from Hamptons.com

Saturday, August 14

Summer Reading Club With Best Selling Author James Frey

Join our four-session Adult Summer Reading Club with four best selling authors. Spend an invigorating hour discussing Bright Shiny Morning, the best seller by James Frey, author of “A Million Little Pieces.” Contact the library to join the Club and come by to pick up your gift bag and four paperbacks, yours to keep!

 [ click to read at Hamptons.com ]

from The Huffington Post

Thoughts On Making Soaps and Mating Goats At The Fabulous Beekman Boys Farm

In some cultures, three is considered a holy number. In others it is a lucky number. In still more, it an evil number. Whatever your particular beliefs, it’s clear that all of us everywhere, every single person in the whole wide world, has fascination with the number three. And guess what — last week was week number three of the Fabulous Beekman Boys. Woohoo, woohoo!!!

As I recap the episode, I will, as always, use the same scale of goats to indicate whether what I see makes it more or less likely that I follow Josh and Brent’s example and leave NYC for a simpler life somewhere else.

The episode opens with some sexy sex talk. My hopes soar that this might be the best episode ever, of anything. I realize, however, that it is not human sex talk. It’s goat sex talk.

[ click to continue reading at The Huffington Post ]

from Treehugger.com

Thoughts on Cheese, Chores, and Harvesting Pigs At The Fabulous Beekman Boys Farm

by James Frey, New York

Episode five in week four of The Fabulous Beekman Boys. As far as I know, neither the number four nor five are considered lucky or holy or particularly special. But this episode, I’m betting this episode is something special. Real special, real real, superduper special. As always, I’ll be working with the goat scale.

Brent gets a driving lesson. It is a driving lesson with a tractor. I have stated previously that I think tractors are cool. If I could ride on in NYC, and find somewhere to park, I would. There’s a not a taxi in the city that would fuck with me if I had a tractor. Five goats.

We learn that Brent is a bad driver. Bad drivers are a menace. We learn about Josh and Brent’s childhoods, and see cute pictures of them as kids. Brent likes winning awards. He is a perfectionist. Josh shoots guns and grew up in the country. I knew all of this already, because I have known them for many years, but it’s cute and well done. Brent’s bad: one goat. Cute childhood info: three goats.

Porgie and Bess, the Beekman Pigs. We learn they will be slaughtered soon. Fuck, I like the pigs. They’re fat, and I’m also a little fat, and they like to sleep, as do I, and they’re dirty, as I am sometimes. I don’t want the pigs to go. One goat

[ click to continue reading at Treehugger.com ]

from Treehugger.com

Should I Stay or Should I Go? Thoughts on an “Unhappy Birthday” at the Beekman Boys Farm

by James Frey, New York

I missed episode two. How did I do that? They played two on the first night. I wasn’t paying attention. I figured it was one episode per week. My bad. I get a dumbass award.

Wonderful episode three. Another chapter in the epic tale of the Fabulous Beekman Boys. Let’s get into it. Let’s get into it right away. As with my last recap, I’ll be using a scale of one to five goats to indicate whether the events depicted on the show make it more or less likely for me to move out of New York to a farm of my own.

We learn that it is the weekend of Josh’s 40th birthday. He’s excited and hoping for a fun weekend. He finds out Brent has rented out the farm to a young couple for their wedding. They learned of the farm in an article in the New York Times. The idea of hosting a wedding at my house is horrifying. The idea of my house being written about in the New York Times is even more horrifying. One goat.

Josh is pissed. Rightfully so. I know Josh and he likes his birthday. The idea that one’s spouse would pimp out your house and not do anything for your 40th birthday, which is the birthday where you are officially kind of old, is not a good idea. One goat.

[ click to continue James’ review of The Beekman Boys @ Treehugger ]

from Treehugger.com

Thoughts on the First Episode of The Fabulous Beekman Boys

by James Frey, New York

Watch the first episode of The Fabulous Beekman Boys online!

This guest post was written by bestselling author James Frey.

