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Confessions of a Teenage Drag King (Lorimer Real Love)
by Markus Harwood-JonesSeventeen-year-old Lauren is trying to navigate the tricky waters of teen romance. From high school to the drag show and back, Lauren must keep up their two personas—Ren, a drag king, and Lauri, a typical student—and come to terms with their feelings both for mixed-race student Clover and their own identity as an LGBTQ+ teen. A realistic but lighthearted exploration of gender and identity, this story is full of colorful, authentic characters, making it a fun and topical read for today's teen readers. Distributed in the U.S by Lerner Publishing Group
Confessions of a Video Vixen
by Karrine SteffansPart tell-all, part cautionary tale, this emotionally charged memoir from a former video vixen nicknamed 'Superhead' goes beyond the glamour of celebrity to reveal the inner workings of the hip-hop dancer industry—from the physical and emotional abuse that's rampant in the industry, and which marked her own life—to the excessive use of drugs, sex and bling.Once the sought-after video girl, this sexy siren has helped multi-platinum artists, such as Jay-Z, R. Kelly and LL Cool J, sell millions of albums with her sensual dancing. In a word, Karrine was H-O-T. So hot that she made as much as $2500 a day in videos and was selected by well-known film director F. Gary Gray to co-star in his film, A Man Apart, starring Vin Diesel. But the film and music video sets, swanky Hollywood and New York restaurants and trysts with the celebrities featured in the pages of People and In Touch magazines only touches the surface of Karrine Steffans' life.Her journey is filled with physical abuse, rape, drug and alcohol abuse, homelessness and single motherhood—all by the age of 26. By sharing her story, Steffans hopes to shed light on an otherwise romanticised industry and help young women avoid the same pitfalls she encountered. If they're already in danger, she hopes to inspire them to find a way to dig themselves out of what she knows first-hand to be a cycle of hopelessness and despair.UPDATE: As the music industry started to have its own reckoning with men who've behaved badly, even criminally, Confessions has been discussed in some quarters as an early warning bell, with Karrine as a feminist icon who shined a light when no one wanted her to and championed sex positivity before it was embraced. Now she talks about what it has been like to watch the tide turn and the lessons still to be learned.
Confidence: The Secret
by Katie Piper'Confidence is about empowerment. It's about valuing who you are, not what you want to do or how you look. It's about finding the courage to live the life you want, the way you want. Don't look for happiness in other people, find it in yourself.' Katie Piper Katie Piper is Britain's most inspiring woman: a campaigner, a bestselling author, a mother, and a role model to us all as a voice of recovery and resilience. Since the acid attack that left her severely burned, she has refused to give her attackers the satisfaction of being the girl whose life they ruined - and she has emerged the other side happier, braver and more confident than ever. Katie shares her experiences, advice and encouragement to help build up self-esteem and find true happiness. Join Katie on her journey to confidence - with her guidance, you can achieve the things you might never have thought possible. 'When it comes to confidence, we could all take a leaf out of Katie's book. She has overcome more than anyone else I know' CHERYL'Katie Piper has an attitude to life that can make anything bearable. She's a hero' MARIAN KEYES
Confidence: The Secret
by Katie Piper'When it comes to confidence, we could all take a leaf out of Katie's book. She has overcome more than anyone else I know' CHERYL'Katie Piper has an attitude to life that can make anything bearable. She's a hero' MARIAN KEYESWith her warm and honest voice that has captivated us all, Katie Piper shares her experiences on her journey to becoming happier and braver than ever - and shows how you can achieve the confidence you never thought possible. 'I believe that you decide what you want in life, and then you go out and make it happen. Breaking down taboos is one of my goals, and I know there are other people who feel the same way. Who writes the rules? We do! I was never going to give my attackers the satisfaction of being the girl whose life they ruined. Instead I chose what I wanted to be and then I went out there and did everything I could to be it. You can, too. Success is a journey, not a destination. It doesn't happen in a straight line, the path goes off to one side and then the other all the time. But when it veers off track you just get back on it and keep going. Create your own future, and your own closure. Don't look for happiness in other people, find it in yourself.' Katie Piper With Katie's help and guidance, the true, deep-down confidence you deserve is within your reach. Join Katie as she helps you achieve the things you never thought possible.
