Entertainment Books

Good book, but I did not see a foreword by Brad Pitt as mentioned in the description.

At first I was hesitant to purchase this book because I thought it consisted of nothing but photographs. It's not that I have anything against that, but I also like to have text accompanying the pictures. For a few months, I kept contemplating purchasing it when it saw it in various bookstores. When I actually made the opportunity to flip through the book, I discovered the author also conducted interviews with people who worked with Elliott and were in his life. I was also highly encouraged by another fan to purchase the book because he said it was spectacular, so I did just that. As soon as I purchased it, I went home and started looking at the photographs, which are exquisite. I also really enjoyed reading the interviews. An extra bonus included a CD consisting of five live tracks, one of them being a cover of a famous country song. I urge any fan of Elliott Smith to purchase this book, especially those who think they already have "everything" in their collection. "Elliott Smith" by Autumn de Wilde is a delight!

The pictures in the book are so incredible and definitely bring you back to XO times. It took me awhile to finally buy it, but I would not hesitate. This is a great purchase!

This Elliot Smith book is really cool. It has tons and tons of pictures, but not a whole lot of text. It also comes with a awesome live cd with around five songs.

Coming from Autumn De Wilde, This book gets as close as it gets to Elliott Smith's photographical side. There are a lot of formal dedications including a foreword by Beck. I also enjoyed the 4 song live CD that was included with the book. I wish the CD had more tracks on it.

Elliott Smith was perhaps the greatest Indie singer/songwriter of his generation. His unresolved murder/suicide at the age of 34 in 2003 catapulted him into iconic status. It abruptly ended a career that had begun to take off. Autumn DeWilde shared a personal friendship as well as a professional working relationship with Smith, released Elliott Smith, which is basically a series of intimate and touching conversations between Elliott's close friends and family that we have the privilege to listen(read) in on. Many speaking for the first time since his death. Because DeWilde was a personal friend of Elliott's, I think that we have to respect the fact that this is her book, not ours. It is going to read more like she is relating to Elliott because she knew him, and not just an informal biography about Elliott. After understanding that it is easier to appreciate and understand the book's perspective. Complementing the text are glossy black and white and color photographs that DeWilde shot of Smith throughout his career. Extremely fascinating and revealing, this book provides a unique perspective into the man whose music many have come to appreciate and love. DeWilde directed Smith's Son of Sam music video, and shot the cover art for his fifth album Figure 8. For a man many know only too well through his music, this book brings a fascinating "behind the scenes" perspective to his life. Besides his music, this is perhaps as close to the man that we will come to know. Reading about his friends and family talk about Smith, you begin to feel like you knew him as well, that you're sharing stories with old friends reminiscing about the night before he appeared on national television for the Oscars, the stories behind the music, or specific conversations that you had. Like his music, this book is a collection of memories, priceless memories. For those unfamiliar with his work, this book will not be as powerful or interesting as it will be for fans. Smith was a complex artist and human being, his personal life and music were not separate, they were one. This is not a biography on Smith, it is a series of conversations and interviews between Smith's closest friends and family. For fans familiar with his music, this book is a must have. I walked away after reading this book with a ton of information that I didn't know before. Considering that I never knew him personally, I even felt like I understood him a (little) better. The beautiful photographs alone are worth the price of the book, containing never before seen images of Smith. Haunting portraits that capture the man in all his glory; the photo shoot from the Figure 8 cover shooting; even handwritten lyrics on the backs of receipts. Yet we also get a series of revealing interviews and conversations that begin to flesh out the man and gives deeper insight into the life of this deeply troubled and gifted artist. The book is a celebration of their friendship and perhaps brings some closure to their relationship as well. I respect that, and I think we are fortunate DeWilde chose to share these at all. Thanks. DeWilde lets us in on this event. Looking at the haunting and beautiful images of Smith, there are many images that come to mind. Silently looking at Smith, you can hear his music playing in the background. This book because it leaves you with a tasted wanting more. Among those interviewed are: Beck Hanson, Ben Gibbard, Chris Walla, Autumn De Wilde, Joanna Bolme, Sam Coomes, Neil Gust, Ashley Welch, Margaret Middleman, Larry Crane. It is no secret that Elliott Smith lived a troubled life. I feel that this book gives you just enough without getting overly personal with respect to Elliott Smith and his family and the problems that he had in regards to drug abuse/depression. I think that this book could have gone a certain way in violating his privacy and instead it shows a tremendous amount of respect. I know that it is the gritty details that are the most fascinating, but I think that there is a fine line to respecting what someone else would like and what people are comfortable talking about. This book balances that perfectly. Contained within the book is a previously unreleased compact disc recording of Elliott Smith "Live at Largo" in Los Angeles. Contains four tracks: Angeles, Between The Bars, Clementine, Clouds(Quasi cover), All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down(Hank Williams Jr. cover). Intimate, touching, fascinating, and perhaps like his music- timeless. Recommended.

