Networking and Marketing website.

		List Price:		Publisher: jWIN Salesrank: 57083
		Our Price:
		Availibility: Costumer Rating:

Customer Reviews:
OMG Cecilia!!!
I can’t believe the batteries leaked! That must have been horrible!

I haven’t owned this, but I have to give it 1 star as well for that review!

cheapppp
i wanted a shower cd player so i bought this one. i would not recommend you buying it at all. it says its a shower cd player, but when it got wet the water got into the cd player, chorroding the batteries. then the batteries wouldnt work, so they leaked battery fluid, which leaked into the cd player and broke it. i only go to use it once, because once it got wet it broke. DO NOT BUY THIS. true its by far the cheapest one at $30, but its not even worth that.

		List Price:		Publisher: old-print
		Our Price:
		Availibility:

Features:

		List Price:		Salesrank: 106304
		Our Price:
		Availibility:

Features:

		List Price: $99.00		Publisher: Igaku-Shoin Medical Pub Salesrank: 5537840
		Our Price:
		Availibility: Costumer Rating:

Customer Reviews:
A Must for all GIs…
A fascinating, comprehensive, must-have for all interested in gastroenterenology…

A Must for all GIs…
A fascinating, comprehensive, must-have for all interested in gastroenterenology…

		List Price: $0.00		Publisher: Chamilia Salesrank: 303998
		Our Price:
		Availibility:

Features:

		List Price: $39.99		Publisher: AccessoryGeeks
		Our Price:
		Availibility: Costumer Rating:

Features:

		List Price: $3.99		Publisher: United American Video Salesrank: 51773 Released: 1998-10-12 Theatrical-Release: 1941-01-03
		Our Price:
		Availibility: Costumer Rating:

Customer Reviews:
Disappointing Film-to-DVD Copy
Alpha Video is one of those companies that copies film-based movies directly to DVD with no digital remastering of either the video or audio. As a result, the video jumped at times and spots blinked across the screen. Most of the dialogue sounded like people talking inside a large tin can lined with acoustic insulation.

The plot and characters did not age very well. It may have been funny at one time, but having two friends, O’Neill and Taylor (played by Fred Astaire and Burgess Meredith, respectively) lying and conniving against each other for the motives of lust and greed made the entire movie disappointing. Even the one sympathetic character, Mr. Chisholm (played by Charles Butterworth) got drawn into this “comic” device when he decided to use his position as concert sponsor to force his unwanted musical abilities on Artie Shaw.

Paulette Goddard’s character Ellen Miller did women a disservice by pretending to put her foot down when she had an opportunity to display common sense and tell the two “friends” she did not want to see them again, after they used her friendship to gain auditions with Shaw and then embarrassed her with their unprofessional antics onstage. Instead, she keeps letting them get her into trouble, almost causing Chisholm to return home with his sponsorship money by making him think Ellen was married to Taylor. They finally almost see the error of their ways and put their lying and conniving to good use by convincing Chisholm that their latest scam was all a misunderstanding and persuading him to recommit to the concert.

Adding to the disappointment is the fact that Astaire had only two dance numbers, one with Goddard (she’s no Ginger Rogers) and a solo dance at the end of the movie.

It sort of comes out okay in the end, but the idea that a woman’s love can make a bad guy turn good has resulted in many women choosing to remain in abusive and even lethal relationships. Sorry, but I don’t find this to be a very valuable theatrical device anymore. At least “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” did not pretend to be other than what it was.

If you want to view the movie, rent a copy until one of the better DVD production companies releases a properly remastered version.

