Growing up is hard… but it’s never boring. It’s the summer of 1984, and Erol Jacobs is about to embark on an unforgettable adventure filled with first crushes, best friends, and the thrill of growing up in suburban California. Set against the backdrop of arcade games, movie marathons, and awkward first dates, Erol navigates the complicated world of adolescence, friendship, and fitting in. From first kisses to dodging neighborhood bullies, The Best Days of My Life captures the universal experiences of being young and trying to figure out who you are. Funny, heartfelt, and steeped in the nostalgia of the 1980s, this coming-of-age tale will transport readers back to the days when the hardest decisions were which movie to watch, and the biggest challenges were finding your place in the world. The Best Days of My Life is a 12-book series about an 11-year-old boy named Erol Jacobs that begins in the summer of 1984. Erol is similar to and unlike many young kids. He loves watching movies, playing the occasional sport, reading, and writing. Due to his flair for putting his thoughts and ideas down on paper, he keenly observes the world around him.

A television genre best known for romantic storytelling, daytime soap operas have for decades spun tales of couples embroiled in passion, lust and adventure. Yet it was not until the early 1980s that star-crossed lovers became standard and the term "super couple" was coined by the media, marking a new era of experimentation and growth in daytime soaps. This book documents the phenomenon, tracing its history, legacy and impact on the soap opera industry and on popular culture at large.

Sir Ian Botham and the Ashes are as closely intertwined as willow and leather or Merv Hughes and his moustache. You simply cannot think of one without the other. In this book, Sir Ian takes you on a ride through a lifetime's relationship with cricket's oldest and most treasured prize, revealing just how it has shaped his life and how he has helped to turn it into the contest it is today. From the moment he first watched the likes of Ken Barrington stride to the wicket in jaw-jutting defiance to the day he flayed Australia's bowling attack around Headingley as if playing with his mates in the park, and then onwards to his role in commentating on what was arguably the finest series of the lot, in 2005, Sir Ian has a rich and varied connection with the Ashes, and he tells all here. The Ashes is a series that has provided incredible highs and heartbreaking lows for English and Australian fans alike over the past 35 years. Sir Ian has often been at the centre of the roller-coaster ride. Whether it is his account of his days as England's dogsbody in 1977 in Melbourne or the story of his refusal to let Bob Willis bowl downwind until he was angry enough to skittle the Aussies in 1981, all is revealed in depth in Botham's Book of the Ashes.

My life, from my birthday to the last decade of 1900s, is a spectrum of events both good and bad as I follow T. S. Elliot’s lines, “We shall not cease from exploration, And the end of all our exploring, Will be to arrive where we started, And know the place for the first time.” Growing up on my father’s farm, there was plenty of exploration, but I never went back to the farm. Far from it! My explorations took me where no teacher in my main field, which is printmaking, had gone because I was hired at 24 by a major research university where its campus services gave me a head start exploring electronic arts and computers, I could blend with teaching printmaking. Ironically, while these brought opportunities, there were hidden limitations. In the 1980s I gambled our home to take us on a vast sabbatical research project for the university. We returned to find the school corrupt, and so it ended my career. Fortunately, I married well. My high school sweetheart, Lynda, stayed with me even on my wayward ventures. In addition she brought two fine daughters to our lives. And had it not been for her ability to restore our property, my exploring would have ended forever. Because, when the art school closed its door, others opened. Everything I learned in nineteen years at the UW prepared me to continue privately. By 1990, I was on cloud nine and the Internet was within my grasp. These are the words from one of two volumes I illustrated with a thousand pictures. What autobiography of a teaching artist’s life would be complete without pictures? Not only my art, but my students’, and from collaborations with diverse artists, crafts people, designers, and writers. Plus QR codes! It is for anyone who loves a good read about teaching art as I was known for in Seattle, but also about an old professor’s family, friends, art patrons, and former students who made it possible. It continues in Volume 2. Volume 1 takes this farmboy to the approach of the information superhighway.

An alphabetical reference on the major film figures (stars, producers, directors, writers, et al.), past and present. Each entry provides a substantial career biography and a complete listing of all films the individual has been involved with. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This extensive bibliography and reference guide is an invaluable resource for researchers, practitioners, students, and anyone with an interest in Canadian film and video. With over 24,500 entries, of which 10,500 are annotated, it opens up the literature devoted to Canadian film and video, at last making it readily accessible to scholars and researchers. Drawing on both English and French sources, it identifies books, catalogues, government reports, theses, and periodical and newspaper articles from Canadian and non-Canadian publications from the first decade of the twentieth century to 1989. The work is bilingual; descriptive annotations are presented in the language(s) of the original publication. Canadian Film and Video / Film et vidéo canadiens provides an in-depth guide to the work of over 4000 individuals working in film and video and 5000 films and videos. The entries in Volume I cover topics such as film types, the role of government, laws and legislation, censorship, festivals and awards, production and distribution companies, education, cinema buildings, women and film, and video art. A major section covers filmmakers, video artists, cinematographers, actors, producers, and various other film people. Volume II presents an author index, a film and video title index, and a name and subject index. In the tradition of the highly acclaimed publication Art and Architecture in Canada these volumes fill a long-standing need for a comprehensive reference tool for Canadian film and video. This bibliography guides and supports the work of film historians and practitioners, media librarians and visual curators, students and researchers, and members of the general public with an interest in film and video.