Book Description
Literature, clothes, art, travel, decor, theatre, humor, comment, and entertainment...count on FLAIR to bring men and women of taste everywhere a new kind of magazine excitement.
Fifty years after it ceased publication, Flair is still one of the most talked-about and influential magazines ever created. It is remembered for its innovative design and production quality, its superb coverage of the arts, and its intuitive discovery of many artists and writers well before they achieved fame and fortune.
The Best of Flair is beautifully illustrated in full color and produced with all the innovative features of the magazine, including the best pieces from the original twelve issues and a selection of the famous die-cut covers, foldouts, and self-contained booklets. In print once again, The Best of Flair is a cultural event not to be missed.
Customer Reviews:
Fleur's flight of fancy........2002-07-14
These facsimile pages from the twelve issues of Flair are a celebration of Fleur Cowles zest for creativity in the arts. The 338 pages must have been a challenge for the Hong Kong printers, they had to cope with various foldout pages, die-cut holes, different paper stock and bind in several short pages, two concertina foldouts and five sixteen page booklets.
Sumptuous though the book is I feel that Flair is resting in its reputation. To my mind, having worked as a publication art director, the photos, typography and layouts are very conservative and do not show any particular innovative design. Other magazines and designers were much more creative in the fifties, 'Fortune' with Will Burtin, 'Glamour' with Cipe Pineless, 'Harper's Bazaar' with Alexey Brodovitch and 'Vogue' with Alexander Liberman. Certainly the covers with their die-cut holes (sadly only six of the twelve are included) and the bound in booklets were unique to consumer magazines at the time but I think that Flair should be remembered as a magazine concept rather than a magazine full of creativity.
Fleur Cowles writes a short piece about the origins of Flair (handwritten in gold on dark blue paper) but does not give enough detail (I believe each issue involved several printers and binders) and as there were only twelve issues a list of all the articles should have been included. Another reviewer has commented that the high price (reassuringly expensive?) and the cloth covered box the book comes in reflects snob appeal, I agree but I'm still pleased to have a copy.
The return of Flair.......2001-09-11
I first became acquainted with Fleur Cowles' revolutionary 'Flair' magazine during my childhood in the fifties. At that time the publication impressed me with its cultured blend of cosmopolitan sophistication and innovative design, although it didn't escape me that its pages also included a great deal of elitism, snobbery and self-congratulatory arrogance. Although I wasn't fortunate to keep any of the original issues, the magazine became a significant influence in the development of my literary and artistic tastes and in my life-long quest for beauty and elegance. For that I was grateful. So it was a joy to learn that a best-of compilation put together by Fleur Cowles herself had finally appeared. The original 1996 printing sold out before I could manage to acquire a copy and when Rizzoli recently published a second run I quickly got one. This edition has a foreword by writer-socialite Dominick Dunne. Now, is it really worth the rather steep price of [price]? Well... I think that for that kind of money the publishers could have managed to provide us with something much more substantial, for example: a slipcased set containing facsimile editions of all twelve original issues, rather than this comprehensive but ultimately limited look. A complete reprint would have given us the full impression of the range and period feel of a unique magazine, and at this price I think that they could have well afforded to do it. I understand that part of the reason for this expensive price tag is the snob appeal that has always been a part of the Flair mystique and that perhaps this offering is to be regarded as literary caviar for the more discerning (and well-off) among us. On the plus side I must say that the large-format book is lavishly printed, that the articles are indeed very well selected - containing not quite all but much of the best of the short-lived magazine - and that the presentation is very handsome indeed. Several of the covers are reproduced with their distinctive die-cuts and embossing and the book is housed in an elegant cloth-covered box. I still think it could have been more reasonably priced but there it is. Caviar lovers, enjoy it before it disappears again!
Grab it!.......2000-04-06
Get this book. Do anything you have to in order to own it. I paid $250 at the Art Institute of Chicago because I was afraid I would miss out...again. This is a collector's piece if you got the first edition. If not, don't hesitate. It is interesting, intriging, thought provoking, ahead of it's time....and not just for 'creative' types. Something good for everyone.
dazzling!.......1999-10-21
This is the most extraordinary book I've ever owned! I missed out when it was first published as a limited edition and I vowed that if it ever came back,I would grab one. Bravo to Rizzoli Publishers for re-issuing this hard-to-find classic!
Book Description
For the past 39 years, the covers of Rolling Stone have depicted the great icons of popular culture, from John Lennon, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, and Madonna to Steve Martin, Uma Thurman, and Richard Nixon. Often it was an appearance on the cover that launched a performer's legendary status in the first place. An enormous hit when it appeared in 1997 as Rolling Stone: The Complete Covers, 1967-1997 (nearly 100,000 copies sold in all editions), this fantastic collection has been revised and updated to include the covers since 1997 up to the much-publicized 1,000th cover, slated to hit newsstands in May 2006.
With an updated introduction by Jann S. Wenner as well as new excerpts from the magazine and quotes from photographers and their celebrity subjects, this nostalgic journey down the memory lane of pop music, entertainment, and politics is irresistible.
Customer Reviews:
Nice.......2007-08-08
I would have liked more information about what was in each magazine. Even if it was just a paragraph about the times and the person on the cover. But on a whole it was very nice.
Great Book.......2007-01-27
This book brought me back so many, many years. I remember so many of these covers. It was a present for my husband and he just loves going through the book all the time.
