Stabs at Happiness

Stabs at Happiness

Author: Todd Grimson

Publisher: Schaffner Press, Inc.

Published: 2012-11-01

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 1936182467

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Marking the first original publication by Todd Grimson in almost 20 years, the 13 stories compiled in this volume showcase the author’s fascinating fictional canvases, peopled by authentic and sympathetic characters with settings ranging from the Amazon to the Sahara and stops in between to 1970s East Village and pre-Castro Cuba. Whether it’s a Hollywood starlet who goes AWOL from her movie set in the wake of her husband's suicide and in disguise embarks anonymously on a hedonistic bender or an African American man seeking the answer behind the mysterious disappearance of his friend in the heart of Muslim North Africa, each individual within these stories is striving to break free, to make new meaning of their world, to find recognition or self-definition in an otherwise bleak and unsympathetic world. Fresh and bold and original in his voice and depiction of character, places, and events, Grimson’s range is extraordinary, his imagination is unsurpassable, and his empathy for his characters—whether killers, transvestites, prostitutes—are all deeply heartfelt.


Book Synopsis Stabs at Happiness by : Todd Grimson

Download or read book Stabs at Happiness written by Todd Grimson and published by Schaffner Press, Inc.. This book was released on 2012-11-01 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marking the first original publication by Todd Grimson in almost 20 years, the 13 stories compiled in this volume showcase the author’s fascinating fictional canvases, peopled by authentic and sympathetic characters with settings ranging from the Amazon to the Sahara and stops in between to 1970s East Village and pre-Castro Cuba. Whether it’s a Hollywood starlet who goes AWOL from her movie set in the wake of her husband's suicide and in disguise embarks anonymously on a hedonistic bender or an African American man seeking the answer behind the mysterious disappearance of his friend in the heart of Muslim North Africa, each individual within these stories is striving to break free, to make new meaning of their world, to find recognition or self-definition in an otherwise bleak and unsympathetic world. Fresh and bold and original in his voice and depiction of character, places, and events, Grimson’s range is extraordinary, his imagination is unsurpassable, and his empathy for his characters—whether killers, transvestites, prostitutes—are all deeply heartfelt.

Flaming Creatures

Flaming Creatures

Author: Constantine Verevis

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2019-11-26

Total Pages: 86

ISBN-13: 0231851308

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Banned soon after its first midnight screenings, the prints seized and the organizers arrested, Jack Smith’s incendiary Flaming Creatures (1963) quickly became a cause célèbre of the New York underground. Championed and defended by Jonas Mekas and Susan Sontag, among others, the film wildly and gleefully transgresses nearly every norm of Hollywood morality and aesthetics. In a surreal and visually dense series of episodes, the titular “creatures” reenact scenes drawn from the collective cinematic unconscious, playing on mainstream film culture’s moral code in a way that is at once a love letter to classical Hollywood and a searing send-up of its absurdities. Tracing the film’s production and reception history, Constantine Verevis argues that it embodies a unique type of cinematic rewriting, one that combines Smith’s multifaceted artistic work with exotic fragments drawn from the cinematic past. This study of Smith’s magnum opus explores its status as a cult film that appropriates the visual texture, erotic nuance, and overt fabrication of old Hollywood exoticism.


Book Synopsis Flaming Creatures by : Constantine Verevis

Download or read book Flaming Creatures written by Constantine Verevis and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-26 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Banned soon after its first midnight screenings, the prints seized and the organizers arrested, Jack Smith’s incendiary Flaming Creatures (1963) quickly became a cause célèbre of the New York underground. Championed and defended by Jonas Mekas and Susan Sontag, among others, the film wildly and gleefully transgresses nearly every norm of Hollywood morality and aesthetics. In a surreal and visually dense series of episodes, the titular “creatures” reenact scenes drawn from the collective cinematic unconscious, playing on mainstream film culture’s moral code in a way that is at once a love letter to classical Hollywood and a searing send-up of its absurdities. Tracing the film’s production and reception history, Constantine Verevis argues that it embodies a unique type of cinematic rewriting, one that combines Smith’s multifaceted artistic work with exotic fragments drawn from the cinematic past. This study of Smith’s magnum opus explores its status as a cult film that appropriates the visual texture, erotic nuance, and overt fabrication of old Hollywood exoticism.

