Flash Studio Secrets

Book Description

This stunning, four-color book is built around specific projects with underlying themes that introduce specific points about using Flash. Each project features a world-class Flash designer or organization, and includes a real-world case study detailing the objectives of the project. Each case study includes a description of the techniques and skills used in the project. Also integrated into these chapters would be specific notes on how doing these projects might differ slightly with Flash 5.

Customer Reviews:

A bit expensive and outdated.......2006-08-23

The main strength of this book is it's broad coverage. Every possibility it's considered chapter by chapter, games, rich media, sound, object oriented programming, etc. I found extremely useful the optimizing sizes and sounds chapters, and just that it's worth the price. However, be aware this is not a "how to" book. It's intended for people with experience in Flash. If you're a beginner, you'll face a lot of technical language, specially in the action script part. The book won't give you major explanations about it, 'cause you're supposed to be experienced enough to understand what's going on.

Since this book describes Flash 5 projects only, it's a bit outdated. This factor in particular dissapointed me, considering the price. Other similar books have full coverage of Flash 8 features for the same price. The irony is, if you're a rookie, this book it's not for you, and if you're and experienced user, probably you already know all the secrets included in the book.

Awesome!.......2002-01-24

This book is tremendous compendium for FLASH afficionados. I already had a strong background with experience using and developing in FLASH. But to see the ideas, code and they way it was architected by Smashing Ideas and other experts is really great.

Also, I found it very inspirational to read the thoughts of industry marvels like Jason Alan Snyder and Glenn Thomas who have been incredibly innovative with their creative use of FLASH in the areas of advertising and marketing.

I highly reccomend this title to anyone who wants to gain additional insight from the best and brightest the industry has to offer.

Intermediate book. Expensive. Good tricks. Overview........2001-11-06

Flash Studio Secrets was insightful but expensive. It's one of those books that are nice to have if you have the money, but enhances books already in your collection. It would not be useful being your only Flash book. The studio/business point of view and analysis of projects were very good, but I think the books suffers from a "Jack of all trades mentality" Then again, maybe that was their target audience for people buying the book. If you want to specialize on just web design, focus just on cartooning or focus on actionscript/gaming, buy another book. If you were looking for a good overview and another perspective to add to your library, this book would be ok.

I found the chapter on sound and programming a good read. Unfortunately there are a few typo's which annoy and the source code promised for the chess game in chapter four is not included on their website. I emailed them for the working version of the chess game they talk about, but am yet to receive an answer. The chapters on edutainment and marketing are also an interesting read. Furthermore, there are some good tricks and ideas mentioned throughout.

This is an intermediate book. This book will generate ideas and let you look at things regarding Flash in a different perspective. Don't buy this book if you're looking to learn how to use the program. This book will give you ideas on how to improve on what you already know and improve your workflow.

Some nice tid bits.......2001-10-26

I would have to say that there are some nice tid bits of flash wisdom spread through out this book. Not sure if that's worth the price of the book!

Also, not really a teaching tool about flash, more of a teaching tool about how Smashing Ideas in Seattle do things!

Smaller File Sizes Don't Lie, Very Informative.......2001-07-17

The best thing about this book is Chapter 2, "Optimizing, Loading, and Playback". The other books that I have read about flash don't even touch on this issue. It was worth the price of the book. Learning how to use the movie report option in flash, and how to properly bring in images for use from Illustrator has DRASTICALLY reduced my file sizes. My bitmap files look 20 times better, and are WAAAAaY smaller.

The animation chapter was also good. That chapter also had cool optimization techniques, like the modify>optimize pallate that I had never used before. Using it on all my drawn symbols reduced my file size by about 30 percent, and the drawings didn't look any different.

This book has a lot of information in it, I think it definately has something for everyone, especially if you are new to flash. I think this book gave me the basics on just about everything. It was a decent read,and the book is really nice to look at with TONS of color pictures, and I like that Smashing Ideas Robot Guy.

The Sound chapter is also really good, especially for non-sound people like myself. I picked up a lot of new techniques here that I had no clue about.

I have definately referred to the optimization techniques in this book in every flash project I've done since. I do recommend picking up this book if only for the drastic reduction in file sizes you will experience after reading it.

Amazon.com

"Music," Gershwin once said, "must reflect the thoughts and aspirations of the people and the time. My people are American. My time is today." Gershwin's life, from his days as a "songplugger" in New York's Tin Pan Alley to fame and fortune with Broadway shows and symphonic composition, followed the evolution of American popular music. But he was as much an influence on his time as he was influenced by it. Charismatic, brilliant, and vastly egotistical, his struggle to be recognized as a serious composer was always at odds with the fame and money such songs as "Fascinating Rhythm" and "Lady Be Good" brought him.

While Greenberg's biography is serviceable as an introduction to the composer's life, his analysis of the music is what raises this elegantly short book to the realm of the exceptional. Gershwin's body of work is surprisingly small, considering its lasting influence, and this gives the author the opportunity to discuss at length not only such landmark works as Rhapsody in Blue and Porgy and Bess, but also minor pieces like "Lullaby" and "Someone to Watch Over Me." Indeed, Greenberg argues that Gershwin's gifts, like those of Cole Porter but also Chopin and Grieg, were best expressed through his shorter compositions, and while he never stopped working to achieve a significant work of length, it was his instinct for 32-bar and shorter pieces that ensured his place in musical history. --John Longenbaugh

Book Description

As part of its 20th Century Composers series, Phaidon commissioned noted producer and director of television music programs Rodney Greenberg to write a biography of one of the century's most popular composers--George Gershwin, a man who in a regrettably short life (he died in 1937 at the age of 38) sought to straddle the worlds of popular and symphonic music."Music," Gershwin once said, "must reflect the thoughts and aspirations of the people and the time. My people are American. My time is today." Gershwin's life, from his days as a "songplugger" in New York's Tin Pan Alley to fame and fortune with Broadway shows and symphonic composition, followed the evolution of American popular music. But he was as much an influence on his time as he was influenced by it. Charismatic, brilliant, and vastly egotistical, his struggle to be recognized as a serious composer was always at odds with the fame and money such songs as "Fascinating Rhythm" and "Lady Be Good" brought him. While Greenberg's biography is serviceable as an introduction to the composer's life, his analysis of the music is what raises this elegantly short book to the realm of the exceptional. Gershwin's body of work is surprisingly small, considering its lasting influence, and this gives the author the opportunity to discuss at length not only such landmark works as Rhapsody in Blue and Porgy and Bess, but also minor pieces like "Lullaby" and "Someone to Watch Over Me." Indeed, Greenberg argues that Gershwin's gifts, like those of Cole Porter but also Chopin and Grieg, were best expressed through his shorter compositions, and while he never stopped working to achieve a significant work of length, it was his instinct for 32-bar and shorter pieces that ensured his place in musical history. --John Longenbaugh

Customer Reviews:

A fair and honest book about a musical genius.......2003-09-06

This was a fascinating look into the development of one of the outstanding musical forces of the 20th century. It traces Gershwin's incredible rise from Brooklyn streets, through Tin Pan Alley, to Broadway, concert halls, and Hollywood. It looks into the many influences to his music, and his aspirations for higher forms. Greenberg introduces us to a man with a huge ego, an insatiable love of music, and an extraordinary gift - a lovable character, around whose piano you would love to stand for even just one song.
The author gives us a sense of the tragedy in Gershwin's life that was deeply touching without being melodramatic. After reading this book you'll listen to Gershwin's music with a much enriched appreciation and understanding.

The Memory of All That: The Life of George Gershwin

Average customer rating:

Confused & Confusing
I have mixed feelings.
Certainly Not Trash
Garbage In - Garbage Out
Reads like a bad supermarket tabloid.

