Two different pieces of writing in the latest issue of Esquire stood out as excellent life-lessons type stories as part of the "83 Things You Need to Do Before You Die" section of the issue.
Tom Chiarella wrote "I Don't Have a Life List" and Chris Jones did "Live Your Nightmare," with both being really well-done introspective looks at things they've done.
Showing posts with label Tom Chiarella. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tom Chiarella. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 09, 2014
Monday, July 22, 2013
Writers on writing - Whedon, Chiarella & Hastings
There's been a few pieces on the subject of writing I've seen recently that contained some insight I thought worth holding onto.
The July 2013 issue of Indianapolis Monthly featured "Celebrity Profiler: Tom Chiarella, in His Own Words" and there was some tremendously interesting stuff from the Esquire writer.
On writing celebrity profiles, he wrote the maxim (which could apply to almost any type of worthwhile endeavor) "I keep myself moving forward. I step into the restaurant, climb into the car, ring the bell. This is Rule Three: Keep moving forward. Toward the subject and through the conversation."
On the actual physical act of writing, and output of his work for Esquire, there was "I return to Greencastle and sleep for two days before I sit down to stare—like any writer, anywhere—for days on end (but never more than 14, in truth) into the white, white guts of my computer, groping with leads, sussing out the transcript, figuring what is new copy and what’s shopworn, doping out a structure, one that hopefully provides an angle no one’s thought of yet, all in service to the peculiar charge I put upon myself: to craft a feature more like a literary short story than any piece of reliable reporting. And Esquire lets me do it, because the editors there still believe that a magazine is a luxury, a vaguely weightless indulgence, a beautiful thing, and they ask me to write a story as if it were a creative construction, one that might puzzle a reader with observations of the sunlight, rather than teasers from the Season 3 DVD screener. So, in that regard, I know: I’m fortunate. I have the only job in the world that demands the kind of work I do."
On interviewing and portraying story subjects, Chiarella wrote "I let people see him changing his mind. Readers like a little ambiguity, a little progression of thought in their profiles. They want to see a conversation in full, which never means a straight Q-and-A for me. It requires a little texture. And that usually extends beyond the experience of a single meal. That’s why I always ask for three meetings and only settle for two."
Finally, I found noteworthy from the piece by Chiarella a comment he made both because of his experience writing celebrity profiles and just a general notion with "All lives are interesting. The grand life and the small. It would be petty and presumptuous to assume otherwise. And that too is a rule: All lives are interesting."
For Fast Company Magazine that was a piece by Ari Karpel titled "How to be Profilic: Guidelines for geting it done from Joss Whedon". The acclaimed writer and director of The Avengers, the superhero blockbuster hit that I enjoyed quite a bit, had some interesting thoughts around creative work (including reference to the David Allen book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity) passed along by Karpel.
Finally, non-fiction writer Michael Hastings died at 33 last month from a car crash and written about him were "Missing Michael Hastings" by BuzzFeed editor Ben Smith and "On Michael Hastings" by Max Fisher for the Washington Post. Both interesting and very nice tributes and the Fisher piece included at the end advice Hastings gave last year to young journalists via Reddit:
1.) You basically have to be willing to devote your life to journalism if you want to break in. Treat it like it’s medical school or law school.
2.) When interviewing for a job, tell the editor how you love to report. How your passion is gathering information. Do not mention how you want to be a writer, use the word “prose,” or that deep down you have a sinking suspicion you are the next Norman Mailer.
3.) Be prepared to do a lot of things for free. This sucks, and it’s unfair, and it gives rich kids an edge. But it’s also the reality.
4.) When writing for a mass audience, put a fact in every sentence.
5.) Also, keep the stories simple and to the point, at least at first.
6.) You should have a blog and be following journalists you like on Twitter.
7.) If there’s a publication you want to work for or write for, cold call the editors and/or email them. This can work.
8) By the second sentence of a pitch, the entirety of the story should be explained. (In other words, if you can’t come up with a rough headline for your story idea, it’s going to be a challenge to get it published.)
9) Mainly you really have to love writing and reporting. Like it’s more important to you than anything else in your life–family, friends, social life, whatever.
