The Days of our Lives: The True Story of One Family's Dream and the Untold History of Days of our Lives

The Days of our Lives: The True Story of One Family's Dream and the Untold History of Days of our Lives Review

If you are looking for a book that exposes the behind the scenes high jinks of the cast and crew, stop reading this review and DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!
This book is really less an expose related to the long running soap opera and more a personal memoir of a family who had a dream and a go-for-broke spirit that took them from a stable life in the NYC area to Los Angeles and the world of daytime drama.
Ken Corday does an interesting job of telling how his jewish dad(Ted Corday) fell in love with a spirited irish catholic gal and married, pursued a successful career in radio and tv, moved west with the intention of launching a new daytime program (with his wife and two sons in tow), died before the program's inception, and to this day is known (with his wife) as being the creators of one of television's longest airing franchises. In the process, Corday gives his reader access to his family and the difficulties they encountered along the way. After Ted Corday's death, his wife assumes the reins of the family 'business' and struggles with bouts of depression and alcoholism while soldiering on with her late husband's (and her) dream. The family copes with an unstable oldest son/brother who after many unfortunate years commits suicide. Ken, who is poised for a career in music, is pulled into the family business by his mother and pure necessity and eventually becomes not only the head of the family, jack of all trades in regard to DAYS OF OUR LIVES, and the program's executive producer. Wearing many hats, Ken keeps the family dream alive and thriving while dealing with the economic realities of current times.
While at times this story might become a soap opera, Corday does a good job telling his tale with as little glitz as possible. While there is some drama here, in the end it still comes down to family and the ties that bind people to one another.
This was an interesting story and definitely worth a look/see.

The Days of our Lives: The True Story of One Family's Dream and the Untold History of Days of our Lives Feature

• ISBN13: 9781402242229
• Condition: New
• Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

The Days of our Lives: The True Story of One Family's Dream and the Untold History of Days of our Lives Overview

On a November day almost forty-five years ago, the first episode of Days of our Lives appeared on the NBC Network, NBC's first color soap opera broadcast. Eleven thousand episodes later, millions excitedly tune in every weekday to watch one of the 260 original one-hour episodes produced each year. What few know though is that the show started as the dream of one family, the Corday family, who still owns and runs the show to this day. These are the days of their lives.

The Days of our Lives is the first insider account of the history behind one of our most beloved soap operas. It is about the family who believed in it, conceived it, and sometimes seemed to live it along with millions of viewers, as they struggled to emerge from nowhere to create and produce one of the most successful and enduring television shows in history.

Ken Corday reveals the triumphs and tragedies behind the scenes over the years, a moving personal story of a family facing everything from death to mental illness, the ever-looming threat of cancellation, and the struggle to keep their dream alive. It is also the story of an extended family-actors, producers, and crew-who formed a bond of love that went beyond just creating a show to establishing a legacy.

You will discover for the first time the true  stories behind the show, a story of living a dream and raising a family while things all around you, even fate, seem to conspire against you-and succeeding against all odds.

(20100510)

Available at Amazon Check Price Now!

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 20, 2010 02:00:06

Chord Tone Soloing: A Guitarist's Guide to Melodic Improvising in Any Style (Musicians Institute: Private Lessons)

Chord Tone Soloing: A Guitarist's Guide to Melodic Improvising in Any Style (Musicians Institute: Private Lessons) Review

This book is very useful. It is for the intermediate player. You know licks and songs, you sound good with the stuff you know, but looking at changes and using them for impromptu solos is beyond you (except for simplest roots rock, country, and blues). This book will take you to the next level, for all styles, but you will have to work at it. If you already are familiar with basic music theory (diatonic harmony, chord theory, modes), you will get some review. All in all, the book is organized well, encouraging to the student, and a true method as opposed to just a lot of scales/chords/etc. Chord-tone soloing is the basic skill for those who want to play what they hear in their heads as opposed to learning riffs and note-by-note solos. That is what this book is about. I am about 1/3 through and am already improving.

This book is not for the beginner or advanced player (you can already solo against some sophisticated changes.)

