Entertainment Books

This book is truly laugh-out-loud funny. I read it often on the El train going to and from work and embarrassed myself a few times busting out laughing in front of strangers. A great collection of essays. Loved it!!

Just got back from a beach vacation, and this was an entertaining and often laugh-out loud read (I totally love the gal who loved Leonard Nimoy). A great concept. And, it's a snap to breeze through.

That said, the book lacks diversity--everyone is white, and primarily from Chicago or Los Angeles, of a certain social class, and the vast majority are currently actors. There were a few gay men in the mix, but no lesbians to speak of. I was quite disappointed in that regard.

How about trying harder to get a wider variety of people, sexual orientations, ethnicities and people in various careers next time around?

This book is hilarious. I loved the first book, and this one is even better. IF you have not seen the live show, these books are a must!

Oh my gosh! This book brought back so many painful high school memories and made me able to laugh them off. Everyone should read this book... but only if you like things that are hilarious and love to laugh.

...barefoot of course. And memory lane is a gravel road. But then, there's that incredibly satisfying feeling of standing in the grass looking back on your stroll down memory lane, how painful it was and how good it feels now not to still be walking down it.

Buy this book. Trust me. You will be entertained, embarrassed and want to contact that love of your life from 7th grade.

Well, not that last part probably, but definitely the first two.

One Christmas, when Ingmar Bergman was 10 years old, a wealthy aunt gave his older brother a magic lantern--a low tech projector. Little Ingmar was overwhelmed by the contraption, and he traded 100 tin soldiers for it from his rather indifferent brother. That night he crept into a closet with the lantern, fired it up, and gazed in wonderment at the images flashed against the closet wall. He was enchanted, and in his memoir, aptly titled after that memorable experience, he tells us that he still is.

The Magic Lantern is as intriguing as Bergman's films. Anyone who has seen his films will immediately appreciate just how many scenes in them are pulled from Bergman's own life--or at least his memories, accurate or not, of his life: the spanking scene in "Fanny and Alexander," the locked-in-a-closet scene in "Hour of the Wolf," the infidelity in "Faithless" (Liv Ullmann directed, but Bergman wrote the script), the death fear in "Seventh Seal," and so on. Bergman truly is a confessional artist. As both writer and director, his personal life, both inner and outer, is the raw material for his films.

The Magic Lantern isn't written in a linear style. Memories of childhood dance with more recent ones--e.g., rehearsing Strindberg's "Dream Play" or being arrested on false charges of tax evasion. What's important for Bergman throughout is his inner life: the incredibly rich psyche that serves as the magic lantern that projects his art into the world, both on the screen and the stage.

Bergman wrote his memoir after he'd "retired." He still had several films ahead of him, including what I think turned out to be one of his best, "Saraband." The themes that haunted him throughout his life, including ones that he thought he'd laid to rest involving God and death, and which he wrote about in The Magic Lantern, remained with him for the final two decades of his life. Like his movies, there is no final resolution. Perhaps that's simply the human condition.

The Magic Lantern is not a page turner. The autobiography of the swedish film director Ingmar Bergman is the kind of book that needs time to be read, not because its boring or too deep, but because its so good so enjoyable and every chapter so wonderful that its a shame to finish it too quickly. The Magic Lantern is the life of Bergman but he hardly writes about his movies, he writes about his childhood, his life in the theater, the women of his life, his relationships with his children, his health, politics... this book will help you understand one of the greatest filmmakers of our time.

Ingmar Bergman's autobiography lacks the creative intensity and spark that have made him a cinematic legend. While "The Magic Lantern: An Autobiography" is prettily written and lets you see a little of Bergman's persona, he wrote with little detail and few interesting anecdotes.

Bergman covers his childhood at a Lutheran parsonage in Sweden, and his early fascination with the mechanics of filmmaking -- the "magic lantern." He describes his failures and successes, his marriages, his love affair with muse Liv Ullman, and the many now-legendary figures that he dealt with in his illustrious career.

Ingmar Bergman creates atmospheric, riveting films full of emotion... which is the exact opposite of "The Magic Lantern." It's heavy in uninteresting details and bits of information -- Bergman lectures at length about Swedish taxes, but doesn't tell us about his feelings or his motivation.

