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Nilsson: The Life of a Singer-Songwriter
by Alyn ShiptonPaul McCartney and John Lennon described him as the Beatles' "favorite group," he won Grammy awards, wrote and recorded hit songs, and yet no figure in popular music is as much of a paradox, or as underrated, as Harry Nilsson. In this first ever full-length biography, Alyn Shipton traces Nilsson's life from his Brooklyn childhood to his Los Angeles adolescence and his gradual emergence as a uniquely talented singer-songwriter. With interviews from friends, family, and associates, and material drawn from an unfinished autobiography, Shipton probes beneath the enigma to discover the real Harry Nilsson. A major celebrity at a time when huge concerts and festivals were becoming the norm, Nilsson shunned live performance. His venue was the studio, his stage the dubbing booth, his greatest triumphs masterful examples of studio craft. He was a gifted composer of songs for a wide variety of performers, including the Ronettes, the Yardbirds, and the Monkees, yet Nilsson's own biggest hits were almost all written by other songwriters. He won two Grammy awards, in 1969 for "Everybody's Talkin'" (the theme song for Midnight Cowboy), and in 1972 for "Without You," had two top ten singles, numerous album successes, and wrote a number of songs--"Coconut" and "Jump into the Fire," to name just two--that still sound remarkably fresh and original today. He was once described by his producer Richard Perry as "the finest white male singer on the planet," but near the end of his life, Nilsson's career was marked by voice-damaging substance abuse and the infamous deaths of both Keith Moon and Mama Cass in his London flat. Drawing on exclusive access to Nilsson's papers, Alyn Shipton's biography offers readers an intimate portrait of a man who has seemed both famous and unknowable--until now.
Noise Matters: Towards an Ontology of Noise
by Greg HaingeEveryone knows what noise is. Or do they? Can we in fact say that one man's noise is another teenager's music? Is noise in fact only an auditory phenomenon or does it extend far beyond this realm? If our common definitions of noise are necessarily subjective and noise is not just unpleasant sound, then it merits a closer look (or listen). Greg Hainge sets out to define noise in this way, to find within it a series of operations common across its multiple manifestations that allow us to apprehend it as something other than a highly subjective term that tells us very little. Examining a wide range of texts, including Sartre's novel Nausea and David Lynch's iconic films Eraserhead and Inland Empire, Hainge investigates some of the Twentieth Century's most infamous noisemongers to suggest that they're not that noisy after all; and it finds true noise in some surprising places. The result is a thrilling and illuminating study of sound and culture.
Nordic Noir: The Pocket Essential Guide to Scandinavian Crime Fiction, Film & TV
by Barry ForshawNordic Noir: The Pocket Essential Guide to Scandinavian Crime Fiction, Film and TV by Britain's leading expert on crime fiction, Barry Forshaw, is a compact and authoritative guide to the phenomenally popular genre.The information-packed study examines and celebrates books, films and TV adaptations, from Sjöwall & Wahlöö's highly influential Martin Beck series through Henning Mankell's Wallander (subject of three separate TV series) to Stieg Larsson's groundbreaking The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, cult TV hits such as the Danish The Killing, The Bridge, and the political thriller Borgen, up to the massively successful books and films of the current king of the field, Norway's Jo Nesbo. Nordic Noir anatomises the nigh-obsessive appeal of the subject and highlights every key book, film and TV show. For both the beginner and the aficionado, this is a hugely informative, highly accessible guide (and shopping list) for an essential crime genre.'Entertaining and informative companion ... written by the person who probably knows more than anyone alive about the subject' - The Times'Readers wanting to get into Scandinavian crime fiction should start with Forshaw's pocket guide to the genre' - Financial TimesLook out for the other books in Barry Forshaw's Noir series Euro Noir, Brit Noir, American Noir and Historical Noir, and for his latest book, Crime Fiction: A Reader's Guide.
