Viewfinder

Viewfinder: A Memoir of Seeing and Being Seen by Jon M. Chu (2024) 304 pages

I've seen the movies Crazy Rich Asians and In the Heights that were directed by Jon M. Chu. And I'm very excited for the musical film of Wicked, the first part of which will be released this year with the second part next year. Jon is now in his 40s and the memoir covers his life so far with clear introspective eyes. He grew up in Silicon Valley with his parents running a local Chinese restaurant. He got into being an entertainer and maker of videos in his teen years. He studied film at USC. He talks a lot about his heroes Spielberg and Steve Jobs and the relationship between tech in Silicon Valley with Hollywood's long history. Straight out of college he has a lot of potential, but his film career seems to stall. He ends up making several sequels and a couple music documentary projects. It is through exploring his parents' story of coming to America that he decides he should be more selective in the stories he brings to movie screens. He offers tips and lessons for others considering a career in filmmaking. Despite the rise of Netflix disrupting Hollywood and the pandemic he finds beauty and hope to continue forward.
 

Most talkative

Most talkative: stories from the front lines of pop culture / Andy Cohen 273 pgs.

Andy Cohen is a good Jewish boy from St. Louis.  This memoir tells of his childhood, his devotion to his mother and coming out to his friends and family.  Then, it moves on to his career by starting with his interview of Susan Lucci when he was in college.  Andy doesn't always come across as a real smooth operator and that is nothing but a good thing for the reader.

I listened to the audio version of this book which was read by Andy himself which convinced me this is a great choice for a title.  I wonder if he did the whole recording in one take?

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My Mother Was Nuts

My Mother Was Nuts: A Memoir by Penny Marshall  326 pp.

My first memories of Penny Marshall were from the "Laverne & Shirley" television show. Marshall's first memories are of the dancing school run by her quirky mother who believed everyone deserved entertainment. She taught hundreds of kids how to tap in her basement dancing school, including her three children: Garry, Ronny, and Penny. Marshall is brutally honest about her life including the mistakes and successes, drug use, her failures as a mother, her love life & marriages, and the entertainment industry where she was a reluctant and unintentional pioneer movie director. She is often abrasive but also sincere when she tells about her family and the incredible number of friends she has had in "the business." And she never fails to give her brother, writer/director/producer Garry Marshall, credit for her successful start in Hollywood. There were a number of things about her I didn't know, like her decades old friendship with Carrie Fisher, her relationship with Art Garfunkel who took her on a motorcycle tour of Europe, charity work, and giving unknown actors their first big break.  I enjoyed her honesty, bluntness, and humor.

I listened to the audio version of the book, read by the author. The cadence of Marshall's reading was occasionally an issue, especially her pauses at odd moments in sentences. But you can always tell the subjects that are close to her heart when she frequently chokes up while speaking. You can hear the tears when she talks of her mother's declining health and the deaths of good friends.

My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business

My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business by Dick Van Dyke, 273 pages

Let me tell you right off the bat that I've never seen the Dick Van Dyke Show. I know that it's a giant gaping hole in my pop cultural education and one that I need to fill, post haste. That show is, I'm guessing, the main reason most people pick up Dick Van Dyke's memoirs. Not me. Mary Poppins all the way.

Anyway, Van Dyke's memoir is just the sort of light, rambling tale that you'd expect to hear from the man who consciously decided to focus on family-friendly projects. He tells the reader from the introduction that this book is not the place to find sordid tales of Hollywood, so while his skimming over his own drinking problems and marital infidelity are not a surprise, it's still something of a disappointment. I mean, when you're talking about how your wife goes into painkiller rehab the same day you're coming out of alcohol rehab, couldn't you go just a little deeper than, "What a pair we were!" Mr. Van Dyke?

That said, this is a light friendly autobiography that's heavy on the show biz reminisces. For me, it was a nice break from all the school-related reading I've been doing lately. And it was yet another reminder to check out the Dick Van Dyke show. I'm even more convinced now that I'll love it.

Too Fat to Fish/ Artie Lange

Too Fat to Fish by Artie Lange biography, humor, entertainment, film and radio 336 pages

Those of you who have read a few of my blog posts must realize by now that I have a special place in my heart for the biographies of people in the entertainment industry, especially comedians. Artie Lange is a guy whose standup comedy has always impressed me and I figured that at a moment when I had nothing else to read, Lange's autobiography was worth a try. I was pleasantly surprised. Even though on television and on radio, Lange has always come across as a senseless buffoon, he is a pretty smart writer, and his narrative style is both engaging and entertaining.

The autobiography follows Lange through his childhood in New Jersey to his early career as a longshoreman who moonlit as a comic to his eventual work on Mad TV and the Howard Stern show. Oddly enough, the last of those, The Stern Show, which is what Lange is known best for, is the least mentioned in Lange's book. This surprised me, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Lange's book was meant to cater to people who were fans of Artie as an individual, and anyone who wanted to hear more about the Stern show could read a book about that instead.

Lange is an extremely honest writer, which is important due to the fact that he is extremely forthcoming about his battle with drug addiction (a battle he is still fighting...on a related note, Lange, who tried to record the audiobook himself, was forced to stop recording because while reading the audiobook tracks, he suffered heroin withdrawals and had to be hospitalized). Artie's drug stories actually seem regretful, and although he talks about all the fun parts and the partying, there is definitely a sense of shame over what he's done. My only problem with these sections are Artie's tendency to apologize to people in his text. The phrase "I really am extremely sorry" and "I wanna take this moment to apologize to ___________" are far too common in this book.

For someone looking to check out an entertaining comedy memoir, Lange's is certainly at the top of my recommendation list. Yes, he's a little crude, but if you can't handle that level of crude, then chances are you probably don't read my blog posts anyway.

The Hits, the flops - the summer that ate Hollywood

The Hits, the flops - the summer that ate Hollywood 311 pgs.

I chose this because it gives an inside view of how movies get made and the effect they have on the business of entertainment. - Susie