MAD

I liked this book in the sense that it was a Mad sampler. I got to see art by old friends (I have been into Mad since the early 1970s) but I don't know if a novice researcher would find this book as good. There are short biographical sketches of all involved.

The best history of Mad was The Mad World Of Bill Gaines which is sadly out of print for decades now.

Also while I know that the title is Mad Art this book lacks for not talking of the writers of Mad.

What a rush of nostalgia this compilation of MAD art brings back! I first started reading MAD as a late pre-teen, in the early Seventies. As I collected issues, I came into possession of some older copies, from which I got my first impressions of the lately concluded Sixties. The early MAD, freshly spawned from EC Comics back when William Gaines had a buzzcut, didn't interest me. But once he let his hair down and assembled his famous Usual Gang Of Idiots, the resulting humor and satire was a surefire hit with smart-alecky adolescent boys like me.

This collection presents a couple of pages of biography on each artist, along with a few panels of their work. I remembered most all of them from my era, but some were rediscoveries for me. Sergio Aragones, Jack Davis, Paul Coker, Jr., Al Jaffee with his goony inventions, Dave Berg--to name them is to summon to mind a favorite riff in the greatest cartooning ensemble ever assembled. Possibly the most poignant was the sad case of Don Martin, who drew those jug-headed characters in those "One Fine Day" episodes. Through illness and unspecified other problems, he was forced into an unwanted collaboration with the equally talented Duck Edwing, and then decamped altogether to an imitator, before passing away not too long ago.

If you are not familiar with MAD, then you certainly can't be expected to have all these fond memories. The social satire is dated in a retrospective like this, too. But coming to the collection cold, you'll still find something to chuckle at, surely. With so much talent on display, it'd be impossible not to.

The title of "MAD Art" is a nice, simple title, achieving a sense of balance by consisting of a pair of three letter words, but it is a bit off target. Even when you through in the subtitle--"A Visual Celebration of the Art of 'MAD' Magazine and the Idiots Who Create It"--we are still off the beam a bit, because what Mark Evanier has compiled here is a tribute to the specific artists who made "MAD" magazine the cultural icon it has been ever since I was a kid (and a little bit earlier than that as well). Evanier, a former assistant to the legendary Jack Kirby has written comic books (including "Groo the Wanderer" with "MAD" artist Sergio Aragones) as well as becoming a historian on the subject of cartooning, so there is a sense of scholarship to this effort. Those who comes to this rather thick trade paperback with expectations of reading some choice movie parodies and other familiar "MAD" pieces are going to be disappointed, because this is not that type of "MAD" collection.

Evanier uses a double chronology for "MAD Art," with the chapters detailing the general process by which artists join the "MAD" gang of idiots and end up producing their mini-comic masterpieces in discrete stages, while each chapter provides profiles of over five dozen artists with examples of their work, from the infamous advertising parodies, and classic front (and black) covers to the interior art, including dozens of rare and previously unseen preliminary sketches and photographs. That means the first chapter, representing the fabled time when "MAD" was a E.C. comic book, looks at the legendary artist Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Will Elder, John Severin, and Wallace Wood. There is certainly something to be said for any list of artists that end up with Wally Wood being on the bottom. Kurtzman gets special credit for being the writer-editor and occasional artist for the all 23 of the comic book issues and the first five of "MAD" as a magazine, while Davis is the premier caricature artist of our time.

With each chapter revealing another wave of fan favorites, you get a sense for how the "MAD" stable of artists was created. The second stage sees Dave Berg, Bob Clarke, Mort Drucker, Frank Kelly Freas, Don Martin, and Norman Mingo being added to the ranks, while chapter three looks at Sergio Aragones, Paul Coker Jr., Harry North, Antonio Prohias, Jack Rickard, and Angelo Torres. These are the artists that defined "MAD" when I was a mere lad, and even if you do not recognize the name, you will recognize the artwork (I actually made it almost all the way to 2004 before I realized that Antonio Prohias did all the Spy vs. Spy bits when I was a kid).

