Book Description
AndrDe Bazin's impact on film art, as theorist and critic, is widely considered to be greater than that of any single director, actor, or producer. He is credited with almost single-handedly establishing the study of film as an accepted intellectual pursuit, as well as with being the spiritual father of the French New Wave. Unlike nearly all the other authors of major film theories, he was a working or practical critic who wrote regularly about individual films.
Bazin at Work represents the first collection in English of disparate writings of Bazin'ssince the appearance of the second volume of What Is Cinema? in 1971. It includes work from, among other places, Cahiers le cinema (which he founded and which is the most influential single critical periodical in the history of the cinema) and Esprit. He addresses film makers including Rossellini, Eisenstein, Pagnol, and Capra and well-known films including La Strada, Citizen Kane, Scarface,and The Bridge on the River Kwai.
Customer Reviews:
Exploring The World of Music***BOOKSELLER90 ROCKS!!!**.......2007-07-23
To Whom it may concern-
Please know the book was exactly the way they described. Also, I have a final this week and they made it a point to ship it early and they paid the addtl shipping out of their pocket.
BLESS YOU & THANK YOU BOOKSELLER 90
Book Description
W. W. Norton proudly presents Soundscapes, the first textbook to organize the study of music the way most people encounter it—by the roles it plays in their lives and communities. Through a series of illuminating case studies, students learn the fundamentals of music by exploring the social and cultural settings of different "soundscapes"—that is, musical traditions—from around the world, all of which either migrated to or originated in North America. The text embraces the diverse musical identities, tastes, and sound worlds present in our society and encourages students to participate in the soundscapes that surround them.
Customer Reviews:
Where are the CD's.......2006-09-19
this textbook didn't come with the CD's -- which are frequently referred to throughout the book, and are essential to the course.
Product Description
Set of three cassettes in plastic case. Chosen excerpts of the worlds greatest music.
Average customer rating:
|
Exploring the world of music
EFC Staff
Manufacturer: Kendall/Hunt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
 General
| Music
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Instruction & Study
| Theory, Composition & Performance
| Music
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ASIN: 078725567X |
Product Description
BOX INCLUDES 3 CD'S.
PRODUCED BY: PACIFIC STREET FILMS AND THE EDUCATIONAL FILM CENTER.
Book Description
"Klezmer" is a Yiddish word for professional folk instrumentalist-the flutist, fiddler, and bass player that made brides weep and guests dance at weddings throughout Jewish eastern Europe before the culture was destroyed in the Holocaust, silenced under Stalin, and lost out to assimilation in America. Klezmer music is now experiencing a tremendous new spurt of interest worldwide with both Jews and non-Jews recreating this restless volatile, and vibrant musical culture. Firmly centered in the United States, klezmer has paradoxically moved back across the Atlantic as a distinctly "American" music, played throughout central and eastern Europe, as well as in many other parts of the world. Fiddler on the Move places klezmer music squarely within American music studies, cultural studies, and ethnomusicology. Neither a chronology nor a comprehensive survey, the book describes a variety of approaches and perspectives for coming to terms with the highly diverse array of activities found under the klezmer umbrella. Bringing to his subject the insights of an accomplished ethnomusicologist, Slobin addresses such questions as: How does klezmer overlap with, and differ from, the many other contemporary "heritage" musics based on an assumed connection with a group identity and links to a tradition? How do economics, artistic expression, and the evocation of the past interact in motivating klezmer performers and audiences? In what kinds of environment does klezmer flourish? How do stylistic features such as genre, form, and ornamentation help to define the technique, affect, and aesthetic of klezmer? Featuring a music CD with many of the archival and contemporary recordings discussed in the text, this fascinating study will interest scholars, students, musicians, and music lovers
Book Description
Kids will want to grab a flashlight and start discovering the night world with the help of this safety-minded, abundantly illustrated and exciting combination of nature guide and fun activity book. Staying up late is just part of the fun, because children will also find the answers to many of the most intriguing questions: Why is the nighttime dark? Why does the length of the night change with the seasons? Why is darkness important to plant and animal life? Youngsters will meet fascinating nocturnal creatures, build a bat house, and begin to recognize different owl hoots. The stars will beckon as kids learn how to read the night sky, recognize constellations, and understand how Earth fits into the big picture. And these new night explorers can construct a camouflage blind, and garden by moonlight, too. Plenty of parent-friendly safety considerations are included.
