Breakfast of Champions, or Goodbye Blue Monday is a 1973 novel by the American author Kurt Vonnegut. His seventh novel, it is set predominantly in the fictional town of Midland City, Ohio, and focuses on two characters: Dwayne Hoover, a Midland resident, Pontiac dealer and affluent figure in the city, and Kilgore Trout, a widely published but mostly unknown science fiction author. Breakfast of Champions deals with themes of free will, suicide, and race relations, among others. The novel is full of drawings by the author, substituting descriptive language with depictions requiring no translation.
A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the form of a short essay by a specific writer who offers a personal point of view. Columns are sometimes written by a composite or a team, appearing under a pseudonym, or a brand name. Columnists typically write daily or weekly columns. Some columns are later collected and reprinted in book form.
Robert Charles Benchley was an American humorist best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and movie actor. From his beginnings at The Harvard Lampoon while attending Harvard University, through his many years writing essays and articles for Vanity Fair and The New Yorker and his acclaimed short films, Benchley's style of humor brought him respect and success during his life, from his peers at the Algonquin Round Table in New York City to contemporaries in the burgeoning film industry.
Lars Sven "Lasse" Hallström is a Swedish film director. He first became known for directing almost all the music videos by the pop group ABBA, and subsequently became a feature film director. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director for My Life as a Dog (1985) and later for The Cider House Rules (1999). His other celebrated directorial works include What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) and Chocolat (2000).
Peter Bradford Benchley was an American author. He is best known for his bestselling novel Jaws and co-wrote its movie adaptation with Carl Gottlieb. Several more of his works were also adapted for both cinema and television, including The Deep, The Island, Beast, and White Shark.
Shane Salerno is an American screenwriter. His writing credits include the films Avatar: The Way of Water, Armageddon, Savages,Shaft, and the TV series Hawaii Five-0.
Larry Doyle is an American novelist, screenwriter, and producer.
Jeffrey Kluger is an American editor at large at Time magazine and author of thirteen books on various topics, such as The Narcissist Next Door (2014); Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio (2005); The Sibling Effect (2011); and Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 (1994). The latter work was the basis for Ron Howard's film Apollo 13 (1995). He is also the author of two novels for young adults: Nacky Patcher and the Curse of the Dry-Land Boats (2007) and Freedom Stone (2011), and one novel for adults—"Holdout" (2021).
Sheilah Graham was a British-born, nationally syndicated American gossip columnist during Hollywood's "Golden Age". In her youth, she had been a showgirl and a freelance writer for Fleet Street in London. These early experiences would converge in her career in Hollywood, which spanned nearly four decades, as a successful columnist and author.
Jaws is a novel by American writer Peter Benchley, published in 1974. It tells the story of a large great white shark that preys upon a small Long Island resort town and the three men who attempt to kill it. The novel grew out of Benchley's interest in shark attacks after he read about the exploits of Frank Mundus, a shark fisherman from Montauk, New York, in 1964. Doubleday commissioned him to write the novel in 1971, a period when Benchley worked as a freelance journalist.
Cathryn Michon is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker, actress, writer, blogger and stand-up comic. She has been featured at the Montreal Comedy Festival, the Toyota Comedy Festival and the Marshall’s Women in Comedy Festival.
Lad: A Dog is a 1962 American drama film based on the 1919 novel of the same name written by Albert Payson Terhune. Starring Peter Breck, Peggy McCay, Carroll O'Connor, and Angela Cartwright, the film blends several of the short stories featured in the novel, with the heroic Lad winning a rigged dog show, saving a handicapped girl from a snake, and capturing a poacher who killed his pups and injured one of his owners. Warner Brothers purchased the film rights for the novel from Vanguard Productions, and acquired the film rights for the other two Lad novels from the late Terhune's wife.
A Dog's Purpose is a 2010 novel written by American author W. Bruce Cameron. It chronicles a dog's journey through four lives via reincarnation and how he looks for his purpose through each.
Muffin Top: A Love Story is a 2014 American romantic comedy directed by Cathryn Michon, who also starred in the film. The film's script was written by Michon with her husband W. Bruce Cameron. It is based on her 2004 novel The Grrl Genius Guide to Sex , which was partially based on her life. Muffin Top was Michon's second directorial effort, after 2007's Cook Off!, though that film would not be released until 2017. The film stars Michon as a woman who must re-enter the dating world after her husband leaves her for a younger woman. It had its world debut on October 18, 2014, at the Carmel International Film Festival. Distribution for the film was handled by the on-demand movie distribution website Tugg, which allowed Michon to show her film in areas with high enough demand. Muffin Top was also released via VOD.
A Dog's Purpose is a 2017 American adventure comedy drama film directed by Lasse Hallström and written by W. Bruce Cameron, Cathryn Michon, Audrey Wells, Maya Forbes, and Wally Wolodarsky, based on the 2010 novel of the same name by W. Bruce Cameron. The film stars Britt Robertson, KJ Apa in his film debut, Juliet Rylance, John Ortiz and Dennis Quaid with Josh Gad in multiple voice roles. It covers themes of loyalty, grief, dysfunctional family, over a series of reincarnations.
Cook Off! is a 2007 American mockumentary comedy film directed by Cathryn Michon and Guy Shalem. The film was released on November 17, 2017, after being shelved for 10 years.
A Dog's Way Home is a 2019 American family adventure drama film directed by Charles Martin Smith from a screenplay by W. Bruce Cameron and Cathryn Michon, based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Cameron. The film stars Bryce Dallas Howard, Ashley Judd, Edward James Olmos, Alexandra Shipp, Wes Studi, Barry Watson, and Jonah Hauer-King, and follows a dog named Bella who travels more than 400 miles to find her owner.
A Dog's Journey is a 2019 American adventure comedy drama film directed by Gail Mancuso in her feature film directorial debut and written by W. Bruce Cameron, Cathryn Michon, Maya Forbes, and Wally Wolodarsky. The film is based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Cameron and is the sequel to the 2017 film A Dog's Purpose. The film stars Josh Gad, Dennis Quaid, Marg Helgenberger, Betty Gilpin, Kathryn Prescott, and Henry Lau.
