As hard as it is to imagine, it is possible to get paid for goofing off and having fun. Cartoonists and clowns do it. So do cruise directors, magicians, toy engineers, and video game designers. They get to laugh, play, and be creative for a living, and their success often depends on how much fun they have at work.

Ever wonder who wrangles the animals during a movie shoot? What it takes to be a brewmaster? How that play-by-play announcer got his job? What it is like to be a secret shopper? The new.

A journalist who had unprecedented access to Guns n' Roses at their peak delivers a big, brash history of the band's charismatic, fantastically talented and idiosyncratic leader—W. Axl Rose Even in the world of rock and roll, a figure like Axl Rose doesn't come along very often. Mercurial and brilliant, deluded and imperious, Rose defies easy description or analysis. Few people have studied Rose as closely as Mick Wall has. Traveling with Guns n' Roses and writing about them in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Wall first earned Axl's trust and later his fury. W.A.R. goes back to the beginning, revealing Rose's childhood influences (and how he got his name), and tracking the birth of the band and their enormous success with albums like "Appetite for Destruction" and "Use Your Illusion." With fame and money came substance abuse and infighting, and a lead singer who morphed from eccentric to seemingly unhinged. Wall's book is richly detailed and offers surprising new views on some celebrated Guns 'n Roses and Axl Rose incidents, including: --the death of two fans at a concert in Donington Park in England, --Rose's fall-out and eventual split from every one of the other original Gn'R band members, --fights with perceived enemies like Kurt Cobain, Motley Crue's Vince Neil and fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger, --Rose's consistent refusal to show up at concerts throughout his career, --Axl becoming a virtual recluse at his Malibu mansion for most of the past 15 years. The book goes right up to the present, to explore why a new Guns n' Roses—with a reconfigured band—has toured but still hasn't released their long-awaited album "Chinese Democracy", now over a decade in the making at a cost of over $13 million. W.A.R. is about great music, bad relationships, and the public and private personas of one of the most controversial performers of our time.

How to Land a Top-Paying Federal Job is the ultimate guide to securing a government job, internship, or fellowship. Written by a successful career coach who has climbed the federal career ladder herself and served as a hiring manager, the book steers applicants through every stage of their job searchesùfrom finding unadvertised openings and getting interviews to sealing enviable deals and even get ting promoted. Drawing on interviews with more than 100 federal hiring managers, the book reveals the secrets to impressing these gatekeepers online, on paper, and in personùinformation that is available nowhere else. The updated second edition includes more get-ahead tips; new templates for writing winning applications; expanded directories for internships, fast-track management training programs and fellowships; and the latest helpful websites. Complete with a companion CD filled with sample rTsumTs, checklists, and templates, this indispensable book gives readers the inside scoop on landing some of the nationÆs most secure, well-paying, and rewarding jobsùin all 50 states and abroad!

This book provides extensive, comprehensive biographical information on one of technology's most important innovators—Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs was a visionary entrepreneur who contributed immeasurably to information technology, changing not only the way we do business but also the way we communicate and share information. His company, Apple, founded in 1976 with Steve Wozniak, eventually launched the Macintosh computer in 1984, with a graphical user interface that competed with the early versions of Microsoft Windows. This reference biography sheds light on Jobs's departure from Apple in 1985, his extraordinary comeback in 1997, and his innovations in the meantime, which included the founding of the computer animation company Pixar. Jobs and Apple went on to launch the iPod, iTunes, the iPhone, and the iPad. Author Michael Becraft has distilled the vast literature on Jobs into a concise but vivid portrait of the man, his vision, the controversies that have swirled around him, and his lasting impact on business, culture, and society. Arranged chronologically, the book includes extensive primary sources and is written to be accessible to a wide range of readers. Additionally, it incorporates images that heighten reader engagement, provides a timeline for referencing Jobs's achievements across his lifetime, and supplies an extensive bibliography for those seeking original source documents.

In the first-ever guide to finding a satisfying job that will keep food on the table while you focus on your perhaps less lucrative dreams, Deborah Jacobson presents a detailed survey of employment possibilities that keep stressful money worries away and allow plenty of time for pursuing one's true calling in life. Survival Jobs proves that you don't have to wait tables while looking for your big break. With frank and funny advice from an author who has traveled the survival-job road, Jacobson introduces opportunities both on and off the beaten track that suit a wide variety of schedules, skills, and personalities. Survival Jobs includes: "Jobs for the CEO in You" (apartment manager, massage therapist, and other "be-your-own-boss" suggestions)"That's Entertainment" (from working as a personal assistant to performing at theme parks)"Nine to Five...Not" (clock in at the crack of dawn or the midnight hour as a limousine driver, a video-store clerk, or an airport employee)"You Gotta Have Heart" (jobs that satisfy the spirit and pay the bills: pet care, social work, children's entertainment) For each job, she describes: Duties and responsibilities, the pros and consLikely salary, necessary skills, and educational backgroundIdeas for getting startedSources for contacts, including names and phone numbers in major cities