding to the comedy of the film. Pooh’s looks of confusion, Rabbit’s glares of disbelief, and Owl’s pompous eyebrow-raises are all employed to make the funny scenes even funnier.

The sheer number of funny moments in this movie is shocking. I was expecting to see another average, slightly-dull Pooh movie, but all the children (and all the adults) in the theater were in stitches from beginning to end. The sight gags, misunderstandings, and thwarted victories keep the laughs coming for all members of the audience. Many of the lines come directly from A.A. Milne’s books, which is positively fantastic for fans of the original stories. The 8-year-old I watched the movie with was very excited to hear lines he recognized from the book, such as when Owl talks about “customary procedure” and Pooh asks, “What does Crustimony Proseedcake mean?” The classics are classics for a reason, and this movie draws its sweetness and hilarity from the best of sources.

The main flaw in Winnie the Pooh?’ At just over an hour, the movie’s too short. Even the 8, 6, and 4-year-olds I took to the movie were wanting more and felt sorry that the show was over. This could easily be a new classic, with its comforting pastels and earth tones, lovely music from Zooey Deschanel, countless laugh-out-loud moments, and it’s message about putting your friends first. This super-cute show is safe for the smallest toddlers and enjoyable for the most sophisticated adults. I want to see it again. – Tiger Holland, Amazon.Com Customer Review

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AMERICAN MALE PROSTITUTE

How I (Almost) Got A Book Deal Through Sex, Lies, And Deceit

Today’s publishing world is divided into two principle sections. First, there is the exclusive pool of traditional publishers, and, second, the help-yourself shark tank represented by the so-called vanity publishers.

Vanity publishers have a significant edge over traditional publishers in regards to brutality, business sense, and profitability. They ruthlessly pursue the infinite supply of aspiring writers who, in turn, are rejected by traditional publishers or literary agents. Ironically, in the world of traditional publishing, authors are rejected not necessarily due to lack of talent. Vanity publishers accept everybody and everything. No questions asked. Just pay your bill, but don’t come crying to them when you can’t sell a copy of your book.

The question remains, what does it take these days to get a book deal with a traditional publisher? What do you do when, hypothetically, you are running out of time and mere talent is not the be-all and end-all?

Stuart Martin Berry has found the answer: If you can’t impress them with your talent, baffle them with your bull-shit. [Read more, including an excerpt]

Click on image to buy from Amazon.Com

X-Men: First Class is the thrilling, eye-opening chapter you’ve been waiting for…Witness the beginning of the X-Men Universe. Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their superhuman powers for the first time, working together in a desperate attempt to stop the Hellfire Club and a global nuclear war.

Editorial Review

When Bryan Singer brought Marvel’s X-Men to the big screen, Magneto and Professor X were elder statesmen, but Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) travels back in time to present an origin story–and an alternate version of history. While Charles Xavier (Laurence Belcher) grows up privileged in New York, Erik Lehnsherr (Bill Milner) grows up underprivileged in Poland. As children, the mind-reading Charles finds a friend in the shape-shifting Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) and Erik finds an enemy in Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), an energy-absorbing Nazi scientist who treats the metal-bending lad like a lab rat. By 1962, Charles (James McAvoy) has become a swaggering genetics professor and Erik (Michael Fassbender, McAvoy’s Band of Brothers costar) has become a brooding agent of revenge. CIA agent Moira (Rose Byrne) brings the two together to work for Division X. With the help of MIB (Oliver Platt) and Hank (A Single Man‘s Nicholas Hoult), they seek out other mutants, while fending off Shaw and Emma Frost (Mad Men‘s January Jones), who try to recruit them for more nefarious ends, leading to a showdown in Cuba between the United States and the Soviet Union, the good and bad mutants, and Charles and Erik, whose goals have begun to diverge. Throughout, Vaughn crisscrosses the globe, piles on the visual effects, and juices the action with a rousing score, but it’s the actors who make the biggest impression as McAvoy and Fassbender prove themselves worthy successors to Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. The movie comes alive whenever they take center stage, and dies a little when they don’t. For the most part, though, Vaughn does right by playing up the James Bond parallels and acknowledging the debt to producer Bryan Singer through a couple of clever cameos. –Kathleen C. Fennessy, Amazon.Com Review

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Review

What drew me to check out X-Men: First Class was not any particular love of comic books nor any particular fondness of the previous films. What drew me to this film was the presence of actor Michael Fassbender, whose increasingly eclectic work has continued to impress me more and more with each new film he appears in. I recall little about the first three X-Men films, besides that I found them enjoyable and I admit that I haven’t even bothered to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I figured it was only a matter of time before Fox rebooted the X-Men series after the lackluster reception of the last two X-Men films. Bringing in director Matthew Vaughn, the director of 2010′s cult hit Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class is a summer blockbuster that delivers on all fronts, while reinventing and re-energizing the series.

The film opens with the same scene that opened the first film, introducing us to Erik Lehnsherr as he’s separated from his mother at a Nazi prison camp. These first scenes, particularly Erik meeting his mortal enemy Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), are surprisingly effective. Several years later, the film sets itself up against the backdrop of the 1960s Cuban Missile Crisis as Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) is recruited by CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) to assemble a team of mutants for the purpose of stopping Shaw from triggering World War III. Charles forms a partnership with the vengeful Erik (Fassbender) to help him assemble the team, which already consists of Charles’ adopted sister Raven (Jennifer Lawrence), and the film leads us through the events that culminate in Charles, Erik, and Raven becoming Professor X, Magneto, and Mystique, respectively.

The story and screenplay give credit to six people total and the key to the success of this movie may be that one of those six people is Bryan Singer, the director of the first two X-Men films whose absence may have been what guided the last two films into mediocrity. His involvement, Vaughn as the director, and the changing of the time period all have significant impact on the film’s success. The material seems much more at home in the 60s time period, while also helping to establish a different atmosphere and tone that separates it from the other films in the series.Vaughn emphasizes a steely, gray palette, an atmospheric visual aesthetic that gives the film a much bleaker tone than it’s predecessors. He’s assisted in establishing this effective atmosphere by the ominous musical score by Henry Jackman that lends to the atmosphere and builds the suspense.

There is some great talent in front of the camera. Lawrence, a recent Oscar nominee is a perfect fit for the young Mystique and Kevin Bacon gives a diabolical performance as the antagonist, but it is Michael Fassbender whom I believe will walk away from this film a star. It’s sad that with so many great roles behind him in the last few years Fassbender has to play Magneto to finally get the recognition he deserves. With that said, Fassbender’s performance as Magneto is fascinating to watch and brings a new level of depth to the character. His charismatic performance shows Erik as a tortured soul, but also a (forgive me for not being more eloquent, but no term I can think of is better) bada**. Furthermore, he shares remarkably strong chemistry with McAvoy and these two work well enough together to carry more films in this series.

What really elevates the material beyond it’s predecessors and, for that matter, most superhero movies, is the level of drama and genuine humanity it contains. It’s a complete success as a summer action film, but it’s much more than that; it’s a genuinely good, well-made film. In addition to that, it’s almost unbearably entertaining. I found it riveting for it’s entire 132-minute running time, while marveling at how it’s so insanely entertaining without relying on contrived, repetitive, action sequences to guide its entertainment value. There are some negative elements; Mystique’s makeup looks much cheaper than it did in previous incarnations and there is the occasional cheesy line of dialogue, but none of this was substantial enough to negatively impact my view of the film.

X-Men: First Class is exactly what it’s title implies; first class. Backed by a script that is both entertaining and intelligent, guided by great direction, and brought to life by a tremendous cast, I have no reservations calling this the best X-Men film yet. It has all the things you could want from a summer blockbuster; action, adventure, intelligence, soul, Magneto exacting revenge on Nazi’s, great performances, and one of the funniest cameos I’ve seen in a long time. It’s not a masterpiece, as it sticks a little too close to the summer-film template but, be that as it may, the heart must rule the head and I have no qualms admitting that I loved it. – Joshua Miller, Amazon.Com Customer Review

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AMERICAN MALE PROSTITUTE

How I (Almost) Got A Book Deal Through Sex, Lies, And Deceit

Today’s publishing world is divided into two principle sections. First, there is the exclusive pool of traditional publishers, and, second, the help-yourself shark tank represented by the so-called vanity publishers.

Vanity publishers have a significant edge over traditional publishers in regards to brutality, business sense, and profitability. They ruthlessly pursue the infinite supply of aspiring writers who, in turn, are rejected by traditional publishers or literary agents. Ironically, in the world of traditional publishing, authors are rejected not necessarily due to lack of talent. Vanity publishers accept everybody and everything. No questions asked. Just pay your bill, but don’t come crying to them when you can’t sell a copy of your book.

The question remains, what does it take these days to get a book deal with a traditional publisher? What do you do when, hypothetically, you are running out of time and mere talent is not the be-all and end-all?

Stuart Martin Berry has found the answer: If you can’t impress them with your talent, baffle them with your bull-shit. [Read more, including an excerpt]

Click on image to buy from Amazon.Com

Soul Surfer is the inspiring true story of teen surfer Bethany Hamilton, who lost her arm in a shark attack and courageously overcame all odds to become a champion again, through her sheer determination and unwavering faith. The film features an all-star cast, including Anna Sophia Robb and Helen Hunt, with Carrie Underwood in her film debut, and Dennis Quaid. In the wake of this life-changing event that took her arm and nearly her life, Bethany’s feisty determination and steadfast beliefs spur her toward an adventurous comeback that gives her the grit to turn her loss into a gift for others.

