#a kim jong il production the extraordinary true story of a kidnapped filmmaker his star actress and a young dictator's rise to power

[bookclub4m]

Episode 129 - Non-Fiction Film & TV Books

This episode we’re talking about Non-Fiction Film & TV books! We discuss media about media, self-pity book purchasing, spoilers, and more! Plus: Kakapos!

You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system.

In this episode

Anna Ferri | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards | Appleberry

Things We Read (or tried to…)

Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema by Lindy West

Ayoade on Top by Richard Ayoade

Movies (and Other Things) by Shea Serrano and Arturo Torres 

Soul Train: The Music, Dance, and Style of a Generation by Questlove

Springfield Confidential: Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons by Mike Reiss, Mathew Klickstein

Hollywood vs. the Author edited by Stephen Jay Schwartz

Talking Pictures: How to Watch Movies by Ann Hornaday

The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made by Greg Sestero, Tom Bissell

Richard Ayoade Presents the Grip of Film by Gordy LaSure

Typeset in the Future: Typography and Design in Science Fiction Movies by Dave Addey

Typeset in the Future website

101 Movies to Watch Before You Die by Ricardo Cavolo

How to Watch Television, Second Edition edited by Ethan Thompson and Jason Mittell

Other Media We Mentioned

A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator's Rise to Power by Paul Fischer

Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun (Wikipedia)

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (Wikipedia)

Samurai Pizza Cats (Wikipedia)

My Pet Monster (Wikipedia)

The A-Team (Wikipedia)

Murder, She Wrote (Wikipedia)

Are You Afraid of the Dark? (Wikipedia)

Goosebumps (TV series) (Wikipedia)

Live from New York: An Oral History of Saturday Night Live by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales

Saturday Night Live (Wikipedia)

The Kids in the Hall: One Dumb Guy by Paul Myers

The Kids in the Hall (TV series) (Wikipedia)

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes

Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman

Which Lie Did I Tell? More Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman

The Fugitive (Wikipedia)

View from the Top (Wikipedia)

The Room (Wikipedia)

2001: A Space Odyssey (Wikipedia)

Alien (Wikipedia)

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Wikipedia)

Blade Runner (Wikipedia)

Total Recall (Wikipedia)

WALL-E (Wikipedia)

Moon (Wikipedia)

House (TV series) (Wikipedia)

Battlestar Galactica (Wikipedia)

The Video Game History Hour podcast

Decoder Ring - The Soap Opera Machine

Shrill (TV series) (Wikipedia)

Love, Actually (Wikipedia)

List of Hallmark Channel Original Movies (Wikipedia)

33⅓ (Wikipedia)

Criminal Minds (Wikipedia)

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Wikipedia)

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (Wikipedia)

Dredd (Wikipedia)

The Muppets (Wikipedia)

Top Gun (Wikipedia)

Kate Beaton’s Top Gun comics

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Wikipedia)

Star Trek: The Next Generation (Wikipedia)

Armageddon Films FAQ: All That's Left to Know about Zombies, Contagions, Aliens, and the End of the World as We Know It! by Dale Sherman

Links, Articles, and Things

Library Punk episode 014 - Manga

Episode 128 - Plucky Kid Detective

Fanart!

Episode 104 - Entertainment Non-Fiction

Toy Galaxy (YouTube channel)

Lindsay Ellis (YouTube channel)

Amanda the Jedi (YouTube channel)

Jenny Nicholson (YouTube channel)

Every Frame a Painting (YouTube channel)

Postmortem: Every Frame a Painting by co-creator Tony Zhou

Welcome to the Basement

Pushing Up Roses (YouTube channel)

Jacob Geller (YouTube channel)

Letterboxd (Wikipedia)

Demi Adejuyigbe on Letterboxd

Sidewalk Slam - Episode 57 - AEW Revolution 2021 (YouTube)

Kakapo (Wikipedia)

Lego set

Diegesis (Wikipedia)

The Stranger (newspaper) (Wikipedia)

Chuck Klosterman (Wikipedia)

Hanif Abdurraqib (Wikipedia)

24 Film/TV/Video Non-Fiction books by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) Authors

Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.

