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Mehndi: The Timeless Art of Henna Painting
by Loretta RoomeMehndi, the ancient art of painting on the skin with henna, beautifies the body, rejuvenates the spirit, and celebrates the joys of creativity and self-expression. More than just a temporary tattoo, mehndi offers us a way to participate in a centuries-old tradition still practiced in India, Africa, and the Middle East.In this stunning and authoritative book, Loretta Roome traces the origins and meanings of traditional designs, demonstrates how to create them on the skin, and reveals the recipes, tools, and techniques needed to paint designs that range from simple to complex. The result of years of research and the author's experience as one of the nation's foremost mehndi artists, Roome's book offers practical information, creative inspiration, and many suggestions for enhancing the playful, intimate, sensual, erotic, and spiritual aspects of the ancient and amazing art of mehndi.
Mei Lanfang and the Twentieth-Century International Stage
by Min TianThe first book-length study in any language of the presence and influence of Mei Lanfang, the internationally known Chinese actor who specialized in female roles on the twentieth-century international stage. Tian investigates Mei Lanfang's presence and influence and the transnational and intercultural appropriations of his art.
Mei Lanfang's American Journey: Reimagining Transpacific Cultural Exchanges (East Asian Popular Culture)
by Zhaohui Hong Cunfa DongThis groundbreaking study examines Peking Opera legend Mei Lanfang&’s 1930 U.S. visit through extensive primary sources and a cross-cultural lens. It meticulously chronicles his 76 performances over 182 days, reconstructing his daily itinerary, highlighting key events, and estimating box office revenues. Drawing on over 1,000 local newspaper reports from 34 states and territories, as well as diaries, memoirs, archival records, and advertisements, this book offers fresh insights into U.S.-China cultural exchange nearly a century ago—a topic with enduring contemporary relevance. Employing a mixed-methods approach, it integrates grounded theory, abductive reasoning, and the theory of para-text to deliver a rigorous and innovative analysis. As both a theoretical contribution and an analytical framework, the book reimagines transpacific cultural exchange, systematically exploring Peking Opera diplomacy, which involves non-governmental individuals and collectives engaged in cultural, artistic, commercial, and educational interactions. Furthermore, it delves into inculturation, examining how Mei Lanfang&’s visit contributed to the localization of Chinese culture in America, fostering cultural accommodation, adaptation, and integration. Finally, it introduces the theory of marginalization studies, shedding light on the peripheral figures and events that played a crucial role in Mei&’s visit. By combining rigorous analysis with innovative theoretical perspectives, this book reinterprets and reimages the significance of Mei Lanfang&’s visit, offering an essential resource for scholars and anyone interested in modern Chinese history, transpacific studies, cultural diplomacy, and U.S.-China relations.
Meisner and Mindfulness: Authentic and Truthful Solutions for the Challenges of Modern Acting
by Royce SparksMeisner and Mindfulness: Authentic and Truthful Solutions for the Challenges of Modern Acting is the first book that reveals how Meisner and mindfulness can be united to create strong results for actors and help them navigate the challenges of the digital age. The twenty-first century has created an entirely new set of demands and pressures on the working actor, including an acceleration of the digital age and the complications of COVID-19, which have led to auditions, rehearsals, and even whole performances happening entirely in isolation. This book combines a modern rethinking of the Meisner technique with a complementary set of tools from mindfulness meditation to offer profound solutions to these growing challenges, addressing the demands of a post-coronavirus industry as well as the pressures of acting in the digital era. In this ground-breaking expansion of the technique, readers will discover how it is possible to train some of the deepest values of living truthfully under a given set of circumstances, both with other actors and whilst alone. Since the 1950s the Meisner technique has aided the actor in navigating the demands unique to their time. This book is a powerful reminder that, even in the midst of so many changes and challenges, the truthfulness that has defined outstanding performances across generations is still within reach. Full of easily accessible mindfulness and Meisner exercises and principles for practice-based support, Meisner and Mindfulness will be illuminating to working actors, directors, students and instructors of acting, and practitioners of the Meisner technique looking to develop the authenticity, immediateness, and closeness essential to great acting. The book also includes access to an online supplement featuring additional exercises and concepts, including new ways to incorporate Meisner exercises into training sessions, suggestions for how Meisner-oriented companies can use exercises such as repetition in rehearsals, and discussions for how to set up a facilitated Meisner group.