Editorial Review

The life of Bethany Hamilton, a promising amateur Hawaiian surfer who overcame a crippling shark attack at age 13 to succeed on the pro circuit, would likely make for a compelling, inspirational cinematic experience even if it consisted of a voice-over recounting her story on a blank screen. The actual film may stay firmly within the standard safe sports underdog movie guidelines (complete with a sneering nemesis clad in a black wetsuit), but Hamilton’s incredible strength and spirit still manage to shine through, aided by a terrifically appealing lead performance by AnnaSophia Robb. Beginning with a montage establishing Hamilton’s lifetime love of the water, the film quickly focuses on the strong ties with both her family (including her parents, here played by Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt) and community (personified in Carrie Underwood’s youth minister) that aided in her recovery from tragedy. Director-cowriter Sean McNamara, a television veteran, gives the images an appealing, natural sheen, but unfortunately proves less successful at illustrating the depths of his main character. Throughout, Hamilton comes across as more of an idealized, selfless saint than a real person learning how to cope with such horrendous trauma, which is a particular shame, considering how good Robb is during the few moments when she’s allowed to show frustration. She does her real-life inspiration proud, even if the film surrounding her sometimes feels overly scrubbed. –Andrew Wright, Amazon.Com Review

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Review

I just went this afternoon to the matinee, and wow what a good movie!! A main theme of the movie is that good can come out of bad. Also, it shows how we can help others through our personal tragedies and that life is not over when bad things happen to us. There is a plan for everything. I was very impressed with all the acting, special effects and the family friendly tone. There are zilcho swears. Even in the characters’ darkest moments, there are no typical overused omg’s or anything that would indicate they were angry at God or anyone else. They don’t shy away from Christian references but present it accurately, the way the family and Bethany responded in the situation. I was impressed that the faith message that was natural, but not preachy. Also, the Bible verse quoted was from Jeremiah 29:11 and really if you were of another faith you wouldn’t be offended by it I don’t think. In the credits they show interviews with the real Bethany and she mentions Jesus there. However, that’s who she is! Some of the critics have said oh she was too calm or sweet…but I didn’t see it this way at all. In fact, in real life, it was her calmness that helped save her life!! She wasn’t screaming but was in shock as well I think. I think she is just a very calm person. Later it showed how hard it was for her to deal with the loss of her limb from a functional standpoint and emotionally such as when she worried about not being attractive to boys. All the relationships and reactions were very typical of real people…nothing forced at all. It is clear how good the relationships are between the parents and among the siblings but they interact and argue like NORMAL people. Bethany has said in real life interviews that she said that she and her competitors weren’t that catty with each other, like with the antagonist they created for the movie. However, her response to the girl is very good which shows young people that being nice to someone gets you a whole lot further and can change the person. It also showed how she dealt with her celebrity status and how that was a real challenge. The other part critics say isn’t realistic is about her artificial arm…but it’s very common for amputees to reject a prosthesis when it’s for their upper limb. Tony Melendez (singer and plays 12-string guitar with his feet) did the same thing and he found he could function more easily without the prosthesis. There are some beautiful shots of Hawaii and the underwater/wave effects were just breathtaking. I definitely recommend this movie and am looking forward to having the blu-ray/dvd! – KittyKins, Amazon.Com Customer Review

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AMERICAN MALE PROSTITUTE

How I (Almost) Got A Book Deal Through Sex, Lies, And Deceit

Today’s publishing world is divided into two principle sections. First, there is the exclusive pool of traditional publishers, and, second, the help-yourself shark tank represented by the so-called vanity publishers.

Vanity publishers have a significant edge over traditional publishers in regards to brutality, business sense, and profitability. They ruthlessly pursue the infinite supply of aspiring writers who, in turn, are rejected by traditional publishers or literary agents. Ironically, in the world of traditional publishing, authors are rejected not necessarily due to lack of talent. Vanity publishers accept everybody and everything. No questions asked. Just pay your bill, but don’t come crying to them when you can’t sell a copy of your book.

The question remains, what does it take these days to get a book deal with a traditional publisher? What do you do when, hypothetically, you are running out of time and mere talent is not the be-all and end-all?

Stuart Martin Berry has found the answer: If you can’t impress them with your talent, baffle them with your bull-shit. [Read more, including an excerpt]

Click on image to buy from Amazon.Com

In the gripping thriller “The Lincoln Lawyer,” Matthew McConaughey stars as Michael “Mick” Haller, a slick, charismatic Los Angeles criminal defense attorney who operates out of the back of his Lincoln Continental sedan. Having spent most of his career defending petty, gutter- variety criminals, Mick unexpectedly lands the case of a lifetime: defending a rich Beverly Hills playboy (Ryan Phillippe) who is accused of attempted murder. However, what initially appears to be a straightforward case with a big money pay-off swiftly develops into a deadly match between two masters of manipulation and a crisis of conscience for Haller.

Editorial Review

Smooth operator Mickey Haller (Matthew McConaughey) zips around Los Angeles in his chauffeured Lincoln town car, cutting deals and finding clients on the road. Then he lands a doozy: a rich real-estate heir (Ryan Phillippe) accused of the brutal assault of an escort. At first, the case looks like a breeze, but odd details start nagging at Haller until he recognizes an ugly connection to an earlier case–and realizes he’s been set up in the strangest way. There are some deep implausibilities in The Lincoln Lawyer, but they hardly matter.

This is a movie that cruises on charm and smart casting, from McConaughey as a man whose glib polish is betrayed by a streak of doubt, down to the detectives (solid performances from Bryan Cranston, Michael Paré, Michaela Conlin, and others) and lowlifes (Katherine Moennig as an unlucky hooker, Shea Whigham as a lazy snitch) that flesh out the legal world. Every character pops out, clean and distinct; this sort of web-of-deceit story line, full of twists and turns, depends on the audience clearly connecting all the players. Some moments get overstated or maybe don’t make complete sense, but the zippy pace carries the audience over those bumps.

The Lincoln Lawyer could easily turn into a television series, a sort of Rockford Files-esque mixture of procedure and puzzle making. Also starring Marisa Tomei, William H. Macy, Frances Fisher, John Leguizamo, and Josh Lucas as the prosecuting attorney who gives McConaughey some competition in the chiseled-looks department. –Bret Fetzer, Amazon.Com Customer Review

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Review

The Lincoln Lawyer was a refreshing film for two paramount reasons: it’s one of the top films of the year and its Matthew McConaughey’s best performance to date. I generally like McConaughey movies but he’s played a lot of goofballs.

More often than not he’s a buffoon or a slacker who has beautiful women flocking to him and we never question it because he’s Matthew McConaughey. The ladies in his films never question it for this same reason and because he usually has his shirt off. But here he’s charming, intelligent, slick, and meticulously perfect at everything; particularly the work he does from the back seat of his Lincoln. We’d believe any woman’s attraction to him. Ironically, only one woman shows interest in him and it’s an old flame.

She’s Maggie, played by the lovely Marisa Tomei. The two are lawyers who remain friends who may want a little more. The iceberg between them is that they are on either sides of the fence when it comes to the law. She wants bad guys behind bars; he couldn’t care less if they’re on the street so long as they can afford his hefty fees.

McConaughey slides into the role of Mick Haller with great ease and does a tremendous job. Mick lives to be in a courtroom and finds great euphoria in winning and knowing that he will win without question. We love watching him in action. As good as this film was, I imagine the detail that went into the novel, of which it’s based, was even more enticing. Even John Grisham is likely a fan.

We spend the first several minutes of the film being acquainted with the big sleaze ball Mick is. He handles multiple cases at a time: hookers, drug dealers, whatever; and seems to have them settled in his head before he even steps foot in court.

All that changes however with his latest client: a rich kid accused of a brutal rape (Ryan Philippe). All fingers point to his being guilty, but he insists otherwise. Ryan Philippe isn’t as good here as he was as a similar rich snob in Cruel Intentions, but he’s pretty close.

To reveal what happens next would be inconceivable to anyone who’s seen the film. It spirals out of control over and over and it’s the kind of film that makes you think while entertaining the hell out of you. It’s one of those rare movies that actually could happen yet still has us captivated. Oh, and McConaughey only removes his shirt once. – Craig Whittle, Amazon.Com Customer Review

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Vampire Ascending

by Lorelei Bell

Sabrina Strong is a Touch Clairvoyant who knows a secret. She knows her mother was turned into a vampire when Sabrina was ten. Now that she is grown up, a powerful magnate in the Chicago business world hires her to reveal the identity of who relentlessly murders vampires in his ultra-modern stronghold of a hotel. [Read More...] – Including an excerpt of the first chapter.

Vampire Ascending is now available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.

Click on image to buy from Amazon.Com

Get ready to tango with RANGO, a winner with critics and audiences that’s “like nothing you’ve ever seen before” (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone). Johnny Depp is spectacular as Rango, a kooky pet chameleon who gets tossed into a wild and raucous town in desperate need of a hero. Refreshingly original with eye-popping animation, RANGO is “loads of fun and genuinely funny” (Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times). And now you can get more RANGO in the Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack with Digital Copy featuring the never-before-seen ending, 10 deleted scenes and exclusive interactive Blu-ray features including picture-in-picture storyboards and an interactive field trip to Dirt, and so much more.

Editorial Review

An animated Western with a chameleon as the hero is an unlikely concept, but Rango is a great film thanks to its witty mix of parody, intriguing characters, and sophisticated humor. When a common pet chameleon who’s suffering from an identity crisis crashes headfirst into the stereotypically classic Western town of Dirt, he has the unique opportunity to completely reinvent himself. Dubbing himself Rango, the chameleon boasts of his own heroism and creates a spiral of deception that lands him an appointment as sheriff of a town in crisis. The question is, can one unprepared and completely unqualified chameleon possibly change this little town’s future for the better? And how do road kill, enlightenment, and the Spirit of the West figure in to the equation? The animation looks great in this film and kids will love the goofy characters and crazy scenarios. But adults will find the film intriguing on a whole different level because of its comic parody of the iconic classic and spaghetti Western genres and the skilled balance of action, romance, and adventure. Kudos to director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) and the talented voice cast, among them Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Ned Beatty, Abigail Breslin, Alfred Molina, and Bill Nighy, for an award-worthy film. Some kids ages 7 to 9 may find the film rather dark and the action a bit too intense, but kids 10 and older should be fine as long as parents don’t object to the PG rating (some rude humor, language, smoking, and action). –Tami Horiuchi, Amazon.Com Review

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Review

Gore Verbinski’s animated feature Rango, with voices by Johnny Depp, Ned Beatty and a host of other talented actors, is a hard film to review, mainly because its real target audience is not the one it’s being marketed towards. Let me just flat out say it: this really isn’t a kids’ animated movie. Not because there’s anything in it that is not suitable for kids – there isn’t – but because 95 percent of what really makes it worth seeing is going to go right over most kids’ heads.

