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She Could Be Chaplin!: The Comedic Brilliance of Alice Howell (Hollywood Legends Series)
by Anthony SlideAlice Howell (1886-1961) is slowly gaining recognition and regard as arguably the most important slapstick comedienne of the silent era. This new study, the first book-length appreciation, identifies her place in the comedy hierarchy alongside the best-known of silent comediennes, Mabel Normand. Like Normand, Howell learned her craft with Mack Sennett and Charlie Chaplin. Beginning her screen career in 1914, Howell quickly developed a distinctive style and eccentric attire and mannerisms, successfully hiding her good looks, and was soon identified as the "Female Charlie Chaplin."Howell became a star of comedy shorts in 1915 and continued her career through 1928 and the advent of sound in film. While she is today recognized as a pioneering female filmmaker, during her career she never expressed much interest in her work, seeing it only as a means to an end, with her income carefully invested in real estate. It has taken many years for her to gain her rightful place in film history, not only as a comedienne, but also as matriarch of a prominent American family that includes son-in-law and director George Stevens and grandson George Stevens Jr., founder of the American Film Institute and the Kennedy Center Honors, who provides a foreword.
She Damn Near Ran the Studio: The Extraordinary Lives of Ida R. Koverman (Hollywood Legends Series)
by Jacqueline R. BraitmanBest known as the woman who “ran MGM,” Ida R. Koverman (1876–1954) served as talent scout, mentor, executive secretary, and confidant to American movie mogul Louis B. Mayer for twenty-five years. She Damn Near Ran the Studio: The Extraordinary Lives of Ida R. Koverman is the first full account of Koverman’s life and the true story of how she became a formidable politico and a creative powerhouse during Hollywood’s Golden Era. For nearly a century, Koverman’s legacy has largely rested on a mythical narrative while her more fascinating true-life story has remained an enduring mystery—until now. This story begins with Koverman’s early years in Ohio and the sensational national scandal that forced her escape to New York where she created a new identity and became a leader among a community of women. Her second incarnation came in California where she established herself as a hardcore political operative challenging the state’s progressive impulse. During the Roaring Twenties, she was a key architect of the Southland’s conservative female-centric partisan network that refashioned the course of state and national politics and put Herbert Hoover in the White House. As “the political boss of Los Angeles County,” she was the premiere matchmaker in the courtship between Hollywood and national partisan politics, which, as Mayer’s executive secretary, was epitomized by her third incarnation as “one of the most formidable women in Hollywood,” whose unparalleled power emanated from her unique perch inside the executive suite of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Free to adapt her managerial skills and political know-how on behalf of the studio, she quickly drew upon her artistic sensibilities as a talent scout, expanding MGM’s catalog of stars and her own influence on American popular culture. Recognized as “one of the invisible power centers in both MGM and the city of Los Angeles,” she nurtured the city’s burgeoning performing arts by fostering music and musicians and the public financing of them. As the “lioness” of MGM royalty, Ida Koverman was not just a naturalized citizen of the Hollywood kingdom; at times during her long reign, she “damn near ran the studio.”
She Kept Dancing: The True Story of a Professional Dancer with a Limb Difference
by Sydney Mesher Catherine LaudoneThis warm and inviting picture book, cowritten with Catherine Laudone and brightly illustrated by Natelle Quek, takes young readers along on Sydney’s journey—through the joyous ups as well as the crushing downs—and tells the story of how through it all, she kept dancing.No two dances were the same. Each one was beautiful because it was different—just like how Sydney’s body was also beautiful because it was different.Sydney Mesher was born with ten toes and five fingers. But it was her toes that her mom noticed first. "I can tell she’s going to be a dancer," she said.And it turned out Mom was right—after years of hard work, Sydney eventually danced her way onto the famous stage of Radio City Music Hall, becoming the first Rockette with a visible disability.
She Loves You (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah)
by Ann Hood"Filled with love, hope, and longing, this is a novel for readers of all ages." - Holly Goldberg Sloan <P><P>Bestselling author Ann Hood crafts a funny, heartfelt story of a girl growing up in the heart of Beatlemania. <P><P>The year is 1966. The Vietnam War rages overseas, the Beatles have catapulted into stardom, and twelve-year-old Rhode Island native Trudy Mixer is not thrilled with life. Her best friend, Michelle, has decided to become a cheerleader, everyone at school is now calling her Gertrude (her hated real name), and the gem of her middle school career, the Beatles fan club, has dwindled down to only three other members--the least popular kids at school. <P><P>And at home, her workaholic father has become even more distant.Determined to regain her social status and prove herself to her father, Trudy looks toward the biggest thing happening worldwide: the Beatles. She is set on seeing them in Boston during their final world tour--and meeting her beloved Paul McCartney. So on a hot August day, unknown to their families, Trudy and crew set off on their journey, each of them with soaring hopes for what lies ahead. <P><P>In her signature prose, Hood crafts an extraordinary story of growing up, making unexpected connections, and following your dreams even as the world in front of you--and the world at large--is changing too fast.
She Made Me Laugh: My Friend Nora Ephron
by Richard M. Cohen“A very personal remembrance of Nora Ephron’s life and loves, and her ups and downs” (USA TODAY) by her long-time and dear friend Richard Cohen in a hilarious, blunt, raucous, and poignant recollection of their decades-long friendship.Nora Ephron (1941–2012) was a phenomenal personality, journalist, essayist, novelist, playwright, Oscar-nominated screenwriter, and movie director (Sleepless in Seattle; You’ve Got Mail; When Harry Met Sally; Heartburn; Julie & Julia). She wrote a slew of bestsellers (I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman; I Remember Nothing: And Other Reflections; Scribble, Scribble: Notes on the Media; Crazy Salad: Some Things About Women). She was celebrated by Hollywood, embraced by literary New York, and adored by legions of fans throughout the world. Award-winning journalist Richard Cohen, wrote this about She Made Me Laugh: “I call this book a third-person memoir. It is about my closest friend, Nora Ephron, and the lives we lived together and how her life got to be bigger until, finally, she wrote her last work, the play, Lucky Guy, about a newspaper columnist dying of cancer while she herself was dying of cancer. I have interviewed many of her other friends—Mike Nichols, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, Arianna Huffington—but the book is not a name-dropping star turn, but an attempt to capture a remarkable woman who meant so much to so many other women.” With “the nuanced perspective of a confidant” (The Washington Post), She Made Me Laugh “is a fine tribute to a fascinating woman” (Houston Chronicle): “Nora would be pleased” (People, “Book of the Week”).
She Memes Well: Essays
by Quinta Brunson&“In She Memes Well, Quinta gives more than a peek behind the curtain. She invites us in, lets us poke around and offers a balm for our aching souls. She moves beyond the jokes into something much deeper, something we may not recognize we need. She is the friend, sister, lover, cool co-worker we all wished we had.&”—Gabrielle Union, actress and New York Times bestselling author of We&’re Going to Need More Wine From comedian Quinta Brunson comes a deeply personal and funny collection of essays about trying to make it when you're struggling, the importance of staying true to your roots, and how she's redefined humor online. Quinta Brunson is a master at breaking the internet. Before having any traditional background in media, her humorous videos were the first to go viral on Instagram&’s platform. From there, Brunson&’s wryly observant POV helped cement her status in the comedy world at large, with roles on HBO, Netflix, ABC, Adult Swim, BuzzFeed, the CW, and Comedy Central. Now, Brunson is bringing her comedic chops to the page in She Memes Well, an earnest, laugh-out-loud collection about this unusual road to notoriety. In her debut essay collection, Quinta applies her trademark humor and heart to discuss what it was like to go from a girl who loved the World Wide Web to a girl whose face launched a thousand memes. With anecdotes that range from the ridiculous—like the time she decided to go clubbing wearing an outfit she describes as "Gary Coleman meets metrosexual pirate"—to more heartfelt material about her struggles with depression, Quinta's voice is entirely authentic and eminently readable. With its intimate tone and hilarious moments, She Memes Well will make you feel as if you're sitting down with your chillest, funniest friend.