The Memory of All That: The Life of George Gershwin
Joan Peyser
Manufacturer: Watson-Guptill Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0823083322

Customer Reviews:

Confused & Confusing.......2005-12-08

A unhealty stew of a book. While there are a few interesting insights, it is poorly integrated with little or no logical development. It reads like a poorly edited Master's thesis. Too much gossip, second and third-hand reports, and gross speculation. Gerwhwin's impact on both popular and "serious" music is severely understated. Probably the best part of the book is the picture section.

I have mixed feelings........2005-07-01

Though I enjoyed this book tremendously, it was a guilty pleasure. Gershwin's musical life has been thoroughly documented in other books, and comparatively Joan Peyser doesn't fall too short in keeping us sufficiently well-informed of Gershwin's musical development in this book. However, her strong suit is Gershwin's personal life, and she raises some interesting theories in that area, some which seem very well-researched and others which seem to be little more than hearsay, though I give her credit for doggedly digging up such obscure hearsay. However, nothing revealed by this hearsay seems out of character for Gershwin based on what we know from earlier more scholarly biographies, so it comes across as quite believable, and answers some of the juicier questions many of us have had about Gershwin's private life. In that sense, its a real page turner.

The principles of scholarly nonfictional writing dictate that an author doesn't print information that didn't come from one or several reliable sources. Peyser has flouted that principle throughout this book. She frequently presents tantalizing bits of insider information that she obtained from a lone source, or worse yet from a person quoting another person, and in at least one memorable instance, a person quoting another person quoting another person (whew)! Having said that, essentially there are only two new theories that she pushes in this book. One, is that Gershwin had a subconscious masochistic streak in him that caused him to gravitate towards people of a cruel, insensitive, selfish, even sadistic nature (mainly because his mother was such a person), and the other, that it is a FACT, not rumor that Gershwin fathered an illegitimate son. The theory about Gershwin's masochistic streak is interesting, but it really matters not whether the reader buys it or not; it's merely an interesting thing to point out. But the theory about Gershwin's illegitimate son carries more weight, and deserves a closer look.

Other biographies, notably Charles Schwartz' 1973 biography have mentioned the alleged son and his claim to be Gershwin's progeny, immediately making the disclaimer that there is no evidence to prove or disprove his claim. Peyser, on the hand, dives head first into this controversy, throws out every bit of information on the matter that she can dig up, from solid proof to secondhand hearsay and let's the reader decide whether or not it is true. Is this responsible journalism? Probably not. Does it mean that the story is nothing more than an outlandish fabrication? No, it does not. From what we do know as fact about Gershwin, the story is quite plausible. We do know from numerous reliable sources that Gershwin was a sexual tyrannosaurus, going through scores of women in his short life. We also know that in the 1920s and 30s the use of contraception in casual sexual encounters, when it was used at all, was pretty much limited to the condom, which most men detested, and few carried around with them. We also know from old medical records, that a dancer who appeared in George White's Scandals of 1927, one of Gershwin's musicals, gave birth to an illegitimate son in 1928 who bore a striking physical resemblance to George Gershwin, even growing up to be afflicted with the same premature male pattern baldness as George Gershwin. All coincidence? Possibly. But based only these facts alone, it is not hard to believe that Gershwin fathered at illegitimate child. It would be harder to believe that he did not. The odds were certainly against him. When one factors in Joan Peyser's hearsay from friends and employees of Gershwin, it seems almost a certainty.

I do believe there are certain exceptions to the principles of scholarly journalism, however questionable and unsavory they may be. One exception is when clear factual information simply does not exist to prove a theory, and the best proof an author can come up with is sketchy and vague, e.g., Tchaikovsky's homosexuality. There is no solid proof to back up this claim OTHER than hearsay, and yet it is mentioned in all modern biographies of Tchaikovsky, and generally accepted as fact by the public. Another exception is when factual information exists but is withheld by its source, forcing the author to dig around the source for any scrap of information to corroborate what is likely true (why else would the source withhold evidence)? Such is the case with Gershwin's alleged son. In all likelihood, there is more than enough evidence to prove or disprove his legitimacy (or illegitimacy, as the case may be). If that evidence could prove his claim to be false, the Gershwin family would have come out with it years ago. So it is reasonable to deduce that the information they will not share with biographers proves the alleged son's claims to be true. It is understandable that family members as wealthy and influential as the Gershwins would seek to guard the image of so great an historical figure as George Gershwin, but it is also understandable that Peyser, sensing that she is onto something, would quote other sources less credible than the Gershwin family to make a case for an important matter in the life of her subject.