Confidence: The Secret
by Katie PiperWho doesn't want to know how to achieve real confidence - and who better to pass on the secrets than a woman who has overcome such gruelling physical and emotional hurdles, and emerged on the other side smiling? In 2008, Katie Piper survived a brutal rape and acid attack which left her severely burned and disfigured and changed her life for ever. Her previous books told the story of her long and painful journey back towards health and happiness. Now in Confidence: The Secret, Katie takes the next step from recovery to empowerment, sharing what she's learned from her most difficult moments to inspire and guide others, and giving readers the tools they need to feel happy, confident and better about themselves. Showing that confidence is about valuing who you are, not what you do or how you look, Katie offers advice, ideas and inspiration for feeling more confident in all areas of life, whether it's at work or school, in relationships and friendships, or learning to love and respect your body. With Katie's help and guidance, deep-down inner confidence is within everyone's reach.
Confidential Confidential: The Inside Story of Hollywood's Notorious Scandal Magazine
by Samantha BarbasIn the 1950s, Confidential magazine, America's first celebrity scandal magazine, revealed Hollywood stars' secrets, misdeeds, and transgressions in gritty, unvarnished detail. Deploying a vast network of tipsters to root out scandalous facts about the stars, including their sexual affairs, drug use, and sexuality, publisher Robert Harrison destroyed celebrities' carefully constructed images and built a media empire. Confidential became the bestselling magazine on American newsstands in the 1950s, surpassing Time, Life, and the Saturday Evening Post. Confidential's spectacular rise was followed by an equally spectacular fall. Stars filed multimillion dollar libel suits against the magazine, and the state of California, prodded by the film studios, prosecuted its publisher for obscenity, culminating in a famous, star-studded Los Angeles trial in 1957. The lawsuits forced Confidential to end its scandalmongering, and stopped printing its sleazy gossip in 1958. However, the magazine's legacy lives on in our culture's obsession with gossip and celebrity scandal. Confidential's success marked the end of an era of hush-hush—of secrets, closets, and sexual taboos—and the beginning of our age of tell-all exposure. It was the forerunner of People, the National Enquirer, and TMZ.com, and was more outrageous and raunchy than all of them.
Confidentially Yours #4: The Secret Talent
by Jo WhittemorePerfect for fans of the Cupcake Diaries and the Babysitters Club, this series features best friends Brooke, Vanessa, Heather, and Tim, who are in charge and confidentially yours when writing their middle school newspaper's advice column.Tim Antonides is feeling pretty good about sixth grade. He's even begun to branch out and make some new guy friends. The only thing that could ruin his awesome reputation is his big secret--he performs Greek folk dances with his twin sister, Gabby . . . complete with a super embarrassing outfit. Only his family and closest friends know, and he's going to make sure it stays that way.But when the class bully, Ryan, discovers Tim's hidden talent, he blackmails Tim into completing a list of almost-impossible tasks. Can Tim get out from under Ryan's thumb and stay true to who he is without becoming the biggest laughingstock in school?
Configuring the Field of Character and Entertainment Licensing: The Licensing Expo and Other Sites of IP Management (Routledge Studies in Media and Cultural Industries)
by Avi SantoThis book examines the creative impact of licensing on the entertainment industry, how licensing practitioners’ occupational disposition is formed, and the role licensing professionals play in managing the circulation of intellectual property. Offering a study of the spatial logics and fantasies employed by the licensing field via its annual trade show, the Licensing Expo, this volume investigates how space and place are instrumental in both fortifying and exposing the political-economic, infrastructural, as well as ideological structures that constrain and enable participation in the licensing field. Further supplemented by participant observation and interviews with 25 industry professionals, the book explores how the licensing field understands its increasingly central role in the entertainment industry’s operations, and how it responds to changes in retail environments, digital platforms, and international markets, phenomena which have required a recalibration of the field’s occupational identity. An exploration of an understudied aspect of the entertainment industry, this book will primarily appeal to scholars within media studies, and those studying media industries, media franchises, and media work cultures. It will also be of interest to people studying consumer culture, brand culture, advertising, organizational communication, as well as fan cultures.
Conflict Cinemas in Northern Ireland and Brazil
by Ketlyn Mara RosaThis book focuses on the analysis of sensorial representations of violent images in contemporary films that portray embodied violation in urban environments of street clashes and prisons in Northern Ireland and Brazil during the late twentieth century. There is an emphasis on the representation of senses and how they play a significant role in structuring narratives and mapping the cinematic landscapes of conflict. Whether on the streets and prisons of Belfast, Derry, São Paulo or Rio, the attention is on the endangered body and its fragility or strength. Analyzing films through the novel framework of sensorial perspective enables the understanding of urban and prison landscapes as part of a somatic geography that affects the corporeal engagement of the participants. As a multicultural study, this is an essential book for those interested in the relationship between cinema and history while taking into consideration the interactive roles of the senses and perception.
Confronting the Climate Crisis: Activism, Technology and Ecoaesthetics (Palgrave Studies in Media and Environmental Communication)
by Daniel Binns Rebecca NajdowskiThis collection examines how activism, media, and creative practices shape our understanding of the climate crisis. Bringing together perspectives from media studies, environmental humanities, and artistic research, Confronting the Climate Crisis: Activism, Technology and Ecoaesthetics explores how digital technologies, protest movements, and ecoaesthetic interventions influence ecological discourse. Fifteen chapters interrogate a range of case studies, from student activism and climate-related art to the role of video games, memes, and machine learning in framing and comprehending environmental collapse. The collection also considers how experimental cinema, podcasts, and documentary practices can move beyond entertainment and spectacle to foster lasting and meaningful action against environmental change. Highlighting the intersections of politics, technology, and aesthetics, this book offers a vital resource for scholars, artists, and activists seeking to navigate and challenge contemporary climate narratives. It argues that creative and technological interventions are essential to rethinking our relationship with the planet and shaping new modes of ecological action.
Conjugal Relationships in Chinese Culture: Sino-Western Discourses and Aesthetics on Marriage (Chinese Culture #7)
by Kelly Kar Yue Chan Chi Sum Garfield LauThis book reviews the presentation of conjugal relationships in Chinese culture and their perception in the West. It explores the ways in which the act of marriage is represented/misrepresented in different literary genres, as well as in cultural adaptations. It looks at the gendered characteristics at play that affect conjugal relationships in Chinese societal practices more widely. It also distinguishes between the essential features that give rise to nuptial arrangements from the Chinese perspective, looking at what in which Sino and/or Western mentalities differ in terms of notions of autonomy in marriage. It excavates the extent to which marriage is constituted in forms of transaction between female and male bodies and asks under what circumstances wedding ceremonies constitute archetypal or counter-archetypal notions in pre-modern and modern society. Authors cover a range of fascinating cultural topics, such as posthumous marriage (necrogamy) as an ancient and popular folk culture from the perspective of Confucian ideology, as well as looking at marriage from ancient to present times, duty and rights in conjugal relations, inter-racial and inter-cultural marriage, widowhood in Confucian ideology, issues of legitimacy in marriage and concubinage, the taboos surrounding divorce and re-marriage, and conjugal violence. The book serves to revisit the cultural connections between marriage and various art forms, including literature, film, theatre, and other adaptations. It is a rich intellectual resource for scholars and students researching the historical roots, cultural interpretations, and evolving aspects of marriage as shown in literature, art, and culture.
Conjugations
by Sangita GopalBollywood movies have been long known for their colorful song-and-dance numbers and knack for combining drama, comedy, action-adventure, and music. But when India entered the global marketplace in the early 1990s, its film industry transformed radically. Production and distribution of films became regulated, advertising and marketing created a largely middle-class audience, and films began to fit into genres like science fiction and horror. In this bold study of what she names New Bollywood, Sangita Gopal contends that the key to understanding these changes is to analyze films' evolving treatment of romantic relationships. Gopalargues that the form of the conjugal duo in movies reflects other social forces in India's new consumerist and global society. She takes a daring look at recent Hindi films and movie trends--the decline of song-and-dance sequences, the upgraded status of the horror genre, and the rise of the multiplex and multi-plot--to demonstrate how these relationships exemplify different formulas of contemporary living. A provocative account of how cultural artifacts can embody globalization's effects on intimate life, Conjugations will shake up the study of Hindi film.
