Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey

Book Description

Edward Gorey's extraordinary and disconcerting books are avidly sought and treasured throughout the world, but until now little has been known about the man himself. While he was notoriously protective of his privacy, Gorey did grant dozens of interviews over the course of his life. And as these conversations demonstrate, he proved to be unfailingly charming, gracious, and fascinating.
Here is Gorey in his own words, ruminating on everything from French symbolist poetry to soap operas, from George Balanchine and the unique beauty of ballet to Victorian photographs of dead children. We meet the artist in his ramshackle, book-lined studio in Manhattan and his equally bizarre house on Cape Cod. He describes his legendary upbringing and vast range of influences, as well as how he managed to work amid all his cats. Ascending Peculiarity is a rare and wonderful entree into the inner workings of an artistic genius.

Includes reproductions of previously unpublished drawings and photographs

Customer Reviews:

insightful.......2007-05-15

Really helped me get a better idea of him as a person, go see the video w/
the tour of his house/now a museum on YouTube

Number one resource.......2007-04-10

The best book by far on Edward Gorey... in his own words. It gets a little repetative, but is also veyr broad. Phrasing tells you more about Edward Gorey than the actual responses to the questions. A treat.

WHY??.......2007-01-07

I'm so sad that Gorey has gone........why did he have to go so soon? We just don't have enough of him to go around. One of my favourite books EVER in the whole world. A great insight into my favourite man.

For all Gorey fans........2006-02-25

This book is a must for Edward Gorey fans. It gives insight into a private, ingenuous, wonderfully talented man. After completing the book, I was sorry I would never know him personally. It is hard, however, to equate his somewhat dark gothic art and books with the kind, simple persona that shows through in these interviews.

the tale of Gorey.......2005-04-19

This book is not a biography (or autobiography) per se; rather, the character of the subject, author/artist Edward Gorey, unfolds through a series of interviews from such diverse sources as The New Yorker and the Christian Science Monitor.

The reader needs to be sufficiently familiar with Gorey's oeuvre to get the most out of this book. Some of the pieces that get the most examination in this series of articles are among the less-widely-celebrated of Gorey's works.

My complaint about this book stems from the somewhat repetitive nature of the articles. There are only so many times that one can read about Gorey's adoration of the NYC Ballet and his precocious "sausage train" drawings at age 1 & 1/2 and The Tale of Genji without getting a little bored. The limited scope may be due to the nature of the questions asked by the various interviewers (that is, some of the same questions get asked again and again), but still, it's there, and it can grow a bit dull.

Gorey cuts an undeniably curious character; his appearance, complete with Santa-esque beard and apparently omnipresent fur coat, coupled with his unusual artwork makes it easy to cast him as an enigmatic, eccentric artist (though he states that he considered himself more of a writer). Though these interviews do make him more real, more than one interviewer falls into the trap of labeling him as "Victorian" or "Edwardian" in sensibility and thus forcing him into some sort of neat, simply defined mold.
Despite this, the book overall reveals a charming and droll, if somewhat oddball, man and helps his admirers better understand through his own words his rather weird works and the inspiration behind them.

The choicest articles in my view are "The Tao of Nonsense" and "The Cat Quotes of Edward Gorey". Also, in "Balletgorey", the description of his house (which always helps one to understand a person) is wonderful and telling.

Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey

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Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey
Edward and Karen Wilkin (Editor) Gorey
Manufacturer: Harcourt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJG3GW

Book Description

It's incredible to think that Zits was only launched in syndication in the summer of 1997. Since then, the strip's leading teenager, Jeremy Duncan, and his mom, dad, and assorted friends have become a part of the American fabric and, more important, a part of our own families. Who else but cocreators Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman could so quickly work this magic through the more than 1,200 newspapers that now carry Zits worldwide?

Now comes Thrashed, the 9th collection of this incredibly popular strip. All the usual suspects are here: Jeremy; his friends Hector, Sarah, and Pierce; and Jeremy's long-suffering mom and dad. The crew find themselves wrapped up in all the angst and anxiety that life can muster, from keeping the gas tank above "E" to understanding the meaning of life. Through it all, Zits maintains its focus on the adventurous-if-sometimes-pockmarked journey that teens take toward adulthood.

This Zits collection of the past year's daily and Sunday strips is perfect for both teenagers and those who share residences with them, or ever did. Its warm and sympathetic tone brings humor and insight, even though the terrain is often rocky.

Customer Reviews:

Zits...........2007-05-01

Need I say more?

Just get it... mine is so dog-eared from being read countless times. I had to even hide it away from my teenage kid.

Zits Anonymous.......2006-11-10

I have to confess to being a member of ZA (Zits Anonymous).

Like the prior 8 Zits Sketchbooks, "Trashed" is fantastic. However, Jeremy might express it a little differently;

Interviewer: "What do you think of TRASHED Jeremy?"

Jeremy: "I Dunno..."