Finding True Happiness

Finding True Happiness

Author: Fr. Robert Spitzer, SJ

Publisher: Ignatius Press

Published: 2015-04-23

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 158617956X

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One of the hottest topics in contemporary culture is happiness—so much so that the United Nations declared an International Happiness Day in response to the immense popularityof Pharrell Williams’ song “Happy”. The explanation for this current fixation seems to lie in the contrary phenomenon—unhappiness. Despite the fact that we have tremendous access to every imaginable form of entertainment, we experience a pervading sense of insecurity, emptiness, and malaise amid sporadic peak experiences. The problem seems to lie less in the external environment than in the internal one. We seem, in the words of Viktor Frankl, to be suffering from an absence of meaning that pervades both individuals and societies, giving rise to a collective emptiness, loneliness, and alienation. Finding True Happiness attempts to provide a way out of this personal and cultural vacuum by helping people to identify and then reach for happiness. As Aristotle noted 2,400 years ago, happiness is the one thing we can choose for its own sake—everything else is chosen for the sake of happiness. After an exhaustive investigation of philosophical, psychological, and theological systems of happiness, author Fr. Spitzer developed the “Four Levels of Happiness”, which he based on the classical thinkers Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas; the contemporary philosophers Marcel, Scheler, Buber, Ricoeur, and Jaspers; and the modern psychologists Maslow, Frankl, Erikson, Seligman, Kohlberg and Gilligan. Finding True Happiness is both a philosophical itinerary and a practical guidebook for life’s most important journey—from the mundane and the meaningless to transcendent fulfillment No other book currently available combines such breadth of practical advice and such depth of philosophical, psychological, and spiritual wisdom.


Book Synopsis Finding True Happiness by : Fr. Robert Spitzer, SJ

Download or read book Finding True Happiness written by Fr. Robert Spitzer, SJ and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2015-04-23 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the hottest topics in contemporary culture is happiness—so much so that the United Nations declared an International Happiness Day in response to the immense popularityof Pharrell Williams’ song “Happy”. The explanation for this current fixation seems to lie in the contrary phenomenon—unhappiness. Despite the fact that we have tremendous access to every imaginable form of entertainment, we experience a pervading sense of insecurity, emptiness, and malaise amid sporadic peak experiences. The problem seems to lie less in the external environment than in the internal one. We seem, in the words of Viktor Frankl, to be suffering from an absence of meaning that pervades both individuals and societies, giving rise to a collective emptiness, loneliness, and alienation. Finding True Happiness attempts to provide a way out of this personal and cultural vacuum by helping people to identify and then reach for happiness. As Aristotle noted 2,400 years ago, happiness is the one thing we can choose for its own sake—everything else is chosen for the sake of happiness. After an exhaustive investigation of philosophical, psychological, and theological systems of happiness, author Fr. Spitzer developed the “Four Levels of Happiness”, which he based on the classical thinkers Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas; the contemporary philosophers Marcel, Scheler, Buber, Ricoeur, and Jaspers; and the modern psychologists Maslow, Frankl, Erikson, Seligman, Kohlberg and Gilligan. Finding True Happiness is both a philosophical itinerary and a practical guidebook for life’s most important journey—from the mundane and the meaningless to transcendent fulfillment No other book currently available combines such breadth of practical advice and such depth of philosophical, psychological, and spiritual wisdom.

Optic Antics

Optic Antics

Author: Michele Pierson

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2011-04-19

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 0199831246

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Ken Jacobs has been making cinema for more than fifty years. Along with over thirty film and video works, he has created an array of shadow plays, sound pieces, installations, and magic lantern and film performances that have transformed how we look at and think about moving images. He is part of the permanent collections at MoMA and the Whitney, and his work has been celebrated in Europe and the U.S. While his importance is well-recognized, this is the first volume dedicated entirely to him. It includes essays by prominent film scholars along with photographs and personal pieces from artists and critics, all of which testify to the extraordinary variety and influence of his accomplishments. Anyone interested in cinema or experimental arts will be well-rewarded by a greater acquaintance with the genius, the innovation, and the optical antics of Ken Jacobs.


