The Cognitive Semiotics of Film

Book Description

In The Cognitive Semiotics of Film, Warren Buckland argues that the conflict between cognitive film theory and contemporary film theory is unproductive. He examines and develops the work of "cognitive film semiotics," a neglected branch of film theory that combines the insights of cognitive science with those of linguistics and semiotics. Presenting a survey of cognitive film semiotics, this study also reevaluates the film semiotics of the 1960s, highlights the weaknesses of American cognitive film theory, and challenges the move toward "post-theory" in film studies.

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In The Cognitive Semiotics of Film, Warren Buckland argues that the conflict between cognitive film theory and contemporary film theory is unproductive. Examining and developing the work of 'cognitive film semiotics', a neglected branch of film theory that combines the insights of cognitive science with those of linguistics and semiotics, he investigates Michel Colin's cognitive semantic theory of film; Francesco Casetti and Christian Metz's theories of film enunciation; Roger Odin's cognitive-pragmatic film theory; and Michel Colin and Dominique Chateau's cognitive studies of film syntax, which are viewed within the framework of Noam Chomsky's transformational generative grammar. Presenting a survey of cognitive film semiotics, this study also reevaluates the film semiotics of the 1960s, highlights the weaknesses of American cognitive film theory, and challenges the move toward 'post-theory' in film studies.

Suspense: Conceptualizations, Theoretical Analyses, and Empirical Explorations (Lea's Communication Series)

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Suspense: Conceptualizations, Theoretical Analyses, and Empirical Explorations (Lea's Communication Series)

Manufacturer: Lawrence Erlbaum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Genre Films | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Logic & Language | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Media Studies | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0805819657

Book Description

The First Major history of cross-dressing in theatre

Whether it's Ziggie Stardust strutting the stage in a white satin gown or a troupe of Kabuki actors masquerading as women to a mesmerized male audience, the evocative transvestite performer offers a subliminal homoerotic fantasy and provides the lasting image of the show long after its closing night. Award-winning theater historian and critic Laurence Senelick synthesizes a vast array of material from archival research and a lifetime of theater-going to provide a monumental record of cross-dressing on the stage. Pantomimists, dame comedians, principal boys, glamour drag artistes, androgyne rock stars, and male impersonators are traced from their roots in tribal ritual and Christian pageantry to today's forms -- the dandyism of Little Richard, the queer sensibility of Sylvester and the Coquettes, the thrift-shop drag of Boy George -- capturing the allure and excitement of gender-bending performance: its rebellion, it's public spectacle, its amusements, its tragedies, its escapism. Senelick brilliantly elucidates the dynamic between the theater as both mainstream forum and anti-establishment haven for misfits, ravers, radical activists, and outcasts. With 100 rare photographs, The Changing Room offers a voyeuristic vision of a lifestyle watched by many, but lived by few, and a compulsively readable, authoritative account of the theater at its most sexual and effective.

Customer Reviews:

It's Not a Drag!.......2000-09-29

Laurence Senelick's The Changing Room is an entertaining and well-written exploration of the "inherent sexuality of all performance, the ability of the live theatre to construct gender variants unencountered anywhere else, and an abiding 'queerness' in the most authentic types of theatre...."

Scholars will mine the rich lode of material found in the text and the footnotes. Less exacting readers, including this reviewer, will find the book a curious admixture of fascinating, funny, and illuminating. I am still smiling at Senelick's description of the untimely passage of Bert Savoy, an entertainer with whom i was not familiar: "Rumour ran that he had exclaimed 'Mercy, ain't Miss God cutting up something awful!' just before he was struck by lightning.

The book is illustrated by numerous photographs which are equally interesting.

The Changing Room's greatest accomplishment is to synthesize many centuries of material in a manner which places our contemporary experience in perspective. I ordered the book to read about an entertainer who particularly intrigues me. I ended up spending the weekend reading the whole book. It is without any reservation that I heartily recommend The Changing Room to all readers.

Cool topic, but as enjoyable as reading a phone book.......2000-08-25

Drag performances tend to be funny and light. Of course, studying gender and studying gender in relation to theatre warrants a "heavier" reading of such performances..... But STILL, this book is as fat as a binder and is as dense as a computer manual.... Nothing you could read from cover to cover -- and I think that this would have been a lot more fun.