Woohoo, woohoo, let’s all go to the farm, woohoo! Welcome to my first weekly recap of The Fabulous Beekman Boys, where I summarize Josh and Brent’s farmlife adventures and decide whether what I’ve seen makes it more or less likely that I leave New York for a simpler life. I’ll be ranking events in the episode using a scale of five goats, with one goat being the worst, and meaning there’s no way I’m following their example and leaving the city, and five goats meaning I’m calling a real estate agent to start looking for a house. I add up all the goats and whatever the average indicates where I am in my own decision making process at the end of every episode.

Snappy opening sequence. Nice theme music. Clearly Planet Green has taken great cares about and has spent some money on the show. If I were ever to have a reality show, I’d hope to have the same. Because I don’t want to be on one, the ranking is mitigated. Three goats.

We immediately get a brief history of our heroes, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, an advertising creative director and former drag queen, and Brent Ridge, a physician and former VP at Martha Stewart Omnimedia. They bought a farm, which is called Beekman Farm, and has a huge gorgeous Mansion on its grounds, in a small town in Upstate New York. Both were tired of city life, and wanted a place to escape. While there, they decide to try to make a living off the farm, in part because they need the money to keep the place, and in part because they’ve been inspired by Martha, who built an empire around her lifestyle. The farm is gorgeous, and empires are cool: five goats.

We meet Farmer John, a gay farmer who seems very sweet. He has a hundred goats, which are very cute, and seems to do much of the actual work on the farm. He also cries quite a bit, especially when talking about the goats. Farmer John, the goats and him doing all the work: five goats. Farmer John crying: one goat.

[ click to continue James’ take on the The Fabulous Beekman Boys Premiere ]

from The Nervous Breakdown

Three Older Women Stand in Line to Yell at the Author James Frey when Malcolm-Jamal Warner Stops By with a Two-Liter of Cherry Coke Under his Arm

by GREG BOOSE 

Helen: I’m really going to let him have it.

Susan: Oh, Helen, you’re too much.

Helen: He deserves it for what he did.

Rita: Well, don’t just get up there and immediately blow up at the jerk. You have to take him by surprise by being nice and sweet, and then you can let him have it.

Helen: He just makes me so mad!

Susan: He’s a liar.

Rita: Despicable.

Helen: Absolutely. I told you ladies about my brother, right…?

click to continue reading Greg Boose at TheNervousBreakdown.com

from Strange Reaction

8. Steve McQueen
A big time movie star who in his later years chose to live in an airplane hanger with his woman, motorcycles, and rare cars. Always cool.

7. James Frey
His incredible book, A Million Little Pieces set the stage for the type of books people would write about when dealing with recovery, or addiction. His second book, My Friend Leonard recounts him and friends slam dancing at a Vandals show.

6. Charles Bukowski
What do you say about Bukowski? A man who gave up a suburban life to live on the streets, and be a drunk. Through this life he found cult-like fame, and vindication. He traveled the hard road, and yet made it . . . his way.

5. Hunter S. Thompson
George Plimpton once wrote a book called Shadow Box. In the book he talks about flying to Zaire to cover the Ali-Foreman fight. On the flight was Thompson. Once they landed Plimpton went to the stadium to cover the fight. Thompson went into the jungle to get mind-altering drugs from a local Witch Doctor.

[ click for full list at Strange Reaction ]

from Sion Dayson’s ‘Paris (im)perfect’

James Frey, After the Fact

Published June 4, 2010 Literary/Cultural Paris 2 Comments
Tags: shakespeare & co, literary, paris, james frey 

Sex or violence?

This was the choice presented to us by author James Frey on Monday night at Shakespeare & Co. He would either read a passage of the sultry stuff or the gun stuff – the decision rested with us.

This being France, we went for the sex.

(Though wait! Immediately after, the audience then begged for the violence, too. I guess people always want it all).

For awhile, fact or fiction was the real question in regards to Frey. If you weren’t hiding under a rock around 2006, you probably remember him as the writer whose 2003 “memoir” A Million Little Pieces blew up into a big controversy. He was the man who duped Oprah. His memoir, you see, was partly “made up.”

I never read the book – I stayed above the fray (yes, pun intended) – but I can’t say I wasn’t curious to see the man behind the headlines, all these years later.

It’s a rare opportunity, really. Frey doesn’t do readings in the US anymore. Probably tired of answering the same questions.

