Best of
Pop-Culture
1997
Kinky
Denise Duhamel - 1997
Denise Duhamel has apparently obsessed for months about the Barbie doll phenomenon: all the poems have to do with the "what if " of Barbie attempting to fit into the real world. For example, what if Barbie were codependent? What if Barbie were in therapy? What if she were a religious fanatic? Do you know why Barbie and Ken don't dress in underwear? Why Barbie joined a 12 Step Program? How can you sleep nights without delving into the mysteries of this pop culture darling with the plastic eyelashes?
Tokyo: A Certain Style
Kyoichi Tsuzuki - 1997
Think again. Tokyo: A Certain Style, the mini-sized decor book with a difference, shows how, for those living in one of the worlds most expensive and densely packed metropolises, closet-sized apartments stacked to the ceiling with gadgetry and CDs are the norm. Photographer Kyoichi Tsuzuki rode his scooter all over Tokyo snapping shots of how urban Japanese really live. Hundreds of photographs reveal the real Tokyo style: microapartments, mini and modular everything, rooms filled to the rafters with electronics, piles of books and clothes, clans of remote controls, collections of sundry objects all crammed into a space where every inch counts. Tsuzuki introduces each tiny crash pad with a brief text about who lives there, from artists and students to professionals and couples with children. His captions to the hundreds of photographs capture the spirit and ingenuity required to live in such small quarters. This fascinating, voyeuristic look at modern life comes in a chunky, pocket-sized format-the perfect coffee table book for people with really small apartments.
In the Shadow of the Vampire: Reflections from the World of Anne Rice
Jana Marcus - 1997
In The Shadow Of The Vampire offers a close up view of her devotees and disciples, fangs and all. Over 100 photographs from Anne Rice's Memnoch Ball in New Orleans as well as other events serve as a portrait of this growing subculture. The photographs illustrate the themes the readers relate to in their fantasies and everyday lives and the extremes to which they will go to be close to their mentor. The subjects of the photographs, the fans themselves, explain in accompanying interviews their spiritual relationships to romance, eroticism, loneliness, bloodlust or outsider status of the characters in the book. From the people who sleep in coffins to the teenage Goth-rockers to the HIV-positive man who found a deep allegorical comfort in the vampire Lestat, their responses range from the burlesque to the sublime.
The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution 1926-1930
Scott Eyman - 1997
In that period, heralded by the words of Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer, fortunes were made and lost, and the American film industry came fully into its own.
Altered State: The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House
Matthew Collin - 1997
This second edition includes accounts of the election campaign of Tony Blair which used an Ecstasy anthem as its musical theme, and the trial and acquittal of a 19-year-old for supplying the drug that killed Leah Betts, and her links to East End gangsters. Drawing on a wealth of background research and original interviews with key figures on both sides of the law, Altered State examines the causes and contexts, ideologies and myths of Ecstasy culture, dramatising its euphoric narrative from peak experience to comedown and aftermath, and shedding new light on the social history of the most spectacular youth movement of the century.
The Trouser Press Guide to 90's Rock
Ira A. Robbins - 1997
Each insightful entry contains pungent critical analysis, biographical information and a complete album disography.Selected praise for "The Trouser Press Record Guide to '90's Rock""My trustworthy fact checker, be-all-and-end-all arguement settler and the last word on modern rock. I don't go on the air without it." -- Gary Cee, WLIR-FM"Still the most comprehensive guide through the labryrinth of indie and alternative rock. WHen you need a refresher course on all of Steve Albini's bands, or if you just wan tto know what Boy George did after Cultrue Club, this is the book to grab." -- David Browne, "Entertainment Weekly"
Retro Hell: Life in the '70s and '80s, from Afros to Zotz
Darby Romeo - 1997
Quaaludes. Howard Cosell. K-tel Records. In today's pop -culture spin cycle, the seventies and eighties rule -- as evidenced by everything from reruns on Nickelodeon and VH-1 to Brady Bunch movies and New Wave theme parties.Now, at last, there's Retro Hell -- a sassy, knowing travelogue through the best and worst of these unforgettable decades. Orchestrated by the editor of Ben Is Dead, winner of the Firecracker Alternative Book Awards 1995 Best 'Zine of the Year, Retro Hell both sends up and celebrates the cultural landscape of our misspent youth. Thirty Ben Is Dead writers and hundreds of readers helped assemble the nearly 1,000 sharply opinionated alphabetical entries and loopily authoritative sidebars. The icons, the eccentricities, the excesses, the kitsch -- it's all here, from alligator shirts, breakdancing, Earth Shoes, and Farrah Fawcett to bumper stickers, eight-tracks, Schoolhouse Rock, and John Travolta.Illustrated throughout with 100 black-and-white photographs and illustrations, Retro Hell is the definitive compendium of recent pop-culture arcana -- a fresh, funny look back for everyone who survived the seventies and eighties.
