Confessions of a Casting Director: Help Actors Land Any Role with Secrets from Inside the Audition Room


Jen Rudin - 2013
    A sampling of topics covered include: how to find an agent or manager; detailed audition preparation tips for musical theater, television (including commercials and reality TV) and film, voiceovers, and animated movies; using technology to your advantage; the demanding world of child acting and how parents can help their children thrive; the pros and cons of living in New York versus LA; and how to turn a call-back into an offer for the role.There is no formula for fame or stardom, but there are plenty of do's and don'ts, sure-fire tricks, and essential information that an actor should never walk into an audition room without. Filled with checklists, practical instruction and easy-to-follow game plans, and advice from real actors, agents, and casting directors, Confessions of a Casting Director will help actors feel confident taking on the unpredictable and always-evolving world of show business.

The John Wayne Code: Wit, Wisdom and Timeless Advice


Media Lab Books - 2017
    He was a symbol for everything good and decent about America, inspiring everyday people to reach just a little bit more and try a little bit harder. During his 72 years and more than 150 movies, John Wayne imparted a seemingly-endless amount of advice, wisdom and good old-fashioned common sense to his audiences, and that wealth of knowledge has been collected together for the first time by the people who loved and knew him best. The John Wayne Bible is filled with the icon’s most insightful quotes, personal stories from his family and friends, and advice for how to be a better person. This personal collector’s item makes the perfect companion for any fan of Duke’s who wants to make their life a little more legendary.

Steve Jobs' Life By Design: Lessons to be Learned from His Last Lecture


George Beahm - 2014
    They witnessed history: Jobs' 22-minute prepared speech subsequently reached 26 million online viewers worldwide. It is by far the most popular commencement address in history, framed with "three stories" that succinctly summed up the most important lessons Jobs learned in life. Life-changing lessons, he explained, can only be connected when looking back, which he had done in preparation for his talk.Steve Jobs' Life by Design starts with Jobs' own words in the text of his talk and expands outward from there. In the address, Jobs gave us the dots, but he didn't have the luxury of time to connect them. So much about his life, his viewpoint, and his personal and business philosophies were mentioned but not explained. We know what he said, but what actually did he mean? What can we learn from him?This book connects those dots. We see Jobs' life and career through his own eyes, in context, and in proper perspective. His process of looking back illuminated his life—and by doing so, he serves as an inspiration to illuminate our lives as well.

Double Life: The Shattering Affair between Chief Judge Sol Wachtler and Socialite Joy Silverman


Linda Wolfe - 1994
    He was the top justice of New York’s highest court. She was a stunning socialite and his wife’s step-cousin. In 1993 Sol Wachtler was convicted of blackmail and extortion against Joy Silverman, his former mistress. How did a respected jurist and one of the most prominent men in America end up serving time in prison? Linda Wolfe starts at the beginning—from Wachtler’s modest Brooklyn upbringing through his courtship and marriage to Joan Wolosoff, the only child of a wealthy real estate developer.   Joy Fererh was three and a half when her father walked out. When she and Sol met, he was fifty-five and nearing the pinnacle of his legal career. She was a thirtysomething stay-at-home mother who, with Sol’s help, made a career for herself as a Republican Party fundraiser. They kept their affair a secret—until an explosive mix of sex, power, betrayal, and prescription-drug abuse set the stage for the tabloid headlines of the decade.

Roughing It, Part 1.


Mark Twain - 1913
    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Top 10 New Orleans


Paul Greenberg
    Whether you're looking for the best live music spots and lively clubs, most interesting architecture, or want to find the best places in New Orleans to shop for Mardi Gras souvenirs; this guide is the perfect pocket-sized companion. Rely on dozens of Top 10 lists for all budgets — from the Top 10 jazz clubs and the Top 10 gay and lesbian venues to the Top 10 restaurants, children's activities, performing arts venues, shops and hotels and, to save you time and money, there's even a list of the Top 10 things to avoid. Eyewitness Top 10 New Orleans is packed with beautiful illustrations of the city's attractions with sections on the Garden District and Uptown, the Warehouse, Arts and Central Business District, the Lower French Quarter and the Upper French Quarter, providing the insider knowledge every visitor needs. Explore every corner effortlessly using the FREE pull-out map, plus many smaller maps included within the guide.

Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics, 1954-1981, With Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines, and Anecdotes


Stephen Sondheim - 2009
    His career has spanned more than half a century, his lyrics have become synonymous with musical theater and popular culture, and in Finishing the Hat—titled after perhaps his most autobiographical song, from Sunday in the Park with George—Sondheim has not only collected his lyrics for the first time, he is giving readers a rare personal look into his life as well as his remarkable productions.Along with the lyrics for all of his musicals from 1954 to 1981—including West Side Story, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd—Sondheim treats us to never-before-published songs from each show, songs that were cut or discarded before seeing the light of day. He discusses his relationship with his mentor, Oscar Hammerstein II, and his collaborations with extraordinary talents such as Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, Ethel Merman, Richard Rodgers, Angela Lansbury, Harold Prince and a panoply of others. The anecdotes—filled with history, pointed observations and intimate details—transport us back to a time when theater was a major pillar of American culture. Best of all, Sondheim appraises his work and dissects his lyrics, as well as those of others, offering unparalleled insights into songwriting that will be studied by fans and aspiring songwriters for years to come. Accompanying Sondheim’s sparkling writing are behind-the-scenes photographs from each production, along with handwritten music and lyrics from the songwriter’s personal collection. Penetrating and surprising, poignant, funny and sometimes provocative, Finishing the Hat is not only an informative look at the art and craft of lyric writing, it is a history of the theater that belongs on the same literary shelf as Moss Hart’s Act One and Arthur Miller’s Timebends. It is also a book that will leave you humming the final bars of Merrily We Roll Along, while eagerly anticipating the next volume, which begins with the opening lines of Sunday in the Park with George.

And the Winner Is


Mitch Albom - 2007
    Outraged at his bad luck and determined to know if he wins (even though he's dead), he bargains with a heavenly gatekeeper to return to earth for the big night. Along the way, he drags his agent, his acting rival, his bombshell girlfriend and his ex-wife into the journey, in a wildly twisting tale of Hollywood, the afterlife, and how we are judged.

Navy SEAL Training Class 144: My BUD/S Journal


Stephen Templin - 2015
    In this behind-the-scenes account, readers join New York Times bestselling author Stephen Templin in his journey as a trainee in Class 144. Templin and his classmates endure Hell Week: five-and-a-half days of swimming, hallucinating, enduring frequent hypothermia, running more than two hundred miles, and doing over twenty hours per day of extreme physical training—having slept only four hours total for the week. After Hell Week, they face more challenges. These experiences, Steve’s insights into some of the psychology needed to overcome seemingly impossible challenges, teamwork, and an unexpected conclusion, make this a memorable adventure.

Help: The First Essential Prayer (Help, Thanks, Wow)


Anne Lamott - 2013
    Help. Thanks. Wow.' Readers of all ages have followed and cherished Anne Lamott's funny and perceptive writing about faith and prayer. And in Help, Thanks, Wow she has coalesced everything she's learned about prayer into these simple, transformative truths. These three simple prayers will get you through tough times, everyday struggles, and the hard work of ordinary life.It is these three prayers - asking for assistance, appreciating the good we witness, and feeling awe at the world - that get us through the day and show us the way forward. In Help, Thanks, Wow , Lamott recounts how she came to these insights, explains what they have meant to her over the years and how they've helped, and explores how others have embraced these ideas.Help is the first of three eBooks, each covering a single section of Anne Lamott's latest book, Help, Thanks, Wow. Insightful and honest as only Anne Lamott can be, this is a book that new Lamott readers will love and longtime Lamott fans will treasure.

