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| Japanese in MangaLand Vol 2 / Marc Bernabe : 3 of 5 | |
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5.01.2008
10:15 PM | Link |
 I can't believe I read this first volume of this series back in 2006, and I just now finally finished the second volume (guess I was really busy studying for the JLPT)! I really like the way this book concisely presents Japanese grammar - sometimes it has to bend the truth a little to avoid mentioning the many confusing exceptions that are lurking nearby, but I love the way it spells out grammar rules with confidence anyway. The selling point for this series is the manga examples, but truthfully they are the least helpful part of the book (but still fun to study). Even less helpful are the cultural/conversation chapters, which are just lists of sentences like a typical phrase book, which is pretty boring. The other weird thing about this book is it was originally written in Spanish, so this English version is actually a translation, which may be the reason some of the sentences are annoyingly full of complex grammar jargon. For example, "Potentiality and prohibition expressions in Japanese are not excessively hard to assimilate due to the relative simplicity of the verbal conjugations" is an actual sentence in the book! On the positive side, I really learned a few things that stuck with me, such as the origin of the crazy -chau conjugation, which is really a slang version of -te shimau (and now it finally makes sense!). There's also a nice set of "giving and receiving" diagrams (you can never have enough of those, trust me!). So even though this series has its drawbacks, I still want to get the third volume sometime soon! I wouldn't really recommend it for a total beginner, but it's been very useful for me as a refresher, with great exposure to many areas of the Japanese language.
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| Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies : 4 of 5 | |
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4.23.2008
7:54 AM | Link |
 After enjoying The Disney Mountains recently by the same author, I decided to finally read his in-depth look at my favorite Disneyland ride! This book has been on my shelf since the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie was released, so it's about time that I got around to reading it. Similar to his Haunted Mansion book, the first section is devoted to a history of the ride's development, which is particularly fascinating in this case, since the ride transformed from a walk-through wax museum into the masterpiece it is today (I love looking over the drawings and plans for what was never built, though!). It was interesting reading that the cool caves are located in the original dug-out basement where the museum was going to be built, and the creepy fact that there were originally actual skeletons in the attraction is once again confirmed here, too! The second section is my favorite, which is a super-detailed description of every scene of the ride, highlighting the differences between the four different versions in the various Disney parks. I'm really impressed with how the entire flow was changed for Disneyland Paris, and I would love to experience it someday - I can't imagine seeing the prisoners trying to get the keys from the dog first! The final section is about the first movie, and basically reads like a bonus DVD documentary. It has some interesting anecdotes about the "concerns" raised when Johnny Depp first developed the characterization of Jack Sparrow, but other than that, I would much rather read about the attraction itself. Jason Surrell's books are a must for every Disneyland fan's library!
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| JPod / Douglas Coupland : 3 of 5 | |
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3.27.2008
5:48 AM | Link |
 I've been a Douglas Coupland fan for a long time (there are at least three other novels of his reviewed here on WEBmikey), but this time around I waited for his latest book JPod to come out in paperback, and then let it sit on my shelf unread for longer than I'm willing to mention! But thanks to my quest to read all my unread books, I finally got to it, and it was a blast to read! JPod is about a group of employees at a video game company that organizes people's cubes alphabetically, so all of the "J" names, including our hero Ethan Jarlewski, sit together, hence the title. The book goes into fantastic detail about Ethan and his co-workers, all of which are quirky and interesting, and the story winds from Vancouver to China in some of the most bizarre plot twists Coupland has yet devised. In fact, Coupland himself is a character in the book, and you can sense that he had so much fun writing himself in as a rude, scheming guy who ends up taking Ethan's laptop (which theoretically becomes the basis for this very book)! One of the funniest story devices is the group's plot to sabotage a video game in development by secretly including a deranged, bloody Ronald McDonald, and the descriptions of their plans are hilarious! It's easy to compare this book to Coupland's Microserfs, and in many ways it is an updated variation on that Microsoft-inspired story, but this book is actually much more experimental and even serves as its own art exhibit by the inclusion of huge typography, pages of spam email, and long sections of prime numbers and digits of Pi. All of these serve the story, but are essentially more of a visual device, which is interesting, but a little disappointing at the same time. However, JPod is still an incredible novel that I really enjoyed reading, and apparently it was popular enough to become a TV series in Canada (which I plan on watching soon)!Labels: books |
| 40 Digital Photography Techniques / John Kim : 3 of 5 | |
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3.19.2008
7:50 PM | Link |
 Sometime last year when I was feeling frustrated about my inconsistent results shooting macro photos of my toys, I decided to just browse around Barnes & Noble and see if there was a book that looked simple and helpful. So, I kind of bought this on a whim, and then promptly didn't read it until recently! It's actually a pretty good book, even though the edition I bought was a little old, touting Compact Flash as the most popular memory card when SD was still new. Still, the basic information about photography is timeless, and I actually learned exactly what I needed to help me get my exposure how I like it! The trick for me is using spot metering, and before I read this book, I never really understood metering modes, so I was thrilled to finally read a concise explanation. Most of the book is devoted to a nice overview of general photography tips, covering basics like the rule of thirds, but it does a good job of dividing things up into chapter on photographing people, landscapes, and so on. The entire book is in color with lots of pictures to demonstrate technique, and also comes with a CD of trial software, which was Windows only, of course. Still, I have to give this book credit - it's a nice reference of techniques and style, and it actually taught me what I needed to learn, so I'm glad I picked it up! I'd definitely recommended it to beginner photographers looking to make their digital pictures a little better than regular snapshots.Labels: books |
| Mary Poppins in the Park / PL Travers : 3 of 5 | |
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3.04.2008
8:44 PM | Link |
 This book was one of my birthday gifts from Matt & Kumiko (thanks, Amazon Wish List!), and I really enjoyed reading these additional short Mary Poppins stories (which take place sometime during Mary's previous visits with the Banks children, as explained by the author). The title refers to the fact that all of these tales take place in the park just across Cherry Tree Lane, where Mary takes Jane & Michael (and the other babies who don't appear in the Disney movie) for outings, and all kinds of bizarre wonderful things take place. My favorite story is Lucky Thursday, which focuses on Michael, who's having a bad day and makes some wishes before bedtime. The next day everything goes his way, and in the park he's suddenly carried away to a land full of talking cats! I also really liked the huge Halloween party where everyone's shadow breaks free to dance on their own in the Halloween moonlight, and the reason they're gathering is to celebrate Mary's birthday on November 1st (bet you didn't know that bit of trivia!). Many of the characters that have been introduced in Travers' other books (as well as in the movie) appear from time to time, and it's nice to see Admiral Boom and Burt show up. The Mary Poppins books are a great way to think about and expand my enjoyment of one of my favorite Disney movies of all time, but they definitely stand on their own as wonderful stories full of childhood joy!
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| Robot Vol 3 : 3 of 5 | |
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2.22.2008
7:43 AM | Link |
 It's been a very long time since I read the previous volume of this "super color comic" manga series, but since I enjoyed the previous two books I thought I should keep going, especially since it took so long for this one to be published in the US! Unfortunately, Volume 3 isn't quite as good as I had hoped, but I still enjoyed studying the artwork, which is filled with detail. Robot allows manga artists to really stretch out and create things with quality they could never afford on a regular manga series, so sometimes they just produce beautiful paintings with hardly any story at all, such as a beautiful fantasy look at life in a fishbowl. My favorite story this time is about a dream-seller who helps a lost girl find her father by trading his services for her dream, which has a nice touching plot that's a welcome contrast to some of the other bloody and gross stories in this volume. I remembered the Hemohemo characters from last time, and enjoyed more of their frightningly cute meaningless adventures, but I had forgotten some of the other plots since it had been so long. It would have been nice to follow Sedouka better, which seems like a great story (of course, I could read it again since I still have the other volumes, but I'm lazy and I want to move on to other books!). Although Robot has been fairy successful in Japan, I'm not sure how it's doing in the US, based on how far behind the publishing schedule seems to be. It's definitely a completely adult experience full of bizarre situations, so maybe American audiences don't quite get into it. I suppose I'll try out another volume someday to continue with my set!
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| The Gremlins / Roald Dahl : 3 of 5 | |
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2.18.2008
8:26 AM | Link |
 A few years ago when I was reading all the Roald Dahl I could find, I remember reading about this story and its Disney connection in Dahl's wonderful biographies, Boy and Going Solo. The Gremlins was one of his first works, drawn from his experiences as a World War II pilot, combined with imaginative fantasy, of course! This edition is a reproduction of a Disney-published story book, originally produced when they were planning on creating an animated feature of the tale. There's a fantastic introduction by Leonard Maltin (Disney fan extraordinaire) explaining the history of the project and Walt's connection with Dahl. It's a shame the movie was never made, but it's interesting how Disney convinced other studios to rename cartoons because of it (most notably the great Bugs Bunny short Falling Hare), since the concept of "gremlins" as creatures who make mischief for airplanes wasn't something Walt could claim as his own. The story itself is fun, though a little cruel - I don't think Dahl had found the right combination between mean and nice in his early work. It gets a little confusing keeping track of which characters are gremlins and which are human, but the excellent illustrations by Disney artists help out quite a bit. The character designs are really fun, and they actually appeared in lots of Disney marketing materials. Since I had already read the story, I mainly wanted this book because of its place in Disney history, but I'm sure any Dahl fan or Disney fan would enjoy it!
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| The Last of the Jedi Vol 2 / Jude Watson : 3 of 5 | |
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1.29.2008
7:00 AM | Link |
 It's been a long time since I've read one these Scholastic Star Wars books, but since I enjoyed both Jedi Apprentice and Jedi Quest so much (both by the same author), I decided I had to get into this latest series. I read the first volume ages ago, and now that I'm working on all of my unread books, this second volume finally made it into my hands. The Last of the Jedi series focuses on Obi-Wan's life on Tatooine after Episode III, silently watching over baby Luke from afar and communicating with Qui-Gon via the Force. This story quickly ends up off planet, however, thanks to the re-introduction of Anakin's old friend Ferus (a character from the Jedi Quest series), and soon there's tons of action as they outwit Boba Fett! The plot then splits as Ferus travels to Ilum (the place where lightsaber crystals come from) to find another still-living Jedi, and Obi-Wan visits Polis Massa, where Padme gave birth to the twins. Obi-Wan's side of the story is really fascinating, as the Empire starts reviewing medical records and discover certain materials missing from inventory that could be evidence about the secret births (a pretty complex plot for a young readers story!). Overall, this volume had a little too much action (which ultimately is a little boring when you're just reading descriptions of battles), but thankfully also included some nice character insight for Obi-Wan and his grief about Anakin's fall. I'm happy to be reading these books again, and I'm excited about the next volume!
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| The Disney Mountains / Imagineering at Its Peak : 4 of 5 | |
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1.24.2008
7:12 AM | Link |
 I've been a fan of Jason Surrell's amazing Disney books for a few years now, starting with his wonderful in-depth coverage of the Haunted Mansion, so I always put anything new he writes on my Christmas list (which is how I received this book!). His latest work is about the well-known Disney "mountain range" of attractions that combine awesome thrills with Disney quality and theming. Of course, every page is filled with wonderful artwork from every stage of attraction development, but while there's a lot of great information here, this is actually a pretty quick read (the text is in a much bigger font than his past books!). Of course, the Matterhorn is covered first, and I enjoyed the quotes from Imagineers like Harriet Burns and Bob Gurr. It definitely gave me an appreciation for the trail-blazing efforts of these original Imagineers - it seems impossible that these people from so many varied disciplines could actually create the first roller coaster of this kind, and I still ride it every year to this day! The coverage of Space Mountain is really nice, especially comparing the size and differences between the Walt Disney World and Disneyland versions, and the story of the development of Splash Mountain is also incredible (and I'm once again thankful for the talents of Tony Baxter and his creative ideas!). There is little coverage about Mount Prometheus in Tokyo DisneySea, but I would have loved to read more about the design of Journey to the Center of the Earth, which was my favorite ride during my trip to Japan in 2003. The largest portion of the book is devoted to Expedition Everest, which certainly deserves praise, and definitely instills admiration for Joe Rhode, one of the most detail-oriented Imagineers working today. I loved reading about the queue theming (almost more than the ride itself!), since I had no idea that many of the structures were actually built by Tibetan craftsmen! The Disney Mountains definitely deserves to be in any theme park fan's library, so don't miss it!
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| Revolution in the Valley / Andy Hertzfeld : 5 of 5 | |
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1.21.2008
6:45 AM | Link |
 This book was actually a Christmas gift from last year that I never got around to reading (how embarrassing!), but since I'm on a quest to read more this year (and not buy any more books until I make a dent), I decided it was finally time. Little did I know this book would become an obsession and steal all my time for a few days - I simply could not stop reading it once I started! Andy Hertzfeld was part of the original Apple engineers who created the first Macintosh, so I have to thank him (and everyone else, including Steve Jobs) for nearly all the computer fun I've had in my life, including typing this very sentence. This book is a collection of anecdotes covering all phases of development, from circuit boards to software, from release day to revisions afterward. It's filled with amazing old photos, and even original notebook pages scribbled with diagrams and To Do lists (which are fantastic to see)! It was fascinating to learn about other members of the Mac team, especially Burrell Smith, who seems like such a character. Smith designed the logic board and other hardware, and his personality is full of interesting quirks (such as his unique way of playing Defender). Sometimes the writing actually gets into semi-serious code discussion, mentioning Toolbox routines that I can still remember from my Mac programming days years ago. Of course, the stories about Steve Jobs are wild - he's definitely the kind of person that you can love and hate at the same time, but there's no doubt that his team was loyal and worked like crazy for him (I imagine his personality could be similar to Walt Disney at times - brutal, but inspiring). I could go on and on about this book. There are certainly other Apple history books available, but hearing the tale from someone who was right in the middle of the action is a a wonderful experience!
