Last Night at the Viper Room

Author: Gavin Edwards

Publisher: Dey Street Books

ISBN: 9780062273178

Category: Biography & Autobiography

Page: 0

View: 6809


In Last Night at the Viper Room, acclaimed author and journalist Gavin Edwards vividly recounts the life and tragic death of acclaimed actor River Phoenix—a teen idol on the fast track to Hollywood royalty who died of a drug overdose in front of West Hollywood’s storied club, the Viper Room, at the age of 23. Last Night at the Viper Room explores the young star’s life, including his childhood in Venezuela growing up under the aegis of the cultish Children of God. Putting him at the center of a new generation of leading men emerging in the early 1990s— including Johnny Depp, Keanu Reeves, Brad Pitt, Nicolas Cage, and Leonardo DiCaprio—Gavin Edwards traces the Academy Award nominee’s meteoric rise, couches him in an examination of the 1990s, and illuminates his lasting legacy on Hollywood and popular culture itself.

Just Dope

Author: Allison Margolin

Publisher: North Atlantic Books

ISBN: 1623176875

Category: Biography & Autobiography

Page: 274

View: 5252


For readers of Dopesick and In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, a celebrated cannabis attorney's personal look at the War on Drugs and what comes next for the drug legalization movement Getting high is something most of us do, and in many cases do safely--yet drugs remain a singular public enemy. In a ranging blend of memoir, pop culture, policy critique, and social analysis, LA-based criminal defense attorney Allison Margolin explores why--and what we can do about it. Informed by Margolin’s experiences as a drug user, advocate, and the daughter of California’s most renowned (and infamous) cannabis attorney, Just Dope offers a look at where our current drug policy fails. It exposes the true history of drug prohibition in the United States, sharing why it started, how it evolved, and where it stands now. And it looks unflinchingly at the false dichotomy between “good” drugs and “bad” drugs and Margolin’s experience with programs like D.A.R.E that misguidedly ask you to “Just Say No.” For readers of All Day is a Long Time and In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, Just Dope is an experiential tour-de-force of personal essay and whip-smart policy critique—and a vital call to knowledge and action.

Terror in the Desert

Author: Brad Sykes

Publisher: McFarland

ISBN: 1476672415

Category: Performing Arts

Page: 313

View: 6210


Set in the American Southwest, "desert terror" films combine elements from horror, film noir and road movies to tell stories of isolation and violence. For more than half a century, these diverse and troubling films have eluded critical classification and analysis. Highlighting pioneering filmmakers and bizarre production stories, the author traces the genre's origins and development, from cult exploitation (The Hills Have Eyes, The Hitcher) to crowd-pleasing franchises (Tremors, From Dusk Till Dawn) to quirky auteurist fare (Natural Born Killers, Lost Highway) to more recent releases (Bone Tomahawk, Nocturnal Animals). Rare stills, promotional materials and a filmography are included.

The Best of the Lifted Brow

Author: Alexander Bennetts

Publisher: Brow Books

ISBN: 0994606877

Category: Biography & Autobiography

Page: 320

View: 3599


The Best of The Lifted Brow: Volume Twocelebrates five more years of the most idiosyncratic literary journal from Australia. The anthology includes essays on queer life, Aboriginal history, and the adult industry, as well as fiction that rewrites the Australian literary canon and poetry from some of the world’s best. Volume Two features distinguished names from Australia and the world, such as Fiona Wright, Eileen Myles, Paola Balla, Peter Polites, Margo Lanagan, Upulie Divisekera, Darren Hanlon, Ryan O’Neill, and Margaret Atwood. It also features the winner of the inaugural Prize for Experimental Nonfiction, several acclaimed longform essays, plus writing from Brow Books authors Briohny Doyle (The Island Will Sink, 2016) and Shaun Prescott (The Town, 2017). This book is a perfect entry-point into the most interesting elements of Australia’s current literary culture, Volume Two is diverse, exciting, and isn’t afraid to ask the hard questions – an eclectic and significant collection that captures the sharp sense of humour and experimental sensibility for which the magazine is best known. Volume Two is a follow-up to The Best of The Lifted Brow: Volume One (2013) which collected the best work from the first five years of The Lifted Brow magazine. ____ “The Lifted Brow regularly produces fresh and dynamic work from some of Australia's most talented writers and artists. Here, they have gathered together creative work absolutely vital to our cultural heartbeat.” Tony Birch, author of Ghost River, Blood and Shadowboxing “The Lifted Brow raises hackles with the freshest writing around. This collection is a marvellous showcase of this work.” Phillip Adams, commentator and broadcaster "How lucky we are to have The Lifted Brow – a game changer from its inception and an incubator for some of the world’s most compelling storytellers." Michelle Law, writer and screenwriter

Faded

Author: Julie Johnson

Publisher: Julie Johnson

ISBN: 1733663320

Category: Fiction

Page: 280

View: 342


"A classic country song come to life.” - Inked Avenue Book Blog, 5 star review When Felicity Wilde arrives in Nashville, she’s not looking for fame — she just wants a safe place to hide from the ghosts of her past. And for a while, starting fresh seems possible. She lands a job at a local music hotspot, collects her tips, and keeps her head down. Until one night, he steps on stage. Ryder Woods is a rising star. Everyone knows he’s destined for bigger things — it’s only a matter of time before he lands a record deal and heads for Los Angeles without looking back. He has no interest in getting stuck in Nashville, like all the other washed-up musicians who’ve never quite made it. But once he spots the quiet girl working behind the bar — the one with haunted eyes, who sings the most heartbreaking lyrics he’s ever heard in his life — Ryder’s suddenly not in such a hurry to leave. As Felicity and Ryder begin to make music together, their connection only deepens… but with demons of Felicity’s past circling closer, and the demands of Ryder’s future finally coming to fruition, they’ll find themselves at an undeniable crossroads… They always say fame comes with a price... But what if that price is the love of your life? FADED is the first installment of an angsty, addictive new contemporary romance duet about two star-crossed musicians. From the dark streets of Nashville to the bright lights of Los Angeles, Ryder & Felicity's story is a whirlwind of bandmate drama, steamy romance, and original song lyrics. Part two of the duet is now available for purchase in ebook and paperback. Please note: due to sex, drugs, and rock & roll, this duet is recommended for readers ages 16 and up.

