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Options: The Secret Life of Fake Steve Jobs
by Daniel LyonsWelcome to the mind—to the world—of Fake Steve Jobs. Fake Steve the counterintuitive management guru: “Obviously we can’t literally put our employees’ lives at risk. But we have to make them feel that way.” Fake Steve the celebrity hobnobber: “I like Bono. He’s the only person I know who’s more self-absorbed than I am.”
Opulent Bazaar Coloring Book: 3 Books in 1
by Valori Wells55+ intricate designs to color your cares away. Coloring has never been this creative! Get inspired with designs by Paula Nadelstern, Valori Wells, and Bethany Pease Sheets. These illustrations, printed on high-quality, heavyweight paper, are ideal for framing and perfectly suited to coloring with colored pencils, fine tip markers, and even watercolors. There are funky and mesmerizing kaleidoscopic designs, flowery and exotic designs, and freeform doodle designs. Coloring even a few minutes a day can help you relieve stress and infuse much-need creativity into your busy life! • Printed on heavyweight, high-quality uncoated paper with perforated edges for easy framing in an 8" × 10" frame • With a wide variety of designs from three illustrators, there’s something for everyone • Great value: 3 coloring books in 1! (Wholesale minimum: 3 units)
Or Is That Just Me?
by Richard HammondMore antics from the much-loved TOP GEAR presenter, and the No.1 bestselling author of ON THE EDGE."There is, I discovered, a technique to performing a low-rent, comedy motorcycle jump with a bad hip joint following a low-speed fall off a horse on to your wife's Land Rover keys..."More of the wry, honest and often hilarious chronicles of Richard Hammond - TV presenter, adventurer and general drawer of the Short Straw. Continuing where AS YOU DO left off, OR IS THAT JUST ME? focuses on just a few of the many hair-raising stunts, expeditions and encounters experienced by Richard Hammond over the last eventful year.
Or Is That Just Me?
by Richard HammondMore antics from the much-loved TOP GEAR presenter, and the No.1 bestselling author of ON THE EDGE."There is, I discovered, a technique to performing a low-rent, comedy motorcycle jump with a bad hip joint following a low-speed fall off a horse on to your wife's Land Rover keys..."More of the wry, honest and often hilarious chronicles of Richard Hammond - TV presenter, adventurer and general drawer of the Short Straw. Continuing where AS YOU DO left off, OR IS THAT JUST ME? focuses on just a few of the many hair-raising stunts, expeditions and encounters experienced by Richard Hammond over the last eventful year.
Or Is That Just Me?
by Richard Hammond"There is, I discovered, a technique to performing a low-rent, comedy motorcycle jump with a bad hip joint following a low-speed fall off a horse on to your wife's Land Rover keys..."More of the wry, honest and often hilarious chronicles of Richard Hammond - TV presenter, adventurer and general drawer of the Short Straw. Continuing where AS YOU DO left off, OR IS THAT JUST ME? focuses on just a few of the many hair-raising stunts, expeditions and encounters experienced by Richard Hammond over the last eventful year.Read by Richard Hammond(p) 2010 Orion Publishing Group
Oral Literary Performance in Africa: Beyond Text (Routledge African Studies)
by Nduka Otiono and Chiji AkọmaThis book delivers an admirably comprehensive and rigorous analysis of African oral literatures and performance. Gathering insights from distinguished scholars in the field, the book provides a range of contemporary interdisciplinary perspectives in the study of oral literature and its transformations in everyday life, fiction, poetry, popular culture, and postcolonial politics. Topics discussed include folklore and folklife; oral performance and masculinities; intermediated orality, modern transformations, and globalization; orality and mass media; spoken word and imaginative writing. The book also addresses research methodologies and the thematic and theoretical trajectories of scholars of African oral literatures, looking back to the trailblazing legacies of Ruth Finnegan, Harold Scheub, and Isidore Okpewho. Ambitious in scope and incisive in its analysis, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of African literatures and oral performance as well as to general readers interested in the dynamics of cultural production.
