Fame Junkies

Fame Junkies PDF Author: Jake Halpern
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0547527241
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
The author of Welcome to the New World and Bad Paper discusses America’s obsession with celebrity in this 2007 investigation. Why do more people watch American Idol than the nightly news? What is it about Paris Hilton’s dating life that lures us so? Why do teenage girls—when given the option of “pressing a magic button and becoming either stronger, smarter, famous, or more beautiful” —predominantly opt for fame? In this entertaining and enlightening book, Jake Halpern explores the fascinating and often dark implications of America’s obsession with fame. He travels to a Hollywood home for aspiring child actors and enrolls in a program that trains celebrity assistants. He visits the offices of Us Weekly and a laboratory where monkeys give up food to stare at pictures of dominant members of their group. The book culminates in Halpern’s encounter with Rod Stewart’s biggest fan, a woman from Pittsburgh who nominated the singer for Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. Fame Junkies reveals how psychology, technology, and even evolution conspire to make the world of red carpets and velvet ropes so enthralling to all of us on the outside looking in. Praise for Fame Junkies “An astute look at the mighty vortex of fame, which this author believes will only get more powerful.” —Kirkus Reviews “Halpern displays an evocative, insiderish style reminiscent . . . of Tom Wolfe’s when he peered into 1960s celebrity culture.” —Wall Street Journal “A critical look at Americans’ infatuation with fame and determines that fame is elusive, desirable—and also possibly addictive . . . . [An] engaging study.” —Publishers Weekly

Fame Junkies

Fame Junkies PDF Author: Jake Halpern
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0547527241
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 261

Get Book Here

Book Description
The author of Welcome to the New World and Bad Paper discusses America’s obsession with celebrity in this 2007 investigation. Why do more people watch American Idol than the nightly news? What is it about Paris Hilton’s dating life that lures us so? Why do teenage girls—when given the option of “pressing a magic button and becoming either stronger, smarter, famous, or more beautiful” —predominantly opt for fame? In this entertaining and enlightening book, Jake Halpern explores the fascinating and often dark implications of America’s obsession with fame. He travels to a Hollywood home for aspiring child actors and enrolls in a program that trains celebrity assistants. He visits the offices of Us Weekly and a laboratory where monkeys give up food to stare at pictures of dominant members of their group. The book culminates in Halpern’s encounter with Rod Stewart’s biggest fan, a woman from Pittsburgh who nominated the singer for Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. Fame Junkies reveals how psychology, technology, and even evolution conspire to make the world of red carpets and velvet ropes so enthralling to all of us on the outside looking in. Praise for Fame Junkies “An astute look at the mighty vortex of fame, which this author believes will only get more powerful.” —Kirkus Reviews “Halpern displays an evocative, insiderish style reminiscent . . . of Tom Wolfe’s when he peered into 1960s celebrity culture.” —Wall Street Journal “A critical look at Americans’ infatuation with fame and determines that fame is elusive, desirable—and also possibly addictive . . . . [An] engaging study.” —Publishers Weekly

Jewish Jocks

Jewish Jocks PDF Author: Franklin Foer
Publisher: Twelve
ISBN: 1455516112
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
A collection of essays by today's preeminent writers on significant Jewish figures in sports, told with humor, heart, and an eye toward the ever elusive question of Jewish identity. Jewish Jocks: An Unorthodox Hall of Fame is a timeless collection of biographical musings, sociological riffs about assimilation, first-person reflections, and, above all, great writing on some of the most influential and unexpected pioneers in the world of sports. Featuring work by today's preeminent writers, these essays explore significant Jewish athletes, coaches, broadcasters, trainers, and even team owners (in the finite universe of Jewish Jocks, they count!). Contributors include some of today's most celebrated writers covering a vast assortment of topics, including David Remnick on the biggest mouth in sports, Howard Cosell; Jonathan Safran Foer on the prodigious and pugnacious Bobby Fischer; Man Booker Prize-winner Howard Jacobson writing elegantly on Marty Reisman, America's greatest ping-pong player and the sport's ultimate showman. Deborah Lipstadt examines the continuing legacy of the Munich Massacre, the fortieth anniversary of which coincided with the 2012 London Olympics. Jane Leavy reveals why Sandy Koufax agreed to attend her daughter's bat mitzvah. And we learn how Don Lerman single-handedly thrust competitive eating into the public eye with three pounds of butter and 120 jalapeño peppers. These essays are supplemented by a cover design and illustrations throughout by Mark Ulriksen. From settlement houses to stadiums and everywhere in between, Jewish Jock features men and women who do not always fit the standard athletic mold. Rather, they utilized talents long prized by a people of the book (and a people of commerce) to game these games to their advantage, in turn forcing the rest of the world to either copy their methods -- or be left in their dust.

