For just a hundred dollars, 16-year-old Becca Williamson will break any couple's relationship into smithereens. One night she receives a mysterious offer to break up her school's most popular couple. To succeed, she'll have to plan her most elaborate scheme to date.
Breaking up with someone is a major pain—unless you hire someone to do it for you. Known by her clients as “The High School Heartbreaker,” Amelia Marie Bedford is the perfect picture of a social chameleon and the number one breakup artist in multiple schools. She demands top dollar for her professional breakup services, and there are more than enough girls willing to pay, especially right before prom. Everything’s business as usual until David, one of the boys she’s been hired to dump, throws her for a loop by showing genuine interest in something other than her looks. With clients piling up, Amelia must decide if David’s intentions are honest, or if there’s something else going on behind his gorgeous green eyes.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s creative collaborative community HITRECORD looks at love from both sides in this ingenious flippable book. So, you just got dumped, huh? Or did you just dump someone? Doesn’t matter who ended it. Either way, you’re sleeping alone tonight. But don’t worry, you’re not really alone. HITRECORD’s global community of over 750,000 active artists is here to help with The Art of Breaking Up, a new book designed to get you through this trying time. That’s over 750,000 people who know the soul-crushing pain of a broken heart. But instead of wallowing forever in vats of unproductive (but delicious) cookie dough, they’ve channeled all that misery into an insightful, funny, and smart compendium of musings, photography, drawings, collages, puzzles, recipes, games, and more—designed to explore (and distract from) the mind-numbing agony of a romantic breakup. You’ll laugh, you’ll smile, and you’ll probably cry. Everyone knows there are two sides to every break-up, so this book features a double-sided, flippable structure. One side eases the tortured consciences of the HEARTBREAKERS. Flip the book, and the other side considers the plight of the BROKEN-HEARTED. Both sides are organized chronologically with chapters that correspond to the emotional trajectory of both the HEARTBREAKER and BROKEN-HEARTED. Chapters include: Early Warning Signs, Exit Strategy, The Break Up, Acceptance, Depression, Bargaining, Anger, and Denial. Where the two sections meet in the middle there is a compelling, heart-wrenching moment where the HEARTBREAKER and BROKEN-HEARTED connect again, but we’re not giving that away. Inside this book you’ll find plenty of art, stories, comics, and other amusements, such as a Post-Break-Up Relationship Survey, Denial Yoga, Candy Hearts for Assholes, Breakup Greeting Cards, Hex Your Ex Voodoo Doll, The Free Bird Word Search Game, and a playlist or two, including "Right Back at Ya," a collection of songs to stoke the burning rage in your heart. Everything you’ll find in this book was made collaboratively by people from around the world on HITRECORD–an online creative platform for collaborative art and media projects founded and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. With its universal, all-inclusive approach to the subject, The Art of Breaking Up is an acute observation of love and heartbreak in modern times, and maybe–just maybe–a salve for anyone with a broken heart.
LEGENDARY founding KISS drummer Peter “Catman” Criss has lived an incredible life in music, from the streets of Brooklyn to the social clubs of New York City to the ultimate heights of rock ’n’ roll success and excess. KISS formed in 1973 and broke new ground with their elaborate makeup, live theatrics, and powerful sound. The band emerged as one of the most iconic hard rock acts in music history. Peter Criss, the Catman, was the heartbeat of the group. From an elevated perch on his pyrotechnic drum riser, he had a unique vantage point on the greatest rock show of all time, with the KISS Army looking back at him night after night. Peter Criscuola had come a long way from the homemade drum set he pounded on nonstop as a kid growing up in Brooklyn in the fifties. He endured lean years, street violence, and the rollercoaster music scene of the sixties, but he always knew he’d make it. Makeup to Breakup is Peter Criss’s eye-opening journey from the pledge to his ma that he’d one day play Madison Square Garden to doing just that. He conquered the rock world—composing and singing his band’s all-time biggest hit, “Beth” (1976)—but he also faced the perils of stardom and his own mortality, including drug abuse, treatment in 1982, near-suicides, two broken marriages, and a hard-won battle with breast cancer. Criss opens up with a level of honesty and emotion previously unseen in any musician’s memoir. Makeup to Breakup is the definitive and heartfelt account of one of rock’s most iconic figures, and the importance of faith and family. Rock ’n’ roll has been chronicled many times, but never quite like this.
One hundred and seven women respond to Sophie Calle's "breakup" email through the lens of their respective professions In this remarkable artist's book, French conceptual artist/provocateur Sophie Calle presents 107 outside interpretations of a "breakup" e-mail she received from her lover the day he ended their affair. Featuring a stamped pink metallic cover, multiple paper changes, special bound-in booklets, bright green envelopes containing DVDs and even Braille endpapers, it is a deeply poignant investigation of love and loss, published to coincide with the 2007 Venice Biennale--where Calle served as that fair's French representative. All of the interpreters of Calle's breakup letter were women, and each was asked to analyze the document according to her profession--so that a writer comments on its style, a justice issues judgment, a lawyer defends Calle's ex-lover, a psychoanalyst studies his psychology, a mediator tries to find a path towards reconciliation, a proofreader provides a literal edit of the text, etc. In addition, Calle asked a variety of performers, including Nathalie Dessay, Laurie Anderson and Carla Bruni, among others, to act the letter out. She filmed the singers and actresses and photographed the other contributors, so that each printed interpretation stands alongside at least one riveting image of its author, and some are also accompanied by digital documentation. The result is a fascinating study and a deeply moving experience--as well as an artwork in its own right. Already a collector's item, this is a universal document of how it feels to grieve for love.