Average customer rating:

Judgment error in page layouts, weak diagram captions.

Nunn does miniatures!

Dr Nunn strikes again

Habit of Excellence

101 Brilliant Chess Miniatures
John Nunn
Manufacturer: Gambit Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Chess | Board Games | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1901983161

Book Description

One of the world's finest writers on chess presents his selection of brilliant modern games of 25 moves or fewer. Much can be learned from these sparkling miniatures. John Nunn examines both how the loser might have avoided disaster, and explains how the winner managed to punch home his advantage so effectively. An innovative format, with three diagrams per page, enables the book to be read without a chess set, making it ideal for readers looking for an entertaining book to dip into.

Customer Reviews:

Judgment error in page layouts, weak diagram captions........2005-09-08

.
John Nunn at his best is better than most chess writers at their best. I agree with most of the praise for this book and other Nunn books. And yes Gambit is a premier publisher of chess books, no doubt. Yet this particular book has several aggravating avoidable flaws in the way it was physically produced.

[1a] In large paragraph blocks the move notations are intermixed among annotations, variations, and general text. Their only distinguishing feature is that the live moves are bolded. However, in implementation this turned out to be a rather subtle cue for the human eye. Next time Gambit should find a font that provides a more stark contrast between bold and not-bold.

[1b] For this format of embedding live moves among variations, Figurine notation is simply a poor choice. The little piece images have no differences between their bold and not-bold versions, whereas capital letters do. The choice of Figurine notation worsens the problem described in 1a. Maybe a solution could be to use White icons for variations and analyses, but Black icons for live moves, to achieve more contrast?

[2] Every game consumes 1 or 2 pages. The games are in no particular sequence. If all the 2 page games had been printed toward the front of the book, then all games could have been viewed in their entirety without needing to flip between pages. Early on the book intermixes 1 and 2 page games. The unpleasant and unsurprising result is that around game 12 we encounter a game that can be viewed only by flipping back and forth between pages, a hassle. Of course from their the problem intermittantly runs on for several games.

[3] The back of the book boasts that the reader can enjoy the book even when no board and pieces are available. This goal would have been better achieved if the diagram captions had described the moves with a better notation format. A caption like "After 24. Rxh8!+" does Not enable me to fully judge the supposedly exceptional move. It often matters a whole lot from which square the moved piece originated. And it matters a whole lot the type of piece that was taken. The book would have been better for its customers if Gambit had captioned more informatively with "After 24. Rh1:Bh8!+" (or at least "Before 24. Rxh8!+" if notation orthodoxy must override usability issues). I often have to scan backward through the paragraphs searching for the previous moves to discover the missing info, far too tedious. Gambit claims the reader does not need a board and pieces. That claim would be more valid if better notation had been used in the captions (and there is plenty of extra unused room in their captions.

Otherwise the book delivers well on what it claims to provide.
.

Nunn does miniatures!.......2003-12-16

I have always had a soft spot for this topic ... I have built entire web pages - and even web sites - dedicated to great, short games of chess. So I was very happy to see that a player of Nunn's stature do a book on this fun and instructive topic.

I don't know what motivated Nunn to write this book, but I am very thankful he did. He took his database, and decided (properly) that a miniature was any game that lasted only 25 moves. (or less) "To my horror, there were over 65,000 such games." - GM John Nunn. In order to get this down to a more manageable number, he decided to further limit the games to those where both players were rated at least 2500 (Elo) or better. This got the number down to around 1,300 games. Nunn then played through all of these and whittled the number down to about 120 games. [From the period 1971 to 1999.] (He knew that some games would be eliminated once they were subjected to thorough analysis. The publisher had already given the mandate of only 101 games for the final version of the book for publication.)

I would have liked to see more detailed analysis, maybe some opening stuff and more commentary ... but Nunn notes the format of the work placed great restrictions on the amount of space. (Although we wonder why some games deserve five pages of analysis, and others only get one!)

But in the end, we are presented with 101 great games of chess. Some of these are true masterpieces, I doubt (very much) that the average player has seen more than a handful of these games prior to studying this volume.

