In the fly- on- the-wall tradition of David Niven's bestselling THE MOON'S A BALLOON comes a hilarious take on what making movies and working with big- and small- stars today is really likea As Andy Warhol said, everyone has a shot at 15 minutes of fame, but he didn't mention where. Being famous in Latvia or Lightning Ridge is a whole other animal to being famous in Hollywood. And sometimes being almost famous can be a helluva lot more fun. In the same year Toni Collette won an AFI Best Actress award for 'Muriel's Wedding', Nicholas Hope won Best Actor for a very different film, 'Bad Boy Bubby'. The latter evaded blockbuster status and became a cult hit. So did its star. While Toni was jetting off to Hollywood to co- star with Bruce Willis in 'The Sixth Sense', Hope was heading off to Berlev g to make a film about corruption in the Norwegian cod fishing industry. But it's not all snow, home- burnt alcohol and quilted jumpsuits. Being almost famous takes the boy from Whyalla all over the world, from the glamour of the Venice Film Festival as Best Actor nominee to a whole other sort of festival in Riga, from obscurity in New York to star status in Lightning Ridge. Along the way, he falls madly in love and meets more crazy people, famous and otherwise, than any former bank clerk from the bush could ever have daydreamed about. With a wonderful sense of the ridiculous, Nicholas Hope offers a throughly entertaining insider's view of a world he clearly loves despite all its flaws, and is never better than when he is laughing at himself.

Bad Boy Bubby focuses on a 35 year-old man-child whose 'mother/keeper' keeps him imprisoned in a windowless hovel. From the moment it entered the festival cycle in 1993, the film has polarized audiences. This volume examines how and why the film produced such conflicting responses, as well as reviewing its current relevance.

In TAKE ME WITH YOU share the delirious highs and lows of long distance love with some of Australia's most intrepid romantics- Sarah Macdonald, John Birmingham, Mandy Sayer, Kendall Hill, Emily Ballou, Tom Gleeson, Sarah Darmody, Valerie Barnes and Nicholas Hope. Led by an author whose long-distance love led to much more than a bestselling memoir, join a party of fellow travellers who have scaled the heights and otherwise of love and longing from afar. Sarah Macdonald ponders if its better to leave or be left and considers abandoning her near perfect life for one of chaos and uncertainty; John Birmingham lusts after an interstate beauty he can no longer afford and who has forgotten him already; Mandy Sayer explains why her marriage needs to be lived in two separrate homes; Tom Gleeson plays the love-struck fool in Italy; Kendall Hill delves into a life lost and uncovers a shocking secret on a Greek Island; Sarah Darmody travels to Borneo where her childhood love and her new love meet; Emily Ballou falls hopelessly in love with a large lump in the Pacific; Nicholas Hope suffers heart pain bought on by years of living in the dark and Valerie Barnes reveals how a United Nations interpreter deciphered the language of love.

MEN of the YEAR MAN of the MONTH "You had things your way for six miserable years. Now it's my turn." —Joey Fasano, irresistible renegade screen idol He had it all—wealth, fame, success. But the emptiness aching inside him wouldn't subside. Watching TV coverage of Heather Wade's upcoming wedding, Joey marveled at how she'd changed from the wild, free spirit he'd loved to the cool, proper socialite her powerful family had made her. But now he had to see her again, and even her family couldn't stop him. Because if that boy whose hand she was holding wasn't the image of Joey at age five, he'd eat his Oscar! Some men are made for lovin'—and you'll love our 125th MAN OF THE MONTH!