Spirit Poles and Flying Pigs : Public Art and Cultural Democracy in American Communities

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Spirit Poles and Flying Pigs : Public Art and Cultural Democracy in American Communities
Erika Doss
Manufacturer: Smithsonian Institution Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000V2LR5O

Book Description

From the zoot suit and Black dandy through to Rastafarianism and beyond, Black style has had a profound influence on the history of dress in the twentieth century. Yet despite this high profile, the dress styles worn by men and women of the African diaspora have received scant attention, even though the culture itself has been widely documented from historical, sociological and political perspectives.Focusing on counter- and sub-cultural contexts, this book investigates the role of dress in the creation and assertion of Black identity. From the home-dressmaking of Jamaican women, through to the Harlem Renaissance and contemporary streetstyles such as Hip Hop and Raggamuffin, Black Britons, African Americans and Jamaicans have been at the forefront of establishing a variety of Black identities. In their search for a self-image that expresses their diaspora experience, members of these groups have embraced the cultural shapers of modernity and postmodernity in their dress.Drawing on materials from the United States, Britain and Jamaica, this book fills a gap in both the history of Black culture and the history of dress, which has until recently focused on high fashion in Europe. Because dress can both initiate and confirm change, it provides an especially useful tool for analyzing identity and resistance.

Book Description

Akane gets all sorts of magical power-ups, first when Shampoo feeds her some magical Chinese steamed treats, then from some soba noodles that give her super strength. What she didn't count on were the disastrous after-effects.

Customer Reviews:

Super strength and mega hugs.......2006-01-06

Magical foodstuffs cause a lot of mayhem in the tenth volume of "Ranma 1/2," with mushrooms and noodles setting off some potentially humiliating battles. And author Rumiko Takahashi introduces a grotesque new opponent for the students of Furinkan High -- someone who makes Kuno look sane.

Shampoo gets her hands on some kairaishi mushrooms, which make the eater do whatever they are told. So of course she feeds them to Ranma, but a mistake causes Ranma to passionately hug anyone who sneezes, including Kuno and Akane (who thinks Ranma is trying to molest her). And Shampoo turns up to cause even more mayhem with her mushrooms, by making Akane hug every man EXCEPT Ranma....

Akane's rivalry with Shampoo continues when she accidently eats Happosai's super soba noodles, which bestow enormous strength. Now she's able to beat anyone (including Ranma) and she can finally whip Shampoo's behind. But while Akane and Shampoo duke it out over martial-arts ping pong, Ranma discovers a terrible side effect of the super soba. Unfortunately, Akane isn't about to give up her new power...

The students of Furinkan High have never met their principal -- until a strange faux-Hawaiian guy attacks some students and tries to snip off Ranma's pigtail. Turns out this lunatic IS the principal -- and his first rule is that boys must have buzz cuts, and girls must have bowl cuts. The students riot, and find themselves in a bizarre tropical maze under the school (that's your tax yen at work, folks).

Ever since Shampoo came onto the scene, we've been treated to the two girls fighting over Ranma. In a way, this is the peak of Akane's problems with Shampoo, and which features her finally defeating the Amazon and her sex-changing fiancee. And all she had to do was take massive doses of hormones and grow facial hair.

Despite the intense romantic infighting, there's plenty of humour here, especially poor Ranma being compelled to hug anyone who sneezes (an affliction that breaks up at least one happy relationship), and Akane being rape-paranoid whenever he grabs her. Not to mention Ranma's sure-fire method of getting Akane's attention: "Waaahh! Shampoo, put your clothes back on!"

We're also introduced to the principal -- a nutcase with a palm tree growing out of his head, and an accent that is more fake Jamaican than Hawaiian. And we see a different side of Akane -- an insecure side, which feels inferior to mega-martial-artists Ranma and the pushy Shampoo. With people like that around, and able to defeat her, it's no wonder that she wants to win so badly.

Embarrassing foodstuffs and humiliating haircuts kick off another round of martial-arts comedy in the tenth "Ranma 1/2." Now arm wrestle!

