Silver Screen Fiend by Patton Oswalt

The greatest filmmakers have been influenced by all the films that have proceeded them, but to create art one must do more than consume. During the late 90s, Patton Oswalt deluded himself into thinking that if he kept watching as many "great" movies as possible, he would someday become a great screenwriter and director. Somehow, he never got around to that goal.

Silver Screen Fiend: Learning About Life From an Addiction to Film is the followup to Oswalt's Zombie Spaceship Wasteland. While Wasteland was a fairly free-form memoir, jumping around to different parts of his life, Fiend is more focused as it describes four years in the comedian's life during which he saw way more movies than should be considered healthy. He wrote the movie titles in his calendar and checked them off in five film connoisseur books, though he only counted ones he saw on theater screens, not home video or TV broadcasts. The theater he sat in the most was the New Beverly in Los Angeles, where he got to know the proprietor Sherman Togan so well that Oswalt attended his funeral.

During those four years, Oswalt worked as a staff writer on MADtv, performed stand-up around LA and the country at large, and began his film career as a background actor with one trivial line of dialogue in Down Periscope. But his self proclaimed addiction to film prevented him from having a social life, unless someone agreed to attend the movies with him. At one point he sat through an entire weekend marathon of old horror movies, and the fact that he couldn't remember what happened in any of them was a wakeup call that he likens to overdosing.

Throughout the book, Oswalt refers to certain formative moments in his life as being "Night Cafe"s. He explains that he's referring to a painting by Vincent Van Gogh called The Night Cafe (seen at right) which was the first time the artist tried to paint from memory. This painting changed Van Gogh's perspective on life completely, and Oswalt says that there have been a few places that have affected him that greatly. There was the comedy club in DC that helped him decide to try standup, the Largo in LA where he honed the craft, and of course the New Beverly theater where his love of movies began to overtake his life.

Silver Screen Fiend is a very funny and personal book, self-deprecating throughout. Film addiction may not be as harmful as drugs or alcohol, but when he overcame it, Oswalt gained a better appreciation for the using his own creativity rather than simply absorbing the art of others. He has gone on to become a prolific film and TV actor and a headlining comedian, and I'd be surprised if he doesn't someday get to write and direct a film of his own that rivals the ones by which he was so entranced.

Visit Patton Oswalt's website to learn more or to purchase Silver Screen Fiend.

'Serial' podcast

So I know this isn't a book or a movie but I just finished the podcast Serial and I have to write about it! It is a spinoff of the radio program This American Life. Serial explores a nonfiction story for about an hour each week. I say "nonfiction story" because that is how it is described on Wikipedia but I think it is reasonable to say it will focus on crime stories.

In the first season we meet now 34-year-old Adnan Syed who is currently serving a life sentence for kidnapping and first-degree murder of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee (some articles add false imprisonment and robbery) which occurred back in 1999. It ran in 2014, October to December, and I don't think Sarah Koenig expected all the attention it has gotten. I mean, check out these 6 sensational theories concocted by fans which, I think, are an indication (especially #6) of just how much people liked it and are therefore thinking about (or really over thinking) it.

For Sarah and the Serial team this started in 2013 when she got an email from Rabia Chaudry, the older sister of Adnan's best friend, Saad. They believe Adnan is innocent. The Serial team took a year and investigated the case as an impartial third party. Sarah says she did not have an ending in mind; the intent is to go where the story leads, regardless of where they end up. In other words, they are not out to prove Adnan's innocence.

So even though we weren't promised (and I think, *spoiler alert,* didn't get) a satisfactory conclusion, I thought the podcast was still really good: Sarah is a really good narrator and the case is pretty interesting. If you haven't listened to it yet and the subject interests you, I recommend you check it out. But remember you aren't listening to an episode of Law & Order where the people aren't real and the bad guy gets what's coming.

Console Wars by Blake J. Harris

For the last few generations of videogame* consoles, there have been three main companies vying for gamers' attention. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo update their hardware with more impressive graphics capabilities, voice and motion controls, and slightly tweaked names every few years. Though let's be honest, it's primarily Sony and Microsoft butting heads over the same demographic, with Nintendo on the sideline serving its loyal audience in its own way. It may be hard to remember that just over twenty years ago, there was only one big name in gaming that was in direct opposition to Nintendo, the irreverent and rebellious Sega. Author Blake J. Harris examines the product development and competitive marketing of those two companies during the early 90s in Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation.

The book primarily follows the president of Sega of America at the time, Tom Kalinske. I was at first concerned that Harris had a bias toward Sega since he goes deeply into Kalinske's thought process and Sega's strategy while not giving as much attention to Nintendo's side of the story. However I realized that Kalinske simply had the most fascinating story arc for the moment in history that Harris wanted to write about. Kalinske was pulled from Mattel knowing little about videogames, helped Sega overtake Nintendo as the industry leader with his bold vision, and witnessed the decline of his company while worrying that he would be blamed for Sega's shortcomings when they eventually couldn't keep up with Nintendo or the up-and-coming Sony.

Harris conducted over two hundred interviews during the writing of this book, and admits from the start that the content of conversations was extrapolated. He has a talent for making the reader feel like they were present behind boardroom doors with the dialogue, but when he goes into details about these real peoples' facial expressions and inner thoughts, we must suspend our disbelief about the author's omniscience. He might be better suited to writing fiction in the future. There is also the problem of getting the same information twice, such as when Nintendo's head honchos discuss a plan for a new game, and then a few chapters later it's discovered by Sega. Occasionally it seemed like Harris forgot that he had already described the game to us. And there were a few noticeable typographical errors late in the book, as if he or his editor had to rush to meet a deadline.

In this 600 page book, Harris goes into a lot of detail about a relatively short period of time (six years). Those who were the target age of the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis will get a feeling of nostalgia, like when Sega's brash and blunt commercials belittled the family-friendly Nintendo by encouraging gamers to graduate to "the Next Level", or when Nintendo finally matched their competitor's attitude when they released the revolutionary Donkey Kong Country alongside the slogan "Play it Loud". Personally, the moments I most enjoyed reading about were ones I remembered happening which I could now see in a different context, like the making of commercials that I had seen at the time.

The book will also appeal to those with an interest in business decisions and marketing strategies, as there is a lot of discussion about how each company responded to the other's technical specs and pricing. These details wouldn't normally be that compelling to me, but the human element that Harris brings to the events made them more interesting, as he gives a good sense of the personalities at play, even if he was making some of it up.

A side note if you happen to listen to Console Wars on Audible: the audiobook did not include the amusing foreword by Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg (who will be producing a film version) and it grated on me that narrator Fred Berman pronounced Nintendo's mascot's name as MERRY-o instead of MAR-eo. It's egregious that nobody involved with the recording knew any better. Hey guys, if you're going to be associated with a book like this, at least play Super Smash Bros once in your life.

For more information about Blake J. Harris or to purchase Console Wars, check out his website or find him on Twitter and Goodreads.


*Some may question the one-word spelling, but I'm basing it on The Videogame Style Guide.

The Glass Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

Three months after the events of The Paper Magician, Ceony Twill continues her apprenticeship in paper magic under Magician Emery Thane. And it seems those three months were her only reprieve from the action! While visiting a paper mill as part of her studies, there is an explosion that cuts the trip short. Foul play is suspected and another incident later, Ceony discovers she is the target of the titular Glass Magician, Grath Cobalt. Excisioner Saraj Prendi is also after her and doesn't seem to be with Grath.

There is one aspect of this book I'm not keen on: Ceony's cooking. As in book one, the sections with her cooking are fluff and I'd prefer she spend more on the magic. I did not need to be reminded that Ceony would've attended culinary school if not for Emery's scholarship. It seems like this energy needs to be put somewhere so, I think, Ms. Holmberg should write a spin-off called The Food Magician, which could be either a novel or a cookbook.

The food thing is a small complaint because I continue to be impressed by Ms. Holmberg's world mechanics and Ceony's story. In the previous novel, we learn about Folding (Paper magic) and a bit about Excision (Human Flesh magic). In this book, we're introduced to Gaffing (Glass magic). Gaffers use mirrors to communicate with others over great distances and can use mirrors to transport themselves, provided the mirror does not have any imperfections. Using glass in combat was only showcased briefly and mostly involved cutting up the opponent with glass shards (very painful sounding). I like how well-thought out the magic is and how it applies to the story. It reminds me of Harry Potter and how every year he learns the magic that he needs for the plot.

Visit Charlie N. Holmberg's blog for more information about the author and how to purchase her book(s).