Can you really deliver a PowerPoint presentation without having any bullet points in the deck? This book does a good job...
(06/06/07) Can you really deliver a PowerPoint presentation without having any bullet points in the deck? This book does a good job of convincing that this is possible. However, I believe that the book's greater contribution is pointing out that most people structure presentations as a dump of data rather than taking into account their audience and the goal of their presentation -- why are people there? What do you want them to do or believe after you're done presenting? Even if you disagree with Cliff's convincing points on removing bullets from your decks, you should take to heart his framework for developing concepts and decks. The running example is of a presentation for a proposal to approve some drug or another for the executive board of a company. While I'm sure there are lots of presentations done for boards, at the company I work most presentations are to groups of peer first-level managers and individual contributors about technical areas, product overviews, or change initiatives. The...See less
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Journal for discussions of mounted maneuver warfare and the professional journal of the U.S. Army's Armor and Cavalry...
(05/29/07) Journal for discussions of mounted maneuver warfare and the professional journal of the U.S. Army's Armor and Cavalry branch.See less
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Carencro, named for Marc Broussard's Louisiana hometown, is at times a swamp-pop masterpiece, with leadoff track "Home"...
(05/29/07) Carencro, named for Marc Broussard's Louisiana hometown, is at times a swamp-pop masterpiece, with leadoff track "Home" stealing the mud-crusted show. What happens in the 11 songs that follow, though, could redeem major record labels from their bullying reputations. Because instead of shoving this pop/rock/soul/R&B wunderkind in the right direction--that being the direction that center-spears his gift for channeling greats like Sam Cooke, John Hiatt, and Stevie Wonder in the space of a single song--whoever was in charge let him wander, and what resulted is a collection that, while hugely promising, fails to measure up to his big, baritoney talent. The songwriting is troublesome in spots ("I know you can break these chains/and set me free," from "Save Me"), and the genre shifts, while fun ("Saturday" is a '70s-style, horn-studded affair), can be jarring. For next go-round, fans--he will earn them, and deservedly, with this disc--should keep their fingers crossed that "Home" is where his...See less
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Take a strategic approach to software constructionand produce superior productswith this fully updated edition of Steve...
(05/29/07) Take a strategic approach to software constructionand produce superior productswith this fully updated edition of Steve McConnells critically praised and award-winning guide to software development best practices.See less
Perhaps more than anywhere else, Silicon Valley in the latter part of the 20th century has come to represent the essence...
(05/29/07) Perhaps more than anywhere else, Silicon Valley in the latter part of the 20th century has come to represent the essence of the American dream. Its economy has resembled the various rushes and booms of the 1800s. The Valley is a unique place in a unique time, where just about anyone with a good idea, an aptitude for hard work, and a boatload of luck has a chance to make it big--really big. In The Nudist on the Late Shift, Po Bronson intends to capture the spirit of the Valley, leading us through a series of vignettes that takes us from a "near brush with sudden wealth" to a $400 million buyout; from life on the edge with a group of Java programmers to the plight of a futurist writer with the looming deadline for a 9,000-word article. For Bronson, the appeal of the Valley is this: Every generation that came before us had to make a choice in life between pursuing a steady career and pursuing wild adventures. In Silicon Valley, that trade-off has been recircuited. By injecting...See less
In this brand-new third edition of The C++ Programming Language, author Bjarne Stroustrup, the creator of C++, presents...
(05/29/07) In this brand-new third edition of The C++ Programming Language, author Bjarne Stroustrup, the creator of C++, presents the full specification for the C++ language and standard library, a spec that will soon become the joint ISO/ANSI C++ standard. Past readers will find that the new edition has changed a great deal and grown considerably to encompass new language features, particularly run-time type identification, namespaces, and the standard library. At the same time, readers will recognize the lucid style and sensible advice that made previous editions so readable and enjoyable. Probably the biggest change is a substantial new section, well over 200 pages in length, covering the contents and design of the C++ standard library, the most important new feature of the C++ specification. The author has also added a substantial number of new exercises while keeping many from previous editions that have retained their value. While The C++ Programming Language is not a C++ tutorial,...See less
A bona fide publishing phenomenon, Lynne Truss's now classic #1 New York Times bestseller Eats, Shoots & Leaves makes...
