
Shit, Actually
The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema
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Narrated by:
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Lindy West
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By:
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Lindy West
About this listen
Your favorite movies, rewatched.
New York Times opinion writer and best-selling author Lindy West was once the in-house movie critic for Seattle's alternative newsweekly The Stranger, where she covered film with brutal honesty and giddy irreverence. In Shit, Actually, Lindy returns to those roots, reexamining beloved and iconic movies from the past 40 years with an eye toward the big questions of our time: Is Twilight the horniest movie in history? Why do the zebras in The Lion King trust Mufasa - who is a lion - to look out for their best interests? Why did anyone bother making any more movies after The Fugitive achieved perfection? And, my god, why don't any of the women in Love, Actually ever f--king talk?
From Forrest Gump, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and Bad Boys II, to Face/Off, Top Gun, and The Notebook, Lindy combines her razor-sharp wit and trademark humor with a genuine adoration for nostalgic trash to shed new critical light on some of our defining cultural touchstones - the stories we've long been telling ourselves about who we are. At once outrageously funny and piercingly incisive, Shit, Actually reminds us to pause and ask, "How does this movie hold up?", all while teaching us how to laugh at the things we love without ever letting them or ourselves off the hook.
Shit, Actually is a love letter and a breakup note all in one: to the films that shaped us and the ones that ruined us. More often than not, Lindy finds, they're one and the same.
©2020 Lindy West (P)2020 Hachette BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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Unexpectedly poor narration
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Same As Her Other Book
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If you've ever laughed your way through David Sedaris's cheerfully misanthropic stories, you might think you know what you're getting with Calypso. You'd be wrong. When he buys a beach house on the Carolina coast, Sedaris envisions long, relaxing vacations spent playing board games and lounging in the sun with those he loves most. And it's as idyllic as he imagined, except for one tiny, vexing realization: it's impossible to take a vacation from yourself. With Calypso, Sedaris sets his formidable powers of observation - and dark humor - toward middle age and mortality.
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Excellent, as always
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Yearbook
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Performance
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Hi! I’m Seth! I was asked to describe my audiobook, Yearbook for websites and shit like that, so...here it goes!!! Yearbook is a collection of true stories that I desperately hope are just funny at worst, and life-changingly amazing at best. (I understand that it’s likely the former, which is a fancy “book” way of saying “the first one.”) I talk about my grandparents, doing stand-up comedy as a teenager, bar mitzvahs, and Jewish summer camp, and tell way more stories about doing drugs than my mother would like.
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Good until it turned political
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We Are Never Meeting in Real Life
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Overall
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Performance
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Whether Samantha Irby is talking about how her difficult childhood has led to a problem in making “adult” budgets; explaining why she should be the new Bachelorette; detailing a disastrous pilgrimage-slash-romantic-vacation to Nashville to scatter her estranged father’s ashes; sharing awkward sexual encounters; or dispensing advice on how to navigate friendships with former drinking buddies who are now suburban moms (hang in there for the Costco loot!); she’s as deft at poking fun at the ghosts of her past self as she is at capturing powerful emotional truths.
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There, But For The Grace Of God
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By: Samantha Irby
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You Can't Touch My Hair
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Being a black woman in America means contending with old prejudices and fresh absurdities every day. Comedian Phoebe Robinson has experienced her fair share over the years: She's been unceremoniously relegated to the role of "the black friend", as if she is somehow the authority on all things racial; she's been questioned about her love of U2 and Billy Joel ("isn't that...white people music?"); she's been called "uppity" for having an opinion in the workplace; and yes, people do ask her whether they can touch her hair all. The. Time.
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Phoebe, You Rock
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By: Phoebe Robinson, and others
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The Devil Finds Work
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- By: James Baldwin
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Baldwin's personal reflections on movies gathered here in a book-length essay are also a probing appraisal of American racial politics. Offering an incisive look at racism in American movies and a vision of America's self-delusions and deceptions, Baldwin challenges the underlying assumptions in such films as In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and The Exorcist.
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A Critical Masterpiece.
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By: James Baldwin
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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Book 1
- By: J.K. Rowling
- Narrated by: Jim Dale
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!
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A great reading of the wrong book
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By: J.K. Rowling
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You'll Grow Out of It
- By: Jessi Klein
- Narrated by: Jessi Klein
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In You'll Grow Out of It, Jessi Klein offers - through an incisive collection of real-life stories - a relentlessly funny yet poignant take on a variety of topics she has experienced along her strange journey to womanhood and beyond. These include her "transformation from Pippi Longstocking-esque tomboy to are-you-a-lesbian-or-what tom man", attempting to find watchable porn, and identifying the difference between being called "ma'am" and "miss" (" miss sounds like you weigh 99 pounds").
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I like this woman so much!
- By Sarah F. on 07-24-16
By: Jessi Klein
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Beware of Chicken: A Xianxia Cultivation Novel
- Beware of Chicken, Book 1
- By: Casualfarmer
- Narrated by: Travis Baldree
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Jin Rou wanted to be a cultivator. A man powerful enough to defy the heavens. A master of martial arts. A lord of spiritual power. Unfortunately for him, he died, and now I’m stuck in his body. Arrogant Masters? Heavenly Tribulations? All that violence and bloodshed? Yeah, no thanks. I’m getting out of here. Farm life sounds pretty great. Tilling a field by hand is fun when you’ve got the strength of ten men—though maybe I shouldn’t have fed those Spirit Herbs to my pet rooster.
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Fun
- By Julie on 05-26-22
By: Casualfarmer
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Tacky
- Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer
- By: Rax King
- Narrated by: Rax King
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Tacky is about the power of pop culture - like any art - to imprint itself on our lives and shape our experiences, no matter one's commitment to "good" taste. These 14 essays are a nostalgia-soaked antidote to the millennial generation's obsession with irony, putting the aesthetics we hate to love - snakeskin pants, Sex and the City, Cheesecake Factory's gargantuan menu - into kinder and sharper perspective.
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Good, no perfect - in the best possible way
- By Tom on 01-26-24
By: Rax King
Critic reviews
BookRiot, "Book Recommendations for October 2020
Fortune, "Five New Books to Read in October
SeattleMet, "11 Localish Books to Read This Autumn"
Up News Info, "5 new books to read in October"
"[A] laugh out loud romp... [these essays are] warmhearted, acutely self-aware, and surprisingly timely, providing insight into modern society through movies first sold on VHS... Like catching up with a dear and funny friend, this insightful and irreverent book is a soothing balm for turbulent times."—Kirkus Reviews
"It's a no-holds-barred romp through modern movie-making."—LitHub
"[A] hilarious, sharp collection..."—BookRiot
Laugh out loud - SO MUCH FUN!
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Watching the movies mentioned is not a prerequisite!
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Feminist writer Lindy West examines many of the problematic but beloved films of our past with her iconic wit. Her humor, candor, and critical eye blend so well in her writings.
Titanic, Forest Gump, Harry Potter, Love Actually, Twilight, American Pie, etc all have many troublesome moments that would not fly in modern movie making. Yes, we can still love these movies but realizing where some massive missteps have occurred is important in our growth as a society. West dives in headfirst with her feminist eye while still keeping the book a laugh out loud journey.
I loved West’s first memoir “Shrill” (I also adore the tv show) and bought this on audible the day it came out. She also narrates it splendidly. Her Sean Connery impression makes me giggle just thinking about it. If you want a laugh and to learn a few things, I highly recommend this audiobook!
So good
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Such a fun way to learn about some of these movies that I have not actually seen!
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Sooo, so, SO very funny.
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fun, energizing, relatable
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The Gr8test movie reviewer I've ever ha8ed 2 ❤ !
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Hilarious!
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On point AND hilarious, as always
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Hilarious!
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