Elvis: The Personal Archives

Book Description

With the cooperation of Elvis' estate, respectful of his legacy, and designed as an amazing pop-culture artifact itself, this is the ultimate Elvis collectible. Jeff Scott had unprecedented access to Elvis' personal possessions and property, and the cooperation of Graceland, to create a complex portrait of the music legend beyond kitsch. He resurrects Elvis through his possessions, revealing the humanity behind the celebrity veneer, including:

* Elvis' gold bedside telephone

* the TV with a bullet hole through the screen

* his mobile phone

Customer Reviews:

intimate friends.......2007-10-03

This book is a musthave for elvis-lovers. The subtle way his personal belongings were photographed is beautiful and respectful. Looking at the still lifes, I became silent. It feels like being a real close and intimate friend of Elvis', Elvis the man, not the King...

Elvis the personal Archives.......2007-01-21

First I guess it would be important to say that I've been an Elvis fan for about 30 something years. So the low rating is not because I'm one of those out to bash the King etc. Far from it. I absolutely treasure him and have many thousands of dollars worth of books and memorabilia. With that out of the way, I expected this book to be full of rare, never before seen pics of Elvis's prized possessions etc, like his crayon box from grade school, Graceland contract etc. Boy was I disapointed! There are a few pictures of his shirts, handguns, badges and ID cards and some other minor items. Some I've seen before and thats it! Just a few. It seems the layout of the book was intended to be more of a modern art project than any real look at the King's many possessions. You're better off buying an Elvis auction guide. Much better layout, presentation and jam packed with photos of his personal items etc. You can still find them available on Ebay. Hope this helps.

visual storytelling.......2006-04-09

i found this book a real visual treasure.the story this book tells through images,i found so engaging.the composition of each page brought me into the story.not only the physical images of elvis,but the images of things he spent money on,things he spent time with and the places that were so important in his life.it allowed me to sense the many contradictions that made elvis who he was,rather than being told in someone elses words.i thoroughly enjoyed this visual journey and have already shared it with others as a gift.i hope others enjoy it as well.thanks,phil strahan

Neat record of some of Elvis' belongings........2006-03-11

This book has pics of some of Elvis' belongings I have never seen before which is very interesting. However, it is a little artsy and not as big as I expected from the title.

Artful and poignant reflection on the King.......2006-02-16

A well-designed collection of Elvis Presley imagery. Some are skillfully appropriated collages, some are simply gritty recordings of what was left behind. The author's technique reveals a body of work that embraces the fading and brittle nature of his subjects, sometimes amplifying and augmenting the effects of time on these artifacts. This is not your average Presley memorabilia book, but a thoughtful meditation that artfully illustrates both the boundless legend and peculiar idiosyncrasy of one of the most remarkable American icons.

Amazon.com

Few age groups are more prized by the corporate world--and more difficult to reach--than the teens and twentysomethings who make up the free-spending, free-minded youth market. Street Trends: How Today's Alternative Youth Cultures Are Creating Tomorrow's Mainstream Markets offers an informed view of the members of this transitory cohort, and in so doing helps businesspeople better understand this independent audience. Authors Janine Lopiano-Misdom and Joanne De Luca, cofounders of a group that monitors these cutting-edge "tribes," provide an illuminating and perceptive look behind the thinking that often shapes widespread trends.

Book Description

Street Trends offers an engrossing, provocative look at the hidden centers of urban street cultures, identifies important new trends emerging from the streets and predicts how they will impact the culture at large.

For anyone looking for a preview of the Next Big Thing, the insights here are invaluable. The accuracy of the authors' predictions has earned them a client base that includes high-profile companies such as Rebok International, Pepsi Co., Levi-Strauss, Burlington industries, Shiseido International, and the National Football League Properties.

Customer Reviews:

Little outdated, mixed feelings.......2007-08-08

2.5 stars

First, I will agree with the previous reviewer - this book was self-aggrandizement on the part of the authors.

