Inventory: 16 Films Featuring Manic Pixie Dream Girls, 10 Great Songs Nearly Ruined by Saxophone, and 100 More Obsessively Specific Pop-Culture Lists [Paperback]

A.V. Club (Author), Chuck Klosterman (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 13, 2009

Each week, the writers of The A.V. Club issue a slightly slanted pop-culture list filled with challenging opinions (Is David Bowie's "Young Americans" nearly ruined by saxophone?) and fascinating facts. Exploring 24 great films too painful to watch twice, 14 tragic movie-masturbation scenes, 18 songs about crappy cities, and much more, Inventory combines a massive helping of new lists created especially for the book with a few favorites first seen at avclub.com and in the pages of The A.V. Club's sister publication, The Onion.

But wait! There's more: John Hodgman offers a set of minutely detailed (and probably fictional) character actors. Patton Oswalt waxes ecstatic about the "quiet film revolutions" that changed cinema in small but exciting ways. Amy Sedaris lists 50 things that make her laugh. "Weird Al" Yankovic examines the noises of Mad magazine's Don Martin. Plus lists from Paul Thomas Anderson, Robert Ben Garant, Tom Lennon, Andrew W.K., Tim and Eric, Daniel Handler, and Zach Galifianakis -- and an epic foreword from essayist Chuck Klosterman.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Inventory is awesome and will provide you with endless hours of reading and arguing with friends. I love this book, except for page 124. I don't care what anybody says, Bowie's 'Young Americans' sounds terrific with the saxophone. Go f*** yourself, A.V. Club." -- Joel McHale, The Soup

"In a culture that worships the disposable, lazy lists obligatorily put together by self-serving editorial staffs at the likes of Barely Information Magazine, The A.V. Club has decided to embrace what it parodies until it meets itself just outside of heaven and shakes its own hand while flipping itself, and you and me, off. Kudos, A.V. Club!" -- David Cross, Mr. Show and Arrested Development

"I'm going to put this awesome book on my coffee table so when people come over they'll think I'm fun, clever, and sophisticated, but charmingly populist. And when they see my name on the back cover, they'll also think I'm famous!" -- Mindy Kaling, The Office

"Despite the fact that they declined to ask me to participate in this award-winning* book, I bear no ill will toward the writers because they are all geniuses; buying this book will make you feel a genius, too.** (*This book has not won any awards. **No, that was not a typo. I literally meant you would feel a genius.)" -- Michael Ian Black, The State and Michael And Michael Have Issues

"I did look at the book and enjoyed it, but didn't have time to come up with a quote, unless 'Seems like a pretty good book. I had a great time skimming it' works." -- Eugene Mirman, Flight Of The Conchords and The Will To Whatevs

Review

"Inventory is awesome and will provide you with endless hours of reading and arguing with friends. I love this book, except for page 124. I don't care what anybody says, Bowie's 'Young Americans' sounds terrific with the saxophone. Go f*** yourself, A.V. Club." -- Joel McHale, The Soup

"In a culture that worships the disposable, lazy lists obligatorily put together by self-serving editorial staffs at the likes of Barely Information Magazine, The A.V. Club has decided to embrace what it parodies until it meets itself just outside of heaven and shakes its own hand while flipping itself, and you and me, off. Kudos, A.V. Club!" -- David Cross, Mr. Show and Arrested Development

"I'm going to put this awesome book on my coffee table so when people come over they'll think I'm fun, clever, and sophisticated, but charmingly populist. And when they see my name on the back cover, they'll also think I'm famous!" -- Mindy Kaling, The Office

"Despite the fact that they declined to ask me to participate in this award-winning* book, I bear no ill will toward the writers because they are all geniuses; buying this book will make you feel a genius, too.** (*This book has not won any awards. **No, that was not a typo. I literally meant you would feel a genius.)" -- Michael Ian Black, The State and Michael And Michael Have Issues

"I did look at the book and enjoyed it, but didn't have time to come up with a quote, unless 'Seems like a pretty good book. I had a great time skimming it' works." -- Eugene Mirman, Flight Of The Conchords and The Will To Whatevs --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; Original edition (October 13, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416594736
• ISBN-13: 978-1416594734
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #280,420 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth buying, even if you read the website, October 19, 2009

By 

Miranda Prince "Punky Monkey" (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Inventory: 16 Films Featuring Manic Pixie Dream Girls, 10 Great Songs Nearly Ruined by Saxophone, and 100 More Obsessively Specific Pop-Culture Lists (Paperback)

I make it a point every Monday to read the AV Club's new Inventory. These pop-culture lists are almost always interesting, even if I'm not necessarily interested in the subject at hand. When they hit on a subject that does interest me (such as the list of great movies that are too upsetting to see twice), it's absolutely fascinating.

I debated whether or not to buy the book; my main reason to buy it was for the book-only content: guest lists by people including Andrew W.K., Patton Oswalt, John Hodgman, and others. The guest lists are pretty disappointing, on the whole; they certainly don't hold up to the quality of the AV Club's writing, and many of them are not even in the spirit of the AV Club Inventory. (The first one, by Robert Ben Garant, is a simple list of gross-out moments from movies. It's not particularly witty or interesting; any blog commenter worth his "firsties" could have come up with it. Sorry, Mr. Garant; you're far from alone.) The only guest list writer who really gets it is Patton Oswalt; his list is smart, insightful, and funny.

