ZENSIXTIES

Great memoir!

Revisado: 09-28-24

Eric's memoir is an indepth look as a legendary life and career that is still in the making. We grt a good firsthand account of his early life, the family dynamic, Julia, etc. Then comes the stardom in his classic films: King of the Gypsies, Star 80, and Pope of Greenwich Village. Culminating in his nomination for an Oscar for Runaway Train.
Then he met Eliza, was no longer the Coca Coca Kid.

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One of the most imporant autobios in rock history!

Revisado: 09-14-24

First let's get this out of the way: Pete's annoying giggling made me almost not continue. However once you get into the book a bit you learn to ignore it and appreciate the firsthand account of being at the center of one of the greatest bands in rock history. I was lucky enough to see The Who in 1982 and 1996. I read Roger's book which is recommended. But this is the one to read or audible if you like The Who.

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A great book. Reality is much better than the film

Revisado: 09-06-24

The nonfiction book A Beautiful Mind about math genius John Nash is a multidimensional look into the mind of a complex individual. Notice I didn't say schizophrenic mind, as I'm one of those who doesn't believe such so-called diseases exist. The movie is basically a 5 year old's version of the book, with annoying roommates with nieces galore. The reality is there were no hallucinations.
Did Nash go off the deep end into extreme states? Absolutely, but the author makes a great point: how can someone far less intelligent (psychiatrists) diagnose their intellectual superior.
The author goes into all aspects of Nash's life, most of which are left out or dumbed down for the film. The reader was good except that she repeated some sentences, but no biggie. Overrall worth Audibling more than once!

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Fake dialogue is hilarious; true story is poignant

Revisado: 01-12-23

I got this like most of you because of Blue Hawaii, and the girl we all love in it: Jenny Maxwell (Ellie Corbett). When I started to audible it, after the fake dialogue began I just thought this is too ridiculous. But having gone through the whole thing it grows on you. Of course the dialogue is obviously fictionalized and at times so made up and unreal it's hilarious. But behind it is a true story of a great girl, Jenny, and an interesting important life story. The ending is not a shocker; most of you will probably guess it already; but it really makes me made that (spoiler) Jenny's son didn't get any inheritance due to a ridiculous technicality and it all went to her killer's kids. Those kids are as heartless as the killer. And in the background of all this is Elvis, whose own new movie is heavily fictionalized too. I guess that's a given; this one should definitely be made into a movie, but with improved dialogue.

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Well done. Good insight into all aspects

Revisado: 07-29-21

Glenn Frankel's book about the making of the classic '60s film Midnight Cowboy rises to the occasion and gives an in-depth exploration behind the film, including the lives of the actors, writers, and focuses often on the director John Schlesinger. This is one of my favorite films, being a '60s buff, and this book gives all the details of filming in NYC, Texas, and FLA. It misses a few minor things, such as the opening credits being filmed in New Jersey and Tennessee Williams' cause of death--he repeats the original story that he choked on an eyedrop cap. Not true; he was using an eyedrop cap to take seconal capsules, and ODed on them. Not nitpicking; just setting the record straight.
Anyway we get to know the writer Jim (Jamie) Herlihy who used his movie fortune to explore the underside of the country including the communes at the time. We hear what happened to everyone post Midnight: Dustin had a long successful career until the false charges of Me Too hysteria came to his door. Jon Voight also found big success (both won Oscars), but then sadly went down the rightwing rabbithole ending at the Fascist door of Conald Chump. So sad.
John Schlesinger's legacy is also delved into; for everyone connected to Midnight it was the magnum opus of their careers. The thing is they didn't realize it until it was all over. The filming actually was done earlier than most probably realize: they ended the NYC shoot on July 9th, 1968.
Importantly Frankel correctly points out that Midnight, even though there is a gay undercurrent (Herlihy, Schlesinger and a few others on set were) the relation of Joe and Ricco was not. I.e. the author and director were not pushing that agenda. Just like Edward Albee's play Virginia Woolf was not. I mention that because when someone tried produce it with a 4 man cast, Albee himself shut it down.
But the books big scoop is supposed to be the X rating story. Frankel tears down the original story: that it was simply the MPAA that rated it X and Schlesinger wouldn't budge. Instead MPAA gave it an R and Arthur Krim of
United Artists wanted a second opinion so checked with friend-psychiatrist Aaron Stern, whom had an antigay bias of his profession at the time and recommended the X rating. I mean it was so obvious an R was correct, but as usual the psychologists got it wrong.
Anyway, Midnight was the culmination of 1960s culture and NYC decadence, including Andy Warhol's milieu. Which is another interesting portion: Morrissey's film within a film in which Warhol's "superstars" were paid $25 a day as extras...which was better than Andy's salary of zilch.
Finally the music is really what made the film: Nilsson's Everybody's Talkin' and John Barry's harmonica theme are classics of the era and sets the atmosphere of the whole film. If you doubt the importance of this try to picture Star Wars or Psycho with no music; same principal for Midnight.
If we were to blast a sampling of Earth's top films into space like with did with Pioneer and Voyager, I'd like to think that the aliens who find them will go through them and radio back to us: Send more Midnight Cowboy!