This affected the content of the book in several ways. The book did read, in parts, like a "pitch" for their services. Also, I am always a bit distrustful of authors who admit they are holding back information, in an attempt to sell you more at a higher rate, at a later date. This, incidentally, made the book a bit "thin". It also upset me just a bit that the Gen-X authors would sell out their generation to huge corporations (it was obvious to me that they were trying to land a big client - not just share their observations about young people). And yes, it was a bit generalized. It seems that they wanted a book simply to justify their careers, without caring much about the quality or content of that book.

Also, please realize this book is a bit outdated. Some of the information is still valid & insightful, but the majority of it is particular to the late 90's.

A final observation is that the false categories of X'ers, which is purely the construct of the authors (the "Hip-Hop", the "Intellectuals", etc) were a bit naive, a bit redundant, and somewhat funny actually to a person trained in sociological method.

Much better book about Gen X'ers -- which are not likely to go out of date for a very long time -- are Generation Debt, Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers, and Culture Jam: The Uncooling of America

Postive for International Youth Marketeers.......2000-06-13

Street Trends is an effective book for all marketeers wanting to know what is in the mindsets of the youth market. Its assessment of the market also translates well into some of the trends that hit international markets.

self-promotion based on wild generalizations.......1999-01-30

Pretty clever idea: get thousands of people to pay to read your corporate brochure. The authors blatantly pitch their company's services throughout. That's embarrassing. But many of their insights are based on unfounded generalizations -- that today's youth are responsible for the rise in microbrewed beer, or that all future music will contain electronic components. The result: we can't take these so-called researchers seriously. There may be valuable insights in this book, but what can you believe?

Luck from De Luca, Wisdom from Misdom.......1998-08-19

In our quest for The Next Big Thing, many of us have rummaged around in the wrong places, like the drunk who stumbled under the streetlight for hours seeking his keys. Asked why he keeps covering the same ground, he says, "Because that's where the light is!"

In Street Trends, Lopiano-Misdom and De Luca are seeking the keys to hot, new trends - and finding them, too - but not under the bloodless light of statistical research alone (which everyone admits is illuminating ... as far as it goes).

No, these authors venture right into the thicket. They mount an expedition into the surly habitat of those young, independent kids who wouldn't dream of filling out a corny questionnaire, or be caught (duh!) in a focus group.

Whether or not you agree with the authors' observations (and whether or not you'd grant a First Church of Chi-Squared Almighty imprimatur to their naturalist methodology) this apparently modest volume is actually a fascinating, wickedly subversive little book.

Ray Simon (Ray is the author of Mischief Marketing, Contemporary Books, Fall 1999)

Customer Reviews:

STEPHEN COX I HOPE YOU SEE THIS........2007-08-26

This first rendition of The Munsters is definately a must have for all Munsters fans. Not as impressive as the revised edition, but really fun to read. Now here's the part I need help with. In this version it states the broadcast date for Underground Munster is 12/9/1965 in the revised edition it states 12/16/1965. The DVD says 12/9/1965 IMDB says 12/16/1965. Several other sources with MUNSTERS episode guides have either 12/9/1965 or 12/16/1965. I'M GOING OUT OF MY MIND WHICH ONE IS IT?

MUNSTER MASH!.......2005-08-03

I found this in my local used-book cellar for $6.00. If you, too, had a soft spot for these guys as a kid and just want to reminisce, this happy little book is worth your while. Author Steve Cox, the king of quickie books about those goofy old sitcoms, does his usual thorough job- at the time, all the cast members were still alive and the show was still in frequent reruns. I especially liked reading about things like the Herman Munster costume and makeup (it took two hours for Gwynne to be fitted!), the Munster Koach and Drag-ula cars (two more Kustom Kar Kreations from George Barris), and other Munster trivia. I also had no idea there was a "Munsters Today" remake; to these eyes, I'm sure Lee Ann Meriwether made a very nice Lily (she was a great Catwoman in the "Batman" movie from the '60s). I liked this book- it's, to my knowledge, the only one about the Munsters- but I sure wouldn't spend sixty bucks for it unless I was a hopeless Munster maniac. See what you can find in your local used book store?

