Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto
by Chuck Klosterman
List Price:
Our Price: $2.00
You Save: $13.00 (87%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.45 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Chuck KlostermanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-06-22
ISBN: 0743236017
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Scribner
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780743236010
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
- Fargo Rock City : A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota
- Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story
- Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas
Book Reviews of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto
Book Review: Extremely Entertaining
Summary: 5 Stars
I couldn't help picking up Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto (Now With A Middle). I first became acquainted with the writing of Klosterman in his columns for Esquire magazine-he is always funny and interesting in his digressions of pop culture. He tackles everything from cereal, porn, video games (Simms City), sports (the Boston Celtics/LA Lakers rivalry as a means of self determination-why soccer is lame), music (the non-ironic virtues of Billy Joel, the travails of a Guns& Roses Tribute band, why country music will outlast other types of music), TV (extensive analysis of Saved By The Bell and The Real World), celebrities (why Pamela Anderson tells us who we are), generational analysis (Gen X and its relation to Star Wars, the unrealistic model of maleness in Lloyd Dobler-a character from the movie Say Anything), pop fascination with serial killers, the misconception of a biased media, the unusual world of rock critics, and religion (on the popularity of the Left Behind series of Christian novels. Most of this is quite entertaining, especially if you were born in between 1965-1975. I found myself laughing out loud a lot, but sometimes I was wondered if he really believes all of his cockamamie theories-because it sounds funny or ridiculous. However, several of the essays contain a certain logic. So in some ways the essays can be quite thought provoking. Here's a tidbit about how mass media affects relationships:
" Pundits are always blaming TV for making people stupid, movies for desensitizing the world to violence, and rock music for making kids take drugs and kill themselves. These things should be the least of our worries. The Main problem with mass media is that it makes it impossible to fall in love with any acumen of normalcy. There is no "normal," because everybody is being twisted by the same sources simultaneously. You can't compare your relationship with the playful couple who lives next, because they're probably modeling themselves after Chandler Bing and Monica Geller. Real People are actively trying to live like fake people, so real people are no les fake. Every comparison becomes impractical. This is why impractical has become totally acceptable; impracticality almost seems cool. The best relationship I ever had was with a journalist who was as crazy as me, and some of our coworkers like to compare us to Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungeon. At the time, I used to think, "Yeah, that's completely valid: We fight all the time, our love is self-destructive, and-if she was mysteriously killed-I'm sure I'd be wrongly arrested for second-degree murder before dying from an overdose in her parents' basement." We even watched Sid & Nancy in her parents' basement and giggled the whole time. "That's us," we said gleefully. And that was the best relationship I ever had. And I suspect it was the best one she ever had, too."
At any rate, a fun, easy and entertaining read.
Summary of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto
Countless writers and artists have spoken for a generation, but no one has done it quite like Chuck Klosterman. With an exhaustive knowledge of popular culture and an almost effortless ability to spin brilliant prose out of unlikely subject matter, Klosterman attacks the entire spectrum of postmodern America: reality TV, Internet porn, Pamela Anderson, literary Jesus freaks, and the real difference between apples and oranges (of which there is none). And don't even get him started on his love life and the whole Harry-Met-Sally situation.Whether deconstructing Saved by the Bell episodes or the artistic legacy of Billy Joel, the symbolic importance of The Empire Strikes Back or the Celtics/Lakers rivalry, Chuck will make you think, he'll make you laugh, and he'll drive you insane -- usually all at once. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs is ostensibly about art, entertainment, infotainment, sports, politics, and kittens, but -- really -- it's about us. All of us. As Klosterman realizes late at night, in the moment before he falls asleep, "In and of itself, nothing really matters. What matters is that nothing is ever 'in and of itself.'" Read to believe.
There's quite a bit of intelligent analysis and thought-provoking insight packed into the pages of Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, which is a little surprising considering how darn stupid most of Klosterman's subject matter actually is. Klosterman, one of the few members of the so-called "Generation X" to proudly embrace that label and the stereotypical image of disaffected slackers that often accompanies it, takes the reader on a witty and highly entertaining tour through portions of pop culture not usually subjected to analysis and presents his thoughts on Saved by the Bell, Billy Joel, amateur porn, MTV's The Real World, and much more. It would be easy in dealing with such subject matter to simply pile on some undergraduate level deconstruction, make a few jokes, and have yourself a clever little book. But Klosterman goes deeper than that, often employing his own life spent as a member of the lowbrow target demographic to measure the cultural impact of his subjects. While the book never quite lives up to the use of the word "manifesto" in the title (it's really more of a survey mixed with elements of memoir), there is much here to entertain and illuminate, particularly passages on the psychoses and motivations of breakfast cereal mascots, the difference between Celtic fans and Laker fans, and The Empire Strikes Back. Sections on a Guns n' Roses tribute band, The Sims, and soccer feel more like magazine pieces included to fill space than part of a cohesive whole. But when you're talking about a book based on a section of cultural history so reliant on a lack of attention span, even the incongruities feel somehow appropriate. --John Moe
Performing Arts Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Performing Arts Books
The Film Director: Updated for Today's Filmmaker, the Classic, Practical Reference to Motion Picture and Television Techniquesby Richard L. Bare
Wiley; Published: 2000-05-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.75
Price in other shops:
How Movies Workby Bruce F. Kawin
Allyn & Bacon; Published: 1987-03-13; Hardcover; Book
The Sun Soap Quiz Book: 2,000 Questions on Your Favourite TV Soap Operasby Chris Bradshaw
HarperCollins UK; Published: 2008-05-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops:
Make Your Own Adult Video: The Couple's Guide to Making Sensual Home Moviesby Petra Joy
Collins; Published: 2007-01-03; Paperback; Book
Blessings in Disguiseby Alec Guinness
Fontana; Published: 1986; Paperback; Book
Irish Dancing (Collins Pocket Reference)by Tom Quinn
Harpercollins Pub Ltd; Published: 1998-11; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Harmonyby Heinrich Schenker
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 1980-10-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $33.64
Price in other shops:
A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, Second Editionby Steven Louis Shelley
Focal Press; Published: 2009-10-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $38.82
Price in other shops:
The Theater Experienceby Edwin Wilson
Mcgraw-Hill College; Published: 1994-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.94
Price in other shops:
Bill Hicksby Kevin Booth
Harpercollins Entertainment; Published: 2005-03-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $40.00
Similar Books and other products
Write Nowby Karin Russell
Career Education; Published: 2010-06-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $36.00
Fargo Rock City : A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakotaby Chuck Klosterman
Scribner; Published: 2002-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops:
Downtown Owl: A Novelby Chuck Klosterman
Scribner; Published: 2009-06-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.63
Price in other shops:
Stuff White People Like: A Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millionsby Christian Lander
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2008-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.34
Price in other shops:
Eating the Dinosaurby Chuck Klosterman
Scribner; Published: 2009-10-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.98
Price in other shops:
I Am America (And So Can You!)by Stephen Colbert
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 2009-10-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.94
Price in other shops:
Dispatches from the Tenth Circle: The Best of The Onionby Robert Siegel, Onion Staff, The Onion
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2001-09-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.34
Price in other shops:
Eating the Dinosaurby Chuck Klosterman
Scribner; Published: 2010-07-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.04
Price in other shops:
Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Storyby Chuck Klosterman
Scribner; Published: 2006-06-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideasby Chuck Klosterman
Scribner; Published: 2007-07-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.95
Price in other shops: