⇒ [PDF] Silver Screen Fiend Learning About Life from an Addiction to Film Patton Oswalt 9781442375130 Books

Silver Screen Fiend Learning About Life from an Addiction to Film Patton Oswalt 9781442375130 Books

Download As PDF : Silver Screen Fiend Learning About Life from an Addiction to Film Patton Oswalt 9781442375130 Books

Silver Screen Fiend Learning About Life from an Addiction to Film Patton Oswalt 9781442375130 Books

Patton Oswald’s second memoir, SILVER SCREEN FIEND, is a story of addiction, but not an addiction in the traditional sense. From 1995 to 1999 Oswald had an addiction to movies, spending several nights a week at LA’s many retro houses, but especially the New Beverly, which offered double bills each night, from SUNSET BOULEVARD/ACE IN THE HOLE to MAD MAX/DEATH RACE 2000. From a personal standpoint I think this would be heaven – retro houses are non-existent in most cities, and even in New York there are only a few, and they certainly don’t have the cinematic range that the New Beverly offers. During this time, Oswald continues to develop his chops at comedy palaces around LA, especially Largo, which any podcast fan knows is the alt-club HQ for most of today’s brightest comics. Oswald details his transition from Virginia to San Francisco and on to LA, learning from other comics and working the craft. There is a neat chapter on THE DAY THE CLOWN DIED, an infamous never-seen Jerry Lewis film. Oswald gets a copy of the script and has a live reading with the likes of David Cross, Paul F. Tomkins and Bob Odenkirk weekly at a local venue, until a surprising cease and desist gets handed to him. Still, this is a book about addiction, and while movies are more benign than heroin or Wild Turkey, nonetheless Oswald outlines what this addiction did for him and how his life was affected. Since this books goes until 1999, Oswald has many many more books left; an entire book could be written about his performances in BIG FAN and YOUNG ADULT. Books have been written about the 1970s-80s comics, like the LAUGH FACTORY stars and those who get “called over to Johnny,” that fans we need a history of the alt-comedy scene, of which Patton is one of the original founders.


Tags : Silver Screen Fiend: Learning About Life from an Addiction to Film [Patton Oswalt] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <I>New York Times</I> bestselling author, comedian, and actor Patton Oswalt shares his entertaining memoir about coming of age as a performer and writer in the late ’90s while obsessively watching classic films at the legendary New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles.<BR><BR>Between 1995 and 1999,Patton Oswalt,Silver Screen Fiend: Learning About Life from an Addiction to Film,Simon & Schuster Audio,1442375132,Entertainment & Performing Arts - General,Form - Essays,Popular Culture - General,Actors;United States;Biography.,Comedians;United States;Biography.,Motion pictures;Appreciation.,1969-,American Satire And Humor,Audiobooks,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Entertainment & Performing Arts,Biography & Autobiography,Biography And Autobiography,BiographyAutobiography,Biography: arts & entertainment,Comedy,Film & Video - History & Criticism,HUMOR Form Essays,HumorGeneral,Oswalt, Patton,,PERFORMING ARTS Comedy,Performing ArtsComedy,Performing ArtsFilm - History & Criticism,SOCIAL SCIENCE Popular Culture,Social SciencePopular Culture,Unabridged Audio - AutobiographyBiography,comedy, comedian, memoir, Parks and Recreation, Portlandia, Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, Young Adult, Charlize Theron, Star Wars, Boston Marathon, Steve Martin, Born Standing Up, Mindy Kaling, Nick Offerman, Jim Gaffigan, Chuck Klosterman, Sarah Vowell, Conan, The Late Show, David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Ratatouille, Zach Galifinakis, Paton Oswalt, Patten Oswalt, Patton Oswald, Paten,comedy; comedian; memoir; Parks and Recreation; Portlandia; Zombie Spaceship Wasteland; Young Adult; Charlize Theron; Star Wars; Boston Marathon; Steve Martin; Born Standing Up; Mindy Kaling; Nick Offerman; Jim Gaffigan; Chuck Klosterman; Sarah Vowell; Conan; The Late Show; David Letterman; Jimmy Kimmel Live; Ratatouille; Zach Galifinakis; Paton Oswalt; Patten Oswalt; Patton Oswald; Paten,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Entertainment & Performing Arts,Comedy,Film & Video - History & Criticism,HUMOR Form Essays,HumorGeneral,PERFORMING ARTS Comedy,Performing ArtsComedy,Performing ArtsFilm - History & Criticism,SOCIAL SCIENCE Popular Culture,Social SciencePopular Culture,Unabridged Audio - AutobiographyBiography,1969-,Audiobooks,Oswalt, Patton,,American Satire And Humor,Biography And Autobiography,Biography & Autobiography,BiographyAutobiography,Biography: arts & entertainment

Silver Screen Fiend Learning About Life from an Addiction to Film Patton Oswalt 9781442375130 Books Reviews

I'd give this 3.5 stars.

