Saturday, February 05, 2011

Disillusionment

Wow, this book is falling apart, just like me. It's a paperback from 1981 (coincidentally, the same year GHOST STORY - mentioned in the previous "post" - came out. Also in that previous "post," the Paul Schrader incident that this book corroborates). It's called THE CRAFT OF THE SCREENWRITER by John Brady. In it, Brady interviews several successful screenwriters, including Schrader. Man, this book is falling apart. It's in pieces. I guess that proves it! Computers are great and books are terrible, just like everybody says. On the other hand, I have lots of other books from 1981 that are in perfectly fine condition. Did I read this one a lot? Maybe, on the evidence that I recall the Schrader incident so vividly. But it looks like the real problem is some extremely cheap glue that failed to act as binding. Get your act together, Simon and Schuster! The important thing is that I was right: Schrader recalls sneaking in to see THE ABSENT-MINDED PROFESSOR "with a couple of friends. We were all quite disappointed. There was nothing nearly as sinful as we had been led to believe." Such disillusionment! Maybe that's why in the next paragraph he says, "I don't see movies as anything special... How can you believe in movies any more than you believe in the telephone? It's a tool that you can use. Also, when other kids were sitting in darkened theaters being fed pablum, I was reading and engaged in more stimulating pursuits." Well, la-di-da for you, Paul Schrader!