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Storytelling in the Digital Age
by W. S. PennThrough a professional story-teller's sometimes humorous commentary on culture and literature from The Odyssey on, Storytelling in the Digital Age suggests that literature is not an artifact to be studied but a living process. Often irreverent, crossing literary and scholarly lines, W. S. Penn aims to discover what literature does for an imaginatively engaged reader. Aimed to amuse, provoke, and propose ideas, this book makes bold new statements about what it means to be human through an interrogation of a variety of stories told and re-told over thousands of years.
Storytelling in the Media Convergence Age
by Roberta Pearson Anthony N. SmithThis collection investigates the relationship between contemporary screen narratives and their varied contexts of production, circulation and reception, exploring storytelling practices across a range of different media and national and institutional sites. While convergence and globalisation blur the boundaries between media and nations, it is still vital to account for the persistent national, medium, institutional and technological specificities that give rise to different narrative forms. The chapters study the ways in which these factors shape events, characters and settings; inform modes of narrative presentation; influence, via paratextual surround, potential interpretations; and accord certain stories more value than others. The authors use case studies drawn from a range of media, from Hollywood franchises to digital comics, and a range of countries, from United States to Japan. In connecting contemporary screen media narratives to their contexts, this book offers a new perspective on recent transformations in screen media culture.
Storytelling in the New Hollywood: Understanding Classical Narrative Technique
by Kristin ThompsonKristin Thompson offers the first in-depth analysis of Hollywood's storytelling techniques and how they are used to make complex, easily comprehensible, entertaining films.
Storytelling: Critical And Creative Approaches
by Jan Shaw L. E. Semler Philippa KellyThis collection uses the concept of 'story' to connect literary materials and methods of analysis to wider issues of social and political importance. Drawing on a range of texts, themes include post-colonial literatures, history in literature, old stories in contemporary contexts, and the relationship between creativity and criticism.
Storythinking: The New Science of Narrative Intelligence (No Limits)
by Angus FletcherEvery time we think ahead, we are crafting a story. Every daily plan—and every political vision, social movement, scientific hypothesis, business proposal, and technological breakthrough—starts with “what if?” Linking causes to effects, considering hypotheticals and counterfactuals, asking how other people will react: these are the essence of narrative. So why do we keep overlooking story’s importance to intelligence in favor of logic?This book explains how and why our brains think in stories. Angus Fletcher, an expert in neuroscientific approaches to narrative, identifies this capacity as “storythinking.” He demonstrates that storythinking is fundamental to what makes us human. Artificial intelligence can perform symbolic logic, rational deduction, and mathematical calculation, but it is incapable of deliberating in narrative. Drawing on new research in neuroscience and narrative theory, Fletcher explores the nature of imagination, innovation, and creativity. He provides concise answers to big questions: How does storythinking work? Why did it evolve? How can it misfire? What problems can it solve?Revealing the significance of storythinking from science to business to philosophy, this book also provides ways for readers to harness its power to script better tomorrows.
Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling
by Matthew DicksA five-time Moth GrandSLAM winner and bestselling novelist shows how to tell a great story — and why doing so matters. Whether we realize it or not, we are always telling stories. On a first date or job interview, at a sales presentation or therapy appointment, with family or friends, we are constantly narrating events and interpreting emotions and actions. In this compelling book, storyteller extraordinaire Matthew Dicks presents wonderfully straightforward and engaging tips and techniques for constructing, telling, and polishing stories that will hold the attention of your audience (no matter how big or small). He shows that anyone can learn to be an appealing storyteller, that everyone has something &“storyworthy&” to express, and, perhaps most important, that the act of creating and telling a tale is a powerful way of understanding and enhancing your own life.
