Rob Stennett

9 Thumbs podcast

“It’s not what you’re like, it’s what you like.”

This is a quote from John Cusack’s character (also named Rob) in High Fidelity. He owns a music store and spends his days arguing the greatest bands, music and songs of all time with Jack Black. Rob’s idea is that in a world of pop culture you can tell more about a person from their interests than from their personality. Of course this is shallow, self-centered, and in many ways makes a lot of sense.

I bring up this quote because I’ve ventured into a podcast with fellow authors Jason Boyett and Matthew Paul Turner. Every week we’ll discuss not what we’re like, but what we like. We’re three guys, with three likes each week, and that equals 9 Thumbs.

I’m looking forward to 9 Thumbs because I get to share stuff I like on weekly basis. This is also frightening. I have to find three new things I like every week. And even more I have to defend why I like it. I rarely list reasons I like something. But having to defend what I like in public forum seems good for someone who consumes culture at the rate I do.

Even more so, with 9 Thumbs I’ll have the excuse to discover new books, apps, movies, bands, TV shows and so on from other great authors and thinkers whose opinions I respect. On weekly basis we’ll have big conversations on the little things that matter in our lives. For me this is the best thing about pop culture. It’s like sports but less polarizing. Because no matter who you are, what walk of life you come form and the trauma or lack of trauma in your personal story, I feel like I can start talking about movies, or books, or TV shows with you.

So, 9 thumbs is an important place to discuss the small stuff that defines us. Chuck Klosterman put it best, “In and of itself, nothing really matters. What matters is that nothing is ever in and of itself.”

So, I hope you follow along with our discussion. Agree and disagree with the stuff that we like. Discover new things for yourself. Podcasts are the perfect forum for this type of dialogue. A podcast is raw and minimally structured and organic. And you can’t get any more raw and organic than our pilot episode. You can check it out at 9thumbs.com

An Update On My Writings

What are you working on right now?

This is a question I get asked all the time online, in life, at parties, and at the gas station pump. We live in a world of what have you written for me lately.

I don’t know how much anyone actually cares—I mean really how much do I actually expect anyone to care?  Gas prices are soaring, it’s a pivotal election year, and we’re only months away from the Myan apocalypse.

But I write novels about unsure people and in an insecure world. I l create literary jems with characters who are dealing with their worlds crumbling around them. And isn’t art how we process our lives? Don’t we learn about parenting from Bill Cosby? Don’t we know so much more about what it means to be a man after watching a shirtless Brad Pitt and Edward Norton duke it out in a damp basement?

Of course we do!

Which is why you now suddenly very much care about what I’ve been writing lately. No time to go into it all but here are some bullet points:

·      My debut novel The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher has been optioned by Whole World Pictures

·      Same company has hired me to write the screenplay for that novel

·      Working on a new series of novels. My first series. Only I want to structure it more like a TV show in book form. I’ll write much more about this later.

·      Copywriting for national TV spots.

More stories are coming your way soon. While you wait get a copy of the other Rob Stennett books. And stay safe out there. It’s a crazy world.

If I Handed Out The Oscars

I have something to confess. I like awards shows. I like seeing who won and who didn’t. I like arguing what movies were over and underrated. I like watching the host rise to the occasion or watching the co-host’s careers crumbling in front a nationally televised audience.

I don’t like arguing about who is best and worst dressed. But my wife does. Which means she watches the Oscars with me. And that makes it a family fun viewing event.

But before the Oscars begin I want to quickly reflect on the year of film in 2011 and dish out my personal awards to the best films of the year.

This is how I’d vote for the Oscars if I had a vote. After reading this list I’m sure you’ll see why they don’t let me vote.

And the Oscar goes to…

ART DIRECTION, CINEMATOGRAPHY, EDITING, SOUND DESIGN (and all other technical awards)

The Artist

First of all let’s get all the techy awards over with. This is the part of the show that we glaze over and refill the queso dip. This is the part of the show where someone in the living room acts like they know the difference between sound editing and sound mixing.

We don’t really care about all of this stuff. But The Artist reminds us of why we should. This film pulls back the curtain and shows how far the craft of filmmaking has come in such a little time. It’s a tour de force and coup de grace on the power of cinema and a Sunset Boulevardesque tale on what a cruel mistress Hollywood can be.

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Rango

I’m sure many of you hated this movie. But you can keep your Cars 2 and Kung Fu Panda 2.  For my money I want Chinatown for kids. Loved this movie. It was like Hunter S. Thompson and Roman Polanski got together to make a family film.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Andy Serkins.

Random prediction: Someday (soon) a CGI character will win an acting Oscar. It will probably actually be Andy Serkins who wins. If it isn’t whoever wins will have him to thank.

BEST SCREENPLAY

Moneyball

 Sports movies are petri dishes mixed with the predictable and cliché. Moneyball shined under the stadium lights with crisp dialogue, wonderful pacing, and emotion at just the right moments. As a writer I pay lots of attention to the screenplay nominees and it will be a crime if this doesn’t win the best adapted Oscar.

BEST DIRECTOR

Terrence Mallick

The Artist constantly reminded you it was a movie with glitz and style, where The Tree Of Life wanted you to forget you were in a movie all together. In fact in many points of this film you aren’t sure exactly where in time or space you are. It’s feels like a family drama version of Kubrick’s 2001.

I’ll admit it took me about a half hour to get into this film. But once I was there it was emotional, powerful, thought provoking, and a testament to Malick’s direction.

BEST PICTURE

The Muppets

For me  best picture usually comes down to what will I want to actually watch 5 years from now. And for me that’s often not past winners like Crash, The King’s Speech, Million Dollar Baby, or The English Patient.

This year it was the Muppets. I may regret posting this. It may make me seem less a film connoisseur. But I don’t care. This movie was a love letter to 30 somethings—a self-aware existential romp with felt puppets and it was the best time I had at the movies all year.