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| Letters from a Skeptic / Greg Boyd : 3 of 5 | |
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1.08.2008
7:24 AM | Link |
 This is an interesting book that I heard about at church (they often mention recommended reading material at Gateway), so I decided to check it out since I haven't read anything theological in a long time (besides the Bible). Greg Boyd is a professor of theology who decided to start a correspondence with his elderly dad to try to answer all his questions about faith, and they ended up trading letters over three years, covering some really tough questions that everyone thinks about at one time or another. Most of the arguments are really convincing, covering things like literary criteria for the authority of the Gospels, but ranging to much deeper spiritual thoughts on free will and suffering. Every now and then the tone gets a little too preachy for my taste, but in general the arguments are extremely intelligent (and deciphering their meaning reminded me of my philosophy class!), and include many quotes from sources like CS Lewis and Pascal. My main complaint with the book is a minor one - since this is a back and forth correspondence, they chose to set the father's letters in normal type, while Greg's letters are entirely in italics. Since his letters are much longer, it's really annoying to read several full pages in all italic type! Overall, Letters from a Skeptic is a fascinating book, presenting many ideas that I hadn't considered before, and written from a refreshingly open-minded point of view.Labels: books, spirituality |
| MAD About Star Wars / Thirty Years of Classic Parodies : 4 of 5 | |
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1.02.2008
6:19 PM | Link |
 My second Christmas book was this amazing collection of Star Wars parodies from MAD Magazine, which has been on my Wish List from the moment I heard it was being published! I used to love reading MAD (and Cracked, too), so it was a blast to re-read lots of great stuff that I remember from the 70s. The original Episode IV parody is a riot, and I love the old references to things like the Hollywood Squares, as well as the tunes used in the funny Star Wars musical! All of the great covers are reproduced as well, along with the cool Fold-Ins from the back cover (each one is conveniently revealed in its folded state on the next page so you don't have to mess up the book). All of MAD's parodies of the prequels were new to me, since I haven't read any recent issues in several years, so it was great to see what they did with Jar Jar and Jake Lloyd's terrible acting (it received exactly the treatment it deserved!). This book even includes current parodies like new versions of the recent Star Wars postage stamps (I loved the stamp of Luke's severed hand!). Along with all the hilarity, the margins of every page feature some great trivia about Star Wars and MAD Magazine in general, and there are also a few pages of letters that George Lucas wrote to the magazine. I'm so glad Lucas was a huge MAD fan and even called-off his lawyers when they tried to attack without his knowledge! I would definitely recommend this great collection to Star Wars and MAD fans alike!
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| Star Trek / The Key Collection Vol 1 : 3 of 5 | |
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12.31.2007
7:09 AM | Link |
 This was the first book I got for Christmas this year, and it was so much fun to read that I finished it before I left Oklahoma City! I've been a Star Trek fan since I was super-young, and I used to love reading these old cheesy comic book adventures of the Enterprise crew (I even remember buying a big book of them at a Star Trek convention with Dad!). This volume contains eight stories that were originally published from 1967 (when the show was still on) through 1970, but even though they could easily be compared to the series itself, they still have all kinds of hilarious errors! Scotty has blonde hair, the Transporter is called the Teleportation Chamber, and of course the Enterprise has huge rocket flames coming out of the engines. I love these goofy mistakes, but on top of that, these are really enjoyable plots, too! My favorite in this volume is called Invasion of the City Builders, about a society that's been taken over by machines that continuously build city after city, threatening to cover the entire planet. The artwork definitely has a classic charm (Kirk and Spock are drawn very well), and the dialogue has some truly incredible exclamations that are simply priceless ("Suffering solar showers!" comes to mind). All of the original covers are included as well, which featured great production stills from the actual TV show, and I swear I can remember some of them exactly. Reading stuff like this is so much fun for me, not only because I'm still a Star Trek fan, but also because I love reliving my childhood!
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| Superman/Batman / Supergirl : 3 of 5 | |
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12.11.2007
7:55 AM | Link |
 I like reading a good graphic novel every now and then, but this was an unexpected purchase! Since I kind of forced my pals to buy this as part of a scavenger hunt for my Christmas video (it's a long story...), I bought it from them and finally took the time to read it. This is a collection of several issues of the Superman/Batman comic series, telling the story of Supergirl's "re-introduction" to the DC Universe (I really didn't know about her part in Crisis on Infinite Earths, but the introduction filled me in). The story is really well-told, using some interesting dual narration via the thoughts of both Superman and Batman - this is a great device that really added a lot of insight into these characters, which is tough to do with icons that everyone knows so well. Wonder Woman is thrown in as well (since Kara needs some Amazonian training), and the big villian is Darkseid, meaning a good deal of the action takes place in Apokolips. Unfortunately, the transition from a story about trust and family to an action tale is way too rushed - I kept flipping back in the book to see if I had missed a page! Still, there's some good action, and plenty of cool Batman moments, as well as "Superman gets really mad" (which always has to happen in epic stories like this), but ultimately it seems like it was too easy to defeat Darkseid. The artwork is really nice, even though I wasn't too thrilled with Superman's ultra-square jaw (it looks good on Batman, but not on Clark!). I'm not really complaining, though - I enjoyed reading this book, and it makes me think I should pick up graphic novels like this more often!
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| The Batman Chronicles / Vol 1 : 4 of 5 | |
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11.27.2007
12:21 PM | Link |
 After rereading the old Eternals comics I enjoyed as a kid, I've been eager to discover the original stories and artwork of famous characters, so I was excited to find this fantastic series which presents all of the original appearances of Batman in a nice (and extremely affordable) graphic novel format. This first volume was incredibly fun to read, since I had never seen Batman's original beginnings as a regular feature in Detective Comics (starting in 1939). The artwork is somewhat crude, but still dynamic and full of charm (and dramatically improves as the series progresses). I love the old style of narration, which describes everything Batman is doing right there on the panel in front of you, and I like the nostalgic touches (such as Bruce Wayne always smoking a pipe!). I was amazed that Batman's origin story isn't told until several issues have past, and it only takes a page and a half to cover it! Robin's origin is pretty short as well, but he's only getting started as this volume ends with the first issue of Batman's own comic in 1940. There are a few regular villains, such as Doctor Death, Hugo Strange, and of course, the Joker, but it's fun to see Batman go up against weird things like werewolves, too. Batman himself is definitely a tough guy, and he barely thinks twice about killing his enemies if he has to, which certainly changes later on. If you're fascinated by the humble beginnings of one of the most popular heroes of all time, you'll definitely enjoy this book, and I'm certainly ready to continue with the next volume!
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| Remembering Walt / Favorite Memories of Walt Disney : 4 of 5 | |
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11.22.2007
6:06 AM | Link |
 Each year my cousin Clinton gives me an early Christmas gift, and amazingly, somehow he succeeds in selecting one of the few Disney books I don't already have! This year he gave me this wonderful book on Walt Disney himself, and I enjoyed every page. Although I've read so much about Walt and know a lot about his life, I actually haven't read a true biography, but in my opinion, this book is far better than any biography could be! Remembering Walt is a collection of quotes by people who knew Walt (family members, animators, Imagineers, and many others) - their anecdotes, things he did and said, and how they felt to work with him and after he was gone. Reading Walt's impact on their lives really shows who Walt was and what he accomplished, and it's all so inspiring! Along with the quotes, there are hundreds of photos, many of which I've seen, but several I haven't (including the best shot of Annette Funicello I've ever seen, and an incredible shot of Walt in Disneyland as they were planting the famous Storybook Land letters!). This book was so interesting that I had read the whole thing before I knew it, but I could easily see myself going back to enjoy it again. Understanding how Walt saw things and looking at why he did things the way he did is really uplifting to me, and definitely makes me think about my own life!
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| The Imagineering Field Guide to Disney's Animal Kingdom : 4 of 5 | |
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11.15.2007
8:12 AM | Link |
 I'm really a fan of the Imagineering Field Guide series (even though I still wish they were larger format books), so I was especially excited to read this latest volume about Disney's Animal Kingdom, which is the park I know the least about. Although the first section of the book is yet another reprint of background terminology, the rest of the book delivers with flying colors - in fact, it's my favorite of the series so far! Thanks to Joe Rohde and his team, Animal Kingdom has some of the most complex, symbolic, and fully back-storied theming of all of the Disney parks, and this book does a great job revealing the details. I was amazed to read about the care taken to choose even the animal motifs for shops and restaurants (I had no idea each room in Pizzafari has a different animal theme, such as "spots and stripes" or even "migratory animals"). I really enjoyed learning the complete back-story of the different lands, such as the history of Harambe in Africa, and I even finally understood the reasoning behind Dinoland U.S.A. (though it's still my least favorite land by far). There's lots of discussion and photos about hidden details that really make me want to go back to the park and explore! I didn't realize before that the tiger habitat ruins are a former king's palace, or that the new temple near the water in Asia matches the outline of the Expedition Everest mountain range! I also really enjoyed the artistic philosophy about the plant life in Animal Kingdom, which will continue to grow somewhat wild and change the look of the park over the years. I'm still hooked on these Imagineering Field Guides, and I can't wait for next year's release on Disneyland!
