FOT Forum
The Best Show on WFMU => Dear Tom => Topic started by: yesno on December 02, 2007, 06:54:41 PM
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I find it odd to see P.J. O'Rourke lumped in in Tom's latest blog post with meansters such as Imus. While his media appearances are invariably awful, and while I don't agree with his politics-- I wouldn't call him mean-spirited. Maybe I missed something.
Some of his books, like Modern Manners and Parliament of Whores, I still find hilarious. Maybe he's a good writer, and a bad person.
Joe Queenan is funnier, though.
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You should take a look at a book he wrote called EAT THE RICH, which I tried to read a few years back and couldn't get through. It's him pompously analyzing other countries and wondering why they are or aren't successful economy-wise. He arrogantly assumes that America is the model of perfection. Without turning this into a political screed, anybody who blinds themselves to the reality of what the US does to the world and only focuses on the end result as if it was some God-given right that we are HERE and they are THERE is a bully. And to do it under the guise of being a 'humorist' makes it twice as gross. I was never a fan of his writing on ROLLING STONE either.
That's all. Maybe I didn't read that stuff you read.
Tom.
And yes, Joe Queenan IS funnier. He used to be one of my favorites, but then his weird take on BORAT turned me off big-time.
http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,,1955929,00.html
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That's all. Maybe I didn't read that stuff you read.
He's been writing since the 1970s with National Lampoon. He became political midway through his career. He started as a libertarian but I think decided that it was more shocking to be a Republican. In the 2000s, he has even called himself an "imperialist." I think it's a misguided attempt to shock people, rather than mean-spiritedness. Maybe taken too far, the two become indistinguishable.
I think you're right about Eat the Rich: it's just a bad idea to try to write a funny book that simplifies international economic realities. (It would be an equally bad idea to write a book taking an opposite political stance.) Like many ideologues, O'Rourke thinks the world is simpler than it is, and thus has no problem making over-broad generalizations.
And yes, Joe Queenan IS funnier. He used to be one of my favorites, but then his weird take on BORAT turned me off big-time.
I disagree with people who say that Borat was just mean-spirited, particularly as he usually just allows people to embarrass themselves. But the anti-American charge is weird. The Borat skits in Britain were pretty much the same as the American ones. Making fun of particular Americans is not the same as being anti-American.
Meanwhile, Queenan's "Red Lobster, White Trash, and the Blue Lagoon" is one of the most elitist and anti-democratic books I've ever read. (Funny, though.) SBC makes fun of people for being bigots, which I'm fine with. Queenan thinks he's better than the plebs because he has good taste. I stopped judging people based on what movies they like when I stopped being a teenager.
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And yes, Joe Queenan IS funnier. He used to be one of my favorites, but then his weird take on BORAT turned me off big-time.
http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,,1955929,00.html
WTF?!
The New York Times published a piece by one of its most respected columnists skewering Baron Cohen for victimising helpless provincials, most of them guilty of no greater crime than not being really "kewl" like Baron Cohen.
"Kewl?" So does this mean Cohen is walking around with giant, Rob Liefeld-style guns and no feet? Did Borat kill Sue Dibny?
But eventually the women will be heard from, and a lot of them will not be fawning Baron Cohen groupies.
Really, Joe? Every woman I know thought Borat was pretty funny.
My relationship to Borat the movie was problematized after I watched it in a silent, mostly-empty movie theater in Ljubljana - a very different experience from seeing it at BAM - but still. C'mon, guy.
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I stopped judging people based on what movies they like when I stopped being a teenager.
Are you calling The Lord of Living Lightning immature?
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I was never a fan of his writing on ROLLING STONE either.
I forgot about him completely once Matt Taibbi popped up on the scene. Dude is RS's saving grace right now.
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I remember that he wrote a truly hilarious piece on, of all things, the US Agricultural Department, that I think wound up in the Parliament of Whores book. I was so enthused with that piece (and another that he wrote on the Koreas) that I rushed out a picked up a couple of his books. But I am with the majority on this one it was just too johnny-one-note for me and condescending for me to stay with. I couldn't get through them, and was not enjoying the parts I did manage.
This will get lost under this topic, I guess, but the more Saunders I read the more convinced I am that he is some sort of weird not-of-this-earth talent, operating on a level that I didn't even know existed. If he had only written the unbelievable story "In Persuasion Nation", I think it would have been enough to cement his reputation in my dying day. But there's all the other great stuff on top of that. I think he's got the most effective take on consumerism that I have ever read. And I read a LOT.
Of course, it's mainly rock snob magazines and the sports pages, but still.
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Sorry about the sorry grammar in that post, I have been grading papers now for 13 straight hours, and it's taking its toll.
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On Saunders:
Not sure if this has been mentioned yet but did you read his piece on Borat in the New Yorker. He had some pretty serious issues with it (that I didn't share) but it's a pretty funny/astute critique of the flick.
His piece on Dubai for GQ is one of my favorite magazine articles ever. If it doesn't make you buy a plane ticket to the United Arab Emirates, nothing will.
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This will get lost under this topic, I guess, but the more Saunders I read the more convinced I am that he is some sort of weird not-of-this-earth talent, operating on a level that I didn't even know existed. If he had only written the unbelievable story "In Persuasion Nation", I think it would have been enough to cement his reputation in my dying day. But there's all the other great stuff on top of that. I think he's got the most effective take on consumerism that I have ever read. And I read a LOT.
Of course, it's mainly rock snob magazines and the sports pages, but still.
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I was never a fan of his writing on ROLLING STONE either.
I forgot about him completely once Matt Taibbi popped up on the scene. Dude is RS's saving grace right now.
Yeah, it's the only thing I go for in each issue, though I've been gradually browsing the pieces on Bruce Springsteen, Jay-Z, and Led Zeppelin if there's not like an interesting insect in the bathroom or something.
This will get lost under this topic, I guess, but the more Saunders I read the more convinced I am that he is some sort of weird not-of-this-earth talent, operating on a level that I didn't even know existed.
He did get that MacArthur not-of-this-earth grant, Dave. It's true, though, his stories are beautiful, savage and heartbreaking, and he never seems to be repeating himself. No wonder you chose to sound like you look like him.
Probably the best reading I've ever been to was him and Gary Shteyngart. It was even funnier than Mr. Show live at Town Hall. Quite a bit funnier, in fact.
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Taibbi's piece on the 9-11 Conspiracy Theorists was kinda, sorta God-like. Theres another article he's sitting on where he has come correspondence with them but he's waiting to put it out.
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Yeah, I liked his piece on those loose change guys. But I forgot the other thing I wanted to say, which is that a reader wrote in complaining that Taibbi was filing the same piece from Iowa every issue, and I have to admit that the complainer had a point.
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I kinda had a similar problem getting through his book on the 04 campaigns. It's more than a bit repetitive and a few of the pieces (namely the more conceptual ones) fall flat. Still, Im excited for the book he's releasing in the spring which seems to be more than a compilation of previously released articles.
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I like it when he makes fun of people.