10) Learn to embrace rejection as part of the gig. Keep writing/pitching/reading.
The July 2013 issue of Indianapolis Monthly featured "Celebrity Profiler: Tom Chiarella, in His Own Words" and there was some tremendously interesting stuff from the Esquire writer.
On writing celebrity profiles, he wrote the maxim (which could apply to almost any type of worthwhile endeavor) "I keep myself moving forward. I step into the restaurant, climb into the car, ring the bell. This is Rule Three: Keep moving forward. Toward the subject and through the conversation."
On the actual physical act of writing, and output of his work for Esquire, there was "I return to Greencastle and sleep for two days before I sit down to stare—like any writer, anywhere—for days on end (but never more than 14, in truth) into the white, white guts of my computer, groping with leads, sussing out the transcript, figuring what is new copy and what’s shopworn, doping out a structure, one that hopefully provides an angle no one’s thought of yet, all in service to the peculiar charge I put upon myself: to craft a feature more like a literary short story than any piece of reliable reporting. And Esquire lets me do it, because the editors there still believe that a magazine is a luxury, a vaguely weightless indulgence, a beautiful thing, and they ask me to write a story as if it were a creative construction, one that might puzzle a reader with observations of the sunlight, rather than teasers from the Season 3 DVD screener. So, in that regard, I know: I’m fortunate. I have the only job in the world that demands the kind of work I do."
On interviewing and portraying story subjects, Chiarella wrote "I let people see him changing his mind. Readers like a little ambiguity, a little progression of thought in their profiles. They want to see a conversation in full, which never means a straight Q-and-A for me. It requires a little texture. And that usually extends beyond the experience of a single meal. That’s why I always ask for three meetings and only settle for two."
Finally, I found noteworthy from the piece by Chiarella a comment he made both because of his experience writing celebrity profiles and just a general notion with "All lives are interesting. The grand life and the small. It would be petty and presumptuous to assume otherwise. And that too is a rule: All lives are interesting."
For Fast Company Magazine that was a piece by Ari Karpel titled "How to be Profilic: Guidelines for geting it done from Joss Whedon". The acclaimed writer and director of The Avengers, the superhero blockbuster hit that I enjoyed quite a bit, had some interesting thoughts around creative work (including reference to the David Allen book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity) passed along by Karpel.
Finally, non-fiction writer Michael Hastings died at 33 last month from a car crash and written about him were "Missing Michael Hastings" by BuzzFeed editor Ben Smith and "On Michael Hastings" by Max Fisher for the Washington Post. Both interesting and very nice tributes and the Fisher piece included at the end advice Hastings gave last year to young journalists via Reddit:
1.) You basically have to be willing to devote your life to journalism if you want to break in. Treat it like it’s medical school or law school.
2.) When interviewing for a job, tell the editor how you love to report. How your passion is gathering information. Do not mention how you want to be a writer, use the word “prose,” or that deep down you have a sinking suspicion you are the next Norman Mailer.
3.) Be prepared to do a lot of things for free. This sucks, and it’s unfair, and it gives rich kids an edge. But it’s also the reality.
4.) When writing for a mass audience, put a fact in every sentence.
5.) Also, keep the stories simple and to the point, at least at first.
6.) You should have a blog and be following journalists you like on Twitter.
7.) If there’s a publication you want to work for or write for, cold call the editors and/or email them. This can work.
8) By the second sentence of a pitch, the entirety of the story should be explained. (In other words, if you can’t come up with a rough headline for your story idea, it’s going to be a challenge to get it published.)
9) Mainly you really have to love writing and reporting. Like it’s more important to you than anything else in your life–family, friends, social life, whatever.
10) Learn to embrace rejection as part of the gig. Keep writing/pitching/reading.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Wisdom on working - by Sager, Magary, Chiarella & Goldman
They're not all terribly recent, but four pieces of solid writing to share here have the common theme of providing wisdom on working (which I've previously posted on as a topic).
The May 2013 issue of Esquire had two of the pieces with "How to be gracious, and why" by Tom Chiarella and "How to start a business" by bakery entrepreneur Duff Goldman. The Goldman essay stood out to me because of the work he describes putting in to get his business started and I found reminiscent of a post I did on John Gardner writing about "being interested" a great section from Chiarella's short essay...
