by David William Foster (2002)
"Just as Mexican national life has come to center on the sprawling, dynamic, almost indefinable metropolis of Mexico City, so recent Mexican cinema has focused on the city not merely as a setting for films but almost as a protagonist in its own right, whose conditions both create meaning for and receive meaning from the human lives lived in its midst. Through close readings of fourteen recent critically acclaimed films, this book watches Mexican cinema in this process of producing cultural meaning through its creation, enaction, and interpretation of the idea of Mexico City. David William Foster analyzes how Mexican filmmakers have used Mexico City as a vehicle for exploring such issues as crime, living space, street life, youth culture, political and police corruption, safety hazards, gender roles, and ethnic and social identities. The book is divided into three sections. 'Politics of the City' examines the films Rojo amanecer, Novia que te vea, Frida, naturaleza viva, and Sexo, pudor y lágrimas. 'Human Geographies' looks at El Callejon de los Milagros, Mecanica nacional, El castillo de la pureza, Todo el poder, and Lolo. 'Mapping Gender' discusses Danzon, De noche vienes, Esmeralda, La tarea, Lola, and Entre Pancho Villa y una mujer desnuda."--Back cover.
Jason Horsley
"Using movies to explore the unconscious realms of society in order to reach a better understanding of what drives it, this book examines filmmakers and films that center around schizophrenic themes of alienation, paranoia, breakdown, fantasy, dreams, dementia, violence, and that address--as entertainment--the schizophrenic experience"--Provided by publisher.
Max Brooks
“The end was near.” —Voices from the Zombie War The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years. Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War. Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren’t we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?”
Paul Halpern
From the very dawn of history, humans have struggled with the question of cosmic destiny. Ancient cultures worldwide invoked powerful mythological images to celebrate the cyclical nature of the earth and cosmos. As Halpern shows, these persistent and provocative symbols - such as a serpent devouring its own tail - prefigure many of the controversies that continue to rage among cosmologists today. Will the universe fade into quiescence - a static graveyard of cinders, black holes, and burnt-out suns? Or will it collapse in on itself in a colossal "Big Crunch," only to explode in another cycle of time and space? The answers to these questions are stored in the ineffable cosmos, and scientists must draw on the most ingenious advances of modern physics to solve the riddles posed by the ancients. . Halpern's journey leads us through the most extraordinary breakthroughs in twentieth-century physics and cosmology, and to the remarkable tools scientists employ to look backward and forward in time. He also reveals the fascinating pieces of the puzzle still missing from our picture of the universe - keys that promise to unlock our elusive destiny. What is dark matter and how much of our universe does it comprise? What is the size and age of the universe? How did events unfold in the critical seconds after the Big Bang? The answers to these and other questions will help us decipher our fate.
Liam Burke
In 1978 Superman made audiences believe a man could fly. Since then, Superhero Movies have shown that man can not only fly, but swing from webs through New York's concrete canyons, turn monstrous shades of green if suitably vexed and dress as giant rodents to safeguard the city streets. Today, there are more Superhero Movies than ever before as the cinematic skies are filled with caped crusaders and nocturnal vigilantes that continue to delight and excite cinemagoers the world over. This book reveals the secret identity of the Superhero Movie, examining how cinema has come to represent the mythological icons of our age. Through detailed analysis and fascinating facts, Superhero Movies explores how, in a single bound, the Superhero has made the leap from the comic book page to the silver screen. So fasten your utility belt as you prepare to take flight with Superhero Movies. Includes an exclusive interview with Stan Lee, former president of Marvel Comics, creator of Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, the Silver Surfer and Daredevil.