Zits.......2006-07-26

Reading a Zits Sketchbook is like going through an album of family pictures.
Cartoons are there instead of color pictures, but Zits characters are absolutely alive, exquisitely drawn and tremendously funny. Zits Sketchbooks are a window through which parents can recognize their own teenager as well as themselves and laugh at both.
Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman are masters of Teenager-Watching.

To Ripoff by Thomas G. Field, Jr........2006-07-12

Actually, if you look at the back of "Crack of Noon" by the UPC bar code it says "Includes cartoons from 'Thrashed' and 'Pimp My Lunch'" "Crack of Noon" is the collection those two books are included in. All of the larger books of Zits are collections.

Ripoff.......2006-05-27

I like Zit's, but it's scandalous that this and other Andrews McMeel books don't specify overlapping content. Thrashed and Pimp My Lunch contain nothing other than the contents of Crack of Noon.

I wasn't happy to learn that I spent (not counting S&H) over $17 for what I could have had for $11. Also, in Crack of Noon, the Sunday strips are colored.

Book Description

The master of American wit—whose books have sold more than four million copies combined—delivers a hilarious handbook of Latin phrases for saying what's really on your mind, without any consequences.

In staff meetings and singles bars, on freeways and fairways— there are aggravating people lurking everywhere these days. But bestselling humorist Henry Beard has the perfect comeback for all prickly situations, offering a slew of quips your nemesis won't soon forget, or even understand.

Henry's gift is his ability to make fun of popular culture and the current zeitgeist. In X-Treme Latin he provides Latin with an attitude, an indispensable phrasebook that taps the secret power of Latin to deliver, in total safety, hundreds of impeccable put- downs, comebacks, and wisecracks. Within its pages you will learn how to insult or fire coworkers, blame corporate scandals on someone else, cheer at a World Wrestling Entertainment match, talk back to your computer or Game Boy, deal with your road rage, evade threatening situations, snowboard in style, talk like Tony Soprano, and much more.

With dozens more zingers for quashing e-mail pranks, psyching out your golf opponent, giving backhanded compliments, talking back to the television, and evading awkward questions, X-Treme Latin is destined for magnus popularity and will have readers cheering, “Celebremus!”

Download Description

"In staff meetings and singles bars, on freeways and fairways- there are aggravating people lurking everywhere these days. But bestselling humorist Henry Beard has the perfect comeback for all prickly situations, offering a slew of quips your nemesis won't soon forget, or even understand. Henry's gift is his ability to make fun of popular culture and the current zeitgeist. In X-Treme Latin he provides Latin with an attitude, an indispensable phrasebook that taps the secret power of Latin to deliver, in total safety, hundreds of impeccable put-downs, comebacks, and wisecracks. Within its pages you will learn how to insult or fire coworkers, blame corporate scandals on someone else, cheer at a World Wrestling Entertainment match, talk back to your computer or Game Boy, deal with your road rage, evade threatening situations, snowboard in style, talk like Tony Soprano, and much more. With dozens more zingers for quashing e-mail pranks, psyching out your golf opponent, giving backhanded compliments, talking back to the television, and evading awkward questions, X-Treme Latin is destined for magnus popularity and will have readers cheering, "Celebremus!""

Customer Reviews:

Just so you know..........2006-07-24

...there is a paperback edition of this, but the title has changed to "X-Treme Latin: All the Latin You Need to Know for Survival in the 21st Century." The paperback edition came out in 2005 and seems to be the same material, although there could conceivably be some corrections or additions to the text.

X-Tremely Vulgar.......2006-03-18

There are a few good translations of modern phrases and a few clever inventions. But they are vastly outnumbered by hordes of pseudo-clever contrivances and just plain disgusting verbage.

I love this book .......2005-05-06

I love it before i even bought it (i still dont know if i will get it yet) But this book is very good and it made evryone in my latin class listen for when he would pull it out.

From the moment my teacher had it out in the intro to the class i have been hunting it down for months now i finaly can get it YAY (im only 12 so i will talk weird or how i have been. Mental age=M=16 Acual age=A=12 M=A=Me LOL) well i rambled enough i say buy it

Let Your Steam Out in Latin.......2004-11-05

The book begins on the humorous side and then, as the title suggests, goes overboard and to the extreme in profanity. I don't know how much you'd actually get to use these expressions (a good deal of them may appeal to a really angry male who would feel some relief from screaming profanities) - but you may enjoy few giggles from more light-hearted and humorous expressions in this book.

Raunchy, yes, but I like it too........2004-05-28

Raunchy? Yes, but who's raunchier than the ancient Romans? Any book that includes a chapter entitled, "Small Talk during a Colonoscopy," can't be all bad. The book is basically chock full of modern one-liners in Latin. No longer the domain of doctors, lawyers, and botanists, now you too can interject clever Latin phrases into your everyday speech. This book is a riot! Hic nemo est quin Roman amet!

