Tom of Finland: the Comic Collection: The Art of Pleasure (Boxed Set)

Customer Reviews:

heart thumping.......2007-05-08

Just happened to see this item on Amazon. Had never heard about Tom or his work. Took a chance and ordered the book.Just one word should describe it - MINDBLOWING !

Although the art and line drawings are repetitive, the way the whole story is conceptualised and brought to life in the drawings is indeed amazing.

Am a fan now and forever, have also ordered a couple of his other books.

The only reason I give a four star rating is that the Book could have been published in one volume and the size and layout could also have been slightly larger, which would have enhanced the visual appeal.

All in all a book worth keeping and prying into as and when the need "ARISES"!

GORGEOUS REPRODUCTIONS--BUT THEY'RE CROPPED!.......2006-02-22

I can't agree with most of the niggling in other reviews about this set. The images are beautifully reproduced in crystalline detail, many of them in rich duo-tones, and the binding is a beautiful black leatherette with rich-looking gold-foil lettering and line images. The small size is no drawback, either-it gives a jewel-like aura to the whole set, and while some previous collections (such as one I first purchased in the 1980s) used an 8-1/2 by 11 format, they also reproduced four panels to a page, so that the actual pictures were no larger (and considerably less well reproduced).

HOWEVER, in comparing this set with previous ones, I noticed that where the original drawings had no distinct boundaries, the pages here are circumscribed by a hairline box, which results in the images being "cropped"-that is, a small amount of the drawing on each side is cut off. In most cases the overall effect is not too damaging, but there are images of group scenes in which what had been full figures are reduced to merely a hand or a nose. Considering that this is presumably meant to be a "definitive" publication of all of Tom's cartoons, I'm amazed that the Tom of Finland Foundation would permit this sort of trimming.

That being said, I must add that overall I think they did a beautiful job, and the price is very modest for a collection of this quality.

It's NOT a quality collection.......2006-02-20

This is REALLY sub-par work. There are so many errors in the text that a corrected version is rumored to be coming, and there are more "mizsphelings" than one of Durk's emails! One recent customer review, also peppered with misspellings (so wonder who wrote THAT one, Mr. D.D.) sings the praises of this volume and suggests that because ANOTHER reviewer who panned the collection also sells it on ebay, it should not be criticized...BULL.

If the Tom of Finland Foundation is gonna make a buck on this dreadful collection, why shouldn't others! The illustrations are TINY and the text is BORING! It's VERY "old school" and irrelevant. The price is CHEAP because the collection is cheaply done and it is insulting to the artistry and memory of Tom of Finland. These illustrations are SMALLER than post cards, so unless you like to do your one-handed reading with a magnifying glass, pass this one up. It's just a mess.

Small enough to make you so much bigger.......2006-02-03

The next must-have collection of TOF if you only got the "huge and thick" book - The Art Of Pleasure.

I will save the space here for others' words but just to give you an idea how turned-on I am to get my copy... A friend would re-order it in Singapore (Kinokuniya's first 50 copies sold out in less than 2 weeks as Christmas gift alone in last December), fly out and give it to me in Bangkok so I could bring in via KLIA easily. Get the picture?

P/S: This review refers to the 5-in-1 collection in a black slipcase 3.8" x 5.5", 960 pages.

A timeless classic best buy for the buck! Buy it now!.......2005-12-30

This is a best buy and Amazon's price is most favorable when compared with other retailers. It should be noted that some of the authors of complaints about this book sold copies of it on e-bay for over $60 before Amazon got stock in. If they did not like the book, why did they sell it at competing sites? The larger versions mentioned went for $20 each story, so to purchase a collection of this size it would be well over $500 and out of the price range of most.

Now as to the content. The repros are the best I have seen in awhile and I own the 8.5" x 11" copies reffred to by most other reviewers. In addition not all the books were ever released at the so called larger size. "Beach Boys" , for example, was only slightly larger that the size of this edition. So do not be fooled by some of the other reviews. Again I know because I either own or have read originals on most of the contents. Also note that the size reflects what these books really are, namely Gay "Tiahuana Bibles" (sic). This was the term used to refer to straight material of the same nature in the early part of the last century. As such the size is that of the average "bible". In fact in many cases it is somewhat larger.

The Media is an excellent choice, soft pliable, thread reinforced, spine which will not wear easily desipte the heavy reading these books will get. The paper is gloss stock heavy bond which also shoul wear well. The covers or synthetic, so they will not stain easily or tear.

All in all better stock than the originals and highly doubtful that you will see a better edition any time soon.

