tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28690185.post1904633568308056373..comments2024-03-23T11:25:07.693-07:00Comments on MOVIES MADE ME: All the Colors of the DarkJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02536096683421557320noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28690185.post-16541810856031920162007-09-11T13:47:00.000-07:002007-09-11T13:47:00.000-07:00Is the book really that expensive in the grand sco...Is the book really that expensive in the grand scope of things? It's cheaper than an i-Pod and the battery never dies.Arbogasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12670776992289080245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28690185.post-12914917261119872132007-09-11T13:37:00.000-07:002007-09-11T13:37:00.000-07:00The book was actually acquired for a few libraries...The book was actually acquired for a few libraries, including the Margaret Herrick Library at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, by a philanthropic individual on the Patrons list. If anyone wants to acquire one for their favorite library, we're happy to comply. Once the mailing is out of the way, we intend to pursue avenues of publicity that might help to bring us greater attention in this area.<BR/><BR/>Thanks, Joe and Kevin, and no offense taken -- I just wanted to set the record straight from my POV.<BR/><BR/>Incidentally, people keep mentioning Taschen. I like their books too, as far as printing and content are concerned, though the Kubrick Archive book is so unwieldy I may never take it out of its box again. We auditioned their printer in Hong Kong but their quality of binding was a deal-breaker for us. What they offered was not what we wanted or needed for a book the size of ATCOTD. Even as I look at the Taschen books in my collection now, there is visible waviness in the binding reinforcement in each of them, and that's one of the tests their printer couldn't pass for us. I sincerely think that the Bava book is superior in production to anything I've seen from Taschen, at least from a bookmaking point of view.Tim Lucashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01745651801885417165noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28690185.post-28521376375727988762007-09-10T21:37:00.000-07:002007-09-10T21:37:00.000-07:00Tim -I hope that I didn't come off as caddy. I re...Tim -<BR/><BR/>I hope that I didn't come off as caddy. I really do respect your work and am quite impressed with your achievement.<BR/><BR/>My comment I guess just mirror some anxieties of which you were probably aware. But I always knew the book would come out!<BR/><BR/>As for the publishing of the book - It is good that you didn't go with McFarland, since the design, layout, and quality of the presentation would not be nearly as good as it is. I am quite impressed with Donna's achievement in that regard. There is no way that I could have "done better." The only presses that could probably have handled it are art book publishers like Phaidon or Taschen, but even they might not be perfect matches. <BR/><BR/>If you do bother checking this again Tim, my one remaining quest is to whether any libraries have ordered the book yet. Its the sort of thing that really should be in some public collections as well, but again, it is sometimes difficult for self-published works (no matter how authoritative, as with the Bava book) to get there. So there is my sincerest hope - for University and public libraries to buy it! I know that at least a few (sadly, too few) libraries have subscriptions to VW.<BR/><BR/>Again, sorry if I came off as "mean." Congrats on the book!Kevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14027317042801637354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28690185.post-63246061198006753562007-09-10T19:21:00.000-07:002007-09-10T19:21:00.000-07:00Tim -My apologies for the misunderstanding. My co...Tim -<BR/><BR/>My apologies for the misunderstanding. My conclusions about obsession and "cutting the cord" are apparently more of a confession about my own current project, than a true observation about yours. Didn't mean to offend you with my amateur psychology.Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02536096683421557320noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28690185.post-44007553920161400772007-09-10T17:34:00.000-07:002007-09-10T17:34:00.000-07:00I loved your blog on the book, Joe -- it's the mos...I loved your blog on the book, Joe -- it's the most objective and truthful account of the book's process I've read so far -- but I have to take issue with the things you go on to suggest here in the Comments area.<BR/><BR/>The delay in completing the book really had nothing to do with obsession and my refusal to cut the cord. The need to support ourselves by publishing VW monthly was always the biggest problem. Then there were the matters of proofreading (it went through maybe five proofreaders in English and two in Italian), standardization of spelling and punctuation throughout the approximately 800,000 word manuscript, indexing (itself a six-month project) -- all these and more conspired to delay our best and hardest-working intentions.<BR/><BR/>The book was a little more than half-written at the time the Howarth book was announced and Donna and I decided it was then or never that we commit to finishing it and publishing it ourselves. There wasn't more than a few hours per day between 1999 and 2004 when I wasn't at my computer typing furiously to meet our unrealistic deadline for delivering the book. I finished the first complete draft around 2003, at which point work on the layout began -- all between monthly issues of VW, mind you. It took Donna between three and four years, between issues, to create the book. It completely consumed our lives, not out of self-indulgence but necessity and a sense of responsibility and professionalism, and it drives me a little crazy that people think we could have done it faster, like we had nothing else going on.