Silver Screen Fiend: Learning About Life from an Addiction to Film

The instant<i> New York Times </i>bestseller from author, comedian and actor Patton Oswalt, a &quot;heartfelt and hilarious&quot; (<i>USA TODAY</i>) memoir about coming of age as a performer during the late 1990s while obsessively watching classic films at a legendary theater in Los Angeles. &quot;[Oswalt has] a set of synapses like a pinball machine and a prose style to match&quot; (<i>The</i> <i>New York Times</i>) .<br><br>Between 1995 and 1999, Patton Oswalt lived with an unshakable addiction. It wasn't drugs, alcohol, or sex: it was film. After moving to Los Angeles, Oswalt became a huge film buff (or as he calls it, a sprocket fiend) , absorbing classics, cult hits, and new releases at the famous New Beverly Cinema. Silver screen celluloid became Patton's life schoolbook, informing his notion of acting, writing, comedy, and relationships.<br> <br>Set in the nascent days of LA's alternative comedy scene, <i>Silver Screen Fiend</i> chronicles Oswalt's journey from fledgling stand-up comedian to self-assured sitcom actor, with the colorful New Beverly collective and a cast of now-notable young comedians supporting him all along the way. &quot;Clever and readable...Oswalt's encyclopedic knowledge and frothing enthusiasm for films (from sleek noir classics, to gory B movies, to cliché-riddled independents, to big empty blockbusters) is relentlessly present, whirring in the background like a projector&quot; (<i>The</i> <i>Boston Globe</i>) . More than a memoir, this is &quot;a love song to the silver screen&quot; (<i>Paste Magazine</i>) .