This popular and influential work; translated here into English for the first time; argues that modern urbanism has upset the morphology of cities; abolished their streets and isolated their buildings. In tracing the stages of this transformation; this book presents the view that the urban tissue; the intermediate scale between the architecture of buildings and the diagrammatic layouts of town planning; is the essential framework for everyday life. Only by investigating the urban tissue will it be possible to understand the complex relationships between plot and built form; between streets and buildings and between these forms and design practices.The chosen trail of the first French edition - Paris; London; Amsterdam; Frankfurt - is one of continuously evolving modernity. It outlines a history; which; in one century (1860-1960); completely changed the aspect of our towns and cities and transformed our way of life. The shock has been such that we are still looking for answers; still attempting to find urban forms that can accommodate present day ways of life and at the same time maintain the qualities of the traditional town.This English edition brings the story forward to the present day and considers the impact of the New Urbanism in the United States; which; over the last decade; has sought to re-establish former relationships within the urban tissue.
#1570687 in eBooks 2008-11-07 2008-11-07File Name: B0080MVQHG
Review
4 of 8 people found the following review helpful. Read if youre curious whats real whats fakeBy JustMeI found this book very informative. and it answered my many questions about the truth behind talk shows. The author presents the industry from all angles. from studio audience to home audience to guests to producers. The only drawback is that I found some parts of the book overloaded with "big words" that are not necessary. and are distracting from the substance of the book. For example: "Such practices do not guarantee fireworks and drama. but they help because they locate the potential for dramatic interaction in the strategic juxtaposition of participants rather than (or in addition to) individual performative competence." I consider myself to be fairly skilled when it comes to vocabulary. but I found myself having to reread paragraphs on many occasions. If youre genuinely interested in the topic of talk shows. as I was. it will probably be worth your while to read. It will probably answer all of your questions. if youre willing to pluck the answers out from behind the excess wording.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. An exemplary work of media ethnography that explores daytime talk showsBy Corrina LaughlinThe prologue for The Money Shot by Laura Grindstaff is aptly titled "Setting the Stage." Fast-paced and written in the first person. this short introduction describes what it looks like to produce a talk show. The ethnographer is present in the frenetic scenes that illustrate how the two talk shows she worked on. the pseudonymous Randy and Diana. functioned. The prologue thus describes setting the scene of a talk show while at the same time serving to set the scene for this monograph. The Money Shot is a work of media ethnography that explores how daytime talk shows work. what they reveal about our understandings culture. class. and mediated discourse. Grindstaff justifies her ethnographic approach by noting that ethnography shares many characteristics with daytime talk shows: "just as daytime talk show differ from many other forms of television in that they give ordinary people the opportunity to contribute to their own narrativization (albeit in a highly circumscribed and limited manner). ethnography affords ordinary people a similar opportunity in an academic context with different limitations and constraints" (Grindstaff. 2002: 35). Ethnography seeks to represent the every-day realities of real people. talk shows purport to do the same thing. Ethnography also makes the strange familiar and the familiar strange. In a similar way. daytime talk shows warp the "ordinary" into the "extraordinary." Grindstaff expressly explains that "in many ways. fieldwork mirrors the methods of talk-show production: while producers transform real-life experiences into entertainment. ethnographers transform them into research" (Grindstaff. 2002: 41). It is a bold move to compare the work of knowledge production to the work of entertainment. but it is also an important one given Grindstaffs aims. Grindstaffs book hope to excavate how our notions of talk shows are classed in a particular manner and how that class consciousness is reinscribed by the talk-show format. Thus. putting an ethnographic monograph on the same plane as a talk show is a political move that seeks to destabilize received understandings of "high" and "low" culture. Because the world of talk-show producing is so far removed from most cultural contexts. much of the Money Shot is preoccupied with describing how the production process works. Grindstaff uses interviews and field notes to explain jargon common to talk show producers like "Going hunting." "The blind date." and "Dropouts." With these descriptions Grindstaff demonstrates an affordance of media ethnography. The participant observation process allows her access into a world that otherwise would have remained opaque to an academic audience. but it is a world that is nonetheless crucial for those who study media to understand. The legerdemain of producers is herein explained and the description that makes up these sections of The Money Shot serves to produce an important kind of knowledge. though one that is often less valued by the academy--the knowledge of how things work on a logistical. practical level.Grindstaffs later chapters. especially chapter eight. take a longer view. connecting the work that talk shows do to larger theoretical constructs. The author self-consciously indicates this shift nothing that "since this chapter is the final segment of this particular `show and its time for the `host to wrap things up. it is to the matter of exploitation that I now turn" (Grindstaff. 2002: 247). In this chapter Grindstaff extrapolates from the particular case of talk shows to generate insights about the role of class difference in mass media more broadly. To wit: "The media do not simply reflect reality `out there. By definition. they mediate. even when. or perhaps especially when. it is real life that is purportedly being revealed. The ways in which talk shows mediate the experiences of ordinary people are not random or haphazard but systematic and patterned" (Grindstaff. 2002: 249). Grindstaffs main insights concern how class is deployed by media professionals and how it is understood by the "ordinary" people who seek to make their mark on the world by participating in talk shows. While talk shows are commonly dismissed as "trash TV." Grindstaff urges her audience to look closer at the discourses represented within them for what they reveal about how class functions in popular culture. For Grindstaff. "Popular culture is not simply a space outside elite discourse for celebrating the culture of the masses or paying homage to a romanticized notion of class resistance. Rather. to paraphrase Bird (1992). popular culture is the symbolic order within which subordinate classes live their subordination" (Grindstaff. 2002: 272). In this last chapter the thick description performed by the other chapters in the book has its payoff in theoretical insights.Grindstaff again revisits the analogue between her monograph and the talk-show genre when she titles the last section in her book: "Lauras final thought." which recalls the ending of every Jerry Springer Show. Again. she draws our attention to common understandings of high and low culture and asks what kind of knowledge is produced by texts such as The Money Shot? And. how does understanding it in relation to what is considered a product of "low culture." namely the talk show. reveal our class-based prejudices mass media and working class forms of popular and political engagement?7 of 8 people found the following review helpful. Television Talk and Blow-by-Blow CommentaryBy A CustomerGrindstaff has produced an excellent book exposing the underbelly of daytime talk show production. Her profuse detail gathered through extensive ethnographic fieldwork pays off in an effective account explaining the production process associated with the talk show. We see how the offbeat topics are formulated. guests recruited. and production secured on numerous talk show episodes. We are taken behind the scenes and understand that it is a small miracle that the television format manages to survive on a daily basis. The writing is precise and the volume is well annotated.A fan of these talk shows will gain greater appreciation of how the process is structured and the impact upon producers. talk show guests. and studio audience members. This is a magnificent analysis that should be read by everyone curious about the talk show phenomenon.
