Extra Work for Brain Surgeons: A Hollywood OS Directory 24th Edition

Book Description

A comprehensive handbook of everything you need to know to get started in the entertainment industry. Includes how to join the unions and avoid the scams, legitimate casting companies, photo and resume tips, how to get started as an extra, how to get your kids started, and tips on finding principal work. This guide has become a bible for new and seasoned performers. Also contains an extensive reference section including set terminology you should know, vital industry contact information, and pay charts for easy reference. Best starter kit if you're thinking about breaking into the acting biz.

Customer Reviews:

Best there is.......2006-11-06

I worked as a background player (Extra) for the first 3 years of my retirement. Without "Extra Work for Brain Surgeons: A Hollywood OS Directory" by Angela Bertolino I would have been lost. This book is the best book ever written for those who want to be in the movies and don't know how to do it. You DO get your money's worth and more with this Informative and great book.

An absolute must-have for anyone pursuing work as an extra or getting an acting career off the ground.......2006-08-11

Now in an updated and expanded twenty-fourth edition, "Extra" Work for Brain Surgeons is a one-of-a-kind reference - an annual directory compiled especially for individuals working as background actors in the entertainment industry. Assembled with direct input from casting directors so that aspiring extras have the most current information about the correct procedures to secure work, "Extra" Work for Brain Surgeons is jam-packed with over 500 pages of information about Extras casting companies, calling services, guidelines on everything from how to write a resume to the requirements for children seeking work as extras, maps, a "must-know" glossary for anyone working in the business, and much more. Indexed for quick and easy reference, "Extra" Work for Brain Surgeons is an absolute must-have for anyone pursuing work as an extra or getting an acting career off the ground, and highly recommended.

the best book ever.......2006-07-20

u guys out there this book here will help you become a extra or a movie star you should read it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GREAT PRIMER FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY.......2006-05-31

I recently read the entertainment directory titled "EXTRA" WORK FOR BRAIN SURGEONS. This guide has it all for anyone who wants to get started in the entertainment industry by doing extra work. They help you avoid the scams and actually help you find legitimate work on real film and TV sets, many of the big-budget ones too. This is a really useful handbook for anyone wanting to break in to show business. And the author, ANGELA BERTOLINO, has a pretty interesting story: She started writing and self-publishing the book because she was scammed out of thousands of dollars trying to "make it" in Hollywood. She set out to disseminate the information she wished she had had access to when she was starting out.

imperative, and enjoyable.......2006-03-29

Have you ever longed to walk through a scene on a set featuring your favorite soap stars? Have you wondered how you could be one of those people eating pasta in a restaurant scene behind the great actors like George Clooney or Will Smith? If you've been trying to break into the Extra world you absolutely have to have a copy of "Extra Work For Brain Surgeons." It is the extreme guide to Extra-hood. Honestly, I don't know where else you would look for this much helpful information.

Having been there (Los Angeles) and done that (paying way too high registration fees for not much return) Co-Founder and CEO Angela Bertolino decided it was time that there was a truly helpful guide for newbies to the extra set. Teaming up with Co-Founder Carla Lewis, Hollywood OS was born. Now, this annual directory is a must have for every walk on wannabe.

You'll find it all here...what exactly you can expect as an extra, why you'd want to be a member of SAG or AFTRA, how to get paid for extra-extra work, what vouchers are, what the new point system is going to be like, how to get your name and headshots out there, why you should register and how much you can expect to pay for registering with casting companies, and oh so much more. This is truly the "how-to" guide for actors and actresses wanting to do walk-ons. More than that though, it is a why-to, when-to, who-to go to book. And then there is the whole second half of the book that lists casting companies, what their fees are, what types they usually cast, how long they've been in business, what they won't tolerate from background actors, what they will allow, what they will do for you, and inside scoops. Looking for an agent? The book will give you pointers. Need help with your resume? Yep, that too. Don't know what a "meat axe" could be? How about a "wigwag?" Don't worry! The book even has a glossary of unusual acting terms.

