Taxes on Knowledge in America: Exactions on the Press from Colonial Times to the Present

Book Description

Miki Aihara is the author/creator of several popular shôjo manga including SEITEN TAISEI, SO BAD!, SORA NI TAIYÔ GA ARUKAGIRI, and TOKYO SHÔNEN SHÔJO. HOT GIMMICK is her most recent title and is currently running in the shôjo anthology Betsucomi, which is published by Shogakukan. Although not a Tokyo native, she currently resides in the Setagaya ward, where most of HOT GIMMICK takes place.

Customer Reviews:

THREE SIMPLE WISHES.......2006-07-27

Mimori Kosaka has a few simple requests of God. She wants to get accepted into Medai Attached High School. She wants to wear the uniform and be cute. Lastly, she wants to spend her high school years with a handsome boyfriend. Two of these wishes come true. She gets accepted into Medai, one of the best schools in the city, and of course, she gets to wear the uniform, but the third one is running into a bit of difficulty. It's kinda hard to meet the guys because the school is split into two halves, male and female. The boys and girls can still SEE each other through the windows across from each other so it's not very hard to scope each other out from a distance. Mimori makes a new friend quickly in Nana Takaichi, who is as beautiful as she is naive. Mimori is a bit tougher and more of a tomboy. Mimori's personality also lands her the job of being class representative. On the boyfriend front, things are looking pretty ugly. Atsushi Haruta holds a grudge against Mimori for something Mimori did to him back in elementary school and swears revenge against her. Mimori doesn't even remember him! Ran is another guy that dislikes Mimori, but at least she knows the reason. She ruined a computer game he was developing for a contest. And then there's Kuniyasu, the resident stud, who goes along with the other two guys because he's a jerk, or maybe he's just bored.

I liked Tokyo Boys & Girls because I know how awkward going to a new school can be and also because we've all had days when everything went completely wrong. Or you unintentionally upset people and made them dislike you. These are all just human things that happen to all of us. So in this respect, Mimori is a sympathetic character. Watching her interact with the guys is pretty funny at times. One problem I had with this book was in the sometimes cliched storytelling. The biggest example of this is the conflict between Mimori and Haruta. Everytime he's on the verge of telling her what she did to him, another character shows up to interrupt the story, and so the author pulls the carrot back and hits us with the stick. This happens again and again, and it gets annoying. I'm sure the secret, once revealed, will not warrant all this bait and switching. The art at least never fell into bad shojo shortcuts and retained normal looking designs instead of rail-thin bishonen Clamp ostriches. Volume 1 was interesting enough to make me read Volume 2, where I HOPE Haruta will reveal his grudge so we can move on with the story.

Miki Aihara's cute 5- volume show from 95........2006-03-16

This is a really good series, who just keeps getting better and better, for each volume. In the first volume I had some trouble distinguishing between the characters.. as there were three people with almost the same hairstyle and face.. But once you get down that Haruta has dark roots (which means he's the only one with bleached hair.. the others are just drawn that way) then you're good.

It's sweet, exciting, and fun.. a but angsty at times- as it should be ;) There is character development.. and they just get more and more loveable (or in the one case- annoying) for every page. It's from the mid- nineties. I mention this because the clothes are not as up to date as in many other mangas.. but it's loveley, and sometimes it's nice to read series who are only five volumes.. cuz who really have the patience to wait 3-4 years for that 27-volume series to come to an end?

Do yourself a favor and buy it today ;)
I also recommend Korean Manhwa "Goong", Miki Aiharas "Hot Gimmick", immensly cute and beautifully drawn "Merupuri", and for those with connections= anything by Korean manga artist Hwang Mi Ri, especcially "Hot blooded woman" about tough female gang leader Ha Ji,(Jijang of her highschool) is great.

