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New Video: Rob Reider and Road to Oblivion |
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Wednesday, 22 March 2006 |
In today's video, author Rob Reider takes aim at "corporate prisoners" -- those who over the years have allowed themselves to become entrenched in jobs they dislike for companies they don't respect.
If you feel stuck in your job or your life, you might want to pick up a copy of Reider's novel, Road to Oblivion, and see how other corporate prisoners found a pathway out. It's a comic novel -- a pleasant way to address very difficult issues.
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New Video: Jacob Rosenberg and Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 Studio Techniques |
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Tuesday, 21 March 2006 |
Imagine a couple novice filmmakers going to Hollywood and turning the cameras around on a veteran director. Cheeky? You bet.
But that's exactly what the AuthorViews team did last summer. We rode into Hollywood and shot this video with filmmaker and instructor Jacob Rosenberg. The pressure is on: not only is Rosenberg an established director -- he's also an expert in film editing.
Today's 2-minute video presents Rosenberg introducing his book, Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 Studio Techniques, a comprehensive guide to film editing that includes an instructional DVD. Did the AuthorViews team rise to the challenge? You be the judge.
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New Video: William C. Miller and Long Pig |
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Monday, 20 March 2006 |
I love the name of this novel: Long Pig. In today's 2-minute video, you'll learn the reason William C. Miller bestowed that unusual title on his new book.
Long Pig is a comic novel about politics, centered around a mayoral election in San Francisco where anything goes. Down here in New Orleans, we are in the throes of a mayoral election that is as bizarre as any in history. Some 20-plus candidates are competing for the votes of a displaced electorate. Long Pig hits home.
Author William C. Miller is quite familiar with the vagaries of California politics. A long-time trial lawyer, he is particularly proud of his rendering of the courtroom scenes in this satire of California political and media madness.
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New Video: Joan Sotkin helps Build Your Money Muscles |
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Friday, 17 March 2006 |
If Suze Orman is the brains of personal finance, Joan Sotkin is its tough-love coach. Her book, Build Your Money Muscles, is a financial fitness program that will buff-up your bank account.
In her 2-minute video, Sotkin talks about the fear many of us have about money -- along with other emotions that discourage us from achieving our financial goals.
As a special bonus, this video introduces viewers to a shade of pink as potent as Sotkin's message! What a fabulous color for inspiring us to spring into financial shape.
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Maggie Oman Shannon and The Way We Pray |
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Wednesday, 15 March 2006 |
As our global village becomes increasingly more connected, so does our need for cross cultural exploration. In her second visit to AuthorViews, Maggie Oman Shannon brings an examination of prayer practices from around the world to the table, in The Way We Pray.
Maggie Oman Shannon quotes the Dalai Lama, who introduced an earlier book written by her: "By studying the practices of other religions and faith traditions, we can learn about something that can nourish deeply our own."
In her 2-minute video, Oman Shannon offers up a cornucopia of holy words and intentions, providing food for thought in the form of spiritual sustenance.
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New Video: Joan Logghe and RICE |
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Monday, 13 March 2006 |
Today, New Mexico poet Joan Logghe is in the house with a 2-minute recipe for mid-life crisis from her collection of poems called RICE.
In RICE, Logghe attempts to do in verse what we do in video, forcing herself to pare down the message to what can fit in the form. For Logghe, the form is the sonnet -- 14-line poems; for AuthorViews, it's two minutes -- the maximum length for our videos.
In her video, Logghe talks about how she cooked RICE, then she offers up a taste. It's delicious. Take a look.
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New Video: Maggie Oman Shannon & One God, Shared Hope |
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Friday, 10 March 2006 |
Our newest 2-minute author video could not have come at a better time. Maggie Oman Shannon is on a one-woman mission to help us all just get along.
Maggie's new book, One God, Shared Hope, is the "Cliff's Notes" of comparative theology. Maggie researched the scriptures of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam in search of overlapping beliefs. Her new book focuses on 20 shared principles, using passages from the sacred texts to help us find common ground.
In her 2-minute video introducing the book, Maggie talks about our tendency to focus on religious differences rather than shared beliefs. She hopes her book will help advance the global dialogue, and we hope so, too.