Still rolling along.......2006-11-15
If you have the original large 1998 edition this latest book is just a continuation, though smaller in size, up to the thousandth edition in May/June 2006. I was rather impressed with the earlier book except for the silly tiny type dates and photo credits for each cover, amazingly set in four point. Fortunately someone has realised that tiny type is not really readable in a domestic lighting environment so the cover dates and photo credits have been upped to just over five point, still rather small though. Apart from this all the other text is readable and combined with the excellent design and printing makes this a wonderful book to look at.
Like the first book it is not just a memory jogger of covers, there are plenty of sidebar excerpts from the magazine. It is the covers though that are the five stars plus. Not many consumer publications manage to consistently retain a quality cover look over so many years and in the Stone's case with the same logo since January 1981. Look through the index of photographers and illustrators and you'll see why the covers look so cool: Annie Leibovitz shot 142 of them, Herb Ritts has forty-six, Richard Avedon eighteen. With this sort of quality no wonder it always looked good. Even the early issues in the rather inflexible newspaper format had a distinctive cover style.
I think this beautiful looking updated book will be a strong seller (not least because of Amazon's bargain price) for those who lived with rock for the last thirty-nine years.
Quirky observation: the book's title is on a wrap-around strip of paper (rather bizarrely called a belly band in the trade) and I can't see it staying in one piece for long as this is just the kind of book that will enjoy a lot of handling.
***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.
Average customer rating:
- decoration
- A look into the world of modern fashion design
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Sample: 100 Fashion Designers - 010 Curators
Editors of Phaidon Press
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Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed (Metropolitan Museum of Art Series)
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Chanel (Metropolitan Museum of Art Publications)
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Hussein Chalayan
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Balenciaga Paris
ASIN: 0714844403 |
Amazon.com
Images from Sample
Book Description
Images from Sample
Customer Reviews:
decoration.......2007-01-09
It presents recent collections from interesting designers from all over the world. It serves as a good introduction to some of them, so afterwards you can get to know each one's collection better. Good reviews, very nice images. And apart from that, a very nice book to use as a decoration for your office. : )
A look into the world of modern fashion design.......2006-01-22
This book is absolutely fabulous, there's no other way to say it. Whether you're looking for a gift for someone who simply loves fashion, or are someone who loves fabric and the art of fabric manipulation (which is generaly called clothing), this tome is an excellent resource for information on up-and-coming fashion and designers. As a textiles & apparel major I find this book to be a great source of inspiration, but the layout, the wealth of large beautiful photos, and the artistic design of the book itself would make it a great coffee table book. The book is also a great bargain on Amazon, I have seen it for sale in several stores for upwards of $90. If I could give it more than five stars I would!
Average customer rating:
- Exposes the Media's Voyeuristic, Shock And Awe Tendencies
- Good read, but cliche conclusions
- Profoundly important and a good read to boot.
- The Perfect Holiday Gift
- This is a very important book.
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Compassion Fatigue: How the Media Sell Disease, Famine, War and Death
Susan D Moeller
Manufacturer: Routledge
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ASIN: 0415920973 |
Book Description
From outbreaks of the flesh eating viruses Ebola and Strep A, to death camps in Bosnia and massacres in Rwanda, the media seem to careen from one trauma to another, in a breathless tour of poverty, disease and death. First we're horrified, but each time they turn up the pitch, show us one image more hideous than the next, it gets harder and harder to feel. Meet compassion fatigue--a modern syndrome, Susan Moeller argues, that results from formulaic media coverage, sensationalized language and overly Americanized metaphors.
In her impassioned new book, Compassion Fatigue, Moeller warns that the American media threatens our ability to understand the world around us. Why do the media cover the world in the way that they do? Are they simply following the marketplace demand for tabloid-style international news? Or are they creating an audience that has seen too much--or too little--to care? Through a series of case studies of the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse"--disease, famine, death and war--Moeller investigates how newspapers, newsmagazines and television have covered international crises over the last two decades, identifying the ruts into which the media have fallen and revealing why.
Throughout, we hear from industry insiders who tell of the chilling effect of the mega-media mergers, the tyranny of the bottom-line hunt for profits, and the decline of the American attention span as they struggle to both tell and sell a story. But Moeller is insistent that the media need not, and should not, be run like any other business. The media have a special responsibility to the public, and when they abdicate this responsibility and the public lapses into a compassion fatigue stupor, we become a public at great danger to ourselves.
Customer Reviews:
Exposes the Media's Voyeuristic, Shock And Awe Tendencies.......2005-01-24
"At breakfast and at dinner, we can sharpen our own appetites with a plentiful dose of the pornography of war, genocide, destitution and disease." So says one of the first lines in introduction to Compassion Fatigue. With that statement as simultaneously an opener and a teaser of the things to come, Professor Moeller takes the reader on a guided tour of the presentation and commodification of human tragedy and suffering.
Compassion Fatigue tells you the how and the why behind what makes the nightly news, and also reveals why a great many other things do not make the news. While mostly a critique of US based media and journalism, it does reveal the gradual trend towards the 'One World' view of things and events that has come to typify reporting of any sort.
Without intending to do so, the book does much to demonstrate that the media, always locked in competition with other forms of 'programming' for our attention, has resorted to marketing information- current events, as a form of entertainment. In place of in-depth, investigative journalism, we now have soundbites featuring 'talking heads', and the cuter or more obscene the personality (and increasingly both), the better.
Each of the so-called 'Four Horsemen'- war, disease, famine and death, are presented and profiled in turn, with detailed discussion about the mechanics behind their delivery to readers and viewers. This book differs from most critiques of the media because it tells the narrative with the assistance of journalists themselves, in the words of the journalists.
Many people in the media know what they are doing is not only questionable, but in some cases, flat out wrong. However, marketability (how well something will go over with viewers) matters more than anything else. Marketability makes for high ratings, and high ratings in turn makes for fat profits for the parent company. Ergo, the trend towards to self-interested and self-centered journalism, and the tendency to feature celebrity involvement with current events. The latter trend is most pernicious, because it is not necessarily the event, but what they think of it that matters most, as being able to get people's attention is the most important thing, not what's really going on in the world. This in turn is both related to and feeds into the Body Count Syndrome, whereby each tragedy or documented depravity has to be bigger and obscence than the one before it, once again, to get our attention.
Although the book was a bit wearying at points (mostly because of the nine point font of the text), overall the content was top-notch. I especially liked the final chapter, where Professor Moeller compared and contrasted the funerals of Princess Diana and Mother Theresa, both of whom died at the same time. One was tabloid fodder, and the other dedicated her life to bringing a little joy to impoverished and suffering masses of humanity. Yet even in death, one managed to monopolize nearly all media attention for a month, while the other could barely get something less than a one page obituary (even here mostly devoted to how many dignitaries and personalities came to pay their final respects) in TIME magazine. That one observation says a lot about not only the morals and values of the media, but even more about those of us viewers.
The motto of the media should be changed to reflect the sorry state of our times, and should now be: all the news that's (un)fit to print.
Good read, but cliche conclusions.......2001-01-16
Moeller divides her book into six sections; an introduction, a section on media coverage of disease, a chapter on media coverage of famine, a chapter on coverage of assassinations, a chapter on coverage of genocide, and a conclusion. Each section if filled with case studies and alternately amusing and horrifying anecdotes; she recounts, for example, that the editor of one Boston paper said that "the distance from Boston common divided by the number of bodies" decides which stories make the final cut. The book makes a great read (especially relative to the bulk of academic writing), and you'll certainly pick up little tidbits you can later cite in conversations about current events.
The conclusions Moeller draws, however, are cliché. What do you know, the media disproportionately focuses on the US, and most of what we see of Africa and the Middle East is tragedy, so we get a skewed picture. And the media sensationalize everything, and are fond of shallow, sound-bite explanations of complex tragedies. Who would have guessed any of this without reading the book? I also find her conclusions somewhat contradictory; she argues both that excessive coverage of disasters leads to a hardening of the public's sympathies AND that the media need to increase coverage of foreign tragedies. I think she's arguing that the type of coverage needs to be changes - fewer pictures of starving children, more hard-boiled analysis, but her conclusion is so brief she doesn't elaborate much. So while you will probably enjoy the book, and love the stories, I doubt that when you have finished you will feel that you have a better understanding of the American media.
Profoundly important and a good read to boot........1999-02-10
Susan Moeller gets right to the heart of the weaknesses of how the American media covers foreign news and the way the American audience percieves it. But she doesn't just paint a picture of the problems -she spells out some constructive and doable means to fix them. As a journalist myself, I recommended this book to all of my peers -both in the industry and out of it.
The Perfect Holiday Gift.......1998-12-08
Tired of giving gifts that don't mean anything? Then this book is the perfect gift to give to someone you care about. This book teaches us that we need to look closely at what is being fed to us daily in newspapers, TV, and radio. Ms. Moeller forces us to look at how Americans wants their news served to us so we can tolerate it instead of tasting it and truly understanding the complexities. I applaud her bravery in criticizing the mainstream press which will certainly not be interested in reviewing or having her on as a guest. If you care about the world buy this book and give it to as many friends as you can.
This is a very important book........1998-10-12
Criticism of the American press -- broadcast and print -- for its foreign coverage is hardly new but Professor Moeller does a masterful job of exposing the causes and the result of this failure. Her work should open the public's eyes, and, indeed, those of the press itself, to the danger to our democracy if remedy is not forthcoming. -Walter Cronkite
Average customer rating:
- got me through middle school
- He's the one who started it all
|
The New Trouser Press Record Guide
Manufacturer: Crowell-Collier Pr (Macmi)
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The Trouser Press Guide to 90's Rock (Trouser Press Record Guide)
ASIN: 0020363702 |
Customer Reviews:
got me through middle school.......2004-06-09
I was in middle school from late '95 to 98. it was a weird time as i was getting sick of all the modern rock music on the radio and the changing format. so i bought a Sonic Youth record on a whim, loved it, and looked at the sleeves to see all these band posters. i had no idea who most were, so i went to the Orange County Library in Florida seeking education and found this book, this edition...
the writing on it was very well done with great reviews (especially from Ira Robbins and Jack Rabid). and i got into so many incredible, obscure bands that captured the era (and since then, not often mentioned) like Saccharine Trust, Volcano Suns, Squirrel Bait, Die Kreuzen, Contortions, etc. as well as all the important bands on SST, Dischord, Alternative Tentacles, etc.
i haven't seen it in the library lately, but it has been digitized at www.trouserpress.com for great nostalgia. even though allmusic has pretty much taken the lead when it comes to music review devices, Trouser Press is still filled with great reviews.
He's the one who started it all.......1999-05-26
Seminal work capturing the less main stream of music before Spin could even think that it would have a 17 year in heart underwear on their cover.
Robbins provides susinct reviews, useful info, discographies and band "family" trees.
I relied on Ira to make me smart more than a few times, even won the complete RHINO collection of New wave hits because I knew the name of Mitch Easter's bass player on some album. Thanks IRA.
Book Description
This distinctive Handbook covers the breadth of sports and media scholarship, one of the up-and-coming topics bridging media entertainment, sports management, and popular culture. Organized into historical, institutional, spectator, and critical studies perspectives, this volume brings together the work of many researchers into one quintessential volume, defining the full scope of the subject area. Editors Arthur Raney and Jennings Bryant have recruited contributors from around the world to identify and synthesize the research representing numerous facets of the sports-media relationship.
As a unique collection on a very timely topic, the volume offers chapters examining the development of sports media; production, coverage, and economics of sports media; sports media audiences; sports promotion; and race and gender issues in sports and media. Unique in its orientation and breadth, the Handbook of Sports and Media is destined to play a major role in the future development of this fast-growing area of study. It is a must-have work for scholars, researchers, and graduate students working in media entertainment, media psychology, mass media/mass communication, sports marketing and management, popular communication, popular culture, and cultural studies.
Average customer rating:
- the most important one is missing...
- A family heirloom
- A fitting supplement to The Complete Book of Covers of NYer
- "Magazines Are All About Aspirations." -- Francoise Mouly
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Covering the New Yorker: Cutting-Edge Covers from a Literary Institution
Francoise Mouly , and
Lawrence Weschler
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Complete Book Of Covers From The New Yorker: 1925-1989
ASIN: 0789206579 |
Book Description
For seventy-five years The New Yorker has been entertaining and enlightening its loyal readers (two-thirds of whom live outside the city). Its peerless covers--created by a large stable of extraordinarliy talented artists and cartoonists--have mirrored the magazine's feisty spirit from the beginning, becoming even more pungently topical in recent years. No noteworthy subject or scandal has escaped their scrutiny, from Broadway flappers and the eternal Eustace Tilley to dishonest pols and the gigahertz speed of contemporary life. Inexhaustibly varied in mood and style, the covers are united by their visual sophistication, their imaginative wit, and their high pleasure-giving quotient.
This stylish compendium presents not only the best of The New Yorker's covers--selected by art editor Francoise Mouly and organized into such classic themes as The Big City, Arts and Music, and The Buzz-- but also a behind-the-scenes peek at the sketches that lead up to them, as well as a look at the controversy that sometimes follows in their wake. A "Conversation" between Ms. Mouly and Lawrence Weschler--a noted New Yorker writer and art critic--illuminates the history of the magazine's covers and how they have changed over the past decade. In addition, several "Sketchbooks" highlight the work of especially evocative cover artists, including Sempe, Spiegelman, and Steinberg, these portfolios are complemented by six detachable full-size covers, suitable for framing, bound into the back of the book.
Customer Reviews:
the most important one is missing..........2003-04-22
this book is really well done, apart from the fact that there are a lot of covers shown from saul steinberg, but his MOST IMPORTANT one, the view from 9th ave westwards, is missing. this is a clear draw back of this book, and hence, since it's title is "cutting-edge covers", i think it only deseverves two stars.
A family heirloom.......2001-03-24
I,m very much an avid fan and collector of New Yorker cartoon and illustrator art. Whilst this may bias my opinion it also, I think, makes me nerdishly critical. However, I have been completely won over by the beauty of this book. The quality of the reproduction is first class. It does focus on the 90s covers. However, I now have a renewed respect for Tina Brown et al for introducing a sharper commentry edge to the cover. I also like the rather individualistic choice of covers and the personal perspective of Francoise Mouly. I think we can allow her a little bias towards Art Speigelman - her partner (also he did after all produce the most profound cartoon book of all time in Maus). This is one of those books which raises a paradox - it will be thumbed through by old and young alike. There will be debates around its coffee table home about the relevant merits of this cover or that. But it is also a book which its owner (me!) wants to keep in pristine condition. A family heirloom indeed.
A fitting supplement to The Complete Book of Covers of NYer.......2001-01-21
This is a fitting supplement to the granddaddy of New Yorker cover books: The Complete Book of Covers of the New Yorker, put out by Knopf, which covers the NYer through 1989. This new volume mostly includes covers from the 90s, and many of the reproductions are big, sharp, and colorful. Covers are often grouped thematically (say, New Years covers), which lets you ponder the NYer's evolving style over the decades. There's even a section with a half dozen pull out covers, suitable for framing.
Some quibbles: editor Francoise Mouly is a bit precious in her introduction and conversation with Lawrence Weschler. Her take on the history of the NYer is a bit off in places; the book omits listing the arrival of EB White and Katherine White in its timeline(!), and she gives perhaps too much play to her husband/artist Art Spiegelman. One interesting aside, noted by others who have this volume: the old covers (mostly from the 30s) that she prints side-by-side with the work she commissioned in the 90s is almost always superior to these newer covers. A few new artists, such as Sempe and Spiegelman stand out; but most run a distant second to the likes of Arno, Thurber, and Steig from an earlier era. --robert luhn
"Magazines Are All About Aspirations." -- Francoise Mouly.......2000-11-04
This book deserves more than five stars. It's wonderful!