Orange County ChoppersTM: The Tale of the Teutuls
by Paul M. Teutul Michael Teutul Paul Teutul Sr.Each week, millions of viewers tune into The Discovery Channel to watch their favorite dysfunctional American family, the Teutuls. The hit TV show American Chopper features Paul Teutul, Sr., and his sons Paul, Jr. and Mikey, along with a supporting cast of mechanics and friends. Together, they create some of the most incredible and outrageous motorcycles in the world. Now, in Orange County Choppers, the Teutuls combine family history with a behind-the-scenes tour of their renowned motorcycle shop-and their new lives as household names. Hilarious and heartwarming, fans of the show and newcomers alike will delight in this truly authentic America success story.
Orange is the new Black Presents: The Cookbook
by Jenji Kohan Tara Hermann Hartley Voss Alex Regnery“A fun read for fans of the Netflix series . . . And don’t worry: These dishes are way better than the food the inmates actually eat on the show” (People). Staffed and run by a band of misfit inmates, the kitchen at Litchfield is in many ways the center of the popular show Orange Is the New Black—a setting for camaraderie, drug smuggling, power struggles, and plot twists. And then there is the food. With sixty-five recipes, twelve sidebars that expand upon the fiction of the show, and sixty photographs from the show featuring favorite characters and memorable moments, Orange Is the New Black Presents: The Cookbook adds new dimensions to any fan’s obsession. The recipes cover three square meals a day, plus snacks/sides, desserts, and drinks. They include Red’s Chicken Kiev, Miss Claudette’s Coconut Cake, and Prison Punch. The sidebars include Taystee’s suggested prison reading list, the recipe for Red’s Homemade Homeopathic Remedies, and a prison glossary. Chock full of in-depth information about the show, including recipe headnotes by the characters, DIY projects that emulate notable props, and prison factoids that help bring the show to life, this cookbook will bring a little piece of Litchfield right into your very own kitchen.
Orature and Yorùbá Riddles
by Akíntúndé AkínyẹmíOrature and Yorùbá Riddles takes readers into the hitherto unexplored undercurrents of riddles in Africa. Because of its oral and all too often ephemeral nature, riddles have escaped close scrutiny from scholars. The strength of the Yorùbá as the focus of this study is impressive indeed: a major ethnic group in Africa, with established connections with the black diaspora in North America and the Caribean; a rich oral and written culture; a large and diverse population; and an integrated rural-urban society. The book is divided into six chapters for readers' convenience. When read in sequence, the book provides a comprehensive, holistic sense of Yorùbá creativity where riddles are concerned. At the same time, the book is conceived in a way that each chapter could be read individually. Therefore, those readers seeking understanding of a specific type of riddle may target a single chapter appearing most relevant to her/his curiosity.
Ordeal
by Linda Lovelace Mike McgradyGood Girl. Obedient Wife. Porn Slave. Deep Throat Was Only The Beginning. . . Linda Boreman was just twenty-one when she met Chuck Traynor, the man who would change her life. Less than two years later, the girl who wouldn't let her high school dates get past first base was catapulted to fame she could never have imagined in her wildest dreams--or worst nightmares. Linda Boreman of Yonkers, New York, had become Linda Lovelace, international adult film superstar. The unprecedented success of Deep Throat made porn popular with the mainstream and made Lovelace a household name. But nobody, from the A-list celebrities who touted the movie to the audiences that lined up to see it, knew the truth about what went on behind the scenes. Enslaved by the man who would eventually force her into marriage so that he could control her completely, Linda was beaten savagely with regularity, hypnotized, and raped. She was threatened with disfigurement and death. She was terrorized into prostitution at gun and knifepoint. She was forced to perform unspeakable perversions on film. She made Deep Throat under unimaginable duress. Years later, Linda would come out of hiding to relate her side of the story--a modern horror tale of humiliation, betrayal, and violence that would rock the porn industry and put its teller in fear for her life. . . OrdealLinda Lovelace became a household name in 1972, when Deep Throat became the first pornographic movie ever to cross over into the mainstream. Due to the success of Deep Throat, she appeared in Playboy, Bachelor, and even Esquire between 1973 and 1974. Soon after, Lovelace joined in with anti-pornography feminists led by Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon, and she testified before Attorney General Meese's Commission on Pornography in 1986. She died in Denver on April 22, 2002, due to severe injuries in a car accident. Journalist and former syndicated columnist Mike McGrady (Newsday, Los Angeles Times) has written many books, and he was the chief catalyst for the bestselling novel Naked Came the Stranger.