But this is France, and Paris holds a special place in Frey’s heart. He came here as a 22 year-old, inspired by the “American writer in Paris myth,” he said. “Tropic of Cancer” by Henry Miller had “lit him up,” and he wanted to come here to experience the literary fire himself. It was something of a dream for Frey to return nearly two decades later as a visiting author to the famed Shakespeare & Co.

[ click to continue reading at Paris (im)perfect ]

Monday 31st May 7:00pm

In his youth, James Frey spent many an afternoon at Shakespeare and Company and tonight we have the pleasure of welcoming him back into the fold. James Frey is the bestselling author of A Million Little Pieces,My Friend Leonard and more recently, a novel about LA, Bright Shiny Morning.  ‘A furiously good storyteller’ – New York Times

James is a writer not afraid of a little controversy. There was a lot of noise surrounding his brilliant first book, A Million Little Pieces, which spawned a fact/fiction debate that captured America and the world. He has had highs and lows – but throughout them all, his writing continued to speak louder than all the brouhaha. James writes exhilarating books and posseses that rare quality – the ability to tell a truly good story.

Dans sa jeunesse, James Frey a passé bien des après-midi à Shakespeare and Company et c’est avec plaisir que nous l’accueillerons à nouveau ce soir. James Frey est l’auteur à succès de A Million Little Pieces, My Friend Leonard et, dernièrement, d’un roman sur Los Angeles, Bright Shiny Morning. James n’est pas un auteur que la controverse effraie. Il a connu des hauts et des bas mais la qualité de son écriture a toujours su rester au-dessus de tous les débats. James est l’auteur de romans grisants et il a cette rare qualité, le don de savoir raconter une histoire.

After battling with alcohol addiction and spending time in rehab, James Frey wrote A Million Little Pieces which was published in 2003 in America and the following year in the UK to critical acclaim. The New Yorker praised the book as “A frenzied, electrifying description of the experience”. He wrote the sequel, My Friend Leonard about life after rehab. His latest novel, Bright Shiny Morning, is all about Los Angeles, the city of contradictions. Home to both movie stars and down-and-outs, palm-lined beaches and gridlock, shopping sprees and gun sprees. Bright Shiny Morning takes a wild ride through the ultimate metropolis, where glittering excess rubs shoulders with seedy depravity. Frey’s trademark cinematic snapshots zoom in on the parallel lives of diverse characters, bringing their egos and ideals, hopes and despairs, anxieties and absurdities vividly to life. Some suffer, like the otherworldly wino who tries to save a spoilt teenage runaway. Others gain, like the canny talent agent who turns sexual harassment into blackmailing advantage. Some are loaded, or grounded, and have luck on their side. Others, like the countless actresses-turned-hookers, or schoolboys-turned-gangsters, are doomed.

Praise for James Frey:

‘James Frey is probably one of the finest and most important writers to have emerged in recent years’ – Irvine Welsh, Guardian

‘Totally addictive’ – Time Out

[ click to visit Shakespeare And Company ]

from Shmoop

10. It’s Paining Men

Who: Alice Walker

What: The Color Purple

When: 1982

Why: Rape, incest, homosexuality, and an unfavorable portrayal of men

How: Cutting right to the chase, The Color Purple famously opens with a graphic firsthand account of an incestuous rape. After bearing (and being separated from) her father’s children, Celie is forced into a loveless marriage where she is beaten and suffers spousal rape by her husband.

Her freedom eventually lies in having a lesbian affair with her husband’s mistress and leaving him to start her own business. For many readers, the mother/daughter/lesbian lover dynamic leaves little room for any male protagonists, which critics argue reinforces negative stereotypes about black men.

11. Still Haven’t Found What They’re Looking For

Who: Salman Rushdie

What: The Satanic Verses

When: 1988

Why: Irreverence toward Islam

How: In addition to other offences, Rushdie refers to the prophet Muhammad as Mahound, a derogatory, Crusader-era term, and names various prostitutes after Muhammad’s wives.

Initial backlash included rioting, bombings, and book burnings. In 1989, the Ayatollah of Iran issued a fatwa against Rushdie and “all those involved in its publication,” resulting in the assassination of one of the book’s translators and attacks against others.

