Review of What's That From?: The Ultimate Quiz Book of Contemporary Movie Lines (Paperback)

Very entertaining and educational for us wannabee movie buffs. It reminds me of the many times spent sitting around after work in the restaurant where I waitressed, trying to identify similar movie quotes, while playing pass the pigs, and doing shots. Wonderful book, when is the next edition.

Product Description
Do you know what films have given us the following quotes?
"What we have here is a failure to communicate."
"Excuse me while I whip this out."
"Would somebody get this walking carpet out of my way?"
"I don't know why they call this stuff Hamburger Helper, it does just fine by itself."

And how are you at movie trivia?
In The Blues Brothers why are Jake and Elwood "puttin' the band back together"?In Airplane!, which dinner was poisioned: the fish or the chicken? True or False: Diane Keaton won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Annie Hall.

For the movie buff and video hound, What's that From? provides hours of entertainment.You can test your knowledge with more than 1,000 quotes and questions from more than 250 contemporary films--from Academy Award winners to cult classics.Also included are bonus questions on actors and directors, special categories on individual actors, movies, and themes (Wester, baseball, sequels), plus a section devoted exclusively to Academy Award-winning performances.

It's all here in the ultimate tribute to the great movies of the seventies, eighties, and nineties from National Lampoon's Animal House to When Harry Met Sally... So the next time you hear someone say, "It's just a flesh wound, " you won't have to ask "What's that from?"


About the Author
Jai Nanda, an avid moviegoer and graduate of the University of Michigan, lives in New York City.


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Review of Rita Aero's Walt Disney World, Odyssey Edition, Version 1.4: The Essential Guide to Amazing Vacations (Paperback)

I own Rita's 3rd edition from 2 years back. She has surpassed the previous edition by far. Disney changes at the speed of light and all the information could never be captured and published in a book.However, Ritahas organized the most up to date information in an easy to follow formatthat anyone could use.Her guidebook is clear..has a great rating system(E.A.R.S awards)..and is packed with exciting tips that even the mostDisney conscientious explorer could overlook!What isn't depicted in thebook is carried over onto the connected website.Her website is anothergreat source for more Disney info and general camaraderie.

A must buybook for any Disney World lover...!



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Review of Traveling on the Edge: Journeys in the Footsteps of Graham Greene (Paperback)

I reserve five stars for classics so four here is no slight.This is a very, very good book.I have been a fan of Graham Greene from the first time I read The Comedians for a graduate course on Haiti.Greene's keen eye for the absurdity of expatriate angst and their detached observations of the host nation and its people, be it Haiti (The Comedians), Paraguay/Argentina (The Honorary Consul), or Vietnam (The Quiet American) were nothing short of brilliant.In short Greene "got it" and thankfully for the reader of her book, Ms Llewellyn Smith does too! It is apparent from the very start that you are in the hands of an extremely confident (read clear) writer who has done her homework.

She opens in Brighton, an area I know nothing about and by chapter's end, I will admit to the urge to wipe the grease from my imagined fish in chips on my pants leg - she can be that good. Each subsequent trip begins with a new set of expectations.In this way she cleverly avoids forcing the same Greene template on each country.She grasps that Greene himself grew and changed and it was entertaining to see Ms Llewellyn Smith grow as well.

My critiques are minor.She lingers a bit long on friends she made in Cuba but she captures the thin veneer of frivolity in present day Cuba wonderfully.I also found a few passages to have been curiously devoid of any of the more intimate (yes,sexual)observations that were so much a part of Greene's writing. Finally, this is well written, thorougly entertaining work by an author skilled enough to make Greene real to you whether you've read him or not. I look forward to my next travels with her!



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Review of Bobbie Faye's (kinda, sorta, not exactly) Family Jewels (Paperback)

This follows up Bobbie Faye's Very, 'very, very, very' Bad Day. It starts up a couple months after the first disaster and many of the same characters appear. Bobby Faye is working at Ce Ce's store one day when her cousin Francesca shows up asking Bobbie Faye to help her find stolen diamonds her mother, Marie, hid somewhere. Francesca's father, Emile, head of a mob organization and the person Marie stole the diamonds from, thinks Bobbie Faye knows where they are at. Within the first several chapters of the book, Bobbie Faye is shot at, kidnapped on the same block by three separate groups of people, and her car blows up on a bridge, taking part of the bridge with it. So you could say the sequel starts off with a bang.

Throughout the book, we get to meet more of Bobbie Faye's crazy family, including her father, she blows up other things, comes near death several times, all while trying to figure out her feelings for Trevor 'well those feelings are pretty obvious' and Cam 'not so obvious'. Bobbie Faye is also accused of murder not once, but twice through the course of the book. Trevor and Cam know she is innocent and try to figure out a way to keep every cop in the state from killing her on sight.

