A sketchy, superficial treatment of a subject worthy of much more.
This brief overview of the long-running, influential sketch-comedy show is brimming with facts but lacking in substance.
When Saturday Night Live premiered in 1975, it was bold, raw and revolutionary. It offered sharp, biting commentary on politics and other current events, as well as witty satirical pieces skewering all facets of American culture. Kaplan’s brief overview of the show chronicles its rise, impact upon popular culture, influence upon comedians and comedy programs that followed it, occasional controversies it stirred, and how it has served as a launching pad for a remarkable number of future stars in film and television. He is quite correct when he claims, “Saturday Night Live changed the way we think about comedians and comedy” and that it “paved the way for other provocative and intelligent comedy shows.” Unfortunately, Kaplan never elaborates on this statement, focusing instead on who were the most popular performers and what were the most popular catchphrases and describing some of the more notable sketches in the show’s history. He does pay some cursory attention to how the show evolved in its treatment of minority cast members. Another notable shortcoming is the singular attention given to the show’s star performers—there’s no mention made of the essential role writers had in making the show innovative and sustaining its longevity.
A sketchy, superficial treatment of a subject worthy of much more. (source notes, bibliography, further information, index) (Nonfiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4677-1086-2
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
For a guide to fashion, there's not much flair here. But there's plenty of valuable info for budding fashionistas and...
A matter-of-fact tone removes the mystery from style in this work that is one-part fashion manual and one-part career guide.
Flaherty begins by explaining what a stylist is and the tools he or she uses. She moves on to a wide range of different looks like Socialite, Tomboy and Hipster; fashion elements like color and prints; and a thorough understanding of body type. While the number of fashion personalities is impressive, not one is male, a confusing omission given that boys wear clothes, too. The section on body types is very useful with its real-world examples, Naomi Campbell representing the Inverted Triangle type. The second half is more practical, focusing on "curating" a closet, building a wardrobe, styling oneself and others, and styling as a career. Sprinkled throughout the text are activities like a fashion-movie night and organizing a clothing swap. The illustrations are attractive, yet it's too bad there isn't a greater variety of body types represented.
For a guide to fashion, there's not much flair here. But there's plenty of valuable info for budding fashionistas and stylists, going beyond the shallow glitz of fashion magazines and blogs. (index) (Nonfiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-9827322-4-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Zest Books
Review Posted Online: July 24, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
Considerably more edgy satire than Happily Ever After here; a bracing take for teens.
From Puss in Boots’ swaggering descendant “Puss-in-Trainers” to the titular break-and-enter artist caught on security cameras, Agard lays urban-inflected modern twists on 29 folkloric characters.
Written in rhyme or free verse with hip-hop cadences, the poems are nearly all in first person and range in tone from funny or acid (“Bring on your shining armour, dude. / I’ll be your damsel in distress with attitude”), to dark, even threatening. Many offer fresh approaches to the familiar, such as quick portraits of Cinderella in biker leathers and Iron Jack as an emotionally vulnerable Gulf War vet. An apple and a magic mirror provide unusual points of view about their assigned roles, as do “Two Ugly Sisters” who defiantly declare that they “won’t be face-down in no make-up kit / We give the thumbs-up to hair in the armpit,” but end with a sobering “Never mind the eye, we enchant the ear / From our ugly mouths come song, come prayer.” The poems are printed in a variety of typefaces, and Kitamura’s heavily inked black-and-white cartoons or silhouettes likewise change looks while adding appropriately dark, angular, energetic visual notes.
Considerably more edgy satire than Happily Ever After here; a bracing take for teens. (Poetry. 12-16)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-84780-183-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2012
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