Author: Piper Laurie File Type: epub ReviewIn a candid memoir, Emmy- and Golden Globewinning actress Laurie remembers her long, surprising life as a film, theater and TV star.br An uncommunicative, silent child who suffered from acute anxiety disorder, Laurie was inexplicably drawn to the world of stage performance from a young age.After suggesting that she be in the movies, her mother entered her in a contest that offered a screen test as first prize. Laurie won the contest but failed the screen test yet the resolve to persist in following her dream remained strong. Her efforts eventually landed her a contract at Universal Studios when she was just 17. What she did not know was that Universal was a picture factory then, specializing in a disposable product for a double feature market, and that she would be promoted as a glamorous B-movie bimbo. Five years later, Laurie began the painful process of speaking for herself and articulating her professional desires. She broke her contract with Universal to take more serious roles on Broadway and in such groundbreaking TV dramas and films as the CBS Playhouse version of Days of Wine and Roses (1958), The Hustler (1961), Carrie (1976) and Twin Peaks (1990-91). Lauries opennessabout her struggles with shyness and amphetamine addiction and her quietly determined pursuit of artistic fulfillment and sexual freedomsave the book from reading like just another Hollywood career catalog. The self-portrait that emerges is of a gracious woman who was in many ways ahead of her time and who fought the good fight on the way to becoming a part of the speaking world.br Warmly intimate.br -Kirkus An intimate memoir by three-time Oscar nominee Piper Laurie, one of Hollywoods most gifted and respected actressesbr At the age of seventeen, in the glory days of movie-making, Piper Laurie was living every little girlsdream. Having been selected by Universal Studiosto be a contract star, Piper was removed from heracting class and provided with stylists, chaperones,leading roles, and handsome dates, and elevated to the heights of Hollywood. Her beauty was admired by the likes of Ronald Reagan, Howard Hughes,Paul Newman, Tony Curtis, as well as dozens ofdirectors and legions of fans. Her name was emblazoned on marquees across America for hit movies of the fifties such as the The Prince Who Was a Thief, The Mississippi Gambler, and Aint Misbehavin.br But Piper discovered early on that the little girls dream was not her own. Mortified by the shallowness of the roles and movies she was given,she longed for the freedom and fulfillment of her own artistic vision. After years in the studio system, shy Piper Laurie found her voice and the courage to burn her contract. It was only after she left the oppressive studio culture that she began to star in the TV shows, plays, and films that truly became the hallmarks of her career The Glass Menagerie on Broadway, the original Days of Wine and Roses,The Hustler, the iconic Carrie, and Twin Peaks. She grew into a three-time Oscar-nominated actress, anaccomplished sculptor, and a director.br This memoir is the inspiring tale of Pipers perseverance to break from tradition and to practice her craft at the highest level. She started life as a withdrawn, mute child who couldnt find her voice and was transformed into a woman who learned to live out loud by her own rules.br From the Hardcover edition.

Author: Amalendu Misra File Type: pdf This book explores the politics of narco-killing and public attitudes to violence and death in the Mexican Drug War. It examines questions such as the culture of human sacrifice, the religious principles that sanction egregious violence and most importantly the societys complex response strategies towards such violence. Primarily a philosophical reflection, this study nonetheless uses anthropological, architectural and sociological methods to provide an interdisciplinary explanation to the visceral, commonplace violence taking place in contemporary Mexico. **

Author: Chelsea Handler File Type: mobi From Publishers WeeklyHandler proves the adage that just because one can, doesnt mean one should. This applies to both her role as a writer and a narrator. In this disjointed collection of memories and experiences, even her overenthusiastic voice cannot compensate for the irrelevance and frivolousness that is this book. Her anecdotes cover a range of topics from sex to sibling rivalry to parental humiliation, all showcasing how smart and witty she can be-in hindsight. Whether rambling about how shes freaked out by red-headed men or bemoaning her arrest and short stint in prison, her attempts to be funny fall flat and her valley-girl persona wears quickly on listeners. Her lively voice has the potential to do well with audiobooks, but the overall tone and ecstatic energy she emits only emphasizes the inconsequential prose. Listeners might find themselves asking for Vodka to help reach the end of this production. A Simon & Schuster hardcover. Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. ReviewChelsea Handler writes like Judy Blume, if Judy Blume were into vodka, Ecstasy, and sleeping with midgets and nineteen-year-olds. -- Jennifer Weiner, bestselling author of In Her ShoesMs. Handlers style is a friendlier, more workaday version of the haughty self-abasement practiced by Sarah Silverman, leavened by the everywoman spirit of Kathy Griffin...She seems like a cruel queen bee from an expensive college Theres something suspiciously sophisticated about how her jokes line up that suggests the moral austerity of a comic not of [Joan] Riverss bad-girl school Tina Fey. -- New York TimesWhere have I been all of Chelsea Handlers life? I had no idea how funny, how brilliant she is. She is too clever for words. -- Liz Smith, New York PostChelsea Handler is a terrific comedian and a hilarious writer. -- Jay Leno When Chelsea Handler needs to get a few things off her chest, she appeals to a higher power -- vodka. You would too if you found out that your boyfriend was having an affair with a Peekapoo or if you had to pretend to be honeymooning with your father in order to upgrade to first class. Welcome to Chelseas world -- a place where absurdity reigns supreme and a quick wit is the best line of defense. In this hilarious, deliciously skewed collection, Chelsea mines her past for stories about her family, relationships, and career that are at once singular and ridiculous. Whether shes convincing her third-grade class that she has been tapped to play Goldie Hawns daughter in the sequel to Private Benjamin, deciding to be more egalitarian by dating a redhead, or looking out for a foulmouthed, rum-swilling little person who looks just like her...only smaller, Chelsea has a knack for getting herself into the most outrageous situations. Are You There, Vodka? Its Me, Chelsea showcases the candor and irresistible turns of phrase that have made her one of the freshest voices in comedy today.

Author: Paul North File Type: pdf The Yield is a once-in-a-generation reinterpretation of the oeuvre of Franz Kafka. At the same time, it is a powerful new entry in the debates about the supposed secularity of the modern age. Kafka is one of the most admired writers of the last century, but this book presents us with a Kafka few will recognize. It does so through a fine-grained analysis of the three hundred thoughts the writer penned near the end of World War I, when he had just been diagnosed with tuberculosis. Since they were discovered after Kafkas death, the meaning of the so-called Zurau aphorisms has been open to debate. Paul Norths elucidation of what amounts to Kafkas only theoretical work shows them to contain solutions to problems Europe has faced throughout modernity. Kafka offers responses to phenomena of violence, discrimination, political repression, misunderstanding, ethnic hatred, fantasies of technological progress, and the subjugation of the worker, among other problems. Reflecting on secular modernity and the theological ideas that continue to determine it, he critiques the ideas of sin, suffering, the messiah, paradise, truth, the power of art, good will, and knowledge. Kafkas controversial alternative to the bad state of affairs in his day? Rather than fight it, give in. Developing some of Kafkas arguments, The Yield describes the ways that Kafka envisions we can be good by yielding to our situation instead of striving for something better.