Causey's second attempt with Bobbie Faye does not disappoint. However, I don't think it quite lives up to the first one. A little less time is spent on the action and running around 'just a little, there's still a lot of action' and more time is spent developing the relationship she has with Trevor and Cam. There are also a ton of characters in this book, sometimes a little difficult to keep track of. And I didn't laugh out loud quite as much as the first one. With all that being said, I was still highly entertained and liked the ending. I won't give too much away, but we find out a little more about best friend Nina at the end of book. Hmm.....perhaps we're setting up for a third installment?



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Review of Same As It Never Was: A Novel (Paperback)

I admit, I picked this one thinking it would be a fun piece of chick lit fluff (nothing wrong with that, right?) Instead I was surprised to find myself genuinely moved by Olivia's story as she's suddenly forced to grow up fast. It's fascinating to watch Olivia change from being a self absorbed and shallow brat, to accepting her responsibility towards her orphaned little sister Celia, and growing to love Celia despite herself. There are plenty of laugh out loud scenes (for example, Olivia's obnoxiousness in her English Lit class), but just as many tender moments, such as Olivia watching Celia on the playground and thinking how cute she is, then realizing she never would have had that thought a few months ago.

My one gripe with the novel, bringing my rating down to four stars instead of five, is the lack of any real exploration of Olivia's feelings about her father's death. It is established that they weren't close; even so, realistically she would have experienced *some* grief. A perfect set up for this - Olivia discovering that her father had kept and used an ugly paperweight she made for him as a small child - was basically glossed over, and the subject never came up again. That flaw aside, this was a wonderful and touching read.



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Review of The New Etiquette: Real Manners for Real People in Real Situations--An A-to-Z Guide (Paperback)

This book is wonderfull. Is fast, accurate, readable and easy to understand. I reccomend to everyone who like to know about real manners.



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Review of The Psychotronic Video Guide To Film (Paperback)

I'll freely admit my admiration for Michael Weldon's work, this book, his previous, and his magazine. Even when I disagree with his assessment, he's always honest and straight-forward.

I read some other reviews complaining about the content, or lack thereof, in this book. I think there's a misundserstanding as to what this is. It is a continuation of Michael's previous book, the Psychotronic Encylcopedia. There may be references in the reviews to movies not listed here, but that's because those movies are listed in the Encyclopedia. The two books have very little common content.

I also read a complaint about inclusion of some mainstream pictures such as Basic Instinct. In defense, I would say that Michael's content covers exploitation films of all genres and budget levels, whether made for $26,000 or $26,000,000.

I also like Michael's editorial inserts in this volume, such as his favorite movies of each decade.

Both books are essential, though admittedly his first covers most of the classics. This volume, thankfully, is not only more up-to-date, but stretches back into the silent era as well.

I say...buy them both.



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Review of Eve: A Novel (Paperback)

K'wan is one of the best urban writers; one of the few whom I believe could step outside of the genre.He paints a believable picture of hood life, leaving the tired ghetto fabulousness to the many writers who lack creativity, and therefore use this same aspect repeatedly.K'wan has the skills and talent to tackle multiple points of view and perspectives.His characters are multi-faceted opposed to the once again tired ass hustler with limited thoughts, feelings and actions.

Despite all of that, he didn't impress with "Eve".

Like I said, K'wan tries to step outside the usual as far as street lit is concerned, but I noticed that his females are always light-skinned with long hair and hour glass shapes.I mention this because Eve is the single novel in which he focuses on the female as the main character - he even dedicates the book to the sisters.But this archetypal of the hood girl with video vixen looks and a biracial background is constant in K'wan's books, and that is contradicting when everything else he does is not repetitive.This is obviously the kind of woman he feels is the epitome of beautiful, but do we really need to read this description in every single book he writes?In Street Dreams, one of his best books in my opinion, the smutty girl with nappy hair is sheisty as hell while the red-bones are good as gold, but honestly I was glad the nappy headed biotch got her just deserts.Also, Street Dreams typically cute main female is sweet to death but meets a horrible fate.I just wondered why, out of all the other no-good female characters he writes about, K'wan had to do this one dirty.In Hoodlum the female character was nothing but a brain-dead tramp, but because she was the typical beauty her faults, though acknowledged, were not focused upon or really even deemed as bad.The main character, who was actually somewhat intelligent and should have wanted more in a woman, chased after this girl as if she had actually impressed him with something other than her "my lip gloss is poppin'" attitude and stripper body.It disappointed me to read about a decent young man who did not pursue a decent young woman.In Hoodrat, the two once again typically pretty girls have happy-enough endings while the less attractive ones do not (though I know one of them rightfully deserved what she got).

