Informative. Smart. Outrageous. Outlaw Academic is Lawrence Russell's latest collection of reminiscences & reviews & rants from his 30 years as a playwright, novelist, rock musician, creative writing professor & audio magazine publisher in Victoria, BC, Canada... What can you expect? A swag bag of tempting topics written in Russell's irascible style... it's autobiography and insight as LR casts his gaze on (1) Movies (his personal history and essays on 64 of them from Hollywood, Film Noir, Neo-Noir, The Italians, TV Drama), (2) Literature (his career and notes on 20 novels), and (3) Music & Media (LR's rock past, plus fascinating profiles on "hipsters" like Chet Baker, Keith Richards and Adolf Hitler the painter). Large scale, full colour, jammed with photos -- and Russell's unique approach to enhancing your appreciation of these famous and not-so-famous cultural works. Fascinating, funny, fraught with opinion -- it's a thought-provoking journey well worth the paltry price of admission.