Book Synopsis Optic Antics by : Michele Pierson

Download or read book Optic Antics written by Michele Pierson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-19 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ken Jacobs has been making cinema for more than fifty years. Along with over thirty film and video works, he has created an array of shadow plays, sound pieces, installations, and magic lantern and film performances that have transformed how we look at and think about moving images. He is part of the permanent collections at MoMA and the Whitney, and his work has been celebrated in Europe and the U.S. While his importance is well-recognized, this is the first volume dedicated entirely to him. It includes essays by prominent film scholars along with photographs and personal pieces from artists and critics, all of which testify to the extraordinary variety and influence of his accomplishments. Anyone interested in cinema or experimental arts will be well-rewarded by a greater acquaintance with the genius, the innovation, and the optical antics of Ken Jacobs.

Sought Through Prayer and Meditation

Sought Through Prayer and Meditation

Author: Geno W.

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2010-01-28

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 1592859208

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An inspiring collection of meditations, prayers, and insights designed to facilitate the weekly practice of the 11th step, heightening our conscious contact with God as we understand him. Each year, hundreds of men and women cross the threshold of the Wolfe Street Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. Many of them attend the "Hour of Power," a weekly Sunday morning meeting focused on heightening one's spiritual awareness and growth by focusing on the Eleventh Step of Alcoholics Anonymous: "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out."This special book, designed for weekly study, offers a prayer, a meditation, and related insights from the discussions that emerged during the "Hour of Power." Sought Through Prayer and Meditation brings the insights of the collective consciousness of the Wolfe Street groups to recovering people everywhere. This book reminds us that if we are vigilant in our spiritual pursuit, we may well achieve what is promised: "a glimpse of that ultimate reality which is God's kingdom." (Geno W.)


Book Synopsis Sought Through Prayer and Meditation by : Geno W.

Download or read book Sought Through Prayer and Meditation written by Geno W. and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-01-28 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An inspiring collection of meditations, prayers, and insights designed to facilitate the weekly practice of the 11th step, heightening our conscious contact with God as we understand him. Each year, hundreds of men and women cross the threshold of the Wolfe Street Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. Many of them attend the "Hour of Power," a weekly Sunday morning meeting focused on heightening one's spiritual awareness and growth by focusing on the Eleventh Step of Alcoholics Anonymous: "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out."This special book, designed for weekly study, offers a prayer, a meditation, and related insights from the discussions that emerged during the "Hour of Power." Sought Through Prayer and Meditation brings the insights of the collective consciousness of the Wolfe Street groups to recovering people everywhere. This book reminds us that if we are vigilant in our spiritual pursuit, we may well achieve what is promised: "a glimpse of that ultimate reality which is God's kingdom." (Geno W.)

Do What You Love

Do What You Love

Author: Miya Tokumitsu

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2015-08-11

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1941393950

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The American claim that we should love and be passionate about our job may sound uplifting, or at least, harmless, but Do What You Love exposes the tangible damages such rhetoric has leveled upon contemporary society. Virtue and capital have always been twins in the capitalist, industrialized West. Our ideas of what the “virtues” of pursuing success in capitalism have changed dramatically over time. In the past, we believed that work undertaken with an ethos of industriousness promised financial stability and basic comfort and security for our families. Now, our working life is conflated with the pursuit of pleasure. Fantastically successful—and popular—entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs and Oprah Winfrey command us. “You’ve got to love what you do,” Jobs tells an audience of college grads about to enter the workforce, while Winfrey exhorts her audience to “live your best life.” The promises made to today’s workers seem so much larger and nobler than those of previous generations. Why settle for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage and a perfectly functional eight-year-old car when you can get rich becoming your “best” self and have a blast along the way? But workers today are doing more and more for less and less. This reality is frighteningly palpable in eroding paychecks and benefits, the rapid concentration of wealth in the hands of a tiny few, and workers’ loss of control over their labor conditions. But where is the protest and anger from workers against a system that tells them to love their work and asks them to do it for less? While winner-take-all capitalism grows ever more ruthless, the rhetoric of passion for labor proliferates. In Do What You Love, Tokumitsu articulates and examines the sacrifices people make for a chance at loveable, self-actualizing, and, of course, wealth-generating work and the conditions facilitated by this pursuit. This book continues the conversation sparked by the author’s earlier Slate article and provides a devastating look at the state of modern America’s labor and workforce.