On the surface, the plot is fairly straightforward, at least in the set-up. A terrarium-housed pet chameleon lizard (it’s significant after the fact that you never know his real name) ends up stranded in the desert where he is directed to a small town that is on the verge of extinction because of a mysterious water shortage. In his efforts to blend in (he _is_ a chamelon after all), he adopts the name Rango and in quick order suddenly finds himself appointed sheriff and given the mission of finding out what’s happened to the town’s water.

Stylistically, Verbinski was willing to take some real chances with Rango, and anyone who appreciates animation as an art will find a lot to see here. The level of detail and sheer originality is stunning. Rango does not resemble _anything_ I’ve seen in an animated film before. Though set in the current day, the world of Rango is essentially an Old West town – aptly named Dirt – that’s literally drying up, populated by a cast of animal characters who look like they stepped out of any number of classic Westerns. The difference between Rango and your usual animated take on this theme though is that the residents of Dirt are _not_ cute. In addition to being much closer in look to the real animals they’re based on – lizards, tortoises, toads, possums, snakes, prarie dogs and such – they’re also grizzled, dusty, sun-bleached and wind-beaten, and in many cases, just downright _ugly_. Including, or even especially, the good guys. One suspects that merchandising for Rango will be somewhat problematic.

But it says something that everything fits together seamlessly. The town really looks like an Old West town on the verge of becoming a ghost town, and the characters look like they really do live there. And again, the level of detail is stunning, from the clothes the characters wear to the characters themselves, the buildings and other structures, the interiors. The four desert-owl mariachi players who sing narration at various points in the film are a case in point. The level of detail that is taken with their intricately shaded feathers, their embroidered mariachi costumes and their musical instruments – and the way all of these things _move_ when the characters do – is amazing. This is a movie you could watch again and again just to appreciate how much the artists put into it.

I have to mention two characters in particular that really stood out: the Mayor (marvelously voiced by Ned Beatty), a tortoise modeled directly on John Huston’s genial but chilling Noah Cross from the classic film Chinatown, and Rattlesnake Jake (also marvelously voiced by Bill Nighy), absolutely one of the best animated villains ever created. It’s absolutely spell-binding just to watch Jake _move_, a stunning feat of animation. I’ve never seen an animated character manage to radiate sheer menace on the level that Rattlesnake Jake does. In thinking about it, I now have to amend my earlier statement somewhat; Rattlesnake Jake could definitely scare some younger children. But that said, Rango is worth seeing for Rattlesnake Jake alone.

My mention of Chinatown brings me to the other prospective audience for Rango: film buffs. Rango references a truly astonishing number of movies: several classic Westerns (High Noon; The Good, the Bad & the Ugly; The Quick & The Dead, Paint Your Wagon) as one would expect, but also a number of non-Westerns, some fairly recent (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, A Bug’s Life), some classic (Lawrence of Arabia, Apocalypse Now) and some obscure (Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas). And of course Chinatown, not only for the Mayor character but for a number of scenes (watch for the glasses) and a good deal of the plot. And there’s also a key scene that’s a nod to a famous actor/director who is still remembered for his association with Westerns and for a certain classic character he created. A good example of the little in-jokes in Rango is what he’s carrying around in the back of the golf cart. As I said, most kids are going to miss 95 percent of this stuff. Me, I want to get the DVD just so I can watch it again and pick out all of the references I probably missed the first time around. It’s that kind of movie.

About my only real criticism of Rango – other than its being marketed to the wrong audience – is that parts of it are uneven and do tend to drag a bit. I think this is because the parts that do seem to be meant for kids tend not to mesh that well with the rest of the film. The parts that adults will enjoy most will probably be of little interest to kids, and the parts that kids will enjoy most will probably make things drag for adults.

But overall, I highly recommend Rango. It’s not your typical animated film, and most kids will probably complain that a lot of it’s boring, but for anyone who loves the sheer art of animation or who just loves films that reference all manner of movies from the great to the obscure, this is definitely a film you’ll want to see. – Whitt Patrick Pond, Amazon.Com Customer Review

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Crimson Dawn

Book One of the Darklife Saga by Ronnie Massey

Two Women Hunting A Rogue Vampire

Vampire Valeria Trumaine must confront old demons and face new possibilities as she struggles to bring a rouge vampire to justice. Her best friend and powerful Sidhe princess, Irulan, joins the hunt. Valeria will find that Irulan’s motives for keeping her safe are not what she thinks. And soon she is faced with an undeniable attraction that makes her question everything she knew about herself.

CRIMSON DAWN by Ronnie Massey is not just another vampire novel. Yes, the story line includes the favorites of all young adults – plus those who stayed young-at-heart – such as vampires, werewolves, witches, and fairies, but they represent a framework that is seamlessly incorporated in a captivating story that is well worth to be characterized as extraordinary. [Read More...]

Available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.

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Stomping, whomping, stealing, singing, tap-dancing, violating. Hooligan Alex (Malcolm McDowell) has a good time – at the tragic expense of others. His journey from amoral punk to brainwashed proper citizen and back again forms the dynamic arc of Stanley Kubrick’s future-shock vision of Anthony Burgess’ novel. Controversial when first released, A Clockwork Orange won New York Film Critics Best Picture and Director Awards and earned four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. Its power still entices, shocks and holds us in its grasp.

Editorial Review

Stanley Kubrick’s striking visual interpretation of Anthony Burgess’s famous novel is a masterpiece. Malcolm McDowell delivers a clever, tongue-in-cheek performance as Alex, the leader of a quartet of droogs, a vicious group of young hoodlums who spend their nights stealing cars, fighting rival gangs, breaking into people’s homes, and raping women. While other directors would simply exploit the violent elements of such a film without subtext, Kubrick maintains Burgess’s dark, satirical social commentary. We watch Alex transform from a free-roaming miscreant into a convict used in a government experiment that attempts to reform criminals through an unorthodox new medical treatment.

The catch, of course, is that this therapy may be nothing better than a quick cure-all for a society plagued by rampant crime. A Clockwork Orange works on many levels–visual, social, political, and sexual–and is one of the few films that hold up under repeated viewings. Kubrick not only presents colorfully arresting images, he also stylizes the film by utilizing classical music (and Wendy Carlos’s electronic classical work) to underscore the violent scenes, which even today are disturbing in their display of sheer nihilism. Ironically, many fans of the film have missed that point, sadly being entertained by its brutality rather than being repulsed by it. –Bryan Reesman, Amazon.Com Review

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A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 darkly satirical science fiction film adaptation of Anthony Burgess’s 1962 novel of the same name. The film, which was made in England, concerns Alex (Malcolm McDowell), a charismatic, psychopathic delinquent whose pleasures are classical music (especially Beethoven), rape, and so-called ‘ultra-violence.’ He leads a small gang of thugs (Pete, Georgie, and Dim), whom he calls his droogs (from the Russian друг, “friend”, “buddy”). The film tells the horrific crime spree of his gang, his capture, and attempted rehabilitation via a controversial psychological conditioning technique. Alex narrates most of the film in Nadsat, a fractured, contemporary adolescent slang comprising Slavic (especially Russian), English, and Cockney rhyming slang.

This cinematic adaptation was produced, directed, and written by Stanley Kubrick. It features disturbing, violent images, to facilitate social commentary about psychiatry, youth gangs, and other contemporary social, political, and economic subjects in a dystopian, future Britain. A Clockwork Orange features a soundtrack comprising mostly classical music selections and Moog synthesizer compositions by Walter Carlos (later known as Wendy Carlos). The now-iconic poster of A Clockwork Orange, and its images, were created by designer Bill Gold. The film also holds the Guinness World Record for being the first film in media history to use the Dolby Sound system.

The Plot

In London, Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell) is the leader of his “droogs”, Pete (Michael Tarn), Georgie (James Marcus), and Dim (Warren Clarke), one of several youth gangs. One night, after intoxicating themselves on “milk plus”, they engage in an evening of “the old ultra-violence”, including beating an elderly vagrant (Paul Farrell) and fighting a rival gang led by Billyboy (Richard Connaught).^[1] Stealing a car, they drive to the country home of Mr. Alexander (Patrick Magee), where they beat Mr. Alexander to the point of crippling him for life, and then Alex rapes his wife (Adrienne Corri) all while singing “Singin’ in the Rain”.

The next day, while truant from school, Alex is approached by probation officer Mr. P. R. Deltoid (Aubrey Morris), who is aware of Alex’s violence and cautions him. After the event of the night before, his droogs express discontent with Alex’s petty crimes, demanding more equality and more high-yield thefts, but Alex reasserts his leadership by attacking them and throwing them into a canal. That night, Alex and his droogs invade the mansion of a woman (Miriam Karlin); Alex bludgeons the woman with a phallic statue, and when he hears the police sirens approaching the house, he tries to run away, but is attacked by his droogs, who leave him stunned and bleeding. Alex is captured by the police, and Deltoid informs him that the woman has died, making him a murderer. Alex is sentenced to 14 years incarceration.

