Not only does New York Times business beater David Carr get the huge publicity of an excerpt in The New York Times Magazine, he also gets a review in the Times' Books section. This is one of the perks of being a reformed crackhead and semi-reformed alcoholic who turned a lifetime of beating women and ignoring his children into a cushy gig at the nation's leading newspaper. So what does his own newspaper think? For starters, that Carr is an "excellent" media columnist. And, in the nearly 1,000 words he spends on his audit, reviewer Pete Hamill — sober alcoholic, author of A Drinking Life, and one-time David Remnick critic — had exactly one negative thing to say about the book. CONTINUED »
"The US media wants to hold me to standards it supposedly holds itself to. But I’m not a journalist, I don't claim to be one, I'm not going to follow anyone else's rules because they tell me I should. The only standards imposed on the creation of [my] books are the ones I want there to be. What means something is if my book is read in 50 years. That's the only goal. If I have to take some big shots in the process of trying to make that happen, then I'm prepared to take those big shots." — James Frey, victim
We have not read David Carr's drug memoir in its entirety, partly because we were off gallivanting around Europe for the past two weeks, but mostly because there is only so much we can read about Carr abusing women and endangering children, especially when we're reading not out of leisure, but out of obligation for this website. How nice, then, for the countless reviews, pull quotes, and other documentation about the Times reporter's insta-meme book to bring us up to speed. For instance, there is today's New York book review/Carr profile from Jennifer Senior. And she didn't just save us a lot of time, energy, and paper cuts by devoting 4,200 words to Carr. Right there, in the middle of her copy, is the most eloquent explanation of Carr, and his motivation behind The Night of the Gun, for you to see. CONTINUED »
A movie industry publicist plays a few roles. It is her (and these people are often shes) job to coordinate those obnoxious three-minute celebrity interviews that even blogs can partake in; there, it's her duty to make sure things like this don't happen.
It's also her job to coordinate step-and-repeats and the usual red carpet drama at movie premieres, selecting which media outlets get how much time with her client; inevitably, tabloid TV shows and anybody else with a video camera get the most time, while reporters with a handheld tape recorder will be lucky to stand next to somebody who gets to ask questions.
But the biggest part of a publicist's job? Making sure her asshole entitled client has bottle service reservations at a handful of clubs (because his tastes can change on whim) for the movie premiere's after-after party, and that the right food from a restaurant that hasn't opened yet, and doesn't offer take out, is served hot on her client's private plane. CONTINUED »
If Christopher Ciccone can get bookstores to find shelf space for his Madonna haterade, surely there's room for a real-life tale of vindictive backstabbing. Though that might not be the most accurate way to describe In His Sights, the new book from Kate Brennan (a pseudonym), who writes openly about what she continues to experience at the hands of her lunatic ex-boyfriend Paul.
To give you an idea of what the author faced, she's had to move 16 times in 16 months, because sometimes she'd come home from work — from jobs where she applied under a fake name — to "a teaspoon from a kitchen drawer lies on the middle of my bed," evidence that Paul, or one of his operatives, had been in her home.
Though a horrific way to go through life, Brennan's victimization could make for a great read. Even the Times thought so, which is why they gave it a write up today. But with Brennan releasing her memoir under a fake name and stuffed with outlandish and often questionable anecdotes in the middle of a publishing climate that tends to raise red flags about those sort of things, the Times couldn't just take her word that all this was true!
Indeed, made a victim once already, Brennan now has to defend her account. CONTINUED »
Behold the official cover of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s new book, Influence.
"This is what makes The Night of the Gun so important. After years of abuse, the memoir has found its white knight, galloping in to show how a personal story can be engrossing, shocking and true. Mr. Carr’s book—which has been the talk of the publishing world since its release date was bumped from September to August and a gripping excerpt was printed in The New York Times Magazine two weekends ago—practically issues a challenge to those current reigning kings—David Sedaris, Augusten Burroughs, Ishmael Beah—of the memoir genre: You get a video camera and tape recorder, and retrace the steps of your life. Will your story sound the same?" [NYO]
I wonder if Lil’ Kim knows that after Simon & Schuster gave her a $40,000 advance to write an novel in 2003, they turned around in 2005 and gave Foxy Brown, of all people, $75,000 for a memoir called Broken Silence, which I’m going to take a wild guess was meant to be about her sudden hearing loss.
