Breaking the Fourth Wall


Book Description

An examination of the role of direct address within fiction cinema, focusing on its role in avant-garde or experimental cinema, and popular genre traditions.




Parker, Lopez and Stone's The Book of Mormon


Book Description

'Hasa Diga Eebowai' In 2011, a musical full of curse words and Mormon missionaries swept that year’s Tony Awards and was praised as a triumphant return of the American musical. This book explores the inherent achievements (and failures) of The Book of Mormon—one of the most ambitious, and problematic, musicals to achieve widespread success. The creative team members—Matt Parker, Trey Stone and composer Robert Lopez—were collectively known for their aggressive use of taboo subjects and crude, punchy humor. Using the metaphor of boxing, Granger explores the metaphorical punches the trio delivers and ruminates over the less-discussed ideological wounds that their style of shock absurdism might leave behind. This careful examination of where The Book of Mormon succeeds and fails is sure to challenge discussion of our understanding of musical comedy and our appreciation for this cultural landmark in theatre.




Bloodstrike #1


Book Description

1993's original BLOODSTRIKE #1. Celebrate the 25th anniversary of Image Comics with a bloody delightful remastered edition of 1993Õs BLOODSTRIKE #1, illustrated by DAN FRAGA and DANNY MIKI over layouts from ROB LIEFELD, dramatically recolored by color wizard THOMAS MASON (X-Men)!




Animal Man


Book Description

Collects the first nine issues of the "Animal Man" comic, in which Buddy Baker uses his ability to transform into any animal he touches to help save mankind.




The City in the Middle of the Night


Book Description

LOCUS AWARD FINALIST! “This generation’s Le Guin.” —Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less Charlie Jane Anders, the nationally bestselling author of All the Birds in the Sky delivers a brilliant new novel set in a hauntingly strange future with #10 LA Times bestseller The City in the Middle of the Night. "If you control our sleep, then you can own our dreams... And from there, it's easy to control our entire lives." January is a dying planet—divided between a permanently frozen darkness on one side, and blazing endless sunshine on the other. Humanity clings to life, spread across two archaic cities built in the sliver of habitable dusk. But life inside the cities is just as dangerous as the uninhabitable wastelands outside. Sophie, a student and reluctant revolutionary, is supposed to be dead after being exiled into the night. Saved only by forming an unusual bond with the enigmatic beasts who roam the ice, Sophie vows to stay hidden from the world, hoping she can heal. But fate has other plans—and Sophie's ensuing odyssey and the ragtag family she finds will change the entire world. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.




Lost in the Funhouse


Book Description

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • John Barth's lively, highly original collection of short pieces is a major landmark of experimental fiction exploring themes of purpose and the meaning of existence. "[Barth] ran riot over literary rules and conventions, even as he displayed, with meticulous discipline, mastery of and respect for them." —The New York Times From its opening story, "Frame-Tale"--printed sideways and designed to be cut out by the reader and twisted into a never-ending Mobius strip--to the much-anthologized "Life-Story," whose details are left to the reader to "fill in the blank," Barth's acclaimed collection challenges our ideas of what fiction can do. Highlights include the Homerian story-wthin-a-story-within-a-story (times seven) of "Menalaiad,' and "Night-Sea Journey," a first-person account of a confused human sperm on its way to fertilize an egg. All of the characters in Lost in the Funhouse are searching, in one way or another, for their purpose and the meaning of their existence. Together, their stories form a kaleidescope of exuberant metafictional inventiveness.




The Complete Idiot's Guide to Screenwriting


Book Description

Provides advice for aspiring screenwriters on how to write scripts for television and motion pictures, including what topics are popular, how to rework scenes, and how to sell screenplays in Hollywood.




Jim Cornette Presents: Behind the Curtain—Real Pro Wrestling Stories


Book Description

Pro-Wrestling's secrets and greatest moments are immortalized in this graphic novel from legendary wrestling personality Jim Cornette. A true-story style anthology, these insider tales will show the lengths that wrestlers went to uphold "kayfabe" (the old carny term for the presentation of legitimate conflict), as well as the noteworthy cultural, racial, and economic effects these events and characters had on society. This is the graphic novel that old school wrestling fans have been waiting their entire lives for: a no-holds-barred representation of the moments that wrestling insiders couldn't talk about for years.




The Mysteries of Harris Burdick


Book Description

Since its publication in 1984, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick has stimulated the minds of readers of all ages and backgrounds. Now the original fourteen drawings are available in a large portfolio edition of loose sheets. In addition, a newly discovered fifteenth drawing, titled The Youngest Magician, has been added, as well as an updated introduction by the author. The puzzles of these mysterious drawings will be even more provocative because of the larger size and the exceptional printing quality. For the first time, the drawings can be shared with groups or displayed singly. The Mysteries of Harris Burdick was a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 1984.




STOP BORING ME


Book Description

Coming up constantly with a steady stream of marketing content, stories, and ideas that inspire excitement, interest and banish boring can be challenging. Your content-weary audience is saying "Stop Boring Me!" You cannot connect meaningfully with your audience if you bore them. There's just too much content chasing too little mindshare today. And most business marketing stinks because it is transactional, superficial and not human. The good news: it doesn't have to be that way because everyone is creative. Your inner kid is smart because it knows how to play. What if you could create engaging marketing content and storytelling, and generate kick-ass, fun and relevant ideas for stories, articles, branding, social media campaigns, sales presentations, and even new products? Well there is a fun way to do exactly that: by applying key concepts from the world of improvisation. Don't worry - this is not about theatricality, so you don't have to perform. It is about playfulness, however, and unleashing your inner kid. Bringing key concepts from the improvisation stage to your marketing, sales, branding and products page - or business stage, if you like - can help you, your team, your company and your business generate ideas that kick boring to the curb. While this book will help you be more funny, it's focused on fun as a creative catalyst for content idea orgasms: when different things come together in a fresh, human and engaging way that makes you and your audience say "aww yeah!" The first half of the book centers on how to use key improv concepts to craft and tell better stories for sales, social media, articles, presentations, content, and other story-related contexts. The second half of the book is all about innovating massively creative marketing ideas for products, content, campaigns, customer service, sales processes, you name it. While this book was written primarily for marketing people who have to create content, tell stories, make presentations; anyone in the idea-generation business (and who isn't) can use the tips in this book. Whether you are in marketing, sales, HR, product or customer service, these exercises will help you innovate and unleash more creative awesome into your work. Here is to more idea orgasms for you and your audience.