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Harvey Comics Classics Volume 3: Hot Stuff (Harvey Comics Classics Library)

Published in Paperback by Dark Horse (2008-04-09)

Author: Leslie Cabarga

List price: $19.95

New price: $10.28
Used price: $9.69

Average review score:

Excellent reproduction

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-18

I love Hot Stuff because the character designs are so appealing, and the stories are so goofy, like a child's daydreams. The printing is superb-- the black-and-white (about 75% of the book) is taken either from original artwork or excellent, clear stats and the color stories are photographed directly from the printed comics page rather than re-colored from B&W line art-- technology must have improved since the blurry-looking work of past re-prints like "L'il Abner-- the Frazetta Years" or the garish, imbalanced tonality of most Marvel titles.

Hot Stuff is my favorite Harvey character because he's kind of scrappy, like an ornery little kid. I found him sexy when I was small, walking around in a diaper and taking no guff from anyone.

Great book-- we need more!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-19

This is a great collection! I have a big pile of Hot Stuff comics, but had never seen many of these stories. We need a lot more than just one volume for each Harvey character though--these stories deserve the kind of extensive treatment that other classic comics have been receiving.
At the same time, a complete reprinting of Harvey comics would be problematic. Harvey churned out heaps of comics in the 50's-70's, and it was a VERY mixed bag in terms of quality. Some of the work was at least as good as any other children's comics, including those by Carl Barks; some of it was boring, badly-drawn filler. They also constantly reprinted stories throughout their titles without notation, making it difficult to determine when they originally appeared. Additionally, during their last five years or so, there was a general decline in quality even in work from their best artists.
Some determined editor with good judgment would have to sift through a tremendous amount of work and separate the good stuff... a big project, but worthwhile.

Harvey Comics were indeed " HOT STUFF!!! "

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-16

Mark,..you are NOT biased! This is great stuff! Hot Stuff to be exact!!!
I loved the Casper and Richie Rich book too!!! The old Harvey comics were so under-valued and under-appreciated and THAT was a crime! The BEAUTIFUL artwork, line work and storytelling is so compelling and charming that it's easy to get enveloped into the world of Harveytoons as you read each panel!!!!

I only wish more was written about the artists, their thoughts, their notes and the stories behind the stories within the walls of the Harvey studio!!!
Great series here!!!!

Todd

A Sizzling Selection

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-04

As a kid, Hot Stuff was my favorite Harvey comic (my sister's was Wendy, although we both also read Casper). So when Amazon announced the Ultimate Hot Stuff collection as a companion to the Ultimate Casper, I quickly advance ordered it. Unlike the Casper comics, however, the Little Devil never made the cut. Imagine my joy when Dark Horse, which seems to be saving everything classic, slipped out this mammoth volume. Dark Horse, you'll recall, also has been reprinting the Little Lulu comics in black and white collections, the exception being a dazzling full color edition called Color Special. Lulu fans will recall that when Gladstone/ Another Rainbow created the Little Lulu Library of oversize, slip-cased hardbacks, that beautifully done series was also black and white line drawings in the interior, with color covers of the various comics.

I'd ideally like to see Dark Horse reprint all the Hot Stuff comics in color, but reprint is a misleading word here, as is explained in the extensive lead ins by three comics and cartoons conoisseurs, Leslie Cabarga, editor, Jerry Beck, who wrote the intro, and Mark Arnold, who wrote the Foreword. Cabarga is a long time animation expert, who authored The Fleischer Story, among other volumes. I first read Jerry Beck as the co- author of a guide to Loony Tunes, but he's also behind the recent books on both Hanna- Barbera and Nicktoons, and is now nearly as omnipresent as Leonard Maltin. Mark Arnold edited the Harveyville Fun Times newsletter of all things Harvey[...].

What they explain is that the 110 stories in this volume are reproduced from prisitine line art, and the around sixty colored pages (out of 480) had to be recolored for this book. They also give a fascinating look at how comics were originally colored, and why some of the pages would be off register, leave out a bit of color somewhere, and other printer's errors. This is all good for collectors and historians, but frankly, general readers would rather read the comics as they once were, in color. This is why I give this volume a four. Were all the stories in color, it would be a five star production, hands down.

I object to viewing comics and cartoons from the so-called classic era as museum pieces, fit to be enshrined for nostalgic Baby Boomers. Instead of worshipping those comics and their creators, how about some good comics now? And how about some good collections of those comics now, as if they were real comics? That goes for the cartoons also. Rhino and Classic Media (now Entertainment Rights), can, for all I care, stop putting out cartoons if they can't do it right. There's certainly enough trash on TV right now (yes, I'm using the T word), that there's no excuse not to get creative, decent, humorous, uplifting, slapstick, side-splitting cartoons and comics out to readers and viewers. And to Matt Harrigan (sp.), who has ruined the once funny and innocent cartoons on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim: you have no business being involved in animation if you can't make innocent cartoons.

This book continues the good work of Beck and Cabarga.

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-13

At last is Volume 3 in the Harvey Comics Classics series, with Harvey Classics Library Volume 4: Baby Huey (Harvey Classics Library) coming up next.

If you've purchased the previous two volumes Harvey Comics Classics Volume 1: Casper (Harvey Comic Classics) and Harvey Comics Classics Volume 2: Richie Rich (Harvey Comic Classics), you should know what to expect: a high gloss expose of choice comic book reprints from the Harvey vaults dating from the 1950s and 60s.

Some still may quibble over the black and white, but by now anyone reading this series should realize that these books are an appreciation of the intricate pen and ink lines in which the Harvey artists excelled. In this volume, there are many examples of that fine art by Warren Kremer and Howard Post (who contributes a quote on the book's back cover). There are also some fine color pages.

I may be biased because I also wrote the Foreword and made some visual contributions, but this is one great book and one great series.

For those wanting to know more about the history of Harvey, should check out my book The Best of The Harveyville Fun Times!

Hot, Throb, Dykes to Watch Out For

Published in Hardcover by Firebrand Books (2000-01-01)

Author: Alison Bechdel

List price: $22.95

Used price: $5.95

Average review score:

Multiple consummations

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-07

Alison Bechdel is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I'm sorry to say that although I've known about her "Dykes to Watch Out For" for years, I only recently began reading the series after discovering her gripping memoir Fun Home. I'm not reading the DTWOF volumes serially (although perhaps I should), but rather as I can get my hands on them. But what I'm discovering even in my haphazard reading of them is that Ms Bechdel's artwork and narrative gets richer as time passes, that her characters become increasingly complex, and that the deep reflectiveness coupled with a playfully mordant sense of humor I discovered in Fun Home enlivens DTWOF as well.

"Hot, Trobbing..." is an excellent title for this collection, because the story lines in it collectively build in tension until the reader is virtually panting for some kind of release. The main story centers around Mo and a new character, Sidney, a big-city, snooty, and frequently unbearable assistant professor of feminist theory. Mo takes an immediate dislike to Sidney, which eventually morphs into a sexual attraction that's overwhelming. In the meantime, Clarice and Toni are experiencing their own tension in their longstanding relationship, Lois is on prozac and losing her sexual joi de vivre, Ginger has reached the do-or-die point on her dissertation, and the bookshop Madwimmin is on the skids. Everything and everyone is in crisis mode and the tension steadily builds until, thankfully, it's released in exquisite simultaneity at the book's end (which, by the way, is also one of Bechdel's most erotic finales).

Along the way, there are some delicious digs at bad feminist poets, the sheer silliness (and fun) of sexual toys, the difficulties of juggling parenthood, marriage, and a hectic, demanding job (in the story line of Clarice, Toni, and Rafael), the hazards of dating ex-lovers of current friends, and the pain involved in coming out to one's family.

Wonderful, joyful, bittersweet stuff.

A must read!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 1998-06-27

After having read the occasional DTWOF in the local gay and lesbian press, I finally bought this collection of strips. I was incredibly impressed! Not only is this book *VERY* funny, but all of the characters seem to embody the diversity withing the gay and lesbian community. I couldn't put it down!

One of the funniest cartoons being drawn

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 1999-06-24

I love Bechdel's characters (my husband - yes, husband - says I remind him a *lot* of Mo when I go off on a tangent). The Madwimmin-a-go-go benefit at the end had us both laughing till we cried. Long live the mad women of Madwimmen!

The seventh, and quite wonderful, DTWOF book!

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 1997-07-23

This book ties up cliffhangers from the previous collection, "Unnatural Dykes ..."

We find out what happens with Toni, her mother, Raffi, Clarice and Gloria. Time is closing in on Ginger and ther dissertation. Madwimmin Books starts to suffer as the new "Buns and Noodle" superstore rakes in the cash. We get to see more of Audry and Jezanna. Lois has a secret.

And Mo has an unwelcome admirer.

This book is great! Bechdel manages to tie up loose ends and still keep a coherant story that has a climax that's worth the entire series (as if you needed more of a reason).

Pick this one up to complete your collection thus far. Pick all of them up if you haven't started yet! It sure beats the heck out of daytime soaps.

Alison Bechdel just keeps getting better

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 1997-07-31

Warning: if you haven't read this book, this review is a spoiler!

I really liked this latest book by Ms. Bechdel. It's nice to see good things happening for the characters: Mo stirs herself and goes after Sidney instead of whining about her lack of a girlfriend. Ginger finally gets her PhD. Toni's parents seem to be ok her lesbianism, and Clarice and Toni revitalize their partnership which has been languishing since the arrival of Raffi, and one of the most important items, Clarice's second parent adoption is approved!

I can't wait for the next book! Unfortunately, Ms. Bechdel only comes out :-) with a new book every 2 years or so. I hope she never stops this comic strip

Houston You Have a Problem: A FoxTrot Collection (Foxtrot Collection)

Published in Paperback by Andrews McMeel Publishing (2007-03-01)

Author: Bill Amend

List price: $8.95

New price: $3.95
Used price: $3.11

Average review score:

Great comic book

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-31

Fox Trot is one of my sons favorite comic books. He has read this one many times!

Great Strip

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-18

I read through all of Bill Amend's comics...each one funier than the next, he knows how to make you chuckle and he knows how to make you happy. I cried a little when the strip was "semi" retired but life goes on.

Any Foxtrot fan will love this. Any newbie curious will love the strip.

I swear it will tickle your funny bone.

Love It!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-02

I always love FoxTrot!!!

I'm very sad the dailies are ending, but am happy for him that he was so successful.

I own all the books, and love them all!

The last book of a great series?

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-16

Amend once again delivers in what may be the last of the Foxtrot books, now that he's stopped doing the dailies that made up the bulk of these books. The collection is filled with the best of his last strips, and makes a great addition to the previous sets.

I miss this comic strip

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-07

I can't believe that Amend is retiring the strip. Nonetheless, I deeply appreciate this little book - combining some of his more recent strips.

I love this comic strip and recommend this book highly.

I Haven't Understood Anything Since 1962 and Other Nekkid Truths

Published in Hardcover by Villard (1992-09-29)

Author: Lewis Grizzard

List price: $18.00

New price: $1.89
Used price: $0.01
Collectible price: $18.00

Average review score:

Souther, Funny, Wonderful.....

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2004-02-10

What can one say about Lewis Grizzard. I wasn't born in 1962, but grew up in the South. I can't get enough of Grizzards stories and humor. He gives insights into the Southern way of life like no one else can. He will be dearly missed and nothing that I can say in this small space would do him justice. I am not old enough to have lived through all the things he writes about, but they make me laugh and think about where my family comes from (he even got me to try fried green tomatoes that I had refuse to try at my mother insistence). I laugh and send each copy of his books home to my Mamma. I have bough three more of his works and can't wait to get started.

I laughed my eyeballs right outta my head.

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2003-02-24

All Yankees should read this book so you know what we think of you. All Confederates should read this book for a good laugh at them Yankees :) Seriously, this book is excellent, and its got some stuff in it that you might not want your kids to read...these days maybe you don't care. They'll hear it anyway. But this book is so funny and you will love it. One of his best.

True Grizzard Humor! He is truly missed.

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 1997-07-31

Lewis had a way to make us all laugh,... and think. He was truly a son of the south. From his boyhood tails of exploits with Waymon C. Wannamaker and Kathy Sue Loudermilk to his stirring praise of Ronald Reagan's courage after being shot by Hinkley; Lewis relates feelings shared by all. I'm sure he is under a large Magnolia tree above, sittin' with his mom, dad, Daddy Bunn, Grandma Willie and good old Catfish, drinkin' iced tea, eatin' bar-b-que and laughing with us all

The Best Book Grizzard Ever Wrote

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-27

It is truly sad that as he reached the apex of his book writing career (in this book), Lewis Grizzard left us. This book was released in October of 1992, and Lewis died in March 1994. He wrote one more book about the hospital stay that nearly killed him a year later. But Lewis Grizzard went out at his creative peak.

Most of Grizzard's previous works had been collections of his four times per week column in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper. There were a few exceptions, like "Elvis Is Dead And I Don't Feel So Good Myself" (highly recommended), but most were collations of previous material. he made a few exceptions as his career progressed. In 1988, he wrote "Don't Bend Over In The Garden Granny, You Know Them Taters Got Eyes," a book about sex. The next year, he wrote one about golf. In 1990, it was a book written to his late mother (she died in 1989) and his biography, "If I Ever Get Back To Georgia, I'm Gonna Nail My Feet To The Ground."

After another collection of columns release, Grizzard wrote this book that primarily expounded upon his political views. For those who are unaware, he was an unabashed right-wing, trickle down, conservative. But it wasn't that simple.

He wrote about his politics in the context of trying to get a date in the newspaper want ads. He realized at this point that he was among the most politically incorrect persons in America. He also pointed out that any time he praised something about Southern culture, he was ripped as a racist. He correctly noted (for the time frame) that the New York Times and Washington Post have too much public influence. That has since changed, of course, with Al Gore inventing the Internet for the rest of us.

He roars through his views like tax breaks for the rich, get people off welfare, and he really didn't care how hard people had it because he pointed out that charity still begins at home. He did NOT advocate a return to the back of the bus mentality in the pre-civil rights 60s, praising many blacks while pointing out that people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are political opportunists who could really care less about helping out anyone.

One of the highlights of the book was his logical review of Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing." He caps it off by noting, after the pizza place is burned down, 'Did these guys ever stop to think, "Hey, where are we gonna get pizza tomorrow?"' He also had fun with Michael Dukakis, the feminists, and even mused about the Atlanta Braves losing the 1991 World Series was proof that life wasn't fair.