Book Description

All revolutionary regimes seek to legitimize themselves through foundation narratives that, told and retold, become constituent parts of the social fabric, erasing or pushing aside alternative histories. Frederick C. Corney draws on a wide range of sources—archives, published works, films—to explore the potent foundation narrative of Russia's Great October Socialist Revolution. He shows that even as it fought a bloody civil war with the forces that sought to displace it, the Bolshevik regime set about creating a new historical genealogy of which the October Revolution was the only possible culmination.

This new narrative was forged through a complex process that included the sacralization of October through ritualized celebrations, its institutionalization in museums and professional institutes devoted to its study, and ambitious campaigns to persuade the masses that their lives were an inextricable part of this historical process. By the late 1920s, the Bolshevik regime had transformed its representation of what had occurred in 1917 into a new orthodoxy, the October Revolution.

Corney investigates efforts to convey the dramatic essence of 1917 as a Bolshevik story through the increasingly elaborate anniversary celebrations of 1918, 1919, and 1920. He also describes how official commissions during the 1920s sought to institutionalize this new foundation narrative as history and memory. In the book's final chapter, the author assesses the state of the October narrative at its tenth anniversary, paying particular attention to the versions presented in the celebratory films by Eisenstein and Pudovkin. A brief epilogue assesses October's fate in the years since the collapse of the Soviet Union

Book Description

An approach to music as an instrument of philosophical inquiry, seeking not so much a philosophy of music as a philosophy through music.

Average customer rating:
Exalted Aspect Book Wood (Exalted)
George Holochwost , Ellen P. Kiley , and Exalted
Manufacturer: White Wolf Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1588466833

Book Description

Here's the first information ever published in Japan on the Toyota production system (known as Just-In-Time manufacturing). Here Ohno, who created JIT for Toyota, reveals the origins, daring innovations, and ceaseless evolution of the Toyota system into a full management system. You'll learn how to manage JIT from the man who invented it, and to create a winning JIT environment in your own manufacturing operation.

Customer Reviews:

Everything I expected!.......2007-09-29

I got this as a present for my father for his birthday last weekend. He has already started reading it and making notes. It is everything we hoped it would be and met his expectations. I would recommend it for marketing students, teachers, and anyone interested in that type of thing.

Tell it like it is.......2007-04-10

There are many myths around the Toyota Production System (TPS). Ohno Taiichi merits my deepest respects, considering he was able almost a half century ago to observe and learn from others. Considering the simple target given to him, to "catch up with America" he studied in-depth the work of Ford and recognised the idea of copying the US supermarket system for his operational purpose.

The book describes very well what constraints he was given from the owners when Toyota started to get into the automotive business and what path they followed until the first fully operated TPS plant went operational at the 60s.

Many thinkings of Ohno Taiichi are still actual. He is capable of bringing key problems to the point: efficiency gains are worthless until they really lead to cost reduction. Unfortunatelly we all now the opposite from this wisdom - and many "growth-strategies" of companies today are nothing else than to try to increase business with the same workforce. Furthermore the author gives good examples how Toyota handled different issues, as e.g. the syncronization of production with final assembly.

The reader will not find any operational theory or formulas in this book and if you are looking for books teaching you about designing and sizing Pull-systems you should look for books as "Kanban made simple" or similar. TPS is not about installing software than about eliminating everything which is waste and does mainly not contribute to the succes of your business.

Anyway this book is a must read for any readers interested in first hand information about the basis that made TMC what they are today - a business model developed by smart people many years ago and dearing to ask simple questions, to find sound and robust solutions and to steadily develop the system and its people working in it.

My deepest respect to Ohno Taiichi,
Domo arrigato,

Oliver

Delighting.......2007-03-09

For all the people searching a new way to lead & achieve new innovations, is a good example of attitud & ideas for that purpose. After a war between ownselfes & paradigms a Japanese discovered the importance of loose fear, achieving several succesfuly goals in his Company & in his Country.

Toyota Magic.......2006-05-24

"Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production" is a very enlightening work by the inventor of lean manufacturing, Taiichi Ohno. This small book is packed with insights and ideas on how to efficiently and effectively run a production system. The Toyota Production is also known as lean manufacturing, entails, among other things, minimising waste through continuous improvement and producing only what is sold, as requested by the customer. This unique and innovative system explains why Toyota makes profits even in tough times when other competitor firms are losing money.

The book explains this fascinating subject in a simple and easy to read and understand way that makes it accessible to a wide range of readers. Among the things that I found very interesting was the concept of zero defects, production load-levelling, standardised work and just-in-time delivery.

The book is very enlightening reading for those involved in any production process.

Toyota Production Systerm: Beyond Large-Scale Production.......2006-03-24

Great! Enlightening AND an interesting read. So good I bought an extra copy to give as a gift.

Toyota Production System : Beyond Large-Scale Production

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Toyota Production System : Beyond Large-Scale Production
Taiichi Ohno
Manufacturer: Productivity, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OLTYY8

Average customer rating:

Toyota Production System Beyond Large-Scale Production
Ohno Taiichi
Manufacturer: Productivity Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UDX8JC

Average customer rating:

Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production
Taiichi Ono
Manufacturer: Productivity Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000LRQC40

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