Tony Bourdain Boxset - Kitchen Confidential & Medium Raw


Anthony Bourdain - 2010
    Medium Raw explores these changes, moving back and forth from the author's bad old days to the present. Tracking his own strange and unexpected voyage from journeyman cook to globe-travelling professional eater and drinker, Bourdain compares and contrasts what he's seen and what he's seeing, pausing along the way for a series of confessions, rants, investigations, and interrogations of some of the most controversial figures in food. And always he returns to the question: 'Why cook?' Or the harder one to answer: 'Why cook well?' Beginning with a secret and highly illegal after-hours gathering of powerful chefs he compares to a Mafia summit, Bourdain, in his distinctive, no-holds-barred style, cuts to the bone on every subject he tackles.

How We Lead: Canada in a Century of Change


Joe Clark - 2013
    In the world that is taking shape, the unique combination of Canada's success at home as a diverse society and its reputation internationally as a sympathetic and respected partner consititute national assets that are at least as valuable as its natural resource wealth. As the world becomes more competitive and complex, and the chances of deadly conflict grow, the example and the initiative of Canada can become more important than they have ever been. That depends on its people: assets have no value if Canadians don't recognize or use them, or worse, if they waste them. A more effective Canada is not only a benefit to itself, but to its friends and neighbours. And in this compelling examination of what it as a nation has been, what it has become and what it can yet be to the world, Joe Clark takes the reader beyond formal foreign policy and looks at the contributions and leadership offered by Canada's most successful individuals and organizations who are already putting these uniquely Canadian assets to work internationally.

Broadway Tails: Heartfelt Stories of Rescued Dogs Who Became Showbiz Superstars


Bill Berloni - 2008
    As a high schooler in 1976, Berloni had rescued an Airedale mixed breed only hours before it was slated for euthanasia. The terrier was cast as Sandy in the musical Annie and performed there for seven years. The bulldog currently starring in Legally Blonde and her bulldog understudy were rescued from Newark and from North Carolina. Berloni's story is completely engaging as he talks about being the first to train actors to work with animals on stage, his love for mutts over purebreds, as well as the four-acre animal retirement compound where he lives. With photos throughout this delightful book, we learn details about how his dogs are trained, how they react to Broadway life, and his own personal rise to fame. An enchanting writer (whose first book, Doga, has sold more than 350,000 copies for Chronicle) with an inspiring story for animal lovers, theatergoers, and anyone who loved books such as Marley & Me.

Men's Health Muscle Chow: More Than 150 Meals to Feed Your Muscles and Fuel Your Workouts


Gregg Avedon - 2007
    This book provides the nutritional component of that muscle-bulding equation, offering the Men’s Health take on food for fitness. Men’s Health Muscle Chow gives you more than 150 simple recipes for delicious meals ranging from workout protein shakes to healthy dinners the whole family will enjoy.Inside, you’ll find:Eight easy-to-remember dietary strategies to keep your eating habits in lineFilling breakfasts like Banana Protein Pancakes; energizing entrées including Muscle-Bound Chili and Mahi Fish Wraps; hunger-killing snacks such as Malted Almond Bombs; even desserts like Key Lime Pie—all designed to help burn fat and build muscleA shopping list that makes it easy to stock up on essential ingredients and kitchen toolsA troubleshooting guide for guys with more experience at the gym than in the kitchenInsider strategies, tips, tricks of the tradeAnd Men’s Health Muscle Chow is much more than just a cookbook. It offers a solid foundation for understanding meal timing and the effects nutrients have on your body. Author Gregg Avedon also outlines his program of 2-month diet cycles that help you set and reach your fitness goals.

Six Silent Men, Book Two


Kenn Miller - 1997
    It was a bitter pill. After working on their own in Vietnam for more than two years, the Brigade LRRPs were ordered to join forces with the division once again.But even as these formidable hunters and killers were themselves swallowed up by the Screaming Eagles' Division LRPs to eventually become F Co., 58th Infantry, they continued the deadly, daring LRRP tradition. From saturation patrols along the Laotian border to near-suicide missions and compromised positions in the always dangerous A Shau valley, the F/58th unflinchingly faced death every day and became one of the most highly decorated companies in the history of the 101st.