The Useless Critic 2.0

The first thing I did in this New Year was read the latest book about Natalie Wood, authored by her daughter Natasha Gregson Wagner. I didn't know that much about her daughter going into reading this book; I just knew she had been in some movies in the '90s (the most notable of these being "Lost Highway," "Two Girls and a Guy," and "High Fidelity.") Note: I always confused "Two Girls and a Guy" with the TV show about a pizza place.  Now, for some context, I've voraciously read everything about Natalie Wood I could get my hands on since I was a kid. She's always fascinated me. I guess she was my childhood idol, which is kind of odd when you consider how I am not the most gender-conforming of women, but there was something about her I just found so compelling. Hard to put into words, really. But if you watch "West Side Story," "Splendor in the Grass," "Rebel Without a Cause," or even my childhood fave ...

I have no idea how I became friends with Zach Owen. I think we had mutual friends at Edinboro and I think it had something to do with me constantly doing stories on the Edinboro Film Series. Anyway. We became friends via Facebook and have managed to keep tabs on each other through the years, even though I have seen him maybe three times in person. I remember when I was temping at the college bookstore before I went to Sweden and he came in and was like "BK!" And I was very tired, and flustered because college students are generally annoying, so I was like WHAT . Zach is a writer and he's a good writer, which is a rare thing (believe you me). He's also celebrating the arrival of his first published book, " Beauties in the Deep ." This is big! It's an engaging book I truly enjoyed when he let me read it not too long ago (twice- one updated, one original). And as I know (because I also have a book out, you sons of bitches), having a book to your name is...

By Guest Writer Taylor Birk I never thought that I would laugh at a book about cancer patients. Yet, this past spring, I found myself laughing until I was crying at "The Fault in Our Stars." I’m not new to John Green novels. I read his first book, "Looking for Alaska," back in 2010. So, I shouldn’t have been surprised he would be the guy to make me laugh while reading a book about a serious subject. Now, I didn’t laugh the whole time, of course. The book was very serious at times. In fact, I cried more often than I laughed. To be specific, I started crying during chapter eleven and I didn’t stop until the book was over. I felt so many emotions while I was reading that book. Green took a serious subject, made it a lighthearted story, but didn’t make it completely unbelievable. He kept the not-so-pretty aspects of dealing with an illness and just wrote an amazing novel. I think it’s safe to say I love John Green (not in the same way I love Tom Hiddleston, bu...

Hello all! I was speaking with my English friend Daryl earlier and we were discussing plans for the Useless Critic. As you may have realized, we lost Al/Nader, who was with me in this endeavor since the beginning. I handled as you imagine I probably would (as in I became catatonic and jittery for one long painful afternoon) but it's really been an amicable split.  For the record, we've also lost two other "staff writers" since 2009. But Al was a huge part of this and yeah it did suck to lose him, however he has his own site, which you are more than welcome to check out ( the Bronze Globe ). We're still friends and all, so this isn't like a John/Paul thing. And no I don't mean fanfiction slash, you weirdo.   No one else has really quit; they just barely post. Me, I'm in this for keeps, even though I considered throwing in my cards. And then I realized- no.  So, really, except for the forever awesome Kurt, this is me. Sometimes guest writers, as ...

Holly Jacobs has won the hearts and minds of her readers with her often Erie-centric romance novels...throughout the country and all over the world.  COFFEE AND DOGS! And Holly! Erie? Yeah. I am not making a goofy typo for once. ERIE.   So who is Holly Jacobs? What drives her? Why is Erie considered a romantic place (by, uh, Amazon, at least) and what is her role in that ? You, reader, are about to find out! So what are you working on currently? Holly:   I’m working on a new trilogy for Harlequin SuperRomance. It’s not due to be released until May, Jun and July of 2013. (Yes, that’s a long way off...but when you’re writing three books to be released back-to-back you need ample lead time.) It’s a wedding trilogy, tentatively titled, Something Borrowed, Something Blue and Something Perfect . It’s set in the fictional Valley Ridge, New York, a small town between the very real North East, PA and Ripley, New York. It’s set in the midst of the very real Lake Erie W...

Welcome to 2012! We've been around for 3 years this month. that in itself is INCREDIBLE. So here's to another good year at the UC! To kick off things right, I'm posting an interview with my friend Gabriel Schicchi . 2011 was a big year for him, as he published his debut collection of short stories, Unremembered Thoughts In A Passenger Car . I have to say, it's a pretty impressive and inspiring debut. 2012 seems to only beckon more good things for him! UC:  How will you remember 2011 when you look back on it? Gabriel:     It was a year of biting off more than could be chewed, from worldwide would-be revolt to taking twice the permitted number of Harvard classes, sheer panic on the streets of my love life, and a migraine masquerading as career success. UC:     What was it like, in the process of preparing your book? Gabriel:   After keeping what would become "the book" in the fridge for almost a year after writing most of the stories, out of th...

I submitted this book review to a local magazine back in May of 2011. They told me to edit a lot. I was lazy and distracted, so I let it rot in my gmail for several months. Lo and behold, I present to you my last real post of 2011, following with my newly set tradition of having last year posts needing to deal with books... from some time in May that I cannot remember A smart person never judges a book by its cover. Admittedly, I am not a smart person.  When I picked up Bossypants by the current thinkingwoman's icon, Tina Fey, I thought "what remarkably hairy forearms she has."  Truth is, besides the forearms, you can deduce a lot from the Bossypants cover. You see the trademark Fey face, devoid of the spectacles that have made her a pop culture staple, staring at you with this amused smirk. And why shouldn't she be amused? She's very successful, and you and I will likely never be on her eschelon.  She also knows every single story contained between ...

Today marks Joan Didion's 77th birthday. Maybe on some level I intuited this, as I've been doing nothing but reading her, this past funky weekend.  First I reread Year of Magical Thinking , then onto her newest feature, Blue Nights.   The latter is more like a sequel to the first.  The backstory to Magical Thinking  is that she lost her husband suddenly- her longtime husband whom she was so close to she could finish the sentences of - the  equally celebrated novelist John Gregory Dunne, while their only adult child was in the hospital. The book follows her mental progress the year after her husband's unexpected death, meanwhile coping with her daughter's ever-complicated illness.  The idea of magical thinking  stems from her irrational belief that, through doing this or that (i.e. not donating his clothes) she could bring him back. I'm sure we all engage in some level of MAGICAL THINKING. if I do this, THIS won't happen. if I'm a decent person, maybe T...

Lightning People is by far one of the more unique and interesting reads I’ve stumbled across in recent memory. The book represents the first tentative footing for novelist Christopher Bollen, the editor of Interview magazine as well as a respected freelance writer.  He’s off to a good start, it seems! Maybe Lightning People resounded with me a lot more than it might for some others because of the back-story Bollen has put into his fictional work, one taken from his own life, as many writers do. Being:  Bollen is not a New York native, despite becoming a fixture on the scene, he’s actually a Midwesterner. Like the protagonist of the novel, a struggling actor named Joseph trying to outlive a family curse. They both claim Ohio as their homes (I claim Pennsylvania, so that struck a chord with me). New York, in the days post 9/11, has become both their adopted homes. Speaking via email, I told him the book reads like an “odd love letter” to the city. Apparently, I was not al...