Tuhami: Portrait of a Moroccan


Vincent Crapanzano - 1980
    A master of magic and a superb story-teller, Tuhami lives in a dank, windowless hovel near the kiln where he works. Nightly he suffers visitations from the demons and saints who haunt his life, and he seeks, with crippling ambivalence, liberation from 'A'isha Qandisha, the she-demon. In a sensitive and bold experiment in interpretive ethnography, Crapanzano presents Tuhami's bizarre account of himself and his world. In so doing, Crapanzano draws on phenomenology, psychoanalysis, and symbolism to reflect upon the nature of reality and truth and to probe the limits of anthropology itself. Tuhami has become one of the most important and widely cited representatives of a new understanding of the whole discipline of anthropology.

The Journey Home: My Life in Pinstripes


Jorge Posada - 2015
    A fixture behind home plate throughout the Yankees biggest successes, Jorge became the Yankees' star catcher almost immediately upon his arrival, and in the years that followed, his accomplishments, work ethic, and leadership established him as one of the greatest Yankees ever to put on the uniform.Now, in this long-awaited memoir, Jorge Posada details his journey to home plate, sharing a remarkable, generational account of his journey from the ball fields of Puerto Rico to the House that Ruth built. Offering a view from behind the mask unlike any other, Jorge discusses the key moments and plays that shaped teams and forged a legacy that came to define Yankee baseball for a generation. With pitch-by-pitch recall, Jorge looks back across the years, explaining how--as part of the Core Four alongside Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera--he helped to reestablish the Yankees as a dynasty and win five World Series.Going beyond his all-star career, Jorge also shares his life in full for the first time, examining how his remarkable journey to the big leagues began in the most unexpected of ways. Digging into his cultural roots in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba, Jorge illuminates three generations of cherished father-son relationships that have made him the man he is today. At the center is the deep bond he shares with his father and namesake, Jorge Sr, who escaped Cuba and would eventually mold his son to be a ball player, honing his talent and instilling in him the drive necessary to fulfill his childhood dream of playing in the Bronx.Complete with sixteen pages of color photographs, this touching and earnest memoir is a testament to hard work and a celebration of the generational gift of baseball between fathers and sons.

The Kuru Princes


Anant Pai - 2003
    It consists of three volumes, spanning a total of 1200-odd pages.The Mahabharata is considered to be the longest epic poem in the world. The creation of this ageless epic is traditionally attributed to the seer Vyasa. His disciple Vaishampayana narrated it in public for the first time. King Janamejaya and numerous learned sages were present at the recital. They had gathered for a 12-year-long sacred ritual called Yajna.The first volume is titled The Kuru Princes of Hastinapura. Beginning with Shantanu, King Janamejaya’s ancestor and the ruler of Hastinapura, this volume narrates the various events that led to the establishment of the Kuru dynasty. It leads the story to the reign of Dhritarashtra over Hastinapura while his brother Pandu has retired to the forest with his two wives Kunti and Madri and five sons (The Pandavas).Upon the death of Pandu and Madri, Kunti and the Pandavas return to Hastinapura. The return of the Pandavas, and being armed with numerous skills, make the Kauravas (the 100 sons of Dhritarashtra) jealous of them. The eldest Kaurava brother, Duryodhana, plots to send the Pandavas into exile. Forewarned about his intentions, the Pandavas manage to foil his plan and escape from the trap set for them.Then they spend a year in disguise, and during this time, Arjuna wins the hand of Draupadi in marriage. Without knowing what Arjuna has won in the archery match, Kunti unwittingly asks the Pandavas to share the prize. Thus, Draupadi ends up being married to all of the Pandava brothers. After their wedding, the Pandavas are invited back to Hastinapura to resume peaceful relations.

The Snow Yak Show


Mark Ryden - 2010
    Images from Ryden's acclaimed Japanese Snow Yak Show are reproduced in large 11" x 14" format, & include many detail images & drawings. Features all of the works, as well as photographs of the work on display.

Star Wars: The Lightsaber Collection: Lightsabers from the Skywalker Saga, The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels and more (Star Wars gift, Lightsaber book)


Daniel Wallace - 2020
    It’s one of the most exquisite books I’ve had the honor of reviewing" – WookieRadio  "Each and every page in this book is absolutely beautiful!" – Anakin and His Angel "It’s one of the most beautiful books I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing" – SWNNStar Wars: The Lightsaber Collection is a comprehensive visual guide exploring the iconic and legendary lightsabers found within the Star Wars galaxy, featuring fan-favorite hilts from the Skywalker saga, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, comics, novels, and video games. • Own the definitive lightsaber guide. This book features the hilts of characters such as Darth Vader, Darth Maul, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Kylo Ren, Rey, Ahsoka Tano, and more. Learn about the creation and history of lightsabers from all of Star Wars, including Darth Maul’s double-bladed saber and the Darksaber. • Discover never before seen art and illustrations. Featuring photo-realistic renders of lightsabers from Star Wars animation and comics, including Ezra Bridger’s blaster-saber hybrid, the Grand Inquisitor’s spinning blades, and a new lightsaber from The High Republic, this book is a must-have for Star Wars fans.