A side note, if this material is of interest to you buy it now. Print runs on this stuff tend to be rather low and 2nd editions tend to be rare. If you want it buy it or risk paying 10x more in a year on ebay.

Book Description

To the trained eye, a single cut flower can be more revealing than witnessing a sword duel to the death. When Musashi is given a flower cut by master swordsman Yagyu Sekishusai, he realizes he must seek this man out. Musashi has the feeling that Sekishusai may turn out to be the greatest swordsman of them all.

Customer Reviews:

A manga for a legend.......2007-01-04

Takehiko Inoue continues on the same high level with this episode of the life of Musashi. Althoug it tends to be a little to long to tell the life of one of his main contenders(7 volumes). For as much interesting as Sasaki Kojiro's life could be, this is a story about Musashi. That's why I'm not giving a five star rating.

Even better than the First.......2006-09-23

Vagabond is about the journey of Takezo, a young man, future master swordsman, who is in search of purpose and meaning to his life. In the first book he thinks its to become the best swordsman by challenging and defeating the best in the world. Having experienced disillusionment about people, he meets a monk (You'll love this guy) who strives to teach Takezo the value of a person, beginning with the youth. Book 2 gives us more of Takezo's background as he desends into a bestial killing machine. Can the monk help Takezo save himself? No alone.

If you like Manga that does not romanticizes war or swordsman, Vagabond should peak your interest. The storytelling is excellent in the drawings, more so than the text. I would rank such adept skill in the same arena as Lone Wolf and Cub. LWC is the standard for balancing poetic story telling and showing the hardcore grit of life as a swordsman. The Vagabond sereis starts with a youth, a teen, not a man with a child. So Takezo maturity is not yet there. What drives him to succeed and overcome his past makes this series promising. The characters show a range of emotions in this manga, and the situations they deal with does an excellent job of targeting a mature audience. Takezo struggle for "his" truth becomes ours to learn from his journey about becoming complete.

Read each book like a wine, one delicious sip at a time, enjoy the flavors.

A manga reader.......2003-03-21

Vagabond is one of the few stories I have read that make me sweat with anticipation before flipping to the next page. The action becomes so intense you will feel bad you're flipping through the pages and missing the superb artwork in you're haste to discover the outcome of the last few pages. Overall the action is some of the best I have seen in the manga format.

A powerful story of one man's quest to become "invincible under the sun", Miyamoto Musashi drifts through the world questioning his one principle: his strength. A raging beast in battle, Musashi, only knows what it is to fight but gradually learns of the world beyond strength, blood and death throughout the course of his duels. Some fights take up entire volumes but they are well worth it.

The one negative aspect of Vagabond would have to be that not all the volumes are translated yet, and the reader might have to wait for the next volume to come out. Maybe the age-old story of "the quest" might seem cliché to some readers but if you can stomach it, Vagabond does its take on Musashi's journey in swordsmanship incredibly well.

I am not a Samurai buff, or even a big action fan but Vagabond's has me sold. I have read most (no lie) of the English translated manga you can find in America and easily place Vagabond right up there with Nausicaa, Maison Ikkou, GTO, Akira and Ghost in the Shell. I believe that all types of comic readers can appreciate Vagabond although shojo manga (girls comics) readers might be a little put off by all the blood and death.

A must have.

Follows the book! OUTSTANDING!!!.......2002-08-14

I just found out about these titles, bought and read them before I could throw out the box they came in. Being a martial artist and student of Iaido (Japanese sword drawing), I am very Familiar with the Musashi story. Yet these books (vol I & II ) are told from a fresh perspective that keeps you tuned in. I can't wait for the rest of the series to follow.
The artwork alone makes these books worth buying.

Average customer rating:

An Interesting Read

Amazing Book!

Complete, utter and total waste of time.

Short Films 101: How to Make a Short and Launch Your Filmmaking Career
Frederick Levy
Manufacturer: Perigee Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Amateur Production | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Direction & Production | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Reference | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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Making a Winning Short: How to Write, Direct, Edit, and Produce a Short Film

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What They Don't Teach You At Film School: 161 Strategies to Making Your Own Movie No Matter What

ASIN: 0399529497
Release Date: 2004-05-04

Book Description

Where does a young filmmaker begin? With the right short-film concept and this book!

