My Boring Ass Life: The Uncomfortably Candid Diary of Kevin Smith
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Average customer review:Product Description
Anything but boring, the creator of Jay and Silent Bob shares his x-rated thoughts in his diary, telling all in his usual candid, heartfelt and irreverent way!
Lewd, crude and hilariously rude, Kevin Smith pulls no punches in this hard-hitting, in-your-face exposé of, er, his rather dull and uneventful life... well, not always dull. In between watching his TiVo, he manages to make and release Clerks II, relate the story of his partner-in-crime Jason Mewes' heroin addiction, get a tattoo, serve on a jury... and get caught stealing donuts from Burt Reynolds.
Thrown in are his views on the perils of strip clubs, the drawback of threesomes, the pain of anal fissures, his love-affair with Star Wars and so much more! Adults Only!
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #43610 in Books
- Published on: 2007-09-25
- Released on: 2007-09-25
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 480 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review
A rude blast of gleeful provocation. -- Rolling Stone (Praise for Silent Bob Speaks)
Kevin Smith is beloved for his vulgar cockeyed yet sweetly human dissections of life through the eyes of the young and disaffected. -- Los Angeles Times (Praise for Kevin Smith)
Smith's brand of auteurism still celebrates boyishness verging humourously on arrested development. -- New York Times (Praise for Kevin Smith)
Review
"No-holds-barred ... like his best films: raw, openhearted, and mordantly funny" - Entertainment Weekly
"Elevating the white-guy-doing-nothing prerogative from a lifestyle choice to a moral principle." - New York Times
"There's more to Clerks director Kevin Smith than just jokes, and he proves it with his long, moving - and, yes, funny - account of helping a friend kick heroin." - Newsweek
"A rude blast of gleeful provocation." - Rolling Stone
"Smith's brand of auteurism still celebrates boyishness verging humourously on arrested development." - New York Times
"Kevin Smith is beloved for his vulgar cockeyed yet sweetly human dissections of life through the eyes of the young and disaffected." - Los Angeles Times
About the Author
Kevin Smith sold his comic book collection to fund the movie Clerks, and after it became a huge cult hit he was able to buy them back. One of the most successful and critically acclaimed independent film-makers of recent years, Smith was the producer of the Oscar-winning Good Will Hunting and has also written and directed Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jersey Girl and Clerks II. He is an actor, having appeared in the new Die Hard movie and the Friends spin-off, Joey, among others. He is also a comic book writer and comic shop owner, podcaster, diarist and author.
Customer Reviews
Voyeurism for the View Askew fan ...
This book is a great read. I'll assume that if you're interested in this book in the first place, that you are already a Kevin Smith / View Askew fan. Clearly, that's who this book is really for. And if you are that kind of person, the kind of person who owns all the DVD's, has watched all the commentaries, reads the boards, listens to smodcast, and in some crazy way thinks of these people as some bizarre one-way extension of your own circle of friends, then you will love this book.
Pages of Blog Posts
Okay, I knew what this was when I paid for it. No biggie. It is just over a years worth of blog posts. But it was still interesting to read. However, at one point, maybe a quarter of the way through, I stopped and asked myself "why the heck am i reading this mundane stuff? An online diary? It's not like he died or something. Or that he will help me become the next great director or writer." Then I went back to reading.
I am not finished yet. It is my official "Crap, I didn't bring anything with me into the bathroom to read" book, meaning it lives in the bathroom for just those moments. I can usually crank out a page or two that way. More, if I had a Chinese food earlier that day.
Still, if you are a Smith fan, you may dig it. I am, it's kinda cool. I think I may have read some of it online, as I knew what would happen in some passages. So check it out, you will probably dig it, too.
Tim from MYMac.com
A year-and-a-half in the life
At this point in his career, it would be hard to put Kevin Smith in the top tier of directors, in the same league as folks like Eastwood, Spielberg, Scorcese or the Coen Brothers; he does, however, have a real cult following, of which I am a part. Besides the fact that he makes really good movies, he also has a just-one-of-the-guys aura, developed through his "Evening With..." DVDs of his speaking engagements and his film commentaries. My Boring-A$$ Life also promotes that reality (or very well-constructed image).
My Boring-A$$ Life is subtitled The Uncomfortably Candid Diary of Kevin Smith, which is pretty honest. Starting on March 20, 2005, the book begins as a daily chronicle of Smith's activities. Not just the movie-related items, not even just the extraordinary events, but even the most mundane activities, including bathroom trips and sexual acts. Admittedly, some of this wears thin in the early going, but the book changes as it goes along.
As the book evolves from pure diary to more interesting tales, it gets stronger. We follow Smith's first real acting role (in Catch and Release) and the lessons he takes from working for another director. We get the story of Smith's acting in the fourth Die Hard movie, and details of his work on Clerks II. There is a lot that's funny, but when necessary, he can be serious. This is most evident in his "Me and My Shadow" entries, which describe Jason (Jay of Jay and Silent Bob) Mewes's coping with drug addiction.
Overall, Smith seems to have a pretty good life: he makes decent money, he spends a lot of time goofing off, watching movies, having sex or hanging out with friends. Fortunately, he doesn't really crow about his good life but presents it matter-of-factly. It also helps that he is quick to point out his own shortcomings, most notably about his weight.
This is a great read, especially for Kevin Smith fans. It is, not, however, a really fast read (it is too densely packed with detail), but fortunately, it is structured in a way that allows easy breaks when necessary. If you have enjoyed films like Clerks, Chasing Amy or Dogma, here is your chance to learn more about the man behind these movies and have fun in the process.