This beautiful volume would be rewarding simply as art. Realizing its connection to The New Yorker makes it seem both more familiar and more interesting.
Francoise Mouly, art editor since 1993, has done a remarkable job of improving the covers during her tenure and has used that same remarkable eye to select these covers from all of the New Yorker's 75 years, as well. The book is greatly enriched by her introduction, and a conversation with Lawrence Weschler, who is a New Yorker writer. You will also enjoy "sketchbook" features on the artists Sempe, Spiegelman and Steinberg. You will be further rewarded with 6 ready-to-frame prints of covers. What a great deal! I encourage you to buy a copy for yourself, and as a gift for everyone you know who loves The New Yorker.
Magazine covers have enormous impact on whether we buy or read a particular issue. Princess Diana would draw more people to the inside of a book than anyone else in history. If you are The New Yorker, what kind of covers suit best? This remarkable collection of 75 years worth of covers will undoubtedly change your mind about what a cover can and should be. To me, these covers are a more profound communication at many levels than what I see on Time, Newsweek, People or Fortune.
I have a somewhat unusual background for reviewing this book. I have often done assignments for magazines to help them determine a policy for selecting their covers. This perspective made me appreciate this book in unusual ways that I would like to share with you.
Magazine publishers want covers that sell, but they also don't want to spend much money. Editors want covers to convey their vision of the editorial content. That sets off an institutional dynamic that normally results in dramatic photography of the familiar in new settings on covers, but kept within a tiny budget.
The most expensive and difficult (and dangerous) route is to feature original art on the cover. The New Yorker started with and has maintained that approach to its identity, which makes it special -- even if the art itself was not as remarkable as it is. The fact that the covers work so well both aesthetically and commerically is a great accomplishment that we should all honor.
The cover for the book is aptly chosen. This "effete looking dandy" has graced the covers almost every February for the 75 years of the magazine's existence, beginning with the first issue. In fact, the image is so familiar that many will swear that it is always on the cover. You will enjoy the satires of this cover that are in the book. This image also sets a tone for The New Yorker that connects us both to the magazine and our reactions to it.
As Ms. Mouly points out, "You can't judge a book by its cover." A magazine's " . . . personality is defined by its cover, and the rest of the magazine has to stand behind it." If you are like me, what will impress you is how much richer, deeper, and more interesting the covers are under Ms. Mouly's editorship. One of my favorites is "Life at the Top" by Eric Drooker in 1994. This features men and women standing near the tops of skyscrapers on very thin stilts looking harried and concerned.
Perhaps no magazine's cover has ever made fun of the elite in such a consistent and effective way as has The New Yorker. There were several covers that were new to me that really made an impression in this way. One was of Monica Lewinsky as Mona Lisa. That image connects to so many levels of L'Affaire Lewsinsky that they are almost inexpressable, yet there they all are in one glance. "Putting drawings on the cover . . . keeps artists at the center of the cultural dialogue . . . where they should be."
You will also see many controversial covers such as the famous one from 1993 which had a Jewish Hassidic male kissing a black woman.
The covers are loosely organized into sections: The Big City, Catching the Moment, A Year at The New Yorker, The Arts, Sports, and The Timeless Moment. Most of my favorite covers were in the sections on The Big City, Mother's Day, Taxes, Christmas, and Sports. One of my other favorites has a lone cyclist in the Tour de France trailing the pack by a wide margin in he beautiful French countryside while everyone else is bunched together. How wonderful!
After you have finished enjoying these wonderful images and the commentaries on them, I suggest that you think about where else art would make a more profound part of our dialogue. How about Presidential debates about the candidates' favorite artists and paintings or sculptures? Or having fine art on packages of the products we buy and use to help indicate their quality and contents? Or stand-up comedians doing routines about art displayed on easels?
Let art lead your mind everywhere!
________________________________________________________
Book Description
Stories-surprising, fascinating, illuminating, titillating-from the feisty pages of Japan's weekly magazines Each week, the authors of this book comb the varied weeklies that cascade from Japan's printing presses, pages brimming with blaring headlines and alluring stories. Their translations and interpretations of many of these tales-lurid, quirky and irreverent-have long been a staple on the pages of the country's English-language newspapers, and a big favorite of captivated readers. TABLOID TOKYO is a selection of their best columns over the past four years. Inside are stories about sex, criminal shenanigans and scandal. Families-dysfunctional and otherwise-and the economy. Pets, fashion, trends and much, much more. As a picture of contemporary Japanese society, readers will find this collection often informative, sometimes shocking . . . but always entertaining. Are the stories real? Well, Japanese readers believe so, in varying degrees. They turn to the weeklies to learn, not only the gossip and the frivolous, but also the items glossed over by the sober mainstream media. They look for kernels of truth in even the most outrageous sounding stories. They know that, after all, truth really is stranger than fiction-and often far more fun.
Customer Reviews:
The perfect toilet companion.......2006-11-12
The short anecdotes are perfect for extended visits to the crapper. Don't be like others and gobble it all up in one sitting. Get the most utility from your 10 buck book. Enjoy the ribald tales for many, many sittings. Leave the book in your toilet and you'll be aroused, disgusted and inspired.