I took interest in Bernie Mac after his death. I bought this book with cero expectactions. Once I start readind it, I can't stop until I finish.
It is excellent. I cried a lot and also laugh. Is a real journey of pure sentiment. Bernie Mac proved to all that he was a genuine person.

This may not be War and Peace, but it had an impact on me that made me want more of Bernie Mac. What a deep, genuine person we had in him. We will sorely miss his humor and his integrity. From humble beginnings come great people. O Bernie, we hardly knew ye.

As a loyal Bernie Mac fan, I thought the book was awesome. It revealed that Bernie was a man of great character with a tender heart. The committment that he made to his wife and daughter was heart-warming. Bernie's upbringing was old school and he lived his life with those values.

Excellent autobiography and life story written just as he would have spoken it on his show when he talked to America. He would say things we all thought but sometimes were afraid to say. He will be missed. I still watch his show every night. Wished there had been more episodes.

I finished this book in less than a day. It was fantastic. I have such a new respect for the man and love the comedian all that much more. This book was a lot different the his previous book, but just as good if not better. It gave a glimpse into his thoughts and his private pain. I really believe that this world will be a little sadder without Bernie Mac. We will miss him

every page is filled with amazing crisp high quality printing, and amazing artwork.
the comics can be a bit confusing and short.
but i am definitely going to buy every other volume that comes out

...This is a great buy, even though this may be a bit biased because I generally prefer many Korean artists' style over their Japanese counter-parts, (don't get me wrong I love them too). The comics that are in this book vary greatly in quality between each other, but the same can be said of this book's Japanese parallel, Robot.

Another pro for this book, for me at least, is there is a lot less sexualizing of little girls in the strips, so you don't have to feel so awkward when you bring this book to the cashier, and don't feel the need to hide this book from anyone ever seeing because of a few strips.

My only real beef with this book is that it costs 5 dollars more than Robot, and a good portion of the book fluctuates between glossed and unglossed paper! This maybe a choice of the artists, but as a matter of me being ocd and cheap, this set me off a little, but I won't hold it against them.

Over all, this book is superior to Robot in visuals, and there are some very very promising comics that I'll look forward to reading in the next issue, as well as some comics I'd really wish they'd omit, (it seems the poor ones take up the most space in the book). I'd recommend this to anyone who loves digital art, I'm looking forward to the next release!

This book came to life from Korean illustrators being inspired by Robot. Apple has much better binding than the first issue of Robot did. I find that the concept artwork actually at a higher quality than Robot. Both Robot and Apple suffer from mostly the same problem of storytelling. I however find Apple's storytelling much weaker.

The book switches from glossy stock paper to matte but it really doesn't make it worse.

I'm glad that I was able to browse through the book at Anime Expo from Udon's booth. What makes it difficult to buy books these days is that often these types of books are shrink-wrapped and sealed. If you don't know what it's supposed to be about, it makes it harder to purchase.

I'm often looking at the book to see what techniques I can learn from these illustrators.

It's no secret that Korea is home to very talented digital artists, and this anthology is testament to their technical skill. But, aside from a few original examples such as Hyung-Tae Kim's cover, almost all of the artwork in the book feels derivative and cliched.

There are very obvious riffs on videogames, like a female version of Silent Hill's Pyramid Head or several bunny-women who are obviously derived from the Viera race of the recent Final Fantasy games.

There are obvious riffs on anime, such as several illustrations and one comic based on Die Buster! A few of these look like they were traced from a poster or cover.

There is a blatant copy of Okama's "Food Girls".

There's an armored bear reminiscent of The Golden Compass bear designs.

There are several Buster Swords lifted directly out of Final Fantasy VII.

There is an "edgy" comic very similar to Jamie Hewlett's Gorillaz style.

The above prove two things:

1) I'm a big honking character design nerd .

2) You should only buy the book if you have a serious interest in studying the artists' techniques.

If you are looking for a groundbreaking, original anthology, look elsewhere. There is a lot to learn from the techniques, use of color, composition, lighting, etc used so masterfully in the book. But the majority of the concepts themselves are recycled. The greatest testament to the lack of originality is that the book copies Range Murata's superior ROBOT anthology (which has problems of it's own; perfection it isn't).

I think the editors should focus on quality versus quantity, and reduce the page count to a point where they focus on artists who have found their own voice and deserve the exposure.

When I was in film school there was a lot of film history and film theory, and no one talked about television often enough for us to learn anything worth while about it. I now work as a television director, and it was this book that taught me the "business" aspects of the industry. Without this book I would probably be out of work or directing the local news someplace like Lima, Ohio.

This book is so hot that it's been stolen from my office library 3 times. I'm on my 4th purchase of this book. I felt like I could have an intellegent conversation about any aspect of the television business after using this book. It is my main resource for getting quick answers that are easy to understand. This is required reading for those getting started and a great resource for those that have been in the industry a while. It also includes a computer disk containing forms such as U.S. Copyright registration and others found in the book that you can import to your word processor.

Ron Hebert
Producer
2002 Emmy Awards - Pacific Southwest Chapter

This Business of Television is a landmark volume in our practice (entertainment industry economic forecasting) for three reasons.

Reason # 3: it is incredible that guys of this stature would take the time to compile such an essential and complete perspective of the television business. Goodenough, a seasoned entertainment lawyer, law professor, and a scholar pioneering the study of law and evolutionary biology, brings the structure and rigor, while Blumenthal, a prolific TV, multimedia, and online entertainment producer and businessman brings the been-there-done-that street savvy.

Reason # 2: it is, after all, the business that pays for the content (the subscriber, pay-per-view, advertising, syndication, and the latest, e-commerce revenue models) and the content that drives the migration to new technology (streaming media webcasting and video-on-demand, interactive TV, and wireless). The clear understanding of the financial systems supporting television and video entertainment offered by Oliver and Howard in this book facilitates the modeling of future monetary transactions.

Reason # 1: video programming spread from broadcast to cable and then to satellite in one generation. The last decade found it spreading to the PC via CD-ROM, DVD, and broadband Internet. In the future it will be found on our cell phones, wristwatches, car seat backs, and refrigerators. There will be innovations in business arrangements along the way, but those who cannot converse in the basic economics will be doomed.

This segues into a jacket quote by Morty Morton, former producer of the Late Show with David Letterman, who remarked, "This Business of Television has gotten me through years of moderate success in the TV business. I'm now ready to burn the damn thing and open a restaurant."

This book (textbook) is an excellent resource for just about everything in TV. The disk included is a great utility to have for printing out your own contracts. I only with this book could be updated, say, every two years.

This Business of Television is a landmark volume in our practice (micro-economic forecasting for the entertainment industry). Here are the top three reasons why.

Reason # 3: it is incredible that guys of this stature would take the time to compile such an essential and complete perspective of the television business. Goodenough, a seasoned entertainment lawyer, law professor, and a scholar pioneering the study of law and evolutionary biology, brings the structure and rigor, while Blumenthal, a prolific TV, multimedia, and online entertainment producer and businessman brings the been-there-done-that street savvy.

Reason # 2: it is, after all, the business that pays for the content (the subscriber, pay-per-view, advertising, syndication, and the latest, e-commerce revenue models) and the content that drives the migration to new technology (streaming media webcasting and video-on-demand, interactive TV, and wireless). The clear understanding of the financial systems supporting television and video entertainment offered by Oliver and Howard in this book facilitates the modeling of future monetary transactions.

Reason # 1: video programming spread from broadcast to cable and then to satellite in one generation. The last decade found it spreading to the PC via CD-ROM, DVD, and broadband Internet. In the future it will be found on our cell phones, wristwatches, car seat backs, and refrigerators. There will be innovations in business arrangements along the way, but those who cannot converse in the language of economics will be doomed.

The second edition proudly bears a jacket quote by Morty Morton, former producer of the Late Show with David Letterman, who remarked, "This Business of Television has gotten me through years of moderate success in the TV business. I'm now ready to burn the damn thing and open a restaurant."

Not what i thought it would be. Describes the stars life more than the deaths.

If you are the type of person who shares an interest in the movies and television with a love of reading, and has a certain curiosity, you will find this book to be both appealing and addictive. Once you start skipping through its pages you'll likely find it difficult to put down, at least for any length of time.

Don't be deceived by the title, though: it is much more about life and living than it is about death. But death sells and life doesn't. In any case, the book recounts the lives and deaths of many of Hollywood's well-known and lesser stars, both long-past and fairly recent; concentrating most heavily on their lives, successes, failures, fears, anxieties, and failings. But, as the title implies, each brief life story ends with a star's death; some accidental, others alcohol or drug related, some in obscurity, others murdered, by natural causes, simply puzzling, or by suicide. If you're a movie fan, and especially if you're a trivia fan, you can't help but be captivated.

Besides being interesting, however, these stories also tell us a bit about human nature. For many of these stars, who appeared to be on top of the world, with everything to live for, somehow felt that they were unworthy or had nothing and that nothing was of any value. Others felt threatened or overwhelmed, especially when they aged, or felt their sex appeal, fame, adulation, or simply their livelihood slipping away.

Best of all, however, besides telling its stories, this book is also a feast for trivia fans. Where else can you learn such obscure facts as these: that Florence Lawrence was the first actor named in a film and the first movie actor whose name was known by the public; that a placard placed at John Belushi's graveside reads, "He could have given us a lot more laughs, but noooooo."; that before dying penniless and alone, child actor Bobby Driscoll said of himself, "I was carried on a satin cushion and then dropped into the garbage can."; that when the not so sophisticated "It Girl," Clara Bow, was asked what "It" was," she replied, "I ain't real sure."; that Lou Costello's last words were, "That's the best ice cream soda I ever tasted."; that Greta Garbo didn't really "want to be alone," she simply wanted to be left alone; that, just before he died, Edmund Gwenn, Santa Clause in "Miracle on 34th Street", when told "It's awfully tough, isn't it?" replied, "Yes, it's tough, but not as tough as doing comedy."; that Elvis Presley's will requested that his funeral procession include 16 white Cadillacs and one white hound dog; that the supposed great movie lover, Charles Boyer, committed suicide two days after his wife of 44 years died of cancer; that the famous "Hollywood" sign was erected to promote a real estate development and originally read "Hollywoodland"; or, finally, that Herv'e Villechaize of "De plane! De plane!" fame was the youngest artist ever to have a painting hung in the prestigious Museum of Paris?

If those don't peak your interest and get your trivia juices flowing nothing will. Enjoy! Five stars.

This is a great book. Anyone interested in the seedy history of Hollywood stars will definitely enjoy this book.

The title of the book says it all. The book details the deaths and often the lives of some of Hollywoods favorite players. It is broken up into sections depending on the type of death. Some of the catagories and people in them are:
1. Mysterious:
a. Natalie Wood
b.Sal Mineo
c. Bruce and Brandon Lee
and many more

2.in obserity-these people had not been in the limelight in a while
a. Lucille Ball
b. Joan Crawford
c. Mary Pickford
as well as many more

3. suicide
a. Freddy Prinz
b. Lupe Velez
as well as others

4. Drugs/alcohol
a. Judy Garland
b. Chris Farley
c. John Barrymore
and many more

This book is full of interesting tidpits that any person who loves old Hollywood will definitly injoy

Very Good book, well written.
I for some reason have a morbid fascination into hollywood deaths and this book definately satisfies my curiosity.
Highly recommend

This book provides a vastly entertaining read about a vastly different collection of individuals. Each mini-memoir presents a glimpse into the lives of groupies/muses during specific eras of rock history. Some of the stories are positive & upbeat (Michele Overman) while others might be rather disturbing (Connie Hamzy). There are many flavors of "groupiedom" and you will find them all in this book. Everyone from the groupie artists/performers - Cynthia Plaster Caster, Cherry Vanilla, Lexa Vonn, Cassandra Peterson, Miss Mercy, Bebe Buell - to average people who just want to "worship" Rock N' Roll. I always enjoy Pamela DesBarres' writing & this book solidifies her position as a rock historian.

For anyone who wasn't lucky enough to live through the 60's and 70's music scene but wanted to- read this. It isn't easy to find a first hand account of things from a groupies point of view. Pamela Des Barres is amazing as far as writing and life experiences go. That is for sure.

The follow-up to "I'm With the Band, Confessions of the Groupie" is another addition to the Pamela Des Barres collection of page turners.

Written impeccably, Pamela takes us into the intimate lives of other groupies other than herself. The stories are interesting, captivating, and take you back to the days of when rock and roll ruled America.

I highly recommend for any music fan, entertainer, or someone looking for a fun read.

