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Mark Cotta Vaz
Mark Cotta Vaz (born September 16, 1954, in San Francisco, California) is an American author, editor and film historian. He has authored over thirty books, including four ''New York Times'' bestsellers. He has focused on documenting film special effects and other behind-the-scenes aspects of visual presentation. He has written about these aspects for both ''Star Wars'' and ''Star Trek''. He has produced a number of movie companion books, such as those for ''The Spirit'', '' Beautiful Creatures'' and four for the ''Twilight'' series. ''Publishers Weekly'' said about his biography of Merian C. Cooper: ''The charismatic Cooper, "a man living his own movie," is no longer an obscure, remote figure, thanks to Vaz's exhaustive research and skillful writing.'' Selected works * (1995) ''From Star Wars to Indiana Jones: The Best of the LucasFilm Archives'' co-authored with Shinji Hata * (1996) ''Industrial Light & Magic: Into the Digital Realm'' co-authored with Patricia Rose Duignan * ( ...
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San Francisco, California
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th most populous in the United States, with 815,201 residents as of 2021. It covers a land area of , at the end of the San Francisco Peninsula, making it the second most densely populated large U.S. city after New York City, and the fifth most densely populated U.S. county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs. Among the 91 U.S. cities proper with over 250,000 residents, San Francisco was ranked first by per capita income (at $160,749) and sixth by aggregate income as of 2021. Colloquial nicknames for San Francisco include ''SF'', ''San Fran'', ''The '', ''Frisco'', and ''Baghdad by the Bay''. San Francisco and the surrounding San Francisco Bay Area are a global center of economic activity and the arts and sciences, spurred ...
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The New York Times Best Seller List
''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times bestsellers since the first list, 50 years ago'', Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 1992. Since October 12, 1931, ''The New York Times Book Review'' has published the list weekly. In the 21st century, it has evolved into multiple lists, grouped by genre and format, including fiction and non-fiction, hardcover, paperback and electronic. The list is based on a proprietary method that uses sales figures, other data and internal guidelines that are unpublished—how the ''Times'' compiles the list is a trade secret. In 1983 (as part of a legal argument), the ''Times'' stated that the list is not mathematically objective but rather editorial content. In 2017, a ''Times'' representative said that the goal is that the lists reflect authentic best selle ...
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Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of Star Wars, phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into List of Star Wars films, various films and Star Wars expanded to other media, other media, including List of Star Wars television series, television series, Star Wars video games, video games, List of Star Wars books, novels, List of Star Wars comic books, comic books, List of Star Wars theme parks attractions, theme park attractions, and Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, themed areas, comprising an all-encompassing fictional universe. ''Star Wars'' is one of the List of highest-grossing media franchises, highest-grossing media franchises of all time. The original film (''Star Wars''), retroactively subtitled ''Episode IV: A New Hope'' (1977), was followed by the sequels ''The Empire Strik ...
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Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into various films, television series, video games, novels, and comic books. With an estimated $10.6 billion in revenue, it is one of the most recognizable and highest-grossing media franchises of all time. The franchise began with ''Star Trek: The Original Series'', which debuted in the US on September 8, 1966 and aired for three seasons on NBC. It was first broadcast on September 6, 1966 on Canada's CTV network. It followed the voyages of the crew of the starship USS ''Enterprise'', a space exploration vessel built by the United Federation of Planets in the 23rd century, on a mission "to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before". In creating ''Star Trek'', Roddenberry w ...
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The Spirit (film)
''The Spirit'' is a 2008 American neo-noir superhero film written and directed by Frank Miller and starring Gabriel Macht, Eva Mendes, Sarah Paulson, Dan Lauria, Paz Vega, Scarlett Johansson, and Samuel L. Jackson. Based on the newspaper comic strip '' The Spirit'', by Will Eisner, and produced by OddLot and Lionsgate Films, it tells the story of a ghost-like superhero who defends Central City from the Octopus who competes with the superhero's childhood friend Sand Saref for the Blood of Heracles in order to become immortal. The film was released theatrically in the United States on December 25, 2008 to negative reviews and was a commercial failure. It was later released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 14, 2009. Plot Denny Colt, also known as "the Spirit", learns about a major case from Detective Sussman involving his nemesis " the Octopus". The Spirit dons his costume and travels across rooftops, saving a woman before connecting with Officer Liebowitz. At the swampland, femme f ...