For those who have not read it, he did reveal that there are two issues on which he does not have a right-wing conservative view: abortion (he was reluctantly pro-choice) and gun control (he favored it). And it wasn't revealed until his next book but, yes, Grizzard was a Dittohead.

What does LG mean when he references 1962? It goes back to the Cuban Missile Crisis. He notes that in 1962, he was 16 and slept well, had a pretty girlfriend and all was normal. Arnold Palmer and Sandy Koufax were in their primes. But as the preface says, in 1963 somebody shot the President. Then the Beatles came. And all hell broke loose.

This book is, in fact, a sequel to the aforementioned "Elvis Is Dead And I Don't Feel So Good Myself," written in 1984. Although this book stands fine on its own, the previous book does serve to illuminate a few of his musings.

Enjoy the finest hour of a fine writer.

I may not be a southerner...

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2000-02-25

...but after some years spent living in Slidell, Louisiana, I'm thankful to see a commentator of intelligence and piercing insight blow through the baloney and tell it like it is. This is the closest we're likely to get to an autobiography of Grizzard's early years, and I'm glad to have it in my hands, because it allows us to see what kind of mind produced the stuff the late great man wrote.

I Took a Lickin' and Kept on Tickin' (And Now I Believe in Miracles)

Published in Hardcover by Villard (1993-11-16)

Author: Lewis Grizzard

List price: $19.00

New price: $0.25
Used price: $0.01
Collectible price: $19.00

Average review score:

lewis grizzard rocks

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2002-07-05

this book is one of the beat books in the world. it will make you happy and sad. if you naver read any of his work before read this one it is a good intro to lewis's work

A Tribute to the Late and Great Grizzard

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 1996-12-21

The work of a true humorist. From writing to his dog to his wife to his own short life, Lewis Grizzard is my hero and my role model. I have read almost all of this great man's books, and I believe in everything this man wrote. I was very sad when he died, for it meant that there would be no more books of this kind of quailty from one of the leading authors in America. This particular book was Grizzard's life story, but he managed to tell it in a funny, new way. I generally stay away from autobiographies and biographies, but since this one was written by Lewis himself, I gave it a try. It proved to be as funny as all his other books and really touched me. This book was just as funny as his other works and I was not disappointed by it's quality or content. I suggest that anyone who likes either humor or autobiographies (this book is versatile) should pick up this book from your nearest library and start reading

Pulled me out of the Blues...

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2000-05-04

I went out and bought this book b/c I'd listened to the abridged recorded version. This made me laugh and cry. It truely pulled me out of a "Why are we here and why do we bother?" kind of funk. I'm not sure I got the answers, but the answers didn't seem to matter after all. His presence is missed deeply in my life.

Only Lewis could...

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2001-09-25

Only Lewis Grizzard could make me laugh and cry at the same time and about what? His own near death experience. His unusual humor will be sorely missed. This book is almost as good as what I think was his greatest - My Daddy was a Pistol and I'm a Son-of-a-Gun. I will miss the talents of this great writer.

A Tribute to the Late and Great Grizzard

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 1996-12-21

The Ig Nobel Prizes 2: An All-New Collection of the World's Unlikeliest Research (Ignobel)

Published in Hardcover by Dutton Adult (2005-09-22)

Author: Marc Abrahams

List price: $18.95

New price: $1.25
Used price: $0.01
Collectible price: $18.95

Average review score:

An outstanding entertainment value!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-21

As Marc Abrahams, founding father of the Ig Nobel Prizes, explains them, they are awarded to scholarly (or at least pseudo-scholarly) "achievements" that first make us laugh, then make us think. This book and its predecessor are samplings of the awards over the years, a greatest hits collection, so to speak.

Have you ever wondered about the efficacy of one-nostril breathing? Have you longed for a spiceless jalapeno pepper? Have you considered that water might have an IQ? Have you long believed that karaoke might be the key to world peace? Have you wondered if you could rent the nation of Liechtenstein for your daughter's wedding? You haven't?! Well, fortunately, other people have wondered about such things, and they're very serious about them. The Ig Nobels honor them, and this book explains them for all of us lay-people.

My personal favorite is the study "Chicken Plucking and Tornado Wind Speed," done by Bernard Vonnegut, a noted physicist at SUNY-Albany, co-inventor of effective cloud seeding, and Kurt Vonnegut's older brother. His study debunked the conventional wisdom that tornado wind speed could be accurately estimated by examining the degree to which chickens swept up in the storms were denuded. Vonnegut's research pointed out that there are numerous variables involved in chicken feather attachment strength, the most important of which is that when chickens are frightened, their feathers loosen. Thus, naked chickens aren't a good measure of tornado intensity. Who would have thought it?

This book is a wonderful collection of such research results, all described with irreverent humor. It's an absolutely outstanding entertainment value, as measured in terms of laughs per dollar spent on the book. Maybe I should nominate myself for an Ig Nobel for having devised that measurement of entertainment value...

