Alex Winter
Directoractorwriterdadperson. Usually found at @TrouperProds. Out: NYT Critics Pick @ZappaMovie, @BillAndTed3, @Showbizkidsdoc. Next: @TheYTMovie.
Book Recommendations:
Recommended by Alex Winter
“I bought this book at a yard sale with everything in my kids' college accounts, so now I own it, and it's loaded with great IP for TV, movies, and NFT'S, and I want to make my NFT Twitter avatar out of this photo, but I can't find the button for it. https://t.co/mWIfZEaa7o” (from X)
"Hardy" is the word that comes to mind when you hold the Black Hardcover Large Print King James Version Pew Bible in your hands. This Bible is hardy enough to be used for many years in a pew; its hardy enough to be taken with you when you travel, and its hardy enough to hold up to a toddler's hands - all at a very affordable price. The front cover and spine of the solid black hardcover of the Pew Bible both display a gold foiled title and version reference. HOLY BIBLE KING JAMES VERSION A black satin ribbon marker is included to mark a page, and the Smyth-sewn lay-flat spine opens flat without any damage to the spine, allowing you to read from the center of the page to the ends with ease. The 11-point type typeface is slightly larger than the standard 8 to 10-point type found in most standard Bibles. Reader-friendly subheadings, a double-column format, the words of Christ printed in red ink, a helpful Scripture verse finder by topic, and a one-year Bible reading plan are additional features that make this Bible equally suitable for use in a church pew or your own home. The Black Hardcover Large Print King James Version Pew Bible is designed for use in a church pew, but it is affordable and versatile enough to be used as an outreach Bible, travel Bible, or gift Bible for a new believer. Black CoverHardcover Classic King James Text Words of Christ in Red Thematic Scripture Verse Finder Presentation Page Reader-friendly Subheadings One-year Bible Reading Plan Lay-Flat Spine Ribbon Marker Double-column Format 11-point Type Size: 9.5" x 6.5" x 1.25" (241 x 165 x 32mm)
Recommended by Alex Winter
“@lennypane I read the Joshua Landy book due to your recommendation and it was great” (from X)
Why does Mark's Jesus speak in parables? Why does Plato's Socrates make bad arguments? Why are Beckett's novels so inscrutable? And why don't stage magicians even pretend to summon spirits anymore? In a series of captivating chapters on Mark, Plato, Beckett, Mallarmé, and Chaucer, Joshua Landy not only answers these questions but explains why they are worth asking in the first place. Witty and approachable, How to Do Things with Fictions challenges the widespread assumption that literary texts must be informative or morally improving in order to be of any real benefit. It reveals that authors are sometimes best thought of not as entertainers or as educators but as personal trainers of the brain, putting their willing readers through exercises designed to fortify specific mental capacities, from form-giving to equanimity, from reason to faith. Delivering plenty of surprises along the way--that moral readings of literature can be positively dangerous; that the parables were deliberately designed to be misunderstood; that Plato knowingly sets his main character up for a fall; that metaphor is powerfully connected to religious faith; that we can sustain our beliefs even when we suspect them to be illusions--How to Do Things with Fictions convincingly shows that our best allies in the struggle for more rigorous thinking, deeper faith, richer experience, and greater peace of mind may well be the imaginative writings sitting on our shelves.
Recommended by Alex Winter
“This is a blatant plug for the fantastic book on the history of The Method by @parabasis. It’s riveting, emotional, and compassionate, expertly unpacking a period of artistic revolution that is still highly misunderstood. Long overdue and a cracking yarn. https://t.co/3tjHlszMkh” (from X)
National Book Critics Circle Award Winner, Nonfiction NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2022 BY THE NEW YORKER, TIME MAGAZINE, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, VOX, SALON, LIT HUB, AND VANITY FAIR “Entertaining and illuminating.”--The New Yorker * “Compulsively readable.”--New York Times * “Delicious, humane, probing.”--Vulture * “The best and most important book about acting I’ve ever read.”--Nathan Lane The critically acclaimed cultural history of Method acting―an ebullient account of creative discovery and the birth of classic Hollywood. On stage and screen, we know a great performance when we see it. But how do actors draw from their bodies and minds to turn their selves into art? What is the craft of being an authentic fake? More than a century ago, amid tsarist Russia’s crushing repression, one of the most talented actors ever, Konstantin Stanislavski, asked these very questions, reached deep into himself, and emerged with an answer. How his “system” remade itself into the Method and forever transformed American theater and film is an unlikely saga that has never before been fully told. Now, critic and theater director Isaac Butler chronicles the history of the Method in a narrative that transports readers from Moscow to New York to Los Angeles, from The Seagull to A Streetcar Named Desire to Raging Bull. He traces how a cohort of American mavericks--including Stella Adler, Lee Strasberg, and the storied Group Theatre--refashioned Stanislavski’s ideas for a Depression-plagued nation that had yet to find its place as an artistic powerhouse. The Group’s feuds and rivalries would, in turn, shape generations of actors who enabled Hollywood to become the global dream-factory it is today. Some of these performers the Method would uplift; others, it would destroy. Long after its midcentury heyday, the Method lives on as one of the most influential--and misunderstood--ideas in American culture. Studded with marquee names--from Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, and Elia Kazan, to James Baldwin, Ellen Burstyn, and Dustin Hoffman--The Method is a spirited history of ideas and a must-read for any fan of Broadway or American film.