Ava is one nasty villian ad she is the focus of this graphic novel. Her lack of nuance is the books major flaw but the art and raw intensity of Miller's storytelling makes it a solid success. The pictures are awesome!

Despite the sometimes obvious and familiar plotline, "A Dame To Kill For" manages to remain fresh, entertaining and draws the reader into story. The art is superb and the dialogue and narration are great as well. Very entertaining. A dark noir classic.

Equally as good as the original, this follow-up centers on the character named Dwight. He's fallen for a certain woman's lies, and has had enough. The story centers on his trying to exact revenge on her, and he recruits our hero Marv from the original Sin City in the process. Interesting, if you know the outcome of the first story. My favorite device used here was the showing of the same bar scene from Sin City. I am a huge fan of cross-referencing stories, and I've never seen this used so well in a graphic novel before. So, like I've said before, any doubts? Get some. Pick up some more Sin City today.

The book is just that--a book. Nothing great, nothing fancy. The author, (I think,) tries to see exactly how dull he can make it. Just do yourself a favor and rent the movie.

If you liked the movie the book is about 98% the same, if you didn't like the movie you won't like the book. The remaining two or so percent is how the story begins and ends. Overall pretty good but nothing major.

This book is my favorite. Though the first time I read it, it made no sense. After I read it the second time, I loved it. You just have to open your mind to a new way of thinking for this book. You can't think of the obvious.

The author, a semi-practicing Catholic dealing with the death of his youngest son, entered into the life of the Trappist monks in several monasteries. From that experience, he gives us a mixture of monastic history, of lives of selected (composite) monks discerning their calling and growth, and a picture of the issues confronting the religious community as they grapple with the issues raised by Vatican II.

The resulting book stresses several points:

Monk are human with the same foibles as the non-vowed Catholic population.

That a major component of what sets monks apart is the stability of their lives and the community in which those lives are lived; this results in an environment where confronting oneself and one's masks is inevitable.

That balance of work, play and prayer is essential to fostering wholeness.

That the monk's life is nearly a universal human activity and that much of what formerly distinguished the professed religious life is now adopted/adapted by dedicated laity.

That God truly works in mysterious ways - exemplified by the author's changed understanding of God as he finally confronts his son's death.

The genius of the book is that it achieves the list given above primarily through the narrative of human experience within the monastic community. Where more abstract theology/history is provided, it is generally within the context of conversation with individual monks presenting their individual experience and belief.

With the narrative, there are individuals that the reader comes to care about - the crusty, rigid Br. Bede, the Texas ranch boy Mac, the novice Gabriel ... Through these and many others, the reader catches glimpses of themselves and their own needs. In this sense, the lives of the monks as presented, serve as a mirror nudging the reader to examine themselves as the monks are examining themselves.

Don't read this book unless you're prepared to handle the cold, hard truth about the spiritual life and monks who make it their profession. It isn't easy and it isn't abstract, and monks will be the first to admit, that for all their honest effort, they fall on their faces just as this book reveals in fascinating detail. More than one monk took the time to praise this book "as a major contribution to the understanding of modern monasticism." Those are the words on the book's back cover, written by the Washington Post's respected columnist and critic, Coleman McCarthy, who was once himself a Trappist. Better yet, consider what Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland, O.S.B., onetime Benedictine Abbot General, wrote about the book: "Frank Bianco brings monks to life in his book and lets the human and the spiritual shine through. Most graciously he shares with the reader his own spiritual transformation that resulted from encounters with monks, men whose lives are devoted to seeking God." A Trappist Master of Novices recommended this book to me while I was living at his abbey for an extended period, trying to come to terms with my marital problems. I saw for myself how the book was right on target. The spiritual life is all about finding God as he offers himself in the day-to-day, seemingly ordinary people and events, which is what the author learned. It's not for anyone who's trying to hide from life. To his credit (and to the reader's benefit ultimately) the author submitted himself to the life just as an ordinary monk does. He wanted to learn why God brought him to the monastery seemingly by accident and why he was able to regain his faith by opening himself as monks do - to what only seems to be ordinary in everyday life. There's all too many books on the spiritual life that duck life's tough questions by labeling them as "mysterys." That wasn't good enough for the monks whose struggles are revealed in this book and who trusted the author to tell people what other writers didn't understand or never learned. This may not be the best book ever written about monastic life, but a better one has yet to published.

I highly recommend this book for several reasons. None of them have to do with giving the public a picture of what really goes on behind closed doors at a Trappist monastery. If your only interest in Trappist life is some voyeuristic urge to know the secret life of monks, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed.

The review that suggests that Bianco's book isn't an accurate picture of Trappist life doesn't make much sense to me. Bianco's assignment was to go to several Trappist monasteries and write about what he found there. His writing is crisp, and I am sure he would say he relayed the facts as he witnessed them.

