A series of short, single voice plays by writers based in the North West of England. These powerful, contemporary monologues share the struggles, courage, conflicts and joys of different characters facing difficult decisions in their lives. Developed through consultation with young people, they offer a range of authentic, memorable voices to stimulate discussion and participatory drama work. ‘First Date’ by Anne-Marie O’Connor: Sometimes friendship comes with a heavy price tag. ‘Getting it Right’ by Peter Spafford: Luke can't choose between his shirts, let alone his parents. ‘Results Day’ by Aelish Michael: Karly’s mum thinks she’s an angel, but what if she flaps her wings? ‘Close to Home’ by Mary Cooper: Jay’s little sister is pregnant and he’s livid – who’s he going to punish? ‘Weighed Down’ by Carla Monvid-Jenkinson and Mary Cooper: When Claire’s dad left, she thought that he was all she would lose. ‘Giggsy’s Legs’ by Michael Harvey: Do you choose everything you are or does it choose you?

Play about Ada Lovelace, the first computer and Artificial Intelligence today. Suitable for schools, colleges and youth groups.Offers good roles for girls/women to perform relating to STEM subjects.“You may turn the handle, and I will whirr and calculate without error!”Decades before the first computers are built, Ada imagines machines that can do anything, even compose beautiful pieces of music. Far beyond Ada’s future, a learning machine called Ginny breaks free of her routine and tests the boundaries of what ought to be possible.ADA is an intricate re-telling of the life and legacy of Ada Lovelace, pioneer of computing, paralleling her history with a contemporary story about the potential of artificial intelligence.

A unusual lovestory, full of romance at the beginning. ?Martin reveals his true colors. Behind the mask hide the facets of a narcissist. He lay on the floor, propped up against a cabinet wall, with an ice pick wedged between his left shoulder and his neck. The voltage increases. Which secret is hidden…. Eine ungew?hnliche ?Liebesgeschichte, die romantisch und z?rtlich beginnt und zum Alptraum wird. Schon bald zeigt Martin sein wahres Gesicht. Er entpuppt sich als Narzisst. Evelyn bringt sich durch ihre Opferhaltung in eine gef?hrliche Lage. Sie verliert ihr Ged?chtnis und Martin wird tot aufgefunden, fast nackt, mit einem String gekleidet und einem Eispickel im Hals. Hat Evelyn Martin ermordet? Welches Geheimnis birgt sein Tod. Es handelt sich um eine gekonnte muttersprachliche ?bersetzung des Romans Dornen im Wind 9783948055004. Es eignet sich insbesondere zur Vertiefung der englischen Sprache für deutsche Studenten. Direkter Textvergleich ist mit dem deutschen ebook 978394805504-2 m?glich. Bei der Recherche kann unter Umst?nden die ISBN 9783948055066 zutreffend sein.