Super strength and mega hugs.......2005-11-03

Ranma is the best!.......2003-02-25

Ranma is one of my favorites, even though I have only read a couple of the 21 books. This is one of my personal favorites. The principal of Furinkan High comes back, and he's not what he seems. He implements a new haircut rule that has the students scrambling to find a very special coconut, and his tardy plan is designed to make you late, not keep you from being late! Akane gets a powerup, and Xian Pu tries once again to try and get Ranma for her own. A great book, and well worth your time.

It's O.K..........2003-02-14

This is good manga because it's Rumiko Takahashi. But I think that this is one the mose boring and repetive of the "Ranma 1/2" Series. All I'm saying is that it could be better

BUY THE BOOK!!.......1999-11-20

RANMA 1/2 IS THE BEST JAPANESE ANIME EVER!! I HAVE VOLUMES 1-9 AND I LAUGH AT EVERY JOKE EVERY TIME I READ THEM!! THIS IS A MUST BUY FOR ANY FAN OF ANIME!

Ranma 1/2 (new edition) Vol. 10 (RANMA 1/2 (SHINSOUBAN)) (in Japanese)

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Ranma 1/2 (new edition) Vol. 10 (RANMA 1/2 (SHINSOUBAN)) (in Japanese)
Rumiko Takahashi
Manufacturer: Shogakukan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Comic

General | Manga | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Here is enough useless information for everyone. In "The Book of Totally Useless Information", Don Voorhees has compiled over two hundred explanations for the not-so-important questions in life.

Why is the sky blue?

Why does orange juice taste funny after you brush your teeth?

Why is a left-handed pitcher known as a "Southpaw"?

Why is the National Hockey League Championship Trophy called the Stanley Cup?

When did it first become offensive to extend the middle finger?

Why are diamonds measured in carats?

What makes stainless steel stainless?

Why does a Mexican Jumping Bean jump?

Why do spokes on wagon wheels appear to move backward on television or movie screens?

What is a best boy, a key grip, and a gaffer?

Chockful of fascinating trivial facts and anecdotes, "The Book of Totally Useless Information" will entertain readers of all ages. Illustrated throughout, this useful book will satisfy the curiosity of everyone who wonders why.

Customer Reviews:

smarty pants.......2006-07-14

SmartyPants is the nickname I've been crowned since owning this book! It's given me a lot of interesting conversation starters. The only complaint I have is the lack of an index, or table of contents so referencing this book can prove a bit timely.

Good short attention span book ... but not much else.......2004-02-23

There was nothing too special about this collection. Just a sparse collection of little facts about things we take for granted. It was interesting, but the skeptic in me wanted to know how the information was collected, but Voorhees fails to give us a bibliography. Most who know me know I love useless information, but for some reason this did not enthrall me all that much. If you can find this book in paperback cheap, and you like stupid little facts, go for it. But I would not pay more than 5 bucks for it

Thanks

Useless information, also inaccurate.......2001-07-24

Should useless information also be inaccurate? I received this book as a gift and have only browsed it for less than an hour and have found problems. Inaccuracies call into question the validity of all other "facts" in the book. First of all, Tar Heel is 2 words. I will allow that this is more of a spelling error and not exactly a factual blunder but still . . . Secondly, the siamese twins Chang and Eng settled in North Carolina and died there. I am (probably pretty obviously) a North Carolinian. I only spent 30-45 minutes and caught these two errors that deal with NC. It simply makes me wonder how many other errors there are in the book.

I like the idea of the book and am sure most of it is accurate. I just hate that you can't really trust anything you read in it 100% and if you can't trust that the information is correct, how can you repeat it? And if you can't repeat it (or trust you are answering that Jeopardy question correctly), what is the point of such useless information? And thus what is the point of owning this book? Useless information is fine; useless inaccurate information is not.

The Book of Totally Useless Information.......2001-02-13

I had to borrow this book from a friend, but I loved every page in it. I knew some of the information that was in the book, but 95% of it was new to me. I want to find more books like it. I think everyone will find something in the book they like.

great bathroom reader.......2000-11-04

As a bathroom reader, this book is five stars, hands down. But being fair to other "serious" writers, I can only give it four. After all, it IS just a collection of short articles. But they're a very fun read.

Lots of fun tidbits and author comments as well. No English-speaking bathroom should be without this book.