Mel Brooks: A Little Golden Book Biography (Little Golden Book)
by Christy MihalyHelp your little one dream big with a Little Golden Book biography about comedian, actor, and filmmaker Mel Brooks. Little Golden Book biographies are the perfect introduction to nonfiction for young readers—as well as fans of all ages!This Little Golden Book about Mel Brooks--legendary EGOT funnyman and director of classics such as Young Frankenstein and The Producers--is an inspiring read-aloud for young children and their parents and grandparents who are fans.Look for more Little Golden Book biographies: • Betty White • Carol Burnett • Lucille Ball • Harry Belafonte • Julie Andrews • Dwayne Johnson
Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew (Jewish Lives)
by Jeremy DauberA spirited dive into the life and career of a performer, writer, and director who dominated twentieth-century American comedy Mel Brooks, born Melvin Kaminsky in Brooklyn in 1926, is one of the great comic voices of the twentieth century. Having won almost every entertainment award there is, Brooks has straddled the line between outsider and insider, obedient and rebellious, throughout his career, making out-of-bounds comedy the American mainstream. Jeremy Dauber argues that throughout Brooks&’s extensive body of work—from Your Show of Shows to Blazing Saddles to Young Frankenstein to Spaceballs—the comedian has seen the most success when he found a balance between his unflagging, subversive, manic energy and the constraints imposed by comedic partners, the Hollywood system, and American cultural mores. Dauber also explores how Brooks&’s American Jewish humor went from being solely for niche audiences to an essential part of the American mainstream, paving the way for generations of Jewish (and other) comedians to come.
Mel Gibson's Passion and Philosophy
by William Irwin Jorge J. GraciaMel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ has become one of the most controversial films ever made, and it is already a blockbuster of cinematography. Its defenders passionately regard it as one of the most moving and influential pieces of religious art ever created. But its detractors argue with comparable vehemence that the violence and gore it contains, its alleged anti-Semitism, a particular take on the Christian message, and the lack of historical and Biblical accuracy, make it nothing more than a kind of political propaganda. Father Thomas Rosica hailed as one of the great masterpieces of religious art, but the secular humanist Paul Kurtz thinks of it as a political weapon in the hands of the religious right. Film critics are divided in their judgment, giving the film anywhere from no stars to five stars. Regardless of what one thinks of the film, however, its impact both personal and social is beyond question.
Mel Gibson's Passion and Philosophy: The Cross, the Questions, the Controversy
by Jorge J. E. GraciaIn Mel Gibson's Passion and Philosophy (Volume 10 in the series, Popular Culture and Philosophy), twenty philosophers with widely varying religious and philosophical backgrounds examine all the most important issues raised by the movie (The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson's spectacular film about the death of Jesus), without ridicule or rancor.
Melancholy Emotion in Contemporary Cinema: A Spinozian Analysis of Film Experience (Routledge Advances in Film Studies)
by Francesco SticchiThis work outlines a new methodology for film analysis based on the radical materialist thought of Baruch Spinoza, re-evaluating contemporary cognitive media theory and philosophical theories on the emotional and intellectual aspects of film experience. Sticchi’s exploration of Spinozian philosophy creates an experiential constructive model to blend the affective and intellectual aspects of cognition, and to combine it with different philosophical interpretations of film theory. Spinoza’s embodied philosophy rejected logical and ethical dualisms, and established a perfect parallelism between sensation and reason and provides the opportunity to address negative emotions and sad passions without referring exclusively to traditional notions such as catharsis or sublimation, and to put forth a practical/embodied notion of Film-Philosophy. This new analytical approach is tested on four case studies, films that challenge the viewer’s emotional engagement since they display situations of cosmic failure and depict controversial and damaged characters: A Serious Man (2009); Melancholia (2011); The Act of Killing (2012) and Only Lovers Left Alive (2013). This book is an important addition to the literature in Film Studies, particularly in Cognitive Film Theory and Philosophy of Film. Its affective and semantic analyses of film experience (studies of embodied conceptualisation), connecting Spinoza’s thought to the analysis of audiovisual media, will also be of interest to Philosophy scholars and in academic courses of film theory, film-philosophy and cognitive film studies.