The right short can be a filmmaker's "business card" in Hollywood. Here's the authoritative handbook by one of Hollywood's most connected insiders that offers a step-by-step guide through the entire creative process of shooting a short film, as well as expert advice from established filmmakers, and a final game plan for promoting and selling the film once it's in the can. Topics covered include:

€ Concept
€ Budget
€ Finding equipment
€ Assembling a crew
€ Casting
€ Arranging for location
€ Locating festivals and ancillary markets
€ Working with the unions
€ Film vs. digital video

Plus: € A list of film schools
€ Oscar-winning shorts and nominees
€ A selection of short-film festivals
€ Actual short-film budgets
€ Sample scripts and shooting schedules
€ A helpful short-film glossary

Customer Reviews:

An Interesting Read.......2007-03-28

This is an OK book. I still pick it up every now and then and give it a read. The $50K budget is a little optimistic in my opinion but he does know his stuff.
If you can get this at a used bookstore, you will be more satisfied with it. Glean from it what you can but it is geared more toward people with more than $300-$500 to make and distribute a film.
There are some great references in it for equipment and information.

Amazing Book!.......2007-01-10

This book is really great...the information given is practical and very usefull. I was supprised at how many Film Directors actually got thier start by just shooting a couple of shorts...If i could i'd give this book 10 Stars...but for now. I'll settle for 5.

Complete, utter and total waste of time........2006-11-04

I can sum up this book in a few short phrases:

1. Go to film school and make lots of contacts.
2. Have lots of contacts because the only way anyone in this book makes a film is because they had inside contacts.
3. Shoot on film, because video is for losers. Except that your story is more important than the quality of your images, so shoot on whatever you want. As long as it's film.
4. Make sure your script is good, because if it's not, your movie will be bad. So have a good script. Like anything that Rob Schneider has been in. Because Rob Schneider films were made in Hollywood so they are good and shining examples of what you should strive for.
5. Have a good script, and lots of contacts.

I read through this whole book, hoping against hope (like a hero in a decent story) that good would triumph and redemption would be found and that somewhere there would be useful information within. Alas, it was not to be. Against my better judgement I slogged on, and coming to the final page I had an epiphany: I had just lost several precious hours of my life, never to be regained. All for naught.

I seriously doubt that anyone who dreams of being a successful filmmaker has their sights set on making the next "The Animal."

If you are on a budget and want to make a film (short or otherwise) you will get more useful information and help from any given paragraph in "Digital Filmmaking 101" by Newton and Gaspard than you will get out of this book. And I am not associated with Newton or Gaspard.

Average customer rating:

Target practice at its best

I gave up near puzzle #1500...

Massive Monster - Some Good/Some Filler (real junk problems)

A beautiful book...

Wow!

Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games
Laszlo Polgar
Manufacturer: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Chess | Board Games | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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One Thousand and One Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations

Art of Attack in Chess

Winning Chess Strategies, revised (Winning Chess - Everyman Chess)

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ASIN: 1884822312

Amazon.com

If you love chess puzzles, this massive tome is for you. It's simply one chess challenge after another. With problems fit for beginner and grand master alike, Polgar's collection will feed your craving for years. Better yet, it's a major bargain. When I first pulled it off the shelf I was expecting a price tag three times higher.

Book Description

The biggest book of chess challenges ever--1,120 pages! 5334 fully diagrammed problems, games, and endgames (with easy-to-follow solutions in the back). Includes every known checkmate position. Covers a complete range of levels, from beginning to master. Offers what both serious and casual chess players want most--thousands of absorbing problems with which to hone their skills and have fun.

Customer Reviews:

Target practice at its best.......2007-02-03

I own the oversized hardbound edition. I'm still around the 678th position and counting and don't intend to stop!

Despite the terrifying title... 5,334 problems ?!, ... it's one enjoyable chess gym. The 2-D diagrams use one of the nicest modern Staunton fonts around and are clearly printed and illustrated. It contains an introduction, piece properties, mates in 1, mates in 2, mates in 3, combinations, simple endgames, combinations, critical positions in some of the Polar sister's games, and a solutions key (only the first move per problem). It's a simple and effective format for an outstanding effort in putting so much material in an organized manner. Many of the positions are implicitly aggregated by theme which does not give away any clues but allows the reader to better develop pattern recognition. No hints, just practice.

The softbound version makes a great gift; the hardbound is hard to find and more of a personal library book. Only a tactical practice database or software can improve on this book. I can only wish it were available as a database!

I gave up near puzzle #1500..........2006-12-29

I had the firm objective of solving all puzzles in this book, to improve my chess tactics skills.

As I progressed through the puzzles, I could definitely see improvements, to the point of reaching average solving times of 5 to 20 seconds.