Fifteen Minutes of Fame

Fifteen Minutes of Fame PDF Author: Dale Patterson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780889954816
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Over 150 regular folks getting their time in the spotlight--some are heroes, some are far from that. But they all share one thing in common: they weren't planning to become famous.

Celebrity Nation

Celebrity Nation PDF Author: Landon Y. Jones
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 080706565X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
A former People magazine editor reveals how our cult of celebrity has shaped our politics, our culture, and our personal lives—for better or worse From the writer and editor who coined the term “baby boomer” comes Celebrity Nation, an exploration into how and why fame no longer stems only from heroic achievements but from the number of “likes” and shares—and what this change means for American culture. Landon Jones—who spent decades in “celebrityland” only to emerge, like Alice, blinking in the sunlight—brings a personal and first-person perspective on fame and its dark underbelly, complicated even further by the arrival of the internet and social media. Jones draws on his experience as the former managing editor of People magazine to bolster his account with profiles of celebrities he knew personally, ranging from Malcolm X to Princess Diana, as well as observations about contemporary social media stars like Kim Kardashian and computer-generated macro-influencer Miquela, a self-proclaimed “19-year-old Robot living in LA.” In analyzing the stories of over 75 celebrities, spanning decades and industries, Jones shows how celebrity has been wielded as a weapon of mass distraction to spawn narcissism, harm, and loneliness. And yet, in these stories we also see a path forward. Jones highlights luminaries like Nobel Peace prize winner Maria Ressa and lauded environmental activist Greta Thunberg, who have effected meaningful change not by glorifying themselves but by turning to their communities for action. A lively analysis of celebrity culture’s impact on nearly every facet of our lives, Celebrity Nation helps us to recognize how the apparatus of fame operates.

The Story Revealed

The Story Revealed PDF Author: Bausch
Publisher: Twenty-Third Publications
ISBN: 9781585958832
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
In his newest collection of more than 70 masterful homilies, Fr. Bill Bausch is at his storytelling finest, seamlessly weaving timely, intriguing stories into gospel truths. From "Bill Barth and the Little Tin Box" to "iPod and I, God," Fr. hill spreads his usual wisdom and humor into every liturgical season and cycle from Advent through Lent, Easter and Ordinary Time. Fans of Fr. Bill will find plenty of inspiration for feast days, funerals, holidays, and the current issues of our day. Each homily can be adapted to suit any preaching style or faith community. These are homilies that will be talked about, thought about, and acted upon. They're also perfect spiritual reading for priests, deacons, lay ministers, teachers, RC1Agroups, and anyone who wants to explore Scripture more deeply and apply it to daily living. Book jacket.

The Promised One (A 10-week Bible Study)

The Promised One (A 10-week Bible Study) PDF Author: Nancy Guthrie
Publisher: Crossway
ISBN: 143352628X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
This first volume in the Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament Bible study series guides women through a Christ-centered study of Genesis. The Promised One provides a fresh look at the book of Genesis, leading women in discovering how its stories, symbols, people, and promises point to Christ. Over ten weeks of study, participants will see Christ as the agent of creation, the offspring who will crush the head of the serpent, the ark of salvation, the source of the righteousness credited to Abraham, the substitutionary sacrifice provided by God, the Savior to whom the whole world must come for life, and much more. Each weekly lesson includes questions for personal study, a contemporary teaching chapter that emphasizes how the passage fits into the bigger story of redemptive history, a brief section on how the passage uniquely points to what is yet to come at the consummation of Christ's kingdom, and a leader's guide for group discussion. A ten-session DVD companion set is also available.

Ambition in America

Ambition in America PDF Author: Jeffrey A. Becker
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813145066
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
One of the largest southern cities and a hub for the cotton industry, Memphis, Tennessee, was at the forefront of black political empowerment during the Jim Crow era. Compared to other cities in the South, Memphis had an unusually large number of African American voters. Black Memphians sought reform at the ballot box, formed clubs, ran for office, and engaged in voter registration and education activities from the end of the Civil War through the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954. In this groundbreaking book, Elizabeth Gritter examines how and why black Memphians mobilized politically in the period between Reconstruction and the beginning of the civil rights movement. Gritter illuminates, in particular, the efforts and influence of Robert R. Church Jr., an affluent Republican and founder of the Lincoln League, and the notorious Memphis political boss Edward H. Crump. Using these two men as lenses through which to view African American political engagement, this volume explores how black voters and their leaders both worked with and opposed the white political machine at the ballot box. River of Hope challenges persisting notions of a "Solid South" of white Democratic control by arguing that the small but significant number of black southerners who retained the right to vote had more influence than scholars have heretofore assumed. Gritter's nuanced study presents a fascinating view of the complex nature of political power during the Jim Crow era and provides fresh insight into the efforts of the individuals who laid the foundation for civil rights victories in the 1950s and '60s.

The Devolution of Man

The Devolution of Man PDF Author: Loren Psaltis
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1499065094
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
The question "Where do we come from?" may never be answered. But "Why do we exist? that is my interest. Humanity has become a tribe of production and consumption. But for a small percentage of enlightened thinkers through history, the likes of Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Leonardo da Vinci, Fibonacci, Isaac Newton, Rumi, Nikolai Tesla, Socrates, Jesus, Mohammed, Siddhartha Gautama and their peers, for the greater part of human history, we have steadily devolved into a race of slavery to a system that has led us to disease, depression, debt, war and poverty for the majority of the world's population. I have a theory, after many years of studying what ancient cultures knew, to the systems we now have devolved to create, that happiness, health, wealth, good fortune, long life, love and joy are easily achieved. Our birthright in fact. And there is a way back, accessible to all. It is time to know why we exist.

Celeb 2.0

Celeb 2.0 PDF Author: Kelli S. Burns
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313356890
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
This volume looks at how the new capabilities of Web 2.0 are changing the worlds of celebrity fandom and gossip. With Ashton Kutcher's record-breaking "tweeting" more famous than his films, and Perez Hilton actually getting more attention than Paris, the actress often covered in his blog, the worlds of celebrity celebration and online social networking are pushing the public's crush on the famous and infamous into overdrive. Celeb 2.0: How Social Media Foster Our Fascination with Popular Culture explores this phenomenon. Celeb 2.0 looks at how blogs, video sharing sites, user-news sites, social networks, and message boards are fueling America's already voracious consumption of pop culture. Full of fascinating insights and interviews, the book looks at how celebrities use blogs, Twitter, and other tools, how YouTube and other sites create celebrity, how Web 2.0 shortens the distance between fans and stars, and how the new social media influences news reporting and series television.

Aristotle's Way

Aristotle's Way PDF Author: Edith Hall
Publisher: Bodley Head Childrens
ISBN: 0735220808
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
"Aristotle was an extraordinary thinker, perhaps the greatest in history. Yet he was preoccupied by an ordinary question: how to be happy. His deepest belief was that e can all be happy in a meaningful, sustained way - and he led by example. In this handbook to his timeless teachings, Professor Edith Hall shows how ancient thinking is precisely what we need today, even if you don't know your Odyssey from your Iliad. In ten practical lessons we come to understand more about our own characters and how to make good decisions. We learn how to do well in an interview, how to choose a partner and lifelong friends, and how to face death or bereavement"--Inside front cover.