Interesting casting.

Last night I saw a preview for the new movie Yes Man, starring Jim Carrey.

And I thought, that's interesting, I wonder if it's based on the Danny Wallace book Yes Man. So I wandered over to my best pal, the Internet Movie Database, and indeed, Wallace and his book are listed among the screenwriters.

Even if you're not going to see the movie (I may not, as I'm not a huge Jim Carrey fan) I would heartily recommend the book, which is about Wallace deciding to say "yes" to everything he's asked for a whole year. I read the book a long time ago, but one incident that sticks with me is Wallace sticking with his plan, even in the middle of a pub fight: "Do you want to get punched?" To which, of course, he had to answer yes. Wallace is a decidedly British author, with what I think of as a distinctly British sense of humor (I think the British, by and large, are funnier than Americans. I know. I'm a total traitor to my nation.), so it might be interesting to see how this movie works with Carrey in the title role. But I still may skip it just to take time and re-read the book, or Wallace's earlier title, Join Me, in which he placed an ad in the paper asking for people to "Join Me!" He didn't tell them what for, or anything. Do consider reading either book--they're both a lot of fun.

Comments

[Care]

This reminds me of the slogan our college student govt had printed on t-shirts: ASK ME. Whenever any guy asked me "Ask you what?" I always responded "Ask me out." I had more dates that semester... Thank you for the book/author recs.

[Venta]

There's a similar book (and I can't remember the name)where a woman accepts a date from anyone who asked. I assume she had great stories, too.

[Citizen Reader]

Care,
Why didn't I get a t-shirt like that in college? That would have been a lot easier than the whole having to flirt thing, which I was spectacularly bad at.

Yes, do try Danny Wallace--he's right up there with Tony Hawk and A.A. Gill as one of my favorite Brit authors.

[Citizen Reader]

Venta,
Are you thinking of "The Year of Yes"? Good memory on your part--but I must say I didn't care much for that book--I thought the author was kind of self-centered (even more so than usual in memoir). I preferred a book called "Around the World in 80 Dates," although the author's name of that one slips my mind.

Scarily, I consume dating books (including manuals) like candy. I think it has something to do with learning about something you don't understand. I never did get dating.

[Care]

I was able to get Join Me from bookmooch and I have an AA Gill book I have yet to open.

oh, and The Exes by Pagan Kennedy arrived yesterday. You have a lot of influence on my tbr, ya know...