Walt Disney's Railroad Story: The Small-Scale Fascination That Led to a Full-Scale Kingdom
Michael Broggie - 1997
Encouraged by Walt's family and railfans inside and outside the Disney organization, Michael Broggie has chronicled the tale of Walt Disney's personal involvement in railroading. This book unveils the private realm of Disney railroading through hundreds of photographs, many of which have never before been made public, and interviews with Mrs. Walt Disney, Diane Disney Miller, Ward Kimball, Ollie Johnston, Bob Harpur, Bill Cottrell, Roger Broggie, Bill Evans, and many others. Walt Disney's love affair with trains began in his hometown of Marceline, Missouri. His first job was selling tobacco, candy, and newspapers on the Missouri Pacific line. By 1950, his enthusiasm for realistic model trains had evolved into an elaborate backyard live steam railroad. Walt's Carolwood Pacific Railroad included a 46-foot-long trestle, loops, overpasses, gradients, an elevated dirt berm, and a 90-foot tunnel underneath Mrs. Disney's flower bed! The complete history of the Disney railroads, from small scale models to steam trains for the Disney parks is covered. This is a book all Disney collectors and railroad enthusiasts will want to experience! Over 300 illustrations, many previously unpublished.
The Big Book of the Unexplained
Doug Moench - 1997
All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dust cover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels.Some of our books may have slightly worn corners, and minor creases to the covers. Please note the cover may sometimes be different to the one shown.
Yo' Mama's Disfunktional!: Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America
Robin D.G. Kelley - 1997
He undermines widespread misunderstandings of black culture and shows how they have contributed to the failure of social policy to save our cities.
Pulp Art: Original Cover Paintings for the Great American Pulp Magazines
Robert LesserJim Steranko - 1997
The first book to feature the original paintings created for American pulp magazine covers, this unique reference offers an authoritative text, historical surveys, vintage letters, 125 full-page images, and much more.
The Killing of Tupac Shakur
Cathy Scott - 1997
Poet, movie star, revolutionary -- Tupac Amaru Shakur was the most popular rapper in the world.No one symbolized the violence at the heart of gangsta rap more than Tupac, and he ultimately fell victim to that violence, gunned down in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas at age 25.Who did it and why? This raw no-holds-barred account discloses new information, including exclusive photo evidence, about the unsolved murder of Tupac: the failed investigation, the rap wars, the killing of Biggie Smalls, the Bloods-Crips connection, and the many possible motives leading to the murder that rocked the music world.
The Two Tone Story
George Marshall - 1997
The dawning of a new era. The 2 Tone era. An era that was to see good old black and white dance music walk all over the colourful circus of pretty faces that rock n' roll had become. This is the story of the rise and fall of 2 Tone and British ska. Complete with full discography, THE TWO TONE STORY takes you back to the days when bands like The Specials, Madness and The Beat led the way onto the nation's dancefloors. Prepare to party!THE TWO TONE STORY was George Marshall's first book. His love of 2 Tone began in 1979 and has now lasted over 30 years.
The Godfather Legacy
Harlan Lebo - 1997
There are production stills and in-depth accounts of the worldwide acclaim and financial success following the release of The Godfather. The study also details the production and release of The Godfather Part II and The Godfather Part III.
Warner Bros. Animation Art: The Characters, the Creators, the Limited Editions
Jerry Beck - 1997
Studios, this album features authentic animation art of everyone's favorite characters. More than 300 color illustrations trace the evolution of the uniquely American art form through the development and growth of the Warner Bros.
The Von Hoffmann Bros.' Big Damn Book Of Sheer Manliness
Todd Von Hoffmann - 1997
Sports, tools, gals, cars, movies, clothes--this book leaves no stone unturned, no pants "unpantsed" in its pursuit of the eternal masculine. The Von Hoffmann brothers' culinary interests, for example, range all the way from "Colon Cleaner Chili" to a greasy Philly cheese steak; the rule of thumb seems to be, if it makes you wince, it's good eating. The primary virtue of The Big Damn Book of Sheer Manliness is its willingness to go over the top, and far beyond: there's an extended exegesis of Kubrick's Spartacus, "the manliest movie ever made"; photos of not only the B-17 bomber, but also "the three-tailed devil" (the P-38 Lightning); Zippo lighters; John Ford Westerns; pocket knives; and WD-40. Some might say that the Von Hoffmanns are stuck in adolescence, and they may be right--but where else can you find out who painted that picture of dogs playing poker? (Cassius Marcellus Coolidge).