Two years into the sentence, the Minister of the Interior (Anthony Sharp) arrives at the prison looking for volunteers for the Ludovico technique, an experimental aversion therapy for rehabilitating criminals within two weeks; Alex readily volunteers. The process involves drugging Alex while strapping him to a chair, forcing his eyelids to stay open, and subjecting him to watch violent movies. Alex, initially pleased by the violent images, starts to become repulsed due to the drugs; he soon realises that the films’ soundtracks are by his favourite composer Ludwig Van Beethoven, and that the Ludovico technique will make him averse to that and tries to end the treatment to no avail.

After two weeks of the Ludovico technique, the Minister of the Interior puts on a demonstration to prove that Alex is “cured”, shown incapable of fighting back against an actor (John Clive) that insults and assaults him, and becoming violently ill at the sight of a topless woman (Virginia Wetherell). Though the prison chaplain (Godfrey Quigley), who Alex has befriended during his incarceration, protests the results saying that “there’s no morality without choice”, the prison governor (Michael Gover) asserts they are not interested in the moral questions and only in the means to prevent violence.

Alex is released, finding that his parents have sold his possessions and rented out his room. Homeless, Alex encounters the same elderly vagrant from before, who attacks him with several other friends. Alex is saved by two policemen but is shocked to discover they are his former droogs, Dim and Georgie. They drag Alex to the countryside, where they beat him up and attempt to drown him. The dazed Alex wanders the countryside before coming to the home of Mr. Alexander, and collapses. Alex wakes up to find himself being treated by Mr. Alexander and his manservant Julian (David Prowse). Mr. Alexander does not remember Alex from the earlier attack but has read about his treatment in the newspapers, and sees Alex as a political weapon to usurp the government, exposing the Ludovico treatment as a means to mind controlling society. As Mr. Alexander prepares to introduce Alex to fellow colleagues (John Savident and Margaret Tyzack), he hears Alex singing “Singin’ in the Rain” in the bath, and the memories of the earlier assault return. With his colleagues’ help, Mr. Alexander drugs Alex and places him in a locked upstairs bedroom, playing “Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony” through the floor below. Alex, in excruciating pain, throws himself from the window. He is then knocked unconscious by the fall.

Alex is taken to the hospital where he wakes from his injuries, having dreamt about doctors messing around inside his head. While being given a series of psychological tests, Alex finds that he no longer has an aversion to violence. The Minister of the Interior arrives and apologizes to Alex, letting him know that Mr. Alexander has been “put away” and offers Alex an important government job. As a sign of goodwill, the Minister brings in a stereo system playing “Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony”. Alex then realises that instead of an adverse reaction to the music, he sees an image of himself having sex with a woman in front an approving crowd. He then states, in a sarcastic and menacing voice-over, “I was cured, all right!”

Source: Wikipedia.org

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Crimson Dawn

Book One of the Darklife Saga by Ronnie Massey

Two Women Hunting A Rouge Vampire

Vampire Valeria Trumaine must confront old demons and face new possibilities as she struggles to bring a rouge vampire to justice. Her best friend and powerful Sidhe princess, Irulan, joins the hunt. Valeria will find that Irulan’s motives for keeping her safe are not what she thinks. And soon she is faced with an undeniable attraction that makes her question everything she knew about herself.

CRIMSON DAWN by Ronnie Massey is not just another vampire novel. Yes, the story line includes the favorites of all young adults – plus those who stayed young-at-heart – such as vampires, werewolves, witches, and fairies, but they represent a framework that is seamlessly incorporated in a captivating story that is well worth to be characterized as extraordinary. [Read More...]

Available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.

Click on image to buy from Amazon.Com

There’s not a moment in this movie you haven’t seen before–the only twist is that the enemy is alien, so whatever shred of concern you might have for raining heavy artillery on a fellow human being can be cheerfully cast aside. But clichés are clichés because they are efficient and effective, and despite the profound familiarity of Battle: Los Angeles, there’s no denying the movie rips along (though two-thirds of the way through you may have forgotten who was the virgin and who was the shell-shocked guy–but really, does it matter?). The look owes a debt to District 9, a hand-held, vérité grittiness, with most of the CGI carefully given a dingy, dirty look so that it meshes with the urban landscape. Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) does an impressive job of spitting out ham-fisted dialogue like he really, really means it, while the rest of the cast is suitably generic. This is an unrepentant love letter to the military; many viewers, faced with the unsettling chaos and moral ambiguities of real wars, will find this mythologizing not only soothing, but even moving. –Bret Fetzer

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Review

This is a movie that really isn’t anything new. In fact, if you seen Black Hawk Down and District 9, it may look familiar. What this film does that makes it so great is that it can combine these elements together so well, that you really can’t believe that this hasn’t been done before. They made the right choice by including a Marine platoon into the script, rather than some nameless group of soldiers or whoever wears a uniform so that Johnny Civilian can get the picture that they are U.S. troops. It isn’t the most perfect depiction of Marines, as I was one and remember the “F” bomb being used a whole heck of a lot more frequently, but it is passable. Aaron Eckhart really does a great job in his role as a battle tested Staff Sergeant. I think anyone else playing this character would have a hard time pulling it off exactly how he did. The rest of the cast is not all that bad either, given the scope of the story. And I am not a fan of Michelle Rodriguez, but she was tolerable- for the most part.

You have to remember that this is a movie about an alien invasion, it is not mona lisa smile. You have probably seen these movies before, but not like this. This is urban warfare fighting in the streets of downtown Los Angeles. It’s fun and exciting, and better than half of the other “realistic” war movies that are already out. I highly recommend this film to anyone who likes sci-fi and military movies. You wont be disappointed. The critics have taken a proverbial dump on this movie, but what do they know anyway. This is exactly the movie I expected it to be when I walked in to the theater, and a little bit more with some character believability and Aaron Eckhart’s acting. I will be eagerly awaiting the Blu-ray release so that I can watch this all over again in HD in the comfort of my living room. So suspend your rational thought process for a bit and enjoy Battle: Los Angeles for what it is; a science fiction war movie. Hoo-Rah. - Tom C, Amazon.Com Customer Review

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Imperator

The Life of Gaius Julius Caesar

A Novel for Young Adults by Philip Katz

“Imperator – The Life of Gaius Julius Caesar” by Philip Katz is a fictional recreation of the life of the greatest of all Romans, Gaius Julius Caesar. It is a personal memoir, the inside story of his world as viewed through his eyes, written in the first person, suppressed by Caesar’s successors, only to be rediscovered in modern times. [More...]

Available in all good bookstores and Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and more.

Click on image to buy from Amazon.Com

True Grit is a powerful story of vengeance and valor set in an unforgiving and unpredictable frontier where justice is simple and mercy is rare. Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), is determined to avenge her father’s blood by capturing Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), the man who shot and killed him for two pieces of gold. Just fourteen, she enlists the help of Rooster Cogburn (Academy Award® Winner Jeff Bridges), a one-eyed, trigger-happy U.S. Marshall with an affinity for drinking and hardened Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Academy Award® Winner Matt Damon) to track the fleeing Chaney. Despite their differences, their ruthless determination leads them on a perilous adventure that can only have one outcome: retribution.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Editorial Review

A 14-year-old girl needs a man with “true grit” to help her bring in the fugitive who killed her father. That she settles on Rooster Cogburn–a one-eyed, booze-soaked, potbellied U.S. marshal on the downward curve of his career in law enforcement–is the glorious springboard for all versions of True Grit: the Charles Portis novel, the 1969 western that won an Oscar for John Wayne, and the 2010 Coen brothers adaptation. The Coens have some mighty shoes to fill in their version, and their choice for the eye-patch is Jeff Bridges, who growls his way through an understated take on Rooster. Matt Damon plays LaBoeuf, the Texas Ranger who joins the hunt; Josh Brolin is the scurvy killer; and Barry Pepper is the leader of the outlaw gang. Working as usual with cinematographer Roger Deakins, the Coens exhibit their clear, crisp view of western places, thrillingly creating new takes on recognizable vistas such as the frontier town, the snowy forest, and the isolated cabin at night. The Coens revel in the incredibly ornate dialogue, which allows their sardonic attitude to bleed into the material–young actress Hailee Steinfeld doesn’t seem at all fazed by the language, which may be a key reason she got the job as heroine Mattie Ross. While True Grit doesn’t have the heft of the best films in the Coens’ arsenal (there’s something very formal and even a wee bit academic about their stroll through this familiar text), they do create a pleasant sense of a good yarn, retold around the campfire for the umpteenth time. –Robert Horton, Amazon.Com Review

Review

In my world, the arrival of any film by the estimable Coen brothers is a welcome sight. But I must admit, I was a little surprised when I heard they were taking on a new version of “True Grit.” In a sly way, however, it made sense. I have always felt that the 1969 John Wayne film version underserved the subversively comic masterwork by Charles Portis. I thought that perhaps the Coens were, thus, the ideal pair to bring the cynicism, eccentricity and subtle humor of this fine novel (and underrated American classic) to the big screen. The Coens assembled a big-name cast including Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Barry Pepper and Josh Brolin for this incarnation that manages to be true to both the source novel and the previous film–but isn’t really a definitive new vision. However, that said, this “True Grit” is a solidly constructed and very entertaining western that has a lot to recommend it.

Unfamiliar with the story? Probably not, but here’s a quick run down. Fourteen year old Mattie Ross arrives in town to claim the body of her father who has been gunned down by a notorious outlaw. Local law enforcement seems ineffectual and the culprit (Brolin) has set off into Indian territory to parlay with another band of renegades (led by Pepper). With dogged persistence, Mattie strikes up some financing and hires Deputy Marshal Rooster Cogburn (Bridges) to track the man down for her. Seems like she’s got a little vigilante justice on her mind! But a Texas Ranger (Damon) is also in pursuit and the three form a tenuous, and ever shifting, relationship as they track their prey.