I live on the east coast, I don't act and I've never had an interest in it. But this book could help even a person like me find work, if I moved to Hollywood. Yes, it is a regional guide, but I doubt there is a more comprehensive one out there! Not only that, but the book is entertaining. Written in an easy going, friendly voice, reminding readers not to skip certain sections and making even the mundane side of extra work interesting (filling out forms, taxes, and labor codes), "Background" actors will find the read not only imperative, but enjoyable.
Review by Heather Froeschl

Extra Work For Brain Surgeons: A Hollywood Os Directory

Average customer rating:

Extra Work For Brain Surgeons: A Hollywood Os Directory
Angela; Lewis, Carla Bertolino
Manufacturer: Hollywood Operating Sys
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K9BM9O

Average customer rating:

Great for Kids

Tremendously helpful as teaching tool, besides being fun!

High Quality, Educational and Fun Entertainment

The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (Book & CD)
Anita Ganeri
Manufacturer: Harcourt Children's Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Classical | Music | Arts & Music | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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Story of the Orchestra : Listen While You Learn About the Instruments, the Music and the Composers Who Wrote the Music!

Carnival of the Animals: Classical Music for Kids

Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf: With a Fully-Orchestrated and Narrated CD

The Story of the Incredible Orchestra: An Introduction to Musical Instruments and the Symphony Orchestra

How it works: how nature works (How It Works)

ASIN: 0152013040

Book Description

This elegant hardcover book-and-CD package introduces the sights and sounds of the orchestra. After listening to the sounds of each instrument on the CD--from mellow flutes to blazing trumpets--readers may turn to the accompanying book to learn more about the orchestra and its instruments. All are invited to tour each section--string, woodwind, brass, and percussion--to discover what makes classical music so universally expressive. “This is a great book for children of all ages.”--American Bookseller

Customer Reviews:

Great for Kids.......2007-07-12

I know this product is meant for older children, but my four-year-old loves this book and especially the recording. He can't get enough of the description of the elements of the orchestra and the fugues by Benjamin Britten. He asks to play this over and over in the car. I recommend introducing this to young children - they just might like it, and possibly learn something in the process.

Tremendously helpful as teaching tool, besides being fun!.......2006-02-19

This piece of music by Britten has always been, for me at least,the finest teaching tool in the world of classical music. Even for teaching oneself about the instruments of the orchestra (and especially using the CD alongside) it is just unbeatable. A superb and very easy piece of music to listen to, it is also ingenious, easy to follow and quite memorable to boot. The main theme is great and all the little solos show off the seperate instruments beautifully. You simply cannot get better than this anywhere.

High Quality, Educational and Fun Entertainment.......2005-09-23

Money well spent! Good quality music on the enclosed CD, nice explanations and illustrations in the book. This book will introduce you / your children to the instruments and history of orchestra music in an entertaining fashion.
The book was recommended in Susan Bauer's Well-Trained Mind (Classical Homeschool Education). A nice read-and-listen activity for the whole family even if you are not into homeschooling. Try it on a car trip ...

The Young Person's Guide to the Opera: With Music from the Great Operas (Book & CD)

Average customer rating:

Start their Emotional Intelligence Young

The Young Person's Guide to the Opera: With Music from the Great Operas (Book & CD)
Anita Ganeri , and Nicola Barber
Manufacturer: Harcourt Children's Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0152164987

Book Description

Opera’s colorful history is rich with exciting stories. Through conversational text, informative sidebars, and full-color photographs, young readers will learn about the talented people--composers, singers, musicians, stagehands, set and costume designers, makeup crews--and the technical wizardry that go into staging opera’s lavish performances. There are even behind-the-scenes glimpses of many of today’s great opera companies, including the Royal Opera House in London, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and the San Diego Opera.
Created in association with London’s Royal Opera House and the San Diego Opera, this hardcover book-and-CD package is a sumptuous introduction to the world of opera. The accompanying CD captures memorable moments from some of the most famous operas.