Chord Tone Soloing: A Guitarist's Guide to Melodic Improvising in Any Style (Musicians Institute: Private Lessons) Feature

• ISBN13: 9780634083655
• Condition: New
• Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Chord Tone Soloing: A Guitarist's Guide to Melodic Improvising in Any Style (Musicians Institute: Private Lessons) Overview

Learn how the professionals create monster solos with this easy-to-use book/CD pack! The accompanying CD includes 68 tracks of exercises, licks, solo examples, and play-alongs. Includes all necessary foundation materials; detailed instructions on how and what to practice; essential concepts for players at every level; developing your real-time melodic reflexes; soloing over any progression in any style of music; using chords as an endless source of ideas; and more.

Available at Amazon Check Price Now!

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 18, 2010 15:15:05

The Cherry Orchard

The Cherry Orchard Review

This, Chekov's last play, is the story of Madame Ranyevskaya's family, which lost its wealth, and an estate that included a cherry orchard. The subtext carries the story and is about how not to deal with existentialist stasis -- a state of being immobilized by the fear of change, and the complexity of the denial that under lay this fear. It is this fear and the symbolism it invokes that makes the play universal in its depiction of human fear, suffering, and inability to address change; for at one time or another, these too have engulfed us all. It is against this backdrop that Chekov's real talent, comes to the fore: his incredible ability to graphically develop characters and analyze them psychologically with a fine-tooth comb.

Chekov demonstrates an uncanny ability to draw out the deepest images of personal psychological angst, and is almost comical in his analysis which is always exquisitely sensitive -even of the most serious of issues such as those that beset this wealthy Russian family. The underlying message is that "life must go on" whether or not we address reality squarely in the face, or allow it to hit us in the "behind" as we are on the way out the door, as it did Madame Ranyevskaya and her family, as her creditors came to take away all of her possessions, including her cherry orchard from under her.

This is quintessentially Chekov; but it needs to be read several times to weave together the text with the subtext.

Five stars.

The Cherry Orchard Overview

A new translation of Chekhov's masterpiece.

Available at Amazon Check Price Now!

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 17, 2010 04:45:05

Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade

Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade Review

"Which Lie Did I Tell?" is a follow-up to William Goldman's 1983 book "Adventures in the Screen Trade" in which the screenwriter gives us the inside scoop on Hollywood moviemaking from a unique point of view -that of the writer- and provides some lessons in screenwriting through examples from his own and others' attempts to create movies from the raw materials of experience and imagination. This book has 4 parts, but if you're only interested in the stories Goldman has to tell about his Hollywood experiences, those are found in Part 1. Parts 2-4 address the craft of screenwriting: what works, what doesn't, why, and how to pitch it. Goldman is opinionated, blunt, and he refers to his Oscar-winning "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" screenplay far too often. It's obviously his pride and joy. "Which Lie Did I Tell?" is briskly paced, personal, and it gives us the lowdown on what it takes -not just the writing talent, but the mettle- to write movies in Hollywood.

Goldman starts with the 9 years he didn't work, 1978-1986, after having written 7 movies in the prior 8 years. Not exactly encouraging to aspiring screenwriters. Then Goldman takes us through his experiences writing -and in some cases filming- seven screenplays he wrote 1986-1997: "Memoirs of an Invisible Man", "The Princess Bride", "Misery", "The Year of the Comet", "Maverick", "The Ghost and the Darkness", and "Absolute Power". These screenplays provide insight into a variety of writing challenges, as some are original, some adapted, one adapted from Goldman's own book, some from novels, some entirely fictional, and one is based on a true story. And, of course, some were hits, some flops, and one didn't make it. Goldman relates the ideas behind these movies, his intentions and struggles in writing them, with plenty of commentary on studio executives, stars, directors, and test audiences. Goldman's goal is to tell it like it is in the screen trade.

In Part 2, Goldman examines the screenplays for some famous -and famously successful- movie scenes from "There's Something About Mary", "When Harry Met Sally", "North by Northwest", "The Seventh Seal", "Chinatown", "Fargo", and his own "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". He presents analysis and opinion on why these scenes work so well and shares his technique for finding the heart of the material when adapting work for the screen. In Part 3, Goldman looks at some real-life dramas that might make interesting movies, but notes the difficulties in adapting them and discusses the problems inherent in writing about real people. Part 4 is a screenplay that Goldman wrote in order that others might criticize it for this book, followed by critiques from 6 successful screenwriters. This is a worthwhile exercise that really illuminates the pitfalls of creating characters for the screen.

Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade Feature

• ISBN13: 9780375703195
• Condition: New
• Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade Overview

From the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Princess Bride (he also wrote the novel), and the bestselling author of Adventures in the Screen Trade comes a garrulous new book that is as much a screenwriting how-to (and how-not-to) manual as it is a feast of insider information.

If you want to know why a no-name like Kathy Bates was cast in Misery-it's in here. Or why Linda Hunt's brilliant work in Maverick didn't make the final cut-William Goldman gives you the straight truth. Why Clint Eastwood loves working with Gene Hackman and how MTV has changed movies for the worse-William Goldman, one of the most successful screenwriters in Hollywood today, tells all he knows. Devastatingly eye-opening and endlessly entertaining, Which Lie Did I Tell? is indispensable reading for anyone even slightly intrigued by the process of how a movie gets made.

Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade Specifications

Something odd, if predictable, became of screenwriter William Goldman after he wrote the touchstone tell-all book on filmmaking, Adventures in the Screen Trade (1983), he became a Hollywood leper. Goldman opens his long-awaited sequel by writing about his years of exile before he found himself--again--as a valuable writer in Hollywood.

Fans of the two-time Oscar-winning writer (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men) have anxiously waited for this follow-up since his career serpentined into a variety of big hits and critical bombs in the '80s and '90s. Here Goldman scoops on The Princess Bride (his own favorite), Misery, Maverick, Absolute Power, and others. Goldman's conversational style makes him easy to read for the film novice but meaty enough for the detail-oriented pro. His tendency to ramble into other subjects may be maddening (he suddenly switches from being on set with Eastwood to anecdotes about Newman and Garbo), but we can excuse him because of one fact alone: he is so darn entertaining.

Like most sequels, Which Lie follows the structure of the original. Both Goldman books have three parts: stories about his movies, a deconstruction of Hollywood (here the focus is on great movie scenes), and a workshop for screenwriters. (The paperback version of the first book also comes with his full-length screenplay of Butch; his collected works are also worth checking out). This final segment is another gift--a toolbox--for the aspiring screenwriter. Goldman takes newspaper clippings and other ideas and asks the reader to diagnose their cinematic possibilities. Goldman also gives us a new screenplay he's written (The Big A), which is analyzed--with brutal honesty--by other top writers. With its juicy facts and valuable sidebars on what makes good screenwriting, this is another entertaining must-read from the man who coined what has to be the most-quoted adage about movie-business success: "Nobody knows anything." --Doug Thomas

Available at Amazon Check Price Now!

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 15, 2010 18:45:07

My Shit Life So Far

My Shit Life So Far Review

The best book i have read for a long time. It will have you laughing through most pages!! :) :L

My Shit Life So Far Overview

Frankie's outrageous, laugh-out loud, cynical rant on life as he knows it is presented here in all its outrageous glory. From growing up in Pollockshaws, Glasgow—“it was an aching cement void, a slap in the face to childhood, and for the family it was a step up”—to his rampant teenage sex drive—“in those days if you glimpsed a nipple on T.V. it was like porn Christmas”—and first job working in a mental hospital, nothing is out of bounds. Outspoken, cynical, and always outrageous, Frankie Boyle, the dark heart of Mock the Week, says the unsayable as only he can. From the TV programs he would like to see made (“Celebrities On Acid On Ice—just like Celebrities Dancing On Ice, but with an opening sequence where Graham Norton hoses the celebrities down with liquid LSD”), to his native Scotland and the Mayor of London, nothing and no one is safe from Frankie's fearless, sharp-tongued assault. Sharply observed and full of taboo-busting, we-really-shouldn't-be-laughing-at-this humor, My Shit Life So Far shows why Frankie Boyle really is the blackest man in show business.

Available at Amazon Check Price Now!

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 14, 2010 08:00:06

Propaganda

Propaganda Review

Some reviewers have commented that Bernays deliberately confuses the reader by mixing definitions of propaganda, public relations, education and news reporting, so that the reader will be drawn in, but not suspect the bigger plan as it were - to manipulate the very readers of this book into accepting propaganda as a kinder, gentler way to manage large societies.

My opinion differs. Bernays lays it all out with no undue embellishment. He describes the techniques in much better detail than, say, Sun Tzu describes the techniques of war in his Art Of War book. Bernays puts this subject into the light of day the way that a good engineer would illustrate the compromises in creating a successful consumer product such as a digital camera. You know the story there - increase the battery size and you get more pictures before the power runs out, but then the total size and weight increase as well. Increase the size of the sensor and you get lower noise, but again, an overall (and undesirable) increase in product size and weight.