If you love the Munsters, you're going to love this book!.......2005-07-20

To my knowledge, this is the only comprehensive book written on the Munsters! As with all Stephen Cox books, this one is absolutely incredible. If you can get your hands on this rare little gem, BUY IT NOW! I paid a small fortune for 2 of them on eBay a few years ago and this book was worth every penny!

A great tribute to the Munsters.......2004-09-05

I have been a fan of The Munsters since I saw the very first episode in 1964. I purchased the "First Family of Fright" book in 1989 and have enjoyed it ever since. The book is in an easy to read format, with page margins of 7/8". The photographs are of good quality and interesting, including the unused makeup with larger ears for Butch Patrick, some publicity shots and many behind the scenes photos. The book also provides interesting details about the Munster house exterior and how it was built in the mid-1940's with its neighbors on the Universal back lot being the Norman Bates and the Cleaver family residences. It also details Grampa's dragster, the difficulties with Herman's costume, the brief pilot episode "My Fair Munster" as well as the Munster movies. Now that I have the Munsters first season on DVD, I am referring to this book all the time. One note: there is at least one inaccuracy in the episode guide. Roy Roberts (Admiral Rogers in McHale's Navy) does not appear in the "Walk on the Mild Side" episode. Actor Barry Kelley, who looks and sounds like actor Roberts, played Police Commissioner Ludlow in this episode.

No Wonder It's Not Being Reprinted.......2001-02-14

I fell for the hype and searched the world over for a copy of this book. Finally found one out of an online book dealer in Paris and paid $47 total for a copy. The book is OK but there's hardly anything new for even basic Munster fans. The copy is strrrrrrreeeeeeettttttccccchhhhhhhhhhhed throughout, for example, wide, wide margins and some pages have just one or two lines of text. Sorry, but this was one of the most anticipated books for my collection and I feel completely ripped-off. I would feel the same had I paid the book jacket price as well. Cox's Addams Family book is leaps and bounds better than this. Live and learn.

The Munsters Television's First Family of Fright

Average customer rating:

The Munsters Television's First Family of Fright
Cox Stephen
Manufacturer: Contemporary Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UEYYBC

Book Description

How often have you heard "anyone can design a game?" While it seems likean easy job, game ideas are cheap and plentiful. Advancing those ideasinto games that people want to play is one of the hardest, and mostunder-appreciated, tasks in the game development cycle. Andrew Rollingsand Ernest Adams on Game Design introduces both students and experienced developers to the craft of designing computer and video games for the retail market. The first half of the book is a detailed analysis of thekey game design elements: examining game concepts and worlds,storytelling, character and user interface design, core mechanics andbalance. The second half discusses each of the major game genres(action, adventure, role-playing, strategy, puzzle, and so on) andidentifies the design patterns and unique creative challenges thatcharacterize them. Filled with examples and worksheets, this book takesan accessible, practical approach to creating fun, innovative, andhighly playable games.

Customer Reviews:

Came in well.......2005-09-22

The book was great in condition and looked new and it came in fast like promissed.

Describes more than Explains.......2004-01-21

This book is enjoyable for anyone interested in computer game design. However, enjoyable and illuminating are two different things. Beginning with the obviously misguided analysis that computer games are not an art form because the process of designing them is not all a matter of creativity, but that of skill and calculation as well (which is the way it is for any art form), the authors begin a journey of, well, describing what computer games are like.

Overall, the book seems more to describe than explain, more to report than interpret. There arises no general, well defined thesis from its 500+ page volume. At best, this book can be said to raise a lot of issues which a designer ought to have in mind when designing a game.

However, the vast majority of the issues raised are either of secondary importance or generally irrelevant. It breaks down the process of game design into topics in a way which is neither natural nor logical, and proceeds to pursue a rather sizyphusian discussion of each of these topics in turn. These are: What is Game Design?, Game Concepts, Game Settings and Worlds, Storytelling and Narrative, Character Development, Creating the User Experience, Gameplay, and The Internal Economy of games and Game Balancing.

This division makes very little sense. These topics are all so closely related, some to the point of overlapping, that attempting to develop a theorem which deals with each of them separately would result in exactly the kind of negligible book we have before us.

Actually, it would be impossible for the authors to develop any meaningful discussion of their subject, because they fail to define a) what we are trying to create and b) how do we measure our success. Nor can such a definition be induced from this overflous and superficial book. Without this definition, there is nothing that binds the book's pieces together (and, actually, had the authors bothered to provide a rigorous definition, they would have realized that no reasonable definition could be found for the garbled mess they've created), and it remains a pile of expressions in the spirit of "some people did this in some games, and some people did that in some other games". In short, the book does an admirable job in showing how NOT to perform a critical analysis of a subject, not to mention attempt to construct a wholesome theory.

While the book can be interesting at times, mainly because it makes one think on how such a book SHOULD be written, it is chuck full of assertions obviously made on the basis of misunderstandings, like the authors' curious misuse of the term Suspension of Disbelief, or their suggestion of the Hero's Journey narrative template as an object of imitation rather than a tool for analysis.

The authors' goal with this book also seems questionable. At one point, they assert that, even were it possible, we wouldn't like our player to be tormented by remorse after taking an immoral action in the game. Why? isn't moral education one of the most important and unique roles of art? If it were indeed possible, and I'm sure it is, it would've been a glorious achievement for this medium, one which would put all its previous achievements far behind.

Or are the authors only interested in computer games as a source of pure fun? If so, I suggest they invest their impressive talent and enthusiasm in cooking or adult toy design - a medium's greatness lies not in the fun it offers, and these repeatable fields are all about fun.

An interesting book for raising a large scale discussion, but one which falls short of grasping the deeper principles of its subject, and is, therefore, unimportant.

Advances the field of game design knowledge.......2003-07-13

The first half of this book is great, and the chapter on *What Gameplay Is* alone makes this book more than worth it. Rollings and Adams propose a new definition of game - to replace Sid Meier's off-the-cuff definition "A series of meaningful choices" - that is more general, more liberating, and more true. So anyone who is annoyed by the fact that their favorite linear platformer supposedly isn't a game by the Meier definition can turn to this. It sounds like a small thing, but so many designers quote the Meier definition so often I expect that this small pebble will create ripples that will effect the kinds of games we see in the future. By focusing on challenges rather than choices, Rollings and Adams have changed the way I think about game design.

Also, while Rollings' other book is most suited for people making strategy games, this book really is general enough to be a worthy read for anybody working on any kind of game.

I only gave it four stars because, for me, the last half of the book--summary chapters of different game genres--was mostly throwaway, rarely going into very much depth or telling me information I didn't know already.

Review: Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams On Game Design.......2003-06-29

In writing a book review, it's important to realize the importance of "cover previews." In essance, the cover previews provide a contract for either what a book is about or what information the book will provide.

For instance, the back cover of the book On Game Design posits: "How do you turn a great idea into a game design? What makes one design better than another? Why does a good design document matter, and how do you write one? This book answers these questions and stimulates your creativity?"

It is important to note that the book does not limit itself to console video games or computer games. The essence of the rules discussed in this book are those of creating any type of game. Right away that should tell you whether or not you're going to find the book useful. Are you looking for a book that tells you, in general and abstract terms, what concepts are involved with creating a game, or are you looking for a book that actually works examples of concepts?

While this book does a good job of providing many checklists for consideration, advice for certain conditions, and a dictionary of possible ways to view game design, the writers do not follow through. There are few solid examples of checklist scenarios or of worked-through versions of a game scenario which a game designer would find helpful. Without a practical means to an end, there is little purpose in reading these examples except for reassurance that you're facing the same problem that other people have faced. There are many psychology texts available for that situation already.