However, after that point we are up to the next generation of "MAD" artists, which means those who have been working on the magazine since I moved on up to "The National Lampoon" and then abandoned written satire for weekly doses of "Saturday Night Live." So Tom Bunk, John Caldwell, Don "Duck" Edwing, Sam Viviano, Drew Friedman, and Roberto Parada were all news to me. But, to be fair, how many people have actually been reading "MAD" magazine for a half-century? If the younger generation gets introduced to Harvey Kurtzman, then that justifies this entire 304-page book with its black-and-white illustrations and two 16-page color sections. As for me, my favorite of the "new" artists is Richard Williams, with his updating of Norman Rockwell for the 90's (The cast of the first "Survivor" doing the Thanksgiving dinner "Freedom From Want" bit).

For those who are interested in finding out about the favorite pieces, stylistic influence, and references the veteran "MAD" contributors used to create their art, "MAD Art" is going to be a treat. If it tries the patience, not to mention the memory, of those who have no clue who "Flesh Garden" and the "Lone Stranger" are parodies of, then that is their problem. It is about time somebody took the artists of "MAD" magazine seriously.

One more great book for Mr. Mike Lupica, the one great thing I remember about this book was how it truely states the truth about how sports is working the wallet over very well from each, and every true sports fan in America. Maybe these players need to all go get real job's, and no what it feels like to worry about paying the price of liveing in the real life world.

MAD AS HELL is a great book for those of us (the fans) who know of an owner or who thinks the salaries of players have gotten to high. Being a Clevelander myself I loved the excerpt where Lupica rips on the owners, specifically Art Modell and Marge Schott. Mike Lupica has this uncanny ability to put into words all that I've felt was wrong with players, owners, agents, front offices, and the way the fans still pay the outrageous salaries. Lupica doesn't limit his critism to only baseball and football. He lets into all professional sports and even hits college sports with vengence. It isn't hard to get past the fact that the book is slightly dated. The themes transends time. I really enjoyed the book.

A book for the fans by a fan. A bible for what is wrong with sports. This book made me feel like someone cared that athletes, and owners were destryoing sports with money and egos. I know I was Mad As Hell. Still am! However I know someone is one are side. I want to take back the game. We pay their salaries. They work for us. Right Mike?

I'm not sure the author of this book knows the definition of 'weird'. What makes Isadora Duncan 'weird' or Tecumseh or 80% of the other people listed in this book? One of my all time heroes Nikola Tesla's actual 'weirdness' is glossed over in less than three sentences, then we're told it's 'bizzare behavior' to watch and enjoy a lightning storm or to feed and care for animals in the park. This book is pap, a meaningless collection of watered down facts about people you've barely or never heard of and won't care about once you have.

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of "mini-biographies" by E. Randall Floyd. These people were truly good, bad and mad--and definitely "weird" in every sense of the word.

I have passed this book along to several friends who have also enjoyed learning so much "dark stuff" about some of America's greatest literary, artistic and historical icons. I hope to see a follow-up book very soon!!!

This book makes me wish I had Professor Floyd as a history teacher. These crazy people come to life in a way that makes me almost cry one moment, laugh the next. Some were quite scary and makes me wonder how I missed knowing all this stuff about them for so long. I really think more teachers should tell the truth about the people in our country's past the same way Prof. Floyd has done. Excellent job and highly recommended!

This book is the SHIZZNIT! And I really mean it! I never knew there was so much fun stuff lurking around in my own back yard. I felt like Spock and Kirk when they found that Undiscoverd Country, you know what I'm sayin? If you don't, I wouldn't worry about it. Just plunk down your Shekels and buy this book. You won't regret it.

Throughout the nearly 200 pages of this book, John Mitchell finds himself facing an age-old dilemma: can a family find places to visit that won't leave at least one side of the parent-child team screaming for mercy? How do two young hipsters entertain their kids without hooking them up to the corporate theme park teat?

It's a tribute to the Mitchells' parenting skills that they and their children derive as much fascination and enjoyment from talking to hens at the zoo as they do from wandering through a World War II-era submarine (although the boys get as much pleasure from crawling across the lined-up bunks and pretending to be moles). Between John's smart, clever prose and Jana's gorgeous, fluid illustrations, 4 Go Mad will make you want to visit more places and spend time examining their beauty, their pathos, and how different age groups derive different meanings from them. A smart, fun read.

