Hunt for Paradise: Court Arts of Safavid Iran 1501-76

Book Description

This lavish catalogue documents the most opulent period of later Persian history through over one hundred twenty five superlative works of art from public and private collections in Europe, North America and Asia, including Iran. The volume, which examines pieces chosen for their exceptional quality and historical importance, includes works in all media-carpets, paintings, metalwork, ceramics, lacquer and hardstones. Hunt for Paradise is the first exhibition catalogue to bring together these treasures from many countries in order to present a unique and comprehensive picture of the art of the Safavid court. This serious and original contribution to the study of Persian art and culture is of the highest quality and includes critical text by leading specialists in the field.

Customer Reviews:

Historically Inspirational.......2007-06-13

A good collection of illuminations that go beyond the usual. A must-have for historical re enactors interested in this period, or those inspired by hidtorical world art.

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Graphic SF Reader

More Seventies Marvel Magic

Top-notch '70s comics

Artist John Byrne was on this title before X-Men

Fun, goofy comic-book kung-foolery.

Essential Iron Fist Volume 1 TPB
Chris Claremont , Tony Isabella , Doug Moench , Roy Thomas , Pat Broderick , John Byrne , Larry Hama , Arvell Jones , and Gil Kane
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Essential Luke Cage/Power Man Vol. 1 (Marvel Essentials)

Essential Defenders, Vol. 1 (Marvel Essentials)

Essential Luke Cage/Power Man, Vol. 2 (Marvel Essentials)

Essential Moon Knight, Vol. 1 (Marvel Essentials)

Essential Ghost Rider, Vol. 1 (Marvel Essentials)

ASIN: B000LSBSSE

Amazon.com

Essential Iron Fist is another good use of Marvel's budget-priced Essentials series. Iron Fist was a second-tier character intended to capitalize on the '70s kung-fu craze who ended up occupying a middle ground between conventional super-heroes and Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu. Created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane, Iron Fist was raised as a martial-arts master in the fabled city of K'un-Lun, but gave up an immortal life in that paradise in order to return to the United States in pursuit of revenge. Essential Iron First Vol. 1 collects his opening run in Marvel Premiere 15-25 followed by his own book, Iron Fist 1-15. The book floundered a bit once the initial story arc was over, but was distinguished by the team of Chris Claremont and John Byrne, who were also working on their historic run on the X-Men (there's some character overlap). But even so, Iron Fist only lasted 15 issues until some of the loose ends had to be tied up in two issues of Marvel Team-Up featuring Spider-Man. The volume concludes with Power Man 48-50, in which Iron Fist meets his eventual partner Luke Cage, the former Hero for Hire. --David Horiuchi

Book Description

Collects Marvel Premiere #15-25, Iron Fist #1-15, Marvel Team-Up #63-64, and Power Man & Iron Fist #48-50.

Customer Reviews:

Graphic SF Reader.......2007-09-03

Lost Horizon meets Kung Fu by way of the Marvel Universe. Iron Fist is a blast. Definitely one of the better Essentials. This is top of the line superhero and martial arts and other craziness. There is also corporate conspiracy and intrigue, and dodgy looking ballet booties on his costume, according to some writers! A definite bargain.

More Seventies Marvel Magic.......2007-07-29

This is why the Essentials series is handy-- it takes someone with a excellent comics collection and a good cross-referencing system to put all these books together in one place.

Iron Fist was part of the Marvel 70's move to try anything non-superheroic. A bit more super-heroish than Shang-Chi, Iron Fits had trouble finding its feet as a feature. Sometimes a bit derivative (with an origin tale that echoed both Ka-Zar and Scott Summers) and sometimes bizarre (okay, so the magic city is guarded by...um...homicidal plants), the feature was bounced between a few different teams until it was handed over to Chris Claremont and John Byrne, who were just about to team up on the fabulously successful X-Men revival.