She Persisted: Simone Biles (She Persisted)
by Kekla Magoon Chelsea ClintonInspired by the #1 New York Times bestseller She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton and Alexandra Boiger, a chapter book series about women who spoke up and rose up against the odds--including Simone Biles!Simone Biles didn&’t always have it easy as a child. When her birth mother was no longer able to take care of her and her siblings, they moved in with her grandparents. But she always loved to run, jump, and bounce around. After trying gymnastics for the first time on a field trip at age six, Simone continued with the sport, working hard and facing many challenges along the way. Eventually, she reached a professional level, competing in world championships and at the Olympics. She kept competing and persisted, going on to become the most decorated US gymnast of all time. She also used her fame to speak up on important issues and to help other people. Through it all, she inspired kids everywhere to follow their dreams.In this chapter book biography by NAACP Image Award-winning author and Coretta Scott King Honor recipient Kekla Magoon, readers learn about the amazing life of Simone Biles--and how she persisted. Complete with an introduction from Chelsea Clinton, black-and-white illustrations throughout, and a list of ways that readers can follow in Simone Biles's footsteps and make a difference! A perfect choice for kids who love learning and teachers who want to bring inspiring women into their curriculum.And don&’t miss out on the rest of the books in the She Persisted series, featuring so many more women who persisted, including Florence Griffith Joyner, Ruby Bridges, Diana Taurasi, and more!
She Wants It: Desire, Power, and Toppling the Patriarchy
by Jill SolowayIn this poignant memoir of personal transformation, Jill Soloway takes us on a patriarchy-toppling emotional and professional journey. When Jill’s parent came out as transgender, Jill pushed through the male-dominated landscape of Hollywood to create the groundbreaking and award-winning Amazon TV series Transparent. Exploring identity, love, sexuality, and the blurring of boundaries through the dynamics of a complicated and profoundly resonant American family, Transparent gave birth to a new cultural consciousness. While working on the show and exploding mainstream ideas about gender, Jill began to erase the lines on their own map, finding their voice as a director, show creator, and activist. She Wants It: Desire, Power, and Toppling the Patriarchy moves with urgent rhythms, wild candor, and razor-edged humor to chart Jill’s evolution from straight, married mother of two to identifying as queer and nonbinary. This intense and revelatory metamorphosis challenges the status quo and reflects the shifting power dynamics that continue to shape our collective worldview. With unbridled insight that offers a rare front seat to the inner workings of the #metoo movement and its aftermath, Jill captures the zeitgeist of a generation with thoughtful and revolutionary ideas about gender, inclusion, desire, and consent.
Shell Shock Cinema: Weimar Culture and the Wounds of War
by Anton KaesHow war trauma haunted the films of Weimar GermanyShell Shock Cinema explores how the classical German cinema of the Weimar Republic was haunted by the horrors of World War I and the the devastating effects of the nation's defeat. In this exciting new book, Anton Kaes argues that masterworks such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, The Nibelungen, and Metropolis, even though they do not depict battle scenes or soldiers in combat, engaged the war and registered its tragic aftermath. These films reveal a wounded nation in post-traumatic shock, reeling from a devastating defeat that it never officially acknowledged, let alone accepted.Kaes uses the term "shell shock"—coined during World War I to describe soldiers suffering from nervous breakdowns—as a metaphor for the psychological wounds that found expression in Weimar cinema. Directors like Robert Wiene, F. W. Murnau, and Fritz Lang portrayed paranoia, panic, and fear of invasion in films peopled with serial killers, mad scientists, and troubled young men. Combining original close textual analysis with extensive archival research, Kaes shows how this post-traumatic cinema of shell shock transformed extreme psychological states into visual expression; how it pushed the limits of cinematic representation with its fragmented story lines, distorted perspectives, and stark lighting; and how it helped create a modernist film language that anticipated film noir and remains incredibly influential today.A compelling contribution to the cultural history of trauma, Shell Shock Cinema exposes how German film gave expression to the loss and acute grief that lay behind Weimar's sleek façade.
Sherlock Holmes from Screen to Stage
by Benjamin PooreThis book investigates the development of Sherlock Holmes adaptations in British theatre since the turn of the millennium. Sherlock Holmes has become a cultural phenomenon all over again in the twenty-first century, as a result of the television series Sherlock and Elementary, and films like Mr Holmes and the Guy Ritchie franchise starring Robert Downey Jr. In the light of these new interpretations, British theatre has produced timely and topical responses to developments in the screen Sherlocks' stories. Moreover, stage Sherlocks of the last three decades have often anticipated the knowing, metafictional tropes employed by screen adaptations. This study traces the recent history of Sherlock Holmes in the theatre, about which very little has been written for an academic readership. It argues that the world of Sherlock Holmes is conveyed in theatre by a variety of games that activate new modes of audience engagement.
Shibata Renzaburō and the Reinvention of Modernism in Postwar Japanese Popular Literature (East Asian Popular Culture)
by Artem VorobievShibata Renzaburō and the Reinvention of Modernism in Postwar Japanese Popular Literature explores the life and work of Shibata Renzaburō (柴田錬三郎, 1917–1978), the author of adventure and historical novels who was instrumental in reinvigorating popular Japanese literature in the postwar period. This book considers postwar Japanese society through the prism of Shibata’s writing, exploring how the postwar period under SCAP Occupation influenced Shibata’s writing and generated the extraordinary popularity of samurai fiction in the postwar era at large. Through the use of a nihilistic warrior, Nemuri Kyōshirō, and other samurai characters, Shibata Renzaburō addresses important social issues of the day, such as the trauma of defeat, postwar reconstruction, and the attending societal ills and neuroses, while keeping his literature entertaining and easy to read, which ensured its mass appeal in postwar Japan.
Shifting Corporealities in Contemporary Performance: Danger, Im/mobility And Politics (Avant-gardes In Performance)
by Marina Gržinić Aneta StojnićThis book investigates how contemporary artistic practices engage with the body and its intersection with political, technological, and ethical issues. Departing from the relationship between corporeality and performing arts (such as theater, dance, and performance), it turns to a pluriversal understanding of embodiment that resides in the extra violent conditions of contemporary global necro-capitalism in order to conduct a thorough analysis that goes beyond arts and culture. It brings together theoretical academic texts by established and emerging scholars alike, exposing perspectives form different fields (philosophy, cultural studies, performance studies, theater studies, and dance studies) as well as from different geopolitical contexts. Through a series of thematic clusters, the study explores the reactivation of the body as a site of a new meaning-making politics.
Shimmering Images: Trans Cinema, Embodiment, and the Aesthetics of Change
by Eliza SteinbockIn Shimmering Images Eliza Steinbock traces how cinema offers alternative ways to understand gender transitions through a specific aesthetics of change. Drawing on Barthes's idea of the “shimmer” and Foucault's notion of sex as a mirage, the author shows how sex and gender can appear mirage-like on film, an effect they label shimmering. Steinbock applies the concept of shimmering—which delineates change in its emergent form as well as the qualities of transforming bodies, images, and affects—to analyses of films that span time and genre. These include examinations of the fantastic and phantasmagorical shimmerings of sex change in Georges Méliès's nineteenth-century trick films and Lili Elbe's 1931 autobiographical writings and photomontage in Man into Woman. Steinbock also explores more recent documentaries, science fiction, and pornographic and experimental films. Presenting a cinematic philosophy of transgender embodiment that demonstrates how shimmering images mediate transitioning, Steinbock not only offers a corrective to the gender binary orientation of feminist film theory; they open up new means to understand trans ontologies and epistemologies as emergent, affective, and processual.
