Spider thinks he is a celebrity. Why you ask? Because if anyone sees him, they scream with "delight." This charming tale shows that your perspective on life, no matter how misconstrued, can keep you confident in any situation.
Why do so many people care so much about celebrities? Who decides who gets to be a star? What are the privileges and pleasures of fandom? Do celebrities ever deserve the outsized attention they receive? In this fascinating and deeply researched book, Sharon Marcus challenges everything you thought you knew about our obsession with fame. Icons are not merely famous for being famous; the media alone cannot make or break stars; fans are not simply passive dupes. Instead, journalists, the public, and celebrities themselves all compete, passionately and expertly, to shape the stories we tell about celebrities and fans. The result: a high-stakes drama as endless as it is unpredictable. Drawing on scrapbooks, personal diaries, and vintage fan mail, Marcus traces celebrity culture back to its nineteenth-century roots, when people the world over found themselves captivated by celebrity chefs, bad-boy poets, and actors such as the "divine" Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923), as famous in her day as the Beatles in theirs. Known in her youth for sleeping in a coffin, hailed in maturity as a woman of genius, Bernhardt became a global superstar thanks to savvy engagement with her era's most innovative media and technologies: the popular press, commercial photography, and speedy new forms of travel. Whether you love celebrity culture or hate it, The Drama of Celebrity will change how you think about one of the most important phenomena of modern times.
A candid, behind-the-scenes glimpse into the emotional, dynamic and often entertaining life of Ramona Singer, the spunky, tell-it-like-it-is reality star whose unfiltered personality viewers have adored through seven seasons of The Real Housewives of New York City. In this alternately heart-wrenching and hilarious memoir, Ramona offers readers a look at her dysfunctional childhood, her parents’ abusive relationship, her inspiring journey of renewal, and opens up for the first time about the events surrounding the tragic collapse of her twenty-year marriage. Never before have her fans seen her so raw, introspective and honest.
New York Times Bestseller: Three former friends bound by ambition, fame, and a dark secret reunite in this spellbinding saga from the author of Blood and Money. They were the princes of their high school in Fort Worth, Texas. Valedictorian Kleber Cantrell became a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who befriended the famous and exposed the notorious. Mack Crawford, teenage Adonis and University of Texas football hero, used his good looks to jumpstart an acting career. And T.J. Luther, voted “most popular” by the senior class, fell into a lurid life of crime but found God in prison and reinvented himself as the nation’s leading right-wing televangelist, his message of faith masking an all-consuming desire for power and revenge. The different routes Kleber, Mack, and T.J. took to celebrity share common signposts: personal upheavals, ruinous marriages, petty jealousies, and blind ambition. Now, on the eve of their twenty-fifth high school reunion, their separate paths will cross to devastating effect—because these three friends have something else in common. It happened in an isolated cabin in the Texas woods on the night they graduated. They vowed never to speak of it again, but they always knew there would be a terrible price to pay . . . A unique blend of fiction and autobiography, Celebrity is an “enthralling” tale of suspense from an Edgar Award–winning author whose journalism career gave him a front-row seat to the tumultuous lives of the rich and famous (TheBoston Globe). A six-month national bestseller, it was the basis for a television miniseries starring Ned Beatty, Hal Holbrook, and James Whitmore
Celebrity Culture and the American Dream, Second Edition considers how major economic and historical factors shaped the nature of celebrity culture as we know it today, retaining the first edition’s examples from the first celebrity fan magazines of 1911 to the present and expanding to include updated examples and additional discussion on the role of the internet and social media in today’s celebrity culture. Equally important, the book explains how and why the story of Hollywood celebrities matters, sociologically speaking, to an understanding of American society, to the changing nature of the American Dream, and to the relation between class and culture. This book is an ideal addition to courses on inequalities, celebrity culture, media, and cultural studies.
The Celebrity Experience combines the best practices of the business world with those of the celebrity world to create a practical and proactive guide for anyone who wants to bring their business’s internal and external customer service to the level of star treatment. Based on the unique ways celebrities are treated, the book shares techniques you can use to treat your customers to a red-carpet experience, guaranteeing repeat business and stellar word of mouth.
An A–Z compendium of the comedian’s celebrity encounters, and the jaw-dropping, charming, and sometimes bizarre anecdotes only she can tell about them. Kathy Griffin’s Celebrity Run-Ins is Kathy’s funny, juicy index of all of the celebrities she has met during her many years in show business, bursting with never-before-told stories. Starting with Woody Allen and ending with Warren Zevon, Kathy Griffin’s Celebrity Run-Ins is a who’s who of pop culture: Leonardo DiCaprio, Nick Jonas, Kendall Jenner, Anna Kendrick, Lily Tomlin, Suge Knight, Barbra Streisand, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Maria Shriver, Jared Leto, Selena Gomez, Meghan Trainor, Macklemore, Bruno Mars, Aaron Paul, Pink, Pitbull, Sia, Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Christina Aguilera, and many more. Who would imagine that Kathy was an extra in a Michael Jackson commercial (guess which one)? That she and Salman Rushdie trade celebrity stories? That Donald Trump once drove Kathy and Liza Minelli around on a golf cart? That Sidney Poitier has a wicked sense of humor? That Demi Lovato has none? That David Letterman is still scared of Cher? That Channing Tatum is as polite as they come, and Tom Hanks might have the best perspective on fame of anyone? Kathy, that’s who. Kathy has met everyone, and after reading this book, you will feel as if you have, too. Kathy Griffin has seen it all. Shocking and sidesplitting, Kathy Griffin’s Celebrity Run-Ins is an indispensable guide to the stars from one of our most beloved comedians. Can you handle it?
The Celebrity CEO is the complete guide to creating a strong personal brand. By developing your personal brand, you will set your business apart from your competitors and become known as the expert in your industry. The Celebrity CEO is the complete guide to creating a strong personal brand. By developing your personal brand, you will set your business apart from your competitors and become known as the expert in your industry. Written for entrepreneurs and small business owners who want to make a massive impact and build a loyal fan base, The Celebrity CEO is the source for celebrity status in business. Learn from the founder of Smart Hustle Media, Ramon Ray, the mind-set of a celebrity CEO and the tools to cultivate your tribe.
A new cultural icon strode the world stage at the turn of the twenty-first century: the celebrity scientist, as comfortable in Vanity Fair and Vogue as Smithsonian. Declan Fahy profiles eight of these eloquent, controversial, and compelling sellers of science to investigate how they achieved celebrity in the United States and internationally—and explores how their ideas influence our understanding of the world. Fahy traces the career trajectories of Richard Dawkins, Stephen Hawking, Steven Pinker, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Brian Greene, Stephen Jay Gould, Susan Greenfield, and James Lovelock. He demonstrates how each scientist embraced the power of promotion and popularization to stimulate thinking, impact policy, influence research, drive controversies, and mobilize social movements. He also considers critical claims that they speak beyond their expertise and for personal gain. The result is a fascinating look into how celebrity scientists help determine what it means to be human, the nature of reality, and how to prepare for society’s uncertain future.