Discovering Oceanic Art

Customer Reviews:

Royal Dressy.......2000-06-17

I liked this book, it had paintings/drawings where photos couldn't be used. I got the book for the art and design of dress in it, and I thought it could've used more pictures rather than the history behind them. Yet, I'm glad I got it, it's a good read.

Book Description

"Brode's thesis is both revolutionary and totally without precedent. He steals from no one. Significance? No other moviemaker or mogul—Louis B. Mayer, Irving Thalberg, Orson Welles, etc.—has had such a deep and lasting impact on American popular culture as has Disney."

—James MacKillop, author of Contemporary Irish Cinema: From The Quiet Man to Dancing at Lughnasa

With his thumbprint on the most ubiquitous films of childhood, Walt Disney is widely considered to be the most conventional of all major American moviemakers. The adjective "Disneyfied" has become shorthand for a creative work that has abandoned any controversial or substantial content to find commercial success.

But does Disney deserve that reputation? Douglas Brode overturns the idea of Disney as a middlebrow filmmaker by detailing how Disney movies played a key role in transforming children of the Eisenhower era into the radical youth of the Age of Aquarius. Using close readings of Disney projects, Brode shows that Disney's films were frequently ahead of their time thematically. Long before the cultural tumult of the sixties, Disney films preached pacifism, introduced a generation to the notion of feminism, offered the screen's first drug-trip imagery, encouraged young people to become runaways, insisted on the need for integration, advanced the notion of a sexual revolution, created the concept of multiculturalism, called for a return to nature, nourished the cult of the righteous outlaw, justified violent radicalism in defense of individual rights, argued in favor of communal living, and encouraged antiauthoritarian attitudes. Brode argues that Disney, more than any other influence in popular culture, should be considered the primary creator of the sixties counterculture—a reality that couldn't be further from his "conventional" reputation.

Customer Reviews:

I Wish I Could Have Loved This.......2007-01-05

The following review mostly concerns "From Walt to Woodstock", but it also concerns Brode's more recent book, "The Multicultural Mouse."

"How Disney Created the Counterculture." Well, now, Mr. Brode, let's not get all carried away. Ach, too late. He's off and running.

The title of this book is misleading. As I go through the book, I realize that Brode does not demonstrate that Disney created the counterculture, but he does make a case for the progressive nature present in Disney's themes throughout his enormous oeuvre. And if all Mr. Brode did was this, it is enough. It is high time to banish the "Dark Prince" to the nether region of the penultimate segment of "Fantasia."

The trouble is, Brode's book (and his follow-up, "The Multicultural Mouse", which I'm just reading) is purely awful, his good intentions and his exhaustive attempt at writing about each and every Disney cartoon and live action film notwithstanding. His "let's jump to glorious conclusion" title is indicative of his approach, and his taking on every single possible theme and interpreting every moment of film to represent the most radical aspects of the "counterculture", which he never adequately defines, end up as so ludicrous that he ends up hurting the very cause he has so bravely enjoined.

His tone is also a problem. It seems like a cocktail hour rant where people keep coming over and he becomes more and more demonstrative - and gone from reality. He tosses off his broad themes that SHOULD be explored, but they demand a more careful and culturally knowledgeable exposition than he can provide. A book like this requires so much more research and care, and he's not up to the task. His work is disappointing, flawed, and sloppy.

His proof that Disney "caused" the counterculture is simply that he has seen various connections to the hippie movements, flower power, antiwar, sexual freedom, women's rights, and drugs within the Disney works. He then repeatedly says that "impressionable young people" saw these and then went on from the fifties to grow up to be leftist radicals. That's as much of a connection as he can make to prove a "cause", and that's hardly proof of anything. We are not what we watch. When he speaks for himself (as he does in "Multicultural Mouse"), he becomes eloquent and the tone changes to a much stronger and more convincing one. But he does this, he claims, reluctantly (in a thoughtful passage about the Big Bad Wolf being a caricature of the Jewish peddler). What the book needs is more of that from himself and from other boomer voices. But there is no quote at all from a radical from the sixties left who says that Disney affected his political thinking and radicalized him.

In fact, one person in "Multicultural" does say this - that Disney changed his life - and it's Hugh Hefner. Who for some reason, Mr. Brode thinks was a countercultural voice. Which is another problem - Mr. Brode has a bizarre sense of the counterculture, particularly of feminism. His chapter on that in "Multicultural" had me on the floor laughing and wanting to tear my hair out. (Brode when on about women's long hair being a radical symbol, somehow forgetting that it was men's long hair that caused a gap in the generations back in the day.) Brode's take on the counterculture is so bizarre, and in corresponding themes in Disney films, that I wonder if he's really trying to sabotage his own theme.

He likes to show off, dragging in any quote from Romantic literature, beat poets, or sixties music to prove a point. Well, not prove a point, except in his mind. His description of deconstructive criticism at the beginning of "Counterculture" is instructive, but he uses it to wander all over the cultural universe and thus doesn't make any solid connections. It's a rant. His method is by association not logic.

He is not only silly, he's often downright wrong. I know many Disney films - as well as many TV series from the fifties - and when reading Brode's descriptions, I find errors of fact and of emphasis. Because of that, I feel I can't trust his descriptions of the films I don't know, and this is incredibly frustrating.

For example, in the first pages alone, he makes several goofs. He refers to a song of Annette Funicelli's as a rock song. "Lonely Guitar" was not a rock song, it was a ballad Annette sung on an episode of "Zorro", that was written by Jimmy Dodd. In his description of "Parent Trap", he says that Sharon dresses up as Beethoven. In fact, Sharon wore a dress and pearls and started to play Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. In discussing a subplot in "The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh", involving an officer, he not only gets facts wrong, he distorts the whole story. And when discussing "Pollyanna", he goes way way out, both in "Counterculture" and "Multicultural." He writes about the minister telling his congregation to leave the church and go out into nature (Brode thinks this is proof of pantheism) and then says that soon they are all dancing under the trees. In "Multicultural", he spends a good deal of type on a very small subplot involving the maid Nancy and her boyfriend, waxing eloquently about sexual freedom and Romeo and Juliet. I have no idea what he's talking about. His description of what happened in "Pollyanna" bears no resemblance to the actual film. And he misses the very things that could enhance his theme.

Such errors go on and on in both books. But what is truly frustrating is that Mr. Brode misses, by a mile or a trillion miles, in his microscopic counterculture by association a go go, the really important and so obvious how could he miss progressive themes in Disney films. If he'd only bothered to watch the movies he describes.

So I encourage everyone to try. Watch Disney films - cartoons, animated fairy tales, nature tales, live action, TV shows, the Mouseketeers - and see what you find. Mr. Disney was a man of his times, and he changed - as did the themes of the culture. Also, that he could entertain children (although he said his works were not for children) , there are themes he would approach differently. Doing this is a work that requires years and a great deal of knowledge about many fields.

Mr. Brode's works, this one and the recent "Multicultural", have many many silly pages. But there are a few times he makes some very good points and observations. I am glad he wanted to write his books. But, alas. I cannot recommend them to anyone. His defense of Disney may be unique at the moment, but it's far from helpful.

Prejudge at your own risk!.......2005-06-24

Many biographies on famous people fit an agenda. In the case of Walt Disney, many biographies have axes to grind. Walter Elias Disney was a complex man. Douglas Brode illustrates how the conventional wisdom about Walt Disney isn't accurate. Walt's father was a socialist--in the days of the Red Scare, no less. "From Walt to Woodstock" provides ample evidence that Walt Disney was no reactionary--the commonly-held image of the Disney company is of a right-wing conservative corporation promoting an agenda out of the 19th Century.

When I ordered this book, I was expecting the thesis to be "Walt the Bohemian." After reading the book, I got the impression that Walt did not set out to create the counterculture, but instead laid the groundwork for it by trying to improve mainstream society. Not just by making great entertainment, Walt Disney field-tested urban planning, social engineering, and mass media techniques. I think Walt did improve mainstream American society. Walt Disney was a progressive man--progress was good! View his presentation of E.P.C.O.T. --made about six weeks before he died--and see for yourself. Go back to 1943 and the release of "Victory Through Air Power." Look at Walt Disney's prophetic "Man in Space."

I enjoyed Brode's book. His viewpoints on Disney movies were fresh and new for me, and now I want to see them again to see the things Brode saw in them. Usually I get something out of a book even when I don't like it. Many books on Walt Disney paint a dark picture of an evil, greedy man--if not for the name, I wouldn't know who they were talking about. Brode's Walt is someone I'd like to have for a friend.

