Category: Celebrities

Norm Macdonald 1959-2021

In many cases, an artist, musician, actor, writer, or celebrity becomes a favorite because that performer verbalizes or otherwise captures very closely the feelings that fans experience inside their own heads. It’s especially powerful when the fan is never quite able to express those feelings, but the performer has that ability. Norm Macdonald was that figure for me. Norm, for many, is in the running for the title of funniest person ever. I agree with that, and Norm’s comedy has provided me laughs of a degree and nature that simply do not happen with any other comedian. He might hold…

Post author By Job Leach
Post date March 15, 2019
No Comments on What I’ve Been Reading: Beastie Boys Book by Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz

My only real complaint about this book is that it’s incredibly unwieldy. You’re risking serious bodily harm if you read it while lying down. If you drift off into a nap for even a second, it’s unlikely your arms will support this behemoth. But if you know the Beastie Boys, or read this book to learn more about them, they have never been in the business of practicality. Their music-making process is largely based on thumbing their nose at organization and convention. They obviously approached this project with the same attitude. And, of course, they produced a book with their…

Post author By Job Leach
Post date February 13, 2019
No Comments on What I’ve Been Reading: Palo Alto by James Franco

I’ve been lazy about posting reviews of the books I’ve been reading, so I need to catch up a little bit. This post and a few in the future will be about books I read in 2018. Hopefully I’ll catch up to what I’m currently reading sometime this spring. Thanks for reading! Palo Alto Review Palo Alto is a collection of short stories by James Franco. Although not necessarily related to each other, they’re unified in that they all portray the lives of adolescents in Palo Alto. One can assume that the stories are at least partially based on Franco’s…

Post author By Job Leach
Post date May 17, 2018
No Comments on What I’ve Been Reading (and Watching): Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman

I wanted to read Call Me by Your Name after I watched the movie (directed by Luca Guadagnino) . I was especially interested to check it out after the movie won Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars (screenplay written by James Ivory). The movie was a truly excellent adaptation of the source text. Overall, I enjoyed the movie more than the book, although I did like both versions. As with nearly any comparison of a book and movie adaptation, each has its merits. The following might have some spoilers, or at least information that might make your first viewing/reading less enjoyable.…

Post author By Job Leach
Post date March 24, 2018
No Comments on What I’ve Been Reading: The Bassoon King by Rainn Wilson

Although I am a fan of the The Office and the character of Dwight, I’ve always been a bit annoyed by Rainn Wilson. I always get the sense that he is trying way too hard to be funny. He constantly punctuates his sentences with uncomfortably lame jokes to the point that I have a hard time listening to him. He’s the kind of person that seems to have a hard time “turning it off” to just have an actual conversation. The writing in this book is… unfortunately very similar in most chapters. If I were editing the book and took…

Post author By Job Leach
Post date June 20, 2017
No Comments on What I’ve Been Reading: The Phenomenon by Rick Ankiel and Tim Brown

Rick Ankiel was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1997 and debuted in the majors in late 1999. Before being drafted, he was one of the most highly touted pitching prospects of that year. In 2000, as the second youngest player in the league at 20 years of age, Ankiel went 11-7 for the Cardinals. He was in the top ten in the majors in nearly every pitching statistic and was second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting. The Cardinals made the playoffs in 2000. Due to injuries on the pitching staff, Ankiel and veteran Darryl…

Post author By Job Leach
Post date February 12, 2017
No Comments on What I’ve Been Reading:
One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories by B.J. Novak

This book first caught my eye at a bookstore because of the starkly white cover. It also grabbed my attention because I’m familiar with the name B.J. Novak as I’m a huge fan of The Office. I knew that he played the character Ryan Howard and was also a writer for the show. I looked very quickly at the book, not feeling like buying right away, but storing it away to possibly revisit someday. My assumption was that his stories were probably tidbits from behind the scenes of shows he worked on; perhaps musings from his time being a comedian…

Post author By Job Leach
Post date February 7, 2017
No Comments on What I’ve Been Reading:
They Call Me Baba Booey by Gary Dell’Abate

It seems crazy that They Call Me Baba Booey came out in 2010 and I’ve put off reading it until now. It’s fun to remember moments from the show where they mentioned the book, both during the writing process and after the release. They spoke about pictures, cover art, and eventually his book signings. Of course, the one consistent practice throughout all of it was Howard giving him shit about numerous details in the book. One ribbing stands out to me. When the audiobook was released, Howard hyper-focused on the lists of songs that Gary had in the book. Stern…

Post author By Job Leach
Post date January 27, 2017
No Comments on How I’m Going to Blog (and thoughts on Howard Stern)

Since starting this website, I’ve considered different ways in which I could approach writing a blog. I’m not personally interested in the journaling/rambling style of blogging, so I had to think of an alternative. I always feel like people ask me what I’ve read recently and I always forget some books when I answer. I figure it might be fun for me to keep track of what I read, starting at the beginning of 2017. Most of my posts will just be thoughts about whatever book that I’ve most recently read, although some posts might just be on random topics.…