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| The Kingdom Keepers / Ridley Pearson : 3 of 5 | |
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10.15.2007
7:46 AM | Link |
 It's been quite a while since I enjoyed a novel, so it was nice to read a good long story again (even if this one is written for young adult audiences!), especially one set in Walt Disney World! The Kingdom Keepers has a pretty interesting plot revolving around the idea that when enough people believe something, it can actually become reality. Since Walt Disney World is filled with kids who believe in Disney characters, it only makes sense that they would come to life, right? It turns out Walt knew this would happen all long, and so he hid clues and riddles throughout the parks to help handle this problem, and so a group of kids (with the help of an Imagineer) work together to solve this mystery, fighting off a real-life Malificent and her minions on the way! I loved reading descriptions of places and attractions that I know so well, and it was especially cool when totally unexpected things happen, such as the children figures on It's a Small World coming to life and swimming after the boat with their mouths chomping away (actually, I was a little surprised that Disney would let the author get away with something like that)! Thinking about what it would be like to swim through Splash Mountain, or sneak around in the exhibits of One Man's Dream, really made the book a page-turner for me, but without all the Disney references the story wouldn't have grabbed me nearly as much. Still, the writing is fast-paced and descriptive, and since this book is most likely starting a series, I can forgive the lack of character development. If you've always wanted to sneak around the Magic Kingdom at night and visit attractions in a whole new way, I definitely recommend The Kingdom Keepers!
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| The Eternals / Marvel Omnibus : 4 of 5 | |
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9.22.2007
7:51 PM | Link |
 When I was reading tons of comics as a kid, Jack Kirby was the first artist that I could recognize by his distinctive artwork, and I remember trying out different comic series just because of his amazing style. One of these series was The Eternals, which started in 1976 and only ran for 19 issues - I probably bought all of them, but sadly I'm sure I sold them for pennies or traded them for Star Wars cards, so I don't have them now. Thanks to Marvel's Omnibus series, which collects famous comics and reproduces them as beautiful (and expensive) hardcover books, I've just enjoyed the entire series again, and it was seriously nostalgic and fun! Kirby's art is as incredible as ever - I love how he makes every page so dynamic, even though the panel style at the time was usually just six uniform boxes! He's also not afraid to pull off full-page or even two-page spreads, which are definitely needed to tell a story this big, about the return of massive space gods (the Celestials) and their return to Earth! Of course, each comic's cover is included as well, and I swear I could remember each one as soon as I looked at it. Actually, I didn't really understand the storyline in 1976, so it was fun to read these issues again and figure out what's happening. I liked the concept of different species of beings on Earth besides humans, namely the Eternals (who inspired Greek/Roman god and goddess myths) and the Deviants (who inspired demonic myths). Kirby's overblown writing style is a blast, too, with every issue announced as the one you can't possibly miss! Reading The Eternals again was such an enjoyable experience, and I'd definitely like to check out more of the Omnibus series in the future!
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| Published pal | |
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9.19.2007
12:50 PM | Link |
 My pal Tom, who spent a couple years in Uzbekistan with the Peace Corps, started writing a book about his experiences there soon after he came back to the US. He really put an amazing effort into crafting a well-written narrative, and spent an insane amount of time editing it over and over again, even hiring outside editors for advice. All of his efforts have paid off, and now I'm happy to announce that Tom's first book, Taxi to Tashkent, has been published and is available on Amazon.com! It's so exciting to be able to actually see the book up for sale, along with the cool cover that Chris designed for Tom. If you search around on the web, you can find it available from other booksellers and even available electronically. I'll be getting a copy from Tom soon, and I'm looking forward to reading it! This is a really cool accomplishment, and I always enjoy bragging about my pals!
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| Bunpou ga daisuki | |
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5.17.2007
6:57 PM | Link |
 Lately I've become obsessed with studying Japanese grammar! When I first discovered the fantastic JLPT Study Page, I was pretty far into my Level 4 studies, so I didn't use it that much. But now that I'm itching to discover every inch of Level 3 material, I'm really excited about the complete list of grammar concepts and constructions. I've been going over all of the examples with Kazki in my weekly lessons, and I think it's great practice (it also really helps with my kanji reading, since there's no furigana). Of course, I've read lots of language learning discussion that says boiling a language down to grammar is actually a bad way to learn - they say it's much better to absorb correct sentences and let the grammar follow naturally. I can definitely see how that could be true, but my analytical brain just loves interpreting Japanese like a math equation! Right now I'm studying another Level 3 grammar book from the Complete Master Series (from The Japan Shop, mochiron), and it's been great. I learned the useful -te kara construction just before a conversation with Mikie-sensei, and I used it a lot in my sentences! I guess getting excited about grammar is just about as geeky as you can get over a language, but since I'm proud of being a geek, I guess that's appropriate for me!
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| The Preparatory Course for the JLPT, Level 4 / Unicom : 4 of 5 | |
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4.08.2007
7:26 AM | Link |
 Wait a minute, didn't I take this test already? Well, I bought this book from The Japan Shop on sale only a month or so before the exam, so I only had time to begin looking it over, and since I always have such a desire to completely finish a book once I start, I had to finish studying it! I really think this book is a great study aid, since it does a nice job of presenting each grammar point individually with lots of examples. My other study aids for Level 4 were mainly sample exams, which are totally useful, but I really like going over the details one by one. Since this is a Level 4 book, there's a little English thrown in, but in general everything is kana, as it should be. The price of this book is kind of expensive, mainly because it comes with two CDs (which I haven't even listened to, honestly), but I still think it's worth it to get a nice overview of everything that encompasses Level 4 Japanese. My only complaint with the book is that all of the sample questions have the answers clearly displayed at the bottom of the same page, making it less than ideal for testing yourself, but the amount of exercises provided more than makes up for the inconvenience. I'm definitely going to keep using this Unicom series in the future. In fact, now that I've totally finished this book cover to cover, I'm ready to hit the Level 3 book!
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| DoomBuggies.com Presents the Secrets of Disney's Haunted Mansion : 3 of 5 | |
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3.16.2007
6:17 PM | Link |
 DoomBuggies.com is without a doubt the best website ever devoted to the Haunted Mansion attraction, absolutely overflowing with amazing artwork, movies, sound, and of course, fantastic information. Last year they published this short book, which I really enjoyed, but I would call it more of an overview and not so much an in-depth collection of secrets. The main text is kind of a walk-through of the ride, describing everything that happens, stopping here and there to explain how certain effects are made. There are also shorter chapters on subjects like the Ghost Host and Haunted Mansion collectibles (which was really fun to read, since I had the board game a long time ago!), but generally only Disneyland's version is covered (there's no mention of Walt Disney World's library room, for example). My favorite few pages are the complete script to the classic Story and Song from Disney's Haunted Mansion album, which I must have listened to a hundred times when I was younger. There are some really nice photos (reproduced in black & white) and artwork, but it would have been amazing if the book had been designed with the same flair as the fantastic website! I definitely had fun reading through this book, but it only made me want to check out the DoomBuggies.com site again (and maybe that's on purpose!).
