The Secret Life of Siegfried and Roy reveals the touching, little-known story of how two youngsters founded a friendship, a franchise, and a tempestuous on-and-off love affair that would last a lifetime.

The outspoken half of magic duo Penn & Teller presents an atheist reinterpretation of the Ten Commandments, discussing why doubt, skepticism, and wonder should be celebrated and offering humorous stories from his own experiences.

It is 1939. Eva Delectorskaya is a beautiful 28-year-old Russian émigrée living in Paris. As war breaks out she is recruited for the British Secret Service by Lucas Romer, a mysterious Englishman, and under his tutelage she learns to become the perfect spy, to mask her emotions and trust no one, including those she loves most. Since the war, Eva has carefully rebuilt her life as a typically English wife and mother. But once a spy, always a spy. Now she must complete one final assignment, and this time Eva can't do it alone: she needs her daughter's help.

The third volume in the Docalogue series, this book explores the significance of the documentary series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness (2020), which became 'must-see-TV' for a newly captive audience during the global Covid-19 pandemic. The series – a true-crime, tabloid spectacle about a murder-for-hire plot within the big cat trade – prompts interesting questions about which documentaries become popular in particular moments and why. However, it also raises important questions related to the medium specificity of documentary in the streaming era, as well as the ethics of both human and animal representation. By combining five distinct perspectives on the Netflix documentary series, this book offers a complex and cumulative discourse about Tiger King’s significance in multiple areas including, but not limited to, animal studies, queer theory, genre studies, labor relations, and digital culture. Students and scholars of film, media, television, and cultural studies will find this book extremely valuable in understanding the significance of this larger-than-life true-crime documentary series.

For over a quarter of a century, Michael Musto entertained the country with his column “La Dolce Musto” in the Village Voice; fabulous, funny, and flippant, this collection is an insider’s guide to the glittering highs and desperate lows of New York City’s more colorful residents Hailed by the New York Times as “the city’s most punny, raunchy, and self-referential gossip columnist,” Michael Musto doled out wit and wisdom in his weekly Village Voice column for twenty-nine years. This waggish and wise book contains highlights from his published pieces as well as several original essays. With his trademark slashing humor, Musto weighs in on everything from celebrities in need of counseling to cheap thrill–seeking and why weirdos are his heroes. No one is spared, including the self-proclaimed “King of Gossip” himself. His interviews and profiles of Paris Hilton, Sandra Bernhard, Crispin Glover, Kiki and Herb, Sarah Silverman, and other fringe celebrities are priceless, made all the more vivid by Musto’s extraordinary access. Catty, titillating, and endlessly enthralling, Fork on the Left, Knife in the Back is a feast for the senses—a must-have book for Musto devotees and fans of popular culture. This ebook features an introduction by the author.

This unique biography details the life of magician Marshall Brodien, most remembered for his long-running career as television's Wizzo the Wizard on WGN-TV's Bozo's Circus and The Bozo Show. Coverage begins in the late 1940s, when Brodien was a young magician in his first job as a Chicago magic shop demonstrator, then recounts Brodien's steady rise to show-business success, including details of his work as a performer at the Magic Lounge in Cicero and, as a nightclub hypnotist in Chicago's posh Cairo Supper Club. The work concludes with an examination of Brodien's current career as one of the most successful marketers of magic sets in the U.S.

Here is the seminal biography of the magician's magician, Howard Thurston, a man who surpassed Houdini in the eyes of showmen and fans and set the standard fro how stage magic is performed today. Everyone knows Houdini-but who was Thurston? In this rich, vivid biography of the "greatest magician in the world," celebrated historian of stage magic Jim Steinmeyer captures the career and controversies of the wonder-worker extraordinaire, Howard Thurston. The public's fickleness over magicians has left Thurston all but forgotten today. Yet Steinmeyer shows how his story is one of the most remarkable in show business. During his life, from 1869 to 1936, Thurston successfully navigated the most dramatic changes in entertainment-from street performances to sideshows to wagon tours through America's still-wild West to stage magic amid the glitter of grand theaters. Thurston became one of America's most renowned vaudeville stars, boldly performing an act with just a handful of playing cards, and then had the foresight to leave vaudeville, expanding his show into an extravaganza with more than forty tons of apparatusand costumes. His touring production was an American institution for nearly thirty years, and Thurston earned a brand name equal to Ziegfeld or Ringling Brothers. Steinmeyer explores the stage and psychological rivalry between Thurston and Houdini during the first decades of the twentieth century- a contest that Thurston won. He won with a bigger show, a more successful reputation, and the title of America's greatest magician. In The Last Greatest Magician in the World, Thurston's magic show is revealed as the one that animates our collective memories.

What if everything you love is suddenly gone? And everything you fear is all you have? Welcome to Calabiyau, a land where magic is as normal as the sunrise and evil is on a rampage. Meet Kandide. Still a teen in human years, she is the personification of perfection. She's also spoiled beyond belief and vain beyond control. You won't like her at first. Nevertheless, she is heir to Calabiyau's throne and the keeper of the "Gift"-the key to the survival for all Fée. When a terrible accident leaves her less than "perfect," Kandide's own mother mercilessly sends her to a treacherous land where strange beasts roam the dark lifeless forest and even stranger Fée rule its secret kingdom. If she is to survive, Kandide must battle hideous creatures, as well as her own repulsion for the "Imperfects" that she has become. But that is just the beginning of her troubles. Within Calabiyau, a presence far more deadly is emerging. Kandide's prankster brother, Teren, her tomboy sister, Tara, and a group of misfit Imperfects set off on a perilous journey to save their sister and their land. They must challenge the darkest of forces to face an evil far worse than any imagined. Kandide and her kingdom are forever changed. Or are they?What the critics say: "Kandide gives its readers one captivating, enthralling adventure after another." - Los Angeles Newspaper Group "There is plenty of action and strife to spice up the plot." - VOYA"There really isn't much that can be said about Diana S. Zimmerman's "Kandide" that isn't covered under "Bravo!" Kandide and the Secret of the Mists is a wonderfully magical adventure that creates an involving tale of fear, loss, and redemption. Strewn all over the land of Calabiyau (namesake of the trilogy) are vivid details that bring the world of the Fée to undeniable life." - Nothing Binding "Kandide is at the crossroads of invention and imagination. Zimmerman's character variety provides moral conflict amid a fantasy component, where life-changing epiphanies are discovered along with fanciful adventures in pomegranate meadows, palaces, dark woods, and underwater caverns. You'll be absorbed into 'Kandide and the Secret of the Mists' as if you were making the journey yourself. Zimmerman's gentle, descriptive prose perches on the edge of poetry." - Las Vegas Around the Clock"This author knows her way around the redemptive tale. Diana S. Zimmerman does not stop at portraying fully fleshed lead characters. Set in the magical land of Calabiyau, Kandide is a must-read for all who treasure books and the finer impulses of human nature." - Air America Radio

Have You Ever Wondered How “The Simpsons” Predict the Future? “Did The Simpsons really, truly predict anything? I predict you’ll have to purchase this book to get the true story.” ―Bill Oakley, Simpsons writer and producer #1 New Release in Animated Movies, Comedy Movies, and Comedy Television Then, The Simpsons Secret is the book for you. Delve into some of the biggest predictions that came true on the show, and just how the Simpsons predict the future. Simpson predictions from three-eyed fish to presidential elections. "The Simpsons" has been predicting major events with scary accuracy for over three decades. From Donald Trump's presidency to Disney buying 20th Century Fox (...years before it happened!). People just can't seem to get enough and are eager to know what they are going to predict next. This book goes behind the scenes of this adored cartoon series, and the family we’ve grown to love. Between Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and the rest of the Simpsons family, the show has stolen our hearts, and also left us amazed at how often the Simpsons predict the future! So how do they do it? Is it a crystal ball? A fountain of knowledge? Have the writers gained the ability to travel through time? As shocking as it may seem, the answer is actually a little simpler than that. The cartoon crew is not in a secret society that can see the future, nor have they mastered the art of time travel. In The Simpsons Secret, learn more about: How The Simpsons are able to predict so many major events How the show writers and producers come up with these ideas And so much more about your favorite old-school cartoon family If you enjoyed books like Springfield Confidential, The Simpsons Family History, Friends Forever, or The Office, you’ll love The Simpsons Secret.

The Mass Ornament today remains a refreshing tribute to popular culture, and its impressively interdisciplinary writings continue to shed light not only on Kracauer's later work but also on the ideas of the Frankfurt School, the genealogy of film theory and cultural studies, Weimar cultural politics, and, not least, the exigencies of intellectual exile.