Often reverently labeled the ultimate magazine or record of architecture and contemporary design, the Italian publication domus made history as the spectacular diary of modern and future ideas in design and architecture. Ever since 1928, when legendary Italian designer and Professor of architecture Giovanni (Gio) Ponti presented the first edition. For most of his life, […]
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Category: B. R. PopCulture
Perplexing Plots. Popular Storytelling and the Poetics of Murder by David Bordwell (2023)
Generally, storytelling, narratives, modes of presentation and the story behind it, define most works of fiction and movie plots alike. As those techniques changed over the decades (as did audiences who step by step were introduced to this), new and exiting ways of shooting film and presenting characters entered popular forms of entertainment. The simple, […]
The Jordanaires: The Story of the World’s Greatest Backup Vocal Group by Gordon Stoker … (2022)
The list of famous singers with biographies is huge and gets longer almost every day. Even so, there are just a few books on those voices that built the solid, reliable and harmonic background for countless hits. It is hardly possible to imagine songs such as Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog,” “Don’t be Cruel,” “Heartbreak Hotel,” […]
Bloodstained Narratives: The Giallo Film in Italy and Abroad by Matthew Edwards and Fernando G. Pagn...
The gialli (“the yellow ones”), introduced in Italy in the mid-1960s, were a film genre that combined all sorts of sensations, such as crimes planned and committed, detectives and amateur sleuths looking for clues, great landscapes, exotic venues, usually connected to airports and train stations, beautiful women, Gothic horror and disturbing soundtracks. In the gialli, […]
Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse. The Ultimate History by J. B. Kaufman, D. Gerstein, D. Kothenschulte (ed
Much has been written about the economic power and cultural influence of The Walt Disney Company. Not only that today with their components Disney Entertainment, Pixar, ESPN, Disney Parks and many others, Disney is a major player in entertainment business. Furthermore, the company practically holds the rights to and […]
The Rebel’s Wardrobe. The Untold Story of Menswear’s Renegade Past by gestalten et als. (eds.) (2022
Lots of items from modern men’s wardrobes come loaded with history, were featured in cult movies worn by famous actors or have a past strongly connected to popular culture. Even if many are not aware of that. Everyday apparel, such as the base cap, Dr. Marten’s boots, a pair of jeans, chinos or the leather […]
The Fantastic Worlds of Frank Frazetta by Dian Hanson (ed.) (2022)
If there is one virtuoso who rightfully deserves the title “Godfather of Fantasy Art” it is Frank Frazetta (1928-2010). The “Brooklyn-born hustler and brawler” son of Italian immigrants quickly established a reputation for himself at the age of 16, when he entered the comic book business in 1944. His early works appeared in EC Comics, […]
Paul Weller and Popular Music. Identity, Idiolect and Image by Andrew West (2023)
There is hardly another active English musician who can look back on a catalog of great music and social comment like Paul Weller, former front man of significant bands of the 1970s, 1980s and well-known solo artist of the 2000s, and also as a political voice addressing important issues. On roughly 160 pages author Andrew […]
Hollywood Eden: Electric Guitars, Fast Cars, and the Myth of the California Paradise by Joel Selvin ...
By introducing numerous future songwriters, musicians, and music producers, Joel Selvin presents a very colorful and intense picture of a California long gone. When with what he calls the “University High School class of 1958” the groundwork for the powerful American pop music of the 1960s and 1970s was laid, as some of that group […]