Whatcha reading?

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Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

1) Hornblower and the Crisis - C. S. Forester. Audiobook. 1967. Unfinished novel and two short stories, at either end of his life, of the eponymous hero. Forester was beginning to be a vibrant and interesting prose writer, then he died.



2) How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime - Roger Corman, with ghost writer Jim Jerome, who also co-wrote Papa John: the Autobiography, as the blurb proudly informs us. Paperback.1990. A business man's book as the title would suggest. He's more interested in the nickel and dimes than the creative process. Which is a shame, because he was a brilliant director when he cared to be and gave himself enough of a budget. Most of the Poe pictures, the Man With the X Ray Eyes, a few more, were actually great. An interesting read, brisk and to the point. Undoubtedly a Corman product. He's pretty good with parcelling out credit correctly, but there's a mad bit where he claims to have invented the genre of black comedy with Bucket of Blood, despite all the black comedies that obviously preceded it.
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Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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3) If You Prefer A Milder Comedian, Please Ask For One EP - Stewart Lee. Kindle. 2010. A follow up to his highly annotated How I Escaped My Certain Fate (he likes good music) collection of his first few solo stand up shows, this goes over one of my least favourite Lee sets. It does have his version of Galway Girl which is my second favourite recording of the song after the Steve Earle original, which he turns into a broken heart paean about advertising wrecking meaningful art. The footnotes make this one worthwhile, analysing the craft of being a stand up and letting you again into the writing process.
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Silent Majority wrote:
06 Jan 2021, 1:00pm
2) How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime - Roger Corman, with ghost writer Jim Jerome, who also co-wrote Papa John: the Autobiography, as the blurb proudly informs us. Paperback.1990. A business man's book as the title would suggest. He's more interested in the nickel and dimes than the creative process. Which is a shame, because he was a brilliant director when he cared to be and gave himself enough of a budget. Most of the Poe pictures, the Man With the X Ray Eyes, a few more, were actually great. An interesting read, brisk and to the point. Undoubtedly a Corman product. He's pretty good with parcelling out credit correctly, but there's a mad bit where he claims to have invented the genre of black comedy with Bucket of Blood, despite all the black comedies that obviously preceded it.
I read chunks of that for my diss, dealing with AIP and juvenile delinquent flicks (I highly recommend Teenage Doll). One can criticize them for their mercenary attitude—a good picture is one that makes a profit; a bad one loses money—but the techniques they had to develop to pursue that goal is still impressive.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Well, I know what Heston's reading in the sauna.
Who pfaffed the pfaff? Who got pfaffed tonight?

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Olaf wrote:
07 Jan 2021, 10:52am
Well, I know what Heston's reading in the sauna.
Volume 7 (July–September 1978: The Ascent) of Limahl's memoirs come out?
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
07 Jan 2021, 9:37am
Silent Majority wrote:
06 Jan 2021, 1:00pm
2) How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime - Roger Corman, with ghost writer Jim Jerome, who also co-wrote Papa John: the Autobiography, as the blurb proudly informs us. Paperback.1990. A business man's book as the title would suggest. He's more interested in the nickel and dimes than the creative process. Which is a shame, because he was a brilliant director when he cared to be and gave himself enough of a budget. Most of the Poe pictures, the Man With the X Ray Eyes, a few more, were actually great. An interesting read, brisk and to the point. Undoubtedly a Corman product. He's pretty good with parcelling out credit correctly, but there's a mad bit where he claims to have invented the genre of black comedy with Bucket of Blood, despite all the black comedies that obviously preceded it.
I read chunks of that for my diss, dealing with AIP and juvenile delinquent flicks (I highly recommend Teenage Doll). One can criticize them for their mercenary attitude—a good picture is one that makes a profit; a bad one loses money—but the techniques they had to develop to pursue that goal is still impressive.
I love the punk rock guerilla film making side of it all. My favourite part of Ed Wood is when they build the cockpit where the last set had been as Depp and someone else are chatting in front of it. The best part of the book is actually Corman's experience of taking LSD while preparing for the film The Trip.
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Olaf
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Dr. Medulla wrote:
07 Jan 2021, 11:09am
Olaf wrote:
07 Jan 2021, 10:52am
Well, I know what Heston's reading in the sauna.
Volume 7 (July–September 1978: The Ascent) of Limahl's memoirs come out?
Yep, the Swedish edition.
Who pfaffed the pfaff? Who got pfaffed tonight?

