Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Eating The Dinosaur - Chuck Klosterman


Eating The Dinosaur - Chuck Klosterman/Scribner/2009/pg245
Humor/Pop Culture/Social Aspects/Essay

Chuck Klosterman is known for his take on all things pop culture but even beyond that, for his own personal take on everything ranging from music to movies to the culture of Kiss in Fargo. He has his own brand of wit and humor which transfuses into his writing, creating interesting coffee table reading that is laced with sarcasm and one-liners.

Eating the Dinosaur offers his thoughts on being interviewed and the intention and necessity of lying; the legend of Nirvana and the comparisons between Kurt Cobain and David Koresh; time travel and the eight key steps as to why it doesn't work resulting in the eating of a dinosaur; sports coverage including the rise and fall of basketball player Ralph Sampson; voyeurism; the career of Garth Brooks and his alter ego Chris Gaines; the wonderment of football; ABBA; the characteristics of laughter; the world of advertising; the meaning of being literal in an ironic world; technology and the truth seeping in Ted Kaczynski's aka The Unabomber thesis titled, "Industrial Society and Its Future."

I love Klosterman's humor and his books always give me a new outlook or sometimes a new world view/mantra as the idea of deconstructing Save by the Bell episodes for some universal truth that important things are inevitably cliche never really occur to me before him. His writing possess sharp wit and hilariously obsessive detailing over subjects that most writers and people would dismiss as brainless and shallow yet he pulls it off flawlessly.

Read also: Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Klosterman, Chuck Klosterman IV, Killing yourself to life by Klosterman

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