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| The Disneylands That Never Were / Shawn Finnie : 3 of 5 | |
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2.24.2007
7:56 AM | Link |
 For a long time I have been subscribed to an email list that covers Disney history almost daily, which is put together by a fan named Shawn Finnie. A while back he mentioned that he had written a self-published book, so I decided to give it a try to support his efforts. For a self-published book, this is a respectable effort at over 240 pages, and I definitely enjoyed reading it! The book covers hundreds of Imagineering concepts that never fully materialized, everything from individual attractions to complete theme park ideas. Even though I already knew about many of the topics, it was nice to read about them in greater detail, especially the Westcot park that was later replaced with Disney's California Adventure. I also was amazed at the plans for Port Disney, which was planned for Long Beach back when Disney was running the Queen Mary. Unfortunately, even though the text is nicely written and interesting, this kind of book just screams for illustrations, since the reader really wants to see some of the artwork that was created during the design of these incredible ideas! I'm sure this simply wasn't possible for a self-published work, but it really lessens the impact of an otherwise great work (it would be wonderful to see this re-printed by a publisher who could give it the treatment it deserves). I can only recommend this book to serious Disney park history fans, but I definitely applaud Shawn's efforts in the Disney fan family!
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| Disney Dossiers / Jeff Kurtti : 4 of 5 | |
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1.04.2007
10:56 PM | Link |
 I always add a few big Disney books to my Christmas list each year, and Santa always comes through with the goods! Almost anything by Jeff Kurtti is guaranteed to be well-designed and entertaining, and Disney Dossiers is no exception. The premise is that each page is a studio file about a famous Disney character, containing information and photos that you would need if you were to "hire" them for something, which is a little silly. It really doesn't matter though, because there's plenty of beautiful artwork to enjoy, along with some basic facts and filmography notes. There's nothing earth-shattering here for serious fans (although I did learn for the first time that Lilo's last name is Pelekai), but it's still fun to peruse everything and enjoy the vast history of Disney characters. Each file is part of a general group, such as Royalty, Cats, Dogs, and Villains are even divided into an "Extra-Evil" category! Of course, 150-plus pages isn't enough to cover all Disney characters, so it's interesting to see who didn't make it (of course, there's only one from Atlantis!). I really enjoyed taking this book in, so I think it's a nice addition to anyone's "beautiful Disney book" library.
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| Disney Comics / 75 Years of Innovation : 4 of 5 | |
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12.21.2006
9:02 PM | Link |
 Although I'm not so thrilled with modern Disney comics, I really love the older Disney classic strips! One of my Christmas gifts this year was this excellent collection, cleverly designed in the same style as the Disney Treasures DVD series. There are tons of great stories here, all printed perfectly and ready to enjoy (which I have been doing for the past several days)! I like how the book includes historic moments like the first visit from Huey, Duey & Louie, but also more obscure characters like Ellsworth, Goofy's bird friend (that I had never heard of). Speaking of Goofy, there are even some really old strips where Goofy is still called Dippy! I like the stories where Mickey is on a big adventure like climbing a mountain, since he always stays positive no matter the circumstances. The book also has a nice introduction about the history of Disney comics, which talks a lot about the international success of Disney magic in comic form. This is a fantastic collection of great Disney stories and a nice overview of Disney comics in general!
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| Robot Vol 2 : 4 of 5 | |
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11.01.2006
10:25 PM | Link |
 After being so impressed with Robot Volume 1, I decided I'm going to have to collect this series of super manga/graphic novels, so I got the second book in the series right away (although it appears that Volumes 3 and 4 are going to be harder to find, so we'll see what happens). This book is just as beautiful as the first, filled with many continuations from the same artists who contributed before along with several entirely new pieces. I think Volume 1 had a few more brilliant segments, but this volume is certainly fantastic and kept my complete attention, so overall I enjoyed it even more! I would say there's a little less adult content this time, but what remains is a bit more intense. It's tough to pick single stories to mention, but I really enjoyed Delicious Adventures, which is about three young ants (who happen to look exactly like young human schoolgirls) venturing out of the anthill into the real world, and Sedouka, which is a fascinating continuing story with amazing traditional Asian art scenery and costumes. There's also another "storybook" tale called Eventyr that I really enjoyed, as well as several pages throughout the book that just require long moments of viewing to really appreciate. This experimental series is such a great idea - it's amazing to see manga artists stretch out into unexplored medium and genre!
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| Robot Vol 1 : 3 of 5 | |
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10.13.2006
10:56 PM | Link |
 I've been intrigued by this book series for quite a while, so I finally decided to check out the first volume recently. Some reviews refer to this as manga, but it's much more than that. Robot is like a super-high quality graphic novel (very large format and full color), except that it features a collection of stories by many different artists with varied styles. Some pages are complete works of art that must have taken weeks to complete (with amazing, fully-rendered detail), while other stories have more traditional comic style drawings. The stories themselves are quite mixed, combining everything from humor to dark violence (this is definitely an adult book, but in a much more artistic sense - it's like Vermillion Pleasure Night in book form). I really enjoyed Picnic, a story of two girls in the future visiting what used to be Shibuya (now almost completely covered in grassy hills), and Hemo Hemo is a goofy tale about a weird cuddly animal. I also enjoyed Eventyr, written and illustrated like a fantasy storybook. Many of these stories will be continued in the next volume, definitely making me want to continue the series! Robot is a great showcase for artists to push themselves and create stories that might not work anywhere else, so I'm looking forward to seeing what other beautiful, fascinating, or disturbing things come next!
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| Japanese in MangaLand Vol 1 / Marc Bernabe : 4 of 5 | |
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9.15.2006
5:22 PM | Link |
 I have a weird habit of wanting to read Japanese study books covering basic concepts that I already know, but I've had my eye on this book for a long time, so I finally decided to give in (especially since it's the start of a three book series). The concept of using manga panels to help teach Japanese has been used in several books I've already read, but I think this is the best implementation so far. Each of the 30 chapters has a quick grammar discussion (usually with some pretty good reference tables), followed by a few manga panels that illustrate the idea. There's also a short self-test after each chapter, which is kind of fun (and verbose answers are included in the back of the book). I think this book covers things too quickly for a beginning student (I know I would have been confused if this were my first exposure), but it definitely explained a few concepts to me in terms I had never seen before (the differences in the various "give" verbs were very well explained, I thought!). I really like the book's binding and design, and it's cool that they've included chapters on things like swear words and rough language that you normally would never see (but since the emphasis is manga, they need to be here!). It was really fun to pick up this book for a five minute lesson every now and then, so I'm definitely going to continue with the next book in the series!
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| Basic Connections: Making Your Japanese Flow / Kakuko Shoji : 1 of 5 | |
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7.07.2006
10:13 PM | Link |
 I think I study too many Japanese learning aids at one time, but I just can't help myself when I see a new book that looks intriguing. This one seemed really interesting, and flipping through it I saw lots of examples of various concepts that I had run across recently, so I bought it. Right now all I can say is I'm glad it's over - it was really difficult to finish! It starts out nicely with a few sentence structures, but then suddenly goes completely nuts. This book claims to be beginner to intermediate level, but I have lots of complaints! First, the progression of the book seems really random - nothing seems to build on previous concepts. It seems the author just gathered lots of things that people have trouble with and jammed them all into one book. Individually these could be useful, but they definitely don't flow (which makes the title kind of ironic!). Next, kanji is used full-blast with no furigana, which forces you to read romaji all the time, which we all know is a bad thing. Finally, the sample sentences are ridicuously difficult! I can't even begin to tell you how ludicrous they are, so I have to give an actual example. "Recently the piles of litter along the roads have become a problem, so people in the neighborhood have met together to start a cleaning campaign." Oh yeah, I was trying to say that in conversation just the other day (yeah, right). Maybe someday I will look back at this book and enjoy it, but right now I'm happy to move on to something else!
