Circus Of The Scars

A beautiful book that showcases how circus figures and artifacts have been portrayed in art over the past two centuries The circus is a dazzling world filled with acrobats and harlequins, tumblers and riders, monsters and celestial creatures. Now this engaging book sets that world in a new light, examining how painters, sculptors, and photographers from the eighteenth century to the present have used the circus as a springboard for their imaginative expression and have envisioned the clown as a metaphor for the modern artist. The book presents more than 175 works by such artists as Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Rouault, Picasso, Chagall, and Léger. Some of these are masterful works shown for the first time; these range from the 18-meter stage curtain Picasso designed in 1917 for Erik Satie's ballet Parade to more intimate works such as Nadar and Tournachon's photographs of Pierrot as played by celebrated mime Charles Debureau.

"Offers an uncensored, behind-the-scenes look at the country's most popular sideshow troupe, formed by the author, whose act includes eating razor blades, and featuring the talents of the Amazing Mr. Lifto and the Human Pincushion."-- Amazon.com viewed 5/6/2020.

"The Cujo Cat Chronicles 2, The Chaos Continues" are the further musings of the world's smallest dictator. In this book, the maniacal housecat shares his thoughts and insights on everything from stray animals to stray politicians. He continues to rule his kingdom with an iron paw while pondering Shakespeare, baseball, and just about everything in between. Once again, Cujo invites his readers into his world and seeks to subjugate them.

"Joe Nickell - once a carnival pitchman, then a magician, private detective, and investigative writer - has pursued sideshow secrets for years and has worked the famous carnival midway at the Canadian National Exhibition. For this book, he interviewed showmen and performers, collected carnival memorabilia, researched published accounts of sideshows and their lore, and even performed some classic sideshow feats, such as eating fire and lying on a bed of nails as a cinderblock was broken on his chest. The result of these varied efforts, Secrets of the Sideshows tells the captivating story of the magic, tricks - real or illusory - and performers of the world's midway shows."--BOOK JACKET.

• Explains how the author became a student of Toltec spiritual teacher don Miguel Ruiz and how he traveled the world, as well as the astral realms, undergoing a deep spiritual journey of change • Details how the author discovered LSD after the Vietnam War and even tripped while skydiving • Recounts his time as a civil rights advocate and war correspondent, and how Toltec shamanism helped prepare him to ease his wife’s long end-of-life journey During his third tour of duty in Vietnam where he served as a Green Beret, Jim Morris was wounded badly enough to be retired from the army. He came home bitter, angry that his career had been ended. After reading The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, he realized that many members of Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters had also been combat officers. Following this spiritual “hint,” he spent the next couple of years as an acid head, even skydiving on LSD. Awakened by his LSD experiences, Morris immersed himself in the books of Carlos Castaneda as well as in Kriya yoga, Charismatic Christianity, and A Course in Miracles. From these experiences he was led to Toltec spiritual teacher don Miguel Ruiz and began a deep spiritual journey of change. Sharing his journey from PTSD to spiritual awakening, Morris recounts his time as a civil rights advocate for the Montagnard people in Vietnam and his years as a war correspondent at the same time he was following Castaneda’s Warrior’s Way. He describes his momentous meeting with don Miguel Ruiz as well as his travels around the world and in the astral realms. Sharing how his wife developed dementia and later became paralyzed, Morris explains how it required all his Toltec training, all his military training, everything he had to share her final years in a meaningful and fulfilling way. Written from a deep understanding of Toltec techniques this book shows in a heartfelt and resonant way what a spiritual path can give you.

Fire sweeps along the wall of a circus tent while inside thousands of people enjoy a Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey matinee. Within minutes, flames consume the canvas and vast sections collapse, killing 168 people and injuring hundreds more. Inspired by the 1944 Hartford Circus Fire, the interconnected stories in Michael Downs's The Greatest Show explore the aftermath of a disaster in a world of clowns, elephants, and childhood fantasies. In the opening story, Ania Liszak, a young Polish housemaid, steals circus tickets from her employer to take her three-year-old son, Teddy, to the matinee. The fire nearly kills both and leaves them scarred in different ways: Teddy's mother enjoys the beautiful strangeness of the scar on her face, but the patches across Teddy's body inspire cruel schoolmates to call him "Lizard Liszak." Over time, his mother transforms her pain into drama, while Teddy, having no memory of that day, seeks ways to return to it. These and other captivating characters appear throughout the book, creating a portrait of an American city and its people over five decades, raising questions about wounds and healing, memory and forgetting, and about the human capacity for kindness -- with all its futility and power -- in the midst of great loss.

Spangles, Elephants, Violets & Me is a moving and revealing journey back to the playground of Victoria Cristiani Rossis youth. It is, quite simply, one thought-provoking train rideone that involves fairy tales, nightmares and miracles. Victoria describes the tempestuous world of her Internationally Famous Cristiani Riding Act family (former Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey superstars), her life-altering convent experiences, starting at age six, and her near-fatal accident under the big top in Los Angeles. There are fascinating glimpses of Emmett Kelly, Karl Wallenda, Hugo Zacchini and disgraced 1950's quiz-show contestant Charles Van Doren. Spangles, Elephants, Violets & Me is also a story of the American dream, the confluence of wealth and fame, the strength and frailty of family, social and economic ambition, misplaced trust, conflict, loss and redemption. Victorias gift for writing is most evident as she builds dramatic contrast between days spent happily on the circus lot, and haunting nights spent away from it. Employing her authentic voice and role in circus history, Victoria honors an institution often caught publicly and unfortunately between its defenders and detractors, a situation that can preempt enjoyment of its true reason for being, or appreciation of the circus industrys numerous contributions to American culture.

Young designers and students are hungry to know what their peers are doing in today's graphic design field. This book showcases many of the best designers in their 20s and 30s who are producing innovative, eye-catching work with posters, book covers and jackets, CD packaging and other music media. Brief interviews with each artist illuminate the ideas behind their work. Next also helps jump-start the creative process by presenting fresh, edgy concepts that designers can't see anywhere else and it's a wonderful tool for older designers, enabling them to get a handle on the visual language understood by younger consumers. Selling points: No other survey book focuses on designers in their 20s and 30s. Includes an introduction by the dean of underground designers, award-winner Art Chantry.

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Two starcrossed magicians engage in a deadly game of cunning in the spellbinding novel that captured the world's imagination. • "Part love story, part fable ... defies both genres and expectations." —The Boston Globe The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance.