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It Chooses You
In the summer of 2009, Miranda July was struggling to finish writing the screenplay for her much-anticipated second film. During her increasingly long lunch breaks, she began to obsessively read the PennySaver, the iconic classifieds booklet that reached everywhere and seemed to come from nowhere. Who was the person selling the “Large leather Jacket, $10”? It seemed important to find out—or at least it was a great distraction from the screenplay.
Accompanied by photographer Brigitte Sire, July crisscrossed Los Angeles to meet a random selection of PennySaver sellers, glimpsing thirteen surprisingly moving and profoundly specific realities, along the way shaping her film, and herself, in unexpected ways.
Elegantly blending narrative, interviews, and photographs with July’s off-kilter honesty and deadpan humor, this is a story of procrastination and inspiration, isolation and connection, and grabbing hold of the invisible world.
Accompanied by photographer Brigitte Sire, July crisscrossed Los Angeles to meet a random selection of PennySaver sellers, glimpsing thirteen surprisingly moving and profoundly specific realities, along the way shaping her film, and herself, in unexpected ways.
Elegantly blending narrative, interviews, and photographs with July’s off-kilter honesty and deadpan humor, this is a story of procrastination and inspiration, isolation and connection, and grabbing hold of the invisible world.
218 pages, Hardcover
First published November 15, 2011
About the author
Miranda July
37 books4,550 followersMiranda July (born February 15, 1974) is a performance artist, musician, writer, actress and film director. She currently resides in Los Angeles, California, after having lived for many years in Portland, Oregon. Born Miranda Jennifer Grossinger, she works under the surname of "July," which can be traced to a character from a "girlzine" Miranda created with a high school friend called "Snarla."
Miranda July was born in Barre, Vermont, the daughter of Lindy Hough and Richard Grossinger. Her parents, who taught at Goddard College at the time, are both writers. In 1974 they founded North Atlantic Books, a publisher of alternative health, martial arts, and spiritual titles. Miranda was encouraged to work on her short fiction by author and friend of a friend, Rick Moody.
Miranda grew up in Berkeley, California, where she first began writing plays and staging them at the all-ages club 924 Gilman. She later attended UC Santa Cruz, dropping out in her sophomore year. After leaving college, she moved to Portland, Oregon and took up performance art. Her performances were successful; she has been quoted as saying she has not worked a day job since she was 23 years old.
Filmmaking
Filmmaker Magazine rated her number one in their "25 New Faces of Indie Film" in 2004. After winning a slot in a Sundance workshop, she developed her first feature-length film, Me and You and Everyone We Know, which opened in 2005. The film won The Caméra d'Or prize in The Cannes Festival 2005.
Beginning in 1996, while residing in Portland, July began a project called Joanie4Jackie (originally called "Big Miss Moviola") which solicited short films by women, which she compiled onto video cassettes, using the theme of a chain letter. She then sent the cassette to the participants, and to subscribers to the series, and offered them for sale to others interested. In addition to the chain letter series, July began a second series called the Co-Star Series, in which she invited friends from larger cities to select a group of films outside of the chain letter submissions. The curators included Miranda July, Rita Gonzalez, and Astria Suparak. The Joanie4Jackie series also screened at film festivals and DIY movie events. So far, thirteen editions have been released, the latest in 2002.
At her speaking engagement at the Modern Times Bookstore in San Francisco's Mission District on May 16, 2007, July mentioned that she is currently working on a new film.
Music
She recorded her first EP for Kill Rock Stars in 1996, entitled Margie Ruskie Stops Time, with music by The Need. After that, she released two more full-length LPs, 10 Million Hours A Mile in 1997 and Binet-Simon Test in 1998, both released on Kill Rock Stars. In 1999 she made a split EP with IQU, released on K Records.
Screen Writer
Miranda co-wrote the Wayne Wang feaure length film "The Center of the World."
Multimedia
In 1998, July made her first full-length multimedia performance piece, Love Diamond, in collaboration with composer Zac Love and with help from artist Jamie Isenstein; she called it a "live movie." She performed it at venues around the country, including the New York Video Festival, The Kitchen, and Yo-yo a Go-go in Olympia. She created her next major full-length performance piece, The Swan Tool, in 2000, also in collaboration with Love, with digital production work by Mitsu Hadeishi. She performed this piece in venues around the world, including the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
In 2006, after completing her first feature film, she went on to create another multimedia piece, Things We Don’t Understand and Definitely are Not Going To Talk About, which she performed in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York.
Her short story The Boy from Lam Kien was published in 2005 by Cloverfield Press, as a special-edition book.
Miranda July was born in Barre, Vermont, the daughter of Lindy Hough and Richard Grossinger. Her parents, who taught at Goddard College at the time, are both writers. In 1974 they founded North Atlantic Books, a publisher of alternative health, martial arts, and spiritual titles. Miranda was encouraged to work on her short fiction by author and friend of a friend, Rick Moody.
Miranda grew up in Berkeley, California, where she first began writing plays and staging them at the all-ages club 924 Gilman. She later attended UC Santa Cruz, dropping out in her sophomore year. After leaving college, she moved to Portland, Oregon and took up performance art. Her performances were successful; she has been quoted as saying she has not worked a day job since she was 23 years old.
Filmmaking
Filmmaker Magazine rated her number one in their "25 New Faces of Indie Film" in 2004. After winning a slot in a Sundance workshop, she developed her first feature-length film, Me and You and Everyone We Know, which opened in 2005. The film won The Caméra d'Or prize in The Cannes Festival 2005.
Beginning in 1996, while residing in Portland, July began a project called Joanie4Jackie (originally called "Big Miss Moviola") which solicited short films by women, which she compiled onto video cassettes, using the theme of a chain letter. She then sent the cassette to the participants, and to subscribers to the series, and offered them for sale to others interested. In addition to the chain letter series, July began a second series called the Co-Star Series, in which she invited friends from larger cities to select a group of films outside of the chain letter submissions. The curators included Miranda July, Rita Gonzalez, and Astria Suparak. The Joanie4Jackie series also screened at film festivals and DIY movie events. So far, thirteen editions have been released, the latest in 2002.
At her speaking engagement at the Modern Times Bookstore in San Francisco's Mission District on May 16, 2007, July mentioned that she is currently working on a new film.
Music
She recorded her first EP for Kill Rock Stars in 1996, entitled Margie Ruskie Stops Time, with music by The Need. After that, she released two more full-length LPs, 10 Million Hours A Mile in 1997 and Binet-Simon Test in 1998, both released on Kill Rock Stars. In 1999 she made a split EP with IQU, released on K Records.
Screen Writer
Miranda co-wrote the Wayne Wang feaure length film "The Center of the World."
Multimedia
In 1998, July made her first full-length multimedia performance piece, Love Diamond, in collaboration with composer Zac Love and with help from artist Jamie Isenstein; she called it a "live movie." She performed it at venues around the country, including the New York Video Festival, The Kitchen, and Yo-yo a Go-go in Olympia. She created her next major full-length performance piece, The Swan Tool, in 2000, also in collaboration with Love, with digital production work by Mitsu Hadeishi. She performed this piece in venues around the world, including the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
In 2006, after completing her first feature film, she went on to create another multimedia piece, Things We Don’t Understand and Definitely are Not Going To Talk About, which she performed in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York.
Her short story The Boy from Lam Kien was published in 2005 by Cloverfield Press, as a special-edition book.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 638 reviews
November 29, 2011
At first I didn’t like Miranda July. She seemed too precious. Her first book of short stories, contrived quirkiness. Like watching Zooey Deschanel shop for leg warmers at Goodwill. But I didn’t like Miranda July in that way that meant I’d be peeking out from behind the curtains to watch her walk down the street. I didn’t like her in a way I understood to mean that I didn’t like her right now, but that wasn’t necessarily my final verdict.
Then I loved Miranda July. It was her movie “Me You and Everyone We Know,” which she wrote and starred in. It was different. Nice. A little uncomfortable. Mostly different, with clever characters whose motivations I didn’t understand, made better for the not understanding. There was minutia, and I’m really into minutia lately. It was funny, but not obviously funny. It was an hour and a half I didn’t regret at all. And now. And now.
Miranda July tipped me over with “It Chooses You,” the memoir slash journalistic exercise she wrote while she was supposed to be doing something else, namely the screenplay for another movie. It’s a familiar moment she describes, and the reason why my boyfriend and I -- both in the middle of other creative projects -- first started a basement rock band, then started a web comic (although neither lasted long).