From the moment I picked up this book, I was hooked - and I don't even live in Massachusetts! The adventures of the Mitchell family not only entertained me - they opened my eyes to a small part of the vast array of hidden oddities out there in the world just waiting to be discovered and explored!

And what explorations they have! Every chapter uncovers yet another amazing locale - each more fascinating then the last.

Harry and Hugo sound like wonderful children with vast creativity and an immense amount to offer - who wouldn't be with parents like these?

Love it! Love it! LOVE IT - keep up the good work!

Some of these "science experiments" are simple and relatively harmless. Others provide unsupervised children with recipes for disaster. The book should come with a child-proof cover or a trigger-lock. Not that it contains plans for thermonuclear devices, but several of the projects can damage property or cause injury if not properly carried out.

While each project has a set of fascinating "scientific" tidbits & trivia to go with it, the book is almost entirely lacking in helping children understand or use the scientific method or understand much of the basis for what they are doing. This is a "Mad Scientists' Club" handbook, just a several steps short of the Anarchists' Cookbook, but headed in that general direction.

On the other hand, parents may find themselves reliving their own nerdy & awkward years helping their children be "mad scientists." It could be great fun. But keep the book locked up. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing!

I liked some of the ideas. I like the interesting facts, and found the science explanations are accurate and very complete. I like the choice of experiments, and most of them are fun. (although I'm not sure all of them are especially safe for the younger mad scientist set), but I was disappointed that a decent number of the experiments simply don't work. I understand there's a margin of error, but as an adult (and a science teacher), When I can't make experiments work, I pity the poor children with the book.

Smokebombs, stink bombs, slime and other gross interesting things fill this book. There are litterally hundred of interesting facts that go with each experiment. Don't worry about not doing well in chemistry, the directions are simple and the experiments are safe when the directions are followed.

tanizaki continues with his favorite form of the novel, a journal, which in itself is very trite today. the sad thing is that the diary of a mad old man really has very little in it. half the time he is sick and visiting the doctor, and frankly one doesnt care much about his health. the other half which is about his infatuation with his daughter in law is extremely interesting and their interplay is the stuff of magic. while it is exciting and titillating it is also strangely disappointing, for there is hardly any insight into the characters of the people inhabiting the old mans life to make whatever is happening seem plausible. and the little explanation at the end is exceedingly disappointing. a sort of hark back to the moralistic and righteous way of life. (*** mild spoiler ahead ***) the daughter in law character who was a joy as a vamp is turned into a saint who endured the old man's attentions and frankly that was such a let down.

surely, tanizaki is capable of more as his brilliant "Key" proves. skip ahead to that one.

Junichiro Tanizaki is one of the most brillant Japanese writers of the last century. While best known for his family drama The Makioka Sisters, a lot of his books have to do with subjects more at home to Henry Miller. Tanizaki is a master of illustrating sexual obsession in novels that would be erotic if they weren't so haunted and disturbed.

The Diary of an Mad Old Man is kept by 77-year-old Utsugi as he is recovering from an earlier stroke which left him impotent with countless ailments that the elderly experience. Impossibly, he does find a way to have a sex life. His daughter, Satsuko, just happens to be young and beautiful, and Utsugi begins to lust for her more and more. He even tries to live out his fantasy by allowing Satsuko to rendezvous with her lover in his house, concealing the affair from his own son. By allowing Utsugi certain liberties with her body, Satsuko begins to replace his own family. For example, his daughter asks for a loan so that she can buy a house and Utsugi refuses her. He turns around and buys Satsuko a ring worth millions of yen. What follows is a slow dance, almost a tango of give and take in which neither Utsugi or Satsuko is the villain of the piece. They seem to actually GAIN by the immoral situation. They both get what they want.

