Zombie Spaceship Wasteland
by Patton Oswalt
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Description
Prepare yourself for a journey through the world of Patton Oswalt, one of the most creative, insightful, and hysterical voices on the entertainment scene today. Widely known for his roles in the films Big Fan and Ratatouille, as well as the television hit The King of Queens, Patton Oswalt--a staple of Comedy Central--has been amusing audiences for decades. Now, with Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, he offers a fascinating look into his most unusual, and lovable, mindscape. Oswalt combines show more memoir with uproarious humor, from snow forts to Dungeons & Dragons to gifts from Grandma that had to be explained. He remembers his teen summers spent working in a movie Cineplex and his early years doing stand-up. Readers are also treated to several graphic elements, including a vampire tale for the rest of us and some greeting cards with a special touch. Then there's the book's centerpiece, which posits that before all young creative minds have anything to write about, they will home in on one of three story lines: zombies, spaceships, or wastelands. Oswalt chose wastelands, and ever since he has been mining our society's wasteland for perversion and excess, pop culture and fatty foods, indie rock and single-malt scotch. Zombie Spaceship Wasteland is an inventive account of the evolution of Patton Oswalt's wildly insightful worldview, sure to indulge his legion of fans and lure many new admirers to his very entertaining "wasteland." show lessTags
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So I may or may not want to write a bunch of fake film treatments and insane film reviews because of the appendices in this book.
As hipster-licious as this book may be (and yes it's now a word, because I said so), it really is a great read. Quick, simple, sentimental in a round about way, this is a book by Patton Oswalt for Patton Oswalt. A way to express what he felt growing up, and how it has shaped his views now. This is not in a direct way of course. Rather, its a feeling you get while reading, by identifying with how you felt at those ages in those situations with those feelings.
I'd be friends with the Patton Oswalt I read in this book. I'd never even heard of Patton Oswalt before I read this book, I was just drawn to the title, show more and the cover art.
A side note: I would DIE to make a student film out of any of the film treatments, but in particular "Unseeable Fear." I was ROLLING on the ground I was laughing so hard. show less
As hipster-licious as this book may be (and yes it's now a word, because I said so), it really is a great read. Quick, simple, sentimental in a round about way, this is a book by Patton Oswalt for Patton Oswalt. A way to express what he felt growing up, and how it has shaped his views now. This is not in a direct way of course. Rather, its a feeling you get while reading, by identifying with how you felt at those ages in those situations with those feelings.
I'd be friends with the Patton Oswalt I read in this book. I'd never even heard of Patton Oswalt before I read this book, I was just drawn to the title, show more and the cover art.
A side note: I would DIE to make a student film out of any of the film treatments, but in particular "Unseeable Fear." I was ROLLING on the ground I was laughing so hard. show less
Patton Oswalt has told his share of dick jokes over the course of his career as a standup comic, but his original ambition was to become an author, and he accomplishes that with Zombie Spaceship Wasteland. It's not quite a memoir, not exactly a collection of humorous essays, but something in between. Really the book traces where Oswalt came from and how he left home to assemble his pop-culture sensibility. This could have been horribly tedious and self-indulgent, like an endless message board at The Onion's AV Club, but Oswalt writes well enough to flesh out his tales of working at the movie theater, suffering through hellish gigs as a comedian, and building snow forts in suburbia. He can write an essay arguing that all people are show more either zombies or spaceships or wastelands -- and make a solid case. He can crack your heart with tales of crazy relatives and make you laugh pretty much any time he likes. This farrago of a book leads one to hope that he will tackle a full-fledged novel one of these days -- preferably featuring an apocalypse, of course. Gotta have a wasteland. show less
Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, by Patton Oswalt
Patton Oswalt is weird, smart, and funny, and so is this book. It fits oddly in Biography, where my library classifies it, but my favorite pieces are the more memoirish ones. Patton Oswalt is really good at putting into words the way he perceived the world as a child.