“The funny thing about my procrastination was that I was almost done with the screenplay. I was like that person who had fought dragons and lost limbs and crawled through swamps and now, finally, the castle was visible. I could see tiny children waving flags on the balcony; all I had to do was walk across a field to get to them. But all of a sudden I was very, very sleepy. And the children couldn’t believe their eyes as I folded down to my knees and fell to the ground face-first with my eyes open.”
July starts contacting people who are selling things in the Penny Saver: a suitcase, a leather jacket, cats, a blowdryer. She doesn’t want their stuff, she wants to meet them and talk about stuff. She takes along a photographer, Brigitte Sire, who has her work included in this book and July’s assistant Alfred “... to protect us from rape.” She trades about $50 for a session with these people and asks them about their lives and when they were the happiest. She meets a mid-transition transsexual (selling a leather coat) and a teenager selling bullfrog tadpoles and at a house where a woman is selling a blowdryer, the woman’s daughter sings for them “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus.
And somewhere in Los Angeles, July meets Joe, an old man who has spent years writing dirty poems for his wife. Lots of tits and twats stuff. He inspires a direction shift in July’s script and then role in her movie “The Future.”
I’m not sure where a person in the book business shelves this. At our local bookstore it was with films/movies/TV. But I’d give it more of a memoir, memoir-y, memoir-ish label. Maybe even stick it somewhere near “Bird by Bird,” the quintessential “How to Write Good” guide by Anne Lamott. Especially when it comes to the short personal bursts, writing “The Future” or doing anything creative, actually. She talks about her style when it comes to creating films, being grateful that she is a part of it, but:
“I was desperately trying to remind myself that there was no one way to make a good movie; I could actually write anything or cast anyone. I could cast ghosts or shadows, or a pineapple or the shadow of a pineapple.”
Just pages later she has left a copy of her script untouched. She’s trying to become unfamiliar with her main characters. She imagined it curing like ham, the longer she left it. She also tries to trick herself. She’s a snoopy housekeeper who has stumbled upon this packet of words:
“‘What have we here,’ I said to myself, peeking at the first page and then slyly glancing over my shoulder.”
Then I loved Miranda July. It was her movie “Me You and Everyone We Know,” which she wrote and starred in. It was different. Nice. A little uncomfortable. Mostly different, with clever characters whose motivations I didn’t understand, made better for the not understanding. There was minutia, and I’m really into minutia lately. It was funny, but not obviously funny. It was an hour and a half I didn’t regret at all. And now. And now.
Miranda July tipped me over with “It Chooses You,” the memoir slash journalistic exercise she wrote while she was supposed to be doing something else, namely the screenplay for another movie. It’s a familiar moment she describes, and the reason why my boyfriend and I -- both in the middle of other creative projects -- first started a basement rock band, then started a web comic (although neither lasted long).
“The funny thing about my procrastination was that I was almost done with the screenplay. I was like that person who had fought dragons and lost limbs and crawled through swamps and now, finally, the castle was visible. I could see tiny children waving flags on the balcony; all I had to do was walk across a field to get to them. But all of a sudden I was very, very sleepy. And the children couldn’t believe their eyes as I folded down to my knees and fell to the ground face-first with my eyes open.”
July starts contacting people who are selling things in the Penny Saver: a suitcase, a leather jacket, cats, a blowdryer. She doesn’t want their stuff, she wants to meet them and talk about stuff. She takes along a photographer, Brigitte Sire, who has her work included in this book and July’s assistant Alfred “... to protect us from rape.” She trades about $50 for a session with these people and asks them about their lives and when they were the happiest. She meets a mid-transition transsexual (selling a leather coat) and a teenager selling bullfrog tadpoles and at a house where a woman is selling a blowdryer, the woman’s daughter sings for them “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus.
And somewhere in Los Angeles, July meets Joe, an old man who has spent years writing dirty poems for his wife. Lots of tits and twats stuff. He inspires a direction shift in July’s script and then role in her movie “The Future.”
I’m not sure where a person in the book business shelves this. At our local bookstore it was with films/movies/TV. But I’d give it more of a memoir, memoir-y, memoir-ish label. Maybe even stick it somewhere near “Bird by Bird,” the quintessential “How to Write Good” guide by Anne Lamott. Especially when it comes to the short personal bursts, writing “The Future” or doing anything creative, actually. She talks about her style when it comes to creating films, being grateful that she is a part of it, but:
“I was desperately trying to remind myself that there was no one way to make a good movie; I could actually write anything or cast anyone. I could cast ghosts or shadows, or a pineapple or the shadow of a pineapple.”
Just pages later she has left a copy of her script untouched. She’s trying to become unfamiliar with her main characters. She imagined it curing like ham, the longer she left it. She also tries to trick herself. She’s a snoopy housekeeper who has stumbled upon this packet of words:
“‘What have we here,’ I said to myself, peeking at the first page and then slyly glancing over my shoulder.”
January 24, 2013
Now I like to forage
In some people's storage
As much as the next guy
As a way to avoid working on her screenplay, Miranda July spent hours perusing the weekly Pennysaver. Her curiosity piqued, she set out to meet the sellers of items ranging from a hairdryer to a sixty-seven piece art set. The result is a collection of interviews and photos; people gladly telling the stories of their lives, sharing their dreams and losses, and explaining how they came to the decision to part with their particular item.
For July, it became a sort of voyage of self-discovery, and she ended up rethinking her script, having one of her characters answer a classified ad, and even using one of the interviewees in her film.
By spending time talking to this diverse group of people, she discovered that "...everyone's story matters to themselves..."
Now my friend Jim
He packed it all in
To a 12 by 4 storage space
Boxes and boxes and boxes and boxes
All neatly piled and tucked in place
Does this book really deserve 5 stars? Probably not, but for me it was the right book at the right time. It led to hours of deliberation and introspection. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about all my stuff. I'm not a hoarder, but man, do I ever have a ton of shit. In addition to all the usual suspects: books, records, CDs, I also have collections. More collections than I can count. (I even have a notebook full of banana stickers. Yes. Banana stickers.)
What on earth is going to happen to all this crap when I die?
Now I've got an attic
And you've got a basement
Put it together and what do we see
A piece of you and a piece of me
Moving on to antiquity
One of the most poignant chapters in this book concerns a collection of photo albums filled with pictures of the same couple from their wedding to their old age. They had no children, and their albums, the visual record of their lives, were up for grabs at 10 bucks a pop.
What will happen to all my stuff? And yours?
All of the things we've collected and treasured, packed and moved, displayed with pride, dusted, polished, and when needed, painstakingly glued back together.
Will anyone want our things?
Will they become part of someone else's collection, someone else's life? Or will they end up in the dumpster?
I'm not sure why it should matter to me, but it does.
So sooner or later we're all gonna find
That we made it to the end of the line
It's all there to remind and rewind
It's the things you leave behind
It's the stuff you leave behind
It's the friends you leave behind
'The Things You Leave Behind' by Lenny Kaye
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKAFZB...
In some people's storage
As much as the next guy
As a way to avoid working on her screenplay, Miranda July spent hours perusing the weekly Pennysaver. Her curiosity piqued, she set out to meet the sellers of items ranging from a hairdryer to a sixty-seven piece art set. The result is a collection of interviews and photos; people gladly telling the stories of their lives, sharing their dreams and losses, and explaining how they came to the decision to part with their particular item.
For July, it became a sort of voyage of self-discovery, and she ended up rethinking her script, having one of her characters answer a classified ad, and even using one of the interviewees in her film.
By spending time talking to this diverse group of people, she discovered that "...everyone's story matters to themselves..."
Now my friend Jim
He packed it all in
To a 12 by 4 storage space
Boxes and boxes and boxes and boxes
All neatly piled and tucked in place
Does this book really deserve 5 stars? Probably not, but for me it was the right book at the right time. It led to hours of deliberation and introspection. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about all my stuff. I'm not a hoarder, but man, do I ever have a ton of shit. In addition to all the usual suspects: books, records, CDs, I also have collections. More collections than I can count. (I even have a notebook full of banana stickers. Yes. Banana stickers.)
What on earth is going to happen to all this crap when I die?
Now I've got an attic
And you've got a basement
Put it together and what do we see
A piece of you and a piece of me
Moving on to antiquity
One of the most poignant chapters in this book concerns a collection of photo albums filled with pictures of the same couple from their wedding to their old age. They had no children, and their albums, the visual record of their lives, were up for grabs at 10 bucks a pop.
What will happen to all my stuff? And yours?
All of the things we've collected and treasured, packed and moved, displayed with pride, dusted, polished, and when needed, painstakingly glued back together.
Will anyone want our things?
Will they become part of someone else's collection, someone else's life? Or will they end up in the dumpster?
I'm not sure why it should matter to me, but it does.
So sooner or later we're all gonna find
That we made it to the end of the line
It's all there to remind and rewind
It's the things you leave behind
It's the stuff you leave behind
It's the friends you leave behind
'The Things You Leave Behind' by Lenny Kaye
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKAFZB...
January 8, 2012
Like a lot of Miranda July's projects I had a lot of conflicting feelings about this book -- giving the book a 3 star rating really doesn't reflect how I felt about it, it's more like the average of my reaction to the book, some of which I loved, loved and some I hated. The good: it's poignant, funny, the PennySaver people are a fascinating bunch and the photography is great. The bad: the nagging feeling that this was all freak show exploitation. The ugly: July's non-stop solipsistic whining about her damn movie. It seems like her response to every person she meets is, "Oh, sure, you're impoverished, alone and depressed -- but what about me? I can't finish my movie!"
The things that made up for this, though: the gut-punch of the final chapter and Brigitte Sire's photographs which are infinitely more sensitive and empathetic toward the subjects than July's writing.
The things that made up for this, though: the gut-punch of the final chapter and Brigitte Sire's photographs which are infinitely more sensitive and empathetic toward the subjects than July's writing.
January 9, 2012
I eagerly anticipated this book's arrival to my local library for weeks--because the concept is intriguing. I was disappointed, however, with the execution of this concept. The author seemed far more interested in how each encounter could be used to tell the audience something about herself, rather than telling each individual's story. Many times it seemed like the author enjoyed portraying these characters negatively....for example, the woman holding the small feline, photographed with her belly hanging out...I bet she would have liked the author to have used a photo that did not expose her belly. Or for the author not to devote a page and a half making it clear that she was disgusted by the ambrosia salad she spent hours making. What could have been an opportunity to tell the stories of these individuals who placed ads in the PennySaver turned out to be a collection of unkind vignettes that illuminated very little about the individuals interviewed, and revealed little of substance about the author. These are real people. I hope none of those featured in this book pick up a copy.
December 30, 2016
This is a tough one. This one repulsed me. I'm still trying to figure out why and I might delete this tomorrow because I feel like I might be judging too harshly, but here it goes anyways. Something about a white, pretty, privileged, screenwriter chick who only associates with Hollywood industry people (of course) and lives in Silver Lake (of course) and yet despite not having a "job" (which must also be explicitly pointed out to me) can still pay rent a few blocks away at a "cave" (unlikely) while living at her boyfriend's house full-time (which in L.A. reads: you give me head; me give you shelter. food. gas money)(I joke) and yet somehow has scads of time with zero motivation (upper class ennui, much?) to NOT write her screenplay then..(Epiphany!!) discovers that not everyone in L.A. belongs to her 1%. (note to self: google: Miranda July and Occupy L.A. and movement)
The beginning and almost right up until the last few chapters was just too: "I'm an L.A. transplant and I don't associate with the working class because I'm here to MAKE IT. I am so interesting. I have so many interesting ideas. Ok, so let's take a field trip to the lesser burroughs of L.A. and gawk at how poor and "unattractive" Pennysaver-people are. Let's see how poorly they're getting along during a recession I'm minimally affected by. Why pay $50 to go to the zoo up the street when I can be the first Silver Lake resident to pioneer into Lynwood or Palmdale or the 909 and pay $50 for someone without a high school diploma to tell me about their Hollywood-less lifestyle? This is going to be so fucking cool. There is no WAY I could have ever had met these people without the Pennysaver. It's the Internet's fault that there is literally this wall between me and them. Way to go Miranda. You are so fucking brilliant." I get it; part of how she is trying to present herself and this project is very tongue in cheek. But some of it wasn't. The end was better, but I don't know if that's because I personally liked her last interviewee (as did she) or because she explained her purpose a little more for me to forgive her for the beginning.
I only use the word unattractive because July does...maybe she used an even less flattering word...but to be invited into a stranger's home, basically call her ugly afterwards, paste a picture of her a few pages later, and publish it? That takes some balls. Grrrl power!!! Uh, no. Maybe July belongs to some new sect of feminism that I don't know about, after all, I don't live in Silver Lake anymore, so what the fuck do I know. This isn't some form of respectful anthropological research for a graduate thesis. This is: You're insulting random people right under pictures of their faces and making money off it. Bttttch-I mean-grrrl powwhateverrrrrrr. Is this the same type of feminist who would claim we need to lift other women up in positive ways? Or just those women who can return a favor in the biz? Just wondering because I doubt she'd be creating a hot or not list of Hollywood insiders and publishing it to a national audience. Why is it ok to do that here? Hmm. I couldn't help but think, she included pictures of all these people, why can't I judge their appearance without her TELLING me they're unattractive? Why include a picture of them at all??? For proof? To support her argument like a weak middle school thesis? Ugh. Just so many bad, bad thoughts.
What's more, none of the Pennypeople have a computer/internet so there is no way they could possibly have any kind of voice or response to the things she's said/implied about them. And she knows this. And she just keeps pointing it out again, and again. Her repulsion and fear of the Pennypeople is the reaction one would expect from little kids in the backseat of their mother's yuppie wagon driving from San Marino to Skid Row to receive a lesson on poverty: Look kids- poor people! Except July makes the mistake of getting out of the car, walking into their homes, and opening her mouth. Does July WANT select people in her audience to not like her? Is she only writing for those in her cool, educated, upper-class squad who would find mixing with other classes a source of amusement? Because the types of people she's writing about in this book sure as shit aren't reading anything she and her squad are writing. So is the underlying implication...the only people reading this and liking it are the one's whose opinions matter to her anyways so everyone else can suck it?
This is how I imagine that squad convo going: Paramount? Oh yeah, I was just over there yesterday, grrrl. I had a meeting with an associate producer. What? It's actually a city? What do you mean?!?! Oh my gawd Miranda! No way, you went where?!?! That is SO far away! Lol. That is SO funny. You are SO crazy. Did you run out of gas on your way there? No? Your boyfriend gave you enough gas money to get there...cool...let's meet up soon so I can show you the rest of my safari pics from Africa and you can show me the ones you took at that Paramount trailer park! ;)
Her privileged otherness, which she tries soooo hard to contain, was just too much for me. It reminded me of the white flight mentality I grew up with in a suburb of L.A. in the 1980's. And the ironic thing is, before that, I grew up in Silver Lake...when the majority of people living there were like those photographed in her book. So maybe I'm simply reading this differently than how she hopes her hipster audience will translate it...or maybe not. To her credit, 80's white flight is a difficult first-person mentality to pull off. Especially when the narrator isn't fictional. This was an issue I ran into firsthand way back when in a college Comp. class. Is it possible for the educated, non-broke & beautiful to write boldly about certain aspects of poverty and "ugliness" without sounding like complete fucking assholes? Long story short, I had to call one person in that class a complete fucking asshole.
Oh what might have been. Maybe if I had grown up sheltered in intellectually rich (or just plain rich) communities, I might find her drive to the other side of the tracks (L.A. suburbs, un-gentrified hoods, Valley apartments) super exciting. Or maybe when you aren't from Anytown, USA, its inhabitants take on a foreign quality that a native would not find fascinating. If these interviews had been conducted in Smalltown, Oklahoma, I can't help but think that the reaction to them would be: What ma'am, exactly, was you expectin' to find hereabouts? But even if it wasn't OK or L.A., every time she acted shocked, I kept thinking- Yeah, it's the Pennysaver. What ma'am, exactly, was you expectin' to find hereabouts?
The beginning and almost right up until the last few chapters was just too: "I'm an L.A. transplant and I don't associate with the working class because I'm here to MAKE IT. I am so interesting. I have so many interesting ideas. Ok, so let's take a field trip to the lesser burroughs of L.A. and gawk at how poor and "unattractive" Pennysaver-people are. Let's see how poorly they're getting along during a recession I'm minimally affected by. Why pay $50 to go to the zoo up the street when I can be the first Silver Lake resident to pioneer into Lynwood or Palmdale or the 909 and pay $50 for someone without a high school diploma to tell me about their Hollywood-less lifestyle? This is going to be so fucking cool. There is no WAY I could have ever had met these people without the Pennysaver. It's the Internet's fault that there is literally this wall between me and them. Way to go Miranda. You are so fucking brilliant." I get it; part of how she is trying to present herself and this project is very tongue in cheek. But some of it wasn't. The end was better, but I don't know if that's because I personally liked her last interviewee (as did she) or because she explained her purpose a little more for me to forgive her for the beginning.
I only use the word unattractive because July does...maybe she used an even less flattering word...but to be invited into a stranger's home, basically call her ugly afterwards, paste a picture of her a few pages later, and publish it? That takes some balls. Grrrl power!!! Uh, no. Maybe July belongs to some new sect of feminism that I don't know about, after all, I don't live in Silver Lake anymore, so what the fuck do I know. This isn't some form of respectful anthropological research for a graduate thesis. This is: You're insulting random people right under pictures of their faces and making money off it. Bttttch-I mean-grrrl powwhateverrrrrrr. Is this the same type of feminist who would claim we need to lift other women up in positive ways? Or just those women who can return a favor in the biz? Just wondering because I doubt she'd be creating a hot or not list of Hollywood insiders and publishing it to a national audience. Why is it ok to do that here? Hmm. I couldn't help but think, she included pictures of all these people, why can't I judge their appearance without her TELLING me they're unattractive? Why include a picture of them at all??? For proof? To support her argument like a weak middle school thesis? Ugh. Just so many bad, bad thoughts.
What's more, none of the Pennypeople have a computer/internet so there is no way they could possibly have any kind of voice or response to the things she's said/implied about them. And she knows this. And she just keeps pointing it out again, and again. Her repulsion and fear of the Pennypeople is the reaction one would expect from little kids in the backseat of their mother's yuppie wagon driving from San Marino to Skid Row to receive a lesson on poverty: Look kids- poor people! Except July makes the mistake of getting out of the car, walking into their homes, and opening her mouth. Does July WANT select people in her audience to not like her? Is she only writing for those in her cool, educated, upper-class squad who would find mixing with other classes a source of amusement? Because the types of people she's writing about in this book sure as shit aren't reading anything she and her squad are writing. So is the underlying implication...the only people reading this and liking it are the one's whose opinions matter to her anyways so everyone else can suck it?
This is how I imagine that squad convo going: Paramount? Oh yeah, I was just over there yesterday, grrrl. I had a meeting with an associate producer. What? It's actually a city? What do you mean?!?! Oh my gawd Miranda! No way, you went where?!?! That is SO far away! Lol. That is SO funny. You are SO crazy. Did you run out of gas on your way there? No? Your boyfriend gave you enough gas money to get there...cool...let's meet up soon so I can show you the rest of my safari pics from Africa and you can show me the ones you took at that Paramount trailer park! ;)
Her privileged otherness, which she tries soooo hard to contain, was just too much for me. It reminded me of the white flight mentality I grew up with in a suburb of L.A. in the 1980's. And the ironic thing is, before that, I grew up in Silver Lake...when the majority of people living there were like those photographed in her book. So maybe I'm simply reading this differently than how she hopes her hipster audience will translate it...or maybe not. To her credit, 80's white flight is a difficult first-person mentality to pull off. Especially when the narrator isn't fictional. This was an issue I ran into firsthand way back when in a college Comp. class. Is it possible for the educated, non-broke & beautiful to write boldly about certain aspects of poverty and "ugliness" without sounding like complete fucking assholes? Long story short, I had to call one person in that class a complete fucking asshole.
Oh what might have been. Maybe if I had grown up sheltered in intellectually rich (or just plain rich) communities, I might find her drive to the other side of the tracks (L.A. suburbs, un-gentrified hoods, Valley apartments) super exciting. Or maybe when you aren't from Anytown, USA, its inhabitants take on a foreign quality that a native would not find fascinating. If these interviews had been conducted in Smalltown, Oklahoma, I can't help but think that the reaction to them would be: What ma'am, exactly, was you expectin' to find hereabouts? But even if it wasn't OK or L.A., every time she acted shocked, I kept thinking- Yeah, it's the Pennysaver. What ma'am, exactly, was you expectin' to find hereabouts?
September 14, 2022
The funny thought of wanting to know how other ordinary people, like passersby in the street, live their lives always struck me. This thought always came with profound sadness and emptiness making me feel that life is worthless.
What makes life special? And why are we here? And why are they still living their worthless lives? Knowing that your story isn't that special and knowing a lot of stories get forgotten is an overwhelming feeling that will leave you lost in a sea of vagueness.
If someone would've asked me what do I share with a fifty something transvestite, a middle-aged Indian woman or a suburban single mother I would've said: "nothing!". That's not the right answer and this book came as a reminder that the thing that I share with them and everyone else is the world.
This is not a life mentor book or a feel good novel – GOD FORBID!. It is a tiny window on possibilities. It will not make you feel better about life by describing how good it is to be alive. It will make you feel better about life by helping you understanding it a bit more as you glide through the book.
So the writer gave little glimpses on people living on the margins of life, their margins of life. Shouldn't that be boring? Well, I think boring is not the word, the right word is epic.
What makes life special? And why are we here? And why are they still living their worthless lives? Knowing that your story isn't that special and knowing a lot of stories get forgotten is an overwhelming feeling that will leave you lost in a sea of vagueness.
If someone would've asked me what do I share with a fifty something transvestite, a middle-aged Indian woman or a suburban single mother I would've said: "nothing!". That's not the right answer and this book came as a reminder that the thing that I share with them and everyone else is the world.
This is not a life mentor book or a feel good novel – GOD FORBID!. It is a tiny window on possibilities. It will not make you feel better about life by describing how good it is to be alive. It will make you feel better about life by helping you understanding it a bit more as you glide through the book.
So the writer gave little glimpses on people living on the margins of life, their margins of life. Shouldn't that be boring? Well, I think boring is not the word, the right word is epic.
April 20, 2017
This was a weird one. Partially serving as a (somewhat-but-not-really) chronicle of Miranda July’s process of writing her 2nd feature film The Future, during which she procrastinates by meeting up with and interviewing random people who had placed ads for junk in the local PennySaver. Although I would consider myself a fan of July’s (both her film and prose) this book turned me off at first. It was just so...self-indulgent. Like she was placing her position as an “artist” (a quirky one at that!) above everyone else, and lamenting her “creative” problems like they were her happy cross to bear. And it was as if she were trying to FORCE meaning from what would ordinarily be normal, boring strangers. BUT - as the book wore on, that feeling kinda changed. The interviews got deeper, the people got more idiosyncratic, more interesting, the ties between what she was doing with this book and the ideas that endure and make it into The Future became clearer. If she was trying to “force” meaning, as I had said above, it was only because that’s who she - as a character - was at the start of this book. And as it wore on, meaning forced it way (whether she wanted it to or not) through every crack in every sentence, and she was powerless to stop it. By the end, this thing is overflowing with love and death and sadness and regret and hope, cutting right down to that rawest nerve that we, as humans, all share. It’s brilliant.
November 11, 2017
Ich hab es eigentlich nur wegen der sehr guten Prokrastinationsgeschichte in der Einleitung gelesen und bin dann dran hängengeblieben. Am Ende geht es um Kunst, also, wie Kunst eigentlich funktioniert. Die Lektüre war einerseits tröstlich: Man kann die ganze Zeit nur Blödsinn machen und herumpfuschen und scheitern. Andererseits beunruhigend: Man müsste das alles viel ernster nehmen, als ich es tue, dann käme auch was Interessantes dabei heraus. Würde auch fünf Sterne geben, vermute aber, dass ich demnächst alles wieder vergessen werde, deshalb nur vier.
February 17, 2012
While the project behind this book, interviewing people with items listed in the Penny Saver, is interesting, what makes the book worth reading is Miranda July's unique perspective on...well, everything. Sure, lots of the stories she finds speak for themselves, but as anyone who's familiar with her performance art knows, what she really excels at is locating the relevance (some people might use the word meaning, but that would imply an authorial imposition and I don't think she does that) of objects and situations. It's as if she sees the storylines beneath the storylines. Below the currents of our everyday lives there are other currents, equally as important, and it's from these that she draws her narrative. It's in these currents that she seems to live her life. She is an explorer more than a creator, and she's gifted at finding treasures in other people's waste. She says it herself in this books: "I...reminded myself to be attentive to mysterious advice and coded messages." July is the master codebreaker of existence. I imagine her reading the molecules that make up the air.
March 3, 2018
The overall concept of the book was interesting -- contacting people advertising random items in the PennySaver & then meeting with them to see the item or items they were selling, as well as interview them a bit in general. She definitely met some interesting people, but the overall whole seems... lacking, somehow. The photography was neat & definitely needed alongside the individual sections.
