[The following was written by Synthesis Weekly columnist Emilie Clark. She can be reached at emilie@synthesis.net.]

Coming Soon

It’s a well-known fact that people like to adapt movies from books. It’s also a well-known fact that most of these efforts suck. So it’s my job to warn you about upcoming adaptations so you have ample time to read the book. This gives you the chance to complain about inconsistencies and general “suckiness” while still in the theater, making you look learned and therefore more attractive. You can thank me later.

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, July 4th: This is a documentary, so I guess it won’t really do to get mad about liberties taken with the adaptation. But it can’t hurt to read some of the famous Gonzo’s work if only for your own amusement. From the description it seems like the filmmakers are big fans, which can be bad in a documentary if you’re trying to eek out truth. The gist I get is that the point the film makes is that Thompson did what journalists are too afraid to do nowadays, namely get high and write caustic things about politicians. This may be true, but I easily tire of ‘60s and ‘70s nostalgia. Sure people were a bit crazier back then and I’m sure there are things to be learned from that era, but it’s over, so deal.

Journey To the Center of the Earth 3D, July 11th: Based on the classic Jules Verne novel about a rogue scientist who travels to, you guessed it, the center of the earth. According to Wikipedia, this novel didn’t age as well as some of Verne’s other works, because he was mostly wrong about what is contained in the center of the earth. However, none of that really matters because this movie is in 3D. And I will watch anything in 3D, even if it stars Brendan Fraser.

more upcoming adaptations after the jump.
(more…)

[The following entry was written by Synthesis Weekly columnist Emilie Clark. She can be reached at emilie@synthesis.net ]

I Was Told There’d Be Cake
By Sloane Crosley
Riverhead

I, like everyone else interested in book publishing, journalism, music or theater, have always fantasized about moving to New York City. That’s where it all happens, you know, and I heard if you can make it there you can make it anywhere. I discarded that pipe dream a while back, but NYC still interests me. Which is why I read Gawker on occasion and keep up on the New York literary world though the Internet. I guess it’s inevitable to know a lot about the city and its inhabitants since most media spawns from within its confines. This is a long-winded way of saying that I had some definite preconceptions about New York publicist Sloane Crosley’s debut book.
According to The New York Observer, Sloane Crosley’s path to writing started with a mass e-mail to some friends describing a story that would later become an essay in the book. The story is about how when moving from one apartment to another (three blocks away) she locked herself out of both apartments. It’s a funny story in the book and I’m sure it was a funny e-mail, but that’s not important. What’s important is that one of her friends — and therefore e-mail recipient — was the editor at The Village Voice and offered to publish a polished-up version of the story. This is essentially how Crosley became famous. And it’s also why I’m having a hard time liking her. I can’t help but wonder how different my life and writing career would be if I were friends with the editor of The Village Voice. But I guess my envy is really neither here nor there.

Now that we’ve whetted your interest, the actual review can be found after the jump… (more…)

[The following was written by Synthesis Weekly columnist Emilie Clark. She can be reached at emilie@synthesis.net]

Helping Me Help Myself
By Beth Lisick
William Morrow

So graduation is upon us. My main advice to graduates would be to rethink the whole idea and stay in college forever, but it’s probably too late for most of you so you’ll have to go ahead and graduate. Too bad.
Many of you probably think graduation will be the start of your “real life.” You know, the one where you get a job, stop spending so much of your money on beer and start to become your parents. But with the economy the way it is, don’t count on it. In fact, you might end up like Beth Lisick, who makes a substantial chunk of her income from donning a banana suit and passing out fruit to passersby. It is at this point that you, like Lisick, may decide that you need a bit of help — self-help to be exact.

Helping Me Help Myself is the memoir of a year spent devoted to living the advice contained in self-help books. Every month she picks a different facet of her life that could be improved and sets about improving it. Lisick tries all the greats: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People; Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus; The Artist’s Way; Suze Orman and even Richard Simmons. As you might suspect she comes at this task from a highly cynical point of view. Lisick is a slam poet/author/banana suit wearer living in Berkeley — not you your typical self-helper. But as cynical as she is, she’s also fair and does her best to quell her gag reflex in order to let the self-help really sink in. And along the way the reader can’t help but pick up some good tips, too.
The book is very funny, which is pretty much my only criteria for a good review, and you do come away with a sense that Lisick learned something in her quest. But I couldn’t help feeling disappointed that by December no major revelation had been reached. The only things that seem to change in her life are smaller, practical things, and the big questions she starts out with are never satisfactorily answered. Perhaps that’s to be expected when you devote your intellectual activity to books you can purchase at the grocery store, but I still felt unsatisfied when it was over. Thankfully though, Lisick’s personality and sense of humor make the memoir still worth the cover price and the few days it took to read.

More after the jump. (more…)

Though usually behind the scenes taking dic…….tation as the audio guru behind Synthesis Radio, our own Dain Sandoval stepped out to review one of his favorite books, Sam Walton: Made in America. Check it out.