Japan's participatory journalism.......2005-12-26
Reading "Tabloid Tokyo" is sort of a chicken-and-egg scenario - is the country as peculiar as these stories let on...or are the stories more an outgrowth of Japan's hyper-aggressive "wild weekly" reporting? The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. One thing for sure: you'll be struck with the impression after breezing through this compilation that the brand of journalism practiced in this market segment is, ummm, "participatory." It is pointed out in the intro through, that "wild weekly" practices are light-years removed from the clubby, staid atmosphere of the mainstream, daily press. For someone who's been bored to tears by the Nikkei Shimbun and its brethren, this dichotomy is jarring.
Here's something to note about "Tabloid Tokyo" that made it sort of an odd read: the book's 101 two- to three-pages pieces were compiled by four Westerners with long-time roots in Japan. I had originally thought these editors simply translated the pieces. But, to the contrary: they've actually translated, summarized and interpreted them. Until you realize that, the book appears to have a rather stilted flavor, with reporters referring to their investigatory exploits in a strained third-person fashion. Once you realize instead that one of the four editors is giving you his interpretation of the original piece, things make more sense. Still, this is a technique I would have liked to have seen explained in the preface.
Panty Gazing Research Revealed!.......2005-10-06
There are two Japans, exemplified by the astir calm of the ancient temples of Nara and Kyoto, and the wild neon and easy sex of Kabukicho and Juso. Both of these worlds draw in their own particular breed of tourists and gawkers, and both are equally valuable and authentic culture. In advertising and photography however, the beautiful grace of Mt. Fuji is generally showcased over the exoticism of the Image Club, and one has too look a little harder to find the reverse side of the coin.
Japanese people too are fascinated by this seedy underbelly, as shown by "Tabloid Tokyo: 101 Tales of Sex, Crime and the Bizarre from Japan's Wild Weeklies." Actual articles collected and translated from Japanese "Weekly" magazines, these are all the torrid tales and strange encounters not usually found in guide books or culture guides. This book is a sequel to "Tokyo Confidential" by the same author.
Categorized into ten sections, the articles range from sex and prostitution, to strange fashion, the dissolution of traditional Japanese values, crime and the Yakuza and to general "Tabloid Fodder." Each of these sections is packed with short articles, usually 1 or 2 pages in length, written in a breezy style that entertains and informs.
Not all of them are pure sex related, with articles such as homeless people being evacuated to make room for a flower-viewing party, and shoddy sushi practices, but the majority are along the lines of "Men Dress in Lacy Things" about pantie/bra clad construction workers and "Costumed Lovers Seek Sex Thrills" about the Cosplay crowd.
A fun, outrageous book for those interested in Japan as well as seekers of the perverse. Japanese learners can even pick up quite a few new and interesting vocabulary additions, such as eropuri ("Erotic Photo booths") and deaikei ("Encounter Websites").
I'll Bet You Didn't Know This.......2005-09-07
Everybody knows about Japan's manufacturing prowess. But I'll bet you didn't know that prowess extends to Dutch Wives, life-sized mannequins that substitute for the real thing. And the hard working Japanese salarimen are legion. But I'll bet you didn't know that they've raised goofing off to an art. The Mark Schreiber Gang of Four bring the one-dimensional Japan we usually get in English publications to a land of,...well, real people, very much like you and me. And in their own words rewritten sideways. Will you be surprised? Yep, sometimes. Will you be titillated? Yep, sometimes. Will you be skeptical. Yep, sometimes. Will you be entertained? You bet. Everytime.
The Real Japan.......2005-09-06
Like its predecessor Tokyo Confidential, Tokyo Tabloid shows us a side of Japan that doesn't appear in the mainstream press. Japan is truly a bizarre country packed with the odd, the unbelievable and sometimes incomprehensible. Here is a group of writers who have not only translated but also interpreted these tales of obscurity into a volume that is truly a worthwhile read. Having spent time in Japan myself I can see that they really know their stuff. This is an inside job and it doesn't get better than this. These publications seem to go out of print, glad I got my Tokyo Confidential before they went up in price!
Book Description
On May 11, 2003, The New York Times devoted four pages of its Sunday paper to the deceptions of Jayson Blair, a mediocre former Times reporter who had made up stories, faked datelines, and plagiarized on a massive scale. The fallout from the Blair scandal rocked the Times to its core and revealed fault lines in a fractious newsroom that was already close to open revolt.
Staffers were furious–about the perception that management had given Blair more leeway because he was black, about the special treatment of favored correspondents, and most of all about the shoddy reporting that was infecting the most revered newspaper in the world. Within a month, Howell Raines, the imperious executive editor who had taken office less than a week before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001–and helped lead the paper to a record six Pulitzer Prizes for its coverage of the attacks–had been forced out of his job.
Having gained unprecedented access to the reporters who conducted the Times’s internal investigation, top newsroom executives, and dozens of Times editors, former Newsweek senior writer Seth Mnookin lets us read all about it–the story behind the biggest journalistic scam of our era and the profound implications of the scandal for the rapidly changing world of American journalism.
It’s a true tale that reads like Greek drama, with the most revered of American institutions attempting to overcome the crippling effects of a leader’s blinding narcissism and a low-level reporter’s sociopathic deceptions. Hard News will shape how we understand and judge the media for years to come.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Hard Facts.......2006-08-10
Goes after the sacred cow, the New York Times. Put things in prospective of why and how news is reported. Also lets you into the inner circle of the mainstreet media and how it operates. Good education for the person who is not familiar on behind the scenes of news organizations.
