A comprehensive compendium of cult website Den of Geek's most popular articles combined with new material to create the ultimate alternative encyclopedia of film.

'Awesome. Everything you've ever wanted to know about big-screen sci-fi' - James King, film critic 'Don't leave Planet Earth without it' - Dan Jolin, film critic 'A wonderfully accessible, fascinating, flat-out treasure chest of science fiction cinema, from an author whose love of the subject leaps off the page' - Simon Brew, Editor, Den of Geek Why do SF movies matter? What do they tell us about the interests of storytellers and the changing tastes of cinema-goers? How have SF movies evolved with filmmaking technology over the past 110 years? The Geek's Guide To SF Cinema provides an entertaining and in-depth history of the science fiction genre's pivotal and most influential movies. From the pioneering films of Georges Méliès to such blockbusters as Avatar and Inception in the 21st century, the book will explore how these key movies were made, how they reflected the mood of the time in which they were released and how they have influenced other filmmakers in the years since. Historians and experts contribute to answer questions such as: 'How important was Fritz Lang's contribution to cinema?' and 'What did Alien say about the cynical climate of the 1970s?'. Providing nostalgia for long-time SF addicts and context for those whose knowledge and love of the genre is still growing, this is a pop-culture book with depth.

National Book Award Finalist • Here is the unforgettable story of the Binewskis, a circus-geek family whose matriarch and patriarch have bred their own exhibit of human oddities—with the help of amphetamines, arsenic, and radioisotopes. One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years Their offspring include Arturo the Aquaboy, who has flippers for limbs and a megalomaniac ambition worthy of Genghis Khan . . . Iphy and Elly, the lissome Siamese twins . . . albino hunchback Oly, and the outwardly normal Chick, whose mysterious gifts make him the family’s most precious—and dangerous—asset. As the Binewskis take their act across the backwaters of the U.S., inspiring fanatical devotion and murderous revulsion; as its members conduct their own Machiavellian version of sibling rivalry, Geek Love throws its sulfurous light on our notions of the freakish and the normal, the beautiful and the ugly, the holy and the obscene. Family values will never be the same.

As a software engineer, you recognize at some point that there's much more to your career than dealing with code. Is it time to become a manager? Tell your boss he’s a jerk? Join that startup? Author Michael Lopp recalls his own make-or-break moments with Silicon Valley giants such as Apple, Netscape, and Symantec in Being Geek -- an insightful and entertaining book that will help you make better career decisions. With more than 40 standalone stories, Lopp walks through a complete job life cycle, starting with the job interview and ending with the realization that it might be time to find another gig. Many books teach you how to interview for a job or how to manage a project successfully, but only this book helps you handle the baffling circumstances you may encounter throughout your career. Decide what you're worth with the chapter on "The Business" Determine the nature of the miracle your CEO wants with "The Impossible" Give effective presentations with "How Not to Throw Up" Handle liars and people with devious agendas with "Managing Werewolves" Realize when you should be looking for a new gig with "The Itch"

Josh Becker has been making movies since he was a teenager. His first film was made at age thirteen, and by 9th grade he was tackling Oedipus Rex with future cult-icon Bruce Campbell. Since then he has written and directed numerous short films, four feature films, several television movies and worked on successful tv shows. RUSHES is at heart a passionate, honest and opinionated look behind the scenes of writing, producing and directing low-budget movies. From Josh's early days working with future Spider-Man director Sam Raimi on his original Evil Dead to his days writing and directing Xena: Warrior Princess in New Zealand and beyond, RUSHES is filled with stories. Whether you're a budding thespian, scriptwriter, director or you simply just love movies, you'll find insights, frustrations and answers to your questions in the experiences Josh has enjoyed and endured in his three and a half decades of filmmaking trenches. His supporting cast in these adventures include aforementioned Sam Raimi and frequent collaborator Bruce Campbell, as well as stars small and great like Anthony Quinn, Lucy Lawless, Rob Tapert, Renee O'Connor, Gary Jones, Scott Spiegel, Joe LoDuca, Rick Sandford, Mariah Carey, Stephen Baldwin, John Cassavetes and many, many others.

For over a century, movies have played an important role in our lives, entertaining us, often provoking conversation and debate. Now, with the rise of digital cinema, audiences often encounter movies outside the theater and even outside the home. Traditional distribution models are challenged by new media entrepreneurs and independent film makers, usergenerated video, film blogs, mashups, downloads, and other expanding networks. Reinventing Cinema examines film culture at the turn of this century, at the precise moment when digital media are altering our historical relationship with the movies. Spanning multiple disciplines, Chuck Tryon addresses the interaction between production, distribution, and reception of films, television, and other new and emerging media.Through close readings of trade publications, DVD extras, public lectures by new media leaders, movie blogs, and YouTube videos, Tryon navigates the shift to digital cinema and examines how it is altering film and popular culture.

Summary Online recommender systems help users find movies, jobs, restaurants-even romance! There's an art in combining statistics, demographics, and query terms to achieve results that will delight them. Learn to build a recommender system the right way: it can make or break your application! Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the Technology Recommender systems are everywhere, helping you find everything from movies to jobs, restaurants to hospitals, even romance. Using behavioral and demographic data, these systems make predictions about what users will be most interested in at a particular time, resulting in high-quality, ordered, personalized suggestions. Recommender systems are practically a necessity for keeping your site content current, useful, and interesting to your visitors. About the Book Practical Recommender Systems explains how recommender systems work and shows how to create and apply them for your site. After covering the basics, you'll see how to collect user data and produce personalized recommendations. You'll learn how to use the most popular recommendation algorithms and see examples of them in action on sites like Amazon and Netflix. Finally, the book covers scaling problems and other issues you'll encounter as your site grows. What's inside How to collect and understand user behavior Collaborative and content-based filtering Machine learning algorithms Real-world examples in Python About the Reader Readers need intermediate programming and database skills. About the Author Kim Falk is an experienced data scientist who works daily with machine learning and recommender systems. Table of Contents PART 1 - GETTING READY FOR RECOMMENDER SYSTEMS What is a recommender? User behavior and how to collect it Monitoring the system Ratings and how to calculate them Non-personalized recommendations The user (and content) who came in from the cold PART 2 - RECOMMENDER ALGORITHMS Finding similarities among users and among content Collaborative filtering in the neighborhood Evaluating and testing your recommender Content-based filtering Finding hidden genres with matrix factorization Taking the best of all algorithms: implementing hybrid recommenders Ranking and learning to rank Future of recommender systems