In the aftermath of The Troubles, two brothers near the border to the North, harbour a guilty secret... “Look, there’s no rules of the road out there. Not any more. So how do ya live? Ya use the only thing ya can. Best compass a man has. Only compass a man has. His own heart.” Set in a rural hamlet in Ireland, the isolated lives of two brothers are disturbed by the arrival of a mysterious young woman. This is a story about secrets, atonement, and how, through the forces of love and nature, damaged lives are redeemed. Reviews? “The Pond Theatre Company’s latest production, a world premiere of?The Naturalists?by Jaki McCarrick, promises naturalistic contemporary drama. It delivers on that promise with a well-crafted family drama defined by the 1979 Massacre at Narrow Water.”?Adrienne Sowers,?The Reviews Hub “Lovers of Irish theater and down-to-earth naturalism should like this one.” Diana Barth,?The Epoch Times “Perhaps unsurprising given the title, the play is striking for its naturalism.? Ms. McCarrick’s characters, especially as performed by this outstanding, all-Irish born leading trio, are painfully real and captivating to observe.” Robert Russo,?Stage Left “The Naturalists?introduces us to?Jaki McCarrick, whom we will surely be hearing from again, such is her gift for singular,?sharply drawn characters and dialogue with a touch of the lyric about it.” David Barbour,?Lighting and Sound America “This is fresh and authentic theater. The direction is deft. The characters capture you quickly; you never doubt them.??The script is a glimpse of a moment fraught with all the breakage engendered in the Troubles before, all the specific damage visited on these four people, and all the slim hopes of redemption.” Kathleen Campion,?Front Row Center? “McCarrick puts all the poetry of the play into Francis. He’s bursting with knowledge about the natural world and has the love of teaching others this as well.” Nicole Serratore,?Exeunt NYC “The Naturalists is a compelling look at how one’s “secret” past can suddenly and unexpectedly encroach on the present and delay one’s progress into the future.” David Roberts,?Theatre Reviews Limited ? Jaki McCarrick Jaki McCarrick is an award-winning writer of plays, poetry and fiction. She won the 2010 Papatango New Writing Prize for her play LEOPOLDVILLE, and her play BELFAST GIRLS, developed at the National Theatre London, was shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the 2014 BBC Tony Doyle Award. BELFAST GIRLS premiered in Chicago in May 2015 to much critical acclaim (Windy City Times Critics’ Pick) and opened this spring in Vancouver. The West Coast Premiere of the play opens on November 17th in Portland Oregon. Jaki has also recently been selected for the Irish Film Board’s Talent Development Initiative to adapt BELFAST GIRLS for the screen. ?In 2015, her plays BELFAST GIRLS, LEOPOLDVILLE and THE MUSHROOM PICKERS (staged at the Southwark Playhouse in 2006 to several 4 Star reviews), were published by Samuel French. Her play BOHEMIANS was read at RADA on January 18th 2017, starring Imogen Stubbs and Rob Jarvis, directed by Tilly Vosburgh. In 2016 Jaki was shortlisted for the St. John’s College, Cambridge’s Harper-Wood Studentship for her short play TUSSY about Eleanor Marx, a piece she is currently developing. ? Jaki also won the 2010 Wasafiri prize for short fiction and followed this with the publication of her debut story collection, The Scattering, published by Seren Books. The book was shortlisted for the 2014 Edge Hill Prize. Winner of the inaugural John Lennon Poetry Competition, she has also had numerous poems published in literary journals including Ambit, Poetry Ireland Review, Irish Pages, Blackbox Manifold etc. ? Recently longlisted for the inaugural Irish Fiction Laureate, Jaki is currently editing her first novel and a second collection of short stories called Night of the Frogs. Screenplay projects also include adaptations of her short story Hellebores and her first play, THE MUSHROOM PICKERS. ? She has held numerous residencies including Writer-in-Residence at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris & also regularly writes arts pieces for the Times Literary Supplement (TLS), The Irish Examiner and other publications

The dark shadows and offscreen space that force us to imagine violence we cannot see. The real slaughter of animals spliced with the fictional killing of men. The missing countershot from the murder victim's point of view. Such images, or absent images, Karla Oeler contends, distill how the murder scene challenges and changes film.?Reexamining works by such filmmakers as Renoir, Hitchcock, Kubrick, Jarmusch, and Eisenstein, Oeler traces the murder scene's intricate connections to the great breakthroughs in the theory and practice of montage and the formulation of the rules and syntax of Hollywood genre. She argues that murder plays such a central role in film because it mirrors, on multiple levels, the act of cinematic representation. Death and murder at once eradicate life and call attention to its former existence, just as cinema conveys both the reality and the absence of the objects it depicts. But murder shares with cinema not only this interplay between presence and absence, movement and stillness: unlike death, killing entails the deliberate reduction of a singular subject to a disposable object. Like cinema, it involves a crucial choice about what to cut and what to keep.

Girls abused in London and torsos of black boys found in the Thames; African boys disappearing from school and child traffic in Africa; child sacrifice and Brazilian Pentecostal exorcism. Unrelated events are swiftly connected in an uncanny work of prestidigitation, including hitech digital images of torsos and forensic drawings of abused children. Les correspondances symboliques, Baudelaire would say, or contiguous magic, in Frazer’s more prosaic de*ion. It all could make sense, if we believe in our fears, suspicions, gossip, and prejudices. Furthermore, this incredible work of prestidigitation was engineered by two respectable institutions, known for their enlightened search of truth: the BBC and Scotland Yard. But where was the evidence that all these things were connectedThe “exorcism scandal” bewitched the media in Britain for the whole month of June, until some dissenting voices started to talk about a “racist witch hunt.” 5 By then, however, a population of hundreds of thousands of Africans, in particular Pentecostal Africans, was already under suspicion. “What if some of that was true?” some people still may ask. In fact, shortly before completing this introduction, the local London newspaper Evening Standard published a two-page report on an African church in the United Kingdom, with the title “Miracles and claims of baby-snatching,” mixing rumors of child trafficking, sorcery, syncretism, and extreme wealth. 6 That is how sorcery works: not by fully demonstrating its power, but by opening a possible doubt; one is never fully sure it is not true.