Revenge...a dish best served cold..........2005-11-11

"Tokyo Boys and Girls", the newest effort by Manga artist Miki Aihara that is currently being released by Shojo beat, starts off with a basic premise. Mimori Kosaka is a new student at Meidai Attached High School. On the first day she befriends the beautiful Nana Taikaichi after managing to secure herself a window seat. Why is the placement so important? Well, in an all girls section of the high school with only a courtyard separating the girls from the boy's side of the school it becomes a strategic location to meet and be scoped out by all of the available young men... And Mimori has every hope of acquiring a handsome boyfriend this year. Her hopes are soon dashed when she is elected by her peers to become the class rep, which basically means she'll spend the better part of her time running errands for the teachers, but what she fails to realize is that many of the errands involve delivering things to the boy's side of the school... which naturally puts her in a good position to be in with the guys.

On her first trip she encounters a young man with bleach blonde hair whom Nana informs her is a member of the West Tokyo Biker gang. The young man stays in her mind even when she chooses Nana to be her assistant rep and they make more trips over to the boy`s side. Eventually she reveals who she is, and to the young man's surprise she turns out to be a woman whom he's declared revenge upon. Apparently his name is Atsushi Haruta, and he and she were classmates in grade school, but the funny thing is that Mimori has no idea who he is. Things become even more complicated when an accident caused by Mimori erases a computer disc of a few classmates of Atsushi's. One of the classmates is a young man named Kazukita Kuniyasu, a young man whom Nana met in cram school and has developed quite a crush on. The other boy, Ran Shingyoji, is the one who is really distraught over the loss of the disc, as it was his and Kuniyasu's entry to a yearly video game contest. Suddenly everyone wants revenge against Mimori, and the three men band together to achieve this end.

While this concept is not as attention getting as Aihara's "Hot Gimmick", it is definitely a worthwhile read. Because there is not the same amount of shock value we get to know the characters of a more natural momentum. Also, there is the fact that several of the people want to be in relationships with one another... Ran likes Nana, who likes Kuniyasu... who likes to remain unattached but for some reason is drawn to Mimori... and then there's Mimori who can't help but think about Haruta, even though he has sworn revenge on her... Who exactly was he from her past?

The art from the manga is very well done, and the characters are wonderfully flawed and engaging. Overall, a wonderful read, something I intend on keeping up with in the future.

Like Hot Gimmick? Give it a try!.......2005-08-09

This story is very similar to Hot Gimmick (by the same author): young girl, cute, sweet and nice-looking, becomes the target of several guys and one just happens to be a childhood friend she has totally forgotten about. Only one thing can come from that...

It's a good volume, not much story, but you're introduced to all the characters and prepared for the rest of the story. The old early 90's manga art may be shocking to see especially since the style on the cover is simlar to the author's newer work but once you get past it, you have a fun cute story!

Tokyo Shounen Shoujo.......2005-07-10

"Tokyo Boys and Girls" is the newest manga from Miki Aihara, author of "Hot Gimmick".

The story is about Mimori Kosaka, a girl who isn't afraid to speak her mind. On the first day of school, she befriends the beautiful but ditzy Nana, and is chosen to be the class representative(even though she doesn't want to do it.) Then she meets Atsushi, a boy who claims to have known her during elementary school. He claims that she betrayed him in the past and is out to get revenge, but Mimori can't remember what happened. To complicate matters, Mimori and Nana accidentally break a home made video-game belonging to to other boys, Ran and Kuniyasu. Ran likes Nana, so he comes up with a plan to get close her. Also included in this volume is a short story about Nagase, an average girl, and her problems in dating a popular guy, Reiichi.

The characters are believable. Mimori is not annoying or perfect, and the other characters all get their chance to shine.

THe art is pretty, but it's not as good as in "Hot Gimmick". The character designs fit their personalities well. The backgrounds are good, and so is the overall layout.

Still, so far, this isn't as good as "Hot Gimmick". I know it's only the first volume, but that's all it took to hook me with the latter. If you want to read some of Aihara's work, I'd suggest you try "Hot Gimmick" first. Even so, this is a cute manga for anyone who's enjoyed her work. And if you're in the younger set, go with "Tokyo Boys and Girls" as it has almost no language or sexual stuff. This is a very good manga, and you should pick it up.