But, she didn't seem to ask very interesting questions of her interviewees, I think. It was all pretty free-form, yet seemed somewhat shallow too, even though she was being brave (in a way), putting herself out there to meet & chat with various people (including one creepy-ish guy wearing an ankle monitor). Interspersed between the interviews, she had sections about her frustrations writing her screenplay, variations on it, etc. Those parts were boring; she never pulled me in enough to care about those sections at all. Then again, I had never heard of her or seen her movies, so maybe those sections would have been more interesting if I had some knowledge of her wider body of work.
So, the concept of the interviews was interesting, but the overall whole just didn't pull it together for me. Meh. It was like a piece of performance art that just didn't quite succeed. 2 to 2.5 stars.
But, she didn't seem to ask very interesting questions of her interviewees, I think. It was all pretty free-form, yet seemed somewhat shallow too, even though she was being brave (in a way), putting herself out there to meet & chat with various people (including one creepy-ish guy wearing an ankle monitor). Interspersed between the interviews, she had sections about her frustrations writing her screenplay, variations on it, etc. Those parts were boring; she never pulled me in enough to care about those sections at all. Then again, I had never heard of her or seen her movies, so maybe those sections would have been more interesting if I had some knowledge of her wider body of work.
So, the concept of the interviews was interesting, but the overall whole just didn't pull it together for me. Meh. It was like a piece of performance art that just didn't quite succeed. 2 to 2.5 stars.
January 5, 2024
This book captured so much for me it is hard to put into words. It is both nothing special and everything. It made me reflect on the thing I love most about my job - getting to meet so many different and unique people each with their own stories. The stories in this book both devastated me and brought me joy and were everything that’s the best and the worst about the world and being alive and Miranda July just gets me.
June 17, 2012
There's a part of me that wants to raise my fist for Miranda July and say, "Yeah, she GETS our generation!" But then there's the cynical part of me that wants to shake her and ask her what her deal is. It's so hard to separate Miranda July from "It Chooses You" just as much as it would be difficult to envision not-Miranda July as the main character in either of her films. It's kind of like everything she touches turns into a gummy bear or some other quirky snack that she probably eats for dinner. Like she has branded herself and her projects. So let me stick to the book. During the writing of her script for the film "The Future," July decides to meet the people who advertise in the PennySaver catalog. The books consists of her interviews and photographs of these people. I think what she does well is treat them with respect. This project functions best as a book, and would probably lose its charm if it were a documentary. Even though some of their stories are heartbreaking or strange, they are also very real. She could never invent them as characters, because they are just people trying to live. They are not making art for art's sake. Perhaps the story that is most memorable is the couple selling CareBears. They have a bedroom in their garage because the home's other 2 bedrooms are occupied by the brother and son. And it's mostly sad because it's so necessary, and yet I would probably find it unacceptable to sleep in a garage. I don't know how else to say this.
Miranda July gets it because she realizes that people are interesting and yet they are not interesting. She realizes that perhaps not everyone makes sense, including herself. Though at the same time, she talks to these people at such a distance, as an observer. I think this book is worth reading, especially because it is such a quick read and yet I think it will stick with you. I know you may be reluctant to say that Miranda July wrote something meaningful, and that McSweeney's couldn't possibly have a sense of sincerity, but if you're not willing to spend a dollar at RedBox to rent "The Future," at least give the corresponding book a shot.
Miranda July gets it because she realizes that people are interesting and yet they are not interesting. She realizes that perhaps not everyone makes sense, including herself. Though at the same time, she talks to these people at such a distance, as an observer. I think this book is worth reading, especially because it is such a quick read and yet I think it will stick with you. I know you may be reluctant to say that Miranda July wrote something meaningful, and that McSweeney's couldn't possibly have a sense of sincerity, but if you're not willing to spend a dollar at RedBox to rent "The Future," at least give the corresponding book a shot.
Read
November 28, 2015It Chooses You is a recounting of how one artist (Miranda July) dealt with writer's block: she read the local Pennysaver, a print-version Craig's List type resource often found in supermarket. She contacted several people advertising in the paper and interviewed them. The interviews are more interesting for her connection to the subjects than for their content. I found July, a performance artist, writer, and filmmaker to be a touching and fascinating presence. I looked forward to my reading of this work because it was time I got to spend with her, at least her textual self. She is particularly powerful in the end section where she interviews an elderly man and makes him part of a film she's working on. In general, her Pennysaver interviews did not directly inform her film work but provided a point of departure for meditations on life, death, art, and the self.
I have also read July's book of short stories, No One Belongs Here More Than You, which I loved. She is an evocative yet precise writer. I now badly want to see her work in other venues-especially film and performance art.
Miranda July is the kind of artist who makes me excited about being alive. That's the highest recommendation I can think of.
I have also read July's book of short stories, No One Belongs Here More Than You, which I loved. She is an evocative yet precise writer. I now badly want to see her work in other venues-especially film and performance art.
Miranda July is the kind of artist who makes me excited about being alive. That's the highest recommendation I can think of.
November 22, 2012
I thoroughly enjoyed this odd little book (in which Miranda July, looking for inspiration to finish her screenplay, decides to interview people that she finds in the PennySaver ads). The interviews are funny, charming, and display an unvarnished array of Los Angeles citizens. Some of the dialogue, and her own commentary, is oddly touching. The subplot--about her personal life and the struggles of getting a movie finished--is quite interesting as well. The photos are pure Americana and wonderful.
October 11, 2018
A charming snack that reminded me what it's like to be human- and how raw and rare and boundless it can be. Miranda inspired me to be the strange, creative being that is within. Anything can accumulate un-expected meaning overtime.
February 12, 2012
This book pleased me very much.
Now I want to watch Miranda July's films which for reasons not quite clear to me -- envy perhaps -- I have avoided.
Now I want to watch Miranda July's films which for reasons not quite clear to me -- envy perhaps -- I have avoided.
September 28, 2021
O jeito dessa mulher de se colocar e se ver e ver tudo me toca de uma maneira tão específica que nem parece que vale a pena tentar explicar
July 25, 2020
https://www.vintagestories.gr/it-choo...
Το “It chooses you”, είναι ένα από τα πιο ενδιαφέροντα βιβλία που διάβασα το 2012. Μου το πρότεινε η Νατασέφ μια μέρα ενώ προσπαθούσα να βρω βιβλία για το πρότζεκτ του μάστερ μου. Έτσι ανακάλυψα τι εστί Miranda July. Πρόκειται για μια πολύ πολύπλευρη καλλιτέχνη που γράφει βιβλία, κάνει ταινίες και γενικότερα βρίσκεται στον χώρο της τέχνης και της έκφρασης.
Ενώ βρισκόταν εν μέσω προετοιμασιών για την ταινία της “The Future” ανακάλυψε τις αγγελίες Pennysaver, ήταν ένας τρόπος αποφόρτισης από τη συγγραφή, που την οδήγησε στην έμπνευση για το τελευταίο βιβλίο της “It chooses you”.
Η προσοχή της έπεσε σε μια από τις αγγελίες: Πωλείται μεγάλο δερμάτινο σακάκι 10$ ή και λιγότερο... Μα τί θα μπορούσε να κάνει κάποιον να θέλει να πουλήσει τόσο φθηνά το σακάκι του ή επίσης το να είναι διατεθειμένος για ακόμη λιγότερα χρήματα;
Η Miranda συνάντησε τον ιδιοκτήτη ώστε να μάθει περισσότερα γι' αυτόν και μαζί με τη φωτογράφο Brigitte Sire έκαναν συνολικά 13 απίστευτα πορτραίτα ατόμων του περιθωρίου που το κοινό τους ήταν οι αγγελίες του Pennysaver... Άνθρωποι που άλλοτε για οικονομικούς λόγους, άλλοτε για επιλογές που κάνανε ζούνε στο περιθώριο της κοινωνίας. Οι επισκέψεις της July έριξαν φως στην καθημερινότητά τους και με έναν τρομερά απολαυστικό τρόπο μετατράπηκαν σε χαρακτήρες με απίστευτο ενδιαφέρον.
Το μόνο σίγουρο είναι πως στο τέλος του βιβλίου και έχοντας περάσει από τις ζωές και των 13ων βλέπουμε ότι ένα από τα πολλά κοινά τους είναι η ανάγκη για επικοινωνία, που την αναζητούν με τον δικό τους ιδιαίτερο τρόπο.
