Monkey Butler Ninja

Lloyd Kaufman has had his hands in hundreds of movies in his lifetime. Directing, producing, even staring in them, he has a very long imdb page. His cup of tea seems to be mainly focused on Independant / B-Movie films. Working on big studio films turned him off to the ‘corporate’ side of things so he started Troma Studios.

With all his listed experience, I feel robbed. In this short SHORT book there is very little about directing. There are maybe two things that I took from this book that would help me in my “director’s” life. Maybe. It is entertaining at times. I certainly laughed out loud more than once. (The footnote guy is great!). Just a heads up, the language and humor is extremely vulgar. If you can stomach that kind of stuff, you too will probably chuckle.

Every form of entertainment has it’s own audience however, and I am sure Kaufman has a huge following. If you have heard of Troma Studios, or enjoyed the movie Poultrygeist: night of the Chicken Dead, or just want a funny book to read because you are tired of reading lighting equipment manuals, then this book is for you.

Everyone else, sadly can skip this book.

As a book about directing, I give this a single Ninja star and a moldy banana.

The Visual Story by Bruce Block

The subjects covered in this book are CRITICAL to all artist, Photographers, Painters, Game Designers, and Videographers. We must have a good grasp of fundamental principles concerning visual structure.

The Visual Story by Bruce Block reads a lot like a textbook. Since I prefer a book to come across as if hearing some guru on the subject teach me, this is a con. That being said, it is an excellent textbook. In the early chapters it sets stages for fundamentals like Contrast/Affinity and Space for example. Then, throughout the book it constantly refers to these pillars of visual design giving real world examples.

Which brings me to my next point, the examples this book gives are superb. Bruce Block will cover a subject, like TONE, for an entire chapter and at the end he will bring the lesson full circle by giving you ‘films to watch.’ But wait! The films that Bruce recommends vary extensively! In the TONE chapter, ‘films to watch’ include the movies T-Men (1947) and Kill Bill (2003) [plus a handful more]. Using this layout, Bruce is able to convey that the subject matter for each chapter is TIMELESS! His example movies transcend not only time released, but also subject matter and themes.

This book really shines with its illustrations. An absolute ideal amount of visual aids are delightfully displayed throughout the book. Not too many, not too few. Even the graphs (which typically aren’t the most exciting graphical element) had a proper layout. I seem to remember running across somewhere that the first edition of this book was all black and white, wow. GREAT move going to full color, I can honestly say that this book would have not been nearly as impacting. I do have a problem with the cover art though, it’s a small gripe but I always use my hands to frame a picture in widescreen (thumbs to index fingers). That is very nitpicky but the cover to a book is pretty critical, and since it aced the illustrations in the book, I wanted to mention it.

Early in the book it can seem a bit drawn out and basic. I would encourage readers to not skip the beginning chapters as they are constantly referenced throughout the book. Even if you feel you have a fantastic grip on the subject matter, it never hurts to review.

The appendix is very detailed and honestly, it feels like these were sections of chapters pulled out to keep the pace up a little. Regardless, this section is full of info that needs to be read.

Chapter Nine is Story and Visual Structure. I have a post-it note sticking out of this with “fantastic chapter” written on it. Seriously, this graph filled chapter will change the way I look at all productions and will effect my planning and execution for the rest of my professional career.

I was going to give The Visual Story 4.5 out of 5 stars but realized the impact this book has on my future work and decided it deserves my highest recommendation. Full 5 stars for Bruce Block. It may feel a bit ‘text-booky’ but it has certainly changed my work process.

Bravo Bruce this Monkey feels more like a Ninja. Monkey Butler Ninja gives The Visual Story 5 out of 5 ninja stars and a banana tree! Go BUY IT!

After Effects Expressions by Marcus Geduld

Let me start off by explaining where my skill levels are at. I consider myself a very decent Adobe After Effects user and a beginner/intermediate Adobe Flash user. The next step for me in Flash is earning my black belt in Flash’s programming language Action Script 3.0. Action Script 3.0 is based heavily on JavaScript… which turns out to be the exact language Adobe After Effect uses! Oohhh how I can feel that black belt already!

I’ve attempted not once but TWICE to wrap my primate brain around Action Script 3.0. I had zero experience with JavaScript and had never attempted that language. After Effects Expressions is literally the first time that I felt that ‘AH-HA!’ moment. The examples and analogies Marcus Geduld are fantastic. I honestly hope that he puts out a sequel to this book! After Effects Expressions, part 2 The Expert Manual… or something. By the way Marcus if you use that title I am way cool with it, just make sure you toss http://www.MonkeyButlerNinja.com a shout out!

Pros:

This book will hold your hand as you take those first scary steps into JavaScript.

It is a fast read and well written. You most likely will get through this book quickly (partially because of the illustrations, see below) while retain a lot of knowledge.

Cons:

While this book assumes you know nothing about JavaScript it also makes the assumption you know nothing about math. This is defiantly not a con if you indeed are horrible at math.

The source material is all online (no CD or DVD) and the organization online isn’t the best. I hit a hiccup on the chapter 2 files but was able to recreate the material that I needed.

There are WAY too many pictures. To illustrate motion the book sometimes has 6 half page pictures in a row!! Now, I am not going to penalize the book too harshly for this, after all, the problem with books on coding is that they are books on coding. Giving our eyes a break from constant formulas keeps you fresh. Overdone, but I see a purpose.