And while people who write autobiographies are entitled to keep parts of their lives private, Bergman's lack of emotion carries over to his family. He barely mentions Ullman, and only includes one emotionless anecdote about their love affair. Their daughter Linn isn't mentioned at all. For that matter, none of his kids or wives are given much attention.

If one slogs through the swamp of boring details, there are a handful of interesting stories, involving people like Charlie Chaplin, Ingrid Bergman and Greta Garbo. But Bergman seems to be half asleep. There's little humor, pathos or anger in his writing -- it's flat. There's something wrong with a book when the most passionate anecdote is about Bergman and a cinematograph. It's no coincidence that Bergman calls this book "The Magic Lantern" -- filmmaking seems to be the only passion he can describe.

Ingmar Bergman is an excellent director, but as a writer he leaves something to be desired. "The Magic Lantern: An Autobiography" comes across as a distasteful duty he didn't pay much attention to, rather than a look into his mind and life. Dull and ponderous.

This book is a moving, candid account of the great director's often turbulent life. It is written the same way that his films are made: full of humor and tender observation. I was deeply touched by it and inspired by his creative spirit.

I was very satisfied with this songbook. If you love Josh Groban's music and need easier piano music to read in order to play the piano, this songbook is great.It is not to easy, you must be able to read music to play from this songbook.

This book is amazing!!! Easy to play. Only thing that I was disappointed about was that the song "Awake" was not in this piano book. It is a beautiful song and ought to be printed in this book as well.

Although the arrangements are relatively easy and simple, they're accurate, and I found that it was easy to improvise, if you wanted to. For intermediates, in a few runs through, you could have it down.
The simplest ones are So She Dances, Solo Por Ti, and You Are Loved. In Her Eyes, February Song, Now Or Never, and Un Giorno Per Noi are a little more complicated, but not very. I'd still buy it because there's really no substitute for it and because I love the songs so much. It really isn't that bad.

I thought this arrangement would still have an essense of Josh Groban's great piano, but in creating the easy piano version, the style that makes him great was lost.

Seriously, why do publishers do this. If you're going to release a book of music, release the REAL music. And where are the last 3 songs? I want to sing them. C'mon people.

Unfortunately, I don't really know if this book is a good book or not. My son went off to tech camp last year to learn how to make video games. He came back all excited about his new found skills and continued to make games at home,so I bought him this book for Christmas. I don't even think he did more than scan through it and decide it was just too busy to take the time to read (he is a male and it was instructions). I definitely think it would be geared for a much older crowd (he was a very advanced 12yr old). Sorry I can't be more helpful than that.

I bought this book because I am interested in game development. This book looks at creating games with Clickteams fortcoming software development tool, The Games Factory 2 and MultiMedia Fusion 2. There is a demo of the software supplied on the CD that comes with the book so you don't have to wait for the software to ship (which it will soon) before you can follow the demos.

The book takes you through the creation of a number of games, from simple space invaders to complex platform games, all with a click of the mouse. Yes, you read that right, TGF 2 allows you to create any game in any genre using nothing but the mouse!! There is no complex code to write, no variables to set up, no arrays to initialise... If you can pick an option from a popup menu, you can create any games and applications you want.

The book takes you through the creation of these games in an easy to follow step by step format and the chapters cover everything from a look at TGF 2's interface to how to code your first game. There is also a discussion on gaming in general which will point you in the right direction and show you the Do's and Don't's.

A very easy to read book which is packed to bursting with information on game creation. And not a single line of coding in sight (as long as you don't count the expressions for performing maths ;) ).

Want to make games?
Don't want to learn code?
BUY THIS BOOK NOW!!!

Jason Darby has written a wonderful book to compliment The Games Factory 2 software program and to teach people the basics of video game design and development.

This book comes with a trial version of The Games Factory 2 so you do not need to purchase anything else to get started today. Its a great way to find out if you have what it takes to develop video games without a large investment in various software.

When you complete the various projects included in the book you will have a firm grasp of software development and be on your way to becoming a professional video game designer and programmer.

This book is great reading material for those fans of the TV show who just want to have more. However, be warned: It ends with a cliffhanger, and the second (and last) book of the series is not available for less than USD 200,- (used) when I last checked.
Great book though.

