Download or read book A Very Punchable Face written by Colin Jost and published by Crown. This book was released on 2020-07-14 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In these hilarious essays, the Saturday Night Live head writer and Weekend Update co-anchor learns how to take a beating. “I always wanted to punch his face before I read this book. Now I just want to kick him in the balls.”—Larry David NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Cosmopolitan • Vulture • Parade If there’s one trait that makes someone well suited to comedy, it’s being able to take a punch—metaphorically and, occasionally, physically. From growing up in a family of firefighters on Staten Island to commuting three hours a day to high school and “seeing the sights” (like watching a Russian woman throw a stroller off the back of a ferry), to attending Harvard while Facebook was created, Jost shares how he has navigated the world like a slightly smarter Forrest Gump. You’ll also discover things about Jost that will surprise and confuse you, like how Jimmy Buffett saved his life, how Czech teenagers attacked him with potato salad, how an insect laid eggs inside his legs, and how he competed in a twenty-five-man match at WrestleMania (and almost won). You'll go behind the scenes at SNL and Weekend Update (where he's written some of the most memorable sketches and jokes of the past fifteen years). And you’ll experience the life of a touring stand-up comedian—from performing in rural college cafeterias at noon to opening for Dave Chappelle at Radio City Music Hall. For every accomplishment (hosting the Emmys), there is a setback (hosting the Emmys). And for every absurd moment (watching paramedics give CPR to a raccoon), there is an honest, emotional one (recounting his mother’s experience on the scene of the Twin Towers’ collapse on 9/11). Told with a healthy dose of self-deprecation, A Very Punchable Face reveals the brilliant mind behind some of the dumbest sketches on television, and lays bare the heart and humor of a hardworking guy—with a face you can’t help but want to punch.
Download or read book Faces on the Clock written by Larry Bauer-Scandin and published by Eagle Entertainment USA. This book was released on 2010-05-28 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This guy is tough, and so is his message. (By Ruben Rosario, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN August 2011. Edited for length) Like the U.S. Postal Service, apparently nothing keeps Larry Bauer-Scandin - foster dad to 125 - from his self-appointed rounds. Not the weather. Not the heart ailments or the genetic neurological disorder that robbed him of movement and rendered him legally blind. The 64-year-old Vadnais Heights resident just gets up and does it. "My life was normal for the first nine years of my life until 1957 when my foot went to sleep, except that my foot never woke up," Bauer-Scandin told a group of inmates from the 3100 unit at the Dakota County Jail. But that's not the main message that Bauer-Scandin, a retired probation officer and jail counselor, wants to deliver on this day. "Whom do you blame for your problems?" he asks the group of 34 men, who are members of IMC, or Inmates Motivated to Change. Under the program, inmates with chemical dependency or mostly nonviolent offenses sign an agreement to take part in several programs and pledge not to make the same mistakes that keep landing them in lock-up. "What people need to do is stand in front of a mirror and ask: 'How much of the problem is mine and how much is it somebody else?' " I first wrote about Bauer-Scandin five years ago. It was centered on his life as a foster parent. As he told the inmates, two of his former foster kids are cops, one in St. Paul. Two are soldiers deployed to Iraq. One's a millionaire. One's an author. Most are raising families or staying out of trouble in spite of hardships. But "15 are dead," said Bauer-Scandin, author of "Faces on the Clock," an engrossing memoir about his life. The dead include suicide victims, including an 11-year-old, others from AIDS and "my last one, they found in three or four pieces, as I understand." Bauer-Scandin's worth writing about again for what he continues to do at great pain and sacrifice without pay or fanfare. He didn't sugarcoat or pull punches with his audience. "What I'm afraid is still happening is that the system is trying to figure out how to get tighter," he told them. "The sentences are getting tougher." And it's not the police, the sheriffs, the courts or even the folks in state and county-run corrections that are responsible for the race to incarcerate. "It's the legislature," Bauer-Scandin said. "And legislatures have been known to do very stupid things." He also faults the media and a gullible public that forms opinions and dehumanizes people strictly on what they watch on TV and not on real-life experiences or knowledge. "What do they see?" he said. "They see the Charlie Mansons. They see the unusual. They see the extreme. Most of you aren't that way. But that's what makes the news." Yet he doesn't divert from his main message: It's up to the inmate to take a positive step and choose the right way. "Get yourself back into a position where you can influence those people, to be able to go to a school board or a city council or legislative meeting and have your voice heard. "You can't fight the system from in here," he concluded. "You have to be out there." The inmates applauded and, one by one, stood in line to shake his hand on his way out the jail complex. His progressively debilitating disorder is taking more of a toll these days. But he steered the scooter inside the van and deftly wiggled his frail body into the driver's seat. He has no complaints, he told me. He will continue to go out and speak as long as God and his wife allow him. "I hope something stuck," he tells me before he drives off. I hope so too, Larry.