Book Synopsis Do What You Love by : Miya Tokumitsu

Download or read book Do What You Love written by Miya Tokumitsu and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-08-11 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The American claim that we should love and be passionate about our job may sound uplifting, or at least, harmless, but Do What You Love exposes the tangible damages such rhetoric has leveled upon contemporary society. Virtue and capital have always been twins in the capitalist, industrialized West. Our ideas of what the “virtues” of pursuing success in capitalism have changed dramatically over time. In the past, we believed that work undertaken with an ethos of industriousness promised financial stability and basic comfort and security for our families. Now, our working life is conflated with the pursuit of pleasure. Fantastically successful—and popular—entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs and Oprah Winfrey command us. “You’ve got to love what you do,” Jobs tells an audience of college grads about to enter the workforce, while Winfrey exhorts her audience to “live your best life.” The promises made to today’s workers seem so much larger and nobler than those of previous generations. Why settle for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage and a perfectly functional eight-year-old car when you can get rich becoming your “best” self and have a blast along the way? But workers today are doing more and more for less and less. This reality is frighteningly palpable in eroding paychecks and benefits, the rapid concentration of wealth in the hands of a tiny few, and workers’ loss of control over their labor conditions. But where is the protest and anger from workers against a system that tells them to love their work and asks them to do it for less? While winner-take-all capitalism grows ever more ruthless, the rhetoric of passion for labor proliferates. In Do What You Love, Tokumitsu articulates and examines the sacrifices people make for a chance at loveable, self-actualizing, and, of course, wealth-generating work and the conditions facilitated by this pursuit. This book continues the conversation sparked by the author’s earlier Slate article and provides a devastating look at the state of modern America’s labor and workforce.

Film Culture Reader

Film Culture Reader

Author: P. Adams Sitney

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 466

ISBN-13: 0815411014

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This collection covers a range of topics in 20th century cinema, from the Auteur Theory to the commercial cinema from Orson Welles to Kenneth Anger.


Book Synopsis Film Culture Reader by : P. Adams Sitney

Download or read book Film Culture Reader written by P. Adams Sitney and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2000 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection covers a range of topics in 20th century cinema, from the Auteur Theory to the commercial cinema from Orson Welles to Kenneth Anger.

Movie Journal

Movie Journal

Author: Jonas Mekas

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2016-04-19

Total Pages: 496

ISBN-13: 0231541589

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In his Village Voice "Movie Journal" columns, Jonas Mekas captured the makings of an exciting movement in 1960s American filmmaking. Works by Andy Warhol, Gregory J. Markapoulos, Stan Brakhage, Jack Smith, Robert Breer, and others echoed experiments already underway elsewhere, yet they belonged to a nascent tradition that only a true visionary could identify. Mekas incorporated the most essential characteristics of these films into a unique conception of American filmmaking's next phase. He simplified complex aesthetic strategies for unfamiliar audiences and appreciated the subversive genius of films that many dismissed as trash. This new edition presents Mekas's original critiques in full, with additional material on the filmmakers, film studies scholars, and popular and avant-garde critics whom he inspired and transformed.


