I'm Here, I Think, Where Are You?: Letters from a Touring Actor

Book Description

Here is the first full racing history of Bugatti, from Ettore Bugatti's endeavours with a racing motor tricycle in 1898, through to building the first racing T10 at Cologne in 1910, opening the Molsheim factory and racing at Indianapolis in 1914. After designing aero engines during the First World War, Bugatti enjoyed a golden age of Grand Prix racing in the 1920s with the legendary T35, followed by a slow decline during the 1930s, and the abortive attempt to re-enter Grand Prix racing in 1956.

Customer Reviews:

Great book!.......2007-02-14

A great book on a very unique automobile line and racers along with the story of the founder. One of the top books in my collection of this type. Automobiles/Racing ...... Good value.

Book Description

Every winter, 8,000 feet above sea level in the Utah snow, the hopes and dreams of young moviemakers are put on display at the Sundance Film Festival--the haven for independent films where you can show up a kid and go home a star. In barely twenty years of existence, the festival--now overseen by Robert Redford's Sundance Institute--has assumed tremendous importance for today's film culture: during the annual ten-day event, tiny Park City is so overrun by agents, publicists, studio executives, and other Hollywood types that in 1988 they blew out the town's cell-phone relay system.

JOHN ANDERSON, chief film critic for New York Newsday, attended his ninth Sundance in 1999, but this time he did more than screen films and leap for tables at overbooked restaurants. He interviewed performers and filmmakers of all kinds, including top prize winners, but also uncovered the effect of all this ballyhoo on the indie film scene--and on the bemused Park City locals. Alongside the thoughts of Diane Lane, Steve Buscemi, Mike Figgis and other distinguished film people are conversations with festival volunteers, bus drivers, policemen, shopkeepers, and more. Together, they form the most candid, most fascinating, most hilarious, and most human-sized coverage of the Sundance Film Festival ever achieved. Join John Anderson as he goes...SUNDANCINGEvery winter, 8,000 feet above sea level in the Utah snow, the hopes and dreams of young moviemakers are put on display at the Sundance Film Festival--the haven for independent films where you can show up a kid and go home a star. In barely twenty years of existence, the festival--now overseen by Robert Redford's Sundance Institute--has assumed tremendous importance for today's film culture: during the annual ten-day event, tiny Park City is so overrun by agents, publicists, studio executives, and other Hollywood types that in 1988 they blew out the town's cell-phone relay system.

Customer Reviews:

It draws a fair picture.......2003-02-14

A previous reviewer claimed author John Anderson was some kind of piteous wannabe. He didn't read this book very closely: it's not Anderson talking. The author almost completely relies on interviews with others; they make up 9/10ths of the book. It's an *oral history*, or maybe an oral snapshot, of the 1999 festival. I just got back from my first Sundance (2003) last month, and read this book afterwards. Very amusing, very "human-sized," as the back cover blurb puts it. Some movie suits are their own self-parodists; it's interesting to read about people who live in Park City, Utah all year and then get overrun for two weeks annually. This is not snobby at all, not whiny. It's fun and funny and true.

So sad . . . . .Just reeks of the empty life of a hanger-on.......2001-06-27

Far from informative, this book does nothing toward providing any sort of accurate rendition of the madness that has engulfed Sundance of late. Both the dashed dreams and the fulfilled hopes of the various players are often obscured by the author's tedious, hackneyed prose. Prose that is so cliche-ridden I wonder whether the esteemed Mr. Anderson actually wrote it himself or simply gave the book as an assignment to another drear film student, a pre-John Anderson in its larval stage if you will. On every page we learn not so much about the Sundance festival or its participants as we discover Anderson's yearnings to fit into that world, to find a place for himself among the glamor and achievement that only true creators attain. Sour grapes and misgivings on every page, it might more aptly be titled "Tales of a Film Critic Nothing."

Average customer rating:
The second book of He and She [microform]: Another book of them
James Moffatt
Manufacturer: Harper & Brothers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006EMGVG

Average customer rating:
The second book of he and she: Another book of them
James Moffatt
Manufacturer: Harper
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00089096I

Book Description

These colorful puzzles are bright, playful, and imaginative—and anyone who wants to ace these entertaining, inspirational IQ tests should be, too. They train you to think logically and see three-dimensionally, to use math to find inventive solutions, and to work creatively: in short, they both assess your IQ and help improve it. The eight types of problems include Odd One Out, where you have to choose from five alternatives to find the one that’s different; Series, that challenges you to find the missing figure in a sequence; and Volume questions that ask you to compare one or several unfolded shapes with a three-dimensional figure. Take no more than one day on each of the 16-question tests, and remember...have fun while doing them.

