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It's (almost) always sunny in Philadelphia : how three friends spent $200 to create the longest-running live-action sitcom in history and help build a network / by Potts, Kimberly,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Charlie, Dennis, Mac, Sweet Dee, and Frank are deplorable characters. They will never mature, become more self-aware, or less self-involved. That is what the creators of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia are committed to -- and that's why the show's millions of devoted fans have stuck with the cult comedy hit for over sixteen seasons and counting. Created in 2005 by stars Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, and Charlie Day, unemployed actors with a pair of Law & Order guest appearances as the highlights of their collective resume, the frustrated trio drafted a homemade TV pilot. A few months and $200 later (the cost of videotapes, pizza for their friends who volunteered as extras, and a broomstick to tape their boom mic to), It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia was ready for its network debut. All major parties either passed or were interested but wanted creative control. And then came FX looking to shake up cable TV. Willing to allow McElhenney, Howerton, and Day complete freedom to deconstruct the traditional sitcom, new president John Landgraf agreed to take a chance. No one had any idea how big of a success it would be. With FX's one creative note -- the hiring of Danny DeVito -- adding the final piece of the puzzle, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has enjoyed a steady climb to high ratings, critical acclaim, and a place in the cultural zeitgeist. Now, how the show and its creators have accomplished this is revealed with this in-depth, behind-the-scenes celebration. As thoughtful, provocative, and engaging as the show itself, this book also explores how the show has pushed the envelope and used absurdist comedy to explore major societal issues, including the #MeToo movement, LGBTQ+ rights, racism, and more. It also asks, what does the future hold for The Gang? It certainly won't include the characters' personal growth, but the show itself continues to move forward, adding to its dynamic history with each season."--
Subjects: It's always sunny in Philadelphia (Television program); Situation comedies (Television programs); Television comedies;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Emotional agility : get unstuck, embrace change, and thrive in work and life / by David, Susan A.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The counterintuitive approach to achieving your true potential, heralded by the Harvard Business Review as a groundbreaking idea of the year. The path to fulfillment, whether at work or at home, is almost never a straight line. Ask anyone who has achieved their biggest goals or who thrives in their relationships, and you'll hear stories of many unexpected detours along the way. What separates those who rise to these challenges and those who get derailed? The answer is agility--emotional agility. Emotional agility is a four-step approach that allows us to navigate life's twists and turns with self-acceptance, clear-sightedness, and an open mind. In her more than twenty years of research, Susan David has found that no matter how intelligent, resilient, or creative people are, when they ignore how situations or interactions make them feel, they miss opportunities to gain insight, getting hooked by thoughts, emotions, and habits that prevent them from reaching their full potential. Emotionally agile people experience the same stresses and setbacks as anyone else, but they know how to adapt, aligning their actions with their values and making small changes that lead to a life of growth. Drawing on her extensive professional research, her international consulting work, and her own experiences growing up in Apartheid-era South Africa and losing her father at a young age, David shows how anyone can become more emotionally agile and thrive in an uncertain world. Written with authority, wit, and empathy, Emotional Agility will help you live your most successful life, whoever you are and whatever you face"--Provided by publisher.LSC
Subjects: Adjustment (Psychology); Emotions.; Resilience (Personality trait); Self-realization.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Let's call her Barbie / by Rosen, Renée,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."She's an icon. She's fun and aspirational. She's stirring controversy and outrage. Her name is Barbie. In 1956, Ruth Handler, cofounder of a budding toy company, embarks on a mission to upend the marketplace by creating a controversial doll: one that looks like a grown woman. Unlike the current trend of baby dolls that reinforces traditional roles of motherhood, this doll will empower little girls to be and do anything. And Barbie is born. Not everyone sees Barbie as a a positive influence, but Ruth knows this doll is destined for greatness. With the help of head engineer Jack Ryan and fashion designer Stevie Klein, they forge ahead, their own identities becoming entwined with the persona of the doll. For Ruth, Barbie fills a void left by the mother who abandoned her and the daughter who resents her ambition. Jack, Mattel's unlikely Casanova, hides his deepest secrets behind the genius of his engineering, and Stevie pins her professional future and sense of self on Barbie's fashion designs. In the decades that follow, the Barbie team spins the doll into a cultural phenomenon. But with every great success comes the fall, and the problems at Mattel are just getting started. In the cutthroat world of toy-making, greed and public scandals threaten to tear down everything Ruth has built. But Barbie is more than just a doll for her - she's a legacy, one Ruth will do anything to protect. From USA Today bestselling author Renée Rosen comes a riveting novel about the team of creative rebels who challenged convention, broke molds, and beat the odds to invent the most famous doll of all time"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Handler, Ruth; Ryan, Jack, 1926-1991; Mattel, Inc.; Barbie dolls;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The joy of connections : 100 ways to beat loneliness and live a happier and more meaningful life / by Westheimer, Ruth K.(Ruth Karola),1928-2024,author.; Gilbert, Allison,contributor.; Lehu, Pierre A.,contributor.;
Includes bibliographical references."When Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy sounded the alarm that loneliness "represents an urgent public health concern" -- exacerbated by social media overuse, the residual effects of the pandemic, and the lack of meaningful relationships -- trusted therapist Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer knew that her unique perspective and expertise could help. Long-beloved for breaking stigmas around sexual problems, Dr. Ruth has made it her new mission to help individuals break free from the bonds of hopelessness and isolation. We are social animals. We have a shared desire to connect and create lasting relationships with the people around us. But the heaviness of loneliness can make this feel impossible. Dr. Ruth, with journalist Allison Gilbert and longtime collaborator Pierre Lehu, tackles the subject with compassion and her trademark no-nonsense approach. She provides practical and creative strategies for finding friends, community, and intimacy. And it's anchored by Dr. Ruth's own story, from the horrific loneliness of losing her family in the Holocaust, to living in an orphanage, to rebuilding her life in America, working her way up from maid to world-renowned sex-therapist. With her tips on navigating family dynamics, developing a fulfilling social and romantic life, and using technology in healthy ways, you will find wisdom for any stage of life"--
Subjects: Interpersonal relations.; Loneliness.; Social networks;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Viewfinder : a memoir of seeing and being seen / by Chu, Jon M.(Jon Murray),1979-author.; McCarter, Jeremy,1976-author.;
"Long before he directed Wicked, In The Heights, or the groundbreaking film Crazy Rich Asians, Jon M. Chu was a movie-obsessed first-generation Chinese American, helping at his parents' Chinese restaurant in Silicon Valley and forever facing the cultural identity crisis endemic to children of immigrants. Growing up on the cutting edge of 21st-century technology gave Chu the tools he needed to make his mark at USC film school, and to be discovered by Steven Spielberg, but he soon found himself struggling to understand who he was. In this book, for the first time, Chu dives deep into his life and work, telling the universal story of questioning what it means when your dreams collide with your circumstances, and showing how it's possible to succeed even when the world changes beyond all recognition. With striking candor and unrivalled insights, Chu offers a firsthand account of the collision of Silicon Valley and Hollywood -- what it's been like to watch his old world shatter and reshape his new one. Ultimately, Viewfinder is about reckoning with your own story, becoming your most creative self, and finding a path all your own"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Chu, Jon M. (Jon Murray), 1979-; Asian American motion picture producers and directors; Chinese Americans;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Everyday Dharma : 8 essential practices for finding success and joy in everything you do / by Gupta, Suneel,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."We've been conditioned, from an early age, to believe that one day we'll reach a moment of 'arrival.' But no matter how much we achieve or acquire we still don't feel as satisfied or as fulfilled as we thought we would be. Exhausted, we become burned out and cynical, questioning the purpose of it all. An expert on happiness and work, Suneel Gupta argues that for too long society has been fixated on the Future of Work and ignored the Future of Worth. We've compartmentalized work and well-being and ignored the fact that both are essential for sustained success. We've assumed that outer success leads to inner well-being-despite history showing us that this has never been the case. In Everyday Dharma, Suneel helps us break this negative cycle. A captivating storyteller, he weaves personal stories, history, science, Eastern philosophy, and Western modalities in this engaging, enlightening, and prescriptive book. He begins by helping us identify our dharma, the essence of who we are. When you're in your Dharma, you feel confident, creative, and caring, with a sense of purpose, and that shines through your life and work."--
Subjects: Chakras.; Dharma.; Medicine, Ayurvedic.; Self-actualization (Psychology);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Desperately seeking something : a memoir about movies, mothers, and material girls / by Seidelman, Susan,author.;