The Collected Fanzines


Harmony Korine - 2008
    Before those books, he and fellow artist Mark Gonzales put together limited run fanzines showcasing their bitingly satirical and wildly inappropriate collages and language pieces to be sold out of the Alleged and Andrea Rosen galleries in New York City. This boxed set contains replicas of all eight zines, perfectly reproduced, with a bonus poster added to the package.

The Day of St. Anthony's Fire


John G. Fuller - 1968
    Many of the most highly regarded citizens leaped from windows or jumped into the Rhone, screaming that their heads were made of copper, their bodies wrapped in snakes, their limbs swollen to gigantic size or shrunken to tiny appendages. Others ran through the streets, claiming to be chased by "bandits with donkey ears", by tigers, lions & other terrifying apparitions. Animals went berserk. Dogs ripped bark from trees until their teeth fell out. Cats dragged themselves along the floor in grotesque contortions. Ducks strutted like penguins. Villagers & animals died right & left. Bit by bit, the story behind the tragedy in Pont-St-Esprit--a tiny Provencial village of twisted streets that looks much today as it did in the Middle Ages--unfolded to doctors & toxcologists. That story, one of the most bizarre in modern medical history, is movingly recounted in The Day of St. Anthony's Fire. Throughout the Middle Ages & during other times in history, similar hallucinatory outbreaks occurred. They were called St. Anthony's Fire because it was believed that only prayers to the saint could hold the disease in check. Even modern medicine could find no way to check the disease. Drugs failed to bring even temporary relief. Hundreds in the village suffered for weeks, with total agonizing insomnia, never knowing when they might once more suddenly go berserk. The cause of St. Anthony's Fire was known since early history to be ergot, a mold found on rye grain that at rare times inexplicably became posionous enough to create monstrous hallucinations & death. In '51 little significance was attached to the fact that the base of ergot was lysergic acid, also the base for LSD, a drug just coming to the attention of scientists at the time--a drug so powerful that one eye-dropperful could cause as many as 5000 people to hallucinate for hours. At this point, the story becomes a vividly absorbing medical detective story demonstrating the possibility that a strange, spontaneous form of LSD might have caused the human tragedy that came to the hapless villagers of Pont-St-Esprit.

Brian Blomerth's Bicycle Day


Brian Blomerth - 2019
    With Brian Blomerth’s Bicycle Day, the artist has produced his most ambitious work to date: a historical account of the events of April 19, 1943, when Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann ingested an experimental dose of a new compound known as lysergic acid diethylamide and embarked on the world’s first acid trip. Featuring an introduction from renowned ethnopharmacologist, Dennis McKenna, Brian Blomerth’s Bicycle Day combines an extraordinary true story told in journalistic detail with the artist’s gritty, timelessly Technicolor comix style that is a testament to mind expansion, and a stunningly original visual history.

Top of My Lungs


Natalie Goldberg - 2002
    In this powerful collection of writing guru Natalie Goldberg's poetry and paintings, the celebrated author of Writing Down the Bones focuses her attention on the shifting rhythms of interior life in poems that bring a Zen-like insight into the wondrous simultaneity of all things past, present, and future. With the same uncompromising integrity and commitment of Natalie Goldberg's bestselling books on creativity and writing, full-color reproductions of the her brilliant original paintings, and the introductory essay "How Poetry Saved My Life," Top of My Lungs gives the reader complete access to a compelling vision, one that is both simple and complex, both withdrawn from and full of life.

Exiles


Josef Koudelka - 2014
    The sense of private mystery that fills these photographs--mostly taken during Koudelka's many years of wandering through Europe and Great Britain since leaving his native Czechoslovakia in 1968--speaks of passion and reserve, of his rage to see. Solitary, moving, deeply felt and strangely disturbing, the images in Exiles suggest alienation, disconnection and love. Exiles evokes some of the most compelling and troubling themes of the twentieth century, while resonating with equal force in this current moment of profound migrations and transience.Josef Koudelka (born 1938) has published ten books of photographs, many of which focus on the relationship between man and the landscape, including Gypsies (1975; revised and enlarged edition in 2011), Exiles (1988), Black Triangle (1994), Invasion 68: Prague (2008) and Wall (2013). Significant exhibitions of his work have been held at The Museum of Modern Art and the International Center of Photography, both in New York; Hayward Gallery, London; and Palais de Tokyo, Paris. Koudelka is the recipient of the Medal of Merit awarded by the Czech Republic (2002) and numerous other awards. In 2012, he was named Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. He is based in Paris and Prague.

Greetings from Hellville


Thomas Ott - 1995
    Greetings from Hellville consists of four short stories, all told without words, crafted with Ott's trademark black-and-white scratchboard style. Ott creates modern horror comics that have been described as the postmodern successor to EC's infamous line from the 1950s. The final story, "Goodbye!" relates a man's multiple suicide attempts. After each new method the man finds himself miraculously alive, until he pulls his curtains aside and is finally killed by the looming mushroom cloud hovering over the city. "Goodbye!" is a perfect example of Greetings from Hellville's bleak and suspenseful mood. Despite a large European following for years, especially in France and Germany, and acclaimed short stories published in American anthologies, this book is Ott's first American book. His meticulous scratchboard style is masterful, provoking awe and admiration in the face of the repeated horrors portrayed, and is sure to establish him as one of the preeminent horror cartoonists being published today.

The Art of the Cookie: Baking Up Inspiration by the Dozen


Shelly Kaldunski - 2010
    This book differs from others on the market in its focus on the art of decorating cookies, rather than the technique of baking them. Recipes are selected for their visual appeal as much as for their flavor.A beautifully crafted cookie is a work of art and beloved by all. Still-warm cookies fresh from the oven are irresistibly enticing but decorating the treats doubles the fun. Whether it's a cookie exchange, holiday gathering, or Mother's Day tea, decorated cookies are a sweet and memorable addition to any special occasion.The Art of Cookie presents over 40 delectable recipes and inspiring decorating ideas. With a focus on transforming a simple cookie into a masterpiece, each recipe promises both exceptional flavor and visual appeal. The cookie recipes are divided into two main chapters. The first offers favorite and versatile roll-and-cut dough recipes, such as brown sugar cookies and gingerbread, followed by clever, yet simple ideas for decorating them: vibrant vanilla-sugar flowers; alphabet shapes flooded with icing and sprinkled with colorful sugars; and petits fours stacked to resemble a miniature wedding cake. The second chapter includes classics with a modern twist, such as sparkly macarons; wreath-shaped sugar cookies baked with lemon and thyme and decorated with icing ornaments; and striped cookies that taste and look like peppermint sticks. Recipes for various fillings to use with many of the cookies round out the collection. Packed with gorgeous colorful photographs, this book has all the encouragement and know-how you'll need to create artful cookies that look as if they were purchased from a pastry shop.

Haunted Air: Anonymous Halloween photographs from c. 1875–1955


Ossian Brown - 2010
    These are the pictures of the dead: family portraits, mementos of the treasured, now unrecognizable, and others. The roots of Halloween lie in the ancient pre-Christian Celtic festival of Samhain, a feast to mark the death of the old year and the birth of the new. It was believed that on this night the veil separating the worlds of the living and the dead grew thin and ruptured, allowing spirits to pass through and walk unseen but not unheard amongst men. The advent of Christianity saw the pagan festival subsumed in All Souls' Day, when across Europe the dead were mourned and venerated. Children and the poor, often masked or in outlandish costume, wandered the night begging "soul cakes" in exchange for prayers, and fires burned to keep malevolent phantoms at bay. From Europe, the haunted tradition would quickly take root and flourish in the fertile soil of the New World. Feeding hungrily on fresh lore, consuming half-remembered tales of its own shadowy origins and rituals, Halloween was reborn in America. The pumpkin supplanted the carved turnip; costumes grew ever stranger, and celebrants both rural and urban seized gleefully on the festival's intoxicating, lawless spirit. For one wild night, the dead stared into the faces of the living, and the living, ghoulishly masked and clad in tattered backwoods baroque, stared back.

My Favorite Intermissions: Lives of the Musical Greats and Other Facts You Never Knew You Were Missing


Victor Borge - 1971
    signed books

VHS Video Cover Art: 1980s to Early 1990s


Thomas Hodge - 2015
    The art explodes with a succulent, indulgent blend of design, illustration, typography, and hilarious copywriting. Written and curated by Tom “The Dude Designs” Hodge, poster artist extraordinaire and VHS obsessive, with a foreword by Mondo’s Justin Ishmael, this collection contains over 240 full-scale, complete video sleeves in the genres of action, comedy, horror, kids, sci-fi, and thriller films. It’s a world of mustached, muscled men, buxom beauties, big explosions, phallic guns, and nightmare-inducing monsters. From the sublime to the ridiculous, some are incredible works of art, some are insane, and some capture the tone of the films better than the films themselves. All are amazing and inspiring works of art that captivate the imagination. It’s like stepping back in time into your local video store!