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Page One, produced and hosted by author Holly Lynn Payne, celebrates the craft that goes into writing the first sentence, first paragraph and first page of your favorite books. The first page is often the most rewritten page of any book because it has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. We interview master storytellers on the struggles and stories behind the first page of their books.About the guest author:Kevin Smokler is a writer, documentary filmmaker and purveyor of pop culture. He's the author of the four books Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to 80s Teen Movies (2016), the essay collection Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books you Haven't Touched Since High School (2013) and worked as the editor of “Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times,” A San Francisco Chronicle Notable Book of 2005. His essays and criticism have appeared in the LA Times, Salon, Fast Company, BuzzFeed, Vulture, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Decider and on NPR. He is also the co-director and co-producer of the documentary film Vinyl Nation about the contemporary renaissance of vinyl records in America. Kevin has lectured and taught at Comic Con, MIT, South by Southwest, The LA Times Festival of Books and The Commonwealth Club of California. He serves as a Creator-in-Residence for The Battery in San Francisco and sits on the board of Zyzzvya Magazine. Kevin holds a Bachelor's degree in Writing Seminars from Johns Hopkins University and a Masters in American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. A native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, he lives in San Francisco with his wife. His most recent book, BREAK THE FRAME: CONVERSATIONS with WOMEN FILMMAKERS comes out next year from Oxford University Press. You can find and follow Kevin on Twitter @weegee and his website kevinsmokler.comAbout the host:Holly Lynn Payne is an award-winning novelist and writing coach, and the former CEO and founder of Booxby, a startup built to help authors succeed. She is an internationally published author of four historical fiction novels. Her debut, The Virgin's Knot, was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers book. As an author and writing coach, she knows that the first page of any book has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. So she thought to ask your favorite master storytellers how they do their magic to hook you. Holly lives in Marin County with her family and two Labrador retrievers, and enjoys mountain biking, hiking, swimming and pretending to surf. To learn more about her books and writing coaching services, please follow her on IG + X @hollylynnpayne or visit hollylynnpayne.com.Tune in and reach out:If you're an aspiring writer or a book lover, this episode of Page One offers a treasure trove of inspiration and practical advice. I offer these conversations as a testament to the magic that happens when master storytellers share their secrets and experiences. We hope you are inspired to tune into the full episode for more insights. Keep writing, keep reading, and remember—the world needs your stories. If I can help you tell your own story, or help improve your first page, please reach out @hollylynnpayne or visit hollylynnpayne.com.You can listen to Page One on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher and all your favorite podcast players. Hear past episodes. If you're interested in getting writing tips and the latest podcast episode updates with the world's beloved master storytellers, please sign up for my very short monthly newsletter at hollylynnpayne.com and follow me @hollylynnpayne on Instagram, Twitter, Goodreads, and Facebook. Your email address is always private and you can always unsubscribe anytime. The Page One Podcast is created at the foot of a mountain in Marin County, California, and is a labor of love in service to writers and book lovers. My intention is to inspire, educate and celebrate. Thank you for being a part of my creative community! Be well and keep reading.~Holly~ Thank you for listening to the Page One Podcast, where master storytellers discuss the stories and struggles behind the critical first page of their books. If you liked this episode, please share it on social, leave a review on your favorite podcast players and tell your friends! I hope you enjoy this labor of love as much as I love hosting, producing, and editing it. Please keep in touch by signing up to receive my newsletter at www.hollylynnpayne.com with the latest episodes each month. Delivered to your inbox with a smile. For the love of books and writers,Holly Lynn Payne@hollylynnpaynewww.hollylynnpayne.com
