false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255640170m/5846386.jpg 5846386 3 As a child and teenager, Nathan Rabin viewed pop culture as a life-affirming form of escape. Today, pop culture is his life. For more than a decade, he's served as head writer for <I>A.V. Club</i>, the entertainment section of <I>The Onion</i>. In <I>The Big Rewind</i>, Rabin shares his too-strange-for-fiction life story. From a psilocybin-addled trip to the Anne Frank House to having focus groups for his movie-review panel show opine that all the male critics seemed "gay" and that the show as a whole was "too gay," Rabin discusses his personal evolution in prose as hilarious as it is unexpectedly poignant.<P>Using a specific song, album, book, film, or television show as a springboard to discuss a period in his life, Rabin recounts his heartwarming tale of triumph over adversity® with biting wit and unwise candor. The pop culture touchstones Rabin uses here reflect his broad frame of reference with comic dissertations on <I>The Simpsons</i>, <I>The Catcher in the Rye</i>, Dr. Dre, <I>Grey Gardens</i>, <I>The Great Gatsby</i>, the Magnetic Fields, the uncanny parallels between Ol' Dirty Bastard and John F. Kennedy, and how the stock market mirrors the pimp game.<P>Rabin writes movingly about how pop culture helped save him from suicidal despair, institutionalization, and parental abandonment -- throughout a childhood that sent him ricocheting from a mental hospital to a foster home to a group home for emotionally disturbed adolescents. <I>The Big Rewind</i> is also a touching narrative of a motherless child's search for family and acceptance and a darkly comic valentine to Rabin's lovable, hard-luck dad.<P>Featuring cameos by Billy Bob Thornton, a vomiting Topher Grace, and Barack Obama, <I>The Big Rewind</i> chronicles the surreal journey of Rabin's life and its intersection with the dizzying, maddening, wonderful world of entertainment. 6018527 7 7 2009 The Big Rewind: A Memoir Brought to You by Pop Culture total:129|5:18|4:48|3:45|2:13|1:5| 129 448 363 41 5 1 false false Thu Dec 25 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 29 20:53:27 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 29 20:54:31 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Thu Jul 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Nov 02 06:45:25 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 02 06:45:25 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Oct 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 01 19:13:43 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 06 16:01:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 2 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 23 19:22:43 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 16:23:47 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Sep 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 27 20:22:57 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 09 10:24:18 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Aug 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 24 06:06:23 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 09:02:45 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Aug 05 09:17:25 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 05 09:31:42 -0700 2009 "The Big Rewind" which I read in Fast Forward.
I immediately began thinking of library patrons and friends who will also love this book and anticipate the cir...more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Oct 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 09 12:00:37 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 21 22:26:45 -0700 2009
Here's Rabin's description of the book: "It’s a darkly comic book about how pop culture helped me survive a...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Aug 16 08:26:01 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 16 08:31:41 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 09:26:30 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 17:07:52 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jul 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 06 13:27:45 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 08:48:06 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Nov 10 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Oct 16 09:42:59 -0700 2009 Wed Nov 11 14:10:57 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Nov 12 16:38:58 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 12 16:42:07 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 3 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 06 11:33:31 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 06 11:42:18 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jul 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 14 06:44:54 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 13:07:43 -0700 2009 My Life in Rewind. I wish I could give it a 4.5 star review, as it was really close to being amazing, but his over-the-top snarky post-modernism got a little tired by the 300th page. A riveting story, certain...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Aug 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 15:42:25 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 22 09:00:31 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jul 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 07:38:12 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 30 14:32:49 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Jul 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 16 18:11:14 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 16 18:12:30 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 21 11:01:55 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 23:32:44 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Aug 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 17 05:53:46 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 24 08:35:26 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=5846386