Straight Acting: The Hidden Queer Lives of William Shakespeare
by Will ToshA dazzling and "highly readable" (Guardian) portrait of Shakespeare as a young artist, revealing how his rich and complex queer life informed the plays and poems we treasure today &“Was Shakespeare gay?&” For years the question has sent experts and fans into a tailspin of confusion. But as scholar Will Tosh argues, this debate misses the point: sex, intimacy, and identity in Elizabethan England were infinitely more complex—and queer—than we have been taught. In this incisive biography, Tosh reveals William Shakespeare as a queer artist who drew on his society&’s nuanced understanding of gender and sexuality to create some of English literature&’s richest works. During Shakespeare&’s time, same-sex desire was repressed and punished by the Church and state, but it was also articulated and sustained by institutions across England. Moving through the queer spaces of Shakespeare&’s life—his Stratford schoolroom, smoky London taverns and playhouses, the royal court—Tosh shows how strongly Shakespeare&’s early work was influenced by the queer culture of the time, much of it totally integrated into mainstream society. He also uncovers the surprising reason why Shakespeare veered away from his early work&’s gender-bending homoeroticism. Offering a subversive sketch of Elizabethan England, Straight Acting uncovers Shakespeare as one of history&’s great queer artists and completely reshapes the way we understand his life and times.
Straight Outta Crawley: Memoirs of a Distinctly Average Human Being
by Romesh RanganathanTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERStraight Outta Crawley is the hilarious and irreverent autobiography from comedian Romesh Ranganathan.'Very, very funny. I can't recommend it highly enough.' Jonathan Ross_________________________________At the age of 9, Romesh Ranganathan delivered his first ever stand-up set at a Pontin's holiday camp talent competition, smashing the other competitor, a young girl playing the kazoo.The gig went so well that Romesh retired his comic genius for twenty-two years, hiding behind the guise of a maths teacher, before finally revealing himself again (no, not like that) at the tender age of 31. In 2010, Ranganathan staged his epic comeback gig to an almost silent room, and has since gone on to earn his place as the most in-demand overweight vegan Sri Lankan comedian in Britain.Now, for the first time, he tells the full story of how he got here. From the delights of Sri Lankan hospitality to his struggles as a child, teacher and now parent, to his adolescent flirtation with a rap career and his attempts to make it in comedy, Straight Outta Crawley is Ranganathan's hilarious and irreverent autobiography.Have you read Romesh's latest book? As Good As It Gets: Life Lessons from a Reluctant Adult is Romesh Ranganathan's hilarious and painfully accurate dissection of what it really means to grow up.
Straight Up: My Autobiography
by Danny DyerGrowing up in the eighties in East London was no picnic. Proper hard bastards, wannabe villains and cockney wide boys everywhere you went, all looking to make their mark. With trouble at home and more at school, Danny Dyer didn't have many options. He was a rascal, running with a tough crowd, getting himself into scrapes with the Old Bill, on the verge of becoming just another nobody. Until he started to act.It came naturally to him. He landed role after role, working with big stars, making a name for himself. And then came Human Traffic, and his career went into overdrive. Fame opened doors into the best clubs, the best booze and even better drugs. But with the highs came the lows, and as the drinks flowed, the work dried up. Shut out of an industry that didn't understand him, that heard his reputation before bothering with his talent, he had no choice but to turn it around and sort himself out. This is the real story - straight up.Funny, honest, full of swagger, and jammed full of antics and anecdotes, this memoir tears it up proper and delivers on every page.
Straight from the Fridge, Dad: A Dictionary of Hipster Slang
by Max DecharneRighteous jive for all you weedheads, moochers, b-girls, gassers, bandrats, triggermen, grifters, snowbirds, and long-gone daddies.Much of the slang popularly associated with the hippie generation of the 1960s actually dates back to before World War II, hijacked in the main from jazz and blues street expressions, mostly relating to drugs, sex, and drinking. Why talk when you can beat your chops, why eat when you can line your flue, and why snore when you can call some hogs? You’re not drunk–you’re just plumb full of stagger juice, and your skin isn’t pasty, it’s just caf? sunburn. Need a black coffee? That’s a shot of java, nix on the moo juice.Containing thousands of examples of hipster slang drawn from pulp novels, classic noir and exploitation films, blues, country, and rock ’n’ roll lyrics, and other related sources from the 1920s to the 1960s, Straight from the Fridge, Dad is the perfect guide for all hep cats and kittens. Think of it as a sort of Thirty Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary for the beret-wearing, bongo-banging set. Solid, Jackson.
