Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane!
David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker
St. Martin's Press
Nonfiction, Autobiography/Media Reference
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Few movies can claim to have changed the entertainment landscape like the 1980 classic Airplane!. From the opening shot of the jet plane tail slicing through the clouds to the menacing chords of the Jaws theme to the final roll of credits riddled with humorous inserts, it redefined what comedy could do and changed the lives of most everyone involved, not to mention numerous fans in the decades since its premiere. But long before Ted Striker developed his drinking problem or Captain Oveur asked a young boy about gladiator movies, the Zucker brothers and their best friend Jim Abrahams were just three Midwestern boys who loved to laugh and make others laugh. This is the story of the long, unlikely journey that took them from Wisconsin to Los Angeles, from improvised stage shows to the silver screen, and from obscurity to international stardom.
REVIEW: Airplane! was a staple of my childhood (as was the criminally short-lived and ahead-of-its-time TV series Police Squad!; I never found the Naked Gun trilogy quite as consistently funny as the series, myself, even before the whole O. J. Simpson thing soured me on rewatches); it's one of those movies where one can watch it a dozen time and catch something new each and every time through. For all the silliness, though, it would've fallen flat on its face if it hadn't been so meticulously and artfully constructed, from the script to the cinematography to the casting choices to the score. This book delves into how the trio learned to work together, hone their sense of humor and writing skills via live theater, and not only survived the culture shock of 1970's Los Angeles but managed to eventually live every creator's dream of landing a studio contract and filming a genre-defining hit. It was not a straightforward road, nor was it one without doubts or setbacks or mistakes.
The story wanders somewhat in the telling; written in something like screenplay format, the book is a dialog, like an interview where the trio are sitting down to tell their story to the audience of the reader. Along the way are extras and interjections from colleagues, cast members, executives, and several people whose lives were influenced by Airplane!. (The audiobook features several guest narrators for these different "parts".) As a result, the story sometimes feels a little scattershot, moving back and forth and wandering on tangents before getting back to the main "plot" of the making of the movie. This lack of focus almost cost it a half-star, but overall it's an interesting examination of the movie that never should've existed, and a lost era when Hollywood still embraced unique, new voices and was willing to take risks. The Zuckers and Abrahams are right that Airplane! couldn't have happened today. (Though I personally always take such assertions with a little grain of salt; no envelope-pushing classic could be "made today", in part because different times have different envelopes and in part because they themselves already pushed that envelope, so any attempt to make the same thing again isn't close enough to the edge anymore to push anything. That doesn't mean today's metaphoric envelopes don't still have edges to be pushed, or that nobody is capable of pushing them, though in today's climate of endless franchises and remakes, it's far less likely a major studio would back such an experiment. But I digress...) The whole is an intriguing glimpse of cinematic lore for anyone who enjoys the film or the history of cinema and comedy.
You Might Also Enjoy:
This Book is Not Yet Rated (Peter Bognanni) - My Review
Young Frankenstein: A Mel Brooks Book: The Story of the Making of the Film (Mel Brooks with Rebecca Keegan) - My Review
Fan Fiction: A Mem-Noir (Brent Spiner) - My Review
Showing posts with label media reference. Show all posts
Showing posts with label media reference. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
Friday, November 29, 2024
The Possibility of Life (Jaime Green)
The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos
Jaime Green
Hanover Square Press
Nonfiction, Media Reference/Science
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Are we alone in the cosmos? Ever since humans realized we are not the center of the universe, many have looked to the skies and wondered if, somewhere beyond our tiny sphere, other minds were looking back at us. But where might such life be found? What would it look like? Would we even recognize it if we saw it? What would happen if we ever made contact? Could we even begin to communicate with extraterrestrials? Drawing on experts and sources in history, science, and visionaries in science fiction, the author explores the possibilities of life beyond Earth.
REVIEW: - Given the sheer scale of the universe at large, the idea that Earth alone has been blessed with life of any sort seems almost ludicrously self-centered. Whether that life ever moves beyond single-celled organisms, let alone achieves the level of civilization required to be detected, let alone initiate communication with us, is another matter altogether. In exploring how people have approached the notion of extraterrestrial life and potential for civilizations beyond Earth, the author demonstrates how it's as much about learning more about ourselves and our world - not just on a sheer biological level, but psychological and cultural levels - as it is about speculative evolution.
Drawing on both fact and speculative fiction - Green explores how our fiction about aliens has evolved, and how it reflects both the eras in which it was crafted and ultimately reflects human hopes and fears and understanding - the book explores a broad variety of topics encompassed in the seemingly simple question of whether or not alien life exists. In doing so, it reveals how much we still don't understand about ourselves and our fellow terrestrial life forms past and present; even the definition of "life" itself is slippery, let alone defining life as it might have sparked and evolved under vastly different conditions. On Earth, convergent evolution tends to arrive at similar solutions to general problems - as prehistoric reptiles and whales and fish arrived at roughly similar body plans for optimal aquatic survival, for instance, despite not being closely related - but would that be the case elsewhere? And then there's the matter of brain biology and psychology. When we have great trouble envisioning the world as, for instance, a dolphin or bat experiences it, would we even have a chance of understanding a hypothetical alien ambassador standing right in front of us? There is rarely consensus on any given topic, and Green tends not to rely on just one expert or source. She also acknowledges how cultural biases have colored speculations, even beyond our inherent human thought processes.
There are a few blind spots, particularly in the science fiction works she cites and which she chooses to explore in depth. (How could she discuss aliens thinking and communicating in barely-comprehensible-to-humans ways without mentioning the creations of C. J. Cherryh, who in at least one book (The Pride of Chanur) had a species speaking in matrices that even other aliens often struggled to understand?) A few topics also felt less deeply explored than others, though that's an understandable issue given that, thus far, the whole subject matter of the book is hypotheses and speculation, let alone the bits and pieces that make up that subject. The whole, however, is an interesting enough look at the matter of alien life, and how it ultimately often becomes a mirror in which to better understand our own selves and the futures we both fear and hope for.
You Might Also Enjoy:
To Be Taught, If Fortunate (Becky Chambers) - My Review
On the Origin of Species (Charles Darwin) - My Review
The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy (Arik Kershenbaum) - My Review
Jaime Green
Hanover Square Press
Nonfiction, Media Reference/Science
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Are we alone in the cosmos? Ever since humans realized we are not the center of the universe, many have looked to the skies and wondered if, somewhere beyond our tiny sphere, other minds were looking back at us. But where might such life be found? What would it look like? Would we even recognize it if we saw it? What would happen if we ever made contact? Could we even begin to communicate with extraterrestrials? Drawing on experts and sources in history, science, and visionaries in science fiction, the author explores the possibilities of life beyond Earth.
REVIEW: - Given the sheer scale of the universe at large, the idea that Earth alone has been blessed with life of any sort seems almost ludicrously self-centered. Whether that life ever moves beyond single-celled organisms, let alone achieves the level of civilization required to be detected, let alone initiate communication with us, is another matter altogether. In exploring how people have approached the notion of extraterrestrial life and potential for civilizations beyond Earth, the author demonstrates how it's as much about learning more about ourselves and our world - not just on a sheer biological level, but psychological and cultural levels - as it is about speculative evolution.