Ordeal
by Linda Lovelace Mike McGradyThe former good girl who became the star of Deep Throat tells the horrifying true story of her life on and off camera in this shocking tell-all memoir. Linda Boreman was just twenty-one when she met Chuck Traynor, the man who would change her life. Less than two years later, the girl who wouldn&’t let her high school dates get past first base was catapulted to fame as an adult film superstar. Linda Boreman of Yonkers, New York, had become Linda Lovelace. The unprecedented success of Deep Throat made pornography popular with mainstream audiences and made Lovelace a household name. But nobody, from the A-list celebrities who touted the movie to the audiences that lined up to see it, knew the truth about what went on behind the scenes. Taken prisoner by her sado-masochistic manager, Linda was forced into a marriage of savage beatings, hypnotism, and rape. She was terrorized into prostitution at gunpoint and forced to perform unspeakable perversions on film. Years later, when Linda came out of hiding to tell her story, the revelations rocked the porn industry in ways that made her fear for her life.
Ordinary Joe
by Joe Schmidt'He's a great coach. He lives and breathes the game. There's nothing he doesn't know' Brian O'Driscoll'The best coach Irish rugby - arguably Irish sport - has ever had' Malachy Clerkin, Irish TimesIn the autumn of 2010, a little-known New Zealander called Joe Schmidt took over as head coach at Leinster. He had never been in charge of a professional team. After Leinster lost three of their first four games, a prominent Irish rugby pundit speculated that Schmidt had 'lost the dressing room'.Nine years on, Joe Schmidt has stepped down as Ireland coach having achieved success on a scale never before seen in Irish rugby. Two Heineken Cups in three seasons with Leinster. Three Six Nations championships in six seasons with Ireland, including the Grand Slam in 2018. And a host of firsts: the first Irish victory in South Africa; the first Irish defeat of the All Blacks, and then a second; and Ireland's first number 1 world ranking.Along the way, Schmidt became a byword for precision and focus in coaching, remarkable attention to detail and the highest of standards. But who is Joe Schmidt? In Ordinary Joe, Schmidt tells the story of his life and influences: the experiences and management ideas that made him the coach, and the man, that he is today. And his diaries of the 2018 Grand Slam and the 2019 Rugby World Cup provide a brilliantly intimate insight into the stresses and joys of coaching a national team in victory and defeat.From the small towns in New Zealand's North Island where he played barefoot rugby and jostled around the dinner table with seven siblings, to the training grounds and video rooms where he consistently kept his teams a step ahead of the opposition, Ordinary Joe reveals an ordinary man who has helped his teams to achieve extraordinary things.'Rugby obsessives and amateur coaches will revel in the insight that Schmidt offers into his training methods, tactics and preparation ... Full of insight, emotion and considered analysis' Irish Daily Mail'An insight into the fascinating personality of the man who has been the single most influential figure in Irish rugby over the last decade' Irish Times'He is clearly more than an ordinary coach, the winning of two Heinekens, beating New Zealand twice, the 2018 Grand Slam and reaching no.1 in the World Rankings are positive brushstrokes, marking Irish rugby for ever ... A rocky read about exceptional deeds, told in extraordinary fashion' Irish Daily Star'Undoubtedly the greatest coach in Irish rugby history' Daily Telegraph
Ordinary People
by Family OsbourneIn their own words (and we all know how colorful those can be), the five members of the notorious Osbourne clan tell the amazing story of the first family of rock. OZZY talks about his first beer, his legendary career,and why he's the only sane member of the Osbourne family. SHARON explains the root of her shopaholic nature, the ups and downs of being married to Ozzy, and what it's like to battle cancer and host a talk show. AIMEE reveals why she opted out of MTV's The Osbournes, why she thinks her mother's in denial, and why her father destroyed himself with drugs. KELLY offers cutting thoughts on sibling relationships and growing up Osbourne as well as on life as a fledgling rock star. JACK shares stories about life without privacy ("What's privacy?") and his stint in rehab -- and claims he's the only sane one in the family. IF YOU THOUGHT YOU ALREADY KNEW THE OSBOURNES, THINK AGAIN!
