The Programmer’s Bookshelf Part One: AFS’ Lars Nilsen

We’re all about movies, but every so often we love a good book. So, we asked our programmers for a little peek at their bookshelves. This week, AFS’ Lead Programmer Lars Nilsen tells us of the books that changed his life, opened his mind, and gave him a cluckin’ good time.

Psychotronic Encyclopedia
“For me, this was the book that sent me on countless expeditions into video stores, hunting for titles I had read about in Mike Weldon’s concise yet opinionated blurbs. It changed the whole idea of what “real” movies are for me and lit up my own movie galaxy with stars like John Carradine, Mamie Van Doren and Cash Flagg. I am into a lot of different stuff now but this was the book that really grabbed me and didn’t let go. I practically know it by heart.”


Nightmare Of Ecstasy
“I’m sure everyone reading this is a big fan of Rudolph Grey‘s noise guitar work. Just kidding. I’d be surprised if you ever heard it, but that was what led me to pick up this book, an oral history of Edward D. Wood, Jr. It was eventually optioned and turned into a Disney movie – one of the weirdest things that has ever happened – but the book is way better. You get more of a sense of the guy, his priorities and the family atmosphere that suffused his working life. I wish there were 800 more pages of this stuff.”

Are You In The House Alone
“It was my plan here not to include books by my friends but I am already breaking that rule, simply because later this month the editor and primary author of this one Amanda Reyes will join us for our first foray into actual television with the History Of Television Masters & Methods series on Austin Public Channel 12. This book is a much-needed resource, a compendium of made for television movie reviews with copious amounts of detail about the production, the people behind them and the social context. It will have you scribbling titles for later viewing. This has been a highly influential volume, as the number of made for television films being released on Blu-Ray now will attest.”

Follow The History of Television: Masters & Methods on Twitch

Follow Amanda Reyes on Twitter

Cluck
“OK, this is not a great book but it’s an example of how completely gullible I am when I see an interesting or unusual film book on a shelf. This is a supposedly comprehensive (it’s not really) guide to chickens on film. I will admit that I have never sat up all night and read this one by candlelight, though I will admit to leafing through it occasionally and chuckling.”