With their teamwork, the book acquired the touches for which they would both be famous. Strong women characters using brains instead of boobs. Strong supporting casts. Ties to other characters in their stable (a lead in thsi feature became Jean Grey's room-mate). Byrne's fluid line and Claremont's long-range story arcs.

Unfortunately, the book was bi-monthly, making the long story arcs tough to follow, and after moving from Marvel Premiere to his own book, Iron First was canceled, with several plot threads hanging.

However, Claremont was at that time also writing the Spidey team-up book, which in his tenure became the Marvel Loose Ends Clearing House-- so Fist made a two-part appearance there to pick up most of the loose ends.

Then someone in the House of Ideas decided to prop up the sagging Luke Cage, Power Man book by teaming him up with Fist-- a rather inspired choice to team up Marvel's street-smart black character and a guy from a mystical somewhat asianish city (like the Rush Hour movies...? nah--). Byrne and Claremont were brought in to oversee the "wedding" of the two features, and it's there that there run on Fist ends, and that's where this collection takes you

So here you get one of the better Marvel B-listers, many good cameos, and the early teaming of two comic industry giants. Well worth your time and money!

Top-notch '70s comics.......2006-07-07

The 1960s and `70s were a simpler time in comic book writing and art, but simpler but does not mean dumber, merely less complicated (the comics of today tend to be more complex which has its own pluses and minuses). Marvel has been reprinting many of the comics from this period in their "Essentials" series. Having read quite a few of these Essentials volumes over the past couple of years, I can confidently say that not all are equally good; some, in fact, are pretty poor. Happily, the Essential Iron Fist is one of the best in the bunch.

Iron Fist is the superhero name for Daniel Rand. As a young boy, Rand was hiking in the Himalayas with his parents and a family friend in search of the mythical kingdom of K'un-Lun. The friend turned out to actually be an enemy, and his betrayal would cost Rand's parents their lives. Danny, however, survived and made it to K'un-Lun where he was trained in the martial arts. A special quest would result in his obtaining the power of the Iron Fist, which allowed him to focus energy into his fist and make it super-strong. There were other benefits to this power (including self-healing), but he could only use this energy sporadically.

Rand returns to New York City seeking revenge against the family "friend" but finds that it is not easy to achieve. Even as that plot line is resolved, he finds new adversaries, probably none as formidable as Khan. Along the way, he gets allies and friends, notably Colleen Wing and Misty Knight who together form a security company; Misty and Danny also have an evolving romantic interest. Of course, the most notable friend would be Luke Cage, who is only introduced at the end of this volume. Together, the two will become Power Man and Iron Fist, Heroes for Hire.

The strength of this Essentials edition is clearly due to the writer and artist who were responsible for most of the issues within: respectively Chris Claremont and John Byrne. Shortly after their Iron Fist run, they would take over X-Men and transform that comic from a second-string book to the biggest in the Marvel Universe.

I've always had a mixed view on Claremont - he's a good writer, but his storylines sometimes get so intricate they seem to go on forever without any real resolutions. This would be a bigger issue with his X-Men comics, but there are shades of it even in Iron Fist. Claremont could pull it off, but I think his prominence in the industry helped make this sort of convoluted plotting the norm rather than the exception; as a result, there seemed to be less one-issue stories and more that took years to finish. I'm not sure that this was a good trend. Byrne, on the other hand, I have a more positive view of, and this book reaffirms why: his art is top-notch, and is evidence as to why he has been one of the top artists in his field for decades (he's also a decent writer himself). It is not merely the way he illustrates people but his wonderful depiction of action that makes Byrne great.

There are now a lot of "Essential" volumes out there. Iron Fist may not be the big name that Spiderman, Captain America, X-Men or the Fantastic Four is, but that shouldn't keep you from reading this volume. This was Marvel at its 1970s best.