Straight from the Heart: BONNIE TYLER'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
by Bonnie TylerThe honest and heartfelt memoir of vocal powerhouse and music legend Bonnie TylerYou know the name and you can't mistake the voice. Now you can read the incredible story of how a shy, music-loving teenager called Gaynor Hopkins became legendary international superstar Bonnie Tyler, and carved out an extraordinary career that is still going strong to this day.After five decades in the business - during which she has recorded some of the most iconic songs of all time, including 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' and 'Holding Out for a Hero' - Bonnie is at last sharing her fascinating journey, and she's not holding back: this is her amazing story, told straight from the heart.
Straight from the Heart: BONNIE TYLER'S LONG-AWAITED AUTOBIOGRAPHY
by Bonnie TylerThe candid and heartfelt memoir of vocal powerhouse Bonnie TylerWe all know the name, and we all know that voice, but what the world doesn't know is how Bonnie Tyler came to be the vocal powerhouse that took the music industry by storm. Now, after nearly 50 years in the limelight, Bonnie will lift the lid on her private life: her 50-year marriage, health, family, friendships, and fallouts with the world's biggest stars. Bonnie's is a fascinating, whirlwind of a life, and here, for the first time, she tells the whole story with no filter. The Welsh 80s pop legend tells her story of humble start in a small mining town in South Wales where she lived with her large, loving and eclectically musical family. From singing in church, her incredible voice surprising the congregation, to performing in pubs, to becoming a global icon and national treasure, throughout her successful career she has remained true to herself and her beginnings. This year marks the 40th anniversary of Total Eclipse of the Heart, one of the most famous power ballads of all time. Now as Bonnie approaches 50 years in the business she continues to move with the times, releasing new music and constantly touring the world.A happy childhood of music and freedom is conjured up here, along with the trickier side to being a woman in the music industry in the 1980s. Bonnie will speak with her characteristic no-nonsense humour and candour to create an inspiring and entertaining story of success, longevity and staying true to your roots.(P)2023 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
Straight from the Heart: BONNIE TYLER'S LONG-AWAITED AUTOBIOGRAPHY
by Bonnie TylerYou know the name and you can't mistake the voice. Now you can read the incredible story of how a shy, music-loving teenager called Gaynor Hopkins morphed into legendary international superstar Bonnie Tyler and carved out an extraordinary career that is still going strong to this day.After five decades in the business - during which time she has recorded some of the most iconic songs of all time, travelled the world and performed for royalty and the Pope - Bonnie is sharing her fascinating journey for the first time. And she's not holding back. From her early days growing up in a tiny mining village in South Wales, to her career as a club singer that led to her accidental discovery by a talent scout, the Top of the Pops devotee had no idea she would one day grace the infamous illuminated stage alongside some of her biggest idols. Her rise to fame would sound like a fairy tale if it wasn't all true.Bonnie has always determinedly followed her own path, even when sceptical music execs told her she would fail. Her bravery led to her working with the legendary producer and songwriter Jim Steinman, going on to record the classic power ballads 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' and 'Holding Out for a Hero', as well as duetting with some of the best-known names in the business. She is undoubtedly one of the biggest vocal powerhouses of her generation, but her roots remain firmly in her beloved Wales. She is resolutely down to earth, funny and endlessly charming. Whether she's talking about the family she adores or sharing hilarious anecdotes from her many years in the spotlight, Bonnie never fails to entertain.Finally, we get to hear the amazing tale of a woman who has led the way for so many other female artists - and has had a bloody great time doing it. Bonnie's much-anticipated memoir is inspirational, moving and straight from the heart.
Strains of Utopia: Gender, Nostalgia, and Hollywood Film Music
by Caryl FlinnWhen Dmitri Tiomkin thanked Johannes Brahms, Johann Strauss, Richard Strauss, and Richard Wagner upon accepting the Academy Award for his score of The High and the Mighty in 1954, he was honoring a romantic style that had characterized Hollywood's golden age of film composition from the mid-1930s to the 1950s. Exploring elements of romanticism in film scores of composers ranging from Erich Korngold to Bernard Herrmann, Caryl Flinn argues that films tended to link music to the sense of an idealized, lost past. Just as the score of Gone with the Wind captured the grandeur of the antebellum South, others prompted flashbacks or suggested moments of emotional intensity and sensuality. Maintaining that many films treated this utopian impulse as a female trait, Flinn investigates the ways Hollywood genre films--particularly film noir and melodrama--sustained the connection between music and nostalgia, utopia, and femininity. The author situates Hollywood film scores within a romantic aesthetic ideology, noting compositional and theoretical affinities between the film composers and Wagner, with emphasis on authorship, creativity, and femininity. Pointing to the lasting impact of romanticism on film music, Flinn draws from poststructuralist, Marxist, feminist, and psychoanalytic criticism to offer fresh insights into the broad theme of music as an excessive utopian condition.
Straitjacket Sexualities: Unbinding Asian American Manhoods in the Movies
by Shimizu Celine ParreñasDepictions of Asian American men as effeminate or asexual pervade popular movies. Hollywood has made clear that Asian American men lack the qualities inherent to the heroic heterosexual male. This restricting, circumscribed vision of masculinity-a straitjacketing, according to author Celine Parreñas Shimizu-aggravates Asian American male sexual problems both on and off screen. Straitjacket Sexualities: Unbinding Asian American Manhoods in the Movieslooks to cinematic history to reveal the dynamic ways Asian American men, from Bruce Lee to Long Duk Dong, create and claim a variety of masculinities. Representations of love, romance, desire, and lovemaking show how Asian American men fashion manhoods that negotiate the dynamics of self and other, expanding our ideas of sexuality. The unique ways in which Asian American men express intimacy is powerfully represented onscreen, offering distinct portraits of individuals struggling with group identities. Rejecting "macho" men, these movies stake Asian American manhood on the notion of caring for, rather than dominating, others. Straitjacket Sexualitiesidentifies a number of moments in the movies wherein masculinity is figured anew. By looking at intimate relations on screen, power as sexual prowess and brute masculinity is redefined, giving primacy to the diverse ways Asian American men experience complex, ambiguous, and ambivalent genders and sexualities.
Stranded at the Drive-In: The 100 Best Teen Movies
by Garry MulhollandAcclaimed writer of This is Uncool and Popcorn turns his attention to the (first ever) look at the teen movie Everyone undergoes some kind of teenage trauma, and a fundamental way of coping, or rite of passage, is the teen movie. Yet until now there has been no book that explores this successful movie sub-genre with any depth. Step forward Garry Mulholland, who, taking his cue from his previous, hugely acclaimed pop culture list books (This is Uncool and Fear of Music), seeks to create a pantheon of the very finest teen movies, or in Garry Mulholland's words: 'I'll be doing what film critics have been loathe to do since the 1950s, and taking the entire subculture of teen movies seriously, making a constant and compelling argument that Grease and A Nightmare on Elm Street tell us a great deal more about modern life and human nature than Citizen Kane and The Godfather.' From Kes to Fame, Badlands to the Breakfast Club, and National Lampoon's Animal House to Twilight, Garry Mulholland re-evaluates a much maligned genre, and brings it all back again: the good, the bad and the traumatic.