All the Pieces Matter: The Inside Story of The Wire by Jonathan Abrams

“Indian” Stereotypes in TV Science Fiction: First Nations' Voices Speak Out by Sierra S. Adare

Ayoade on Top by Richard Ayoade

Contemporary Black Women Filmmakers and the Art of Resistance by Christina N. Baker

Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present by Robin R. Means Coleman  

The Hollywood Jim Crow: The Racial Politics of the Movie Industry by Maryann Erigha

Framing Blackness: The African American Image in Film by Ed Guerrero

Why Wakanda Matters: What Black Panther Reveals About Psychology, Identity, and Communication by Sheena C. Howard

Something Like an Autobiography by Akira Kurosawa

Our Gang: A Racial History of The Little Rascals by Julia Lee

The Films of Bong Joon Ho by Nam Lee

Moving the Image: Independent Asian Pacific American Media Arts edited by Russell Leong

Farewell My Concubine: A Queer Film Classic by Helen Hok-Sze Leung

Cinema-Interval by Trinh T. Minh-ha

Get Out: The Complete Annotated Screenplay by Jordan Peele

Where Do You Think We Are?: Ten Illustrated Essays About Scrubs by Shea Serrano, illustrated by Arturo Torres

Arab Cinema: History and Cultural Identity by Viola Shafik

Maori Television: The First Ten Years by Jo Smith

Shaded Lives: African American Women and Television by Beretta E. Smith-Shomade

Tribal Television: Viewing Native People in Sitcoms by Dustin Tahmahkera

Soul Train: The Music, Dance, and Style of a Generation by Ahmir Questlove Thompson

Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song: A Guerilla Filmmaking Manifesto by Melvin Van Peebles

Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism by Nancy Wang Yuen

I See Black People: The Rise and Fall of African American-Owned Television and Radio by Kristal Brent Zook

Also check out the booklist from our episode on Entertainment Non-Fiction.

Give us feedback!

Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!

Which zine do you most want to read? (Twitter poll)

RJ's zine about Love Actually

Anna's zine about Criminal Minds

Matthew's zine about Dredd

Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Twitter or Instagram, join our Facebook Group, or send us an email!

It’s almost time for our annual “We all read the same book” episode. So on Tuesday, July 20th we’ll each suggest and talk about one title and you’ll get to vote for which one we’ll read. (And yes, it will definitely happen this time.)

Then on Tuesday, August 3rd it’s time to jack in and download because we’ll be reading the genre of Cyberpunk!

[andrewreadsandwrites]

A Kim Jong-Il Production The Extraordinary True Story Of A Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, And A Young Dictator’s Rise To Power by Paul Fischer

            A Kim Jong-Il Production The Extraordinary True Story Of A Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, And A Young Dictator’s Rise To Power by Paul Fischer tells the story of the North Korean regime’s abduction of a South Korean director and his actress wife in the late 1970s. Director Shin Sang-Ok and his wife Chio Eun-Hee were abducted on the orders of Kim Jon-Il himself, the rising power and future dictator of the totalitarian Stalinist state that is North Korea.

            Shin and Chio were already established and successful names in the South Korean movie industry. Chio had stared in a number of her husband’s films by 1978 when she was kidnaped after being lured by North Korean agents to Hong Kong. Shin was abducted when he went to Hong Kong in search of Chio.

            While Shin and Chio’s careers were on the rise, north of the Demilitarized Zone that cuts Korea in two, Kim Jong-Il, son of North Korea’s founding tyrant Kim Il-Sung, was looking to advance his own career in the field of absolute control. Jong-Il was a huge film buff, being the dictator’s son allowed him access to all of the banned foreign movies ordinary North Koreans would be shot for watching, and apparently he wanted to make a few films in a foreign style. For that Jong-Il wanted Shin and Chio.

            This story may sound strange or even absurd on the surface, but Fischer does an excellent job of relating the thoughts and emotions that Chio and Shin went through as they were cut off from their children, starved, imprisoned, monitored every waking and sleeping moment, stuffed with juche dogma, forced to sing the praises of their kidnappers, made to work for the regime, and all the while knowing that the outside world either thought they are dead or willing defectors. Choi’s longing for her children, who she did not even have a chance to say goodbye to is particularly heart wrenching.

            Fischer also does well to set the stage for his characters, so to speak. He provides important background and biographical information on not only Chio and Shin, but on Jong-Il and North Korea too. A state as insane and absurd as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is certainly in need of an introduction. Fischer aptly describes North Korea has one giant stage production put on by Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il both figuratively and literally.

            As is basically a prerequisite when I discuss a book about North Korea there are some pretty dark and disturbing sections. Shin’s imprisonment in a North Korean jail and the description of life for an average North Korean come to mind.

            The text was easy to understand and follow. You do not need to know anything about the history of cinema in either North or South Korea, or anything about movie making as a matter of fact. This book can also serve as a first foray into the subject of North Korea, as Fischer gives ample background information on the Stalinist state.

            A Kim Jong-Il Production is a well written look at a disturbing, fascinating, and often times unbelievable part of history.  

[gafyorordo881371-blog]

history of audiobooks : A Kim Jong-Il Production by Paul Fischer | History

Listen to A Kim Jong-Il Production new releases history of audiobooks on your iPhone, iPad, or Android. Get any BOOKAUDIO by Paul Fischer History FREE during your Free Trial

Written By: Paul Fischer Narrated By: Stephen Park Publisher: Random House (Audio) Date: February 2015 Duration: 12 hours 26 minutes

[bookclub4m]

Episode 104 - Entertainment Non-Fiction

This episode we’re discussing Entertainment Non-Fiction! We talk about what does (and doesn’t) count as entertainment, how we’re bad at watching TV, whether people are now turning non-book sources for analysis of media (e.g. watching videos on YouTube), and how many bananas are in a bunch.

You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system.

In this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards

Things We Read This Month

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes

A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator's Rise to Power by Paul Fischer

Jim Brown: Last Man Standing by Dave Zirin

Medallion Status: True Stories from Secret Rooms by John Hodgman

Black Space: Imagining Race in Science Fiction Film by Adilifu Nama

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made by Jason Schreier

The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O'Meara

Reading the Vampire Slayer: An Unofficial Companion to Buffy and Angel edited by Roz Kaveney

16 Entertainment Non-Fiction Books by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) Authors

Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest by Hanif Abdurraqib

Indigenous Celebrity: Entanglements with Fame edited by by Jennifer Adese & Robert Alexander Innes

The Devil Finds Work by James Baldwin

Hollywood Black: The Stars, the Films, the Filmmakers by Donald Bogle

Raw: My Journey into the Wu-Tang by Lamont U-God Hawkins

Reel to Real: Race, Sex, and Class at the Movies by bell hooks

Fabulous: The Rise of the Beautiful Eccentric by Madison Moore

Black Space: Imagining Race in Science Fiction Film by Adilifu Nama

Super Black: American Pop Culture and Black Superheroes by Adilifu Nama

Everything’s Trash But It’s Okay by Phoebe Robinson

Movies (And Other Things) by Shea Serrano

The Rap Year Book: The Most Important Rap Song From Every Year Since 1979, Discussed, Debated, and Deconstructed by Shea Serrano

This Is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare by Gabourey Sidibe

I Put a Spell on You: The Autobiography of Nina Simone by Nina Simone

Iwao Takamoto: My Life With A Thousand Characters by Iwao Takamoto

EC Comics: Race, Shock, and Social Protest by Qiana Whitted

Announcements

The book we’ll all be reading and discussing for episode 107 is Pet by Akwaeke Emezi 

Matthew talked about streaming visual novels, and that will hopefully happen, but there’s no pilot episode (yet…). 

We’ve started doing lists for each genre by people of colour. You can find a list of the lists here.

We’re designing new bingo sheets for the podcast! (Here are the bingo sheets we made for episode 50.) What topics or titles always come up on the podcast? What verbal tics do we have? Let us know!

Other Media We Mentioned

If You're Talking to Me, Your Career Must Be in Trouble: Movies, Mayhem, and Malice by Joe Queenan

Anime from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation by Susan J. Napier

Pulgasari (Wikipedia) (North Korean giant monster movie)

3 Ninjas (Wikipedia)

Mars Attacks! (Wikipedia)

Things That Make White People Uncomfortable by Michael Bennett

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Métis in Space

Stardew Valley (Wikipedia)

Octodad: Dadliest Catch (Wikipedia)

The Jackbox Party Pack (Wikipedia)

What we completely forgot to mention: 33⅓ (a well-known and popular series of books about specific albums)

Links, Articles, and Things

American Ninja Warrior (Wikipedia)

Pedestrianism (Wikipedia)

Six-day racing (Wikipedia): Bicycle races

Dust-to-Digital (Instagram)

Get a Mac (Wikipedia): Ad campaign featuring John Hodgman

A bunch of the ads in question

Slash fiction (Wikipedia)

Ars Technica’s War Stories

lonelygirl15 (Wikipedia)

Todd in the Shadows’ review of Drake’s Toosie Slide

Glass Animals - Dreamland

Suggest new genres or titles!

Fill out the form to suggest a genre or title!

Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Twitter or Instagram, join our Facebook Group, or send us an email!

Join us again on Tuesday, July 21st we’ll be discussing Summer Reading/Challenges!

Then on Tuesday, August 4th we’ll be talking about Alternative History fiction!

[bookclub4m]

This month we’re discussing Which Book Should We Read? Once a year we pick one title that we all read and discuss. This year we each suggest one title and are asking you to vote for which one we’ll read.

Also discussed: Books & Beverages library displays, The Podcaster’s Dilemma, poetry clocks, touching, smelling, and tasting podcasts, and a fantasy novel that’s a collection of found and fragmentary historical documents.

You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system.

In this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards

The Nominees!

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli (Meghan’s pick)

The Woo-Woo: How I Survived Ice Hockey, Drug Raids, Demons, and My Crazy Chinese Family by Lindsay Wong (RJ’s pick)

The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden (Anna’s pick)

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (Matthew’s pick)

(It didn’t win the Hugo in early June 2016, so who knows what happened then.)

Vote for which book we’ll read! (Polls will close by July 14th)

Twitter

Facebook

Google Form

(Shortlists only include books that none of us had read.)

Meghan’s Shortlist

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by by Marlon James

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski and  Amelia Nagoski

She Would Be King by Wayétu Moore

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

How to Cook a Wolf by M.F.K. Fisher

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

RJ’s Shortlist

Little Fish by Casey Plett

nîtisânak by Lindsay Nixon

Mistakes to Run With by Yasuko Thanh

Anna’s Shortlist

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison

We are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster by Svetlana Alexievich,

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Half-Resurrection Blues by Daniel José Older

Matthew’s Shortlist

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator's Rise to Power by Paul Fischer

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

Links, Articles, and Things

Episode 058 - The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

Canada Reads (Wikipedia)

Meet the 2019 Combat national des livres contenders - The geographic region that got left out of Le combat des livres was BC

Epistolary novel (Wikipedia)

Episode 033 - Legal Thrillers

Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone (the fantasy novel)

Masquerade, Initiation, and Sci-Fi/Fantasy: N.K. Jemisin and Nnedi Okorafor in Conversation

“I am still not sure what that [Afrofuturism] is,” Jemisin said. “I write what I write; you put whatever label makes you feel comfortable, have fun with it. I would write these stories whether they were getting published or not. […] I don’t have a problem with labeling, as long as it’s not too restrictive or conservative. People do try to hammer me into this little slot, but I don’t let them. I write what I feel like writing.”

Suggest a genre or book!

Fill out the form to suggest a genre or book!

Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Twitter or Instagram, join our Facebook Group, or send us an email!

Join us again on Tuesday, July 2nd when we’ll be talking about the non-fiction genre of True Crime!

Then on Tuesday, July 16th we’ll be talking about the American Library Association annual conference and books we’re looking forward to in the second half of 2019!