Book Description

WHAT IS REALITY, ANYWAY?
FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK.
Washington Post columnist Joel Achenbach refuses to take "I don't know" for an answer. In Why Things Are, he gave you a world of answers in a nutshell. Well, once again it's time to get cracking. Just ask Achenbach, who's out to crack every mystery in the book. After all, why stop asking why when there's no end of questions left to be asked?
* Why is the Oval Office oval?
* Why is it so darn hard to lose weight?
* Why did Napoleon keep his hand tucked in his vest?
* Why is Muzak everywhere even though people claim they dislike "elevator music"?
* Since we're mostly made of water, why don't we slosh around more?
* Why are people so obsessed with talking, thinking, and hearing about sex?
* Why is the interior of the Earth still hot after 4.6 billion years of letting off steam (and lava)? Why doesn't this thing ever cool off?
Truly outrageous and outrageously true. That's the name of Joel Achenbach's game in this wildly original collection of questions and answers. If you have a taste for the unusual, here's a book that's just as fun as a box of assorted chocolates--but far less fattening.

Customer Reviews:

not as good as the 1st and 2nd, but still great.......2006-03-26

I didn't like this one quite as much as the 1st and 2nd Why book (part 2 seems to be out of print), mainly because it lacked the Special Reports which were the best part of its predecessors. But this is a minor complaint and like the other books in the series I've read this one so many times that I have practically memorized it. That won't stop me from reading it many times more.

Ivan Rorick

Why Things Are & Why Things Aren't.......2003-11-12

Achenbach is a genius at observation, very interesting questions and wonderful and witty humor. If you loved his previous books you'll love this one. I was sad to finish it.

Accurate, informative and hysterically funny.......1999-11-25

This book is for the insatiably curious, and it is a joy to read. Not only is it incredibly funny but it's full of accurate scientific information, and provides answers to questions you didn't even realize you had. The author is obviously an incredibly talented writer who is having a good time with the subject matter. A great little book and suprisingly profound!

not bad........1998-12-11

It was nice reading this book. Its more entertaining than filed with knowldege, but you do learn a few things among the jokes. Did you know that a diet coke can will float in water but not a normal coke can?

A wonderful book........1998-12-06

Too bad information wasn't provided to us this way in school: utterly engaging, intelligent, funny, full of wise humor. Reading this is like eating potato chips except that its really good for you which is pretty amazing. Joel is hip and savvy.

Why aren't Muslims like us? (The Public Square).(Christian-Muslim relations): An article from: First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life

Average customer rating:

Why aren't Muslims like us? (The Public Square).(Christian-Muslim relations): An article from: First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life
Richard Neuhaus
Manufacturer: Institute on Religion and Public Life
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, published by Institute on Religion and Public Life on June 1, 2003. The length of the article is 691 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: Why aren't Muslims like us? (The Public Square).(Christian-Muslim relations)
Author: Richard Neuhaus
Publication: First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 2003
Publisher: Institute on Religion and Public Life
Page: 60(2)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Average customer rating:

Why Things Are & Why Things Aren't
Joel Achenbach
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OVTHYK

Book Description

In Like A Film, Timothy Murray investigates how the cinematic apparatus has invaded the theory of culture, weaving together the disparate `psycho-political' fabrics of cultural production, psychoanalysis and politically marked subject positions. The book analyzes the impact of the apparatus on a wide range of cultural practices: experimental art, from the film-making of Yvonne Rainer and Derek Jarman to Laurence Olivier's Othello; social and political narratives of race, sexuality, feminism and ecology; the visual theory of Lyotard, Torok, Barthes, Zizek, Silverman and Laplanche; articulations of history from the Renaissance visions of Shakespeare and Caravaggio to modern sexual and political fantasy. Murray suggests that the many destabilizing traumas of culture remain accessible to us because they are structured so much like film.