Σημαντικό κομμάτι του βιβλίου ήταν και οι ερωτήσεις της July, που επαναλαμβάνονταν αρχικά καθώς προέρχονταν από τη δική της πραγματικότητα, που δεν είχε σχέση με αυτή των ατόμων αλλά έκανε προσπάθειες να τους καταλάβει. Αυτή είναι και μία πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα πτυχή του βιβλίου, όταν η ίδια το αναφέρει ή και γενικά όταν το παρατηρούμε στην αλλαγή της στάσης της απέναντί τους μέσω των ερωτήσεων της.
Εξαιρετικά ενδιαφέρον, αξίζει να το δοκιμάσετε.
Αρχές Ιουνίου κυκλοφόρησε και στα ισπανικά και με έκανε επιτέλους να το διαβάσω. Το αμερικάνικο publishing είναι καταπληκτικό, σίγουρα από τις πιο προσεγμένες εκδόσεις που είδα φέτος, με ένα ιδιαίτερο χαρτί στο εσωτερικό και εξωτερικό του και με ένα εξώφυλλο που το ξεχωρίζει από άλλα βιβλία.
Στα ελληνικά δεν υπάρχει, κυκλοφορεί στα αγγλικά απο τις εκδόσεις McSweeney's.
https://www.vintagestories.gr/it-choo...
Το “It chooses you”, είναι ένα από τα πιο ενδιαφέροντα βιβλία που διάβασα το 2012. Μου το πρότεινε η Νατασέφ μια μέρα ενώ προσπαθούσα να βρω βιβλία για το πρότζεκτ του μάστερ μου. Έτσι ανακάλυψα τι εστί Miranda July. Πρόκειται για μια πολύ πολύπλευρη καλλιτέχνη που γράφει βιβλία, κάνει ταινίες και γενικότερα βρίσκεται στον χώρο της τέχνης και της έκφρασης.
Ενώ βρισκόταν εν μέσω προετοιμασιών για την ταινία της “The Future” ανακάλυψε τις αγγελίες Pennysaver, ήταν ένας τρόπος αποφόρτισης από τη συγγραφή, που την οδήγησε στην έμπνευση για το τελευταίο βιβλίο της “It chooses you”.
Η προσοχή της έπεσε σε μια από τις αγγελίες: Πωλείται μεγάλο δερμάτινο σακάκι 10$ ή και λιγότερο... Μα τί θα μπορούσε να κάνει κάποιον να θέλει να πουλήσει τόσο φθηνά το σακάκι του ή επίσης το να είναι διατεθειμένος για ακόμη λιγότερα χρήματα;
Η Miranda συνάντησε τον ιδιοκτήτη ώστε να μάθει περισσότερα γι' αυτόν και μαζί με τη φωτογράφο Brigitte Sire έκαναν συνολικά 13 απίστευτα πορτραίτα ατόμων του περιθωρίου που το κοινό τους ήταν οι αγγελίες του Pennysaver... Άνθρωποι που άλλοτε για οικονομικούς λόγους, άλλοτε για επιλογές που κάνανε ζούνε στο περιθώριο της κοινωνίας. Οι επισκέψεις της July έριξαν φως στην καθημερινότητά τους και με έναν τρομερά απολαυστικό τρόπο μετατράπηκαν σε χαρακτήρες με απίστευτο ενδιαφέρον.
Το μόνο σίγουρο είναι πως στο τέλος του βιβλίου και έχοντας περάσει από τις ζωές και των 13ων βλέπουμε ότι ένα από τα πολλά κοινά τους είναι η ανάγκη για επικοινωνία, που την αναζητούν με τον δικό τους ιδιαίτερο τρόπο.
Σημαντικό κομμάτι του βιβλίου ήταν και οι ερωτήσεις της July, που επαναλαμβάνονταν αρχικά καθώς προέρχονταν από τη δική της πραγματικότητα, που δεν είχε σχέση με αυτή των ατόμων αλλά έκανε προσπάθειες να τους καταλάβει. Αυτή είναι και μία πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα πτυχή του βιβλίου, όταν η ίδια το αναφέρει ή και γενικά όταν το παρατηρούμε στην αλλαγή της στάσης της απέναντί τους μέσω των ερωτήσεων της.
Εξαιρετικά ενδιαφέρον, αξίζει να το δοκιμάσετε.
Αρχές Ιουνίου κυκλοφόρησε και στα ισπανικά και με έκανε επιτέλους να το διαβάσω. Το αμερικάνικο publishing είναι καταπληκτικό, σίγουρα από τις πιο προσεγμένες εκδόσεις που είδα φέτος, με ένα ιδιαίτερο χαρτί στο εσωτερικό και εξωτερικό του και με ένα εξώφυλλο που το ξεχωρίζει από άλλα βιβλία.
Στα ελληνικά δεν υπάρχει, κυκλοφορεί στα αγγλικά απο τις εκδόσεις McSweeney's.
https://www.vintagestories.gr/it-choo...
February 20, 2012
After owning this book for months and not picking it up (because I wasn't sure what to make of it), I loved it so much I read it cover to cover in one afternoon. It Chooses You tackles so many things at once - fear of being a terrible/fake/undeserving artist, fear of running out of ideas, fear of falling in love because that could mean someday losing that love, and fear of being alone. These themes are tackled from a couple different, and equally interesting angles. Miranda writes about her own difficulties writing a script using great self-effacing humor and honest revelations about her crippling moments as a writer. She also interviews a very strange and fascinating collection of people tied together by a loose thread of using the classifieds and not really getting computers. The subjects of her interviews are both moving and creepy, and the fact that they don't all fall into one side of the spectrum is great. It's also great the way that Miranda finds something she relates to in each of them, even the ones who houses she soon wants to leave. This book made me appreciate her movie The Future in a new way, but it also made me appreciate how refreshing it is for artists to write about their darker and uncomfortable moments in such an inspiring way.
June 27, 2013
This is one of those books that could cause a lively debate/discussion among readers (particularly nonfiction readers). I saw this happen in real time.
Admittedly, when I first tackled this memoir, I was lured in by the beginning, when the narrator talks about the writing apartment she kept even after getting married, her relationship, her screen writing writer's block, and the internet dabbling. It is a book about a struggling screenwriter who can't find a sponsor or the ending to her movie, so she gets distracted by the Pennysaver magazine. Soon, she is interviewing these sellers of different quirks and character, and detailing the experience in a memoir.
July has a distinct voice on the page, that's for sure. Somewhere in the middle though I was lost in the very different interviews that could perhaps have been singular essays.
But. After seeing Miranda read this aloud at my seminar, after seeing her quirk come full force in the middle of a writing discussion, the book and the many characters in it, came alive. If you've ever seen her film "The Future" you've seen snippets of this book: the pennysaver magazine, the dancer who gets dancer block, etc.
Admittedly, when I first tackled this memoir, I was lured in by the beginning, when the narrator talks about the writing apartment she kept even after getting married, her relationship, her screen writing writer's block, and the internet dabbling. It is a book about a struggling screenwriter who can't find a sponsor or the ending to her movie, so she gets distracted by the Pennysaver magazine. Soon, she is interviewing these sellers of different quirks and character, and detailing the experience in a memoir.
July has a distinct voice on the page, that's for sure. Somewhere in the middle though I was lost in the very different interviews that could perhaps have been singular essays.
But. After seeing Miranda read this aloud at my seminar, after seeing her quirk come full force in the middle of a writing discussion, the book and the many characters in it, came alive. If you've ever seen her film "The Future" you've seen snippets of this book: the pennysaver magazine, the dancer who gets dancer block, etc.
August 3, 2020
Conocí la existencia de este libro porque Juan José Millás lo menciona en su novela-diario La Vida a Ratos. Me pareció tremendo, ojalá puedan leerlo. Los siguientes apartes fueron tomados del libro:
• All I ever really want to know is how other people are making it through life – where do they put their body, hour by hour, and how do they cope inside of it.
• I’m just interviewing people. I’m really interested in just getting a portrait of the person and what they’re interested in, and a sense of their life story. I’m a writer and I usually write fiction, but this is – you know, I’m always curious about people.
• I’ve been trying for so long now, for decades, to lift the lid a little bit, to see under the edge of life and somehow catch it in the act
• To keep from crying, I had to do the trick where you contract your butt into a tiny fist and mentally repeat the words fuckyoufuckyoufuckyou.
• Most of life is offline, and I think it always will be; eating and aching and sleeping and loving happen in the body.
• I didn’t know if she was older or younger than me, or maybe she was a new age, one that didn’t involve numbers.