Conneaut Lake Park
by Michael E. CostelloIn 1877, a humble boat landing was constucted on Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania's largest natural lake. Colonel Frank Mantor, a visionary, discovered and purchased the property and convinced investors from the Pittsburgh, Shenango, and Lake Erie Railroad to extend the railroad line to a newly built resort on the site. In 1892, Exposition Park--a permanent fair exhibiting machinery and livestock--was founded. Amusement rides wereadded alongside hotels, cottages, restaurants, and other businesses. The resort grew into an amusement park and was renamed Conneaut Lake Park in 1920. Conneaut Lake Park illustrates the evolution of this lakeside resort with images of long-gone attractions such as the Hotel Elmwood, Temple of Music, Jungle Cruise, Fairyland Forest, and Wild Mouse. Recent favorites such as the Blue Streak, Tumble Bug, Ultimate Trip, and Devil's Den are also included.
Connected Viewing: Selling, Streaming, & Sharing Media in the Digital Age
by Jennifer Holt Kevin SansonAs patterns of media use become more integrated with mobile technologies and multiple screens, a new mode of viewer engagement has emerged in the form of connected viewing, which allows for an array of new relationships between audiences and media texts in the digital space. This exciting new collection brings together twelve original essays that critically engage with the socially-networked, multi-platform, and cloud-based world of today, examining the connected viewing phenomenon across television, film, video games, and social media. The result is a wide-ranging analysis of shifting business models, policy matters, technological infrastructure, new forms of user engagement, and other key trends affecting screen media in the digital era. Connected Viewing contextualizes the dramatic transformations taking place across both media industries and national contexts, and offers students and scholars alike a diverse set of methods and perspectives for studying this critical moment in media culture.
Connecticut in the Movies: From Dream Houses to Dark Suburbia
by Illeana DouglasIlleana Douglas has long been known for shining new light on forgotten films. Now the celebrated actress and film historian turns her focus to a heretofore unrecognized brand: the Connecticut movie! Told from the passionate perspective of the author who grew up here, and filled with behind-the-scenes stories as well as her own personal snapshots of the places where these films were made, Illeana takes the reader on a cinematic road trip through Hollywood history and Connecticut geography, bringing the breezy, intimate, knowledgeable writing style acclaimed by reviewers of her first book, I Blame Dennis Hopper (2015). Illeanadefines how the perception of on-screen Connecticut, originally created in Hollywood, has shifted more than that of any other New England state over the decade and offers some surprising conclusions about just what it means to be a &“Connecticut movie.&”Films from Hollywood&’s Golden Age, such as Theodora Goes Wild, Bringing Up Baby, and Christmas in Connecticut, presented Connecticut as an antidote to the metropolis—a place where you could find your true self. The slogan &“Come to Peaceful Connecticut&” not only led to Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, but to an exodus of urban moviegoers seeking their dream houses. In post-war America, Gentleman&’s Agreement challenged Connecticut&’s well-cultivated image, as did the suburban malaise of The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit, and contemporary takes on dark suburbia like The Swimmer,The Ice Storm, and RevolutionaryRoad. From Sherlock Holmes to Mystic Pizza to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; from horror in The Stepford Wives tohistorical in Amistad; picturesque in Parrish, to perverse in The Secret Life of An AmericanWife, theConstitution State has been the background for surprisingly over 200 feature films, yet these cinematic contributions have long gone unrecognized; until now. Connecticut in the Movies is not only a keepsake for denizens of the state, but a valuable resource for film buffs everywhere.
Connie: A Memoir
by Connie Chung"This delightful memoir is filled with Connie Chung&’s trademark wit, sharp insights, and deep understanding of people. It&’s a revealing account of what it&’s like to be a woman breaking barriers in the world of TV news, filled with colorful tales of rivalry and triumph. But it also has a larger theme: how the line between serious reporting and tabloid journalism became blurred." - Walter Isaacson, New York Times bestselling author In a sharp, witty, and definitive memoir, iconic trailblazer and legendary journalist Connie Chung delves into her storied career as the first Asian woman to break into an overwhelmingly white, male-dominated television news industry. Connie Chung is a pioneer. In 1969 at the age of 23, this once-shy daughter of Chinese parents took her first job at a local TV station in her hometown of Washington, D.C. and soon thereafter began working at CBS news as a correspondent. Profoundly influenced by her family&’s cultural traditions, yet growing up completely Americanized in the United States, Chung describes her career as an Asian woman in a white male-centered world. Overt sexism was a way of life, but Chung was tenacious in her pursuit of stories – battling rival reporters to secure scoops that ranged from interviewing Magic Johnson to covering the Watergate scandal – and quickly became a household name. She made history when she achieved her dream of being the first woman to co-anchor the CBS Evening News and the first Asian to anchor any news program in the U.S. Chung pulls no punches as she provides a behind-the-scenes tour of her singular life. From showdowns with powerful men in and out of the newsroom to the stories behind some of her career-defining reporting and the unwavering support of her husband, Maury Povich, nothing is off-limits – good, bad, or ugly. So be sure to tune in for an irreverent and inspiring exclusive: this is CONNIE like you&’ve never seen her before.
Conquest of the Useless: Fever Dreams in the Jungle
by Werner HerzogNewly repackaged as a Penguin paperback, Conquest of the Useless, the legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog's diary of the making of Fitzcarraldo, one of his most revered and classic filmsIn 1982, the visionary directory Werner Herzog released Fitzcarraldo, a lavish film about a would-be rubber baron who pulls a 320-ton steamship over a mountain. It was hailed instantly by critics around the globe as a masterpiece and won Herzog the 1982 Outstanding Director Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, affirming Herzog&’s reputation as one of the most revered and enigmatic filmmakers of his time.Conquest of the Useless is the diary Herzog kept during the making of Fitzcarraldo, compiled from June 1979 to November 1981. Emerging as if out of an Amazonian fever dream during filming, Herzog&’s writings are an extraordinary documentary unto themselves. Strange and otherworldly events are recounted by the filmmaker. The crew's camp in the heart of the jungle is attacked and burned to the ground; the production of the film clashes with a border war; and, of course, Herzog unravels the impossible logistics of moving a 320-ton steamship over a hill without the use of special effects.In his preface, Herzog warns that the diary entries collected in Conquest of the Useless do not represent &“reports on the actual filming&” but rather &“inner landscapes, born of the delirium of the jungle.&” Thus begins an extraordinary glimpse into the mind of a genius during the making of one of his greatest achievements.
Conquest of the Useless: Reflections from the Making of Fitzcarraldo
by Werner HerzogOne of the most revered filmmakers of our time, Werner Herzog wrote this diary during the making of Fitzcarraldo, the lavish 1982 film that tells the story of a would-be rubber baron who pulls a steamship over a hill in order to access a rich rubber territory. Later, Herzog spoke of his difficulties when making the film, including casting problems, reshoots, language barriers, epic clashes with the star, and the logistics of moving a 320-ton steamship over a hill without the use of special effects. Hailed by critics around the globe, the film went on to win Herzog the 1982 Outstanding Director Prize at Cannes. Conquest of the Useless, Werner Herzog's diary on his fever dream in the Amazon jungle, is an extraordinary glimpse into the mind of a genius during the making of one of his greatest achievements.
Consent Culture and Teen Films: Adolescent Sexuality in US Movies
by Michele MeekTeen films of the 1980s were notorious for treating consent as irrelevant, with scenes of boys spying in girls' locker rooms and tricking girls into sex. While contemporary movies now routinely prioritize consent, ensure date rape is no longer a joke, and celebrate girls' desires, sexual consent remains a problematic and often elusive ideal in teen films.In Consent Culture and Teen Films, Michele Meek traces the history of adolescent sexuality in US cinema and examines how several films from the 2000s, including Blockers, To All the Boys I've Loved Before, The Kissing Booth, and Alex Strangelove, take consent into account. Yet, at the same time, Meek reveals that teen films expose how affirmative consent ("yes means yes") fails to protect youth from unwanted and unpleasant sexual encounters. By highlighting ambiguous sexual interactions in teen films—such as girls' failure to obtain consent from boys, queer teens subjected to conversion therapy camps, and youth manipulated into sexual relationships with adults—Meek unravels some of consent's intricacies rather than relying on oversimplification.By exposing affirmative consent in teen films as gendered, heteronormative, and cis-centered, Consent Culture and Teen Films suggests we must continue building a more inclusive consent framework that normalizes youth sexual desire and agency with all its complexities and ambivalences.
Consent in Shakespeare: What Women Do and Don’t Say and Do in Shakespeare’s Mediterranean Comedies and Origin Stories (Studies in Performance and Early Modern Drama)
by Artemis PreeshlBy examining how female characters speak and act during coming of age, engagement, marriage, and intimacy, Consent in Shakespeare will enhance understanding about how and why women spoke, remained silent, or acted as they did in relation to their intimate partners in Early Modern and contemporary private and public situations in and around the Mediterranean. Consent in intimate relationships is front and center in today’s conversations. This book re-examines the verbal and physical interactions of female-identified characters in Early Modern and contemporary cultures in Shakespeare’s Mediterranean comedies and the sources from which he derived his plays. This re-examination of the words that women say or do not say, and actions that women do or do not take, in Shakespeare’s Mediterranean plays and his probable sources sheds light on how Shakespeare’s audiences might have perceived Mediterranean cultural mores and norms. Assessment of source materials for Shakespeare’s comedies set in the Balkans, France, Italy, the Near East, North Africa, and Spain suggests how women of diverse backgrounds communicated in everyday life and peak life experiences in the Early Modern era. Given Shakespeare’s impact worldwide, this initiative to shift the conversation about the power of consent of female protagonists and supporting characters in Shakespeare’s Mediterranean plays will further transform conversations about consent in class, board and conference rooms, and the international stage.
Consent in Shakespeare’s Classical Mediterranean: Women Speak Truth to Power (Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies)
by Artemis PreeshlConsent in Shakespeare’s Classical Mediterranean fills a gap in knowledge about how female-identified, gender-fluid, and non-binary characters made choices about intimacy, engagement, and marriage in Shakespeare’s classical Mediterranean plays.This classical sequel explores how female-identified, gender-fluid, and non-binary characters accessed agency in Shakespeare’s Mediterranean plays set in classical Troy, Athens, Thebes, Antioch, Ephesus, Mytilene, the North African Pentapolis, Tarsus, Egypt, Rome, Antium, Britain, Sardis, Philippi, Sicily, greater Bohemia, and the Balkan region. Through the lens of sources from Eastern and Western Europe, the Middle East, and the Maghrib, Shakespeare’s heroines and their supporters may have initially appeared to conform to Early Modern contexts, but the diverse backgrounds of female-identified, gender-fluid, and non-binary characters impacted the right to consent to friendship, affection, betrothal, and marriage in the classical Mediterranean. By focusing on perspective views about female-identified, gender-fluid, and non-binary characters in and around Eastern and Western Europe, the Middle East, and the Maghreb, classical realities collide with Early Modern preconceptions and misconceptions to reveal commonalities and differences in the lived experiences of female-identified and non-binary royalty, nobility, servants, enslaved peoples, matchmakers, courtesans, sex workers, madams, herbalists, tailors, and merchants.This study will be of great interest to students and scholars in Theatre, Middle East Studies, Asian Studies, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies, African and Maghrib Studies, and Social Justice Studies.
Consider It Done: Accomplish 228 of Life's Trickiest Tasks
by Julie SubotkyThere’s nothing Julie Subotky can’t get done. After all, as the founder and CEO of a lifestyle management and personal concierge company catering to the crème-de-la-crème of New York, LA, and Aspen, she’s used the fielding her fair share of formidable requests from wealthy and time starved clients. Luckily, now you don’t need to be a rock star, socialite, or millionaire to Consider it Done. In this charming and unique book, she shares her secrets from for accomplishing hundreds of life's most bizarre, off-beat, and yet often inescapable tasks. Ranging from the unusual but useful, to the seemingly impossible, to the annoying but necessary, these include: How to hire a snake dancer for a party within 24 hours notice How to argue your way out of a speeding ticket How to get a last-minute table at an impossibly overbooked restaurant How to find a reputable pet psychic How to get the best seat on an airplane How to blow a date How to fix a hole in the wall How to get a wedding dress shipped halfway across the world How to refuse a dare How to change a tire How to make a citizen's arrest How to mix the perfect hangover cure …and countless more Filled with practical tips, hints and advice as well as hilarious stories of near mishaps, crazy wild goose chases, and outrageous requests from eccentric clients, Consider it Done is sometimes zany, often surprising, and yet always useful. After all, there may come a time when you actually need to know how propose to someone in skywriting, replace a matching spoon from your great-great-great grandmother's antique silver set, or simply make the perfect martini. When that day comes, this essential and completely one-of-a-kind book will be there to walk you through it.
Considering Doris Day: A Biography
by Tom SantopietroThe biggest female box office attraction in Hollywood history, Doris Day remains unequalled as the only entertainer who has ever triumphed in movies, radio, recordings, and a multi-year weekly television series. America's favorite girl next door may have projected a wholesome image that led Oscar Levant to quip "I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin," but in Considering Doris Day Tom Santopietro reveals Day's underappreciated and effortless acting and singing range that ran the gamut from musicals to comedy to drama and made Day nothing short of a worldwide icon. Covering the early Warner Brothers years through Day's triumphs working with artists as varied as Alfred Hitchcock and Bob Fosse, Santopietro's smart and funny book deconstructs the myth of Day as America's perennial virgin, and reveals why her work continues to resonate today, both onscreen as pioneering independent career woman role model, and off, as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honor. Praised by James Cagney as "my idea of a great actor" and by James Garner as "the Fred Astaire of comedy," Doris Day became not just America's favorite girl, but the number one film star in the world. Yet after two weekly television series, including a triumphant five year run on CBS, she turned her back on show business forever. Examining why Day's worldwide success in movies overshadowed the brilliant series of concept recordings she made for Columbia Records in the '50s and '60s, Tom Santopietro uncovers the unexpected facets of Day's surprisingly sexy acting and singing style that led no less an observer than John Updike to state "She just glowed for me." Placing Day's work within the social context of America in the second half of the twentieth century, Considering Doris Day is the first book that grants Doris Day her rightful place as a singular American artist.
Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation
by Blake J. HarrisNow a documentary on CBS All Access. Following the success of The Accidental Billionaires and Moneyball comes Console Wars—a mesmerizing, behind-the-scenes business thriller that chronicles how Sega, a small, scrappy gaming company led by an unlikely visionary and a team of rebels, took on the juggernaut Nintendo and revolutionized the video game industry. In 1990, Nintendo had a virtual monopoly on the video game industry. Sega, on the other hand, was just a faltering arcade company with big aspirations and even bigger personalities. But that would all change with the arrival of Tom Kalinske, a man who knew nothing about videogames and everything about fighting uphill battles. His unconventional tactics, combined with the blood, sweat and bold ideas of his renegade employees, transformed Sega and eventually led to a ruthless David-and-Goliath showdown with rival Nintendo.The battle was vicious, relentless, and highly profitable, eventually sparking a global corporate war that would be fought on several fronts: from living rooms and schoolyards to boardrooms and Congress. It was a once-in-a-lifetime, no-holds-barred conflict that pitted brother against brother, kid against adult, Sonic against Mario, and the US against Japan.Based on over two hundred interviews with former Sega and Nintendo employees, Console Wars is the underdog tale of how Kalinske miraculously turned an industry punchline into a market leader. It’s the story of how a humble family man, with an extraordinary imagination and a gift for turning problems into competitive advantages, inspired a team of underdogs to slay a giant and, as a result, birth a $60 billion dollar industry.A best book of the year: NPR, Slate, Publishers Weekly, Goodreads
Consort Suites and Dance Music by Town Musicians in German-Speaking Europe, 1648–1700
by Michael RobertsonThis companion volume to The Courtly Consort Suite in German-Speaking Europe surveys an area of music neglected by modern scholars: the consort suites and dance music by musicians working in the seventeenth-century German towns. Conditions of work in the German towns are examined in detail, as are the problems posed by the many untrained travelling players who were often little more than beggars. The central part of the book explores the organisation, content and assembly of town suites into carefully ordered printed collections, which refutes the concept of the so-called 'classical' suite. The differences between court and town suites are dealt with alongside the often-ignored variation suite from the later decades of the seventeenth century and the separate suite-writing traditions of Leipzig and Hamburg. While the seventeenth-century keyboard suite has received a good deal of attention from modern scholars, its often symbiotic relationship with the consort suite has been ignored. This book aims to redress the balance and to deal with one very important but often ignored aspect of seventeenth-century notation: the use of blackened notes, which are rarely notated in a meaningful way in modern editions, with important implications for performance.