Customer Reviews:

Just fun.......2005-02-25

These tests are well-thought-out, visually appealing and challenging. This is a great way to pass commute time on the Metro.

Customer Reviews:

The Self-Sabotage Syndrome.......2002-04-14

From the moment I started to read this book, I was 'smacked in the face' by the relevence of this book in my life at this "exact juncture" !.

I have just lost a job that I "loved", it was my "home away from home" (I actually used to say that...); my boss was my "best friend", I would do virtually ANYTHING to support and help him in the work place and in his failing personal life. I was terminated because his wife felt we were "too close" after two years of blind loyalty. Terminated ! No notice ! No severance ! Lost my job, my best friend, my source of income, my entire world/life.

READ THIS BOOK IF YOU ARE AN ADULT CHILD !!! I wish I had read it before. I will not be the 'enabler' and the 'fall guy' the next time.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that is an ADULT CHILD and find themselves without a job/sense of self/reason to live/purpose in life because the "job" and "your life" ARE NOT intertwined unless you allow them to be. I did not establish correct "boundries", and coincidentally, my previous "boss/best-friend" is an Adult Child also.

I just ordered the book to be delivered to my previous boss/best friend. Hopefully he will learn from this book as well, and not follow the same patterns.

PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS TO WORK-RELATED PROBLEMS.......2000-09-04

If you have been losing jobs despite working "very hard", and you are an ACoA, this is the book that will finally answer the big question of "why! " ACoA's, as explained succinctly yet in detail by Woititz, have ingrained patterns of behavior that result in problems on the job. We can identify these patterns, come to understand where they came from, and finally, do something to change them! This book gave me far more insight than years of counseling - Woititz truly knows the ACoA!

Book Description

For nearly three decades Ethel Merman virtually guranteed Broadway success. This in-depth portrait details her career, marriages, affairs, and her children. It includes a complete glossary of all of Merman's appearances.

Customer Reviews:

Poor research and lack of respect for the subject does this one in.......2007-05-21

Ethel Merman remains one of Broadway's most colorful stars, and there is enough fodder for a really good book covering here career.

This isn't it.

Geoffrey Mark's book is riddled with factual errors. A few glaring ones:

Merman was born in 1908 (not 1906!)(A line in THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINES sums it up: "My age is the only thing I lie about and I don't add on, I take off!")

Merman recorded "The Hostess with the Mostes' " for Decca in November 1950 and it WAS on the original 12" Lp release. Where does the author come up with the claim that it was added to the 1955 reissue??? Better research needed.

Merman did NOT claim in her autobiography that Sandra Church died in obscurity. (She did say something like that about her GYPSY standby!) In fact Merman says nothing negative about Church at all.

These (and other wrong dates and misstatements) destroy the credibility of other passages that Marks claims exclusive knowledge. Does anyone REALLY know what happened between Miss Merman and Ernest Borgnine on their wedding night?

Worst of all, the discography misses label and catalogue numbers for many releases but includes a few. Maddening.

I can't fault the author for his opinions, but when he spends the opening chapter lambasting Merman's two autobiographies and Bob Thomas's excellent I GOT RHYTHM only to directly steal passages from all three something is out of balance.

It's a shame that the warmth and respect he had for Lucille Ball in the book on her TV series is nowhere in evidence here.

Don't bother, unless...................2006-07-19

Don't bother buying this book unless you are a fan of supermarket tabloids. There are many factual errors & the author seems far more interested in speculating about Ms. Merman's private life than in providing factual information on one of the greatest performers in Broadway history. I was furtunate enough to see Ms. Merman in all of the shows she did after 1940. She was a true original & deserves nuch, much better than she receives from this author.

Bravo La Merm!.......2006-06-28

I have been a theatergoer for over four decades and much of what I read here I believe to be quite true!! I began my career with Ethel in Hello,Dolly! seeing her in the show five times. There are no words to describe those standing ovations and Ethel's handling of her two new songs! It was heaven at the theater. I went to the performance a Wednesday matinee where it broke the record for being the longest running show in Broadway history at the time. I still recall being backstage with Ethel and a big cake. Ethel complained of perhaps a little heartburn from an earllier Englsh muffin!!