(05/29/07) A bona fide publishing phenomenon, Lynne Truss's now classic #1 New York Times bestseller Eats, Shoots & Leaves makes its paperback debut after selling over 3 million copies worldwide in hardcover. We all know the basics of punctuation. Or do we? A look at most neighborhood signage tells a different story. Through sloppy usage and low standards on the Internet, in e-mail, and now text messages, we have made proper punctuation an endangered species. In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, former editor Truss dares to say, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled. From the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to George Orwell shunning the semicolon, this lively history makes a powerful case for the preservation of a system of printing conventions that is much too subtle...See less
The companion volume to Fadiman's Fantasia Mathematica, this second anthology of mathematical writings is even more...
(05/29/07) The companion volume to Fadiman's Fantasia Mathematica, this second anthology of mathematical writings is even more varied and contains stories, cartoons, essays, rhymes, music, anecdotes, aphorisms, and other oddments. Authors include Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll, and many other renowned figures.See less
Take one part This Year's Model, mix with a bit of Almost Blue, and top off with a healthy sprinkling of King of...
(05/29/07) Take one part This Year's Model, mix with a bit of Almost Blue, and top off with a healthy sprinkling of King of America. Voilà, The Delivery Man! Elvis Costello's first album for Lost Highway finds the musician deftly exploring American roots music, from rock 'n' roll to country to soul, with assistance from the Imposters (stalwart Attractions Steve Nieve and Pete Thomas plus ace bassist Davey Faragher) and thrushes Emmylou Harris and Lucinda Williams. It also finds him back digging around in the ashes of a failed relationship. One of the collection's most affecting songs is "The Judgement," a reflective collaboration with Costello's second wife, Cait O'Riordan. Meanwhile, the album is dedicated to his third wife, jazz star Diana Krall. Hmmm. Romantic upheaval may color these songs, but no more than Costello's musical restlessness. For every elegant, wistful ballad ("Nothing Clings Like Ivy," "The Scarlet Tide") there's a raucous rave-up ("Button My Lip," "Bedlam"). The Delivery Man...See less
The Shins' sophomore album is a joy from start to finish, though it's rather different from their 2001 leftfield pop...
(05/29/07) The Shins' sophomore album is a joy from start to finish, though it's rather different from their 2001 leftfield pop genius stunner Oh, Inverted World. That album was like a warm embrace from a long-lost pal. True to its title, all of the songs were of a piece, seeming to inhabit one landscape, with an invitingly similar sound throughout. Chutes is more far-reaching and decidedly eclectic. Each song is essentially its own genre exercise. There's singer-songwriter James Mercer's surprisingly Perry Farrell-ish wail on the almost indie-metal opener, "Kissing the Lipless"; the lovely pedal steel lilt to "Gone for Good"; the moody folktronica of "Those to Come"; and the Cars-gone-rockabilly riffing on "Turn a Square." The strongest song, the acoustic "Young Pilgrims," is stripped-down and brilliant. On every tune, Mercer packs more hooks and melodic invention than most bands do on one album. As a whole, it's an even better record than Inverted World. --Mike McGonigalSee less
Completed by George Harrison's son Dhani and Jeff Lynne (Traveling Wilburys, Cloud Nine) after the ex-Beatle succumbed...
(05/29/07) Completed by George Harrison's son Dhani and Jeff Lynne (Traveling Wilburys, Cloud Nine) after the ex-Beatle succumbed to a long illness in November 2001, Brainwashed is a bittersweet reminder of the myriad contradictions that made Harrison such a compelling figure. One of the most warm, melodically rich albums in a career pockmarked by personal frankness and professional indifference in its latter years, Harrison finds rewarding ways here to reconcile bitter assessments of the material world (the title track) with more fleshly concerns, as his jaunty take on the Arlen-Koehler chestnut "The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" ably demonstrates. Pushing the singer's distinctive dry voice to the forefront, and with Harrison's trademark slide guitar riffs as sinewy as ever, Lynne's showcase production is mostly spot-on and refreshingly restrained, while Dhani brings his own fresh, touchingly personal insights to the record. He double-tracked his own voice onto an old recording of his father...See less
Having delivered their last great album with 1992's haunting Automatic For the People, R.E.M. spent more than decade...