Although Rushdie was unharmed, he spent the next nine years living in undisclosed locations under police protection, reportedly even staying at Bono’s house in Dublin from time to time. You know you’re in trouble when Bono’s letting you hide out in his mansion.

12. Lady in Red

Who: Bret Easton Ellis

What: American Psycho

When: 1991

Why: Extremely graphic descriptions of torture, murder, mutilation, cannibalism, and more

How: Although American Psycho can be characterized as a satire of American machismo, odds are you’ll be too distracted by the detailed first-person accounts of a serial killer to really appreciate the underlying message.

After Simon and Schuster backed out of the project, Vintage Books got the publishing rights to the novel – as well as a lot of heat from feminist groups for its portrayal of violence against women. (To be fair, the narrator also kills a few men and a dog.) As with guns, spray paint, or huff-able glue, many stores require that you be 18 in order to purchase this novel.

13. On the Origin of Pieces

Who: James Frey

What: A Million Little Pieces

When: 2003

Why: Intentionally deceptive marketing

How: Famously dubbed “A Million Little Lies,” James Frey’s so-called memoir incurred a horrible retribution after it was revealed that many of the more scandalous events in the story never actually happened.

Particularly damning was the fact that Oprah, who’d previously featured the novel in her book club (and bolstered its sales by about n-teen percent), made it her personal mission to rip Frey and his publisher into a million little pieces on national television. The media carnage and book returns that followed taught Frey one of the most important facts of American life: don’t mess with Oprah.

[ click to read full list at Shmoop.com ]

from Refinery 29

Mick Jagger, James Frey, And More Sketch For Charity

By: Kristian Laliberte

It’s not that probable that Mick Jagger, Hanuk Hanuk, and James Frey would all collaborate on the same project, but that’s exactly what happened with the launch of environmentally conscious creative shop DBA’s 98 Pen. On Friday, literati and gliterati came together to use the new writing instrument on the DBA’s Endless Notebook. A selection of sketches, short stories, poems and quotations from the likes of Terence Koh, Georgina Chapan, and Rogan Gregory (all curated by the Accompanied Literary Society’s Brooke Geahan) go up for auction tomorrow to benefit Riverkeeper, a charity committed to cleaning up and protecting the Hudson River. The pen, according to Leon Ransmeier, creative director of DBA, is “a daily object which represents a step in the revolution of how we think.” It’s a “beautiful product with an ecological message and integrity.” It’s fitting then that the project is entitled “Think Before You Write.” Check out the auction here to see how you can put your thinking cap on too. 

[ click to read at Refinery29.com ]

from the LA Times

Jacket Copy

BOOKS, AUTHORS AND ALL THINGS BOOKISH 

The unfortunate spread of James Frey

May 17, 2010

On Saturday, the French Consulate, with assistance from UCLA’s department of French and Francophone studies, presented a day of literature from France and Los Angeles. The events, which were either in English or in French with English translation, were nevertheless packed full of French expatriates — there are more than 30,000 in Los Angeles. The star of the show was onetime memoirist James Frey.

Other American authors who participated, such as Steve Erickson, acclaimed author of 10 books, and Richard Lange, a 2009 Guggenheim Fellow, are both published in France. But as French writer Jean Rolin noted, it’s Frey who has caught the attention of French readers, particularly teenagers. Moderator Olivier Barrot, a well-known French literary critic, introduced Frey’s most recent book, “Bright Shiny Morning,” as being like John Dos Passos’ work in ambition and scope.

This is hardly the reception the novel received in Los Angeles. “‘Bright Shiny Morning’ is an execrable novel,” wrote Times book editor David L. Ulin, “a literary train wreck without even the good grace to be entertaining.”

[ click to continue reading at The Los Angeles Times ]

from Robert Smartwood

And The Winners Are …

By Robert Swartwood

First, I want to thank everyone again for helping spread the word and participating in the contest. We had a great turnout this year, with just over 350 stories submitted, which isn’t too bad considering the contest was open for just two weeks. There were a lot of great entries and it was hard to pick a top 12, but pick I did and then those were sent to James Frey who picked three winners and two honorable mentions.

click to read the winners at RobertSmartwood.com

from MediaBistro

The Worst Intern Ever.

