Joachim Schmid "Photoworks 1982-2007"

Photoworks 1982–2007
by Joachim Schmid

Steidl & Partners
Joachim Schmid began his career in the early 1980s as a freelance critic and the publisher of Fotokritik, an iconoclastic and original contribution to West German photography. In the pages of Fotokritik and in his regular articles and lectures for other venues, Schmid argued articulately and at times vehemently against prevailing, predominantly conservative notions of “art photography” and in favour of a broad, encompassing critique of photography as a form of cultural practice. After ceasing publication of Fotokritik in 1987, Schmid focused on his own art production, based primarily on found photography and public image sources. Living near one of the largest flea markets in Berlin, he had already amassed a rich, deep, and varied collection of vernacular photography which formed the raw material for many of the works included in this publication.
Schmid’s use of extended series reflects his concern with photography as an encompassing, culturally dispersed and ubiquitous social and aesthetic discourse that runs throughout the public and private spheres of modern life. Yet the fundamental richness of Schmid’s photographic raw material – along with the sardonic wit he so often displays – derails any attempt to read his work as pure anthropology or social science. His artistic preoccupations reflect a close observation of photographic history and a fascination with photographic images themselves in all their alternately bizarre and conventionalized aspects.

Price
UK £30.00
US $55.00
EC €45.00

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Leonard Cohen "Let Us Compare Mythologies By Leonard Cohen" (1956)

Published in 1956 when he was twenty-two years old, Let Us Compare Mythologies is Leonard Cohen's first book. Long out of print, it is now available exactly as it appeared fifty years ago as one of the four hundred copies published by the McGill Poetry Series in Canada, with its original cover and illustrations by Canadian artist Freda Guttman.

Leonard Cohen was born in Montreal in 1934. He is the author of twelve books, including, most recently, the national bestseller Book of Longing, and has released seventeen albums.

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Leonard Cohen "Book Of Longing" (2006)

nternationally celebrated for his writing and his music, Leonard Cohen is one of the legendary writers, performers, and most consistently daring artists of our time. Book of Longing is his dazzling new collection of poetry -- twenty years in the making -- written on southern California's Mount Baldy and in Los Angeles, Montreal, and Mumbai. Following his highly acclaimed 1984 publication, Book of Mercy, and containing Cohen's own playful and provocative line drawings, Book of Longing brings together all the elements that have elevated Leonard Cohen's artistry to worldwide recognition.

Leonard Cohen was born in Montreal in 1934. He is the author of twelve books, including, most recently, the national bestseller Book of Longing, and has released seventeen albums.

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Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Book

Comedian Larry David was the co-creator and writer for the hit-show Seinfeld, which catapulted him to wealth, fame, and the L.A. lifestyle he so loves to hate. HBO®'s hit show Curb Your Enthusiasm follows Larry's fictionalized post-Seinfeld life as he makes the world and himself miserable during the pursuit of his own happiness, a fascinating account of the ingenious improvisational comedy where no detail gets left to chance.

With unprecedented access to the set, "Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Book" provides a compelling picture of how things go from bad to worse in Larry David's Los Angeles. His character defies all reasonable expectations, especially when he tries to do exactly what's expected. Nothing is simple; not getting his wife's car washed or exiting a parking lot; not waiting in a doctor's office, or even wrapping, giving, or receiving a gift. In the course of the series' four ground-breaking seasons (the fifth season just began in September, 2005), each of these simple acts is a catalyst for an unthinkable sequence of blunders, inappropriate gestures, and far-fetched coincidences that culminate in the shocking yet expected humiliation of Larry David himself. As fans of the show will testify, the worse things get for Larry, the harder you laugh.

The book opens with an in-depth profile of Larry David, and the structure that follows is based around in-depth coverage of each of the 50 episodes, including:

* Anecdotal, behind-the-scene stories from people who were there, including interviews with such stars as Cheryl Hines, Jeff Garlin, Jason Alexander, Mel Brooks, Ted Danson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kathy Griffin, Paul Reiser, Richard Lewis, Mary Steenburgen, Ben Stiller, and many others.

* 150 photographs, including behind-the-scene photos that fans will devour.
* First mentions of now legendary phrases.
* Reproductions of Larry David's original scene outlines (no dialogue) so readers can trace the actual evolution of classic scenes from "real life" to the cutting room.
* Outtakes, such as show titles and scenes that didn't make the cut and storylines that were too outrageous to use.
* Answers to nagging questions not revealed on the show.

For anyone interested in David's childhood, his roots as a stand-up comic, his various writing jobs before the breakthrough of "Seinfeld," and how the ideas that had been formulating in his mind for decades finally found its perfect expression in his show, "Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Book" is the perfect tribute.

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