(05/29/07) Having delivered their last great album with 1992's haunting Automatic For the People, R.E.M. spent more than decade attempting all kinds of reinvention, from the pointlessly noisy Monster to the painfully dull Up. But with Around the Sun it feels like the band is getting its bearings back. Not only is it the Georgia trio's most consistent album since the 1997 departure of drummer Bill Berry, but it also sees the return of the lush imagery and intricate playing of the band's vintage years. There are trains, mandolins, Man Ray skies. More importantly, it seems heartfelt. Witness the gorgeous disquietingly dark opener "Leaving New York," the rapturous folk of "I Wanted to Be Wrong" and the solidly intense "Boy In the Well." At 13 generous tracks, it's far from perfect but--just when everyone thought R.E.M. was down for the count--Around the Sun is an unexpected bruiser of a comeback. --Aidin VaziriSee less
Country music's infatuation with the puka-shell rock of Jimmy Buffett has been one of the genre's less fortunate...
(05/29/07) Country music's infatuation with the puka-shell rock of Jimmy Buffett has been one of the genre's less fortunate indulgences. Most of Nashville's hat acts do little more than dip their toe in the water and do nothing to build upon Buffett's signature sounds. That's why License to Chill, which features a plethora of Music City guests (Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney, Clint Black, George Strait, Martina McBride, Toby Keith) along with Bill Withers and Nanci Griffith, seems like a bad idea. But the album, on which the Key West hedonist performs his favorite "bar gig" songs, as he calls them, often delights. As someone who began his songwriting career in Nashville (and who's also recorded more than half his albums there), Buffett isn't just slumming, as his choice of covers (from such writers as Guy Clark, John Hiatt, Hank Williams, and Jerry Garcia) proves. What could have been little more than a lark, then, ends up being a showcase for Buffett the serious songwriter and song finder. Although...See less
As should be expected, Steely Dan's four-disc box set isn't like all the other rectangular pop-music...
(05/29/07) As should be expected, Steely Dan's four-disc box set isn't like all the other rectangular pop-music retrospectives/tombstones. Not for Messrs. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen the typically bloated, ego-jacking crate padded out with childhood recordings, suspect cassette demos, and broken-down session takes, annotated by candid snapshots purloined from some distant relative. Nope, this is simply Dan Mach 1's complete oeuvre, from the craft-conscious pop of Can't Buy a Thrill to the jazzy torpor of Gaucho, laid out chronologically and neatly compressed into four discs, with not even a handful of "bonus" cuts (a live recording of "Bodhisattva," a '71 demo of "Everyone's Gone to the Movies" with Flo and Eddie on the side, "Here at the Western World," a Royal Scam outtake, and their obligatory soundtrack cameo, "FM") to color outside the lines. The liner notes are suitably smart, even if they occasionally strain trying to stay astride of B&F's patent sardonicism. For the aspiring Steely...See less
This compilation of music videos produced for Jimmy Buffett since the early '70s will tickle his formidable Parrothead...
(05/29/07) This compilation of music videos produced for Jimmy Buffett since the early '70s will tickle his formidable Parrothead nation while providing pop historians with a time capsule tracing the evolution of pop video clips since their pre-MTV days. Buffett himself introduces each clip, providing personal and career anecdotes as he unspools the videos in chronological order. In the process, we watch his maturation from freewheeling Florida hippie to laid-back Everyman. As presented here, you can hear how Buffett nudged his music from an identifiable branch of '70s singer-songwriter chic toward his singular amalgam of pop, country, and rock, with liberal garnishes of calypso and reggae. For a self-professed reluctant video subject, Buffett has managed to capture a substantial cross-section of his music visually, starting with early songs like "Pencil Thin Moustache" and "Come Monday." The early clips afford glimpses of his Key West stomping grounds before that sun-baked Bohemia was...See less
The fact that Genius Loves Company will be Ray Charles's final new album inspires an unavoidable blue feeling. But it's...
(05/29/07) The fact that Genius Loves Company will be Ray Charles's final new album inspires an unavoidable blue feeling. But it's also a happy reminder that the man spent the last months of his life at work doing what he loved. The overall effect of these dozen duets is autumnal and smooth. Brother Ray is on point and cruising here. Fine moments abound--you can hear his delight even in the rather stiff company of Diana Krall and Natalie Cole. His voice sounds a bit frayed by ill health at times, but it also allows for great performances like the slyness behind the ache in his version of the old soul hit "Hey Girl" with Michael McDonald and a grand "Crazy Love" with Van Morrison. Potently, he and Gladys Knight remind us of the continued timeliness of Stevie Wonder's "Heaven Help Us All." Its best moments make Company one more essential purchase for Ray Charles fans. --Rickey WrightSee less
Norah Jones blew everybody away with her jazzy, country-tinged, Grammy-winning debut CD, Come Away with Me. On this...
(05/29/07) Norah Jones blew everybody away with her jazzy, country-tinged, Grammy-winning debut CD, Come Away with Me. On this recording, Jones doesn't mess with her trademark formula. Under Arif Mardin's cozy coproduction, Jones is supported by her writing partners, her Handsome Band, and some special guests (country legend Dolly Parton, Levon Helm and Garth Hudson of the Band, and jazz drummer Brian Blade, to name a few). Jones's Texas-twanged vocals and her sparse acoustic and electric Wurlitzer piano lines enliven the CD's 13 tracks, from the light and lively single "Sunrise" to Tom Waits's "The Long Way Home" and the bouncy duet with Parton, "Creepin' In." Jones's soul-baring piano/vocal rendition of Duke Ellington's "Melancholia," retitled "Don't Miss You at All," proves she's a true Blue Note artist with unlimited potential. --Eugene Holley Jr.See less
It's impossible to overemphasize the importance of singer-guitarist-songwriter Robert Johnson's contribution to blues...
(05/29/07) It's impossible to overemphasize the importance of singer-guitarist-songwriter Robert Johnson's contribution to blues music. The same can be said of Eric Clapton, one of Mr. Johnson's most dedicated interpreters. From his work with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers to Cream and beyond, Clapton has arguably attracted more widespread attention to Johnson's music than any other living musician. A decade after his all-blues From the Cradle (which included no Johnson material), Clapton jumps into the icon's catalog with both feet by covering 14 Johnson tunes. With a stripped-down veteran band that includes such longtime associates as drummer Steve Gadd, keyboardist Billy Preston, and harmonica ace Jerry Portnoy, the guitarist attacks these songs with passion, intelligence, and a refreshing lack of blues-rock pretense. From the upbeat jump of "32-20 Blues" and "They're Red Hot" to the slower, grinding "Little Queen of Spades" and "Milkcow's Calf Blues," Clapton acquits himself well, eschewing his...See less
The album that carries U2 into its 25th year--and likely the mixed blessings of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame--is one...
(05/29/07) The album that carries U2 into its 25th year--and likely the mixed blessings of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame--is one of its most frank and focused since the days of October and War. But its gestation was anything but simple, in part salvaged from '03 sessions the band deemed subpar. Enter Steve Lillywhite, the band's original producer and sometime collaborator in the decades since, who helped retool the track "Native Son" (originally an antigun screed) into the aggressive iPod anthem "Vertigo" and leaves his distinctive stamp on the muscular "All Because of You." Perhaps weary of ceaseless, fashion-driven reinvention in the wake of monumental success, U2 seem only too happy here to re-embrace their original sonic trademarks in service of more daring, pop-melodic hooks than they've collected in one place in decades. The Eno/Lanois produced "Love and Peace or Else" may shimmer with the duo's electro-production conceits, but it's Edge's lugubrious, postmodern John Lee Hooker guitar...See less
Jimmy Buffett may have made his millions, but that doesn't mean that he has eased up on his workload. After releasing 33...
(05/29/07) Jimmy Buffett may have made his millions, but that doesn't mean that he has eased up on his workload. After releasing 33 albums, mounting grueling annual tours, and fashioning an entire industry and lifestyle out of his signature song "Margaritaville," Buffett trots out this two-CD collection. Yet, Meet Me in Magaritaville, which spans 30 years, isn't merely a retread of his long, storied career. Buffett has written two new songs for the package and re-recorded six alternative versions of fan favorites (including a moving version of "The Captain and the Kid," which he included for his ailing father, who died shortly after the album's release). He's also added two new cover songs--a spicy bossa nova version of Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talking" and the Beach Boys' "Sail on Sailor"--as well four live tracks, which shows the singer at his best, conjuring up his own Yuppie Atlantis, an idyllic place where no one has to wear shoes, the sun is always shining, the bar never closes, and Junior...See less
It feels both inaccurate and inadequate to describe The Office as a comedy. On a superficial level, it disdains all the...
