From Scream to Dawson's Creek : An Unauthorized Take on the Phenomenal Career of Kevin Williamson

Book Description

In Hollywood, not only do the stars shine brightly, but occasionally a screenwriter rises to the pantheon of "Celebritydom." The multitalented Kevin Williamson has become one of Hollywood's white-hot commodities.

His first feature film, Scream, became a record-breaking hit in late 1996. This was followed up with screenplays for the top-grossers I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream 2. His coming-of-age television drama series, Dawson's Creek, continues to win tremendous critical acclaim and big ratings for the WB network. His involvement with Halloween: H20 and The Faculty ensured top box-office slots for those films as well. Now, with a second television series, Wasteland, on the way as well as Scream 3, Williamson continues to expand his hold on the public's attention.

From Scream to Dawson's Creek to Wasteland examines the genesis of Williamson's career, from high-school tragedy and low-budget acting despair to his award winning and box-office-grabbing rise to become the toast of Hollywood's creative elite. The book gives a detailed examination of each of his films and television projects, allowing Hollywood outsiders and insiders alike a riveting view of the making of a star writer.

Customer Reviews:

Entertaining.......2002-03-28

I watched Scream a couple of times, before. After reading this book, I wanted to go out and rent Scream again. In fact, I will be purchasing the DVD. It got me really excited in every scene, and every word spoken in the movie.

An unauthorized , yet informative bio of Kevin Williamson ........2000-08-04

This biography is great for the reader interested in the career and life of Kevin williamson . If you are interested in him or any of his movies this is the book for you .

AN unauthorized , but still informative take on his life.......2000-08-04

This biography is a very informative take on his life and career . It also has information on the actors and actresses he's worked with . I found it a good book , for the reader interested in this phenomonal screenwriter , director and producer .

A cover slime green and the pages in between.......2000-03-28

I bought this book because I love the way Kevin writes and wanted to know how he does it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the book is as much about the actors and actresses he has worked with as it is about Williamson himself. Looking at all those names and photos, I figure Kevin must be responsible for launching at least half of all of today's teen idols. Sure they have pretty faces to begin with, but it's the words that he gives them that makes them so attractive. Also, this may be the only place for fans of the short lived series Wasteland to see details of the now-forgotten show in print. If you're a fan of Williamson's work or even just a fan of Dawson's Creek or I Know What You Did, this book's for you.

Book Description

Published to acclaim and controversy a decade ago, Sperm Wars is a revolutionary thesis about sex that turned centuries-old biological assumptions on their head.

Evolution has programmed men to conquer and monopolize women while women, without ever knowing they are doing it, seek the best genetic input on offer from potential sexual partners.

In this book, best-selling author Robin Baker reveals these new facts of life: ten percent of children are not fathered by their "fathers;" less than one percent of a man’s sperm is capable of fertilizing anything (the rest is there to fight off all other men’s sperm); "smart" vaginal mucus encourages some sperm but blocks others; and a woman is far more likely to conceive through a casual fling than through sex with her regular partner.

It’s no wonder that Sperm Wars is a classic of popular science writing that will surprise, entertain, and even shock.

Customer Reviews:

A little disappointing, but worthwhile.......2007-07-10

I had high hopes for this book after hearing so many of my friends rave about it. However, I was a little let down. First of all, there are no foot-notes or citations for any of the claims/statistics that Baker writes about. I understand that the book reads easier without them, but it takes a lot of the credibility away from the message. Also, the constant referral to previous/future "scenes" (37 small stories) throughout the book really made it difficult to follow.

I read in a couple other reviews for this book that a lot of the "science" Baker writes about has been proved wrong. One of the reviewers actually posted a link to a scientific article which conducted some experiments contradictory to Baker's research, so if you feel inclined it's on this website somewhere.

Anyway, the book did have a couple (valid) discoveries that were new to me, so all was not lost. Just wish Baker had done a better job of backing up his research!

Probing the mysteries of female sexuality.......2007-05-13

We all marvel at the unpredictable nature of female sexuality, and often wonder why women do the things that they do, and are equaly shocked at the things they DON'T do. Why are women so crazy about teenaged boys that they will risk life and limb to be with them sexualy ( i.e-the current huge runaway phenominon of female teachers having illicit relationships with their male teen students ), while they all but totaly ignore men over 20? Why do women suffer such sexual attention span deficit one day and are at least as sexual as any man the next? Are women truly less attracted to men than men are to women? Why is the realm of female sexuality such a matrix of insanity and seemingly bizzare behaviour? Why can't women explain what they really want?
The answers to these questions will shock you....and are contained within the brilliant, extensively researched pages of this book. It will not only give you more insight into the dynamics of female sexuality, but will give you more understanding of your own male sexual physiology as well. Reproduction is truly EVERYTHING !!!! Sex is life itself, and the importance of this transference of life from one generation to the next is a staggering existence we take totaly for granted. Not after you read this book!!! You will never view reproduction the same again.

Nice theory, but..........2007-01-11

It all makes for a nice sensationalist read, but apart from the author and his colleagues' own research, other research on this subject have proven it to be totally false in regards to human sperm. The "fun" of this book is all the eyebrows it raises by suggesting that women are unfaithful by nature, but really beyond that there are no other selling points. Makes for a good read if you're into that kind of fantasy junk...as for real science, throw this one in the pile with phrenology and whatever else.

Humans as just another animal.......2006-06-26

Among animals, humans seem unusually obsessed with sex and thus a bit separated from the rest of the animal biology, which seems to feature a preponderance of 10-second sex acts. Robin Baker uses a lifetime of university study to try to explain human behavior objectively through case studies and discussions at at rate of one per chapter. It is a mixture of illumination, rationalization and sadly some repetition as the explanations seem to cycle through in the ~33 chapters. Most of the time, he hits his points, but sometimes he seems to miss obvious ones; for instance in the "rough sex" chapter, the woman's reproductive advantage in marrying a mate is discussed but the male perspective in such mate exploration is not. Mate selection by physical endowment is essentially entirely neglected, yet in human societies it is the norm that most people have multiple partners over a lifetime. In fact, in this book sperm wars really alludes to instances in which multiple matings occur in a short enough time span that sperm of different mates are selected in the woman's reproductive tract--a topic of a number of chapters. Practically every sexual combination is presented and explained, even when it is a bit stretched, as for instance the explanation as to why homo- or bisexuality, lesbian or gay behavior may contribute to reproductive success. In his role, the author is largely amoral--an observing biologist trying to explain a role for behavior in reproductive success rather than judging its societal context--though sometimes outcome of the occasional case study seem to bear moral shadings. For those who want to learn about the biology underlying human sexual behavior, this book has some interesting ideas. As a biologist, I found the absence of direct citation of experimental evidence was distracting, as I would prefer seeing whether conjectures withstand scientific analysis, but that is not what this book is about. The current book looks and feels a lot like a second edition of his best-selling book "Sperm Wars" of a decade before, but I do not know that to be the case; I am looking forward to seeing what readers of both volumes say on that point.

I Have My Doubts.......2006-04-28

An interesting book, but I have my doubts about the basic premise. If women are always shopping around for men with the very best genes, then why is the world filled with ugly, stupid people? (Let's be honest. It is.) And why is it that something like 13 million Asian men are the descendents of a murderous psychopath like Attila the Hun? According to studies, that many men bear the same Y-chromosome, probably a result of Attila's marauding across the countryside centuries ago. Did the women who had the misfortune to encounter Attila say, "Wow! What great genes! Go ahead and kill my husband/father/brother/son. It's worth it to get those superior genes." I doubt it. My other problem with the book centers around the author's idea that a successful human is one who reproduces abundantly, whose genes are present in the generations to come. We, however, are not worms, or monkeys, or race horses. Perhaps the most successful humans are those whose ideas (memes not genes) are present in future generations - such as Einstein, Newton, Edison, Darwin, Buddha.