"The funny and insightful first-person story of the trailblazing movie director of the 80s and 90s whose fearless punk drama, "Smithereens" became the first American indie film to compete at Cannes, and smash hit "Desperately Seeking Susan" led to a four-decade career in film. Starting out in the mid-70s, a time when few women were directing movies, Susan was determined to become a filmmaker. She longed to tell stories about the unrepresented characters she wanted to see on screen: unconventional women in unusual circumstances, needing to express themselves and maintain their autonomy. Her genre-blending films reflect a passion for classic Hollywood storytelling, mixed with a playful New Wave spirit, informed by her years living in downtown NYC. Seidelman continued to shape American pop culture well into the nineties, directing the pilot of the iconic TV series "Sex and The City," focusing her sharp lens on the changing place of women in American society and helping to fundamentally reshape our self-image in ways that are still felt today. Raised in the safe cocoon of 1960s suburbia, Susan Seidelman wasn't a misfit, an oddball, or an outlier. She was a "good-girl" with a little bit of "bad" hidden inside. A restless teenager, she dreamed of escape and reinvention, a theme that would play out in her films as well as in her own life. Because she loved stories, a high school guidance counselor suggested she become a librarian, but she had her sights set further afield. In 1973, she left the Philly suburbs, enrolled at NYU's burgeoning graduate film school and moved to NYC's Lower East Side. There, she found herself in the right place at the right time. New York City was falling apart, but out of that chaos came a burst of creative energy whose effects are still felt in American pop culture today. Downtown became a vibrant playground where film, music, performance and graffiti art cross-pollinated and where Seidelman chronicled the lives of the colorful misfits, oddballs, dreamers and schemers she met there. It's all in Desperately Seeking Something. Seidelman not only has a keen perspective on the times she's lived through -- from her Twiggy-obsessed girlhood, through the Women's Lib movement of the early 70s, the punk scene of the late 70s, Madonna-mania of the 80s, to the dot-com "greed is good" 90s, and beyond -- she tells great stories"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Seidelman, Susan.; Women motion picture producers and directors; Women television producers and directors;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Unrequited infatuations : odyssey of a rock and roll consigliere : (a cautionary tale) / by Van Zandt, Steve,author.; Greenman, Ben,editor.;
Uncover never-before-told stories in this epic tale of self-discovery by a Rock n Roll disciple and member of the E Street Band. What story begins in a bedroom in suburban New Jersey in the early '60s, unfolds on some of the country's largest stages, and then ranges across the globe, demonstrating over and over again how Rock and Roll has the power to change the world for the better? This story. The first true heartbeat of Unrequited Infatuations is the moment when Stevie Van Zandt trades in his devotion to the Baptist religion for an obsession with Rock and Roll. Groups like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones created new ideas of community, creative risk, and principled rebellion. They changed him forever. While still a teenager, he met Bruce Springsteen, a like-minded outcast/true believer who became one of his most important friends and bandmates. As Miami Steve, Van Zandt anchored the E Street Band as they conquered the Rock and Roll world. And then, in the early '80s, Van Zandt stepped away from E Street to embark on his own odyssey. He refashioned himself as Little Steven, a political songwriter and performer, fell in love with Maureen Santoro who greatly expanded his artistic palette, and visited the world's hot spots as an artist/journalist to not just better understand them, but to help change them. Most famously, he masterminded the recording of "Sun City," an anti-apartheid anthem that sped the demise of South Africa's institutionalized racism and helped get Nelson Mandela out of prison. By the '90s, Van Zandt had lived at least two lives--one as a mainstream rocker, one as a hardcore activist. It was time for a third. David Chase invited Van Zandt to be a part of his new television show, the Sopranos--as Silvio Dante, he was the unconditionally loyal consiglieri who sat at the right hand of Tony Soprano (a relationship that oddly mirrored his real-life relationship with Bruce Springsteen). Underlying all of Van Zandt's various incarnations was a devotion to preserving the centrality of the arts, especially the endangered species of Rock. In the twenty-first century, Van Zandt founded a groundbreaking radio show (Little Steven's Underground Garage), created the first two 24/7 branded music channels on SiriusXM (Underground Garage and Outlaw Country), started a fiercely independent record label (Wicked Cool), and developed a curriculum to teach students of all ages through the medium of music history. He also rejoined the E Street Band for what has now been a twenty-year victory lap. ​Unrequited Infatuations chronicles the twists and turns of Stevie Van Zandt's always surprising life. It is more than just the testimony of a globe-trotting nomad, more than the story of a groundbreaking activist, more than the odyssey of a spiritual seeker, and more than a master class in rock and roll (not to mention a dozen other crafts). It's the best book of its kind because it's the only book of its kind.
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Van Zandt, Steve.; Rock musicians;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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