There is a lot of gross-out humor, which I suppose is useful to a standup comedian: you want to have some kind of effect on your audience, and this is a reliable way to get some. I throw up easily, always have, so I work hard at not letting my imagination go to work on disgusting imagery. Pines are good. Snow. Rocks. If you'd like to skip the gross-out parts, skip "Punch-Up Notes" and "Those Old Hobo Songs, They Still Speak to show more Us", and maybe also "Chamomile Kitten Greeting Cards".
A sample: There's a chapter of Oswalt wallowing in contempt for himself and everyone around him which ends "…and thought about how much I suddenly missed my grandma Runfola."
The next chapter is titled "Mary C. Runfola Explains Her Gifts" and it begins
If you like his sense of humor, which I mostly do, you will enjoy this book. If you don't know it, I don't think this is the place to start. show less
Patton Oswalt is weird, smart, and funny, and so is this book. It fits oddly in Biography, where my library classifies it, but my favorite pieces are the more memoirish ones. Patton Oswalt is really good at putting into words the way he perceived the world as a child.
There is a lot of gross-out humor, which I suppose is useful to a standup comedian: you want to have some kind of effect on your audience, and this is a reliable way to get some. I throw up easily, always have, so I work hard at not letting my imagination go to work on disgusting imagery. Pines are good. Snow. Rocks. If you'd like to skip the gross-out parts, skip "Punch-Up Notes" and "Those Old Hobo Songs, They Still Speak to show more Us", and maybe also "Chamomile Kitten Greeting Cards".
A sample: There's a chapter of Oswalt wallowing in contempt for himself and everyone around him which ends "…and thought about how much I suddenly missed my grandma Runfola."
The next chapter is titled "Mary C. Runfola Explains Her Gifts" and it begins
EIGHTH BIRTHDAY
A picture of Chuck Yeager signed to someone named "Jimmy"
Grandma Runfola: Well I know how much you liked that Space Battles movie. And I thought--yes, all right, dear, yes, Star Wars. So anyway, I was at this rummage sale and they had a table--well, one man there had a table, and I don't think he was with the rummage sale people because he had his table set up a little bit off to the side. Well, he had two tables. One table was all these photographs of celebrities. And the other table had a large beach towel over it. And I couldn't see what was under the beach towel but I was standing there looking at the different pictures and every now and then a young man would come up to the man selling pictures. And all of these young men either had these really close crew cuts or blond hair and they looked like if a punch in the face could get up and walk around and wear clothing. And the man selling pictures would let them lift the towel and it looked like all these knives and Nazi stuff. And the punch-in-the-face men would buy a knife or a patch. Maybe they were actors buying props for a stage show.
Oh, but anyway, Chuck Yeager. Well, you liked Sp--yes, dear, Star Wars. Well you liked that movie so much and did you know Chuck Yeager was kind of a space pilot, like that Han Solo fellow? Oh, yes, I know Han Solo, your grandmother didn't just fall off the pickle truck. Han Solo and Mr. Spock and Robbie the Robot and everyone. Well, the signature meant that Chuck Yeager actually held this photo, which makes it even more valuable.
If you like his sense of humor, which I mostly do, you will enjoy this book. If you don't know it, I don't think this is the place to start. show less
I have to admit that I picked up "Zombie Wasteland Spaceship" for my husband, because it struck me as the kind of literature he'd enjoy in the library/bathroom. It took less than a day for the book to escape and make its way to the living room where the polite reading is done. As with most collections, some pieces work more than others, but with the strong beginning middle and finish, it was easy to forgive those that didn't, while still basking in the glow of those that did. The book was smarter, more charming and nostalgic than I expected and I feel somehow guilty for my lack of expectation. Oswalt is not a comedian who wrote a book, but a writer and storyteller who happens to be funny.
