Average customer rating:
- A Great Story for Self-Worth
- Pretty Good, Not DePaola's Best
- Great beginning, but fizzles out
- Oliver Button is a Sissy by Will Herman
- It's OK to be Different!
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Oliver Button Is a Sissy
Tomie dePaola
Manufacturer: Voyager Books
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ASIN: 0156681404 |
Book Description
A little boy must come to terms with being teased and ostracized because he’d rather read books, paint pictures, and tap-dance than participate in sports. “There is a good balance between the simple text . . . and the expressive pictures . . . an attractive little book.”--School Library Journal
Customer Reviews:
A Great Story for Self-Worth.......2007-05-14
This book describes how Oliver is happy, not playing sports like all the other boys, but taking dance lessons. His parent support him, but at school, he is called a sissy. After a community talent show, which Oliver does not win, his schoolmates realize he is a winner. Oliver stuck with his dreams and desires, against the odds. To me, this story is great for kids, as it illustrates how to stick with something if it is what you desire. It has a great message for children as well as care-givers. The illustrations are wonderful, too.
Pretty Good, Not DePaola's Best.......2005-11-28
Tomie dePaola states in the liner notes that Oliver's story is partly autobiographical. "I could spend hours drawing, and nobody ever asked me to play on their ball teams because I was so bad at it."
Oliver's pursuits are less than gender-appropriate in the eyes of his male peers. He enjoys dancing, dressing up, acting, reading, and drawing. His father doesn't approve, either, but his mother and his female peers come to his aid. This help, however, works to Oliver's detriment: "Gotta have help from girls," the boys say teasingly. In the end Oliver, however, Oliver succeeds on his own terms.
This testimony to being oneself was written in 1979, and includes dePaola's signature drawings using a limited color palette. Though it isn't as charming as the Strega Nona books, it effectively delivers its message.
Great beginning, but fizzles out.......2005-07-27
I bought this book because Oliver Button is very much like I was at his age. He is more interested in playing with girls and doing activities that are not usually done by boys. I also thought it would be a good way to teach children that they don't have to conform to gender roles. However, having worked with elementary school children in various settings for years, I found the story to be very unrealistic.
The beginning is good. We are presented with a feel for Oliver's dificulties. Everyone wants him to be more like other boys. His father wants him to play sports, but he wants to dance instead. His mother enrolls him in a dance school, and he learns how to dance. He perseveres despite the fact that his peers are pestering him for being a "sissy"; they even write "Oliver Button Is A Sissy" on the wall (hence the title). The girls defend him by giving the bullies a talking-to. The bullies stop beating him up, which is a bit unrealistic; boys who are bullies hate girls as much as they hate boys like Oliver.
I was disappointed by the ending. Near the end, Oliver signs up for a talent show. His act involves tap dancing. The other children in his class, at the teacher's suggestion, go to see him perform. If you think this seems unrealistic (why would children who hate Oliver go to see him perform?), you will be even more disappointed by the last page, when Oliver goes to school after the talent show (which he didn't win) and finds that the wall no longer reads "Oliver Button Is A Sissy" because the word "sissy" has been crossed out and replaced with "star." Just because he does a performance doesn't mean those who formerly hated him will like him. I know this because I tried it myself at his age!
Though I like the ideals the author was trying to communicate, such a tacked-on happy ending is very misleading. You want a book about teasing, read Chrysanthemum. You want a book about prejudice, read Dr. Seuss's The Sneetches. You want a book about children who become successful, read Ibi Lepscky's Famous People series. You want a book about gender roles, read William's Doll. Anything but this book!
Oliver Button is a Sissy by Will Herman.......2003-03-14
I really enjoyed this book. It is about a little boy named Oliver Button. This little boy doesn't really care what other people think, he likes to do what he thinks is fun, and that is it. He doesn't do normal things like other boys, he dances, and jumps rope for exercise. He got a new pair of tap shoes and the older boys teased him and called him a sissy and wrote it on the wall. Oliver still kept going to dance school and practicing and practicing.
When there is a talent competition, Oliver signs up to be in it. During the competition he did a tap routine and ends up losing. His parents still thought of him as a champion and when he goes back to school, instead of Oliver Button is a sissy on the wall it says Oliver Button is a star. I would recommend this book to a lot of people because this is a very entertaining book. It shows that if you have fun doing something thats a little different, keep doing it no matter what other people say.
It's OK to be Different!.......2002-06-24
This is an excellent book that confronts gender stereotypes and the importance of accepting people for who they are. Oliver Button does not engage in the traditional activities that boys do, and thus, he is faced with repercussions and consequences (based on how others feel Oliver should behave/act). I teach fourth grade and - though a picture book - it is the ideal book to discuss self-confidence and diversity and the significance of accepting individuals while recognizing their accomplishments and contributions.
