Book picks similar to
Reflections from a Cinematic Cesspool by George Kuchar
film
nonfiction
on-me
flicks
The Carroll Shelby Story
Carroll Shelby - 2019
He was born to
race
—some of the fastest cars ever to tear up a speedway.
Carroll Shelby wasn’t born to run. He was born to race—some of the fastest cars ever to tear up a speedway. The exciting new feature film Ford v Ferrari--starring Matt Damon as Shelby and Christian Bale as fellow racer Ken Miles--immortalizes the small-town Texas boy who won the notorious Le Mans 24-hour endurance challenge, and changed the face of auto racing with the legendary Shelby Cobra. But there’s much more to his high-velocity, history-making story.A wizard behind the wheel, he was also a visionary designer of speed machines that ruled the racetrack and the road. While his GT40s racked up victories in the world’s most prestigious professional racing showdowns, his masterpiece, the Ford Cobra, gave Europe’s formidable Ferrari an American--style run for its money. If you’ve got a need for speed, strap in next to the man who put his foot down on the pedal, kept his eyes on the prize, and never looked back.
No Turning Back: One Man's Inspiring True Story of Courage, Determination, and Hope
Bryan Anderson - 2011
Unstill Life: A Daughter's Memoir of Art and Love in the Age of Abstraction
Gabrielle Selz - 2014
What followed was a whirlwind childhood spent among art and artists in the heyday of Abstract Expressionism. Gabrielle grew up in a home full of the most celebrated artists of the day: Rothko, de Kooning, Tinguely, Giacometti, and Christo, among others.Poignant and candid, Unstill Life is a daughter’s memoir of the art world and a larger-than-life father known to the world as Mr. Modern Art. Selz offers a unique window into the glamour and destruction of the times: the gallery openings, wild parties and affairs that defined one of the most celebrated periods in American art history. Like the art he loved, Selz’s father was vibrant and freewheeling, but his enthusiasm for both women and art took its toll on family life. When her father left MoMA and his family to direct his own museum in California, marrying four more times, Selz’s mother, the writer Thalia Selz, moved with her children into the utopian artist community Westbeth. Her parents continued a tumultuous affair that would last forty years.Weaving her family narrative into the larger story of twentieth-century art and culture, Selz paints an unforgettable portrait of a charismatic man, the generation of modern artists he championed and the daughter whose life he shaped.
All I Need to Know about Filmmaking I Learned from The Toxic Avenger
Lloyd Kaufman - 1998
Lloyd Kaufman's spirited, outrageous, no-holds-barred look at low-budget, guerilla filmmaking is truly an inspiration to
What My Heart Wants to Tell
Verna Mae Slone - 1979
So He sent us His very strongest men and women." So begins the heartwarming story of Verna Mae and her father, Isom B. "Kitteneye" Slone, an extraordinary personal family history set in the hills around Caney Creek in Knott County, Kentucky.
Stories I Only Tell My Friends
Rob Lowe - 2011
During his time on The West Wing, he witnessed the surreal nexus of show business and politics both on the set and in the actual White House. And in between are deft and humorous stories of the wild excesses that marked the eighties, leading to his quest for family and sobriety.Never mean-spirited or salacious, Lowe delivers unexpected glimpses into his successes, disappointments, relationships, and one-of-a-kind encounters with people who shaped our world over the last twenty-five years. These stories are as entertaining as they are unforgettable.
Spike Lee's Gotta Have It: Inside Guerilla Filmmaking
Spike Lee - 1987
Shot on a shoe-string budget of $175,000 in black-and-white 16mm, the film was made with Spike Lee's persistence and talent plus the help of family and friends. It grossed $8 million at the box office and proved to be a major hit with both critics and audiences. Now Spike Lee reveals how he did it, mapping out the entire creative and production processes-from early notebook jottings to film festival awards. Spike Lee's Gotta Have It is a unique document in film literature - it's funny, absorbing, and fresh as the hit film itself.
Peter Cushing: The Complete Memoirs
Peter Cushing - 2013
Cushing was widely known as ‘the gentleman of horror’, his kind and sensitive nature a sharp contrast with the Hammer Horror roles that dominated his work from the 1950s onwards. This is Cushing’s own account of his remarkable career, and the devastating sense of loss he suffered following the death of his wife. It offers unparalleled insight to the meticulous professionalism and private torment of a legendary film star.
