Laughing on the Outside - Book Review

Laughing on the Outside
The Life of John Candy
By Martin Knelman
Penguin Books 1996
Home of Everything John Candy
Wikipedia



This book is the biography of the Canadian comedian and actor, John Candy. It describes how he grew up in Toronto, and worked hard at being the class clown. John attended Neil McNeil Catholic High School on Victoria Park Avenue, between Kingston Road and Queen street and not far from the Beaches area. John's father Sidney died of a heart attack when John was just 5 years old. So John grew up in a single parent family with one older brother James.

In the 1970's John graduated from High school and started working as a comedian. He won a few small bit parts in movies, but his real fame began when he won a spot on the cast of the SCTV. From there, he moved to Chicago, and then to Pasadena in Los Angeles. Eventually he was offered a role in the movie Splash which finally gained John the fame he had been hungering for.

John had the need to always please people so he found it very very hard to say NO. This is one reason why his movie career never rose much above the B-line. He could never say no to movies being written or produced by his friends. Most of these movies bombed at the box office.

Another reason John never said no was because he had an urge to always been working. He spent many weeks and months away from his wife Rose and his children (Jennifer and Christopher). When he completed a project, he would soon feel as if he was bored and would hunt around looking for something else (anything else) to do.

The third thing that John would do when he was bored was to eat, drink and generally pig out on junk food.

One other thing - John was a part owner of the Toronto Argonauts (Argos) football team during the early 1990's. His movie career declined during this time, because he spent so much time in Toronto, looking after his football team. One of the last movies John ever made was Cool Runnings (1993).

John died of a heart attack in Mexico while filming Wagons East in March 1994. John was just 43 years old. He weighed over 300 pounds. His alma mater (Neil McHeil High School) in Toronto named their Visual Arts Studio in his honour after his death.

Of all John's movies, I personally though that Cool Runnings was the best and the funniest. He was good in Splash, Home Alone and Uncle Buck, and I didnt really like Planes Trains & Automobiles very much. I don't think I have seen any of his other movies.

I found this book to be very good. It describes John's personality in detail. It also explains the reasons why John made the decisions that he made, and how those decisions affected his career.

I read this book for the 2nd Canadian Challenge, and for the In their Shoes (Memoirs) Challenge.

Inkheart Movie

For those of you who have read the Inkheart & Inkspell Books, by Cornelia Funke, you may already know that these books are in the process of being made into movies. At least Inkheart is. It was originally due for release this Xmas, but due to delays, it is now set for release in March 2008. I borrowed the books from the library this week, but have not yet started reading them. Then I find out that Canadian born actor Brendan Fraser has split with his wife and has just finished making Inkheart, the movie. Speaking of fantasy movies, I saw Neil Gaiman's movie Stardust on DVD last night. I rather enjoyed it too.

Three shopping days to go

So hubby and I did go and see National Treasure: Book of Secrets yesterday. Despite the critics panning it, we both enjoyed it. Although hubby complained that there were not as many clues for the team to follow this time. He wanted the actual search to be longer. Well, considering that the film crew filmed in Paris, France and London, England, as well as different parts of the USA, they probably couldn't afford to drag out the search too long. In the first movie, the entire search was in USA, up and down the eastern seaboard. Much cheaper, and therefore, more clues allowed.

So I took my son to the movies today, to see Alvin & the Chipmunks. He enjoyed it. And we also went to see Santa today at the local mall (Dec 22nd), where son got the obligatory photograph. He asked Santa for a skateboard. Santa promised he would try and make one. My 5 year old son knows that Santa is not real, and that the Santa he saw today is fake. At the same time he will also be upset if he doesn't get a skateboard.

We were planning on giving him the skateboard for his 6th birthday next year - right before summer. That way he will have good weather to learn how to skateboard. With all the snow and ice lying around on the ground right now, even if he did get a skateboard for Xmas, he certainly won't be able to ride it right away.

The mall was unbelieveably crowded, and noisy. With only 3 shopping days to go, so many people sure do leave things to the last minute.