Download or read book The Weekend written by Tina Martin and published by Tina Martin Publications. This book was released on 2021-10-21 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can you make somebody fall in love with you in ONE weekend? That’s what Corbin LeBlanc is hoping after recently becoming reacquainted with Davina Lennox – his secret crush from high school years ago. She’s all woman now and still as beautiful as he remembered. However, while he knows the path his life will take, he learns that Davina has no clue what she wants – but she knows one thing for sure – small town life is not for her. Corbin has one weekend to convince her to stay in Bryson City, appreciate this beautiful mountain town and make her see the amazing life they could have together.
Download or read book The Initial Fold written by Nick Adams and published by Elliptical Publishing. This book was released on 2019-06-03 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This needs to be picked up by Netflix and made into a TV show. Absolutely brilliant” – Goodreads "In the vein of great writers like Harry Harrison and Robert A Heinlein" - Amazon What would you do if you materialised inside an alien starship? It's 2049, and NASA-sponsored physicist Edward Virr is on the cusp of man's greatest breakthrough – the ability to fold space, and to travel faster than light. He personally tests NASA's futuristic prototype fold ship with a hand-picked crew. But when their first mission takes an unexpected twist, Edward suspects that they may not have been the only ones developing the new technology. Discovering there's a lot more at stake than first contact, they soon realise that Earth's survival depends on their ability to solve a crime of galactic proportions. Join Edward Virr and his crew as they undertake their first space adventure, laughing and swearing their way into the depths of the Milky Way. Books in this series The Initial Fold The Andromedan Fold The Messier Fold The Cygnus Fold Find out more at www.nickadamsbooks.com The Fold Series: it's like the love child of The Martian and Red Dwarf – with a pinch of Star Trek thrown in for extra flavour! What readers are saying about The Fold series: "Excellent book, can't wait for the next one!" – Goodreads "If you liked the Hitchhiker's Guide series you will like this" – Goodreads "Well written with good comic relief – will definitely read the next one!" – Goodreads
Download or read book On This Day written by T. G. Scaife and published by On This Day. This book was released on 2007-04 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Astonishing answers to unspoken questions revealed Ben Worthington, a sixteen year old city boy, leaves school, home and friends to enter the country only to be dazzled by bulls that like to gore people, a restless spirit child, animals who think, a secret pedophile cult, and a psychotic farmer who focuses his dementia on Ben's demise.
Download or read book Facing Death with Hope written by David Powlison and published by New Growth Press. This book was released on 2008-10-31 with total page 11 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is a life-threatening illness, a major life change, or just plain old age forcing you to face your own mortality? Probably, like most of us, you'd rather not think or talk about your own death. But ignoring your death won't stop it from happening—the mortality rate is still 100%! David Powlison explains why you don't have to take this ...
Download or read book In Your Face written by Lia Mills and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2008-05-01 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In early 2006, Lia Mills went to the dentist, worried about a painful lump in her cheek. In Your Face is her account of what happened next: a diagnosis of oral cancer; surgery to remove the tumour and reconstruct her jaw; a broken leg that came about as a result of a bone graft and that went undiagnosed for several weeks; radiotherapy and resulting illness; and, finally, recovery. Based on the journals she kept even when she was feeling her worst, In Your Face gives an extraordinary day-by-day account of what Lia went through. It also observes more beauty and comedy in the world than most of us notice even when we're feeling our best. It is not so much a book about cancer as a book about life. It should be read by anyone who wants to understand illness and recovery, fear and hope and love. 'A life-changing book for me' Anne Enright, winner of the Man Booker Prize 2007 'The bravery and love and zest for experience displayd by Lia Mills, and encountered by her, in the darkest depths of her illness, make this exceptional book a gift of life' Nuala O'Faolain 'An uplifting story of survival' Irish Independent
Download or read book Manwhore 1 written by Katy Evans and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-07-07 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Malcolm Saint was an assignment. A story. A beautiful, difficult man she was supposed to uncover for a racy expose. She intended to reveal him, his secrets, his lifestyle, not let him reveal her. But her head was overtaken by her heart and suddenly nothing could stop her from falling. She fell for him, and fell hard. Malcolm Saint is absolute sin, and she's become a hopeless sinner. Now that the assignment is over, Saint wants something from her - something unexpected.