Now the $64 question is: Is this book any good? And ... "Will it help me get better?"
I think the answer to both questions is a resounding YES!!! Chess is a primarily about tactics. And the emphasis here is definitely on the "hand-to-hand" aspect of chess. Chess is also about surviving the opening and eliminating mistakes, and a careful study of this book will also help you achieve this goal as well. And to be really successful, your chess study should also be fun, and I think this book meets this criterion as well. I give this book my HIGHEST recommendation!!

There are a few shortcomings to this book. A couple of the examples are turkeys, and probably should not have been included ... they are definite lumps of coal in the presence of diamonds. A couple of the games are more curiosities and opening traps than they are real games of chess. (I.e., # 92. H. Spangenberg - V. Tkachiev; BLACK wins in only 12 moves.) But much of this is really a matter of taste too.

A real oversight is the lack of any index. How many times did Kramnik make this collection? (Three times, that I can see.) How many times was the Najdorf Sicilian played? (Four times out of the first ten.) How many times did Tal score a touchdown? (More than once.)

It would have also been nice to see a list of groupings like: "The best win(s) in under 15 moves, the best Sicilians," etc. It would have been nice to know what the sources were for some of the annotations. (Mostly they came from the Informants, I imagine.)

But in the end, this is a great little book. Its fun and it is filled with really scintillating tactics. If you don't enjoy this book - you should consider giving up chess!

Dr Nunn strikes again.......2000-11-11

An excellent and entertaining selection of some of the best games of the last 30 years or so. Some of the games are so complex that a couple of pages of notes do not do them jusice. However, our author always tries to pinpoint the major variations and that point in the game when the game was lost. You'll be delighted with this book, I have no doubt.

Habit of Excellence.......2000-04-14

Superb is not enough! Nunn has a habit of producing excellent chess books. Add 101 Brilliant Chess Miniatures to Nunn's list of well annotated, edited, researched, and written books.

These 101 decisive games were culled from over 65,000 games of twenty five moves or less between chess players of at least 2500 Elo. All of the games are post 1970 with many from the late 1990s.

Entertainment and instruction are seamlessly woven together in 101 Brilliant Chess Miniatures. Play through the classic, Tal-Uhlmann, Moscow 1971. Enjoy the virtuoso performance in Topalov-Ivanchuk, Linares 1999. The annotations and comments to all the games are top notch.

Buy this book now! If you are a tournament player, you'll win more games. If you just love chess, you'll fall in love all over again!

Amazon.com

The second edition of ASP in a Nutshell gives developers of Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP) a quick reference guide for looking up object usage on a dime. This guide is geared toward working ASP programmers who need to get their answers quickly, without wading through long examples.

The book is organized into three parts: an introduction to ASP, a language reference, and appendices. This edition has been updated for IIS 5.0 and ASP 3.0--respectively the latest flavors of Microsoft's flagship Web server and scripting engines. The ASP introduction is very brief, but it adequately explains the basic concepts behind ASP and server-side scripting.

The heart of the title is the language reference that covers the intrinsic ASP objects, plus ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) 2.6, Collaboration Data Objects, file access, and more. Each section is tagged with staggered page markers that usually make it unnecessary to resort to the book's index to find a topic.

While there are no full-blown code examples, the small code fragments that are included for most objects are valuable in illustrating usage. Throughout, the information is accurate and to the point, which is exactly what busy programmers really need in a desktop reference. --Stephen W. Plain

Topics covered:

ASP overview
Application of ASP objects
ASPError
ObjectContext
Request
Response
Server
Session
Global.ASA
Installable components (ActiveX Data Objects 2.6)
Ad Rotator
Browser capabilities
CDO for Windows NT

Content linking
Content Rotator
Counters
File access
Logging utility
MyInfo
Page counter
Permission checking
Tools
Converting CGI/WinCGI applications
ASP on other platforms
Configuring IIS

Book Description

ASP in a Nutshell provides the high-quality reference documentation that web application developers really need to create effective Active Server Pages. It focuses on how features are used in a real application and highlights little-known or undocumented features. This book also includes an overview of the interaction between the latest release of Internet Information Server (version 5) and ASP 3.0, with an introduction to the IIS object model and the objects it comprises. The examples shown in this section and throughout the book are illustrated in VBScript. The main components of this book are:

