Taking Care of Business by James Belushi
Hercules, Zeus, Thor, Gilgamesh--these are the figures that leap to mind when we think of myth. But to David Leeming, myths are more than stories of deities and fantastic beings from non-Christian cultures. Myth is at once the most particular and the most universal feature of civilization, representing common concerns that each society voices in its own idiom. Whether an Egyptian story of creation or the big-bang theory of modern physics, myth is metaphor, mirroring our deepest sense of ourselves in relation to existence itself. Now, in The World of Myth, Leeming provides a sweeping anthology of myths, ranging from ancient Egypt and Greece to the Polynesian islands and modern science. We read stories of great floods from the ancient Babylonians, Hebrews, Chinese, and Mayans; tales of apocalypse from India, the Norse, Christianity, and modern science; myths of the mother goddess from Native American Hopi culture and James Lovelock's Gaia. Leeming has culled myths from Aztec, Greek, African, Australian Aboriginal, Japanese, Moslem, Hittite, Celtic, Chinese, and Persian cultures, offering one of the most wide-ranging collections of what he calls the collective dreams of humanity. More important, he has organized these myths according to a number of themes, comparing and contrasting how various societies have addressed similar concerns, or have told similar stories. In the section on dying gods, for example, both Odin and Jesus sacrifice themselves to renew the world, each dying on a tree. Such traditions, he proposes, may have their roots in societies of the distant past, which would ritually sacrifice their kings to renew the tribe. In The World of Myth, David Leeming takes us on a journey not through a maze of falsehood but through a marvellous world of metaphor, metaphor for the story of the relationship between the known and the unknown, both around us and within us. Fantastic, tragic, bizarre, sometimes funny, the myths he presents speak of the most fundamental human experience, a part of what Joseph Campbell called the wonderful song of the soul's high adventure.Charles Grodin is an actor, comedian, author, radio commentator, and former talk show host from the United States. Grodin began his acting career in the 1960s, with roles in television series such as The Virginian. In 1968, he played an obstetrician in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby. In the 1970s, he transitioned into film acting, starring in The Heartbreak Kid and Catch-22 as a supporting character. Midnight Run, Taking Care of Business, Feels Like Old Times, The Great Muppet Caper, The Lady in Red, The Lonely Man, Ishtar, and The Couch Trip were among his many 1980s Hollywood comedies in which he appeared as a supporting role.
He is well remembered for his performance as George Newton in the John Hughes comedy Beethoven from the 1990s. Grodin has won several acting accolades, including the American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for his role in Dave in 1993, as well as Best Actor at the 1988 Valladolid International Film Festival (for his role in Midnight Run). For The Heartbreak Kid in 1972, he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. For his work on The Paul Simon Special, he shared a Primetime Emmy Award for Best Writing for a Variety, Music, or Comedy Show in 1978.
Grodin became a talk show host on CNBC in the mid-1990s and a political pundit for 60 Minutes II in 2000. He is the author of several autobiographical and acting-related books, including It Would Be So Lovely If You Weren't Here: My Journey Through Show Business, published in 1990, and We're Ready for You, Grodin, published in 1994.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| EAN | 0738329232269 |
| Title | Taking Care of Business |
| Release date | 2018-07-31 |
| Format | Widescreen |
| Region Code | region_a |
| Running time | 451 |
| Studio | Kino Classics |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Note | Unavailable |