This week, Rebecca speaks with Guest Expert Kevin Smokler is a writer, documentary filmmaker and event host with a focus on pop culture. He's the author of the book Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to 80s Teen Movies (2016) and the director/producer of the upcoming documentary film, Vinyl Nation. Learn more at Vinylnationfilm.com. Then, Fact Checker Chris Smith and Producer Amanda Lund discuss changing the verdict!We have merch!Join our Discord!Tell us who you think is to blame at http://thealarmistpodcast.comEmail us at thealarmistpodcast@gmail.comFollow us on Instagram @thealarmistpodcastFollow us on Twitter @alarmistThe Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/alarmist. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Kevin Smokler is Co-Director of the documentary film, Vinyl Nation and author of three books about pop culture, including most recently Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to ’80s Teen Movies. His essays and cultural criticism have appeared in the LA Times, Salon, Fast Company, BuzzFeed, Vulture, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Decider and on National Public Radio. To offer your own advice, call Zak @ 844-935-BEST TRANSCRIPT: ZAK: For way too long, like a couple years, my wife and I have been planning to sit down and make a household budget. I don't think it's gonna be that hard but I've psyched myself out of it and at this point I don't really know what we're waiting for. So, if you're like me or today's guest, you might get overwhelmed by tasks that aren't that hard so hopefully this advice is gonna help you out. KEVIN: My advice is about energy. How to spend it and how not to waste it. I am, for the most part, terrible at spending energy wisely. I have a tendency to be easily overwhelmed by things that shouldn't easily overwhelm anybody. ZAK: Like what? KEVIN: Like, I find paying bills really overwhelming. Like, even bills that are not unreasonably high or onerous to pay. I find fixing things really onerous. Even if it's like something I've fixed a thousand times like a burnt out lightbulb. It doesn't make any sense. Not from the outside at least. And what I have learned in making a movie which is a kind of creative and professional pursuit I had never done before is that there are different kinds of energies for different kinds of tasks. Energy meets the task the same way like a key meets a lock. And as such, you can change the amount of energy you spend on something based on what it is and finding that match means that you're not wasting energy or unaware of how to spend it to get that thing done. I find most of the anxiety around that comes from that mismatch of believing something is going to require a lot of energy when it's not. I'm only at the point where I've realized this is the thing I have to do. I'm not at the point of doing it well yet. ZAK: Yeah, well that's my favorite kind of advice on this show. It could be called, like, This Is Something I'm Working on rather than The Best Advice Show. There's more humility to it. And so how do you then in the moment or at the beginning of the day recalibrate and reorient the energy levels with which you're gonna have to distribute to various tasks? KEVIN: On a really successful today and it's typically when I get up early enough to convince myself I have time, I'll write out everything I have to do that day and then when I get to it, I'll write out the pieces that have to be done and if I don't do that which, that happens pretty rarely...If I don't do that what I'll do is when I approach something that seems insurmountable, I'll say to myself, have I done this before? Have I done a version of successfully before? Well, ok, then there's probably a fossil record of doing it successfully before somewhere. Either it's an email I've written before or it's a task I've performed before and then you just take 30-seconds and say, ok, well, I did this once. It worked. How did I do it? And then repeat and adjust...maybe you have a to adjust a few things here or there so the amount of new energy you have to spend on that thing is not that big. It's really mostly a version of something you've done before. I'm Kevin Smoker. I'm the Co-director of a new documentary called, Vnyl Nation. Which is a documentary exploration of the come back of vinyl records available at VinylNationFilm.com. In my day job I write books about pop culture. ZAK: Ok, I want you hold me accountable. This week, we're gonna do the budget and it's not gonna be overwhelming. We can handle. Thank you Kevin Smokler for helping me realize that. You've been listening The Best Advice Show and I want your advice. Give me a call on the hotline at 844-935-BEST. Thank you so much, I'll talk to you soon.
The San Francisco Writers Conference Podcast: THREE QUESTIONS ABOUT.. Meet Kevin Smokler, the "unofficial educator" for the San Francisco Writers Conference. Kevin was the founder and publisher of Central Booking, which grew to serve nearly 50,000 bibliophiles worldwide and was praised by media outlets such as Wired, USA Today, and Forbes, which referred to it as the "Paris Review of the 21st Century.” He is a writer, public speaker and performer based in San Francisco. He writes about technology and culture, is the author of several books including Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to 80s Teen Movies, Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books You Haven’t Read Since High School, Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times and The Customer is Always Wrong: The Retail Chronicles. Listen in as host Alex White asks Kevin three questions about the publishing industry today. Lots of great insight.
Kids in 80s America talks to America's most interesting figures from the world of pop culture about their favorite 80s teen movies. Your favorite people, your favorite movies from the decade you'd like to forget. Hosted by Kevin Smokler, author of Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to 80s Teen Movies. A.J. Jacobs is an author, journalist, lecturer and human guinea pig. He has written four New York Times bestsellers that combine memoir, science, humor and a dash of self-help. His new book, It’s All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World’s Family Tree, is about the extraordinary changes happening in family research and DNA, and how they have an impact on politics, race relations, health and happiness.
Once again we are thrilled to chat with Kevin Smokler, author of the terrific book Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to 80s Teen Movies. In this episode we cover some of the past DGMM topics and be sure to check out a more extended interview with Kevin about 80s teen movies on Episode 19.
Kids in 80s America talks to America's most interesting figures from the world of pop culture about their favorite 80s teen movies. Your favorite people, your favorite movies from the decade you'd like to forget. Hosted by Kevin Smokler, author of Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to 80s Teen Movies. Dave Holmes is the author of the memoir "Party of One". A former MTV VJ and correspondent, he hosts the podcasts International Waters on the Maximum Fun network and Homophilia on Earwolf.
Kevin Smokler is a dear friend who changed my world when he asked me to be part of his panel at South by Southwest (SXSW) years ago, and since then our paths continue to cross. His latest book, Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to ’80s Teen Movies, has him visiting the actual locations where many of our beloved movies were filmed. If you enjoy The Goonies, The Breakfast Club, or Back to the Future, this book needs to be added to your must-read list. During the podcast, we discuss his love of writing and why it’s his preferred form of creative expression even though he tinkers with others. Kevin is the author of the essay collection Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books You Haven't Touched since High School, and we chat a bit about the books he was assigned to read in school but only appreciated later in life. Classroom Connection Kevin's book about "the classics" is written for adults who look back on books they read in school and consider reading them again later in life. Have students write a letter to a future-self about a book they've recently read in school, telling that future-self what the book means to them now and forecasting why it would be a good book for an older version of themselves to read. His work has appeared in the LA Times, Fast Company, BuzzFeed, Vulture, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Publishers Weekly, and on National Public Radio. In 2013 he was Book Riot’s first ever Writer in Residence. As a performer, he’s told stories onstage at events in San Francisco, Austin, New York, and Boston. Since 2007 he's been the host of Fray Cafe, SXSW's annual evening of live storytelling, which I’ve had the pleasure of attending as an audience member several times. Every time I chat with Kevin, I learn something new and leave inspired. I hope that after you listen to our conversation on this episode of #WhyIWrite, the same will be true for you as well.
Special guest Kevin Smokler, author of "Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to 80's Teen Movies", joins Dave to talk about why we remember stuff (including movies) from the ages of 10-30 better than any other time.
Dave and Scott talk with author Kevin Smokler about his book Brat Pack America - A Love Letter to '80s Teen Movies.
The Ann Arbor native and author talks his latest book "Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to 80s Teen Movies"
Our special guest this week is Kevin Smokler, author of Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to 80s Teen Movies. Kevin talks about why he decided to write a book about 80s teen movies and provides tons of fun facts and memories for films like Back to the Future, The Goonies, Real Genius, The Karate Kid, and many more! 80s movie fans will love this episode and be sure to purchase “Brat Pack America” now!