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| DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore : 4 of 5 | |
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4.11.2006
10:20 PM | Link |
 I haven't bought a collection of comic book stories in quite a while, but I saw this book reviewed on the Attack of the Show podcast, and it seemed like it would be cool to read some good ol' superhero stories by this famous DC storyteller. Since all of the stories are by one author, there are a wide variety of artists here, all with very different styles, some of which I think are great, and others that bore me. For the most part, though, everything is fantastic, and of course the stories are amazing. The Killing Joke, one of the best Batman/Joker stories ever invented, is saved for last, complete with a flashback of the Joker's origin, the shooting of Barbara Gordon (which ends her Batgirl career), and some truly incredible illustrations. The famous Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow is also included, which was a "possible" end to Superman's hero work, and it's really fun to read (even if the end is predictable). I also really enjoyed For the Man Who Has Everything, since it was made into an animated Justice League episode, and many of the other obscure stories, featuring folks like Green Arrow and even Swamp Thing. The Vigilante story is my least favorite (along with the artwork), but it was still cool to read a character's story that I'm not very familiar with. Since reading this book, I've seen plenty of other mentions of it, and folks are always reading it at the bookstore, so it must be something you should pick up!Labels: books |
| Kanji de Manga Vol 1 : 2 of 5 | |
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4.10.2006
11:07 PM | Link |
 I picked up this little book before I started studying for the JLPT, but soon realized that it was pretty handy, since it covers the exact set of kanji that you're expected to know for the Level 4 test that I'll be taking. It's a pretty simple concept - each page covers a single kanji, includes the various readings and a few compound words, and then has a panel or two of manga to illustrate the use of the kanji. Even though it was fun to read through it all, I don't think it's really that useful for studying. I like the overview kanji chart and the general meanings, but the major portion of each page is the manga, and in my opinion, the examples aren't that great! My major complaint is the type of language they use is so informal and slang-ish that I can barely recognize the verb conjugations - I don't think folks reading this beginning kanji book will be familiar with these forms! I guess they just wanted to maintain a manga "style" - when I read them out loud it definitely sounds like anime dialogue. Still, it was great to get an overview of the first kanji set. I think I'd like something a little more academic, but still interesting and fun - I'm not sure if I'll continue with this set of books or not.Labels: books |
| Eleanor Rigby / Douglas Coupland : 4 of 5 | |
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4.04.2006
9:39 PM | Link |
 Every time I read a Douglas Coupland novel I think to myself, "Why did I wait so long to read this amazing book?" This time I was waiting for this story to come out in paperback, but my pal Ernesto spoiled me by getting it for me for my birthday (thank you, Amazon Wish List!). For me, reading Coupland is like getting together with an old friend that I know everything about, but I've never met. His writing is so wonderful - everything is described well (without being boring), and dramatic moments are balanced perfectly with hilarious dialogue. He usually writes in first person style, and I'm always amazed at how he can transform his "voice" into new characters - in this case, an overweight, lonely woman. As usual, the plot goes quickly from everyday mundane life into some incredible twists that prove life is unpredictable - ranging from meeting her son for the first time to being arrested in Frankfurt as a terrorist! There are some wonderful internal monologues about living alone, and fantastic memories told just like you were listening to someone's dinner conversation. The characters are all interesting, not only Liz (the storyteller), but her family, her son, and even the mystery people she meets in Europe (sorry, can't reveal too much!). I'm so glad that I discovered Coupland so long ago and became a fan - I definitely won't wait as long to read his new book!Labels: books |
| Breakthrough Japanese / Hitomi Hirayama : 4 of 5 | |
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2.08.2006
9:50 PM | Link |
 I'm pretty much always reading some book on Japanese language in addition to my other regular study methods, and when I saw this book was by the author of the Pera Pera Penguin column (that I've been a fan of for a long time), I had to add it to my collection. The book is divided into twenty short lessons that each cover a particular language topic, but aren't organized into any order. Each lesson starts with a common point of confusion, such as the difference between shirimasen and wakarimasen, and then presents lots of sample dialogue and exercises. Actually, many of the topics covered are taken right from Pera Pera Penguin, which is available for free online, but it's nice to have them all together in a book, and I believe each includes more example sentences here. There's tons of great lessons, including a nice explanation of the use of buri (which I didn't quite understand in a recent lesson with Kazki), and a great chapter of the many, many set phrases (which the author calls "pocket phrases") that make the language so lively. The layout of the book also has a great style and it's really fun to read. My only complaint is that the tone of the book makes it so easy to breeze through and yet not remember anything! I guess that's mostly my fault, but I feel like I should go back and re-read most of the book again. As an intermediate Japanese student, I definitely think it's worth reading for exposure to some interesting topics.
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| The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian / C.S. Lewis : 3 of 5 | |
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1.23.2006
11:08 PM | Link |
 I'm an official Narnia fan now, since the wonderful movie convinced me to start reading all the books! It was fun to read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe because the film images were so fresh on my mind, but I think it was even more interesting to read Prince Caspian since I could conjure up how everything looks with my imagination. The story isn't as magnificent as the first book, but it's still a fascinating tale with lots of subtle foreshadowing and metaphors that are fun to discover. Once again the four Pevensie children are swept into the world of Narnia, only to discover they have arrived many, many years after their original adventure! The first part of the book is a long flashback (told by a new dwarf character) about the downfall of Old Narnia by the Telmarines, who have driven the forces of magic into hiding and turned Narnia into a boring place. Fortunately young Prince Caspian believes the stories of Aslan and the four Kings (our heroes), and so must become the rightful king and restore Narnia to it's former glory. That's about all I can tell without revealing the story. There are plenty of wonderful scenes with Aslan and some great details about links between Narnia and our world! I can't wait to start the next book!Labels: books |
| The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe / C.S. Lewis : 4 of 5 | |
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12.28.2005
6:21 PM | Link |
 Since I enjoyed the new Narnia movie so much (I've seen it twice now), I really wanted to read the entire series of books (if I remember right, I've read a few of them, but it was so long ago!). I was really happy that my pals Chris & Eliza bought me this set for Christmas, and I took The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with me to Oklahoma City. It was so much fun to read the story with the movie so fresh in my mind, so I could see where certain scenes were slightly rearranged to enhance their excitement on the big screen. I really enjoyed Lewis' comments to the reader, also, just like he was telling a bedtime story. There's some controversy over the correct order of the books, since they were written and published in a certain order, and then re-ordered into Narnia chronological order for this set (which makes this story actually the second book). I think I'm going to read them in the published order, since that seems to be the order the movies will follow (and I don't mind jumping around in time if it makes things more interesting). There are several quaint illustrations that really add to the storybook quality of the tale, along with a map of Narnia and a complete list of characters (most of which I haven't heard of yet). This is definitely a quick read, so I'm excited about the other six books waiting for me now!Labels: books |
| The Imagineering Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom : 4 of 5 | |
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12.15.2005
6:43 PM | Link |
 It's so cool that folks can keep writing books about the design of the Disney parks so I continue to have interesting stuff to quench my thirst for Disney knowledge! This book focuses on the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, but naturally includes some Disneyland information since the parks are so related. This is a small book, about the size of a folded park map, which means the photos and illustrations are all a little too small to really be appreciated, but at least every page is in full-color. After a nice introduction to the process of Imagineering and all the different sub-departments, the book takes the typical approach of focusing on a different land in each chapter. While there are definitely details on several major attractions, I thought it was great that the majority of the text covers each land as a cohesive whole, really going in-depth about how architecture, design, color, and other details create a unique experience. For example, there's a detailed look at how the transition from Liberty Square to Frontierland is designed to progress both geographically and chronologically! Even though the book size is kind of cool, it really would have been better as a full size volume, but I'm not complaining (much). Since this book only covers one of the Florida parks, I'm hoping this is the start of a new series!