Customer Reviews:
A MUST BUY FOR 1 d4 ATTACKING CHESS PLAYER who learnt the joy of playing 1d4 from "How to think ahead in chess" by Horowitz .......2007-03-23
To begin with, let me state that the greatest book on chess ever written is How to think ahead in Chess by Horowitz. That book truely taught me the basic ideas of a strong opening for beginner, namely, the Stonewall Attack. Before that, I was clueless about handling 1 d4 as white.
Now that I have become more comfortable with Stonewall Attack, I have begun to recognize early moves that do not allow me to play Stonewall Attack. In fact, I am clueless on how to handle Kings Indian Defence. I clearly needed to learn a few basic strategies of dealing with early deviations from Stonewall Attack formations, So I started hunting for books. I have browsed through hundreds of books in Borders or B&N or local libraries and read reviews on Amazon.com for many more. I finally decided that A killer Chess Opening Repertoire would be a good book for me, and I did indeed order it from Amazon.com.
It has been a couple of weeks now, and I can say confidently that the joy of playing chess has increased marvelously for me. The best two chapters are the ones on Barry Attack, and Colle Zukertort system. They both provide excellent kingside attacking chances for white - I always go for kingside attack ... I understand the goal much more clearly than the subtle maneuvers involved in QGD. Since I do not make mistakes in the opening with this repertoire, I end up in games that are 70+ moves long and most of the time, I am attacking the king !!! It is really fun !
An added benefit has been to adopt the same repertoire in the reversed manner when playing as black. Whenever white fianchettoes is king bishop, I play for Barry attack reversed and the game looks fantastic.
One of the good things about the book is that it includes games on early deviation that are not strong and shows how the attack crushed opponents. It is really useful because most of the time at my level, opponents do deviate from the mainline very early and I can look up how to deal with them - While I am not very good at finding the key tactics in a time crunch situation, I am good at copying the tactics - so if I already have a demonstration of the tactics involved in the situation, I can reproduce them over the board.
I have read online that Barry Attack and 150 Attack (when Black avoids d5 altogether) are covered only in this book ... I still haven't got around to learning about 150 Attack ... but at my level, almost everyone plays d5 or fianchettoes ... To me, this book fills the critical gap created by the How to Think Ahead in Chess. These are the only two books you will ever need for opening as white.
To summarize: If you love to play Stonewall Attack, and are looking for creating a repertoire around that, this book is for you. Stop looking around, I have done all the hardwork, save your time and just buy this one. Note: this book does not actually cover stonewall attack ... for that I recommend the classic - How to Think Ahead in Chess: The Methods and Techniques of Planning Your Entire Game (Fireside Chess Library)
Not stand alone, but a must for the Zukertort Player.......2006-06-12
I am an expert on the Colle-Zukertort system. It is the only system on White I play [unless I am giving lessons to students]. In fact, I am currently writing a book on this opening.
"A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire" is a high-quality book. Only 144 pages long, but it makes great use of those 144 pages. On the other hand, with so little space, there are some limitations of coverage. One advantage of this book is that it does NOT attempt to cover both the Colle-Koltanowski AND the Colle-Zukertort. Why should a white repertoire book attempt to do both? This saves Summerscale much space to focus on what is important.
The book is written with the supposition that you are playing resonably high-level players. This means that you will often be in a situation where your opponent has made a lackluster move not covered in the text, and you will then need to understand how to exploit that. On the other hand, the same could be said of almost any opening book.
