Eye of the Taika

Eye of the Taika
Author: Matthew Bannister
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2021-10-19
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0814345344

Innovative study of Taika Waititi, whose Maori and Jewish roots influence his distinctive New Zealand comedic style. Eye of the Taika: New Zealand Comedy and the Films of Taika Waititi is the first book-length study of comic film director and media celebrity Taika Waititi. Author Matthew Bannister analyses Waititi's feature films and places his other works and performances—short films, TV series, advertisements, music videos, and media appearances—in the fabric of popular culture. The book's thesis is that Waititi's playful comic style draws on an ironic reading of NZ identity as Antipodean camp, a style which reflects NZ's historic status as colonial underdog. The first four chapters of Eye of the Taika explore Waititi's early life and career, the history of New Zealand and its film industry, the history of local comedy and its undervaluation in favor of more "serious" art, and ethnicity in New Zealand comedy. Bannister then focuses on Waititi's films, beginning with Eagle vs Shark (2007) and its place in "New Geek Cinema," despite being an outsider even in this realm. Bannister uses Boy (2010) to address the "comedian comedy," arguing that Waititi is a comedic entertainer before being a director. With What We Do in The Shadows(2014), Bannister explores Waititi's use of the vampire as the archetypal immigrant struggling to fit into mainstream society, under the guise of a mockumentary. Waititi's Hunt for the Wilderpeople(2016), Bannister argues, is a family-friendly, rural-based romp that plays on and ironizes aspects of Aotearoa/New Zealand identity. Thor: Ragnarok(2017) launched Waititi into the Hollywood realm, while introducing a Polynesian perspective on Western superhero ideology. Finally, Bannister addresses Jojo Rabbit (2019) as an "anti-hate satire" and questions its quality versus its topicality and timeliness in Hollywood. By viewing Waititi's career and filmography as a series of pranks, Bannister identifies Waititi's playful balance between dominant art worlds and emergent postcolonial innovations, New Zealand national identity and indigenous Aotearoan (and Jewish) roots, and masculinity and androgyny. Eye of the Taika is intended for film scholars and film lovers alike.

Caging Skies

Caging Skies
Author: Christine Leunens
Publisher: Abrams
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2019-08-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1683356926

The inspiration for the major film Jojo Rabbit by Taika Waititi An avid member of the Hitler Youth in 1940s Vienna, Johannes Betzler discovers his parents are hiding a Jewish girl named Elsa behind a false wall in their home. His initial horror turns to interest—then love and obsession. After his parents disappear, Johannes is the only one aware of Elsa’s existence in the house and he alone is responsible for her fate. Drawing strength from his daydreams about Hitler, Johannes plans for the end of the war and what it might mean for him and Elsa. The inspiration for the major film Jojo Rabbit by Taika Waititi, Caging Skies, sold in over twenty countries, is a work of rare power; a stylistic and storytelling triumph. Startling, blackly comic, and written in Christine Leunens’s gorgeous, muscular prose, this novel, her U.S. debut, is singular and unforgettable.

The Most Important Comic Book on Earth

The Most Important Comic Book on Earth
Author: Cara Delevingne
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 351
Release: 2021-11-09
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 0744058511

120 inspiring visual stories on environmentalism from key figures, charities, activists, and artists. The Most Important Comic Book On Earth is a global collaboration for planetary change, bringing together a diverse team of 300 leading environmentalists, artists, authors, actors, filmmakers, musicians, and more to present over 120 stories to save the world. Whether it’s inspirational tales from celebrity names such as Cara Delevingne and Andy Serkis, hilarious webcomics from War and Peas and Ricky Gervais, artworks by leading illustrators David Mack and Tula Lotay, calls to action from activists George Monbiot and Jane Goodall, or powerful stories by Brian Azzarello and Amy Chu, each of the comics in this anthology will support projects and organizations fighting to save the planet and Rewrite Extinction.

Memento Mori

Memento Mori
Author: Rosie Cranie-Higgs
Publisher: BHC Press
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2023-04-18
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1643973398

From author Rosie Cranie-Higgs comes a masterpiece of psychological horror and suspense set against the snowy and stark Swiss Alps. Deftly mixing Scandinavian folklore and dark fairy tales, Rosie’s creepy and atmospheric Whiteland series “takes readers down a terror-filled rabbit hole…” (Publishers Weekly) to a realm that is impossible to leave. Humanity is questionable...and so is life itself. Some witches never die. Dragged back into the strange realm of Whiteland, Kira McFadden is on her own. The Whispers want her out. The Chlause have her sister. The Kyo are subdued...for now. Kira is determined to return to Urnäsch to find her missing friends and family. Joining forces with the help of Freya, a huldra monster turned human, Freya promises they’ll find a way to get the others back. But Kira and Freya are not who they once were. When Kira was here last, she was naïve and human. When Freya was here last, she wasn’t even human at all. As they traverse the bizarre world of Whiteland with only threads to go on, they’ll need to resist the seduction of the creatures and unravel their riddles. As Urnäsch starts to break and the Whispers turn their backs, Kira and Freya will have to outmaneuver and overcome the plots of witches and ghosts as worlds collide in this mind-bending series finale.

Good Indian Daughter

Good Indian Daughter
Author: Ruhi Lee
Publisher: Affirm Press
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2021-05-25
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1922419915

Long before Ruhi fell pregnant, she knew she was never going to be the 'good Indian daughter' her parents demanded. But when the discovery that she is having a girl sends her into a slump of disappointment, it becomes clear she's getting weighed down by emotional baggage that needs to be unpacked, quickly. So Ruhi sets herself a mission to deal with the potholes in her past before her baby is born. Delving into her youth in suburban Melbourne, she draws a heartrending yet often hilarious picture of a family in crisis, struggling to connect across generational, cultural and personal divides. Sifting through her own shattered self-esteem, Ruhi confronts the abuse threaded through her childhood. How can she hold on to the family and culture she has known and loved her whole life, when they are the reason for her scars? Good Indian Daughter is a brutally honest yet brilliantly funny memoir for anyone who's ever felt like a let-down.

The Imaginary Lives of James Poneke

The Imaginary Lives of James Poneke
Author: Tina Makereti
Publisher: Eye Books (US&CA)
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2019-12-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1785631535

James Poneke is a young Maori orphan, raised by missionaries, with a burning desire to travel and explore the world. When an English artist on a tour of New Zealand invites James to return home with him, the boy eagerly accepts and agrees to become a living exhibit at the artist's London show. By day, James dresses in full tribal outfit, being stared at, prodded and examined by paying visitors. By night, he is free to explore the city, but anything can happen to a young New Zealander on the savage streets of Victorian London and James is unprepared for the wonders, dangers and unearthed secrets that await. The Imaginary Lives of James Poneke is an unforgettable work of historical fiction in the spirit of Sarah Waters and Sarah Perry.

Performing Marginality

Performing Marginality
Author: Joanne R. Gilbert
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2004
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780814328033

An academic study of stand-up comedy performed by females. This will aid in the understanding of power structures in our society.

The Great Indoors

The Great Indoors
Author: Emily Anthes
Publisher: Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2020-06-23
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0374716684

An Architectural Record Notable Book A fascinating, thought-provoking journey into our built environment Modern humans are an indoor species. We spend 90 percent of our time inside, shuttling between homes and offices, schools and stores, restaurants and gyms. And yet, in many ways, the indoor world remains unexplored territory. For all the time we spend inside buildings, we rarely stop to consider: How do these spaces affect our mental and physical well-being? Our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors? Our productivity, performance, and relationships? In this wide-ranging, character-driven book, science journalist Emily Anthes takes us on an adventure into the buildings in which we spend our days, exploring the profound, and sometimes unexpected, ways that they shape our lives. Drawing on cutting-edge research, she probes the pain-killing power of a well-placed window and examines how the right office layout can expand our social networks. She investigates how room temperature regulates our cognitive performance, how the microbes hiding in our homes influence our immune systems, and how cafeteria design affects what—and how much—we eat. Along the way, Anthes takes readers into an operating room designed to minimize medical errors, a school designed to boost students’ physical fitness, and a prison designed to support inmates’ psychological needs. And she previews the homes of the future, from the high-tech houses that could monitor our health to the 3D-printed structures that might allow us to live on the Moon. The Great Indoors provides a fresh perspective on our most familiar surroundings and a new understanding of the power of architecture and design. It's an argument for thoughtful interventions into the built environment and a story about how to build a better world—one room at a time.

Art of the Cut

Art of the Cut
Author: Steve Hullfish
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2024-07-18
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 104003649X

This is the second volume of the widely acclaimed Art of the Cut book published in 2017. This follow-up text expands on its predecessor with wisdom from more than 360 interviews with the world’s best editors (including nearly every Oscar winner from the last 30 years). Because editing is a highly subjective art form, and one that is critical to the success of motion picture storytelling, it requires side-by-side comparisons of the many techniques and solutions used by a wide range of editors from around the world. That is why this book compares and contrasts methodologies from a wide array of diverse voices and organizes that information so that it is easily digested and understood. There is no one way to approach editorial problems, so this book allows readers to see multiple solutions from multiple editors. The interviews contained within are carefully curated into topics that are most important to film editors and those who aspire to become film editors. The questions asked, and the organization of the book, are not merely an academic or theoretical view of the art of editing but rather the practical advice and methodologies of actual working film and TV editors, bringing benefits to both students and professional readers. The book is supplemented by a collection of downloadable online exclusive chapters, which cover additional topics ranging from Choosing the Project to VFX. In addition to the supplementary chapters, access to the full-color, full-resolution images printed in the book—and other exclusive images—is included.

The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean

The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean
Author: Anne Perez Hattori
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 1049
Release: 2022-12-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108245536

Volume II of The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean focuses on the latest era of Pacific history, examining the period from 1800 to the present day. This volume discusses advances and emerging trends in the historiography of the colonial era, before outlining the main themes of the twentieth century when the idea of a Pacific-centred century emerged. It concludes by exploring how history and the past inform preparations for the emerging challenges of the future. These essays emphasise the importance of understanding how the postcolonial period shaped the modern Pacific and its historians.