Shimmy (Orca Limelights)
by Kari JonesLila has always wanted a career in belly dance, so she is thrilled when she is invited to join Dana Sajala’s competitive and prestigious studio. But dancing at the new studio isn’t quite what she expected. Dana Sajala is a tough teacher, and Lila finds the constant criticism stressful. On top of that, Lila misses the dancers from her old troupe, and a rift is developing between her and her best friend, Angela, who is not altogether sympathetic to Lila’s struggles. Lila has always loved belly dance—the music, the costumes, the choreography—but when she realizes that none of it is as much fun as it used to be, she starts to question whether she has made the right choice. This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for middle-grade readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read!
Shine (Shine)
by Jessica JungCrazy Rich Asians meets Gossip Girl by way of Jenny Han in this knock-out debut about a Korean American teen who is thrust into the competitive, technicolor world of K-pop, from Jessica Jung, K-pop legend and former lead singer of one of the most influential K-pop girl groups of all time, Girls Generation. <P><P>What would you give for a chance to live your dreams? For seventeen-year-old Korean American Rachel Kim, the answer is almost everything. Six years ago, she was recruited by DB Entertainment—one of Seoul’s largest K-pop labels, known for churning out some of the world’s most popular stars. The rules are simple: Train 24/7. Be perfect. Don’t date. Easy right? Not so much. <P><P> As the dark scandals of an industry bent on controlling and commodifying beautiful girls begin to bubble up, Rachel wonders if she’s strong enough to be a winner, or if she’ll end up crushed… Especially when she begins to develop feelings for K-pop star and DB golden boy Jason Lee. It’s not just that he’s charming, sexy, and ridiculously talented. He’s also the first person who really understands how badly she wants her star to rise. <P><P>Get ready as Jessica Jung, K-pop legend and former lead singer of Korea’s most famous girl group, Girls Generation, takes us inside the luxe, hyper-color world of K-pop, where the stakes are high, but for one girl, the cost of success—and love—might be even higher. It’s time for the world to see: this is what it takes to SHINE. <P><P><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
Shine: Discover a Brighter You
by Lorraine Kelly'This is an utter tonic. Lorraine at her most honest; a genuinely helpful book' DAWN FRENCH'I love this book!' DAVINA MCCALL________________________________Lorraine has been a fixture on our TV screens for 35 years and is beloved by thousands for her warmth and down-to-earth interviewing style. Whatever life throws at her, she always manages to keep that signature twinkle in her eye. Now, she's ready to share her life lessons.There's a lot to keep up with nowadays: family, home, work, social media, the news... It's all too easy for days go by in a blur and before you know it, you're exhausted and the year has passed in the blink of an eye. Despite her hectic schedule, Lorraine has learned how important it is to listen to your body and your heart, and to take control of your life. Whether making small changes to your daily routine or overhauling your lifestyle and achieving those bucket-list goals, Shine will show you how to live every day to the fullest. Let Lorraine guide you on the journey to your best self with candid anecdotes from her own life, tips from the experts and practical exercises. You'll learn how to:- Spark: how to stay positive, confident and calm whatever life throws at you.- Glow: encouragement and strategies for keeping your body healthy and your look fresh, whatever your age.- Dazzle: how to get the best out of your relationships, family and work and make a difference to the world, even if it's just your patch.Uplifting, warm, and with beautiful hand-painted illustrations, Shine is a self-help book told from the heart.