Excellent book - very well written and keeps you on the edge of your seat. Actually hated for it to end.

i read the book and wow i really love it specially the end and what about liz's vision i can't wait to read the turnout i need it. i recommend these book is excellent

Helped to continue the series after it was cancelled and as part 1 it helps to wrap all the loose ends up. It even brings back characters from seasons 1 and 2.

this book finds our 6 heros on the run from the law after the attempted assasination on their graduation day. it seems to pack a lot in for such a short book. i especially like how the fbi mistakenly arrests the dupes instead of the roswell gang. there are even some touching moments from the parents, jesse and a lot of lose ends the tv show did not clear up probaly because they were rudely yanked off the air. any true roswell fan will appreciate the effort the writer has put in trying to fit in a lot of ideals in a short time. it has a lot of suspense and it will keep you coming back for more and cursing the author that did not just make one big book out of it instead of making us wait to see what happens in "turnabout"

This is a great product for Josh Groban fans who want to (attempt to) sing like him. Although the music itelf is simplified, it still gets the point across. I recomend it!

This music book is just what I hoped it would be. Easy to read/play, and the price was great!

This has everything I could have wanted.All the songs are complete and in the rights keys.Nothing is missing.It's magic to play Groban by yourself.Plus it has the English translations to the foreign language songs and great shots of Josh.

The sheet music here is challenging, but playable and close enough to the composition on the CD that it's amazing! the vocal is soprano, the piano moderate difficulty, it's exactly what i expected, and i would encourage it's purchase if you're looking for the sheet music to the Josh Groban Closer album, all songs are in the book.

Love the fact that the words and translations are provided. Not an expert pianist but the music works for my purposes (playing for fun and to sing along with).

Don't love the fact that when I tried to press open the book so that it would lay on the music stand of my piano, the whole cover fell off (cheap binding materials, apparently). But at least now I can use it.

Let me start by saying, I bought this book because of all the great reviews it got here. So, I thought I'd better give my opinion too, since it is so different!
This book includes everything you'd ever want to know about Garbo! So, it's great for the fan of hers who wants to know absolutley every detail about her. However, it is not written in an interesting way. It is like reading a "G" encyclopedia that is all about Garbo! It is long, boring, and difficult to read because the facts of her life are just layed out in chronological order. Not very engaging to read. I kept putting it down and reading other books, then going back to it.

The cause that I decided to grab that book written by Barry Paris is quite obvious. I live in Russia and all the information in Russian Garbo is concerned with can be generated to the following: Garbo was born a poor and wretched girl in Sweden, discovered by Maurice Stiller, went with him to Hollywood, made a couple of good pics, had a lot of lesbian affairs with almost everybody who was famous at that time beginning with Marlene Dietrich and ending with Marilyn Monroe, who was I presume a toddler by early 30's, then she made some money and had been living as a riche madame hanging out with the toffs for 50 years. I was totally dissatisfied with such ersatz being a kinda film connoisseur myself. I wanted information from the horse's mouth, so I bought the book. The book arrived in 4 days due to the expedient shipping.

It is not the first bio that I read in English though I was pleasantly surprised. First thing, there's not much that of the author himself. I mean he is not trying to describe, or evaluate, or judge Garbo, like what she had done under such and such circumstances, or how did she act to this or that. He is grounded with facts. No gossip. From time to time he says that yeah, there was that rumor concerning this and that. Speaking in general, I would call him contemplator from afar, though sometimes his insight is marvelous and hard to deny. Secondly, I like the style of the book: easy to read, good English, fabulous metaphors. Thirdly, author has tenacity towards describing any trifle facts. Of course, there are some author's thoughts that you can consider somewhat irrelevant but all in all the reading process is smooth. Last but not the least the book is saturated with great rare pictures of Greta Garbo. Jolly dialogues between Miss Garbo and Sam Green taken from audio tapes are the zest of the book.

As a conclusion, the book is worth reading since it deals with eine Frau, die ein Geheimnis des 20. Jahrhunderts darstellt.

I completely enjoyed this book. But then I am a devoted Garbo fan.
It is almost like a game trying to piece her life together to be able to understand her. I have read many books about her and this is one of the best for being able to inform people of her inner thoughts.

Thank You
Cathy

The best writing available on Garbo. The most comprehensive. Engaging. I was sorry there was not more info on her family. Her relationship with them. The people themselves. Some of it you can research to fill in the blanks. With G.G. though some of her enigma will always remain. Conversations and Recollections with Garbo, by Raymond Daum is also strongly recommended. This book was very thought provoking. Kata was an original. No were near as mysterious as the illusion/persona she crafted. If your anykind of armchair pychologist or avid researcher these books will be alot of fun. Thank you Mr. Paris. Rest in peace, Ms. G.