Northern Soul: An Illustrated History
by Elaine Constantine Gareth SweeneyThe story of Northern Soul is one of practically total immersion, dedication and devotion, where the plain concept of the ‘night out’ was elevated to sacramental dimensions. Where devotees pushed their bodies, their finances and sometimes their minds to brutal and unforgiving extremes. For those who went through that involvement every test of faith or endurance was worth bearing.- From Northern Soul: An Illustrated History.‘It was a drugs scene, it was a clothes scene. It was about dancing. It came out of this thing. It was about pills that made you go fast. To go fast to make the scene happen.’ - Chris BrickIn the late 1960s, a form of dance music took a feverish hold on the UK, finding its heart in the north of England. The music of 1960s-70s black American soul singers combined with distinctive dance styles and plenty of amphetamines to create what became known as Northern Soul – a scene based around all night, alcohol-free club nights, arranged by the fans themselves – setting the blueprint for future club culture. Northern Soul tapped into a yearning for individual expression in northern teenagers, and exploded into a cultural phenomenon that influenced a generation of DJs, songwriters and designers for decades to come. Acclaimed photographer and director Elaine Constantine has brought the movement to life in her film Northern Soul – and that film was the starting point for this book, Northern Soul: An Illustrated History.However, what started out as a project largely comprising of Constantine’s stunning on-set photography, featuring her young, talented cast and highly authentic production, has turned into a unique illustrated history of Northern Soul. In its final form, the beautiful new photography holds the book together thematically, but its real depth lies in the material from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s that Elaine and Gareth have researched and pulled together. Of course, no book can claim to represent everything about a culture. But Northern Soul: An Illustrated History concentrates on individuals’ personal stories from that heady era, as well as being crammed full of truly atmospheric contemporaneous photography – not from press photographers, but from the kids themselves. Be it snaps of soul fans in car parks, hitching a lift or mucking around in photo booths, the combination of real people plus real (and often very dramatic) stories – not to mention the complete absence of label scans and DJ’s top tens – means that the book stands out as a very different proposition from anything yet published on Northern Soul. We would like to think that above all, this book attempts to give you a feel for what it was really like to be there at the time.
Nosferatu: Phantom Der Nacht (BFI Film Classics)
by S.S. PrawerWerner Herzog's Nosferatu – Phantom der Nacht (1979) is one of the masterpieces of the New German Cinema of the 1960s and 70s. Adapted from Bram Stoker's Dracula, and mindful too of F. W. Murnau's earlier German film version of that same novel, Herzog's film is perhaps the most compelling screen treatment of the vampire myth. In this comprehensive account of Nosferatu, S. S. Prawer begins with discussion of Stoker's book, the cultural fascination with vampires, and the formation and evolution of Herzog's career. Taking the production history into account, Prawer ultimately foregrounds the cultural and aesthetic components of the film that combine to such powerful effect. This second edition features a new foreword by Brad Prager and original cover artwork by Matt Brand.
Nosferatu: eine Symphonie des Grauens (BFI Film Classics)
by Kevin JacksonF.W. Murnau's 1922 Nosferatu, the first (albeit unofficial) screen adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, starring Max Schreck as the hollow-eyed, cadaverous vampire, remains a potent and disturbing horror film. Kevin Jackson's study traces Nosferatu's eventful production and reception history, including attempts by Stoker's widow to suppress it.
Nothing Is Impossible: The Real-Life Adventures of a Street Magician
by Dynamo'I immersed myself in magic. I read every book I could get my hands on and practised and practised, day after day and night after night. Magic became my world...some might say an obsession.'When you’re a kid life can seem tough; tougher for some than others. But the darkest of times can also be the most enlightening.When his late granddad showed him magic for the first time, Steven Frayne knew there was more to life than hiding from bullies. He had a destiny. A calling. In that moment Dynamo was born: the most exciting magician of the 21st century. Since then, Dynamo has shocked, thrilled and amazed men, women and children, from all walks of life, all over the world. With his mind-blowing illusions, he has catalysed a whole new era of magic. Now, in his very first book, Dynamo invites you to join him on a breathtaking journey across the globe. Be prepared to levitate Lindsay Lohan in Singapore, transform snow into diamonds in the Austrian mountains, and walk on water across the River Thames. Along the way, he reveals how to make the impossible possible, what it takes to pull off the greatest stunts man has seen, and why everyone needs magic in their lives. This is no illusion. This is Dynamo revealed.
The Oberon Book of Modern Monologues for Men: Volume Two
by Catherine WeateMonologues are an essential part of every actor’s toolkit. Actors are required to perform monologues regularly throughout their career: preparing for drama school entry, showcasing skills for agents or auditioning for a role. Following on from the bestselling first volume (2008), this book showcases selected monologues from some of the finest modern plays by some of today’s leading contemporary playwrights. These monologues contain a diverse range of quirky and memorable characters that cross cultural and historical boundaries. The pieces are helpfully organised into age-specific groups: ‘Teens’, ‘Twenties’, ‘Thirties’ and ‘Forties plus’.
The Oberon Book of Modern Monologues for Women: Volume Two
by Catherine WeateMonologues are an essential part of every actor’s toolkit. Actors are required to perform monologues regularly throughout their career: preparing for drama school entry, showcasing skills for agents or auditioning for a role. Following on from the bestselling first volume (2008), this book showcases selected monologues from some of the finest modern plays by some of today’s leading contemporary playwrights. These monologues contain a diverse range of quirky and memorable characters that cross cultural and historical boundaries. The pieces are helpfully organised into age-specific groups: ‘Teens’, ‘Twenties’, ‘Thirties’ and ‘Forties plus’.
The Official Peaky Blinders Quiz Book
by Peaky BlindersAre you razor sharp when it comes to Shelby family knowledge? Do you know The Garrison Tavern and its regulars like the back of your hand?Then summon your network of friends and foes and prepare to gamble for the title of true Blinder! By order of the Peaky Blinders.Inside The Official Peaky Blinders Quiz Book you'll find over 1,000 questions - from criminally easy to murderously hard - designed to put your Peaky knowledge to the ultimate test. So, don your flat caps, brush up on the iconic characters, lines and locations, and play against your biggest rivals to claim the title of most fearsome quiz gangster going.
Olivier
by Philip ZieglerHollywood superstar; Oscar-winning director; greatest stage actor of the twentieth century. The era abounded in great actors - Gielgud, Richardson, Guinness, Burton, O'Toole - but none could challenge Laurence Olivier's range and power. By the 1940s he had achieved international stardom. His affair with Vivien Leigh led to a marriage as glamorous and as tragic as any in Hollywood history. He was as accomplished a director as he was a leading man: his three Shakespearian adaptations are among the most memorable ever filmed. And yet, at the height of his fame, he accepted what was no more than an administrator's wage to become the founding Director of the National Theatre. In 2013 the theatre celebrates its fiftieth anniversary; without Olivier's leadership it would never have achieved the status that it enjoys today. Off-stage, Olivier was the most extravagant of characters: generous, yet almost insanely jealous of those few contemporaries whom he deemed to be his rivals; charming but with a ferocious temper. With access to more than fifty hours of candid, unpublished interviews, Philip Ziegler ensures that Olivier's true character - at its most undisguised - shines through as never before.
Olympic Ceremonialism and The Performance of National Character: From London 2012 to Rio 2016 (Palgrave Studies in the Olympic and Paralympic Games)
by R. TzanelliThis book examines the London 2012 opening and closing ceremonies and the handover to Rio 2016 as articulations of national and cosmopolitan belonging. The ceremonial performances supported imaginative travel and created a tornadóros: an ideal form of 'human' that manipulates audiovisual narratives of culture and identity for global audiences.
On the Road: Growing up in Eight Journeys - My Early Years
by Richard HammondON THE ROAD: GROWING UP IN EIGHT JOURNEYS - MY EARLY YEARS is a new form of autobiography, in which TOP GEAR presenter Richard Hammond tells the story of his early life through a series of significant driving episodes. He's a child in the back seat of Dad's car on the way to the seaside in Weston-Super-Mare. He's on his first bike, a red one, in Solihull, then on his first motorcycle, a Honda MTX50. He's at the wheel of his first car (and in the back with his first girlfriend). He is driving a furniture delivery van as part of his first job in and around Ripon. Now he is showing off with a friend, risking everything.ON THE ROAD is an emotional road map in which each chapter has its own registration number, and its own distinctive interior. Most importantly, each chapter sets off and arrives. ON THE ROAD surges on to its destination, reversing or moving quickly through the gears, reliving the central episodes and conflicts of Richard's life. Every chapter is a stage in a longer journey. Although there are precious few road-rage monologues against four-wheel drivers and men in vests in white vans, Richard Hammond's readers will quickly recognise the funny self-deprecating and balanced ease that has made him one of Britain's best-loved writers and television presenters.
One Chance: A Memoir
by Paul PottsOne Chance is the remarkable and inspirational true story of Paul Potts. When Potts, a shy, bullied shop assistant by day and an amateur opera singer by night, stepped onto the stage in the premiere season of "Britain's Got Talent," no one expected the phenomenal voice that would emerge. Judge Simon Cowell and millions of stunned viewers were instantly taken with Potts, who became a Youtube sensation and multiplatinum artist virtually overnight. Wowing audiences worldwide with his phenomenal voice, Paul went on to win "Britain&’s Got Talent" and the hearts of millions. This memoir tells Potts's remarkable underdog story, revealing his experiences as he seized his biggest dreams and wowed audiences around the world.