Artist John Byrne was on this title before X-Men.......2005-05-27

If you want to see John Byrne's art before his run on X-Men; this is the book to see. You get to see a lot of Kung Fu moves and poses that show Byrne's versatility with the genre. I wonder if he studied the moves in any Bruce Lee movies? You don't even have to like Kung Fu to appreciate the book. It's super hero action with all the stars from the 70's. If you like seventies Marvel comics, this is the collection to purchase!

Fun, goofy comic-book kung-foolery........2004-12-24

More brutal than Howard the Duck! Better written than Ant-man! Less skilled than Shang Chi!

. . . its Iron Fist!

For those not in the know, "The Essential Iron Fist" collects the early appearances of the title character, a kung-fu master/superhero hybrid who achieved a distinguished career as one of Marvel Comics' seminal second-raters.

The comic book industry has produced a few titles of genuine brilliance and no small handful of gems. "Iron Fist" doesn't fall into either of those categories. Its basically a standard specimen of 70's era superhero comics. Don't take that the wrong way, though. That there's no narrative greatness on display in the "Essential Iron Fist" doesn't mean that there's any shortage of entertaining nonsense sure to please geeks of all ages. Readers can look forward to plenty of overheated exposition, strained plot contrivances, and sprawling pulp action.

One of the more interesting aspects of the series is how small a fish the protagonist really is. Readers are repeatedly told that Iron Fist is a "living weapon" and unsurpassed martial artist, but he's actually pretty much out of his league as a superhero. Somewhat naive and distinctly unbulletproof, Iron Fist often finds himself tricked, outclassed, or overpowered by the various baddies he faces. Thats not a criticism, since Iron Fist's vulnerability in the face of villainy gives him a certain charm lacking in the more hypercompetent heroes out there. And any comic-book character who gets to smack a certain overrated Canucklehead out a window can't be all bad.

Book Description

The G. Schirmer Opera Anthology series revolutionized opera aria study after its release in 1991. There are so many wonderful soprano arias that a second volume was warranted. The music is predominantly for lyric soprano. As in the original volumes, these are new, clean editions, with historical and plot information about each of the 32 arias included.

Customer Reviews:

Ideal series for beginners and beyond.......2007-08-23

I've had this book since I was 17 when I first started studying voice. It's a great resource, especially for beginners who have not yet mastered Italian, French or German. It provides literal translations of every aria which is so important. It is also lightweight but sturdy. My copy is still in great shape. The only bone I have to pick is that the fach varies quite a bit from repertore suited to light lyric sopranos all the way to the dramatic. One singer obviously would not sing all of these arias. However, if your voice grows and matures I guess it's possible to start with a Handel aria in this book and progress to the heavier Puccini, depending on how your career goes. In any event, it's a nice collection of arias and you'll probably find 2 or 3 at least that you'll need at some point which is much better than shelling out cash for the complete scores.

A Must-Have for Any Soprano.......2007-03-15

Although not all of the arias in this edition (or any edition for that matter) will fit one particular fach, the range and selection of pieces is really wonderful in this volume. I prefer it to the first volume, only because it has a few lesser known gems that are great audition pieces, whereas the first volume covers mostly pieces everyone has heard a million times before (though there are some of those in this volume too!).

Over all, well edited, wonderful translations and very easy to read.

Perfect!.......2006-08-21

I needed this book for my voice lessons and it was a great price and in wonderful condition. Thank you!

A good item to have in your music library.......2006-08-18

If you want to expand your repertoire and grow as a singer, I recommend this book and volume one of the same series. Nice translations and good background material help you develop your understanding. You won't regret having this valuable resource.

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A Lovely, Refreshing Manga
No plot, no adeventure , no nothin!

Aria, Volume 2
Kozue Amano
Manufacturer: ADV Manga
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1413900712

Book Description

Akari Mizunashi continues her training to become an undine on the terraformed planet Aqua (formerly called Mars). The story takes place during Akari's first winter on Aqua. She experiences new things, such as playing with snowbugs and going to a hot spring with her friends. But things get interesting when she encounters a trio of Gnomes, the underground dwellers responsible for maintaining Aqua's artifical gravity, and even gets a tour of the facilities!