(05/29/07) It feels both inaccurate and inadequate to describe The Office as a comedy. On a superficial level, it disdains all the conventions of television sitcoms: there are no punch lines, no jokes, no laugh tracks, and no cute happy endings. More profoundly, it's not what we're used to thinking of as funny. Most of the fervently devoted fan base watched with a discomfortingly thrilling combination of identification and mortification. The paradox is that its best moments are almost physically unwatchable. Set in the offices of a fictional British paper merchant, The Office is filmed in the style of a reality television show. The writing is subtle and deft, the acting wonderful, and the characters beautifully drawn: the cadaverous team leader Gareth (Mackenzie Crook); the monstrous sales rep, Chris Finch (Ralph Ineson); and the decent but long-suffering everyman Tim (Martin Freeman), whose ambition and imagination have been crushed out of him by the banality of the life he dreams uselessly of...See less
Notoriously, and entirely appropriately, the original outline for Doug Naylor and Rob Grant's comedy sci-fi series Red...
(05/29/07) Notoriously, and entirely appropriately, the original outline for Doug Naylor and Rob Grant's comedy sci-fi series Red Dwarf was sketched on the back of a beer mat. When it finally appeared on British television in 1988, the show had clearly stayed true to its roots, mixing jokes about excessive curry consumption with affectionate parodies of classic sci-fi. Indeed, one of the show's most endearing and enduring features is its obvious respect for genre conventions, even as it gleefully subverts them. The scenario owes something to Douglas Adams's satirical Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, something to The Odd Couple, and a lot more to the slacker sci-fi of John Carpenter's Dark Star. Behind the crew's constant bickering there lurks an impending sense that life, the universe, and everything are all someone's idea of a terrible joke. Later seasons broadened the show's horizons until at last its premise was so diluted as to be unrecognizable, but in the six episodes of the first season,...See less
It may have been underrated when first broadcast on PBS on consecutive nights in the fall of '03, but executive producer...
(05/29/07) It may have been underrated when first broadcast on PBS on consecutive nights in the fall of '03, but executive producer Martin Scorsese's homage to the blues is a truly significant, if imperfect, achievement. "Musical journey" is an apt description, as Scorsese and the six other directors responsible for these seven approximately 90-minute films follow the blues--the foundation of jazz, soul, R&B, and rock & roll--from its African roots to its Mississippi Delta origins, up the river to Memphis and Chicago, then to New York, the United Kingdom, and beyond. Some of the films (like Wim Wenders's The Soul of a Man and Charles Burnett's Warming by the Devil's Fire) use extensive fictional film sequences, generally to good effect. There's also plenty of documentary footage, interviews, and contemporary studio performances recorded especially for these films. The last are among the best aspects of the DVDs, as the bonus material features the set's only complete tunes. Lou Reed's "See That...See less
With sidesplitting dialogue and rampant profanity, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back reunites Kevin Smith's dynamic duo in...
(05/29/07) With sidesplitting dialogue and rampant profanity, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back reunites Kevin Smith's dynamic duo in supreme lowbrow style. It's the fifth comedy in Smith's celebrated New Jersey "trilogy." Here Quick-Stop potheads Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith) wreak vengeance on Hollywood, where Miramax is making a "Bluntman & Chronic" feature inspired by J. and S.B., but without their permission. En route from Jersey to La La Land, Jay and his "hetero life mate" encounter sexy jewel thieves (including the delightful Shannon Elizabeth), a precocious orangutan, a dimwit wildlife marshal (Will Ferrell), and a nonstop parade of in-jokes, harmless (yet controversial) gay jokes, and splendid celebrity cameos. While gently biting the Miramax hand that feeds him, and paying affectionate homage to the Star Wars saga, Smith sheds all inhibitions to give Jay and Silent Bob a stellar sendoff that's nasty, sassy, and undeniably hilarious. --Jeff Shannon See less
The second series of the award-winning BBC mockudrama The Office exceeded even the sky-high standards of the first....
(05/29/07) The second series of the award-winning BBC mockudrama The Office exceeded even the sky-high standards of the first. Indeed, it ventured beyond caricature and satire, touching on the very edge of darkness. Ricky Gervais was once again excruciatingly superb as David Brent, a subtly shaded modern English comic grotesque in the desperate and self-deluding tradition of Alan Partridge and Basil Fawlty. In this series, however, Brent's to-the-camera assertions concerning his management qualities and executive capabilities are seriously challenged when the Slough and Swindon branches are merged and his former Swindon equivalent Neil takes over as area manager. To compensate, Brent cultivates his pathologically mistaken image of himself as an entertainer-motivator-comedian whose stage happens to be the workplace. Meanwhile, Tim Canterbury (Martin Freeman), who can only maintain his sanity by teasing the priggish Gareth Keenan (Mackenzie Crook), continues to wrestle with his yearning for...See less
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