Silver Screen Fiend
Learning About Life from an Addiction to Film
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Silver Screen Fiend
Narrated by:
Patton Oswalt
Buy Now for $14.18
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Narrated by:
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Patton Oswalt
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By:
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Patton Oswalt
Summary
Between 1995 and 1999, Patton Oswalt lived with an unshakable addiction. It wasn’t drugs, alcohol, or sex: it was film. After moving to Los Angeles, Oswalt became a huge cinephile (or as he calls it, a sprocket fiend), absorbing classics, cult hits, and new releases at the famous New Beverly Cinema. Silver screen celluloid became Patton’s life schoolbook, informing his notion of acting, writing, comedy, and relationships.
Set in the nascent days of Los Angeles’s alternative comedy scene, Silver Screen Fiend chronicles Oswalt’s journey from fledgling stand-up comedian to self-assured sitcom actor, with the colorful New Beverly collective and a cast of now-notable young comedians supporting him all along the way. “Clever and readable...Oswalt’s encyclopedic knowledge and frothing enthusiasm for films (from sleek noir classics, to gory B movies, to cliché-riddled independents, to big empty blockbusters) is relentlessly present, whirring in the background like a projector” (The Boston Globe). More than a memoir, this is “a love song to the silver screen” (Paste Magazine).
Nothing like a heartfelt comedian's audiobook, narrated by the comedian himself, which isn't so much laugh out loud funny (although it is sometimes. My favorite is The Day the Clown Cried story) as much as a personal memoir about a classic film addiction overlapping with coming up in the 90s comedy scene. The personal growth, the Hollywood stories both about his contemporaries and about his deep love of 20th century film.
He never did make it as a director, but Patton should be proud of his contribution to American culture with this book and with his many iconic performances. He is of course more stand-up icon than actor, but that's the point. He's the perfect vessel for nerds of all kinds: movie buffs, legitimate comic book fanboys, general pop culture aficionados, and even literary memoirists.
Patton Oswalt is a national treasure!
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