Art: Ceramics, Prehistoric Art, & Jewlery

Ceramics of Shimaoka Tatsuzo: Living National Treasure of Japan, A Retrospective 2000 (BOOK): by Martha Longenecker & Rob Sidner

Shimaoka began making pottery in 1939 as a student at the Tokyo Institute of Technology's Department of Ceramics. During Shimaoka's freshman year, he visited Hamada in Mashiko and was granted apprenticeship upon graduation. Shimaoka joined Hamada's workshop from 1946-49. Four years later, he built his own, independent kiln adjacent to his teacher's in Mashiko.

Gilded Vessel: The Lustrous Art and Life of Beatrice Wood (BOOK): by Garth Clark

Beatrice Wood turned to ceramics late in life at age 40, but still managed to work behind a potter's wheel for nearly 65 years. Influenced by the Dada movement, her lusterware pottery, with its rich and decadent palette of shimmering gold and silver, vindian greens, incandescent pinks, and intense purples, has captivated generations of collectors. Gilded Vessel is not so much a biography as a celebration of the life and ceramic artistry of Beatrice Wood. Glorious color pictures reveal the iridescent beauty of her pottery, while black-and-white photographs document the life, loves and luster, of a woman New York Times Magazine hailed as one of the great lives of the 20th century.

Image and Audience: Rethinking Prehistoric Art (BOOK): by Richard Bradley

There have been many accounts of prehistoric 'art', but nearly all of them begin by assuming that the concept is a useful one. In this extensively illustrated study, Richard Bradley asks why ancient objects were created and when and how they were used. He considers how the first definitions of prehistoric artworks were made, and the ways in which they might be related to practices in the visual arts today Extended case studies of two immensely popular and much-visited sites illustrate his argument: one considers the megalithic tombs of Western Europe, whilst the other investigates the decorated metalwork and rock carvings of Bronze Age Scandinavia.

Loud Bones: The Jewelry of Nancy Worden (BOOK): by Michelle LeBaron & Susan Noyes Platt

Nancy Worden's work explores the cultural dynamics that shape contemporary social and political agendas, emphasizing the female experience in the United States. Her jewelry is forceful, unapologetic, demanding, and gripping; often humorous, sometimes painful, but never timid. This is the first scholarly examination of her career.

The Art of Peter Voulkos (BOOK): by Rose Slivka & Karen Tsujimoto

This volume examines the work of Peter Voulkos, an influential figure in American ceramics.

The Way Jews Lived: Five Hundred Years of Printed Words and Images (BOOK): by Constance Harris

The author presents through pictures and text a social history of Jewish life and art in the last 500 years. Each chapter relates the brief history of a period, devoting particular attention to events concerning Jewish life.

Archaeology, Theater, History: How to Avoid Archaeological Disasters, Repatriation and Reburial, and Chinese Theater During the Revolution

Avoiding Archaeological Disasters: A Risk Management Approach (BOOK): by Darby C. Stapp and Julia G. Longenecker with contributions by Roderick Sprague

You think it can’t happen to you, but it can. One day, months into your construction project, your front end load operator runs into bones and wooden slats. Your county coroner says it is not a crime scene, and refers you to the local archaeology department. The archaeologist tells you that it is a very important discovery. Work stops. Archaeological discoveries happen all the time in the course of projects. Most are manageable, some are less so, and some are mismanaged, wasting time and money. If you are not prepared, the consequences can be disastrous. This book is for project engineers, project managers, construction managers, the staff of affected government agencies, and archaeological consultants. In its pages you receive enough information, enough archaeological perspective, to intelligently work with the various parties involved in your project and avoid an archaeological disaster.

Reburying the Past: The Effects of Repatriation and Reburial on Scientific Inquiry (BOOK): by Elizabeth Weiss

In this book, the author puts forth what one can learn from the study of human remains, how human remains have been obtained, the ethical dilemmas surrounding working with human remains, and the legal and political complexities of repatriation and reburial. The author intends to introduce readers to a fascinating realm of science rarely covered in the media, as opposed to the more popular fields of anthropology (e.g. forensics, archaeology, paleoanthropology).

Voices Carry: Behind Bars and Backstage During China's Revolution and Reform (BOOK): by Ying Ruocheng and Claire Conceison

"A gem, not to be missed by any student of Chinese culture or politics. . . . The passages on prison are among the most detailed and vivid we have in the literature. And throughout the volume there is a refreshing bluntness. . . . Voices Carry has been a major project for Conceison, a labor of love, persistence, and understanding. She has gone to great lengths to offer context in endnotes for readers who may need them. It is hard to think of any US-PRC literary collaboration more complex and valuable than this one, or to think of a personal cultural bridge between the PRC and the West as active and influential as Ying . . . it is quite clear Ying had his faults, but I found the book totally engaging." --Modern Chinese Literature and Culture

"A must-read for anyone interested in the performing arts. Furthermore, [celebrated Chinese actor Ying Ruocheng's] life touched on fascinating aspects of Chinese history and society seldom discussed. What happened to the Manchus after the 1911 revolution? What was it like being a Catholic in those years? How did (and perhaps does) the government collect information on foreigners? How does it treat its political prisoners? How are personnel decisions made? This book is one man's attempt to make sense of cataclysmic events." --China Review International

Films: Casino Royale, James Bond, Daniel Craig

Recently promoted to 00 status, James Bond takes over his first mission in which he faces a mysterious private banker to world terrorism and poker player, Le Chiffre. Along with a beautiful Treasury agent and the MI6 man in Montenegro, Bond takes part in a high stakes poker game set up by Le Chiffre in order to recover a huge sum of his clients' money he lost in a failed plot that the British spy took down. 007 will not only discover the threatening organization behind his enemy, but the worst of all truths: to not trust on anyone.

Films: Drama with Tom Hanks, in depth Documentaries, and Action with Jet Li

The Green Mile (DVD): Tom Hanks, The story about the lives of guards on death row leading up to the execution of black man accused of child murder & rape who has the power of faith healing. [1999]

Generation M: Misogyny in Media and Culture (DVD): Despite the achievements of the women's movement over the past four decades, misogyny remains a persistent force in American culture. In this important documentary, Thomas Keith, professor of philosophy at California State University-Long Beach, looks specifically at misogyny and sexism in mainstream American media, exploring how negative definitions of femininity and hateful attitudes toward women get constructed and perpetuated at the very heart of our popular culture.

Hero (DVD): Jet Li, A fearless warrior rises up to defy an empire and unite a nation. With supernatural skill, and no fear, the soldier embarks on a mission of revenge against the fearsome army that has massacred his people. To achieve the justice he seeks, he must take on the empire's most ruthless assassins and reach the enemy he has sworn to defeat. The story of the First Emperor of China, who is on the brink of winning a war-torn land during the dawn of the Qin dynasty over 2,000 years ago. Three opponents are determined to kill the King, but the warrior stands in their way. [2002]

Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People (DVD): This groundbreaking documentary dissects a slanderous aspect of cinematic history that has run virtually unchallenged form the earliest days of silent film to today's biggest Hollywood blockbusters. Featuring acclaimed author Dr. Jack Shaheen, the film explores a long line of degrading images of Arabs--from Bedouin bandits and submissive maidens to sinister sheikhs and gun-wielding "terrorists"--along the way offering devastating insights into the origin of these stereotypic images, their development at key points in US history, and why they matter so much today.