Customer Reviews:

Start their Emotional Intelligence Young.......2005-10-23

As an Emotional Intelligence instructor (EQ) and coach, I habitually find adults whose emotional life was nourished in an intelligent way when they were kids. My adult learning course, and the one I use to train other coaches, includes the arts, particularly music, as we know that it effects the emotions, and supports the immune system. I purchased this book in the hopes of including it on my online store of EQ products and have been very pleased with it. I also recommend it in my Club Vivo Per Lei/I Live for Music. For adults who are emotionally mature enough not to "mind" learning in a delightful and easy way, why not start with a book and recording like this and then move on to The Teaching Company. Opera is an acquired taste because we aren't brought up on it, just as classical music seems to have slipped away in recent decades, but is coming back in a big way. Why? Because we need it. For all the reason we intuitively know. It soothes the savage beast. I took my 8 year old friend to her first opera the other day - The Barber of Seville is a great starter. She laughed ... I laughed ... and that opera is very old. This is a great book for Christmas giving and I recommend it highly. Then take your little one to Barber of Seville and spend the money to get seats right up front. (Very important, the immediacy of it.) Put your "arts" budget for the kids right after food, clothing, shelter and education (agitate for music appreciation in your schools, and I don't mean rap), and you'll have an emotionally intelligent child, which won't over-ride IQ, but without it, IQ isn't much good! Ask Turandot, wink wink. She had to "learn" his name was Love, and he taught her with a kidd, not his intellect.

Britten Orchestral Anthology, Vol. 1 (The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Matinées Musicales, Soirées Musicales, The Courtly Dances from Gloriana)

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Britten Orchestral Anthology, Vol. 1 (The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Matinées Musicales, Soirées Musicales, The Courtly Dances from Gloriana)

Manufacturer: Boosey and Hawkes
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Songbooks | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Contents: The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra * Matinees Musicales * Soirees Musicales * The Courtly Dances from Gloriana.

Average customer rating:

An Inspiring Product
Great book to start study of instruments!

A Young Person's Guide to Music
DK Publishing
Manufacturer: DK CHILDREN
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0756605407

Book Description

Back by popular demand, this reissued edition of A Young Person's Guide to Music will delight young music aficionados with its clear, engaging explanations of the structure and components of music - and a specially recorded companion CD that lets children hear what the book describes.

Customer Reviews:

An Inspiring Product.......2007-04-10

My two-year-old was there when I opened the package containing this book. After five minutes of looking through the new book with me, she was inspired to pick up a large leaf and place it under her chin. She took a stick and began rubbing it back and forth across the leaf. "I'm playing my viola," she said. The really funny scene was when she tried to pretend a guitar case was a double bass. The pictures are really great for kids. I think they could have chosen nicer music for their cd. The Witches Chorus is rather overpowering. The instrument examples sound electronic to me. The charts of music history is confusing. Incidents in each period seem to have been picked at random rather than for their overall importance to the period. It isn't really a general overview. However, I still like the book. The strong point is that it gives children a good introduction to the instruments. It is entertaining.

Great book to start study of instruments!.......2000-04-28

I used this with my children (ages 2-13) in 1999 as an introduction to different musical instruments. We enjoyed the photos of instruments being played, diagrams to clarify details, and historical information on the instruments. In the first 51 pages called Making Music, topics covered are the orchestra, conductor, composer, groups of instruments (stringed, woodwind, brass, percussion, and keyboard), and chamber music. Each instument section includes how the instruments actually make the sounds and is correlated to the CD. I wish the CD tracks could have been longer and sometimes the track included several instruments playing. It was hard to just pick out a particular instrument, especially for the younger children.

The music on the CD is Concerto in Pieces by Poul Ruders played by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Andrew Davis. In the composer section there are photos of Ruders working on this score, in the orchestra section there are photos of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and in the conductor section there are photos of Andrew Davis conducting.

Part 2 is the History of Music. We enjoyed an interesting timeline with historic art from 40,000 BC to 2000 AD. (Since they have so little information, it really starts in 2600 BC.) Major divisions are ancient, medieval, baroque, classical, romantic, and national music. A reference section on composers, musical forms, and a glossary of musical terms completes the book.

I didn't really care for the CD, especially now having listened to it many, many times through. I wish it could have more clearly indicated individual instruments too.

Book Description

In this sumptuous volume, readers will learn everything about the rich and varied art of ballet, from dance steps and their meanings to the evolution of the ballet slipper and the tutu and more. Following the history of the dance from the first ballets in the French court of Louis XIV to the modern productions of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, The Young Person's Guide to the Ballet introduces the greats of ballet - Fonteyn, Baryshnikov, Balanchine - as well as the choreographers, costume designers, and composers who together create a unique work of art every time a ballet is performed. Photographs from the world of dance illustrate the book, and the scores of Tchaikovsky's classic ballets - The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and The Sleeping Beauty, performed by the Munich Symphony Orchestra - are featured on the accompanying CD.