I'm happy to add this book to my collection of Walt Disney biographies.

convincing, but there are a few inaccuracies . . ........2005-06-17

I enjoyed reading this immensely. Brode's argument is quite convincing, but I must point out that (1) Peter Max did not create the movie Yellow Submarine, he had nothing to do with it whatsoever, (2) Ken Kesey did not cross the county spiking water reservoirs with LSD, although I believe the possibility was DISCUSSED once, at least in the pages of Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, and (3) the Beatles did not create a song about Mary Poppins' Uncle Albert, but Paul McCartney did, after the break-up of the band.

The song is called, I believe, Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey, and I have a new appreciation for it now. I was born in 1958, and I can remember as a teenager hearing my father say something to the effect of "Whoever wrote that song had to be smoking something." How right he was!

Typical Douglas Brode --- Brilliant!.......2004-09-25

As always, Douglas Brode delivers in spades. Professor Brode completely overturns the idea of Disney as a middlebrow filmmaker by detailing how Disney movies played a key role in transforming the children of the Eisenhower era into the radical, pot-smoking Aquarians (also known as losers) of the '60s. Fortunately, Professor Brode either lacks or effectively hides any bias (such as mine) against those members of the '60s movement that to this day ruin our nation. Another testiment to Brode's professionalism and character. A must read for Disney movie buffs...

From Walt to Woodstock: How Disney Created the Counterculture

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From Walt to Woodstock: How Disney Created the Counterculture
Douglas Brode
Manufacturer: University of Texas Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ORAYXW

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When Sniglets Ruled the Earth (Snig'lit : Any Word That Doesn't Appear in the Dictionary, But Should)
Rich Hall , and Arnie Ten
Manufacturer: Macmillan Pub Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Satire, General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
English (All) | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books
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Sniglets (Snig'lit : Any Word That Doesn't Appear in the Dictionary, But Should)

ASIN: 0020404417

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When Sniglets Ruled the Earth
Rich Hall
Manufacturer: Collier Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000LRCYZG

Book Description

This pathbreaking book brings together essays by leading anthropologists that cover an entire range of visual representation, from Balinese television to computer software manuals. Contributors discuss the anthropology of art, ritual; media and communication, the study of landscape, the history of anthropology, and art practice and production.

Rethinking Visual Anthropology.(Book Review): An article from: Oceania

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Rethinking Visual Anthropology.(Book Review): An article from: Oceania
Hart Cohen
Manufacturer: University of Sydney
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Oceania, published by University of Sydney on June 1, 1999. The length of the article is 1857 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.

Citation Details
Title: Rethinking Visual Anthropology.(Book Review)
Author: Hart Cohen
Publication: Oceania (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 1999
Publisher: University of Sydney
Volume: 69 Issue: 4 Page: 307(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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RETHINKING VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Marcus & Howard Morphy, Eds. Banks
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OS607A

Customer Reviews:

A fun read to boost confidence.......2004-06-30

These simple stories are loved by my children, age three and five. My five year old, just learning to read, loves the fact that he can pick out certain words which are often repeated, as well as look at the pictures, and 'read' the story without help. The gentle humor is just right for this age group, and the illustrations are sweet. We read our Winnie series almost every night and the kids don't get tired of them. I highly recommend them for all beginner readers!

Perfect book for beginning readers.......2002-12-02

Great books for this age group are difficult to come by, and Leda Schubert has created two of them with Winnie Plays Ball and Winnie All Day Long. A hugh, lovable dog, Winnie proves to be a totally appealing character for young children, and her activities engage their imaginations. These books have the same classic charm as Cynthia Rylant's Henry and Mudge stories, and they are enormously popular with very young children.

It's Easy To Play Schubert (It's Easy to Play)

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It's Easy To Play Schubert (It's Easy to Play)
Schubert
Manufacturer: Wise Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0711915245
Release Date: 1988-12-31

Book Description

Easy-to-read, simplified arrangements of some of the best loved music of this great composer. Twenty pieces, including Marche Militaire, Ave Maria, Who Is Sylvia?, and The Trout.

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Play Schubert: Easy Organ
Herwig Peychar
Manufacturer: Edition Melodie Zuerich
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 3309003256

Book Description

Play Schubert by Herwig Peychar is a collection of famous themes from great works by Franz Schubert for very easy organ. It also includes a biography of the composer.

This book contains compositions such as "Lullaby," "Ave Maria," "Serenade," "Moment Musical," Theme from "Unfinished Symphony," "Military March," and many more.

Book Description

The heroic conclusion to the tale of Sir Pirvan the Wayward!

