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Cartoon cool : how to draw new retro-style characters / Christopher Hart
BEST RETRO DRAWING BOOK!!!!!!!!
It's a great book full of tips, and secrets on how to draw retro. Christopher Hart has really outdone himself this time. He encourages you to use what imagination you have. Or if you don't have imagination he has step-by-step instructions on how to draw a large collection of retro people, pets, and backrounds. Overall a great book for all ages. (My sister, she's 7, and she could draw using this book.)
An expert in murder : a new mystery featuring Josephine Tey / Nicola Upson
Beautiful writing, but...
I really loved the start of Nicola Upson's new mystery. The writing was beautiful, and the characters appealing. But although the setup is great, the most likeable character is soon killed off. While the main and supporting characters had interesting stories and personalities, I couldn't bring myself to care about them - they seemed stiff and flat. The d'enouement was disappointing as well - overly complicated and somehow unaffecting. Not a bad book, but a disappointing end to a very promising start.
The annotated chronicles / Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Annotated Dragonlance Chronicles
There are few books that I've read more than once in my life. I remember reading these books during junior high, again-aloud for a visually impaired friend in college, and now. They still hold that grand fantasy aura for me. And, the notes from the authors made it more fun to read!
Memories [videorecording] / [presented by] Katsuhiro Otomo
A Memorable Three-Part Harmony.
The three segments of Memories: Magnetic Rose, Stink Bomb, and Cannon Fodder present a film-festival-appropriate barrage of images which will leave you amazed (or maybe a little confused). Each of the segments is 40 minutes long, and consists of its own self-contained story. The film is in Japanese with English subtitles only, but it doesn't detract from the powerful message that it contains. The first segment, Magnetic Rose, starts out as a science-fiction, where garbage collectors make money on old, run-down spaceships. A team of these explorers hear a distress signal coming from a deserted ship, and discover a shrine to a deceased opera singer. At first the two explorers believe there is nothing but her memories left, but then she tries to ensnare the travelers using their own shortcomings... Stink Bomb is a dark comedic intermission from the other two segments. Nobuo Tanaka, a simple worker at a pharmaceudical company, is willing to try anything to cure his cold. He takes a blue pill from a red bottle on his boss's desk (or was it a red pill from a blue bottle?) and suddenly Japan is ravished by a terrible airborne virus that seems to be centered around poor Tanaka. What more can Japan do but send out the entire military to stop him? Finally, there is Cannon Fodder, a story that touches on the foolishness of war. This drawn-out segment features entirely different animation, as seen through the eyes of a boy who lives in a city that does nothing but fire their enormous cannons at an unknown enemy. Parental Advisory: Magnetic Rose quite a few instances of the s-word (as does Stink Bomb, to a lesser degree). The overall tone of these three movies are gloomy and there are quite a few unnerving images used throughout it.
If you would like to add a review (or two or three!) to InfoSoup, view our screencast on Using Community Reviews in InfoSoup for some help in getting started.
Cartoon cool : how to draw new retro-style characters / Christopher Hart
BEST RETRO DRAWING BOOK!!!!!!!!
It's a great book full of tips, and secrets on how to draw retro. Christopher Hart has really outdone himself this time. He encourages you to use what imagination you have. Or if you don't have imagination he has step-by-step instructions on how to draw a large collection of retro people, pets, and backrounds. Overall a great book for all ages. (My sister, she's 7, and she could draw using this book.)
An expert in murder : a new mystery featuring Josephine Tey / Nicola Upson
Beautiful writing, but...
I really loved the start of Nicola Upson's new mystery. The writing was beautiful, and the characters appealing. But although the setup is great, the most likeable character is soon killed off. While the main and supporting characters had interesting stories and personalities, I couldn't bring myself to care about them - they seemed stiff and flat. The d'enouement was disappointing as well - overly complicated and somehow unaffecting. Not a bad book, but a disappointing end to a very promising start.
The annotated chronicles / Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Annotated Dragonlance Chronicles
There are few books that I've read more than once in my life. I remember reading these books during junior high, again-aloud for a visually impaired friend in college, and now. They still hold that grand fantasy aura for me. And, the notes from the authors made it more fun to read!
Memories [videorecording] / [presented by] Katsuhiro Otomo
A Memorable Three-Part Harmony.
The three segments of Memories: Magnetic Rose, Stink Bomb, and Cannon Fodder present a film-festival-appropriate barrage of images which will leave you amazed (or maybe a little confused). Each of the segments is 40 minutes long, and consists of its own self-contained story. The film is in Japanese with English subtitles only, but it doesn't detract from the powerful message that it contains. The first segment, Magnetic Rose, starts out as a science-fiction, where garbage collectors make money on old, run-down spaceships. A team of these explorers hear a distress signal coming from a deserted ship, and discover a shrine to a deceased opera singer. At first the two explorers believe there is nothing but her memories left, but then she tries to ensnare the travelers using their own shortcomings... Stink Bomb is a dark comedic intermission from the other two segments. Nobuo Tanaka, a simple worker at a pharmaceudical company, is willing to try anything to cure his cold. He takes a blue pill from a red bottle on his boss's desk (or was it a red pill from a blue bottle?) and suddenly Japan is ravished by a terrible airborne virus that seems to be centered around poor Tanaka. What more can Japan do but send out the entire military to stop him? Finally, there is Cannon Fodder, a story that touches on the foolishness of war. This drawn-out segment features entirely different animation, as seen through the eyes of a boy who lives in a city that does nothing but fire their enormous cannons at an unknown enemy. Parental Advisory: Magnetic Rose quite a few instances of the s-word (as does Stink Bomb, to a lesser degree). The overall tone of these three movies are gloomy and there are quite a few unnerving images used throughout it.
If you would like to add a review (or two or three!) to InfoSoup, view our screencast on Using Community Reviews in InfoSoup for some help in getting started.
what was the maintenance for?
improved speed for infosoup?
Most upgrades to InfoSoup and the staff interface fix bugs and/or add new features, which is the case this time around. While improved speed for InfoSoup isn't on the list of fixes, we will be able to offer a couple of new features you might like, such as My Lists, which will allow you to save lists of materials you might like to check out later, and the ability to retrieve your PIN via email if you forget your password. While these new features won't be available immediately after the upgrade, they will come shortly afterward once they are set up.
Do you perceive the speed of InfoSoup to be a problem? If so, we'd like to hear, so we can explore possibilities for improving it.
Thanks for your questions, Kyle!
No the speed is great I was just curious of what the scheduled maintenance was for
The only problem I have with Infosoup is that a lot of the DVD image covers are blank
Not a "big" problem but it would be nice and make spotting what your looking for easier
Glad the speed is OK - thanks for letting us know. I would love to see some DVD images, too! The vendor we currently get all of the book jackets from doesn't include DVD images, but we'll be exploring other options this Fall. We'll keep your comments in mind as we do this.
Thanks for your feedback!
When will we be able to pick up Breaking Dawn up from the library? Will it be available on Saturday, the day it comes out?
A record for "Breaking Dawn" was included in InfoSoup, but it looks like there is a big number of holds on it already. (See http://www.infosoup.org/record=b1674835~S77) If you placed a hold early and are at the top of the hold queue, it's likely you'll get the book quickly. If not, you'll need to place a hold and wait to move up in the list.
Let us know what you think after you read it by adding a review to the page linked to above!