Publisher: Imagination Books
Spring - Nature Through Watercolors A wonderful collection of beautiful watercolor paintings, showcasing the sublime, wild and amazing power of this season through the beauty of the brush stroke...Get it now!
It is something of a cliché to say that an actor’s life was like a movie he or she might have starred in, but in the case of Myrna Loy, the cliché is true. It is easy to picture her as a little girl, riding the range with her rancher father, sitting around the table and participating charmingly in family discussions of current events. It is not hard to imagine the camera panning to her first and then second visits to Hollywood, her backlot tour, and starry-eyed decision to become an actress. There would have to be some drama, which the story of her father’s untimely death would provide, along with some sort of deathbed promise made to him to care for the rest of the family. Her mother would be brave but resolute as she moved her young family to California. The lighting on set would brighten and the tempo of the background would pick up as she walked down the Los Angeles streets. Then, her big break would come. The camera would show her first comical meeting with William Powell and then a spinning scene of ticket after ticket being sold to their new picture, The Thin Man. While older silent film stars like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton reached the peak of Hollywood, some actors born near the beginning of the 20th century were ready to capitalize. Though actors like Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant remain household names, and actresses like Greta Garbo are still widely remembered, few had careers that enjoyed the success of William Powell. In a career spanning several decades, Powell would receive three Oscar nominations for Best Actor for critically acclaimed movies, so it is somewhat ironic that he is mostly remembered today for his association with the more famous Myrna Loy. One thing that helped Powell’s career along in the old days when Hollywood would only cast white actors in major roles, no matter what the nationality of the character was supposed to be, were his dark good looks.Show book
What do you do when actors won't do what you tell them to? Remembering his own awkwardness and terror as a beginning director working with actors who always had their own ideas, director John Badham has a bookload of knowledge to pass along in this inspired and insightful must-listen for cinema fans as well as actors and directors at all levels of their craft. You'll learn how to use proven techniques to get actors to give their best performances—including the ten best and ten worst things to say—and what you can do when an actor won't or can't do what the director wants. Also included are no-holds-barred out-of-school tales culled from celebrated top directors and actors, including Sydney Pollack, Michael Mann, John Frankenheimer, Mel Gibson, James Woods, Anne Bancroft, Jenna Elfman, and Roger Corman.Show book
'Fabulously readable' STEPHEN FRY'Wildly entertaining' DAILY EXPRESS'Rollicking ... ebullient ... Christmas present problems are instantly solved' MAIL ON SUNDAYNominated for the 2025 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound ResearchDescribed variously as a 'polymath', a 'renaissance man' and 'one of the most colourful characters in the music business', Mike Batt has led an extraordinarily vibrant and challenging life that has been full of both glorious victories and bitter failures.For better or for worse, he is a man who has always lived life on his own terms. Idiosyncratic but mainstream, complicated but compassionate, steadfastly maverick in spirit but avowedly commercial in outlook. He is a man of great contradictions, but even greater talent.After starting out in the music business as a teenager, Batt shot to fame in the early 1970s for his part in the creation of the Wombles pop group. But this success proved to be just the beginning as he then went on to work with various artists as a songwriter, composer and producer, including Art Garfunkel, George Harrison, Cliff Richard, Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Katie Melua.Featuring cameos from some of the biggest stars in the business from Paul McCartney to Prince, The Closest Thing to Crazy takes us not only on the rocky (and classical) journey of Mike Batt's life but also on a tour around the inside of his mind.Show book
Kids will love this sweet story/song combination as they listen to the classic lullaby “Rock-A-Bye Baby,” and follow along word-for-word in the adorably illustrated eBook. Little ones will have sweet dreams as they drift off to sleep listening to a mommy's tender voice. Perfect to add to any bedtime routine, “Rock Bye Baby,” encourages learning through music and introduces children to important early literacy skills.Show book
Renowned stand-up comedian and actor Jay Mohr shares his unique and hilarious vision of the world in a brilliant new stand-up special. One of the most natural and quick witted comedians working today, Jay Mohr tackles subjects from unexpected visitors, bringing up children (and dogs) to working with Chris Farley on Saturday Night Live. Jay’s razor sharp insight on speech, mannerisms and behaviour - including his own - make this a funny, honest, but ultimately heart warming experience.Show book
Through the Eyes of a Dancer compiles the writings of noted dance critic and editor Wendy Perron. In pieces for The SoHo Weekly News, Village Voice, The New York Times, and Dance Magazine, Perron limns the larger aesthetic and theoretical shifts in the dance world since the 1960s. She surveys a wide range of styles and genres, from downtown experimental performance to ballets at the Metropolitan Opera House. In opinion pieces, interviews, reviews, brief memoirs, blog posts, and contemplations on the choreographic process, she gives readers an up-close, personalized look at dancing as an art form. Dancers, choreographers, teachers, college dance students—and anyone interested in the intersection between dance and journalism—will find Perron's probing and insightful writings inspiring. Through the Eyes of a Dancer is a nuanced microcosm of dance's recent globalization and modernization that also provides an opportunity for new dancers to look back on the traditions and styles that preceded their own.Show book
