Entertainment journalist Piazza dissects the industrialization of fame in the age of celebrity.
A celebrity may be a person, but celebrity is a product, a commodity bought and sold, writes the author in this rangy analysis of the celebrity business. Like it or not, our culture has invested its celebrities with extraordinary power, and Piazza presents all the players involved, including managers, agents, publicists and producers. A dozen vignettes explore the ways in which celebrity is created and revenue streams are activated, whether it is celebrity in the long run, as in an Oscar win (there is a terrific chapter on how to buy an Oscar), or the short-term celebrity through association (Tiger Woods’ lovers going public: “Their investment was just their dignity, and the payoff was substantial”). Since she has been intimately involved in the business, Piazza’s chapter on celebrity magazines, from copy to newsstand placement, is particularly revealing, and she is willing to call a spade a spade when it comes to the cheesier aspects of celebritydom, from the selling of baby photos to the “leaked” sex tapes that launched Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. She also takes on the evolution of various branding styles and the ways in which notoriety in one sphere can be parlayed into licensing deals in another. In perhaps the most enlightening chapter, Piazza explains why some celebrities survive and others fizzle. You have to be fun and relatable, inclusive and aspirational, but most of all likable and consistent, which is why Lindsay Lohan tanked (inconsistent) and Charlie Sheen shines on (consistent in his craziness). It’s rarely pretty, but Piazza ably demonstrates the celebrity machine’s remarkable efficiency in getting us to give it our money.
Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4532-1879-2
Page Count: 236
Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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