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Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made
by Jason SchreierDeveloping video games—hero's journey or fool's errand? The creative and technical logistics that go into building today's hottest games can be more harrowing and complex than the games themselves, often seeming like an endless maze or a bottomless abyss. In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier takes readers on a fascinating odyssey behind the scenes of video game development, where the creator may be a team of 600 overworked underdogs or a solitary geek genius. Exploring the artistic challenges, technical impossibilities, marketplace demands, and Donkey Kong-sized monkey wrenches thrown into the works by corporate, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels reveals how bringing any game to completion is more than Sisyphean—it's nothing short of miraculous.Taking some of the most popular, bestselling recent games, Schreier immerses readers in the hellfire of the development process, whether it's RPG studio Bioware's challenge to beat an impossible schedule and overcome countless technical nightmares to build Dragon Age: Inquisition; indie developer Eric Barone's single-handed efforts to grow country-life RPG Stardew Valley from one man's vision into a multi-million-dollar franchise; or Bungie spinning out from their corporate overlords at Microsoft to create Destiny, a brand new universe that they hoped would become as iconic as Star Wars and Lord of the Rings—even as it nearly ripped their studio apart. Documenting the round-the-clock crunches, buggy-eyed burnout, and last-minute saves, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is a journey through development hell—and ultimately a tribute to the dedicated diehards and unsung heroes who scale mountains of obstacles in their quests to create the best games imaginable.
Bloodstained Narratives: The Giallo Film in Italy and Abroad (Horror and Monstrosity Studies Series)
by Matthew Edwards and Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni BernsContributions by Donald L. Anderson, Brian Brems, Eric Brinkman, Matthew Edwards, Brenda S. Gardenour Walter, Andrew Grossman, Lisa Haegele, Gavin F. Hurley, Mikel J. Koven, Sharon Jane Mee, Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns, Émilie von Garan, Connor John Warden, and Sean WoodardThe giallo (yellow) film cycle, characterized by its bloody murders and blending of high art and cinematic sleaze, rose to prominence in Italy in the 1960s and 1970s. Beginning with Mario Bava’s The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963) and Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970), giallo films influenced the American slasher films of the 1980s and attracted an increasingly large fandom. In Bloodstained Narratives: The Giallo Film in Italy and Abroad, contributors explore understudied aspects of gialli. The chapters introduce readers to a wide range of films, including masterpieces from Argento and overlooked gems, all of them examined in close detail. Rather than understanding giallo as focalized exclusively in Italy in the 1970s, this collection explores the extension of gialli narratives abroad through different geographies and times. This book examines Italian gialli of the 1970s as well as American neo-gialli, French productions, Canadian horror films of the 1980s, and Asian rewritings of this “yellow” cycle of crime/horror films. Bloodstained Narratives also features interviews with two giallo film directors, including cult favorite Antonio Bido. Rather than fading from the cinematic stage, gialli serves as a precursor and steady accomplice to horror-thriller films through the twenty-first century.
Bloody Brilliant: How To Develop Execute And Clean Up Blood Effects For Live Performance
by Jennifer McClureBloody Brilliant: How to Develop, Execute, and Clean Up Blood Effects for Live Performance offers methods and techniques for delivering this special effect on the stage. The world of live theatre presents its own set of unique challenges when creating special effects, particularly blood. There are no cropped-view frames, multiple angles, or reshoots – everything is live and in view of the audience. This book provides helpful insight, information, techniques, and tricks for producing reliable and repeatable blood effects, covering everything from design and budgeting to safety and clean-up. Filled with easy-to-follow descriptions and full-color artwork, this text includes: Practical examples of blood effect budgets, outlining not just money but also labor needs. A breakdown of the components for making an original blood recipe, as well as reliable, industry-tested recipes. Options for dispensing blood to create realistic effects for any budget size. A comprehensive wash-testing database of over 500 examples of fabrics and blood combinations. Prop managers and builders in professional, educational, and regional theatre are sure to benefit from the tips outlined in this book.