Stranded at the Drive-In: The 100 Best Teen Movies
by Garry MulhollandAcclaimed writer of This is Uncool and Popcorn turns his attention to the (first ever) look at the teen movieEveryone undergoes some kind of teenage trauma, and a fundamental way of coping, or rite of passage, is the teen movie. Yet until now there has been no book that explores this successful movie sub-genre with any depth.Step forward Garry Mulholland, who, taking his cue from his previous, hugely acclaimed pop culture list books (This is Uncool and Fear of Music), seeks to create a pantheon of the very finest teen movies, or in Garry Mulholland's words: 'I'll be doing what film critics have been loathe to do since the 1950s, and taking the entire subculture of teen movies seriously, making a constant and compelling argument that Grease and A Nightmare on Elm Street tell us a great deal more about modern life and human nature than Citizen Kane and The Godfather.'From Kes to Fame, Badlands to the Breakfast Club, and National Lampoon's Animal House to Twilight, Garry Mulholland re-evaluates a much maligned genre, and brings it all back again: the good, the bad and the traumatic.
Strange Beautiful Music: A Musical Memoir
by Jake Brown Joe SatrianiGo behind the scenes with the musician The New York Times called "a guitar God!" Oft-hailed as the Jimi Hendrix of his generation, living guitar legend Joe Satriani has long transcended stylistic boundaries with a sound that raises the bar like a new horizon for the broader genre of instrumental guitar rock. Joe's 6-string secrets have astounded listeners around the world for nearly 30 years. In Strange Beautiful Music: A Musical Memoir, Satriani and coauthor, music biographer Jake Brown, take fans on their first authorized tour of the story behind his climb to stardom and the creative odyssey involved in writing and recording a storied catalog of classics including "Surfing with the Alien," "Summer Song," "Satch Boogie," "Always With Me, Always With You," "The Extremist," "Flying in a Blue Dream," "Crowd Chant," and more. Featuring previously unpublished photos and hours of exclusive, firsthand interviews with Satriani, Strange Beautiful Music offers a unique look inside the studio with Joe, giving fans a chance to get up close and personal like never before. With insider details about his collaboration with multi-platinum supergroup Chickenfoot, exclusive interviews with Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony of Van Halen and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, commentary from fellow guitar legends such as Steve Vai, Metallica's Kirk Hammett, Primus's Larry LaLonde, and legendary music producers including Glynn Johns and the late Andy Johns, this memoir offers a rare inside look for die-hard Satriani fans, guitar enthusiasts, and anyone who loves to rock.
Strange Encounters: Adventures of a Curious Life
by Parikshat SahniDrawing its wisdom from Hindu, Judaic and Islamic philosophies, this is the multicultural, multifaceted saga of Parikshat Sahni's journey from being a film student in Soviet Russia to surrendering Stanislavski for Indian cinema. Strange Encounters is a prismatic collection of travel portraits, impressions and life lessons that Parikshat Sahni has accumulated in his itinerant life moving within the golden autumns of Moscow to the tune of Tchaikovsky, returning to Mumbai and his roots, entering Bollywood, and finding fame. Sahni chronicles stories from a life whose pendulum swings wildly from the humorous to the utterly horrifying. He confronts his thanatophobia on film sets and his atheism on an ill-prepared trek to Amarnath; he gives us drinking lessons with screenwriter friends and a profound insight into the state of culture wars in present-day Kashmir; he recalls the thrill of young love in Russia and its attendant treacheries of the heart, as well as a study of Pakistan, a history of India as the land of many, and a look at the current political discourse through the eyes of a refugee.
