Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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!

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."

This book, composed almost entirely of "obsessively specific pop culture lists" is a must-have for any modern-day fans of music, movies, television, books, et cetera. The book is cleanly written, often funny, and full of great leads. Since getting it, I've found myself on Amazon numerous times ordering other titles it's recommended. This is not to say that I always agree with it--sometimes I vehemently disagree with its choices or its dismissals, and on nearly every list I think of things that should have been included and weren't--but still, it will get you thinking. It's the sort of book you'll want to read and then pass on to friends, just so you can argue about what the book says, what made it in, and what didn't. Fans of the AV Club, this is a must: it's not as intimate or warm as the AV CLUB's other book, THE TENACITY OF THE COCKROACH, and it seems to be written for shorter attention spans, but it's a great read nonetheless, and I highly, highly recommend it, even if it does mistakenly dismiss the movie adaptation of THE HOURS, suggest that Slush Puppies are worse than Slushees, and bizarrely declare that a Beverly Hills 90210 marathon is Heaven. (It's not.)

Get this. You'll love it. It's like trading recommends with a group of the savviest, most articulate pop culture junkies ever. It's a lot of fun.

I'm not a terribly huge fan of the AV Club; I check the website every now and then to see what is going on. I bought this book because it was only 10 bucks and, after reading most of it I must say, is a steal. Not only are the lists themselves incredibly entertaining, but the commentaries for each listing are written well enough to make me care about a Lars von Trier movie (Bravo!).

This book won't change your life, but for the price, you will find hours of entertainment and interest.

I am discovering new things left and right, ordered in the funniest, most random way I can imagine. This is a book that will never, ever grow old, even if new things appear that are worthy of any of these lists. (Hey, Keanu could have one more good movie in him in spite of him... right?)Thank you so much, AV Club.

I read this on my breaks at work and sometimes at lunch. It's great for something to read when you don't want to get too involved in a book (I'm a read-all-the-way-through-don't-want-to-put-down type reader) so the short articles and hilarious titles/articles are perfect to get me through the day. Some are longer than others, you can pretty much open to any article or read straight through. I will definitely be passing this along to fellow pop culture junky friends of mine!

When I was in middle school, I came across Book of List which turned out to be one of the most exciting books that I could read. In it I learned about Napoleon's penis, Caligula's insanity and Henry Miller's favorite Victorian writers. Not only was it a great source of information but it got me excited about history and cultural studies in ways that the classroom couldn't.

This book carries the same excitement. In every list there is a potential for the joy of familiarity or the thrill of discovering something new. The list of "rebel books" on page 115 reminded me of my college reading days. The list of songs about murder created a new Pandora station for my listening pleasure. I am eager to rent out Amityville, Vol. 4: The Evil Escapes for the evil lamp scene alone.

All in all, this is an excellent book that brings you the same joy and insightful cultural criticism that you came to expect from the Web site.

Do you like lists? Do you like smarmy pop culture references? Are you in on all the in-jokes?

Good. I knew you were. I can tell an intelligent, discerning reader when I see one. Since you are here, let me tell you about the product on which page you are browsing.

The book is torn from the pages of the sage periodical publication known as "The Onion". First of all, the tearing was done really carefully so it does not even look like they ripped anything. Secondly, this is from the real part of the paper/website/media empire. First order real, not second and third level sarcastic real like how the Onion invented the Daily Show but does not get any credit for it real. I mean these are lists compiling things that you might not have thought about and presents them in list format. I will give you an example. I have it sitting right here and I will give you a sample list at random from the middle of the book.

List: "Not Dead Yet: 8 great Films Made By Directors After They Turned 70"

There are better ones. I read this cover-to-cover and giggled and learned the whole way through. I would also envision this as a perfect piece of literature to be consumed in discrete time chunks. Just open it up and pinch a little list off until you reach the end.

One last thing, the lists are not just single items. Each individual list unit has a paragraph of description about how the list item fits within the list's larger theme. It is pretty awesome and a lot of bang for your buck.

If yo have to have something on your table for people to look at and thumb through, this is a must!!!