Responding directly to multicultural debates over the value of theory and the aim of artistic practice, Like A Film addresses questions of cultural identity, the role of Continental psychoanalysis and philosophy, and the ideological importance of artistic form.

Customer Reviews:

Waste of time.......2003-12-31

To get into the inside life of being a supermodel, you might as well go talk to someone coming out of one of those instant photo boths at the mall.

Good for anyone thinking of modeling.......2002-11-10

This book offers the dark side of the modeling business, a much needed account since we only see the beauty and glamour associated with it. The dark side consists of grueling shoot hours and strict diets forcing young models into cocaine and drug habits just to keep up with the pace. Then there is the gloomy life of prostitution many struggling models turn to with no help from the horny old agents who would drug or blackmail them to have sex. It is very sick, but intriguing reading since most people like to read about beautiful people. I gave it three stars because the price is pretty steep for such a book. I can't believe I bought it. The pictures are really bad so there was no point of including them in the book. Also, the author went undercover with the intent to expose dirt, but only offers stories from other people's accounts. Most of the sleezy stuff happen to the no-name models so the title of the book is quite misleading. I like the section about the up-and-coming supermodels. My favorite being Devon Aoki because she looks so exotic. You should search for her website...cool stuph. But the chapter on Jenny McCartney and Versace is irrelevant. I pay good money to read about supermodels [...]!

A Must Read!.......2001-10-28

If I could give 10 stars, I would. This book exposes the seedy underbelly of the fashion business. I learned so much by reading this book. I never realized how much dirt covers this corrupt business. I recommend anyone interested in modeling or fashion to go out and pick up a copy. It's essential to read this book to understand what really goes on behind the scenes. Models being drugged and raped repeatedly by men more than 30 years their senior. This made me want to vomit. Perhaps we can all learn a lesson by reading this book, no matter what industry we work in. It's vital to treat people equally and with respect. I highly commend the author for his courage to go undercover and expose this rather seedy business. I encourage any young kid who has aspirations of entering the modeling business to read this book first.

Mildly entertaining trash.......2001-08-13

"Shut Up and Smile" attempts to cash in on the success of Michael Gross's superb history "Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women." However, it falls far short of the mark.

For one thing, the book design is hideous and amateurish: the cover looks like it was put together in twenty minutes copying pictures from websites. Inside, there are plenty of misspelled words, which, though it does not take away from the quality of the book, disheartened me a lot. Names were often misspelled (Gisele Budchen, Kyle McClaughlin, Cheryl Crow.) I found it appalling that although Katharine Hepburn is listed as a coauthor, Halperin didn't even spell her first name right. Also, the chapters on Stella McCartney (how much did she pay him for that glowing profile?) and the late Gianni Versace seemed to have little to do with the rest of the book.

Halperin totally overuses the word "supermodel", which is usually used to describe the greats of modeling (Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, etc) the greats of modeling and is even appropriate for other major models like Shalom Harlow and Gisele, but he uses supermodel as a replacement for model, which is just about any girl who happened to do some ads and runway.

What was shocking in "Model" (drug use, sexual abuse, agency wars, etc) is made utter trash in "Shut Up and Smile." There are ubiquitous and lascivous descriptions of sex acts scattered throughout the book which I found to be in poor taste.

However, since "Shut Up and Smile" was published several years after "Model", it has a lot of new information, like about Naomi Campbell's supposed suicide attempt and Kate Moss's struggles with addiction. And since it is more of an expose than a history, there are more extensive and shocking cases listed of models (often underage) who were killed, raped, abused and/or harrassed, which further convinces me that anyone who's less than razor sharp is eaten alive in the business; and how an industry verging into prostitution is already crossing the line. The subject of racism in the modern day fashion industry is also interesting.

"Shut Up and Smile" is worth a read, to further convince yourself that you really don't want to be the "gorgeous" girl on the cover of Elle, but only after the much more in depth and serious "Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women."

Interesting Investigation.......2001-07-12

I read through this book with great surprise. I couldn't believe what really goes on in the fashion industry. Let me tell you, this book was a pleasant read, providing excellent anecdotes about the sleaze in fashion. I highly recommend it.

