Sunday, July 01, 2001
Lenny's Got it Right
Just watching CBS' Sunday Morning, and just saw Leonard Maltin's review of A.I. All I have to say is that he's got it right. I don't always agree with his reviews, but his views are most like mine of any critic I've heard/read about this movie. The review is not up on the site as I write, but it should appear here when it does. I also note that two of the reviews of the film by "michael" and Jon Katz at the venerable Slashdot are insightful, and worth a look at (though spoilers abound). Book Review: Master Pieces: The Architecture of Chess
This is a fun little book, perfect for picking up and reading in bits and pieces. It has been on my bed-side table for several months, and I have read it a few pages at a time since sometime this past Spring, when I picked it up as a treat to myself afetr getting my last royalty cheque. Many books that look at the history of chess never really examine the actual art and artistry that went behind the design of the pieces that have been used to play the game, and that is the focus of this book.
The author looks at the development of chess as a game, and how the pieces evolved across various cultures: armoured elephants evolving into rooks, Islamic viziers becoming the Queen in Western chess sets, and the transformation of abstract pieces into the pinnacle of figurative pieces carved from such materials as ivory, bone and wood.
The book also looks briefly at some historic players of chess (such as Napoleon and Catherine the Great) and the sets they used, chess as art in the 20th century (such as Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray), and the interesting war-time sets made by prisoners of war.
A fascinating sideways-glance at history as seen through the pieces of a simple game.
Just watching CBS' Sunday Morning, and just saw Leonard Maltin's review of A.I. All I have to say is that he's got it right. I don't always agree with his reviews, but his views are most like mine of any critic I've heard/read about this movie. The review is not up on the site as I write, but it should appear here when it does. I also note that two of the reviews of the film by "michael" and Jon Katz at the venerable Slashdot are insightful, and worth a look at (though spoilers abound). Book Review: Master Pieces: The Architecture of Chess
This is a fun little book, perfect for picking up and reading in bits and pieces. It has been on my bed-side table for several months, and I have read it a few pages at a time since sometime this past Spring, when I picked it up as a treat to myself afetr getting my last royalty cheque. Many books that look at the history of chess never really examine the actual art and artistry that went behind the design of the pieces that have been used to play the game, and that is the focus of this book.
The author looks at the development of chess as a game, and how the pieces evolved across various cultures: armoured elephants evolving into rooks, Islamic viziers becoming the Queen in Western chess sets, and the transformation of abstract pieces into the pinnacle of figurative pieces carved from such materials as ivory, bone and wood.
The book also looks briefly at some historic players of chess (such as Napoleon and Catherine the Great) and the sets they used, chess as art in the 20th century (such as Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray), and the interesting war-time sets made by prisoners of war.
A fascinating sideways-glance at history as seen through the pieces of a simple game.# posted by Keith : 9:53 AM
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