{"id":299,"date":"2016-07-01T17:35:48","date_gmt":"2016-07-01T17:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lindsaylibrarian.com\/?p=299"},"modified":"2016-07-01T17:36:20","modified_gmt":"2016-07-01T17:36:20","slug":"national-treasure-nicolas-cage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lindsaylibrarian.com\/?p=299","title":{"rendered":"National Treasure: Nicolas Cage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_6138\"<\/a>In October 2015 my first book came out. The book is about Nicolas Cage and it was published by ECW Press’ Pop Classics series<\/a>. National Treasure: Nicolas Cage<\/em><\/a> is my investigation into why people like me think Nicolas Cage is the best actor of our time while others think he’s the worst, or that the only way to appreciate him is ironically. I examine his acting style, his choice of roles and his memedom to come to the conclusion that he is an experimental actor in the shape of a Hollywood star.<\/p>\n

Since the release of the book I’ve been honoured to be included in\u00a0the National Post<\/em>‘s 2015\u00a0top 99 books of the year<\/a>\u00a0list (I’m number 86), and to be awarded the\u00a0gold medal in the Pop Culture category<\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0the 2016 Independent Publisher Book Awards.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"IMG_6139\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When the book was coming out I was contacted by VICE.com deputy editor Chris Bilton and we met up to talk about our mutual obsession with Nicolas Cage. The result was a short segment for Daily VICE<\/a> and an interview for VICE.com<\/a>\u00a0in which Bilton called me a “Nicolas Cage expert”:<\/p>\n

\u00a0I was stoked to find out that the latest edition to ECW’s “Pop Classics” series (which already features the impressively argued\u00a0It Doesn’t Suck: Showgirls<\/em>) was a book about Cage called\u00a0National Treasure: Nicolas Cage<\/em><\/a>. In the book-length essay, fellow traveller (and fellow Torontonian) Lindsay Gibb endured around 70 of his films to lay out an extended defence of Cage’s brilliance, explaining that he’s essentially an experimental actor, who treats all of his roles\u2014even ones in generic Hollywood failures\u2014as opportunities to push the boundaries of the art of acting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I also spoke with Open Book<\/a> and\u00a0Metro book columnist Sue Carter<\/a> about the making of the book and why I think critics are largely wrong about Nic Cage. From the Metro article:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

In the introduction to the book, Gibb writes, “Having to constantly defend something you like can make you love it more fiercely.” She dismisses critics who have an unwavering bias against Cage and his on-screen antics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cThere are definitely writers who have a certain take on him \u2014 he\u2019s a second-rate actor that\u2019s always going to chew the scenery,\u201d she says. \u201cPeople have their set opinions, and don\u2019t let his performance influence their opinion. They\u2019ve just decided he\u2019s the worst. And then there are people like me. I\u2019ll always find at least a nugget in his not-so-great films, and see something interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Thanks to these articles \u2014 as well as inclusions in gift guides on TIFF.net<\/a>, on Canada AM<\/a> and Digital Journal<\/a> \u2014 I’ve heard from Nicolas Cage fans from other parts of the world. NicCagepedia (a zine from Madrid) contacted me and conducted an interview for their second issue, and American podcasters Joey Lewandowski and Mike Manzi asked me to join them on <\/span>a c<\/a><\/span>ouple<\/a> of\u00a0episodes<\/span><\/a> of their show <\/span>#CageClub<\/a>, which chronologically went through one Cage movie per episode. (I’m now guesting on their new podcast <\/span>#KeanuClub<\/a> which does the same with Keanu Reeves’ films.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"IMG_6137\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

If you’re ever in need a Cage expert, you know where to find me.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In October 2015 my first book came out. The book is about Nicolas Cage and it was published by ECW Press’ Pop Classics series. National Treasure: Nicolas Cage is my investigation into why people like me think Nicolas Cage is the best actor of our time while others think he’s the worst, or that the only way to appreciate him is ironically. I examine his acting style, his choice of roles and his memedom to come to the conclusion that he is an experimental actor in the shape of a Hollywood star. Since the release of the book I’ve been honoured to be included in\u00a0the National Post‘s 2015\u00a0top 99 books of the year\u00a0list (I’m number 86), and to be awarded the\u00a0gold medal in the Pop Culture category\u00a0at\u00a0the 2016 Independent Publisher Book Awards. \u00a0 When the book was coming out I was contacted by VICE.com deputy editor Chris Bilton and we met up to talk about our mutual obsession with Nicolas Cage. The result was a short segment for Daily VICE and an interview for VICE.com\u00a0in which Bilton called me a “Nicolas Cage expert”: \u00a0I was stoked to find out that the latest edition to ECW’s “Pop Classics” series (which already features the impressively argued\u00a0It Doesn’t Suck: Showgirls) was a book about Cage called\u00a0National Treasure: Nicolas Cage. In the book-length essay, fellow traveller (and fellow Torontonian) Lindsay Gibb endured around 70 of his films to lay out an extended defence of Cage’s brilliance, explaining that he’s essentially an experimental actor, who treats all of his roles\u2014even ones in generic Hollywood failures\u2014as opportunities to push the boundaries of the art of acting. I also spoke with Open Book and\u00a0Metro book columnist Sue Carter about the making of the book and why I think critics are largely wrong about Nic Cage. From the Metro article: In the introduction to the book, Gibb writes, “Having to constantly defend something you like can make you love it more fiercely.” She dismisses critics who have an unwavering bias against Cage and his on-screen antics. \u201cThere are definitely writers who have a certain take on him \u2014 he\u2019s a second-rate actor that\u2019s always going to chew the scenery,\u201d she says. \u201cPeople have their set opinions, and don\u2019t let his performance influence their opinion. They\u2019ve just decided he\u2019s the worst. And then there are people like me. I\u2019ll always find at least a nugget in his not-so-great films, and see something interesting.\u201d Thanks to these articles \u2014 as well as inclusions in gift guides on TIFF.net, on Canada AM and Digital Journal \u2014 I’ve heard from Nicolas Cage fans from other parts of the world. NicCagepedia (a zine from Madrid) contacted me and conducted an interview for their second issue, and American podcasters Joey Lewandowski and Mike Manzi asked me to join them on a couple of\u00a0episodes of their show #CageClub, which chronologically went through one Cage movie per episode. (I’m now guesting on their new podcast #KeanuClub which does the same with Keanu Reeves’ films.)\u00a0 If you’re ever in need a Cage expert, you know where to find me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,22],"tags":[24,23,25],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lindsaylibrarian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lindsaylibrarian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lindsaylibrarian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lindsaylibrarian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lindsaylibrarian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=299"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/lindsaylibrarian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":315,"href":"http:\/\/lindsaylibrarian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299\/revisions\/315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lindsaylibrarian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lindsaylibrarian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lindsaylibrarian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}