<BR/><BR/>Between the time I finished that first draft and we locked down the text for publication, it grew (as you note) by hundreds of pages. Not as a result of my needless perfectionism, but because I found other Bava actors to interview, because they told me about other movies he worked on secretly, etc. The book was not significantly delayed by these additions, because the layout was created mostly by Donna and her team of restorationists.<BR/><BR/>To Kevin: Donna and I have run a reliable, timely business for the past 18 years. We work out of our home; we're not hiding from anybody. We installed an 800 number many years ago so that any customer can call us toll-free to keep tabs on their investment, whether its a Bava book pre-order or a VW subscription. Anybody who thinks we would actually "take the money and run" doesn't know our product, and doesn't know us. As for the decision to self-publish, I had no other offers. McFarland offered to publish it after we started accepting pre-orders, which made the offer impossible to accept, as did the size and scope of the book itself. And so, too, the fact that we stood to profit more by self-publishing -- an important consideration when a project represents 32 years of your life. Maybe you could have handled it differently, or better. We did what we thought was right and we stand by our decisions. We are delighted by the general response to the book.<BR/><BR/>I really appreciate the space you gave the book, Joe, and all your enthusiasm for it, but I had to add this postscript so that your readers wouldn't form a misunderstanding from certain conclusions you drew.Tim Lucashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01745651801885417165noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28690185.post-41566243352300744502007-09-10T08:58:00.000-07:002007-09-10T08:58:00.000-07:00Ben - When you start reading, hold the book in you...Ben - When you start reading, hold the book in your lap. It's so heavy that you'll cut off the blood flow to your legs, and have to stop reading after one chapter. <BR/><BR/>Kevin - I agree: it's a shame that the author indulged his obsessiveness to the point of sacrificing accessibility. Only the truly obsessive will even attempt to read the book... but I suppose that was one justification for the delay: Tim Lucas knows that he has a very tough audience in certain VW readers. I assume he felt that he had to up the ante after Troy Howarth's visually stunning (and also pricey) 2000 book "The Haunted World of Mario Bava." <BR/><BR/>Of course, the main reason for the delay is that the author is his own toughest critic - he says that, if he had published the book five years ago, he would have to disown it now because of all that he has learned since then. One wonders how he'll feel in five more years. I think this is something that all intelligent authors struggle with.... sooner or later, you have to put your work (which will always be flawed, no matter much time you spend with it) out into the world. Sometimes, it takes a few guilty nightmares to get to the point where you're willing to accept other people's criticisms over your own. <BR/><BR/>I do think it's interesting that, in our information age, it is impossible to write anything that is truly comprehensive. For the more obsessive writer-types, this can be maddening.Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02536096683421557320noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28690185.post-23023109567906034832007-09-09T21:50:00.000-07:002007-09-09T21:50:00.000-07:00I am glad that somebody I know ordered this book. ...I am glad that somebody I know ordered this book. I didn't realize that you were one of the one's who had "held on." I remember reading rampant accusations over the last few years as to whether or not Lucas had "taken the money and run," though his increased transparency eased my fears.<BR/><BR/>I've been an avid reader of VW for a few years as well. My subscription is currently lapsed because of the cost - it is refreshing to see a magazine free of ads, but VW costs more than most academic journals - but I do appreciate the views and the type of perfectionism that strikes me as somewhat unimportant (that is, I would never "do" that sort of writing, preferring to deal with larger issues).<BR/><BR/>I am glad that the book has arrived. I will probably buy the two BAVA boxed sets. I would like to gripe a bit about the book itself. While I can understand that he wanted control over all aspects of its production, the decision to self-publish means that no public libraries will carry it for some time. This means that its scholarship will go almost totally unnoticed to non-horror fans. <BR/><BR/>With the current cost of the book, I doubt I'll ever be able to afford it unless I win the lottery.Kevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14027317042801637354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28690185.post-5379515351880215092007-09-09T17:43:00.000-07:002007-09-09T17:43:00.000-07:00One day after delivery my copy still sits in its b...One day after delivery my copy still sits in its box. I am frightened by the amount of "real" work that will pushed to the side if I remove it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com