Buy this book; you'll laugh a lot, and you'll think, too.

The wise wizards of wacky but sometimes wonderful ideas

Helpful Votes: 15 out of 15 total.
Review Date: 2005-12-04

Back at the height of the Dot-Com boom, just before George Bush became president, billions of dollars were spent to attract viewers to specific web sites.

Since everyone was encouraged to stampede to specific sites, Larry and Sergey decidede to do just the opposite; they invented a web site to make it easier for people to look elsewhere. Thus Google was born.

It's what this book is all about: People who think different. Granted, Google isn't mentioned. Instead, it's a fun romp through the delightful imaginations of people who didn't come close to inventing Google, or much of anything else that might be of use to someone, somewhere, sometime for some unimaginable reason.

Like Google, Ig Noble Prizes are based on a simple criteria; they must make people THINK (that used to be the one-word slogan of IBM). Unlike Google, it must also make people laugh. In other words, Ig Noble honors apparently impractical new ideas on the basis that curiosity, originality and investigation are truly the basis of the human spirit.

Consider, for example, the virtually spiceless NuMex Primavera jalapeno chile pepper, developed by Professor Paul Bosland at the Chile Pepper Institute of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. New Mexico is famous for its Hatch chiles, which are flaming hot; so a "cool chile" may strike some as tasteless. Not true; the Primavera has lots of taste, just none of the usual hot spice. The goal is to gradually introduce people to chiles until they become addicted (it's a health food, after all) and everafter eat lots of New Mexico chiles.

This "wacky" idea may improve livelihoods for thousands of New Mexicans in the agricultural business, which is one of the goals of a land grant state college.

But what of the study showing the more radio stations broadcast country music, the greater the white suicide rate? The original study listed Nashville, Tenn., with the highest white suicide rate. It prompted ongoing studies about suicide, including a 2002 report, ". . . opera fans are 2.37 times more accepting of suicide because of dishonour than nonfans." There is a sneakily serious side to the Ig Noble awards.

My favourite, though, is the scientific study of the 'Five Second Rule' about whether it's safe to eat food that's been dropped on the floor. Sixteen-year-old Jillian Clarke did the research using environmental scanning electron microscopy to examine floor tiles, cookies and gummy bears. She came up with the perfect answer: It depends.

As the youngest recipient, she was the center of attention at Harvard when, "For courageously, meticulously, and scientifically playing with food, Jillian Clarke was awarded the 2004 Ig Noble Public Health Prize."

Anyone who cannot understand the fuss over Clarke n eed not buy this book; it's way above their understanding, intelligence and sense of humour. For the rest of us, it's a delightful reminder of the endless vistas of imagination, curiosity and originality. Abrahams has again come up with a gem to tickle the imagination of the curious everywhere.

Science can be funny

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-05

This is another collection of what can only be described as very unique scientific research. The Ig Nobel Awards are handed out every October during an awards show at Harvard University. Presented by real Nobel Prize winners, they show just how far some people will go for knowledge.

Here are some titles of winning papers, some of appeared in real scientific journals: "The Effect of Country Music on Suicide," "Compliance With the Item Limit of the Food Supermarket Express Checkout Lane: An Informal Look," "Chickens Prefer Beautiful Humans," "Scrotal Asymmetry in Man and in Ancient Sculpture," "Patient Preference for Waxed or Unwaxed Dental Floss," and "Chicken Plucking as Measure of Tornado Wind Speed."

Other winners include a man from Ontario who developed and personally tested a suit that is impervious to grizzly bears; the inventor of karaoke; the entire nation of Liechtenstein, which can be rented for conventions, weddings and other gatherings; a pair of Japanese researchers who invented a computer-based dog-to-human language translation device; the inventors of tamagotchi; a man who investigated why shower curtains billow inwards, and the inventors of Spam and Beano.

The only "requirement" for anyone to win an Ig Nobel award is that the research makes a person laugh, then think. This hilarious book certainly accomplishes that. It can be picked up and read starting at any point, and read anywhere, and shows that science can be funny.

Science is too important to take seriously

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-17

Self-importance isn't the worst of crimes, but it can be annoying. This is the perfect cure for that ailment. It's an annual celebration of weird and wonderful in science, medicine, economics, literature, and whatever else appeals to the editors of the Annals of Improbable Research.

[dis]Honorees of the annual Ig Nobel awards include:
-- the inventor of karaoke (a Peace prize),
-- the developers of anti-flatulent Beano,
-- the teenage researcher who brought the full force of microbiology and electron microscopy to bear on the Five Second Rule of dropped food, and
-- the doctors who developed a protocol for dislodging sensitive manly tissues caught in zippers.

But, if there's goofing to be done in science, it will be done seriously. The annual award ceremony is hosted by Harvard University, and is always attended by actual Nobel winners. Ig Nobel winners vary in their response to the award, but most seem willing to see the light side of, for example, a medical study of foot odor. Or "Scrotal Asymmetry in Man and Ancient Sculpture."