Active Server Pages Introduction. Brief overview of the ASP application paradigm with examples in VBScript. Also included is an introduction to Microsoft's Internet Information Server 5.0, the IIS object model, and the objects that it comprises.
Object Reference. Each object is discussed in the following manner: descriptions, properties, collections, methods, events, accessory files/required DLLs, and remarks, including real-world uses, tips and tricks, and author's experience (where applicable). The objects--Application, Response, Request, Server, Session, ObjectContext, and ASPError, as well as ASP Directives, Global.ASA, and Server-Side Includes--all follow this paradigm.
Component Reference. This section follows the same paradigm found in Object Reference. The discussion covers all of the additional components included with IIS, such as ActiveX Data Objects, the Ad Rotator, the Browser capabilities component, the File System Object, and more.
Appendixes. Gives examples in one or two objects and components using Perl, REXX, and Python in ASP.

Like other books in the "In a Nutshell" series this book offers the facts, including critical background information, in a no-nonsense manner that users will refer to again and again. It is a detailed reference that enables even experienced web developers to advance their ASP applications to new levels.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent ASP reference book.......2005-10-06

This is an excellent companion book to 'Professional Active Server Pages'. Like most O'Reilly Nutshell texts, this book is designed more as a reference aid, rather than a learning text. If you buy both the Professional ASP tome, and this reference guide, you've bought everything you need for ASP.

Excellent book!.......2005-05-17

As a student in college, I want to learn some advanced web programming language. I found this book is very helpful for beginner. I also get a discount from couponsky.com when buying this book. This book is not only useful for beginner's studying, you also can take it as reference after you finish the studying. I recommend this book to the beginners in ASP.

Good reference and code samples, but..........2004-05-07

Somewhat in a rush and while trying to learn ASP I purchased this book. I thought it was aweful and it collected dust for nearly 6 months while I searched elsehwere to boot myself up on ASP. However, now that I'm fairly proficient at ASP, this book has been helpful as a reference. No so much for the actual reference value but becasue the sample code helps put things in perspective.

Best book to brush up ASP concepts before moving to ASP.NET.......2003-04-21

I was an ASP programmer several years ago after which I moved to a different technology. Now, I need to come to speed on .NET, but unfortunately all the ASP.NET books make innumerous references to the old ASP which I have almost forgotten.

The book helped me *VERY* quickly go through ASP 3.0 and now I feel very comfortable reading the .NET books and can now truly appreciate ASP.NET.

A GREAT reference book!

Needs a VBScript/JScript book to complement it..........2003-02-20

Be warned, if like I did, you think that this is the only book you'll need to be able to build ASP scripts; you're very much mistaken. Whenever I recommend this book, I always recommend it alongside VBScript in a Nutshell as you really need knowledge of an ASP supported scripting language before you can use ASP in a Nutshell to it's full potential!

This is yet another reference book that I've owned both editions of because I thought it was useful enough to update; but then, my site is developed using ASP, so I'm probably biased in this respect. Ok, so I got the 1st Edition late on in the game and was a little reluctant to part with cash for the new edition - but as IIS 5 started to become standard for Windows hosting, and I had access to it after getting Windows XP Pro... I thought it was about time I updated it.

ASP in a Nutshell is my first point of reference when I'm looking up the properties of a particular ASP object. I've also found it an invaluable guide for connecting and manipulating ASP scripts that used ADO for data storage and manipulation. For a while it was the only book I owned that covered the issue of connecting ASP scripts to databases.

Most of the installable components I'd never heard of before getting the book, just as well really because few are of much use - even if they aren't available on your system, a lot can be easily reproduced. The areas I find myself most frequently refering to are the main set of ASP objects, the FileSystem Object and the ActiveX Data Objects. These go into enough detail to keep all but the experienced programmers happy.

Amazon.com

Because it applies the concise and popular Nutshell format to Microsoft's preferred scripting language, VBScript in a Nutshell is a valuable learning resource and reference. Focusing on the core language rather than on any specific application, this book teaches how to write clear, efficient VBScript code. Whether developing for the Web, automating Windows, or customizing Microsoft Outlook, this book will help the reader do a better job.

Though it caters to new users, VBScript is mainly a reference book. Each piece of the core VBScript specification (plus the Dictionary and FileSystemObject objects that make up the Microsoft Scripting Runtime) is described in an alphabetized entry. For each statement, function, operator, and object, the book gives a quick description of the element's syntax, concise rules of its proper use, information on returned values (if any), and some examples of the language element used correctly in practice. Two additional sections on each language element will be valuable to novices and anyone stumped by errors: a "Rules at a Glance" section that documents correct usage, and a section called "Programming Tips & Gotchas" that highlights common mistakes. --David Wall

Topics covered: Core VBScript and the most important object models on which it operates, including Microsoft Internet Explorer and the Windows Scripting Host. Tutorial material and reference entries explain structure, syntax, and program design.

Book Description

Lightweight yet powerful, VBScript from Microsoft® is used in four main areas: server-side web applications using Active Server Pages (ASP), client-side web scripts using Internet Explorer, code behind Outlook forms, and automating repetitive tasks using Windows Script Host (WSH). VBScript in a Nutshell, Second Edition delivers current and complete documentation for programmers and system administrators who want to develop effective scripts. Completely updated for VBScript 5.6, WSH 5.6 and ASP 3.0, VBScript In a Nutshell, Second Edition includes updated introductory chapters that will help you keep current with the significant changes since the first edition was published. New chapters introduce the Windows Script Component for creating binary COM components, and the Script Encoder. The main part of the book is a comprehensive reference focusing on VBScript essentials with an alphabetical reference to all statements, keywords and objects, and a section of notes and solutions to real-world gotchas--various undocumented behaviors and aspects of the language--to help you avoid potential problems. Each entry in the reference section details the following:

The keyword's syntax, using standard code conventions
A list of arguments accepted by the function or procedure, if any exist
A discussion of how and where the keyword should be used within the scripting environment
A discussion of the differences between the operation of the keyword in Visual Basic or VBA and in VBScript

Regardless of your level of experience programming with VBScript, VBScript in a Nutshell, Second Edition is the book you'll want by your side--the most complete, up-to-date, and easy-to-use language reference available.

Customer Reviews:

2nd edition didn't document all the changes in 5.6.......2007-04-25

I've been a big fan of the 1st edition for years and found it very helpful. I use Regular Expressions a lot in Perl and found VBScript's support for RE's a bit lacking (could not extract the submatches). I was pleasantly surprised to find that this capability was added in VBScript 5.5. I bought the 2nd edition of this book because it claimed to cover VBScript 5.6. Imagine my surprise when the SubMatches collection isn't documented at all.

Overall I'm quite disappointed in the 2nd edition.

A great book for VB Scripters.......2007-02-12

This text is excellent for folks working on VBs projects. It contains good examples, great information about syntax and also warnings for "gotcha's" -- it's great!

Very useful VBScript reference.......2006-07-17

This is not intended for beginners in scripting or VBScript in particular. But for anyone with even moderate programming or scripting, this may be all you'll need to become familiar with VBScript.

Written in the spare, terse style of all Nutshell books, the book is very dense in terms of information. The major aspects of VBScript's versatility are explored (though there are no references to HTML Applications (HTAs)). The major functions are explained and there is a complete reference.

An essential volume for anyone using VBScript.

Jerry

Good Reference Book.......2006-02-01

This is not the book to learn the basics of VBScript, but it's exactly what I needed; a good reference book. I got tired of trying to find syntax of commands and functions online. Now I have it at my fingertips.

NUTSHELL.......2005-12-06

I don't have this book, I've never read it. But the negative reviews for it are out of line. People have reviewed it claiming it isn't for the beginner or for learning VB Script. NO KIDDING!! It is called NUTSHELL for a reason. It is a reference book, NOT a learning book. Don't give bad reviews for a book because you were too stupid to realize you bought the wrong book. That's just as bad as buying a Java book and complaining that it doesn't have any Javascipt examples in it.

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