Neil Strauss (also known by the pen name Style or Chris Powles), is an American author, journalist and ghostwriter (b.1969). He is best known for his best-selling book The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists, where he describes his experiences in the seduction community in an effort to become "a pick-up artist." He is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and also writes regularly for The New York Times.
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Biography
After graduating high school from the Latin School of Chicago, Strauss attended Vassar College.[1] While in school he began his career writing for Ear, an avant-garde magazine, and editing his first book, Radiotext(e), an anthology of radio-related writings for the postmodern publisher Semiotext(e). He moved on to the Village Voice, where he did everything from copy-editing to fact-checking before becoming a regular reporter and critic.[2] He was invited by Jon Pareles[3] to become a music critic at The New York Times where he wrote the Pop Life column and front-page stories on Wal-Mart’s CD-editing policies, music censorship, radio payola, and the lost wax figures of country-music stars.[4]
He was then invited by Jann Wenner to become a contributing editor at Rolling Stone where he wrote cover stories on Kurt Cobain, Madonna, Tom Cruise, Orlando Bloom, the Wu-Tang Clan, Gwen Stefani, Stephen Colbert, and Marilyn Manson.
He won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for his coverage of Kurt Cobain's suicide for Rolling Stone and his profile of Eric Clapton in The New York Times Arts & Leisure section. Strauss also contributed to Esquire, Maxim, Spin, Entertainment Weekly, Details, and The Source. He was also featured in Beck's music video Sexx Laws which also featured Jack Black, and as a guest star on the season six finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Neil Strauss was the co-writer or ghostwriter of several best-selling celebrity memoirs, including The Long Hard Road Out Of Hell with Marilyn Manson, The Dirt with Mötley Crüe, How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale with Jenna Jameson, and Don't Try This At Home with Dave Navarro.
After leaving The New York Times to ghostwrite Jameson's memoirs, Strauss wrote The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists (Regan Books, 2005), a book about a sub-culture of pick-up artists known as the seduction community. The book made a month-long appearance in the New York Times bestsellers list in September-October 2005, and reached the #1 position on Amazon.com immediately after its release in the United States. It was optioned to be made into a film by Spyglass Entertainment, with Chris Weitz adapting and producing [5].
His follow-up book, a controversial graphic novel How to Make Money Like a Porn Star, came out in 2006 on September 26. By 2006 Neil Strauss also came out with "Shoot", a short film about becoming a rockstar that he co-wrote, directed and performed in. That same year, in collaboration with Dave Navarro and Entourage writer Cliff Dorfman, he created a one-hour TV drama The Product for FX.[6] In 2007, he released a follow-up to The Game, Rules of the Game, a two-book boxed set.
On March 4, 2009, The New York Times wrote that Strauss (along with rock biographer Anthony Bozza) had started his own publishing company, Igniter, as a subimprint of HarperCollins. Igniter's first title, the Times reported, will be "The World According to Bozo the Clown." [7]
Strauss's newest book, Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life (Harper, 2009), for which he spent three years undercover amongst survivalists, tax-dodgers, billionaire businessmen, and the government itself, was hailed by Rolling Stone as an "escape plan" for the current world crisis.[8] It entered the New York Times bestseller list at #3.[9]
Seduction community
In the seduction community, Strauss is known by the pseudonym "Style". In 2004 he published an article in the New York Times about his experiences.[10]
The Game
In The Game, Strauss tells the tale of his transformation into "Style", a pickup artist under the tutelage of Mystery. In addition to documenting his experiences with pickup artists like Mystery, Extramask (Barry Kirkey) and Ross Jeffries, it also describes his interactions with celebrities including Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Tom Cruise, and Courtney Love. Strauss writes of his distrust of pickup artists "Tyler Durden" and "Papa", the co-founders of Real Social Dynamics. In promoting his book, Strauss appeared on various TV shows, including The View[11] and ABC Primetime, and he participated in many book signings[12] .[13]
After publishing the book, Strauss temporarily retired as a pickup artist and settled with a long-term girlfriend Lisa Leveridge, who played guitar in Courtney Love's all-female band The Chelsea (band).[14] An article in the Sunday Mirror, suggested that Leveridge broke up with Strauss in February 2006 to date Robbie Williams.[15] Strauss denied the Williams rumor, but confirmed his breakup with Leveridge on his mailing list a few months later.
Stylelife
Through his VIP mailing list, Strauss announced the Stylelife Challenge on May 31, 2006. Strauss challenged men to get a date in 30 days or less. During the entire month of July 2006, participants were given daily challenges on the Stylelife. These challenges were designed to help men makeover their look, overcome their fears, and get a date within a month. While the primary goal was simply for participants to get a date, the most improved won a week-end in San Diego with the Inner Game guru "Hypnotica" ("Rasputin" in The Game).
On March 10, 2007, through his VIP mailing list, Strauss announced the Stylelife Academy, which he describes as the first online school for self-improvement and attraction. Enrolled students study a variety of subjects ranging from mind-shaping, to body language, to story telling, to being a good conversationalist in daily online classes.
VIP Book Club
In January, 2007, Strauss decided to form a book club composed of members of his personal mailing list neilstrauss.com. The purpose of the club is to challenge non-readers with works of serious literature. The club meets every Monday.
Bibliography
- The Long Hard Road Out of Hell with Marilyn Manson (1998) ISBN 0-06-098746-4
- The Dirt with Mötley Crüe (2001) ISBN 0-06-098915-7
- Don't Try This At Home with Dave Navarro (2004) ISBN 0-06-039368-8 ISBN 0-06-098853-3
- How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale with Jenna Jameson (2004) ISBN 0-06-053909-7
- The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists (2005) ISBN 0-06-055473-8
- How to Make Money Like a Porn Star, illustrated by Bernard Chang (2006) ISBN 0-06-088405-3
- Rules of the Game (2007) ISBN 0-06-154045-5
- Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life (2009) ISBN 0-06-089877-1
See also
References
- ^ http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0106/0106thegame.txt
- ^ Slushpile interview with Strauss
- ^ Interview with Strauss on MediaBistro
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/12/arts/wal-mart-s-cd-standards-are-changing-pop-music.html
- ^ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002074610
- ^ Daily Variety, August 18, 2006, "FX amps up rock drama" by Denise Martin
- ^ HarperCollins Puts Its Money on New ‘It Books’ Imprint
- ^ Rolling Stone Emergency review
- ^ [1]
- ^ Neil Strauss: "He Aims! He Shoots! Yes!!" The New York Times, January 25, 2004
- ^ Neil Strauss on The View
- ^ Neil Strauss Book Signing Video from Los Angeles, Calif
- ^ Neil Strauss on ABC Primetime Live
- ^ Emma Forrest: "All the right moves." The Observer, September 11, 2005
- ^ "Exclusive: She's the 6ft One", SundayMirror.co.uk, February 19, 2006
External links
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