Film Music reveals the immense possibilities of both films and film music that may well lead to re-imagining civilization. The book is a provocative deep dive into the nature of media, felt meaning, and our relationship to both. Paired with the new world of virtual reality, Film Music examines the primary art form of this century with new eyes and ears, and offers a road map to the future. Readers will be stunned beyond disbelief.

BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A novel that follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he never much thought about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single setting, The Sense of an Ending has the psychological and emotional depth and sophistication of Henry James at his best, and is a stunning achievement in Julian Barnes's oeuvre. Tony Webster thought he left his past behind as he built a life for himself, and his career has provided him with a secure retirement and an amicable relationship with his ex-wife and daughter, who now has a family of her own. But when he is presented with a mysterious legacy, he is forced to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.

Revealing a festival of guilty pleasures, almost-masterpieces, and undeniable classics in need of revival, 35 directors champion their favorite overlooked or critically savaged gems in this guide. The list includes unsung noir films The Chase and Murder by Contract, famous flops Can't Stop the Music and Joe Versus the Volcano, art films L'ange and WR: Mysteries of the Organism, theatrical adaptations The Iceman Cometh and The Homecoming, B-movies Killer Klowns from Outer Space and The Honeymoon Killers, and even Oscar-winners Breaking Away and Some Came Running. The filmmakers, including Guillermo del Toro, John Waters, John Woo, Edgar Wright, and Danny Boyle, defend their choices, wanting these films to be loved, admired, and swooned over, arguing the films deserve a larger audience and their place in movie history be reconsidered. Some were well-loved but are now faded or forgotten, others ran afoul of critics or were just buried after a dismal opening run, and still others never even got proper distribution. A few of these titles qualify as bona fide obscurata, but now most can be found on DVD or streaming from Netflix or Amazon. The filmmakers are the perfect hosts, setting the tone, managing expectations, and often being brutally honest about a film's shortcomings or the reasons why it was lost in the first place.

Tyranny and Music is an edited collection of essays that explore how musical artists respond to cruel or oppressive governments and ruling regimes. Its primary strength and unique quality lies in its diversity, presenting a postmodern collage of scholarship that reaches across the divides of classical, popular and traditional musics just as it connects musical resistance of the past with the present and the near (Western) with the far (non-Western). Contemporary topics include Chosan’s analysis of blood diamonds in the Sierra Leonean Civil War, and collective memory in the Persian Gulf War songs. Historical topics include the image of John Wilkes Booth in the popular imagination, censorship in the Soviet Union, Victor Ullman’s song setting at Terezín, artistic restrictions in Maoist China, anti-inquisition propaganda in the outbreak of the Dutch revolt, Revolutionary Era Anthems in the United States and much more. These essays, while remarkable in their scholarly erudition, also provide intimate glimpses of the resiliency of the individual artist. From Cherine Amr’s Heavy Metal resistance to the Muslim Brotherhood to Hanns Eisler’s battle with the United States House on Un-American Activities Committee, stories of human struggle and perseverance arise from each of these narratives.

Something big is happening. Virtual Reality is not only becoming the driving wheel of the new world economy, it is building a new cultural order. The "Age of Virtual Reality" is in its infancy, yet we already live in a virtual world. Through video games, iPods, iPhones, online social networking, and movies, we are migrating toward ""virtual space."" We must understand this moment in history. Through provoked discoveries, engaging artistic journeys, and creative dialogues with the "language" of virtual reality, this book explores both the pre-digital history of VR and its sobering-yet inspiring-future. Readers will learn to test, discern, and ground the ""evidence"" of their experience. In "The Age of Virtual Reality," they will discover where we're going by confronting where VR is going. More important, they will engage the skills necessary to participate constructively and creatively in an increasingly ""virtual"" world-a world that demands their participation. They will be stunned beyond disbelief.

The BBC Proms is the world's biggest and longest-running classical music festival and one of the jewels in the crown for the BBC. Held every summer at the Royal Albert Hall in London, it is one of the strongest brand names in the music world and attracts a glittering array of artists and orchestras from the UK and around the world. Whether you're a first-time visitor or an experienced Prommer, watching at home or listening on radio or online, the BBC Proms Guide is an excellent companion to the festival, which you can treasure and return to in years to come. Filled with concert listings and articles by leading writers, the BBC Proms Guide offers an insight into the performers and repertoire, as well as thought-provoking opinion pieces about music, musicians and music-making. The contents for 2023 include a specially commissioned short story by Man Booker Prize-nominated author Madeleine Thien; an exploration of the mysterious art of conducting; and an investigation of the connections between music and the human body and spirit – including a 'mental health' Proms playlist. We celebrate the unashamedly Romantic and nostalgically bittersweet music of Sergey Rachmaninov, 150 years after his death; we throw the spotlight on Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Dora Pejacevic, Croatia's first major woman composer; and we delve into the sonic space dust of experimental legend György Ligeti, whose music Stanley Kubrick used to other-worldly effect in 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut. Plus, hear from an array of Proms artists in our series of Spotlight interviews.

Over three decades, Gillian Howie wrote at the forefront of philosophy and critical theory, before her untimely death in 2013. This interdisciplinary collection uses her writings to explore the productive, yet often resistant, interrelationship between feminism and critical theory, examining the potential of Howie's particular form of materialism. The contributors also bring to this debate a serious engagement with Howie's late turn towards philosophies of mortality, therapy and 'living with dying'. The volume considers how differently embodied subjects are positioned within public institutions, discourses and spaces, and the role of philosophy, art, film, photography, and literature, in facing situations such as sexual oppression and life-limiting illness.

This is a comprehensive journey through the long career of auteur Hollywood filmmaker Walter Hill, director of The Driver, The Warriors, Southern Comfort, 48 Hrs., Streets of Fire and many more. The book covers every motion picture that Hill directed, with historical detail and critical commentary on each, and discusses Hill's overall cultural relevance and industrial impact. It includes candid conversations with Hill; producer Larry Gordon; actors Nicholas Guest, William Sadler and Michael Pare; cinematographers Lloyd Ahern and Matthew Leonetti; composers Van Dyke Parks and David Mansfield; screenwriter Larry Gross, and others who worked with Hill throughout his prolific career.