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Well done story behind Mary Tyler Moore Show

Revisado: 06-06-21

The book is well done in general and tells the behind the scenes aspects of developing the show. However it overanalyzes the episodes and puts much more significance into the show than it deserves. For instance it says this was the first show to ever have a woman on her own as the star. While it mentions That Girl, it dismisses it because Anne had a boyfriend.
Not to say that That Girl had much depth, however face it MTM fans, Marlo Thomas beat Mary by 4 years!
Anyway, it's interesting how it gives the story of how the show was created, including the opening sequence, the song, the characters, and the casting. But going into depth overanalyzing the plot lines I guess is inevitable. For instance it explains the "brilliance" of Chuckles Bites the Dust...uh, I don't see it. Yes, it was a highly rated episode, but the script was okay if you like clown jokes for 5 year olds, which most of the script was.
Actually my favorite episode was Ted's Change of Heart. Speaking of which the actor Ted Knight wanted to quit the show because he rightly thought his character Ted Baxter was too dumb. Not sure why the writers had to exaggerate the dumbness, as with Georgette, Ted's mouse was a wifey little thing. Again the author tries to infuse the show with significance it doesn't quite warrant.
Which is why when you contrast it with Lou Grant, it's sadly lacking in substance; it never went beyond what it was-a sitcom.
The narrator was good, in spite of what the complainers here say. I mean what do they want; Shakespearian recitation?!

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Disappointing if you're expecting Sandy Dennis

Revisado: 10-11-20

Like you I liked the 1960s movie and thought it was a capture of the book. Sometimes films are better than books. I can't believe how far below the bar I was expecting in this one though. The intro whet my appetite for 1960s nostalgia. However the book starts and goes into a long reading of various boring schoolboard rules. Then a short chapter of actual description, then about 50 blurbs from students about what they thought of their English course/teacher. Whenever I though, "okay, this has got to be the last one", it goes on and on.
This book was phoned in and obviously composed of random notes. You can tell the lax effort put into this. It began as a short story in 1961 and I guess they had her make a book out of it, so she proceeded to find tons and tons of worthless filler. THIS was the bestseller "everyone was talking about"?! WTF?! Blackboard Jungle was well written and a classic film. By contrast this was poorly written (she makes fun of her own students' writing? Really?!).
Skip this and read Blackboard Jungle. And see the movie Up the Down Staircase, DON'T read this turkey of a book!

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Great sharp analysis of a crime family

Revisado: 08-13-20

This book rings true in so many ways, and I'm glad Mary Trump had the courage to come forward and give the real story behind her extremely disfunctional family. Of course disfunction is nothing that unique in American families; most of us experience some disfunction in their family history. However if we are lucky we transcend that negativity like she obviously did.
One who did not is of course Donald. He was born a thoughtless heartless criminal and that is the type of President he is.
I'm sorry that his evil father Fred destroyed his only good son, Mary's father Freddie. It's sad the way that Fred the tyrant and Donald the Fascist ganged up and destroyed Freddie. Now we face the most important election of our lives. All good people in the world are praying for Trump to lose so humanity can survive. Thanks again Mary for your truth-telling at this crucial time!

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Well written and narrated story of a living legend

Revisado: 09-20-18

I highly recommend this audible autobiography, which takes an indepth look and one of tennis' greatest players. I grew up seeing Jimmy Connors play at the US Open, and it helps knowing most of the cast of characters referenced in the book. Triumph and tragedy blend in a poignant portrait, from his childhood in East St. Louis when his mother and grandfather were attacked on a tennis court by thugs to his rise to #1 throughout much of the '70s and '80s. His romance with Chris Evert to his marriage, family issues, OCD, the death of his friend Gerulaitis, it goes into it all. And of course his magic US Open run of '91 at age 39. His story is entertaining and moving, his passion for tennis shining through it all. Unlike Agassi who "hated" tennis, Connors is the opposite, as he loves it, and the US Open was always his true home!

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