Ordinary People: Our Story
by Sharon Osbourne Ozzy OsbourneIn their own words (and we all know how colorful those can be), the five members of the notorious Osbourne clan tell the amazing story of the first family of rock. OZZY talks about his first beer, his legendary career,and why he's the only sane member of the Osbourne family. SHARON explains the root of her shopaholic nature, the ups and downs of being married to Ozzy, and what it's like to battle cancer and host a talk show. AIMEE reveals why she opted out of MTV's The Osbournes, why she thinks her mother's in denial, and why her father destroyed himself with drugs. KELLY offers cutting thoughts on sibling relationships and growing up Osbourne as well as on life as a fledgling rock star. JACK shares stories about life without privacy ("What's privacy?") and his stint in rehab -- and claims he's the only sane one in the family. IF YOU THOUGHT YOU ALREADY KNEW THE OSBOURNES, THINK AGAIN!
Organic Cinema: Film, Architecture, and the Work of Béla Tarr
by Thorsten Botz-BornsteinThe “organic” is by now a venerable concept within aesthetics, architecture, and art history, but what might such a term mean within the spatialities and temporalities of film? By way of an answer, this concise and innovative study locates organicity in the work of Béla Tarr, the renowned Hungarian filmmaker and pioneer of the “slow cinema” movement. Through a wholly original analysis of the long take and other signature features of Tarr’s work, author Thorsten Botz-Bornstein establishes compelling links between the seemingly remote spheres of film and architecture, revealing shared organic principles that emphasize the transcendence of boundaries.
Organizzare una festa da vero professionista
by Richard G Lowe Jr Silvia LiguoriGli anni precedenti la scomparsa di mia moglie, ero una di quelle persone che si possono definire introverse. Lavoravo nell'industria informatica, dipingevo miniature di fantasia, collezionavo francobolli ed ero un lettore appassionato. Il filo conduttore di tutte queste attività era il fatto che non fossero coinvolte altre persone. Tutto è cambiato però dopo la morte di mia moglie. La sensazione di dolore era devastante e dovevo fare qualcosa per uscire da quel tunnel oscuro e profondo. Coloro tra voi che hanno vissuto un lutto possono comprendere quel che sto dicendo. Il lutto è un luogo pericoloso in cui sprofondare: in esso non c'è proprio niente di salutare. Mi sono avvicinato alla fotografia e sono andato a immortalare la natura nei parchi nazionali, statali e locali della California del sud. Ho iniziato ad andare alle fiere, soprattutto al Festival rinascimentale locale. Mi sono imposto di essere più “social” e socievole, nonostante questo andasse contro una personale mentalità introversa. Ho iniziato a partecipare alle feste. Anche prima ovviamente ero stato ad altre feste, ma in generale ero parecchio riluttante e non mi fermavo mai troppo a lungo. Arrivavo senza buttarmi subito nella mischia e spesso gli altri invitati non si accorgevano nemmeno che fossi lì anch'io. Ora è tutto diverso per me. Quel tunnel oscuro di dolore non faceva per me. Stare all'aria aperta e frequentare altra gente mi ha guidato verso la mia rinascita. La cosa interessante dei festival rinascimentali è la natura sociale delle persone coinvolte. In men che non si dica ero diventato già il fotografo ufficiale del Festival del Rinascimento e mi invitavano alle loro feste ed eventi sociali. Un mondo completamente nuovo per me, un mondo di socializzazione con altre persone. All'inizio, non avevo la minima idea di cosa fare e mi sentivo un po' spaesato. Dopo aver conosciuto nuova gente a feste ed eventi, si è aperto uno spiraglio e ho ricominciato a divertirmi.
