Welcome to My World

Welcome to My World
Author: Johnny Weir
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2011-01-11
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1451611374

In a memoir as candid and unconventional as Johnny Weir himself, the three-time U.S. National Champion figure skater who electrified the 2010 Winter Olympics shares his glamorous, gritty, heartbreaking, hopeful, and just plain fabulous life story. How does a boy from rural Pennsylvania become an all-American original style icon on the ice and off, adored by fans around the world, and hailed as “The Lady Gaga of skating” (Salon.com)? The answers are here, in his invigorating and thoroughly entertaining chronicle of the emergence of his natural talents for skating and horseback riding; the physically and emotionally grinding path to becoming a champion; a family who sacrificed everything to support his passions; an ability to rise again after the most devastating defeats and never look back; an appreciation of style (from his mom) and self-discipline (that would be from his dad); and a fearless confidence to say whatever’s on his mind. Because when you’re Johnny Weir, you don’t worry about what other people think. You let everyone else worry about that for you. Welcome to his world.

Alternatives

Alternatives
Author: Peter Eckersall
Publisher: Peter Lang
Total Pages: 174
Release: 2004
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 9789052011752

This book investigates alternative ways of working between cultural, artistic, and intellectual spaces in an era when the reality of globalisation imposes on our world view. Essays by leading performance scholars in Australia, Japan and USA are inspired by the Journey to Con-Fusion project; a collaboration between Tokyo's 'Gekidan Kaitaisha' and Melbourne's 'Not Yet It's Difficult' performance groups. Discussed in Alternatives are issues of cultural politics; intercultural exchange; representation and interpretation of contemporary performance; dramaturgical analysis; and readings of performative sites. This book also includes a photo essay of Journey to Con-Fusion. In addition, this multidisciplinary volume offers analyses of outstanding examples of rarely seen Japanese and Australian performance. This material will be of vital interest to scholars working at the intersections of theatre and cultural studies. This study results from the fruitful collaboration between artists and scholars through alternative networks and cross-cultural partnership. It addresses wide-ranging contexts for the arts, and debates possibilities for far-reaching alternatives in an age of advanced capitalism and globalisation.

Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential

Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential
Author: Brian Ashcraft
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2014-05-13
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 1462914098

"The schoolgirl is the main driver of Japan's Gross National Cool, and Brian Ashcraft's book is the best source for those hoping to understand why." —Chris Baker, WIRED Magazine Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential takes you beyond the realm of everyday girls to the world of the iconic Japanese schoolgirl craze that is sweeping the globe. For years, Japanese schoolgirls have appeared in hugely-popular anime and manga series such as Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and Blood: The Last Vampire. These girls are literally showing up everywhere—in movies, magazines, video games, advertising, and music. WIRED Magazine has kept an eye on the trends emerging from these stylish teens, following kick-ass schoolgirl characters in videogames like Street Fighter and assassin schoolgirls in movies like Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. By talking to Japanese women, including former and current J-Pop idols, well-known actresses, models, writers, and artists—along with famous Japanese film directors, historians and marketers—authors Brian Ashcraft and Shoko Ueda (who have both contributed to WIRED's "Japanese Schoolgirl Watch" columns) reveal the true story behind Japan's schoolgirl obsessions. You'll learn the origins of the schoolgirls' unusual attire, and how they are becoming a global brand used to sell everything from kimchi to insurance. In Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential, you'll discover: Sailor-suited pop-idols Cult movie vixens Schoolgirl shopping power The latest uniform fashions Japanese schoolgirls are a symbol of girl empowerment. Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential shows why they are so intensely cool. Don't miss this essential book on the Japanese youth culture craze that is driving today's pop culture worldwide. "Whether your preferred schoolgirl is more the upstanding heroine Sailor Moon or the vengeful, weapon-wielding Gogo Yubari of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, Vol. 1, you'll come away well versed." —Publishers Weekly

The Ugly Truth

The Ugly Truth
Author: Jeff Kinney
Publisher: Penguin Books Limited
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2012
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9780141340821

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth is the massively funny fifth title in the highly-illustrated, bestselling and award-winning Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney. Perfect for both boys and girls of 8+, reluctant readers and all the millions of devoted Wimpy Kid fans out there. You can also discover Greg on the big screen in any one of the three Wimpy Kid Movie box office smashes.The massively funny fifth book in the bestselling and award-winning Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.Greg Heffley has always been in a hurry to grow up. But is getting older really all it's cracked up to be?Suddenly Greg is dealing with the pressures of boy-girl parties, increased responsibilities, and even the awkward changes that come with getting older. And after a fight with his best friend Rowley, it looks like Greg is going to have to face the "ugly truth" all by himself . . .Praise for Jeff Kinney and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series:'The world has gone crazy for Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid series' - Sun'Kinney is right up there with J K Rowling as one of the bestselling children's authors on the planet' - Independent'Hilarious!' - Sunday Telegraph'The most hotly anticipated children's book of the year is here - Diary of a Wimpy Kid' - The Big IssueAs well as being an international bestselling author, Jeff Kinney is also an online developer and designer. He is the creator of the children's virtual world, poptropica where you can also find the Wimpy Kid boardwalk. He was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2009. He lives with his family in Massachusetts, USA. www.wimpykidclub.co.uk

Schoolgirls, Money and Rebellion in Japan

Schoolgirls, Money and Rebellion in Japan
Author: Sharon Kinsella
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2013-11-07
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1134488416

Japanese society in the 1990s and 2000s produced a range of complicated material about sexualized schoolgirls, and few topics have caught the imagination of western observers so powerfully. While young Japanese girls had previously been portrayed as demure and obedient, in training to become the obedient wife and prudent mother, in recent years less than demure young women have become central to urban mythology and the content of culture. The cultic fascination with the figure of a deviant school girl, which has some of its earliest roots in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, likewise re-emerged and proliferated in fascinating and timely ways in the 1990s and 2000s. Through exploring the history and politics underlying the cult of girls in contemporary Japanese media and culture, this book presents a striking picture of contemporary Japanese society from the 1990s to the start of the 2010s. At its core is an in-depth case study of the media delight and panic surrounding delinquent prostitute schoolgirls. Sharon Kinsella traces this social panic back to male anxieties relating to gender equality and female emancipation in Japan. In each chapter in turn, the book reveals the conflicted, nostalgic, pornographic, and at times distinctly racialized manner, in which largely male sentiments about this transformation of gender relations have been expressed. The book simultaneously explores the stylistic and flamboyant manner in which young women have reacted to the weight of an obsessive and accusatory male media gaze. Covering the often controversial subjects of compensated dating (enjo kôsai), the role of porn and lifestyle magazines, the historical sources and politicized social meanings of the schoolgirl, and the racialization of fashionable girls, Schoolgirls, Money, Rebellion in Japan will be invaluable to students and scholars of Japanese culture and society, sociology, anthropology, gender and women's studies.

Capturing Contemporary Japan

Capturing Contemporary Japan
Author: Satsuki Kawano
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2014-08-31
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0824838688

What are people’s life experiences in present-day Japan? This timely volume addresses fundamental questions vital to understanding Japan in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Its chapters collectively reveal a questioning of middle-class ideals once considered the essence of Japaneseness. In the postwar model household a man was expected to obtain a job at a major firm that offered life-long employment; his counterpart, the “professional” housewife, managed the domestic sphere and the children, who were educated in a system that provided a path to mainstream success. In the past twenty years, however, Japanese society has seen a sharp increase in precarious forms of employment, higher divorce rates, and a widening gap between haves and have-nots. Contributors draw on rich, nuanced fieldwork data collected during the 2000s to examine work, schooling, family and marital relations, child rearing, entertainment, lifestyle choices, community support, consumption and waste, material culture, well-being, aging, death and memorial rites, and sexuality. The voices in these pages vary widely: They include schoolchildren, teenagers, career women, unmarried women, young mothers, people with disabilities, small business owners, organic farmers, retirees, and the elderly.

Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san, Vol. 4

Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san, Vol. 4
Author: Honda
Publisher: Yen Press LLC
Total Pages: 168
Release: 2020-05-05
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 1975308514

Honda-san is stuck: It's hard to keep drawing about your bookstore job after you've quit! But being a full-time manga artist opens new doors-stories from the publishers' perspectives, to the nitty-gritty of e-books, and even to Taiwan's book industry. It's the final volume of Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san, but the joys and agonies of bookselling last forever!

リトルボーイ

リトルボーイ
Author: Murakami (Takashi, Kunstenaar)
Publisher:
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2005
Genre: Animated films
ISBN:

English and Japanese text explore the complexity of postwar Japanese art, focusing on the influence popular culture has had on Japanese art and tracing the development of the manga and anime genres.