I sense that this author has a good nose for sniffing out the truth behind a story (though I can't prove it) even if what she finds cannot prove her to be right. Intuitive journalism, you might call it. I admit that this biography lacks the stamp of responsible journalism, and carries with it a whiff of lasciviousness, yet on the other hand, I believe she is barking up the right tree in most cases, even if she can't prove to our satisfaction that there's really anything up the tree.

If you're really interested in Gershwin's life, from soup to nuts, then you have to read this book, even if you disagree with every word of it.

Certainly Not Trash.......2005-05-25

This is much more than trash. I found it an unholy but compelling stew. This biography seeks to unmask Gershwin legends while touching on Gershwin's family, 20th century music trends, Broadway, popular song, and the zeitgeist. Granted, it does not tie these things together with any sort of elegance.

Peyser is not afraid to shoot from the hip. Sometimes she overextends and misses...sometimes she is truly persuasive about the players' psychology and motivations.

It's a weird read, combining the recollections of a 101 year old Gershwin family member with observations on Stravinsky's development as a composer. But I'm glad I read it. And I respect this author for doing what she could to record the recollections of people decades after the events. That, in itself, is no mean scholarly contribution!

Finally, I feel obliged to note that this author seems very indebted to Jablonski's *Gershwi*.

Garbage In - Garbage Out.......1999-11-16

This book proves the old computing adage! It's too bad the author doesn't have any solid research to back up the wild claims she makes about Gershwin's life. Too bad there isn't less than one star on amazon.com ratings, this book deserves far less.

Reads like a bad supermarket tabloid........1999-01-18

This book seems like an overt attempt at character assassination. If the author wants us to believe most of the "new material" that is presented in this book it's going to take more documentation than third or fourth hand rumor and gossip.

Surely there is a lot more complexity and depth to George Gershwin's character than we have had in previous biographies, but this trashy book doesn't convey that. For example, we are now to believe that Gershwin was a sadist because the author heard that from someone, who heard it from someone, who had it second hand from someone who heard it from George's psychologist? Puh-leeeze!

In my opinion, the author presents a lot of negative points about Gershwin without citing credible sources to back up the claims. I felt I was reading a diatribe from someone with a personal axe to grind, rather than a scholarly or well researched biography.

Let's hope a new generation of biographers don't cite this work as their source material for future biographies of Gershwin. It's trash.

Book Description

George Gershwin is one of the giants of American music, unique in that he was both a brilliant writer of popular songs ("Swanee," "I Got Rhythm," "They Can't Take That Away From Me") and of more serious music, including "Rhapsody in Blue," "An American in Paris," and "Porgy and Bess." Now, in The George Gershwin Reader, music lovers are treated to a spectacular celebration of this great American composer. The Reader offers a kaleidoscopic collection of writings by and about Gershwin, including more than eighty pieces of superb variety, color, and depth. There is a who's who of famous commentators: bandleader Paul Whiteman; critics Robert Benchley, Alexander Woollcott, and Brooks Atkinson; fellow musicians Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Alec Wilder (who analyzes the songs "That Certain Feeling" and "A Foggy Day"), Leonard Bernstein, and the formidable modernist composer Arnold Schoenberg (who was Gershwin's tennis partner in Hollywood). Some of the most fascinating and important writings here deal with the critical debate over Gershwin's concert pieces, especially "Rhapsody in Blue" and "An American in Paris," and there is a complete section devoted to the controversies over "Porgy and Bess," including correspondence between Gershwin and DuBose Hayward, the opera's librettist (a series of excerpts which illuminate the creative process), plus unique interviews with the original Porgy and Bess--Todd Duncan and Anne Brown. Sprinkled throughout the book are excerpts from Gershwin's own letters, which offer unique insight into this fascinating and charming man. Along with a detailed chronology of the composer's life, the editors provide informative introductions to each entry. Here then is a book for anyone interested in American music. Scholars, performers, and Gershwin's legions of fans will find it an irresistible feast.