Orientalism and Musical Mission: Palestine and the West
by Rachel Beckles WillsonOrientalism and Musical Mission presents a new way of understanding music's connections with imperialism, drawing on new archive sources and interviews and using the lens of 'mission'. Rachel Beckles Willson demonstrates how institutions such as churches, schools, radio stations and governments, influenced by missions from Europe and North America since the mid-nineteenth century, have consistently claimed that music provides a way of understanding and reforming Arab civilians in Palestine. Beckles Willson discusses the phenomenon not only in religious and developmental aid circles where it has had strong currency, but also in broader political contexts. Plotting a historical trajectory from the late Ottoman and British Mandate eras to the present time, the book sheds new light on relations between Europe, the USA and the Palestinians, and creates space for a neglected Palestinian music history.
Orientalism and Reverse Orientalism in Literature and Film: Beyond East and West (Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Literature)
by Sharmani Patricia Gabriel Bernard WilsonAcknowledging the significance of Edward Said’s Orientalism for contemporary discourse, the contributors to this volume deconstruct, rearrange, and challenge elements of his thesis, looking at the new conditions and opportunities offered by globalization. What can a renewed or reconceptualized Orientalism teach us about the force and limits of our racial imaginary, specifically in relation to various national contexts? In what ways, for example, considering our greater cross-cultural interaction, have clichés and stereotypes undergone a metamorphosis in contemporary societies and cultures? Theoretically, and empirically, this book offers an expansive range of contexts, comprising the insights, analytical positions, and perspectives of a transnational team of scholars of comparative literature and literary and cultural studies based in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, USA, Singapore, Taiwan, and Turkey. Working with, through and beyond Orientalism, they examine a variety of cultural texts, including the novel, short story, poetry, film, graphic memoir, social thought, and life writing. Making connections across centuries and continents, they articulate cultural representation and discourse through multiple approaches including critical content analysis, historical contextualization, postcolonial theory, gender theory, performativity, intertextuality, and intersectionality. Given its unique approach, this book will be essential reading for scholars of literary theory, film studies and Asian studies, as well as for those with a general interest in postcolonial literature and film.
Orienting Italy: China through the Lens of Italian Filmmakers (SUNY series, Horizons of Cinema)
by Mary Ann McDonald CarolanWinner of the 2022 Book Award for Performance and Visual Culture presented by the American Association of Teachers of ItalianOrienting Italy explores contemporary Italian filmmakers' fascination with China and the Chinese in both documentary and fictional films. Delineating the contours of this fascination, the book begins with the works of Carlo Lizzani (Behind the Great Wall, 1958) and Michelangelo Antonioni (Chung Kuo—China, 1972), both of whom ventured to China with the aim of documenting new, yet physically and culturally distant, realities. Their documentary investigations yielded to fictional portrayals, from the lavish view of a historical Middle Kingdom by director Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor, 1987) to the stark consideration of Italian economic exchange with contemporary China by Gianni Amelio (The Missing Star, 2006). The wave of Chinese migration to Italy in the late twentieth century created a new sense of otherness within Italy as Chinese migrants became the subjects of fictional narratives and documentaries in the works of Stefano Incerti (Gorbaciof, 2010) and Andrea Segre (Shun Li and the Poet, 2011) and Riccardo Cremona and Vincenzo De Cecco (Miss Little China, 2009). In the twenty-first century, a new chapter in the relationship between Italy and China has emerged in the form of transnational collaborations in the art and business of filmmaking.
Orlando (Queer Film Classics)
by Russell SheafferA film that transcends time, Sally Potter’s Orlando follows its titular character through nearly four hundred years of British history. Orlando starts life as a young man in the 1600s and then, mid-film, becomes a woman in the 1800s. Plot, production, and performance have all contributed to the film becoming a touchstone for Tilda Swinton’s ethereal and gender-bending mode.A Russian-French-Dutch-American-Italian-British co-production, Orlando was hailed as a monumental work of international art house cinema upon its release in 1992. Some understood Potter’s film, a work of ruthless and ingenious adaptation, as moving away from the lesbian content of Virginia Woolf’s novel. Russell Sheaffer uses a detailed analysis of screenplay drafts and more than three decades of reception to argue that while the film moves away from a direct investment in same-sex relationships, Orlando’s articulations of embodiment, desire, and time have made the film continually more queer in the years since its release.Taking cues from adaptation theory and gender studies, this book meticulously charts the distinct shift from lesbian feminist text to queer film classic, arguing that the film is as much an adaptation of Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own as it is of its eponymous novel.
Oro de rey: Luis Miguel. La biografía
by Francisco Javier León HerreraEsta nueva biografía, impactante y reveladora como las anteriores, profundiza en los aspectos más importantes de su vida. Desnuda al ser humano que hay detrás de la leyenda, comparte las claves de su extenso legado musical lleno de anécdotas y complicadas decisiones, así como el bagaje existencial de amor, dolor, amistades, traiciones, heridas familiares, sueños rotos, amargura y esperanza. Tras sus dos bestsellers sobre el Sol: Luis Mi Rey, biografía autorizada por el artista que sirvió de base para la serie televisiva sobre su vida, y el más reciente, Luis Miguel: la historia, Javier León Herrera y Juan Manuel Navarro completan la trilogía sobre la existencia del cantante más amado en México, Argentina, Colombia, Estados Unidos, Chile, Puerto Rico, Perú, Bolivia, Brasil, España, Italia y Centroamérica. Oro de Rey ayuda a comprender más al artista adentrándose en el adulto lejos de la sombra -no del fantasma- de Luisito Rey. Gracias a sus confesiones y al testimonio de las personas que más lo conocen, los autores desvelan, con rigor y respeto, a un Luis Miguel más íntimo. En estas páginas se descubrirán los miedos, las luces y las sombras de un luchador que no deja de preguntarse por qué ha tenido que nadar tanto tiempo refugiado en un caparazón, a contracorriente de su propio espíritu y deseo, urgido de una catarsis definitiva que cierre círculos y sane su alma de tantas heridas. Los autores se adentran en aspectos determinantes de su vida: sus huellas de abandono, la ausencia materna, su hogar roto, los hermanos separados, sus éxitos y su estancamiento en la más reciente y profunda crisis en la que tocó fondo: el "Trienio Horribilis" de 2015 a 2017, y su resurgir en 2018, con los detalles de su renacer con el que celebró 50 años: sus bodas de oro con la vida. ¡Larga vida al Rey!