Drawing on both fact and speculative fiction - Green explores how our fiction about aliens has evolved, and how it reflects both the eras in which it was crafted and ultimately reflects human hopes and fears and understanding - the book explores a broad variety of topics encompassed in the seemingly simple question of whether or not alien life exists. In doing so, it reveals how much we still don't understand about ourselves and our fellow terrestrial life forms past and present; even the definition of "life" itself is slippery, let alone defining life as it might have sparked and evolved under vastly different conditions. On Earth, convergent evolution tends to arrive at similar solutions to general problems - as prehistoric reptiles and whales and fish arrived at roughly similar body plans for optimal aquatic survival, for instance, despite not being closely related - but would that be the case elsewhere? And then there's the matter of brain biology and psychology. When we have great trouble envisioning the world as, for instance, a dolphin or bat experiences it, would we even have a chance of understanding a hypothetical alien ambassador standing right in front of us? There is rarely consensus on any given topic, and Green tends not to rely on just one expert or source. She also acknowledges how cultural biases have colored speculations, even beyond our inherent human thought processes.
There are a few blind spots, particularly in the science fiction works she cites and which she chooses to explore in depth. (How could she discuss aliens thinking and communicating in barely-comprehensible-to-humans ways without mentioning the creations of C. J. Cherryh, who in at least one book (The Pride of Chanur) had a species speaking in matrices that even other aliens often struggled to understand?) A few topics also felt less deeply explored than others, though that's an understandable issue given that, thus far, the whole subject matter of the book is hypotheses and speculation, let alone the bits and pieces that make up that subject. The whole, however, is an interesting enough look at the matter of alien life, and how it ultimately often becomes a mirror in which to better understand our own selves and the futures we both fear and hope for.
You Might Also Enjoy:
To Be Taught, If Fortunate (Becky Chambers) - My Review
On the Origin of Species (Charles Darwin) - My Review
The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy (Arik Kershenbaum) - My Review
Friday, January 19, 2024
The View from the Cheap Seats (Neil Gaiman)
The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction
Neil Gaiman
Harper Audio
Nonfiction, Essays/Media Reference/Memoirs
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: This collection of Neil Gaiman's writings covers a variety of topics, from the state of comic books and graphic novels as art and literary forms through reflections on his life and career to interviews, book forewords and afterwords, and more.
REVIEW: Though I find Gaiman's fiction a bit hit-and-miss, I can always appreciate what he's doing and how he's doing it, and one can't help but stand in awe of a career like his. Much like his fiction, these articles and essays and reflections can be a little hit-and-miss. Some loses context by being, well, out of context: material meant for inclusion in album liner notes can't help feeling a little lost without the album backing it up, and some of the minutiae of industry talk (especially the comic book industry) is lost on someone who only occasionally delves into graphic novels. (One of the coldest shoulders I ever got in a retail store was in a comic book shop, and so many of the popular titles seem to gatekeep themselves by being part of decades-long intertwined arcs and histories and traditions and so forth anyway in ways that can discourage newcomers from even trying to start - I'm lookin' at you, too, Sandman - so I never really felt welcome in that crowd. Yes, I'm officially too much of a social misfit to read comic books. But I digress...) Still, even when discussing stuff I wasn't familiar with, Gaiman manages to be interesting. Plus he's still one of the better audiobook narrators out there; I never have to crank my earbuds up to pain-inducing volumes just to understand what he's saying. The tone of the articles varies, some being lighter and some darker, some fairly focused and others ranging further afield, some short and some long, but few outstayed their welcome. All in all, it made for interesting listening.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Salmon of Doubt (Douglas Adams) - My Review
Never Say You Can't Survive (Charlie Jane Anders) - My Review
Fragile Things (Neil Gaiman) - My Review
Neil Gaiman
Harper Audio
Nonfiction, Essays/Media Reference/Memoirs
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: This collection of Neil Gaiman's writings covers a variety of topics, from the state of comic books and graphic novels as art and literary forms through reflections on his life and career to interviews, book forewords and afterwords, and more.
REVIEW: Though I find Gaiman's fiction a bit hit-and-miss, I can always appreciate what he's doing and how he's doing it, and one can't help but stand in awe of a career like his. Much like his fiction, these articles and essays and reflections can be a little hit-and-miss. Some loses context by being, well, out of context: material meant for inclusion in album liner notes can't help feeling a little lost without the album backing it up, and some of the minutiae of industry talk (especially the comic book industry) is lost on someone who only occasionally delves into graphic novels. (One of the coldest shoulders I ever got in a retail store was in a comic book shop, and so many of the popular titles seem to gatekeep themselves by being part of decades-long intertwined arcs and histories and traditions and so forth anyway in ways that can discourage newcomers from even trying to start - I'm lookin' at you, too, Sandman - so I never really felt welcome in that crowd. Yes, I'm officially too much of a social misfit to read comic books. But I digress...) Still, even when discussing stuff I wasn't familiar with, Gaiman manages to be interesting. Plus he's still one of the better audiobook narrators out there; I never have to crank my earbuds up to pain-inducing volumes just to understand what he's saying. The tone of the articles varies, some being lighter and some darker, some fairly focused and others ranging further afield, some short and some long, but few outstayed their welcome. All in all, it made for interesting listening.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Salmon of Doubt (Douglas Adams) - My Review
Never Say You Can't Survive (Charlie Jane Anders) - My Review
Fragile Things (Neil Gaiman) - My Review
Friday, November 17, 2023
The Lady from the Black Lagoon (Mallory O'Meara)
The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick
Mallory O'Meara
Hanover Square Press
Nonfiction, Biography/History/Media Reference
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: When she was a little kid, sitting in front of the TV at her grandparents' house, Mallory was entranced by the demon lord Chernabog in Disney's iconic animated feature Fantasia. Thus began a lifelong love affair with movies in general and horror in particular. The Universal classic monster pantheon held a special place in her heart, particularly the iconic Creature from the Black Lagoon. The costume, a stunning melding of man and fish, was officially credited to makeup master Bud Westmore, but it was not until the advent of the internet that most modern fans learned who really designed it: a woman named Milicent Patrick, whose identity and legacy others tried to erase. To rectify this injustice, O'Meara sets out to uncover the truth about Patrick, an enigmatic woman whose life and struggles in Tinsel Town seemed at times to parallel her own journey.
REVIEW: The story of Milicent Patrick is a story that should be relegated to the history books: a woman struggles to break in to an industry where her talent shines through, but instead of a brilliant future finds herself shut out by men who cannot stand a girl in their clubhouse or "stealing" the limelight they think should be theirs alone, where legacy names and money and soothing a tyrant's ego matter more than justice and truth. Unfortunately, it's a story that has played out numerous times before and since, up through today. O'Meara does not paint her subject as a superheroine or flawless icon, or as a relentless fighter who pushed back against the patriarchy at every turn, but as a human whose only extraordinary gift was staying true to herself no matter what happened. From a childhood under an iron-fisted father (an architect and structural engineer whose work kept the family traveling for years, eventually contributing to Hearst's massive California estate) and conservative mother, Milicent grew up to study art and land a job with Disney's animation studio - then one of the best places for a woman artist to be, for all that Disney was no saint or savior himself - while also pursuing acting work to capitalize on her striking looks, though she never moved much beyond bit parts. Eventually, her on-set sketches caught the attention of Bud Westmore, but the man's notorious cruelty, petty jealousy, and fragile ego would eventually cut her down just when she stood on the threshold of movie immortality. Even at the time, many people knew just how wrong it was, but not a one managed to stop it from happening, nor did they do anything to mitigate the aftereffects.