"Stand when someone enters the room, especially if you are lowly and he is the boss, and even if the reverse is true. Look them in the eye. Ask yourself: Does anybody need an introduction? If so, before you say one word about business, introduce them to others with pleasure in your voice. If you can't muster enthusiasm for the people you happen upon in life, then you cannot be gracious. Remember, true graciousness demands that you have time for others.
So listen. Be attentive to what people say. Respond, without interruption. You always have time. You own the time in which you live. You grant it to others without obligation. That is the gift of being gracious."
The other two related pieces I thought excellent were essays written for those graduating from college (but which contained wisdom for those of all ages), with one for Esquire by Mike Sager and other for Deadspin by Drew Magary. The Magary essay definitely veers towards (nah... traffics in, nah... revels in) the profane and is extremely well-written advice that perhaps could be boiled down to telling grads to go out and have life experiences rather than simply plotting their career ascension.
The Sager essay is similarly great and also feels to pass on the wisdom of not getting too uptight about whether you're on the straight line to the top career path that you might have expected or might have been expected of you. Basically, just keep moving forward as best you can. In this regard the piece by Sager reminded me of a 2011 Esquire piece of his in which Sager wrote of dealing with adversity the terribly profound statement "how much can one man take? As much as need be."
The May 2013 issue of Esquire had two of the pieces with "How to be gracious, and why" by Tom Chiarella and "How to start a business" by bakery entrepreneur Duff Goldman. The Goldman essay stood out to me because of the work he describes putting in to get his business started and I found reminiscent of a post I did on John Gardner writing about "being interested" a great section from Chiarella's short essay...
"Stand when someone enters the room, especially if you are lowly and he is the boss, and even if the reverse is true. Look them in the eye. Ask yourself: Does anybody need an introduction? If so, before you say one word about business, introduce them to others with pleasure in your voice. If you can't muster enthusiasm for the people you happen upon in life, then you cannot be gracious. Remember, true graciousness demands that you have time for others.
So listen. Be attentive to what people say. Respond, without interruption. You always have time. You own the time in which you live. You grant it to others without obligation. That is the gift of being gracious."
The other two related pieces I thought excellent were essays written for those graduating from college (but which contained wisdom for those of all ages), with one for Esquire by Mike Sager and other for Deadspin by Drew Magary. The Magary essay definitely veers towards (nah... traffics in, nah... revels in) the profane and is extremely well-written advice that perhaps could be boiled down to telling grads to go out and have life experiences rather than simply plotting their career ascension.
The Sager essay is similarly great and also feels to pass on the wisdom of not getting too uptight about whether you're on the straight line to the top career path that you might have expected or might have been expected of you. Basically, just keep moving forward as best you can. In this regard the piece by Sager reminded me of a 2011 Esquire piece of his in which Sager wrote of dealing with adversity the terribly profound statement "how much can one man take? As much as need be."
Wednesday, March 06, 2013
Esquire pieces - Bin Laden Shooter by Bronstein & Kutcher profile by Chiarella
There were two pieces from the March 2013 issue of Esquire Magazine that stood out as particularly interesting and thought-provoking. The first was "The Man Who Killed Osama bin Laden... Is Screwed" by Phil Bronstein and second "The All New Ashton Kutcher Story!" by Tom Chiarella.
The Bronstein feature is about the the unnamed Navy Seal who shot and killed Bin Laden and his challenges (both financial and otherwise) assimilating to civilian life after leaving the military. The piece is a fascinating one in that the Bin Laden shooter was in such an elite group in Seal Team 6 and did such a high-profile thing, but it makes me think of his difficulties as part of the much larger population of all returning servicemen and women and challenges faced. I've written on and linked to a number of pieces by Mark Thompson on the subject and the experience of the Bin Laden shooter is both fascinating to read about and just a shame for both he, his family and other veterans who have a hard time after returning home.
The Chiarella profile of Kutcher was of course about someone in an area of much less heft, but the piece towards the end had two different things from the actor that struck me as compelling. Specifically, Chiarella closed the profile around Kutcher discussing how he spends his time by saying "I kinda only do what I like to do" and a bit prior to that had a quote from Kutcher about Steve Jobs that I found fascinating...