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New Video: Jessica Nagler and Jun Q'anil |
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Thursday, 09 March 2006 |
Take a journey of self-discovery with us today as we interview psychotherapist Jessica Nagler, author of the new book Jun Q'anil: One Who Walks The Way.
Nagler abandoned her home, her fiance, her career, even her country in search of... something. We can all relate to that itch to just split. But Nagler actually did it, traveling on her own to Central America where she met a Mayan shaman and lost herself in the jungle.
What happened when she returned from this quest? Watch this brief 2-minute clip and find out. Jun Q'anil: One Who Walks The Way is recommended for anyone who needs to break out of the box of modern Western living and tap a deeper sense of meaning.
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New Video: Pat Hartman and Ghost Town |
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Wednesday, 08 March 2006 |
Pat Hartman's second book set in Venice, California, Ghost Town is a nickname for the Oakwood district of Venice known for being a dangerous place. Dangerous, but the rents were cheap.
Part Hartman raised her daughter in Ghost Town. This is a memoir of her time there in the early 1980s. Ghost Town is a microcosm of the Venice experience, complete with colorful characters, rampant crime, and a family scene at the very edge of the American experience.
Pat helped shepherd many writers, including me, as editor of Salon: A Journal of Aesthetics. You can find back issues at her web site. Today, she continues to make the establishment uncomfortable with her thoughtful essays at EarthBlog -- including a rant against circumcision that is painful to read!
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New Video: Ina Hillebrandt & Pawprints |
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Monday, 06 March 2006 |
Pawprints is a Noah's Ark of stories about the ways animals enrich our lives. The author has a lighthearted spirit and deep affection for our animal friends.
In her 2-minute video, Hillebrandt shares a story about some unusual dinner guests. Watch this brief clip to find out who's coming to dinner.
Ina Hillebrandt has taken a collection of charming stories about the animals around us and leveraged it into a literacy program for adults and reading programs for children. I encourage librarians and teachers, especially, to visit the Pawprints web site to learn more about the workshops and classes Ina offers.
Ina Hillebrandt -- Welcome to AuthorViews.
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New Video: Maureen Walsh & The Female Power Within |
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Friday, 03 March 2006 |
We offer a very moving video today with "business therapist" Maureen Walsh, who has made a career of helping artistic people appreciate business while helping business people appreciate the arts. Maureen was our host for the Santa Fe AuthorViews shoot in 2005.
Maureen Walsh is co-author with Marilyn Graman of the book, The Female Power Within. The two women founded Life Works in Manhattan which for years has been conducting workshops to help women understand and use their natural female power. This book is based on those classes. We are fortunate to have an excerpt from the book for you to enjoy as well.
In her 2-minute video, Walsh talks about female power: it's noticed most when it's missing. It is an emotional interview that capped a long day. Through the video, you can see how powerful authorship is, too: we author these books and they change our lives.
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New Video: Juanita Brown, David Isaacs & The World Cafe |
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Thursday, 02 March 2006 |
The World Cafe is a guidebook that teaches how to host productive conversations, whether in the salon setting of a living room or the more structured setting of a boardroom.
In four years of filming author interviews, I have never met a speaker with the depth of sincerity combined with the knowledge of her subject that Juanita Brown displays. I could have filmed her for hours. But to meet our strict 2-minute rule, I not only had to slash her interview but I also had to include co-author David Isaacs, the gentler half of this amazing author team.
I think the two minutes that survived editing is terrific. This book offers something I've never seen before which the world desperately needs: a structured way to talk with each other. My hat is off to Juanita Brown and David Isaacs and their seminal guide, The World Cafe.
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New Video: Debra Cox, Image Consultant |
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Wednesday, 01 March 2006 |
Every now and then, AuthorViews will throw a curve at you, like today's video. Debra Cox is not an author and is not introducing a book in her 2-minute video.
Debra is an image consultant who works with authors, among others, helping them to communicate with style. I like Debra's approach -- she's more concerned about finding a look that reflects your personality than forcing you to look like someone else in order to succeed in business.
AuthorViews can be used for more than just introducing books. We have filmed interviews with performance artists, literary agents, media coaches, acquisition editors, etc. Today's 2-minute video is a good example of how people can use AuthorViews to market to authors and others in the book trade.
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