O'Meara intercuts the story of Milicent Patrick with her own efforts to research a woman who proved remarkably hard to track; she had a habit of changing her name and reinventing her own backstory over the years, making it that much harder to figure out her movements. She was also estranged from her family from an early age, which further limited the potential pool of resources. Add to that the way that women are still generally overlooked and undervalued in the entertainment industry, their contributions conveniently swept into the corner and forgotten, and the task became that much harder. Still, even though she's primarily a film producer and not a researcher, O'Meara pushed onward, finding more reasons to admire Milicent Patrick even as she acknowledges the woman's faults... and more reasons to be incensed that, since Patrick's day, the needle on industry misogyny and under-representation of women and nonwhites and other minorities has still not moved much, despite moments like the #MeToo movement shining spotlights on the ugly secrets of Hollywood. There are several incidents in Patrick's life that directly resonate with O'Meara's, and doubtless others who push their way into spaces and industries that have traditionally been dominated by white cishet males. The way in which someone who created such an important movie icon can be nearly forgotten - when she was the subject of numerous public interviews and served as a major face of Universal's promotion of The Creature from the Black Lagoon - all because one monster of a man couldn't stand seeing a woman outshine him and a studio decided appeasing him was more important than cultivating the talent so obviously visible in her is unsettling. One is left wondering how many other people have been erased through the decades, and are being erased right now, because the same dynamics that led to Milicent Patrick's removal from movie history are still very much evident. (And that's not counting the ones who are cut down long before they got in the door in the first place.) Will anything ever change? Can anything ever change? I honestly don't know, but that's why we need more Milicent Patricks... and more Mallory O'Mearas to make sure the Milicent Patricks aren't left on history's cutting room floor.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Never Say You Can't Survive (Charlie Jane Anders) - My Review
AVIATRIX: First Woman Pilot for Hughes Airwest (Mary Bush Shipko) - My Review
Mallory O'Meara
Hanover Square Press
Nonfiction, Biography/History/Media Reference
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: When she was a little kid, sitting in front of the TV at her grandparents' house, Mallory was entranced by the demon lord Chernabog in Disney's iconic animated feature Fantasia. Thus began a lifelong love affair with movies in general and horror in particular. The Universal classic monster pantheon held a special place in her heart, particularly the iconic Creature from the Black Lagoon. The costume, a stunning melding of man and fish, was officially credited to makeup master Bud Westmore, but it was not until the advent of the internet that most modern fans learned who really designed it: a woman named Milicent Patrick, whose identity and legacy others tried to erase. To rectify this injustice, O'Meara sets out to uncover the truth about Patrick, an enigmatic woman whose life and struggles in Tinsel Town seemed at times to parallel her own journey.
REVIEW: The story of Milicent Patrick is a story that should be relegated to the history books: a woman struggles to break in to an industry where her talent shines through, but instead of a brilliant future finds herself shut out by men who cannot stand a girl in their clubhouse or "stealing" the limelight they think should be theirs alone, where legacy names and money and soothing a tyrant's ego matter more than justice and truth. Unfortunately, it's a story that has played out numerous times before and since, up through today. O'Meara does not paint her subject as a superheroine or flawless icon, or as a relentless fighter who pushed back against the patriarchy at every turn, but as a human whose only extraordinary gift was staying true to herself no matter what happened. From a childhood under an iron-fisted father (an architect and structural engineer whose work kept the family traveling for years, eventually contributing to Hearst's massive California estate) and conservative mother, Milicent grew up to study art and land a job with Disney's animation studio - then one of the best places for a woman artist to be, for all that Disney was no saint or savior himself - while also pursuing acting work to capitalize on her striking looks, though she never moved much beyond bit parts. Eventually, her on-set sketches caught the attention of Bud Westmore, but the man's notorious cruelty, petty jealousy, and fragile ego would eventually cut her down just when she stood on the threshold of movie immortality. Even at the time, many people knew just how wrong it was, but not a one managed to stop it from happening, nor did they do anything to mitigate the aftereffects.
O'Meara intercuts the story of Milicent Patrick with her own efforts to research a woman who proved remarkably hard to track; she had a habit of changing her name and reinventing her own backstory over the years, making it that much harder to figure out her movements. She was also estranged from her family from an early age, which further limited the potential pool of resources. Add to that the way that women are still generally overlooked and undervalued in the entertainment industry, their contributions conveniently swept into the corner and forgotten, and the task became that much harder. Still, even though she's primarily a film producer and not a researcher, O'Meara pushed onward, finding more reasons to admire Milicent Patrick even as she acknowledges the woman's faults... and more reasons to be incensed that, since Patrick's day, the needle on industry misogyny and under-representation of women and nonwhites and other minorities has still not moved much, despite moments like the #MeToo movement shining spotlights on the ugly secrets of Hollywood. There are several incidents in Patrick's life that directly resonate with O'Meara's, and doubtless others who push their way into spaces and industries that have traditionally been dominated by white cishet males. The way in which someone who created such an important movie icon can be nearly forgotten - when she was the subject of numerous public interviews and served as a major face of Universal's promotion of The Creature from the Black Lagoon - all because one monster of a man couldn't stand seeing a woman outshine him and a studio decided appeasing him was more important than cultivating the talent so obviously visible in her is unsettling. One is left wondering how many other people have been erased through the decades, and are being erased right now, because the same dynamics that led to Milicent Patrick's removal from movie history are still very much evident. (And that's not counting the ones who are cut down long before they got in the door in the first place.) Will anything ever change? Can anything ever change? I honestly don't know, but that's why we need more Milicent Patricks... and more Mallory O'Mearas to make sure the Milicent Patricks aren't left on history's cutting room floor.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Never Say You Can't Survive (Charlie Jane Anders) - My Review
AVIATRIX: First Woman Pilot for Hughes Airwest (Mary Bush Shipko) - My Review
Friday, December 30, 2022
How to Be Perfect (Michael Schur)
How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question
Michael Schur
Simon and Schuster
Nonfiction, Humorous Nonfiction/Media Reference/Philosophy/Sociology
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: When the quirky comedy show The Good Place debuted on NBC in 2016, following the recently-deceased Eleanor Shellstrop after she finds herself misplaced in the "Good Place" after a morally questionable life, it brought matters of ethics and morality into millions of living rooms. The struggle to define morality, what it means to be a good person (and even why one should strive to be good), is one humans have wrestled with since prehistory. In that time, we've domesticated wolves, reshaped the climate, sent space probes beyond the edge of the solar system, and decoded DNA, so one would think someone would've come up with an answer to this whole "what is 'good'?" ethical question by now. Well, they have - numerous answers, often contradictory, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Series creator Michael Schur relates the history of ethical theories and how they work (or sometimes fail to work) in practice, while also discussing his own struggles to define a personal moral code that's both fair and feasible.
The audiobook features cameos from several series stars and a few others.
REVIEW: The Good Place is one of the best shows, start to finish, I've seen. One of its many strengths was its ability to relate complex matters of ethics and morality in palatable ways, no doctorates required, showing how even the most flawed and seemingly irredeemable of people can learn and grow if given the tools and the chance. Somewhat remarkably in an America that has always skewed to an assumed Christian cultural root, the show explored ideas of right and wrong without resorting to religion as a backstop; though there is a metaphysical element in the whole series concept of souls and the Good and Bad places, the characters arrive at their conclusions without the carrot or stick of divine edict driving them. Much like the series, this book also avoids religion, which is - despite what many fundamentalists seem to insist - not a necessary component of morality. Delving into lessons from Aristotle, Kant, Sartre, and others, Schur gives a rough-sketch rundown of the basic ideas behind major schools of thought... all of which require some moderation for practice in a world that's a lot bigger, messier, and more complicated than any strict theory can accomodate. With those tools, he then shows how to approach various problems, from thought exercises like the trolley problem to practical applications such as returning shopping carts, as well as potential pitfalls, and (naturally) some callbacks to The Good Place. Throughout the book runs a strong vein of humor which, like in the show, helps keep the subject matter relatable. I found the whole thing both entertaining and thought-provoking, much like the series.
Examining one's own morality, developing and living by a code of ethics, is not something many of us have been encouraged to actively do. It's a process that is, by its very nature, never finished and requires constant fine-tuning through inevitable failures. There are no definitive and clear answers. There is no one-size-fits-all option. There is also a lot that is simply beyond our control, and it's all too tempting to just give up. In this book, Schur makes a strong argument for why we should make the effort anyway, whether or not there's a Good Place waiting for us at the end of it all.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Predictably Irrational (Dan Ariely) - My Review
Michael Schur
Simon and Schuster
Nonfiction, Humorous Nonfiction/Media Reference/Philosophy/Sociology
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: When the quirky comedy show The Good Place debuted on NBC in 2016, following the recently-deceased Eleanor Shellstrop after she finds herself misplaced in the "Good Place" after a morally questionable life, it brought matters of ethics and morality into millions of living rooms. The struggle to define morality, what it means to be a good person (and even why one should strive to be good), is one humans have wrestled with since prehistory. In that time, we've domesticated wolves, reshaped the climate, sent space probes beyond the edge of the solar system, and decoded DNA, so one would think someone would've come up with an answer to this whole "what is 'good'?" ethical question by now. Well, they have - numerous answers, often contradictory, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Series creator Michael Schur relates the history of ethical theories and how they work (or sometimes fail to work) in practice, while also discussing his own struggles to define a personal moral code that's both fair and feasible.
The audiobook features cameos from several series stars and a few others.
REVIEW: The Good Place is one of the best shows, start to finish, I've seen. One of its many strengths was its ability to relate complex matters of ethics and morality in palatable ways, no doctorates required, showing how even the most flawed and seemingly irredeemable of people can learn and grow if given the tools and the chance. Somewhat remarkably in an America that has always skewed to an assumed Christian cultural root, the show explored ideas of right and wrong without resorting to religion as a backstop; though there is a metaphysical element in the whole series concept of souls and the Good and Bad places, the characters arrive at their conclusions without the carrot or stick of divine edict driving them. Much like the series, this book also avoids religion, which is - despite what many fundamentalists seem to insist - not a necessary component of morality. Delving into lessons from Aristotle, Kant, Sartre, and others, Schur gives a rough-sketch rundown of the basic ideas behind major schools of thought... all of which require some moderation for practice in a world that's a lot bigger, messier, and more complicated than any strict theory can accomodate. With those tools, he then shows how to approach various problems, from thought exercises like the trolley problem to practical applications such as returning shopping carts, as well as potential pitfalls, and (naturally) some callbacks to The Good Place. Throughout the book runs a strong vein of humor which, like in the show, helps keep the subject matter relatable. I found the whole thing both entertaining and thought-provoking, much like the series.
Examining one's own morality, developing and living by a code of ethics, is not something many of us have been encouraged to actively do. It's a process that is, by its very nature, never finished and requires constant fine-tuning through inevitable failures. There are no definitive and clear answers. There is no one-size-fits-all option. There is also a lot that is simply beyond our control, and it's all too tempting to just give up. In this book, Schur makes a strong argument for why we should make the effort anyway, whether or not there's a Good Place waiting for us at the end of it all.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Predictably Irrational (Dan Ariely) - My Review
Monday, February 8, 2021
The Art of The Dragon Prince (Wonderstorm)
The Art of The Dragon Prince
Wonderstorm, with Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond (creators)
Dark Horse Books
Nonfiction, Art/Media Reference
***** (Great)
DESCRIPTION: In Netflix's animated series The Dragon Prince, a world of magic - long ago sundered when humans turned to dark powers and horrified the magical beings of the land - stands once more on the brink of war. The king of dragons was slain and his egg destroyed by humans... and, even now, a team of Moonshadow elven assassins makes their way to the human realms to exact revenge. But young Prince Ezran and his half-brother Callum make an incredible discovery: the egg wasn't destroyed, but stolen by their court mage Viren. If they, along with young elven assassin Rayla, can return the egg to the dragon queen, perhaps they can avert a conflict that could burn the whole world and everyone on it. Explore the designs and creative processes behind the series in this full-color book.
REVIEW: This book is everything a supplemental series art book should be, offering numerous concept sketches, trivia on story and character development, and some fun and interesting asides along the way. Every page is a visual treat, much like the animated series itself, bursting with color and imagination. It's fascinating how the story developed from its initial form to what appeared on screen, and how cultures and characters and creatures took shape. Naturally, there are some spoilers if one hasn't watched all three currently-available seasons. I'm looking forward to future installments of The Dragon Prince (which were reportedly greenlit, but of course anything can happen between then and actual release)... not to mention some decent merchandising. (Seriously, Netflix or Wonderstorm or whoever is in charge of these things, let's make with the dragons! And I don't mean that Funko Pop Azymondias; I mean actual collectible dragon figures. DreamWorks showed you how it was done with their How to Train Your Dragon franchise, and my Toothless collection could use friends. Or at least give me a Blu-Ray release.)
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Art of Kubo and the Two Strings (Emily Haynes) - My Review
The Art of How to Train Your Dragon (Tracy Miller-Zarneke) - My Review
Fantasy World-Building (Mark A. Nelson) - My Review
Wonderstorm, with Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond (creators)
Dark Horse Books
Nonfiction, Art/Media Reference
***** (Great)
DESCRIPTION: In Netflix's animated series The Dragon Prince, a world of magic - long ago sundered when humans turned to dark powers and horrified the magical beings of the land - stands once more on the brink of war. The king of dragons was slain and his egg destroyed by humans... and, even now, a team of Moonshadow elven assassins makes their way to the human realms to exact revenge. But young Prince Ezran and his half-brother Callum make an incredible discovery: the egg wasn't destroyed, but stolen by their court mage Viren. If they, along with young elven assassin Rayla, can return the egg to the dragon queen, perhaps they can avert a conflict that could burn the whole world and everyone on it. Explore the designs and creative processes behind the series in this full-color book.
REVIEW: This book is everything a supplemental series art book should be, offering numerous concept sketches, trivia on story and character development, and some fun and interesting asides along the way. Every page is a visual treat, much like the animated series itself, bursting with color and imagination. It's fascinating how the story developed from its initial form to what appeared on screen, and how cultures and characters and creatures took shape. Naturally, there are some spoilers if one hasn't watched all three currently-available seasons. I'm looking forward to future installments of The Dragon Prince (which were reportedly greenlit, but of course anything can happen between then and actual release)... not to mention some decent merchandising. (Seriously, Netflix or Wonderstorm or whoever is in charge of these things, let's make with the dragons! And I don't mean that Funko Pop Azymondias; I mean actual collectible dragon figures. DreamWorks showed you how it was done with their How to Train Your Dragon franchise, and my Toothless collection could use friends. Or at least give me a Blu-Ray release.)