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Olaf wrote:
07 Jan 2021, 12:12pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
07 Jan 2021, 11:09am
Olaf wrote:
07 Jan 2021, 10:52am
Well, I know what Heston's reading in the sauna.
Volume 7 (July–September 1978: The Ascent) of Limahl's memoirs come out?
Yep, the Swedish edition.
Ah, the one with the foreword from that ABBA lady.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Kory wrote:
08 Dec 2020, 5:52pm
Just finished this book, in which (I assume) semi-well known British writer/actor/whatever Graham Duff tells his life story through 15 important gigs. It's as touching and funny as the jacket says, and his passion for music is almost tangible. The Wire chapter at the end is double interesting because this is the same guy who's making the upcoming Wire doc.

Image
Started reading this in the tub this morning. So far, quite charming. His story of seeing The Jam in 1978—his first proper concert; Cliff Richard at age 10 can never count—reads like losing his virginity, filled with innocence and new experience. I think the elderly (40+) Limeys here would especially be taken by it.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Kory »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
15 Jan 2021, 1:03pm
Kory wrote:
08 Dec 2020, 5:52pm
Just finished this book, in which (I assume) semi-well known British writer/actor/whatever Graham Duff tells his life story through 15 important gigs. It's as touching and funny as the jacket says, and his passion for music is almost tangible. The Wire chapter at the end is double interesting because this is the same guy who's making the upcoming Wire doc.

Image
Started reading this in the tub this morning. So far, quite charming. His story of seeing The Jam in 1978—his first proper concert; Cliff Richard at age 10 can never count—reads like losing his virginity, filled with innocence and new experience. I think the elderly (40+) Limeys here would especially be taken by it.
Yeah, I liked it a lot. Even the chapters that are about bands I don't really like, aren't really about the bands at all. It's a very cool way to do what is basically an autobiography.
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by BostonBeaneater »

9DA3EB39-380E-41ED-A96F-92BA1D756B9E.jpeg
Starting this tonight.
Image

Flex
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Flex »

BostonBeaneater wrote:
19 Jan 2021, 7:32pm
9DA3EB39-380E-41ED-A96F-92BA1D756B9E.jpeg

Starting this tonight.
oh fuck yeah, let me know what you think. Nancy has been surfacing tons of great old photos, memories, stories, etc. for years on the social medias of the scene back in the day and iirc was a good interview on the boston hardcore doc from a few years ago.
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Brand new book what I just learned about:
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Nice double whammy, coming on the heels of Kevin Mattson's recent book on punk in the 80s. I'll be starting Pearson tonight. Seems a good possible candidate for my punk seminar next year (btw, after two meetings, they're shaping up to be my best group of students yet. They were fighting to talk. I barely asked any questions—they just ran with things).

Finished listening to Merlin Coverley's hauntology book yesterday—it's generally a good overview, tho some of the stuff about psychogeography trends into the flaky—and began Howard Zinn's brief one-man play, Marx in Soho, which imagines Marx waking up in contemporary America and speaking about his surroundings and life. There is carbuncle content, so it's worthwhile.

And after that, in a blatant challenge to Silent Majority, will be a history of the 1880 presidential election:
Image
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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That book would be better titled the first Dixiecrat, considering Hayes capitulation on reconstruction.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


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Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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4) Clown In a Cornfield - Adam Cesare. 2020. Hardback. Starts out like a classic 80s slasher movie with the vapid seeming body count teens on Instagram instead of watching their MTV. But it twists and zigs into a tale of reactionary coven of small towers doing what they think is right to take their town back from the damn woke kids and cucks who they see as ruining it. Written for young adults, this worked really well for me, with the characters well drawn and believable and high octane action set pieces.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


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