Customer Reviews:

Queens of the stage... and the tantrum.......2005-02-23

Okay, actresses have an automatic reputation as divas, even if it's sometimes undeserved. But "Drama Queens: Wild Women of the Silver Screen" casts an entirely new light on actresses all through film history -- and it can be a not-so-pretty picture, with tantrums, weird affairs and feuds that lasted... well, forever.

Autumn Stephens weaves in the actresses by personality rather than chronologically. At the beginning things were just as wild, with silent star Theda Bara (whose entire past was fabricated) and hedonistic Alla Nazimova (whose niece was Nancy Reagan). Later she handles stars that we still know of, such as "Mommy Dearest" Crawford, Bette Davis, aggressively sexpottish Mae West, the tragic Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly, and the Gabor sisters.

Stephens doesn't neglect the lesser-known stars as well, such as those that many people don't know of: Hattie McDaniel, the gutsy lady who played Mammy in "Gone With The Wind"; Mary Minter, the faux virgin whose reputation (and career) went south when her lover died; the two nightmare wives of Rudy Valentino; and Lupe Velez, a sexy spitfire who committed suicide to avoid being an unwed mother. Yeah, that's a lot better.

All thoroughly naughty, and pretty much the stuff of tabloid articles -- Stephens even sprinkles it with a few modern actresses, like Kim Basinger, Sharon Stone and Julia Roberts. Weirdly enough, these ladies seem relatively tame compared to their predecessors -- maybe it's because the standards were higher then (such as Ingrid Bergman's scandalous pregnancy), but somehow I don't think so. You can't really compete with garden orgies, slave bracelets and negative comments about Clark Gable's naughty bits.

The only thing that keeps this from being pure fun is that it sort of putters off, into a part about female directors and producers. I don't know about you, but "wild women" doesn't really describe a lot of them. Better to focus on the salacious stuff -- that is the best material, and Stephens seems to have had fun compiling it all.

As an added bonus -- and presumably to keep the book from being hundreds of pages long -- she sprinkles in some short tidbits about breast size in movies, odd reactions to the Oscars, how famous sexpots kept sexy, critics who incorrectly criticized some of the actresses, and their best lines ("I am a marvelous housekeeper," Zsa Zsa Gabor said. "Every time I leave a man, I keep his house").

Don't expect a lot of movie history or examination of how these ladies changed (or didn't change) Hollywood. For rumors, naughty revelations and some obscure scandals of long ago, this is a great source.

Almost loved it..........2003-02-07

This was a gift for a friend's birthday. She really loved all the quotes from classic movie actresses but felt a little annoyed when actresses like JULIA ROBERTS were included in a collection that seems to be about the old time movie actresses. However, she got a lot of entertainment out of the book and in fact read the entire thing in one night.

lots of fun!.......1999-05-20

This book reviews the lives and careers of many classic movie actresses--including Marilyn Monroe, Hedy Lamarr, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, and many silent film stars you may not have heard of. It includes all the juicy gossip you could wish for, but not much detail about the films produced by these women. A fair number of pictures, and many "interesting fact" boxes.

I really enjoyed this book, and I think classic film buffs or gossip-lovers would probably find it a good read.

Book Description

A practical text with ideas that can immediately be put to use in the classroom. This book goes beyond a thematic link between reading and music to an examination of those skills that are directly parallel in music learning and text reading. Including instructional examples, it provides specific strategies for music and reading teachers to support each other. It also presents the latest research supporting the links between music and literacy, making it a valuable advocacy resource.

Book Description

Craps is not just the oldest game being played in today's casinos, but it is the most exciting as well - especially when the dice are hot. Played wisely, craps allows you to reduce the house advantage to near zero. Craps Strategy is a complete, easy-to-understand guide to maximizing your chances of winning at the craps table. Michael Benson teaches everything you need to know, including: the rules of play; the percentages of certain rolls; which bets to make - and which to avoid; mental strategy; when to roll 'em, when to walk. You'll learn how to calculate the house advantage on each bet, how to enter and win at craps tournaments, and how to best manage your money. By looking at the case histories of successful players, Benson examines the different strategies that can move your craps playing experience from the loss column to the profit column. Also included are charts to help you learn the odds, a full glossary of craps terms, and a history of dice games. (5 1/2 x 8 1/4, 128 pages, charts, diagrams)

Customer Reviews:

Basic Understanding, Disappointing Strategy.......2005-02-10

This book did help me understand all of the different bets you can make at the Craps Table. However, after stating you could reduce the house odds to less than one half of one percent, the book recommends 20+ strategies without ever identifying a strategy which would help you play at the lowest possible house odds.

