Journey into the arcane world of Doctor Jacob Tordoff. A selection of new and updated bizarre magick performances from the repertoire and creative mind of Roger Curzon. As an exclusively designed dust cover bound hardback, it features a foreword by Jim Critchlow, plus some supporting contributions from Roni Shachnaey, Steve Drury, Kotah, Andrew Normansell and Ashton Carter.

Every year on September first, young witches and wizards board the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9 3/4 and make the journey to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The first in a collectible new series, Harry Potter: Travel Magic: Platform 9 3/4: Artifacts from the Wizarding World contains over a dozen removable prop replicas from the Harry Potter films as well as stickers, postcards, and other stationery supplies. Inside, fans will learn all about Platform 9 3/4 and the Hogwarts Express, relive magical moments from the Harry Potter films, and delve into the behind-the-scenes magic that brought Harry Potter to life on the big screen. Inside readers will find: * Over a dozen removable reproductions of props from the Harry Potter films, including Harry's Hogwarts Acceptance letter and supply list, Platform 9 3/4 ticket, Chocolate Frog box, and more * Stickers, bookmarks, postcards, booklets, and other stationery supplies-all themed to Platform 9 3/4 and the Hogwarts Express * Behind-the-scenes facts and insights about the Harry Potter films * Stunning set photography and concept art

Texas High School Hotshots: The Stars Before They Were Stars is a one-of-a-kind book that offers an entertaining look back at the younger years of more than 200 celebrities who attended high school in Texas.

Since its establishment in 1949, the People's Republic of China has upheld a nationwide ban on pornography, imposing harsh punishments on those caught purchasing, producing, or distributing materials deemed a violation of public morality. A provocative contribution to Chinese media studies by a well-known international media researcher, "People's Pornography" offers a wide-ranging overview of the political controversies surrounding the ban, as well as a fascinating glimpse into the many distinct media subcultures that have gained widespread popularity on the Chinese Internet as a result. Rounding out this exploration of the many new tendencies in digital citizenship, pornography, and activist media cultures in the greater China region are thought-provoking interviews with individuals involved.A timely contribution to the existing literature on sexuality, Chinese media, and Internet culture, "People's Pornography "provides a unique angle on the robust voices involved in the debate over about pornography's globalization.

"Dance Studies: The Basics is a concise introduction to the study of dance ranging from the practical aspects such as technique and to more theoretical considerations such as aesthetic appreciation and the place of dance in different cultures. Including examples from dance forms such as ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary and urban, this book answers questions such as: Exactly how do we define 'dance'? What kinds of people dance and what kind of training is necessary? How are dances made? What do we know about dance history? Featuring a glossary, chronology of dance history and list of useful websites, this book is the ideal starting point for anyone interested in the study of dance"--

Built to resemble an old New England barn, the Boothbay Playhouse operated from 1937 to 1974, under two separate managements, as a professional summer theatre. In the old-resident-company tradition, a different play was presented each week from June to September- and at prices that seem unbelievable today. But even then the challenge of filling seats was a perennial uphill battle that led to ongoing financial crunches for both managements until surmounting losses forced its closure. This is the story of that landmark theatre's trials, triumphs and tribulations, told by someone who was there for five of those 37 years. Illustrated with 60 photos, the volume also features casts and credits for all Playhouse productions

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Performances in hospices and on beaches; cross-cultural myth making in Wales, New Zealand and the US; communal poetry among mental health system survivors: this book, now in paperback, presents a senior practitioner/critic's exploration of arts-based research processes sustained over more than a decade - a subtle engagement with disability culture.

At a certain point, on 23rd-24th August '76, the lens of the studio camera turned to the world beyond, or at least to the small screen of a portable television, to record the somnolent delivery of a sundry news anchor-man, freezing the perpetual conveyance of world events. The resulting split second scan resembled a soft glow worm of refracted images. Also in that week a sequence of tabloid newspapers, The Sun and Daily Mirror, was laid in a line on a broad band of tracing paper and exposed to film. Slowly, by tentative probes, the studio became transformed into a vector for all the urgent messages flowing from the networked world beyond.

Celebrate your love of The Big Bang Theory with the official talking button featuring one of its most iconic phrases: Bazinga! * SPECIFICATIONS A 3-inch collectible talking button that features Sheldon's saying his signature phrase: Bazinga! * MINI BOOK INCLUDED: Learn about the history behind this popular phrase with this 32-page miniature book complete with full color photographs from the show * PERFECT GIFT FOR BIG BANG THEORY FANS: Keep within arm's reach on shelf, desk, or bookcase to deliver the perfect "Bazinga!" for you and your friends * OFFICIALLY LICENSED: Authentic The Big Bang Theory collectible THE BIG BANG THEORY and all related characters and elements (c) & (TM) Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (s22)

- This is the first book for academic podcasters. With theoretical background as well as detailed practical instructions, this book explores the what, why and how of academic podcasting. - Podcasting is becoming an ever-more popular form of both creating knowledge and disseminating research to reach both academic and non-academic audiences. - Competing titles are solely concerned with podcasting as an object of study or as a how-to guide. This book is unique in that it brings together research into a subfield of podcasting, with arguments about why it is a normatively good thing for academia before synthesising this knowledge by detailing how to do it. This is the only book specifically about academic podcasting.

This book stages a dialogue between international researchers from the broad fields of complexity science and narrative studies. It presents an edited collection of chapters on aspects of how narrative theory from the humanities may be exploited to understand, explain, describe, and communicate aspects of complex systems, such as their emergent properties, feedbacks, and downwards causation; and how ideas from complexity science can inform narrative theory, and help explain, understand, and construct new, more complex models of narrative as a cognitive faculty and as a pervasive cultural form in new and old media. The book is suitable for academics, practitioners, and professionals, and postgraduates in complex systems, narrative theory, literary and film studies, new media and game studies, and science communication.

This open access book explores the use of visual methods in migration studies through a combination of theoretical analyses and empirical studies. The first section looks at how various visual methods, including photography, film, and mental maps, may be used to analyse the spatial presence of migrants. The second section addresses the processual building of narratives around migration, thereby using formats such as film and visual essay, and reflecting upon the ways they become carriers and mediators of both story and theory within the subject of migration. Section three focuses on vulnerable communities and discusses how visual methods can empower these communities, thereby also focusing on the theoretical and ethical implications of migration. The fourth section addresses the issue of migrant representation in visual discourses. Based on these contributions, a concluding methodological chapter systematizes the use of visual methods in migration studies across disciplines, with regard to their empirical, theoretical, and ethical implications. Multidisciplinary in character, this book is an interesting read for students and migration scholars who engage with visual methodologies, as well as practitioners, journalists, filmmakers, photographers, curators of exhibitions who address the topic of migration visually.

This impressive new book from Sue-Ellen Case looks at how science has been performed throughout history, tracing a line from nineteenth century alchemy to the twenty-first century virtual avatar. In this bold and wide-ranging book that is written using a crossbreed of styles, we encounter a glance of Edison in his laboratory, enter the soundscape of John Cage and raid tombs with Lara Croft. Case looks at the intersection of science and performance, the academic treatment of classical plays and internet-like bytes on contemporary issues and experiments where the array of performances include: electronic music Sun Ra, the jazz musician the recursive play of tape from Samuel Beckett to Pauline Oliveros Performing Science and the Virtual reviews how well these performances borrow from spiritualist notions of transcendence, as well as the social codes of race, gender and economic exchange. This book will appeal to academics and graduates studying theatre and performance studies, cultural studies and philosophy.

The city and the cinema have become inextricably intertwined over the last century, with the identities of places becoming bound up in their cinematic portrayals. We have seen the landmarks of New York, London and Tokyo turn into iconic symbols of wealth, power, status, style and culture, and for the majority of people the images and sounds of movies form the only experience they will ever have of distant cities. Cinematic Urbanism presents an urban history of modernity and postmodernity through the lens of cinema. AlSayyad traces the dissolution of the boundary between real and reel through time and space via a series of films that represent different modernities. They include: Cinema Paradiso It's a Wonderful Life Metropolis Brazil Blade Runner Annie Hall Taxi Driver Do the Right Thing My Beautiful Laundrette The Truman Show. Alsayyad argues that our understanding of the city cannot be viewed independently of cinematic experience. Films do not only capture the depiction of a society; they influence the way we construct images of the world and, as a result, how we operate within it. We are beginning to blur the distinction between what is real in the everyday, and how we imagine the everyday. Cinematic Urbanism explores this dynamic, bringing together insights from urban and film studies to illuminate current architectural debate. .

Spiritualist and extortionist Patrick Seton is coming up for trial. He's been accused of forgery, and suddenly West London's bachelors are all in a tizzy. Described by Evelyn Waugh as the 'cleverest and most elegant of all Mrs Spark's clever and elegant books', The Bachelors is a biting comedy of English manners. This is one of the 22 novels written by Muriel Spark in her lifetime. All are being published by Polygon in hardback Centenary Editions between November 2017 and September 2018.

Philip Hayward is a mathematics teacher who is 'Mr Nice Guy'. He tries to be generous and giving, but he harbours a guilty secret, he wants his brother, Patrick, dead. Ten years previously they had bought a flat together but when Patrick lost his job through shady deals, a year later, they were forced sell. As the elder brother, Patrick was the principal name on the mortgage and he held the account. When they sold, the capital payment for the flat was paid into his bank, and he disappeared to America with all the money. The mortgage company came after Phil for the whole debt, leaving him with a huge sum of money to pay off and nowhere to live. He had even contemplated fratricide; the bitterness at his unfair treatment had become greater as time passed and as his poverty weighed more heavily on him. When a serendipitous meeting reveals his brother's whereabouts, he stumbles into his brother's new house to discover a body. With help, he can find his brother's killer but will he be in time?