Shine: Making the most of life without losing yourself
by Samantha Armytage"Samantha Armytage, co-host of Channel 7's top-rated SUNRISE opens up on what drives her to be successful in all areas of life - while still remaining down-to-earth.'Armytage now reigns as the official queen of morning television' - THE DAILY TELEGRAPHBeing in the public eye is never easy and Sam Armytage knows only too well what it's like to face constant scrutiny - day after day. Her rise to the top of the competitive, glamorous and often gruelling world of morning television is inspirational and here, for the first time, Sam shares just what she's learned on her journey from fresh-faced country girl to breakfast TV's reigning queen. Any woman who wants to know how to be her best while keeping her feet on the ground will find Sam's insights invaluable on topics that include: - being happy in your own skin, no matter your size or shape- how to balance your work and home life - organising your finances- dreaming big - being organised- having an open mind- learning from past mishaps- generosity- running your own race. - keeping a sense of humour under stressIn SHINE, Sam shows that it's possible to keep your goals in sight and your head on right - because she's done it! "
Shiny Happy People: A Children's Picture Book (LyricPop #0)
by R.E.M. ShinYeon MoonR.E.M.'s hit song is brought to life in this joyful picture book celebrating friendship and togetherness.“In this picture-book adaptation of R.E.M.’s song, a young fox and rabbit show the adults that everyone can be friends . . . A pop song finds new life as a simple yet heartfelt story of acceptance.” —Kirkus Reviews"Shiny happy people laughing Everyone around, love them, love them Put it in your hands, take it, take it There's no time to cry, happy, happy . . ." Shiny Happy People is a heartwarming picture book whose story is told through the lyrics of R.E.M.'s joyful tune of the same name. "Shiny Happy People" appeared on the band's 1991 album Out of Time, and the song reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. With lyrics by R.E.M. and illustrations by Paul Hoppe, this picture book follows the unlikely friendship between a rabbit and a fox as they teach others about the joy of inclusion and acceptance. It is the perfect vehicle for R.E.M. fans to share a loving and positive message with children of all ages.
Shipmates
by Chris TerrillThis is the tie-in book to a two part BBC 1 documentary series to be screened at 9.00pm in October and which will end on the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar on 21st October. Chris Terrill is famous for his fly on the wall documentaries which have been watched by millions and received wide critical acclaim. We have had HMS Brilliant and The Cruise (audience reached 11 million). Chris has based himself for the last few months in the very heart of the modern day naval experience. We will see: a Royal Naval Chaplain exorcising a haunted barracks in Portsmouth, a vodka-fuelled Trafalgar Day celebration in the British Embassy in the Moscow in 2004, a Polaris submarine crossing the Atlantic on an exercise in which it will 'pretend' to nuke America, the patrol of the frigate HMS Chatham in the Gulf, suddenly diverted to Sri Lanka after the Tsunami and the Fleet Review, where HMS Chatham in honour of her humanitarian role in Asia, will lead the entire assembly of a hundred warships, British and foreign, down the Solent. Chris is the only film maker to be granted exclusive, behind the scenes access by the Navy this year. During the filming Chris will capture the heart and soul of the sailors aboard, and on shore: there will be plenty of irreverence, practical jokes and laughs, and the human reality of the families left behind for months on end as warships and submarines go on extended tours of duty. This will be the fullest ever account of the Modern Navy in a year when the Trafalgar Day celebrations and the Fleet review will attract an avalanche of publicity.
Shirley
by Muriel BurgessShirley Bassey is one of the all-time greats of the entertainment business. She has sold more records than any other British female singer and still commands massive audiences around the world. Now, after a career spanning decades, her life story can be told: the story of a triumph over enough tragedies to last several lifetimes. The personal hardships that have fuelled the emotionalism of her songs have never before been revealed. Here her poverty-stricken childhood in Wales is detailed: how her mother struggled to bring up seven children on Income Support after their Nigerian father was deported; how she worked in a saucepan factory when her first struggles for stardom were halted by her pregnancy at sixteen. Shirley had a series of tortured loves: she married a homosexual Cockney who died of an overdose; she had a highly publicised affair with actor Peter Finch; and her second marriage, to an Italian, also failed. The shocking death of her second daughter, Samantha, just before her 21st birthday caused Shirley to lose her voice for nearly a year. Behind the showbiz glamour and consummate professionalism lies a fiercely resilient and independent woman.
Shirley Temple Black: Actress to Ambassador (Women of Our Time)
by Jim HaskinsShirley Temple, "America's Sweetheart," was the most popular movie star of the 1930s. During the Great Depression, her bubbly personality, blond curls, and dimples helped Americans forget their own hard times. As an adult, she entered politics, serving as the first woman Chief of Protocol at the White House; she went on to become the U.S. delegate to the United Nations and then Ambassador to Ghana. Today she remains active in many causes and is a well-know political figure -- cherished by millions as their favorite child star.
Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema
by Lindy West**Your Favorite Movies, Re-Watched**New York Times opinion writer and bestselling author Lindy West was once the in-house movie critic for Seattle's alternative newsweekly The Stranger, where she covered film with brutal honesty and giddy irreverence. In Shit, Actually, Lindy returns to those roots, re-examining beloved and iconic movies from the past 40 years with an eye toward the big questions of our time: Is Twilight the horniest movie in history? Why do the zebras in The Lion King trust Mufasa-WHO IS A LION-to look out for their best interests? Why did anyone bother making any more movies after The Fugitive achieved perfection? And, my god, why don't any of the women in Love, Actually ever fucking talk?!?! From Forrest Gump, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and Bad Boys II, to Face/Off, Top Gun, and The Notebook, Lindy combines her razor-sharp wit and trademark humor with a genuine adoration for nostalgic trash to shed new critical light on some of our defining cultural touchstones-the stories we've long been telling ourselves about who we are. At once outrageously funny and piercingly incisive, Shit, Actually reminds us to pause and ask, "How does this movie hold up?", all while teaching us how to laugh at the things we love without ever letting them or ourselves off the hook. Shit, Actually is a love letter and a break-up note all in one: to the films that shaped us and the ones that ruined us. More often than not, Lindy finds, they're one and the same.
Shiva's Fire
by Suzanne Fisher StaplesNewbery Honor author Suzanne Fisher Staples writes with power and assurance in this story of a girl dancer who sacrifices her friends and family for her art.
Shivers (Devil's Advocates)
by Luke AspellShivers (1975) was David Cronenberg’s first commercial feature and his first horror film. In a modern apartment block, a scientific project to unleash the id results in the equation of passion with contagion and predation. Because the writer-director’s imaginative landscape arrived in the genre fully formed, the unique forms of this début have often been overlooked or mistaken for shortcomings. Cronenberg’s most comedic film until Map to the Stars, Shivers is also his most spectacularly unnerving, throwing more images of extreme behavior at us than any of his subsequent films; it remains, with Crash, his most disquieting and transgressive film to date. Luke Aspell’s analysis addresses all channels of communication available to the 35mm sync-sound narrative feature, including shot composition, lighting, cinematographic texture, sound, the use of stock music, editing, costume, makeup, optical work, the screenplay, the casting, and the direction of the actors. Attending to form the better to see the film in its context, this tour of Shivers as “cognitive territory” takes in architecture, cultural context, critical reception, and artistic legacy.
Shivers Down Your Spine: Cinema, Museums, and the Immersive View (Film and Culture Series)
by Alison GriffithsFrom the architectural spectacle of the medieval cathedral and the romantic sublime of the nineteenth-century panorama to the techno-fetishism of today's London Science Museum, humans have gained a deeper understanding of the natural world through highly illusionistic representations that engender new modes of seeing, listening, and thinking. What unites and defines many of these wondrous spaces is an immersive view-an invitation to step inside the virtual world of the image and become a part of its universe, if only for a short time.Since their inception, museums of science and natural history have mixed education and entertainment, often to incredible, eye-opening effect. Immersive spaces of visual display and modes of exhibition send "shivers" down our spines, engaging the distinct cognitive and embodied mapping skills we bring to spectacular architecture and illusionistic media. They also force us to reconsider traditional models of film spectatorship in the context of a mobile and interactive spectator. Through a series of detailed historical case studies, Alison Griffiths masterfully explores the uncanny and unforgettable visceral power of the medieval cathedral, the panorama, the planetarium, the IMAX theater, and the science museum. Examining these structures as exemplary spaces of immersion and interactivity, Griffiths reveals the sometimes surprising antecedents of modern media forms, suggesting the spectator's deep-seated desire to become immersed in a virtual world. Shivers Down Your Spine demonstrates how immersive and interactive museum display techniques such as large video displays, reconstructed environments, and touch-screen computer interactives have redefined the museum space, fueling the opposition between public and private, science and spectacle, civic and corporate interests, voice and text, and life and death. In her remarkable study of sensual spaces, Griffiths explains why, for centuries, we keep coming back for more.