Unfortunately, at about #1450, the book switches to puzzles that seem to be taken from newspaper columns (the author and year of publication is given for each one), and the level of difficulty rises by a huge amount. My average solving times fell to 20 to 30 minutes, if I was lucky to spot the solution at all!

Another problem I see with this book is that it contains only checkmate puzzles. It would be nice to have tactics leading to material gains, which are much more frequent in chess games.

Massive Monster - Some Good/Some Filler (real junk problems).......2005-09-08

Instead of giving a more limited number of problems to solve with the most important tactical patterns, the author set out to do "quantity instead of quality" and becomes a "compliler" instead of a teacher directing a student to learn what is most important with perhaps a limited time to study like the average chess player.
This mass compilation of problems contains a lot of junk filler along with some very nice important tactical themes to learn. So, the book refuses to show you what is important, and what should be tossed out with the garbage - the postions which would not likely occur in real games you would play.
I would like a book with 100 to 500 of the MOST IMPORTANT TACTICAL THEMES TO LEARN. Not so many that you cannot tell what is important from filler to make a book so big.

A beautiful book..........2005-06-24

5334 Chess puzzles is a lot, and there is no way anyone is going to get them all! (Well maybe Kasparov). The book itself is HUGE and leather bound and is an exquisite coffee table book. I do have one slight problem with it however. It is full of Mates in 1, 2,or 3. - and these are great. I would have liked to have seen a section on "White to move and win" or "Black to move and win" - without knowing what it is that I the reader am looking for. This is more akin to a real chess game, where one knows there is a win somewhere, but is not sure what kind to look for. Anyhow, that is a small complaint for an otherwise gorgeous book.

Four and a Half Stars.

Relic113

Wow!.......2005-04-12

This book is like going to McDonald's and saying SUPER SIZE IT! There are so many problems to work on you will not need another book on tactics ever! Buy it and you will like it!

Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games

Average customer rating:

For beginners
Four Stars * * * * not 1 star
Useful book you can enjoy anywhere
huge mating problems
Chess: 5334 Problems

Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games
Laszlo Polgar
Manufacturer: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1579125549

Book Description

This giant collection, finally available in paperback, features enough chess challenges to keep even the most avid player occupied for a long, long time.

The biggest book of chess problems ever published is now available in a paperback edition, featuring more than five thousand fully diagrammed problems, games, and end games for players at all levels. Chapters are organized by problem type, and each problem, combination, and game is keyed to an easy-to-follow solution at the back of the book, so users— whether they are beginners or highly accomplished players—can learn as they go. In all, this volume is a most extensive and thorough chess reference, sure to help hone skills while providing hours of fun. The more affordable paperback edition will give players at all levels reason to rejoice.

Customer Reviews:

For beginners.......2007-10-05

I think this book is more suitable to beginners up to Class C players. The book is indeed huge in size and contains many problems. The level of the problems is however limited to Mate in three........just not good enough.

Four Stars * * * * not 1 star.......2007-09-08

The book will serve you well, some errors pop up every so often. You start learning mate in 1, then 2 then 3. You learn a few combinations, and study some problems that were designed by the Polgar sisters. In the back are a few of their games. It is a gem, but just contains errors. And for some reason this review shows 1 star and I can't seem to change it. It's almost a perfect book, drop a star for the errors.

Useful book you can enjoy anywhere.......2007-08-29

Polgar's "Chess" is an excellent and useful book that can be enjoyed anywhere you go, from "sitting on the toilet and multitasking" to taking it to the park. It's enormous though, at 3 inches thick and 1000 pages, so I suppose it could function as an impromptu barbell too.

The book is entirely diagrammatic, which is one of its strengths. I've read through a bunch of chess books on strategy and even on combinations, and often the tactical descriptions in these books are 10 or more moves deep, with long variations that are also 10 moves deep, and lengthy descriptors of what is going on. As wonderful as it is to see Spielmann or Alekhine doing this sort of thing and having it explained point-by-point by someone like Alekhine himself, mere mortals like me can get lost, and it ends up being less useful than it sets out to be by virtue of the fact that I'm a long ways off from seeing what they did at the board, and because it's tedious to reset the board to the original position in order to go through yet another variation. I'm no grandmaster, and I never will be, so take this as you will as an example of my own inability to get much from those books. Worse, it is unlikely that I'll remember exactly what those guys saw or anything like it even a day after reading through their masterpieces.

This book is simple. It shows a picture of a position, and you get to use your own mental faculties to figure it out. You don't even need a board. Most of them are two-move mate problems (You move, opponent moves, you move and mate on the move). I can't stress enough how important it is not to cheat and peek at the answer. Look long enough, even to the point of exasperation, and you will eventually be rewarded.