Product Description

`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the Antiquity and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by Pope Gregory Hildebrand was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.

Customer Reviews:

Check and see.......2007-06-21

I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.

Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22

Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.

Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05

We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:

a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;

b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;

c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.

Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:

It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.

- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.

- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.

Fomenko goes by the following axioms:

- Chronology is the basis of history;

- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;

- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;

- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;

- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;

- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.

Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?

The Russians:

Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.

The Westerners:

Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.

The Chinese:

Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.

The Arabs:

Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.

The Divinity:

Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.

According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.

St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."

Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09

After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.

However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:

- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.

I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.

The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.

It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?

Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.

Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).

Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30

If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?

Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.

Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..

Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.

Average customer rating:

Don't bother
A somewhat "stellar" deck

Celestial Tarot
Kay Steventon , and Brian Clark
Manufacturer: U.S. Games Systems
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1572815655

Customer Reviews:

Don't bother.......2005-12-01

Ok, while its obvious someone tried to create some sort of art (I guess you can call it that) the cards are way to blue (all cards are BLUE) - Color has a message and meaning in any Tarot but not in this one! The images are ...not images. Too celestial I guess for me. Not easy to even get a 'gut' feeling when I look at a card. Buy something else.
If you want fun cards go for the dragon cards. If you want beautifull and easy go for the Golden and/or Gilded. There are so many other better Tarot out there

A somewhat "stellar" deck.......2005-02-17

I just recently purchased this deck, and when I looked at the cards, I realized I already owned a deck by this same artist. This is Kay Steventon, who did the work for the Spiral Tarot. As someone who has studied art (as in doing, not reviewing), I fell in love with the techniques she used for both decks. In the Spiral tarot, though, the art work isn't quite as lush on the minors (except aces and court cards); on this deck, the lushness exists on all cards.

The imagery used in this deck is radically different. Every card, and I mean EVERY card, here, is tied to a planet or constellation (and one star). Steventon is both an artist and astrologer, which explains this. In the majors, the cards associated with the signs of the zodiac (starting with the Emperor-Aries) often depict the actual zodiacal sign, and if there's a reference to the traditional image, it's a small sillhouette in the background. Nevertheless, Steventon and Clark work extremely hard to tie the symbolism of the constellation or star used to the symbolism of the card.

Some of the constellations depicted in the minor arcana amused me, as "Crater" (which is a Greek drinking chalice) is used for the Ace of Wands, but the author and artist team do tie it in, with a history of the constellation. The suit symbols are very simple monochrome figures at the base of the card, while the major illustration is a lavish, with bead-gemstone-gold thread embellishments as are the major arcana.

I'm rating this deck at 5 stars for the artwork, but subtracting 2 for two reasons: the "seasons" associated with the four suits are not always the traditional seasons (cups are autumn, pentacles are spring, swords are winter), and I believe there were some twister-like gyrations used in order to fit the constellations used on some cards to fit the "traditional" meanings.

Average customer rating:

Still needs to take on the 900-pound gorilla

Don't Waste Your Time and Money

False Dichotomy between Creative and Technology Mindset

Florida's work is based on a fundamentally flawed assumption

Politically independent?

The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent
Richard Florida
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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General | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life

Cities and the Creative Class

The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World

The Creative Economy: How People Make Money from Ideas

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ASIN: 0060756918
Release Date: 2007-02-20

Book Description

The most valued workers today are what the economist Richard Florida calls the Creative Class, skilled individuals ranging from money managers to make–up artists, software programmers to steady–cam operators who are in constant demand around the world. Florida's bestselling The Rise of the Creative Class identified these workers as the source of economic revitalization in American cities. In that book, he shows that investment in technology and a civic culture of tolerance (most–often marked by the presence of a large gay community) are the key ingredients to attracting and maintaining a local creative class. In The Flight of the Creative Class, Florida expands his research to cover the global competition to attract the Creative Class. The United States was, up until 2002, the unparalleled leader in creative capital. But several key events––the Bush administrations emphasis on smokestack industries, heightened security concerns after 9/11 and the growing cultural divide between conservatives and liberals––have put the US at a substantial dis–advantage.