Bloody Mary: My Story
by Mary CoughlanSince she rose to international fame in 1985 with her seminal Irish jazz album Tired and Emotional, Mary Coughlan's battles with addiction, the problems in her personal life and career have been well documented. But until now she has never spoken of the traumatic events in her childhood that led to a life of rebellion, running away, and reliance on drugs and alcohol.In this funny, moving and typically outspoken memoir, Ireland's best-loved jazz singer pulls no punches in getting to the heart of what made Mary so contrary.Detailing her battles with the bottle, her suicide attempts and her confinement in psychiatric hospitals, Mary tells of how, after hitting rock-bottom, she pulled herself out of the dregs of a vodka bottle to confront the foundations of her problems head-on.As she tells her story - with a ribald, running commentary on the highs and lows of celebrity culture - we get to experience an alternative evolution of Ireland in the '70s and '80s, populated with hippies, rock stars and movie moguls, and one wild Irish girl determined to live a life less ordinary.
Bloody Mary: My Story
by Mary CoughlanSince she rose to international fame in 1985 with her seminal Irish jazz album Tired and Emotional, Mary Coughlan's battles with addiction, the problems in her personal life and career have been well documented. But until now she has never spoken of the traumatic events in her childhood that led to a life of rebellion, running away, and reliance on drugs and alcohol.In this funny, moving and typically outspoken memoir, Ireland's best-loved jazz singer pulls no punches in getting to the heart of what made Mary so contrary.Detailing her battles with the bottle, her suicide attempts and her confinement in psychiatric hospitals, Mary tells of how, after hitting rock-bottom, she pulled herself out of the dregs of a vodka bottle to confront the foundations of her problems head-on.As she tells her story - with a ribald, running commentary on the highs and lows of celebrity culture - we get to experience an alternative evolution of Ireland in the '70s and '80s, populated with hippies, rock stars and movie moguls, and one wild Irish girl determined to live a life less ordinary.
Blooming Sanctuary Coloring Book
by Geta Grama Patty Prann Young Piece O' Cake Designs55+ intricate designs to color your cares away. Coloring has never been this creative! Get inspired with designs by Geta Grama, Piece O’ Cake Designs, and Patty Young. 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 intricate swirling designs, sweet, modern, and exotic designs, and whimsical birds, flowers, and animals. 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" x 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)
Bloomington-Normal Circus Legacy, The: The Golden Age of Aerialists
by Maureen Brunsdale Mark SchmittStarting in the 1870s, the barns, icehouses, gymnasiums and empty theaters of central Illinois provided the practice sites for aerial performers whose names still command reverence in the annals of American circus history. Meet Fred Miltimore and the Green Brothers, runaways from the Fourth Ward School who became the first Bloomington-born flyers. Watch Art Concello, a ten-year-old truant, become first a world-class flyer, then a famous trapeze impresario and finally Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus's most successful general manager. The entire art of the trapeze--instruction, training, performance and management--became a Bloomington-Normal industry during the tented shows' golden age, when finding a circus flying act without a connection to this area would have been virtually impossible.
Bloomsbury Ballerina: Lydia Lopokova, Imperial Dancer and Mrs John Maynard Keynes
by Judith MackrellThe story of the splendidly unpredictable Russian dancer who ruffled the feathers of the Bloomsbury set and became the wife of John Maynard KeynesBorn in 1891 in St Petersburg, Lydia Lopokova lived a long and remarkable life. Her vivacious personality and the sheer force of her charm propelled her to the top of Diaghilev's Ballet Russes. Through a combination of luck, determination and talent, Lydia became a star in Paris, a vaudeville favourite in America, the toast of Britain and then married the world-renowned economist, and formerly homosexual, John Maynard Keynes.Lydia's story links ballet and the Bloomsbury group, war, revolution and the economic policies of the super-powers. She was an immensely captivating, eccentric and irreverent personality: a bolter, a true bohemian and, eventually, an utterly devoted wife.
