Sexy and Single… And New Zealand billionaire Russell Holloway intends to stay that way, despite appearing on a matchmaking reality TV show. All he wants from his wholesome bachelorette is to whitewash his reputation so he can score the merger of a lifetime. Nothing more…except a few nights' pleasurable diversion. New York professional Gail Little goes from reserved to stunning in time for their first date. But when she meets Russell, she knows the matchmaker made a big mistake. The camera may see their instant chemistry, but will Gail allow the perpetual playboy to transform her into his very own plaything…forever?
In the context of nineteenth-century Victorinoir and close readings of original-cycle film noir, Julie Grossman argues that the presence of the "femme fatale" figure, as she is understood in film criticism and popular culture, is drastically over-emphasized and has helped to sustain cultural obsessions with "bad" women.
Relates the story of how Sunset Boulevard became a screen classic, revealing the secrets and scandals involving the big names associated with the movie and documenting the impact of this film on society.
From a council house in Kent to her first home in the Hollywood hills, from being told she was too big to model to becoming an inspiration for curvy girls everywhere, Kelly's life has taken many unexpected turns. As a child she just wanted to be an actress - she never imagined she'd also become a hugely popular pin up girl or that she'd be romanced by film stars and pursued by paparazzi. Now, in her deeply personal and honest autobiography, Kelly opens up about the men she has loved and the tragic loss and heartache she has overcome. And she reveals how, by refusing to be limited by other people's perceptions of her, she has forged a successful career as an actress, model and business woman. In Close Up we see the real Kelly. The girl behind the gloss. A funny, feisty woman who lives life on her own terms.
Part memoir and part joyful romp through the fields of imagination, the story behind a beloved pseudonymous Twitter personality reveals how a writer deep in grief rebuilt a life worth living.
Maine seventh-grader Madison and her two best friends, who are being mocked and belittled by former members of their group, decide to conduct a ritual to purge their tormentors from their lives, with unexpected results.
"The femme Fatale takes a long view on the figure of the femme fatale, exploring her style, language, and stories from silent cinema to contemporary television. Author Julie Grossman provides a history of some of this dynamic figure's eruptions in film, TV, and culture generally, exploring the notions of female ambition, frustration, and intelligence that undergird the power and fascination of the femme fatale across time and media. We see how the fatal woman often mediates contradictory views on women's lives and their desire to gain fulfillment in a hostile or otherwise challenging environment. Embodied by some of the most charismatic female performers in Hollywood history, from Theda Bara and Barbara Stanwyck to Hedy Lamarr, Reese Witherspoon, and Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh, the femme fatale remains an active source of pleasure and subversion. Femmes Fatales pays particular attention to performance not only as a prominent feature of these works' production-established in part through references to studio press books and popular reviews--but also as a theme within the narrative (in, for example, the idea of the deceitful, untrustworthy, or "performing" woman). Focusing on expressive moments and scenes in texts that are celebrated and also those that are lesser known, this volume attends to the variety, trauma, wit, and transgressions of the femme fatale, emphasizing how this figure continually provokes us to reflect on rigid conventions and social roles. Femmes Fatales generates questions and analysis that speak to why stories about gender and criminality featuring tough and smart women are so endlessly thrilling"--
Advice and inspiration for women of color seeking new heights of influence, from the "incredible" top Latinx advisor to President Obama (Jennifer Palmieri, author of Dear Madam President). Women of color today are contributing to an unprecedented wave of "firsts"-whether they are the first in a family to attend college, the first to serve as CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or the first in public office, women of color are reaching new heights of influence. Cecilia Muñoz was a first, too, and she knows what it means to make her way without exemplars to follow. The first Latinx to lead the White House Domestic Policy Council, Muñoz draws lessons from the challenges she faced as the senior Hispanic person in the Obama White House and as a longtime powerful voice in the Civil Rights Movement. She shares her insights, along with those of some extraordinary women of color she met along the way, as an offering of inspiration to women of color who are no longer willing to be invisible or left behind. Full of invaluable lessons about working through fear, facing down detractors, and leading with kindness, Muñoz provides the thoughtful insight and tactical tools women of color need to be successful-without compromising who they are.
Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard, a classic film noir and also a damning dissection of the Hollywood dream factory, evokes the glamour and ruin of the stars who subsist on that dream. It's also one long in-joke about the movie industry and those who made it great-and who were, in turn, destroyed by it. One of the most critically admired films of the twentieth century, Sunset Boulevard is also famous as silent star Gloria Swanson's comeback picture. Sam Staggs's Close-Up On Sunset Boulevard tells the story of this extravagant work, from the writing, casting and filming to the disastrous previews that made Paramount consider shelving it. It's about the writing team of Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett-sardonically called "the happiest couple in Hollywood"-and their raucous professional relationship. It's about the art direction and the sets, the costumes, the props, the lights and the cameras, and the personalities who used those tools to create a cinematic work of art. Staggs goes behind the scenes to reveal: William Holden, endlessly attacked by his bitter wife and already drinking too much; Nancy Olson, the cheerful ingenue who had never heard of the great Gloria Swanson; the dark genius Erich von Stroheim; the once famous but long-forgotten "Waxworks"; and of course Swanson herself, who-just like Norma Desmond-had once been "the greatest star of them all." But the story of Sunset Boulevard doesn't end with the movie's success and acclaim at its release in 1950. There's much more, and Staggs layers this stylish book with fascinating detail, following the actors and Wilder into their post-Sunset careers and revealing Gloria Swanson's never-ending struggle to free herself from the clutches of Norma Desmond. Close-Up On Sunset Boulevard also chronicles the making of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical production of Sunset Boulevard and the explosive diva controversies that dogged it. The book ends with a shocking example of Hollywood life imitating Hollywood art. By the last page of this rich narrative, readers will conclude: We are those "wonderful people out there in the dark."