There is a more important reason to read Bianco's story of his time amongst the Trappists. Bianco went to the monastery to do his job as a reporter, showing voyeurs what monks really do in that cloister. What he encountered in the monastery was an unexpected connection with his hidden brothers in Christ who prayed out their lives "known only to God." More importantly, Bianco encountered a God who loves him intensely and used his experience with the Trappists to bring him through a profound grief to a place of peace and security in his life. I suppose his journalistic detachment and objectivity slipped a bit in the telling of his story.

If Bianco had emerged from his time with the Trappists unchanged, I would have been disappointed. He tells an important story with courage and sensitivity, and we are the richer for his efforts.

If you really want to know what life in a monastery is like, go spend time in one. St. Benedict's rule still requires the reception of visitors, and all the Benedictine foundations I know have made terrific provisions for those seeking times of recollection. If you to hear what happened to Frank Bianco when he went through the cloister gates, read this book.

I read this to my kindergarden students who loved it. The book is a consciousness raising story for children about how to behave in a restaurant. From an adult perspective the author should have had the parents say at the end, "Froggy, we should have realized that you are not grown up enough for a fancy restaurant," since it was a mistake to take him; the ending would have made better sense. While none of the students said they thought Froggy was being rewarded for his bad behavior with a trip to "Burger and Flies", it looked that way to me.

This book is so darn cute. Kids probably love them, and if I were still a youngin' I would like these books.

This story tells the tale of the considerable agony that children go through when eating at a fancy restaurant.

While it is true that Froggy misbehaved, it's not true that he wasn't punished. He unknowingly punished himself by enduring the humiliation of his actions in front of Frogilina.

This is a brightly colored and captivating book, my 2-year old loves it.

Although I have been studying French since High School, the Capretz method features something that no high school or college course can supply - interesting French conversations.

I find the program not only to be challenging, but very entertaining. Because there is actually a story going on, I don't mind watching the videos or listening to the tapes. Unlike other popular methods on the market, Capretz uses dialog which is usefull to the student.

In addition to being fun, the tapes also stress repetion and drill after drill. The tapes also depict French as it is actually spken today. For example, all the speakers say jsui instead of je suis.

I find this the best mathod on the market. The only problem is that if you can't get the video segment off the television then the program is going to cost you some big bucks!!

I've tried a number of different language course in a number of different languages over the years, but this is far and away the best. It's an immersion course, which means the videos and the audio-tapes are completely in French. It helps at the start if you've done a little French before, but even if you haven't, the extra effort in the early sections pays off handsomely. The videos are an essential part of the whole package, though they seem to be fairly widely available on public TV. (Here in Australia, ABC TV shows them nationwide, continuously, as part of the Open Learning programme). I strongly recommend buying them if you can, otherwise you are going to have to tape all 52 programmes off-air - you need to watch them over and over for maximum benefit. Each episode consists of 10 minutes of the story (a charming and quirky American boy meets French girl in Paris soap opera)and twenty minutes of explanation by Professor Capretz, an equally charming and quirky instructor. The whole is interlaced with hundreds of brief extracts from French film and TV. You watch the video several times, then work through the audio tapes to improve your own speaking, pronunciation and comprehension, read the text, then do the exercises. It might sound repetitive (all language learning is), but the story does hold your interest right to the end. I did it as a two year course with Open Learning in Australia, through the University of New England, and was sorry when it ended. This is a good way to do it, but it will work fine for a self-learning course. It's fairly costly, with textbook, workbooks, study guide and audiotapes, not to mention the videos, but you won't find a better course for learning to speak French or understand it from radio, film or TV. The reading side has been strengthened in the second edition, but to get to be a fluent reader you will need extra reading outside the course.

One of my teachers ( a French national) criticised the course for cultural bias (a little upperclass and American) and he has a point, but for a rapid and enjoyable path to fluency, this course can't be beaten.

This is an amaizing course in how to communicate in French. Communication is not only the words in the sentance but how they are constructed and the subjects that evoke a response. The course is fun, albeit corny but amusing, story of an American boy in Paris who falls for a French girl. Through their adventures one is introduced not only to the language but to the subjects dear to the French heart. I have heard some of the conversations almost verbatum between French people during my 6 years in France. I still listen to the tapes from time to time to memorise sentences that work at engaging french people. Any of the conversations on food are a winner along with things like 'la belle pierre de France'. Its amaizing what cords these subjects and the way they are presented in the course ring a chord with the French. The people who put this course together understood the differences between the American perspective and the French perspective and were able to emphasize or play with these differences to point them out in the course. I wouldn't consider buying any other method until I had this one.

It has be my first Frank MIller's book, so I feel strange in writing about it now.
There was no internet at home when Iì've bought it at the newsstand on the road, so I just listended my eyes :))
It's a great and sad story, really over exposed, but you have to read till the end and read it again.
Great, really great!

Okay,you have Frank Miller,THE greatest writer of comics/graphic novels,and you have Geof Darrow- THE undisputed greatest comic artist of all time-and here,the two join forces to produce an award winning masterpiece! This book has it all. A great story,sure.Full of extreme ultra violence,twisted humor,and taking place in a future where ANYTHING goes. And the artwork. For anyone unfamiliar with Darrow's brand of work...imagine "Where's Waldo"...on acid! I've never been able to find out much about his history as an artist,but I think he probably must have some experience as a technical artist,(you know the type,exploded interior views of engines and the like),except those drawings are done using computer aided design...this guy uses pen and ink,and gets a whole lot more creative. And in case you're wondering what I mean by Wheres Waldo on acid,on nearly every page,you'll find literally hundreds of people,going about their bizarre,and often somewhat perverted lives,all the while there being every piece of liter you can imagine from beer cans to condoms strewn about the streets,from which you can sometimes even see through windows,and all of this carefully and skillfully drawn out with such psychotic detail that it just might blow your mind! It can sometimes take around an hour to fully enjoy some scenes,depending on size. Even after you've read the story once,(which is great by the way,I just dont want to spoil anything),you can enjoy it all over again and again. P.S.---If you like this,you'll also like "The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot"...another Miller/Darrow collaboration. Also,I hear they are discussing making Hard Boiled:The Movie,with Nicholas Cage interested in the lead. It would be great...and if they stick with the look o'the book,quite exspensive as well!

Frank Darrow's artwork is worth the total price alone!! Frank Millers story is mind-boggeling, and deffinately not for children. I rate this book more that 5 stars easy!!!! If you are open minded with things of an adult nature and crave the ultra-violence, your bookshelf is not complete with out Frank Miller and Geof Darrow's graphic novel....."Hard Boiled"

This book is one of the more comprehensive I have read about Oracle programming. It has very good examples and you will find tips and information you won't find in any other books/web sites/forums etc. This book has been written by genuine Oracle developers and you will get a depth of real-world knowledge and application. I recommend highly it for the serious Oracle, Java and XML developer.

One of the best books around for database application developers working with Java/XML on the Oracle platform and who don't nowadays! The book is up-to-date with Oracle 8.1.7 and covers new aspect such as JDBC2.0 and the Java to native compiler (NCOMP). I give it five stars because it covers all important Java/XML aspects in great detail and because it already proved its worth by providing me with solutions for really tricky problems. The only neagtive thing I can think of is its size. But I guess the American authors probably got paid per line.

To produce this book, Wrox took twenty expert Oracle developers and had each of them write about their area of expertise. The result is that whether you are a manager, a developer, or a DBA, if you are working with Oracle 8i this book should be on your desk. This book covers virtually every topic that you need to understand about the Oracle 8i development platform. It does not cover each topic completely but it provides a thorough and in most cases sufficient introduction on each topic. For a particular topic of interest you may need an additional book but to get all the information found in this book you would need ten volumes at least. The book opens with an introduction to Oracle 8i and some of its components including Net8 (Oracle's network solution) and Designer 6i (Oracle's development environment). The next section covers PL/SQL and PSP (this is similar to JSP). This is followed by an extensive section covering Java. This section covers JDBC, SQLJ, EJB, and interMedia (Oracle's powerful search tool). The last section covers XML and includes information on DOM and SAX parsers, SOAP, XSL, XSQL, and more. Extensive case studies are scattered throughout the book. Examples show how to use Oracle tools such as BC4J to develop enterprise applications. The book even includes primers on Java and XML. As a tour of all the features of Oracle 8i, this book is without competition.

When Miller started cranking out the Sin City stuff, a great time was had by all. The art was dark and moody, the stories wound through a cast of character types unseen in a mainstream comic in years (some, never). It started with an incredible bang with the original "Sin City" book and took some fascinating turns for a few years, but at some point, Miller began to bite his own style, his characters now flat, lifeless killing machines with no purpose prior to the story at hand.

This book in particular gives us a character we don't know, don't know by the end of the book, and don't care that we don't know. We just want to see how he's going to kill someone next. Now, bear in mind: that's not why readers picked the book up, but that's what we've resolved ourselves to experience. Where there is no heart, there is no caring, and this book doesn't have a character in it you can care about. It's not that they're mean-spirited - that would be refreshing for Miller at this point - it's that they're simply one-dimensional: the dark, brooding anti-hero of few words who walks around the city helping barely-created hookers with the fighting abilities of ten ninjas...in his sneakers, no less. Yawn. Wake me up when you create another type of character.

An artist/mysteryman named Wallace meets and falls in love with a mysterywoman named Esther. When she turns up missing, he goes into and through Hell to find her.