I recall a good natured Ethel volunteering at Roosevelt Hospital helping ordinary visitors and patients while staying near her parents. That was the talk of New York for awhile. There is still a tree outside the hospital dedicated to the Zimmermans.

I remember the l965 revival of "Annie Get Your Gun" -the one sometimes coldly called Granny Get Your Gun, but I also remember the whole town talking about Ethel bringing down the house every night with the new old fashioned wedding song that Mr. Berlin had written for her.

And while I didn't see "Gypsy" doesn't Ms. Merman really haunt every peformance of that watershed musical? Isn't she the one you really "hear" yelling, "sing out, Louise" as Rose comes barreling down the aisle? Isn't she the one you always imagine in the dowdy coat? Isn't she always belting "Some People" in your mind's ear?

Mr. Mark seems to capture a great deal of Ethel's story here. He clearly respects her. She was a great New York character at a time New York was well known for characters (and that could certainly include a salty mouth). It was common knowledge as I recall that Ethel loved men. (Maybe that's why she got along with Cole Porter so well?) She could be both a lady and a broad, it seemed. But she was above all a performer matched by no other. At a time when the type of star that Ethel represented no longer really exists, this book is a very decent if not perfect tribute. I thoroughly enjoyed myself while reading it. The author knows a lot of what he is talking about here. If you are a totally jaded, wizened, spoiled, curmudgeon this may not be your cup of tea. On the other hand if you know little to nothing about La Merm or just missed her era or simply miss her era, this book could be a lovely waltz down memory lane.

Everything's Coming Up Razzes.......2006-06-25

Absolute drek. But where to begin? The author's constant use of the heretofor unknown nickname "Mermo"? His skewed critical facilities (Merman's overbearing "Mad World" performance was worthy of an Oscar nomination?!)? Or his near complete disregard for facts and a fractured chronology that will have even the most casual Merman observer rolling their eyes? The "Ethel Merman Disco Album" of star bios.

Not just Merman, but the Broadway scene and how she fits in.......2006-04-20

Ethel Merman's stardom came from her fame in the Broadway musical; yet it's surprising to note that there aren't a large number of books on the market covering her life and career as it relates to the concurrent rise of Broadway shows. That's why ETHEL MERMAN: THE BIGGEST STAR ON BROADWAY is an important survey of not only her life but the Broadway scene as a whole: she worked with some of the biggest names of her time and their stories blend with hers in a fine biographical survey. Very highly recommended indeed.

Book Description

Starting in 1916, Texans built seventeen four- and five-masted sailing ships out of East Texas pine, making a significant contribution in World War I. These ships hauled over 15 million board feet of lumber along with a large quantity of other cargoes and their careers carried them to ports in Europe, South America, both U.S. coasts, and even eighty miles up the Danube River.

In Wooden Ships from Texas, Richard W. Bricker brings to light this fascinating, but little-known, period in Texas maritime history. Henry Piaggio, the man behind this shipbuilding operation was an Italian born naturalized American with a lumber export business in Gulfport, Mississippi. Because he wanted ships to haul Mississippi and Texas pine timber to Italy for their war needs, he got a massive sailing ship construction program started two years before the traditional schooner yards of the East Coast woke up to the extreme shipping shortage caused by World War I.

The first ship built was the City of Orange, and her irascible captain provided a memorable maiden voyage from Orange, Texas, to Genoa, Italy. Official documents told a story of events like those found in sea fiction: shanghaiing, cruelty to seamen, excessive drinking, and pistol waving. A rare story is told, too: an order to jettison part of the cargo with no apparent good cause. Out of fourteen ships built at one shipyard, four burned and one was sunk by a U-boat off the coast of Spain. These losses did not spell total disaster for the fleet, however. Only three lives were lost, and a significant quantity of cargo had been delivered to Europe by some of these ships before tragedy struck.

Bricker has unearthed a considerable quantity of archival material, allowing him to describe the ships and make at least a partial track of the career of each vessel. In fact, all of them eventually ended up permanently outside of Texas. One became a New York City nightclub and then made a trip to the West Coast for use in motion pictures. Several of the ships became hulks at Bayonne, New Jersey, and were subjects for the renowned marine artist John A. Noble.

