The Onion AV Club: Reviewing Stuff So I Don't Have To

A while back I borrowed a friend's copy of Steve Martin's recent memoir, Born Standing Up. I had intended to write about it here, but after reading it I realized I had very little to say about the book.

This was not because I didn't like it (I liked it fine) but rather because - like a lot of Martin's prose work - it is a book that is so meticulously written that it's almost standoffish. I read it, I enjoyed it well enough, but whatever that element is that engages the reader and makes the experience of "reading a book" a mutually constitutive process, a gestalt that has more to it than simply reader + text, just wasn't there (for me, at least).

Anyways, don't take my word for it - take Nathin Rabin's over at the Onion AV Club, for a much deeper and more generous take on the book. And it probably goes without saying that if you are a fan of stand-up comedy or Steve Martin, you'll probably find it an interesting - if maybe bloodless - time.

In Case You Didn't Know

Author David Hajdu (The Ten Cent Plague) popped up on the Colbert Report the other night.

Also, according to the episode, giraffe is now considered kosher.

Who knew?

Bad Taste

It's literary week over at the Onion A.V. Club, and they're kicking it off with "20 Good Books Made Into Not-So-Good Movies", as well as an interview with Alice Sebold, whose The Lovely Bones is getting the Peter Jackson treatment at the moment.

I'm assuming it's going to be more the "Heavenly Creatures Peter Jackson" than "Dead Alive/Meet the Feebles/Lord of the Rings/King Kong Peter Jackson". Then again, I think we'd all agree that what the adaptation of Sebold's haunting novel really needs to make the transition from page to screen is a massive battle scene where the bereaved father takes on a horde of zombies, cannibal aliens, carnivorous worms, and very lewd muppets with a lawn mower.

Things That Are Lame

Now this is really getting far afield of the ostensible aims of this blog, but here's the deal: in a fit of early 90s nostalgia inspired by an evening spent watching The Adventures of Pete and Pete on YouTube, Mary and I found ourselves involved in a game of rock and roll onedownsmanship. Having found all the good videos we could think of, we started looking for the worst that we could find. And lo, YouTube did not disappoint.

While viewing the slouching horror that is "The World I Know", we had the following exchange:

Me: "How can you not love Collective Soul? They're like Candlebox and the Goo-Goo Dolls, only suckier. That's hard to do."
Mary: "You know, we complain a lot about how MTV doesn't show videos anymore. I think, instead, we should say: Thank you, MTV, for not showing the narrative videos. Do we really need Collective Soul to tell us stories? Do we really need Axl Rose to tell us stories?"

(See how I did that? Brought it back to storytelling. My blog-fu is, indeed, mighty.)

You're a Good Man, Charles M. Schulz

Lowlights and Good Grief moments from the tragicomic life of Charles M. Schulz at Mental Floss:

“You never do get over your first love,” Schulz said. “More than having your cartoons rejected or three-putting the 18th green, the whole of you is rejected when a woman says: `You’re not worth it.’”

You can also win a t-shirt by submitting your most Charlie Brown-esque moment, although I think I would need a lifetime supply of t-shirts before I'd consider turning over any of my Charlie Brown moments to be judged by strangers.

Cementing My Geek Cred. . .

. . .in more way than one. This isn't exactly book related, but I came across it and had to post it, because Star Trek + Monty Python = wicked cool, as they used to say.

This Is Why They Invented The Internet

Some enterprising soul has rigged up a Choose Your Own Adventure over at OKCupid.

It is a zombie choose your own adventure.

And now my life is complete...er, literally. Dang zombies.

Your Score: Red Shirt

You killed 18 zombies and earned 14 manliness points!

You've contributed heavily to the excitement of the story, but ultimately died in the end. What can I say? I guess you weren't the main character.

Take another swing at the zombies?