A pseudonymous auteur in cyberspace attempts a parody of the Internet diary by the Microsoft mogul. This text doesn’t emanate from newspaper columns, TV, or movies, but rather is cobbled together from a hot site on the World Wide Web. And if it were a real book instead of a parody of a book it might be an ominous portent for authorship. Certainly, the Richest Guy in the World is the proper subject for satire, but surely he deserves something funnier than this, the Web version of rancid popcorn. There are constant put-downs of competitors by a supposedly silly Gates. Running gags about his manliness, his family, his house, his search for new books about himself and his postulated delight in the Spice Girls are not particularly funny. The likely premise of Gates being at once egotistical, naive, and ruthless beyond measure goes nowhere at all. “The coolest!”, “way cool!” and “so cool!” are the diary’s sole expressions of approbation, and that approbation is confined solely to Gates himself, of course. On the other hand, disapproval is expressed with “Way cool, not!” This extended vocabulary is used for all Microsoft competition. Comedic fun is tagged with an ever useful “Ha, ha, ha!” The syntax sounds suspiciously like that of a sophomore computer geek, though some industry buzz and Microsoft gossip make the author sound like an insider. A sizable audience of computer buffs, chat room nerds, and Windows resisters may be found, but unless you like to spend all your time surfing the Net for hackers’ detritus, forget it. Better to spend your time perusing a screen saver. Way cooool, not!
Pub Date: May 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-8362-5204-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1998
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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