If you're used to reading programming books, like I am, you're probably aware that they follow a standard format: Propose a problem, choose a method of solution, work through several to many versions of the solution, solve the problem. With only a proposal, it is rather unhelpful to not see why one solution is better than another when it comes to game design. For that matter, as you might have guessed, the level of abstraction to design presented in this book leaves no space for any code examples.

While the advice given in certain situations might be helpful to someone who knows nothing about game design, it is highly likely that whoever reads this book will have little need of it since the advice is so much common sense that a gamer of several years would already be aware of much of this. It's like a senior in college having to take freshman seminar.

But, aside from this little discussion of fault, there is much to be savored in this book. Don't let this review scare you off! Get a copy of the book. Read it. Keep it as a reference for when you might need a more formalized way of presenting a problem you face in game design.

And as I'm sure you know, once you've found a way to state a problem, you're almost ready to find a way to solve it.

Essential reading for anyone interested in game design.......2003-06-17

As the global computer games industry becomes bigger business, and games are increasingly recognised as an art form, it seems surprising that the process of game design is so misunderstood. Books like Rollings and Adams on Game Design help clarify the process of game design, and as such are a vital step in clarifying game design, and providing guidance as to what that process entails.

Rollings and Adams on Game Design (hereafter, `the book') covers in broad strokes the elements of game design, both in general terms, and in connection with specific genres. The book begins by identifying the common elements of games of all kinds, and then moves on to discussing the many different classes of game, and what they have in common.

The first section, The Elements of Game Design, is an excellent treatment of the broad-strokes components of game design - a novice designer will find much to educate in this section, and even an experienced pro will find wisdom and opinion well worth the time and money. Topics such as narrative design and game balancing - often ignored - are dealt with in a generalised but comprehensive fashion, and as such this section also serves as an excellent introduction to the role of a game designer.

The main body of the book is in the second section, which consists of individual chapters covering various game genres. Because no single standard for game genre exists, the choice of genres may raise some eyebrows with some people, but within the context of the book the genre choices are very sensible and provide a good framework.

The quality of the genre chapters is variable, but generally of an excellent standard. Some are truly exceptional however, in particular that on Sports Games and the sub-section on Games for Girls contain information very hard to gain from another source. Chapters on Action, Strategy, Vehicle simulations and Construction/Management sims provide a solid discussion of the key features of these genres, although Action has been defined in such a way as to seem biased towards shooters and against platform games. It may have been worth considering these two largely divergent genres as separate forms - but to do so would have been to risk fragmenting the focused nature of the material.

Chapters on Adventure Games, A-life and other minority pursuits are quite possibly the best summary of the forms available anywhere, and the chapter on online games (written with the assistance of Raph Koster) is a superb précis of a notoriously difficult to summarise area.

There are some drawbacks, but mostly due to the generalised nature of the work. Because the book must cover everything, it necessarily covers everything briefly. Many of the chapters end when you are just beginning to get a taste for the details. As the authors note, an attempt to cover everything in detail would be the work of several volumes.

Similarly, although much is said of the process of game mechanic design and game world abstraction, little is said of the process of design where it relates to the involvement of the team as a whole. Game design is often a process of `game design co-ordination' - managing the design of the game through the changing world of the development cycle. The book provides no help for this challenging task - which again would need a book of its own to cover thoroughly.

That aside, this book is an essential reference for any game designer with less than ten years of experience, and especially for anyone new to the practice of game design. People with an interest in games will learn a tremendous amount about the underlying mechanisms of game design, and need not worry about complex mathematics or other technical detail, as most of the book is written in very easy-to-follow prose.

Book Description

For courses in Fundamentals of Game Design for all video game developers and designers

With a focus on designing for the commercial entertainment market, this text teaches the principles and practice of game design and covers each of the major game genres individually.

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