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Art of Kubo and the Two Strings (Emily Haynes) - My Review
The Art of How to Train Your Dragon (Tracy Miller-Zarneke) - My Review
Fantasy World-Building (Mark A. Nelson) - My Review
Sunday, December 29, 2019
The Art of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (Linda Sunshine)
The Art of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
Linda Sunshine
Dark Horse
Nonfiction, Art/Media Reference
***** (Great)
DESCRIPTION: The third and final film installment of the How to Train Your Dragon series follows former-misfit Viking Hiccup and his Night Fury dragon companion, Toothless, as they struggle to achieve their dream of a world where dragons and humans can live together. They've successfully convinced the Berkians that dragons are friends, and turned the village into a sanctuary for hunted dragons... but they're running out of room and resources, and making themselves more of a target for dragon hunters. The solution may lie in old legends of a "hidden world" beyond the horizon, from which the dragons originally came. But even as Hiccup determines to find this paradise, Toothless becomes distracted by a female Light Fury... and Berk becomes targeted by a ruthless hunter determined to finish exterminating the Night Furies once and for all - and, with them, Hiccup's dream of peace.
This exploration of the art of the movie includes forewords and notes from voice actors and production staff.
REVIEW: The movie was a spectacular animated experience, both visually and emotionally, and this book is a perfect homage as it explores the creative process that translated it from pencil sketch and story notes to the finished product. Unlike many animated movies, this franchise successfully aged up the heroes, physically and emotionally, and this book gives insight into that process. Even the dragons do some growing up, particularly Toothless (who remains perhaps my favorite movie dragon of all time.) The ending was sweet and sad and satisfying, and reading this book brought it all back. (Though, in the interest of full disclosure, I was listening to the soundtrack from the first film as I wrote this review; about the only area I could fault the second and third films on was somewhat less absorbing scores, but that was probably just me.) From concept sketches to finished screenshots, this book is a must-have for fans of the movie and of modern animation in general.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Art of How to Train Your Dragon (Tracy Miller-Zarneke) - My Review
The Art of How to Train Your Dragon 2 (Linda Sunshine) - My Review
How To Train Your Dragon: 3-Movie Collection
- Amazon DVD link
Linda Sunshine
Dark Horse
Nonfiction, Art/Media Reference
***** (Great)
DESCRIPTION: The third and final film installment of the How to Train Your Dragon series follows former-misfit Viking Hiccup and his Night Fury dragon companion, Toothless, as they struggle to achieve their dream of a world where dragons and humans can live together. They've successfully convinced the Berkians that dragons are friends, and turned the village into a sanctuary for hunted dragons... but they're running out of room and resources, and making themselves more of a target for dragon hunters. The solution may lie in old legends of a "hidden world" beyond the horizon, from which the dragons originally came. But even as Hiccup determines to find this paradise, Toothless becomes distracted by a female Light Fury... and Berk becomes targeted by a ruthless hunter determined to finish exterminating the Night Furies once and for all - and, with them, Hiccup's dream of peace.
This exploration of the art of the movie includes forewords and notes from voice actors and production staff.
REVIEW: The movie was a spectacular animated experience, both visually and emotionally, and this book is a perfect homage as it explores the creative process that translated it from pencil sketch and story notes to the finished product. Unlike many animated movies, this franchise successfully aged up the heroes, physically and emotionally, and this book gives insight into that process. Even the dragons do some growing up, particularly Toothless (who remains perhaps my favorite movie dragon of all time.) The ending was sweet and sad and satisfying, and reading this book brought it all back. (Though, in the interest of full disclosure, I was listening to the soundtrack from the first film as I wrote this review; about the only area I could fault the second and third films on was somewhat less absorbing scores, but that was probably just me.) From concept sketches to finished screenshots, this book is a must-have for fans of the movie and of modern animation in general.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Art of How to Train Your Dragon (Tracy Miller-Zarneke) - My Review
The Art of How to Train Your Dragon 2 (Linda Sunshine) - My Review
How To Train Your Dragon: 3-Movie Collection
- Amazon DVD link
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
The Art and Making of The Expanse (Titan Books)
The Art and Making of The Expanse
Titan Books
Alcon Publishing
Nonfiction, Art/Media Reference
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: The Expanse, the epic space opera chronicling humanity's leap to the stars and first contact with alien technology and the ragtag crew caught up in the middle of it all, has been through numerous incarnations: first a collaborative multiplayer game, then a best-selling novel series written by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck as "James S. A. Corey", and finally a top-rated television series debuting on SyFy and now continuing on Amazon Prime. Bringing the story to life required massive investments of time and talent from a wide cast of contributors. In this hardcover celebration of the show, explore concept art and behind-the-scenes photos of the first three seasons, plus a glimpse of the upcoming fourth year.
REVIEW: Nobody can accuse Amazon Prime of stinting on promotion. This hardcover art book, released mere weeks before the debut of Season Four (in mid-December 2019), offers fans of the series plenty of eye candy and the smallest taste of things to come. Yes, it's a blatant marketing tactic, but it's also a beautiful and well-made book, featuring many great art pieces sure to please any Screaming Firehawk. If I can fault it for anything, it's that I'd hoped for a few more articles or interviews to add a little meat to the "making" end of the book's titular concept. But, then, I usually want a little more text in these "art of..." books, because I've always found the thought process behind concept art and creativity interesting. (One of those "in another life, wouldn't that have been awesome to do" things... one of many, I'm afraid, but I digress.) The art covers pretty much everything from the first three seasons, from the ships to the worlds to the costumes and the protomolecule; there are some omissions, but a truly comprehensive concept art and making-of book would likely be an encyclopedia by this point, given the intensive designing a show like The Expanse requires. (I do have to say that I noticed a minor mistake in the caption on page 12: it's Holden, not Amos, erasing the Rocinante's logo at the start of Season Three... and, yes, I did double-check the scene just before writing this review. Amos put the art on in Season One, but he and Alex were already inside the ship while Holden lingered on the hull, which is when news went out about Earth and Mars declaring war. And I'm aware that this is probably the most minor of possible nitpicks, but I'm about as oblivious an entity as one is likely to meet, as my reviews can readily attest; the fact that I noticed this makes me wonder what an actually alert fan might find if they went over this with a fine-toothed comb... and if there's one thing fans do, in my experience, it's carry the finest of fine-toothed combs.) Ultimately, I consider myself well satisfied with my purchase.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Leviathan Wakes (James S. A. Corey) - My Review
The Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Science Fiction Art Techniques (John Grant and Ron Tiner) - My Review
The Expanse: Season 1-3 [DVD]
- Amazon DVD link
Titan Books
Alcon Publishing
Nonfiction, Art/Media Reference
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: The Expanse, the epic space opera chronicling humanity's leap to the stars and first contact with alien technology and the ragtag crew caught up in the middle of it all, has been through numerous incarnations: first a collaborative multiplayer game, then a best-selling novel series written by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck as "James S. A. Corey", and finally a top-rated television series debuting on SyFy and now continuing on Amazon Prime. Bringing the story to life required massive investments of time and talent from a wide cast of contributors. In this hardcover celebration of the show, explore concept art and behind-the-scenes photos of the first three seasons, plus a glimpse of the upcoming fourth year.
REVIEW: Nobody can accuse Amazon Prime of stinting on promotion. This hardcover art book, released mere weeks before the debut of Season Four (in mid-December 2019), offers fans of the series plenty of eye candy and the smallest taste of things to come. Yes, it's a blatant marketing tactic, but it's also a beautiful and well-made book, featuring many great art pieces sure to please any Screaming Firehawk. If I can fault it for anything, it's that I'd hoped for a few more articles or interviews to add a little meat to the "making" end of the book's titular concept. But, then, I usually want a little more text in these "art of..." books, because I've always found the thought process behind concept art and creativity interesting. (One of those "in another life, wouldn't that have been awesome to do" things... one of many, I'm afraid, but I digress.) The art covers pretty much everything from the first three seasons, from the ships to the worlds to the costumes and the protomolecule; there are some omissions, but a truly comprehensive concept art and making-of book would likely be an encyclopedia by this point, given the intensive designing a show like The Expanse requires. (I do have to say that I noticed a minor mistake in the caption on page 12: it's Holden, not Amos, erasing the Rocinante's logo at the start of Season Three... and, yes, I did double-check the scene just before writing this review. Amos put the art on in Season One, but he and Alex were already inside the ship while Holden lingered on the hull, which is when news went out about Earth and Mars declaring war. And I'm aware that this is probably the most minor of possible nitpicks, but I'm about as oblivious an entity as one is likely to meet, as my reviews can readily attest; the fact that I noticed this makes me wonder what an actually alert fan might find if they went over this with a fine-toothed comb... and if there's one thing fans do, in my experience, it's carry the finest of fine-toothed combs.) Ultimately, I consider myself well satisfied with my purchase.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Leviathan Wakes (James S. A. Corey) - My Review
The Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Science Fiction Art Techniques (John Grant and Ron Tiner) - My Review
The Expanse: Season 1-3 [DVD]
- Amazon DVD link
Friday, December 14, 2018
The Art of How to Train Your Dragon 2 (Linda Sunshine)
The Art of How to Train Your Dragon 2
Linda Sunshine
Dey Street Books
Nonfiction, Art/Media Reference
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: The 2014 animated sequel How to Train Your Dragon 2 brought viewers back to the Viking village of Berk, where former misfit boy Hiccup and his dragon friend Toothless have ended the generations-long conflict between their people... but trouble is on the horizon, as a new threat to dragon and human alike arises. In this book, explore the Viking world and its dragons with behind-the-scenes concept art and production notes.
REVIEW: This movie managed the remarkable feat of taking the high bar set by 2010's How to Train Your Dragon and raising it in most every way, from storyline to animation. (I will concede that I preferred the first film's soundtrack.) With new software and an ambitious vision, the Dreamworks team created a bigger, bolder, more detailed world with even wilder dragons. The text offers notes on story and design decisions that shaped the final movie, including some major last-minute shifts and reworkings that ultimately made for a better film. If you enjoyed the movie, you'll enjoy this collection of art and design images and the smattering of trivia and production insight.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Art of Kubo and the Two Strings (Emily Haynes) - My Review
The Art of How to Train Your Dragon (Tracy Miller-Zarneke) - My Review
How to Train Your Dragon / How to Train Your Dragon 2
- Amazon DVD link
Linda Sunshine
Dey Street Books
Nonfiction, Art/Media Reference
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: The 2014 animated sequel How to Train Your Dragon 2 brought viewers back to the Viking village of Berk, where former misfit boy Hiccup and his dragon friend Toothless have ended the generations-long conflict between their people... but trouble is on the horizon, as a new threat to dragon and human alike arises. In this book, explore the Viking world and its dragons with behind-the-scenes concept art and production notes.
REVIEW: This movie managed the remarkable feat of taking the high bar set by 2010's How to Train Your Dragon and raising it in most every way, from storyline to animation. (I will concede that I preferred the first film's soundtrack.) With new software and an ambitious vision, the Dreamworks team created a bigger, bolder, more detailed world with even wilder dragons. The text offers notes on story and design decisions that shaped the final movie, including some major last-minute shifts and reworkings that ultimately made for a better film. If you enjoyed the movie, you'll enjoy this collection of art and design images and the smattering of trivia and production insight.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Art of Kubo and the Two Strings (Emily Haynes) - My Review
The Art of How to Train Your Dragon (Tracy Miller-Zarneke) - My Review
How to Train Your Dragon / How to Train Your Dragon 2
- Amazon DVD link
Friday, January 27, 2017
Young Frankenstein: A Mel Brooks Book: The Story of the Making of the Film (Mel Brooks)
Young Frankenstein: A Mel Brooks Book: The Story of the Making of the Film
Mel Brooks with Rebecca Keegan
Black Dog and Leventhal
Nonfiction, Media Reference
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: While filming the soon-to-be-hit Western comedy Blazing Saddles, director Mel Brooks and star Gene Wilder began collaboration on a quirky idea of Gene's, the tale of a descendant of the infamous Victor Frankenstein who finds himself following in the man's foosteps by building his own monster. Young Frankenstein would achieve classic status, making its stars into household names almost overnight. Here, Brooks relates tales of the cast and crew and the making of his favorite movie.
REVIEW: Young Frankenstein is, indeed, a classic movie. One doesn't even have to be intimately familiar with the old black-and-white movies it honored and parodied in order to understand it, though the more one knows, the more one sees. It's a perfect blend of comedy and story, craft and kismet. This collection of memories and photos explores behind the scenes, from first inception to the premiere, via Brooks's recollections and clips from articles and interviews. It reads fast and is reasonably interesting, though not especially deep. I clipped it a half-star for the formatting of the e-book version, which tries too hard to replicate a printed book; the end result has lots of empty white space, poor and sometimes incomplete or cropped photo captions, and other issues that grew irritating even for a short title like this one. If you're a fan of the movie, though, it's worth a read.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Extreme Science (Phil Clarke) - My Review
Frankenstein (Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly) - My Review
Young Frankenstein (Special Edition)
- Amazon DVD link
Mel Brooks with Rebecca Keegan
Black Dog and Leventhal
Nonfiction, Media Reference
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: While filming the soon-to-be-hit Western comedy Blazing Saddles, director Mel Brooks and star Gene Wilder began collaboration on a quirky idea of Gene's, the tale of a descendant of the infamous Victor Frankenstein who finds himself following in the man's foosteps by building his own monster. Young Frankenstein would achieve classic status, making its stars into household names almost overnight. Here, Brooks relates tales of the cast and crew and the making of his favorite movie.
REVIEW: Young Frankenstein is, indeed, a classic movie. One doesn't even have to be intimately familiar with the old black-and-white movies it honored and parodied in order to understand it, though the more one knows, the more one sees. It's a perfect blend of comedy and story, craft and kismet. This collection of memories and photos explores behind the scenes, from first inception to the premiere, via Brooks's recollections and clips from articles and interviews. It reads fast and is reasonably interesting, though not especially deep. I clipped it a half-star for the formatting of the e-book version, which tries too hard to replicate a printed book; the end result has lots of empty white space, poor and sometimes incomplete or cropped photo captions, and other issues that grew irritating even for a short title like this one. If you're a fan of the movie, though, it's worth a read.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Extreme Science (Phil Clarke) - My Review
Frankenstein (Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly) - My Review
Young Frankenstein (Special Edition)
- Amazon DVD link
Saturday, October 8, 2016
Vader's Little Princess (Jeffrey Brown)
Vader's Little Princess
Jeffrey Brown
Chronicle Books
Fiction, Comics/Media Reference/Sci-Fi
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: It's tough enough being a single dad. It's worse when you're a Sith lord trying to juggle galactic domination and obedience to the Emperor with a Jedi daughter and her twin brother. Cartoonist Jeffrey Brown imagines more fatherly mishaps as Darth Vader takes on a rebellious young Leia.
REVIEW: More fun from Jeffrey Brown. Unlike his previous book (Darth Vader and Son), this one tackles teen issues in addition to childhood tea parties. What's a father to do when confronted with a scruffy-looking scoundrel of a boyfriend or a daughter's inappropriate evening wear? (One of my favorites features a perplexed Vader trying to comfort a distraught Leia about her latest love life drama - what is "I know" really supposed to mean, anyway?) A fun diversion for fans of the franchise (particularly the pre-Disney franchise.)
You Might Also Enjoy:
Galaxy Quest (Terry Bisson) - My Review
Darth Vader and Son (Jeffrey Brown) - My Review
Close Encounters of the Worst Kind: A Brewster Rockit Collection (Tim Rickard) - My Review
Jeffrey Brown
Chronicle Books
Fiction, Comics/Media Reference/Sci-Fi
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: It's tough enough being a single dad. It's worse when you're a Sith lord trying to juggle galactic domination and obedience to the Emperor with a Jedi daughter and her twin brother. Cartoonist Jeffrey Brown imagines more fatherly mishaps as Darth Vader takes on a rebellious young Leia.
REVIEW: More fun from Jeffrey Brown. Unlike his previous book (Darth Vader and Son), this one tackles teen issues in addition to childhood tea parties. What's a father to do when confronted with a scruffy-looking scoundrel of a boyfriend or a daughter's inappropriate evening wear? (One of my favorites features a perplexed Vader trying to comfort a distraught Leia about her latest love life drama - what is "I know" really supposed to mean, anyway?) A fun diversion for fans of the franchise (particularly the pre-Disney franchise.)
You Might Also Enjoy:
Galaxy Quest (Terry Bisson) - My Review
Darth Vader and Son (Jeffrey Brown) - My Review
Close Encounters of the Worst Kind: A Brewster Rockit Collection (Tim Rickard) - My Review
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
The Art of Kubo and the Two Strings (Emily Haynes)
The Art of Kubo and the Two Strings
Emily Haynes
Chronicle Books
Nonfiction, Art/Media Reference
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: LAIKA's 2016 animated masterpiece Kubo and the Two Strings, the story of a boy in mythical ancient Japan who must find a lost set of armor to save himself and avenge his family, featured cutting-edge stop-motion and CGI blended seamlessly with traditional influences and techniques. This book explores the artwork and designs used in the film, with some notes on the production and storytelling process.
REVIEW: I saw this movie twice on the big screen (so far), and - like all great animated movies - found it fascinating on both a technical and a storytelling level. This book, as promised, offers a closer look at the characters, settings, and other elements of the film. Some "art of" books delve further into the storytelling process, script alterations during production, and character development - features this title mostly lacked, save some mention of the tale's roots in the foreword by director/producer/animator/studio founder Travis Knight and a note on how Kubo was aged up as the story became darker and more complex - but overall it's an interesting look at how LAIKA put the pieces together. This stuff fascinates me, making me wish (once again) I had the money, time, ambition, and talent to do stuff like this, creating impossible wonders and breathing them to life.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Art of Anastasia (Henry Deneroff) - My Review
The Art of How to Train Your Dragon (Tracy Miller-Zarneke) - My Review
The Lord of the Rings: The Art of the Fellowship of the Ring (Gary Russell) - My Review
Emily Haynes
Chronicle Books
Nonfiction, Art/Media Reference
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: LAIKA's 2016 animated masterpiece Kubo and the Two Strings, the story of a boy in mythical ancient Japan who must find a lost set of armor to save himself and avenge his family, featured cutting-edge stop-motion and CGI blended seamlessly with traditional influences and techniques. This book explores the artwork and designs used in the film, with some notes on the production and storytelling process.
REVIEW: I saw this movie twice on the big screen (so far), and - like all great animated movies - found it fascinating on both a technical and a storytelling level. This book, as promised, offers a closer look at the characters, settings, and other elements of the film. Some "art of" books delve further into the storytelling process, script alterations during production, and character development - features this title mostly lacked, save some mention of the tale's roots in the foreword by director/producer/animator/studio founder Travis Knight and a note on how Kubo was aged up as the story became darker and more complex - but overall it's an interesting look at how LAIKA put the pieces together. This stuff fascinates me, making me wish (once again) I had the money, time, ambition, and talent to do stuff like this, creating impossible wonders and breathing them to life.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Art of Anastasia (Henry Deneroff) - My Review
The Art of How to Train Your Dragon (Tracy Miller-Zarneke) - My Review
The Lord of the Rings: The Art of the Fellowship of the Ring (Gary Russell) - My Review
Saturday, July 25, 2015
How to Survive a Sharknado and Other Unnatural Disasters (Andrew Shaffer)
How to Survive a Sharknado and Other Unnatural Disasters
Andrew Shaffer
Three Rivers Press
Fiction, Humor/Media Reference
***** (Great)
DESCRIPTION: Sharknadoes, arachnoquakes, piranhacondas, beeclipses... unnatural disasters are no longer the stuff of fiction or made-for-TV disaster movies. Whether they're caused by genetic tampering, climate change, environmental damage, or ancient curses hardly matters - surviving is all that counts when it's you staring down a boaricane or outrunning a Mongolian death worm. This book gathers advice from those hardy (or foolhardy) souls who have faced unnatural dangers and lived to tell the tale... or at least died in instructive manners. Shaffer includes advice from renowned sharknado survivors Fin Shephard and April Wexler.
REVIEW: This straight-faced companion to SyFy's slew of original monster movies (actually featured in a cameo during Sharknado 2) offers hilarious survival advice for those of us trapped in a world gone mad. Monsters and disasters are rated based on probability of occurrence, danger level, and a special Fin Shephard "WTF" scale of weirdness, not to mention a handy guide to those most at risk from any given incident. I haven't seen most of these wonders, but I've seen enough B-grade monster flicks to laugh right along. (I can't deny that a small part of me still weeps to see how the former SciFi Channel has fallen from a station dedicated to sense-of-wonder science fiction and fantasy to a schlock film factory and WWE outlet.) For being just what it claimed to be, and for inducing many laugh-out-loud moments, I'm giving this light, fast read a top rating. No, it's not deep, hard science, but it doesn't claim to be. (And, judging from sharktopuses, pteracudas, and robocrocs, all created by scientists meddling in things they couldn't ultimately control, maybe hard science is overrated, anyway...)