To me, the book’s greatest asset has to be Mattie Ross–an undeniably unique narrative voice. While the Wayne version features a plucky Kim Darby in the role, the film is largely a vehicle to showcase The Duke. Rooster Cogburn was to become his late career iconic role and the film won him an Oscar. Bridges does well with the cantankerous Cogburn, but the Coens have delivered the film back into the hands of the delightful Mattie Ross. As portrayed by the strong and stoic Hailee Steinfeld, who has deadpan earnestness down to perfection, she is front and central where she belongs. Steinfeld has been receiving some justified accolades as one of this year’s finest supporting actresses–but, make no mistake, this is the lead role in every conceivable way. Her interplay with Bridges is a true delight and her relationship with Damon brings surprising depth.

All the performances are solid, I especially liked Brolin’s small but pivotal role as the catalyst for the entire expedition. The film looks and sounds great. The screenplay is tight and amusing. If anything, the ending seems a bit rushed–it’s boom and we’re out of here with a flash forward that doesn’t really feel cohesive to the rest of the picture. But I had a lot of fun with “True Grit” and think Steinfeld is one to watch. It may not stand as one of the Coens’ idiosyncratic masterpieces (to my mind, anyway), but it is certainly a successful and appealing film on every level. KGHarris, 12/10.

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Queen of Misfortune

A Lady Jane Grey Novel by Peter Carroll

A Love Story of Almost Shakespearean Dimension!

Queen Of Misfortune is the fictional story of Lady Jane Grey as told by her beloved tutor, John Aylmer. At the time of her execution a stranger is recorded to have assisted her when, blind folded, she lost her way upon the scaffold. Was it the same ‘stranger’ who was also recorded to have visited her when she was imprisoned in the Tower? Little is known of this unfortunate girl who was beheaded for treason in the 16^th Century. She was only 16. She is omitted from the list of monarchs but was actually queen for nine days. Author Peter Carroll, in his novel, follows John Aylmer’s close relationship with Jane as her tutor and later, as she grows up, her lover. [More...]

Available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.

Click on image to buy from Amazon.Com

ESPN began as an outrageous gamble with a lineup that included Australian Rules Football, rodeo, and a rinky-dinky clip show called Sports Center. Today the empire stretches far beyond television into radio, magazines, mobile phones,the internet, video games and more, while ESPN’s personalities have become global superstars to rival the sports icons they cover. Chris Berman, Robin Roberts, Keith Olbermann, Hannah Storm, Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Stuart Scott, Erin Andrews, Mike Ditka, Bob Knight, and scores of others speak openly about the games, shows, scandals, gambling addictions, bitter rivalries, and sudden suspensions that make up the network’s soaring and stormy history. The result is a wild, smart, effervescent story of triumph, genius, ego, and the rise of an empire unlike any television had ever seen.

About the Authors

James Andrew Miller is the author of Running in Place: Inside the Senate and Live from New York. He has also written for the New York Times, Life, the Washington Post and Newsweek. His various positions in television include Senior Executive Producer of “Anderson Cooper 360″ and Executive VP of Original Programming at USA Network. He lives in Bucks County, PA.

Tom Shales won his Pultizer Prize for television criticism in the Washington Post. He is the author of On the Air!, Legends, and Live from New York, and has written for publications such as Esquire, Playboy, Life,Interview, among others. He lives in McLean, Virgina.

Review

If you love ESPN and the various commentators and personalities that have appeared on its TV programs over the years, you will probably love this lengthy collection of literally hundreds of short (more often than not, a page or less) interviews and first-person discussions from the likes of people you’re very likely to know, such as Chris Berman, Dan Patrick, Bob Ley, Suzy Kolber, Beano Cook, Lee Corso, John Saunders, Tom Jackson and dozens upon dozens more. There are also interviews with important (to ESPN), but less well know figures like Bill and Scott Rasmussen, Loren Matthews, Steve Anderson and (again) many, many more. All told, you’ve got over 700 pages of interesting tidbits, news, opinions, gossip, rivalries and so forth.

Opinions will vary, I suspect, but on the whole I think most ESPN fans will enjoy the very candid interviews. Be aware, though, even some of the heartiest fans may find so many stories a bit overwhelming–like trying to take a drink from a fire hydrant. If you’re not interested in the specifics of the ESPN story, then save yourself some money, because you may feel disappointed with a book that is long and so completely focused on ESPN’s past and present. (Or buy it for your favorite ESPN fan as a gift.) The chapters reveal the book’s historical emphasis:

1. Blood: 1978 – 1979
2. The Utility of Daring: 1980 – 1986
3. Ripeness Is All: 1987 – 1991
4. Manifest Destiny: 1992 – 1994
5. Jonah: 1995 – 2000
6. The Garden of Forking Points: 2001 – 2004
7. Reconciling the Dream: 2005 – 2008
8. Parade of Horribles: 2009 and beyond

Simply put, if a very detailed history of ESPN is your interest, then this book is certainly worth your serious consideration. Just remember–this is an ESPN history, not a sports history.

One more thing: ESPN is a good example of a new enterprise seemingly coming out of nowhere and becoming a major business known around the world–all in a relatively short amount of time. Congratulations to all the people who made ESPN possible. This is their story. – AdamSmythe, Amazon.Com Customer Review

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Imperator

The Life of Gaius Julius Caesar

A Novel for Young Adults by Philip Katz

“Imperator – The Life of Gaius Julius Caesar” by Philip Katz is a fictional recreation of the life of the greatest of all Romans, Gaius Julius Caesar. It is a personal memoir, the inside story of his world as viewed through his eyes, written in the first person, suppressed by Caesar’s successors, only to be rediscovered in modern times. [More...]

Available in all good bookstores and Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and more.

Click on image to buy from Amazon.Com

From a director of Shrek 2 comes your chance to step into the secret world of garden gnomes – Gnomeo & Juliet. Perfect for the whole family, this fresh and funny makeover of one of the world’s most timeless story features music from Sir Elton John, and the voice talents of Emily Blunt, James McAvoy and sir Michael Caine. Caught up in a feud between neighbors, Gnomeo and Juliet must overcome as many obstacles as their namesakes. But with flamboyant pink flamingoes and epic lawnmower races, can this young couple find lasting happiness? Complete with hilarious never-before-seen bonus features, Gnomeo & Juliet is an out-of-the-ordinary animated comedy your entire family will love. We just gnome it!

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Editorial Review

It’s the age-old story of forbidden love between feuding families, but Shakespeare’s classic tragedy Romeo and Juliet becomes quite a comedy when the young lovers in question are different-colored gnomes from backyards on opposite sides of a tall wooden fence. Lured out of their respective gardens by wanderlust and an exotic orchid, Gnomeo (James McAvoy) and Juliet (Emily Blunt) meet and instantly fall in love. Their forbidden love blossoms with a little help from a plastic pink flamingo named Featherstone (Jim Cummings), and soon life-threatening lawnmower races ensue, an epic battle is staged, and wisteria trees and gnome hats are hacked to bits in the process. Shakespeare himself (Patrick Stewart) makes an appearance and declares that, while this story bears a marked resemblance to one of his own, he’s not sure it will end in quite the same way. Shakespunian nuggets of wisdom include “A weed is by any other name, still a weed,” and that fairness demands “a hat for a hat,” and of course the philosophical question “What’s in a gnome?” just has to be asked. Executive producer Elton John’s penchant for over-the-top showmanship finds a perfect home in the gnomes’ elaborate backyard sets, and his musical score is an effective blend of classic and original songs, including a new collaboration with Lady Gaga called “Hello, Hello.” Other legendary musicians lending their talents to the voice cast include Dolly Parton and Ozzy Osbourne. This film is funny, engaging, and, with the possible exception of one particularly scantily clad gnome, appropriate for the whole family. (Ages 5 and older) –Tami Horiuchi, Amazon.Com Review

Review

As parents to a six-year-old girl, my husband and I are constantly on the look-out for tolerable kid-friendly shows that we can take her to (at the movies). I say tolerable because quality is often lacking in many of these films and then there’s the issue of PG vs. G ratings. Well, when we heard Gnomeo and Juliet was being screened at our local cinema, we decided to give it a try, and to our surprise, our picky 6-year-old loved it!

I have to say that this movie is mainly for young children. It is full of color, which will appeal to most kids, and there are adorable garden gnomes running around. My husband fell asleep within fifteen minutes (to be fair, he had had a long day at work), but my daughter’s attention was riveted to the screen from the beginning till the end. Me? I enjoyed the music (thanks to Elton John who obligingly helped with the soundtrack featuring his classic hits – his partner David Furnish was a producer on this film). I also sort of enjoyed the silly premise – instead of the doomed star-crossed Romeo and Juliet, we have warring garden gnomes, the Reds and the Blues, and two impish and totally cute gnomes, Juliet (a Red, voiced by Emily Blunt) and Gnomeo (a Blue, voiced by James McAvoy) who flirt and later fall for each other despite their differences.

The casting is a sort of coup really given the famous names featured here – there’s Jim Cummings, Patrick Stewart, Dolly Parton, Ozzy Osbourne, and many more! The movie is a kaleidoscope of color and at times this can get a tad overwhelming but the children appeared to love it, so my verdict – awesome entertainment for the kiddie set! – z hayes, Amazon.Com Customer Review

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Queen of Misfortune

A Lady Jane Grey Novel by Peter Carroll

A Love Story of Almost Shakespearean Dimension!

Queen Of Misfortune is the fictional story of Lady Jane Grey as told by her beloved tutor, John Aylmer. At the time of her execution a stranger is recorded to have assisted her when, blind folded, she lost her way upon the scaffold. Was it the same ‘stranger’ who was also recorded to have visited her when she was imprisoned in the Tower? Little is known of this unfortunate girl who was beheaded for treason in the 16^th Century. She was only 16. She is omitted from the list of monarchs but was actually queen for nine days. Author Peter Carroll, in his novel, follows John Aylmer’s close relationship with Jane as her tutor and later, as she grows up, her lover. [More...]

Available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.

