James Robert ParishReseñas

I didn't realize that Mel Brooks took his work quite so seriously. I also didn't know how hard he had to work to break into show business. I suppose I should have. Most entertainers are only overnight sensations after they put in years of hard work and paying dues.

I learned a few things about screenwriting and writing comedy, in particular. After writing a script in 30 days myself, working mornings and weekends, I thought someone that devoted full time to it would be able to knock one out in a few months. This especially seemed true of Mel Brooks movies, which seem so unrehearsed at times. But no, he took years to write most of them. And he usually did it with a writing partner or two. Comedy is probably easier to write when you have another sense of humor around to fill in your blind spots.

The biographer himself found a good structure for Mel's story and usually writes well. The text is full of attributions, but doesn't come off as a dry academic exercise. The one disappointing spot I found was the very sparse treatment given to developing Blazing Saddles. This is especially puzzling given the importance of this work in bringing Mel into the national spotlight. No matter, I recommend this to anyone that wants to learn more about this great talent.

T. Allan Taylor and Richard Traubner

A well-constructed biography covering the very earliest creative days of Jim Henson to his final movie projects. A little over a dozen black and white photos are scattered through the pages including a couple of intriguing behind-the-scenes images. The text is filled with interesting anecdotes and lesser-known stories, although the reading is a little dry and could have been covered with more casual whimsy befitting the subject matter. The book ends with a section on How to Become a Filmmaker and another on How to Become a Television Director.½

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NOT ME – WIKI ;-) – I AM REALLY NOT THAT GOOD WITH REVIEWS ;-)



QUICK FACTS
NAME
Whitney Houston

OCCUPATION
Film Actress, Singer
BIRTH DATE
August 9, 1963
DEATH DATE
February 11, 2012
PLACE OF BIRTH
Newark, New Jersey
PLACE OF DEATH
Beverly Hills, California

QUOTES
I like being a woman, even in a man's world. After all, men can't wear dresses, but we can wear the pants.

I believe that children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside.

God gave me a voice to sing with, and when you have that, what other gimmick is there?
—Whitney Houston




Troubled Times
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Houston's increasingly rocky marriage, struggles with drugs and health problems threatened to derail her career.

Several concert cancellations and a notorious TV interview with Diane Sawyer in 2002 in which Houston appeared far too thin and in poor health led many to speculate that she was on the verge of a breakdown.

Over the next few years, Houston attempted to repair her marriage and to break her drug habit, but after several relapses her mother Cissy had to step in. As Houston explained to Oprah Winfrey in 2009: "[My mother] walks in with the sheriff and she says: 'I have a court injunction here. You do it my way or we're not going to do this at all. You're going to go on TV, and you're going to retire. And say you're going to give this up because it's not worth it.'" Whitney took a break from her career, divorced Bobby Brown in 2007 and won sole custody of their child, Bobbi Kristina Houston Brown.

After almost a decade of struggling with her personal life, Houston seemed to be pulling herself together. She released a new album, I Look To You, in 2009. "The songs themselves will speak to you and you'll understand where I am and some of the changes I've gone through for the better,"

Death and Legacy
Whitney Houston died at the age of 48 on February 11, 2012, in Los Angeles at a Beverly Hilton hotel where a Grammy party was being held by Clive Davis. Houston had been seen out in the days before her death

The effects of heart disease and cocaine found in her system were contributing factors as well. With her passing, the music world lost one of its most legendary stars. Davis once said that Houston "is in the great tradition of great, great singers, whether it's Lena Horne or Ella Fitzgerald or Sarah Vaughn or Gladys Knight."

SO KIDS DO NOT DO DRUGS – it will ruin you forever



What I never could understand if you written this song why did she not love herself in the end – I think the only reason is she gave up and drugs took away her outlook on life :-(.

Whitney Houston - Greatest Love of All
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYzlVDlE72w

I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be

No matter what they take from me
They can't take away my dignity

Because the greatest love of all
Is happening to me

I found the greatest love of all
Inside of me

The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all
And if, by chance, that special place
That you've been dreaming of
Leads you to a lonely place
Find your strength in love

One thing I can say to all – DO NOT EVER GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAMS! – AND STAY HUMBLE AND KIND, and Stick and stones can break your bones – But words can only break you if you let it!

The author suffers from Adjective Thesaurus Disease (I actually laughed out loud when he referred to Arnold Schwarzenegger as "the muscular spinmeister") and it seems like most of the details are taken from press accounts of the various disasters referenced (as opposed to The Studio or The Devil's Candy which had primary sources), but the sheer appeal of schadenfreude for hubristic Hollywood egomaniacs kept me reading through to the end.

There’s a certain satisfaction to watching the best-laid plans of self-important people dissolve into messy chaos. If there wasn’t, there’d be a lot fewer movie scenes involving pie fights at fancy-dress banquets or dogs running amuck at snooty garden parties. Even if you like that kind of thing, though, a little of it goes a long way. A movie consisting of nothing but pie fights would get boring fast. Fiasco -- a series of stories about big-budget Hollywood films that went disastrously awry, losing tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in the process – is, basically, that movie. The first chapter is fascinating, the second interesting, the third diverting . . . and then they all start to feel the same.

Part of the problem is the way that Parish chooses his stories. All kinds of Hollywood movies fail, and they fail for all kinds of reasons, but – as he outlines in his introduction – he’s interested in big-budget pictures that went off the rails. All of his case studies, therefore, tend to involve similar kinds of failures: egotistical stars, finicky directors, producers who can’t say no, executives whose reach exceeds their grasp. The details change, but the underlying patterns don’t, and so repetition sets in. Films that failed because of artistic overreach (David Lynch’s Dune), a fatal misreading of the zeitgeist (Blake Edwards’ Darling Lili), or egregious executive meddling (Terry Gilliam’s almost anything) don’t make the cut.

Parish’s narrative “voice” makes matters worse: His insistence on referring to his subjects by their first names makes the whole enterprise read like a gossip column or tell-all memoir, rather than a history – even an informal one – of troubled Hollywood productions. It’s an annoying, distracting choice, and – given that most of the people he’s implying first-name closeness to are being portrayed as egotistical jerks or clueless buffoons – a baffling one.

90% of the people in this book were dead long before my time and 5% of the people I've never heard of....Pass.

90% of the people in this book were dead long before my time and 5% of the people I've never heard of....Pass.

This is a good book that you can nip in and out of depending on which Hollywood star you are interested in. Would make a great addition to any collection of a Hollywood fan.

Parish, James Robert. Katie Couric: TV News Broadcaster. 2006. Ferguson: New York.

Genre:
Nonfiction/Biography

Subject Content Tags:
Professionalism, Today Show, Journalism, Broadcasting, Life Changes

Age / Grade Appropriateness:
12/ Sixth Grade and up

Awards:
None

Censorship Issues:
I did not find any censorship issues included in this biography.

Content Summary (Summarize the content in 250 words or less):
The book starts off talking about her huge success and her quick rise to the top. It discusses the way she set an amazing industry record. The book then goes into Couric’s basic life information-birth date, birth city, parental information and married life. The book also discusses the way that she became a TV journalist for CNN, ABC, and the very well known “Today Show.” Through the book it discussed the good and bad times of her job on the “Today Show,” which was very interesting. The book also discussed her roles as a mother, author, and widow.

Critique:
This book is a great book because it is told by a well known professional. The book fits the needs and interest of Young adults because it can be related to a profession they one day they may be interested in. I really enjoyed this book because she was a really down to earth person and I learned that she was a successful author. This woman has left an impression on my life.

Curriculum Uses:
This book would be a great book to use for research on journalism and broadcasting. It is also a good short book to learn about a very well known journalist. It could also be used for book reports and for entertainment.

edited by "James Robert Parish" and dedicated to the luminous Kay Francis .. this captures the "series films" ... e.g. Doctor Christian, Ellery Queen, Blondie ... not serials (action chapter plays with cliff hangers) or sequels (self contained film with sometimes carryover progression of events).. rather the series are "built on a bsic set of character governed by a particular backlog of events, which control but do not hinder the future tide of their happenings." (p.13) .. the author talks about the series strategy as a "gimmick" to lure viewers back into the theatres during the Depression ... its a hazy line that divides some of these categories but the comcept is fun and resulted in some fun movies .. MR. MOTO, JAMES BOND, CHARLIE CHAN ...

I read this as I wanted an overview of the career of Mel Brooks, whom I have great affection for due to Silent Movie, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles etc. All classics that I have loved since my teenage years. In that sense, I wasn't disappointed but it was no more satisfactory than reading Wikipedia or similar. Not inspired biography, just formulaic cobbling together.

Fun and trivial. Perfect escapism as you marvel at what celebrities get up to.½

This is an informative and hard to put down biography of Steven Spielberg. Not only has he created some of the world's most famous and popular films, from blockbusters like Jaws and E.T. to historic films such as Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, he has continued to do so and entertain audiences for many years. However, achieving his status as a premier filmmaker has been a long and difficult journey. As a troubled teenager and creator of several unsuccessful films, Spielberg has often dealt with criticism and failure. He never stops believing in himself, his talents and mostly his cinematic vision, which leads him to one of the most successful careers in Hollywood history. It is an inspiring story of perseverance for young people to read and use as an example.

GREAT CONDITION!

EXCELLENT CONDITION!

REF. 791.43 PAR

EXCELLENT CONDITION!

EXCELLENT PHYSICAL CONDITION!