The World According to Wonder
Weighing in at 8 pounds, the tasty tome comes in a cardboard case that opens to reveal a 396-page burst of...well, wonder. Its cover, a play on television s candy-colored test pattern with a bar of Day-Glo orange inserted, signals the intentions of high-wire art director Trey Speegle and the vivid recollections that flow within, compliments of Bailey, Barbato and their in-house wordsmiths, James St. James and Stephen Saban...Charting our highest aspirations and lowest common denominators, their work has explored (some might say, exploited) the arable land where the saccharine and the profane intersect. If, as they write, Warhol was the chief architect of the time we live in, then Bailey and Barbato lay claim to being its architectural historians, as they told me, using video (and film) to document the cultural builders of our time. --- Tom Eubanks, Kirkus ReviewsThe book includes never-before-seen photos and exclusive stories from controversial personalities including Chaz Bono, Andy Cohen, Larry Flynt, Chloe Sevigny and John Waters and that s only scratching the surface, believe me. --- Michael Starr, New York PostFor over two decades, the filmmaking duo behind WOW, Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, who mostly create reality-based programs, have actively charted a course away from mainstream tastes, instead scouring the margins of culture. If you had to map the terrain they navigate, it would be the latitude between Tammy Faye Bakker and extremists who believe the world is run by a race of lizard people. A small but representative sampling of their titles includes: Party Monster, Pornography: The Secret History of Civilisation, Gay Republicans, 101 Rent Boys, TransGeneration, Angelina: Saint or Sinner?, The Hidden Führer: Debating the Enigmas of Hitler s Sexuality, and 10 Kids 2 Dads. --- Natasha Vargas-Cooper, OUT Magazine