A Journalism Junkie's Must Read! .......2005-10-18
Read it. It's a great book. Five stars.
Hard News has three parts (Before, Spring 2003, and After), and provides a good overview of the history of The Times, the workings of the newsroom, Blair's quick rise as a reporter, details of the Blair fiasco, and how the Times dealt with it.
Mnookin concludes the book with a thoughtful Note on Sources, more than 250 source notes, and a good bibliography.
If this is a topic you followed, or you are a journalsim junkie or a Times-ophile, this book is a must read.
Exciting Arc of a Tale.......2005-09-22
Hard News is about the brief and troubled reign of Howell Raines as executive editor at the New York Times. It is a powerful story and is ably suited for the book form with its sweeping arc of great success (winning six Pulitzers early) and then a great scandal followed by defeat and resignation in tight twenty-one period (although the author kindly expands this a little to give the reader context concerning life at the Times). The troubled writer Jayson Blair fits into this narrative but it is definately not his story. Besides being both gripping and informative, this is also a book for anyone who cares passionately about the concept of unbiased news, an idea that is sadly almost becoming quaint and old-fashioned in this new Fox-centric universe. This is also a story for those who actually care about the New York Times because despite its troubled period, the passionate people who work at this paper come out very well in this book. It is a book that is hard to put down, a tale told well by Seth Mnookin. Highly recommended.
A Now Familiar Tale Retold Well.......2005-09-05
"Hard News," Seth Mnookin's fascinating and well-researched account of the now-infamous Jayson Blair scandal that shook the foundations not only of the New York Times but also the way journalists do business, is a crisp read. The author is always objective, and his sourcing would seem to be impeccable. For the most part he uses sources who will speak on the record, and when they would not he claims to have verified what they've said with others. And source notes and a bibliography are provided.
In Mr. Mnookin's version, the story focuses on what happens to people who make wrong choices that they easily could have avoided--that is, if they were not the prisoners of their own ideology and life experiences. The account starts with the misguided notion of New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. that the head of the op-ed page, Howell Raines, a narcissistic, inflexible left-wing ideologue best known for his invective-laden editorials against, mostly, conservatives, but also Bill Clinton, could function as the newspaper's executive editor, in which position he would be in charge, not of a small group of like-minded ideologues, but of a newsroom with hundreds of employees of varying opinions and, of course, abilities.
Generalissimo Raines couldn't function in that job, and in the process of failing he managed to alienate most of the staff while turning the newspaper into the journalistic version of a banana republic, led of course by himself.
Then, the author moves on to the equally bizarre decision by Raines and his no. 2, managing editor Gerald Boyd, to send Jayson Blair out on big stories (the DC Sniper, Jessica Lynch). Blair, a dimestore sociopath, fantasist, and substance abuser, had already been warned by his direct supervisors about his job performance, but Raines and Boyd would eventually claim, improbably, not to know of this when the scandal broke.
And scandal there would be. Blair would repay their trust in him with plagiarism, after which he graduated to fabrication, and ended up writing stories with out-of-town datelines without ever having left the Times Building on West 43rd St. in New York. (In the process, as Mr. Mnookin outlines, he demonstrated creative uses for cell phones and photo archives.)
When Blair was exposed and forced to resign, the Times assembled a group of reporters and editors to investigate every story Blair had written, and the result was the sensational report that appeared in the paper one fateful Sunday in May 2003.
That report made the Times the butt of jokes, and within two months Raines and Boyd were fired; then, after a brief interregnum in which the previous executive editor, Joe Lelyveld, who Raines disdained, returned to pick up the shattered pieces, Sulzberger selected Bill Keller, who had been passed over in favor of Raines two years before. Keller moved rapidly to restore order and institute changes, among them the hiring of the Times's first public editor.
As for Mr. Sulzberger, he escaped unscathed--which is unsurprising: his family owns the New York Times Corp.
The book is compulsive reading. Even though the outcome is known, "Hard News" nevertheless has the feel of a police procedural. Maybe you'll start imagining who might be cast as the principals if (or should I say when) there's a movie made of this cautionary tale.
an insider peek.......2005-08-18
Yes, Hard News tells the story of the Jayson Blair scandal, but that's really not the most interesting part of the book. What's more interesting -- and more the point -- is getting to see inside the institution that defines East-Coast intelligentsia, scares politicians, and produces Sunday Styles. And what better time to peek behind the curtains than when the editorial staff is slinging mud and the paper is in shambles?
It's weirdly suspenseful, too, for a book whose ending you already know (hint: Blair made up sources). In the end, the book begs the question of whether the Times' handling of the crisis was a staff revolt against a tyrannical editor, an exercise journalistic navel-gazing, or a fight for the standards of media integrity. It's a pretty juicy read for a book that's also thought-provoking.
Amazon.com
Robert Crumb, world-famous illustrator and definite pervert, got his start in the underground comics scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book is a collection of his best work from the last 50 years (it's got kids stuff, too, which is pretty fascinating). The volume is a welcome reminder that, screwed up as Crumb may be, he's also a tremendously talented, utterly original artist. He artistically embodies a certain segment of the '60s, and as that fades even further into history, Crumb's material becomes more important. Is The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book funny? Yes, certainly, in a coarse, Rabelaisian way; you'll either find it a hoot, or horribly racist and sexist. And it's not for the kiddies, obviously. But R. Crumb is so well known by now, that you probably know which group you fall into, the lovers or the haters. The lovers will find this book a wonderful treat.
Book Description
Robert Crumb,world-famous illustrator and definite pervert, got his start in the underground comics scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The R. Crumb Coffee Table ArtBook is a collection of his best work from the last 50 years (it's got kids stuff, too, which is pretty fascinating).The volume is a welcome reminder that, screwed up as Crumb may be, he's also a tremendously talented, utterly original artist. He artistically embodies a certain segment of the '60s, and as that fades even further into history, Crumb's material becomes more important. Is The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book funny? Yes, certainly, in a coarse, Rabelaisian way; you'll either find it a hoot, or horribly racist and sexist. And it's not for the kiddies, obviously. But R. Crumb is so well known by now, that you probably know which group you fall into, the lovers or the haters. The lovers will find this book awonderful treat.
Customer Reviews:
Ultimate Crumb.......2007-09-12
This book is the ultimate Crumb. You won't be disappointed if you love his work.
I wish I bought this a long time ago.......2006-08-23
I had always avoided this book because the title lead me to believe it was just an art book that didn't have any of Crumb's comics in it. Then I finally realized it's a huge book mostly made up of Crumb's comics with some first rate sketchbook drawings and even sketchbook comics, some of which are just as entertaining as his published comics. In addition to this, it's split up into chapters and each chapter features an introduction by Crumb where he pretty much narrates his own life. They did a really good job selecting which comics to put in here. They steered clear of printing a lot of Crumb's earliest (pre-68) stuff and printed a lot of his later work (late 70s-mid 90s),which are not only Crumb's best comics, but some of the best comics ever made, IMO. And thankfully, they hardly printed any of his Fritz the Cat stuff, which might be some of his most well known work, but deifinitely his weakest. I should also mention that a lot of the comics have been colored for this book. I thought that the coloring would look really bad, but I think it actually looks really good and adds to the comics.
Anyway, if you're like me and you like Crumb, but you're not really sure which one of his books to pick up, get this one.
Good to the last Crumb.......2005-07-06
The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book enjoys exclusive honors on my coffee table; except when my Pastor comes to call, or other easily offended folk. Thumbing through this is as close to time travel as I will ever come. It took me back years ago when I enjoyed Zap and other underground comics. My hardbound edition is truly a first class quality volumn. Which is good because friends who never enjoyed Crumb's hilarious cartoons before; can't put it down.
Eric von Rhein
Peoria, Illinois
If you're an idiot, don't buy this book!!!.......2003-11-05
Don't blame R. Crumb for ruining your pitiful childhood. If you must watch Clint Eastwood movies to prove to your friends that you're a "real man" then, I think you need some help.
You're supposed to laugh at Crumb and at Crumb's work and Crumb knows it! Don't "real men" (read idiots) like to laugh at other people? Not all humor is apreciated by everyone, especially if you're and nit-wit and don't get it.
Crumb is a premier artist who's drawings are the best in the genre. His stories are fables to learn from - or laugh at depending on you're perception and experience.
Most people who buy Crumb's books already know what they're getting into. If you're a first time Crumb buyer, go to a comic book store and check out what you're getting into before you buy.
Anyone who buys online either enjoys taking chances or has researched the product before they buy.... or you may just be an idiot!!!
A great book for any Crumb fan!!!
The Amazing Id Of Robert Crumb.......2002-09-13
There's an illustration on the back cover of The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book that perfectly encapsulates the artist's work - it depicts the top of Robert's head exploding, with several of his creations, famous, infamous, and otherwise, leaping out.
That, to me, sums up Crumb's work - this incredibly inventive artist with, to paraphrase Bob Dylan, a head full of ideas that are drivin' him insane.
There are frequent complaints about Crumb's work being too dark, racist, sexist, and/or misogynistic. While I can see where these criticisms come from, I really don't think Crumb is any darker, more racist, sexist, or misogynistic than any of us - he simply is unafraid to - COMPELLED to, almost - lay his cards on the table. Some people find this offensive. Would it be absurd of me to suggest that some of those who are offended by his work have their own issues with sexism, racism, and/or misogyny that they are unwilling to confront?
What I'm trying to get at here, I guess, is that this IS NOT a book for little kids. There's a sticker on the front of my copy of the book that says "FOR ADULT INTELLECTUALS ONLY!", and while I'm not so sure about the "intellectuals" part, this is probably not a book you want your grade-school age child to get ahold of, unless you're okay with said child seeing depictions of graphic (and I do mean GRAPHIC) sex, hard-core drug use, and extreme (albiet cartoonish) violence.
I realize all I've spent all this space talking about Crumb without ever really discussing what I like about his work. I think there's two main things: (1) his unflinching honesty (as I touched upon earlier), and (2) the incredible beauty of his draftsmanship. I think my favotite chapter in the whole book is the one that features his pen-and-ink still-lifes and landscapes. Just beautiful stuff - worth studying for his use of cross-hatching alone.
In conclusion, if you're at all interested in checking out the work of one of the finest artists to ever work in the comics medium, I highly recommend you get this book. It's easily worth the 25 bucks.
Oh, yeah - and it DOES make a wonderful coffee table book. :)
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