The Devil Wears Prada - Book Review

The Devil Wears Prada
By Lauren Weisberger
Doubleday 2003

This is for the Book to Movie challenge. I'm having a hard time finding books that I like and want to read. I tried The Black Dahlia and The Hoax, but both books were boring. So I borrowed this one from the library and read that. I saw the movie last year like everyone else - might get it out and watch it again actually.


We all know the story. Andrea (Andy) Sachs, finishes college, and hopes to get a job with a magazine as a writer. But after months of looking, the only magazine where she can get a job, at is Runway, a top of the line fashion magazine. So Andy is hired to be the second assistant to the Editor in Chief. Her name is Miranda Priestley. Miranda is a perfectionist - and that's putting it nicely. She expects her assistants to live for her, and be available 24/7 to do anything she demands. Miranda gives all her assistants cell phones, and thus they effectively become slaves on a leash, because everytime that cell phone rings, they cannot say, No. They must say "Yes Miranda" and go do whatever they are told.

In the movie, Miranda may be a b***h, but I feel that maybe she was toned down, just a little. In the book, I think she was a lot worse. I also did not like the fact in the book, that Andy was a smoker. In the movie she's not. Also In the book, Miranda is British, and has an English accent. In the movie, obviously she is American.

Andy found herself losing her boyfriend (Nate in the movie, Alex in the book), because she could not commit to keeping any date they tried to arrange. Even in the middle of a date, if that cell phone rang, Andy had to do what she was told.

Andy had no choice, but to change her style. Everything she wore was criticised, and frowned on. There were clothes available for the taking, this is a fashion magazine after all. Andy lasted 4 months wearing her own style (mostly second hand clothes) before she caved in and started wearing the required fashions, including high heeled shoes and fashionable boots. Actually Andy had a choice, but she chose to stay there and put up with being treated like sh*t.

"A Million girls would kill for this job".
This is why Andy hung on for so long. This line is repeated a number of times in the book. One thing that Miranda asks for is 2 copies of the latest Harry Potter book that (at the time) was not yet released. Andy manages to accomplish this task. Running out for coffee, getting Miranda's lunch and snacks, and generally being the gofer girl, is Andy's job. She does no writing at all, except for letters and other correspondence.

At the end of the book, Emily (the first assistant) falls ill and is unable to attend the latest fashion shows in Paris. Andy gets to go instead, but while she is there, her best friend Lily, has a DUI accident back in New York. She ends up in hospital in a coma, and when Andy gets the message, she chooses not to drop everything to return home to help Lily get batter. No, she chooses to stay in Paris.

Until Miranda asks the impossible. Her daughters passports have expired, and Andy must get them renewed in just a few hours, so that the daughters can fly to Paris. Andy knows that while she has learnt to many things, demanding that the federal government renew two passports in 3 hours is not one of them. Andy finally realises that Miranda is asking the impossible, and she makes her choice. She swears at Miranda, and yes, she used the F word.

I felt that the book was a whinefest. Yes parts of it were funny, but most of it was Andrea being a slave to her cell phone. All Andrea did was whine, whine, whine about how bad the boss was. If I was in that same situation, I certainly would not have made it a test to see how long I could stay.

If I were in that situation, I would not have lasted one week before leaving. I prefer to wear clothes that are comfortable. Ironically enough, when I went to enroll at college recently, I had to do an English assessment, since I did not graduate from an Ontario High School. This assessment included grammar and spelling tests, and writing an essay. I chose to write a short essay on whether or not cellphones were a good thing or a bad thing. I wrote the cell phones were bad because they are so intrusive, and noone observes the proper etiquette when using them. The last line I wrote was "And that is why I do not own a cell phone". I don't have a Blackberry either - for the same reason.

Personally, I actually preferred the movie to the book. The movie had its really funny moments.

Books to Movie Challenge

This challenge started September 1st, (goes to November 30th) but I'm gonna do it anyway. Here are the rules.
Book to Movie Challenge

My 3 books are - The Club Dumas (movie was called "The Ninth Gate" starring Johnny Depp), Possession and Black Dahlia.

(edited Sept 26)