Author: joetbp

The Stand Up Sit Down Book Club Gets Carsick With John Waters

John Waters - gay pope of trash and vile connoisseur of low culture - attempted something extraordinary, risking life, sanity, and intestinal fortitude for art (or a queasy approximation thereof). Terminally in between films, the notorious, lowbrow director of Pink Flamingos, Cecil B. Demented, Hairspray, and a dozen more celluloid slimeballs walked out of his … Continue reading The Stand Up Sit Down Book Club Gets Carsick With John Waters →

The Authors & Auteurs Book Club Refuses To Become The Conformist

The origin of The Conformist starts with Carlo Rosselli. Roselli was a major political figure in the anti-Fascist movements in Italy, Paris, and in the Spanish Civil War. He founded the anti-Fascist movement Giustizia e Liberta or Justice and Freedom. On June 9, 1937 while visiting the French resort town of Bagnoles-de-l’Orne, he was murdered … Continue reading The Authors & Auteurs Book Club Refuses To Become The Conformist →

The Stand Up Sit Down Book Club Stands With Amy Poehler And Says “Yes Please!”

Amy Poehler wasn't always America's favorite aggressively positive city councilwoman Leslie Knope on television's Parks and Recreation. Nor was she born into the role of writer, performer, and all-around comedy goddess on Saturday Night Live. It was no accident that she co-founded the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York and starred in the Upright Citizens … Continue reading The Stand Up Sit Down Book Club Stands With Amy Poehler And Says “Yes Please!” →

Deep in the Infinite Image: The New & Noteworthy Book Club Discusses Bats of the Republic

Deep in the Infinite Image: The New & Noteworthy Book Club Discusses Zachary Thomas Dodson’s Bats of the Republic Bats! Texas! Overlapping genres! Parallel timelines! Archival records! Full disclosure: I am an archivist who is a former graphic designer--who also has a weak spot for misunderstood animals. If there is any book that is written … Continue reading Deep in the Infinite Image: The New & Noteworthy Book Club Discusses Bats of the Republic →

The Nightmare Factory Book Club Has Touched The Rail That Is The Lesser Dead!

The lights in your train car flicker as the subway changes tracks, making an unexpected detour through forgotten caverns deep below the city. Pale eyes shine back at you through fogged and graffiti-scarred windows as you try to make sense of your surroundings. Gaining speed, your train plummets past abandoned stations, illegible insignia scrawled in … Continue reading The Nightmare Factory Book Club Has Touched The Rail That Is The Lesser Dead! →

The Stand Up Sit Down Book Club Drops In To See What Kind Of Situation THE TODD GLASS SITUATION Is In.

Todd Glass's situation is unique. After a killer set at the Largo at the Coronet, he retreated backstage to receive some well-deserved accolades from his peers. Two seconds later, he was face down in the filthy carpet of the comedy club, apparently in the throes of a serious heart attack. When Sarah Silverman came to … Continue reading The Stand Up Sit Down Book Club Drops In To See What Kind Of Situation THE TODD GLASS SITUATION Is In. →

Wicked Wit: The New & Noteworthy Book Club Discusses Margaret Atwood’s The Stone Mattress

Margaret Atwood writes, “Calling a piece of short fiction a ‘tale’ removes it at least slightly from the realm of mundane works and days, as it evokes the world of the folk tale, the wonder tale, and the long-ago teller of tales.” Tales, as we are familiar with them, also evoke the idea of youth, … Continue reading Wicked Wit: The New & Noteworthy Book Club Discusses Margaret Atwood’s The Stone Mattress →

The Nightmare Factory Flies Over The Cuckoo’s Nest With THE DEVIL IN SILVER!

The human mind can't always be trusted. The objective world - light, sound, touch - is filtered through our perceptions to form our version of reality and, if the filter isn't quite screwed on tight enough, or the holes in the mesh are a little too big, they might just allow in gigantic, soul crushing … Continue reading The Nightmare Factory Flies Over The Cuckoo’s Nest With THE DEVIL IN SILVER! →

The Stand Up Sit Down Book Club Confirms Attendance After Reading WILL NOT ATTEND!

Adam Resnick's extemporaneous bile and deep, existential paranoia throttle any hint of superficial, saccharine wonder out of the childhood stories that constitute the seething, autobiographical essays of Will Not Attend: Lively Stories of Detachment and Isolation. Hilarious despite itself, this comic memoir betrays the mania that boils just beneath the surface of Resnick's furrowed brow. … Continue reading The Stand Up Sit Down Book Club Confirms Attendance After Reading WILL NOT ATTEND! →