Bloomsbury Ballerina: Lydia Lopokova, Imperial Dancer and Mrs John Maynard Keynes
by Judith MackrellThe story of the splendidly unpredictable Russian dancer who ruffled the feathers of the Bloomsbury set and became the wife of John Maynard KeynesBorn in 1891 in St Petersburg, Lydia Lopokova lived a long and remarkable life. Her vivacious personality and the sheer force of her charm propelled her to the top of Diaghilev's Ballet Russes. Through a combination of luck, determination and talent, Lydia became a star in Paris, a vaudeville favourite in America, the toast of Britain and then married the world-renowned economist, and formerly homosexual, John Maynard Keynes.Lydia's story links ballet and the Bloomsbury group, war, revolution and the economic policies of the super-powers. She was an immensely captivating, eccentric and irreverent personality: a bolter, a true bohemian and, eventually, an utterly devoted wife.
Blossoms & Blood: Postmodern Media Culture and the Films of Paul Thomas Anderson
by Jason SperbThis analysis of the films of P. T. Anderson is &“a case study of how even the most self-determined directors are always borne aloft by cultural events&” (Cineaste). From his film festival debut Hard Eight to ambitious studio epics Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and There Will Be Blood, Paul Thomas Anderson&’s unique cinematic vision focuses on postmodern excess and media culture. In Blossoms and Blood, Jason Sperb studies the filmmaker&’s evolving aesthetic and its historical context to argue that Anderson&’s films create new, often ambivalent, narratives of American identity in a media-saturated world.Blossoms and Blood explores Anderson&’s films in relation to the aesthetic and economic shifts within the film industry and to America&’s changing social and political sensibilities since the mid-1990s. Sperb provides an auteur study with important implications for film history, media studies, cultural studies, and gender studies. He charts major themes in Anderson&’s work, such as stardom, self-reflexivity, and masculinity and shows how they are indicative of trends in late twentieth-century American culture. One of the first books to focus on Anderson&’s work, Blossoms and Blood reveals the development of an under-studied filmmaker attuned to the contradictions of a postmodern media culture. &“Jason Sperb is not a fan of Paul Thomas Anderson. He&’s something much better—an intelligent critic trying to discern what&’s valuable and what&’s not in Anderson&’s body of cinematic work.&” ―Milwaukee Express &“Sperb has complete mastery of the critical and industrial histories of the films.&” —Choice
Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: And Other Lessons in Life
by Michael CaineWith over 100 movies and two Academy Awards to his credit over six decades, Hollywood legend Michael Caine shares the wisdom, stories, insight, and skills that life has taught him in his remarkable career--and now his 85th year. One of our best-loved actors Michael Caine has starred in a huge range of films from the classic movies Alfie, Zulu, and The Italian Job (the inspiration for the book title) to the Hollywood blockbusting Dark Knight trilogy, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Cider House Rules. Caine has excelled in every kind of role--with a skill that's made it look easy. He knows what success takes--he's made it to the pinnacle of his profession from humble origins. But as he says, "Small parts can lead to big things. And if you keep doing things right, the stars will align when you least expect it." Now in his 85th year--and more beloved than ever--he wants to share everything he's learned. With brilliant new insight into his life and work and showcasing his wonderful gift for storytelling, Blowing the Bloody Doors Off is Caine at his wise and entertaining best.
Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: And Other Lessons in Life
by Michael Caine'Wise, funny' Daily Mail'Chatty and engaging . . . he often comes across as endearingly humble' Sunday Times'Thoroughly engaging' Sunday Express magazine'Fabulous storytelling' PrimaOne of 'the top 25 most compelling Hollywood autobiographies' -GuardianHollywood legend and British national treasure Sir Michael Caine shares the wisdom, stories, insight and skills that life has taught him in his remarkable career - and now his 85th year.One of our best-loved actors Michael Caine has starred in a huge range of films - including all-time favourites - from the classic British movies Alfie, Zulu and The Italian Job to the Hollywood blockbusting Dark Knight trilogy, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Hannah and Her Sisters and Cider House Rules. Caine has excelled in every kind of role - with a skill that's made it look easy. He knows what success takes - he's made it to the top of his profession from the toughest beginning. But as he says 'Small parts can lead to big things. And if you keep doing things right, the stars will align when you least expect it.' Now in his 85th year he wants to share everything he's learned.With brilliant new insight into his life and work and with his wonderful gift for story, this is Caine at his wise and entertaining best.
Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: And Other Lessons in Life
by Michael CaineWith over 100 movies to his credit over 5 decades, Hollywood legend and British national treasure Michael Caine shares the wisdom, stories, insight and skills for success in life that acting has taught him in his remarkable career.One of our best-loved actors Michael Caine has starred in everything from classic British films Alfie, Zulu and The Italian Job to the Hollywood blockbusting The Dark Knight trilogy and much-loved movie favourites Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Hannah and Her Sisters and The Quiet American. Caine has excelled in every kind of role - with a skill that's made it look easy. Acting has taught him as much about life as it has his craft. He knows what success takes - not just luck but hard work and preparation. He also knows that it doesn't stop when you're successful. As he says, 'When you reach the top, that's when the climb begins'. Now he wants to share everything he knows.Bringing brilliant new insight into his life and work and with his wonderful gift for story, this is Caine at his wise and entertaining best.(P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
Blubberina (Bad News Ballet #5)
by Jahnna N. Malcolm[from the back cover] "Do they make diet Twinkies? It's time for the gang to get their toe shoes. Finally they'll be real ballerinas! But then Gwen flunks the toe shoe test--she's too heavy and out of shape to work out in the satin shoes. And if that isn't bad enough, Courtney and the Bullheads tell Gwen she's a...Blubberina. The gang is fighting mad! No one gets away with calling them names. McGee, Zan, Rocky, and Mary Bubnik are going to help Gwen lose that weight and get her toe shoes. Because those Bullheads are nothing but a bunch of Blabberinas!" There are more funny situations in store for these ballet school friends who like each other more than they like ballet. The Bookshare collection has the whole series. Check out #1 The Terrible Try outs, #2 Battle of the Bunheads, #3 Stupid Cupids, #4 Who Framed Mary Bubnik, #5 Blubberina, #6 Save D.A.D., #7 The King and Us, #8 Camp Clodhopper, #9 Boo Who?, and #10 A Dog Named Toe Shoe.
Blue Beyond Blue: Extraordinary Tales for Ordinary Dilemmas
by Lauren SlaterOver the course of five books, psychologist Slater has taken readers through her experiences with mental illness and Prozac, her professional work with fellow sufferers, and her becoming a mother. Obviously, writing is an important aspect of her life; she now addresses her belief that writing is therapeutic and describes her use of narrative psychotherapy, a practice that allows patients to gain perspective on their problems by writing stories. Slater discovered that the best form to emulate is the fairy tale, and to demonstrate just how liberating self-generated fairy tales can be, she offers a potent set of her own tales, enchanting and disturbing stories packed with symbols and archetypal dilemmas. Here are mothers and daughters struggling with love and independence, a husband and wife in a power play, a tale about pharmaceuticals, stories about eroticism, our animal selves, mysterious ailments, and healing. Inspired and barbed, Slater's fairy tales are irresistible, great fun to read and to interpret. Donna Seaman
Blue Door Venture: Blue Door 4 (Blue Door #4)
by Pamela BrownThe fourth book in the Blue Door series, which starts with The Swish of the Curtain, the classic story which inspired actors from Maggie Smith to Eileen Atkins.The seven young members of the Blue Door Theatre Company are, at long last, professional actors. And they are now proudly in charge of the first commercial theatre in their hometown of Fenchester. But the day-to-day pressures of financing the theatre and choosing box-office attractions are soon eclipsed by an event that threatens to close the theatre almost as soon as it has opened.Following the characters from the classic of children's literature The Swish of the Curtain on an adventure which takes them far from the stage of the Blue Door Theatre, Blue Door Venture is the fourth book in the Blue Door series.
