Studios Books

I bought this book in the hopes that it would give me a few more items, spells and feats for my players to enjoy, and instead found a book capable of adding great flavour and verve to any campaign.

The rewrite of the bard is the highlight of this book for me. From a new and unique method of spellcasting, to a new set of skills and special abilities, the bard in this book goes from being a sort of utility spellcaster to being a completely new and unique class, a thing apart. The idea of casting spells as songs is not a new one, but the way that it's done here is nothing short of brilliant, encouraging bards to use their spells while not sacrificing any of the other abilities of the class.

The feats focus mainly on bardic activity, as do the prestige classes, making the addition of the soul magic section seem, at first, like a last-minute add-on. It's not. Soul magic is, as another reviewer's said, the use of intelligent spells, and saying more than that would be spoiling things. They really will add depth to my games in the future.

As if that weren't enough good stuff (for less than half the price of a standard hard-bound WoTC title), there are also a smattering of new and useful spells, perfect for making surprise scrolls and adding detail to a campaign.

I recommend this book to anyone looking to spice up the bard class, and anyone interested in some new and unusual spells and abilities.

One thing I like about the 3E core rulebooks is it seems like WotC play tested the hell out of them. Nearly everything is fairly well balanced. Many aspects have been simplified from the 2nd addition in a good way (though sometimes too much.) Overall, I really like 3E and consider it worth buying.

Enter supplemental materials like the Book of Eldritch Might II, by Monte Cook. Let's take a look:

VALUE: Under 15 bucks for the printed version, or 5 bucks for the PDF file (available from his website). After shelling out at least 20 for each of the class books, I find this very refreshing.

DESIGN: The art in the printed version is some of the finest yet in a Malhavok product. Monte continues to enlist better and better artists for each product. (I went with the PDF and had Kinko's print it out and spiral bind it.)

CONTENT: This is where all of Monte's D&D 3E material shines. The man is brilliant when it comes to fantasy game design. Like BoEM I, The BoEM II contains new feats, spells (primary for Wizard's and Sorcs), new prestige classes, and new magic items. However, these aren't just more of the same things we've seen. Each has a unique flavor and purpose. However, first lets go over what's totally new: Variant versions of the bard and sorcerer.

BARD: Since 3rd Edition came out, I've seen a million variant rangers, and half a million variant bards. Monte comes through in spades with his variant bard. No longer the sub-par sorcerer rogue fighter, the new bard uses spellsongs to power his unique magical talents. Big thumbs up.

SORCERER: Unlike Monte's variant ranger & bard, his sorcerer is not an attempt to fix a class that was considered 'broken' by so many. Indeed, many consider the sorcerer to kick butt. But, he can get a little boring, casting the same spells all day. This sorcerer really captures the feel of innate, raw magical power. I use Monte's bard, ranger, and sorcerer in my game, and have never looked back.

SOUL MAGIC: A brand new concept for intelligent... spells. A really cool idea that I don't want to spoil. Check it out...

OTHER: Then we have pages of fantastic feats (the lace spell feats rock), spells, prestige classes, and magical items. Like BoEM I, these are all innovative, stylish, and rather deadly. In my campaign I've made the Book of Eldritch Might I & II spells a bit more rare. They are considered powerful secrets to learn of. Once you see some of these spells, you'll see what I mean by powerful...

OVERALL: 5 Stars. One of the few accessories that I've opened up in its entirety to my game. Visit Monte Cook's website for errata to this book, and all his other Malhavok Press products...

That this book is back in print is a gift to the world. It's a completely thorough and wonderful trip through various 2d and 3d geometries and patterns. The drawings can be appreciated just on an aesthetic level, or can be delved into deeply. A rare book.

This was one of the books that first showed many people the interrelationships between the Platonic and Archimedian solids. Critchlow studied under Buckminster Fuller and many of Bucky's perceptions find their way in to these pages. Not without a few small errors here and there but overall a groundbreaking book of its day and still an essential volume on the shelf of anyone who works structurally in 3-d. Highly recommended.