"There was this one speech that I found where he said, 'So when you grow up, if you spend your life trying not to bounce into walls, just inheriting what you get, you gotta know your life can be a lot broader than that. Once you realize one simple thing: Everything around you that you call life was made by people who are no smarter than you. And you can change it. You can influence it. You can build your own things that other people can use.' And I heard that and I knew exactly what the niche for making the movie was, what the social need for making the movie was. For people seeking purpose. I remember growing up and looking at the world and going, Okay, how do I live in this? instead of How do I create it? How do I build it? How do I make something? And the empowerment of these ideas, I think they make an important story."
The Bronstein feature is about the the unnamed Navy Seal who shot and killed Bin Laden and his challenges (both financial and otherwise) assimilating to civilian life after leaving the military. The piece is a fascinating one in that the Bin Laden shooter was in such an elite group in Seal Team 6 and did such a high-profile thing, but it makes me think of his difficulties as part of the much larger population of all returning servicemen and women and challenges faced. I've written on and linked to a number of pieces by Mark Thompson on the subject and the experience of the Bin Laden shooter is both fascinating to read about and just a shame for both he, his family and other veterans who have a hard time after returning home.
The Chiarella profile of Kutcher was of course about someone in an area of much less heft, but the piece towards the end had two different things from the actor that struck me as compelling. Specifically, Chiarella closed the profile around Kutcher discussing how he spends his time by saying "I kinda only do what I like to do" and a bit prior to that had a quote from Kutcher about Steve Jobs that I found fascinating...
"There was this one speech that I found where he said, 'So when you grow up, if you spend your life trying not to bounce into walls, just inheriting what you get, you gotta know your life can be a lot broader than that. Once you realize one simple thing: Everything around you that you call life was made by people who are no smarter than you. And you can change it. You can influence it. You can build your own things that other people can use.' And I heard that and I knew exactly what the niche for making the movie was, what the social need for making the movie was. For people seeking purpose. I remember growing up and looking at the world and going, Okay, how do I live in this? instead of How do I create it? How do I build it? How do I make something? And the empowerment of these ideas, I think they make an important story."
Friday, February 01, 2013
Esquire writing - from Lichtenstein, Chiarella & Jones
There's been a couple of Esquire pieces I've read lately that struck me as particularly remarkable, with one published in the Feb 2013 issue, one for the web last week and one a website post from 2010 that I linked to last year.
The magazine feature story was by Jesse Lichtenstein with "Do We Really Want to Live Without the Post Office?" It's writing that's both on an important subject and incredibly detailed. In this regard of how much included and the reporting that likely had to go into it, Lichtenstein's reminded me of a piece I linked to in Sept of last year, Justin Heckert's Esquire feature "How to Build an American Car" on the 2012 Cadillac ATS.
In the Esquire writing of profundity category lately were two different pieces published on the website. Tom Chiarella wrote "The Happiness of Aaron Swartz" about doing a eulogy at the memorial of the internet pioneer and open source web advocate. The essay by Chiarella touches on the themes of achievement and fear as well as friends and family and struck me as an example of just how powerful words can be when describing something of great import.
The final Esquire piece to note here is one from a few years ago that I previously included as part of a post on writing about fathers & sons, but I came across it again recently and is great writing that also reminded me of the essay on Swartz in the depth of feeling conveyed. "Autistics" was written by Chris Jones for his Esquire blog back in Sept 2010 and is about the writer's four year old son and his diagnosis as mildly autistic. It's a short piece and just struck me as really fantastic work.
The magazine feature story was by Jesse Lichtenstein with "Do We Really Want to Live Without the Post Office?" It's writing that's both on an important subject and incredibly detailed. In this regard of how much included and the reporting that likely had to go into it, Lichtenstein's reminded me of a piece I linked to in Sept of last year, Justin Heckert's Esquire feature "How to Build an American Car" on the 2012 Cadillac ATS.
In the Esquire writing of profundity category lately were two different pieces published on the website. Tom Chiarella wrote "The Happiness of Aaron Swartz" about doing a eulogy at the memorial of the internet pioneer and open source web advocate. The essay by Chiarella touches on the themes of achievement and fear as well as friends and family and struck me as an example of just how powerful words can be when describing something of great import.