Of special interest to Astaire fans
“Second Chorus” is not a widely known film, but it will probably be enjoyable to any fan of Fred Astaire. If you’re not particularly fond of Astaire, you might want to pass on this one since seeing Astaire in action in an unusual role is the main attraction. The story is that Danny O’Neill (Fred Astaire) and Hank Taylor (Burgess Meredith) are leaders of a band. The two have been intentionally failing in college, because they like the atmosphere, and also because as long as they are officially students they can spend their time running the band and making a pretty good living at it. When Ellen Miller (Paulette Goddard) enters the picture, they both get greedy and want her attention for themselves. Thus they each double-cross the other and both wind up getting expelled from the university, thus ending their cozy arrangement with their band. They spend most of the rest of the film continuing to double-cross one another, this time over trying to get into Artie Shaw’s band as well as trying to win over the affections of Ellen, who now works for Shaw. In the end, Danny and Hank patch things up and decide to work together, with good results coming from their teamwork.

The things that are not so great about this film are mainly the quality of the video, the less than great comic timing, and the tiresome scenes with J. Lester Chisholm, played by Charles Butterworth. Mr. Butterworth is no Edward Everett Horton, and as a less-than-adequate character actor you just want to shoo the guy off stage every time he turns up. Also, if you’re watching this film to see lots of Astaire’s wonderful dancing, you’ll likely be somewhat disappointed. He does do some singing and dancing, but this film mainly shows off his comic abilities, of which the mischievous Astaire has plenty. This part would have been better if the comic timing of the script had been tighter, though.

As for the second feature, “That’s Dancing” is a documentary made in 1985 along the same lines of “That’s Entertainment”. However, in my humble opinion “That’s Entertainment” did it before and did it better. Actually, this documentary seems a bit drawn out and lacks the excitement of its predecessor. However, you do get to see some good shots of Astaire and others doing some pretty impressive dancing. Considering the low cost of this double feature, for the ardent Astaire fan it is probably worth it.

never seen this film look better!!
this hal roach studios dvd release of ’second chorus’ has to be the best restoration of this film so far. not top of the line spectacular, but very, very good!! on the back cover it says the dvd is “mastered from original 35mm nitrate camera negative”, and indeed the images are clean and crisp, no spots, specs, or lines. those who have seen the inferior prints of this film in the past will be pleasantly surprised. it’s well worth the money.

for me, astaire is hollywood royalty; a peerless dancer and entertainer. all of astaire’s body of work is great — he never fails to deliver fresh, original interpretations of music through his singing and dancing. his films should be in every dvd library, that’s why THIS DVD EDITION is such a find.

and while the film itself is not a classic, it does have some wonderful moments, starting with the toe-tapping tune by the artie shaw orchestra that accompanies the opening credits. this, along with “i ain’t hep to that step but i’ll dig it” and “love of my life” and the instrumental band music … they’re all upbeat, peppy tunes. it’s a shame there’s not more of them, they’re just great to listen to.

paulette goddard’s sweet-tart personality also works well with astaire, and her one dance (a jitterbug!!) with astaire is well done and fun to watch. again, we could use more dancing, even the great astaire has ONE solo dance number. goddard herself was just reaching fullblown stardom at this time (1940). burgess meredith, brilliant as always. artie shaw, charles butterworth and the supporting cast, excellent.

with more music and dance numbers (this film seems to have fewer numbers than your traditional musical), and perhaps better production values (paramount studios would do better by astaire in later films) this could have been a classic musical. but even so, as it is , it’s still well worth a look!!!!

bummer
How can I review the movie “Second Chorus” when I have never received it?

The Movie Has Some Redeeming Qualities, And One Great Song
What did Fred Astaire have to say about Second Chorus? “The worst picture I ever worked on.”

Looking at it now the movie has some redeeming qualities, but on balance we have a Fred Astaire musical with only two real dance numbers, and the second is near the end of the movie, plus it’s a musical with only three songs…and each of the songs has a different composer with Johnny Mercer doing all the lyrics. The musical has the earmarks of an idea that went wrong. Still, if you’re an Astaire fan it’s worth watching all the way through once, and then using your fast-forward clicker several times to the three musical numbers, which are good.