//wiredweird

The Intelligence Of Single-Nostril Breathing

Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-12

The Ig Nobel prizes are awarded annually to scholars in extremely diverse and unusual fields. This book is a compendium of some of the best examples of extreme scholarship that you are likely to ever encounter. In this book you will find out how to rent the entire country of Liechtenstein, you will be totally unsurprised that politicians are extremely simple humans, and you will learn the cause and effect relationship of country music on suicide.

Many even stranger pieces of research are likewise discussed from a discussion of poultry aerodynamics in "Chicken Plucking and Tornado Wind Speed," to brain efficiency manipulation in "The Intelligence of Single-Nostril Breathing." Without doubt, though, my absolutely favorite piece of scholarship begins on page 212, and is a piece originally published as "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity," which originally appeared in "Social Text" (Spring/Summer 1996.) The author, Professor Alan Sokol, believes that academics use enormously complex language to describe the simplest of things, and as such decided to write a paper that was completely and utterly incoherent, that meant nothing, but that was cloaked in obscure jargon. Of course, the editors of "Social Text" didn't know this and found it brilliant and insightful. The joke was on them and they ran it and became the academic laughingstocks they so richly deserved to be. The book excerpts the article, which I have read in full elsewhere.
(I highly recommend that you do the same.) Readers of bigheaded nonsense will adore this work, a random excerpt of which follows: "Lacan's 'topologie du sujet' has been applied fruitfully to cinema criticism and to the psychoanalysis of AIDS. In mathematical terms, Lacan is here pointing out that the first homology group of the sphere is trivial, while those of the other surfaces are profound...."

Utterly brilliant, and highly recommended.

It's a Guy Thing: Awesome Innovations from the Underdeveloped Male Mind

Published in Paperback by Three Rivers Press (2007-05-29)

Author: Scott Seegert

List price: $13.95

New price: $8.29
Used price: $4.04

Average review score:

Funny, funny, funny!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-15

Every man in America needs to own a copy of this book if for no other reason then so that the women in their lives will read it too and realize how much worse their choice in a mate could have been! Scott Seegert's book is a hilarious example of just how wrong some 'great' American male inventors have gone. A must read for anyone who wants to fall off their chair laughing!

Ridiculously Funny!!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-29

I brought this to my brother's 50th birthday party (wild weekend gathering of far-flung siblings and their spouses) and it was a huge hit. We laughed until we cried! It's so funny because these are actual patented inventions - what were they thinking?!!!

FUNNY AS ALL GET OUT!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-28

I bought this book and read it in one sitting, which was hard to do with pop squirting out of my nose (hey, a new innovation for his next book:laminated pages!). Seegert's got a way with words, totally and smoothly in control of his arena:the American Guy. He turns a phrase with ease, taking actual patents and their accompanying drawings, while commenting on them in ways guys can truly appreciate. I found myself laughing about it while driving to work the next day. This is the kind of book to take with to the annual golf trip, fishing jaunt or hunting camp. You can pass it around and laugh about it. Exactly what guys do on those kinds of get-aways. Hilarious and witty, unexpected writing with punchlines that read in the spirit of Letterman and the aloofness of The Office. A real gem.

Great book!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-06-27

This is great! Good humor that even women can relate to (because we know men just like these guys!) Scott Seegert is a funny guy. Enjoyed every minute of it.

Much more than your standard quirky gift book - a treat for men and women

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-17

Scott Seegert has scoured the U.S. patent database and published an illustrated guide to a hundred of the best inventions by guy's guys. You need a true Guy to invent Joe's Dead Body Cube (what it sounds like - a translucent cube for storing your loved ones), Harold's Pogo-Copter (self-explanatory), Ricardo's Toilet Lounger (think "throne"), or Roy's .22 Caliber Golf Club. The author has expertly organized these inventions into categories such as "Cool Games That Guys Came Up With," "Neat Ways For Guys To Shoot Each Other," "Things That Make Guys More Attractive To Women (At Least in the Guys' Minds)," and "Things That Are Unnecessarily Dangerous And, Therefore, Appealing To Guys."

I've seen and received my fair share of books on strange patents over the years (I was an aspiring intellectual property lawyer back around age 10), and Seegert has written one of the best. He didn't rapidly churn out a quirky "gift" book; rather, he applied his engineering degree, MBA, and love of all things created by Guys to turn his hobby of collecting strange patents into a full-fledged humorous look at real inventions from the mind of the American Guy. Each invention is given a two-page spread complete with illustrations and diagrams. My sole complaint about the book is that only inventor first names and years are given, without reference to the actual patent number. What if I need to contact one of these Guys to license John's Portable Canine Commode or Andre's Penis Exerciser?

Jesus Christ Jr.

Published in Paperback by Framework Publishing (1996-07)

Author: Andrew J Thrasher

List price: $19.95

New price: $19.95
Used price: $2.00
Collectible price: $25.00

Average review score:

Jesus Christ Jr. is a phenomenal book.

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 1998-05-10

Approach Jesus Christ Jr. with an open mind. You'll discover that Andrew Thrasher has written a phenomenal book. He managed to cover a lot of territory in a fresh, psychologically accurate, unforgettable, and sometimes-humorous way.

The characters are as unique and individual as those you meet on a daily basis. But seeing them through the main character's eyes, you see his rational in categorizing them and follow his progression of thought to accepting and even admiring them.

Don't make the mistake of calling this a religious book. It's larger than that. It seeks to reveal the basic needs of human kind and how we try to fulfill those needs. No matter your background, race, or creed, you'll see that we're not so different. This is what the story conveys.

WHOO!

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 1998-05-10

Once I read an interview of the children's book author the late Dr. Seuss. He told about some of the fan mail children sent him-one letter simply contained the single word WHOO written in block letters in the center of the paper.

I just finished reading the novel, Jesus Christ Jr., by Andrew Justin Thrasher. I don't have any crayons but I have been thinking of using a felt tip pen and following the example of that young child who sent a fan letter to Dr. Seuss and writing the word WHOO in the middle of a piece of stationery and sending it to Thrasher. That word is an appropriate response to his book and any traditional words are almost superfluous.

But because this is a book review, I will go on to write other words and suggest people get and read this hysterically funny novel.

An established psychiatrist seeks to start a new religion and chooses a young man to serve an internship under him and to be the second Jesus Christ. With a few others they start out on a missionary campaign to spread this new religion.

The narrator is the young intern. He becomes convinced he is the second Jesus Christ and he details the action they take to gather twelve disciples and imitate the steps the original Jesus Christ took. At the end he is rescued from the death that had been planned for him and...but then that is telling you too much of the story and you should get and read this book for yourself.

Jesus Christ Jr. is a real thigh slapper.

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 1998-05-10

I got the book yesterday and finished it today!

Jesus Christ Jr. is an easy read-amusing, interesting and I even laughed out loud several times.

I likened it somewhat to Kurt Vonnegut's works.

What a marvelous plot-unique and contemporarily appropriate. Like a Vonnegut novel, I couldn't put the book down until I finished.

Immediately I thought this book should be made into a movie with Robin Williams or someone of that nature as the central character-a real thigh slapper.

Jesus Christ Jr. could become a cult classic.

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 1998-05-10

I really liked Jesus Christ Jr. I found it to be humorous, insightful, and thought provoking. I also liked the staccato style of the writing; the plot, dialogue, and flow of the story all were seamless.

I think this book ought to be a big seller among graduate students involved in social work, counseling, and psychology graduate programs. It could become a cult classic. The wonderful ambiguity experienced by the main character and his attempt to hold onto his world through diagnosis seems so "graduate school." I think students would really enjoy this book. Professionals might be offended because they are too close to protecting the traditional way of seeing things.

I also liked the various ways you worked in the use of story telling within a book that itself is a story or parable. The book may also be useful for people struggling with spiritual direction, although they may at first be frightened by the use of humor as a way of gaining self-understanding.

ýReviewerýs Bookwatchý April 1998 review of Jesus Christ Jr.

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 1998-05-10

Dr. One is an established psychiatrist who decides to start a new religion. In launching his movement he convinces our protagonist to serve an internship under him and to become a second Jesus Christ. They gather twelve disciples and use the example of the original Jesus to establish the movement-including the intended sacrifice of our gullible intern. Psychologically dramatic, and at times whimsical and humorous, Jesus Christ Jr. is an original novel revealing a story of spiritual struggle and psychological obsession that will engage the reader from first to last.

Keeping the Masses Down: How to Escape the Vicious Downward Spiral of Tyranny and Poverty

Published in Paperback by AuthorHouse (2005-07-19)

Authors: August K. Anderson and Nola, L. Kelsey

List price: $19.95

New price: $5.75
Used price: $5.02

Average review score:

Great gift! I Am Loving It!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-28

I Am America (And So Can You!)An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World's Biggest ProblemsOur Dumb World: The Onion's Atlas of the Planet Earth, 73rd EditionI Hope They Serve Beer In HellDave Barry's History of the Millennium (So Far)Sicko (Special Edition)

Of course my life is perfect; the cover got me to take a look! Okay, much to my surprise I found the advice in this mind-blowingly hysterical book helpful, but the laughter was the best medicine! Even if you're almost perfect, like me, you will not be able to stop yourself from flipping ravenously through the pages. Getting to the satirical Q&A pages at the end of each chapter is just the cheery on the cake. I'd give this book to anyone who needs to get motivated in life, but may not want to admit it. The advice is coated in so much humor, they'll soon forget they felt insulted.

Keeping the Masses Down

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2005-08-11

This book is hilarious and inspiring. I'm going to go out and live my life to the fullest - laughing all the way!

Can be used by anyone, regardless of age or income

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2006-10-29

This workbook will help to prepare anyone, young or old, for success in an America with a rapidly shrinking middle class.

Do you have a wildest dream or a lifelong goal? If cost was no object, what would you like to do with your life? Why don't you start to do something about it? This does not mean abandoning your present life, all at once and starting over, but working, step by step, toward that Ultimate Goal.

No one can change the circumstances under which they came into this world; the only thing that can change is your attitude. Just because you weren't born a rich, white male, blaming Them (whoever Them is) because you are poor, overweight or a minority is a waste of time and effort. If you want your situation to change, you are the only one who can do anything about it.

This book also looks at several aspects of life in today's America that help keep the masses fat, lazy and dependent on the government. Some types of insurance are needed and a good idea, but most types are little more than a rip-off. Have you ever wondered why it is so easy to get into credit trouble, but almost impossible to get out of it? Many physical conditions can be improved, or actually cured, by a simple prescription: exercise and cut out the junk food. Joining a gym or buying one of those exercise devices shown on TV is not necessary; the first step is to shut off the TV (getting rid of the TV is a better idea), get out of your chair, and go for a walk.

If you are one of those who sit back and wait for Mr. Right (and Rich) to sweep you off your feet, and set you up for life, here is a news bulletin: women live longer than men. One day, hubby will be gone, either through death or divorce, and then where will you be? Don't count on lifelong alimony that will cover all your expenses. Having lots of children just to get the child support money is a similarly bad idea.

The rest of this book consists of a workbook for the reader to track their progress, day by day, toward that Ultimate Goal. The process described in this book is not rocket science; it's simple and easy to read. This book can be used by anyone, regardless of age or income. It's recommended.

Tells it like it is!

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2005-12-26

This book is written by a former lawyer, Anderson, and zoologist, Kelsey. The back of the book tells you what it is all about better than I could. This novel gives lessons on:

Building success from obsession

My government / My dealer

The competitive edge of facial warts in the workplace

Reclaiming America for future generations

Journaling your way into a new life (Journal and note pages included already and waiting for your input.)

Why politicians can't be trusted to handle their own er*ctions! (Yes, you read that correctly.)

***** One thing is for sure, you will find yourself laughing while you learn and/or work your way through this book. *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

A motivational, consumable self-help book filled cover to cover with a positive-minded messages & advice to break out of poverty

Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-11

Keeping the Masses Down: How to Escape the Vicious Downward Spiral of Poverty & Tyranny is a motivational, consumable self-help book filled cover to cover with a positive-minded messages and advice to break out of poverty. Each of the twelve chapters offers a different "lesson" in the form of an obstacle to be conquered, from taxes to feelings of entitlement to bad credit, insurance, negativity, and more. Sample worksheets, checklists, and self-test quizzes designed to wean the reader from feeling sorry for oneself and get fixated on the future enhance the simplistic yet forceful text. Half of Keeping the Masses Down consists of a 100-day journal designed to help one break out of one's rut and change one's life for the better. Above all, Keeping the Masses Down emphasizes that focus on a positive attitude is critical to building the life of one's dreams. Keeping the Masses Down offers simple, clear-cut messages ("marriage/alimony/welfare/waiting for your parents to die is not a career plan") that desperately needs to be heard in today's entitlement-saturated world.

Lady Of The Water

Published in Paperback by Bradley H Olsen Ecker (1986-08-26)

Author: Bradley H. Olsen-Ecker

List price: $6.95

Used price: $20.00

Average review score:

Lady Liberty Never Had So Much Fun!

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-03-10

This book proves the adage, "A picture is worth more than 1,000 words." Master cartoonist Brad Olsen-Ecker's clever take on the Statue of Libery kept me laughing for days. Just thinking about some of the cartoons makes it hard to contain myself. This little, hliarious book should be on the shelves at every book and souvenir shop in the Big Apple. It also makes a great, inexpensive gift. Finally, I long for the reopening of the monument...

FANTASTERIFFIC!!

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2003-04-12

All I can say is I'm glad there is SOME funny guy out there. I have always read serious books until my friend Brie gave me this book for my 27th birthday. I was laughing on the floor before I got to the second page! Bradley, you are brilliant! Congrats on a fantastic book.

IF THE FRENCH SEE THIS BOOK< THEY MIGHT TAKE LIBERTY BACK.

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 1999-06-30

Some of these cartoons are priceless and extremely funny. They remind me of the ones in The New Yorker with a twist, and I think the author is a little twisted. Every time I look at this book I just keep laughing. If you love lady liberty get this book. It grows on you.

See Lady Liberty in unlikely situations

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 1999-05-18

Wit, humor, and style combine in this collection of cartoons depicting the much-loved statue in situations she never expected. The perfect souvenir for anyone who's ever been to (or even thought about traveling to) New York.

Hilarious cartoons of The Statue of Liberty

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 1999-05-04

The illustrations of the Statue of Liberty are so simple but the situations are so uniquely funny. I started reading it on the train and started laughing out loud. It's very funny.