Diary was a really good novel but it wasn't a great one compared with previous novels by Tanizaki that I have read. Sometimes the narrative dwells on boring details, but once it gets moving it picks up some power. To me, one of the hardest modes to write in is first person but the author really keeps the diary interesting. While I don't know if I would compare the characterization to that of Shakespeare, there is something of his comedy and tragedy in Tanizaki. Also seek out The Key and Quicksand.

This book is incredibly entertaining.

This is a good, well-crafted book. It is perfects for young teenagers and kids from 9 to 12. It has a good sense of scares, suspence, and all that, but there are some problems. For one, Michael growls a lot in the book (which never happens in the movies), and they talk about how he smells. This book also has the feeling of an R.L. Stine "Fear Street" novel. Other than that, it is a good read.

I'd just like to say, I found this book a little childish, but then, maybe that's because it is meant for children. It doesn't seem to have any continuity with the movies.

I've noticed a lot of people complaining about the fact that Michael grunts in the Book, but not in the movies, but this is in fact not true, as any real Halloween fan would know.

He grunts repeatedly in the first movie, when he is fighting with Laurie, just before she pulls his mask off. He grunts repeatedly in the second movie, when he is trying to stab Laurie, just after he gets shot in the Eyes. He grunts a few times and lets out a muffled "Agh!" in H20 when Laurie repeatedly stabs him (just before he falls of the balcony).

.......I wouldnt say he Groans much though! :o)

This book is an obvious cash in, but it could be fun for "Shape" starved kids out there.

I really enjoyed this book better than the Scream Factory. I thought the setting was alot scarier and the death scenes were more elaborate and gory. There seemed to be too many main characters though. I have trouble sometimes keeping them straight. If you are a Myers fan then you should definitely read this book. JUST DON'T READ THIS WHEN YOU'RE ALL ALONE IN THE HOUSE.

My son (4 1/2) LOVES Stanley and loved Tiger Time and the Gorilla book. He waited anxiously for Shark-Mad Stanley when we ordered it only to be disappointed because the game on the CD-ROM does not activate. On the back cover of the book, it states to click on the fish tank to launch the game but we have clicked to to avail. We even returned the book for a new one which had had the same result. I can't believe no one would test this software before it shipped or notice it for 2 YEARS!!

My son (almost 5) goes nuts over Stanley on Disney and loves sharks, so this book was perfect for him. It is full of fun and interesting facts about sharks as well as great illustrations. The CD-Rom that is included is also fun, although the text that is part of the CD-ROM has to be read by someone older than a preschooler. Music is played, but there is no voice for the text part. All in all, it is a great book and CD-ROM (even my 9-year-old daughter likes it!).

I have never laughed so hard at a picture in a kids book than I did with the one of Stanley hugging the penguin. (You gotta buy to see it!) It still gets me going every time we read it.

My son and I have been laughing along to this book long before Stanley became a tv star. He's 8 now and still wants to read it once a week! The shark facts are educational but the pictures are what really get ya. (Make sure you read the ingredients of the shark food.)

Always loved and respected Buk as a unique character in American contemporary Lit. A hand-picked and convinced anarchist who played many games one of his favorites being to present himself as a lumprenproletarian alcos and womanizer (how about a very sensitive and sophisticated writer with fine, fine taste in Literatur & Music?)and yet all good things come to an end. Dear Linda, please stop publishing the leftovers. This book is not worthy of Buk's legacy. Only sporadically a thought a line reminds us of the grand old curmudgeon...and yet forgive me for telling you this. Perhaps the Bukowski book should never end?

Charles Bukowski, The Night Torn Mad with Footsteps (Black Sparrow, 2001)

Can a person be great and yet not too good at the same time?

I ask myself that pretty much every time I open another book of Charles Bukowski's poetry. Something in me quails, because I know in the roughly 300 pages before me (this one clocks in at just around 350), I'm going to see every rule of decent poetry writing broken. Usually multiple times on a page. "Show don't tell" goes completely out the window. Line breaks? Absolutely hideous. Avoid confessional poetry? Bukowski wallows in it. By all rights, I should be right there with the rest of the critics talking about how much the man's work sucks, how it's simply not poetry. A few examples should serve to be sufficient:

"I am such an unpopular human/being." (the first line of "It's Just Me")

"the house of horrors/the house of a thousand beatings/the house of brutality and unhappiness." ("A Drink to That")

The word "brutality" has no place in a poem. Ever. Any writing teacher I ever had, and the vast majority of critics, would look at any poems containing the word "brutality," slash a red line through it, and say "show, don't tell!"