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Beautiful Creatures (2013 Film)
''Beautiful Creatures'' is a 2013 American romantic gothic fantasy film written for the screen and directed by Richard LaGravenese based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. It stars Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis, Emmy Rossum, Thomas Mann, and Emma Thompson. It was released in the United States on February 14, 2013, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $60.1 million worldwide against its $60 million budget, making it a box office bomb. Plot In Gatlin, South Carolina, teenager Ethan Wate awakens from a recurring dream of a girl he has not met. He despairs of his small-town existence and dreams of leaving for college. His first day of junior year, a newcomer Lena Duchannes resembles the girl Ethan has been dreaming about. Other students gossip about Lena's reclusive uncle, Macon Ravenwood, suggesting her family are devil worshippers. On the way home, Ethan nearly runs her over. ...
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The Twilight Saga (film Series)
''The Twilight Saga'' is a series of romance fantasy films based on the book series ''Twilight'' by Stephenie Meyer. The series has grossed over $3.4 billion worldwide. The first installment, ''Twilight'', was released on November 21, 2008. The second installment, ''New Moon'', followed on November 20, 2009. The third installment, ''Eclipse'', was released on June 30, 2010. The fourth installment, ''Breaking Dawn – Part 1'', was released on November 18, 2011, while the fifth installment, '' Breaking Dawn – Part 2'', was released on November 16, 2012. The series had been in development since 2004 at Paramount Pictures' MTV Films, during which time a screen adaptation of ''Twilight'' that differed significantly from the novel was written. Three years later, Summit Entertainment acquired the rights to the film. After ''Twilight'' grossed $35.7 million on its opening day, Summit Entertainment announced they would begin production on ''New Moon''; they had acquired the rights to t ...
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Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of Book Publishing and Bookselling". With 51 issues a year, the emphasis today is on book reviews. The magazine was founded by bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ... Frederick Leypoldt in the late 1860s, and had various titles until Leypoldt settled on the name ''The Publishers' Weekly'' (with an apostrophe) in 1872. The publication was a compilation of information about newly published books, collected from publishers and from other sources by Leypoldt, for an audience of booksellers. By 1876, ''The Publishers' Weekly ...
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Merian C
Merian may refer to People with the surname * Merian family, Swiss patrician family from Basel * Matthäus Merian the Elder (1593–1650), Swiss-German engraver and publisher * Matthäus Merian the Younger (1621–1687), Swiss painter * Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717), naturalist and scientific illustrator * Johann Bernhard Merian (1723–1807), Swiss philosopher * Christoph Merian (1800–1858), Swiss banker, businessman and rentier * Merian C. Cooper (1893—1973), American aviator and writer, director of ''King Kong'' * Charles Merian Cooper (1856–1923), American congressman from Florida * Leon Merian (born Leon Megerdichian) (1923-2007), American jazz trumpeter Other * ''Merian'' (magazine), a German travel magazine * Plan de Mérian, a map of Paris, France created in 1615 * Villa Merian, a Villa in Münchenstein, Switzerland * Christoph Merian Stiftung, a non-profit-making public utility institution in Basel, Switzerland * 48458 Merian, a minor planet named after Matth ...
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Craig Barron
Craig Barron (born April 6, 1961)According to the State of California. ''California Birth Index, 1905–1995''. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. Searchable aMyHeritage/ref> is an American visual effects artist and creative director at Magnopus, a media company that produces visual development and virtual production services for motion pictures, television, museums and multimedia platforms.Craig Barron - Creative Director.
Magnopus. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
Working at , Barron contributed to the visual effects on such films as ''

The Art Of Star Wars
''The Art of Star Wars'' is a series of books by various editors featuring concept art from the ''Star Wars'' motion picture saga. The books mainly feature artwork accompanied by a short explanation of the scene and the artist's ideas, but also script notes, posters and other information. The first books were published by Ballantine Books, a subsidiary of Random House, with later editions appearing under the DelRey and LucasBooks imprints. Later titles were published by Harry N. Abrams. ''The Art of Star Wars'' was also the title of an exhibition of ''Star Wars'' artwork, props, and costumes mounted by Lucasfilm at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco in 1995. The exhibition was subsequently expanded to various international venues from 2000–2001, including the Barbican Art Gallery in London and the Helsinki City Art Museum. Content Carol Titelman's first volume, originally entitled ''The Art of Star Wars'', was published in 1979 amid a popular trend for beh ...
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The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the pa ...
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