Book Description

Customer Reviews:

Sadly, You Have to Buy It.......2006-01-04

Unfortunately, this is only one of two (the other / better being "Choose Panama by William Hutchings") books about retiring to Panama. Equally unfortunately, if you are serious about moving to Panama Mr. Howard's book has a lot of useful information and you are left with no choice but to buy it.

That said, the book loses one star (and I'm being kind) for being so poorly edited. The author is a native english speaker, there is no excuse and it is simply disrespectful to your audience to have such a mountain of typographical errors. [...]

That said, all [...] absurd editing aside, this book is a must buy if you are serious about moving to Panama. [...]

Good Information.......2005-09-24

This book was very much like his other books about living in Nicaragua & Costa Rica. In fact I found many passages that appeared to be the same. However, it was very informative and has useful information about living & relocating to Panama.

Worth reading, but..........2005-08-13

I've never seen a book with more typographical errors. It looks like no one proof read it, they just published the rough draft... Usually a few typos doesn't bother me but there are so many here, it is annoying and makes you feel like the author didn't put much effort into the work.

Okay, aside from that, it does have some good info, and since it is basically the ONLY book on living in Panama, you will have to buy it. (There is another one but it has no reviews here, and I took a trip to 2 book stores and did not find it in either store.)

He only gives you the lowdown on a couple of the most well-known areas to live in Panama, doesn't give any info on any "off the beaten path" places where one might (?) find cheaper real estate.

Actually, he does not go very much into buying real estate at all. How about some names of attorneys to use, that people have used and recommended? How about some realtors (other than himself and a couple others)? How about more info on buying real estate which one would assume one would need to know if one is planning to "live and invest in Panama". How about the procedures for surveying and checking the land you are going to buy? How about other tips for checking and buying real estate? There are a lot of things that could have made this book better but it seems the author was just into making a fast buck, rushing out a book on Panama before someone else beat him to it.

I found this book very disappointing. I think anyone could have written as good a book with just a few months of research. [...] Everyone says that Howard's book on neighboring Costa Rica is great. I haven't read it. But this one is far from "great".

It should have been much better. Buy it only if another one isn't available by the time you read this. And really, if anyone is interested in writing one, this one won't be hard to beat, at all.

living and investing in Panama.......2005-08-12

Good information which we had not seen elsewhere. Poorly edited by some non-English speaker and has lots of typos, sing-plural mistakes and is amateurishly done, spoiling it for the English reader. The print is excessively large, and the paper needlessly heavy making unhandy to carry. Evidently, the author made a poor choice for editor and for publisher. Quality does not warrent the price--it should not be more than $12.95 in the current market!

Good basic info, a little light on substance, lots of typos.......2005-07-21

Overall, I liked this book, so let me get the bad out of the way.

1. First, the typos were plentiful, and though they usually did not affect the substance, I did sometimes worry. For instance, the author had previously written a book on living in Costa Rica (where the author, I believe, lives). Apparently the author took the same format from his previous book and cut and pasted some of the same info. For example, in the table of contents, the first Chapter is supposed to be "Panama's Land, History and People." Instead, it reads, "Costa Rica's Land, History and People." Believe it or not, this is not the only place where the name "Costa Rica" was inadvertently left in the place of Panama.

2. Second, as is the case with a lot of living abroad books I've read, the author tends to give you lots of things to consider, without always providing hard data. For example, a very small portion of the book (11 pages) is devoted to real estate, even though I believe that for most people interested in living in Panama, this would be one of the foremost considerations.

Overall, the book was good, and provided me lots of basic info for my first inquiry into living abroad in Panama. It provided lots of addresses, websites, and contacts containing further information. For someone just becoming interested in the idea of living abroad--or in Panama, I'd recommend it.

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