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| Lonely Planet Japanese Phrasebook : 3 of 5 | |
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10.24.2005
11:02 PM | Link |
 A foreign language phrase book isn't exactly something you read cover to cover, but I actually did skim through each page of this unique book, since it's definitely "modern" in its selection of phrases! I love to browse the Japanese language section each time I'm in a book store, and I was attracted to the cool color-coded layout of this book. After flipping through it a while, I decided I had to get it just because it was so funny. Along with the usual sections on taking trains and ordering food, this book has sections on sex and drugs (it makes you wonder what Lonely Planet expects their readers do be doing when they travel)! It's really funny to read translations for "I take mushrooms occasionally" and "You're just using me for sex." Joking aside, there's definitely some good stuff to learn here, but I don't like their use of non-standard Romanization. They always try to write things as they are pronounced, so they use des instead of desu, which drives me crazy. If you're just looking for a general phrasebook, I don't think I would recommend this one, since it's just a little bizarre, but if you're a semi-serious student looking for interesting phrases that don't often appear in other study materials, this is the book for you!Labels: books |
| The Last of the Jedi Vol 1 / Jude Watson : 3 of 5 | |
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7.28.2005
6:04 PM | Link |
 The best news a Star Wars Scholastic book junkie like me could hear is that Jude Watson, author of the amazing Jedi Apprentice and Jedi Quest series, is starting a new set of stories! The Last of the Jedi series follows Obi-Wan during his early days on Tatooine, picking up just a few months after Revenge of the Sith. It's a fantastic idea for a series, and Jude Watson's definitely up to the challenge. We read about Obi-Wan making his little home, and sneaking out in the early evening to the Lars homestead to watch baby Luke crawl around with Aunt Beru in the pit. Obi-Wan is so dedicated, yet so sad, trying to be true to his mission to watch over Luke and not break down over his loss of Anakin. We also get a little Qui-Gon dialog, since Obi-Wan is supposed to receive training from his "Force spirit" as Yoda instructed. The plot of the story actually takes Obi-Wan away from Tatooine for a bit (he hires a ship at the Mos Eisley cantina, of course!), because it turns out that Anakin's rival Ferus (from the Jedi Quest books) is still alive, since he left the Jedi Order while still a Padawan. Ferus is starting his own little rebellion, and Obi-Wan helps him out of a tight spot - it's really cool to see a small master/apprentice relationship again as Ferus reconnects to the Force! This is a great start to the series, and I hope they can come up with enough ideas to keep it going a long time!
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| Secrets of the Jedi / Jude Watson : 4 of 5 | |
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6.17.2005
6:22 PM | Link |
 I've said it before and I'll say it again - Jude Watson really understands the Star Wars universe and its characters, and tells simply incredible stories! After finishing the Jedi Quest series (starring Obi-Wan and young Anakin), this novel came out as a special book before starting the new Last of the Jedi series (which I can't wait to get into). It's similar to Legacy of the Jedi in the way it follows several generations and weaves a single thread through a long timeframe. This time the topic is forbidden Jedi love! It begins with some of the heartache Qui-Gon feels after the death of Tahl (which was told in the Jedi Apprentice series), and then surprisingly moves to Obi-Wan's relationship with Siri, who had always been kind of a rival character in his youth. They make the right decision and push away their love for the sake of the Jedi, which stands in stark contrast to Anakin's secret wedding with Padme! The third part of the book involves Anakin and Padme, of course, and it's fun to see them in other Clone Wars action. The long action plot that pulls all of this together is pretty interesting, but truthfully it's the Jedi character interaction that makes this story so cool. Please ignore the fact that these are Scholastic kiddie books and just read them all!
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| Around the World with Disney : 3 of 5 | |
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6.01.2005
10:21 PM | Link |
 This is another hardcover book produced for Disneyland's 50th anniversary, but available at Walt Disney World as a celebration of all the Disney parks in general. It's much like the other hardcover souvenir books sold at the parks, except that it's grouped differently since it covers so much ground. Instead of the usual chapters for each land, they chose to go with loose themes, such as water, speed, flying, and so on. There's not a lot of text, so there wasn't much new to learn for me here, but I did enjoy some of the great photos (all color and many full spreads). My favorites were a great Epcot entrance panorama with Monorails on both tracks, and an interesting overhead shot of the Dumbo ride showing the detail of the central fountain. Some of the photos are pretty weird - there's a shot of Storybook Land that's so old there's still a hint of the Skyway in the background, plus an interior Star Tours photo that must have been from the safety movie (since there are guys in giant Ewok costumes in it!). The choice of photos leans heavily on Walt Disney World, though there's a few nice Tokyo and Paris images, too. Though I own many better Disney photo books, I still learned an important fact - I had no idea that Fantasmic was named that because the "mic" is for Mickey! I can't believe I never figured that out.
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| The Art of Disneyland / Jeff Kurtti & Bruce Gordon : 5 of 5 | |
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5.15.2005
4:59 PM | Link |
 I think the 50th anniversary of Disneyland is going to totally break my bank, because so many amazing books and things are being produced because of it! Many books will only be available at the park, so I'm ordering them just to save the hassle of trying to get them home when I visit. This is a giant-sized book (though not super-long) filled with artwork from the design of Disneyland, all the way from early drawings from the 50s up to much more recent illustrations of Mickey's Toon Town (and even the yucky bronze Tomorrowland make-over, which thankfully has finally been painted over!). The book chose to orient everything vertically, so you read the book like you were flipping through a wall calendar. This means there's plenty of room for huge pictures, and they all look spectacular. There's just enough text to keep things interesting, and a good section at the end with bios of the major designers (all of which have passed away now). There are some fantastic paintings that I had never seen before, such as some really cool ideas for Adventure Thru Inner Space, as well as the best drawing of Storybook Land that I've ever seen! It's great to study the brilliance of the way the Casey Jr. track loops around on itself, plus the waterway of the canal boats. This is a beautiful book that no Disneyland devotee can possibly pass up - just buy it!
