Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  Hollywood’s Favorite Screwball...

  Editors Charles River

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  “If I couldn't laugh, I'd rather die.” – Claudette Colbert 
  The 1930s were the height of the classical Hollywood era, known for lavish studio productions by heavyweights like MGM, RKO, Warner Brothers, Paramount, and 20th Century Fox, which were operating at the height of their powers. Every major studio possessed a long roster of contract players, and films were released at such a rapid pace that it made for an especially competitive environment within the industry. Even while America remained in the throes of the Great Depression, the film industry continued to flourish, and movies easily supplanted the theater as the main attraction for American entertainment. Indeed, it would be no exaggeration to claim that the film industry reached its zenith during the decade precisely because it offered an affordable (if very temporary) escape from the anxieties of the economic woes of the era. 
  When the American Film Institute ranked its top 50 screen legends of the 20th century, many of the people named had careers spanning several decades, but one of them managed the feat despite living less than three decades. Ranked as the 22nd greatest actress of the 20th century, Jean Harlow was on the screen for less than 10 years, but in that time the “Blonde Bombshell” became the most popular actress of the 1930s, eclipsing superstars like Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer along the way. In fact, the platinum blonde accomplished that feat as a leading lady for just five years before her premature death of renal failure at the age of 26. 
  Carole Lombard has been memorialized in many fitting ways as an actress, and one of her biggest contributions to Hollywood was the blond archetype that the film industry used successfully for decades in screwball comedies, paving the way for the success of women like Marilyn Monroe. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of that fact is that it was actually based on Carole’s gushing personality. 

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  How To Help Your Child Choose...

  Stan Munslow

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  If your child is expressing interest in music lessons, the question you're probably wondering is: which instrument will be the best fit for my child so that he or she can get good at it and keep it for life?
  
  The question is hugely important! Children benefit from music in so many ways - 36 percent higher math scores; 14 percent higher IQs; increased poise, confidence, and concentration, to name a few - so choosing the right instrument will enrich his or her life like no other activity.
  
  In this audio, educator and musician Stan Munslow will tell you everything you need to know in order to make an informed and educated choice with your child and reap the rewards for a lifetime!
  
  Stan Munslow is a Rhode Island-based musician, writer, and instructor with over 25 years' experience both onstage and backstage. He holds a BM from Berklee College of Music and has been leading musicians, professional and amateur alike, onto stage since 1981.
  
  ©2017 Listen & Live Audio (P)2017 Listen & Live Audio

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  Under Pressure - A Song by David...

  Max Brzezinski

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  In 1981, David Bowie and Queen both happened to be in Switzerland: They met and made "Under Pressure." Recorded on a lark, the song broke the path for subsequent pop anthems. In Under Pressure, Max Brzezinski tells the classic track's story, charting the relationship between pop music, collective politics, and dominant institutions of state, corporations, and civil society. Brzezinski shows that, like all great pop anthems, "Under Pressure" harnesses collective sentiments in order to model new ways of thinking and acting. As we continue to live under the sign of the global oppressive power the song names, analyzes, and attempts to move beyond, we remain, in Bowie and Freddie Mercury's phrase, under pressure.

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  Prairie Man - My Little House...

  Dean Butler

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  An illuminating, insider's journey through the world of Little House on the Prairie and beyond, from Dean Butler, who starred as Almanzo Wilder on the iconic show still beloved by millions of fans as it reaches its fiftieth anniversary. 
   
   
   
  Cast just before his twenty-third birthday, Dean Butler joined Little House on the Prairie halfway through its run, gaining instant celebrity and fans' enduring affection. Now, with wit and candor, Butler recounts his passage through the Prairie, sharing stories and anecdotes of the remarkable cast who were his on-screen family. But that was merely the beginning of a diverse career that includes Broadway runs and roles on two other classic shows—Moondoggie in The New Gidget and Buffy's ne'er-do-well father, Hank, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Coming of age during a golden era of entertainment, Butler has evolved along with it, and today enjoys success and fulfillment as a director and producer—notably of NBC Golf's Feherty—while remaining deeply loyal to Little House. 
   
   
   
  The warmth, heart, and decency that fans of Laura and Almanzo fell in love with on Little House echo through this uplifting memoir, a story, in Butler's words, about "good luck, good television, and the very good—if gloriously imperfect—people who made it so."

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  Nara Period - Imperial Splendor...

  Rolf Hedger

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  The Nara Period (710–794) marked a transformative era in Japanese history, characterized by the establishment of a centralized government, the increasing influence of Buddhism, and cultural exchanges with China and Korea. It was during this time that Japan’s first permanent capital was established in Nara, shaping the foundations of political and cultural development for centuries to come. 
  Before the Nara Period, Japan’s capitals frequently shifted locations with the death of each emperor, a practice rooted in Shinto beliefs regarding spiritual purity. However, in 710, Emperor Genmei broke this tradition by moving the capital to Heijō-kyō (modern-day Nara), modeling it after the grand Tang dynasty capital of Chang’an. This decision signified Japan’s growing commitment to a stable and sophisticated political structure. Nara’s grid-like city layout, Buddhist temples, and administrative buildings reflected Chinese architectural and governmental influences, showcasing the era’s desire for centralized control and cultural refinement. 
  At the heart of the Nara government was the ritsuryō system, an adaptation of China’s bureaucratic model, which aimed to solidify imperial rule through codified laws, land distribution policies, and taxation systems. The emperor held supreme authority, but powerful aristocratic families, particularly the Fujiwara clan, played a crucial role in court politics. The implementation of the Taihō Code in 701 reinforced these administrative reforms, further consolidating the emperor’s influence while allowing aristocrats to maintain their dominance over court affairs.

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  Fantasies of Nina Simone

  Jordan Alexander Stein

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  Since her death in 2003, Nina Simone has been the subject of an astonishing number of rereleased, remastered, and remixed albums and compilations as well as biographies, films, viral memes, samples, and soundtracks. In Fantasies of Nina Simone, Jordan Alexander Stein examines the space between our collective and individual fantasies about Simone the performer, civil rights activist, and icon, and her own fantasies about herself. Stein outlines how Simone gave voice to personal fantasies through releasing dozens of covers of her white male contemporaries. With her covers of George Harrison, the Bee Gees, Bob Dylan, and others, Simone explored and claimed the power and perspective that come with race and gender privilege. Looking at examples from Simone's four-decade genre-bending career—from songbook standards, jazz, and pop to folk, junkanoo, and reggae—and at her work's many uptakes and afterlives, Stein mobilizes the psychoanalytic concept of fantasy to build a black feminist history with and for this multifaceted performing artist.

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