Melancholy and the Landscape: Locating Sadness, Memory and Reflection in the Landscape (Routledge Research in Landscape and Environmental Design)
by Jacky BowringWritten as an advocacy of melancholy’s value as part of landscape experience, this book situates the concept within landscape’s aesthetic traditions, and reveals how it is a critical part of ethics and empathy. With a history that extends back to ancient times, melancholy has hovered at the edges of the appreciation of landscape, including the aesthetic exertions of the eighteenth-century. Implicated in the more formal categories of the Sublime and the Picturesque, melancholy captures the subtle condition of beautiful sadness. The book proposes a range of conditions which are conducive to melancholy, and presents examples from each, including: The Void, The Uncanny, Silence, Shadows and Darkness, Aura, Liminality, Fragments, Leavings, Submersion, Weathering and Patina.
Melanin Magic: A Young Mystic's Guide to African Spirituality
by Dossé-Via TrenouWelcome to Forest Magic School, where young mystics learn the basics of African spiritualty through astrology, plant magic, cowrie divination, breathwork, and the magic within melanin! There&’s a portal you can enter that will you help you remember your magic. Join Yawa and Kossi as a forest scholar and begin your journey to discovering what African spirituality is all about. With the help of these almost-twins, their classmates, and their professors, you will learn about your magically melanated skin and how to harness the power within you to become more connected to your ancestors and to the universe. Forest Magic School teaches you how to connect with your ori through breathing and presence, to celebrate the four elements, and to become connected to mystical spirits, or Òrìṣàs. Learn to calculate your birth chart, to use plant magic for healing and personal growth, and feel empowered through proverbs, mantras, and symbols while celebrating what makes you special and a part of the cosmos. Through a beautifully woven narrative and with easy-to-digest prompts and thought questions throughout, this is the guide for any juvenile mystic seeking deeper knowledge about their heritage and the principles of African spirituality.
Melbourne Beach and Indialantic
by Frank J. ThomasSouthward, along the east coast of Florida, stretches a series of long, palmetto-covered islands that beat back the thundering surf of the Atlantic Ocean. Located about midway on this coast, between the Indialantic Bridge in the north and Sebastian Inlet in the south, is the community of Melbourne Beach. Since the historic arrival of Juan Ponce de Leon in the New World on April 2, 1513, at a site now believed to be within the bounds of Melbourne Beach, the area has experienced more than four centuries of progress,struggle, and success. Discover within these pages how the area's residents have made Melbourne Beach the strong and vital community it is today through a fascinating compilation of stories and recollections. Meet such colorful residents as bean farmer R.T. Smith, who had "In Beans I Trust" printed on his stationery, and the forward-thinking real estate developer Ernest Kouwen-Hoven.
Melissa Explains It All: Tales from My Abnormally Normal Life
by Melissa Joan HartMelissa Joan Hart explained it all-from dating to bullies-in her groundbreaking role as Clarissa Darling on Clarissa Explains It All. She cast a spell on millions more viewers as Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. Now, in Melissa Explains It All, Melissa tells the frank and funny behind-the-scenes stories from her extraordinary past and her refreshingly normal present.Melissa has been entertaining audiences most of her life; when there were no girls named Melissa on her favorite show, the forceful four year old decided she'd get on television her way. From that moment on, Melissa has shown a singular determination and focus-whether it's for booking three national commercials so her dad would build her a tree house or for nailing the audition for Clarissa. From her first commercial to her current starring role in ABC Family's hit Melissa andJoey, Hart never let fame go to her head. She always had one foot in Hollywood and one foot in reality-and still does. Melissa makes us laugh along with her as she talks about:--guest appearances in shows like Saturday Night Live and The Equalizer--auditioning for Punky Brewster and Clarissa--her early Broadway days--wacky parties she's thrown and attended-- the actors who influenced her and whom she befriended, worked with and competed against --her experiences both on and off-set-with Sabrina's Salem the Cat and Elvis the Alligator on Clarissa--how she met the love of her life at the Kentucky Derby Melissa Joan Hart explains all that she's learned along the way-what's kept her grounded, normal and working when others have not been so fortunate-and that she's the approachable, hilarious girl-next-door her fans have always thought she'd be.
Melissa Leapman's Designer Crochet: Accessories
by Melissa LeapmanLearn to create more than twenty-five crochet women&’s fashion accessories with the help of easy-to-follow instructions and stylish patterns. Sometimes, all it takes is the right accessory to pull off a great look. And if that accessory happens to be handmade by you? All the better! In this book, popular author/designer/teacher Melissa Leapman shows you how to make more than twenty-five fresh and beautiful crocheted accessories for women. From winter warmers like cozy hats and scarves that make a statement to all-season wardrobe builders such as one-of-a-kind jewelry, colorful handbags, and stunning shawls, Melissa Leapman&’s Designer Crochet Accessories has it all. The projects include something for crocheters of all levels, from beginners to intermediate and advanced knitters. Crafters of all skill levels will find a project to keep their fingers busy. Each project offers easy-to-follow instructions, stitch diagrams using international symbols, and a clear photo to illustrate the finished piece. The back of the book also includes helpful resources such as general crochet and finishing techniques. Crocheters, just think of all those lovely handmade accessories to keep or give as gifts! Unleash your inner accessory-crocheter, and let this book guide you along.
Melissa Leapman's Indispensable Stitch Collection for Crocheters: 200 Stitch Patterns in Words and Symbols
by Melissa LeapmanThe crochet diva divulges two hundred of her favorite crochet stitch patterns—including many original designs—to keep you busy stitching for years!With many original designs and others garnered from Melissa Leapman’s years of experience in the industry, this book is geared toward crocheters of all levels and formatted in a way that encourages learning and skill-building.The beginning features a pattern library with a full explanation of stitch multiples and how they work. Suggestions are offered about how to design basic projects, including afghans, pillows, hats, and more. The book’s second section offers stitch patterns arranged by type—from lace to cables to colorwork and beyond. Each stitch pattern is accompanied by easy-to-read instructions, stitch diagrams using international symbols, and a clear photo. If the reverse side of the fabric is interesting for a given pattern, both sides will be presented. A unique icon is used to mark these special patterns, making them easy to seek out for versatile scarves and blankets, which must look attractive on both sides. With these patterns that just beg to be stitched, you’ll be making hats, scarves, shawls and more for yourself, family, and friends.“Leapman’s experience paired with the readability of this book makes it a great addition to any crochet library.” —Jessica Carpender, editor, FaveCrafts.com
Mellencamp
by John MellencampJohn Mellencamp is one if the true Renaissance men of popular music. In the public spotlight for over twenty-five years, with a string of number one hits and multiplatinum records side to his artistic talent that is celebrated in the full-color selection of evocation paintings. Mellencamp began pursuing oil painting in 1988 as a means of further artistic exploration. His first subjects were friends, family, and landscapes reminiscent of the French impressionists, which have since evolved into a personal style of portraiture.Critics have drawn parallels between Mellencamp's work and the dark, shadowy paintings of the German expressionists. Mellencamp believes in art as a means of self-exploration and as an incentive to make people more curious about the world. He has exhibited extensively in the Midwest and the South, and most of his paintings have been purchased for private collections. With seventy-five full-color representations if the artist's favorite paintings, twenty-five black-and-white photographs taken from his personal collection, and an introduction by Billboard magazine's editor-in-chief, Timothy White, Mellencamp: Paintings and Reflections is the perfect gift for any Mellencamp fan or anyone who appreciates fine art. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Mellon Square
by Susan Rademacher Charles BirnbaumThe second volume in our Modern Landscapes series examines the evolution of Pittsburgh's first modern garden plaza. Completed in 1955 from a design by the acclaimed landscape design firm Simonds & Simonds and architects Mitchell & Ritchey, Mellon Square functioned as an urban oasis that provided downtown office workers a much-needed respite from the city's infamous smoke pollution. Now, more than six decades later, Mellon Square is undergoing a major restoration by Patricia O'Donnell of Heritage Landscapes that aims to restore this urban garden and help revitalize downtown Pittsburgh. Featuring new photography and archival material, Mellon Square is the only book to showcase the development of this iconic urban landscape.