This pioneering study examines the extraordinary proliferation of polyphonic or "multi-voiced" texts in the three centuries following the first contact between Europeans and indigenous peoples of the Americas. These plays, printed dialogues, travel narratives, and lexicographic studies, in English, Spanish and French, reverberate with a cacophony of voices as both European and indigenous writers of the early Americas stage the interaction of their cultures.
Paying particular attention to performance and performativity in the texts of the early colonial world, Susan Castillo asks:
- why vast numbers of polyphonic and performative texts emerged in the Early Americas
- how these texts enabled explorers, settlers, and indigenous groups to come to terms with radical differences in language, behavior, and cultural practices
- how dialogues, plays, and paratheatrical texts were used to impose or resist ideologies and cultural norms
- how performance and polyphony allowed Europeans and Americans to debate exactly what it meant to be European or American or, in some cases, both.
Tracing the dynamic enactment of (often conflictive) encounters between differing local narratives, Castillo presents polyphonic texts not only as a singularly useful tool for exploring what initially seemed inexpressible or for conveying controversial ideas, but also, crucially, as the site where cultural difference is negotiated. Offering unprecedented linguistic and historical range, through the analysis of texts from Spain, France, New Spain, Peru, Brazil, New England and New France, her volume is an important advance in the study of early American literature and the writings of colonialencounter.

***WINNER OF THE TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2021 - SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT BOOK OF THE YEAR*** 'Utterly joyous!' - Bryony Gordon 'The best book about running I have read' - Nick Cohen, The Critic 'The funniest book about running I have ever read. In fact it is the only book about running I have ever read, but it is HILARIOUS!' - David Walliams '...insightful, inspiring and laugh-out-loud funny!' - Michael McIntyre 'Pain. Hope. Misery. Joy. All the big stuff. Excellent.' - Dara O Briain 'This book is funny (which I expected) and concerns running (ditto), but it is also exceptionally moving and profound. Don't be fooled: it's not really about completing a marathon. It's about life and all its joy and weirdness. Recommended to all...' - Miranda Sawyer 'Very good book... very funny, very insightful, very inspiring' - Chris Evans, Virgin Radio 'Fabulous book' - Radio 2 The hilarious trials and tribulations of stand-up comedian Paul Tonkinson as he attempts to beat the much lauded 3-hour mark at the London Marathon. With a supporting cast of fellow comedians, this is a warmly written and wonderfully honest adventure-through-sport that will both entertain and inspire. Along the way, we are introduced to the characters helping Paul with his quest. Celebrity names such as Bryony Gordon, Russell Howard, Roisin Conaty and Vassos Alexander pop up with wit and wisdom, alongside an alpine adventure to the Mayr Clinic with Michael McIntyre that pushes Paul to the limit. And not forgetting the 'words of wisdom' and derision from Paul's anti-running friend, Richard.

The romantic sweep of Death and Transfiguration greets the reader immediately, from the onset of the first verse of the play to its dramatic conclusion. Set in the stunning locale of the magnificent vistas of the Swiss Alps by the Viervaldstettersee, this play takes you on a breathtaking journey into the psychological worlds of its characters. Based partly on earlier stories and legends of Faust, more specifically, works by Christopher Marlowe and Wolfgang von Goethe, we find him in this version challenging the temptations of evil rather than embracing them. The cosmic conflict between good and evil, between the light and the darkness, is the central theme of this work. Can man withstand the temptations of the evil forces or will he eventually succumb to those desires? Can his will, his spirit withdraw from the constant knocking of Satan? Can love overcome the seeds of hate and anger? Faust, at the outset, resists the invitation to join Mephistopheles; and, in subsequent engagements with the amoral and immortal prevaricator, he attempts and continues to withstand the clever manipulations of the devil. As a result of this ongoing conflict, the plot intensifies as this singular antagonist unveils and harnesses his many talents and powers, relentlessly attempting to infuse his will into the characters. The touching love story between Faust and Margaret takes on new dimensions here. Her growing madness tests the very sanity of Faust himself who finds himself more and more incapable of action as the tragedy unfolds. Will he too join her in the darkness? Is there, or can there be any redemption or salvation from suffering? Set throughout in poetry, the heart pounding pulse and rhythm of the work undeniably transports the reader or the spectator watching the play to new dimensions. Relish in a work that is unpredictable and unique, a play that will test your own convictions.

"The French Connection, The Last Picture Show, M.A.S.H., Harold and Maude"--these are only a few of the iconic films made in the United States during the 1970s. Originally considered a "lost generation," the 1970s are increasingly recognized as a crucial turning point in American filmmaking, and many films from the era have resurfaced from oblivion to become a reference for new directorial talents. "The Last Great American Picture Show" explores this pivotal era in American film history with a collection of essays by scholars and writers that firmly situates the decade as the time of the emergence of "New Hollywood."
Sam Peckinpah, Arthur Penn, Peter Bogdanovich, Monte Hellman, Bob Rafelson, Hal Ashy, Robert Altman, and James Tobac: these legendary directors developed innovative techniques, gritty aesthetics, and a modern sensibility in American film. Here, contributors compellingly argue that the cinema of today's major directors--Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Quentin Tarantino, Ridley Scott, Robert Zemeckis--could not have come into existence without the groundbreaking works produced by the directors of the 1970s. A wholly engaging and long-overdue investigation of this important era in American film, "The Last Great American Picture Show" reveals how the films of the 1970s transformed the American social consciousness and influenced filmmaking worldwide.