Trumpet player Danny O’Neill (Fred Astaire) heads The University Perennials, a reasonably successful college band made up of musicians who deliberately fail each year to graduate. His best friend and competitor is a fellow trumpet player, Hank Taylor (Burgess Meredith). They both fall for Ellen Miller (Paulette Goddard), whom they hire to manage the band, and they both compete for a spot with Artie Shaw. There’s plenty of plot complications, friendly but under-handed double dealing and lots of misunderstandings. Eventually, Danny and Ellen wind up together, Danny wins a place with Shaw…and probably so does Hank.

The fast-forward button is essential because the plot just goes on and on. What the movie has going for it is Astaire, when he’s given the opportunity to dance and to sing, the music of Artie Shaw, trumpet players Bobby Hackett dubbing for Astaire and Billy Butterfield dubbing for Meredith, and Johnny Mercer’s lyrics. Mercer collaborated with Shaw on the one romantic swing number Astaire sings to Goddard. It’s a knock-out. Unfortunately, the song has been long forgotten, but it’s worth the price of the public domain DVD. “Would You Like to Be the Love of My Life?” goes like this:

Would you like to be the love of my life for always,

And always watch over me?

To square my blunders, and share my dreams

One day with caviar, next day a chocolate bar.

Would you like to take the merry go round I’ll lead you,

I’ll need you, wait and you’ll see

I hope in your horoscope

There is room for a dope who adores you,

That would make

The only dreams of my life come true,

For the love of my life is you.

Astaire’s dance number with Goddard to “I Ain’t Hep to That Step But I’ll Dig It” (music by Hal Borne) is a fast charmer. Goddard was no dancer, and it’s interesting to see how cleverly Astaire positions her to make her look good. What’s frustrating is that one number that evidently was very good was cut to make more time for the story and for Artie Shaw and his band. The number was called “Me and the Ghost Upstairs” with music by Bernard Hanighen and words by Mercer. Hermes Pan danced the part of the ghost. The number was filmed but the only things that survive, as far as I know, are a couple of rehearsal out-takes and the song track by Astaire. It features some of Mercer’s cleverest lyrics:

Once upon a midnight dreary

While I pondered weak and weary

From a long trip on the Erie

Comes a rappin’ on my chamber door

It’s an ectoplasmic tapping

That disturbs my nightly napping

Like a shroud that’s gently flapping

Emanating from the second floor

Buddies are we, me and the ghost upstairs

Sipping our tea, me and the ghost upstairs

But he’s inclined to moan when left alone

So I think of things that’ll tickle his funny bone

Lonely old ghost upstairs

Regular folks, droppin’ our worldly cares

Swappin’ our jokes, me and the ghost upstairs

And then he slaps his shroud and laughs out loud

And says “Oh boy, that’ll paralyze all the crowd”

Jolly old ghost upstairs

He’s quite a cook, he serves a beautiful drink

He wrote a book and in invisible ink

I took a look and the title ‘pon the page

Was ‘The Groups of Wraith’

Once in a while he brings a gang of friends

Does it in style, careless of what he spends

And though the place is small we have a ball

‘Cause you know those spooks don’t require no room at all

We have some mighty fine affairs

Me and the ghost upstairs

We have some mighty fine affairs

Me and the ghost upstairs.

My copy of the movie is from Passport Video. It’s watchable but not much more than that. There are chapter stops but they aren’t keyed to the musical numbers, which is an irritation. Still, if you’re an Astaire completeist (and I am) and like Johnny Mercer and Artie Shaw, you might want this. And don’t forget “Would You Like to Be the Love of My Life.” It really is a first-class, sophisticated, swinging love song.

		List Price:		Salesrank: 127246
		Our Price:
		Availibility: Costumer Rating:

Customer Reviews:
Great Guy, Diluted Documentary
I feel like most of the 5 and 4 star ratings that this documentary has received are primarily given for the man himself and not for the quality of this DVD. It is interesting to watch once, but doesn’t have much replay value. Most of his earlier talks that are included can be found online now, so it’s really only the newer interviews that you’d be purchasing. And even these are just reaffirmations of his lifelong philosophies, along with some reflections on the pain of post-polio syndrome. Sprinkle in some vaguely trippy transitions and Boards of Canada to top it off.