Book Description
Wil Wheaton has never been one to take the conventional path to success. Despite early stardom through his childhood role in the motion picture "Stand By Me", and growing up on television as Wesley Crusher on "Star Trek: The Next Generation", Wil left Hollywood in pursuit of happiness, purpose, and a viable means of paying the bills. In the oddest of places, Topeka, Kansas, Wil discovered that despite his claims to fame, he was at heart Just a Geek. In this, his newest book, Wil shares his deeply personal and difficult journey to find himself. You'll understand the rigors, and joys, of Wil's rediscovering of himself, as he comes to terms with what it means to be famous, or, ironically, famous for once having been famous. Writing with honesty and disarming humanity, Wil touches on the frustrations associated with his acting career, his inability to distance himself from Ensign Crusher in the public's eyes, the launch of his incredibly successful web site, wilwheaton.net, and the joy he's found in writing. Through all of this, Wil shares the ups and downs he encountered along the journey, along with the support and love he discovered from his friends and family. The stories in Just a Geek include: - Wil's plunge from teen star to struggling actor - Discovering the joys of HTML, blogging, Linux, and web design - The struggle between Wesley Crusher, Starfleet ensign, and Wil Wheaton, author and blogger - Gut-wrenching reactions to the 9-11 disaster - Moving tales of Wil's relationships with his wife, step-children, and extended family - The transition from a B-list actor to an A-list author Wil Wheaton--celebrity, blogger, and geek--writes for the geek in all of us. Engaging, witty, and pleasantly self-deprecating, Just a Geek will surprise you and make you laugh.
Customer Reviews:
Just Another Geek.......2007-10-18
Wil is a great writer, learning to write about what he knows. This book provides a fascinating insight in the behind-the-scenes of Wil's life and of Star Trek TNG.
Not Just A Geek, but an Author, too!.......2007-08-29
Like Mr. Wheaton's other book, I was very pleased with this one as well. I could relate to the "geekness", being a recovering geek myself.
Wonderful book.
A Peek Inside..........2007-05-13
I bought this book because I started reading Wil Wheaton's blog and some of the articles he's been writing for various internet sites and found them to be very funny. So, I thought I was going to get a funny, behind-the-scenes look at Star Trek:TNG. I didn't get that. What I got was excerps from his blog over the past 5 years or so. And it really wasn't all that funny. I actually cried (yes, cried) a lot more than I laughed. But you know what? I wasn't disappointed. It turns out to be a peek inside WW's head and his journey from seeing himself as a washed up actor to being happy being a writer, family man, and "Just a Geek." It's really a much more human story that the average person can relate to (I know I did!) instead of being a gossip-fest.
Wheaton writes in an easy, conversational style sprinkled with interesting, occasionally brilliant descriptive turns of phrase. Is he the next F. Scott Fitzgerald? Probably not. But it is an easy, enjoyable read about a guy coming to grips with his life taking a big left turn that he didn't intend to take. Even if you don't know Wil Wheaton from Adam and have never seen a Star Trek episode in your life, you will enjoy this book, because it's not about being a Trekker. It's about being a human.
Please don't shut up, Wesley!.......2007-04-01
"Just a Geek" by Wil Wheaton is an incredible book. Wil has proven himself not only a gifted actor, but a gifted writer. The book is raw and revealing. You feel every emotion right along with him. Tears well up when he does not land that role. You feel his love for his wife and stepsons. You experience the joy he finds in doing Star Trek conventions, meeting fans, and writing his blog. You will roll with laughter at the fireworks story. You see Wil, not as an untouchable Hollywood actor, but a real man, complete with all the trials, tribulations, and joys that all of us experience. My only complaint is with the foul language. This is not a book for kids, unless it is filtered by a parent, but it is a must-read, especially for the Gen Xer and Trekkie.
Hollywood is missing out, but at least we have this book.......2007-02-24
I laughed, I cried, but more than that, Wil Wheaton made me feel part of his life and shared struggles I had also experienced.
Snubbed by Hollywood execs since he quit Star Trek his audience has had to follow him via his blog or his live comedy performances. It's a big loss to the movie industry but our gain as it is unlikely he would've written such a brutally honest account of his transition from struggling actor to writer if he had still been caught up in the Hollywood madness.
I can't wait for the next book.
Book Description
The World-famous kissing coach answers all your burning questions on the romantic art of kissing.Now that his first book, The Art of Kissing, is an international best-seller, kissing expert William Cane receives thousands of questions every year on the subject of how to kiss--everything from "What's the best way to kiss someone for the first time?" to "How do I know if I'm doing it right?" to "What if my tongue is too short?" The result, eagerly awaited by kissing connoisseurs around the world, is The Art of Kissing Book of Questions and AnswersHere, everyone who loves to pucker up will find expert advice on: improving your technique, mastering the French kiss, the neck kiss and other favorites. Perfecting the most unusual, exciting, and romantic kisses, discovering what your kissing partner really wants--and exceeding their wildest fantasies, overcoming the shyness and fear of initiating that all-important first kiss, trying out popular kisses from around the world, including ten new kisses and more.Lovers everywhere will savor this playful guide to life's sweetest pleasure. So pucker up!
Customer Reviews:
Very limited appeal.......2007-05-01
This book COULD serve a purpose, but only for those who have not yet kissed and/or are under the age of 15 or so. For those, the general information contained in this book, while a bit old-fashioned and repetitive, could be of some use.
For others, however, it will accomplish little. Almost all of the "special" kisses contained in the book are either already widely practiced or self-explanatory and useless. "What is a surprise kiss?" "It's when you are surprised by a kiss." "What is a grudge kiss?" "Its when you kiss someone else after being cheated on." These are not new kisses, they're simply kisses grafted on to outside circumstances.
The advice tends to be constant repetition that boys should slow down, focus more on lip-only kissing, and try to be romantic. Girls should make it clear to the boys that they like that they are interested in kissing them.
Hopefully that saved you a few dollars.
kiss and tell.......2004-01-11
...(This book) is one of the best kissing books ever published. It's full of great kissing advice and for anyone interested in lip-to-lip romantic kissing, there just isn't a better book ...
a great practical guide.......2004-01-11
Here's a book that's great for experienced as well as new kissers. Anyone who cares about the romantic aspect of kissing will love it. The best thing about the book is that William Cane tells you how to do thirty different types of kisses. Most readers probably only know the french kiss so they'll learn a lot of new kissing techniques. The other benefit of the book is that it answers every question you could think of and is the most detailed treatment of the french kiss in print. After reading it you'll enjoy kissing more. Some other reviewers obviously didn't get the humor in the book but there's plenty of it, which is another big plus. A must read!
Boring.......2000-03-14
This book is very childish and the author often forgets that he's suppose to give us information on kissing. Sometimes, he just goes off into wild romance-style passages. I didn't buy the book for that. I want info, info and more info. There are some things that are interesting, but the author seems to have little to offer himself. He shares very little of his own experiences and constantly quotes anonymous school-girls throughout the lamo-book. I don't hate the book, it's just not informative enouph. The author constantly seems to take the woman's side in most issues. What I hated most about this book was that if your ever in a jam with something, lie to get out of it. What happened to honesty? If your going to be in a relationship and be a phony then you may as well not be in one.
Kisses please!.......2000-01-11
I did find a few useful kisses that look intresting...I can't wait to try the finger-kissing on my boyfriend.
Book Description
In this now-classic study, Linda Williams moves beyond the impasse of the anti-porn/anti-censorship debate to analyze what hard-core film pornography is and does--as a genre with a history, as a specific cinematic form, and as part of contemporary discourse on sexuality. For the 1999 edition, Williams has written a new preface and a new epilogue, "On/scenities," illustrated with 25 photographs. She has also added a supplementary bibliography.
Customer Reviews:
an ok read.......2007-03-19
Hardcores author like to use big words and confusing dialog to get her point across. This is a good book if you can get through all the muddle and crap to get to her point. The book definetly reads like a college textbook and it does get tediouse at times. A good book if you have patience
It's not a monolith, it's a muddle.......2005-11-17
Williams' claim is that all porn is not the same, but her book title is very specific which would lead one to believe she will make claims about only hard core and not about the attendant debates over all of porn's place in society.
You have to be suspicious when the majority of reviewers of an academic book have not graduated high school. I can barely get my university students to read academic writing.
blah blah blah.......2005-04-06
The writing is jagged, superfluous and constantly filled with statements on what the author is intending to say in the book without actually saying it. This book is boring, hard to get through and organized in a questionable fashion. Unless you need to read it for a college course I strongly recommend against it. Frankly I don't understand the other reviews on this page praising the book.
Interesting.......2004-05-08
This is an easy to read, comprehensive analysis of visual pornography. Williams is thorough and openminded, and clearly shows that this isn't a homogenous and stereotypical genre. On the contrary, she maintains that all trends visible in other types of movies exist in pornography as well. An interesting read.
eXXXtremely provocative.......2001-07-20
I should probably look more closely at the covers of the books that I am ordering online. Any reasonable individual might naturally assume a book entitled "Hard Core" would contain information regarding the apple harvesting industry; however, such is most clearly not the case with Doctor William's book.
Despite the initial mix-up, I found this work to be quite titilating. Prior to reading Hard Core, I was only familiar with pornographic films (or "pornos") as an avid viewer. Hubby Rick and I now devote a significant amount of money and time on pornos in the hopes that we might one day fully appreciate, as does Linda Williams, the pornographic film. And our marriage has never been better!
Amazon.com
Not only is Peter Biskind's Easy Riders, Raging Bulls the best book in recent memory on turn-of-the-'70s film, it is beyond question the best book we'll ever get on the subject. Why? Because once the big names who spilled the beans to Biskind find out that other people spilled an equally piquant quantity of beans, nobody will dare speak to another writer with such candor, humor, and venom again.
Biskind did hundreds of interviews with people who make the president look accessible: Scorsese, Spielberg, Lucas, Coppola, Geffen, Beatty, Kael, Towne, Altman. He also spoke with countless spurned spouses and burned partners, alleged victims of assault by knife, pistol, and bodily fluids. Rather more responsible than some of his sources, Biskind always carefully notes the denials as well as the astounding stories he has compiled. He tells you about Scorsese running naked down Mulholland Drive after his girlfriend, crying, "Don't leave me!"; grave robbing on the set of Apocalypse Now; Faye Dunaway apparently flinging urine in Roman Polanski's face while filming Chinatown; Michael O'Donoghue's LSD-fueled swan dive onto a patio; Coppola's mad plan for a 10-hour film of Goethe's Elective Affinities in 3-D; the ocean suicide attempt Hal "Captain Wacky" Ashby gave up when he couldn't find a swimsuit that pleased him; countless dalliances with porn stars; Russian roulette games and psychotherapy sessions in hot tubs. But he also soberly gives both sides ample chance to testify.
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls is also more than a fistful of dazzling anecdotes. Methodically, as thrillingly as a movie attorney, Biskind builds the case that Hollywood was revived by wild ones who then betrayed their own dreams, slit their own throats, and destroyed an art form by producing that mindless, inhuman modern behemoth, the blockbuster.
When Spielberg was making the first true blockbuster, Jaws, he sneaked Lucas in one day when nobody was around, got him to put his head in the shark's mechanical mouth, and closed the shark's mouth on him. The gizmo broke and got stuck, but the two young men somehow extricated Lucas's head and hightailed it like Tom and Huck. As Peter Biskind's scathing, funny, wise book demonstrates, they only thought they had escaped. --Tim Appelo
Book Description
When the low-budget biker movie Easy Rider shocked Hollywood with its success in 1969, a new Hollywood era was born. This was an age when talented young filmmakers such as Scorsese, Coppola, and Spielberg, along with a new breed of actors, including De Niro, Pacino, and Nicholson, became the powerful figures who would make such modern classics as The Godfather, Chinatown, Taxi Driver, and Jaws. Easy Riders, Raging Bulls follows the wild ride that was Hollywood in the '70s -- an unabashed celebration of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll (both onscreen and off) and a climate where innovation and experimentation reigned supreme. Based on hundreds of interviews with the directors themselves, producers, stars, agents, writers, studio executives, spouses, and ex-spouses, this is the full, candid story of Hollywood's last golden age.
MARTIN SCORSESE ON DRUGS: "I did a lot of drugs because I wanted to do a lot, I wanted to push all the way to the very very end, and see if I could die."
DENNIS HOPPER ON EASY RIDER: "The cocaine problem in the United States is really because of me. There was no cocaine before Easy Rider on the street. After Easy Rider, it was everywhere."
GEORGE LUCAS ON STAR WARS: "Popcorn pictures have always ruled. Why do people go see them? Why is the public so stupid? That's not my fault."
Customer Reviews:
Couldn't put it down - I grew up admiring these characters..........2007-02-23
Firstly - I don't think that this book should be mistaken for a spiteful Paul-Johnson-type of takedown of Great Men...Biskind's not a curmudgeon, and I see no evidence of a Grand Thesis in this book smashing down facts to fit the preconceived mold...
I'm made to remember, as I first read & then occasionally re-read this book, that the Seventies was not just the time in which the putative counter-cultural forces stormed & took the tired old film studio citadel (and in the process became, many of them, boring old farts struggling for relevance); nor was it simply the time in which Spielberg & Lucas hatched the modern Big Blockbuster--but it was also the age of the invention of the super-auteur, the well-advertised & vaunting "maverick" filmmaker who compulsively pointed up to the stands every time he came up at bat (Bogdanovich & Coppola, most egregiously)...The super-stardom of these people arrives with the mainstreaming of know-how fetishism, and the over-valuation of the film artiste - the ascension of film-schools, making-of docs, horserace reports on box-office grosses, and so on...Much of what has been taken for slimy "gossip" in this book seems, on reflection, to be intimately connected with the films themselves: and in some wild cases ("Days of Heaven"; "Apocalypse Now"), the prodigal wasn't bankrupted & chastened, but came back home a star...
That said - I'm grateful for Biskind's hard treatment of Altman, and of Paul Schrader--they were begging for it...I don't understand why he treats Robert Towne's "Personal Best" as an ignominous all-'round failure--it REALLY wasn't that bad!
Juicy and exciting read.......2007-01-17
This book reads straight from the gossip columns. It's a fun, juicy read that you won't be able to put down. Peter Biskind gives you a sneek-peek behind Oz's curtain to see the nitty gritty lives of people like Scorsese, Speilberg, Copolla and Lucas. This won't be "classic literature," but you will find it exciting, addicting and a definate page-turner! Read this book just for the fun of it!
Not Recieved, No Refund.......2007-01-04
They say they sent it to my address, but i never recieved it. I called them. they told me they sent it, and did not offer further help.
Great in spite of itself.......2006-09-17
Peter Biskind's EASY RIDERS RAGING BULLS is destined to become a pop-culture classic, of a problematic sort for sure, but a classic still.
Biskind's research is formidable - the current academic revival of interest in the career of the late Hal Ashby was probably instigated by this book - this alone is an indication of how throrough a cultural chronicle of 70s 'New Hollywood' this work really is. It has obviously been taken very seriously in some quarters, and for all of its' academic impact, it also managed to become an improbable bestseller.
It's also one of those things that you love, and slot into a sort of 'guilty pleasure' category; Biskind balances his exhaustive cinema-historical research with equally exhaustive tales of sex-and-drug debauchery, though ultimately the avalanche of tittilating tawdriness does serve something of a purpose, in illustrating how certain individuals responsible for reinventing and reinvigorating Hollywood at the beginning of the 70s were also sowing the seeds of their own demise by the end of the same decade.
Biskind structures the book in emulation of one of the key players illuminated within - the entire book is structured like an Altman film, shifting gradually between a great cast of contradictory, combative characters (Hal Ashby as the moral center of it all), with the many historical narratives weaving together at the end. Along the way, he engages in a little bit of analysis (not enough, but understandable, given all else that is going on here), tracing the shadows of Nixon and Vietnam through films as seemingly disparate as "The Exorcist," "Jaws," "The Godfather," "Star Wars" and "The Conversation."
Overall, an essential piece of American cultural history.
-David Alston
The Godfather of New Hollywood Books.......2006-06-23
One can tell just by watching the films of directors such as Coppola, Scorcese, Friedkin and all the others that made up the New Hollywood of the 1970's, that they were infused with a streak of arrogance. Many films that were full of pretence and repulsive characters, but that nevertheless embodied a new spirit of American auterism, brought about by a new found European sensibility and a shift in power from producers to directors. So its no surprise that Peter Biskind's detailed and intriguing read, reveals these directors to be monstrous human beings. Power hungry, tin pot dictators fuelled by drugs, alcohol and sex. Somehow despite the lines of coke and the absurd sums of money that went flowing around, some of the greatest films in American cinema appeared. Biskind's enthusiasm for this period comes across and it helps that he lived through it and his book is filled with a great deal of insightful social commentary, his reading of STAR WARS for example is quite interesting. However he does tend to overcook the political and allegorical side of his critique. At times the book becomes a bit too gossipy and academics and film students might be put off by the tales of back stabbing and drug abuse. But, this does give the book a spark, which separates it from the more impenetrable and theory based books on the same subject. It is precisely because of Biskind's talky and down to earth prose that makes the book such a joy. There is a great deal of value to this book and after reading it you cannot view the films of this period in quite the same way. Enjoyable from start to finish.
Average customer rating:
- Not as good as some of these reviews
- fun read, but....
- Beyond Good
- A path of deceit, confusion and, ultimately, the bitter truth.
- Now You See Her
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Now You See Her
Jacquelyn Mitchard
Manufacturer: HarperTeen
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0061116831
Release Date: 2007-02-27 |
Book Description
Hope has it all: brains, beauty, and acceptance at Starwood, a prestigious arts prep school. A mere sophomore, she has won the lead in Romeo and Juliet, beating out seniors for the role—seniors who have been in movies and on Broadway! And with handsome Logan as her Romeo onstage and off, her life couldn't be more perfect.
So why would this talented teen throw everything away? Why would she fake her own abduction? Hope wants to explain what really happened, and gradually the truth comes out: Maybe her life wasn't that perfect after all.
In her first novel for young adults, national bestselling author Jacquelyn Mitchard takes us into a world where appearance is everything, and nothing is exactly as it seems.
Customer Reviews:
Not as good as some of these reviews.......2007-09-04
This book starts to get good about halfway through. To be honest, if I had not read all the glowing reviews and bought the hardback book, I probably would not have finished it.
fun read, but...........2007-08-23
Hope or Bernadette or the next Gwennyth or whoever she is.....is definately a Jon Benet only almost all grown up. while the book is kind of forgettable and Hope isn't particularly likeable, the story raises many important issues in today's society. what happens when nutty stage mom's push their kids beyond reason? celebrity and fame obsessed teens turn into...what? and what happens in the 'after' when a teen who has delusions of grandure turns herself into a world spectacle?
teens will enjoy this book much more than i did, but hopefully they will ask themselves the same questions as a result.
Beyond Good.......2007-07-05
Expecting this to be a book I would want my teenage grandchild to read, I went into it thinking it would be fun, light and somewhat less than captivating. I was dead wrong. Took me about two days with a very busy schedule to finish because I was so committed to finding out about the true Hope Shay (Bernadette). Whole range of opinions from disgust to sympathy. Great good!!
A path of deceit, confusion and, ultimately, the bitter truth........2007-06-01
To Hope Shay (real name: Bernadette Romano, which just won't cut it in Hollywood), Romeo and Juliet is more than just a school production. It's life. Only a sophomore, Hope has scored the part of Juliet, a role that makes her the envy of all the upperclassmen. And why shouldn't she be envied? She has a special talent for acting, a way to make characters come to life. Her talent is what got her into the famed Starwood Academy, a prep school for fine arts students, and it's what makes a film actor named Logan Rose fall in love with her.
Hope's mother calls it The Gift. The Gift is what gets Hope the lead in a production of Annie and some spots in TV commercials. It makes Hope different from other kids --- more mature, more ambitious --- but a side effect of this difference is that she has no friends. At Starwood, she believes, people will be more like her. Instead of thinking she's stuck-up for having an agent, they'll admire her and talk acting with her. Or so she hopes.
What a tangled web we weave, when we first practice to deceive.
Life imitates art as Hope tells a story of falling in love with her (onstage and real-life) Romeo, Logan. They have to keep their romance a secret for many reasons, so Hope becomes consumed with their clandestine meetings. Together, they make what Hope calls The Plan. They'll move to L.A. or New York, waiting tables and auditioning for the roles that will make them stars, and then get married. The Plan, however, starts to crumble when Logan asks the question that engenders The Idea: "What would you say your parents think you're worth?"
The Idea is for Logan and Hope to fake Hope's kidnapping and get about $20,000 in ransom money from Hope's parents, enough for them to start on The Plan. Logan will "find" Hope and be considered a hero. But when Hope goes through with The Plan, staging her own kidnapping without Logan, we begin to see that all is not right in Hope's mind. Is she really in love with Logan, or is it more an unrequited obsession? Where do her lies begin and end?
Hope's journal is a passionate, frightening look at the destructive power of mental illness. In her story, she is both the heroine and the victim, while everyone else is the villain. Since we readers only see Hope's side of the story, we are led to believe that Hope is the stage star with the perfect boyfriend --- the person she not only wants to be, but would like everyone else to believe she already is. As in Chris Lynch's INEXCUSABLE and Gail Giles's DEAD GIRLS DON'T WRITE LETTERS, we have no choice but to follow an unreliable narrator down a path of deceit, confusion and, ultimately, the bitter truth.
--- Reviewed by Carlie Webber
Now You See Her.......2007-04-21
Now You See Her, written by Jacquelyn Mitchard, is the tragic story of Hope Shay. Hope is an incredibly commited actor, and always was. The older she became the more she pushed herself. She lived life upon the stage, and off the stage she didn't have one. Hope trained her to be the best, and she was. She was talented, and she and her mother knew it. Once off at new school for teens like herself- the kind that are destined for fame; Hope is pushed too far, too hard, too long. And when a teen is pushed farther than they can go.... it can end painfully. Mitchard does a wonderful job of writing as a fifteen year old.
Product Description
This revised and updated edition of the modern massage classic, translated into 8 languages and with 75 printings, brings the world of sensual massage to a whole new generation of readers. The book is packaged with a 50 minute award-winning DVD which presents closely matched massage techniques to those in the book. Rhythms and pressures are clearly shown and menu options allow you to jump to any part of the body for quick reference.
Customer Reviews:
enjoyed.......2007-08-23
the instructions are easy to understand and it covers techniques to use on the entire body. I was a pro in no time
book weak.......2007-02-09
Haven't yet reviewed the DVD, but the book really wasn't very good. Oh well, here's hoping the DVD will be better.
Great Book for Couples.......2006-10-04
I got this book for my husband as an anniversary gift. We love giving each other massage, so I thought he might like a book that was easy to understand so we could both develop new teqniques. We both are learning a lot, and we've learned a lot that has helped our marriage.
MOST POWERFUL APHRODISIAC ON THE PLANET.......2006-04-28
Let's be honest: a well done sensual massaage is one of the ultimate turn-ons. Here it all is, laid out for you in black and white (color in the DVD). Stroke-by-stroke these are the tecniques you need to know to drive your lover wild. And this is hardly an exaggeration. I have seen it work wonders.
It couldn't be easier to get than from these directions, which are both illustrated in the book and shown in motion in the DVD. Real massage, real people. And some do look turned on too.
So good luck to you, friend, this is powerful medicine, if you are in the mood for it.
Very Good Massage Technique.......2006-04-17
I bought this excellent book and DVD combination as a gift for my lover. It brought us closer together and made lovemaking better. The techniques are very powerful, in the right hands.
I would not hesitate to buy this is you are seriously involved with a loving partner. The massage is also very relaxing and can make relaxation drugs unnecessary.
Book Description
What do you get when you combine the classic, almost 2,000-year-old Indian treatise on the art of love with the most up-to-date paper-engineering techniques? The Pop-Up Kama Sutra!
This lively distillation of the world's most famous sex guide features choice excerpts from the original text, translated in 1883 by the renowned explorer Sir Richard Burton, and is illustrated with vintage color plates from India. Best of all, six incredible pop-ups present the Kama Sutra's most interesting, instructive, and wildly acrobatic positions in three dimensions. More Bollywood than museum piece, this fun gift book adds a new dimension to the literature of lust and romance.
Customer Reviews:
A brief comment.......2007-08-30
This is a funny and creative version of the classic Hindu erotic text. Well, it's a pop-up book, so I guess I don't have to explain that part, but the book is no doubt more notable for the visual effect than the actual text. By the way, most people don't know there is an "Arabic Kama Sutra," entitled The Perfumed Garden, by Sheikh Nafzaouwi (not sure of the actual spelling anymore, so I apologize if I err there), but in many ways it's even more erotic than the much older Hindu text. (You'll understand when you make it to the chapter on "The Types of Vulvas." :-) But you can also check out that book if you're interested.
dont waste your money.......2007-08-15
This book was horrible. Dont waste your money or time on it. Unless your looking to do a book report on the history of Kam Sutra. They show you nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!
Poorly made and with a lack of information.......2006-11-10
I was greatly disappointed in this "pop up"book.
The lack of information and the actual design was a failure.
I would strongly recommend having a CD with this book to make it of any value.
The Perfect Bachelor Gift.......2005-07-28
We all know men never grow up past the age of 15 or so. What better to give them than a POP UP book about Kama Sutra! I got it as a gift for a guy friend of mine, and he absolutely loved it. Definitely nothing wrong with this book!
Perfect for Bachelorette Parties.......2005-06-27
This book is beautifully illustrated in a traditional Indian style, very detailed. The pop-ups themselves are fun. I wouldn't recommend this book for someone who really wants to learn the positions, but it's a great novelty for someone who can handle the risque nature of it. I gave this to a friend of mine at her bachelorette party and it was a big hit, even over the skimpy outfits and novelty "sheaths". I've gone back and bought extras to keep on hand for other such occasions.
Book Description
In the pre-Code Hollywood era, between 1929 and 1934, women in American cinema took lovers, had babies out of wedlock, got rid of cheating husbands, enjoyed their sexuality, led unapologetic careers, and, in general, acted the way many think women only acted after 1968. Before then, women on screen had come in two varieties-sweet ingenue or vamp. Then two stars came along: Greta Garbo, who turned the femme fatale into a woman whose capacity for love and sacrifice made all other human emotions seem pale; and Norma Shearer, who succeeded in taking the ingenue to a place she'd never been: the bedroom. In their wake came a deluge of other complicated women-Marlene Dietrich, Jean Harlow, and Mae West, to name a few. Then, in July 1934, the draconian Production Code became the law in Hollywood and these modern women of the screen were banished, not to be seen again until the code was repealed three decades later.A thorough survey and a tribute to these films, Complicated Women reveals how this was the true Golden Age of women's films.AUTHORBIO: Mick LaSalle is the film critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and teaches a class at University of California at Berkeley on pre-Code film.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointing.......2007-04-14
This book was a HUGE disappointment. The author has some kind of strange obession with Norma Shearer. He makes numerous idiot statments. He refers to all of the other major movie stars (such as Clara Bow, Jean Harlow, Myna Loy) as just minor background players...umm NOOO. This man obviously knows very little about cinema. I kept waiting and waiting throughout the book for him to stop talking and praising Norma Shearer, but he never did. Yes, Norma Shearer was a good actress but she was not God's gift to earth, so stop with the worshipping. Unless you are a die heart Shearer fan, DO NOT buy this book, you will be disappointed.
