![]() Hal, his uncle, and the tennis coach want Hal on the school’s tennis team, but the academics/admissions people have some concerns about Hal’s application. These include an Admissions Director, the Director of Composition, a Dean, the tennis coach, and possibly more. Tennis prodigy Hal, the first-person narrator, and his uncle (an administrator at the tennis academy Hal has attended since the age of seven) are sitting before a large group of Important Admissions-Related People at the University of Arizona. This is not hyperbole. What I gathered is this: I dove right in, and from the first sentence to the last of the first chapter, my eyes never left the page. (Second place goes to War and Peace, at 132 pages.) I bother to mention this because, at 176 pages, Infinite Jest is now officially the longest sample of any book I have downloaded. ![]() And since-like anyone with an e-reader-I live in a virtual bookstore, I grabbed my Nook (not hard since it’s always within arm’s reach) and downloaded the free sample. But the reasons were compelling, I guess. I read this post late in the evening, right around when I should have been resting my eyeballs to prepare for sleep. It all started with a post called “ 1088 Reasons You Should Read Infinite Jest.” (The list only actually offers 20 reasons. On Sunday, I named Infinite Jest as a book readers can benefit from dipping into, even if they never read it straight through to the end. ![]()
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![]() ![]() The original 1957 Broadway production, directed and choreographed by Robbins, marked Sondheim's Broadway debut. The dark theme, sophisticated music, extended dance scenes, tragic love story, and focus on social problems marked a turning point in musical theatre. The young protagonist, Tony, a former member of the Jets and best friend of the gang's leader, Riff, falls in love with Maria, the sister of Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks. ![]() The Sharks, who are recent migrants from Puerto Rico, and the Jets, who are white, vie for dominance of the neighborhood, and the police try to keep order. ![]() The musical explores the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, the story is set in the mid-1950s in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, then a multiracial, blue-collar neighborhood. West Side Story is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. ![]() ![]() A film like Terminator 2, Jurassic Park and/or Independence Day was till rare enough to make Phantom Menace an automatic event.Īs such, despite mixed-positive reviews and divisive fan reception, the Lucas-directed The Phantom Menace legged out from a $64 million Fri-Sun/$105 million Wed-Sun domestic debut to $431 million by the end of the summer. And while The Phantom Menace debuted in early May just after The Matrix and The Mummy, films of the scale, size and scope of Star Wars Episode One were still not par for the course. ![]() Save for maybe the first two Superman films and Raiders of the Lost Ark, the fantasy tentpole movies that might challenge Star Wars for supremacy ( Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Batman) didn’t arrive until after the trilogy had run its course. ![]() It should be noted that the first three Star Wars movies and The Phantom Menace arrived in theaters when a movie like Star Wars was entirely not the norm. ![]() ![]() ![]() Despite her desire to be an author, she went to college and graduated with a major in psychology. Her first experience with writing an actual novel was in high school during algebra class. ![]() Upon completing the series she decided she wanted to leave the same impact on her future readers. The book series that remained close to her heart was The Forbidden Games, with the final novel bringing her to tears. Smith, such as The Vampire Diaries, The Secret Circle Series, The Forbidden Games Series, and myriad others. She was inspired to become a writer after reading the works of L.J. Armentrout was born on June 11 in West Virginia. ![]() Her current publishers include Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Publishing, Harlequin Teen, Disney/Hyperion, and HarperCollins. She is considered a "hybrid" author, having successfully self-published while maintaining active contracts with small independent presses, and traditional publishers. Several of her works have made The New York Times Best Seller list. Lynn, is an American writer of contemporary romance, new adult and fantasy. Jennifer Lynn Armentrout (born June 11, 1980), also known by the pseudonym J. ![]() ![]() Together, the two founded the theatre group Teater Populer in 1968. During his studies at ATNI, he befriended Teguh Karya. However, after finishing high school at State Senior High School 2, he attended the National Indonesian Theatre Academy ( Akademi Teater Nasional Indonesia, or ATNI). ![]() Rahardjo spent most of his childhood in Yogyakarta, where he dreamed of becoming a visual artist. He was the first of seven children born to Djarot Djojoprawiro, an air force officer, and Ennie Tanudiredja, a housewife interested in woodcarving. Rahardjo was born in Serang, West Java (now Banten), on 21 January 1949. Since his directorial debut in 1979 with Rembulan dan Matahari, he has directed and/or written twelve films one of which, Langitku, Rumahku, was Indonesia's submission to the 63rd Academy Awards in 1991. He is the elder brother of director, songwriter, and politician, Eros Djarot. ![]() Slamet Rahardjo Djarot or better known as Slamet Rahardjo (born 21 January 1949) is an Indonesian actor, director, and screenwriter of Javanese descent. ![]() ![]() ![]() A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. The store’s security guard, seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. ![]() ![]() So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains’ toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. A striking and surprising debut novel from an exhilarating new voice, Such a Fun Age is a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.Īlix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living, with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. ![]() ![]() He has the scars to prove it, some more visible than others: part of his skull has been lost to a battle injury, and the plague claimed his wife and all three of their young children.ĭespite close shaves with catapult-firing slavers and nights ragged with the howling of wolves, this is a character-driven narrative. Cormac, meanwhile, is a late convert to Christianity and old enough to have lived an entire other life before entering holy orders. He’s a ciotóg – a left-hander – and profoundly awkward with it, but he carries about him a deeper mystery that will be disclosed only as the novel nears its wave-lashed denouement. Gangly, red-haired Trian is a young piper whose family gave him to the monastery when he was 13. ![]() ![]() Brother Artt, as he’s named, is revealed to be insufferably sanctimonious, but his mismatched travelling companions are complicated, appealing creations. ![]() ![]() ![]() "You don't have to look a certain way to be glamorous. The Menagerie, he says, "celebrates people of color, is body positive, size positive, welcoming of gender fluid performers, and reminds me of why I fell in love with Austin." Art is Foxx's arsenal. Because regardless of who I am, they can respect me as a performer." "Then by the end of the night, those are the ones buying me drinks, and taking pictures with me. "That moment allows us both to laugh about it," says Foxx. ![]() "You didn't know what the fuck they were taking you to tonight did you?" he'll say, laserbeaming into the eyes of some poor clod squirming in his seat. But even a girl with a size advantage can feel vulnerable sometimes.īurlesque shows draw dude bros, and Foxx has, on occasion, felt the need to preemptively top his audience. Dino Foxx is confident in his 6'3" without heels. This self-professed "glam bear" performs monthly at Fat Bottom Cabaret's popular Midnight Menagerie shows in Austin. He rocks the gowns, glitter, and sequins with a full, lush manly beard. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() A straight line dichotomy splitting the two, into foul mouthed smart ass gun-toting hero killer and Joe public with a loving girlfriend. In an absolute contrast to his Marshal Law alter-ego, Joe appears as a regular, well, Joe. He's Judge Dredd without the conscience, which is pretty bad because you know Dredd didn't have much conscience to begin with when it came to bad guys. Marshal Law surfs the fine edge of irony: he himself is a hero, if you really think about it, but he kills heroes. And to boot it's also been reduced to rubble by the Big One, and has been rebuilt as San Futuro. When the war's done with, the city of SF is left with insane superpowered freaks. So Doctor Shocc begins churning out superheroes with his super genetic therapy for a overseas war. They're a bunch of sick bastards and I love them for it. "Haven't found any."Ī loving fuck you to mainstream superhero comics, the super team of Mills and O'Neil distorts, subverts, then destroys our favorite heroes. I hunt heroes." Cue sound of a skull splitting open violently. ![]() ![]() ![]() The Grand Dark, Richard Kadrey (Harper Voyager US & UK).Curious Toys, Elizabeth Hand (Mulholland).Prisoner of Midnight, Barbara Hambly (Severn House).Imaginary Friend, Stephen Chbosky (Grand Central Orion).WINNER: Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James (Riverhead Hamish Hamilton).Dead Astronauts, Jeff VanderMeer (MCD Fourth Estate).The Iron Dragon’s Mother, Michael Swanwick (Tor).Storm of Locusts, Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga).The Starless Sea, Erin Morgenstern (Doubleday Harvill Secker).Gods of Jade and Shadow, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey Jo Fletcher).The Raven Tower, Ann Leckie (Orbit US & UK).A Brightness Long Ago, Guy Gavriel Kay (Berkley Viking Canada Hodder & Stoughton).Ninth House, Leigh Bardugo (Flatiron Gollancz).WINNER: Middlegame, Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing).Wanderers, Chuck Wendig (Del Rey Solaris).The Rosewater Insurrection/ The Rosewater Redemption, Tade Thompson (Orbit US & UK). ![]() The Future of Another Timeline, Annalee Newitz (Tor Orbit UK).Luna: Moon Rising, Ian McDonald (Tor Gollancz).The Light Brigade, Kameron Hurley (Saga Angry Robot UK).Empress of Forever, Max Gladstone (Tor).Ancestral Night, Elizabeth Bear (Saga Gollancz).The Testaments, Margaret Atwood (Nan A.WINNER: The City in the Middle of the Night, Charlie Jane Anders (Tor Titan). ![]() |