Orphan Black Classified Clone Reports: The Secret Files of Dr. Delphine Cormier
by Delphine CormierThe ultimate guide to all of the characters, conspiracies, and shadowy organizations in the smart, innovative BBC America television thriller Orphan Black.Designed to resemble the classified files and notes of Dr. Delphine Cormier, this in-world compendium chronicles the inner workings of the mysterious people and organizations at the heart of the acclaimed hit television series Orphan Black. A detailed and creative look at the thrilling international hit series, Orphan Black Classified Clone Report includes detailed dossiers of Sarah Manning, Felix Dawkins, and all of the show’s beloved characters; examines every twist and turn from season one to the present; provides exclusive information on the Dyad Institute, the Neolution clone program, and the notorious Proletheans; and features observations of the different clones from their monitors, classified intelligence, breakthroughs in Cosima’s research, and private journal entries chronicling Delphine’s experience with the clone club and her own complicated love for Cosima.Packed with exclusive concept art, photos, and ephemera, Orphan Black Classified Clone Report is an immersive reading experience and essential companion for fans of Orphan Black.
Orphan Black and Philosophy
by Richard Greene Rachel Robison-GreeneIn Orphan Black, several apparently unconnected women discover that they are exact physical doubles, that there are more of them out there, that they are all illegally produced clones, and that someone is having them killed. They find themselves in the midst of a secret and violent struggle between a fundamentalist religious group, a fanatical cult of superhuman biological enhancement, a clandestine department of the military, and a giant biotech corporation. Law enforcement is powerless and easily manipulated by these sinister forces. The clones are forced to form their own Clone Club, led by the resourceful Sarah Manning, to defend themselves against their numerous enemies and to find out exactly where they came from and why. <p><p> Orphan Black continually raises philosophical issues, as well as ethical and policy questions deserving philosophical analysis. What makes a person a unique individual? Why is it so important for us to know where we came from? Should we have a say in whether a clone is made of us? Is it immoral to generate clones with built-in health problems or personality defects - and if so, does that mean that producers of clones must practice eugenic selection? What light does the behavior of members of the Clone Club shed on the nature-nurture debate? Is it relevant that most are heterosexual, one is a lesbian, and one is a transgender male? <p> This TV show shows us problems of biotechnology which will soon be vital everyday issues. But what kind of a future faces us when human clones are commonplace? Will groups of human clones have a tight bond of solidarity making them a threat to democracy? If the world is going to be taken over by an evil conspiracy, would it better be a scientific cult like Neolution or a religious cult like the Prolethians? Should biotech corporations be able to own the copyright on human DNA sequences? What rules of morality apply when you can't trust the police and powerful groups are ready to murder you?
Orphan, Agent, Prima, Pawn
by Elizabeth KiemThe Bolshoi Saga: SvetlanaThe year is 1958, and sixteen-year-old Svetlana is stuck in a Moscow orphanage designated for the unwanted children of Stalin’s enemies. Ballet is her obsession and salvation, her only hope at shedding a tainted family past. When she is invited to join the Bolshoi Ballet—the crown jewel of Russian culture and the pride of the Soviet Union—her dreams appear to have been realized. But she quickly learns that nobody’s past or secrets are safe.The dreaded KGB knows about the mysterious trances Sveta has suffered, inexplicable episodes that seem to offer glimpses of the past. Some very powerful people believe Sveta is capable of serving the regime as more than a ballerina, and they wish to recruit her to spy on the West as part of the nascent Soviet psychic warfare program. If she is to erase the sins of her family, if she is to dance on the world stage for the Motherland—if she is to survive—she has no choice but to explore her other gift.
Orphans of the East: Postwar Eastern European Cinema And The Revolutionary Subject
by Constantin ParvulescuUnlike the benevolent orphan found in Charlie Chaplin's The Kid or the sentimentalized figure of Little Orphan Annie, the orphan in postwar Eastern European cinema takes on a more politically fraught role, embodying the tensions of individuals struggling to recover from war and grappling with an unknown future under Soviet rule. By exploring films produced in postwar Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Poland, Parvulescu traces the way in which cinema envisioned and debated the condition of the post-World War II subject and the "new man" of Soviet-style communism. In these films, the orphan becomes a cinematic trope that interrogates socialist visions of ideological institutionalization and re-education and stands as a silent critic of the system's shortcomings or as a resilient spirit who has resisted capture by the political apparatus of the new state.