Buy this DVD if you are a fan of Robert Anton Wilson
If you are new to the writings of Robert Anton Wilson, maybe you have just heard of him or maybe you are a science fiction fan who has read only The Illuminatus Trilogy, then don’t bother to get this video. If you are intrigued by this writer and want to hear more of his message, then just read more of his books. Any of his books will do; however, I shall recommend Cosmic Trigger, Schroedinger’s Cat, and/or Right Where You Are Sitting Now.

If you have read three or more of his books and you would really like to know more about the man, then definitely get this DVD. I met him at a convention about twenty years ago. I got to hear him talk and even to hang out with him a little bit. This man had an incredible presence and a beautiful spirit. Yes, I meant the past tense since he has since passed away. The video does a great job capturing the life and essence, and final days, of this heroic, visionary writer.

Gambles and Risks
Robert Anton Wilson believed that there is no meaning in life; that meaning is in sentences. As a result, all perceptions are considered gambles: we believe what we see and then we believe our interpretations to be reality, not realizing that our interpretations are just interpretations. So we all perceive the world from the point of view of our individual “reality tunnels,” and there is no vantage point from which “real” reality can be seen. Once one realizes that everyone else is looking through their own reality tunnel or grid or focus, it is easier to empathize, understand, and even forgive others. And if we are willing and able to tune in and listen, non-judgmentally, to other perceptions, we may learn something interesting about our world.

This DVD is well-produced and well worth watching for the compelling ideas and the humor of a man who challenged traditional Aristolian “either/or, yes/no” notions of logic (in favor of the “maybe logic” of quantum mechanics) and who refused to let his intellect and emotions be usurped by ideological dogma.

What I found particularly interesting, though, was Douglas Rushkoff’s take on the element of danger inherent in R. Wilson’s philosophy: “The biggest thing I got from Bob is that all of our reality constructs are models. All of them are approximations, are metaphors, are allegories for what’s going on, and that we live in a world where we are all negotiating on behalf of our stories. We each create a story, a narrative, a picture, an allegory, a model for what’s going on here and then we fight, sometimes to the death, to make others, if not believe in that model, we fight to be able to keep believing in it ourselves. So we try to erase contradictory evidence to that model. But it also becomes [to the point] where I end up parting ways philosophically with him, too. I get the feeling that Bob is not just _aspiritual_, but that he’s _anti-spiritual_. He doesn’t believe in God or Spirit or a special super-reality connecting us all–because it’s not there, because it’s not evident, because it’s not apparent. And I feel in a way like Bob’s world view, having passed through The Chapel Perilous of Wonder, that his view now is that, ‘Well, there’s nothing. This is it. Period.’ As far as I’m concerned, the idea that there’s nothing is just another, What if? It’s the skeptic in _Cosmic Trigger_. It’s the skeptic’s world view. But it’s just a world view. And I don’t think it’s any intrinsically _safer_.”

Missing Robert Anton Wilson
The video was an excellent way to get a glimpse of a genius on his way out. RAW should be required reading in the schools, except we really wouldn’t want a nation full of free thinkers. More to the point, if you haven’t read him, please do so. Especially “Prometheus Rising” and the “Cosmic Trigger” series. Sad to see him go, but he did it with dignity. A great man/mind.

A new reality tunnel
I watched this DVD the other day, and it became my introduction to Bob. It was liberating for me to find that he articulates with great clarity and detail many of the ideas I have been contemplating in the past several months. I agree with virtually every point he brings up. I’ll have to watch it a few more times to give a better review, because my mind is still just opening to such a heightened level of awareness. One of the great thinkers of our time.

		List Price: $49.99		Publisher: Sony Salesrank: 30163
		Our Price:
		Availibility: Costumer Rating:

Features: