Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America

Book Description

Now in paperback, the classic book that defined the multicultural art movement, updated with a new introduction. The New Press is proud to publish a new paperback edition of Mixed Blessings, the first book to discuss the cross-cultural process taking place in the work of contemporary Latino, Native-, African-, and Asian-American artists. Rich with illustrations of artworks in many different media, and filled with incisive quotes and unsettling reports, it is more than a book about art; it is a complex meditation on the relationships of people to their cultures. Lucy R. Lippard, one of our most original and insightful writers on art, challenges conventional approaches and explores the role of images in a changing society. Among her subjects are the uncertainty of exile; the confusion of identity in attempts to climb out of the melting pot; and art that speaks for itself, reversing stereotypes and reclaiming history and memory. The New Press edition features a new introduction by Lippard that reconsiders the issues first presented in Mixed Blessings when it appeared in 1990 and evaluates the state of multicultural art today.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent text required by Academy of Art University course.......2007-03-09

Covers minority art, lots of colored pictures and artist comments/barriers in representation and discrimination. A must read for all artists.

Book Description

"The Jews of Poland between the World Wars come alive in this photographic essay in all their diversities....One imagines that Polish Jewry would have wanted to be remembered thus -- looking out to the camera and the world beyond."

-- Ruth R. Wisse

"Reveals a vibrantly rich kaleidoscope of life using many great photographs, some known, others never seen before. A volume to read, to study, to treasure."

-- Cornell Capa

"Beautifully balanced to serve the fascinating truth of a civilization that vanished into the darkest folds of history....All this seems so distant and yet so familiar, for although they are gone, they are family, and it was just yesterday."

-- Mark Helprin

"A poignant and visually beautiful reconstitution of the varied, culturally rich, and endlessly fascinating lost world of Polish Jews. Reading it makes one glow with pride."

-- Louis Begley

"If you're Jewish and looking for your roots and the world of your grandfathers, this is the book for you. If you're not Jewish, but just curious, this book is for you....It can take you on a voyage into a world that vanished in the gas and smoke of the Holocaust."

-- Lucy S. Dawidowicz

"One of the most extraordinary photographic histories ever assembled....An entire people and culture, now gone from the face of the earth, comes forth from its pages with an animation and vitality so powerful that the tragedy of the end of Polish Jewry seems for a moment, miraculously suspended."

-- Simon Schama

Customer Reviews:

WHY SOFTCOVER ??.......2004-12-24

A REAL PITY that this nice re-edition has been published with softcover! Besides that, the book is still the excellent collection of old, unique photos with commentaries of Jewish life on that Empire which was the JEWISH POLAND BEFORE THE HOLOCAUST!
Still worth to purchase and add to any library!!

Like a loving obituary........2002-06-20

This book explains the various Jewish societies in pre-Nazi Europe's most Jewish country. I love reading it. Although most of my ancestors are not documented in civil records I could have access to--it helps me see that my family too had a real life somewhere.

A beautiful, necessary key to a lost world.......2001-01-25

"Image Before My Eyes," a book built around an astonishing selection of photos and linked to an even finer documentary of the same name, is a brilliantly conceived and executed introduction to the history of Polish Jewry and an extraordinarily moving monument to that community's creativity, vitality, and complexity.

Average customer rating:

What the Heck is with TLG?

In response to the other review...

Disgruntled customer

Castles & Crusades Castle Keeper's Guide
Davis Chenault , and Peter Bradley
Manufacturer: Troll Lord Games
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Castles And Crusades Monsters & Treasures

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Castles & Crusades: Castle Keeper's Screens

ASIN: 1929474687

Book Description

With the Castles & Crusades Castle Keeper's Guide, all your questions will be answered and desires fulfilled. This tome explores a vast array of new possibilities, options, variations and much, much, more. Combined with the Castles & Crusades Players Handbook and Monsters & Treasure, the Castle Keeper's Guide will truly give those playing games of Castles & Crusades a complete mastery of their game and manners in which to develop it.

Customer Reviews:

What the Heck is with TLG?.......2007-09-28

I like C&C and have been waiting for this CK Guide for over a year now. Everytime I have emailed TLG on the release of this vital book for the CK's out there, they always give the same email answer..."Its coming out soon".....Yeah right, when!?

In response to the other review..........2007-08-30

For reasons known only to Troll Lords, they have not yet published the Castle Keepers Guide, despite the fact that it is the 3rd rulebook in the set and they have published tons of other material for the game.
Blame them, not Amazon.

Disgruntled customer.......2007-01-04

This is unfortunately a review of Amazon's customer service and not of the book itself. I ordered this book in August of 2006. As of Jan of 2007 I have never received the item. I have received many polite emails from Amazon about the delays. So far the other two books (players book and the monster book) have been largely useless. I ordered them at roughly the same time and received them in a matter of a few days.

Book Description

In 1994, Kevin Smith debuted his low-budget filmClerks at the Sundance Film Festival. It became an instant cult classic and made Smith the top dog of the indie film world. Next he was an executive producer of the smash hit Good Will Hunting and quickly earned the title 'King of Gen X Cinema' from Time magazine. He appeared on Charlie Rose, Politically Incorrect, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and currently holds a regular spot on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno hosting a segment entitled 'Roadside Attractions.' Fans of his films will instantly recognize Smith as Silent Bob-the character with no lines. And last year Smith began writing a hilarious monthly column covering popular culture for Arena magazine. In this side-splitting rant-fest, Kevin Smith waxes rhapsodic and obnoxious on everything from his platonic infatuation with Ben Affleck to his bloodcurdling hatred of Britney Spears, from his shocking diagnosis with morbid obesity to the fatal flaws of SpiderMan-all done in his inimitable, raunchy style.

Customer Reviews:

Kevin Smith Fan? You Will Love This.......2007-10-03

Kevin Smith proves himself as a very good writer once again with this collection of his blogs. There is a lot of behind the scenes information given as well as his likes and dislikes when it comes to movies and celebrities. The stories range from funny to serious, but all keep the interest of the reader the entire time. If you are a fan of the "Evening with Kevin Smith" DVD series, this is basically the same kind of thing but in book form. The stories are different than on the DVDs, so I didn't mean that the same stories are told that you have heard a thousand times.

So basically, if you are a fan of Smith, this book is a must have that you won't be able to put down. If you're not a fan, why bother with this in the first place? Fans will find enjoyment, but I doubt those Clerks haters will have their opinions changed. This is for the fans, and fans...I can't say it enough, you will like this book.

A treat for Smith fans.......2007-04-22

What does it mean to have a cult following? When one speaks of directors like Clint Eastwood, Ron Howard, Martin Scorcese or Steven Spielberg, the reference is to a director that appeals to a broad audience, as opposed to one who appeals to a smaller group. This limited appeal director can be said to have a cult following, and like with regular cults, the followers are often more avid (or deluded, depending on your viewpoint) than their mainstream counterparts. It's the different between Christians and Movementarians (Simpson fans will understand).

Kevin Smith has a cult following and I am one of the cult. He will never have the broad popularity of Eastwood, et al, because that isn't his goal. His movies are crammed with dialogue and limited in action and often the items discussed could be considered offensive. Clerks, Smith's first movie, was almost given an NC-17 rating for the dialogue alone. But to those who don't offend easily, Smith's movies are often really funny. Smith himself is both a funny writer and speaker; as DVDs of his college tours show, he has a definite following and he can be hilarious in person.

Silent Bob Speaks is a collection of essays he has written, primarily for Arena magazine. For those familiar with Smith from other things (his movies, etc.), this fits right in with the Smith they know. If you don't know Smith, this is not the place to start (for example, if you don't know who Silent Bob is, you probably need to rent one of his DVDs first (but not the atypical (although good) Jersey Girl).

Much of the book deals with behind-the-scenes happenings for his movies Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Jersey Girl, with plenty of wonderful asides, such as why he doesn't like Reese Witherspoon but does like David Duchovny. For the most part, he is kind to the celebrities he discusses, and his interviews with Ben Affleck and Tom Cruise will give you some insights into those actors with very little negative material. And, most importantly, the book is really funny.

One reason Smith has his cult following is that he successfully seems like one of the guys. You might like Steven Spielberg, but it's hard to imagine that he'd just like to hang out with you. On the other hand, Smith seems a lot less aloof; his movies are filled with friends of his and his view of himself is nicely self-deprecating. This book is more of what makes a Smith fan a Smith fan.

Avoid.......2007-04-22

I am a Kevin Smith fan. I love most of his work and by that I mean I wasn't big on the sequel to "An Evening With Kevin Smith" and I wasn't big on "Chasing Amy" or the animated series of Clerks. The rest of his movies I liked a lot or loved. Never read his comics though.

I was expecting a lot from this book. And I didn't get it. This book takes place basically telling the story kind of like production journals of him working on "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back". But while he is doing that he goes off on stories about other topics. Don't get me wrong, I typically enjoy that stuff from him a lot. But this book hasn't made me laugh once and I am a tad over 100 pages into it.

Kevin Smith Fans Will Love It........2007-01-10

I bought this book for my husband who is a huge Kevin Smith fan. If you are a fan, you won't be disappointed. If you are easily offended by language, the occasional potty humor and thinking out of the main stream its probably not the book for you. He is a brilliant writer who can write about everything from being obese to meeting Tom Cruise. It's a good (and quick) read.

great if you like Kevin Smith.......2006-12-19

And I do. I REALLY enjoyed this. Historical stuff, new(er) stuff, and fun stuff. This is pure Kevin Smith

Amazon.com

Once considered the best biography on American composer Frank Zappa available, David Walley's No Commercial Potential: The Saga of Frank Zappa still contains the most compelling and accurate portrait of Zappa at the beginning of his career. The latest edition has been updated by the author--which is odd, as Walley seems almost completely disenchanted with Zappa in the closing chapters--to quickly gloss over the last two decades of Zappa's life up to and including his death in 1993. The gold of this biography is still the original material from the seventies, which Walley wrote after spending a great deal of time with his subject. Anyone interested in Zappa and his music will not want to miss this fascinating, firsthand account of the man in what many consider to be the prime years of his career. Anyone interested in a broader view of Zappa's life will also want to investigate Ben Watson's astounding intellectual analysis of Zappa's work, The Negative Dialects of Poodle Play, the collected offerings of The Frank Zappa Companion, and the word from the man himself, The Real Frank Zappa Book.

Book Description

For nearly thirty years Frank Zappa (1940-1993) pursued an idiosyncratic but influential course in music-rock, jazz, and classical composer (releasing over fifty albums); founder of the Mothers of Invention; guitarist, conductor, and producer; as well as social satirist, sonic scientist, First Amendment champion, and all-around iconoclast. This updated edition of David Walley's cutting-edge classic includes a new foreword, a substantial chapter carrying the Zappa saga through his death from cancer, an afterword, bibliography, discography, videography, and guide to Zappa on the Internet. From 1960's Freak Out! to the posthumous Civilization Phaze III, No Commercial Potential offers converts and connoisseurs the most practical and penetrating book ever written on the musical phenomenon known as Frank Zappa.

Customer Reviews:

I admit it, I knew Zappa.......2005-11-02

And because of that, it's the first part of this book that galls me, rather than the part added much later. Clearly the well-named Walley is what is called in England, a compleat "wally," meaning a man without a backbone. When he's in love with someone, they are as a god. When he falls out of love (did Zappa turn him away, insult him? very easy to imagine), then he becomes a kicked dog, lifting his leg to piss on his idol, chewing his old Zappa posters off his walls. Does any of this tell us about Zappa? Not really. It tells us about Wally. And all the other wallies of the world of fandom. Other than that, Wally writes as if he were under the strong impression he writes well, even brilliantly. What a moron. As for Zappa, he was an ass. The Spike Jones of his day, claiming credit for the work of better men, and even some women. His lyrics are moronic, pure male juvenalia. But then there's some of the instumental music. This is the best of Zappa. But to know him, was not to love him. My advice is to love the best of a gifted man, and keep far far away from the rest of him.