Customer Reviews:

Still needs to take on the 900-pound gorilla.......2007-04-11

"If America continues to make it harder for some of the world's most talented students and workers to come here, they'll go to other countries eager to tap into their creative capabilities--as will American citizens fed up with what they view as an increasingly repressive environment."
-- Dr. Richard Florida, The Flight of the Creative Class

From this quote you can see immediately the sort of society Dr. Florida wants. Me, too. What's puzzling is he doesn't explicitly attach his shiny new cart of creativity to the thoroughbred of peace and political liberty.

In particular, you'd expect him to lambaste the Neocon Usurpers for launching expensive wars for isolated benefit of the Carlyle Group. Is he pulling his punches so Rush Bimbaugh won't accuse him of Bush-bashing? In general, why doesn't Florida boldly oppose the bonecrushing machinery of government per se?

That's my 900-pound-gorilla reservation about The Creative books. Otherwise, they provide a nice boost to the kinds of people we want to cultivate in society... or even want to be.

It appears many in public office, more semi-comatose Democrats than fully rabid Republicans, are interested in developing and retaining creative communities.

But are they willing to do what it takes?

The more political power they wield the less willing they are.

Rise shows that what Dr. Florida calls the three Ts of creative-class communities--Talent, Technology, and Tolerance--occur rarely. And when they do, it's more from the tolerance angle.

Austin, San Francisco, Seattle, Burlington (VT), Boston, the highest American cities on the creative-class list, achieve their vaunted status by spontaneous order. When governments catch up to what's going on and want to push people around, it's too late.

Tolerance is also another word for freedom. We can easily argue that liberty is fundamentally what the creative havenots have not. Talent and technology gravitate toward communities naturally when political leaders see their mission as preserving a natural order based on civil liberties.

They accomplish that mission mainly by removing government obstacles and keeping the infrastructure efficient.

Government never furthered any enterprise but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way. -- Thoreau

Libertarians need no writer from the halls of the Carnegie Mellon Institute to tell us this dear Hamlet. But it's nice that in Rise Dr. Florida makes such a good statistical case for what creativity is, where it lives, and how we can nurture it. He also makes us aware that we, too, are paid-up members of the CC.

Flight is about politicians not getting the point of Rise.

...

For my complete review of this book and for other book and movie
reviews, please visit my site [...]

Brian Wright
Copyright 2007

Don't Waste Your Time and Money.......2006-06-21

While I appreciated and generally agreed with the thesis Richard Florida puts forward that creativity is important for society, there were many times when I found his writing `style' to be annoying. I had almost put the book down after completing the first third of it. Mr. Florida's sensitivity to criticism and unabashed need to respond to every negative comment he received from his first book made me wonder just how narcissistic this man was. His ego flows onto each page and sometimes, in my view, gets in the way of his work and feeds a perception that he is not completely objective.

There are many points that get overlooked in his analysis. Why are people gravitating to Austin, Texas? Mr. Florida postulates it is because the city is open to new ideas and diverse. While I am certain that there are people who choose to relocate based on perceptions of how open and diverse a given area is, it makes more sense to look at more practical motivators such as taxes, real estate prices, crime rates, or climate. Tangible factors such as these get little mention. The assumption made by Mr. Florida is that a heterogeneous, open society is more creative than a homogenous, closed one. I guess that Japan and South Korea don't count.

I could go on, but I would not recommend this book.

False Dichotomy between Creative and Technology Mindset.......2006-05-11

Richard Florida's work has many culturally helpful things to say. A kid's review - well argued by the way - has pointed out that Florida's work has a right brain bias. I agree, and I don't mind.

The US leads in entertainment and cultural innovation. Its writers, artists, musicians have inspired the rest of the world for a century. Today though, we fall behind in math as India and China educate engineers by the thousands. Both kinds of professionals are needed to create DIGITAL content. Communications technology without a stimulating variety of cultural content would be vapid, robotic and regimented. Humane, funny, vulnerable, caring, prankish creatives make the technology math heads produce worth watching, listening to, interacting with.

Florida's cultural creatives are the people who do this. Without them, you get the aesthetics of the the first experiments in 3D animation in the early 80's. No art direction and horrible colors. Digital technology has to present something pleasing to the eye,the ear, the soul. And the sensibility that creates this is a different kind of sensibility from algorithmic math and logic. When married, you get Apple. When kept separate you get Sun microsystems.