Little League Confidential: One Coach's Completely Unauthorized Tale of Survival
William Geist - 1992
Just when it seems that Little League may be no place for a kid, this all-star line-up of conniving commissioners and mitt-impaired fielders sends the sport off and over the wall.Praise for Little League Confidential"Bill Geist is the funniest writer since Marcel Proust--I mean Mark Twain--no, make that Yogi Berra."--Russell Baker"A lighthearted romp . . . essential reading for seasons to come."--The New York Times Book Review"Very, very, very funny."--Larry King, USA Today
Live Fast, Die Young: The Wild Ride of Making Rebel Without a Cause
Lawrence Frascella - 2005
For the first time, Live Fast, Die Young tells the complete story of the explosive making of Rebel, a film that has rocked every generation since its release. Set against a backdrop of the Atomic Age and an old Hollywood studio system on the verge of collapse, it vividly evokes the cataclysmic, immensely influential meeting of four of Hollywood's most passionate artists. When James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, and director Nicholas Ray converged, each was at a crucial point in his or her career. The young actors were grappling with fame, their burgeoning sexuality, and increasingly reckless behavior. As Ray engaged his cast in physical melees and psychosexual seductions of startling intensity, the on- and off-set relationships between his ambitious young actors ignited, sending a shock wave through the film. Through interviews with the surviving members of the cast and crew and firsthand access to both personal and studio archives, Lawrence Frascella and Al Weisel reveal Rebel's true drama -- the director's affair with sixteen-year-old Wood, his tempestuous "spiritual marriage" with Dean, and his role in awakening the latent homosexuality of Mineo, who would become the first gay teenager to appear on film. Complete with thirty photographs, including ten never-before-seen photos by famed Dean photographer Dennis Stock, Live Fast, Die Young tells the absorbing inside story of an unforgettable and absolutely essential American film -- a story that is, in many ways, as provocative as the film itself.
Just Don't Call Me Ma'am: How I Ditched the South, Forgot My Manners, and Managed to Survive My Twenties with (Most of) My Dignity Still Intact
Anna Mitchael - 2010
In fact, she may even be a lot like you. In her fast-moving world, she might be called on as a friend, coworker, daughter, girlfriend, confidante, brat, cynic, or domestic-goddess-in-training. She's willing to juggle pretty much anything that gets thrown her way, but the one label she simply won't embrace is ma'am.Like so many bright-eyed college graduates before her, Mitchael begins her twenties armed with the conviction that the world is hers for the taking. And she discovers that it is, mostly—only no one told her just how often she’d have to pick herself up off the floor along the way.Written for every woman who’s experienced the ups and downs of trying to figure out who you’re really meant to be, Just Don’t Call Me Ma’am is a story of one woman and the choices that add up to be her twentysomething life—and of how sometimes you have to remember where you came from before you can figure out where you’re going.
Recovering From Reality
Alexis Haines - 2019
In reality, she was battling depression, drug addiction and trauma. Her firsthand experience with sexual assault and substance abuse, combined with the explosive effects of social media storytelling, ignited a desire in her to eradicate shame around our greatest struggles. In Recovering from Reality, Alexis shares how she learned to turn embarrassment into empowerment, using her public meltdown as an opportunity to pull back the covers on the misogyny and abuse that fuels so much of popular culture. With profound insight, Alexis shows how women can stand up and heal from the institutionalized and systemic trauma that keeps them from recognizing how powerful they truly are. From panhandling drugs on the streets to partying with some of the biggest rock stars in the world (often on the same day), Alexis’ life was more than just pretty wild; it was nearly fatal. After facing up to six years in the correctional system due to her burglary conviction, Alexis got sober at the age of 19 and began to build the extraordinary life she lives today. Recovering From Reality documents her journey, tells the true story behind the “Bling Ring” and explains why her involvement became a defining moment in her life. In this gripping memoir, Alexis shares what it’s like to go from hot mess to hot mom, showing how we all have the power to change the world, and to find our true passion and meaning through some of our most shameful experiences. Inspired by her public journey from reality TV meme to sobriety, motherhood and wellness, Alexis is living proof that you can heal yourself - if you’re willing to recover from reality.
Horror Movie A Day: The Book
Brian W. Collins - 2016
Most of them stunk. With over 2500 reviews on the Horror Movie A Day website, finding the worthwhile ones can be a chore, so Collins has curated a selection of choice films - 365 of them in fact, one for every day of the year. Each month has a different theme and offers a variety of films within that theme for your viewing enjoyment. Every movie is someone's favorite movie - perhaps this book will introduce you to yours.
Keeper of the Moon: A Southern Boyhood
Tim McLaurin - 1991
A critically acclaimed and prize-winning memoir
I Want It Now! a Memoir of Life on the Set of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Julie Dawn Cole - 2011
Since its release in 1971, this epic musical has endured as a favorite of children from around the world with a fan base that encompasses generations of movie goers. With its unforgettable characters, chocolatey landscapes and everlasting music, this charming fairy-tale mixes these ingredients into what has been become a cinematic classic from literary legend Roald Dahl. Praised by critics worldwide and often featured in broadcasts with other masterpiece musicals, it remains a timeless treasure. Acclaimed film critic Robert Ebert wrote: "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is probably the best film of its sort since The Wizard of Oz. It is everything that family movies usually claim to be, but aren't: Delightful, funny, scary, exciting, and, most of all, a genuine work of imagination." Julie Dawn Cole has written an enchanting and richly illustrated memoir that offers a rare look behind the stage curtain to this ageless film. Splendidly illustrated with personal letters, never-seen-before photographs and documents; her mesmerizing story chronicles the entire production experience and tells of the remarkable journey of how she became known worldwide as a really bad egg. Filled with countless funny and touching memories, her story takes readers behind-the-scenes of Willy Wonka and the resulting coming of age journey that brought the cast together again after nearly a quarter century. I Want it Now! takes readers beyond the world of pure imagination and behind the scenes to this universally cherished motion picture. A true-to-life Charlie Bucket tale, Julie's story is unforgettable...