In the case of propaganda, if you exaggerate too much or outright lie, you risk losing credibility in a world where competitors for your product, competing politicians, or even news agencies can rat you out and damage your reputation. Bernays makes it clear that societies are governed, for better or worse, by the consent of the governed. The differences in dictatorships and democracies as to this point is not in the manner of election of officials, but in the political structures that begin at the local level and go all the way to the top through intermediate hierarchies.

Bernays discusses the negative connotations that propaganda ("that which is propagated") acquired in the early 1900's, mainly due to government-promoted "patriotism", or jingoism as the case may be. But the American masses had every reasonable opportunity to learn from those events, and failed to do so, mainly as Bernays argues because the public makes those kinds of decisions emotionally rather than logically, and are predictably swayed by the mass consciousness that finds war to be an acceptable solution to a problem created by the same industrialists who now offer the solution.

Unlike the Art Of War, where I believe Sun Tzu is hiding certain facts (possibly to protect himself), Propaganda reveals all of the techniques of the game without prejudice, acknowledging that societies and their leaders are engaged in a constant dialectic about what the issues are and how to proceed on them, and those who acquiesce rather than participate do so by their own choice. And in that milieu, propaganda is simply a tool for maintaining public order.

Propaganda Feature

• ISBN13: 9780970312594
• Condition: New
• Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Propaganda Overview

“Bernays’ honest and practical manual provides much insight into some of the most powerful and influential institutions of contemporary industrial state capitalist democracies.”—Noam Chomsky

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.”—Edward Bernays, Propaganda

A seminal and controversial figure in the history of political thought and public relations, Edward Bernays (1891–1995), pioneered the scientific technique of shaping and manipulating public opinion, which he famously dubbed “engineering of consent.” During World War I, he was an integral part of the U.S. Committee on Public Information (CPI), a powerful propaganda apparatus that was mobilized to package, advertise and sell the war to the American people as one that would “Make the World Safe for Democracy.” The CPI would become the blueprint in which marketing strategies for future wars would be based upon.

Bernays applied the techniques he had learned in the CPI and, incorporating some of the ideas of Walter Lipmann, became an outspoken proponent of propaganda as a tool for democratic and corporate manipulation of the population. His 1928 bombshell Propaganda lays out his eerily prescient vision for using propaganda to regiment the collective mind in a variety of areas, including government, politics, art, science and education. To read this book today is to frightfully comprehend what our contemporary institutions of government and business have become in regards to organized manipulation of the masses.

This is the first reprint of Propaganda in over 30 years and features an introduction by Mark Crispin Miller, author of The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder.

Available at Amazon Check Price Now!

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 12, 2010 21:15:05

The Plain and Simple Guide to Music Publishing, 2nd Edition

The Plain and Simple Guide to Music Publishing, 2nd Edition Review

This book is a just the facts approach to music publishing. The writing is at about a sixth grade level (which is the same reading level of Billboard and the Hollywood Reporter) to allow for easy comprehension by anyone. If you already know about publishing, this book won't have anything new. It's an ideal resource for a teen band that's getting buzz and needs to know about all those contracts and deals that are starting to come their way. Just like the title says, the book is a plain and simple guide. It's not designed to entertain, but inform. It's a slender book that isn't going to deluge you with a lot of unnecessary detail and jargon. Given its low price, I'd recommend this book to any songwriter or composer just starting out as a professional.

The Plain and Simple Guide to Music Publishing, 2nd Edition Feature

• ISBN13: 9781423468547
• Condition: New
• Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

The Plain and Simple Guide to Music Publishing, 2nd Edition Overview

Publishing is one of the most complex and lucrative parts of the music business. Industry expert Randall Wixen covers everything from mechanical, performing and synch rights to sub-publishing, foreign rights, copyright basics, types of publishing deals, advice on representation and more. Get a view from the top, in plain English. This updated and revised edition has been prepared in light of the ever-changing landscape of music publishing, taking into account factors like illegal downloading and recent announcements from the Copyright Royalty Board. With an added "DIY" chapter, the author demonstrates why the playing field has changed for the traditional copyright adminstrators, and how musicians just starting out can protect their own work until they hit the big time.

Available at Amazon Check Price Now!

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 11, 2010 11:15:06