Presents photographs and interviews taken between 1987 and 1993 of unknown actors and actresses including Johnny Depp, Keanu Reeves, Melanie Griffith, and David Duchovny

Why do so many people care so much about celebrities? Who decides who gets to be a star? What are the privileges and pleasures of fandom? Do celebrities ever deserve the outsized attention they receive? In this fascinating and deeply researched book, Sharon Marcus challenges everything you thought you knew about our obsession with fame. Icons are not merely famous for being famous; the media alone cannot make or break stars; fans are not simply passive dupes. Instead, journalists, the public, and celebrities themselves all compete, passionately and expertly, to shape the stories we tell about celebrities and fans. The result: a high-stakes drama as endless as it is unpredictable. Drawing on scrapbooks, personal diaries, and vintage fan mail, Marcus traces celebrity culture back to its nineteenth-century roots, when people the world over found themselves captivated by celebrity chefs, bad-boy poets, and actors such as the "divine" Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923), as famous in her day as the Beatles in theirs. Known in her youth for sleeping in a coffin, hailed in maturity as a woman of genius, Bernhardt became a global superstar thanks to savvy engagement with her era's most innovative media and technologies: the popular press, commercial photography, and speedy new forms of travel. Whether you love celebrity culture or hate it, The Drama of Celebrity will change how you think about one of the most important phenomena of modern times.

"Before There Were Stars" is a tale of a sorcerer scorned, who seeks revenge by conjuring an orange dragon. It attacks the sorcerer's love and her husband leaving two girls in the care of their grandparents. The girls, the neighbors' twin boys, and their friends live under the rule of the terrible dragon. They cannot defeat the creature, and they cannot escape from their island home. When the children come face to face with the sorcerer, a bargain is made.

The Ultimate Teen Girl Bible What do you do when . . . you're at the lunch table and you knock your soda over into someone's lap? Or, you need a job? You hate your clothes? You're broke? Inside, more than 100 experts tell you how to deal with these problems and so much more. GirlWise is one-stop shopping for all the stuff you want to, you need to, you MUST know! GirlWise includes contributions by: • Hillary Carlip, author of Girl Power • Atoosa Rubenstein, editor-in-chief of CosmoGIRL! • Nancy Gruver, publisher of New Moon • Laura McEwen, Publisher of YM • Marci Shimoff, coauthor of Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul • Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries • Brandon Holley, editor-in-chief of ELLEgirl • Isabel González, senior associate editor of Teen People You'll find great tips from experts in fashion, business, etiquette, sports, and more to help you become the Ultimate Teen Girl—confident, capable, comfortable, cool, conscious, and taking control of your life. No more helpless females here!

One of the most original shows in the history of television, Mystery Science Theater 3000 is a beloved cult hit built on the back of another cult phenomenon: the bad movie. The show's premise involved a man and some robots watching cheesy movies and cracking jokes. Over its 197 episodes, MST3K developed a passionate fan base that took it from a local UHF show in Hopkins, Minnesota, to a major motion picture. This is the story of MST3K from the beginning to the end. Twelve of the episodes are covered, giving an in-depth look at the show, its ethos and its comedic style. The films screened in these episodes are discussed critically, as are the episodes themselves.

This is a comprehensive look at the famous and the notorious, their achievements and the legacies they have left humankind. Organized by theme - explorers, inventors, leaders, artists, sportspeople, musicians, politicians, scientists, writers, reformers etc - each chapter looks at the famous figures pre-1000 AD to put the rest of the chapter in its historical context.