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Bob Dylan: Watching the River Flow, Observations on His Art-in-Progress, 1966+1995
by Paul WilliamsWatching The River Flow is an outstanding collection of Dylan-related essays by Paul Williams, the noted US editor and critic, opening with his 1966 review of Blonde On Blonde and closing with his observations about Dylan's 1995 tour with Patti Smith. The author of over 20 books, including the two highly acclaimed volumes of Dylan criticism, Performing Artist 1960-73 and Performing Artist 1974-86, no American writer has followed Dylan more closely, nor written about his work with more insight.
J. S. Bach: A Life In Music
by Peter WilliamsA fresh approach to the life and music of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Happy!: Arranged For Solo Harp And Harp Duet
by Pharrell WilliamsGrammy Award winner Pharrell Williams's super-hit song &“Happy&” is now a picture bookNominated for an Academy Award in 2014, &“Happy&” hit number one on Billboard&’s Hot 100 list, and has topped the charts in more than seventy-five countries worldwide. Now Pharrell Williams brings his beloved song to the youngest of readers in photographs of children across cultures celebrating what it means to be happy. All the exuberance of the song pulses from these vibrant photographs of excited, happy kids. This is a picture book full of memorable, precious childhood moments that will move readers in the same way they were moved by the song. &“Happy&” has had the world dancing ever since it first hit the airwaves, and now the irresistibly cheerful tune will come to life on the page with Pharrell Williams&’s very first picture book! A keepsake and true classic in the making.
Phantasmagoria: The Official Sierra Insider's Guide
by Roberta WilliamsBehind the scenes of Phantasmagoria, the online game.
Sing a Sad Song: The Life of Hank Williams (Music in American Life)
by Roger M. WilliamsFrom the book's Preface... Although he has been dead for twenty years, Hank Williams and his music live on in a manner unparalleled in American popular culture. His own recordings, reissued time and again, continue to sell to a body of fans and followers that has swelled to an estimated fifteen million. His songs, which Mitch Miller describes as "so indelible, so timeless they can take any kind of musical treatment," continue to take every kind, including jazz and soul. His popularity is so enduring and his influence so pronounced that many people express surprise when told Hank Williams is no longer living. The life, intertwined with the music, has become legend.
Hardcore History: The Extremely Unauthorized Story of ECW
by Scott E. Williams Shane Douglas George TahinosExtreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) was one extreme contradiction on top of another. An incredibly influential-but never profitable-company in the world of professional wrestling in the 1990s, it portrayed itself as the ultimate in anti-authority rebellion, but its leadership was working covertly with the World Wrestling Federation and the World Championship Wrestling. Most of all, it blurred the line between reality and the fantasy world of professional wrestling.Hardcore History: The Extremely Unauthorized Story of ECW offers a frank, balanced look at the evolution of ECW starting before its early days as a Philadelphia-area independent group and extending past its death in 2001. Featuring dozens of interviews with fans, officials, business partners, and the wrestlers themselves, this is a very balanced account of this bizarre company-and it’s sure to be extremely controversial for fans and critics of ECW, and wrestling, alike.Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, is proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports-books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team.In addition to books on popular team sports, we also publish books for a wide variety of athletes and sports enthusiasts, including books on running, cycling, horseback riding, swimming, tennis, martial arts, golf, camping, hiking, aviation, boating, and so much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Stage Actors and Acting
by Simon WilliamsActing is widely acknowledged to be the central art of the theatre and has a long and vibrant history. With over 1,000 entries, this is the first encyclopedia of stage actors and acting around the world. More than 100 renowned international contributors provide biographical, historical and technical information about actors both familiar and obscure whose work has been crucial in the development of acting methods and traditions from classical theatre to the present day. Entries on key directors, theorists and teachers and on the elements and genres of acting provide insights into the history of acting as an art and its current practice. Including a chronological list of actors that spans the past 2,000 years and many diverse countries and cultures, this Encyclopedia offers a fascinating and unique overview of acting onstage that will be of interest to anyone who attends or practises theatre.