But really, the suckiness of the guest lists is my only complaint (and you'll see, I didn't even ding the book a star for it). I bought this book for my Kindle, because it's a great thing to have in portable form and be able to read in bits and pieces while waiting around. It would also be a great book to buy and keep in the bathroom or nightstand; it lends itself perfectly to being read in small doses.

Next time, AV Club, skip the guests and give us more of your own writing!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars When Does A List About Entertainment Becomes The Entertainment?, September 28, 2010

By 

K. Harris "Film aficionado" (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Inventory: 16 Films Featuring Manic Pixie Dream Girls, 10 Great Songs Nearly Ruined by Saxophone, and 100 More Obsessively Specific Pop-Culture Lists (Paperback)

Americans are list crazy. There is no use denying it, and it's especially true when it comes to pop culture. We are endlessly categorizing songs, movies, TV, books, etc... in arbitrary and meaningless ways. Well, no one does arbitrary and meaningless like the AV Club! In this post-modern twist where the list about entertainment becomes entertainment in and of itself, the AV Club has assembled the delightfully skewed "Inventory." This volume contains lists and nothing but lists. It's great to read straight through, as a conversation starting coffee table book, or it's especially practical as a bathroom read. Oh come on--I'm sure the AV Club probably intended it for just such a sit down session!

Some lists are quite amusing, others enlightening. On the amusing side, one of my favorites was "15 Dr. Seuss characters that sound like sex toys" and another is "25 sure signs that a sitcom is terrible." On the more informative side, we've got "13 particularly horrible fast-food innovations" and "16 plus books based around odd literary conceits." There are tons more--these are just a few samples to explain the randomness of the inclusions. Some lists will resonate with you more than others--it really all depends on your primary interests. But if the book sounds appealing by this description--chances are you're going to like it.

A few celebrities also weigh in with "guest" lists. I always love Amy Sedaris and she's here--but strangely it's "Weird Al" Yankovic's list of Mad Magazine sound effects that stood out. A fun book, "Inventory" is simply entertainment for the sake of entertainment. Nothing more, nothing less. You may forget about it soon after reading it--but it's definitely good for a laugh. And you may also find a book, movie, or song that you hadn't known about--so that's a plus!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Add to Your List, November 4, 2009

By 

John F. Lehman (Rockdale Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Inventory: 16 Films Featuring Manic Pixie Dream Girls, 10 Great Songs Nearly Ruined by Saxophone, and 100 More Obsessively Specific Pop-Culture Lists (Paperback)

If you were an alien from another galaxy needing a crash guide to the underpinnings of US pop culture, you couldn't find a better guide then The Onion's new book, Inventory. I have always enjoyed the A.V. Club reviews of music, movies and books in "America's Finest News Source." They may be hip and ironic but their analyses are always insightful. Now here is a catalog of that department's occasional groupings. Enjoy such things as "6 Keanu Reeves movies somehow not ruined by Keanu Reeves," "26 songs that works as short stories," "15 Dr. Seuss characters that sound like sex toys, "5 essential books about film," "25 sure signs that a sitcom is terrible," etc. etc. Unless you are a big fan of movies about dancing or terminal illness, this book will send you to Netflix or your local DVD rental store without fail.

Plus it got me into the library site. Let's face it, most bookstores have long forgotten Abbie Hoffman's Steal This Book and Tom Robbins's Even Cowgirls Get the Blues both adroitly featured here in "14 must-read books for aspiring young rebels." And what about Kurt Vonnegut. He formed our lives. Inventory reminds us how he wrote in Mother Night, "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." If nothing else this compilation shows us that we have not progressed as much as we like to think. We just conveniently forget the old contexts. The A.V. gang isn't letting us. Some of their smart-ass gives way to the profound. Stop for a minute and think of books or movies that you think define the decades of the past, then take a look at their lists and the rationale for each. Here's a snippet on Pulp Fiction, for example, "The twentysomethings who watched Pulp Fiction dozens of times over weren't just looking for cool movie characters, they were returning repeatedly to a cinematic universe that imbued the detritus of their youth--the theme restaurants, the movie quotes, the meaningless banter about trivia--with meaning."

Though there is depth, the scope of material is limited (to the media as high art and beautiful trash). I don't see this as a shortcoming, but rather as a challenge to the rest of us to think and talk and write about our lives instead of being satisfied with the usual gloss. Inventory's format is fun, assessable, and always stimulating. I like the "heaven" and "hell" listings across the top and bottom of very page contrasting "RSS feeds" with "pop-up ads"; "New Yorker cartoons" with "New York Post headlines"; "wood" vs. "particleboard." This volume has an honored a well-deserved, permanent place in my bathroom. It's too good not to go back to. There's even a section titled "50 list ideas we rejected for this book." I'm sure our interplanetary traveler would have enjoyed, "Hey, its Harvey Keitel's penis: 5 films with uncomfortable nude scenes."