In Spite of Myself

Author: Christopher Plummer
Publisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN: 0307373126
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 658

Book Description
Canada’s most celebrated and acclaimed actor lets loose in a magnificent memoir that will delight and enchant readers across the country. A rollicking, rich self-portrait written by one of today’s greatest living actors. The story of a “young wastrel, incurably romantic, spoiled rotten” – his privileged Montreal background, rich in Victorian gentility, included steam yachts, rare orchid farms, music lessons in Paris and Berlin – “who tore himself away from the ski slopes to break into the big, bad world of theater not from the streets up but from an Edwardian living room down.” Plummer writes of his early acting days – on radio and stage with William Shatner and other fellow Canadians; of the early days of the Stratford Festival in southern Ontario; of his Broadway debut at twenty-four in The Starcross Story, starring Eva Le Gallienne (“It opened and closed in one night, but what a night!”); of joining Peter Hall’s Royal Shakespeare Company (its other members included Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave and Peter O’Toole); of his first picture, Stage Struck, directed by Sidney Lumet; and of The Sound of Music, which he affectionately dubbed “S&M.” He writes about his legendary colleagues: Dame Judith Anderson (“the Tasmanian devil from Down Under”); Sir Tyrone Guthrie; Sir Laurence Olivier; Elia Kazan (“this chameleon of chameleons might change into you, wear your skin, steal your soul”); and “that reprobate” Jason Robards, among many others. A revelation of the wild and exuberant ride that is the actor’s – at least this actor’s – life.

John Prine

Author: Eddie Huffman
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292748221
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 221

Book Description
With a range that spans the lyrical, heartfelt songs “Angel from Montgomery,” “Sam Stone,” and “Paradise” to the classic country music parody “You Never Even Called Me by My Name,” John Prine is a songwriter’s songwriter. Across five decades, Prine has created critically acclaimed albums—John Prine (one of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time), Bruised Orange, and The Missing Years—and earned many honors, including two Grammy Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting from the Americana Music Association, and induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. His songs have been covered by scores of artists, from Johnny Cash and Miranda Lambert to Bette Midler and 10,000 Maniacs, and have influenced everyone from Roger McGuinn to Kacey Musgraves. Hailed in his early years as the “new Dylan,” Prine still counts Bob Dylan among his most enthusiastic fans. In John Prine, Eddie Huffman traces the long arc of Prine’s musical career, beginning with his early, seemingly effortless successes, which led paradoxically not to stardom but to a rich and varied career writing songs that other people have made famous. He recounts the stories, many of them humorous, behind Prine’s best-known songs and discusses all of Prine’s albums as he explores the brilliant records and the ill-advised side trips, the underappreciated gems and the hard-earned comebacks that led Prine to found his own successful record label, Oh Boy Records. This thorough, entertaining treatment gives John Prine his due as one of the most influential songwriters of his generation.

Dancing in Spite of Myself

Author: Lawrence Grossberg
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 9780822319177
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Book Description
In Dancing in Spite of Myself, Lawrence Grossberg--well known as a pioneering figure in cultural studies--has collected essays written over the past twenty years that have also established him as one of the leading theorists of popular culture and, specifically, of rock music. Grossberg offers an original and sophisticated view of the growing power of popular culture and its increasing inseparability from contemporary structures of economic and political power and from our everyday lives. In the course of conducting this exploration into the meaning of "popularity," he investigates the nature of fandom, the social effects of rock music and youth culture, and the possibilities for understanding the history of popular texts and practices. Describing what he calls "the postmodernity of everyday life," Grossberg offers important insights into the relation of pop music to issues of postmodernity and inton the growing power of the new cultural conservatism and its relationship to "the popular." Exploring the limits of existing theories of hegemony in cultural studies, Grossberg reveals the ways in which popular culture is being mobilized in the service of economic and political struggles. In articulating his own critical practice, Grossberg surveys and challenges some of the major assumptions of popular culture studies, including notions of domination and resistance, mainstream and marginality, and authenticity and incorporation. Dancing in Spite of Myself provides an introduction to contemporary theories of popular culture and a clear statement of relationships among theories of the nature of rock music, postmodernity, and conservative hegemony.

My Life - In Spite of Myself!

Author: Roy Clark
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780671526863
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Book Description
This is Roy Clark's own story, full of fascinating glimpses of his foibles and resounding success, his journey from professional baseball hopeful to high school dropout, from saloon singer to Vegas headliner, and finally, his rise to TV stardom. A moving testament to one man's love of music and the rich reward of hard work.

How to Be Successful in Spite of Yourself

Author: Ann Kaplan
Publisher: Page Two
ISBN: 1989025404
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
In this life-changing and entertaining book, Ann Kaplan offers thirteen witty, wry and inspiring chapters full of personal stories, no-nonsense advice and self-empowerment exercises that will help any reader understand how to get out of their own way. If you want to find a new life and if you want to be successful, Ann Kaplan has the answer. Straightforward, hilarious and unapologetic she provides the tools and advice that will help you move those self-imposed roadblocks, find wealth (greater than you ever imagined) and, yes, how to step on a path toward a life of true success.

Life, In Spite of Me

Author: Kristen Jane Anderson
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 1601423829
Category : Young Adult Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
She wanted to die. God had other plans. Overwhelmed by wave after wave of emotional trauma, Kristen Anderson no longer wanted to live. One January night, determined to end her pain once and for all, the seventeen-year-old lay across train tracks not far from her home and waited to die. Instead of peace, she found herself immersed in a whole new nightmare. Before the engineer could bring the train to a stop, thirty-three freight cars passed over her at fifty-five miles per hour. After the train stopped and Kristen realized she was still alive, she looked around—and saw her legs ten feet away. Surviving her suicide attempt but losing her legs launched Kristen into an even deeper battle with depression and suicidal thoughts, as well as unrelenting physical pain—all from the seat of a wheelchair. But in the midst of her darkest days, Kristen discovered the way to real life and a purpose for living. For anyone struggling to find the strength to go on, the message of this heart-wrenching yet hope-building book is a clear and extraordinary reminder that even when we give up on life, God doesn’t give up on us. Includes notes of encouragement from Kristen and resources for suicide prevention.

Spite

Author: Simon McCarthy-Jones
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 1541646983
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 176

Book Description
Spite angers and enrages us, but it also keeps us honest. In this provocative account, a psychologist examines how petty vengeance explains human thriving. Spite seems utterly useless. You don't gain anything by hurting yourself just so you can hurt someone else. So why hasn't evolution weeded out all the spiteful people? As psychologist Simon McCarthy-Jones argues, spite seems pointless because we're looking at it wrong. Spite isn't just what we feel when a car cuts us off or when a partner cheats. It's what we feel when we want to punish a bad act simply because it was bad. Spite is our fairness instinct, an innate resistance to exploitation, and it is one of the building blocks of human civilization. As McCarthy-Jones explains, some of history's most important developments—the rise of religions, governments, and even moral codes—were actually redirections of spiteful impulses. A provocative, engaging read, Spite shows that if you really want to understand what makes us human, you can't just look at noble ideas like altruism and cooperation. You need to understand our darker impulses as well.

In Spite of Lions

Author: Scarlette Pike
Publisher: Cedar Fort Publishing & Media
ISBN: 1462128068
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 329

Book Description
Anna's life has always been controlled by her domineering mother and expectations of London's high society. Hoping to start over, she changes her name and boards the first boat to Africa. As Anna adjusts to a drastically different life in the barren landscape of Africa, she finds hope that she can finally be free from her past. But when a battle between Europeans and the African tribe she has come to call her family looms, she realizes that her past may never truly leave her, and she must make a decision that will not just affect her own life, but also the lives of the people she loves.

How to Be Happy in Spite of Yourself

Author: Dr. Robert Dawson
Publisher: Balboa Press
ISBN: 1504309790
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 209

Book Description
Much has been said about happinessabout what it is and how to get it. Little has been said about how to stay happy. We all share the experience that happiness is hard to achieve and even harder to hold on to. We are not often happy, and when we are we dont stay happy for long. In contrast, we are often unhappy, and when we are it seems to be enduring. Why? In How to Be Happy in Spite of Yourself, author Dr. Robert Dawson offers a look at happiness and explains why instinct needs us to be unhappy. It answers the following questions: What is wrong with me or with others? Is something broken that needs to be fixed? Is it possible for me to be happy more of the time? Can I get better at snapping out of being unhappy? Dawson details the three-step habit we need to develop to moderate the negative effect of the human survival instinct on the quality of our life. When we realize our instinct is undermining our happiness and see it for what it isa normal and necessary automatic reaction to lifes challengeswe are on the way to being happy in spite of it.

How to be Organized in Spite of Yourself

Author: Sunny Schlenger
Publisher: Signet Book
ISBN: 9780451197467
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
You might think you just aren't the "organised type" - that you're doomed to a life of mismatched socks, missed appointments, and missing file folders. But whatever type you are, there's an organisational system that can suit your needs, soothe your nerves, and simplify your life - and this book will show you how. Whether you're a "pack rat," a "perfectionist plus," a "fence-sitter," a "cliff-hanger" - or even a "total slob" - you'll learn to identify your style and discover- how to create to-do lists that reallywork; tips on using technology to boost your efficiency; ten sure-fire remedies to keep you organised forever; specific products tailored to your individual tendencies; a "think smart" time-log analysis; and personalised strategies for managing your time, your space and your life. "Brimming with insights... sensible and useful suggestions." Dr. Steven Muller, Former President, The John Hopkins University