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| A Bug's Life: The Art and Making of an Epic of Miniature Proportions / Jeff Kurtti : 3 of 5 | |
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5.03.2005
11:06 PM | Link |
 I'm still catching up on my art books, and I won this one on Disney Auctions (signed by the author). This is a giant-sized book, and the cover (different from the one shown here, since mine is a first edition) has a magnificent lenticular of several characters peeking through a hole munched into a leaf - I don't think I've ever seen a larger lenticular, and the depth is wonderful! The book itself isn't as great as the cover, but I'm glad I own it and I enjoyed reading it. This time the balance is too heavy on text and production stills, with only about a third of the artwork being pre-production. I know, I usually complain the other way around, but someday they'll get it right. The text is well-written, but unfortunately covers a lot of "fluff" (such as explaining what a storyboard is) and seems repetitive at times. But when it's interesting, it's fantastic (such as discussing how shaders and lighting works, or covering the development of crowd simulation). My favorite pieces of art are the Bud Luckey storyboards, which just shine with brilliance, and the huge spreads of production stills really allow you to examine the film! It's funny how the color script presented here doesn't wow me much, when the color script for The Incredibles blew me away. It's fun reading about the good ol' days when Disney and Pixar were complementing each other right and left, too. Time to start reading another one!
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| The Art of Finding Nemo / Mark Cotta Vaz : 4 of 5 | |
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4.25.2005
10:15 PM | Link |
 A while back I went crazy buying Disney art books, and I "accidentally" bought so many at once that I got way behind in reading them! I've recently decided to make an effort to give them the attention they deserve, and I really enjoying plowing into this collection of pre-production art from Pixar's Finding Nemo. As always, I was completely amazed at the talent of the many artists represented in the book, and it gave me that inspiration to do more creative things with my free time. Unfortunately, there are zero production stills - I would love to see final frames of the film along with the artwork that led to them, but these books always err to one extreme or the other! With that complaint aside, I loved the book, especially the spectacular pastel work of Ralph Eggleston - I could look at his use of color all day, and seeing the rough edges of the pastel line makes it even more exciting to me. Simon Verela's giant (and extremely detailed) charcoals are wonderful, too - I wish I could see them in person (the forward mentions that lots of pre-production art decorates Pixar's headquarters, which shows they are firmly grounded in the man-made art of animation, even though it all ends up as pixels). John Lasseter mentions in the text that this is only the "approved" pre-production art - I can't imagine how many books they could fill with the rest!
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| Sing 'n Learn Japanese 1 : 3 of 5 | |
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4.20.2005
7:18 PM | Link |
 When my pals Matt & Kumiko visited Austin this year, I asked Kumiko about a million Japanese questions. She was nice enough to be a great teacher, and one of the things she taught me was a children's song about an elephant's nose, called Zoo-san. I did some searching on the web, because I didn't want to forget the song, and I found this interesting book and CD set on Amazon. This is a very simply-made book with lyrics (in both Romaji and kana, thankfully) to popular children's songs, along with a few illustrations, notes, and a small glossary. The CD contains each of the songs with and without vocals, and since these are really short songs, there are 23 songs to learn! These are definitely kiddie songs, such as translations of things I knew like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, but mostly traditional Japanese children's songs like Zoo-san (which has a second verse I didn't know about!). I've had so much fun singing along with the CD, and I've definitely learned some new language stuff by taking apart the lyrics to discover the grammar and vocabulary. Even though this isn't a high-quality production, I think it's a perfect way to learn through music. By the way, my favorite song is Umi (ocean), which has such beautiful lyrics that I can't believe it's a kid's song!
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| Mangajin's Basic Japanese Through Comics : 3 of 5 | |
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4.09.2005
3:15 PM | Link |
 For my study of Japanese, I think it's key to have a variety of study methods. So, I end up looking at the foreign language section of the bookstore all the time to see if anything looks new and fun. This book uses panels of all kinds of manga (Japanese comics), from adult dramas to kiddie stories, to illustrate various concepts of the language. For example, there are entire chapters devoted to the various uses of doomo or sumimasen, and other bizarre subjects such as how "baby talk" is expressed in Japanese! The concept seems like a good idea, but I don't think I really learned that much from the book (or at least, I don't think the method makes anything "stick" in my memory). Nothing is really presented in a progressive way of learning - it's more like a collection of semi-advanced discussions on the nuances of a particular idea. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy reading it, because it definitely was fun to read the detailed translations of the various manga (and they even translate sound effects!). I just think I would enjoy it more if I were already semi-fluent first ("Basic Japanese" really means "basic concepts presented in advanced style"). I actually bought this book and its sequel at the same time, so I'll see if the second volume can do a better job than this one.
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| Jimi's Book of Japanese (Hiragana) / Peter Takahashi : 4 of 5 | |
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4.03.2005
8:13 AM | Link |
 This is the first book of the Jimi series, designed exactly like the Katakana edition, which I thought was fantastic. Both books together are a great introduction to Japanese kana (in fact, they compliment each other so well that I think having both is essential). Since this is the original book, it introduces the characters that appear throughout the book, namely Jimi, Robotto-san, and Akiko, which is a fun way to get things started. Each page contains a giant kana that you can trace with your finger while reading it (and watching Jimi's mouth to help with the sound), along with a few vocabulary words. Most of these include a culture note by Robotto-san, and these really make the book interesting (there are many more culture notes in the Hiragana book than the Katakana book, which is wonderful!). There's a cool bonus section that labels the parts of the body, but unfortunately these pages are only in Romaji with no Hiragana! All of the illustrations are cute and have such an adorable Japanese style, which gives the book a cool flair. I'm hoping there will be more Jimi books, because I'm wondering how they will present compound kana, or maybe even beginning Kanji! Even if you already know your kana, these books are a fun addition to your Nihongo study library.
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| Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes : 3 of 5 | |
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3.21.2005
9:29 PM | Link |
 This wonderful little book contains six classic fairy tales, all retold in the amazing, bizarre poetry of Roald Dahl. Even though this seems like a tiny book, you shouldn't blaze through it - I recommend reading it out-loud to really appreciate the poems (stopping to laugh your head off, of course). These retellings are always hilarious and unexpected! In Cinderella, the prince chops off the heads of the ugly sisters, so Cinderella rejects him for being so violent. Snow White uses the queen's Magic Mirror to win big at the horse races! And Little Red Riding Hood packs a pistol, and uses it not only against the wolf at Grandma's house, but also against the Big Bad Wolf harassing the Three Little Pigs! There are plenty of illustrations as usual, but most of them are in color this time, and they illustrate some goofy moments (like the huntsman from Snow White buying a cow's heart at the butcher shop). It's all funny stuff - I love irreverent re-workings of these classic tales!Labels: books |
| Boba Fett 6: Pursuit / Elizabeth Hand : 4 of 5 | |
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3.16.2005
7:25 PM | Link |
 Even though this "young Boba Fett" series isn't nearly as well written as the Jedi Apprentice and Jedi Quest series, it's still a fantastic set of tales that make great use of the Star Wars galaxy of characters. It's always cool to read about Boba's feelings when he guns down a Stormtrooper, since they are all really "him" and his father - such is the life of a clone! Boba's emotions aren't as well described as Anakin's were in my other Scholastic Star Wars books, but I definitely enjoy reading them anyway. This volume picks up at the cliffhanger of the last book, with Boba escaping capture and going after a bounty, when suddenly he's attacked by Anakin! Boba actually meets Anakin (who knows who he is), and Anakin even repairs the Slave I (pretty cool when you think about it)! The second half of the story involves Boba's quest for revenge against Mace Windu, who killed Jango Fett in Episode II (of course), so he ends up being escorted to Coruscant (by a young Tarkin, no less!) to meet with Palpatine (since Boba found out about the Dooku/Tyrannus duality in the earlier books). Anyway, there's a good fight scene with Windu, and the meeting with Palpatine is pretty spooky, too. After that, it feels like this series is already over, but I hope they come up with more stories.
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| Jimi's Book of Japanese (Katakana) / Peter Takahashi : 3 of 5 | |
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3.13.2005
7:09 PM | Link | |