"Let's Spend the Night Together-Backstage Secrets of Rock Muses and Supergroupies" by the lovely Pamela DesBarres promises what it delivers. She gleams all the juicy tidbits from famous and infamous groupies alike. She engages the reader as a best friend/cheerleader for these women and their delioiously colorful lives. As a music lover/fan I was delighted by their tales and Ms DesBarres obvious good time in being privy to their secrets. A very good time from a down-to earth , trailblazing, and engaging author!

This Book is Really Great. I enjoyed "I'm With The Band" the Most, but this has the opinion of other Women & Includes Many Other Bands. No One can Compare to "The Original" Miss Pamela!

In this volume, we get to see Mashiro and Sou's relationship developing and getting a bit intimate but what disappointed me the most was Sou's hesitation about the whole thing and that he might be using Mashiro to forget about his sister.

I can't wait to get my hands on the next volume. Hopefully their relationship will get more intimate then.

I am very pleased with the poster overall. It is a bit light and fuzzy but that only adds to the era of when the picture was taken. The poster is not signed as in the photo for the review but thats a good thing as it would take away from the art work. I give this item a rating of 5 as it was just what i was looking for in a price range I could afford and in color it beats all expections.

Bob Thomas gets to the heart of things early: Disney was a greatly talented man whose singular vision lives on in his work. Fair enough. We really do forget that all this, that we call "Disney," was created by a man of extraordinary creative genius. The 60s generation sneered at Disney. Many resented the militarized discipline of the Disneyland work force with their clean-shaved faces, the uniforms and the regimented smiles. Now that the hippies have gone with the wind, we see what is enduring in the culture. Ironically, Disney himself was not a money man, not a finance wizard, not a bean counter. He was in debt most of his creative life, owing millions to the Bank of America. It was TV that saved Disney studios, not Cinderella. Disney cared about quality, cared about product, cared about audience. It is almost quaint to read about such an idealism; it even sounds like a mantra from the 60s. If Disney has become a dirty word, it is because of those who came after the Master himself. The greedy killers of the golden goose weren't interested in Disney's world; they were interested in exploiting it. This biography leaves out much, no doubt, but as hagiography it has its purposes. We see that Disney lived at that moment in America when it was possible to turn suffering into nostalgia. Like many of his generation, the down-home mid-westerner that Disney was put aside memories of mindless drudgery and turned his early childhood into a show, with singing ducks, dancing goats, and happy farmers. Author Thomas makes clear that Disney - like other film moguls like Louis B. Mayer - held a vision of America that had not yet been made anachronistic. But what astonishes most of all is Disney's integrity as a man of the arts. His donations to CALARTS coupled with his wife's gift to Disney Hall in Los Angeles make the Disney name synonymous with creative life.

This book was such a pleasure to read. It allows you to escape reality and enter the wonderful world that Walt Disney created. I loaned it to my father as soon as I finished it, and he cannot put it down!
Walt was a true inspiration and is to be admired.

If you are a Disney fan this is the one to read. Lots of info about his early days & how Disneyland came to be. He was sure he would die before he had finished what he set out to do. The Disney company was never the same after his death.
But is John Lassiter the new Walt..... Let's hope so.

This was a great and interesting book. I loved reading it and learning things about Disney and his history that I didn't know. A great read.

Very very helpful..
You end up familiar with every basic aspect of OpenGL.
I totally recommend it..

This book is a good introductory book, but it should have probably been called "Beginning OpenGL". The Gaming part is mentioned only briefly, and for any detail you'll have to go to what's on the CD. The CD literally makes this a decent book to buy; without the CD the OpenGL Red Book is probably money better spent. The other fault of this book is that the images are sub-par; it looks like the authors themselves did the images instead of a professional graphics house.

If you need to get 3D graphics into your application OpenGL is a wonderful alternative. If you want to get up to speed with OpenGL this book is one of the best alternatives.
It's good to know a little about 3D math, and have a familiarity with terms like unit vector, transformation, and dot product, but it's definitely not necessary.

I'd recommend this to anyone.

On comparing this text to other OpenGL textbooks, I would like to point out that the explanations of graphical techniques in this text are very well done. The CD bundled with the book have excellent code examples of things like using height maps and input from DirectX. There are bonus chapters that cover advanced topics like curves and surfaces that obviously weren't in the actual book, and thus kept the final press cost down.

If you are starting out with OpenGL, then this book is the best I have seen to get you up and running.

If you are interested in cross-platform OpenGL programming then DO NOT buy this book, it is M$ Windows Dependant. The title should have been "Beginning OpenGL Windows Game Programming".