It's funny because without actually going through them, a person might think a two-move problem would be easy. It's not always easy. I've agonized over a few of them for hours until I spotted the move. A few of them are sort of hokey, for lack of a better word. I was transfixed on one for something like 2 days, convinced it was faulty, until I finally realized my king and rook were still in pre-castling position. This problem (#1558) was in one of those endgames where nearly everything is obliterated save 5 pieces, and the king hasn't castled yet? I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but that kind of problem is a little less than useful, as it seems a bit gimmicky to me more than anything tactically important. Likewise, watch out for the en passant puzzles. There are a couple of those too, and plenty of "underpromotion" puzzles, which are indeed useful. There are also a few I've spotted with more than one solution (#612, for example), which isn't a big deal since you only need to see one of them to win.

In general, though, the book has improved my tactical ability to see the board tremendously, and that's half of what you want out of a great chess book, with the other half being something more on the strategy side.

One reviewer noted the preponderance of Queen sacrifice mates, and I agree. It becomes something you look for, but isn't that the point? So many times in games before getting this book, I would not even be looking at things that would get one of my big guns taken outright by a lowly pawn. I can't say that's true now.

A huge volume of the mates deal with set-ups for what are termed "Swallowtail" mates or semi-swallowtails, where the queen is in a square directly adjacent to the king, and the two squares behind him that she can't cover are covered by another piece or pieces, often the opponent's own. I now recognize this pattern almost instinctively, and I've been able to get a lot of surprising wins with it. Right there alone I can say this book has helped me in a measurable way, and Mr. Polgar has my immense gratitude for it.

My big criticism is mostly about the fact that if you know you have 2 moves to get mate, you can search for any possibility where after your move your opponent can check your own king, which would cause you (in most cases) to lose a move getting out of it. If your opponent can indeed check your king, then you know that most of the time you'll have to get a check yourself on his king at the outset, and you can pretty much toss out any idea of a waiting move or a repositioning move as the correct answer, which makes the solution much easier as it narrows the possibilities for piece movement. There are a few where getting out of the opponent's check in some way is simultaneously the checkmate move, so this point isn't written in granite or anything, but for the most part it's a fundamental dictum of the easy way to get through a problem. In a real game, you don't have the luxury to know that sort of thing outright, and so the "2 moves to win" thing doesn't apply unless you see it yourself, but that's none of it the fault of the puzzle-maker; it's the fault of chess puzzles by their very nature.

Anyway, this is my favorite chess book by far. I hate to be a product shill, but some things are worth it. Get it.

huge mating problems.......2007-06-26

Indeed this book is very thick, but it only deals with mating attacks, which isn't good to my opinion.
personally, I prefer other more assorted books.

Chess: 5334 Problems.......2007-03-31

Excellent storehouse of chess knowledge and problems for the beginner to advanced players. Thousands of mate-in-2 problems, hundreds of combinations, and 600 miniature games of masters at your fingertips. As a coach, I can almost exclusively use this book for material. The only thing lacking is graphic description of the many tactics which erupt therein.

Average customer rating:

Chess 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games
Polgar Laszlo
Manufacturer: Tess Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UIRIAW

Average customer rating:

Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games
Laszlo Polgar
Manufacturer: Tess Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000M8YZ38

Average customer rating:

Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games
Laszlo; Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers Polgar
Manufacturer: Black Dog & Leventhal Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KWC0YC

Book Description

Such organizations as AT& T, General Electric, and the U.S. Navy played major roles in radio's evolution, but early press coverage may have decisively steered radio in the direction of mass entertainment. Susan J. Douglas reveals the origins of a corporate media system that today dominates the content and form of American communication.

Customer Reviews:

They called Marconi crazy.......2007-01-03

An interesting history of the development of broadcasting in America, which curiously started in Italy by the Irish-Italian Gugliemo Marconi. The problem Marconi was trying to solve was the creation of a wireless telegraph and through his and the efforts of others, radio broadcasting was invented, albeit as a by-product. This is the story of the technical breakthroughs that had to be developed, the intense competition between Marconi, Fessenden, Lee De Forest, the patent disputes, the shady claims made to raise capital, and the early use of marketing and manipulating the press. As a microwave engineer, I found this history fascinating, but I think non-technical readers will enjoy it also.

Inventing American Broadcasting, 1899-1922

Average customer rating:

Inventing American Broadcasting, 1899-1922

Manufacturer: Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HKJ5YA

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