The Art of American Screen Acting, 1960 to Today

Author: Dan Callahan

Publisher: McFarland

ISBN: 147663596X

Category: Biography & Autobiography

Page: 232

View: 7295


Modern screen acting in English is dominated by two key figures: Method acting guru Lee Strasberg—who taught the “the art of experiencing” over “the art of representing”—and English theater titan Laurence Olivier, who once said of the Method’s immersive approach, “try acting, it’s so much easier.” This book explores in detail the work of such method actors as Al Pacino, Ellen Burstyn, Jack Nicholson and Jane Fonda, and charts the shift away from the more internally focused Strasberg-based acting of the 1970s, and towards the more “external” way of working, exemplified by the career of Meryl Streep in the 1980s.

The Teddy Boy on the Trolley Bus

Author: Eddy Vee

Publisher: Lulu.com

ISBN: 141164204X

Category: Fiction

Page: 240

View: 7065


His obsession with rock and roll gave the shy lad from Derby, the impetus to form a beat group in the 50s. An experience that prepared him for life in Hollywood as a film director. It didn't, however, prepare him for his return to the band nearly 40 years later. This story, spans six decades, and goes from the Midlands to Tinsel Town, and back.

Gentlemen of the Shade

Author: Jen Sookfong Lee

Publisher: ECW Press

ISBN: 1773050419

Category: Performing Arts

Page: 128

View: 8037


Gus Van Sant’s film and the ’90s cult of the alternative Gus Van Sant’s 1991 indie darling My Own Private Idaho perplexed and provoked, inspiring a new ethos for a new decade: being different was better than being good. Gentlemen of the Shade examines how the film was a coming-of-age for a generation of young people who would embrace the alternative and bring their outsider perspectives to sustainability, technology, gender constructs, and social responsibility. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Times; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} My Own Private Idaho — fragmented and saturated with colour and dirt and a painfully beautiful masculinity — also crept into popular media, and its influence can still be traced. R.E.M. Portlandia. Hipsterism. James Franco. Referencing the often-funny and sometimes-tragic cultural touchstones of the past 26 years, Gentlemen of the Shade sets the film as social bellwether for the many outsiders who were looking to join the right, or any, revolution.

The Tao of Bill Murray

Author: Gavin Edwards

Publisher: Random House

ISBN: 1473519659

Category: Biography & Autobiography

Page: 368

View: 8300


People love Bill Murray movies, but even more, they love crazy stories about Bill Murray out in the world. Bill reads poetry to construction workers. Bill joins in strangers' kickball games. Bill steals a golf cart in Stockholm. Bill follows the Roots – a hip hop band – around. Bill pays a kid $5 to ride his bicycle into a swimming pool. The most popular Bill Murray story of all time (which he will neither confirm nor deny): on a crowded street, he puts his hands over a stranger's eyes from behind and says "Guess who?" When he lifts his hands to reveal his identity as Bill Murray, he tells the gobsmacked stranger, "No one will ever believe you." For The Tao of Bill Murray: Real-Life Stories of Joy, Enlightenment, and Party Crashing, best-selling author Gavin Edwards tracked down the best authentic Bill Murray stories. People savour these anecdotes; they consume them with a bottomless hunger; they routinely turn them into viral hits. The book not only has the greatest hits of Bill's eye-opening interactions with the world, it puts them in the context of a larger philosophy (revealed to the author in an exclusive interview): Bill Murray is secretly teaching us all how to live our lives.

Shots to the Heart: For the Love of Film Performance

Author: Steven Rybin

Publisher: Anthem Press

ISBN: 1839985909

Category: Performing Arts

Page: 116

View: 2478


Shots to the Heart explores how the work of the film actor inspires, provokes, and refigures our feelings and thoughts about the cinema. The book closely considers the art of film performance, the combined effect of actors’ gestures, movements, and expressions, in relation to the viewer’s sensitive and creative eye. As discrete moments of performative incarnation onscreen slowly accumulate, actors also become figures of meaning. For many viewers, the screen figures which result from performance are simply called “characters.” But in thinking about cinema, the words “character” and “characterization” signal post-experiential abstractions: when we quickly identify characters or summarize characterization after seeing a movie, we are leaping over the emotions felt through our loving attention to the bodies flitting through a film. Such concepts can never replace a careful regard for what actors onscreen are actually doing, moment by moment, gesture by gesture. Shots to the Heart is finally not too concerned with the narrative machinations within which these gestures are inscribed, and even resists the attempt to assemble these descriptions of performance into a “full” account of the film as a whole. What Shots to the Heart does is let little moments of performance live on, in writing, as they are strung together alongside performative fragments from other films, in a kind of alternative, cinephilic account of what was felt as actors moved on the screen before us.