The Daring Spectacle is award-winning San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate columnist and culture critic Mark Morford s hilarious modern record of sex and media, politics and pop culture, love and lust, as told in ninety-two delectable parts not including all the delicious photos and terrifying hate mail. Since its inception in SFGate.com nearly 10 years ago, Morford s hyperliterate, often controversial, smartly unhinged Notes & Errata column has achieved an avid cultlike status, and is regularly one of the most read and emailed works on the entire site. The book contains nearly 100 columns, 50 pieces of nicely shocking hate mail, with fresh commentary added to every column, along with photos, snippets, banned work, and various journalistic sacrilege that all points to one undeniable fact: There's simply no other opinion columnist quite like Morford in American media today. Please undress accordingly.
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About the Author
Mark Morford is an award-winning columnist and culture critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and its website, SFGate.com, currently the 7th most popular news website in the country. He s also a popular Vinyasa yoga teacher in San Francisco. He was raised by nubile, long-eyelashed, callipygian wood nymphs and spoon fed dark chocolate and raw pomegranate seeds and 18-year-old Scotch until he could fly. His work has appeared in a number of fine publications including Mother Jones, Yoga Journal, Men s Health, The Sun, and The Bark, but not Guns & Ammo or Quilter's World, so please stop asking. He has twice won first place in the National Society of Newspaper Columnists annual contest, and been nominated for multiple GLAAD awards for his work supporting gay rights, a fact for which he feels particularly grateful, considering how he s relatively sure he is exceedingly straight. He s also a regular contributor to the Huffington Post.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
62 of 68 people found the following review helpful
By César Chávez
Mark is one of the funniest Amerikan authors ever. His political and social commentary is written in an utterly unique style with an extreme left political bent. One of my favorite parts of this book is the hate mail that Mark has received over the years. His radicalism brings out intense rage among conservative haters. This is political humor vaguely along the lines of Jon Stewart but edgier and stylistically like nothing you've ever read before. If you are a conservative with a lot of sacred cows and not much of a sense of humor and a heart condition, I don't recommend this book for you.
39 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Moford's wit, sensuality, and lust for absurdity shines throughout this collection of articles, "fan" (read hate) mail and photos. Not for the faint of heart, your conservative grandmother, or nosy neighbor, but certainly a must read for you absinthe sipping, howling at the moon, cavorting types. Also appropriate for those who simply want to snicker and swoon via Moford's snark.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By Pat Ross
This book comes from the best and the most emotionally creative contemporary author. The "How to Read the Daring Spectacle" section at the beginning of the book sets the reader free. Mark gives the reader the tools to flow through the book in an a way that is individualistic to each reader. Instead of reading the book straight through from cover to cover, the reader has the abiltity to pick and choose, and flow around the book in a way that suits her/his mindset/mood/state. Most likely, the reader will revisit certain columns in this delicious journey through topics of interest. Mark draws a fantastic picture of what we are- complete with the horrors, absurdities, and pure smashing beauty of our existence.For the reader, the end result might be pure delight in the chaos of the world, or perhaps, for some, the end result can be a shrinking horror. Either way, this book is very very good. Read it. Don't be afraid. "Nil Desperandum".
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
High School Hyperbole
Based on this book and Mark's articles for SFgate, you would be hard pressed to think of him as a journalist by any stretch of the imagination. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Golem
5.0 out of 5 stars
great reading
i have been following mark at the sf chronicle very talented extremely funny and he is someone who tells it like it is
Published 2 months ago by rgreene
5.0 out of 5 stars
I can't read this book quickly
... because every so often I have to excuse myself and recover from hysterics. This one got me today:
She leans in, and in that muffled, hospital-room PA sound, you hear... Read more
She leans in, and in that muffled, hospital-room PA sound, you hear... Read more
Published 14 months ago by L. A. Strom
4.0 out of 5 stars
IndieReader Review
The Daring Spectacle is award-winning San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate columnist and culture critic Mark Morford's hilarious modern record of sex and media, politics and pop culture,... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Amy Edelman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Obviously not for everyone. But for those who it IS...
As is painfully obvious from the one-star reviews here (and, as has been mentioned, the hate mail in the book itself) Mark Morford is never going to be a darling of Red State... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Lynn Hess
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Daring Spectacle
It is a book!
Mark Morford is our voice in this convoluted society's comings and goings. He is articulate, funny as a crutch, and erudite, nearly to a fault. Read more
Mark Morford is our voice in this convoluted society's comings and goings. He is articulate, funny as a crutch, and erudite, nearly to a fault. Read more
Published on February 4, 2011 by Tondeleo
3.0 out of 5 stars
Gimme A Break
Those of you bemoaning the death of no-holds-barred might want to have a look at this wildly opinionated collection. Read more
Published on December 8, 2010 by John F. Lehman
1.0 out of 5 stars
Deviance would be a step up...
Only people not tired and disillusioned by the decline of ethics and morals in modern American society would find anything to recommend in this title or from this author[sic]. Read more
Published on November 5, 2010 by tom davis
5.0 out of 5 stars
Articulate genius.
Smart, articulate and witty, Mark has a command of language and vocabulary that astounds. Put that together with a kick-ass approach to teaching yoga, and what a package.
Published on September 18, 2010 by M Hill
5.0 out of 5 stars
LOVE THIS BOOK
This is such a great collection of his articles peppered with his own notes and behind the scenes info for why he wrote them. Read more
Published on September 14, 2010 by MoMo Wondertoes
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