Conclusion:

This book has a specific topic of a specific software, and I absolutely love that. When I grab a book, 9 times out of 10 I could skip the first 150 pages because of all the basics of tool selection, what the move tool does, how to install the program… BLAH… this book skips that and goes right to the good stuff. If you use Adobe After Effects and never have used expressions or have used basic ones that you got off the web somewhere… GET THIS BOOK!

I rate it: 4 wiggling Ninja Stars.

The Step-By-Step Secrets for How to Make Your Photos Look Like the Pros. by Scott Kelby

Let me start by saying I was first introduced to Scott Kelby via the Photoshop TV videocast. A free educational show put out to help people learn the awesomeness that is Photoshop. He has my complete respect for that.

This book however, is not fantastic. The target audience is rather inconsonant. It’s clearly not targeted for Pro’s. The book muddles between extreme beginners and avid hobbyist without direction. Towards the beginning, Scott Kelby mentions the book is written as if you and he were out on a photo shoot, but the book starts off with a very, “I’m better than you…” (he is) “and you need to do this!” But often leaves out the explanation of why.

I enjoyed Scott Kelby on Photoshop TV but his humor style is better fit for TV because it was weak banana sauce on paper. The sections are like small magazine “tip” articles so when half of it is bad humor there is little room for teaching.

The beginning of the book goes over all the expensive equipment you have to buy to look like a pro. Now personally I am just getting into still photography but have been dealing with video for years. So I’ve had it dug pretty deep into my monkey brain that content is king and you don’t always need an expensive ball head for your tripod to capture good content. The section felt like if I did not have this equipment, I would never be a Pro… while that may be true (I certainly LOVE my video tripod) I think this could be re-written to come across in a more ‘buddy on a photo shoot’ kinda way. On a positive note, the equipment is recommended in a three tier bracket, low-, med-, high-end budgets.

On to the bulk of the content. Chapters 2-6 are How to Shoot (insert topic) Like a Pro.

Then each page is generally a tip on the subject. There is some good tips in here and I would say the book starts to pick up a bit of steam. I’m the kind of monkey that if I spend a few hours reading a book and get ONE tip, method, or even a keyboard short cut out of it that I use a few times a day… it was worth it. What I don’t like is the titles… how to shoot like a pro. If it was titled something along the generic lines of ‘quick tips on better photography’ or ‘don’t suck so bad when shooting flowers’ I would be way cool with this book.

How to shoot Sports Like a Pro should be titled, skip this section because you cannot afford it. The first quarter of this chapter talks about how expensive the equipment is you need. Simply put, this is the worst section of the book. Summary: If you bought this $20 book, you are going to be shooting sports, it’s too expensive. Be where the action is (wow, thanks for that one, here is a banana) and use a monopod, for motion use the pan method taught in the wedding dance section (imagine if he would have taught us why instead of tell us what to do… we could have actually applied that knowledge in the sports scene).

Chapter 9 is on Taking Travel & City Life Shots Like a Pro… to me this is the best chapter in the book. Good tips and the content can hold its own. Tips on what to do when a location has been shot a million times before you got there and focusing on detail rather than everything in your eye’s view are a couple of good pages.

Summary

Chapters 1-6 did have a few tips that I will use, so it wasn’t a complete waste of time. It felt like so much was left out and the glimpses of good content left me to wonder if Scott Kelby needs to hire a different editor or perhaps focus on less subject matters and put more detail in. This book feels like a collection of magazine articles, which are fine as quick broad tips but not as a book. Using the word “Pro” so loosely in this book is an epic FAIL to me, you will not read this book and shoot like a pro… you will have tips to improve your photography but hold off on that Sports Illustrated Photography resume, read another book. It retails for $20 which isn’t going to break the bank but I’d look at other options. For example Digital Photography Techniques – Autumn 2008 covers 90% of whats in this book, and has some content that Scott does not cover.

I rate it: 2 out of 5 ninja stars (but not tact sharp stars)

by Andy Anderson, Steve Johnson, Perspection, Inc.

First of all I LOVE how this book is formatted. It says in the very beginning it is a ‘visual quick reference book’ and that is about as accurate as my ninja throwing star ability. It also says in the same paragraph that it covers ‘basic to advanced Flash skills.’ While this book will teach you a few things that would be considered ‘advanced’ Flash is too powerful of a tool to cover baby monkey’s to full blown ninja masters.

For fellow monkey’s that are considered beyond beginner the first half of this book will be fairly review. You probably will pick up some very helpful hints in the later half and that will be worth the read.

Again I want to praise the layout. Fantastic job! Highly recommend it for people who consider themselves a beginner or lower intermediately skilled.

I rate it: 4 out of 5 ninja stars and a bunch of bananas.

First review is of Adobe Photoshop CS3 one-on-one by DEKE McClelland.

DEKE comes across as a real person who knows Photoshop like the back of his hand. What makes this book exceptional is that not only does DEKE have the ninja skills using the software but his ability to teach is equally ninja like.

In my opinion this book is for beginners to moderate Photoshop users. Look, I’m a full blown Photoshop Monkey Ninja and I learned new tricks going through this book. Pick it up!

As a side note. Since starting reading this book, I have NOT been attacked by either Lions or Hippos…. this book does not guarantee that you will have the same powers, but I’m just saying.

I rate it: 4 out of 5 ninja stars and two bananas.