01-11-2011, 04:05 PM
The thing I like most about Kevin Smith, director of Clerks and Dogma and Cop-out, is his ability to tell stories. I think his movies are okay, but his DVD's of his Q&A's are really good. He has some fascinating behind the scenes of movie making stories. Granted he also has some stories about Anal fissures, that I could do without.
I hoped the book could give me a few more of those stories. The book covers the years from 2005 to 2006. During the course of the book, which is basically all the blogs he posted for that year, he acts in "Catch and Release" and makes the film "Clerks 2". He seems to go out of the way to paint himself as a regular guy. He masturbates in the morning. He takes his kid to school. He fights with his wife. He gets a lot of Quiznos sandwiches. He struggles with his weight. But while he's doing all these boring ass things, he goes to Skywalker Ranch for the Sith showing. He does poetry readings at his house with Stan Lee and Carrie Fisher. He does deals with the Weinsteins for upcoming pictures. So, I think it's a little disingenuous.
And at some point he's told to cool it on the behind the scenes talk, so he goes into meetings with powerful people and you don't get the substance of those meetings. He has problems on set with fellow actors but you don't get the blow by blow of those problems. It can be frustrating.
If you know the history of Kevin Smith at all, then you know about Jason Mewes who plays Jay in most of Smith's movies. A good chunk of the book, and the most well written section, depicts Mewes's battle with heroin and Oxycontin addiction. It's a tragic tale but well told.
For some reason after this section in the book, Smith starts to shy away from the Nitty Gritty of his life and the stories become a little more general, as if the curtain has closed somewhat. You don't see as much of his home life. The posts are more widely spaced out as he gets involved in the making and marketing of Clerks 2.
If you are a Kevin Smith aficionado and haven't seen the Evening with DVD's, this might be the book for you. But it is full of minutia that will be off putting for the casual fan.
I hoped the book could give me a few more of those stories. The book covers the years from 2005 to 2006. During the course of the book, which is basically all the blogs he posted for that year, he acts in "Catch and Release" and makes the film "Clerks 2". He seems to go out of the way to paint himself as a regular guy. He masturbates in the morning. He takes his kid to school. He fights with his wife. He gets a lot of Quiznos sandwiches. He struggles with his weight. But while he's doing all these boring ass things, he goes to Skywalker Ranch for the Sith showing. He does poetry readings at his house with Stan Lee and Carrie Fisher. He does deals with the Weinsteins for upcoming pictures. So, I think it's a little disingenuous.
And at some point he's told to cool it on the behind the scenes talk, so he goes into meetings with powerful people and you don't get the substance of those meetings. He has problems on set with fellow actors but you don't get the blow by blow of those problems. It can be frustrating.
If you know the history of Kevin Smith at all, then you know about Jason Mewes who plays Jay in most of Smith's movies. A good chunk of the book, and the most well written section, depicts Mewes's battle with heroin and Oxycontin addiction. It's a tragic tale but well told.
For some reason after this section in the book, Smith starts to shy away from the Nitty Gritty of his life and the stories become a little more general, as if the curtain has closed somewhat. You don't see as much of his home life. The posts are more widely spaced out as he gets involved in the making and marketing of Clerks 2.
If you are a Kevin Smith aficionado and haven't seen the Evening with DVD's, this might be the book for you. But it is full of minutia that will be off putting for the casual fan.
So much for the flickr badge idea. Dammit