Average customer rating:

Interesting Book
Identical Book as "Sperm Wars: Infidelity, etc."
Unbelievable!
Sperm Wars-A great theory
Fun stuff from the strange laboratory of nature....

Sperm Wars: The Science of Sex
Robin Baker
Manufacturer: Diane Books Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0788160044

Amazon.com

If you've ever looked upon sperm as a little army of white-coated soldiers setting off to sack and pillage a barely pregnable fortress . . . well, you'd be right, according to this fascinating new book. Dr. Robin Baker, who has studied sperm and cervical mucus in much greater detail than anyone would've thought necessary, has come to some startling conclusions: that less than 1 percent of sperm is actually designed to fertilize an egg (the rest are there to block other men's sperm), and that 4 to 10 percent of all children born to married couples are in fact the offspring of other men, usually of higher socioeconomic status, with whom the mother had a short-term relationship.

Product Description

This revolutionary book demonstrates that sexual behavior is driven by neither the psyche nor the conscious mind, but by biological imperatives programmed into us millions of years ago. Argues that a man's sexual behavior is based on the expectation that his sperm will have to compete with other men's sperm to fertilize the descending egg, & women are programmed to promote this sperm warfare. Uses a series of fictional scenes involving some form of sexual contact, followed by an interpretation of each scene from the viewpoint of an evolutionary biologist. Provides a strikingly original & fascinating window into sexual behavior.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting Book.......2007-07-04

My husband and I are trying to get pregnant and I heard about this book through one of my college intructors. This book is really interesting to read if you want to know about this kind of stuff. Very interesting on how the body works!

Identical Book as "Sperm Wars: Infidelity, etc.".......2007-02-19

This book has identical body text as "Sperm Wars: infidelity, bedroom conflicts, etc", but under a different publisher, printed on better quality paper but with fuzzy font. But the other book if you want to read it. The 4 stars are from the other book. 0 star for this book for doing this duplication.

Unbelievable!.......2006-11-11

I could not put this book down. To date, I've probably given about 10 copies away to different friends as gifts, and all have been more or less mesmerized. The information (written by a British "evolutionary biologist"--whatever that is) tells us that every sexual move we make (whether with others or alone) is dictated by some primal and subconscious urge to put forth our very best genetic efforts for the creation of successful and prolific progeny who will then propogate other successful and prolific progeny. It can get a little bogged down in places. However...whew! After reading this (which I recommend), it will be impossible to just lay back and enjoy it ever again without wondering what subconscious game you're both playing!

Sperm Wars-A great theory.......2006-05-22

Although the author has a vast knowledge of animal husbandry, I believe he makes some leaps across the boundaries of genus and species to prove his theories with that knowledge. Overall the book was great on many levels. It gives us a good insight to the behavioral imprinting of sexual habits that most people do in fact make. I am in agreement with the author on a lot of his assumptions, but the hard facts are not presented in this book, at least not for human subjects. I'm glad I bought it because it gives us a lot to think about in the realm of human sexuality.
I highly reccomend it.

Fun stuff from the strange laboratory of nature...........2006-05-19

Who would've thought that mastrubation, oral sex, rape, S & M and homosexuality have reproductive advantages? Or that every human sexual behavior and perversion has an equivalent in birds or monkeys?

Having some basic knoledge of evolution and how it works, I always thought that things like masturbation and oral sex were just by products of the sexual desire used for reproduction, but apparently not.

My favorite quote of the book

"There are reports, for example, of a male masturbating to ejaculation while being penetrated anally by another male."

Enjoy

Average customer rating:

Interesting Book
Identical Book as "Sperm Wars: Infidelity, etc."
Unbelievable!
Sperm Wars-A great theory
Fun stuff from the strange laboratory of nature....