Blue Ridge Billy
by Lois LenskiA young boy dreams of music and sunshine in the Great Smoky Mountains As far as Billy is concerned, there's no sight more beautiful than the sun setting over the Blue Ridge Mountains. When the day is done, he sneaks away from his work to watch the sun go down. If his father knew, he would call Billy lazy, but Mama would understand. She knows life in the mountains is hard and that there's no point in living if a person can't take time to appreciate what he has. Billy dreams of the day when he can pick up his fiddle and sing the folk songs of his people. Until then, he will be content with the sun. This beautifully written novel tells a story of simple fun and irresistible pleasures in 1 of the most beautiful regions in the United States.
Blue Sky Body: Thresholds for Embodied Research
by Ben SpatzBlue Sky Body: Thresholds for Embodied Research is the follow-up to Ben Spatz's 2015 book What a Body Can Do, charting a course through more than twenty years of embodied, artistic, and scholarly research. Emerging from the confluence of theory and practice, this book combines full-length critical essays with a kaleidoscopic selection of fragments from journal entries, performance texts, and other unpublished materials to offer a series of entry points organized by seven keywords: city, song, movement, theater, sex, document, politics. Brimming with thoughtful and sometimes provocative takes on embodiment, technology, decoloniality, the university, and the politics of knowledge, the work shared here models the integration of artistic and embodied research with critical thought, opening new avenues for transformative action and experimentation. Invaluable to scholars and practitioners working through and beyond performance, Blue Sky Body is both an unconventional introduction to embodied research and a methodological intervention at the edges of contemporary theory.
Blue Tights
by Rita Williams-GarciaGrowing up in a city neighborhood, fifteen-year-old Joyce, unsure of herself and not quite comfortable with her maturing body, tries to find a place to belong and a way to express herself through dance.
Blue Water Bluegrass: The Ferryboat Muscians
by Al LevyThis is a story of a magical time and place that was very real. Magic is the power to transform. See for yourself how a couple of young men transformed an ordinary ferry ride into Ferryboat Music. Their music touched and changed the lives of thousands who saw them every weekend on the sparkling waters of Puget Sound. This is a story of transforming fear into love, mundane into miraculous, and isolation into connection. Feel the heart and the humor in every story in these pages.
Blue's Rainy Day Music (Blue's Clues Discovery Series, Book #2)
by Ronald KiddIt's raining and Magenta comes over for a playdate. Blue wants to make a musical instrument. Can you help find the clues and learn what instrument Blue wants to make?
Blue-Collar Hollywood: Liberalism, Democracy, and Working People in American Film
by John BodnarSelected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2003From Tom Joad to Norma Rae to Spike Lee's Mookie in Do the Right Thing, Hollywood has regularly dramatized the lives and struggles of working people in America. Ranging from idealistic to hopeless, from sympathetic to condescending, these portrayals confronted audiences with the vital economic, social, and political issues of their times while providing a diversion—sometimes entertaining, sometimes provocative—from the realities of their own lives.In Blue-Collar Hollywood, John Bodnar examines the ways in which popular American films made between the 1930s and the 1980s depicted working-class characters, comparing these cinematic representations with the aspirations of ordinary Americans and the promises made to them by the country's political elites. Based on close and imaginative viewings of dozens of films from every genre—among them Public Enemy, Black Fury, Baby Face, The Grapes of Wrath, It's a Wonderful Life, I Married a Communist, A Streetcar Named Desire, Peyton Place, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Coal Miner's Daughter, and Boyz N the Hood—this book explores such topics as the role of censorship, attitudes toward labor unions and worker militancy, racism, the place of women in the workforce and society, communism and the Hollywood blacklist, and faith in liberal democracy.Whether made during the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, or the Vietnam era, the majority of films about ordinary working Americans, Bodnar finds, avoided endorsing specific political programs, radical economic reform, or overtly reactionary positions. Instead, these movies were infused with the same current of liberalism and popular notion of democracy that flow through the American imagination.