Strange Hollywood: Amazing and Intriguing Stories From Tinseltown and Beyond (Strange Series)
by Editors of Portable PressStrange things happen behind the scenes in Hollywood.Hollywood stars may be accustomed to the limelight, but there are some things they may wish had never seen the light of day. Scandals, stunts gone wrong, off-camera feuds, eccentric lifestyles—it’s all here in Strange Hollywood. Dozens of entertaining articles about the world of showbiz will amuse you and make you realize that being a celebrity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Strange Things Happen: A Life with The Police, Polo, and Pygmies
by Stewart CopelandWhen Stewart Copeland gets dressed, he has an identity crisis. Should he put on "leather pants, hostile shirts, and pointy shoes"? Or wear something more appropriate to the "tax-paying, property-owning, investment-holding lotus eater" his success has allowed him to become? This dilemma is at the heart of Copeland's vastly entertaining memoir-in-stories, Strange Things Happen. The world knows Copeland as the drummer for The Police, one of the most successful bands in rock history. But they may not know as much about his childhood in the Middle East as the son of a CIA agent. Or be aware of his film-making adventures with the Pygmies in the deepest reaches of the Congo, and his passion for polo (Brideshead Revisited on horses). In Strange Things Happen we move from Copeland's remarkable childhood to the formation of The Police, their rise to stardom, and the settled-down life that followed. It ends with a behind-the-scenes view of The Police's extraordinarily successful reunion tour. It's a book of amazing anecdotes, all completely true, which take us backstage in a life that is fully lived.
Strange Way to Live: A Story of Rock 'n' Roll Resurrection
by Carl DixonCarl Dixon’s journey through the twists and turns of a music performer’s life began in Northern Ontario, where his boyhood dreams, shaped by the 1960s, collided with a new musical culture. Though Carl’s road was rocky, it was still paved with gold. It has led from his early days with hard rockers Coney Hatch to tours and lasting friendships with huge acts like Iron Maiden. The ups and downs were meteoric. Carl became a member of the legendary bands The Guess Who and April Wine and then faced the hardest test of all: a horrific auto collision in Australia that left him in a coma, barely clinging to life. Strange Way to Live follows Carl’s progress, never faltering and sometimes comical, toward musical glory. Blind determination can lead one to some strange places. Carl’s took him through some of the biggest, smallest, and weirdest scenes in this vast country, and from the glory days of Canadian rock to the present day.
Strangeness in Jacobean Drama (Studies in Performance and Early Modern Drama)
by Callan DaviesCallan Davies presents “strangeness” as a fresh critical paradigm for understanding the construction and performance of Jacobean drama—one that would have been deeply familiar to its playwrights and early audiences. This study brings together cultural analysis, philosophical enquiry, and the history of staged special effects to examine how preoccupation with the strange unites the verbal, visual, and philosophical elements of performance in works by Marston, Shakespeare, Middleton, Dekker, Heywood, and Beaumont and Fletcher. Strangeness in Jacobean Drama therefore offers an alternative model for understanding this important period of English dramatic history that moves beyond categories such as “Shakespeare’s late plays,” “tragicomedy,” or the home of cynical and bloodthirsty tragedies. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of early modern drama and philosophy, rhetorical studies, and the history of science and technology.
Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs
by Leonard CohenThe selected work of the legendary singer, poet, and performer. Stranger Music presents a magnificent cross-section of Cohen's work--including 11 previously unpublished poems--and demonstrates definitively that Cohen is a writer of dazzling intelligence and a force that transcends genres.
Stranger Than Paradise (Cultographies)
by Jamie SextonA low-budget breakout film that wowed critics and audiences on its initial release, Stranger Than Paradise would prove to be a seminal film in the new American independent cinema movement and establish its director, Jim Jarmusch, as a hip, cult auteur. Taking inspiration from 1960s underground filmmaking, international art cinema, genre cinema, and punk culture, Jarmusch’s film provides a bridge between midnight movie features and a new mode of quirky, offbeat independent filmmaking. This book probes the film's production history, initial reception, aesthetics, and legacy in order to understand its place within the cult film canon. In examining the film's cult pedigree, it explores a number of threads that fed into the film—including New York downtown culture of the early 1980s and Jarmusch’s involvement in music—as well as reflecting on how the film's status has developed alongside Jarmusch’s subsequent output and reputation.