Entertainment Science

"My name is 'J' and I'm awkward--and Black. Someone once told me those were the two worst things anyone could be. That someone was right. Where do I start?" Being an introvert in a world that glorifies cool isn't easy. But when Issa Rae, the creator of the Shorty Award-winning hit series The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, is that introvert--whether she's navigating love, work, friendships, or rapping--it sure is entertaining.

The landscape that the Brat Pack memorialized is rich with cultural themes and significance, and has influenced an entire generation who still believe that life always turns out like an '80s movie. You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried takes us back to that era, through Susannah Gora's interviews with key players such as Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Andrew McCarthy, and John Cusack, and mines all the material from the movies to the music to the way the films were made to show how they helped shape our visions for romance, friendship, society, and success.

Grim Batol: Its dark legacy stretches back into the mists of Azeroth's past. But most know it as the site of a terrible tragedy - where the vile orcs corrupted the hatchlings of the noble Dragonqueen, Alexstrasza, and used them as weapons of war. Though a band of heroes, led by the enigmatic mage, Krasus, defeated the orcs and freed the captive dragons, the cursed mountain stands as another ravaged landmark within the....

This is the true story of a poor girl from small-town Nova Scotia, and her transformation into one of the most successful Dominatrix porn stars in the world. Becoming one of the most successful and well-known femdom fetish porn stars takes a certain mix of ingredients - ingredients cultivated in Mistress T at a young age. Lack of inhibition, keen business sense, and a powerful sense of independence resulted in a skilled and driven woman uniquely prepared to do whatever was necessary to succeed in a business most people fail to excel in.

In the bustling streets of New York, a killer is on the loose, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. But this isn't just any ordinary murderer—they're using an explosive rune, a powerful magic that should only exist in the pages of Alex Lockerby's own lore book. As the city descends into chaos and fear, Alex finds himself in a race against time to catch the culprit before they strike again. With his own abilities temporarily gone, he must rely on his wit and determination to solve the case.

While the Western was dying a slow death across the cultural landscape, it was blazing back to life as a video game in the early twenty-first century. Rockstar Games' Red Dead franchise, beginning with Red Dead Revolver in 2004, has grown into one of the most critically acclaimed video game franchises of the twenty-first century. Red Dead Redemption: History, Myth, and Violence in the Video Game West offers a critical, interdisciplinary look at this cultural phenomenon at the intersection of game studies and American history.

Fate finally locates Myne in Hausen, the domain of which he is lord and protector. It has always been Fate's aim to save Myne from herself, but now the alternative comes at too high a cost to bear: should Fate fail to rescue his errant companion, the mysterious Libra threatens to rain destruction on everything he holds dear.

Just about every human being knows how to listen to music, but what does it take to make music? Is musicality something we are born with? Or a skill that anyone can develop at any time? If you don't start piano at the age of six, is there any hope? Is skill learning best left to children or can anyone reinvent him-or herself at any time?

Hiro and the gang get dragged into rescuing the daughters of an elf patriarch and receive a warm welcome from the elven home planet. The elves here are nothing like Hiro imagined--they know nothing of modern science and rely on magic rather than technology. As Hiro and the girls sample local delicacies, enjoy the sights, and get a crash course in elven fashion, they find that Hiro seems to wield a power much like the elves' magic...

In How Star Wars Conquered the Universe, veteran journalist Chris Taylor traces the series from the difficult birth of the original film through its sequels, the franchise’s death and rebirth, the prequels, and the preparations for a new trilogy. Taylor provides portraits of the friends, writers, artists, producers, and marketers who labored behind the scenes to turn Lucas’s idea into a legend.

Fate wants nothing more than to save Roxy from certain death in Galia, a death to which her fellow holy knights condemned her. As he follows Roxy's trail, he encounters a Galian girl he once met: Myne, who wields a black axe that eerily resembles Fate's own black sword. Myne agrees to help Fate fight the monsters between him and Galia--but once they get there, he must repay her favor in kind.

From Snow White to Moana, from Pinocchio to Frozen, the animated films of Walt Disney Studios have moved and entertained millions. But few fans know that behind these groundbreaking features was an incredibly influential group of women who fought for respect in an often ruthless male-dominated industry and who have slipped under the radar for decades.

The entire human race balances on the razor's edge of annihilation, beset by an enemy that turns our own bodies against us, that changes normal people into psychopaths or transforms them into nightmares. To some, Doctor Margaret Montoya is a hero-a brilliant scientist who saved the human race from an alien intelligence determined to exterminate all of humanity. To others, she's a monster - a mass murderer single-handedly responsible for the worst atrocity ever to take place on American soil. All Margaret knows is that she's broken. The blood of a million deaths is on her hands.

There is a common belief that we live in unprecedented times, that people are too sensitive today, that nobody objected to the actions of actors, comedians, and filmmakers in the past. Modern pundits would have us believe that Americans of a previous generation had tougher skin and seldom complained. But does this argument hold up to scrutiny? In Outrageous, celebrated cultural historian Kliph Nesteroff demonstrates that Americans have been objecting to entertainment for nearly two hundred years, sometimes rationally, often irrationally.

Forged in the fires of the Bronx and Kingston, Jamaica, hip-hop became the Esperanto of youth rebellion and a generation-defining movement. In a post-civil rights era defined by deindustrialization and globalization, hip-hop crystallized a multiracial, polycultural generation's worldview and transformed American politics and culture. But that epic story has never been told with this kind of breadth, insight, and style.

The results of the Unanimous Special Exam weigh heavily on Ayanokouji's class. Kushida, Hasebe, and Wang haven't come to school in days. But time marches on, and when details of the Sports Festival are announced, Horikata's opponents disrupt the planning meeting. The class is now behind before the games can even begin! Can everyone live with the choices they've made and come out on top?

With the Seed of the Sacred Tree and Princess Tinia aboard, Hiro and crew join the battle against Red Flag, the pirate gang that attacked the elves' home planet. Just as the battle is looking hopeless, the Krishna activates a mysterious new barrier--one that seems to have something to do with the Sacred Tree. Meanwhile, Hiro snags the interest of Mary, a buxom mercenary with shady ties. How is Hiro going to shake this gorgeous new troublemaker?

The task ahead is clear: it's time for Fate to go to the floating continent of Galia to close the Door to Distant Lands at last. Libra has prepared a ship to take Fate and his friends there, but after boarding, they find Eris has been taken hostage! Even so, they have no choice but to continue on to Galia.

Comedians Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld never thought anyone would watch their silly little sitcom about a New York comedian sitting around talking to his friends. NBC executives didn't think anyone would watch either, but they bought it anyway, hiding it away in the TV dead zone of summer. But against all odds, viewers began to watch, first a few and then many, until nine years later nearly 40 million Americans were tuning in weekly.

Seven centuries in the future, the sport of American football has never been bigger, never been faster, never been more lethal. Trillions of fans from all over the galaxy watch six unique races battle in contests so violent that deaths are part of the stat sheet. Star quarterback Quentin Barnes has led his beloved Ionath Krakens to glory on the gridiron and become the most-recognized individual in history, but it is off the field where his world crumbles around him.