For each vessel, Bricker provides a description; narratives of the ship's career; and selected photographs of construction, launching, and anchored views. Because no known photographs of the vessels under sail survived, Bricker himself has painted these views. Bricker's engaging and informative text, which also covers a massive effort to build wooden steamships in Texas for the war, will interest Texas history, maritime history, and World War I enthusiasts as well as ship hobbyists.

Book Description

At a time when Americans were so riveted by questions about their place in a newly hostile world and were swearing off air travel, Elinor Burkett did not just take a trip -- she took a headlong dive into enemy territories.

Her yearlong odyssey began with her assignment as a Fulbright Professor teaching journalism in Kyrgyzstan, a faded fragment of Soviet might in the heart of Central Asia -- a place of dilapidated apartments, bizarre food, and demoralized citizens clinging to the safety of Brother Russia. She then journeyed to Afghanistan and Iraq -- where she mingled with tense Iraqis, watching the gathering storm clouds of an American-led invasion -- as well as Iran, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, China, and Vietnam.

Whether she's writing about being served goat's head in a Kyrgyz yurt, checking out bowling alleys in Baghdad, or trying to cook a chicken in a crumbling apartment, Burkett offers an eclectic series of adventures that are alternately comical, poignant, and discomfiting.

Customer Reviews:

adventurous spirit abroad.......2007-02-16

Elinor Burkett's account of her travels in Central Asia is vibrant, quirky, and fascinating. I especially admire her courage in traveling to a region not well known to most Americans, her observational powers, her attention to detail, and her ability to place her adventures in a global context. I also admire her integrity in sticking to her principles as a professor of journalism at Bishkek, Kyrgystan, and her sincere desire to inject the spirit of journalistic objectivity into her students' psyches.
As I read over the other reviews of this book, I found it hard to believe that anyone who had not acted with the same bravery in traveling to the truly exotic locations in this book would dare to express a negative opinion of two who dared do so. I believe that Elinor and her husband Dennis made a great team as they explored foreign cultures, not only in Central Asia, but as far afield as China, and reported their own colorful experiences, as well as the stories of the many people they met who are dealing with enormous adjustments from the communism of the former USSR to a free market economy, and from age-old peasant practices to the rapid technological advances of the first world. Elinor describes in great detail the painful shifts in mindset that are occurring among the young people in Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Afghanistan, as well as in Iraq and Iran, and the way that they are caught between conflicting desires for the past and the future. She sheds light on their world and their natural wish to be regarded as important by America and other developed nations.
Perhaps the most compelling reason for which I appreciate this book is that Elinor succeeds in making us Americentric people aware that there are many other nations out there, many other peoples, all of whom have hopes, desires, and problems that are just as valid as ours. This book enriches our knowledge of the world. Bravo to a modern American trailblazer!

Misleading title, nonetheless leads to intriguing read.......2006-03-05

Burkett manages to squeeze in so much travel in a year as a Fullbright Professor from homebase of Kyrgyzstan, that it makes you want to pick up and follow her lead. She makes it seem, however, from the title, that she is somehow in danger or threatened when she does travel to areas of the world such as Iran, Afghanistan, and Iraq. This could be far from the case, as she realizes too that these countries, places that Americans or Westerners might not think of as travel destinations, are full of life, and filled with friendly and curious people.

She also sheds light on the country of Kyrgyzstan, a newly emerged Central Asian nation, struggling with modernization amongst the gritty aftermath of the Soviet Union. The popular "resort" area of Lake Issykul is marred by discarded industrial plants rusting in the water. Trying to find a normal chicken to cook and eat for dinner is a funny vignette. Also the different outlook on life that her students take, open her eyes, as well as the reader.

Overall an intriguing read, don't expect anything too deep, especially when she goes on assignment as a "journalist" for Elle magazine. And what exactly does her husband do when he goes with her on her Fullbright trip? She never says, except once when he tries to secure press passes... I'm not exactly sure how he can be a part of the media.

The Ugly American is alive and well........2006-02-09

If Ms. Burkett's light-weight, self-important book is an example of the type of journalism she presented to her students in Kyrgyzstan they deserve their money back. For example, she begins by describing the less than rigorous practice of religion in the country as "Muslim light." What an egregious error; she obviously needed to say "Islam light", but she - and her editors - couldn't quite find the words to do so. But why would we expect her to? After all, she's only a self-described "professor" of journalism. Faculty appointments notwithstanding, she's about as much a journalism "professor" as I am the King of Siam. Frankly, she hasn't a clue what she's talking about.

