FILM 1968: EIGHTH GRADE

FILM 1968: EIGHTH GRADE

TRIVIA: At a screening in San Francisco, director Bo Burnham said he originally intended for all the young characters to communicate with one another over Facebook. When his star, Elsie Fisher, saw his script, however, she said, "No one uses Facebook." He then made that a line in the movie and had the characters use Instagram and Snapchat instead.

Speaking on Marc Maron's WTF podcast, director Bo Burnham said that technology company Apple was going to provide laptops and phones for the film for free, but they were unhappy with the scene where the iPhone broke when it got thrown. As a result, the laptops shown in the film were those belonging to the crew and the broken iPhone scene was kept in.

Filming began one week after actress Elsie Fisher graduated eighth grade.

Was listed as one of former US President Barack Obama's favourite films of 2018.

MY VERDICT: This film really spoke to me – I was the shyest of all teenagers and I was just like this girl - except I didn’t have the luxury of any of the social media. The last third of the film brought me to tears and just reminded me how hard growing up is. I’m so glad I’m an adult now – I wouldn’t wish teenage years on my worst enemy. Even though I grew up in a different era I think teenage awkwardness is pretty universal and I think this film is genuine and true to real life. Watch it let me know if you can relate… Also there were some bits that made me really laugh out loud - so don't go into it thinking it's a sombre film because it's not that at all.

FILM 1758: LADY BIRD

FILM 1758: LADY BIRD 

TRIVIA: Saoirse Ronan and Greta Gerwig first met each other at the Toronto Film Festival in 2015 when Ronan was promoting Brooklyn (2015) and Gerwig was promoting Maggie's Plan(2015). Ronan had already read Gerwig's script and instantly connected with the titular character, so when both women discussed the script at length in Ronan's hotel room and she read the key part aloud, Gerwig knew that she had found her "Lady Bird."

The film is Greta Gerwig's solo feature directorial debut.

Saoirse Ronan has said that the most difficult word for her to pronounce with an American accent was "perfect."

Director Greta Gerwig suggested to Saoirse Ronan not cover up her acne for the film.

The film cast includes four Oscar nominees: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Lucas Hedges and Timothée Chalamet.

The film takes place from 2002 to 2003, the time when Greta Gerwig herself graduated from St. Francis Catholic High School in her hometown of Sacramento, California.

Throughout the film, a small poster of the movie Rushmore (1998) can be seen on the wall of Lady Bird's bedroom. Saoirse Ronan, who played Lady Bird, worked with that movie's director, Wes Anderson, on The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and co-star Lucas Hedges appeared in Anderson's films Moonrise Kingdom (2012) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). Anderson also co-wrote the movies The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou(2004) and Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) with Noah Baumbach, who is the current romantic partner of Greta Gerwig, this movie's writer and director.

BOOK 170: UNABROW: MISADVENTURES OF A LATE BLOOMER: UNA LAMARCHE

As a girl, Una LaMarche was as smart as she was awkward. She was blessed with a precocious intellect, a love of all things pop culture, and eyebrows bushier than Frida Kahlo’s. Adversity made her stronger...and funnier. In Unabrow, Una shares the cringe-inducing lessons she’s learned from a life as a late bloomer, including the seven deadly sins of DIY bangs, how not to make your own jorts, and how to handle pregnancy, plucking, and the rites of passage during which your own body is your worst frenemy.

Una LaMarche is the author of two young adult novels, FIVE SUMMERS and LIKE NO OTHER, and UNABROW: MISADVENTURES OF A LATE BLOOMER, a collection of humor essays based on some of her more questionable life choices. She is also a contributing writer for The New York Observer and The Huffington Post, and blogs at The Sassy Curmudgeon. Una lives in Brooklyn with her husband and son. You can follow her on Twitter @sassycurmudgeon.

REVIEW: I have to say I was a little disappointed by this book, not because it was terrible, because it was not, but because I had such high expectations of it.

I was expecting a truly humiliating journey through the childhood and teen years of an awkward female, who I believed to be much like myself. What I wasn’t expecting, and quite frankly got bored of, were the many details of childbirth and parenting.  Although Una (I feel like we’re on first name terms now, as I know so much about her, like the size of her stretched vagina and drop crotch pants) tells these stories with humour and wit, I found myself turning off and feeling somewhat conned. 

If you read the marketing material above you can see where I got the impression that this was a coming of age memoir, I think if it mentioned that after a couple of chapters she would be chatting about squeezing a person about of herself, I might not have been so excited about reading it.

I didn’t buy this book but was gifted it after I put it on my Amazon wish list, I wanted to read it because, as a late bloomer myself, I wanted to compare and laugh at someone else’s bad fashion choices, questionable crushes and dread of psychical education. All these things were in there but in my opinion, not enough to fill a book.

It does give me a little hope that one day I could compile my Christmas lists and diaries into a ‘memoir’ but I know that if a somewhat talented writer like Una LaMarche couldn’t make it work, then I couldn’t either. So in a way it killed my dreams, but I’ve never done anything with my life worth writing about and in a way I feel like Una’s embarrassing stories are not quite humiliating enough and are a bit too everyday to be as entertaining as they could have been.

I think a reviewer on Goodreads summed it up best when they said that the best thing about the book was the cover. Although this isn’t strictly true, it is a fantastic cover that promises so much more than the book delivered.

Book 92: In Youth is Pleasure - Denton Welch

In Youth is Pleasure is a beautiful and unassuming coming of age novel. Welch, who began to write after an accident left him partially paralyzed, is a Proustian writer of uncanny powers of observation. "Denton Welch makes the reader aware of the magic that is right under his eyes.... It is time Denton received the attention he deserves". -- William Burroughs.

Film 830: Cemetery Junction

Trivia: The premise/plot of the film is said, by both Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, to be based upon the song "Thunder Road" by Bruce Springsteen.

The original title was "The Men at the Pru", an advertising slogan for the Prudential insurance company. During the writing of the film, the Prudential allowed Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant to use their archives for research. However, after reading the finished script, the company decided it didn't like how it was being portrayed and refused to allow the usage of their name. The new title comes from an actual area in the town of Reading, where the film takes place.

Cameo: Karl Pilkington:  A party goer at the salesman of the year ball.

Book 75: Auntie Mame – Patrick Dennis

Auntie Mame is a 1955 novel by Patrick Dennis that chronicles the madcap adventures of a boy, Patrick, growing up as the ward of his deceased father's eccentric sister, Mame Dennis. The book is a work of fiction inspired by the author's eccentric aunt, Marion Tanner, whose life and outlook in many ways mirrored those of Mame. In real life, Dennis was raised by his parents. The novel was a runaway best seller, setting records on the New York Times bestseller list, with more than two million copies in print during its initial publication.

Film 813: Dirty Girl

Trivia: The film heavily features the music of Melissa Manchester, as Clarke (Jeremy Dozier) is a big fan. The song "Rainbird" was actually co-written by Manchester and Mary Steenburgen, who plays Clarke's mother.