Melly & Me: 20 Easy Sewing Patterns for Soft Toys and Accessories
by Melanie McNeiceDiscover a colourful world of adorable animals and fantastical creatures in this fun collection of sewn toys and gifts, brought together into one volume for the first time. Children and adults will adore this collection of cute and quirky stuffed toys and home accessories by leading soft toy designer, Melly McNeice. There are a total of twenty projects to choose from so there is something for everyone. Pick your favourite from a pretty butterfly mobile for a new arrival, a cuddly spaceship for a curious kid or a handy ladybug bag for a little fashionista - there's something to delight kids of all ages! The stuffed toy sewing patterns that are featured in this collection include friendly monsters, affable aliens magical mermaids, circus lions, pretty unicorns and much, much more. This selection of 'huggable' creatures from Melly McNeice will capture your imagination as much as your child's. Each of the animals and creatures featured in this selection has their own personality, and they are perfectly proportioned for little hands to hold. They also make the perfect prompts for story telling or a bedtime tale. Maybe your little one dreams of transforming into a high-spirited princess or a flying superhero? As well as the toys there are projects to brighten up the nursery: choose from a butterfly mobile, a wonderfully colourful, applique floral quilt, and a ladybird bird backpack for fun days out. These simple patterns will have you sewing toys and gifts in no time. Each of the twenty brightly coloured projects is suitable for sewers of all abilities and comes with easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions and full-size templates so you can start sewing straight away. Melly recommends reading through all the patterns before starting a project to decide whether it's a quick and easy make which is perfect for last minute gifting or a longer project which will help you to build your toy making skills. Enjoy making your super cute toys and gifts and we hope that the resulting toys will bring the special little people in your life many hours of imagination-filled play, memorable moments and comforting cuddles.
Melodrama
by Martin Shingler John MercerMelodrama: Genre, Style and Sensibility is designed as an accessible overview of one of the most popular genres at undergraduate Film Studies. The book identifies three distinct but connected concepts through which it is possible to make sense of melodrama; either as a genre, originating in European theatre of the 18th and 19th century, as a specific cinematic style, epitomised by the work of Douglas Sirk or as a sensibility that emerges in the context of specific texts, speaking to and reflecting the desires, concerns and anxieties of audiences. Films discussed include All That Heaven Allows, Safe, Fear Eats the Soul, Black Narcissus, Suddenly Last Summer and Rebel Without a Cause. Each chapter includes overviews of key essays, analyses of significant and widely studied films and includes an annotated reading list.
Melodrama Unbound: Across History, Media, and National Cultures (Film and Culture Series)
by Linda Williams Christine GledhillFor too long melodrama has been associated with outdated and morally simplistic stereotypes of the Victorian stage; for too long film studies has construed it as a singular domestic genre of familial and emotional crises, either subversively excessive or narrowly focused on the dilemmas of women. Drawing on new scholarship in transnational theatrical, film, and cultural histories, this collection demonstrates that melodrama is a transgeneric mode that has long spoken to fundamental aspects of modern life and feeling.Pointing to melodrama’s roots in the ancient Greek combination of melos and drama, and to medieval Christian iconography focused on the pathos of Christ as suffering human body, the volume highlights the importance to modernity of melodrama as a mode of emotional dramaturgy, the social and aesthetic conditions for which emerged long before the French Revolution. Contributors articulate new ways of thinking about melodrama that underscore its pervasiveness across national cultures and in a variety of genres. They examine how melodrama has traveled to and been transformed in India, China, Japan, and South America, whether through colonial circuits or later, globalization; how melodrama mixes with other modes such as romance, comedy, and realism; and finally how melodrama has modernized the dramatic functions of gender, class, and race by orchestrating vital aesthetic and emotional experiences for diverse audiences.
