Vin Diesel is everywhere -- the newly crowned king of the box office and the newsstand. But who is he really? The world's hottest star is also its most mysterious. Few fans realize that this so-called overnight success is actually the product of a lifetime of planning and struggle. This book follows every step of Vin Diesel's rise from his days as a poor but happy mischief-maker in New York's Greenwich Village -- where an act of vandalism led to his stage debut at the age of seven -- through the long years spent toiling as a bouncer in Manhattan's trendiest clubs while trying to break into Hollywood -- to his first "big break" from Steven Spielberg. Take a look behind the scenes of each of Vin's films -- the roles he fought for, the role he walked away from after filming had begun, and the leading ladies he continued to see off-screen. VIN DIESEL: XXXPOSED takes on the rumors about his background and his ego and reveals how fame has taken its toll on the intensely private star. This is the unlikely and inspiring story of how an outsider who wouldn't give up transformed himself into the action hero of the new millennium.

HE'S DIESEL POWERED! Vin Diesel's come a long way since his syage debut at the age of seven -- a gig he was offered after getting caught breaking into a New York City theater! But these days Vin's getting noticed for other talents -- and this time they're legal. There is more to Vin than his pumped-up action-hero exterior. He's a serious actor who's written, directed and produced films that have been screened at the most prestigious film festivals in the world. Vin's got the skills and determination that took him from earning $20 a week to $20 million a film, and he knew he would be a star all along...He was just waiting for the rest of us to figure it out.

From Naptown to Tinseltown—legendary stand-up comedian and actor Mike Epps finally tells all in this outrageous, hilarious, no-holds-barred memoir. Before starring in Def Comedy Jam and Showtime at the Apollo—before the sold-out comedy shows, Uncle Buck, and becoming his hero Richard Pryor in a biopic—there was Indianapolis. And not the good part. Mike Epps is one of America’s favorite and funniest people, but the path to fame was paved with opportunities to mess it up. And mess it up he did. Growing up in “Naptown”—what people who live there really call rough-around-the-edges Indianapolis—Epps found himself forced to hustle from an early age. Despite his mother’s best efforts, and the love of his well-behaved brother, “Chaney,” and his beloved sister, Julie, Epps was drawn to a life of crime, but as he quickly discovered, stealing and dealing didn’t really fit his sweet sensibilities. Not to mention he wasn’t very good at it—take, for example, the day he had to call the cops on himself when a dog wouldn’t let him leave a house he was burgling. After several arrests and more than a few months in jail, Epps finally realized that he was an unsuccessful thug, and instead turned to the next most obvious career path: stand-up comedy. Heading first to New York, then all over the country, and finally to Hollywood, Mike Epps carved out a unique place in American comedy, combining hysterical tales of his family and friends with a mordant take on life in the Naptowns of America. Comedy saved Mike Epps, and here he reveals exactly how he finally grew up and got out, barely. And when describing how he survived when so many of his friends didn’t, Epps makes clear what he’s thankful for and sorry about. Unsuccessful Thug is about growing up black in America, facing down racism in Hollywood, and ultimately how it feels to fail at thugdom, pull yourself up by the bootstraps, and end up selling out arenas and starring in movies across the country.

Vin Diesel: A Short Unauthorized Biography is a short unauthorized biography produced from electronic resources researched that includes significant events and career milestones. Ideal for fans of Vin Diesel and general readers looking for a quick insight about one of today's most intriguing celebrities. This must-read short unauthorized biography chronicles: Who is Vin Diesel Things People Have Said about Vin DieselVin Diesel is BornGrowing Up with Vin DieselVin Diesel Personal RelationshipsThe Rise of Vin DieselSignificant Career MilestonesVin Diesel Friends and FoesFun Facts About Vin DieselHow The World Sees Vin Diesel Vin Diesel A Short Unauthorized Biography is one of the latest short unauthorized biographies from Fame Life Bios. Check it out now!

A thirtieth-anniversary retrospective explores the Dungeons & Dragons franchise, featuring a selection of essays and photographs that capture the events, products, personalities, art, and influence of the game through the years.

Addresses early mixed-race film characters, Blaxploitation, mixed race in television for children, and the outing of mixed-race stars on the Internet, among other issues and contemporary trends in mixed-race representation. From publisher description.

INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER BARNES & NOBLE BESTSELLER AMAZON BESTSELLER "Paging through Serrano's Movies (and Other Things) is like taking a long drive at night with a friend; there's that warmth and familiarity where the chat is more important than the fastest route from Point A to Point B...It's like a textbook gone right; your attention couldn't wander if it tried." -- Elisabeth Egan, New York Times Book Review Shea Serrano is back, and his new book, Movies (And Other Things),combines the fury of a John Wick shootout, the sly brilliance of Regina George holding court at a cafeteria table, and the sheer power of a Denzel monologue, all into one. Movies (And Other Things) is a book about, quite frankly, movies (and other things). One of the chapters, for example, answers which race Kevin Costner was able to white savior the best, because did you know that he white saviors Mexicans in McFarland, USA, and white saviors Native Americans in Dances with Wolves, and white saviors Black people in Black or White, and white saviors the Cleveland Browns in Draft Day? Another of the chapters, for a second example, answers what other high school movie characters would be in Regina George's circle of friends if we opened up the Mean Girls universe to include other movies (Johnny Lawrence is temporarily in, Claire from The Breakfast Club is in, Ferris Bueller is out, Isis from Bring It On is out...). Another of the chapters, for a third example, creates a special version of the Academy Awards specifically for rom-coms, the most underrated movie genre of all. And another of the chapters, for a final example, is actually a triple chapter that serves as an NBA-style draft of the very best and most memorable moments in gangster movies. Many, many things happen in Movies (And Other Things), some of which funny, others of which are sad, a few of which are insightful, and all of which are handled with the type of care and dedication to the smallest details and pockets of pop culture that only a book by Shea Serrano can provide.

Now in paperback, this first oral history of the most nihilistic of all pop movements brings the sound of the punk generation chillingly to life with 50 new pages of depraved testimony. "Please Kill Me" reads like a fast-paced novel, but the tragedies it contains are all too human and all too real. photos.

Offers advice on making an inexpensive feature film; and explains how to select and write a story, assemble a filmmaking team, shoot and edit, market the finished product, deal with agents, and how the Internet and digital technology has revolutionized the film industry.

The book shows how humor has changed since the advent of the internet: new genres, new contexts, and new audiences. The book provides a guide to such phenomena as memes, video parodies, photobombing, and cringe humor. Included are also in-depth discussions of the humor in phenomena such as Dogecoin, the joke currency, and the use of humor by the alt-right. It also shows how the cognitive mechanisms of humor remain unchanged. Written by a well-known specialist in humor studies, the book is engaging and readable, but also based on extensive scholarship.