Book Synopsis Movie Journal by : Jonas Mekas

Download or read book Movie Journal written by Jonas Mekas and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2016-04-19 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his Village Voice "Movie Journal" columns, Jonas Mekas captured the makings of an exciting movement in 1960s American filmmaking. Works by Andy Warhol, Gregory J. Markapoulos, Stan Brakhage, Jack Smith, Robert Breer, and others echoed experiments already underway elsewhere, yet they belonged to a nascent tradition that only a true visionary could identify. Mekas incorporated the most essential characteristics of these films into a unique conception of American filmmaking's next phase. He simplified complex aesthetic strategies for unfamiliar audiences and appreciated the subversive genius of films that many dismissed as trash. This new edition presents Mekas's original critiques in full, with additional material on the filmmakers, film studies scholars, and popular and avant-garde critics whom he inspired and transformed.

Shadowlands and Songs of Light

Shadowlands and Songs of Light

Author: Kevin Ott

Publisher: BroadStreet Publishing Group LLC

Published: 2016-10-01

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1424552923

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The Bible tells Christians not to grieve as the world grieves and to rejoice in their sufferings. Yet when author Kevin Ott lost his mother unexpectedly in 2010, he sank into a wintry depression. When life seemed the darkest, something surprising happened. While exploring eighteen C. S. Lewis books and thirteen U2 albums, he experienced tremendous “stabs of joy”—the unusual heaven-birthed joy that Lewis wrote about—in the midst of grief. This revelation not only pulled Kevin out of depression, it forever changed the way he experienced the love and joy of Christ. In Shadowlands and Songs of Light, you will:Learn fascinating details about C. S. Lewis, discover his unique definition of joy, understand how to apply his revelations about joy to suffering, and learn to recognize and cooperate with God’s strategic use of joy.Enjoy a grand tour of U2’s discography, with a special emphasis on their exploration of joy and suffering.Clearly understand, from the perspective of music theory explained in common terms, why the music of U2 is so emotionally powerful and how it serves as a perfect analogy for Lewis’s concepts of joy and the Christian ability to rejoice in suffering.Find inspiration from the personal stories of U2, especially the tragedies that engulfed their youth in Dublin, and see how they worked through that grief and discovered a joy that has kept the band together for over thirty-five years.When the out-of-control nature of the world and your weaknesses throw you off-balance, you can experience God’s grandeur and joy— discovering heaven’s perspective until it becomes your instinctive, default vantage point every day.


Book Synopsis Shadowlands and Songs of Light by : Kevin Ott

Download or read book Shadowlands and Songs of Light written by Kevin Ott and published by BroadStreet Publishing Group LLC. This book was released on 2016-10-01 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Bible tells Christians not to grieve as the world grieves and to rejoice in their sufferings. Yet when author Kevin Ott lost his mother unexpectedly in 2010, he sank into a wintry depression. When life seemed the darkest, something surprising happened. While exploring eighteen C. S. Lewis books and thirteen U2 albums, he experienced tremendous “stabs of joy”—the unusual heaven-birthed joy that Lewis wrote about—in the midst of grief. This revelation not only pulled Kevin out of depression, it forever changed the way he experienced the love and joy of Christ. In Shadowlands and Songs of Light, you will:Learn fascinating details about C. S. Lewis, discover his unique definition of joy, understand how to apply his revelations about joy to suffering, and learn to recognize and cooperate with God’s strategic use of joy.Enjoy a grand tour of U2’s discography, with a special emphasis on their exploration of joy and suffering.Clearly understand, from the perspective of music theory explained in common terms, why the music of U2 is so emotionally powerful and how it serves as a perfect analogy for Lewis’s concepts of joy and the Christian ability to rejoice in suffering.Find inspiration from the personal stories of U2, especially the tragedies that engulfed their youth in Dublin, and see how they worked through that grief and discovered a joy that has kept the band together for over thirty-five years.When the out-of-control nature of the world and your weaknesses throw you off-balance, you can experience God’s grandeur and joy— discovering heaven’s perspective until it becomes your instinctive, default vantage point every day.

Big-leg Music

Big-leg Music

Author: David Kirby

Publisher: Orchises Press

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 108

ISBN-13: 9780914061489

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Book Synopsis Big-leg Music by : David Kirby

Download or read book Big-leg Music written by David Kirby and published by Orchises Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: