The Vatican to Vegas
Subtitle: The History of Special Effects
Publisher: New Press
Published: March 25, 2004
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 506
ISBN-13: 9781565848030
Subjects: Conjuring & magic; Cultural studies; Films, cinema; History of specific subjects; Theatre, drama; Modern period, c 1500 onwards; History - General; Performing Arts (Specific Aspects); Art; Pop Arts / Pop Culture; Special effects; Popular Culture - General; Film & Video - Cinematography; Film & Video - Direction & Production; General; Cinematography; History
First sentence: For decades, the phrase Loose Slots was repeated on signs along the Las Vegas Strip, a pun on "getting lucky" (slots as in "sluts"), to go with the flyers reminding visitors that "it's" legal here.
Description: "A guided tour through the magical world of illusions, The Vatican to Vegas takes the reader from lavish Baroque fantasies of the seventeenth century to the Electronic Baroque of today. The "scripted spaces" described by Norman Klein are punctuated with devices widely used in special effects: shocks, surprise twists, grand fakes, and copies. These elaborate deceptions allow the viewer to assume the role of a central character. But, as Klein points out, real power in this world of fakery rests with whoever controls the illusion - be it the pope, the president, the imagineer, the designer, or the studio executive."--Jacket.