Archive for the ‘Books’ Category

Merriam-Webster Open Dictionary

Friday, December 16th, 2005

Merriam-Webster Open Dictionary: “Have you spotted a new word or a new sense for an old word that hasn’t made it into the dictionary yet? Well, here’s your chance to add your discovery (and its definition) to Merriam-Webster’s Open Dictionary”. Some examples:

Snotcicle (verb) : a pendent mass of ice formed by the freezing of dripping snot

phonecrastinate (verb) : to put off answering the phone until caller ID displays the incoming name and number

scrax (noun) : the waxy coating that must be scratched off an instant lottery ticket

photostroller (noun) : Person who walks with camera ready to take photos.

e-nail (verb) : to expose yourself unwittingly, or to be exposed by another, by the forwarding of an e-mail containing personal comments to the person referred to in the message. One e-nails oneself most often by adding cc recipients to a long exchange, forgetting that the person added is referred to earlier in the exchange.

“Max e-nailed me when he cc’ed Sally on my message about her screw-up.”

(Via GeekPress.)

Posted in Books, Fun, Info | No Comments »

JohnAugust.com

Sunday, September 4th, 2005

​​​​If you’re writing a screenplay (and let’s face it, who isn’t?), get thee to this blog. Subtitled “a ton of useful information about screenwriting,” the site shares, well, a ton of useful information about screenwriting. John August, whose credits include “Big Fish,” “Go,” and “Charlie’s Angels,” walks us through the trials and tribulations of wielding the pen in Hollywood. Along the way, he addresses such topics as…

Even if you don’t indulge in fantasies of writing your own screenplay but just love movies (and let’s face it, who doesn’t?), you’ll enjoy this glimpse into the inner workings of La-La Land.

Posted in Art, Books, Info | 1 Comment »

Books online

Friday, June 24th, 2005

For all Alistair Maclean fans you can read his books online here.

Posted in Books, Fun, Info | 1 Comment »

Seymour Topping

Friday, May 20th, 2005

I am very pleased, as predicted in January, Seymour Topping and his book Book.JPG FATAL CROSSROADS: A Novel of Vietnam 1945 are making waves.

Posted in Books, Columnists, History | 3 Comments »

Magic Feathers by James W. Reid

Friday, April 29th, 2005

This lavishly illustrated large-format art book by James Reid - is the first major publication in the world devoted entirely to this magnificent ancient art form. It focuses on the aesthetic beauty of the feather textiles and three-dimensional objects, unparalleled in their artistry and sophistication, that were created for the elite of the ancient Andean world between approximately 500 BC and 1550 AD.

Son of a British Army Officer and UN diplomat, and of an American mother, James Reid was educated at England’s 600 year old Winchester College, at Princeton (BA), the Ecole de Sciences Politiques ( Paris), Stanford (MA), and with doctoral studies at the University of Buenos Aires.

The author, internationally recognised as one of the leading authors and scholars on the textile art of ancient America, focuses on:
- The characteristics and chronology of the major featherwork-producing cultures of ancient Peru, and the geographical features of the area.
- Technical facets of feather textile production, including: sources of the feathers; different types of feather objects; creation and construction; dating and cultural attribution.
- The religious, political, social, psychological, economic and communication roles of the feather textiles in ancient Peruvian life.
- Design concepts and the meaning and importance of the motifs and shapes employed.
- The parallels to be drawn between ancient Peruvian feather textiles and Modern Art.

He is the author of eleven major books, which contain introductions by HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, Mario Vargas Llosa and such internationally renowned archaeologists as Federico Kauffmann-Doig. He has presented his books personally, in official ceremonies, to the Presidents of Brazil and Peru.

In addition to numerous other publications( scholarly articles and museum catalogues, et al.,), he has been guest lecturer at US universities ( Princeton, Yale, Syracuse), and such institutions as the Americas’ Society, New York; the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto; the Israel Museum, Jerusalem , and numerous South American institutions. He was recently invited by Germain Viatte, Directeur du Musee du quai Branly – French President Chirac’s huge new museum, ten years in construction( due to open in 2006) – to lecture in Paris, and to author a 100 page catalogue.

A linguist in seven languages, Colonel Reid is an elected member of New York’s prestigious Explorers Club as the result of his expeditions to, and accounts of remote areas of the world. An artist who studied in Paris, he has exhibited his paintings internationally – primarily in France, the US and South America.