Sperm Wars: The Science of Sex
Robin Baker
Manufacturer: Basic Books, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Similar Items:

ASIN: B000OLY90M

Customer Reviews:

Interesting Book.......2007-07-04

Identical Book as "Sperm Wars: Infidelity, etc.".......2007-02-19

Unbelievable!.......2006-11-11

Sperm Wars-A great theory.......2006-05-22

Fun stuff from the strange laboratory of nature...........2006-05-19

Bedbug sperm wars.(The Story of V: A Natural History of Female Sexuality)(Book Review) : An article from: The Journal of Sex Research

Average customer rating:

Bedbug sperm wars.(The Story of V: A Natural History of Female Sexuality)(Book Review) : An article from: The Journal of Sex Research
Martha Cornog
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Journal of Sex Research, published by Thomson Gale on November 1, 2005. The length of the article is 1234 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.

Citation Details
Title: Bedbug sperm wars.(The Story of V: A Natural History of Female Sexuality)(Book Review)
Author: Martha Cornog
Publication: The Journal of Sex Research (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 42 Issue: 4 Page: 369(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Customer Reviews:

Needs color.......2006-08-19

the pictures were hard to recognize, even when we found them. too difficult for my six-year old son.

Black and white pages are great!.......2006-04-13

I just had to write in after reading the reviews of people complaining that the pages are black and white. Apparently they are not really thinking of the added benefit and extra fun this gives to the book. It can be a COLORING BOOK also! That's how I use it. It adds extra fun to the seek and find by the excitement of coloring in the item once you find it and then coloring in the rest of the picture once you have found all the items. It is better than a plain ole' coloring book because there is the added intellectual element of the seek and find. I'm glad it is in black and white and would choose the black and white over similar colored books everytime.

Not an attention keeper.......2006-02-25

I realize the pictures come from Highlights but the they're all in black and white and did not keep the interest of my daughter for very long at all.

Doesn't have pictures of items, only written descriptions!.......2003-12-30

If you have younger kids (pre-reading), please note that unlike the Highlights magazine section, this book doesn't show pictures of the hidden items to find, only written descriptions. This means that if your kids cannot read yet, they cannot play on their own. I was disappointed because they love to do the section in the Highlights magazine and I had assumed that this book would be the same.

Hours of Fun for All Ages!.......2003-05-10

Great mix from easy to difficult. This book was bought for my 7 year old son to pass the time in the hospital waiting room. Not only did it keep him occupied for hours on end, his aunts and uncles were equally absorbed in it. We've only completed about 50% of the book (we've had it since February) and it goes almost everywhere with us. I recommend using a yellow hi-lighter to mark found items and mark them off the list, so that you can see the item and reuse the page at a later time. Probably the best money I've spent in a long time. It would have been nice for the answer key pictures to be bigger, say 1/4th of a page, instead of cramming 7 answer key pictures on a single page. Nevertheless a 5 star buy!

The Super Colossal Book of Hidden Pictures (Vol.2)

Average customer rating:

The Super Colossal Book of Hidden Pictures (Vol.2)

Manufacturer: Backpack Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0760748756

Product Description

More than 2,200 objects to find! Each page presents a challenge to find various objects with an illustration.

Average customer rating:

The Super Colossal Book of Hidden Pictures, Vol. 2
Editors of Highlights for Children
Manufacturer: Boyds Mills Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000W2CUL8

Super Colossal Book of Hidden Pictures, Volume 4 (Super Colossal Book of Hidden Pictures)

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Super Colossal Book of Hidden Pictures, Volume 4 (Super Colossal Book of Hidden Pictures)

Manufacturer: Tandem Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0613798082

Book Description

Get the inside track on how to write system administration scripts with Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), straight from Microsoft scripting experts. This practical learning guide teaches how to use WMI scripting techniques to gain control over your Microsoft Windows-based, IIS-based, and Microsoft Exchange Server-based environments—all at your own pace.

Build practical skills on everything from understanding the ins and outs of WMI and producing your first WMI Script to writing advanced WMI scripts that automate the management of systems, network services, files, printers, the registry, network services, and more. The companion CD features the complete eBook, 140 sample scripts, and timesaving scripting tools, plus more than 500 bonus scripts!