Download or read book More Than Love written by Natasha Gregson Wagner and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-05-05 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The “graceful, loving,” (The New York Times Book Review), never-before-told story of Hollywood icon Natalie Wood’s glamorous life, sudden death, and lasting legacy, written by her daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner. Natasha Gregson Wagner’s mother, Natalie Wood, was a child actress who became a legendary movie star, the dark-haired beauty of Splendor in the Grass and West Side Story. She and Natasha’s stepfather, the actor Robert Wagner, were a Hollywood it-couple twice over, first in the 1950s, and then again when they remarried in the 70s. To Natasha, she was, above all, a doting, loving mom. But Natalie’s sudden death by drowning off Catalina Island at the age of forty-three devastated her family, turned Robert Wagner into a person of interest, and transformed a vibrant wife, mother, and actress into a figure of tragedy. The weekend has long been shrouded in rumors and scandalous tabloid speculation, but until now there has never been an account of how the events and their aftermath were experienced by Natalie’s beloved eldest daughter. Here, for the first time, is a“deeply intimate chronicle of life with her famous mother and how Wood’s death devastated the family” (Los Angeles Times). Cutting through the shadow hanging over her mother’s legacy, More Than Love is a “poignant” (The Washington Post) tale of a daughter coming to terms with her grief, as well as a “revealing new look at Natalie Wood” (Good Morning America).
Download or read book Sabotage Season written by Alex Morgan and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-06-10 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Devin and the rest of the team must figure out who is trying to sabotage them before the playoffs start"--Provided by publisher.
Download or read book In the Arms of Baby Hop written by Kenneth Attaway and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2006-10 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many times in my adult life, I have had what I would call an "awake out-of-body experience." During these times, I was peeking in at my life in a dream state; thinking this cannot be my life. I found myself asking the questions of what happened to the child who outsmarted the world and what happened to the teen who had all the answers and confidence to boot, and the young adult who never settled for can't. Well, somewhere along the way, the only thing left of who I was once was, were just shreds of an almost non-existent life. Now, don't get me wrong, there were some good times along the way, but it certainly was not always smooth sailing. But what came later in life was no comparison to the early years. Not that long ago, my life was filled with disappointment, brokenness, worry, anxiety, and fear. I survived breakups and breakdowns, sadness and pain, grief and loss beyond description, all of which led to a one-way ticket to Depression Central. Getting off the road to depression was very difficult for me, but there is no job too hard for God. If you can relate to the paralyzing despair that I went through, then please know that I fellowship with you and understand the grip depression and anxiety can have on your life. However, I want you to know that your destination does not have to be a one-way ticket to the land of despair, instead, your journey can bring you to a place of joy and peace if you simply trust and believe in God.
Download or read book The Game of Inyloct written by O. M. Amos and published by Orley M. Amos, Jr.. This book was released on 2022-07-20 with total page 391 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jason Christie wanted little more than to survive his upcoming softball game with the physics department. The source of his dread was former all-star linebacker, David Garland, who could do more damage with a bat than an angry MMA fighter. Jason didn’t expect his ultimate foe was a ringer named Marcus Armstrong. What transpired made Jason question what was real and what was a dream. And that was only the beginning. Helped by his two lifelong friends, Haydn Goodwin and Angelina Devlin, Jason undertakes a journey of self discovery that may or may not include multiple worlds in multiple galaxies. Will Jason discover the truth of his existence, before Marcus Armstrong ends it?
Download or read book The Resurrection File written by Craig Parshall and published by Harvest House Publishers. This book was released on 2002 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Resurrection File" is a legal thriller with tightly drawn characters, page-turning twists and, at its core, a compelling story of one lawyer's discovery of the truth and power of Christ's message.
Download or read book Matchmaking a Single Dad written by Angela Denise and published by Laughing Heart Press. This book was released on 2022-08-08 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They’re all wrong for each other…but sometimes two wrongs do make a right. Cole The only woman I need in my life is my eight-year-old daughter, Jane. As a widowed brewery owner, I don’t have the time or inclination for anything more serious than a one night stand. Running the brewery is a big job, and being a parent is a bigger one, especially since my in-laws keep trying to prove I’m an unfit guardian. But there’s no denying Holly Mayberry drives me crazy with her sassy mouth and attitude. I’ve known her most of my life, but I’ve always done a good job of evading her. Until now. She’s teaching Jane’s after-school computer program, and fate keeps throwing us together. Holly and I are like oil and water, no good for each other. I need to stop thinking about her, so I agree to beta test a new dating app—one that Holly designed, although she’s the last person I’d tell. My match and I can only DM each other for thirty days. No photos. No real names. No personal information until the end. If I wanted more with a woman, Cherry Bomb checks all the boxes…so why can’t I stop thinking about Holly? * * * Holly Cole Garrison is a jerk. Or so I’ve told myself for years. The truth is, he’s a DILF and a half, and bickering with him is better than kissing someone else. Hopefully, the guy I’m chatting up on my dating app will help me forget him…and take his place in my dirty daydreams.