Germaine Dulac: A Cinema of Sensations
by Tami WilliamsBest known for directing the Impressionist classic The Smiling Madame Beudet and the first Surrealist film The Seashell and the Clergyman, Germaine Dulac, feminist and pioneer of 1920s French avant-garde cinema, made close to thirty fiction films as well as numerous documentaries and newsreels. Through her filmmaking, writing, and cine-club activism, Dulac's passionate defense of the cinema as a lyrical art and social practice had a major influence on twentieth century film history and theory. In Germaine Dulac: A Cinema of Sensations, Tami Williams makes unprecedented use of the filmmaker's personal papers, production files, and archival film prints to produce the first full-length historical study and critical biography of Dulac. Williams's analysis explores the artistic and sociopolitical currents that shaped Dulac's approach to cinema while interrogating the ground breaking techniques and strategies she used to critique conservative notions of gender and sexuality. Moving beyond the director's work of the 1920s, Williams examines Dulac's largely ignored 1930s documentaries and newsreels establishing clear links with the more experimental impressionist and abstract works of her early period. This vivid portrait will be of interest to general readers, as well as to scholars of cinema and visual culture, performance, French history, women's studies, queer cinema, in addition to studies of narrative avant-garde, experimental, and documentary film history and theory.
A Mysterious Something in the Light: Raymond Chandler: A Life
by Tom Williams“A remarkably detailed portrait of the famously hard-boiled writer” and creator of the popular gumshoe, Philip Marlowe (Publishers Weekly).What we know of Raymond Chandler is shrouded in secrets and half-truths as deceptive as anything in his magisterial novel The Long Goodbye. Now, drawing on new interviews, previously unpublished letters, and archives on both sides of the Atlantic, literary gumshoe Tom Williams casts light on this most mysterious of writers.The Chandler revealed is a man troubled by loneliness and desertion from an early age—experiences that fueled his writing as much as they scarred his life. Born in Chicago in 1888, his childhood was overshadowed by the cruel collapse of his parents’ marriage and his father’s alcohol-fueled violence. After his mother fled America, Chandler was schooled in London, but felt constrained by the stuffy English class system, eventually returning to the land of his birth, where—in corruption-ridden Los Angeles—he met his one great love: Cissy Pascal, a married woman eighteen years his senior.It was only during middle age, after his own alcoholism wrecked a lucrative career as an oilman, that Chandler seriously turned to crime fiction, although his success was to prove bittersweet. An obsessive attitude towards his craft, unrealized literary ambitions and a suicidal turn after Cissy’s death combined to prevent him from recapturing the verve of his earlier writing. But his legacy—the lonely, ambiguous world of Philip Marlowe—endures, compelling generation after generation of crime writers to go down mean streets.In this long-awaited new biography, the most thorough and comprehensive yet written, Tom Williams shadows one of the twentieth century’s true literary giants and considers how crime was raised to the level of art.Praise for A Beautiful Something in the Light“Williams dutifully records these facts but deftly keeps the reader interested. . . . [A Beautiful Something in the Light] is well researched, but because it is so well written it should be of interest to scholars and mystery fans alike.” —Washington Independent Review of Books“Outstanding. . . . Williams writes sensitively about the Cissy relationship and delves illuminatingly into the composition of Chandler’s masterpieces. . . . Thanks to his biography Chandler himself is a less mysterious something than he was.” —Sunday Times (UK)“Precise, kindly, and necessary.” —Scotland on Sunday (UK)“A clear-eyed, compassionate biography.” —Kirkus Reviews
The Cinema of George A. Romero
by Tony WilliamsIn placing Romero's oeuvre in the context of literary naturalism, the book explores the relevance of the director's films within American cultural traditions and thus explains the potency of such work beyond 'splatter movie' models. The author explores the roots of naturalism in the work of Emile Zola and traces this through to the EC Comics of the 1950s and on to the work of Stephen King. In so doing, the book illuminates the importance of seminal Romero texts such as Night of the Living Dead (1968), Creepshow (1982), Monkey Shines (1988), The Dark Half (1992). This study also includes full coverage of Romero's latest feature, Bruiser (2000), as well as his screenplays and teleplays.
The Cinema of George A. Romero: Knight of the Living Dead (Directors' Cuts)
by Tony WilliamsThe Cinema of George A. Romero: Knight of the Living Dead is the first in-depth study in English of the career of this foremost auteur working at the margins of the Hollywood mainstream in the horror genre. In placing Romero's oeuvre in the context of literary naturalism, the book explores the relevance of the director's films within American cultural traditions and thus explains the potency of such work beyond 'splatter movie' models. The author explores the roots of naturalism in the work of Emile Zola and traces this through to the EC Comics of the 1950s and on to the work of Stephen King. In so doing, the book illuminates the importance of seminal Romero texts such as Night of the Living Dead (1968), Creepshow (1982), Monkey Shines (1988), The Dark Half (1992). This study also includes full coverage of Romero's latest feature, Bruiser (2000), as well as his screenplays and teleplays.
The Cinema of George A. Romero: Knight of the Living Dead, Second Edition (Directors' Cuts)
by Tony WilliamsIn this comprehensive portrait of horror's definitive director, Tony Williams ties George A. Romero's films to the development of literary naturalism and American culture, expanding the artist's creative footprint beyond his mastery of the "splatter movie" genre. Williams locates Romero's influences in the work of Emile Zola, the Entertainment Comics of the 1950s, and the novels of Stephen King, revealing the interdisciplinary depth of his seminal films Night of the Living Dead (1968), Creepshow (1982), Monkey Shines (1988), and The Dark Half (1992). For this second edition, Williams reads Romero's Bruiser (2000) against his more recent Land of the Dead (2005) and takes a fresh look at Diary of the Dead (2007) and Survival of the Dead (2009), two overlooked films that feature Romero's greatest achievements yet.
The Cinema of George A. Romero
by Tony WilliamsThe Cinema of George A. Romero: Knight of the Living Dead is the first in-depth study in English of the career of this foremost auteur working at the margins of the Hollywood mainstream in the horror genre. In placing Romero's oeuvre in the context of literary naturalism, the book explores the relevance of the director's films within American cultural traditions and thus explains the potency of such work beyond 'splatter movie' models. The author explores the roots of naturalism in the work of Emile Zola and traces this through to the EC Comics of the 1950s and on to the work of Stephen King. In so doing, the book illuminates the importance of seminal Romero texts such as Night of the Living Dead (1968), Creepshow (1982), Monkey Shines (1988), The Dark Half (1992). This study also includes full coverage of Romero's latest feature, Bruiser (2000), as well as his screenplays and teleplays.
George A. Romero: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers Series)
by Tony WilliamsGeorge A. Romero (b. 1940) has achieved a surprising longevity as director since his first film, Night of the Living Dead (1968). After relocating to Canada, he shows no signs of slowing up: his recent film, Survival of the Dead (2009), is discussed in a new interview conducted by Tony Williams for this volume, and still other films are awaiting release. Although commonly known as a director of zombie films, a genre he himself launched, Romero's films often transcend easy labels. His films are best understood as allegorical commentaries on American life that just happen to appropriate horror as a convenient vehicle. Romero's films encompass works as different as The Crazies, Hungry Wives, Knightriders, and Bruiser. The interviews in this collection cover a period of over forty years. In whatever format they originally appeared—the printed page, the internet, or the video interview—these discussions illustrate both the evolution of Romero's chosen forms of technology and the development of his thinking about the relationship between cinema and society. They present Romero as an independent director in every sense of the word.
Hearths of Darkness: The Family in the American Horror Film, Updated Edition
by Tony WilliamsHearths of Darkness: The Family in the American Horror Film traces the origins of the 1970s family horror subgenre to certain aspects of American culture and classical Hollywood cinema. Far from being an ephemeral and short-lived genre, horror actually relates to many facets of American history from its beginnings to the present day. Individual chapters examine aspects of the genre, its roots in the Universal horror films of the 1930s, the Val Lewton RKO unit of the 1940s, and the crucial role of Alfred Hitchcock as the father of the modern American horror film. Subsequent chapters investigate the key works of the 1970s by directors such as Larry Cohen, George A. Romero, Brian De Palma, Wes Craven, and Tobe Hooper, revealing the distinctive nature of films such as Bone, It's Alive, God Told Me To, Carrie, The Exorcist, Exorcist 2, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as well as the contributions of such writers as Stephen King. Williams also studies the slasher films of the 1980s and 1990s, such as the Friday the 13th series, Halloween, the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Nightmare on Elm Street, exploring their failure to improve on the radical achievements of the films of the 1970s.After covering some post-1970s films, such as The Shining, the book concludes with a new postscript examining neglected films of the twentieth and early twenty-first century. Despite the overall decline in the American horror film, Williams determines that, far from being dead, the family horror film is still with us. Elements of family horror even appear in modern television series such as The Sopranos. This updated edition also includes a new introduction.
You Have No Idea
by Vanessa Williams Helen WilliamsA candid and inspirational mother-daughter memoir of family, fame, trials, and triumphs by superstar Vanessa Williams her mother Helen Williams. Since she was a little girl, Vanessa Williams wanted to be on Broadway. As a musical theater major in college she was on her way, but life took a turn when she became the first black Miss America. Forced to resign due to a nude photo scandal, it looked like her dreams were over. But through determination, and with a mom who was always there for her, she went on to conquer the entertainment world. Like most teenagers, Vanessa Williams was often at odds with her mom. Despite their early conflicts, Helen has always ardently protected her daughter, staying in contact with the FBI about death threats Vanessa received and being there for her through the birth of her four children and dissolution of her two marriages. Vanessa and Helen tell of how they've made it through the many ups and down in their lives; and Vanessa dishes on her career and parts of her life that even her mother had no idea about--until now. You Have No Idea is a celebration of the love between a mother and daughter as well as the lives thus far of two women who have consistently defied the odds to achieve success - no matter how uncertain their paths might have been.
Music, Music for Everyone
by Vera B WilliamsA beautiful celebration of the power of music and of community—a companion book to the beloved Caldecott Honor picture book A Chair for My Mother."Rosa organizes her friends into the Oak Street Band in order to earn money her family needs because of her grandma's illness. Community, family and personal triumphs converge, making unforgettable music for everyone." —School Library Journal"Visual references connect readers to earlier books about Rosa's three-generation family, while the theme here underscores the interrelationship of Rosa to her foremothers, her girl friends, and their neighborhood. Images rich in vitality are placed within superbly composed, bordered watercolor paintings to convey the spirit of the story as well as details of their daily living." —BCCBVera B. Williams's beloved picture book favorites include:"More More More," Said the BabyAmber Was Brave, Essie Was SmartA Chair for AlwaysA Chair for My MotherCherries and Cherry PitsMusic, Music for EveryoneSomething Special for MeStringbean's Trip to the Shining SeaThree Days on a River in a Red Canoe
Significant Zero: Heroes, Villains, and the Fight for Art and Soul in Video Games
by Walt WilliamsFrom the award-winning videogame writer behind Spec Ops: The Line comes an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how today’s blockbuster video games are made.When his satirical musings in a college newspaper got him discharged from the Air Force, it became clear to Walt Williams that his destiny in life was to be a writer—he just never thought he’d end up writing video games, let alone working on some of the most successful franchises in the industry—Bioshock, Civilization, Borderlands, and Mafia among others. Williams pulls back the curtain on an astonishingly profitable industry that has put its stamp on pop culture and yet is little known to those outside its walls. In his reflective yet comically-observant voice, Williams walks you through his unlikely and at times inglorious rise within one of the world’s top gaming companies, exposing an industry abundant in brain power and out-sized egos, but struggling to stay innovative. Significant Zero also provides clear-eyed criticism of the industry’s addiction to violence and explains how the role of the narrative designer—the poor soul responsible for harmonizing gameplay with storylines—is crucial for expanding the scope of video games into more immersive and emotional experiences. Significant Zero offers a rare look inside this fascinating, billion-dollar industry and a path forward for its talented men and women—gamers and nongamers alike—that imagines how video games might inspire the best in all of us.
Star Wars: Ylesia (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order - Legends)
by Walter Jon WilliamsKyp's plan calls for a lightning-fast strike, backed with overwhelming force, to destroy the Brigade's offensive capabilities and teach prospective traitors that betrayal carries a heavy price. But young Jacen Solo, still bearing the scars of his imprisonment by the Yuuzhan Vong, has a better idea: a daring raid into the heart of Ylesia's capital, with the objective of capturing the Brigade's top leaders-including the newly sworn-in President, Thrackan Sal-Solo, cousin to Jacen and his twin, Jaina. But unknown to the Jedi and the New Republic forces, Supreme Overlord Shimrra of the Yuuzhan Vong has dispatched reinforcements to the Ylesia system. Instead of a swift surgical strike, Jaina, Jacen, Kyp, and their comrades are about to find themselves locked in a desperate battle for survival, with the odds stacked against them and time running out...
The Wendy Williams Experience
by Wendy WilliamsIn the dishiest book of the year, the top-rated and controversial radio host delivers the good, the bad, and the ugly on the industry's biggest stars. But we'll let her speak for herself: Whitney Houston: "We have watched her go from our princess...to what looks like one step above a crackhead."
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.
Clayton Byrd Goes Underground
by Rita Williams-Garcia<P>Clayton feels most alive when he’s with his grandfather, Cool Papa Byrd, and the band of Bluesmen—he can’t wait to join them, just as soon as he has a blues song of his own. But then the unthinkable happens. Cool Papa Byrd dies, and Clayton’s mother forbids Clayton from playing the blues. And Clayton knows that’s no way to live. <P>Armed with his grandfather’s brown porkpie hat and his harmonica, he runs away from home in search of the Bluesmen, hoping he can join them on the road. But on the journey that takes him through the New York City subways and to Washington Square Park, Clayton learns some things that surprise him. <P>From beloved Newbery Honor winner and three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner Rita Williams-Garcia comes a powerful and heartfelt novel about loss, family, and love that will appeal to fans of Jason Reynolds and Kwame Alexander.
Hidden in Plain Sight
by Colin WilliamsonWhat does it mean to describe cinematic effects as "movie magic," to compare filmmakers to magicians, or to say that the cinema is all a "trick"? The heyday of stage illusionism was over a century ago, so why do such performances still serve as a key reference point for understanding filmmaking, especially now that so much of the cinema rests on the use of computers? To answer these questions, Colin Williamson situates film within a long tradition of magical practices that combine art and science, involve deception and discovery, and evoke two forms of wonder--both awe at the illusion displayed and curiosity about how it was performed. He thus considers how, even as they mystify audiences, cinematic illusions also inspire them to learn more about the technologies and techniques behind moving images. Tracing the overlaps between the worlds of magic and filmmaking, Hidden in Plain Sight examines how professional illusionists and their tricks have been represented onscreen, while also considering stage magicians who have stepped behind the camera, from Georges Méliès to Ricky Jay. Williamson offers an insightful, wide-ranging investigation of how the cinema has functioned as a "device of wonder" for more than a century, while also exploring how several key filmmakers, from Orson Welles to Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorsese, employ the rhetoric of magic. Examining pre-cinematic visual culture, animation, nonfiction film, and the digital trickery of today's CGI spectacles, Hidden in Plain Sight provides an eye-opening look at the powerful ways that magic has shaped our modes of perception and our experiences of the cinema.
The Rough Guide to Bob Dylan
by Nigel WilliamsonBob Dylan is the ultimate singer-songwriter - revered, enigmatic and responsible for a staggering number of classic songs. This second edition of The Rough Guide to Bob Dylan demystifies the man and the music, exploring his life, his lyrics, and the legends that surrounded them. The Life: from Minnesota to Manchester, from the Albert Hall to the Never Ending Tour, The Music: the 50 greatest songs and the stories behind them, plus albums, bootlegs and compilations, The Movies: Dylan on screen and soundtracks, from Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid to No Direction Home, Dylanology: the wisdom of Bob, comic songs and curios, plus books, fanzines and websites.
The Rough Guide to Led Zeppelin
by Nigel WilliamsonRock legends Led Zeppelin remain a colossal music force with songs at once mystical, heavy, traditional and highly original. The Rough Guide to Led Zeppelin tells the story of the life and afterlife of this most extraordinary supergroup. Features include: The Story: from the first meeting of Plant and Page to the untimely death of John Bonham, detailing the magic, mayhem and excesses of the era. The Music: the band's fifty best songs unpicked, plus coverage of blues influences, bootlegs, solo careers, and the best Jimmy Page guitar solos and most outstanding Robert Plant vocals. The Passengers: profiles of collaborators and colleagues including Roy Harper and Mickie Most. The Cargo: Zeppelin films, places, myths and memorabilia, books, websites and the afterlife of 'Stairway to Heaven.' It's a whole lotta Zep . . . .