One Chance: A Memoir
by Paul PottsOne Chance is the remarkable and inspirational true story of Paul Potts. When Potts, a shy, bullied shop assistant by day and an amateur opera singer by night, stepped onto the stage in the premiere season of "Britain's Got Talent," no one expected the phenomenal voice that would emerge. Judge Simon Cowell and millions of stunned viewers were instantly taken with Potts, who became a Youtube sensation and multiplatinum artist virtually overnight. Wowing audiences worldwide with his phenomenal voice, Paul went on to win "Britain's Got Talent" and the hearts of millions. This memoir tells Potts's remarkable underdog story, revealing his experiences as he seized his biggest dreams and wowed audiences around the world.
One Direction (100% Official) (100% Official): Our Band, Our Story: Our Band, Our Story
by One DirectionCalling all One Direction fans! This is the only official book from 1D, charting their journey over the last year and a half – from the places they’ve visited and fans they’ve met, to their thoughts and feelings, hopes and dreams, highs and lows. It has been a phenomenal year – and this is a phenomenal story.
One Direction (100% Official) (100% Official): Our Band, Our Story: Our Band, Our Story
by One DirectionCalling all One Direction fans! This is the only official book from 1D, charting their journey over the last year and a half – from the places they’ve visited and fans they’ve met, to their thoughts and feelings, hopes and dreams, highs and lows. It has been a phenomenal year – and this is a phenomenal story.
One Hundred Lengths of the Pool
by Julia RobertsJulia Roberts was one of the first two faces to appear on QVC The Shopping Channel in 1993, and her warmth and honesty have encouraged millions to shop from the comfort of their own homes ever since. She was not, however, a stranger to television, having previously appeared in Beadle's About, The Price is Right and numerous advertisements, including the Woolwich Building Society where she famously asked, 'Can I help you?'None of this would have come about id she hadn't survived the killer disease polio in the 1950s. Not only did she survive but, against all the odds and the advice of her careers teacher at school, she became a professional dancer. That was the start of a long and varied career in the entertainment industry, unless you count appearing on the front cover of a cookery book at the age of ten. She has worked as a DJ, a singer, and actress and, for the last 24 years, a presenter; and it's all in her book One Hundred Lengths of the Pool.Each of the hundred lengths is associated with special moments from her life - some professional, some personal, some happy and some sad. However, there is an extra length of the pool that she didn't expect to swim and it has changed her life completely, testing her belief in her favourite saying, 'That which does not kill us, makes us stronger...'
Only When I Laugh: My Autobiography
by Paul MertonKnown for his intelligent and often surreal humour, Paul Merton’s weekly appearances on BBC1’s Have I Got News For You – as well as Radio 4’s Just A Minute and his travel documentaries – have seen him become an artfully rebellious fixture in our lives for over 25 years.He also has a real story to tell. In ONLY WHEN I LAUGH, his rich and beautifully-observed autobiography, Paul takes us on an evocative journey from his working-class Fulham childhood to the present day. Whether writing about school days, his run-ins with the nuns and other pupils; his disastrous first confession; his meatpacking job; taking acid; leaving home to live in bedsit; his early brushes with the opposite sex – and not forgetting his repeated attempts to break into the world of comedy – Paul’s writing is always funny, poignant and revealing. And when his star finally ascends in the atmospherically drawn 1980s alternative cabaret scene there is a sense of excitement, energy, camaraderie, momentum and dramatic impending success……And then CRASH! In an unflinching and brilliantly written section that defines the book, we experience the disorienting and terrifying sustained manic episode that he suffered which landed him in a psychiatric hospital. These, and other tougher moments, are written about candidly and with sensitivity and honesty. Yet throughout ONLY WHEN I LAUGH, Paul Merton succeeds in telling his life story entertainingly, with warmth, humour and a big bucket load of wit. Ultimately uplifting, it is the story of a fascinating life, brilliantly told – and one of the best memoirs of the year.
The Operatic and the Everyday in Postwar Italian Film Melodrama
by Louis BaymanThis monograph argues for the centrality of melodrama to Italian culture. It uncovers a wealth of films rarely discussed before including family melodramas, the crime stories of neorealismo popolare and opera films, and provides interpretive frameworks that position them in wider debates on aesthetics and society.
The Orientation of Future Cinema: Technology, Aesthetics, Spectacle
by Bruce IsaacsWhat is the fate of cinema in an age of new technologies, new aesthetic styles, new modes of cultural production and consumption? What becomes of cinema and a century-long history of the moving image when the theatre is outmoded as a social and aesthetic space, as celluloid gives over to digital technology, as the art-house and multiplex are overtaken by a proliferation of home entertainment systems? The Orientation of Future Cinema offers an ambitious and compelling argument for the continued life of cinema as image, narrative and experience. Commencing with Lumière's Arrival of a Train at a Station, Bruce Isaacs confronts the threat of contemporary digital technologies and processes by returning to cinema's complex history as a technological and industrial phenomenon. The technology of moving images has profoundly changed; and yet cinema materialises ever more forcefully in digital capture and augmentation, 3-D perception and affect, High Frame Rate cinema, and the evolution of spectacle as the dominant aesthetic mode in contemporary studio production.
The Orientation of Future Cinema: Technology, Aesthetics, Spectacle
by Bruce IsaacsWhat is the fate of cinema in an age of new technologies, new aesthetic styles, new modes of cultural production and consumption? What becomes of cinema and a century-long history of the moving image when the theatre is outmoded as a social and aesthetic space, as celluloid gives over to digital technology, as the art-house and multiplex are overtaken by a proliferation of home entertainment systems? The Orientation of Future Cinema offers an ambitious and compelling argument for the continued life of cinema as image, narrative and experience. Commencing with Lumière's Arrival of a Train at a Station, Bruce Isaacs confronts the threat of contemporary digital technologies and processes by returning to cinema's complex history as a technological and industrial phenomenon. The technology of moving images has profoundly changed; and yet cinema materialises ever more forcefully in digital capture and augmentation, 3-D perception and affect, High Frame Rate cinema, and the evolution of spectacle as the dominant aesthetic mode in contemporary studio production.
Our Story: Union J 100% Official
by Union JJoin Union J as they embark on their journey to become THE next big boyband in Our Story!Only a few months ago Union J were just average guys, dreaming of performing on the X Factor stage, making music and having legions of fans screaming their names. And now that dream has become a reality.Follow Union J's unique journey from ordinary boys to stars as one of the most popular acts on X Factor 2012, in their first official memoir. Packed full of exclusive photos, behind-the-scenes gossip and the individual stories of JJ, Jaymi, Josh and George, Union J's Our Story is the book is a must-have for all J-Cats!Union J shot to stardom after reaching the X Factor finals in 2012. Jaymi, Josh and JJ had originally auditioned as a three piece called Triple J, but Louis selected soloist George to join the group, recognising their potential as a four. They have since played to sold out arenas around the country on the X Factor tour, signed a record deal with Sony Music and recorded their first single to be released in June 2013.
Palimpsestic Memory: The Holocaust and Colonialism in French and Francophone Fiction and Film
by Max SilvermanThe interconnections between histories and memories of the Holocaust, colonialism and extreme violence in post-war French and Francophone fiction and film provide the central focus of this book. It proposes a new model of ‘palimpsestic memory’, which the author defines as the condensation of different spatio-temporal traces, to describe these interconnections and defines the poetics and the politics of this composite form. In doing so it is argued that a poetics dependent on tropes and techniques, such as metaphor, allegory and montage, establishes connections across space and time which oblige us to perceive cultural memory not in terms of its singular attachment to a particular event or bound to specific ethno-cultural or national communities but as a dynamic process of transfer between different moments of racialized violence and between different cultural communities. The structure of the book allows for both the theoretical elaboration of this paradigm for cultural memory and individual case-studies of novels and films.
Pan's Labyrinth (BFI Film Classics)
by Mar Diestro-DópidoGuillermo del Toro's cult masterpiece, Pan's Labyrinth (2006), won a total of 76 awards and is one of the most commercially successful Spanish-language films ever made. Blending the world of monstrous fairytales with the actual horrors of post-Civil War Spain, the film's commingling of real and fantasy worlds speaks profoundly to our times.Immersing herself in the nightmarish world that del Toro has so minutely orchestrated, Mar Diestro-Dópido explores the cultural and historical contexts surrounding the film. Examining del Toro's ground-breaking use of mythology, and how the film addresses ideas of memory and forgetting, she highlights the techniques, themes and cultural references that combine in Pan's Labyrinth to spawn an uncontainable plurality of meanings, which only multiply on contact with the viewer.This special edition features an exclusive interview with del Toro and original cover artwork by Santiago Caruso.