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AIN’T IT COOL?

Name: AIN’T IT COOL?
Author: Harry Knowles
ISBN: 0-446-52597-9

HOLLYWOOD’S REDHEADED STEPCHILD SPEAKS OUT

by Harry Knowles with Paul Cullum & Mark C. Ebner ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

A touching story of self-discovery—and a very readable commentary on how the Internet has reshaped the way information and...

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The youthful founder of popular movie-geek Web site Ain’t It Cool? surveys his kingdom and takes stock.

Raised in a bohemian Texas family that specialized in collecting and selling Hollywood memorabilia, Knowles seems to have been genetically destined for his Internet incarnation. But fate also played a role: in the early 1990s, Knowles was badly injured when a cart loaded with movie collectibles rolled over him at a memorabilia show. Bedridden, he resolved to make his lengthy convalescence as productive as possible by exploring the then-novel technology of the World Wide Web on his family’s PC. Online, he discovered a number of kindred spirits who were immensely knowledgeable about film, had passionate views on the subject, and loved to dish. Establishing his site as a clearinghouse for this sprawling constituency, Knowles was soon reckoning with a large audience of opinionated moviegoers. Hollywood studio heads, movie stars, and directors also took note, particularly after director Quentin Tarrantino (who wrote the book’s foreword) praised Harry’s efforts. The author’s love for movies, his tales of Hollywood big-shots humiliated by Ain’t It Cool? diatribes, his affection for his site’s many eccentric contributors, form the core of the story. Even more intriguing, however, is the story of the Internet’s democratizing power: Hollywood studios, national magazines, and TV shows now court the opinion of a self-described overweight nerd pecking away at a computer keyboard in a bedroom in Austin, Texas, and he’s welcomed at film festivals and premieres. To his credit, Knowles has given a great deal of thought to this process, and his reflections on the fun and responsibility of being a cyber pioneer illuminate this memoir. It seems clear that it wasn’t Knowles’s detailed knowledge of film that won him a huge Internet following, but his intuitive grasp of the humanizing power of both media.

A touching story of self-discovery—and a very readable commentary on how the Internet has reshaped the way information and opinion are shared.

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-446-52597-9

Page Count: 320

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2002

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.