Customer Reviews:

A book for IT PROs.......2007-05-02

What a great book! I resolved a complex problem I had in less than 12 lines of code when I discovered the power of Associators on page 83. I have been using consumer events in other languages for many years, until I read Ed's book, I had no idea they could be used with WMI. This book is a very nice complement to chapters 8, 9 and 10 from his Microsoft Windows Scripting Self-Paced Learning Guide.

Although Ed's book is not a technical reference book (MSDN already provides syntax information), the appendixes provide all the key information required to search MSDN, SDK, CIM studio and other tools presented in the book. Rather than being focused on syntax and formal grammar, Ed's approach is to show IT PROs how to use WMI to resolve real life problems that need to be addressed on a daily basis. The CD contains many scripts that can be put to work with no or little modifications for your environment.

Ed's book goes further. It has a complete chapter on configuring and administering WMI, material which is typically not found in manuals but that are key for understanding and working with WMI.

Being a consultant, I consult the printed book on a regular basis and I have a copy of the electronic version on my laptop.

Great book with lots of good examples. Note correction below........2007-02-09

I recently attended a Microsoft sponsored workshop that was taught by the author of this book. I learned a great deal. If for nothing else, this book is worth purchasing to get a hold of the event consumer scripts. Important note: The author made the class aware that a line was missing in the event consumer script in both the print and companion CD versions.

To get the script to run, at the bottom of page 110 add the following line of code.

objfilter.EventNameSpace = "root\cimv2"

Its all good .......2007-01-09

They were real good at keeping me up to date on the shipment and it arrived on time.

Stongly advise against this book.......2006-07-07

I don't like being so harsh, but I strongly advise you NOT purchase this book. My reason for this is the poor coverage of the material presented.

The first three chapters were fine. The author was building logically, presenting material in a logical fashion. He demonstrated some simple queries, and described them clearly. The examples were pretty basic, and served no signifcant purpose.

Chapter 4 is where the wheels started to come off (and continued through to chapter 6). With no explanation, or background material, terms and undocumented examples began to show up everywhere. By the time the author got to event queries, it was obvious this was a lost cause.

For example, page 70 of the book used an query example that included the additional clause "WITHIN 10". I skipped around through pages, checked the indexed (and non existant glossary), but couldn't find an explanation. Eventually a check of MSDN explained what it was.

The section describing 'associators' on page 83 and 'references of' on page 85 were ambigious. The code examples provided no clarity, nor explanation.

I'm an experienced developer and administrator with 17 years in system's level programming. I had picked up this book to help get my hands around the topic of WMI -- to assist our administrative staff managing DFS-Replication services.

After two days, I've given up on the text, and purchased another more substantive manual "Developing WMI Solutions: A Guide to Windows Management Instrumentation".

BTW: So as not to completely trash this book, it does provide an excellant CD. There are a terrific number of tools, sample source code and script templates. In addition, the CD includes an electronic version of the book, and an electronic copy of "Microsoft Windows Scripting Self-Paced Learning Guide". Also, the later chapters develop some more useful scripts. If you need a cook-book to drop in one of these, you may find it useful.

In my advice, you'd be better off purchasing something else.

Finally an excellent, well written indpeth wmi book.......2006-05-05

Over the years, I have purchased at least 5 wmi books. These books fall into two categories: the ones that never seem to go beyond the basics of running simple wmi queries, and those that are so far advanced, as to be virtually meaningless to a mere mortal. Now comes this book. This book is well written, with loads of analogies. It breaks the subject of WMI in to small enough chunks of information (each chapter is around 25 pages or so) so you can sit down read the book, and then do re-inforce the material by doing the labs. The fact that the person who wrote the book is a consultant, means the labs have real world application. I have taken many of the scripts from the book, and with only a few small changes, made them perform usefull work for me on my network. High points of the book: excellent coverage of WMI event driven scripts, and associators of type of queries. This has open new horizons for my scripts. Low points of the book: the labs for chapter one are lame ... I do not get this one. Every other chapter has awesome labs, but somehow chapter one kind of missed out. There are labs for chapter one, they just are not all that interesting. Would I buy this book again? You bet. In fact, I purchased 10 copies for the other network administrators at my company! I liked it that well.

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