Download or read book Unmasking AI written by Joy Buolamwini and published by Random House. This book was released on 2023-10-31 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “The conscience of the AI revolution” (Fortune) explains how we’ve arrived at an era of AI harms and oppression, and what we can do to avoid its pitfalls. “Dr. Joy Buolamwini has been an essential figure in bringing irresponsible, profit-hungry tech giants to their knees. If you’re going to read only one book about AI, this should be it.”—Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation A LOS ANGELES TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • Shortlisted for the Inc. Non-Obvious Book Award To most of us, it seems like recent developments in artificial intelligence emerged out of nowhere to pose unprecedented threats to humankind. But to Dr. Joy Buolamwini, who has been at the forefront of AI research, this moment has been a long time in the making. After tinkering with robotics as a high school student in Memphis and then developing mobile apps in Zambia as a Fulbright fellow, Buolamwini followed her lifelong passion for computer science, engineering, and art to MIT in 2015. As a graduate student at the “Future Factory,” she did groundbreaking research that exposed widespread racial and gender bias in AI services from tech giants across the world. Unmasking AI goes beyond the headlines about existential risks produced by Big Tech. It is the remarkable story of how Buolamwini uncovered what she calls “the coded gaze”—the evidence of encoded discrimination and exclusion in tech products—and how she galvanized the movement to prevent AI harms by founding the Algorithmic Justice League. Applying an intersectional lens to both the tech industry and the research sector, she shows how racism, sexism, colorism, and ableism can overlap and render broad swaths of humanity “excoded” and therefore vulnerable in a world rapidly adopting AI tools. Computers, she reminds us, are reflections of both the aspirations and the limitations of the people who create them. Encouraging experts and non-experts alike to join this fight, Buolamwini writes, “The rising frontier for civil rights will require algorithmic justice. AI should be for the people and by the people, not just the privileged few.”
Download or read book A Most Inconvenient Murder written by Peter Helmberger and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2001-04 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Myron Willgrubs is a pedantic professor at the Plattefield campus of a large Midwest university. When he discovers a body in Pilgrims Park, he calls 911, but for reasons of his own refuses to divulge his name and later denies making the call. Before the police arrive to investigate, John Olivier, a macho formerly with the Green Berets and now heir apparent to the campus chancellery, also discovers the body, which he knows is that of Carl Madewell. Olivier has been having a torrid affair with Carl Madewell's wife Penelope. In what he tells himself is the Hoffa solution, Olivier removes the body from the park and stashes it in the freezer in his basement for later interment. When Penelope Madewell reports that her husband is missing, the police spring into action, thus bringing together a lovelorn detective, Patrick Delaney, and Professor Willgrubs' niece, Emily Peterson, runner-up in the 1997 Alice in Dairyland beauty contest. Several zany characters soon join the action, impeding both the police investigation and Detective Delaney's quest for Ms. Peterson's affections. Old and senile, Hattie Ellie Guck was watching for blue herons in Pilgrims Park through binoculars when she saw a man dump a body in the trunk of his car (or was it the backseat? she later wonders) and speed away. Although she doesn't call the police, she does tell her crooked grandnephew, Elwood Smythe, what she saw. A loose cannon, Smythe swings wildly from one target to another in schemes of blackmail. Underhanded and incompetent, Philip Moran is Plattefield's most senior detective and Delaney's mentor. He longs to organize a SWAT team to wage war on campus potheads. He vows revenge when taken off the case by the Chief of Police. Detective Delaney's old flame, Gigi Lamour, off to Hollywood to become a star, makes a porno flick and gets mixed up with the mob. She scurries back to Plattefield to marry Detective Delaney for both his money and his protection. Having hated each other for years, Mabel Freitag and Sophie Gargano work in the outer office of the current chancellor. Both are secretly plotting to ensure that John Olivier becomes the new chancellor, each supposing the other will get the boot when Olivier gets the appointment. Both conceal evidence that Olivier has a motive for murder and is lying to the police. The mystery is resolved when a psychopath, Sonny Zitsow, comes to Plattefield to kill Detective Delaney and is subdued by the most unlikely people in a most unlikely way.
