Book Review - "Who is Michael Ovitz?"

“Who is Michael Ovitz?”

A fascinating and fast read. It’s all here, the growth of CAA, decline of Lew Wasserman, MGM and MCA, his departure from CAA, the Picasso Eisner had to give Robin Williams, being fired from Disney, David Letterman’s battle for the Tonight Show, the “gay mafia” and his third act as a wildly successful Silicon Valley investor. 

Ovitz is certainly an egotist but there’s no denying his hard work, vision and success. If you worked in entertainment between 1988 - 2006 no doubt you will get some juicy details on a story you were attached to and enjoy hearing Ovitz’ POV on the rest. And he names names. 

Memoirs are often criticized for not being objective. But that’s part of the fun of it and also the authorial subjectivity tells you something about the person that no one else can. 

Book Review - "Severance: A Novel" by Ling Ma

Post-apocalyptic novels work on the premise that all was fine before the bad event. The best thing about this one is that it shows that what came before the big event was itself the apocalypse. It’s popular with millennials as it suggests that rot results from our routine & meaningless walk through life. It is also right on trend with AI thinkers who question whether your daily existence is different than that of a closed loop robot/zombie. Is it?

And just when you think that is quite enough to chew on, Ma also gives you a background immigration story that pairs like a fine wine with an apocalyptic migration story. But, wait, there’s more! It’s also a coming to maturity story which works well with the theme of the acceptance of inconvenient truths - known as “adulting”. 

You will find a lot to like here. I made sure to collect this as a first/first. Let me know what you think.