Blue: The Color of Noise
by Steve AokiThe music. The mix. His life."[A] passionate, introspective memoir." —Publishers Weekly"Sometimes I think my whole life can be seen through shades of blue..." —Steve AokiBlue is the remarkable story—in pictures and words—of Steve Aoki, the superstar DJ/producer who started his career as a vegan straightedge hardcore music kid hellbent on defying his millionaire father, whose unquenchable thirst to entertain—inherited from his dad, Rocky Aoki, founder of Benihana—led him to global success and two Grammy nominations. Ranked among the top ten DJs in the world today, Grammy-nominated artist, producer, label head, fashion designer, philanthropist and entrepreneur Steve Aoki is an authentic global trendsetter and tastemaker who has been instrumental in defining contemporary youth culture. Known for his outrageous stage antics (cake throwing, champagne spraying, and the ‘Aoki Jump’) and his endearing personality, Steve is also the brains behind indie record label Dim Mak, which broke acts such as The Kills, Bloc Party, and The Gossip. Dim Mak also put out the first releases by breakout EDM stars The Chainsmokers and The Bloody Beetroots, as well as the early releases for Grammy-nominated artist Iggy Azalea, in addition to EDM star Zedd and electro duo MSTRKFT. In Blue, Aoki recounts the epic highs of music festivals, clubs and pool parties around the world, as well as the lows of friendships lost to drugs and alcohol, and his relationship with his flamboyant father. Illustrated with candid photos gathered throughout his life, the book reveals how Aoki became a force of nature as an early social media adopter, helping to turn dance music into the phenomenon it is today. All this, while remaining true to his DIY punk rock principles, which value spontaneity, fun and friendship above all else—demonstrable by the countless cakes he has flung across cities worldwide.
Bluegrass: An Informal Guide
by Richard D. SmithCreated by legendary Bill Monroe of Kentucky and made famous by his Blue Grass Boys, bluegrass has been sweeping musicians and audiences off their feet since 1939. This lively and authoritative guide covers: all the important sounds from traditional Monroe-style bluegrass, jazz-flavoured northern 'newgrass', and Nashville-influenced country grass to the distinctive sounds of Japanese and European bands; famous groups, instrumentalists, and vocalists; women blue grassers; with insider anecdotes, resource listings, the lowdown on bluegrass festivals, and more than 500 recommendations for listening.
Blueprint for Screenwriting: A Complete Writer's Guide to Story Structure and Character Development
by Rachel BallonBlueprint for Screenwriting demystifies the writing process by developing a "blueprint" for writers to follow for each new screenplay--from original concept to completed script. Author and international script consultant Dr. Rachel Ballon explores the writing craft and emphasizes creativity in the writing process. She blends her expertise in script analysis and writing coaching with her personal experience as a screenwriter to help writers construct their stories and characters.Starting with the story's framework, Dr. Ballon helps readers to understand the key "building blocks" of story structure and character development, including characters' emotional and psychological states, story conflicts, and scene and act structure. She also covers the essential components in the script writing process, such as outlines, script treatments, synopses, and formats. Dr. Ballon devotes a chapter to overcoming writer's block--the writer's greatest obstacle--and offers guidance for taking the next steps once a script is completed.A practical tool for any writer, this distinctive resource:*offers a blueprint for writers to follow, breaking the writing process down into specific, easy-to-follow steps;*stresses the psychology of the characters as well as that of the writer; and*offers first-hand knowledge of the screenwriting process and gives practical advice for completing and marketing scripts.With its unique and insightful approach to the writing process, this book will be indispensable for scriptwriters, fiction writers, and professional writers, and it will serve as a useful text in screenwriting courses.