Steve Pink directs this romantic comedy, based on David Marmet's play 'Sexual Perversity in Chicago', starring Kevin Hart, Michael Ealy, Regina Hall and Joy Bryant. Bernie Jackson (Hart) and his friend Danny Martin (Ealy) consider themselves successful womanisers. However, when they become involved with two roommates, Joan Derrickson (Hall) and Debbie Sullivan (Bryant), Bernie and Danny find that life becomes a lot more complicated. The two couples go through numerous ups and downs, with the difficulties and successes of each relationship having a knock-on effect on the other. Can romance and friendship survive such close proximity?

Chris Rock presents this documentary offering an insight into the fiercely competitive world of Afro-American hairdressing. The film includes a visit to the Bronner Brothers International Hair Show, the annual trade show for the African-American hair care industry. It also looks into the dangers of many common hair-straightening treatments, reveals the alarmingly high cost of regular hair 'relaxing' and weaves, and asks what the ongoing pursuit of straight hair says about African-American cultural identity.

For more than thirty years, Jazz Hot, the world's oldest jazz magazine (launched in 1935, as DownBeat), has regularly published Pascal Kober's photos, breakfast interviews, album and festival reviews and feature articles. Over the years, he has built up a unique catalogue of more than 35,000 jazz photos, taken all over the world. As a freelance journalist and photographer, he later contributed to many publications in the French and international press. The venue: musee de l'ancier evechee. Located in the heart of Grenoble, the Bishop's Palace (l'Ancien Eveche) is today a protected historical monument dated from the thirteenth century, housing a highly visited heritage museum. Since its establishment in 1998, this museum has been curated by Isabelle Lazier, an ethnologist, with a passion for both music and photography. In alphabetical order: Jorge Ben, Joao Bosco, Stanley Clarke, Miles Davis, Gil Evans, Joao Gilberto, Dizzy Gillespie, George Gruntz, Jon Hendricks, Elvin and Hank Jones, Joachim Kuhn, Michel Legrand, Manhattan Transfer, Branford and Ellis Marsalis, Mike Stern, Sam Rivers, Linda Womack and... the public. Pascal Kober is a journalist and photographer.

Presents the first theoretical analysis of the Asian financial crisis and draws out the general lessons of an event whose potential long term effects have been likened to those of the Crash of 1929. Part I presents a factual and analytic overview of what happened: the role of 'vulnerability'; the interconnection between currency crises and financial crises; and why crisis turned into collapse. Part II considers more detailed issues, including how the inflation of non-traded goods prices created vulnerability, welfare-reducing capital inflow owing to under-regulated financial markets, and the onset of speculative attacks. Part III assesses all aspects of contagion, in particular the role of geographic proximity. The final section addresses policy issues. Joseph Stiglitz argues that there is much that can be done to reduce the frequency of crises and to mitigate the severity of crises when they happen. The book finishes with a round-table discussion of policy issues.

The first theoretical analysis of the Asian Financial Crisis--perhaps the single most important economic event of the 1990s--starts by presenting a factual and analytic overview of what happened. It goes on to consider why crisis turned into collapse, speculative attacks, and contagion and finishes with a round table discussion of policy issues. The distinguished contributors are from organizations including IMF, the World Bank and the Bank for International Settlements. This is vital reading for policy professionals as well as researchers and graduate students in a wide range of disciplines.

Research programmes in economics usually emerge from the intersection between a new analytical approach and a real economic problem. In the last few years, such a programme has emerged in international monetary economics, which is underpinned by a theoretical framework grounded in stochastic calculus and the increasing prominence in the real world of the international monetary arrangements under which national monetary authorities attempt to keep exchange rates within bands or 'target zones'. This new programme of research also covers switches in exchange rate regimes. This volume from the Centre for economic Policy Research and the National Bureau of Economic Research includes contributions - as authors or discussants - from most of the active participants in the development of this new field, and will serve as a useful introduction and basic text for this new research programme. It opens with an account of the basic economic model of a currency band developed by Paul Krugman, which is followed by two papers that extend this approach. Other chapters study the regime switches entailed in Britain's return to the gold standard in 1925 and the preannounced entry of a floating currency into a band such as the EMS. Essays on sustainability and realignment consider the possible outcomes of speculative attacks on such bands, and the volume ends with a paper on econometric testing of models of this type.

The European Monetary System (EMS) has, since its inception in 1979, provided a fascinating example of policy co-ordination in practice. As concern about exchange-rate instability and global economic imbalances has grown, both academic researchers and policy-makers have looked to the EMS for lessons about co-operation on a wider scale. This volume contains the papers and proceedings of an October 1987 conference organised by the Centre for Economic Policy Research in co-operation with the Banca d'Italia and the Centro Interuniversitario di Studi Teorici per la Politica Economica (STEP). The conference brought together distinguished academics and practitioners from eleven European central banks. The papers offer a timely summary of current research, while the concluding panel discussion provides a valuable perspective on the concerns of policy-makers. This will be the definitive publication on the EMS for some years to come, and hence a basic reference for anyone interested in the international monetary system and policy co-ordination.

23 transcriptions from Grammy-winning bassist and session player extraordinare Marcus Miller, including: Big Time * Could It Be You * Ethiopia * Forevermore * Funny * Maputo * Nikki's Groove * Tutu * What Is Hip * and more.