I've been a big fan of Patton Oswalt for some time now. I think he's a pretty good actor (he particularly gave a terrific performance in Charlize Theron's Young Adult a few years back), and I love his comedic observations as well. One friend of mine says that Oswalt and I share a similar sense of humor, although clearly only one of us is making a living off of it.

One thing I didn't know I shared with Oswalt was an obsession with the movies. Those of you who know me well know I've been a huge movie fan for almost my entire life, and at the very least, see everything nominated, or in contention, for Oscars each year. And thanks to a year-long American film class in college, I consumed a healthy diet of classic movies as well.

Oswalt's Silver Screen Fiend isn't your typical celebrity memoir, although it does chronicle a period of his life when he dealt with a serious addiction—to going to the movies. From 1995-1999, while focusing on his career as a stand-up comic and dreaming of one day acting and directing, Oswalt went to the movies at least several times a week, often at the New Beverly Cinema, watching classics and lesser-known films as well as new releases. While watching movies brought him pleasure, expanded his cinematic horizons, and stimulated his creativity and his desire to one day see his work on the big screen, it also caused him a great deal of stress, as he planned comedy sets and other work, as well as social obligations (when he had them) around movie times. (And the constant diet of movie concessions wasn't good for his waistline either.)

"Movies—the truly great one (and sometimes the truly bad)—should be a drop in the overall fuel formula for your life."

And if just seeing that many movies each week and planning his life around them wasn't enough of an obsession, he also compulsively felt the need to "check off" each movie he saw in one or more of five film reference books, chronicling the location, date, and time he saw each film. This action became a routine he couldn't shake—it's almost as if seeing the movies didn't count if he didn't record seeing them.

As Oswalt provides background on each movie he saw, and places it in the context of his personal and professional life, he also chronicles the evolution of his career, from first getting the comedy bug while doing an internship in Washington, DC, to dealing with the ups and downs of good and bad performances, to his time both as a writer for MADtv and his tenure on television in The King of Queens. He struggles with jealousy of other comedians who achieve the success he craves, and worries about being able to realize his ambitions.

I enjoyed this book very much, as Oswalt did a great job informing, entertaining, and making me think. While I had heard of many of the movies he mentions in the book, there are a number I wasn't familiar with, so I enjoyed his perspective on those films. I did feel that the book was a little disjointed at times, as he occasionally shifts from one subject to another rather abruptly. But in the end, I found this tremendously appealing. (My favorite part of the book was a tribute to the late owner of the New Beverly Cinema, in which Oswalt imagined a month-long film festival, creating twists on popular movies with classic actors and directors.)

If you're more than simply an occasional movie watcher, or interested in the path some comedians follow toward success, you'll enjoy Silver Screen Fiend. Oswalt writes with humor, heart, and a whole lot of film trivia.
Patton Oswalt's wit and catholic knowledge of American entertainment culture ooze out of every sentence in this fun book. He handles his story of breaking into comedy and his descent into film addiction with clarity and insight that isn't lost among the jokes and references. The major complaint I have about this book is its deceptive length and price. When the story and epilogue end, you'll notice your telling you you've only read about 65% of the content of your e-book. However, what remains is simply a long, exhaustive list of all the movies Oswalt watched during the years covered by the book. It takes up the balance of the page count and inflates the overall apparent "value" of the purchase price. You don't get a 300-page book here, folks. It's much shorter but padded with extras that won't add to the story for anyone but the reader who seeks to re-create Oswalt's binge watching film-for-film.
Patton Oswald’s second memoir, SILVER SCREEN FIEND, is a story of addiction, but not an addiction in the traditional sense. From 1995 to 1999 Oswald had an addiction to movies, spending several nights a week at LA’s many retro houses, but especially the New Beverly, which offered double bills each night, from SUNSET BOULEVARD/ACE IN THE HOLE to MAD MAX/DEATH RACE 2000. From a personal standpoint I think this would be heaven – retro houses are non-existent in most cities, and even in New York there are only a few, and they certainly don’t have the cinematic range that the New Beverly offers. During this time, Oswald continues to develop his chops at comedy palaces around LA, especially Largo, which any podcast fan knows is the alt-club HQ for most of today’s brightest comics. Oswald details his transition from Virginia to San Francisco and on to LA, learning from other comics and working the craft. There is a neat chapter on THE DAY THE CLOWN DIED, an infamous never-seen Jerry Lewis film. Oswald gets a copy of the script and has a live reading with the likes of David Cross, Paul F. Tomkins and Bob Odenkirk weekly at a local venue, until a surprising cease and desist gets handed to him. Still, this is a book about addiction, and while movies are more benign than heroin or Wild Turkey, nonetheless Oswald outlines what this addiction did for him and how his life was affected. Since this books goes until 1999, Oswald has many many more books left; an entire book could be written about his performances in BIG FAN and YOUNG ADULT. Books have been written about the 1970s-80s comics, like the LAUGH FACTORY stars and those who get “called over to Johnny,” that fans we need a history of the alt-comedy scene, of which Patton is one of the original founders.