You Might Also Enjoy:
Field Guide to the Apocalypse (Meghann Marco) - My Review
Time Travel Dinosaur (Matt Youngmark) - My Review
Andrew Shaffer
Three Rivers Press
Fiction, Humor/Media Reference
***** (Great)
DESCRIPTION: Sharknadoes, arachnoquakes, piranhacondas, beeclipses... unnatural disasters are no longer the stuff of fiction or made-for-TV disaster movies. Whether they're caused by genetic tampering, climate change, environmental damage, or ancient curses hardly matters - surviving is all that counts when it's you staring down a boaricane or outrunning a Mongolian death worm. This book gathers advice from those hardy (or foolhardy) souls who have faced unnatural dangers and lived to tell the tale... or at least died in instructive manners. Shaffer includes advice from renowned sharknado survivors Fin Shephard and April Wexler.
REVIEW: This straight-faced companion to SyFy's slew of original monster movies (actually featured in a cameo during Sharknado 2) offers hilarious survival advice for those of us trapped in a world gone mad. Monsters and disasters are rated based on probability of occurrence, danger level, and a special Fin Shephard "WTF" scale of weirdness, not to mention a handy guide to those most at risk from any given incident. I haven't seen most of these wonders, but I've seen enough B-grade monster flicks to laugh right along. (I can't deny that a small part of me still weeps to see how the former SciFi Channel has fallen from a station dedicated to sense-of-wonder science fiction and fantasy to a schlock film factory and WWE outlet.) For being just what it claimed to be, and for inducing many laugh-out-loud moments, I'm giving this light, fast read a top rating. No, it's not deep, hard science, but it doesn't claim to be. (And, judging from sharktopuses, pteracudas, and robocrocs, all created by scientists meddling in things they couldn't ultimately control, maybe hard science is overrated, anyway...)
You Might Also Enjoy:
Field Guide to the Apocalypse (Meghann Marco) - My Review
Time Travel Dinosaur (Matt Youngmark) - My Review
Friday, December 26, 2014
Smaug: Unleashing the Dragon (Daniel Falconer)
Smaug: Unleashing the Dragon
Daniel Falconer
HarperDesign
Nonfiction, Media Reference
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Since his appearance in 1937, Tolkien's Smaug has been the epitome of the traditional Western dragon: cunning, vain, greedy, terrifying, and nearly invulnerable. Peter Jackson's Hobbit films brought the dragon from page to screen, from the author's ink sketches to larger-than-life CGI. Achieving this took a great fellowship of animators and artists. This book includes a foreword (and occasional additions) by Benedict Cumberbatch, the voice of Smaug.
REVIEW: Though I was not as impressed as I'd hoped to be with Jackson's Hobbit translation, Smaug is indeed an epic achievement in CGI, well worth a special look. From the earliest sketches to the final battle of the second film, this book tracks the inspirations and evolution of a truly monumental wyrm. It also confirmed that Smaug changed between the first and second movies - and that he was, as early promotional material promised, originally a four-legged dragon, as per Tolkien's book and illustrations. (Reading this, I understood why the design was changed. What's not explained is why Weta and Jackson released full-body promotional images before the final design of the dragon was nailed down... but I expect I'm the only one who noticed, as nobody else seems to have seen it.) Some of the industry jargon grows a bit thick, and it could've used a larger format to show off the details, but overall this is an interesting look at how much work goes into bringing a creation like Smaug to life on screen.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Art of How to Train Your Dragon (Tracy Miller-Zarneke) - My Review
The Lord of the Rings: The Art of the Fellowship of the Ring (Gary Russell) - My Review
The Hobbit (J. R. R. Tolkien) - My Review
Daniel Falconer
HarperDesign
Nonfiction, Media Reference
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Since his appearance in 1937, Tolkien's Smaug has been the epitome of the traditional Western dragon: cunning, vain, greedy, terrifying, and nearly invulnerable. Peter Jackson's Hobbit films brought the dragon from page to screen, from the author's ink sketches to larger-than-life CGI. Achieving this took a great fellowship of animators and artists. This book includes a foreword (and occasional additions) by Benedict Cumberbatch, the voice of Smaug.
REVIEW: Though I was not as impressed as I'd hoped to be with Jackson's Hobbit translation, Smaug is indeed an epic achievement in CGI, well worth a special look. From the earliest sketches to the final battle of the second film, this book tracks the inspirations and evolution of a truly monumental wyrm. It also confirmed that Smaug changed between the first and second movies - and that he was, as early promotional material promised, originally a four-legged dragon, as per Tolkien's book and illustrations. (Reading this, I understood why the design was changed. What's not explained is why Weta and Jackson released full-body promotional images before the final design of the dragon was nailed down... but I expect I'm the only one who noticed, as nobody else seems to have seen it.) Some of the industry jargon grows a bit thick, and it could've used a larger format to show off the details, but overall this is an interesting look at how much work goes into bringing a creation like Smaug to life on screen.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Art of How to Train Your Dragon (Tracy Miller-Zarneke) - My Review
The Lord of the Rings: The Art of the Fellowship of the Ring (Gary Russell) - My Review
The Hobbit (J. R. R. Tolkien) - My Review
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Extreme Science (Phil Clarke)
Extreme Science
Phil Clarke
Chartwell Books
Nonfiction, YA? History/Media Reference/Science
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Reanimated corpses, two-headed dogs, electronic brain control... they sound like the stuff of science fiction, but all have happened in the laboratories of real-life scientists, pioneers pushing the boundaries of their age's knowledge by any means necessary. Journey to the very edge of science, where the line between fact and fiction, triumph and tragedy, even genius and madness, is scalpel-thin.
REVIEW: This book attempts to encapsulate a vast subject - scientists at the very edge of knowledge, often ahead of their times - in accessible terms. It also delves into theorists, war atrocities, serial killers, and Hollywood treatments of extreme science subjects. That's an awful lot of ground to cover... too much to do more than merely touch on any given topic. It also can't help but feel random, insofar as topics and historical figures covered. The Hollywood section in particular is haphazard, picking and choosing among feature films (and omitting some landmark sci-fi in the process.) I would've preferred spending more time with the real scientists and experiments. As a general introduction to extreme science, though, this book isn't bad.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Strange and Unexplained Phenomena (Jerome Clarke and Nancy Pear) - My Review
Reader's Digest Facts and Fallacies (Reader's Digest) - My Review
The World's Most Incredible Stories: The Best of the Fortean Times (Adam Sisman, editor) - My Review
Phil Clarke
Chartwell Books
Nonfiction, YA? History/Media Reference/Science
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Reanimated corpses, two-headed dogs, electronic brain control... they sound like the stuff of science fiction, but all have happened in the laboratories of real-life scientists, pioneers pushing the boundaries of their age's knowledge by any means necessary. Journey to the very edge of science, where the line between fact and fiction, triumph and tragedy, even genius and madness, is scalpel-thin.
REVIEW: This book attempts to encapsulate a vast subject - scientists at the very edge of knowledge, often ahead of their times - in accessible terms. It also delves into theorists, war atrocities, serial killers, and Hollywood treatments of extreme science subjects. That's an awful lot of ground to cover... too much to do more than merely touch on any given topic. It also can't help but feel random, insofar as topics and historical figures covered. The Hollywood section in particular is haphazard, picking and choosing among feature films (and omitting some landmark sci-fi in the process.) I would've preferred spending more time with the real scientists and experiments. As a general introduction to extreme science, though, this book isn't bad.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Strange and Unexplained Phenomena (Jerome Clarke and Nancy Pear) - My Review
Reader's Digest Facts and Fallacies (Reader's Digest) - My Review
The World's Most Incredible Stories: The Best of the Fortean Times (Adam Sisman, editor) - My Review
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