Kevin Smokler’s new book, Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to 80s Teen Movies (Rare Bird Books, 2016)is what everyone in their 40s who loved watching movies as they were growing up wants it to be. In Brat Pack America, Smokler takes readers on a journey through the fictional and sometimes not so fictional towns created throughout the teen movies of the 80s. Smokler gives readers a tour through America and the important locations that have endured over time in the hearts and minds of movie fans. Smokler looks at John Hughes America and Shermer, Illinois as well as memorable places such as Hill Valley, California and Astoria, Oregon. Brat Pack America is full of facts about 80s teen movies and the locations fans have come to know and love. But, Smokler also pushes beyond fandom, examining why these places have become so important to the fans of these films of this decade. Well researched and engagingly written, Brat Pack America is a book that brings back memories of those films we know and love. Rebekah Buchanan is an Assistant Professor of English at Western Illinois University. Her work examines the role of narrative–both analog and digitalin peoples lives. She is interested in how personal narratives produced in alternative spaces create sites that challenge traditionally accepted public narratives. She researches zines, zine writers and the influence of music subcultures and fandom on writers and narratives. You can find more about her on her website, follow her on Twitter @rj_buchanan or email her at rj-buchanan@wiu.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Kevin Smokler’s new book, Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to 80s Teen Movies (Rare Bird Books, 2016)is what everyone in their 40s who loved watching movies as they were growing up wants it to be. In Brat Pack America, Smokler takes readers on a journey through the fictional and sometimes not so fictional towns created throughout the teen movies of the 80s. Smokler gives readers a tour through America and the important locations that have endured over time in the hearts and minds of movie fans. Smokler looks at John Hughes America and Shermer, Illinois as well as memorable places such as Hill Valley, California and Astoria, Oregon. Brat Pack America is full of facts about 80s teen movies and the locations fans have come to know and love. But, Smokler also pushes beyond fandom, examining why these places have become so important to the fans of these films of this decade. Well researched and engagingly written, Brat Pack America is a book that brings back memories of those films we know and love. Rebekah Buchanan is an Assistant Professor of English at Western Illinois University. Her work examines the role of narrative–both analog and digitalin peoples lives. She is interested in how personal narratives produced in alternative spaces create sites that challenge traditionally accepted public narratives. She researches zines, zine writers and the influence of music subcultures and fandom on writers and narratives. You can find more about her on her website, follow her on Twitter @rj_buchanan or email her at rj-buchanan@wiu.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Kevin Smokler’s new book, Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to 80s Teen Movies (Rare Bird Books, 2016)is what everyone in their 40s who loved watching movies as they were growing up wants it to be. In Brat Pack America, Smokler takes readers on a journey through the fictional and sometimes not so fictional towns created throughout the teen movies of the 80s. Smokler gives readers a tour through America and the important locations that have endured over time in the hearts and minds of movie fans. Smokler looks at John Hughes America and Shermer, Illinois as well as memorable places such as Hill Valley, California and Astoria, Oregon. Brat Pack America is full of facts about 80s teen movies and the locations fans have come to know and love. But, Smokler also pushes beyond fandom, examining why these places have become so important to the fans of these films of this decade. Well researched and engagingly written, Brat Pack America is a book that brings back memories of those films we know and love. Rebekah Buchanan is an Assistant Professor of English at Western Illinois University. Her work examines the role of narrative–both analog and digitalin peoples lives. She is interested in how personal narratives produced in alternative spaces create sites that challenge traditionally accepted public narratives. She researches zines, zine writers and the influence of music subcultures and fandom on writers and narratives. You can find more about her on her website, follow her on Twitter @rj_buchanan or email her at rj-buchanan@wiu.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Kevin Smokler’s new book, Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to 80s Teen Movies (Rare Bird Books, 2016)is what everyone in their 40s who loved watching movies as they were growing up wants it to be. In Brat Pack America, Smokler takes readers on a journey through the fictional and... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week we are joined by author and ultra-movie-nerd Kevin Smokler! Mr. Smokler just released his new book, Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to 80s Teen Movies, and he generously agreed to sit down with us to talk about John Hughes films, other beloved 80s movies, modern 80s nostalgia, and the dark, awful truth behind Gremlins. Brat Pack America is available at bookstores nationwide and Amazon in both paperback and Kindle formats. Be sure to look Kevin up on Twitter, kevinsmokler.com, or sign up for his newsletter - he's got a lot of great stuff worth reading! Like what you hear? We would LOVE it if you tell some friends, or write a review on iTunes or Stitcher! Questions or comments? Find us online via our parent podcast: http://www.thekidfreeweekend.com https://www.facebook.com/thekidfreeweekend https://twitter.com/kidfreeweekend thekidfreeweekend@gmail.com
A conversation with Kevin Smokler, San Francisco-based writer and author of the new book "Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to '80's Teen Movies."