All of humanity has abandoned a dying Earth for a virtual universe in which imagination is the only limit. But many struggle to adapt to a life without time or death, and people are starting to let themselves disappear. As René fights to save a fantastical world of his own creation within the program, Josiane and Louis-Mahmoud take on an even more daunting task: saving humanity from itself.

On a dying Earth in a not-so-distant future, Josiane and René are the first to enter a new virtual world where just about anything is possible... Part dystopian love story, part psychedelic meditation on human nature, "Alt-Life" takes the reader down a mind-bending rabbit hole of desire, loneliness, and self-discovery.

A game-changing book that outlines the ways in which technology has transformed how brands and businesses innovate and connect with consumers: "An indispensable read for a time when so much is in transition" (Arianna Huffington). The DNA of business has changed. Forever. You can blame technology, smartphones, social media, online shopping and everything else, but nothingchanges this reality: we are in a moment of business purgatory. So, what are you going to do about it? Mitch Joel, one of the world's leading experts in new media, warns that the time has come to CTRL ALT DELETE. To reboot and to start re-building your business model. If you don't, Joel warns, not only will your company begin to slide backwards, but you may find yourself unemployable within five years. That's a very strong warning, but in his new book, CTRL ALT DELETE, Joel explains the convergence of five key movements that have changed business forever. The movements have already taken place, but few businesses have acted on them. He outlines what you need to know to adapt right now. He also points to the seven triggers that will help you take advantage of these game-changing factors to keep you employable as this new world of business unfolds. Along the way, Joel introduces his novel concept of "squiggle" which explains how you can learn to adapt your personal approach to your career, as new technology becomes the norm. In short, this is not a book about "change management" but rather a book about "changing both you AND your business model."

The untold story of how Japan became a cultural superpower through the fantastic inventions that captured—and transformed—the world’s imagination. “A masterful book driven by deep research, new insights, and powerful storytelling.”—W. David Marx, author of Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style Japan is the forge of the world’s fantasies: karaoke and the Walkman, manga and anime, Pac-Man and Pokémon, online imageboards and emojis. But as Japan media veteran Matt Alt proves in this brilliant investigation, these novelties did more than entertain. They paved the way for our perplexing modern lives. In the 1970s and ’80s, Japan seemed to exist in some near future, gliding on the superior technology of Sony and Toyota. Then a catastrophic 1990 stock-market crash ushered in the “lost decades” of deep recession and social dysfunction. The end of the boom should have plunged Japan into irrelevance, but that’s precisely when its cultural clout soared—when, once again, Japan got to the future a little ahead of the rest of us. Hello Kitty, the Nintendo Entertainment System, and multimedia empires like Dragon Ball Z were more than marketing hits. Artfully packaged, dangerously cute, and dizzyingly fun, these products gave us new tools for coping with trying times. They also transformed us as we consumed them—connecting as well as isolating us in new ways, opening vistas of imagination and pathways to revolution. Through the stories of an indelible group of artists, geniuses, and oddballs, Pure Invention reveals how Japan’s pop-media complex remade global culture.

Friday services at Abyssian Baptist Church.

Epidemic cinema remains an enduring genre of contemporary film, ranging from medical dramas to post-apocalyptic thrillers. Using a vast filmography, Zaniello not only details the incredible variety of epidemics and their role in popular culture, but also demonstrates how epidemics, as a rule, have been confronted without proper preparation or deployment of resources in different forms of media. Therefore, Epidemic Films to Die For is the first and the only book that extensively analyzes the history and deployment of films and TV series towards a chronicle of epidemic films. In addition to providing an overview of how widespread disease and illness have been historically depicted via film and media, this book skillfully contextualizes the contemporary ongoing moment in which filmmakers and producers grapple with the cultural imaginary surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Boys' Life is the official youth magazine for the Boy Scouts of America. Published since 1911, it contains a proven mix of news, nature, sports, history, fiction, science, comics, and Scouting.