While the FCC worries itself over product placement on television programs, who is worrying itself over the product placement in literature? Sorry: "literature." A quick look at the latest crop of chick lit finds itself, much like Sex and the City's title track, obsessed with designer labels. Brand names pop up all over the place, in Lauren Weisberger’s Chasing Harry Winston, Kristen Kemp’s Breakfast at Bloomingdale’s, Bringing Home the Birkin, and Sunday at Tiffany’s. This is sad because while at one time you could already guess the plotlines of these books — girl meets dreamy guy, gabs about dreamy guy with her girl friends, sleeps with dreamy guy, discusses pros and cons of being with dreamy guy — you now already know which fashion labels their authors are whoring themselves out to. [NYT]
We love watching Chelsea Handler conduct interviews because she always asks the questions that are on everyone else’s minds and other reporters are afraid to ask. She invited Madonna’s “short and paunchy” brother, Chris Ciccone, onto her show last night and immediately started the interview by asking, “Why did you throw your sister under a bus?” He proceeds to be as annoying as ever, but we actually sat through the entire segment, which is more than we can say about his stint on Good Morning America.
You probably don’t want to revisit this, but remember when Dustin Diamond tried to get the public to help pay his mortgage by purchasing autographed T-shirts online? And then when that didn’t work, he attempted to profit from starring in a sex tape? That was naturally followed by two stints on Celebrity Fit Club, and yet he still hasn’t had enough public exposure.
Sex kitten Rachel Kramer Bussel, who writes for publications with "Pent" and "house" in their titles, tried exploiting this whole web video thing everybody is talking about to promote the erotic book Spanked that she's editing. So she uploaded a promo teaser to four video sharing sites: Vimeo, Flickr, YouTube, and Blip. In the clip, Bussel shows you just what to expect inside the pages of Spanked, namely, spankings — with books, rulers, hands, frat paddles, and even a copy of Spanked. If the book doesn't move on Nielsen BookScan's charts, at least it'll be an example in the standards policies of each of the sites. CONTINUED »
Former crackhead, cheating husband, womanizer, baby daddy, child endangerer, and lady abuser David Carr, whose drug-laden memoir The Night of the Gun, excerpted in yesterday's Times, dutifully receives write up treatment from his colleagues including Howard Kurtz.
Always one to ask the tough questions, Kurtz prompts Carr: Why write the book?: "Carr, 51, isn't quite sure. 'I ask myself that all the time,' he says in an interview. 'I still feel uneasy about it. It may well be a mistake.'"
Let's clear up the matter with an explanation everybody can understand: $300,000, and Hollywood dreams. CONTINUED »
New York Times columnist and former crackhead David Carr, who does not like this website, is laying down his book, filled with drug-induced anecdotes, on the American public with an excerpt in Sunday's Times. Smartly, the paper has released the giant blockquote ahead of time, so the baby booming set can remember just what it was like to put a glass bowl to their lips. CONTINUED »
Well, maybe some of the estimated 10,000 people who bought the book so far were of other races. [Portfolio]
As part of his post-Star Jones lifestyle, non-homosexual and YouTube star Al Reynolds is trying to sell a book on personal finance. The logic: Because he once worked at Merrill Lynch, Reynolds is now a fiscal expert. That he would generate more sales with a book about personal style — as in, "How to dress to catch a beard" — is lost on him.
The uppity music review website Pitchfork will release its first book since its online snobbery began in 1995. It will be a paperback guide of the 500 best songs released since 1977, carefully selected by editor in chief Scott Plagenhoef and publisher/founder Ryan Schreiber. Rather than compose a listicle "best of" book on albums or artists, Plagenhoef said they chose songs because, "Listeners are increasingly engaging with songs outside of their parent albums, and some of the most influential and exciting music of the past three decades was released on 7” and 12” records or EPs rather than on LPs—not just in stereotypical ‘singles’ genres such as pop, hip-hop, dance, and dancehall, but in punk and indie as well." Also, it make the task of attaching phrases like "audacious Escobar floss raps" and "a letter of intent from a band that's squatted on the fence, tentative to commit to one particular genre until now" to music reviews much more challenging. [NYO]
Chris Ciccone wrapped up his two-part interview today on Good Morning America with a smile on his face and a new batch of insults for his sister Madonna. For someone who claims to love his sibling, he sure has an interesting way of showing it. And as for hope that the two will reconcile, Chris says that depends on whether Guy Ritchie cleans up his act. Because this rift between Chris and Madonna has nothing to do with this stupid tell-all book that he admits is all about the money.
Larry King will write another autobiography, to be published on Father's Day in 2009. It will be called What Am I Doing Here?, and not Sometimes I Fart On Air, I Worry That Jay Leno May Take My Job, nor Softball: How to Conduct the Least Engaging Interview with Society's Most Interesting People. [Variety]
As Christopher Ciccone's publicity tour hits full stride this week — the book drops today — you've got the two-part Good Morning America interview, where he spends some time defending his sister's extramarital reputation, to concern yourself with. But there are two places where you might not hear about his scandalous accusations about husband Guy Ritchie's homophobia and his sister's obsession with Kabbalah.
We're hearing reports that neither Entertainment Tonight nor The Insider, both produced by CBS Television Studios, will be airing specials about Ciconne.
How come? Because Madonna's rep had them killed. CONTINUED »