This book has a very different philosophy than either "The Ultimate Colle" or "Winning with the Colle System." Lane, author of "The Ultimate Colle," is content with certain simplifications that Summerscale is not. Smith and Hall's book, "Winning with the Colle System," is aimed at lower-level players and tends to be too rosey in its evaluations. Summerscale's book is both more ambitious and more honest than either of these. Summerscale wants a real attacking iniative or some other concrete advantage. If a line does not work well enough, Summerscale is willing to transpose out of the Colle to something more appropriate. Lane and Smith/Hall are less willing to play something substantially different.
Summerscale also covers some lines that the other books simply do not. For example, the extremely important 1.df d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e6 Bf5 line, quite possibly the most powerful response to the Zukertort, is completely ignored by Lane and Hall!! Summerscale covers it, though he does not spend enough time on it.
Another example where Summerscale covers lots of lines others miss are the various early c5 options for black [1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 c5 for example].
The common theme here is that Summerscale covers a lot of early deviations and options, but does not go very far down most of those trees. This is more useful than it sounds; trying to track down all the variations in all the anti-colle systems would take hundreds of pages.
One problem with the book is that the options it gives [150 attack and barry] for dealing with Gruenfeld/Indian options are systems for which other manuals are not available. It would be good to have separate books on these to bolster the repertoire given. This is a serious issue because those defenses are very common ones.
Still, as a extremely fun, slim repertoire book, it is hard to do much better than this!
On what to do after the opening..........2005-09-07
I found this book from Mr.Summerscale while searching for something more aggressive as white with respect to the Queen's Gambit (I know this seems strange, but let me explain). I used to play the QG simply for 2. c4 ... is generally considered the best follow-up to 1. d4 .... The most of the times I exited the opening phase with an advantage (I have a good memory :-) but at the very beginning of the middlegame ... well ... I simply didn't know what to do! My opponents defended very calmly and very well, waiting for the right moment to counterattack and eventually win the game.
"A killer Chess Opening Repertoire" doesn't contain a killer chess opening repertoire at all! Neither of the lines suggested by Mr.Summerscale will promise you an advantage in the opening, and if black knows what he is doing he is able to equalize without problems. But this is not a problem! The greatness of this book is simple: you are armed with a solid, reliable, difficult to crack opening system for white. You are unlikely to get caught into an opening trap, and if black doesn't exactly know what he is doing (which is the most of the cases in Club/Tournament play) he is likely to equalize and ... eventually lose the game.
Yes, through this book I learned the most important thing of chess (for me): the relation among the opening and the middlegame, and how to understand an opening THROUGH the middlegame positions it produces.
Now I hardly get an advantage in the opening against good opponents, but after the opening I know what to do very well, and I enjoy my games more.
A few remarks about the opening lines the book suggests:
a) after 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 e6 4. Bd3 c4 Summerscale suggest 5. b3 ..., the Colle-Zukertort System. Don't underestimate this opening! It is played quite frequently by GM Artur Yusupov, and if a player of this calibre play the opening, well ... I can definely trust in it!
b) after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 Summerscale suggest 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 ..., the Barry Attack. This is a very exciting opening system, likely to caught the "unaware but always thrustfull" KID player in obscure territory. Even the line suggested by (the great) Joe Gallagher in his "Beating the Anti King's Indian" maybe let black to almost equalize, but brought the game on a positional ground which is certainly not what the KID player wants. And if the KID aficionado don't know the line really well... the white fun will start!