Customer Reviews:

A Lovely, Refreshing Manga.......2005-11-27

Aria volume 2 improves upon the story from volume 1. After reading this one, I became hooked on the series. Akari, in all her cuteness, leads her friends in the little adventures life throws at them. It's beautifully drawn, and the stories left me with a positive feeling; here are characters who do what they feel is right, without debating themselves about it, while facing interesting normal life situations and interpersonal relationships on a special and magical planet. It is very sweet. Aria proves that it is possible to be entertained without major violence or drama. Something we could use a little more of.

No plot, no adeventure , no nothin!.......2005-11-20

This book has excallent art and fun charaters but my point is there is no plot no adventure or anthing! This story is about a girl named Akira who is sixteen but ats like she is seven. What I mean is she's like "yeah Mr.Snowbug!" and acts like a child. If the story was about Akia (Akira's best friend)the story would be alot better because she acts her age and is a really fun charater. What What is really sad is every chapater is about something Akira did that was special to her but the stuff was like metting a snow bug or in the first book washing a gondala. *snore* And Akari is baby-ish as ever. I can't really say the book is terrile because some people like these type of books but books I recamend are Tokyo mew mew, Rayearth and Pretear because they actullaly do something!

Average customer rating:

Better story than art, unfortunately

Aria Volume 2: The Soulmarket (Aria)
Brian Holguin , Jay Anacleto , David Yardin , and Lan Medina
Manufacturer: Image Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Aria Volume 3: The Uses Of Enchantment (Aria)

ASIN: 1582403392

Book Description

The world of Kildare, expatriate princess of Faerie and star of Aria, gets turned upside down when Goodfellow, the deadly, mischievous sprite immortalized in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, comes to New York. Convinced that Goodfellow's intentions are considerably less than pure, Kildare sifts through his trail of riddles and lies, trying to figure out just what is he up to. Her search leads to an underground soul market, where the immortal spirits of humans are bought, sold and traded - and to the memory of Kildare's long forgotten love.

Customer Reviews:

Better story than art, unfortunately.......2005-03-01

This is an above-average graphic novel concerning the ancient death gods from a variety of cultures (they just aren't what they used to be), a group of Celtic heroes and demi-deities (who basically hang out and go shopping), and Robin Goodfellow (he hates to be called "Puck"), who's a real piece of work in any era. Kildare is the center of things in her New York townhouse, throwing dinner parties and trying not to think about her once-lover, Thomas, the mortal knight to whom she behaved so badly. Then a huge black knight comes looking for Puck and the story gets complicated. Of the characters, I especially like the artist whose portraits are so real, they even capture the subject's soul. Holguin's story is terrific, but the art, while generally quite good, is sometimes less than adequate in depicting facial expressions, especially those under stress.

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Aria Volume 2
Brian Holguin , Jay Anacleto , David Yardin , and Lan Medina
Manufacturer: Image Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1582402825

Book Description

The world of Kildare, expatriate princess of Faerie and star of Aria, gets turned upside down when Goodfellow, the deadly, mischievous sprite immortalized in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, comest to New York. Convinced that Goodfellow's intentions are considerably less than pure, Kildore sifts through his trail of riddles and lies, trying to figure out just what he is up to. Her search lead to an underground sould market, where the immortal spirits of humans are bought, sold and traded - and to the memory of Kildare's long forgetten love.