A successful, creative comedian/actor mistaking randomness for creativity. Let me be clear, my estimation of this book is not some puritan knee-jerk reaction to base material — I have no such prejudice — but simply a reader responding to the lack of structure or vision in the material. A memoir by any other name does not a memoir make: many forget that a memoir not written explicitly and carefully for an audience is just a diary or journal written in retrospect. Better writers than Oswalt have forgotten this. I recently read Venice Observed by Mary McCarthy, an esteemed writer apparently. She likewise failed to connect the reader with the material. You could make a convincing argument that this is the primary job of all writers. show more Fail at this and nothing else matters. The comparison between McCarthy and Oswalt is an interesting one, I think. The writing style and subject matter could be no further apart, and yet both authors fail in very much the same way. Random memories are just that, your random memories. If you expect a reader to care you need to make those memories the reader’s, vicariously, so that the reader can invest. Oswalt tells us he understands this on some level. About half way through the book, the origin of the book’s title is made clear. He says:
I think this book is for you, Patton, not us, and this is disrespectful of the reader’s time, this the most cardinal of writerly sins. show less
But for me, and my circle of high school friends, it came down to Zombies, Spaceships, or Wastelands. These were the three doors out of the Vestibule of Adolescence, and each opened onto a dark, echoing hallway. The corridors twisted and intertwined, like a DNA helix. Maybe those paths were a rough reflection of the DNA we were born with, which made us more likely to cherish and pursue one corridor over another.
I’m going to try to explain each of these categories (and will probably fail). And then I’ll figure out where I came out, on the other end, once the cards were played. I think this chapter is more for me than for you.
I think this book is for you, Patton, not us, and this is disrespectful of the reader’s time, this the most cardinal of writerly sins. show less
I really liked the sections of the book that were memoir rather than comedy bits. I think Patton Oswalt is at his best when he’s just commenting about his life and the people he’s met. The segment on his Canadian comedy tour was probably my favorite part of the book, and I loved the last chapter about his grandma. I could have done without the hobo songs and greeting card chapters.
The author is sharp and insightful, and I hope he writes another book that has more about his life. I did enjoy the vampire comic, though-seeing more comic book scripts by him would be cool too.
The author is sharp and insightful, and I hope he writes another book that has more about his life. I did enjoy the vampire comic, though-seeing more comic book scripts by him would be cool too.
I have never laughed out loud uncontrollably at a book before. The Wine List chapter is the funniest thing I have ever read in my life. Touching, observant, with just the right amount of snark to help the earnest go down. GET THIS BOOK IMMEDIATELY.
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Author Information
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Patton Oswalt is an actor, comedian, and author. He has appeared on numerous television shows and in more than twenty movies including Young Adult, Big Fan, and Ratatouille. He has released four TV specials and four comedy albums including My Weakness Is Strong. His books include Zombie Spaceship Wasteland and Silver Screen Fiend: Learning about show more Life from an Addiction to Film. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Zombie Spaceship Wasteland
- Original publication date
- 2011-01
- Epigraph
- She cries black tears!
-Cindy Brady, The Brady Bunch
"We're trying to survive a nuclear war here!"
"Yes, but we can do it in style..."
-Howard and Marion Cunningham, Happy Days
There's not... (show all)hing in the dark that isn't there in the light.
-Major Frank Burns, M*A*S*H - Dedication
- For Alice and Michelle
my spaceships away
from the zombie wasteland - Blurbers
- Hodgman, John; Silverman, Sarah; Ellison, Harlan; Vowell, Sarah; Eggers, Dave; Whedon, Joss (show all 8); O'Brien, Conan; Apatow, Judd
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 792.76028092 — Arts & recreation Recreation, sports, and performing arts Theater: Plays, Ballet, Opera Variety shows and theatrical dancing; burlesque, cabaret, vaudeville, music hall, nightclubs Stand-up comedy modified standard subdivisions Techniques, procedures, apparatus, equipment, materials, miscellany Acting & performance standard subdivisions History, geographic treatment, biography Biography
- LCC
- PN2287 .O745 .A3 — Language and Literature Literature (General) Literature (General) Drama Dramatic representation. The theater Special regions or countries
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 650
- Popularity
- 44,281
- Reviews
- 36
- Rating
- (3.33)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 8
- ASINs
- 8