Again in "Eve", the girl who is not black as it is defined - as if a fully black female character is a horrendous thought for K'wan - has as close to a happy ending as is allowed in the game.(I must be fair though and mention that in this book, another of these typical, low-down but cute females met her demise, which was rare to read in a K'wan book).Eve's character was not quite right, I must say.She was meant to be hardcore (nearly dyke-y), but she was a virgin with an emotional side.The fact that she was only turning 18 in the middle of the book made me shake my head.So I was supposed to believe she was this hardcore when she was 12 years old?What is the rush to play commando?Actually, Eve's need to be in the streets robbing people as a little girl never made sense to me.Her parents were murdered but she had an uncle to take care of her, so she was another character who simply chose the streets.As a matter of fact at the beginning of the story she is just finishing up a bid in a correction facility for something she didn't do.

To finally cut to the chase, this story was scattered and it dragged on and on when nothing interesting was really even happening - and that's not like K'wan.Surely he does not rush his stories, but a faster pace would have done this one good.The climax, however, seemed a little TOO rushed, so he actually rushed in places he shouldn't have.Also, the climax of the story was dull in my opinion.Eve seemed incomplete in development, as if she were three different thrown-together people throughout the short time-span of the book.Her sides didn't seem to connect to me.I took me longer to read this book than any other K'wan book.Read "Eve" because the "star" is female, though an oddly put together female, is all I can say in the end.




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Review of The goth Bible: A Compendium for the Darkly Inclined (Paperback)

This is actually the very first charming Goth book. We have had a few Goth epics in recent years, from my Net-based tome, to Paul Hodkinson's academic study, Gavin Baddeley coming from a Metal perspective, and Dave Thompson rummaging through the eighties. What is unusual here is that Nancy Kilpatrick hasn't any ego-driven agenda, and has actively sought out Goth opinions to decorate each chapter with. 95 Goths answered 125 questions each to form an alternative spine to this work and it makes it a very different book to the rest. Nancy is best known as a Horror writer but she is a Goth, and clearly delighted to be writing the book, as she also wants this book to help others understand Goth.

You get serious contributions on sex/relationships/Fetish/marriage/Goth children/Corporate Goth/Goth homes, Art and Literature (Old and New), and it ends with a chapter on the Future, even if that felt a little skimpy.

Basically, she goes through things that effect Goth life, from clothes to accoutrements, to relationships, religion, cemeteries, architecture, music and all the expected areas, with quotes and photos from her Goths interviews draping pages like curtains, as their comments go down the outer columns to most spreads. Those interviewed within the chapter text tend to be business-related individuals pertinent to the topic in question. So, in the Fashion or Lifestyle sections you have many a Goth contribution, but also meet Morpheus of Siren, R. Hunter Gough of `Gother Than Thou', Fred H. Berger of Propaganda, Terri of Ipso Facto, Natasha of Meltdown, Steven Of Gothic Beauty, Trish & Snooky of Manic Panic, Sonia (Hair Police), AntiSally (Goth Rosary), the Alchemy boys, Batty (Azrael's Accomplice), Mirabai (Tenebrae) Doktor Joy (Pennangalan Dreams), piercer Pierre Black and those lovely X-tra-X people. You can find a proper analyses of Absinthe, then on a similar vein find the weird story of how Michael Marchet finally got Vampire wine onto the market. Out of one area another little bubble will pop, making it a very pleasant read with unexpected dalliances emerging.

The only disappointing part of me was a curious lack ofmusical coverage but Nancy has admitted the music side of thing isn't her strong point. She looked for willing musical contributors and some of what they say is unusual.

Oh Hell, you get Clubs, and zines, net.goth, net habits, comics, gardening, Goth sub-species, and so on. It's a big book, commendably detailed in its travels to the heart of Goth and it is, without doubt, the most naturally jubilant, Goth-friendly, book which has so far been printed.


Product Description
What you don't know about goths could fill a book!

An artistic culture that revels in the Victorian romantic movement, The goth Bible brings to light the traditions and history of all that is goth.The goth culture has been one of the most controversial and maligned in media history. Presented as homicidal, suicidal and socio-pathic, in the national consciousness goths are coupled with everyone from Marilyn Mason to the murderers of Columbine.But this is not who the goths are.The goth Bible will help bridge the understanding between goths and non-goths.

From their historical origins as a Germanic tribe in the sixth century who fought along side the Romans against the Huns to their current incarnation as creatures of the night, The goth Bible presents the most complete and broad perspective of this society, culled from hundreds of interviews with bands, artist, designers, and goths from all walks of life.


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