Complicated Women, a great book........2007-01-11
Mick LaSalle wrote probably the most definative book on the greatest era on film for women. 1929-1934 women dominated the box office, and broke all the rules on what the typical ladies of the teens and even flappers of the 1920's followed. Much of this text is dedicated to Norma Shearer, and to me it should be. Shearer is the perfect example of the pre code icon, and after all "The Divorcee" won Shearer and Oscar, and created a national obsession with pre code films. As LaSalle states, she does deserve to be more remembered to the level of her contemporaries, Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo.
Kay Francis, and Miriam Hopkins also get a good deal of remembrance, if anything the public certianly has forgotten them aswell. I think it would be interesting for LaSalle to specialize an entire book on either three, I know I would buy it. As for Complicated Women, it's not only easy to read, but also a must have for fans of not only pre code films, but Hollywood itself.
Indispensible book for fans of pre-code cinema.......2006-07-26
Not only is "Complicated Women" the definitive work on women in pre-code Hollywood, it's one helluva fun read. Here's some of what I'm talking about:
"Harding plays the moment like she just had a lobotomy."
"The Colbert with a smile in her voice who always sounds like it's midnight and someone just opened the champagne."
"No one did lust on screen like Norma Shearer. She was the complete lady, completely on fire."
Besides the engaging writing style LaSalle had three things going for him in writing this book: a love of film, a love of women and a willingness to conduct the research that would do their pre-code story justice.
LaSalle's love of women is particularly evident as he rhapsodizes about Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo whose stories are the centerpiece of "Complicated Women." They are the stars of this story. And make no mistake this story is a tragedy. A tragedy that the Production code was finally enforced in mid 1934 with the consequent censorship that didn't end until 1968. As the author points out this was not just a censoring of what was shown on screen, but, far worse, a censorship of ideas. The odious Joseph Breen is the true villain of the story, to read about Breen is to despise him.
But that is but a one sad chapter of this story. What LaSalle does so wonderfully is regale us with tales of Hollywood and its women from the end of the silent era to the beginning of the suppressed era.
Here is an appreciation for the work of stars still remembered such as Mae West and Joan Crawford to those largely forgotten like Miriam Hopkins and Ann Harding. In "Complicated Women" they are all brought to life through LaSalle's examination of their films.
These and other great actresses flourished in the pre-code era because they were allowed to inhabit real characters. They could be sexual, sensual, professional, pregnant, rebellious and rambunctious. This was a true liberation of women 30 years before it became a political movement. These were women who could be both as deadly serious as any man and as playful and horny. As LaSalle writes, "sexual satisfaction had become the right of both sexes."
Yes there were audacious films with wild women, but they were also reflective of society and the true desires of women. Movies were both a lot of fun AND realistic.
Thankfully many of these gems such as the classic "The Divorcee" and "Red Dust." can be seen on Turners Classic Movie channel (if you love films from the first half of the 20th century, no price is too high to pay for having TCM as part of your cable or satellite TV option). Others have been released on DVD like "Trouble in Paradise" and "Gold Diggers of 1933."
"Complicated Women" will send you searching for movies you've never seen and wanting to watch again some that you have seen.
I rented and more fully appreciated "Queen Christina" immediately after reading LaSalle's comments on it.
While it is cultural tragedy of the highest magnitude that the production code was enforced, we do have those few precious years before Breen and his ilk got out the scissors. LaSalle brings to life those years and the actresses so central to them.
A Love Letter To Norma Shearer.......2005-07-30
Mr Laselle obviously has a deep affection for Norma Shearer, & yes it shows here! I'd never heard of MS. Shearer until seeing the TMC documentary based on this book. Since seeing the documentary & a few of her films also on TMC, I've fallen in love (I've never had a crush on a dead person before!), & this book brings her much more to life then Gavin Lambert's biography. Yes, he does devote between 25-30% of the book to Shearer (Garbo gets the second biggest chunk), but I'm grateful that he does. It's a travesty that most of my generation (I'm in my late 40's) has never heard of this amazing actress. Also a great resource for suggested pre code films, & a needed damning portrait of the evangelicals who ruined US films for over 30 years with the ridiculous code. For those who have seen the TMC documentary, this is much more in depth. Hard to put down!
Johnny One Note.......2004-07-13
Mr. LaSalle is a zealot, not a scholar, and it shows. His obsession with Norma Shearer clouds everything he writes. He perceives that Shearer has been unfairly neglected in film history, and his attempt to redress this takes priority over any thoughtful examination of women in Pre-Code Hollywood. The plot synopses he offers are no better than anything on IMDB, his arguments on quality are poorly supported, his writing is clunky and full of redundancies, and his insights are dubious.
Amazon.com
From the nudie cuties of the 1950s to celebrity porn in the late 1990s, The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry offers an insider's view of the adult film industry's transition from a shady, backroom business to a $10-billion-per-year money machine and mainstream acceptance. The story is told through interviews with hundreds of actors, directors, law enforcement officials, and other participants, all edited together with expert skill and pacing.