Now an original movie on Prime Video starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine! When Solène Marchand, the thirty-nine-year-old owner of a prestigious art gallery in Los Angeles, takes her daughter, Isabelle, to meet her favorite boy band, she does so reluctantly and at her ex-husband’s request. The last thing she expects is to make a connection with one of the members of the world-famous August Moon. But Hayes Campbell is clever, winning, confident, and posh, and the attraction is immediate. That he is all of twenty years old further complicates things. What begins as a series of clandestine trysts quickly evolves into a passionate relationship. It is a journey that spans continents as Solène and Hayes navigate each other’s disparate worlds: from stadium tours to international art fairs to secluded hideaways in Paris and Miami. And for Solène, it is as much a reclaiming of self, as it is a rediscovery of happiness and love. When their romance becomes a viral sensation, and both she and her daughter become the target of rabid fans and an insatiable media, Solène must face how her new status has impacted not only her life, but the lives of those closest to her.
This unique, best-selling series features quotes gathered over the years from family, friends, and the artists themselves, giving the reader a personal insight into their music and world.
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Hang a Witch comes a thriller set at a secretive boarding school where students are trained to carry on family legacies that have built--and toppled--empires. November is as good as dead. She just doesn't know it yet. At the Academy Absconditi, there's no electricity, no internet, and an archaic eye-for-an-eye punishment system. Classes range from knife throwing and poisons to the art of deception. And the students? Silver-spoon descendants of the world's most elite strategists--all training to become asassins, spies, and master imporsonators. One is a virtuoso of accents--and never to be trusted. Another is a vicious fighter determined to exploit November's weaknesses. And then there's the boy with the mesmerizing eyes and a secret agenda. November doesn't know how an ordinary girl like her fits into the school's complicated legacy. But when a student is murdered, she'll need to separate her enemies from her allies before the crime gets pinned or her...or she becomes the killer's next victim.
An NPR Best Book of the Year • Winner of the Virgil Thomson Award for Outstanding Music Criticism “This is the best book about the Beatles ever written” —Mashable Rob Sheffield, the Rolling Stone columnist and bestselling author of Love Is a Mix Tape offers an entertaining, unconventional look at the most popular band in history, the Beatles, exploring what they mean today and why they still matter so intensely to a generation that has never known a world without them. Dreaming the Beatles is not another biography of the Beatles, or a song-by-song analysis of the best of John and Paul. It isn’t another exposé about how they broke up. It isn’t a history of their gigs or their gear. It is a collection of essays telling the story of what this ubiquitous band means to a generation who grew up with the Beatles music on their parents’ stereos and their faces on T-shirts. What do the Beatles mean today? Why are they more famous and beloved now than ever? And why do they still matter so much to us, nearly fifty years after they broke up? As he did in his previous books, Love is a Mix Tape, Talking to Girls About Duran Duran, and Turn Around Bright Eyes, Sheffield focuses on the emotional connections we make to music. This time, he focuses on the biggest pop culture phenomenon of all time—The Beatles. In his singular voice, he explores what the Beatles mean today, to fans who have learned to love them on their own terms and not just for the sake of nostalgia. Dreaming the Beatles tells the story of how four lads from Liverpool became the world’s biggest pop group, then broke up—but then somehow just kept getting bigger. At this point, their music doesn’t belong to the past—it belongs to right now. This book is a celebration of that music, showing why the Beatles remain the world’s favorite thing—and how they invented the future we’re all living in today.
"With its gentle affirmations, inspirational quotes, fill-in-the-blank lists and tasks — write yourself a thank-you letter, describe yourself at 80, for example — The Artist’s Way proposes an egalitarian view of creativity: Everyone’s got it."—The New York Times "Morning Pages have become a household name, a shorthand for unlocking your creative potential"—Vogue Over four million copies sold! Since its first publication, The Artist's Way phenomena has inspired the genius of Elizabeth Gilbert and millions of readers to embark on a creative journey and find a deeper connection to process and purpose. Julia Cameron's novel approach guides readers in uncovering problems areas and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to free up any areas where they might be stuck, opening up opportunities for self-growth and self-discovery. The program begins with Cameron’s most vital tools for creative recovery – The Morning Pages, a daily writing ritual of three pages of stream-of-conscious, and The Artist Date, a dedicated block of time to nurture your inner artist. From there, she shares hundreds of exercises, activities, and prompts to help readers thoroughly explore each chapter. She also offers guidance on starting a “Creative Cluster” of fellow artists who will support you in your creative endeavors. A revolutionary program for personal renewal, The Artist's Way will help get you back on track, rediscover your passions, and take the steps you need to change your life.