Kevin Donnelly – författare

Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) is an esteemed member of the twentieth century’s pantheon of outstanding films while also perhaps being the director’s most accessible film. It is a rarity in that on the one hand it was a successful mainstream horror film about a violent father in a deserted and haunted hotel, but on the other is a more rarefied and esoteric object for cult audiences who are convinced that the film means something totally different. Indeed, the film appears replete with enigmatic and provocative allusions, which provide The Shining with an almost unmatched sense of resonance. Seeing the film as a vehicle for secret messages has led to a myriad of different interpretations, which has helped elevate the film’s cult status over the years to make it a special case in cinema. Indeed, it is so singular that it arguably even redefines the notion of cult film. This volume investigates The Shining’s most fascinating aspects as a film while also addressing the range of meanings and interpretations assigned to the film, looking into what has made it one of the key cult films of the last half century.

The idea that a new technology could challenge human intelligence is as old as the warning from Socrates and Plato that written language eroded memory. With the emergence of generative artificial intelligence programs, we find ourselves once again debating how a new technology might influence human thought and behavior. Researchers, software developers, and “visionary” tech writers even imagine an AI that will equal or surpass human intelligence, adding to a sense of technological determinism where humanity is inexorably shaped by powerful new machines. But among the hundreds of essays, books, and movies that approach the question of AI, few have asked how exactly scientists and philosophers have codified human thought and behavior. Rather than focusing on technical contributions in machine building, The Descent of Artificial Intelligence explores a more diverse cast of thinkers who helped to imagine the very kind of human being that might be challenged by a machine. Kevin Padraic Donnelly argues that what we often think of as the “goal” of AI has in fact been shaped by forgotten and discredited theories about people and human nature as much as it has been by scientific discoveries, mathematical advances, and novel technologies. By looking at the development of artificial intelligence through the lens of social thought, Donnelly deflates the image of artificial intelligence as a technological monolith and reminds readers that we can control the narratives about ourselves.

Pop music 'stars' in many of the most successful of British films, such as 'Trainspotting' and 'Human Traffic'. Even pop artists themselves have been known to appear in British movies, including a young Cliff Richard to the more recent Spice Girls. This is a systematic guide to where and how pop music appears in British cinema. It references all British feature films using pop music from the 1950s to the end of the 20th century. There are listings of 'band' movies, such as The Beatles' 'A Hard Days Night', and indexes to musicians, directors and film titles. The book also illustrates and describes the changing ways of using pop in British film.

Pop music stars in many of the most exciting and successful British films - from "Performance" to "Trainspotting", from "A Hard Day's Night" to "Human Traffic". Other films using pop music might be more obscure but include many demonstrating a boldness and imagination rarely matched in other areas of British cinema. Pop artists (David Bowie, Cliff Richard, Spice Girls, Patsy Kensit, Sex Pistols) could be said to be captured at their most iconic on celluloid. And of course there are the rare but prized cameos from a huge variety of other musicians and their songs in the most unexpected of places.This book tells the story and records the facts of the pop-film relationship decade by decade. It is the most systematic guide to where and how pop appears in British cinema. "Pop in British Cinema" includes: decade by decade commentary and systematic listings of films with pop music; comprehensive referencing of all British feature films using music from the 50s to the end of the century; illustrations and descriptions of the changing ways of using pop in British film; and listings of 'band' movies and indexes to musicians, directors, and film titles.For researchers and the curious alike, this is an easy and fascinating reference source. It represents both a first history of pop music in British cinema and a mine of trivia questions for music and film buffs of all descriptions.

This book is a major new study - dealing with notions of film music as a device that desires to control its audience, using a most powerful thing: emotion. The author emphasises the manipulative and ephemeral character of film music dealing not only with traditional orchestral film music, but also looks at film music's colonisation of television, and discusses pop music in relation to films, and the historical dimensions to ability to possess audiences that have so many important cultural and aesthetic effects. It challenges the dominant but limited conception of film music as restricted to film by looking at its use in television and influence in the world of pop music and the traditional restriction of analysis to 'valued' film music, either from 'name' composers' or from the 'golden era' of Classical Hollywood. Focusing on areas as diverse as horror, pop music in film, ethnic signposting, television drama and the soundtrack without a film- this is an original study which expands the range of writing on the subject.

In these Orwellian times of language control and group think destroying free speech, rational thought and independent judgment it's time to strike a blow for rationality and reason and defend what is best in Western civilisation. Not a week goes by without yet another example of books being banned, ideas being censored, the past being rewritten, statues being demolished and authors and academics being vilified and publicly shamed. Now rebadged as being 'woke', political correctness represents an existential threat to Western societies including concepts like rationality and reason, freedom of expression and religious freedom. We have entered an Orwellian world like 1984 where Big Brother and the Party control how citizens think and where anyone who questions the thought police is victimised, punished and silenced. THE DICTIONARY OF WOKE contains 365 woke words and expressions with definitions, plus chapters on the dangers and origins of wokeness and what can be done to counter this language and mind control and group think. From A is for Ableism and Alt-right to Z for Ze and Zie -- this is the only dictionary you will need to navigate this Brave New World of political correctness and know all the words and terms to fight the woke invasion.