Customer Reviews:

Gershwin to the core.......2005-02-25

As compiled by Robert Wyatt and John Andrew Johnson, George Gershwin springs to life in this book as much as his music. Told from the inside out, the authors allow Gershwin, his contemporaries and those who followed him to create a picture of the composer and how he lived and breathed music every day. This is a beautiful book.

Chief among the contributions in "The George Gershwin Reader" are letters between Gershwin and those with whom he came into contact. We read Gershwin's letters describing how he composed, reactions from him to those who challenged his compositions (especially questions about his own orchestrations) and his eternal boyishness as he wrote friends and family regarding his daily pleasures. His early demise only strengthened the views of so many that Gershwin was a musical genius and that he, more than any other composer, captured the essence of America in transition between the two world wars.

Although "The George Gershwin Reader" can occasionally get overly detailed in musical theory, the pages flow easily. The brief summaries that the authors give before each numbered entry are most helpful for explanation in setting the stage for what ensues. The timeliness of Gershwin's life mirrored by these entries is the authors' best contribution.

It is easy to see why, more than eighty years after George Gershwin's first big success, "Rhapsody in Blue", his music has so long endured and is so endeared. This book is a great tribute to Gershwin and one I hope other readers will enjoy thoroughly.

Nice attempt, but it's been done more colorfully before.......2005-02-01

Certainly this is a worthy effort in the realm of Gershwin scholarship, and received deserved attention with an unusually long Gershwin piece, citing articles reprinted in this book, that appeared in the New Yorker magazine on Jan. 10, 2005. Nevertheless, readers should be aware that in 1998--and still available on Amazon--the first book to reprint these amazing primary-source articles by Gershwin and his associates, contemporaries, critics, etc., was published: GERSHWIN IN HIS TIME. Its focus was to provide an overview using original sources and writers (including both Gershwins, DuBose Heyward, Alexander Woolcoot, Olin Downes, Paul Whiteman, Brooks Atkinson, and other critics; also reprinting newspaper and magazine reviews of the major Gershwin symphonic and theatrical productions) of ONLY the contemporary accounts of the composer's works, as they were written and premiered.
In addition this was and is the first and only full-color book on Gershwin, and it augments the articles with page after page of reproductions of original sheet music, programs, magazine art, photos, posters, and pertinent memorabilia, all published during the composer's lifetime. It would be a shame not to acknowledge the groundbreaking nature of this first book to present the contemporary materials of Gershwin's life and career. Readers who are fascinated by this subject, and would like to see color visual counterparts to the original articles, are encouraged to seek out a copy of GERSHWIN IN HIS TIME.
However, readers should understand that the new GERSHWIN READER expands on the materials in GERSHWIN IN HIS TIME by also including significant letters by the composer and his associates, as well as criticism and discussions of the works by authorities and fellow composers in the years following Gershwin's death in 1937--extremely important materials, and a must for anyone interested in all of the 20th century's opinions of the composer. GERSHWIN IN HIS TIME remains valuable as a scrapbook of contemporary accounts and color images that present a complete "you-are-there," year-by-year (1919-1937) overview of Gershwin's career and works.

Both informative and enjoyable reading.......2004-01-27

Having four biographies of George Gershwin (GG) already in my collection, I wondered if something called "The George Gershwin Reader" would be of any value. I needn't have wondered! Reading it cover to cover has been one of the more pleasant tasks I have encountered as a reviewer.