• Finally I realized Dina herself was the most intricate, storied thing in the house.
• Joe could do what I asked, but his own life was so insistent, and so bizarrely relevant, that it overwhelmed every fiction.
• she began to tell me about herself the way Michael had, as if this interview really mattered. It occurred to me that everyone’s story matters to themselves, so the more I listened, the more she wanted to talk.
• I liked to think of the dormant script curing like ham in a hickory woodshed. Each day I left it alone, it got better. And now it was time to check on the progress it had made without me.
• Miranda: And what’s been the happiest time in your life so far?
Matilda: When I was living in my country. Miranda: In Cuba?
Matilda: Yeah.
• Miranda: So tell me about these pictures on the wall. Domingo: I have, like, fantasies and stuff, like I pretend I’m an officer, you know, a deputy sheriff, things like that.
• But she wanted to tell me about his last day. “He was in bed, and I kissed him, and, you know, diddled him a little, and then I went out of the room for a moment, and when I came back he was gone.”
• I wanted to know more things about what this leather-jacket person thought, how they were getting through the days, what they hoped, what they feared
• The house was big and grand, again. Pauline was in her seventies, and she immediately began showing me pictures and telling me stories about her amateur singing group, the Mellow Tones.
• If I interacted only with people like me, then I’d feel normal again, un-creepy. Which didn’t seem right either. So I decided that it was okay to feel creepy, it was appropriate, because I was a little creepy.
• In my paranoid world every storekeeper thinks I’m stealing, every man thinks I’m a prostitute or a lesbian, every woman thinks I’m a lesbian or arrogant, and every child and animal sees the real me and it is evil.
• The PennySaver has always been strongest when the economy is the weakest; the first issue was printed during the Great Depression in someone’s garage.
• The first thing I ever made professionally – that is, for the ostensible public – was a play about my correspondence with a man in prison. I started writing to Franko C. Jones when I was fourteen. I’d found his address in (where else?) the classifieds, in a section that doesn’t seem to exist anymore called “Prison Pen Pals.”
• The fullness of her life was menacing to me – there was no room for invention, no place for the kind of fictional conjuring that makes me feel useful, or feel anything at all. She wanted me to just actually be there and eat fruit with her.
• Trying to see things that are invisible but nearby has always been alluring to me. It feels like a real cause, something to fight for, and yet so abstract that the fight has to be similarly subtle.
• I had become narrow and short-sighted at my desk. I’d forgotten about boldness, that it was even an option. If I couldn’t write the scenes, then I should really go all the way with not writing them.
• It didn’t really matter that his dreams of wildlife were in the opposite direction from the airplane hangar where he was headed, because there was time for multiple lives. Everything could still happen, so no decision could be very wrong.
• A year earlier I had been suffering through a fruitless week when I told myself, Okay, loser, if you really are incapable of writing, then let’s hear it. Let’s hear what incapable sounds like. I made broken, inhuman sounds and then tried to type them, with sodden, clumsy hands.
• As I left his room I said something like “Maybe I’ll see you around,” as if our generation all liked to congregate at one coffee shop.
• I might never finish the script, and the world would be none the worse for that.
• There was no law against knowing them, but it wouldn’t happen. LA isn’t a walking city, or a subway city, so if someone isn’t in my house or my car we’ll never be together, not even for a moment.
• Miranda: And, besides a job, besides school and then a job, what things do you picture in your future? Andrew: Picture? Miranda: What do you imagine?
Andrew: Like in the future?
Miranda: Yeah, anything. He looked at the ceiling, summoning a vision as if I had asked him to actually see his own future.
• I wanted to see how she had become the mysterious woman she was. Her large, freckled body was decorated with tattoos and piercings, and her painted eyebrows only loosely referenced real eyebrows – they were the color of wine.
• Look at him, and he is just smiling, and it’s nice. I always feel so good to see somebody really happy.
• This was the beginning of my friendship with Richard Greiling of Greiling Brothers Shoe Repair. There wasn’t another brother; he just liked the sound of it.
• I’d been waiting for the perfect movie title, but finally I decided to just name it. It had to be short, a very familiar, short word. I looked up the most commonly used nouns. The number one most common noun was time. Which made me feel less alone; everyone else was thinking about it too. Number two was person. Number three was year. Number 320 was future. The Future.
• All I ever really want to know is how other people are making it through life – where do they put their body, hour by hour, and how do they cope inside of it.
• I’m just interviewing people. I’m really interested in just getting a portrait of the person and what they’re interested in, and a sense of their life story. I’m a writer and I usually write fiction, but this is – you know, I’m always curious about people.
• I’ve been trying for so long now, for decades, to lift the lid a little bit, to see under the edge of life and somehow catch it in the act
• To keep from crying, I had to do the trick where you contract your butt into a tiny fist and mentally repeat the words fuckyoufuckyoufuckyou.
• Most of life is offline, and I think it always will be; eating and aching and sleeping and loving happen in the body.
• I didn’t know if she was older or younger than me, or maybe she was a new age, one that didn’t involve numbers.
• Finally I realized Dina herself was the most intricate, storied thing in the house.
• Joe could do what I asked, but his own life was so insistent, and so bizarrely relevant, that it overwhelmed every fiction.
• she began to tell me about herself the way Michael had, as if this interview really mattered. It occurred to me that everyone’s story matters to themselves, so the more I listened, the more she wanted to talk.
• I liked to think of the dormant script curing like ham in a hickory woodshed. Each day I left it alone, it got better. And now it was time to check on the progress it had made without me.
• Miranda: And what’s been the happiest time in your life so far?
Matilda: When I was living in my country. Miranda: In Cuba?
Matilda: Yeah.
• Miranda: So tell me about these pictures on the wall. Domingo: I have, like, fantasies and stuff, like I pretend I’m an officer, you know, a deputy sheriff, things like that.
• But she wanted to tell me about his last day. “He was in bed, and I kissed him, and, you know, diddled him a little, and then I went out of the room for a moment, and when I came back he was gone.”
• I wanted to know more things about what this leather-jacket person thought, how they were getting through the days, what they hoped, what they feared
• The house was big and grand, again. Pauline was in her seventies, and she immediately began showing me pictures and telling me stories about her amateur singing group, the Mellow Tones.
• If I interacted only with people like me, then I’d feel normal again, un-creepy. Which didn’t seem right either. So I decided that it was okay to feel creepy, it was appropriate, because I was a little creepy.
• In my paranoid world every storekeeper thinks I’m stealing, every man thinks I’m a prostitute or a lesbian, every woman thinks I’m a lesbian or arrogant, and every child and animal sees the real me and it is evil.
• The PennySaver has always been strongest when the economy is the weakest; the first issue was printed during the Great Depression in someone’s garage.
• The first thing I ever made professionally – that is, for the ostensible public – was a play about my correspondence with a man in prison. I started writing to Franko C. Jones when I was fourteen. I’d found his address in (where else?) the classifieds, in a section that doesn’t seem to exist anymore called “Prison Pen Pals.”
• The fullness of her life was menacing to me – there was no room for invention, no place for the kind of fictional conjuring that makes me feel useful, or feel anything at all. She wanted me to just actually be there and eat fruit with her.
• Trying to see things that are invisible but nearby has always been alluring to me. It feels like a real cause, something to fight for, and yet so abstract that the fight has to be similarly subtle.
• I had become narrow and short-sighted at my desk. I’d forgotten about boldness, that it was even an option. If I couldn’t write the scenes, then I should really go all the way with not writing them.
• It didn’t really matter that his dreams of wildlife were in the opposite direction from the airplane hangar where he was headed, because there was time for multiple lives. Everything could still happen, so no decision could be very wrong.
• A year earlier I had been suffering through a fruitless week when I told myself, Okay, loser, if you really are incapable of writing, then let’s hear it. Let’s hear what incapable sounds like. I made broken, inhuman sounds and then tried to type them, with sodden, clumsy hands.
• As I left his room I said something like “Maybe I’ll see you around,” as if our generation all liked to congregate at one coffee shop.
• I might never finish the script, and the world would be none the worse for that.
• There was no law against knowing them, but it wouldn’t happen. LA isn’t a walking city, or a subway city, so if someone isn’t in my house or my car we’ll never be together, not even for a moment.
• Miranda: And, besides a job, besides school and then a job, what things do you picture in your future? Andrew: Picture? Miranda: What do you imagine?
Andrew: Like in the future?
Miranda: Yeah, anything. He looked at the ceiling, summoning a vision as if I had asked him to actually see his own future.