By Rachel Kaufman on Apr 27, 2010 03:27 PM

an intern’s life. flickr: Steve Webel

Thanks, Gawker, for destroying our faith in humanity: the blog’s just posted e-mails from a wannabe intern who is just so awful that we find it hard to believe that this kid is for real:

S/he says things like “Is there a possibility that your internship will turn into a full time position? The reason I ask is because I’m looking for a full time job and I would not want to waste my time at an internship that was not going to lead to a full time position.” And “I find it very unprofessional that you have gone an entire day without responding to me and it makes me question the type of office you work in and if I want to be an intern at your company.”

[ click to read at MediaBistro.com ]

from Tobi Elliot

oooooh, James Frey gets me riled up – which is exactly what he wants!

25apr10

In the time betwixt when I eat my palate-cleansing pre-dinner salad and my platter of mouthwatering lamb and quinoa tonight, I will be mulling three things. First, which questions I’ll ask Ezra Winton (of Cinema Politica fame) tomorrow about the state of Aboriginal filmmaking in Canada, following up on a story I’ve been writing for about a month now (and which I’m shopping around, if anyone is interested.) Secondly, how attractive apparel on a woman – namely 4-inch heels – will draw second and third glances from men in direct proportion to how painful said apparel is. And thirdly, why I cannot abide James Frey and will never read one of his creations, no matter how much we mutually dislike Oprah Winfrey.

(Oh and I will also be thinking about recent conversations with documentary filmmaker Magnus Isacsson, most of which are highly confidential but I’ll tell all here. Kidding! I’ll write what I can. In a bit.)

Meanwhile, to the despicable James Frey…

The Fourth Horseman of the literary world – a term coined by greater minds than mine – is in Montreal hawking his latest novel Bright Shiny Morning. Yes, that man, the Million Little Pieces guy the world couldn’t get enough of after he was outed on national television for having fabricated (or embellished, as he prefers to call it) his first book. That guy, who flouts every convention known to English writing, doesn’t use quotation marks (“ooooohhhhh!” cries the admiring public. “How very brave!”) and thinks he’s more bad-ass than Hustler S. Thompson. Yes, I said Hustler, because they’re both just that: masters of cheap literary tricks and good at playing fast and loose with the world around them.

I attended this talk at the Blue Metropolis, Montreal’s literary-get-your-book-geek-hat-on festival, titled ‘Face to Face with James Frey’. The interview was hosted by a recent professor of mine, Joel Yanofsky, who did an excellent job asking some tough questions while maintaining a civil and friendly discourse. He’s a brilliant interviewer (and I don’t say that just because he gave me an ‘A’ in Magazine writing.) You can listen to the interview on CBC radio, though I’m not sure when. It doesn’t seem to be scheduled for any time in particular on the site. Should be either on the programIdeas or Writers and Company or the Sunday Edition in Montreal.

Anyway, I have a lot to say about Frey. I’ll start with my twitterfeed as the talk unfolded:

• At BlueMetropolis watching interview of #JamesFrey by a former prof of mine #JoelYanofsky
• Opening question: how do you feel about memoirs now? Answer: I feel the term is bullshit.
• “Anyone who reads a memoir and thinks it’s truth is pretty much lying to themselves” #JamesFrey
• “I thot, F–k it,I’m gonna do James” in answer 2 ? whether it was his idea2put his name in book.#JamesFrey
• “Moved 2 LA 2 write books 2 make money.” #JamesFrey
• Million Little Pieces: was ttrying 2find his voice.#JamesFrey “wanted 2be the most controversial writer of my time”
• “I use a huge amount of profanity, I don’t use paragraph indentations, I don’t use quote marks” #JamesFrey
• He certainly does. Every third word is “profane”. #JamesFrey. And doesn’t speak in paragraphs. Seems 2think it’s cool.
• “It was mostly about making this dream come true, which was writing this book. It was supposed2be shocking in how it was written.”#JamesFrey
• “it was published in 25 languages. I got an extra 10 out of Oprah.” #JamesFrey “In a lot of ways it was awesome, it was perfect.” >>> referring to Oprah-outing controversy and how good it was for sales <<<
• Claims to have HAngels bodyguards w/him when he does book tours or interviews in the US. #JamesFrey HA leader claims “you’re like us now.”>>>> that’s Hell’s Angel’s <<<<<
• Good question: “why wasn’t the truth enough? Why wasn’t what happened to you, enough?” #JamesFrey
• “If I can fuck a reader up, make you cry, or not be able to turn the next page, then that’s truth. I’m not interested in facts.” #JamesFrey
• Talking about NormanMailer: “he said, ‘this happens when you write a book important enough to cause this kind of controversy’.” #JamesFrey
• The idea that memoir is not a legitimate form of writing is… Interesting. True that what’s important is truth, not facts. But.. #JamesFrey   >>>>my commentary starting to sneak in <<<<<
• “I’ll be back&I’m coming back with both my middle fingers up&they can all kiss my ass b/c I’m writing a book that’ll b read 50 yrs from now”   >>>>>yes, there was lots of crudeness, he seems to delight in it the way a 12 year old boy would <<<<<<
• Re: latest book ‘bright shiny morning’ about L.A. #JamesFrey. JYanofsky calls it “‘Grapes of Wrath’ with lots more swearing in it.”
• #JamesFrey:”You want me to write books that are either fact or fiction?Well F– you! I’m going to do exactly the same thing I did last time”
• “Only I’m going to do it even more sophisticated this time, so you can’t tell the difference.” about his latest book #JamesFrey
• Look for #JamesFrey’s latest attempt at fact-fiction storytelling: The Third Testament of the Bible. About Jesus in Manhatten.     >>>>>NOT a joke. <<<<<<
• Believes American fundamentalist religion will cause a war that will destroy the world in the next 50 years. #JamesFrey
• “I want to experience everything. As much of the best things and the worst things in life that I can, and everything in b/t.” #JamesFrey   >>>>>>> (Yanofsky asks if he would give his kids this advice, and he replies no, he wouldn’t) <<<<<<<<
• #JamesFrey thinks his book could work or be the biggest disaster ever.”It’s about the most audacious,absurd,ambitious thing ever attempted” >>>>> he DID qualify this by saying, “by a writer” <<<<<<
• Thankfully #JamesFrey turns down comparisons to HSThompson, Truman Capote. Says they turned into caricatures of themselves. Sure u escaped?
• Admits 2writing &commissioning other books &having them written by younger writers. Beware! There are books out there by #JamesFrey,but not!

In conclusion:

• My take on #JamesFrey & his problem with memoir, or any kind of storytelling that purports to be stick to the truth: those who don’t like it….
• … are usually the ones who have an equal and proportional issue with taking responsibility for their words, and actions. #JamesFrey…
• …just wants to write what he wants to write, and let the world be damned. Enjoy the ride while it lasts #JamesFrey. At least ur not alone

Mr. Frey’s arrogance was evident, oh-so-evident throughout the interview. He was gleeful about being labeled “notorious” and a bad boy in the world of highbrow lit. He loves being mentioned in the same breath as Norman Mailer. He’s been determined to do get to this point his whole life.

But that’s not really what bothered me in the end. Even though this whole adventure seemed like one big game to him, all of it: messing up the literary conventions, getting a reputation for being a troublemaker, making piles of money doing it, having to shelter in France because he was so reviled in the States, having Hell’s Angles bodyguards because he’s such a bad-ass, it’s not so bad. There are a lot of rich a—holes with crazy ideas about changing the entire way one field or another is played. I don’t actually quibble with any of the above.

The fact that he’s making tons of money and published in all these countries just means that he has a wider audience for his ego, but I’m sure it was always there. He can be as arrogant as his talent entitles him to, he can make as much money as the buying public will allow him to, and he can flout as many conventions as he wants. That’s his perogative.

However, I don’t buy his dismissal of the entire memoir genre as false. I get that we’re in the post-postmodern age, when everything is relative and nothing is real. Nothing you see is going to be the same as what I see, which is his argument for why the memoir is a false form of journalism. I get that. But that doesn’t mean it’s invalid. It just means you have to be extra-responsible for what you communicate. Extra careful to put things into terms that everyone can identify with, yet which are unique to your perspective and true to the situation.