Worse, Burkett mocks and denigrates everyone and everything she encounters: she dreads the food, she loathes her hosts' formality and politeness; she even hates their buildings. And she makes herself the long-suffering heroine of every story, from being in a putative Muslim country on 9/11 , to surviving flights on ancient Soviet commercial airliners. How very, very brave.

I've seen her type before: the brash complainers who go overseas - usually at U.S. taxpayers' expense - waving their American "We're Number One" foam-rubber finger at the natives! Burkett may have traveled widely, but her attitude is strictly bush, pun intended. In short, if this book is anything to go by, she is the quintessential Ugly American - or maybe just Ugly American Light.

Unexpectedly good..........2005-07-17

I picked up this book on a whim when I saw it under the "new non-fiction" at my library. And I'm glad I did. The author, a journalist, decided to spend one year teaching "American-style journalism" in Kyrgyzstan as part of the Fulbright program. Her journey at first paints a picture of a place many of us have probably heard little about. She tells us, for example, of the struggle to find edible "non-delicacies" in a country where customarily goat brain is served to guests. The author and her husband had also planned to travel extensively around the region, but then 9/11 struck. Instead of ditching what they considered a "once in a lifetime" opportunity, they proceeded on their trip to Afghanistan. The author's encounters with the people of these countries, as well as others, including Iran, Iraq, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan show us how very alike- and different we are. She also tries to paint a picture of how these countries view the USA, before and after the attacks of 9/11. My only gripe with this book is I felt the end, where she traveled across Russia, China, and Vietnam, seemed a bit rushed, and I wasn't ready for the story to end.

Elinor Burkett: Today's Marco Polo.......2005-05-03

Just finished Elinor Burkett's So Many Enemies, So Little Time.
I liked it a lot. It's really a Marco Polo travel diary for today. Burkett provides needed background to world events, in a lively personal style. Fun to read, and you can think about it afterwards, too. The book recounts Burkett's adventures in Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Russia, Burma (officially Myanmar), China, Vietnam, and Cambodia during the 2001-2002 events, when she was a Fulbright Scholar. I agree with her view that the Fulbright program is one US government initiative that really works as it was intended. She explains how her view of the world changed after her experience teaching abroad in the wake of 9/11--just the kind of growth experience Senator Fulbright wanted. Burkett has a real gift for noticing the interesting detail. Her description of the little things at her university in Bishkek--such as wandering around the hall trying to find a classroom after being kicked out for some sort of seminar--tracked pretty exactly to my experience at UWED in Tashkent (which I was pleased to see she called the Harvard of Central Asia). Burkett's observations are generally acute, the most telling ones based on her personal confrontations with age-old traditions.

Most of all, I enjoyed Burkett's Kyrgyz anecdotes, which I think reflect a certain mentality--and reality--in the region. Here's a sample:

While walking in the countryside, two Uzbeks and two Kyrgyz fell in a hole. "I'll give you a hand up," the younger Uzbek said to the older. "Then, when you're on solid ground, you can pull me up." The older man agreed, the Uzbeks freed themselves and then went on their way.
The two Kyrgyz men looked at each other grimly, and one began climbing out of the hole on his own. "Hey, you can't do that," yelled the other man, pulling on his companion's legs. "If you get out, I'll be alone and stranded."

Book Description

When the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan went into effect during the Clinton administration, Florida's great grassy wilderness garnered a host of national attention -- and has since become a breeding ground for environmental dispute. What does it take to "save" a forest? How can it be preserved?

Enter W. Hodding Carter. For an Outside magazine feature he's agreed to paddle the ninety-nine-mile waterway in Everglades National Park to examine the landscape from all angles -- physical, political, cultural, and very personal -- and get to the rock-bottom heart of the story. Stolen Water is the outgrowth of Carter's journey.

Through investigative research, eyewitness accounts, and interviews with key players in the conservation controversy, Carter offers a rare portrait of a national treasure. Utterly important, and at times downright hilarious, Stolen Water is a classic American adventure tale, and an environmental parable for our time.

Customer Reviews:

Provides some facts about the friends & foes of the area.......2005-01-06

Hodding Carter loves the Everglades and Stolen Water: Saving the Everglades from Its Friends, Foes, and Florida reflects this affection as much as it reflects arguments on both sides covering the management and utilization of the wilderness. From restoration plans for the Everglades to author Carter's own quest through the region to consider both its history and future, Stolen Water provides some hard-hitting facts about the real friends and foes of the area.

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