Customer Reviews:

A true Adventure in the tradition of classic role-play........1998-11-20

Of the adventures I've read or played, few short of the original Castle Ravenloft come close to this. Unlike many dungeon-crawling or hack-and-slash adventures, this one has the elements of real role-playing. The NPCs are believable people, and not just backstabbing rednecks. It also encourages good or heroic characters rather than just the -then-and-take-their-gold types. With a mysterious and twisting plot filled with colorful characters and an optional twist on the ending, this is one of the best adventures around. While the other review emphasized that it is too simple, I would argue this point. With a balanced party, it is easy to do as is, and with a more powerful party, it is easy for the dm to manipulate things to make them more difficult. The only thing I would suggest is for the dm to have a few people help him Role-play the major NPCs, this would allow the game to have a much greater influence on the characters. Recommended to all true role-players.

A good, solid intro to the wonderfull "Forgotten Terror"........1998-11-05

This is a good, solid game, though a bit on the short side. I reccomend that you write your own encounters, because the ones in it are super-easy. It's relatively easy to run, except for an optional mini-advenure that takes place in a small, Selune-worshipping town that no ones really heard of. This part was very badly done. This game is a short, fun adventure worth buying. It is also neccisary to play this game before the awsome "Forgotten Terror".

Customer Reviews:

Best book on C++ templates.......2007-08-24

I used the book when I was working on templates. Book is very clear and concise with proper layout of chapters. I was able to read relevant sections and get clear understanding. It is possible to get all information by reading C++ specs and other sources, but having this one book is a real time saver.

If you work on templates and have some doubts ever then have this book next to you.

You have gotta READ it.......2007-05-29

The title says it all :)

To keep it really short and sweet, learning about C++ templates is really painful till this book came along :)

It's my opinion that advanced C++ developers use this book to guide them in understanding and navigating the world of C++ templates. It's simply easy to read and it has amazing clear presentations

Too much to say about templates with not enough good reference materials on the topic!.......2007-05-08

Before this book, most C++ textbook were at most devoting one chapter on templates which clearly is not enough to cover a topic as complex as the C++ templates. The C++ Templates book is filling this void nicely and one of the coauthor of the book is the author of my favorite STL book The C++ Standard Library: A Tutorial and Reference. The book has 4 parts: The basics, templates in depth, templates and design and finally advanced applications. Personnally, I found the 2 last parts good but less interesting because I think that other books such as Modern C++ Design: Generic Programming and Design Patterns Applied do a better job to cover templates applications.

Where this book really shines is the first part that covers the C++ templates syntax very well. With a capricious syntax like the templates one, a good reference is essential. One example that come to my mind is when I was trying to declare a friend template function from a class template. That sounds like a simple thing to do but it is not. The syntax rules for this declaration are, to my opinion, far to be intuitive and hard to find in regular textbooks. With the help of this book I have finally been able to fix my friend template function declaration and make my compiler happy.

Good and highly detailed.......2007-03-22

I must admin that I could have got most of the C++ template info that I actually needed directly from the Internet for free, but I got the book anyway because it is nicer to read a book that to google for everything separately. And once I started reading, I must admit I was quite impressed. LOTS of information and background clearly presented and including reasonable readable examples of a quite hairy topic. But a word of warninng: This book goes beyond being a simple user guide. If you only want to be able to program using templates, this book may be a bit too much. And you should have experience with the C++ standard template library before reading it. If you havn't then you should probably start your quest there instead.

No issue left behind.......2006-11-13

Templates are a so powerful and complex part of the C++ language, they deserved long ago a book of their own. The authors take this difficult job and do very well. The first 12 chapters cover the current standard for templates (I was sure I could skip this part, but even a quick look revealed to me many unknown details), chapter 13 hints about future directions, and starting from chapter 14 the more advanced topics (like metaprogramming) are nicely covered. Any serious C++ programmer should have this book.

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