This biography is just as well-written and meticulously-researched as Mr. Paris's biography on Louise Brooks, which I had read prior to reading this one. He's a great celebrity biographer; he really does his homework, doesn't really get into the sleazy, sensational, and speculative trap that a lot of other celebrity biographers too often fall into, has a clear respect for his subject without fawning all over her, sugarcoating less than perfect aspects of her life, or holding her up as some sort of demigoddess, and clearly distinguishes between fact, outright fantasy and falsehood, and rumor and speculation that could go either way. This professional approach is keenly felt when he's writing about Garbo's relationships with men and women; there were some affairs of hers that were well-substatiated by outside evidence (most particularly her affair with Jack Gilbert), but other than that one can't really say how many relationships she may have had, or even that she were actively bisexual, though she clearly felt more comfortable emotionally with women. She wasn't entirely asexual either; though she did seem more comfortable alone, with no one invading her privacy and personal territory, she didn't go through life completely celibate either. And of course, Mr. Paris makes this topic one of only many covered in the book, since what she did or didn't do with anyone she may or may not have had a relationship with isn't really any of our business.

What makes this book, and its subject, so fascinating is the fact that the majority of Garbo's life was not lived on-camera. She had her childhood and adolescence, her years of acting in Sweden, Germany, and America in the Twenties and Thirties, and then retired from the screen in the early Forties (though there was a strong possibility she could have had to return to the screen in 1948, and many other times before and since). Mr. Paris even points out that, of the relatively small amount of films she was in, not a whole lot of them would be considered great cinematic works of art or classics. To paraphrase the old saying, she was rarely in a picture that was as good as she was. However, the force of her personality, her riveting screen presence, her unique and androgynous beauty, and her acting talent elevated these films beyond formula pictures, made one watch them in spite of the not always great scripts. Particularly interesting are the chapters on Garbo's life post-acting. Mr. Paris brings these years of retirement to vivid life, showing us that just because she had willingly dropped out of public view didn't mean she had ceased to live a fascinating life; in fact, in some ways her post-acting life was even more colorful and interesting. He also chronicles the real story of her famous desire to be alone, or to be left alone, and how the truth was more complex than just a shy recluse or a former moviestar who shunned most human contact. She led a very full and active social life during those nearly 50 years off-screen, and had friendships with a lot of high-profile and fascinating people, pursued a lot of diverse interests, had a lot of interesting thoughts, and generally lived a very interesting life. He also examines the truth behind why she never married; on the one hand, there's ample evidence to suggest that she just preferred to be alone, didn't want to be made vulnerable by intimacy, would feel invaded or violated by such intrusion, was never really cut out to be the stereotypical traditional wife and mother; but on the other hand, some of her close associates felt that perhaps she could have been happy with a partner who knew and understood her need to be alone and the fact that she would never be a housewife or conform to the traditional gender role assigned to women in Western society, and even said she sometimes voiced regret she had never married or had a family. Whatever the case, she was always very much her own person with her own identity.

However, even in a bio this meticulous and even-handed, there are bound to be some errors. The major one I noticed was Mr. Paris's statement that 'The Kiss,' Garbo's final silent, was also the last silent released in America but for Chaplin's last stands, 'City Lights' (1931) and 'Modern Times' (1936). 'The Kiss' came out in mid-November 1929, but there were still some theatres in America not wired for sound, and some artists who were still releasing silents they had made earlier that year, such as Laurel and Hardy's final silent, 'Angora Love,' which came out in December of 1929. Additionally, some of the more minor studios did release silent pictures in 1930, so to say that this was the final American silent picture is kind of dishonest. It would have been better had he said it was the last *major* American silent. Another error I noticed was when Mr. Paris referred to Natacha Rambova (whose forename he didn't even spell correctly) as a lesbian. This seems to be just one of those old unfounded rumors that just won't go away. The reader also might disagree with some of his opinions or conclusions about some of her films, or certain aspects of them, but the beauty of opinions is that we're all entitled to our own and aren't forced to agree with someone else's.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about this famous and elusive enigma and to go beyond long-time rumors and speculation to find out the facts.