• I wanted to see how she had become the mysterious woman she was. Her large, freckled body was decorated with tattoos and piercings, and her painted eyebrows only loosely referenced real eyebrows – they were the color of wine.
• Look at him, and he is just smiling, and it’s nice. I always feel so good to see somebody really happy.
• This was the beginning of my friendship with Richard Greiling of Greiling Brothers Shoe Repair. There wasn’t another brother; he just liked the sound of it.
• I’d been waiting for the perfect movie title, but finally I decided to just name it. It had to be short, a very familiar, short word. I looked up the most commonly used nouns. The number one most common noun was time. Which made me feel less alone; everyone else was thinking about it too. Number two was person. Number three was year. Number 320 was future. The Future.
October 13, 2012
I was feeling nostalgic and rereading No One Belongs Here More Than You when I was stricken with this need to buy all of Miranda July's books off of Amazon. This one arrived today, and I read it in one sitting. For the most part, it satisfied the craving that I was having, but at the end of it, I just felt really weird and sad...which is sort of a tone of a lot of the book. I didn't know this when I started reading it, but in it, she had taken a break from writing The Future because she's sort of stuck and can't bring herself to work on it, even though she's basically done with it. As a distraction from her writer's block, she decides to interview people she meets via ads in the Pennysaver, hoping that eventually she will learn something from doing this that will inspire her to finish her screenplay. Everything pretty much works out, in a strange, bittersweet way. Though it mostly inspired me to lay in bed and feel sad and weird, rather than inspiring me to work on the novella I've been writing, I mostly enjoyed it.
July 16, 2013
This kind of book you want to keep reading but you don't want to finish. Amazing. I remember watching 'Me and you and everyone else we know' after it came out and I was maybe sill too young for it but I remember it left me with some indescribable feeling. I had this feeling all along reading this book.
Especially as I just had a baby and this is one of the topics Miranda wonders about.
Especially as I spend way too much time online and I feel I don't live the real life.
Especially as I'm procrastinating instead of getting my projects done.
This book it's about it all and much more. I want to read it again and again.
Unfortunately I borrowed it from the library as I planned to spend less money on books. What a mistake. I will be getting this one in no time.
Ps. Now I'm going to reread "No one belongs here more than you". I'm curious how much my brain and my emotions changed since the first time.
Love you long time, Miranda. What a very special artist.
Especially as I just had a baby and this is one of the topics Miranda wonders about.
Especially as I spend way too much time online and I feel I don't live the real life.
Especially as I'm procrastinating instead of getting my projects done.
This book it's about it all and much more. I want to read it again and again.
Unfortunately I borrowed it from the library as I planned to spend less money on books. What a mistake. I will be getting this one in no time.
Ps. Now I'm going to reread "No one belongs here more than you". I'm curious how much my brain and my emotions changed since the first time.
Love you long time, Miranda. What a very special artist.
March 31, 2024
What a beautiful world Miranda July has woven and laid out for her readers! In what starts as a typical procrastination piece, meaning a project that is born out of writer's block or the impossibility of continuing another ongoing project, Miranda uses this 'distraction' of hers - calling the individuals selling their objects on PennySaver, a pre-model of today's Facebook Marketplace - to reflect on her artistic aspirations, life as it goes by and the vulnerability of intimately connecting to ecstatic strangers. In a slightly treacherous way, the author therefore completes two artistic projects while she is struggling to deal with just one. So much about procrastination, heh?
"It Chooses You" is a sensitive piece about personal objects and the relationships that we create with them and around them. It delves into the intensity of our being-with others, which often emerges simply from showing a bit more interest than usual. Troubled by the solitary facet of writing, Miranda seeks out strangers whose objects not only interest her, but who also reciprocally engage in a quest for conversation, connection, or simple financial compensation. Therefore, the final product ends up taking the shape of a memoir, a personal diary, a to-do list filled with instant reflections & scribbles, a catalogue of lives behind objects, a testimony of what happens when you decide to cross the uncomfortable boundaries of the known in quest of something not yet defined.
The most beautiful aspect of this book, despite the singular stories and characters, beautifully delicate photographs and sporadic dialogues, is Miranda's capacity to go towards these people, to talk to them, and unveil aspects of her world by gaining interest in theirs. As an artist, one of the most difficult things that one learns with time is the ability to get out of one's head in the hopes of feeling less lonely throughout the process. There is one trick, unfortunately. You do not get close to people so that they can help you, or give you ideas somehow; you get close to them because they are fascinating and because the world can be so inspiring if you just care enough to slow down and take a good look at it. And you give in so that you can get high on people, get high on places and get high on the stories that both the people and the place have told, tell and will continue telling.
I hear loud and clear Miranda's hunger for knowing 'how other people are making it through life - where do they put their body, hour by hour, and how do they cope inside of it'. What she so deliciously wrote in 2010, I feel even more present nowadays, ten years later, when the distractions and opportunities around us have multiplied, and it is getting more and more difficult to 'choose' how to get by throughout life. Knowing how others manage, though, might be a huge help, and I am not speaking only artistically. Embracing each other becomes a tool to existing, because that is the outlet that we are mostly left with in times of significant trouble.
I will not lie - I do understand if Miranda's book is interesting due to the unveiling of her artistic process; for once, it makes me feel more sure of my own. That being said, I can understand why some readers might feel quite confused upon finishing it, or even enraged by the sight of it. But the most important part - and I believe it is the aftertaste that one is left with, creative or not - is the encouragement that it brings to lend out a caring ear and to pay attention to one's surroundings in new ways every day. This is how safe spaces and support systems are fabricated, by caring; but also by making sure that the curiosity is genuine, and the desire for intimacy is mutual.
"It Chooses You" is a sensitive piece about personal objects and the relationships that we create with them and around them. It delves into the intensity of our being-with others, which often emerges simply from showing a bit more interest than usual. Troubled by the solitary facet of writing, Miranda seeks out strangers whose objects not only interest her, but who also reciprocally engage in a quest for conversation, connection, or simple financial compensation. Therefore, the final product ends up taking the shape of a memoir, a personal diary, a to-do list filled with instant reflections & scribbles, a catalogue of lives behind objects, a testimony of what happens when you decide to cross the uncomfortable boundaries of the known in quest of something not yet defined.
The most beautiful aspect of this book, despite the singular stories and characters, beautifully delicate photographs and sporadic dialogues, is Miranda's capacity to go towards these people, to talk to them, and unveil aspects of her world by gaining interest in theirs. As an artist, one of the most difficult things that one learns with time is the ability to get out of one's head in the hopes of feeling less lonely throughout the process. There is one trick, unfortunately. You do not get close to people so that they can help you, or give you ideas somehow; you get close to them because they are fascinating and because the world can be so inspiring if you just care enough to slow down and take a good look at it. And you give in so that you can get high on people, get high on places and get high on the stories that both the people and the place have told, tell and will continue telling.
I hear loud and clear Miranda's hunger for knowing 'how other people are making it through life - where do they put their body, hour by hour, and how do they cope inside of it'. What she so deliciously wrote in 2010, I feel even more present nowadays, ten years later, when the distractions and opportunities around us have multiplied, and it is getting more and more difficult to 'choose' how to get by throughout life. Knowing how others manage, though, might be a huge help, and I am not speaking only artistically. Embracing each other becomes a tool to existing, because that is the outlet that we are mostly left with in times of significant trouble.
I will not lie - I do understand if Miranda's book is interesting due to the unveiling of her artistic process; for once, it makes me feel more sure of my own. That being said, I can understand why some readers might feel quite confused upon finishing it, or even enraged by the sight of it. But the most important part - and I believe it is the aftertaste that one is left with, creative or not - is the encouragement that it brings to lend out a caring ear and to pay attention to one's surroundings in new ways every day. This is how safe spaces and support systems are fabricated, by caring; but also by making sure that the curiosity is genuine, and the desire for intimacy is mutual.
Read
January 2, 2024I like July's movies, and this book did a good job of capturing her spirit - overall, I probably prefer her work in other media, but it was nice to be able to revisit small portions a bit more easier, and to have things filtered down into writing.
October 13, 2020
This was a very random book yet I couldn't put it down...
August 7, 2024
Miranda July will always have such a special place in my heart. This book is contemplative and odd and really satisfying.
October 24, 2017
3.5 - fajna lektura na leniwy wieczór. Ale nie jest to wielka literatura.
November 10, 2022
m'ha fet plorar al final, la odïo
October 7, 2017
This book doesn't reinvent the wheel or anything but it made me think. July always keeps me interested.
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