c) against the Pirc/Modern (What? The Pirc? But I play 1. d4 ...! Ok, but after 1. d4 g6 or 1. d4 d6 you MUST play 2. e4 ...!) Summerscale suggest the "150 Attack". I don't like the name, but the name is the only thing I don't like, and since Peter Leko agrees :-) I'm convinced as well! Learn to play well the "150 Attack" and you will find your opponents to change their repertoire! (BTW even Alburt and Chernin, in their "Pirc Alert!", the bibble of the Pirc, treat the "150" setup with great respect)
d) against the Benoni Summerscale suggest a line with d5, stating the Colle-Zukertort to be not quite good since black can delay ...d5! I prefer to stick to the Colle, even if this time I prefer the Koltanowski variation, which is not covered in the Summerscale book (if you are interested, I can suggest "The Ultimate Colle" by Gary Lane)
e) against the Dutch, Summerscale suggests 2. Bg5.... Leaving apart that this line can be completely ruled out by the move order 1. d4 e6! (the exclamation mark assumes black wants to follow-up with 2. ... f5, being ready for a French after 2. e4 ...), I'm sorry but I don't know very well this chapter because I play the Dutch myself as black and when faced with it as white I prefer one of the main lines. If you have no time to spend on the main line Dutch, then I think 2. Bg5... is a good choice, but you have to find something after 1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 f5.
f) against the Queen's Indian, again Summerscale opts to leave apart the Colle-Zukertort since black can avoid ...d5 for as long as he wishes. Ok, but I don't want to learn a new line, and following a suggestion from Mr.Lane's book (see above) I stick to the Colle-Zukertort nevertheless.
To summarize, five starts for a great book which teaches you how to study openings, and give you a very good system to start.
This book has some great ides in it, butttttt.......2005-07-10
The home work was not done 100% for this book.
The main theme of the book is the 150 attack and the Barry Attack. Now the Barry Attack is a facinating idea vs Grunfeld and Kings Indian Players.
The problem of the book it does not mention the main line of the Barry I feel. 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.e3 0-0
6.Be2 c5 7.d:c Qa5 8.Nd2 Now why this book does not mention this line of the Barry is just beyond me. I feel this is by far whites best way of getting an advantage. Not the Ne5 stuff the book suggests.
But the book has some awesome ideas in it! But you need to study them on your own from other sources.
Killer Chess Opening Repertoire.......2005-02-18
Opening repertoire books for white are a tricky proposition for a chess author. It is more common to find repertoire books for the black pieces - often based around a particular first move which thereby ensures that whatever white's continuation, the game will be channelled for at least a few more moves in the system of black's choosing. I am thinking, for example, of Yrjola & Tella's excellent 'Explosive Opening Repertoire for Black' in which 1 ... d6 is played against any white opening move. The difficultly is that a white repertoire must be able to cope with a vast variety of black responses - from the Nimzovitch (1 ... Nc6) to the Modern (1 ... g6) and everything in between - yet must not overwhelm the reader by presenting endless variations. Yet there are some successes in presenting a repertoire for the white player - Kosten's 'Dynamic English', Palliser's 'Play 1.d4!' and this book by Summerscale.
In many ways, for the average player, I would opine that this book is the better choice. Summerscale presents a queen pawn repertoire with an emphasis on quick development and an attacking set up. Kosten's book, while very well written, advocates quite a sophisticated set up requiring reasonable positional knowledge. Palliser's book is very good, and he presents a solid repertoire using the theoretical best move for white 2.c4, but it is also very comprehensive and thus requires a lot of time to study.
By not playing 2.c4 white, in theory, is not pressuring black quite as much - but there are compensating advantages. The most obvious is that the amount of study required is drastically reduced. Another is that white tends to remain in the system of their choosing. Less obviously, these systems lend themselves well to a style of play based on attacking, straightforward chess which is simply quite fun to play. I would recommend - in fact I would say it is essential - reading Vukovic's classic 'Art of Attack in Chess' if you wish to adopt this repertoire in order to get the most out of the aggressive setups you will (hopefully) obtain.
But let's not get carried away here. These systems, while easy to learn, can certainly be countered by black. Black can equalise without too much difficultly if they know what they are doing. On the other hand, even the theoretically best openings played in master games usually end up with only a small advantage to white.
In my opinion, a more serious defect is in the presentation of the repertoire. The 'complete game' format - while often touted as enabling better comprehension of an opening - also makes it far more difficult to spot holes in the system. For example, I compared the system that Summerscale advocates against the Pirc (150 Attack) with the lines given in the Yrjola & Tella book, which uses the Pirc (in Summerscale's book, you reach the 150 attack by 1.d4 d6 2.e4). In the main line, around move 5, the move given by Yrjola & Tella is simply not considered. Nothing, no mention and its a good move (which I won't disclose - in case you ever use the 150 attack against me in internet chess!). As black, I certainly would not fear the 150 attack based on what I have seen in the Summerscale book. However, this only confirms the point I made above - black can equalise if they know what to do. I guess using this book is about trade offs - you study less, and your games are probably more fun if you find attacking fun, but you have less chance of a lasting advantage against a good player.
Physically, this an attractive book. High quality paper, nice typesetting and I like the graphic design on the cover.
Overall then Summerscale presents a repertoire that is easy to learn and fun to use, with a few holes which you may be able to plug using other sources. A parting thought - as other reviewers have noted, some of Summerscales lines are less effective against black's indian systems. Have you considered the Trompowsky (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5)? It is also an attacking line that is fun to play, and in conjunction with Summerscale's book will broaden your repertoire.
Average customer rating:
- Brilliant expose of cultural corruption
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Coming After Oprah: Cultural Fallout in the Age of the TV Talk Show
Vicki Abt , and
Leonard Mustazza
Manufacturer: Bowling Green University Popular Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Television
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| Subjects
| Books
General
| Shows
| Television
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| Arts & Photography
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ASIN: 0879727527 |
Book Description
Coming After Oprah is the first book-length study assessing a decade of talk that makes the quiz-show scandals of the 1950s look innocuous by comparison. More than just a commentary on the aesthetics of the genre, this book looks at the evolution and cultural significance of these programs, disputing claims that they are nothing more than harmless entertainment. In the book's revealing first half, Vicki Abt and Leonard Mustazza uncover the mechanics of the talk-show game. The book's second half examines the behind-the-scenes economic games and their implications,revealing a web of complex commercial and political interests that influence their production. (A detailed description of the corporate players and the revenues they are generating is also provided.) The study concludes with suggestions for what we as a culture might do to protect ourselves from its inherent deceptions and misinformation.
The transformation of TV talk shows over time is the quintessential illustration of how material culture (technology, the media) affects our cultural narratives and symbols.
Customer Reviews:
Brilliant expose of cultural corruption.......1997-07-27
The disturbing anomie of "trash TV"
and its connection to
multi-billion dollar corporate media
consolidation are given a brilliantly-argued
treatment in this concisely-written book.
The authors have produced a clarion call-to-arms
warning us of the dangers of
coagulating media moguldom.
While occasionally marred by
ideological partisanship, the authors' description of the
interconnected web of toxic TV talk shows
and the desolate value-vacuum of a society ravaged
by a culture war is dead-accurate.
Worth the price of admission alone
is the chapter on the rules of the trash talk
show game wherein millionaire "hosts"
act as tabloid ringmasters, flogging
pathetic, often desperate "guests"
into a confessional frenzy.
The diagnosis is clear, but what
is the cure? Abt and Mustazza quixotically call for
government re-regulation, licensure of media
professionals and taxation.
But the sickness outlined here goes beyond
any political solutions.
All told, a classic illustration of
Marshall McLuhan's prophetic vision of the media
as extensions of the human sensorium
and the way new media effect changes
that are never value-neutral
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- Bruce Lee: The Celebrated Life of the Golden Dragon (The Bruce Lee Library)
- CGI Filmmaking: The Creation of Ghost Warrior
- Cocktails In Tahiti
- Conversations with Brando
- Conversations with Wilder
- Costuming For Film: The Art And The Craft
- Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn: An Encyclopedia of the People, Places, Events, Indian Culture and Customs, Information Sources, Art and Films
- Dance & Drama in Bali
- Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn
Books Index
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