This short book, which reads like a commencement address to a Yale graduating class, contains the summation of Reich's wisdom, intelligence and wit gained through a lifetime of academia and public service. He presents a roadmap for putting the American economy back on track after two decades of Republican social engineering -- bought and paid for by powerful special interests.

Too bad this nation stands little chance of electing a short Jewish president, because in Reich we find the vision and idealism sadly lacking from politics of the last generation. Our universally tall soundbite presidents have removed IDEAS and IDEALS from the public forum, replacing them with deceptive smirks, homey aphorisms and big hairdos. When Thomas Paine envisioned a country self-governed by the common men, I'll bet he never imagined the Barnum & Bailey cynicism of appealing to Joe Sixpack with one hand while simultaneously selling him out to corporate greed with the other.

"I'll Be Short" loses a couple stars for being intentionally vague about how to pay for rebuilding America, although this does not diminish the power of the message.

This concert video of Johnny, long overdue from a 1999 concert in Paris, was recorded with top notch sound and multiple cameras, although you never see one on stage. Those of us who have not been lucky enough to catch one of his rare concerts outside South Africa have to content ourselves with this DVD, but one certainly couldn't ask for better.

Fabulous performance from everybody in the band. Incredible sound (especially on headphones!) Great camera work which never intrudes on the concert itself. Plus, there's a boatload of extras on the disc like early Juluka videos, a long interview with Johnny and his mum, and more.

A wonderful production from start to finish.

Ozone. Spotted owls. Coral reefs. Frogs. Rainforest. Passenger pigeons. The bulk of this book hits the standard guideposts in the "save the Earth" argument, and as such it's well-written and compelling (with nice illustrations) but hardly original.

More interesting are the places where the author strays off the standard screed to discuss why the tropics contain more diversity, but fewer individuals, than arctic regions. How the Panama Canal is absolutely dependent on rainfall. Why a vacant lot outside Chicago gives hope for environmental recovery. How global warming may simply be part of a normal 12,000 year ice age cycle.

In all this was an attractive, well-written book with a lot of important information -- but somehow I expected more from the co-author of the Punctuated Equilibrium theory. Maybe that's not fair -- authors cannot be revolutionary every time out.

It's rare after an artist passes away to find out anything new about him that surprises and delights you, but this documentary film, which draws heavily on Fellini's own work for inspiration and illumination, gives new insights into the oeuvre he left behind. We learn that Federico scripted everything out beforehand, then let the film lead him where it wanted. We learn that, far from fearing women (as he was often accused) Federico cannot imagine a life in which women do not complete the man. We learn that, although famously relentlessly hard on actors and actresses, he in fact adored them, and the puppetmaster wished he could have changed places with the puppets.

This is a valuable addition to Felliniana, and a suitable bookend to the legacy he left behind.

Boilerplate Rhino is another collection of magazine columns, like "Natural Acts" (1985), "The Flight of the Iguana" (1988) and "Wild Thoughts from Wild Places (1998). Quammen is an excellent nature essayist, with just the right recipe of fact, whimsy, self-deprecation and seriousness. His ruminations will have you alternately howling with laughter, moaning in anguish, barking angrily and purring with satisfaction -- and along the way you'll add a snootful of useless facts to your cocktail chatter.

His "Song of the Dodo" (1996) was a tough slog due to the weight and mass of four long books rolled in one, but the 20-minute essays here are just the right length.

This is a wonderful, half-classical half-jazz album which I've loved since it came out in 1971. It is often featured between segments on National Public Radio.

However the 2nd RKCQ album "Come To The Meadow" (1974) is even better. Why hasn't THAT one been reissued on CD???

I can't really add anything to the first three reviews posted here; they're accurate and perceptive.

I DO feel compelled to correct Chris Cox's contention that there is no technical excellency here -- in addition to wonderful performances from every member of the cast, a touching and delicate script, wonderful music, great sound and deft direction, I was astounded by the cinematography and especially the lighting. Every scene is beautifully lit, especially the outdoor scenes.

Perhaps Chris missed this because it is one aspect of filmmaking which is usually most apparent when poorly done.

Authors sometimes are the last ones to understand their own motivations. Richard Rhodes wrote a book ("Making Love") which is supposed to be a paean to love but is actually one long rationalization for leaving his wife for a much younger woman.

Catherine Texier wrote a book about divorce ("Breakup") which was supposed to blame her husband but ends up completely validating his reasons for leaving her.

And Laura Kipnis has written "Against Love" which is not so much 'a polemic against love' as a long whiney justification for behaving like a ten-year-old. Her much-vaunted list of "things you cannot do if you're married" reads like a list of pre-teen temper tantrums: leaving dishes in the sink, clothes on the floor, hair in the drain, etc. These have nothing to do with love or marriage, and everything to do with being grown up.

Some authors spend years researching the lives of a historical figure in minute detail before writing the definitive biography. The reader of such a tome benefits from the author's hard work by learning something that she otherwise wouldn't.

From Kipnis's book I learned nothing -- except that I'd cross the street to avoid meeting her on the sidewalk.

This project has nearly nonstop drumbox, preventing it from working as a soundscape (viz. "Your Favorite London Sounds" by Peter Cusack) but it has too many interruptions by voice tapes to be a good bass&drums album either. That leaves it in an uncomfortable middle ground, neither music nor sound effects, but just enough of both to ruin the other. The ring-modulated swept-filter is WAY overused, too.

This is only groundbreaking and innovative if you're not familiar with the real stuff.

The new DVD (released 2-17-04) is flawlessly restored, very clear and bright with not a hint of dirt in the print. Even the audio appears to have been cleaned up and restored. Hard to believe, watching it, that it's almost 40 years old; it looks brand new.

Of course no comment needs be made about the film itself -- it deserves every accolade garnered in its long life. The nature of observation, perception and reality, layers of meaning within meaning... it's all here for discovery.

One could have hoped for a bit more in the extras, however. What we get are two threadbare theatrical trailers and an absolutely braindead "commentary" by some halfwit critic, who completely misses the poetry, whimsy and most of the symbolism of the film. In fact, his self-important babbling threatens to ruin the whole presentation, so I recommend you avoid it altogether. With as much analysis, speculation and adulation as this film has gathered over the years, I'm sure much better extras could have been included.

And the packaging here is painfully cheap....

But no mind, the film itself rises above all the negatives (pun intended).