The industry exploded in the early 1970s with the success of the Mafia-backed Deep Throat, which reportedly grossed $100 million after an initial $22,000 investment. Featured at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973, the film ushered in the rise of "porno chic," making it fashionable, for a time, to take a date to a porn film. One industry insider described Deep Throat as "the Blair Witch Project of its time." Filled with sleazy intrigue, vivid details, and many heartbreaking--and even touching--stories, The Other Hollywood covers the actors, the numerous legal challenges to the industry, FBI sting operations, the Mafia connection, rampant drug use, rock stars, celebrities, the opposition by religious and political groups, the emergence of AIDS (that claimed the lives of porn superstars such as the famously endowed John Holmes), and the explosion of the video market and its overnight fortunes. Even at 600 pages, this is a quick and engrossing read that is hard to put down. --Shawn Carkonen
Book Description
A raucous and revealing oral history of the birth of the adult film industry, The Other Hollywood peels back the candy coating to let the true story be told -- by the stars, movie makers, and other industry players who lived it. And what a story it is: Through hundreds of original interviews, contemporary newspaper accounts, police reports, court testimony, and more, Legs McNeil and coauthors Jennifer Osborne and Peter Pavia trace today's billion-dollar industry from its makeshift, mob-connected origins to the Internet age. Along the way we encounter porn stars such as Linda Lovelace, John Holmes, Traci Lords, and Savannah -- along with countless mainstream stars, politicians, FBI agents, and more.
Epic, hilarious, and moving, The Other Hollywood contributes to the porn industry the one thing missing in all previous accounts: a vivid, tragicomic, irresistible humanity.
Customer Reviews:
Weird perspective.......2007-07-17
This is an oral history of the Porn industry taken from a huge number of sources. In a lot of ways it exposes our hypocrisy about pornography, the "yeah I did but I didn't inhale" sort of thing. Interesting stuff, it traces how the early "Hippie" free love culture evolved into a drug crazed, biker gang and organized crime thing. It touches on some of the high profile disasters, Shauna Grant, Savannah, Traci Lords and John Holmes but virtually ignores how the porno industry evolved into big business with large corporations dominating the industry. There's very little discussion of the shift from New York to California production. There's virtually no mention of the impact of the Internet. Well written and well worth reading though. A sequel picking up in 1985 would be nice.
The best book on the subject ever.......2007-03-19
The Other Hollywood is the most indepth book on the history of adult films ever written. Legs Mcneil interviews everybody involved in adult films both pro and con and gives them equal time to express their views on the subject. He delves deepm into territory that could be considered dangerous iterviewing ex mafia and fbi alike. The only real problem is the book seems to end in the mid ninties. I would love topo see a sequel dealing with modern porn and its big buissness persona that it has become.
well worth the cash.......2007-03-16
this is a good buy especially for the resoanble price it asks....
interesting stuff involving the adult business...my only complaint is that it didnt shed to much light with the porn business in the 80's..it did for a lil bit but not enough especially since my childhood was based mainly on 80's porn so im more familiar with those stars than the 70's folks but i am aware of them...than again it is the "history" of the business so its all justified...
good book..
4 stars-5 if it had more stories from the 80's...
The Real Life Boogie Nights .......2006-12-14
The Other Hollywood is more or less a history of the porn industry from the 1950's through the mid to late 90's done in an interview style using direct quotes from the interviewees. Its a huge book although I think a lot more stuff could have been covered. This book starts the early days of pin up models, Russ Meyer movies and the bizarre nude volleyball film genre. Then it moves on through the evolution covering a wide range of people and topics that were involved. Criminal involvement from the top of the food chain mafia down to the petty hustlers and criminals that gravite towards the porn world, femanazi, Christian and especially FBI harrassment, drug abuse and other self destructive behavior being the norm from the porn stars themselves, the sagas of Linda Lovelace, the Mitchell brothers and John Holmes are covered at length, the general process of making and distributing the movies themselves, the heyday of porn theaters, peep shows and porn shops, the outbreak of AIDS are topics covered in this among other things. This was a good fun at times and depressing at times read.
Porn stars are my friends.......2006-10-09
Read in a fortnight, compulsively and earnestly, this book is a must buy for several reasons. Oral (pun intended and not intended) histories are the best way to handle such topics as Punk Rock (covered by the same author) and the Porn industry, because there are so many stories to tell, so many plotlines running congruently and so many voices that demand to be heard, that to try to weave them into one narrative would be nearly impossible and would be difficult to read. While some of the FBI, Mafia and other criminal plotlines aren't quite as interesting as the behind the scenes of the actual films, they are still pertinent to the overall story.
Growing up with porn and looking at it probably much younger than I was suppossed to, the people in the first half of this book almost seem like friends, like some strange relatives that don't always appear at holiday dinners, that not all of my relatives approve of.
My bias of course is to the first half of this book and the stories of Marilyn Chambers, John Holmes, Linda Lovelace, etc. Some amazing tales that span the gamut of human experiences and emotions.
It's not that the 80's and 90's are not as fascinating, but these people seem more distant, less heoric (strange, I know), and also in many ways, less human than the pioneers that started the industry.
There are some voices that are missing or are not given full voice (Hugh Hefner, Larry Flynt and the publishing industries that they forged in general), but the drive of the narrative is certainly the "visual" medium of the industry as oppossed to the written word (as well as the fact that those subjects could be books in and of themselves). There is also little discussion of current trends of the last decade (the internet primarily), but the real genius of this book, is that you could say that in many ways the story is still continuing, and the book could never be finished and could always be updated. Volume 2 would certainly not be as fascinating, but would certainly be entertaining.
I think in general, people who came of age in the 1970s or early 80's will find this book much more intersting than those who came after. In some ways, the innocence (yes, again, strange) of those early years (before aids, before video, before the internet) make this an oddly nostalgic work whether intended or not. In some ways pornography is less about the personality and the novelty these days. For those who have never watched a porno film in a theatre or in a peep show, it's hard to explain that experience. That makes me for one, nostalgic for those early (and yes, sleazy) days. This book brought back those days and those feelings in many ways. It made me miss my old friends.
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