The final Esquire piece to note here is one from a few years ago that I previously included as part of a post on writing about fathers & sons, but I came across it again recently and is great writing that also reminded me of the essay on Swartz in the depth of feeling conveyed. "Autistics" was written by Chris Jones for his Esquire blog back in Sept 2010 and is about the writer's four year old son and his diagnosis as mildly autistic. It's a short piece and just struck me as really fantastic work.
Monday, December 05, 2011
Profiles from December 2011 Esquire
Some excellent feature profiles in the December 2011 issue of Esquire Magazine.
Americans of the Year on the cover refers to an entire section of profile pieces within and not to make short shrift of seventeen of these remarkable individuals, but three stood out as particularly interesting.
Cover story itself is Mark Kelly, American by Chris Jones and portrays someone who appears to exemplify the best of people can offer of themselves. I find Jones to be an excellent writer and it seems some of his best pieces are on the subject of space and the people who explore it.
The other two profiles to highlight aren't on people in roles necessarily as glamorous as astronaut, but are on individuals doing things both interesting and impactful to many.
Richard Trumka, American is written by John H. Richardson and profiles the head of the AFL-CIO. As Richarson details, the union is made up of "twelve million firefighters, teachers, nurses, miners, electricians, and entertainers" and Trumka's efforts have a large impact in the role of labor in America. Additionally, the statements made and advocacy described by Trumka in this piece seem to ring true and be very timely in what could be described as a rich getting richer economic climate.
Another of the people profiled is similar to Trumka in the leading of a large organization many have strongly held views on. Craig Fugate, American is about the head of FEMA and, as chronicled by Tom Chiarella, seems to be doing an exemplary job (much better than "a heck of a job") running the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Structure put around the agency and it's role by Fugate appears to be extremely solid and is described well by Chiarella.
Americans of the Year on the cover refers to an entire section of profile pieces within and not to make short shrift of seventeen of these remarkable individuals, but three stood out as particularly interesting.
Cover story itself is Mark Kelly, American by Chris Jones and portrays someone who appears to exemplify the best of people can offer of themselves. I find Jones to be an excellent writer and it seems some of his best pieces are on the subject of space and the people who explore it.
The other two profiles to highlight aren't on people in roles necessarily as glamorous as astronaut, but are on individuals doing things both interesting and impactful to many.
Richard Trumka, American is written by John H. Richardson and profiles the head of the AFL-CIO. As Richarson details, the union is made up of "twelve million firefighters, teachers, nurses, miners, electricians, and entertainers" and Trumka's efforts have a large impact in the role of labor in America. Additionally, the statements made and advocacy described by Trumka in this piece seem to ring true and be very timely in what could be described as a rich getting richer economic climate.
Another of the people profiled is similar to Trumka in the leading of a large organization many have strongly held views on. Craig Fugate, American is about the head of FEMA and, as chronicled by Tom Chiarella, seems to be doing an exemplary job (much better than "a heck of a job") running the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Structure put around the agency and it's role by Fugate appears to be extremely solid and is described well by Chiarella.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Esquire Magazine - June issue
As is almost always the case, there was some excellent writing from the latest issue of Esquire. Fortunately, the best was available on http://www.esquire.com/ (which is not always the case) and I'll have to make do with simply mentioning some of the other things of note from the issue.
Contained within was a series of summer movie previews and the most interesting was "The Road Is the Most Important Movie of the Year". Written by Tom Chiarella, it covers his screening of not yet fully edited version of the Cormac McCarthy book turned film. The writing itself in the review is excellent, but the movie as described is what's truly compelling. Chiarella writes that viewers will tell people "you have to see it, really", but also not want to see it twice themselves. Not because it's bad, but because it's... well, just read the Chiarella review and this will likely make sense.
Also from the summer movie previous section was mention of a few different movies that sound solid: Funny People from Judd Apatow, Terminator Salvation, and (500) Days of Summer.
A different section of this issue was on Esquire's Best Bars in America and featured mention of two San Francisco (which is close to me) watering holes, Tommy's Mexican Restaurant on Geary Blvd and Alembic on Haight Street. Included in this section as well was Esquire's Drink Every Man Should Know How to Make... the Old-Fashioned.
Finally, mention was made in this issue of an accolade for what I probably found to be the best written and most memorable magazine article I've seen. Chris Jones piece "The Things that Carried Him" has been nominated for a National Magazine Award, the industry's highest honor.
Contained within was a series of summer movie previews and the most interesting was "The Road Is the Most Important Movie of the Year". Written by Tom Chiarella, it covers his screening of not yet fully edited version of the Cormac McCarthy book turned film. The writing itself in the review is excellent, but the movie as described is what's truly compelling. Chiarella writes that viewers will tell people "you have to see it, really", but also not want to see it twice themselves. Not because it's bad, but because it's... well, just read the Chiarella review and this will likely make sense.
Also from the summer movie previous section was mention of a few different movies that sound solid: Funny People from Judd Apatow, Terminator Salvation, and (500) Days of Summer.
A different section of this issue was on Esquire's Best Bars in America and featured mention of two San Francisco (which is close to me) watering holes, Tommy's Mexican Restaurant on Geary Blvd and Alembic on Haight Street. Included in this section as well was Esquire's Drink Every Man Should Know How to Make... the Old-Fashioned.
Finally, mention was made in this issue of an accolade for what I probably found to be the best written and most memorable magazine article I've seen. Chris Jones piece "The Things that Carried Him" has been nominated for a National Magazine Award, the industry's highest honor.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Esquire Magazine - May issue
As part of the May 2009 issue, Esquire published multiple pieces around the topic of "How to Be a Man"... with two that stood out as particularly interesting.
The first was an extremely well written and compelling essay by Tom Chiarella titled "What is a Man?". I suppose some of the points he makes you could quibble with and I'm sure you could add others, but all in all... it's definitely worth the short read.
The second can't really qualify as being well written as it's more of a list with pictures. The slideshow titled "Things Every Man Should Own" has 30-some items that Esquire feels a man shouldn't be without. Similar to the Chiarella piece, there's probably other needed things not on the list, but... I don't know that someone would be the worse for it by having each of these things along with a competency of how to use.
Also from this issue of Esquire was mention of a few different books to read...
- "The Corrections" by Jonathan Franzen. Having begun and not yet finished (but, someday I will), I can say that it falls into that category of "writing so good it makes you feel you can't write".
- "Empire Falls" and "Bridge of Sighs" by Richard Russo. Similar to my above statement, I've had the change to read Russo's "Straight Man" and found Russo to be both an excellent writer and storyteller.
- "A Fraction of the Whole" by Steve Toltz. Whereas the books above by Franzen and Russo were recommended by Esquire readers, Toltz's book was actually highly trumpeted by Tom Chiarella in a Feb 2008 review. High praise indeed from Chiarella...
The first was an extremely well written and compelling essay by Tom Chiarella titled "What is a Man?". I suppose some of the points he makes you could quibble with and I'm sure you could add others, but all in all... it's definitely worth the short read.
The second can't really qualify as being well written as it's more of a list with pictures. The slideshow titled "Things Every Man Should Own" has 30-some items that Esquire feels a man shouldn't be without. Similar to the Chiarella piece, there's probably other needed things not on the list, but... I don't know that someone would be the worse for it by having each of these things along with a competency of how to use.
Also from this issue of Esquire was mention of a few different books to read...
- "The Corrections" by Jonathan Franzen. Having begun and not yet finished (but, someday I will), I can say that it falls into that category of "writing so good it makes you feel you can't write".
- "Empire Falls" and "Bridge of Sighs" by Richard Russo. Similar to my above statement, I've had the change to read Russo's "Straight Man" and found Russo to be both an excellent writer and storyteller.
- "A Fraction of the Whole" by Steve Toltz. Whereas the books above by Franzen and Russo were recommended by Esquire readers, Toltz's book was actually highly trumpeted by Tom Chiarella in a Feb 2008 review. High praise indeed from Chiarella...
Monday, March 16, 2009
"Keeping it Real" Writing from Esquire
Some interesting writing in the issue of Esquire Magazine... much of it around the general theme of identity / being true to yourself and yep, keeping it real.
The cover story by Tom Chiarella is about celebrity guy Ben Affleck... who also happens to be: a parent of two (yes, with a celebrity girl), an accomplished writer (if you recall "Good Will Hunting"), a pretty good actor (reference back to his monologues in "Boiler Room" and the aforementioned "Good Will Hunting") and an up and coming director (with "Gone Baby Gone" to his credit).
All of this being said, the Chiarella piece manages to convey how Affleck is often stuck in this "celebrity guy" role despite all accomplishments above and beyond that. It's an interesting read showing what someone in this position faces. If someone doesn't have time to read the piece itself, the story title of "Ben Affleck: A Smart, Talented Man Trapped in Lindsay Lohan's Life" conveys the point pretty well.
Additionally, this issue of Esquire contains a piece by my writing man-crush object of admiration, Chris Jones. The story titled "Jonathan Papelbon Grinds His Teeth" is a profile of the Red Sox closer that reveals the focus and downright anger that Papelbon channels to help him pitch so successfully.
Finally, there's another piece by Chris Jones that's much shorter and (using the results of google searches as a yardstick) gathering more attention than the one he did on Papelbon. Titled "My Vacation from Hate" it's about the return to competitive golf of Tiger Woods and how Jones enjoyed golf more without Woods around. This piece from the Detroit Free Press website quotes Jones' story at length, but doesn't quote Jones' sentence about how depressing it was writing this 2003 Esquire story on Woods. The statement made in this most recent piece is "there's no joy for me in anything Tiger Woods does"... likely referring to how Woods closes off his personal life from view (and the 2003 story was written even before marraige and kids for Tiger).
So... all this being said, you've got three different stories from this issue all tied together by the theme of keeping it real / dealing with the spotlight / being true to yourself / etc etc. In the case of Jonathan Papelbon, there's someone who basically sticks their chin out at the world and is brutally honest. With Tiger Woods, you've got someone who shields the world entirely and then with Ben Affleck you've got some sort of middle ground with a guy working hard to maintain a private life while at the same time live a human experience. Interesting stuff.
The cover story by Tom Chiarella is about celebrity guy Ben Affleck... who also happens to be: a parent of two (yes, with a celebrity girl), an accomplished writer (if you recall "Good Will Hunting"), a pretty good actor (reference back to his monologues in "Boiler Room" and the aforementioned "Good Will Hunting") and an up and coming director (with "Gone Baby Gone" to his credit).
All of this being said, the Chiarella piece manages to convey how Affleck is often stuck in this "celebrity guy" role despite all accomplishments above and beyond that. It's an interesting read showing what someone in this position faces. If someone doesn't have time to read the piece itself, the story title of "Ben Affleck: A Smart, Talented Man Trapped in Lindsay Lohan's Life" conveys the point pretty well.
Additionally, this issue of Esquire contains a piece by my writing man-crush object of admiration, Chris Jones. The story titled "Jonathan Papelbon Grinds His Teeth" is a profile of the Red Sox closer that reveals the focus and downright anger that Papelbon channels to help him pitch so successfully.
Finally, there's another piece by Chris Jones that's much shorter and (using the results of google searches as a yardstick) gathering more attention than the one he did on Papelbon. Titled "My Vacation from Hate" it's about the return to competitive golf of Tiger Woods and how Jones enjoyed golf more without Woods around. This piece from the Detroit Free Press website quotes Jones' story at length, but doesn't quote Jones' sentence about how depressing it was writing this 2003 Esquire story on Woods. The statement made in this most recent piece is "there's no joy for me in anything Tiger Woods does"... likely referring to how Woods closes off his personal life from view (and the 2003 story was written even before marraige and kids for Tiger).
So... all this being said, you've got three different stories from this issue all tied together by the theme of keeping it real / dealing with the spotlight / being true to yourself / etc etc. In the case of Jonathan Papelbon, there's someone who basically sticks their chin out at the world and is brutally honest. With Tiger Woods, you've got someone who shields the world entirely and then with Ben Affleck you've got some sort of middle ground with a guy working hard to maintain a private life while at the same time live a human experience. Interesting stuff.
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