condescending.......2005-01-22

This was a pretty comprehensive biography of Frank's earlier years, but the last hundred pages or so are terrible. The author simply pontificates on Frank's life and work, making judgement after judgement. This part of the book is extremely condescending toward Frank, as if the author were Frank's teacher and making notes on his final report card. This incredibly superior, pompous attitude toward the book's subject was very annoying. Including negative opinions about Zappa from people like Captain Beefheart is interesting and informative, but the author should have kept his own heavy hand out of the mix. A really good biography leaves conclusions about what kinf of guy the subject is up to the reader. Not so here, where toward the end the reader finds him/herself struggling to crawl out from underneath the heavy pile of the author's ponderous philosophy to glean any information at all about Zappa.

I did listen to all of the albums mentioned in the book, which, I guess, is all of them. I got a lot more out of listening to the records than I did this book.

The Present Day Artist Refuses to Die!.......2003-12-13

This is an older book with a bit of updates and the old part is still a fun read for those who don't know anything about Zappa.

Aside from composing, the amazing thing that appears to get lost is that Zappa was one of 3 or 4 great guitarists of the 20th century. His use of the mixolydian mode combined with dissonance and fairly progressive technological effects throughout his career (speeding up oboes a minor third on Uncle Meat (1968) is an example) was extremely original and give his work its particular quality. It is true that Zappa was a control freak and he did abuse musicians since, as Gail Zappa has said, they (and anyone associated with Frank's work) were `hired hands'. Anyone who views their fellow musician like that is going to be hard to work with. The accusation, however, that "Zappa endlessly recycled his own material rather than spend his time coming up with worthwhile new works" is a bit harsh. The progression of musicianship from Freak Out to The Yellow Shark is clear.

No Commercial Potential does not discuss musical and working relationship issues but is more of a cultural look at how excessive and insular the 60's rock scene was - even though one has to realize that it does try to deify Frank in the first 150 pages.

Truly weak........2003-07-05

Not surprisingly, there are numerous rave "reviews" of this book here by other Amazonians. Most of these people are the types who think "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" is a significant work of late-20th century music and who throw around words like "genius" and "philosopher" whenever Zappa's name comes up. They think that Zappa's songs, which they always rush to point out were "complex," included serious, penetrating social commentary in addition to their "killer solos" and "freakin' funny" lyrics. Unfortunately, for most of this book, its author, David Walley, also falls into this category of Zappaphile.

I'll be honest. Frank Zappa's serious music (read: "instrumental music"), from the early "Hot Rats" to "Jazz From Hell," his guitar solo discs, "The Perfect Stranger," and "The Yellow Shark," I find fascinating, exciting, and worthy of placement beside the works of other major late 20th century composers. I write this as a classically trained musician with a background in piano, theory, and musicology. Zappa loved (LOVED) name dropping Varese, Stravinsky, Webern, Takemitsu, and Penderecki, and in my opinion, his best music ranks with theirs.

His other music (read: anything with lyrics) I find about as scintillating, witty, and sardonically insightful as the latest opus by Weird Al Yankovic. This is the junk by which he made his fortune, and while I respect the demanding nature of much of it, it's also ephemeral, juvenile, utterly worthless stuff. Sadly, this is what attracts a lot of his fans, most of whom are not musicians and many of whom are fanatics who mistake FZ for a philosopher.

What does all this have to with this book? David Walley is obviously not a musician, and so his relentless references to the "complexity" of FZ's music and his inevitable references to Webern, et al., mar this book with the stupidity of the musically unlettered geek who tries to write about music. His attempts to write a "with-it," Zappa-esque book make his social commentary approximately as riveting as his attempts at musical analysis. His humor is heavy handed and usually annoying.