This is probably... no. ABSOLUTELY the best and most wonderfull book I have ever run across. Obstler does an amazing job of showing (and explaining) the true process of ceramics. This is not a technique or coffee table book although it is easily better at both categories than most books of that sort. This IS a book more about the materials of ceramics than the finished product. Mimi lovingly portrays the full cycle of the process which produces a pot. Something all true potters should know is that the actual end result, the pot, is the smallest and most insignificant part of ceramics. In this book, the reader is introduced to the whole life of the materials which we use. In a mish mash of history, formula, chemistry and geology, Mimi Obstler creates a unique and awe-inspiring story not just of the pot or potter, but of the earth from which both are born.
This book is beautifully crafted, and you can tell, that a lot of love, work and knowledge have gone into it's creation. This is a must have for anyone who truly loves pottery OR geology. I have never seen a book this amazing before. I highly recomend it. This book is worth every cent and so much more. I can honestly say that I am stunned. Thank you Mimi Obstler, this is a treasure.

"Out of the Earth Into the Fire" is a necessary book for any potter , and is especially useful for any potter doing their own glazes.It details in it's four chapters, although very long and comprehensive chapters, all of the glaze and clay making ingredients that you will need. The first chapter deals with the glaze cores. It talks of both the historical and the emperical aspects of all the necessary substances in use. A substance that I can't wait to get my hands on is Rotton Stone. I'll let you read the book to find out why. The second chapter is about clays and clay bodies.Although most of us buy prepared clay this gives us reason to make our own. The next chapter concerns auxillary melters.We find here about glaze surfaces; how to best utilize a substance to make a glossy, a matt, or an opaque surface. Finally the last chapter reveals all we want to know about silica and alumina. The appendices are full of useful material. There are even some good pictures in this book. An unexpected surprise.

Chip Rock's Outtakes displays excellent photographs of KISS in their heydays. By seeing those glorious photos... you will feel like you were there, watching historical moments of KISStory being made. Many of die-hard KISS fans might already have the KISSYEARS photobook by Barry Levine that focus on the Destroyer/RARO and Elder era. Well..., Chip Rock's Outtakes gives you outstanding KISS photos from different era. This book will compliment the fine moments of KISSTory where other books left off. This a MUST for all KISS fans.

Chip Rock Dayton's book "Outtakes" captures the raw energy, talent, and determination of a "kid from Long Island" who made it to the big time of rock and roll photography. How? By chronicling the ultimate rock and roll spectacular known as KISS! Chip's amazing photos, many never before published (hence the title) are just a part of this tome. Chip's stories about following his favorite rock and roll band through the mid to late seventies is modern day folklore for any aspiring artist. There are the stories, and of course pictures, of the self-financed road trips to concerts in the early days(including how the author sold his photos outside of venues to pay for gas. Forget the 4 star hotels the "rock stars" stayed at; he slept in his car!). The author describes in great detail how he befriended one of the biggest rock and roll bands in the world, and how that relationship continues to this day. This book was in the works for a long time and ceratainly worth the wait. As a professional photojournalist, concert photographer, and yes a KISS fan, I highly recommend this book for anyone who dares to visit the inside world of Rock and Roll stardom.

If ever you want to be inspired, transformed, bowled over or "wowwed" by the possibilities of an old house... Read the Pomada/Larsen series. The pictures are breathtakenly beautiful and the text is quite informative. Lots of 'pearls of wisdom' there. Before you buy that victorian, read this book for some informative information. After you buy--keep reading (like a litany) to keep the vision alive amidst the rubble and asbestos. You won't be sorry ---you will be renewed. These books were like falling in love, or the collector's itch---The fever is maddening but the end result is Oh so sweet. Get them all!! (5 titles still available)

11 years after the publication of "Painted Ladies," Elizabeth Pomada returned to San Francisco to gaze anew upon its Victorians, and found a new concern for authenticity, subtlety, and sophistication in what she now calls the "Colorist Movement." The examples she shows here, while still splendidly detailed and richly pigmented, are for the most part less gaudy than those in the first book, reflecting the emergence of yuppies onto the preservationist stage earlier occupied by hippies and radicals. Almost the best part of the book, however, is the many interiors she has included, often by houseowners with a keen interest in authentic restoration. Architecture and interior-decorating buffs alike will want to own this volume.

I've taken this book with me twice to Paris, in spite of its weight (three-and-a-half pounds) and the fact that it's not really a guidebook. It is an elegant, erudite tour of the City of Light, through its streets and through its history.

I first read "Paris" in a small garret under the eaves of a grand Parisian hotel. It had been one of the hottest days on record and my room had no air-conditioning. Nor does Paris shut down for the night. However, I had an imposing view of a street, lined with facades of a "huge blank pompous featureless sameness" that was deplored by Henry James. And I had this book, which turned that airless Parisian night into magic. Its author has a knack for spotting the most telling detail--from the "heavy, gun-metaled print of a mid-nineteenth-century thumb" where he starts his tour in the Louvre, to the very borders of Ile de France where he ultimately bids his readers farewell under the "immensities of the upper air" that were a painter's dream. "Light, then, first: and air."

In many aspects of their lives, John Russell finds Parisians to be "a secretive, devious, ungiving people." Buildings are there to hide things, not expose them to every passing tourist. However, this book puts all of the charming (and not so charming) details of interior life on view. There are the velvet-lined elevators of the original Galeries Lafayette, whose builder's passion "was to conquer the female race"--in the shopping sense of 'conquer.' There are Anglophile pubs, and expensive 'bars-à-filles,' where "the lights glow rose-to-amber, the windows are curtained with carpet, ...a sad bargain can be driven at any hour of the day, and the atmosphere is inexpugnably 'triste'."

One of my favorite descriptions is of Balzac's house on the street that now bears his name. Like so many other Parisians, the nineteenth-century author succumbed to the contagion of High Victorian style. Hardly a surface in the house was left unsculpted or unencrusted with bronze, tortoiseshell, and buttercup damask. The bathroom was built of yellow stone and covered with bas-reliefs in stucco. Once shut inside Balzac's library, a stranger might never find her way out again, because even the door was lined with bookshelves.

The author is equally at home in every Parisian milieu, from palace to 'bar-à-fille.' As Rosamond Bernier says in her introduction to this book, "No one else could combine the feel and the look, the heart and the mind, the stones and the trees, the past and the present, the wits, the eccentrics, and the geniuses of my favorite city with such easy grace."

"Paris" is adorned with 310 illustrations (many of them charming old photographs), including 85 colored plates, all personally chosen by John Russell.

If a trip to Paris is even the merest glimmer on your event horizon, read this book. You can lug it to Paris like I did, or snuggle up to it in the comfort of your own room. And dream.

I bought this book many years ago, before my first visit to Paris. It was both more than I anticipated and less than I expected. By this I mean that it was a very impractical book to use, by itself, as a guide to Paris, but was a wonderful book to use to learn about the Paris of the Parisians and the Parisians, themselves. Strange, you may say, but by reading PARIS, one comes to the realization that the Parisian has a relationship with his city that is unlike any other.

As one example of this, Russell talks of the fact that Parisians are not particularly impressed by their famous authors, artists, statesmen, etc. To wit: When a great man dies, Parisians give themselves over to grief that seems almost inconsolable, but on the way home from the miles long funeral procession, "they remind themselves that for every great Parisian who lies in a vault there is another great Parisian ....."

Russell says that Paris is a city of impulse, a city in which to act on impulse is one of the secrets of happiness. This, to me, is why the typical three day whirlwind tour of Paris is so unsatisfactory. My first visit to Paris was on just such a tour (my last one, by the way) and I left feeling that I'd really missed something. Following Russell's excellent advice, I came back a few years later and spent a month taking life on a day by day basis. This visit was much more fulfilling and I have PARIS to thank for helping me understand the importance of taking time out from sightseeing to absorb a little of the ambience that is the true Paris.

This book is much more than an occasional bit of advice to the would be tourist. It is a history. It is a discussion of the art and architecture of Paris. It is a discussion of key areas within the city and of the Ile de France surrounding the city. It is also a discussion of the Parisian of today and yesterday and what makes him unique. To boot, it contains countless photographs and art reproductions going back hundreds of years. There is a wonderful discussion of the old railroad station hotels with detailed descriptions of several of them. I have a feeling that "progress" has wiped out most of them.