Despite his humble beginnings, Sir Pirvan has managed to ascend to the highest orders of the knights of Solamnia. Along the way, he has become known as the founder of an obscure group of knights whose own dubious pasts have helped to dub them the Wayward Knights. On the verge of a well-deserved retirement, Sir Pirvan once again answers the call of duty and the only allies he can rely on now are the Wayward Knights he himself recruited so many years ago.

Roland J. Green is the author of the Starcruiser Shenandoah and Wandor series and numerous Conan novels, and is coauthor (with Jerr Pournelle) of the Jannisaries series.

The Warriors series details the exploits of the heroes and villains of the War of the Lance.

Customer Reviews:

A consistent misnomer to a not so bad fantasy book.......2001-02-09

The Wayward Knights ends the one of the more misnamed series of fantasy books. In the fourth book chronicling the adventures of Sir Pirvan, a Solamnic knight who started out as a thief, there are two threads of development in the tale.

One is of Sir Pirvan's adventure to discover and eliminate the threat on Suivinari island which menaced human and minotaur sailors who had a rare, mutual, if unspoken, agreement, to share the island as a replenishing station for their ships.

The other thread involves Gerik, son of Pirvan, who had to defend their home, Tirabot Manor, against minions of the kingpriest who would like to eliminate those who practiced true virtues instead of paying lip service.

The book went through many events without giving a proper account of events and background. Instead, the narration is given through eyewitness accounts of the characters but very little explanation of what the character thinks and knows and thereby how they came to the conclusions they made. This is a maddening pattern. People unfamiliar with the world of Krynn would be unable to follow the book at all. This applies to all four books.

The reason why I described the titles of the series as misnamed is because little so far had been given to provide insight to the workings of the Knights. Instead, each adventure becomes like a process in gaining experience points to promote the lead character up the ranks of the Knight, without giving a proper account of the Order, the Measure and the Oath. The writer's way of addressing the Measure and the Oath, the central tenet of the knighthood, became merely a conceptualisation of the experiences of Sir Pirvan. What is wrong with this is it cheated the readers from actually learning about the Order itself, which is what should be expected, given the titles of the book.

Even the last title, the Wayward Knights, was not truly reflected by the story contained; there is little sense that the knights mentioned had really been wayward.

There is actually little wrong with the story as a fantasy tale, but when a series of book had the Knights of the Crown, Knights of the Sword, Knight of the Rose and the Wayward Knights as their title, I expect to be shown more about a knight making his way through the Order, dealing with more people within the Order, rather than merely setting off on quests. The series reflected little of learning of loyalty associated with Knights of the Crown, little of how valour is associated with Knights of the Sword, little of how justice and wisdom is associated with Knights of the Rose, and how Habbakkuk, Kiri-Jolith and Paladine are honoured and modeled after.

Furthermore, higher level ranking Knights of the Sword and Rose have at their disposal certain spells which they should have been utilising. After all, this is pre-Cataclysmic Krynn.

Great Adventure.......2000-05-22

I found this exciting and fast-paced. The descriptions were vivid. This is every bit as good as Mr. Green's Conan books. Maybe better.

Really good, much better than the first three..............1999-09-11

After reading the first thre Knights books, I was not really looking forward to reading this book. But even after reading the first hundred pages, I knew it was much better than the others. It certainly described a lot about krynn and not just Istar like the other books, and was a really good book. I would recomend it to any reader.

Wow!.......1999-06-14

This book was amazing. It truley lived up to the Dragonlance Standard

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The Wayward Princess
Sally Watson
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Royalty | People & Places | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0595409288

Book Description

A Gypsy lad named Finch arrives at Wychwood Castle to find it a tangle of muddled chivalry and magic. Though four royal children conform to rules of chivalry, Princess Elaine is a red-haired hoyden who can't faint, wants to study witchcraft rather than marrying, and whose magic spells always go wrong (and so do most others). Prince Arthur wishes that just once, people would follow the rules of chivalry-but they never do-not even Thunder, his warhorse, who loves to cheat at tournaments.

Finch, fascinated, stays as stable boy and tone-deaf troubadour to join Elaine in scrapes. What with the awful Fer de Lance family, a wicked enchantress, a mad magician, two witches, three cats, a sourcerous hive of bees, a spell-casting mouse, and some temperamental horses, they manage to enchant broomsticks, palace guards, a feather duster, a footstool, troubadours and even Elaine herself.