An excellent Feather book though not so feather-weight (11 pounds)

Posted in Art, Books, Columnists, History, Travel | 3 Comments »

Ex libris

Saturday, March 5th, 2005

EXLIBRIS MUSEUM. We’ve done ex-libris bookplates before, but trust me, this site far surpasses anything you’ve ever seen. Just go to the Gallery and click on any of the names. Vereshchagin, for instance. Or Karol Felix. Or… hell, just dive in, you can’t go wrong.

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John Maxwell Hamilton: Vietnam fights for liberty after WWII

Thursday, February 17th, 2005

I take great pride in being the first one to bring this best seller novel to the world through my blog (January 14 2005) and now the world is talking about it!

Published on Sunday, January 30, 2005 by John Maxwell Hamilton Special to The Plain Dealer. Hamilton is dean of the Manship School of Mass Communication, Louisiana State University.

Write about what you know.” No one better exemplifies the wisdom of this admonition to writers than veteran newsman Seymour Topping.

The setting of Topping’s historical novel is Vietnam at the end of World War II, not long before he became the first American correspondent stationed in the country. The central issue is the fate of the Vietnamese people, who yearn for independence rather than a return to French control.

Fatal Crossroads: A Novel of Vietnam 1945 by Seymour Topping Book.JPG
(more…)

Posted in Books, Columnists | 1 Comment »

FATAL CROSSROADS: A Novel of Vietnam 1945

Friday, January 14th, 2005

As a child in Bombay, India I enjoyed reading international newspapers at the library. Initially it was just a desire to know what is happening in the far away land. One name that kept coming over and over again was Seymour Topping. I must have read every article of his which I could find. To me New York Times became a great newspaper when Seymour Topping joined them.

Seymour Topping has devoted much of his fifty years in journalism to covering Vietnam and China as a correspondent and editor. He became the first American correspondent to be stationed in Vietnam after World War II when in 1950 after reporting the Chinese civil war for three years he opened the Associated Press bureau in Saigon. Following two years of roaming Indochina and traveling with the French Foreign Legion along the China border, he went to posts in London and Berlin. He joined the New York Times in 1959 and after three years in Moscow as chief correspondent became Chief Correspondent Southeast Asia. He was appointed Foreign Editor in 1969 serving later as Managing Editor for ten years. He was the Administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes and is now SanPaolo Professor Emeritus of International Journalism at Columbia University and lives with his wife, Audrey, a photojournalist, in Scarsdale, New York. He has written three fiction books so far.

Today I am lucky to know the Toppings personally and to be invited for his book party of “FATAL CROSSROADS: A Novel of Vietnam 1945”. It is an historical novel and except for the story characters is historically accurate. To me this book is especially interesting to read since I can draw similarities with the current situation in Iraq.

I can proudly say that like Walter Cronkite, U.S. Broadcast Journalist, Neil Sheehan, Pulitzer Prize author, A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam, Henry F. Graff, Historian and editor, History of the Presidents, A.J. Langguth, author, Our Vietnam, David Phillips, Council on foreign relations, Dr. Andrew Economos, Chairman of RCS and many more; I know Seymour Topping and am a fan of his.

I wish the world would learn a lesson from history and from Mr. Seymour Topping!

Fatal Crossroads: A Novel of Vietnam 1945 by Seymour Topping Book.JPG

Posted in Books, Columnists, History | 4 Comments »

Andy Goldsworthy

Sunday, January 9th, 2005

A new kind of poetry is created when Andy Goldsworthy works with stone, wood and water — our world never looks quite the same again.

Goldsworthy regards all his creations as temporary. He photographs each piece once right after he makes it. His goal is to understand nature by directly participating in nature as intimately as he can. He generally works with whatever he notices: twigs, leaves, stones, snow and ice, reeds and thorns.

I like all his work but one of my favorites is ‘Wall‘. Come walk alongside Andy Goldsworthy’s extraordinary Storm King Wall. Created over a two-year period, the 2,278-foot-long site-specific sculpture was made using stones gathered from the Art Center property. The first part of the wall weaves in and out of trees, following and extending the path of an old stone wall that had existed previously on the site, meandering downhill to a nearby pond. The wall’s second section emerges out from the other side of the pond, continuing its westward “walk” uphill. According to historical maps, another wall originally existed in this vicinity, but its remnants are gone. The wall’s full extension physically links disparate areas of the property, from the trail overlooking Moodna creek to the south fields and the western border.

Posted in Art, Books, Photography | 1 Comment »