Notes from Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture
Stephen Duncombe - 1997
In this multifarious underground, Pynchonesque misfits rant and rave, fans eulogize, hobbyists obsess. Together they form a low-tech publishing network of extraordinary richness and variety. Welcome to the realm of zines.In this, the first comprehensive study of zine publishing, Stephen Duncombe describes their origins in early-twentieth-century science fiction cults, their more proximate roots in 60s counter-culture and their rapid proliferation in the wake of punk rock. While Notes from Underground pays full due to the political importance of zines as a vital web of popular culture, it also notes the shortcomings of their utopian and escapist outlook in achieving fundamental social change. Duncombe’s book raises the larger questionof whether it is possible to rebel culturally within a consumer society that eats up cultural rebellion.Packed with extracts and illustrations from a wide array of publications, past and present, Notes from Underground is the first book to explore the full range of zine culture and provides a definitive portrait of the contemporary underground in all its splendor and misery.
Once Upon a Time: The Lives of Bob Dylan
Ian Bell - 1997
The world is still coming to terms with what Bob Dylan accomplished in his artistic explosion upon popular culture.In Once Upon a Time, award-winning author Ian Bell draws together the tangled strands of the many lives of Bob Dylan in all their contradictory brilliance. For the first time, the laureate of modern America is set in his entire context: musical, historical, literary, political, and personal.Full of new insights into the legendary singer, his songs, his life, and his era, this new biography reveals anew the artist who invented himself in order to reinvent America. Once Upon a Time is a lively investigation of a mysterious personality that has splintered and reformed, time after time, in a country forever trying to understand itself. Now that mystery is explained.
1967: The Last Good Year
Pierre Berton - 1997
We were, Pierre Berton reminds us, a nation in love with itself, basking in the warm glow of international applause brought on by the unexpected success of Expo 67 and pumped up by the year-long birthday party that had us all warbling Ca-na-da, as Bobby Gimby and his gaggle of small children pranced down the byways of the nation.It was a turning-point year, a watershed year--a year of beginnings as well as endings. One royal commission finally came to a close with a warning about the need for a new approach to Quebec. Another was launched to investigate, for the first time, the status of Canadian women. New attitudes to divorce and homosexuality were enshrined in law. A charismatic figure, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, made clear that the state had no place in the bedrooms of the nation. The seeds of Women's Lib, Gay Pride, and even Red Power, were sown in the centennial year. (Of all the pavilions on the Expo site, Berton singles out the Indian pavilion as having the greatest impact.)The country was in a ferment that year. Canadians worried about the Americanization of every institution from the political convention to Hockey Night in Canada. People talked about the Generation Gap as thousands of flower children held love-ins in city parks. The government tried to respond by launching the Company of Young Canadians, a project that was less than successful.The most significant event of 1967 was Charles de Gaulle's notorious "Vive le Quebec libre!" speech in Montreal. It gave the burgeoning separatist movement a new legitimacy, enhanced by Rene Levesque's departure from the Liberal party later that year.Throughout the book, the author gives us insightful profiles of some of the significant figures of 1967: the centennial activists Judy LaMarsh and John Fisher; the Expo entrepreneurs, Philippe de Gaspe Beaubien and Edward Churchill; Walter Gordon, the fervent nationalist, and his rival, Mitchell Sharp; Lester Pearson and his bete noire, John Diefenbaker; the three "men of the world" who helped make Canada internationally famous: Marshall McLuhan, Glenn Gould, and Roy Thomson; hippie leaders like David dePoe, American draft dodgers like Mark Satin, women's activists like Doris Anderson and Laura Sabia, youth workers like Barbara Hall, radicals like Pierre Vallieres (author of White Niggers of America) and such dedicated nationalists as Madame Chaput Rolland and Andre Laurendeau.In spite of the feeling of exultation that marked the centennial year, an opposite sentiment runs through the book like dark thread: the growing fear that the country was facing its gravest crisis. Berton points out that we are far better off today than we were in 1967. "Then why all the hand wringing?" he asks. Because of "the very real fear that the country we celebrated so joyously thirty years ago is in the process of falling apart."In that sense, 1967 was the last good year before all Canadians began to be concerned about the future of our country."
Kiss and Sell: The Making of a Supergroup
C.K. Lendt - 1997
The unauthorized behind-the-scenes story of the making and marketing of one of rock's original supergroups, viewed from the perspective of an executive from Kiss's business management team.
Bloomingdale's Illustrated 1886 Catalog
Bloomingdale Brothers - 1997
This excellent reproduction of that now-rare Bloomingdale Brothers catalog provides fascinating views of approximately 1,700 mid-Victorian consumer items (all finely drawn and easy to reproduce) together with the original descriptive captions.An informative introduction by Nancy Villa Bryk, Curator of Domestic Life at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, precedes an entertaining panorama of fashions and other articles that include a stylish boucle jacket trimmed in velvet, a woman's tight-waisted riding costume, a variety of little girls' checkered pinafores (averaging about 35 cents apiece), infants' bibs, nurses' caps and aprons, men's nightshirts, suspenders, and smoking jackets; hosiery, hair goods, notions, parasols, silverware, toys, upholstery goods, fine millinery, delicate white laces, exquisite gold jewelry (remarkably inexpensive by today's standards), as well as "willow ware, walking sticks, zephyr worsteds, and fancy articles."Artists and designers will find this catalog a splendid sourcebook of copyright-free period graphics; antique collectors, historians, costume enthusiasts, and nostalgia lovers will find it indispensable for dating and identifying antiques, clothing, and other vintage items.
Star Trek Encyclopedia
Michael Okuka - 1997
More than 30 years later, his exploration continues. Across all quadrants of the galaxy, to worlds known and unknown, the Star Trek universe has expanded beyond any television creator's wildest dreams. Through four hit television series and eight epic features the cast, directors, writers and producers have remained loyal to Gene Roddenberry's original premise and Star Trek continues to blaze its own trail. Now, the interactive reference to the entire Star Trek history -- thus far -- is available in a 4-CD-ROM set. Building on the popular Star Trek Omnipedia, this expanded database includes: More than 3,000 photos 200 video clips Covers the events, the races, planets & stars, weapons & tools, medical equipment and main & supporting characters from all Star trek programming: Star Trekt (The Original Series; all seasons) Star Trek: The Next Generationt (All seasons) Star Trek: Deep Space Ninet (Seasons 1 thru 5) Star Trek: Voyagert(Seasons 1 thru 3) Feature Films (I thru VIII) This 4-disk set is fully interactive, featuring an engaging new interface that makes the entries accessible to the casual browser. Star Trek Encyclopedia is organized around three major sub-heads: Features Section Encyclopedia Episode Guide Search for your favorite characters and episodes or flip through the entries at random to better appreciate the most popular Science Fiction of all time.
Being Naked, Playing Dead: The Art of Peter Greenaway
Alan Woods - 1997
Close analysis of individual films such as The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, Belly of an Architect and Drowning by Numbers together with a discussion of his latest film The Pillow Book (1996) and recent interviews between Greenaway and Alan Woods about his work, make this book a must for all Greenaway enthusiasts.
Naked Lens: Beat Cinema
Jack Sargeant - 1997
Films by, featuring or inspired by: William S Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Charles Bukowski, Brion Gysin, Anthony Balch, Ron Rice, John Cassavetes, Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan, Klaus Maeck, Gus van Sant, and many others. Including interviews with writers such as Allen Ginsberg, directors such as Robert Frank and actors such as Taylor Mead. Plus detailed examination of key Beat texts and cult classics such as Pull My Daisy, Chappaqua, Towers Open Fire and The Flower Thief; verit
When a Man Loves a Walnut
Gavin Edwards - 1997
Mishearing the words of such classic rock artists as the Beatles and Bruce Springsteen, as well as alternative bands like Nine Inch Nails and Pearl Jam, Gavin Edwards provides an assemblage of more than 250 misconstrued song lyrics. 90 line drawings.
The Road Movie Book
Steven Cohan - 1997
The road and the cinema both flourished in the twentieth century, as technological advances brought motion pictures to a mass audience and the mass produced automobile opened up the road to the ordinary American. When Jean Baudrillard equated modern American culture with 'space, speed, cinema, technology' he could just as easily have added that the road movie is its supreme emblem.The contributors explore how the road movie has confronted and represented issues of nationhood, sexuality, gender, class and race. They map the generic terrain of the road movie, trace its evolution on American television as well as on the big screen from the 1930s through the 1980s, and, finally, consider road movies that go off the road, departing from the US landscape or travelling on the margins of contemporary American culture.Movies discussed include: * Road classics such as It Happened One Night, The Grapes of Wrath, The Wizard of Oz and the Bob Hope-Bing Crosby Road to films* 1960's reworkings of the road movie in Easy Rider and Bonnie and Clyde* Russ Meyer's road movies: from Motorpsycho! to Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!* Contemporary hits such as Paris Texas, Rain Man, Natural Born Killers and Thelma and Louise* The road movie, Australian style, from Mad Max to the Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
Speed Racer: The Official 30th Anniversary Guide
Elizabeth Moran - 1997
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The Little Book Of Yo-yos
Stuart F. Crump Jr. - 1997
The secrets of yo-yoing are revealed in this handy, carry-everywhere guide. Don't stand on the sidelines any longer-everybody yo-yo!