Beautiful Destruction

The Alberta oil/tar sands are a place of superlatives, of awesome beauty and equally awesome destruction. They are a kaleidoscope of contrasts, colours and patterns keeping time with the seemingly unstoppable movement of machinery, smoke and effluent set in an immense boreal landscape with its own immutable patterns, cadence and cycles. Beautiful Destruction is a large-format, high-quality photography book that uses over 100 stunning, full-colour aerial photographs to transcend the polarities that dominate public discourse of the largest industrial project in North America: the Alberta oil/tar sands. With short essays by renowned personalities Bill McKibben, Charles Wilkinson, Duff Connacher, Elizabeth May, Eric Reguly, Ezra Levant, Jennifer Grant, Rick George, Gil McGowan, Allan Adam, Megan Leslie and Francis Scarpaleggia from both sides of the oil/tar sands debate discussing the artistic, industrial and environmental perceptions of northern Alberta's petroleum-based mega-project, Beautiful Destruction is one of the most ambitious, provocative and unique photography projects to be published in years.

i wonder if there will come a day when i will stop thinking about you, when your memories will stop looping and replaying in my mind like some sort of malfunctioning tape recorder, when the ghost of your touch i will not feel, and your hugs i will not remember, and your kisses i will finally forget. i wonder, but all i could do is wonder, because i'm still hoping that one day you'll come back to me, maybe in the middle of the night or in one late sunday afternoon when i'm least expecting you, and all my memories of you will flashback, but this time you'll trap me in your embrace and you'll whisper, "love, i'm here now, i'm sorry if i'd ever stopped your world from spinning, time won't matter from now on, f-ck time, i'm not ever leaving you again, and i'm not letting you go. please start making memories with me." beautiful destruction is a heartfelt and relatable collection of prose & poetry about life, love, musings, and struggles. i hope this book reaches you in the right time. this book is for you.

Argues that United States' creative class is fighting for survival and explains why this should matter to all Americans.

There’s a fine line between love and hate and they were about to cross it. My name is Samantha Ross and this is my life. I existed in a world that few know. Rundown trailers and crime-ridden streets were my home. Drugs and alcohol were the norm and happiness was the exception. I lived from day to day never knowing if I would have a roof over my head or food in my stomach. My life sucked. It took from me and gave nothing back. But there was one certainty in my life. A black smudge on my window of hell. Cole Walker. He was a criminal. A thief. He brought hell and damnation with him wherever he went. He hurt and destroyed. He took and gave nothing in return. He was heartache and despair wrapped up in a perfect gorgeous package. Fast cars and fast women were his hobbies. His vices. But he had many. I was one of them. I was his addiction and his craving. His enemy on this earth. I feared him. I hated him. I loved him even more. He would either be my destruction or my salvation… Maybe even both.

Abby Abernathy is re-inventing herself as the good girl as she begins her freshman year at college, which is why she must resist lean, cut, and tattooed Travis Maddox, a classic bad boy.

“The 21 artists, who share their stories of madness, trauma, addiction, abuse and self-destruction, and their relationship to art, leave no vulnerable detail unwritten.”—Shameless A visceral look at the bizarre entanglement of destructive and creative forces, Live Through This is a collection of original stories, essays, artwork, and photography. It explores the use of art to survive abuse, incest, madness and depression, and the often deep-seated impulse toward self-destruction including cutting, eating disorders, and addiction. Here, some of our most compelling cartoonists, novelists, poets, dancers, playwrights, and burlesque performers traverse the pains and passions that can both motivate and destroy women artists, and mark a path for survival. Taken together, these artful reflections offer an honest and hopeful journey through a woman's silent rage, through the power inherent in struggles with destruction, and the ensuing possibilities of transforming that burning force into the external release of art. With contributions by Nan Goldin, bell hooks, Patricia Smith, Cristy C. Road, Carol Queen, Annie Sprinkle, Elizabeth Stephens, Carolyn Gage, Eileen Myles, Fly, Diane DiMassa, Bonfire Madigan Shive, Inga Muscio, Kate Bornstein, Toni Blackman, Nicole Blackman, Silas Howard, Daphne Gottleib, and Stephanie Howell.

Lianna Mercier has everything. She’s beautiful, well-educated, her father is rich, powerful and she works for him. The perfect little princess, raised to be just like daddy. A bloody, screwed up lie, and David Gethen is about to tear it all down and destroy Lianna in the process. He wants revenge, he wants to finish the plan his father started years ago but after he takes her, after he tortures her, he begins to realize just how wrong he may have been

Introduces the creative process behind the film, with concept illustrations, sketches, storyboards, and other pre-production materials, and features interviews with the director, key crew, and cast members.