No book on Paris would be complete without a discussion of the Metro. PARIS gives the history of this transportation backbone of Paris from its beginnings to the present. It's nice to know that you're never more than about 5 minutes from a Metro station and never more than about 45 minutes, by Metro, from anywhere in Paris. My wife and I purchased Carte Orange's (Orange Cards - 30 day Metro Passes) for about $42.00 American each, and had our month's transportation needs provided for. The Metro and good walking shoes, that's all one needs in Paris.

I can't imagine anyone reading this book and not wanting to visit Paris. I know that if I hadn't been there I'd want to go after reading it. As it is, rereading sections of this book, in preparation for this review, has made me want to do just that. Je suis pret.

Judi has done a great job on this CD; I got to watch her do pattern work on her laptop, sometimes creating as many as one pattern a night. She has become quite proficient at it. We brainstormed in the spa about the title, and I suggested confusion, infusion, diffusion, cold fusion, and profusion. Hope you enjoy the patterns as much as she did in creating them. She would always holler "come look at this one...", and I would give her my best advice. She really does enjoy doing the art work!!!

This pattern CD covers it all--from easy to difficult (but much easier with a bandsaw!). With step-by-step instructions you can learn to do landscape
frit work as well as the usual fusing methods. The great thing about these CD's is the ability to print them out.

this is a great book that will be sure to entertain a child but also be amusing for an adult. great characters and imagination to spare, Pet Robots was just a tremendously fun read!

Pet Robots is a delightful hardcover graphic novel from Blue Dream Studios. Four classmates: Jake, Chris, Tammy, and Tommy are touring a toy factory with their class when they make a wrong turn and get lost. While trying to find the rest of the class they encounter many strange rooms along the way, including one filled with four life-size robots who don't exactly look like toys. Back at home, the kids find the four robots have followed them home, each drawn to one of the four children. The kids give their new robot friends nicknames: Rock, Aqua, Wind, and Skye and become fast friends. Everyone is happy except for the toy factory owner, Mr. Meisterburger...he wants his robots back and will stop at nothing to achieve his goal. He'll soon unleash his greatest robot, Destructo (who looks kind of like a Mazinger robot) on the children. This is really a great book. Aimed at a younger audience but great entertainment for the family. The cartooning of Diego Jourdan is very clean and well done, and would make a great cartoon. It's a fast-paced story and a nice way to introduce younger readers to comics.

REVIEWED BY TIM JANSON

This is an exquisitely made book and if you are at all interested in animation or disney art, this or any of the sketchbook series books are a must. Each character has it's section where various sketch drawings are shown. There are also some background pictures. No text, but a delight to flip through. Beautifully designed and packaged.

This fine addition to the Disney Sketchbook series has many of the wonderful sketches done by Disney's animation department for Peter Pan, including many pieces from the storyboards, and several sketches of scenes that never made it into the final film.

Artists that would like to study the Disney style of drawing and animation should find this volume a terrific addition to their collection despite its rather high price. As a student of art, and a fan of the Disney style, I highly recommend any of these books for your library.

This is the best studio lighting textbook I have ever found. It's well written, concise, and well illustrated. Kolb and Overturf do an excellent job of explaining everything from the most basic lighting setup to the most complex. Natural light, hot lights and strobes are all covered. In addition there's a significant amount of information on set construction and excellent suggestions for designing your own studio. Best of all Kolb has put a great deal of effort into explaining why one would want to choose a particular approach to lighting a subject. The underlying message being - just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Unfortunately the publisher has chosen not to reprint this book. As the current used prices indicate - it's in demand. Someone in the McGraw-Hill sales department needs to take notice. Too bad they're not because I'm trying to adopt a new book for my large format photography and lighting class and no other seems to fit the bill quite as well.

This is an excellent studio photography textbook.It does not use the dry "how to" approach which is the downfall of many photography books.Full of stimulating theory and helpful specifics this book has changed the way I work in the studio and teach photography.