Fuck This Shitty Shit

There is an emerging perspective in the discipline of linguistics that takes expressivity as one of the key components of human communication and grammatical structure. Expressivity refers to the use of grammar in natural languages to convey sensory information in a creative way, for example through reduplication, iconicity, ideophones and onomatopoeia. Expressives are more commonly associated with non-European languages, so their presence in European languages has so far been under-documented. With contributions from a team of leading scholars, this pioneering book redresses that balance by providing copious, detailed information about the expressive systems of a set of European languages. It comprises a collection of original surveys of expressivity in languages as diverse as Hungarian, Finnish, Turkish, Scots, German, Greek, Italian, Catalan, Breton and Basque, all with the common goal of challenging structuralist assumptions about the role of syntax, and showing how expressivity is both typologically diverse and universal.

This anthology features six plays by celebrated Chicago playwright Mickle Maher, who has been described by the Houston Chronicle as “one of the most original voices in American theater today,” and by the Chicago Reader as “a master at creating complex, paradoxical works that encompass their own contradictions.” Maher’s plays engage classic literature as a jumping off point for seriously unusual comedic dramas, often dealing with the absurdity, difficulties, and rewards of artistic endeavor. His work has been influenced by or compared to Eugène Ionesco, Maria Irene Fornes, Kenneth Koch, and Edward Albee, among others. This edition is designed to be useful for schools and other organizations that wish to mount productions of Maher’s plays, which generally feature small casts and simple scenery and stagings, and thus can be easy to produce. The anthology includes: An Apology for the Course and Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This His Final Evening On the night Faustus concludes his bargain with Mephistopheles, he apologizes to a group of random people for his failure to keep a diary of his fabulous life. The Hunchback Variations Ludwig von Beethoven and Quasimodo present a panel discussion on their failure to create an impossible sound called for in a stage direction in Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. Song About Himself In a dystopian future, a woman made extraordinary by her ability to speak relatively clearly tries to connect with others on a mysterious social media site created by a rogue artificial intelligence. There Is a Happiness That Morning Is Having engaged the evening before in a highly inappropriate display of public affection on the main lawn of their rural New England campus, two lecturers on the poems of William Blake must now, in class, either apologize for their behavior or effectively justify it to keep their jobs. It Is Magic Deb and Sandy are auditioning Tim for the role of the Wolf in a production of The Three Little Pigs, but there’s a mysterious haze in the basement of the Mortier Civic Playhouse and that, in addition to interruptions from the director of the Scottish play that’s going on upstairs, is making things difficult. Then, Liz shows up and throws the whole room into (further) chaos. It Is Magic reveals the deep, ancient evil at the heart of the community theater audition process. Spirits to Enforce Twelve telefundraisers with secret identities work to raise money for a superheroic production of The Tempest in a bid to save Fathomtown from Professor Cannibal and his band of evil doers.

A different kind of superhero story... After emerging unscathed from the house fire that killed his father, Ed Stoneman had recurring dreams about rescuing himself as a boy, sitting amongst the flames, unburnt. The dream stopped once he became a firefighter, later earning the nickname of "Dodge" by surviving a lethal flashover fire. Dodge embraced his supernatural imperviousness to the heat of fire by going in when no one should, breaking the rules of rescue because he had to, because he could. With the Wyoming steppe becoming increasingly arid and fires igniting every few days, his 'talent' is needed now more than ever. On his 50th birthday, Dodge dreams of the boy not on fire for the first time in over 30 years. Chalking it up to stress, he thinks nothing of it. With retirement from active fire duty in his near future, he's depressed and aimless. Other than firefighting, what purpose does he have? Twice divorced and childless, believing himself to be infertile in exchange for his superpower of unknown origin, he has no one to confide in but his cat, and he daydreams of walking into a wildfire just to see if he'd finally burn. But when he answers an emergency call about a local house fire, renewed purpose greets him in the flames, making him question everything he once believed.

Two brothers and their six friends party in a cabin until midnight and awaken something evil deep in the woods. The creature of the night kills four friends instantly, leaving the other four survivors alone and trapped. Danny, the big brother, decides to take leadership and plans on fighting for his life! What Danny doesn't know is that there is something else far worse stalking all of them outside the cabin. Who will live? Who will be murdered at midnight?

Blood and Bleach is a tangled story of furious love, insatiable lust, and debauched chaos. There is a house near London Field with a stiff door and a five-foot-tall papier-mâché nutcracker in the foyer named Sebastian that anyone who is anyone either loves or desperately avoids. This house is an all-hour mecca of debauchery that on any given night has a sloppy mix of artists, musicians, celebrities, models and everyone in between, all hell-bent on pushing the boundaries of intoxication, decency and sanity as far as they can. It is a mystical island in the urban sea of London you can only find if you already know where it is. Adrift for years, Marlowe finally finds a home there amongst all the lost souls finding each other. Consumed by lust for an enchantress named Hunter, he descends into his own internal abyss. As her talons sink deeper into Marlowe's soul, both his life and that of his best friend Storm begin to descend into chaos. While Storm and Hunter use Marlowe to help reconcile their demons, he searches for a way to wrestle his own. Then Portia appears and gives him hope beyond the foreseeable future; but will it be enough? Passion grows as sanity wains. Caught in between love, lust, and hope, Marlowe presses on to explore his own deepest and darkest desires.

Addicted to Chinese food Lucy was married to an Asian drug lord who put her in a bad neighborhood, in the ghetto, as a punishment for her love of African American culture. Lucy falls for a neighborhood male; then the addiction began. She meets a man named Sean. Sean couldn’t shake what he felt for Lucy, a small crush became an addiction, a daily visit to the Chinese restaurant built interest on two people who should have never had been. What was once a daily visit to the restaurant turned into a full-blown relationship. Lucy was married, but didn’t let Sean know she was married to a Chinese mobster who Lucy wasn’t happy with physically, mentally, and sexually. She found love in a man she felt destined to. It was completely unexpected. Lee, Lucy’s husband, finds out about Lucy’s infidelities from his cooks through a phone call from prison as he was serving a stint and choose to have Lucy and Sean executed, which leads to Sean being on the run. Lee is indecisive about what he wanted to do with his wife, the woman he still loved.