Frey doesn’t seem to want to indulge in that sort of hard-won, reflective writing. He just wants to write what he wants, and “f–k everyone else.” How many times he said “F–k ‘em” today, I couldn’t count. He’s simply unwilling to take the time to write something with some semblance of truth, so he resorts to his pet creation “storytelling” that he uses to excuse any combination of fancy and fact. And he bears no responsibility for it, because it’s just a story. It doesn’t matter. Fuck em.

Nor do I buy his reasons for mixing fact and fiction so gleefully and calling it “truth”. He claims that what he’s getting at in his stories, which he says are between 75 per cent and 85 per cent factually faithful, is high art and truth. He’s not about the lowly, pedestrian communication of facts, which he seems to consider a little more base than flipping burgers at McDo’s. But as humans we are forced to make decisions every day, to do or not do, and this results in the particular circumstances we find ourselves in. It’s the story of what happened, and why it happened, that’s important, not your damn recreation of it according to how you later decided you want it to have happened.

We all embellish things in the telling. No question. But anyone who so cavalierly dismisses any responsibility to tell things the way they are, not the way they feel they should be, is not writing non-fiction. They should make their money doing something else, or pretending to do something else.

James Frey: Take your illusions elsewhere. I know some think you’re a whiz and buy up your books just because they don’t know what the hell they’re reading, and they don’t care. What’s sad is that it’s precisely those poor suckers that makes Frey laugh up his sleeve the whole time, at the whole establishment, at all of America, because he’s still got everyone playing his little game.

You poor suckers.

[ click to read at tobielliottjourno.wordpress.com ]

from The San Francisco Chronicle

Nobody knows the trouble I made up

Phil Bronstein

Writer/memoirist James Frey got fried for making up the downer times of his life in the best-seller, “A Million Little Pieces.” When he was busted, Oprah personally de-spleened him on her show after she initially had made him a confessional hero.

That was four years ago. Frey just had bad timing.

Today, the two most powerful celebrities in the world, Barack Obama and Oprah herself, are getting tagged for re-arranging their personal histories to fit what’s referred to widely in our contemporary culture as “the narrative.”

This concept of narrative, otherwise known as “a story,” has become a clichéd requirement not just in politics but for anyone famous using personal plot lines for traction in the public arena.

So if people at the top of society, like the president and Oprah, are going to fabricate some things in service to the larger sense of history and purpose, maybe we should loosen our standards for facts.

[ click to continue reading at the San Francisco Chronicle ]

from The Montreal Gazette

Interview: James Frey may still be a literary ‘outcast,’ but he’s keeping busy

By Kathryn Greenaway, The GazetteApril 15, 2010

from Cinematical

‘I Am Number Four’ Sets Sights on ‘District 9′ Star Sharlto Copley

by Alison Nastasi Apr 14th 2010 // 1:02PM

Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, New Releases, Dreamworks, Steven Spielberg

District 9 star Sharlto Copley isn’t a household name yet, but that might change in the not too distant future. The actor has wrapped up work on this summer’s movie version of ’80s television series The A-Team(where he’ll play Howling Mad Murdock) and now THR’s Heat Vision blog is reporting he’s in negotiations to appear in a new sci-film with franchise potential entitled I Am Number Four.

Dreamworks has the rights to the title, based on the first novel in a planned six book young adult series by authors James Frey and Jobie Hughes. Adapted by Smallville creators Al Gough and Miles Millar, I Am Number Four is about a group of aliens who escape to Earth after their home world is annihilated by a rival species. Once here, they disguise themselves as regular high school students and presumably do their best to fit in. Alex Pettyfer has already been cast as Number Four, while Copley would be playing an alien from a lower class who finds himself as Four’s adult guardian. I’m guessing some wacky situations arise out of this arrangement.

D.J. Caruso is set to direct with Spielberg and Michael Bay handling production duties — so at least we know this won’t be some cheap-looking book tie-in. I expect explosions and maybe even a few “giant f***ing robots” from the Bay camp.

[ click to continue reading at Cinematical.com ]

from the New York Post

James Frey’s second coming

James Frey is having the last laugh. While Kitty Kelley’s “Oprah: A Biography” reveals the talk queen embellished her childhood and concealed her bisexuality, her nemesis Frey was just credited with one of the “most impressive comebacks of all time.”

Jesus Christ topped the list in the UK’s Independent on Sunday for his resurrection, followed by Muhammad Ali, Winston Churchill and Elvis Presley. After Winfrey attacked Frey for exaggerations in his memoir, “A Million Little Pieces,” Frey redeemed himself with “Bright Shiny Morning,” which the Independent called “a triumph of a novel, vividly depicting LA and the American dream.”

from The Independent on Sunday

[ click to visit The Independent UK ]

from artnet

ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL

Mar. 26, 2010 

“MENTORS” AT SVA
Fancy a spot under the wing of youthquake photography superstar Ryan McGinley? What about with author-turned-Oprah foe-turned-art dealer James Frey? Or how about with brainyArtforum editor Tim Griffin? Well, those are the kinds of opportunities that 80+ School of Visual Arts photography BFA students got with the most recent round of the institution’s “Mentors” program. The pairings are set up by photography department chair Stephen Frailey, who chooses mentorships based on the direction of the student’s work. As to the structure of the mentorships, it is described as “variable” in character, depending on what kind of sparks fly between participants. The artistic results of the 2010 collaborations are currently on view in a show at the SVA’s Visual Arts Gallery at 601 West 26 Street, Mar. 19-Apr. 3, 2010.

Worthy figures who donated their time as SVA mentors include critic-curators Vince Aletti (teamed with Aaron Boldt), Mia Fineman (Alex Bush) and Neville Wakefield (Nathaniel C. Shannon); artists Tina Barney (Dani Saul), Gregory Crewdson (Michelle Labriola), Tim Davis (Carly Planker), Liz Deschenes (Inga Moren), Adam Fuss (Katherine Schweitzer),K8 Hardy (Kelly Hopper), Laurel Nakadate (Kyle Ganson) and Taryn Simon (James Thomas Josephs); and dealers Jen Bekman(Elizabeth Ribuffo), Bonnie Benrubi (Anna DePalma), Yossi Milo (Matt Kushan), Yancey Richardson (Helen Ann Michelsen) and Julie Saul (Stephanie DelMonte).

[ click to read at artnet.com ]

[ click to visit Half Gallery ]

from the NY Daily News

Indie bookstore set to launch literary journal

BY Elizabeth Lazarowitz

Who says print is dead?

Brooklyn’s growing literary landscape will get a new addition in a few weeks when Cobble Hill indie bookstore BookCourt launches its own journal.

“It seemed like a natural step, with all of the great ideas that flow through this establishment,” said Zach Zook, the Court St. store’s general manager and the journal’s executive editor.

The twice-yearly publication, dubbed “Cousin Corrine’s Reminder,” will feature more than 150 pages of fiction and photography from local and international artists and authors, as well as a graphics section curated by Brooklyn comic book author Dean Haspiel.

“You’ll be seeing essays and pictures, and then you’ll come to the literary equivalent of the Sunday comics,” Haspiel said.

The journal is the first publication of Zook’s independent book imprint, Cousin Corrine, named for a relative who bequeathed the seed money for the store to his parents, Mary Gannett and Henry Zook. Zach Zook is also hoping to publish first-run fiction paperbacks, pocket-sized photo books and maybe even a children’s line.

For the first edition, Haspiel teamed with “Motherless Brooklyn” writer Jonathan Lethem on a piece that chronicles Lethem’s daily walk to work along Nevins St.

Controversial author James Frey is contributing what he describes as “this weird little dictionary” of Hollywood jobs, which offers a biting commentary on the entertainment industry.

Frey said he wanted to give back to BookCourt for its support, even after the 2006 controversy over the truth of bits of his best-selling memoir “A Million Little Pieces” and his resulting feud with Oprah Winfrey. Plus, he said, he’s a fan of independent bookstores.

“They’re an important part of literary culture,” Frey said. “It’s the same reason I don’t want all the diners in New York to go away and be replaced by McDonald’s.”

[ click to continue reading at NYDailNews.com ]