On the personal side, when he's not writing embarrassingly sycophantic psychobabble about Zappa, he does manage to reveal some interesting aspects of his subject. Zappa was a control freak who used and abused musicians, stole many of their ideas while crediting himself, endlessly recycled his own material rather than spend his time coming up with worthwhile new works, and, in three decades of near-constant labor, managed to produce only a handful of worthwhile discs. Not an appealing person. His annoyingly smug cynicism had a dark side; Steve Vai once claimed that he almost had a nervous breakdown after leaving Zappa's band, thanks to his own adoption of Zappa's startlingly bleak and nasty worldview. Apart from the (relatively little) good music, that is the man's legacy.

I hope someday a biographer will approach this subject responsibly and from a position of musical knowledge. In this book, we have an author with no knowledge of music who is blinded by his personal feelings both for and against his subject. From his early ecstatic proclamations of Zappa's genius ("philosopher"! "composer"! "social critic"! "film maker"! "scientist"!), he descends into a scathing attack in the afterword. Over three decades after its first appearance, this book remains as amateurish as its author's prose.

Not the most complete view of Zappa's life.......2001-12-05

This book gives a good description of Frank's early days with the Mothers of Invention, and it is loaded with interesting quotes from various band members, friends, and Frank himself. The book was originally published in the early 70's, which is where the problem comes in. Walley updated the book some time in the early 90's, but the added material really just skims through Frank's career from the mid-70's to his death. Walley's loss of interest in Zappa in the 80's is very evident, and he seems to have an irritatingly negative view of Frank and his music near the end of the book. This is probably the best book if you're looking for information on Zappa's early years, but if you want a more complete biography, you should look elsewhere.

No Commercial Potential: The Saga of Frank Zappa Then and Now

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No Commercial Potential: The Saga of Frank Zappa Then and Now
David Walley
Manufacturer: E. P. Dutton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

No Commercial Potential: The Saga of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention

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No Commercial Potential: The Saga of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
David Walley
Manufacturer: Outerbridge & Lazard, a subsidiary of E P Dutton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0876900767

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No Commercial Potential: the Saga of Frank Zappa
David Walley
Manufacturer: Westview Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OT0UKM

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Business Forum, published by California State University, Los Angeles on January 1, 1993. The length of the article is 2964 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: The workforce in US business is becoming increasingly diversified to encompass employees from possibly conflicting cultural backgrounds. The workforce is starting to try to maintain an individual minority identity as it becomes dynamically diverse, requiring the employer to adjust as opposed to vice versa. The workforce increasingly has no basic agreement on job performance, with differing ethical perceptions having an impact. Companies must recognise the existence of the diversity in order to manage it, with company policies used to implement strategies.

Citation Details
Title: Coping with different ethical perceptions in America's increasingly diverse workforce.
Author: David J. Burns
Publication: Business Forum (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 1993
Publisher: California State University, Los Angeles
Volume: v18 Issue: n1-2 Page: p41(3)

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A cross cultural study of self concept using the semantic differential

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A cross cultural study of self concept using the semantic differential
Theodore R Humphrey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007AMQ1Y

Book Description

John McGrath's plays are compulsory reading and viewing for students of drama, film and television courses in many University and Further Education departments and yet despite recognition of the central importance of McGrath's work, very little has been written about him. This is the first full-length study of his work. Freedom's Pioneer illuminates the importance of John McGrath's role in the development of theatre, film and television in the last four decades of the twentieth century. Through play and script-writing, through directing, producing and co-ordinating work, and through his critical, political and philosophical reflections, McGrath exerted a powerful influence over developments and innovations in all three art forms. The contributors include film and television directors, actors, designers, writers, university researchers and journalists, many of whom worked with McGrath. Questions of day-to-day working practice are addressed alongside broader political and aesthetic concerns, and the question of McGrath's relationship to and influence on the arts in Scotland receives careful consideration.

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