I am a big fan of Frank Miller's work. I am a big fan of his Sin City work. That being said, this collection just seemed to be missing something for me, and I cannot figure out what it is. The art is stellar, the story is engrossing, and the characters are interesting. This is still better than 95% of the other graphic novels that I have read in my life, but there is just something missing that prevents me from giving it a perfect score.

If you like Frank Miller's work, then pick it up. If you like love stories with a film-noir feel, then definitely get it. If you are looking for the very best of Frank Miller's noirish love stories, then get A Dame To Kill For, then after you get one come back for this and maybe you can tell me what this one is missing.

This is the latest Sin City title from Frank Miller. Although I personally don't think he's topped himself as far as the story since the first one, his art has gotten more and more polished in each title. The story here is pretty standard Frank Miller fare: dangerous, unhappy loner meets the woman of his dreams, complications arise, he kills lots and lots of underworld types to save her. This story ties in to several of the earlier Sin City tales with peripheral characters: Delia, Colonel, and Manute all appear in other tales. Like the other tales of Sin City, this is done in black and white; like some of the later ones, color is used sparingly to great effect. The use of color is more extensive here, but is very effective when used, always intentionally to call attention to a character or scene. If you've never read anything by Frank Miller, do yourself a favor and buy any and all of the Sin City titles, as well as Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

PS Several of the earlier reviews aren't talking about this story. Any references to "Marv" or "the handcuff scene" are talking about the original Sin City book, which I also highly reccomend.

This book is another book that I read in an effort to get information about Feng Shui. It goes into details and gives quite a bit of information about the history of Feng Shui. It's a good book for a beginner, someone with limited exposure to Feng Shui, who wants to get an idea of what it is. It also offers some practical ideas on where to start to make your life less cluttered, more serene.

The illustrations are well done and easy to understand. Ms. Lagatree obviously researched her subject and knows quite a bit about the subject. She includes all parts of your home, not just focussing on one room/place. She explains the "Ba-Gua basics" in a way that is informative and yet easy to understand. From the beginning, with the history of Feng Shui, to the ending, when she describes garden Feng Shui basics, Ms. Lagatree has done an excellent job of conveying to the reader the ideas behind it.

This is a well written book that is meant to inform and be 'user friendly.'

Marguerite Nico
July 14, 2002

In the foreward of this book, Feng Shui is defined and described. There are 8 chapters. The photos included are sketches and are black and white. Some Feng Shui books are quite complicated but this book, however, is rather easy to understand. I would have enjoyed this book more if there had been more sketches demonstrating Feng Shui in the rooms of a house. As it is, you stand wondering if your arrangement of furniture is in accordance to Feng Shui.

This book contains a great and concise history of Feng Shui, but is written so that it gets kind of confusing as not enough detail is given to remedy situations. For example, I still don't understand this "Pointed Arrow" thing, because wherever I look, I see jutting corners. However, it's an excellent book for beginners like me because of it's broad overview and interesting history.

This book, written ages ago for MAX 1.2, doesn't do the job now that MAX is up to v2.5. While I did learn a few interesting tricks, for the most part I was dissapointed. Several tutorials contained blatant errors or would not work as explained. Most of what you learn here, you learn by fixing the author's errors or figuring out the things he forgot to tell you. Add to that the fact that it's out of date, and it adds up to a definite last resort resource book.

First let me say that I had previously written a more positive review of this book; however, I may have been a little over zealous.

I asked Amazon.com to remove my review as I no longer felt the way I did about the book. Many months later I see my review still on the board, so I have taken the time to write a more accurate review of this book.

Now to the review:

The book has a good section on the Fit Deformation command of the lofting component. The model that you make (a woman's high heeled shoe) is a good practical model for learning the Fit Deformation command and the other features that go along with the lofting component. A pretty good section on animating a hopping kangaroo, however...

In the tutorial that shows you how to model and animate a kangaroo, the author clearly states that the boolean function may not work when modeling the kangaroo. She's right! I never got it to work. Boolean functions are indeed tricky, but to put a tutorial that is clearly going to have a difficult time performing a boolean function shows extreme short sightedness. As a seasoned 3DSR4 user, I had the patience to try this boolean over a dozen times before I gave up. I cannot imagine new users truly understanding the usefulness of the boolean function if it doesn't work in a tutorial.

Half the book is made up of one tutorial in which half of that tutorial is composed of programming. Most 3D artists are artists, not programers. I don't mind learning some scripting but the tutorial they provide (which is pretty neat, by the way) is way too long and complicated.

In sum, they should get rid of the kangaroo tutorial and the space buggy tutorial.

This is the book for anyone using 3D Studio MAX for the first time. After completing the first 3 chapters I was able to begin reading (with understanding) the more comprehensive manuals for experienced MAX users. GREAT MANUAL, THANK YOU Michele and company.