Romantic comedy directed by Gary Harvey and starring Sarah Rafferty, Sam Page and Jeremy Guilbaut. Just as Avery (Rafferty), a blogger whose Valentine's Day experiences have left much to be desired, is prepared to abandon her search for love for another year, she meets an attractive veterinarian by the name of Brendan (Page). Things appear to be looking up for Avery until she discovers that Brendan blames her and her blog for the abrupt end of his last relationship. Even worse, it turns out that Brendan is the person spouting vitriol at Avery's expense. Will they be able to move past their differences or will this be another Valentine's Day to forget?

John Gulager directs this made-for-TV horror movie starring Daryl Hannah and Anthony Michael Hall. Patrick (Hall), his daughter Tracie (Rachel G. Fox) and Tracie's friend Rachel (Meg Rutenberg) are on their way home one night when their car hits something. When they discover that the victim is a zombie and that other members of the undead are approaching they are forced to flee for their lives. The same problem is faced by Patrick's wife Birdie (Hannah), her mother (Shirley Jones) and their neighbours, the Laddens. Will any of them make it through the night?

Why do we watch movies? If we read in search of more life, as Harold Bloom is fond of saying, then we watch movies, this book proposes, in search of wonder. We watch movies in search of awe-inspiring visions, transformative experiences, and moments of emotional transcendence and spiritual sublimity. We watch movies for many of the same reasons that we engage in religion: to fill our ordinary evenings and weekends with something of the extraordinary; to connect our isolated, individual selves to something that is greater than ourselves; and because we yearn for something that is ineffable but absolutely indispensable. This book, through an exploration of some of the most intriguing films of the past two decades, illustrates how movies are partners with religion in inspiring, conveying, and helping us experience what Abraham Joshua Heschel refers to as "radical amazement": the sense that our material universe and our ordinary lives are filled with more wonders than we can ever imagine, and that it takes spiritually-as well as cinematically-trained eyes to uncover these ever-present ocular gems. In addition to illustrating how films utilize religious themes and theological motifs to convey a sense of wonder, this book offers new interpretations of key films from canonical American directors such as Martin Scorsese, Terrence Malick, Richard Linklater, Wes Anderson, and the Coen brothers.

In the aftermath of the First World War, the poet Paul Valéry wrote of a ‘crisis of spirit’, brought about by the instrumentalization of knowledge and the destructive subordination of culture to profit. Recent events demonstrate all too clearly that that the stock of mind, or spirit, continues to fall. The economy is toxically organized around the pursuit of short-term gain, supported by an infantilizing, dumbed-down media. Advertising technologies make relentless demands on our attention, reducing us to idiotic beasts, no longer capable of living. Spiralling rates of mental illness show that the fragile life of the mind is at breaking point. Underlying these multiple symptoms is consumer capitalism, which systematically immiserates those whom it purports to liberate. Returning to Marx’s theory, Stiegler argues that consumerism marks a new stage in the history of proletarianization. It is no longer just labour that is exploited, pushed below the limits of subsistence, but the desire that is characteristic of human spirit. The cure to this malaise is to be found in what Stiegler calls a ‘pharmacology of the spirit’. Here, pharmacology has nothing to do with the chemical supplements developed by the pharmaceutical industry. The pharmakon, defined as both cure and poison, refers to the technical objects through which we open ourselves to new futures, and thereby create the spirit that makes us human. By reference to a range of figures, from Socrates, Simondon and Derrida to the child psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott, Stiegler shows that technics are both the cause of our suffering and also what makes life worth living.

Whether you think you know everything about Queen already or if you're new to the band and want to learn more, Queen FAQ will walk you through every aspect of one of the music industry's strangest, longest, and most successful bands of all time. Queen is the quintessential stadium-filling live act with an impeccable musical pedigree and a penchant for extreme partying; Queen was, and still is, a complete one-off. Discover the journey from long-haired rockers obsessed with mythology to creators of slick chart-toppers, and their unexpected second life after the death of Freddie Mercury in 1991, taking them right up to date with sell-out world tours and an Oscar-winning movie to their name. The story of Queen has been told so many times, but never quite like this: taking an exhaustive approach to every aspect of every band member, this unique book will answer all the questions you've ever wanted to ask about Britain's biggest band. Did Freddie Mercury really sneak Princess Diana into a gay bar? What is Brian May's guitar made of? Why did Roger Taylor get so many royalties for "Bohemian Rhapsody"? And what ever happened to John Deacon? Queen is the band who conquered the US singles charts with "Another One Bites the Dust" and stole the show at Live Aid, but they're also the band that turned their songs into a hit musical and have somehow doubled the length of their career after the death of their lead singer. Frankly, there's no other band like them: this book reveals why.

In the 1700s, Kazan Tatar (Muslim scholars of Kazan) and scholarly networks stood at the forefront of Russia's expansion into the South Urals, western Siberia, and the Kazakh steppe. It was there that the Tatars worked with Russian agents, established settlements, and spread their own religious and intellectual cuture that helped shaped their identity in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Kazan Tatars profited economically from Russia's commercial and military expansion to Muslim lands and began to present themselves as leaders capable of bringing Islamic modernity to the rest of Russia's Muslim population. Danielle Ross bridges the history of Russia's imperial project with the history of Russia's Muslims by exploring the Kazan Tatars as participants in the construction of the Russian empire. Ross focuses on Muslim clerical and commercial networks to reconstruct the ongoing interaction among Russian imperial policy, nonstate actors, and intellectual developments within Kazan's Muslim community and also considers the evolving relationship with Central Asia, the Kazakh steppe, and western China. Tatar Empire offers a more Muslim-centered narrative of Russian empire building, making clear the links between cultural reformism and Kazan Tatar participation in the Russian eastward expansion.

William Styron has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity with the publication of "Darkness Visible" (1990), his account of his struggle with near-suicidal depression. His works are known for discussing psychological conflicts within families, religious doubt, existentialism, racial tension, and the role of history in fiction. Often compared with William Faulkner, Styron has emerged as one of the most important figures in contemporary American literature and is best known for his continuation of the Southern gothic tradition.

Through original essays, reprints of previously published criticism, and excerpts from reviews, this volume traces the critical reception of Styron's writings over the last 40 years. All of Styron's novels are covered, but the majority of the selections focus on his three most important works: "Lie Down in Darkness," "The Confessions of Nat Turner," and "Sophie's Choice." The pieces reflect a variety of critical perspectives, and the introduction overviews significant trends and omissions in Styron criticism. A bibliography lists Styron's writings, along with critical studies of his work.

This fascinating and provocative 2005 book will change the way you think about democracy. Challenging conventional wisdom, Daniel Ross shows how from its origins and into its globalized future, violence is an integral part of the democratic system. He draws on the examples of global terrorism and security, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the relation of colonial powers to indigenous populations, and the treatment of asylum seekers. His analysis of these controversial issues moves beyond the comfortable stances of both left and right to show that democracy is violent, from its beginning and at its heart.

This book looks at how Islamic law was practised in Russia from the conquest of the empire's first Muslim territories in the mid-1500s to the Russian Revolution of 1917, when the empire's Muslim population had exceeded 20 million. It focuses on the training of Russian Muslim jurists, the debates over legal authority within Muslim communities and the relationship between Islamic law and 'customary' law.Drawing on difficult-to-access sources written in a variety of non-Russian languages (Arabic, Chaghatay, Kazakh, Persian, Tatar), the contributors offer scholars of Russian history, Islamic history and colonial history an account of Islamic law in Russia of the same quality and detail as the scholarship currently available on Islam in the British and French colonial empires.

In the 1700s, Kazan Tatar (Muslim scholars of Kazan) and scholarly networks stood at the forefront of Russia's expansion into the South Urals, western Siberia, and the Kazakh steppe. It was there that the Tatars worked with Russian agents, established settlements, and spread their own religious and intellectual cuture that helped shaped their identity in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Kazan Tatars profited economically from Russia's commercial and military expansion to Muslim lands and began to present themselves as leaders capable of bringing Islamic modernity to the rest of Russia's Muslim population. Danielle Ross bridges the history of Russia's imperial project with the history of Russia's Muslims by exploring the Kazan Tatars as participants in the construction of the Russian empire. Ross focuses on Muslim clerical and commercial networks to reconstruct the ongoing interaction among Russian imperial policy, nonstate actors, and intellectual developments within Kazan's Muslim community and also considers the evolving relationship with Central Asia, the Kazakh steppe, and western China. Tatar Empire offers a more Muslim-centered narrative of Russian empire building, making clear the links between cultural reformism and Kazan Tatar participation in the Russian eastward expansion.

This book looks at how Islamic law was practiced in Russia from the conquest of the empire's first Muslim territories in the mid-1500s to the Russian Revolution of 1917, when the empire's Muslim population had exceeded 20 million. It focuses on the training of Russian Muslim jurists, the debates over legal authority within Muslim communities and the relationship between Islamic law and 'customary' law. Based upon difficult to access sources written in a variety of languages (Arabic, Chaghatay, Kazakh, Persian, Tatar), it offers scholars of Russian history, Islamic history and colonial history an account of Islamic law in Russia of the same quality and detail as the scholarship currently available on Islam in the British and French colonial empires.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, downtown North America was reconfigured for the suburban age. The Heart of Toronto follows one example of efforts to address the problems and possibilities of city centres: downtown Yonge Street. Attempts to keep pace with, or even lead, urban change included the street’s conversion into a car-free public space, a clean-up campaign targeting the sex industry, and the construction of North America’s largest urban shopping mall. Linking these projects to postwar decentralization, economic restructuring, and cultural transformation, Daniel Ross reveals the politics and power dynamics involved in reinventing the heart of Toronto.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, downtown North America was reconfigured for the suburban age. The Heart of Toronto follows one example of efforts to address the problems and possibilities of city centres: downtown Yonge Street. Attempts to keep pace with, or even lead, urban change included the street’s conversion into a car-free public space, a clean-up campaign targeting the sex industry, and the construction of North America’s largest urban shopping mall. Linking these projects to postwar decentralization, economic restructuring, and cultural transformation, Daniel Ross reveals the politics and power dynamics involved in reinventing the heart of Toronto.