That's Me in the Corner: Adventures of an Ordinary Boy in a Celebrity World |
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Andrew Collins
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Pages: 336 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0091897866
Pub: Time Out Group Ltd
Pub date: 2007-05-03
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 19241
Reader Reviews:
That's him for now. (0/0 people found this helpful)
I have thoroughly enjoyed all 3 of his memoirs.His first 2 books could easily have been me growing up in the 70s and 80s and had a real everyman feel about them.A lot of shared experience.As I have continued with Andrew on his journey our paths have diverged especially as I am not a magazine editor or media pundit of course!!this means that I didn't have quite the same empathy with him.However that's not a problem as the most recent stage of his life is a fascinating one and is amusingly and well written and often laugh out loud funny.Sadly as the story is now up to date I have a very very long wait for the next one.
Recommended (0/0 people found this helpful)
Ever wondered how you go from a Saturday job in Sainsbury's to hanging out with celebrities on a yacht at the Cannes Film Festival? In this amusing memoir Andrew Collins takes us from his first job (apart from Sainsbury's) in the art department at the NME through to editorial positions at the country's top music magazines, and all those tv,radio, writing and drinking bits in between. There's no such thing as a "how to" guide for anyone wanting to work in music and broadcasting but for any aspiring media graduates out there, read this and see how someone managed to do it. And you'll have a laugh too.
Comfortably the best of the trilogy. (1/1 people found this helpful)
I had keenly and enthusiastically read the first two volumes of autobiography, enjoying the journey from 'gimmick' (refreshing antidote to the swathes of tiresome abusive childhood memoirs) through to the cringe-worthy recognition of hilarious undergraduate faux-pas and post-university "where next?" blues. This third instalment follows Mr Collins' progress from Sainsbury's shelf-stacker (circa 1980 in brown polyester slacks) to media player during the `90s boom times of Britpop, Q magazine and a plethora of TV and radio shows. It also (loosely) explores the query: What am I?
Andrew Collins' assured prose style that works so well in his various blogs, columns and articles transfers comfortably to the novel, sticking to a well-structured format that neatly avoids paragraphs of exposition and catch-up. It's playful in tone, big on laughs, and warm and generous of heart. To avoid it less than five stars would simply be churlish.
This is an effortlessly light read; not a criticism, but a compliment, as Mr Collins' swift rise through broadcasting and publishing could easily have come off as smug, glib or pun-happy. Obviously focused on Andrew and his career, we lose the insights into family, parents, friends, relationships etc. This is no bad thing, but at times I'd like to know more about how his personal life impacts on his professional life (and vice versa). For an autobiography, it's remarkably low on self-analysis or revelation, although maybe that's precisely its point, and its author has a semblance of dignity.
It's jam-packed with anecdotes: New York for the second time, the heady days of NME and Danny Kelly, the truly truly brilliant Stuart Maconie double-act, Will Smith, Savage Garden, Doctor Who and (like the Now! albums) many, many more. It's nice to see recent media history analysed and at an interesting cultural junction, this seems like a good place to take off from.
All in all, this is a wonderful book; I can't think of anyone I know who wouldn't enjoy reading it, and it would make ideal holiday reading - especially for those with a passing interest in late-night radio, The Jesus & Mary Chain and boozy journo lunchtimes.
What I was waiting for (2/2 people found this helpful)
Having worked in the magazine industry as a freelance writer for years I was really looking forward to the release of 'That's Me in the Corner'. With this, the 3rd in his series of biog's, Andrew Collins shared a world that I as a freelancer never really saw much of. Andrew Collins didn't disappoint. 'That's Me in the Corner', as anticipated, is a great read. It is very funny.
What I love is that he doesn't separate or romanticize himself. He always has an eye on his own part in the story. It is very well written, and very funny to boot.
Sadly this book brings us up to date, we'll have to wait a while for the next installment.
The best mate I never had (6/6 people found this helpful)
This is the latest (third) part of the author's autobiography. Having enjoyed all three, I feel as if I know Mr Collins all my life. It is only in this latest instalment that he moves from the ordinary to a variety of jobs at NME, the BBC, Radio 1, Empire magazine and Radio Times, but we feel pleased for him because we feel we know him and deep down is an ordinary fan boy like the rest of us.
The focus here is work related, very little about relationships, marriage, family etc and it would have been nice to have a flavour.
He writes with ease and with a wry look at himself and the people around him and never takes himself seriously. It's astonishing that someone can have produced a three-part biography at the age of forty without being overly famous!
If I met him in a pub, I'd buy him a pint because I feel I've known him all his life and that is the essence of his books, you feel you have grown up with him.
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