In the digital age, photography confronts its future under the competing signs of ubiquity and obsolescence. While technology has allowed amateurs and experts alike to create high-quality photographs in the blink of an eye, new electronic formats have severed the original photochemical link between image and subject. At the same time, recent cinematic photography has stretched the concept of photography and raised questions about its truth value as a documentary medium. Despite this situation, photography remains a stubbornly substantive form of evidence: referenced by artists, filmmakers, and writers as a powerful emblem of truth, photography has found its home in other media at precisely the moment of its own material demise.By examining this idea of photography as articulated in literature, film, and the graphic novel, Daguerreotypes demonstrates how photography secures identity for figures with an otherwise unstable sense of self. Lisa Saltzman argues that in many modern works, the photograph asserts itself as a guarantor of identity, whether genuine or fabricated. From Roland Barthes's Camera Lucida to Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, W. G. Sebald's Austerlitz to Alison Bechdel's Fun Home-we find traces of photography's "e;fugitive subjects"e; throughout contemporary culture. Ultimately, Daguerreotypes reveals how the photograph, at once personal memento and material witness, has inspired a range of modern artistic and critical practices.

Traditionally, women share their secrets with their hairdressers. But what about their manicurists, masseurs, chi gong teachers, and tattoo artistsIn Damage Control, women wax poetic about the experts and gurus who help them love themselves, sharing stories of everything from friendships born in the make-up chair to the utter dismay of a truly horrible haircut. Minnie Driver finally meets a Frenchman who understands her hair . . . and tries to teach her not to hate it.Marian Keyes remembers the blow-dry that pushed her over the edge.Francesca Lia Block tells the ugly story of the plastic surgeon who promised to make her beautiful.Rose McGowan explains why it's harder to be depressed when you're glamorous . . . and shows how it takes a village to transform from mere mortal to movie star.Witty and wise, Damage Control is an intimate, sometimes dark, look at our experiences with the professionals who pluck, prod, and pamper every inch of our bodies and a reminder why we surrender ourselves to their (hopefully) very capable hands.

It's hard to remember the dark days before 2008. It was a time of hatred, racism, violence, obese children, war, untaxed rich people, and incandescent light bulbs -- perhaps the worst days we had ever seen. And at the heart of it all was a thuggish, thoughtless man, George W. Bush, who lashed out angrily at whatever he didn't understand -- and he understood so very little. Then there was that laugh of his -- that horrible snicker that mocked everything intelligent and nuanced. Also, he looked like a chimp. It seemed like the end for the United States of America. We would crumble in the hands of vicious, superstitious dimwits determined to hunt "ter'ists" or other figments of Bush's rotten mind. There was nothing left to do but head to Whole Foods to prepare our organic, sustainable, fair-trade last meal as the country ended around us. Despair had overtaken us, and we wondered aloud whether we could ever feel hope again. And then a man emerged who firmly answered, "Yes we can!" Oh, but Barack Obama was no mere man. He was a paragon of intelligence and civilized society. A savior to the world's depressed. A lightbringer. A genius thinking thoughts the common man could never hope to comprehend. And his words -- his beautiful words read from crystal panes -- reached down to our souls and told us all would be well. With the simple act of casting a ballot for Barack Obama, we could make the world an immeasurably better place -- a world of peace, of love, of understanding, of unicorns, of rainbows, of expanded entitlements. This was his promise. And now, having had him as president for more than two years, we can say without reservation that he has delivered all his promises and more and is the best president this country -- or any country -- has ever had or could even imagine to have.

Living in New York City for five years as a transplant from Ohio, illustrator and T-shirt designer Nathan Pyle was fascinated by the unique habits and unspoken customs New Yorkers follow to make life bearable in a city with 8 million people (and seemingly twice the number of tourists). Nathan decided to draw his favorite tips and etiquette lessons and post them on the internet, where his 12 original panels went viral immediately and became the basis for this hilarious illustrated book (check out the fully animated ebook, too!).In NYC Basic Tips and Etiquette, Pyle reveals the secrets and unwritten rules for living in and visiting New York including the answers to such burning questions as, which cabs should I try to hailWhat is a bodegaWhich way is UptownWhy are there so many doors in the sidewalkHow do I walk on an escalatorDo we need to be touching right nowWhere should I inhale or exhale while passing sidewalk garbageHow long should I honk my hornIf New York were a game show, how would I winWhat happens when I stand in the bike laneWho should get the empty subway seatsHow do I stay safe during a trash tornadoEach tip is a little story illustrated in simple black and white drawings.Visitors and newcomers to New York will love it because the advice is smart, funny, and not condescending. New Yorkers will love it for its strategic and humorous approach to mastering the daily chaos of the city.

