Ron and Jill, after six months together, discovered the house of their dreams: a landmark Victorian row house that had belonged to a notorious fraternity in Baltimore. Unfortunately, it was now a condemned, abandoned property. But Jill wanted the house and Ron wanted Jill. Beyond the wall-to-wall graffiti, collapsed fireplaces and banisters, and three dumpsters worth of trash, the couple envisioned this as their future dream home. So Ron bought the 4,500-square-foot ruin, despite the fact that neither Ron nor Jill knew anything about home renovation, and that the project might ruin them both financially and emotionally. A book for lovers, dreamers, and do-it-yourselfers, From Animal House to Our House recounts Ron and Jill’s decade-long adventure in house restoration, offering inspiration, insight, and hilarity as they hammer away at the American dream of home ownership and true love.
The creator of Animal House at last tells the real story of the fraternity that inspired the iconic film -- a story far more outrageous and funny than any movie could ever capture.
A stylish guide to interior design offers practical and innovative solutions for pet owners on how to create a home decor for maximum human and animal comfort and offers helpful tips on how to keep one's pet-friendly interiors looking their best. Reprint.
In 1976 the creators of National Lampoon, America's most popular humor magazine, decided to make a movie. It would be set on a college campus in the 1960s, loosely based on the experiences of Lampoon writers Chris Miller and Harold Ramis and Lampoon editor Doug Kenney. They named it Animal House, in honor of Miller's fraternity at Dartmouth, where the members had been nicknamed after animals. Miller, Ramis, and Kenney wrote a film treatment that was rejected and ridiculed by Hollywood studios—until at last Universal Pictures agreed to produce the film, with a budget of $3 million. A cast was assembled, made up almost completely of unknowns. Stephen Furst, who played Flounder, had been delivering pizzas. Kevin Bacon was a waiter in Manhattan when he was hired to play Chip. Chevy Chase was considered for the role of Otter, but it wound up going to the lesser-known Tim Matheson. John Belushi, for his unforgettable role as Bluto, made $40,000 (the movie's highest-paid actor). For four weeks in the fall of 1977, the actors and crew invaded the college town of Eugene, Oregon, forming their own sort of fraternity in the process. The hilarious, unforgettable movie they made wound up earning more than $600 million and became one of America's most beloved comedy classics. It launched countless careers and paved the way for today's comedies from directors such as Judd Apatow and Todd Phillips. Bestselling author Matty Simmons was the founder of National Lampoon and the producer of Animal House. In Fat, Drunk, and Stupid, he draws from exclusive interviews with actors including Karen Allen, Kevin Bacon, Peter Riegert, and Mark Metcalf, director John Landis, fellow producer Ivan Reitman, and other key players—as well as behind-the-scenes photos—to tell the movie's outrageous story, from its birth in the New York offices of the National Lampoon to writing a script, assembling the perfect cast, the wild weeks of filming, and, ultimately, to the film's release and megasuccess. This is a hilarious romp through one of the biggest grossing, most memorable, most frequently quoted, and most celebrated comedies of all time.
A sprawling suburban house in Santa Fe is not the kind of home where a buffalo normally roams, but Veryl Goodnight and Roger Brooks are not your ordinary animal lovers. Over a hundred years after Veryl's ancestors, Charles and Mary Ann Goodnight, hand-raised two baby buffalo to help save the species from extinction, the sculptor and her husband adopt an orphaned buffalo calf of their own. Against a backdrop of the old American West, A Buffalo in the House tells the story of a household situation beyond any sitcom writer's wildest dreams. Charlie has no idea he's a buffalo and Roger has no idea just how strong the bond between man and buffalo can be. In the historical shadow of the near-extermination of a majestic and misunderstood animal, Roger sets out to save just one buffalo. Written in the tradition of Ian Frazier's Great Plains and the work of Garrison Keillor and Bill Bryson, A Buffalo in the House tells an important, uplifting story about one animal's ability to touch human lives and reconnect people of all ages to the vanished past.
Jeremy's teacher Mrs. Nuddles thinks he belongs in a zoo—and she isn't far from the truth. Jeremy lives in an animal house, where refrigergators roam free, floormingoes don't mind being stepped on, and manatee-vees broadcast the news. When Mrs. Nuddles visits Jeremy's house herself, she witnesses the amazing animal house firsthand: the snailbox full of mail, the armapillow happy to let her rest her head, and—unfortunately for Mrs. Nuddles—the vulchair, who might be a bit hungry today. Young readers will delight in the silly wordplay and bright, detailed illustrations of this wild story.
We Build Our Homes is a beautifully illustrated picture book exploring the incredible structures built by animals and the reasons why they build them. Each spread looks at a different animal, told as though from their viewpoint.