Melodrama, Self and Nation in Post-War British Popular Film (Routledge Advances in Film Studies)
by Johanna LaitilaThis book investigates the portrayal of nationalities and sexualities in British post-Second World War crime film and melodrama. By focussing on these genres, and looking at the concept of melodrama as an analytical tool apt for the analysis of both sexuality and nation, the book offers insight into the desires, fears, and anxieties of post-war culture. The problem of returning to ‘normalcy’ after the war is one of the recurring themes discussed; alienation from society, family, and the self were central issues for both women and men in the post-war years, and the book examines the anxieties surrounding these social changes in the films of the period. In particular, it explores heterosexuality and nationality as some of the most prominent frameworks for the construction of identities in our time, structures that, for all their centrality, are made invisible in our culture.
Melodrama: Genre, Style and Sensibility (Short Cuts)
by Martin Shingler John MercerMelodrama: Genre, Style and Sensibility is designed as an accessible overview of one of the most popular genres at undergraduate Film Studies. The book identifies three distinct but connected concepts through which it is possible to make sense of melodrama; either as a genre, originating in European theatre of the 18th and 19th century, as a specific cinematic style, epitomised by the work of Douglas Sirk or as a sensibility that emerges in the context of specific texts, speaking to and reflecting the desires, concerns and anxieties of audiences. Films discussed include All That Heaven Allows, Safe, Fear Eats the Soul, Black Narcissus, Suddenly Last Summer and Rebel Without a Cause. Each chapter includes overviews of key essays, analyses of significant and widely studied films and includes an annotated reading list.
Melodías de otros lugares: El tejedor del tiempo - Libro 1
by Cédric FrantzEl equinoccio de primavera se acerca y el invierno está llegando a su fin en Jantival. Kalaen, de once años, lleva una vida ejemplar en su casa familiar. Apasionado por la ciencia y la música, descubre talentos innatos: tiene una percepción inusual del mundo que le rodea. Sus dones extrasensoriales incluso lograron impresionar a su vecino, el anciano alquimista y mago Falchron. Kalaen le tiene un respeto especial y secretamente desea seguir sus pasos. Durante una expedición en el bosque, hace un encuentro inusual y trae a la aldea un objeto misterioso. Con Falchron, intentan entonces desvelar los secretos de esta reliquia que parece datar de tiempos inmemoriales. ¿Cuál es la función de este extraño artefacto? ¿Lograrán descubrirlo? ¿Descubrirán las memorias del tiempo o escucharán el presagio de su fin?
Melrose Park
by Fidencio Marbella Margaret FlanaganOriginally founded by German immigrants, followed by successive waves of Lithuanians, Italians, and Hispanics, Melrose Park has undergone a series of transformations since its incorporation in 1882. Close proximity to Chicago and the coming of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad ensured that Melrose Park became a center for manufacturing and heavy industry. Major companies including Benjamin Moore, International Harvester, and the National Malleable Castings Company built plants here, and the town was also known as the headquarters for Polk Brothers. Entertainment and leisure activities have been an important part of life in Melrose Park too. Kiddieland Amusement Park was built in 1929, quickly becoming a popular destination for Chicago area families, and the town was also home to classic movie theaters, the North Avenue Rollerway, and the Come Back Inn, a popular local restaurant. The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a cherished Melrose Park event that has been celebrated annually since 1894.
Melt & Mold Soap Crafting
by C. Kaila WestermanCook colorful, whimsical, eye-catching soaps right in your microwave! It’s easy and fun with C. Kaila Westerman’s guide to creative soap making. Westerman’s recipes are free of harsh chemicals and she encourages you to play with colors, scents, and shapes that the whole family will enjoy — from rubber duckies to sailboats, stars, and gemstones. With an inexpensive soap base, some food coloring, and a bit of imagination, you can quickly create handy bars for kid-friendly cleaning and hours of bath time fun.