This Oxford University Press book retails for $30. Edited by Robert Wyatt and John Andrew Johnson, it is organized into eight sections: Portraits of the Artist, The Growing Limelight (1919-1924), Fame and Fortune (1924-1930), Maturity (1930-1935, Porgy and Bess, Last Years: Hollywood (1936-1937), Obituaries and Eulogies, and As Time Passes. There are 83 reading selections in all. Some are contemporary reports, essays, letters, biographies; some are backward looks written since the composer's death.

In short, this can be used as a sourcebook for those studying various aspects of Gershwin's life and works (practically the same things) or read for pure enjoyment. My favorite anecdote that so wonderfully reveals the innocent egotism of GG is the story told on pp. 181-182 about a remark he made to composer Harry Ruby and his reaction to being reminded of it two years later. Priceless.

Each selection is introduced by the editors, who give background information about what is to be discussed and the persons involved. There is no dearth of negative criticism about GG's "classical" compositions; and they have even included one which states that Gershwin could not have written the music attributed to him. (The implication is that no Jewish composer could have done that well, a strong echo of Wagner's identical claim, and then contradicted by the writer's claiming the music is bad anyway!)

This OUP book is the very model of what a "reader" should be-and teachers and students of the history of American music, I will be making great use of the information therein.

Customer Reviews:

Chock Full of Information.......2005-05-27

This is pretty dreary read. It records an immense amount of information but doesn't deliver a picture of the man. Stil, there's a lot of value here -- particularly with the supplemental material on Ira after George's death, the list of the Gershwin brothers' collaborations, and a thoughtful discography.

Good information, but poorly written.......2005-04-06

Surprisingly poorly written. Much of the book seems like it was thrown together from various notes without the benefit of a rewrite or an editor. A person will be introduced in one paragraph as so-and-so's friend who did such-and-such, only to be reintroduced again the same way a couple of paragraphs later.

Conversely, though less often, someone will be referred to by last name only with no introduction, prompting the reader to rescan the preceding paragraphs, thinking he missed something.

The result is that many of the stories the author tells are murky and confusing. It's also clear that he doesn't know a lot about music, though that may be OK if that's not the approach you're looking for. On the plus side, the book seems well-researched and contains a lot of detail. It's a shame he didn't go the extra step of having a cowriter or at least a good editor.

Thorough but academic.......1998-12-13

This is probably the best Gershwin biography out there at the moment. It is very factual and academic. I wish that the author wrote in a more lively manner, though. Here we have one of the most fascinating figures of the twentieth century; an incredibly talented composer and pianist; a man who worked on Broadway, in the concert halls, in Hollywood; a man who knew many of the most fascinating figures in entertainment. You would think a biography of his life would be a spell binding page turner. No. This one drags in many places.

American in Paris (2P4H) (Belwin Edition)

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American in Paris (2P4H) (Belwin Edition)

Manufacturer: Alfred Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0769278205

Book Description

Arranged for two pianos, four hands. As Recorded by The Labeque Sisters.

American Rhapsody (Jewish Biography Series)

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American Rhapsody (Jewish Biography Series)
Paul Kresh
Manufacturer: Dutton Juvenile
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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George and Ira Gershwin (American Songwriters Series)

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George and Ira Gershwin (American Songwriters Series)

Manufacturer: Alfred Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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George Gershwin,: Young composer, (Childhood of famous Americans)

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George Gershwin,: Young composer, (Childhood of famous Americans)
Bernice Morgan Bryant
Manufacturer: Bobbs-Merrill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

George Gershwin: A study in American music

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George Gershwin: A study in American music
Isaac Goldberg
Manufacturer: Simon and Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B000857S84

George Gershwin: American Composer (Modern Music Masters)

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George Gershwin: American Composer (Modern Music Masters)
Catherine Reef
Manufacturer: Morgan Reynolds Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 1883846587

Book Description

The early twentieth century was a wonderful time for American music, and George Gershwin was the most gifted composer of that era. Songs such as "Summertime" and "Someone to Watch Over Me" continue to enchant listeners and performers. His Rhapsody in Blue is still performed around the world and Porgy and Bess, written near the end of his tragically short life, was the first successful use of traditional American music in an opera.

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