King Godobert, determined to find husbands for his daughters, holds a Quest. No one wants Elaine, so, betrothed willy nilly to a perfect stranger, she rages that she won't marry him. Finch vanishes. Elaine misses him-but when a pink magpie delivers a "save me, save me, save me" message, life promises to be interesting despite everything.

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My Lady Wayward

Manufacturer: Sonnet Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 073942405X

Product Description

The world's uncertainties visit St. Swithin's Abbey when a wounded knight appears. As Meg Redclift restores him to health, she finds herself overwhelmingly attracted to this man who can't remember anything about himself or the attack that brought him down. The mystery man fears that a shadowy past may have put him in this position, and because he may be a dishonorable person, he fights his desire for Meg. When they are forced to flee the Abbey, he's plunged into a quest with a woman who is his greatest temptation, and perhaps his only salvation. Dodging deadly assaults, this knight errant must trust his warrior instincts and dare to find the truth about himself.

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Sybilline leaves and wayward criticisms
Henry C Knight
Manufacturer: J.H.A. Frost, printer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Words & Language | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0008627HU

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The Wayward Knights
Roland Green
Manufacturer: Wizards of the Coast
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000OAJYV2

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Wayward Knights

Manufacturer: Tandem Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 1417655224

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A Practical Guide for Business Partnerships

Brett Netherton

Recommended to all of my clients

Excellent! Real world and practical.

Off To A Good Start

The Partnership Charter: How to Start Out Right With Your New Business Partnership (Or Fix the One You're in)
David Gage
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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Selecting Business Partners for Success

ASIN: 0738208981
Release Date: 2004-06-29

Book Description

For the 30 million business partners and co-owners, the essential guide for building, launching, and sustaining successful ventures.

In The Partnership Charter, psychologist and business mediation expert David Gage offers a comprehensive guide to the art of establishing and maintaining a business partnership. The centerpiece of his approach is the Partnership Charter, a document that clearly outlines the goals, expectations, responsibilities, and relationships of the principals. The charter identifies potential sources of conflict and how they will be resolved, while addressing such sensitive issues as personal styles, values, money, and power. Illustrating every principle through engaging stories drawn from Gage's front-line experience consulting to business partners, as well as interviews with the founding partners of such successful businesses as Progressive Insurance Company and Manpower, Inc., The Partnership Charter dispels common myths and presents a practical framework for launching, building, and sustaining a thriving business partnership.

Customer Reviews:

A Practical Guide for Business Partnerships.......2007-02-08

This is a top-notch book - nicely written, smartly organized, and easy to follow and understand. It provides insightful information, telling case histories, useful checklists and exercises, and even includes a fully developed "Partnership Charter" in the appendix. Author David Gage offers an inside view of partnerships, and his case studies make the text a pleasure to read. More importantly, he shows you how to create a partnership charter that will function as your enterprise's Magna Carta in the years to come. If you are planning a partnership, we advise you to study this expert presentation first. You will save yourself a lot of trouble.

Brett Netherton.......2007-01-05

This author has done a masterful job of presenting a topic that is not talked about enough. Partnerships are hard, but how to make them easier and better is a subject that needs to be taught and discussed much more. As an avid reader, this book has been more timely and helpful to me as a partner is a successful small business than any other book, hands down.

Recommended to all of my clients.......2007-01-04

One of my clients referred me to this book, and I now recommend it to all of my small business clients. It is perfect for developing partnerships of any type, including business, strategic and personal partnerships. It has helped me frame my vision for a number of projects, and I will continue to refer to it.

Excellent! Real world and practical........2006-11-11

I've been regularly informed that its not a matter of if, but rather when your partnership will fail. David Gage starts out warning the reader about business partnerships and makes you take stock and check your head if really do need a partner or not. Ultimately, this book develops a framework for setting expectations and creating lines of communication up front for a sucessful long term partnership. The real-world examples, years of experience and clear, concise straight-up language makes this a great read. The unspoken expectations of a business partnership are no more! Buy this book and read it throughly.

Off To A Good Start.......2006-11-06

This is an excellent book if you're thinking about forming a partnership (as I was.) It's all about communication, with yourself and with your prospective partner as you define your business and discuss your plan. Easy to read, logical, great tips. I used some of the topics in the book as part of an outline for discussion between my partner and I during a formal retreat we took before we opened our business. You don't have to read the whole book, just skim, but the basic premise of the book - communication - is solid advice.

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