The Phalanx Covenant was one of the major reasons that I originally quit buying all the X-Men titles (I recently began again). The villains were uninteresting, the art was below average, and the writing for the most part was horrid. The X-Men and Uncanny X-Men sections were decent but the rest was absolutely worthless. Marvel was putting hideous foil covers on every other issue at that time, which annoyed me to no end. The foil strip running up each of these covers added nothing whatsoever to the comic accept for over a dollar on the cover price. This cross-over was nothing more than an attempt by Marvel to make the most possible money with the least possible effort. The five or so issues of Uncanny that led up to the crossover were all subpar. The new Generation X members could have been introduced in a much better way. I have yet to read an issue of Generation X that was not better than these. The Phalanx were completely incompatable with the Marvel model of the tragic villain tortured by a horrible past and fighting to survive (like Magneto). They had no basis in any past storyline do not inspire readers to buy any future Phalanx story. If you are looking for a great X-Men story to read, especially if you are a new reader to the X-titles, do not start with this crossover. Read X-Tinction Agenda, Mutant Massacre, Dark Phoenix Saga, or the X-Cutioner's Song.

The Phalanx Covenant stars some of Generation X mutants. The Phalanx adapt quickly to anything. If you shot it with a machine gun you could probably kill 1 before they adapt. They are all linked so what one knows they all know.

Siggraph San Antonio was about to close up shop on its last day and I finally made my way to the bookstore. I had about 7 minutes to make my choices. One choice was a nicely done book on character animation in Flash, and the other was "The Art of the Storyboard" by John Hart Hart's book is one that I can truly say I regret buying. There is little of use inside, and some severely misleading bits as well. (For instance Hart tells us that it's the storyboard artist who determines light placement.) I was hoping for a book that would give me some information on generally used techniques for depicting camera moves, fades and other conventions. Instead we get pencil drawings cribbed from films that look more like fan-art than any storyboards I've ever seen or worked with.

Anyone wanting insights into how tho convey their cinematic vision to others would do well to steer clear of this volume.

After searching for books on storyboarding for a class, I found and read a handful of them. This book was a big disappointment. For readers looking to learn about the CRAFT of storyboarding, I strongly recommend "From Word to Image" by Begleiter. However, if you like personal anecdotes, personal preferences, Hollywood history trivia, uninspiring graphics, and little teaching content, then Mr. Hart's "Art of Storyboard" will give you much of that. I am giving it two stars instead of one, because there are few books on storyboarding and because there is nonetheless some useful content (but it could have been put in 10 pages).

This book covers storyboards ranging from the most basic to the most detailed. The author recreates frames from classic films--old and new--to illustrate how a storyboard can include light, movement, perspective, and shadow to offer a more complete view of the scene. I found this book to be as much about the art of observing, which is essential to anyone involved in the filmmaking process.

I have just discovered this revealing book by successful photographer, Master of Arts John Hart, in which he explains more than just lighting the client whose portrait he is taking. He discusses every aspect of the entire business from greeting the client, creating client rapport, coaching the client through the session, the positioning of the client, applying facial makeup, indoor and outdoor portraiture and direct and indirect lighting, to record keeping, legal releases, equipment and everything else necessary for operating a successful business. As for lighting, he explains the why, how and what light should be used. This is an invaluable aide for even those going digital.

This book is the bible for the industry.
As a professional photographer I have used the original version of this book extensively and I now use this newer edition even more. There is something for everyone in this book no matter your level of expertise in photography. You need this volume in your library!
Buy 2 because you will wear out the pages from overuse.
It answers your daily shooting problems professionaly and completely.
I hope he writes more books!!

If you're looking for fine art techniques, this may not be exactly for you, but if you know the difference between a Key and a Kick light, if you know what a 1:3 lighting ratio is, and if you're looking for a cookbook to teach you the basics and fundamentals of portrait lighting that are second nature to the working professional, then this is the book to do it. No nonsense and no fluff, concise and to the point, this book covers a wide range of lighting and posing scenarios that will stand you in good stead throughout your career. Having purchased close to a dozen books on portraiture, this one is one of the best. If you're a budding pro, a student, an advanced amatuer, or just someone who wonders how they light the types of professional photos you see in magazines and in the windows of portrait studios everywhere, this book will provide you with a veritable wealth of information.

Do Not BUY! As the 4.x successor to the very populate R/3 3.x Transactions Handbook, sometimes known as the "Black Book" in the R/3 consulting industry, this version was more than a little disappointing.

This book offers the user nothing more than a very simple list of every SAP R/3 4.x transactions with nothing more than SAP's single line, short description, to support a transaction's use and syntax, Basically this book reads like an index listing, not a reference manual

I am an independent SAP BASIS Trainer and Consultant with 5 plus years experience with SAP R/3. After reviewing my copy, I returned the book in 24 hours.

It is nearly impossible to write a Tcode referrence book, but you want to re-write or edit all of the SAP online help files.

It is impossible to write a detailed handbook for all transaction code of R/3, but you want to re-write or edit all of the online help of R/3 ---- about more than 20000 pages.

A British-born Australian immigrant publishes his results about gay immigration to Australia. Gay immigration is a very urgent issue and I'm glad the matter is being documented. But this book left me so sad and dissatisfied. On the one hand, activists globally can learn from Austalia's example. This book starts with a decent chapter on the history of gay Australian immigration. This was also a longitudinal study: something you rarely find in sexual orientation-related research. However, the book is very sloppily-written. It reads like a scrapbook or diary. So many of his discussions are internal and unimportant. There's no way an American scholar could get tenure with a book like this. Usually, I praise gay male authors that remember to include lesbians in their research. But the lesbians involved in the study get scant mention and thus become negligible. Like studies of gay Asians in white-dominated countries throughout the world, this text is filled with cute, young Asian guys having no choice but to partner with size-, age-, and looks-challenged white mates. This book will kinda rub the younger non-Eurocentric gay men of color the wrong way. You would think that binational gay couples have risked thick and thin to be together. In this book, the Australian officials encourage gay couples to cheat on their applications and all kinds of pairs that have no intention of staying together apply for couple status. Most every respondent said the immigration controversy is affecting their health negatively. Further, the author says things about his long-term partner that no spouse should say about another in print. There's no bigamy allowed in Australia for straight citizens, yet the author is not fazed in the least to apply for immigration status for his Thai extra lover. Worse, he gets mad when he finds that his Thai lover is cheating but never criticizes himself for cheating on his first lover with the Thai national. Bottom line: America is so far away from enacting gay immigration (which is a shame) and this book will do NOTHING to help that goal happen, as poor and tragic as this work is.