And yet the simple fact of the matter is that Charles Bukowski has outsold every other American poet who penned a single line during the twentieth century. Ran rings around most of them; the sales of one Bukowski book probably dwarf the sales of the complete output of every Pulitzer prize winner, taken on their own. Something draws people to his books by the thousands.

Unfortunately, I doubt that it has anything to do with the truly brilliant flashes of image that shine through once every twenty pages or so, the places where the later work of Bukowski sounds like the older work of Bukowski (Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame, written between 1955 and 1970, is one of the finest books of poetry written in the last century). They are few, but some of them are so heart-stopping they make wading through the rest of it a joy:

"sometimes dogs/in the alley/play the violin better/then the privileged peacocks/who swim in butter./I speak now of young/dogs in/old rooms of peeling wallpaper and/the bathroom down the hall-always with/somebody in there." ("The Fish with Yellow Eyes and Green Fins Leaps into the Volcano")

I think it has more to do with the idea that a volume of Bukowski's poetry (and his novels, too) reads like a dime store self-help book. "Here, look at how bad my life is. Identify with a few things and use the rest to reflect on your own life and say, 'hey, it's not that bad.'" Even the severest critic, when alone, probably finds a few of those image-less strophes to identify with and smile at. "the dark is empty;/most of our heroes have been/wrong." ("I Can't See Anything") No, it isn't poetry. But it's something. And it's something in the works of a self-confessed prudish misanthrope that reaches out to others.

I don't pretend to know what it is (Bukowski does, though-"'it's easy,' I said, 'all I do is/lie as truthfully as possible.'" -"Good Pay"). And I force myself to admit that while they're getting what they're getting out of it, at least they're getting snatches of greatness in amongst the rubble. ***

In these poems (from the 1970s and 1980s), Bukowski is getting away from the references to animals of the earlier years, moving into more specific events. Everything that happens is both small and universal. Nothing's too pretty. Kind of like real life!

He's not sentimental, he's sad, and he laughs at himself. One of his best collections.

I wouldn't have bought this book if I wasn't dealing with a VERY defiant, and manipulative teenage daughter--so when this book assumes that I can just say the right thing and everything will be fine, is an absolute joke! This advice would be great if it worked as simply as the book says. But if you already have a tough kid, these tips are NOT going to suddenly make her see the logic in my rules. Kids don't care about the explaination of why it's wrong to dress trashy or wear too much makeup...they want what they want. This book assumes that your kid obeys you in the first place! The title really drew me in--I thought that I had finally found a book that understood what I am going through. But it's just another below-average parenting book with a catchy title!

At a time when I was ready to give up on being a mother till my teen "grew up", this book was a godsend. My feelings of desperation, confusion, loss, and wondering where I went wrong were all validated. I have already started trying techniques recommended. Even if it doesn't change my daughter, my perception has changed so that I'm better able to cope. Very readable (not a bunch of jargon) I'd recommend it to any mother of a teenage girl. The only reason I didn't give 5 stars was because there were no illustrations. Of course, as an adult I don't have to have them, but I like them. Sometimes a well-placed cartoon helps to illustrate a point. It may be the authors thought illustrations are inappropriate for their book.

I thought I going was nuts, not knowing how to parent my pre-teen. At last, a book to let me know I was not going crazy by myself, that it is perfectly normal what we are going through, why I as the mom am the target and spring board for her growing up. It also gives ideas on how to rethink parenting, your responses to issues. It shows why "I" the mom am the only one, cuz I'm the closest one to her, that she is 'experimenting with life' off of. I don't feel so alone, I'm okay, and can see why I get the backwash, and the testing. I highly recommend this book to other moms and also dads too, so they can understand the battle while they watch from the sidelines.