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Arias & Scenes from Volume 2
Mirella Cd2372 38882 Freni
Manufacturer: ALLEGRO DISTRIBUTED LINES
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 6306131515

Arias for Baritone - Volume 2: Voice and Piano

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Arias for Baritone - Volume 2: Voice and Piano

Manufacturer: G. Schirmer, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Songbooks | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 079352976X

Book Description

Contents: Beethoven: Ha! welch' ein Augenblick! (Fidelio) - Thomas: O vin, dissipe la tristesse (Hamlet) - Massenet: Salome! Salome! (Herodiade) * Vision fugitive (Herodiade) - Donizetti: Cruda, funesta smania (Lucia di Lammermoor) - Verdi: Pieta, rispetto, onore (Macbeth) * Credo in un Dio (Otello) * Cortigiani, vil razza (Rigoletto) * Pari siamo (Rigoletto) * Di Provenza il mar (La Traviata) * Il balen del suo sorriso (Il Trovatore) - Wagner: Was duftet doch der Fleider (Hans Sachs's Monologue) (Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg) * Wahn! Wahn! (Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg) * Mein Vater! (Parsifal) * Blick' ich umher (Wolfram's Address) (Tannhauser) * Leb' wohl! (Wotan's Farewell and Fire Music) (Die Walkure) - Leoncavallo: Si puo?...Si puo? (I Pagliacci) - Mozart: Der Vogelfanger bin ich ja (Die Zauberflote) * Ein Madchen oder Weibchen (Die Zauberflote).

Arias for Bass - Volume 2: Voice and Piano

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Arias for Bass - Volume 2: Voice and Piano

Manufacturer: G. Schirmer, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Songbooks | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0793573467

Book Description

Contents: Cornelius: Mein Sohn (Der Barbier von Bagdad) - Puccini: Vecchia zimarra (La Boheme) - Verdi: Come dal ciel precipita (Macbeth) * Il lacerato spirito (Simon Boccanegra) * Di due figli vivea, padre beato (Il Trovatore) - Mozart: Wer ein Liebchen hat gefunden (Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail) * Solche hergelaufne Laffen (Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail) * Se voul ballare, signor Contino (Le Nozze di Figaro) * Non piu andrai (Le Nozze di Figaro) * In diesen heil'gen Hallen (Die Zauberflote) * O Isis und Osiris (Die Zauberflote) - Wagner: Mogst du, mein Kind (Der Fliegende Hollander) * Tatest du's wirklich? (Tristan und Isolde) - Ponchielli: Ombre die mia prosapia (La Gioconda) - Gluck: De noirs pressentiments (Iphigenie en Tauride) - Massenet: Epouse quelque brave fille (Manon) - Flotow: Lasst mich euch fragen (Porter Song) (Martha) - Thomas: De son coeur j'ai calme la fievre (Mignon) - Dargomyzhsky: The Miller's Song (Rusalka).

Boston Music Company Edition - No. 214 Twelve Arias by Old Italian Masters - 1915 (Edited from the Original Scores by Maffeo Zanon, Volume 1 and Volume 2 - Medium Voice)

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Boston Music Company Edition - No. 214 Twelve Arias by Old Italian Masters - 1915 (Edited from the Original Scores by Maffeo Zanon, Volume 1 and Volume 2 - Medium Voice)
Boston Music Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000M5BN6S

Cantolopera: Arias for Mezzo-Soprano - Volume 2: Cantolopera Collection

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Cantolopera: Arias for Mezzo-Soprano - Volume 2: Cantolopera Collection

Manufacturer: Ricordi
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Arias for Mezzo-Soprano, Vol. 1

ASIN: 0634053094

Book Description

Cantolopera is an exceptional new series of book/CD packs from Ricordi that offers a fresh approach to great opera repertoire. The books include versions for voice and piano of the world's most famous arias. The CDs feature two versions of each aria: one with a 130-piece orchestra providing accompaniments to allow the professional, student or opera fan to practice, and another sung by an established artist for reference. Each volume contains the lyrics of the arias, plus a short plot summary and background information on the orchestra and the performers.

Embellished Opera Aria/2 Volumes in 1, Volume 7 and 8

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Embellished Opera Aria/2 Volumes in 1, Volume 7 and 8

Manufacturer: A-R Editions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0895792400

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