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Stuff received 3/11/13

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

Hand-Drying in America: And Other Stories

by Ben Katchor

Promo copy:

WITH BEAUTIFUL FULL-COLOR ILLUSTRATIONS THROUGHOUT

From one of the most original and imaginative American cartoonists at work today comes a collection of graphic narratives on the subjects of urban planning, product design, and architecture—a surrealist handbook for the rebuilding of society in the twenty-first century.

Ben Katchor, a master at twisting mundane commodities into surreal objects of social significance, now takes on the many ways our property influences and reflects cultural values. Here are window-ledge pillows designed expressly for people-watching and a forest of artificial trees for sufferers of hay fever. The Brotherhood of Immaculate Consumption deals with the matter of products that outlive their owners; a school of dance is based upon the choreographic motion of paying with cash; high-visibility construction vests are marketed to lonely people as a method of getting noticed. With cutting wit Katchor reveals a world similar to our own—lives are defined by possessions, consumerism is a kind of spirituality—but also slightly, fabulously askew. Frequently and brilliantly bizarre, and always mesmerizing, Hand-Drying in America ensures that you will never look at a building, a bar of soap, or an ATM the same way.

Brilliance

by Marcus Sakey

Promo copy:
In Wyoming, a little girl reads people’s darkest secrets by the way they fold their arms. In New York, a man sensing patterns in the stock market racks up $300 billion. In Chicago, a woman can go invisible by being where no one is looking. They’re called “brilliants,” and since 1980, one percent of people have been born this way. Nick Cooper is among them; a federal agent, Cooper has gifts rendering him exceptional at hunting terrorists. His latest target may be the most dangerous man alive, a brilliant drenched in blood and intent on provoking civil war. But to catch him, Cooper will have to violate everything he believes in—and betray his own kind.From Marcus Sakey, “a modern master of suspense” (Chicago Sun-Times) and “one of our best storytellers” (Michael Connelly), comes an adventure that’s at once breakneck thriller and shrewd social commentary; a gripping tale of a world fundamentally different and yet horrifyingly similar to our own, where being born gifted can be a terrible curse.

Border Run

Promo copy:

There is a war happening right now on the Arizona/Mexico border. Choose your side.

Academy Award® nominee Sharon Stone stars as Phoenix television reporter Sofie Talbert, a hard-nosed right-wing journalist who exposes liberal politicians soft on illegal immigration. But when her relief-worker brother goes missing in Mexico, Sofie’s own south-of-the-border investigation traps her in a deadly underworld of migrants, smugglers and cold-blooded murder. Here, nothing is what is seems. Nobody should be trusted. And when one woman crosses the line, there can be no turning back. Billy Zane (TITANIC) co-stars in this gritty and intense drama inspired by true events.

 

 

 

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