The Complete Narcissist's GuideMimi E. Gotist delivers a gift for our times: practical, simple guidance to help you cope with the self-loving people in your life-while nurturing your own inner narcissist.At once utterly self-absorbed, and charmingly aware of it, Gotist offers advice on: Dating: You're not looking for the person you want to marry -- you're looking for the person you want to change Career: Don't work -- work it Spirituality: Me Here Now Personal Growth: You can't help anyone who won't help you

Why does an "X" stand for a kiss?Which fruits are in Juicy Fruit gumWhy do people cry at happy endings?Why do you never see baby pigeons?Pop-culture guru David Feldman demystifies these topics and so much more in Why Don't Cats Like to Swim-- the unchallenged source of answers to civilization's most perplexing questions. Part of the Imponderables series, Feldman's book arms readers with information about everyday life -- from science, history, and politics to sports, television, and radio -- that encyclopedias, dictionaries, and almanacs just don't have. Where else will you learn what makes women open their mouths when applying mascara?

As one of the foremost liberal voices in television and radio today, Alan Colmes has long been braving the wilds of controversial issues and conservative slander. The host of the talk-radio show Fox News Live with Alan Colmes and cohost of Fox News Channel's hit debate show Hannity Colmes, Colmes now offers this witty, passionate wake-up call to America.Colmes takes on the fundamental question: How can we protect our nation without diminishing our liberties, and regain our place in the world as an example of democracyColmes urges Americans to see past the government's manipulation of the War on Terror to silence critics; the lies we've been force-fed about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan; and the conservative smear campaign that has turned "liberal" into a four-letter word. From debunking the myth of the liberal media to exposing conservative hypocrisy, Colmes presents the issues with thoughtful, provocative arguments, hard facts and logic, and searing humor.Certain to spark debate and cause readers to reevaluate and reaffirm their beliefs, Red, White Liberal powerfully argues that despite our differences, we must extend our hands across party lines to find solutions, protect our shores, and preserve our freedoms.

Carl Reiner has been making people laugh since the days of The Dick Van Dyke Show. His showbiz bits with Mel Brooks about the 2000 Year Old Man have become the stuff of comedy legend. Jerry Seinfeld, Alan Alda, Neil Simon, Steve Allen, and Richard Lewis were all bowled over by the comic genius of The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000: The Book. Now, in his wonderful new book, Carl Reiner shows off the talent and humor that have made him a comedic superstar.Filled with rich, multidimensional tales, this collection of short stories from one of America's truly great comedic minds is at once poignant, nostalgic, and laugh-out-loud funny. "How Paul Robeson Saved My Life." the story of Reiner's experiences in the army during World War II, is a darkly funny look at racism. "Lance and Gwendolyn" is a modern-day fairy tale with some surprising twists. "Dial 411 for Legal Smut" is a tongue-in-cheek look at phone sex. Whatever topic he tackles, Reiner always manages to capture the highs and lows, the follies and foibles of everyday life.

Does the thought of mistletoe give you hivesDoes the sound of jingling bellsinstill fear in your heartDo you hide under the covers from the day after Thanksgiving till New Year's DayAnd even if you love Christmas, do thehyperconsumerism, overindulgence, andtinsel-covered everything make you crazy?If you said yes to any of these questions, this is the book for you. You are not alone. Everyone has a Christmas-nightmare story to tell. Some of the best writers around have gone through some of the worst Christmases ever. Their tales of holly-draped horror are gathered here for your amusement, from NEAL POLLACK's Christmas-ham disaster to the accidental Santahood of JONI RODGERS to BINNIE KIRSHENBAUM's receiving what may be the worst gift ever given. And Stanley Bing gives us a peek at the lonely guy's Xmas feast. All this, plus many more recollections of Worst Noels past.So pour yourself a glass of eggnog, chisel off a piece of rock-hard fruitcake, and curl up in the big comfy chair by the fireplace where the stockings have been hung with such care -- and settle in to read The Worst Noel.

The modern woman has enough hassles without having to put up with the antics of the man in her life. Why endure another day of snoring, football, and wet towels on the floorWith this hilarious, fully illustrated guide, learn 101 reasons why you should dump your chump and hook up with a cat! So, besides the fact that your man's just not that into you, can he scratch his ear with his footIs he adorable when he pounces off the fridge onto your shoulderDo you get to watch him nudge another man aside and eat his foodAnd can you improve his mood by tossing a fuzzy mousie for him to chaseOf course not. There; that's four reasons to dump him and get a cat instead! Plus, you never have to remember how your cat takes his coffee. You don't need to pretend to your cat that you haven't had many other cats. And if your cat thinks your friends are hot, so whatFor every woman who's had enough of men, 101 Reasons to Dump Your Man and Get a Cat is the perfect gift—chock-full of humor, inspiration, and great advice. Why look for love in all the wrong places when it's right across the room chasing its own tail?

An American comic icon tells the story of his second act rise from obscurity to multimedia stardom. "When I was a kid," writes Rodney Dangerfield, "I worked tough places in show business places like Fonzo's Knuckle Room. Or Aldo's, formerly Vito's, formerly Nunzio's. That was a tough joint. I looked at the menu. They had broken leg of lamb." For once, one of America's most beloved comic icons isn't kidding. Dangerfield has seen every aspect of the entertainment industry: the rough and tumble nightclubs, the backstage gag writing sessions, the drugs, the hookers, the lousy day jobs and the red carpet star treatment. As he traces his route from a poor childhood on Long Island to his enshrinement as a comedy legend, he takes readers on a roller coaster ride through a life that has been alternately touching, sordid, funny, raunchy, and uplifting equal parts "Little Orphan Annie" and "Caligula." And unlike most celebrity autobiographers, he seems to have no qualms about delivering the unfiltered whole story, warts and all. Dangerfield's personal story is also a rollicking show business tale, full of marquee name droppings (Adam Sandler, Sam Kinison, Jim Carrey, Johnny Carson, Jerry Seinfeld) and good stories about same. Defying the old saws about the fleeting nature of fame and the dearth of second acts in American life, Dangerfield transformed himself from a debt ridden aluminium siding salesman named Jack Roy to a multimedia superstar and stayed an icon for decades. His catchphrase "I get no respect" has entered the lexicon, and he remains a visible cultural presence and perennial talk show guest. Dangerfield's hilarious and inspiring musings should thrill comedy fans and pop culture watchers, and his second act comeback will strike a chord with readers of all stripes. Maybe he'll even get some respect.

The author of How to Be Idle, Tom Hodgkinson, now shares his delightfully irreverent musings on what true independence means and what it takes to be free. The Freedom Manifesto draws on French existentialists, British punks, beat poets, hippies and yippies, medieval thinkers, and anarchists to provide a new, simple, joyful blueprint for modern living. From growing your own vegetables to canceling your credit cards to reading Jean-Paul Sartre, here are excellent suggestions for nourishing mind, body, and spirit witty, provocative, sometimes outrageous, yet eminently sage advice for breaking with convention and living an uncluttered, unfettered, and therefore happier, life.

Learn how to navigate life with the effortless savior faire of a true daughter of the South with The Southern Belle's Handbook.Sissy LeBlanc's rules to live by will teach you how to hook, hold on to, and handle any man as well as conquer any personal situation with the poise and confidence of a sophisticated southern stunner.And because every woman possesses her own sassy instincts, you can also record your own rules for unstoppable fabulousness and success.

Raising the Perfect Child Through Guilt and Manipulation is not one of those traditional, all-too-earnest parenting guides that, for generations, have sucked all the fun out of child rearing. The foundation of Elizabeth Beckwith's Guilt and Manipulation family philosophy is simple: We do things a certain way, and everyone else is an a**hole. Is that something you should put on a bumper sticker and slap on your minivanOf course not that would be trashy. But in the privacy of your own home, you can employ these essential components of Guilt and Manipulation to mold the little runts ruthlessly yet effectively into children you won't be embarrassed to admit are yours: Creating a Team: "Us" vs. "Them" How to Scare the Crap Out of Your Child (in a Positive Way) Don't Be Afraid to Raise a Nerd Mind Control: Why It's a Good Thing

How to be cool when you're afraid you've forgotten how . . . Sure, you can try to stay younger by exercising, coloring your hair, and wearing stylish clothes but how do you respond when someone asks, "Do you Twitter?" How Not to Act Old gives you simple ways to come back from over the hill and to act as young as you look.Covering everything from old-people entertainment (cancel that dinner party!) to old-people communication (it's called a "voice mail," not a "message," and no one leaves or listens to them anyway), Pamela Redmond Satran decodes the behaviors, viewpoints, and cultural touchstones that separate you from the hip young person you wish you still were. This irreverent guide is essential for anyone who doesn't want to embarrass their kids or themselves.