For more than twenty-five years, Gahan Wilson's unique perspective on the world has been making people laugh. His cartoons have been found in the pages of National Lampoon, Playboy, and The New Yorker. Still Weird, Wilson's first major collection, includes selections from the whole body of his work, plus 100 brand-new cartoons and 100 more that have never before been published in book form. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
This Expanded Edition features even more insights on “Weird Al” Yankovic, including his activities during a tumultuous 2020 and 2021, diving deeper into the world of the iconic man who has made a career out of making us laugh. Funny music is often dismissed as light and irrelevant, but Yankovic’s fourteen successful studio albums prove there is more going on than comedic music's reputation suggests. Lily Hirsch weaves together original interviews with the prince of parody himself, creating a fresh take on comedy and music’s complicated romance. She reveals that Yankovic’s jests have always had a deeper meaning, addressing such topics as bullying, celebrity, and racial and gender stereotypes. The Expanded Edition celebrates Yankovic’s vast influence on musicians, comedians, and performing artists as well as what the man has meant to fans—in a time of uncertainty, Yankovic has served as a much-needed bright spot for many. From his love of accordions and Hawaiian print shirts to his popular puns and trademark dance moves, Weird Al is undeterred by those who say funny music is nothing but a low-brow pastime. And thank goodness. With his good-guy grace still intact, Yankovic remains unapologetically and unmistakably himself. Reveling in the mischief and wisdom of Yankovic’s over forty-year career, this book is an Al-expense-paid tour of a true comedic and musical genius.
As he's shown in his previous hugely popular books, Jeffrey Brown has a real gift for finding humor in quirky yet universal truths. Now the bestselling author of Darth Vader and Son and Vader's Little Princess brings his witty comic observations to terrestrial parenting in this perceptive book celebrating the more surreal moments of raising a child. In charming colorful panels, Brown wryly illustrates his fiveyear- old son's take on the world around him, from watching TV ("Elton John looks pretty in that shirt") to playing with toys ("This truck can survive on very little water") to odd requests ("Don't feel happy at me"), capturing the sweetly weird times that mothers and fathers everywhere experience with their own curious, pure-minded kids.
Jesus is different. Go and do likewise. Many Christians have become comfortable letting the world mold them instead of being set apart by God. And many churches have traded in their biblical roots for complacent conventionality. But Jesus and the church are anything but conventional. The hallmark of our faith is that it sees the world differently than the world sees itself. We are called to be eccentric—off center, unique, different; not conformed to the patterns of the world but transformed by the renewing of our minds. By the grace of God we are not only dissatisfied by sin but increasingly uncompelled by conventionality. So resist the allure of acceptability. Get back to the unsafe roots of our faith. Be equipped to surprise the world with the Good News it didn’t even know it was waiting for. Challenge the way things are by living a life that has been truly set free by Christ.
Travel guide of sorts to an array of local legends, folklore, and secrets in the United States. Includes characters, roads, abandoned sites, and roadside attractions.
An examination of Austin’s rapid economic and creative growth and local attitudes toward the Texas capitol’s transformation as an urban center. Austin, Texas, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, is experiencing one of the most dynamic periods in its history. Wedged between homogenizing growth and a long tradition of rebellious nonconformity, many Austinites feel that they are amid a battle for the city’s soul. From this struggle, a movement has emerged as a form of resistance to the rapid urban transformation brought about in recent years: “Keep Austin Weird” originated in 2000 as a grassroots expression of place attachment and anti-commercialization. Its popularity has led to its use as a rallying cry for local business, as a rhetorical tool by city governance, and now as the unofficial civic motto for a city experiencing rapid growth and transformation. By using “Keep Austin Weird” as a central focus, Joshua Long explores the links between sense of place, consumption patterns, sustainable development, and urban politics in Austin. Research on this phenomenon considers the strong influence of the “Creative Class” thesis on Smart Growth strategies, gentrification, income inequality, and social polarization made popular by the works of Richard Florida. This study is highly applicable to several emerging “Creative Cities,” but holds special significance for the city considered the greatest creative success story, Austin.
Red Wassenich's, who coined of the phrase Keep Austin Weird, entertaining text and over 180 color photos show the colorful places, people, and doings in Austin, Texas' capital city. Tour the Cathedral of Junk built with over 700 bicycles. Meet Leslie, the cross-dressing perennial mayoral candidate. Party at the Spamarama, Austin's premier weird cook-off. Keep your eyes peeled for the cruising art cars. For the adventurous, there is no better guide to Austin!
From Lovecraft to Borges to Gaiman, a century of intrepid literary experimentation has created a corpus of dark and strange stories that transcend all known genre boundaries. Together these stories form The Weird, and its practitioners include some of the greatest names in twentieth and twenty-first century literature. Exotic and esoteric, The Weird plunges you into dark domains and brings you face to face with surreal monstrosities. You won't find any elves or wizards here...but you will find the biggest, boldest, and downright most peculiar stories from the last hundred years bound together in the biggest Weird collection ever assembled. The Weird features 110 stories by an all-star cast, from literary legends to international bestsellers to Booker Prize winners: including William Gibson, George R. R. Martin, Stephen King, Angela Carter, Kelly Link, Franz Kafka, China Miéville, Clive Barker, Haruki Murakami, M. R. James, Neil Gaiman, Mervyn Peake, and Michael Chabon. The Weird is the winner of the 2012 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
They’re talented, good-looking and falling in love. Kang Seuk-Chim, leader of K-pop superstar group SBG, rarely has time to himself to relax, so when his childhood friend Park Seo-Ho invites him to his wedding on beautiful Jeju Island, he jumps at the chance to get away. What he doesn’t expect is for the trip to bring upheaval into his life, both good and bad. While there, he reconnects with the third member of their childhood trio, Melody Kim, who moved to the United States when they were all 12 years old. But the girl who could once put both him and Seo-Ho to shame on a skateboard or bike has grown into a stunningly beautiful woman, one toward whom he feels an immediate attraction. But when photos of them together get splashed all over the internet, ones that appear scandalous, he’s faced with not only protecting Melody from angry fans but also the very real possibility that he’ll have to leave SBG to protect his fellow members. Following her father’s death, Melody Kim has moved back to South Korea so that her mother can find solace in family and old friends. She’s happy to reconnect with her own childhood friends but is stunned when she meets Chim again, because all the magazine photos and TV appearances do not do him justice. The best part is that despite being a worldwide star, her friend seems every bit as kind and humble as he’d been as a kid. But a fun weekend before she starts her new job as a language instructor is turned upside down by someone out to make some quick money or do damage to SBG—or both. While trying to clear their names and protect those they care about, both Chim and Melody find themselves unexpectedly falling for their best friend. But is confessing that love worth the risk of losing the friendship?