Click on image to buy from Amazon.com

One of the highest-rated public affairs programs on public television, Bill Moyers Journal drew up to two million weekly viewers from 2007 to 2010. Through incisive, morally engaging conversations with some of the leading political figures, writers, activists, poets, and scholars at work today, the Journal captured the essence of the past three pivotal years in American life and politics, including the final act of the Bush Administration and the early years of Obama.

Now, Bill Moyers Journal: The Conversation Continues brings this groundbreaking work to the page. From Michael Pollan, David Simon, and Jane Goodall to John Grisham, Karen Armstrong, and Barbara Ehrenreich, Bill Moyers Journal: The Conversation Continues introduces the ideas that matter today—on subjects as diverse as the politics of food, race in the age of Obama, aging in America, the power of poetry, wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan, the conflict over gay marriage, and the fate of the American newspaper.

With extensive new commentary from Bill Moyers—in the tradition of his national bestsellers A World of Ideas and Healing and the Mind—here is an unparalleled guide to the debates, the cultural currents, and above all the fascinating people who have so powerfully shaped the world we live in.

Editorial Reviews

Culled from Moyers’s third PBS series, which ran from 2007 to 2010, there’s no small talk or superficiality in these interviews with 47 “independent thinkers.” The topics are far-reaching (faith, populism, the Israeli occupation of Gaza, aging, lynching in America, health care, capitalism, capital punishment, lobbyists in Washington), and the guest list is wide-ranging (pediatrician Margaret Flowers, biologist E. O. Wilson, historian Howard Zinn, economist Victor Greidel, writer David Simon, minister Jeremiah Wright, lawyer Philippe Sands, journalist Victor Gold, novelist John Grisham, theologian James Cone). Karen Armstrong urges us to find the commonalities in diverse religious traditions, notably compassion. Jeremy Scahill alerts us that Blackwater’s Eric Prince “is a man who is building up nothing short of a parallel national security apparatus.” John Lithgow shares some of his favorite poems; Jane Goodall turns one’s attention to the animal world. In an era of much instant and ephemeral talk, it is a pleasurable thing to hold this “book of ideas.” These challenging, engaged conversations reward the reader’s serious attention. There are no sound bites here, just food for thought.
—Publisher’s Weekly

Starred Review. The PBS series Bill Moyers Journal aired weekly from 2007 to 2010, capturing discussions of pivotal issues at the close of the Bush administration and the start of the Obama era. This companion book recaptures those compelling discussions on issues that matter, covering politics, economics, race, foreign policy, and the environment. Among the 47 interviews are Michael Pollan on our unsustainable food producing and eating habits; Robert Wright on the evolution of religion and why there’s hope for an end to religious wars; David Simon, creator of The Wire, on the war on drugs as a war on the underclass; John Lithgow on acting in the play All My Sons and the gut-wrenching immediacy of war profiteering; journalist William Greider on Wall Street corruption; and Michelle Alexander and Bryan Stevenson on mass incarceration of minorities in the U.S. The collection also includes Sam Tanenhaus and Victor Gold expounding on the death of traditional conservatism, and Nikki Giovanni, Martin Espada, and Maxine Hong Kingston reading poetry and discussing the impact of literature on society. Each interview is preceded by background on the interview subject and the context of the conversation. In the style for which he’s known, Moyers probes with respect, intelligence, curiosity, humor, and graciousness.
—Booklist

Bill Moyers Remembers Favorite ‘Journal’ Interviews

NPR Book Review – May 23, 2011 (Excerpt)

In 2007, Bill Moyers returned to PBS to revive his long-running public affairs program, Bill Moyers Journal, which first aired on PBS in the ’70s. Moyers’ show drew a loyal audience to its coverage of politics, public controversy and the arts before his retirement in 2010.

In a new book, the longtime PBS host and former aide to President Lyndon B. Johnson recaptures the show’s memorable interviews, from The Wire‘s David Simon to conservationist Jane Goodall to Chicago minister Jeremiah Wright.

Moyers launched his program’s revival with an interview with Jon Stewart, the Comedy Central host who satirizes the news business to which Moyers is so devoted. It wasn’t the most obvious choice, but Moyers tells NPR’s Neal Conan that Stewart was his second choice after Mark Twain — and he wasn’t available.

“I think Stewart is the closest we’ve come in a long time to Mark Twain,” Moyers says. “Both of them understood a very important point about American politics, which is that the truth goes down easier if it’s marinated in humor.” [Read the full article...]

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QUEEN OF MISFORTUNE
A Lady Jane Grey Novel by Peter Carroll

A Love Story of Almost Shakespearean Dimension!

Queen Of Misfortune is the fictional story of Lady Jane Grey as told by her beloved tutor, John Aylmer. At the time of her execution a stranger is recorded to have assisted her when, blind folded, she lost her way upon the scaffold. Was it the same ‘stranger’ who was also recorded to have visited her when she was imprisoned in the Tower? Little is known of this unfortunate girl who was beheaded for treason in the 16^th Century. She was only 16. She is omitted from the list of monarchs but was actually queen for nine days. Author Peter Carroll, in his novel, follows John Aylmer’s close relationship with Jane as her tutor and later, as she grows up, her lover. [More...]

Available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.

Click on image to buy from Amazon.Com

Nearly one million weekly listeners trust NPR’s Brooke Gladstone to guide them through the distortions and complexities of the modern media. This brilliant radio personality now bursts onto the page as an illustrated character in vivid comics drawn by acclaimed artist Josh Neufeld. The cartoon of Brooke conducts the reader through two millennia of history-from the newspapers in Caesar’s Rome to the penny press of the American Revolution and the manipulations of contemporary journalism. Gladstone’s manifesto debunks the notion that “The Media” is an external force, outside of our control, since we’ve begun directly constructing, filtering, and responding to what we watch and read. With fascinating digressions, sobering anecdotes, and brave analytical wit, The Influencing Machine equips us to be smart, savvy, informed consumers and shapers of the media. It shows that we have met the media and it is us. So now what?

Editorial Reviews

Starred Review. Though the graphic format employed here is often playful and always reader friendly, this analysis of contemporary journalism is as incisive as it is entertaining, while offering a lesson on good citizenship through savvy media consumption….While some may see a sign of bias in the author’s own media affiliation, this historical analysis of how and why media and society shape each other should prove illuminating for general readers and media practitioners alike. (Kirkus Reviews )

Think Art Spiegelman meets Marshall McLuhan. (Leon Neyfakh - New York Observer )

Starred Review. Gladstone, cohost of NPR’s On the Media, and noted illustrator Neufeld (A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge) make a formidable pair in this fascinating history of media’s influence…. a frank discussion of war journalism, which highlights Neufeld’s considerable skills, with each panel bursting with situational details. Gladstone’s is an indispensable guide to our ever-evolving media landscape that’s brought vividly to life. (Publishers Weekly )

The Influencing Machine is an indispensable guidebook for anyone who hopes to navigate the mirages and constantly shifting sands of our media landscape. Brooke Gladstone’s text and Josh Neufeld’s images illuminate one another with crackling wit and intelligence. (Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home )

Like Malcolm Gladwell or Michael Lewis or Michael Pollan, Brooke somehow takes a subject most of us don’t give a damn about and makes it completely entertaining. (Ira Glass, host of This American Life )

A first-rate comics manifesto. The Influencing Machine has influenced me to think much more deeply about the media landscape live in. Gladstone and Neufeld can show and tell with the best of ‘em. (Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics )

Brooke Gladstone’s The Influencing Machine is so remarkable that it is hard to describe. The best I can do is: it’s a book about the history and current controversies of the media, all done as a Spiegelman-style comic-strip narrative. Brooke herself (or at least an avatar) leads you through it all, and her ‘voice’—well known after her years as host of NPR’s On the Media—comes through loud and clear, thanks to Josh Neufeld’s witty drawings. I learned a lot, including a lot that I should have known already, and enjoyed every minute. (Michael Kinsley, author of Please Don’t Remain Calm )

‘The Influencing Machine’ Traces Myths Of The Media

NPR Book Review – May 21, 2011 (Excerpt)

Once a week, journalist Brooke Gladstone can be heard reporting on the state of journalism on her radio show, On The Media. Now, the formerWeekend Edition editor has a book out that asks difficult questions about the future of journalism, and then literally draws the answers out for you.

Illustrated by Josh Neufeld, Gladstone’s The Influencing Machine is a comic book about the media: Who are they? What do they do? How do they affect us? Is there even a media anymore, now that anyone with a cellphone can potentially reach millions? Is objectivity even possible?

Gladstone answers that last question with a resolute “No.”

“Reporters can be fair,” she tells NPR’s Scott Simon. “But there’s no way that we can divorce ourselves from the experience gleaned over a lifetime that forces us to come to certain conclusions.” [Read the full article...]

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Queen of Misfortune

A Lady Jane Grey Novel by Peter Carroll

A Love Story of Almost Shakespearean Dimension!

Queen Of Misfortune is the fictional story of Lady Jane Grey as told by her beloved tutor, John Aylmer. At the time of her execution a stranger is recorded to have assisted her when, blind folded, she lost her way upon the scaffold. Was it the same ‘stranger’ who was also recorded to have visited her when she was imprisoned in the Tower? Little is known of this unfortunate girl who was beheaded for treason in the 16^th Century. She was only 16. She is omitted from the list of monarchs but was actually queen for nine days. Author Peter Carroll, in his novel, follows John Aylmer’s close relationship with Jane as her tutor and later, as she grows up, her lover. [More...]

Available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.

Click on image to buy from Amazon.Com

In Bon Temps, everyone has something to hide. But when new threats emerge, no one can conceal the secrets of their past. After Sookie discovers Bill was kidnapped, she heads to Mississippi, where she becomes entangled in a world ruled by werewolves and a powerful Vampire King. Eric is also drawn to the King’s domain to settle an old score; Jason falls for a mysterious woman; Lafayette can’t avoid love or demons; and Sam uncovers the truth about his birth family. It all leads up to the revelation of the series…Sookie’s true identity.

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Editorial Review

The 12 episodes composing True Blood: The Complete Third Season are either the best yet or the most ridiculous, depending on one’s opinion of the increasing number of monsters entering the scene. As last season saw an onslaught of pagan and ancient Greek-derived “supernaturals,” as they’re called by Bon Temps’ citizens, this season welcomes everything from werewolves, to vampire royalty, to that surprise-being that Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) finally discovers she shares genes with. While the first two seasons centered on the spicy love affair between Sookie and Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), this season branches out once again from the vampire-human cultural blender. From the first episode, “Bad Blood,” when Bill is whisked off to meet the King of Mississippi, Russell Edgington (Denis O’Hare), whose villainous scheme will inform all ensuing episodes, one gets less of Sookie and Bill, and more of everything else.

For example, Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell) reveals himself this time around, starting in the episodes “Beautifully Broken” and “It Hurts Me Too,” in which he tracks down members of his past and in turn meets some new family, like his mischievous brother, Tommy Mickens (Marshall Allman). Following up on Eggs’s death at the end of season two, Andy Bellefleur (Chris Bauer) and Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten) have multiple police dramas, especially in later episodes like “I Smell a Rat” and “Fresh Blood.” This season, too, presents some of life’s greatest challenges to Tara Thornton (Rutina Wesley), as if she hadn’t suffered enough after her new love Eggs was shot. Hoyt (Jim Parrack) and Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll), as a foil couple to Sookie and Bill’s vampire-human coupling, have enormous hurdles to jump over simply to continue dating. While all of these dramas make the characters in Bon Temps come alive like never before, the silliest of the plots continues on, unfortunately, as Queen Sophie-Anne Leclerq (Evan Rachel Wood) has to battle King Edgington for Vamp-Blood sales territory. On the up side of that chess-game narrative, Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgård) and his femme fatale, Pam De Beaufort (Kristin Bauer), play much larger roles this season, and in the finale, “Evil Is Going On,” Eric not only discovers his deep past history but struggles through his rockiest present dangers thus far.

Interestingly, though Sookie is still the protagonist, True Blood appears to be shifting to a wider view, emphasizing the overall community and the effects supernatural warfare has on Bon Temps collectively. Lafayette Reynolds (Nelsan Ellis), still one of the most charming characters, discovers more about his past, thanks to nurse Jesus Velasquez (Kevin Alejandro), and Jason too discovers a new calling, thanks to Crystal Norris (Lindsay Pulsipher). If anything, this season of past recollections and the realizations of future callings will allow for this excellent series to carry on into infinity, as magical creatures continue to grace this setting enriched with full-fledged characters. Vampires were, as the cast confirms this time around, only the beginning. –Trinie Dalton, Amazon.Com Review

Review

Following the hedonistic reign of terror of the redoubtable Maryann, the residents of Bon Temps are once again trying to pull their lives back together. For Sookie Stackhouse, events are complicated by the disappearance of her vampire lover Bill Compton, the emergence of a bunch of werewolves on the scene and the machinations of the vampire King of Mississippi. Meanwhile, Sookie’s brother Jason pursues a new career in law-enforcement, Sam Merlott tracks down his real parents and Jessica, now broken up with Hoyt, embraces her vampire side more freely. Meanwhile (again), Lafayette gets a boyfriend called Jesus (True Blood? Controversial? Never!) and there are some meth-dealing hicks around causing mischief. And there’s this werewolf called Alcide who fancies Sookie and spends a fair bit of time with his shirt off. And Tara gets emotionally abused (yet again) by Thomas Cromwell from The Tudors. And a whole ton of other stuff happened which I’m forgetting right now.

True Blood has always been a nutty, camp, somewhat trashy but always resolutely entertaining show, but its third season is nothing less than a sustained, full-scale assault on the viewer’s senses and sanity. Learning from the pacing problems in Season 2 (where the latter part of the season degenerated into a tiresome parade of filler orgy scenes for no discernible plot reason), Alan Ball has massively overcompensated, packing every single instant of this season with surprising plot revelations, new characters, surprise reappearances of old characters (including dead ones), new ideas, new races, new concepts and, indeed, the kitchen sink. It’s certainly not a dull season, but it is one that is overloaded to the point of near-incoherence.

If it’s possible to pick out a central thread from this anarchic and demented tapestry of pure chaos, it’s the attempt by the vampire King of Mississippi, Russell Edgington, to reverse the policy of appeasement by vampires towards humans and have vampires seize control of the world. Edgington is as barmy as a box of frogs on ecstasy (but still a long way from being the craziest character on the show this season) but is extraordinarily entertaining, played with scene-chewing relish by Denis O’Hare. His lover Talbot, played by Theo Alexander, is almost as amusing. This storyline, where Eric and Bill pretend (or do they?) to defect from the Queen of Lousiana’s side to Edgington’s and political machinations unfold at his stately home, is the definite highlight of the year, despite the presence of a number of extremely cheesy actors playing ‘evil’ werewolves who are allied to Edgington.

The werewolf storyline otherwise doesn’t really go anywhere, despite the pre-season hype touting this as ‘the werewolf season’. We do get a promising new regular character in the form of ‘good’ werewolf Alcide (Joe Manganiello) who manages to remain likable despite inexplicably being attracted to Sookie, who is at her most annoying this year. Hopefully he gets more to do next year.

Other storylines range from the mind-bogglingly inane (the meth-dealing hillbilly plot is almost breathtaking in its utter lack of enjoyability) to the compelling (Jessica and Hoyt continue to have the most believable relationship and best chemistry of any pairing on the show). Tara gets emotionally and physically abused and manipulated again to the point where the viewer is in severe danger of losing the last vestiges of sympathy and respect for the character. This story is somewhat saved by James Frain’s completely bonkers performance as mentally unstable vampire Franklin Mott (who makes the King of Mississippi look like a stable and reliable fellow), but the writers need to stop using Tara as their emotional punch-bag, especially since they relent with her cousin Lafayette and give him a reasonably happy storyline, complete with a new love interest (which was great up until the hippy-trippy voodoo vision stuff kicked in).

There’s also a series of plot revelations that hark back to the beginning of Season 1 and earlier, particularly retconning the backstories and motivations for Sam and Bill. In the former case this is laughably unbelievable, whilst the latter works better. Whilst Sookie is rather unlikable this year, Stephen Moyer’s performance seems to improve once Bill is given more layers and made into a more duplicitous character than we first thought he was.

Overall, this season of True Blood is watchable, but also often headache-inducingly overwrought. The ‘Arlene’s baby’ storyline is unnecessary and tedious, as is the story about Jason’s latest romance. The less said about the introduction of the Fae (supernatural beings who apparently dwell within the mystical realm of a Timotei advert) the better. However, we also get a lot more screen-time for Eric and Pam, which is great, and we also get one of the most gloriously demented TV cliffhangers of all time (you’ll know it when you see it).

True Blood’s third season (***) is a cataclysmic explosion of sleaze, storylines and characters, some of which are compelling and some of which are barely watchable tedium. Sorting the good from the bad is hard work this year, but the show is never less than watchable, if also frequently achieving far less than its potential. – A. Whitehead, Amazon.Com Customer Review

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Vampire Ascending

by Lorelei Bell Sabrina Strong is a Touch Clairvoyant who knows a secret. She knows her mother was turned into a vampire when Sabrina was ten. Now that she is grown up, a powerful magnate in the Chicago business world hires her to reveal the identity of who relentlessly murders vampires in his ultra-modern stronghold of a hotel. [Read More...] – Including an excerpt of the first chapter.

Vampire Ascending is now available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.

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As the 2005 theatrical release of Serenity made clear, Firefly was a science fiction concept that deserved a second chance. Devoted fans (or “Browncoats”) knew it all along, and with this well-packaged DVD set, those who missed the show’s original broadcasts can see what they missed. Creator Joss Whedon’s ambitious science-fiction Western (Whedon’s third series after Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel) was canceled after only 11 of these 14 episodes had aired on the Fox network, but history has proven that its demise was woefully premature. Whedon’s generic hybrid got off to a shaky start when network executives demanded an action-packed one-hour premiere (“The Train Job”); in hindsight the intended two-hour pilot (also titled “Serenity,” and oddly enough, the final episode aired) provides a better introduction to the show’s concept and splendid ensemble cast. Obsessive fans can debate the quirky logic of combining spaceships with direct parallels to frontier America (it’s 500 years in the future, and embattled humankind has expanded into the galaxy, where undeveloped “outer rim” planets struggle with the equivalent of Old West accommodations), but Whedon and his gifted co-writers and directors make it work, at least well enough to fashion a credible context from the incongruous culture-clashing of past, present, and future technologies, along with a polyglot language (the result of two dominant superpowers) that combines English with an abundance of Chinese slang.

What makes it work is Whedon’s delightfully well-chosen cast and their nine well-developed characters–a typically Whedon-esque extended family–each providing a unique perspective on their adventures aboard Serenity, the junky but beloved “Firefly-class” starship they call home. As a veteran of the disadvantaged Independent faction’s war against the all-powerful planetary Alliance (think of it as Underdogs vs. Overlords), Serenity captain Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) leads his compact crew on a quest for survival. They’re renegades with an amoral agenda, taking any job that pays well, but Firefly’s complex tapestry of right and wrong (and peace vs. violence) is richer and deeper than it first appears. Tantalizing clues about Blue Sun (an insidious mega-corporation with a mysteriously evil agenda), its ties to the Alliance, and the traumatizing use of Serenity’s resident stowaway (Summer Glau) as a guinea pig in the development of advanced warfare were clear indications Firefly was heading for exciting revelations that were precluded by the series’ cancellation. Fortunately, the big-screen Serenity (which can be enjoyed independently of the series) ensured that Whedon’s wild extraterrestrial west had not seen its final sunset. Its very existence confirms that these 14 episodes (and enjoyable bonus features) will endure as irrefutable proof Fox made a glaring mistake in canceling the series. –Jeff Shannon, Amazon.Com Review

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Review

I despise television. I even gave it up last year, and now only see a few shows a friend and I watch together. “The West Wing”. “24″. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”.

Until last fall. Then I saw “Firefly”, named somewhat whimsically about a cargo ship whose end lights up when it accelerates. But this is no flashy futuristic show about technical wonders, but rather a very nitty-gritty character study of nine very individual people.

Joss Whedon, who created “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel”, had an idea for a science fiction show unique to that “Southern California born/spent time in Britain as a teenager” background of his: He read a book about the ground level grunts of the American Civil War called “The Rebel Angels” and wanted to do a TV series about the people who didn’t make the history books: the people history stepped on. He wanted to do a story set in a future about a ship and where it went. Not a vast engine of war or a great vessel of exploration and diplomacy, but an old tramp steamer of a ship, so small it didn’t even have a mounted gun, that made its way through thick and thin by taking any job, anywhere, no questions asked.

The nine people on board the Firefly-class ship “Serenity” aren’t rich, famous, particularly smart or particularly gifted, for the most part. They all have pasts, and not all of them are comfortable about talking about themselves. They live in the aftermath of a major war that lead to the forceable unification of all of humanity, and not all of them were on the same side. The ship’s name, “Serenity” is that of the climactic battle of that war, and they find themselves still trapped psychologically in a war that ended six years before. They have doubts, fears, old pains and new concerns, like where their next job is coming from and whether they’ll live through it, because the few people that can hire them and will hire them have scant concern for ethics, the law or good manners. Sometimes your employer is more dangerous to you than the law you’re trying to avoid.

And this is a show about the outskirts: there are laser guns, hoverships and advanced technology, but few can afford them. Big Dumb Bullets are still cheaper than Flashy Powered Blasters, and on the frontier reliability is more important than fashion, particularly when the other fellow has a habit of firing first. A horse will do you better than a powersled if you have lots of grasslands but no repair facilities or money to pay. A man dressed like a cowboy may have artificial organs and a revolver, or own a space station and need to pick up advanced medicines or even transfer a herd of cows. “Serenity” flies between the Core worlds of advanced technology and the newly terraformed Rim worlds, where people are grateful to have a wooden roof overhead.

It is this peculiar mix of the old and new that fascinates those looking for the unexpected: the comically serious and the deadly comical. Any given episode will shift you from adventure to terror, farce to drama, slapstick to deep thought and a sense of “boy, I didn’t see THAT coming” without a sense that no-one is at the wheel, or that the screenwriter is merely playing with your expectations. More importantly, there are no “cheats”: every action more deeply reveals the characters and who they are becoming. Unlike the broadcasts, this DVD shows the episodes, including three new ones, in their intended order.

“Firefly” is seldom what it first appears to be, either in terms of appearance or behaviour. No plot works out as expected, and people can surprise you. Joss Whedon indicated that “Buffy” was about growing up, “Angel” is about getting to work and “Firefly” is about being grown up and the choices you have to make as an adult. It’s not like any other show you’ve seen: a story of the nine people who find themselves on board a ship, looking into the black of space, and seeing nine different things looking back at them.

Even if you’ve seen all the first season episodes broadcast on FOX and are waiting for the forthcoming 2005 Universal motion picture, this DVD has all episodes to date, including the three not previously broadcast in the U.S., and such extras as cast and creator commentaries, a blooper reel to equal any other show in history and a few other easter eggs here and there.

Like such great television shows as “Hill Street Blues”, “Babylon 5″, “Homicide: Life on the Streets” or “The Supranos”, this will introduce you to people and places that will enrich you and your concept of the world. I still hate television. I’m buying this DVD. – Blair A. Petterson, Amazon.Com Customer Review

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Vampire Ascending

by Lorelei Bell Sabrina Strong is a Touch Clairvoyant who knows a secret. She knows her mother was turned into a vampire when Sabrina was ten. Now that she is grown up, a powerful magnate in the Chicago business world hires her to reveal the identity of who relentlessly murders vampires in his ultra-modern stronghold of a hotel. [Read More...] – Including an excerpt of the first chapter.

Vampire Ascending is now available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.

Click on image to buy from Amazon.Com

Some know her as the star of the 1960s TV show That Girl, or creator of Free to Be… You and Me, or perhaps major fund-raiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Thomas, author of five bestselling books, here focuses on a role she’s had her entire life: daughter. Laughter was the soundtrack for Thomas’s formative years in 1950s Beverly Hills. Her father, comedian Danny Thomas, regularly had funny friends–including Bob Hope, Sid Caesar, and George Burns–over to the family home. The author, actress, feminist, and philanthropist shares fond memories of enjoying and learning from these comedy luminaries, and of being a Hollywood kid long before game-changers like the Internet and cable TV. She chronicles her path from childhood to adulthood; particularly interesting tidbits include her meeting and marrying Phil Donahue, becoming friends with Gloria Steinem and Bella Abzug, and, with her siblings, “producing” her father’s funeral. But this book is more than a well-written memoir. Thomas also includes interviews with comedy powerhouses galore, from Tina Fey to Alan Alda, Chris Rock to Ben and Jerry Stiller. On the whole, this book offers a delightful firsthand look at how comedy has become integral to American culture–and the way it’s shaped one woman’s colorful life. – Publishers Weekly

Thomas, star of the classic sitcom That Girl and daughter of comedy legend Danny Thomas, has taken an interesting approach to the usual Hollywood memoir. Chapters exploring her life as the daughter of comedy royalty, and her struggles to establish an independent identity for herself, alternate with profiles of contemporary comedians (Seinfeld, Leno, Stiller, Rock, Crystal, Rivers, Williams, Fey, Wright, and Colbert, among others). We see how her father inspired her, and we also see how he inspired the professionals who came after him. Thomas’ personal stories are heartwarming and entertaining. Her father, who came by his legendary status by dint of hard work and perfect delivery, comes across as a driven man who always made time for his family and who never made any secret of the fact that he loved his little girl. It was a privileged childhood, to be sure, and you can’t help being a little envious of someone who grew up around the likes of Milton Berle, George Burns, and Sid Caesar. The profiles of other comedians allow us to see Danny Thomas through others’ eyes, too, offering a different perspective on the man and his legacy. An engaging, highly informative memoir—definitely not the routine show-biz autobiography. –David Pitt, Booklist

Review

Almost all of us have a set of traits that attract us to others, and that we value in others: honesty, intelligence, attractiveness, and, to many, the most important–a sense of humor. Marlo Thomas’ sixth book is a paean to humor. Ms. Thomas is the daughter of comedian/actor/St. Jude Children’s Hospital founder Danny Thomas. Her book is unusual in its approach and in its style, and extremely enjoyable.

First, it is a memoir, a love story, a thank-you letter to her family, and a personal glimpse into her childhood as one of Danny Thomas’ three children. But interspersed with the marvelous, intimate stories (about her drum-playing grandmother, her Catholic family, her acting successes and failures) are interviews with current comics and deeply moving homages to the comics of the past. So, a few chapters about her early life, Thomas segues into an interview with Jerry Seinfeld. A discussion about the years her father spent “On the Road” is followed by a wonderful conversation with Robin Williams. Newer comics are referenced and interviewed as well: Tina Fey, Chris Rock ,and Steven Wright all have one-on-one time with Thomas.

She makes us laugh, cry, and trip happily down memory lane with the great comedic geniuses of the past–Milton, Sid, Jan, George, Phil, Red, and the Bobs (Hope and Newhart). She remembers at-home dinners with these stellar humorists and discusses Hollywood from the point of view of someone raised there. As she does the storytelling, she also shows us behind the scenes of her own coming of age: That Girl, Free to Be…You and Me, her feminist roots and friendship with Gloria Steinem (and the founding of the Ms. Foundation,) her 30-year marriage to Phil Donahue, and her constant willingness and drive to be on the cutting edge of helping children be all they can be.

Moreover, the jokes are fabulous, some given by the comics she interviews and some just sprinkled hither and yon between chapters and within the delightful, distinctive stories of a life well-lived. So even as you feel a bit tearful about her father’s death, the joke about the clown’s funeral, in the interview with Steven Wright, will have you laughing in amusement (or bemusement!) She talks a lot about her father, their close relationship, and her ongoing work with her father’s dream-child–St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, TN.

Thomas’ book gives us the chance to feel touched, reminiscent, entertained, enlightened, charmed and very involved with the narrative itself. At 72 (her 73rd birthday is in November), she remains the vibrant, peppy girl we remember from “That Girl”–and yet her personal growth and feminism was and is a beacon to baby-boomer women who watched her life avidly for strength and encouragement.

“I was a lucky kid,” Marlo writes, “to have a seat at the table…with those comic warriors who had the audacity to stand up in a room full of strangers with the conviction that they could bring them all together in laughter. Those stories of those times have been humming in my head all of my life, and I decided at last to write them down.” I am so glad she did!

by Laura Strathman Hulka
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

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Queen of Misfortune

A Lady Jane Grey Novel by Peter Carroll

Now Available As Paperback And Kindle Edition!

Queen Of Misfortune is the fictional story of Lady Jane Grey as told by her beloved tutor, John Aylmer. At the time of her execution a stranger is recorded to have assisted her when, blind folded, she lost her way upon the scaffold. Was it the same ‘stranger’ who was also recorded to have visited her when she was imprisoned in the Tower? Little is known of this unfortunate girl who was beheaded for treason in the 16^th Century. She was only 16. She is omitted from the list of monarchs but was actually queen for nine days. Author Peter Carroll, in his novel, follows John Aylmer’s close relationship with Jane as her tutor and later, as she grows up, her lover. [More...]

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