But wait tech heads. Great content still needs fabulous technology to get encoded into bits, sent 20,000 miles and decoded. Records don't get made without audio engineers.

Can we get over this petty squabbling and admit that techies and artists need each other? Do we all have to be little DaVinci's to close the gap? If Florida complains about President Bush subtly or not so subtly in this book, it's because Bush doesn't get half of the equation. Have you ever heard Bush say anything about the arts in his two terms as president? Short sighted, I think, and worth a complaint or two.

Florida's work is based on a fundamentally flawed assumption.......2006-04-28

Richard Florida divides people into two groups, those in the creative class such as artists, musicians, and engineers and those not in the creative class, mainly people not engaged in so called "creative work". Based on his research into the characteristics of these groups he concludes that India and China are not the real threat in terms of high tech competition and it is the smaller European nations with more open political climates that are the real threat. Obviously, Florida is not an engineer or a real scientist since anyone in the high tech field knows that India and China are the main competition for high tech jobs and the massive offshoring of engineering jobs is even lowering the number of students in college pursuing these fields. The main problem is that Florida doesn't realize that an engineer with a 4 year university degree is not the same as a writer, musician or artist that may have no education at all especially in difficult math and science courses. He mistakenly believes these two separate groups to be equal and the same in terms of contributing to high tech innovation and development. For writers an open political climate is necessary to make a living writing controversial books. However, for an engineer an open political climate is not essential in most cases but a stable modern environment where he feels confortable living and working is needed. Furthermore, Florida makes a huge deal about the "Gay Index" where high concentration of gays indicate a high concentration of the creative class and high tech innovation. This may be true in western civilization but in China and India it is irrelavant. Florida also seems to have given up on his "Technology" element of economic development for America because in his latest article for USA Today he states something to the effect that high tech innovation can be outsourced anywhere and America can only maintain its lead if it concentrated on "culture", "art", "music" and "improving retail service" jobs. In conclusion, Richard Florida's creative class theory where "Talent", "Technology", and "Tolerance" is needed for economic development is fundamentally flawed. Florida's writings lack the rigor and unbiased analysis of a real engineer or scientist but is designed to sell books to a socially liberal audience.

Politically independent?.......2006-02-08

I bought this book after seeing Mr Florida talk on CSPAN-2. He does have some interesting things to say about creativity, but...

I found it very difficult to finish.

Mr Florida claims to be politically independent, but he doesn't even hesitate to engage in the sort of casual Bush bashing one see's only in the extreme left, and along with this he repeats almost every silly platitude of same, including the ridiculous "pentagon holding a bake sale to buy a bomber" bit.

If he's politically independent, then I'm the King of Siam.

And his solution? right out of the leftists playbook, we have to spend more, lots more, way more than we ever have, "several orders of magnitude more" on "education", "culture" and "the arts."

Anyone interested in buying a used book? Only read once...

Christopher Scanlon on creative mythmaking.(The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent)(book)(Book Review) : An article from: Arena Magazine

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Christopher Scanlon on creative mythmaking.(The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent)(book)(Book Review) : An article from: Arena Magazine
Christopher Scanlon
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This digital document is an article from Arena Magazine, published by Thomson Gale on August 1, 2005. The length of the article is 1573 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Christopher Scanlon on creative mythmaking.(The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent)(book)(Book Review)
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Publication: Arena Magazine (Magazine/Journal)
Date: August 1, 2005
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Floridizing the world: the urban-renewal hipster Richard Florida looks to Europe for the next big thing.(Books & Arts)(The Flight of the Creative Class: ... : An article from: The Weekly Standard

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Floridizing the world: the urban-renewal hipster Richard Florida looks to Europe for the next big thing.(Books & Arts)(The Flight of the Creative Class: ... : An article from: The Weekly Standard
Fred Siegel
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This digital document is an article from The Weekly Standard, published by News America Incorporated on February 28, 2005. The length of the article is 1605 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Floridizing the world: the urban-renewal hipster Richard Florida looks to Europe for the next big thing.(Books & Arts)(The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent)(The Anglosphere Challenge: Why the English-Speaking Nations Will Lead the Way in the Twenty-First Century)(Book Review)
Author: Fred Siegel
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Date: February 28, 2005
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Volume: 10 Issue: 22 Page: 34(2)

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