Customer Reviews

Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(56)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

"Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs" is an essay collection that draws comparisons between popular culture and important social and interpersonal issues. It also happens to be extremely witty at times. Chuck Klosterman is a writer for Spin magazine, so he clearly knows pop culture and can write quality essays. The best of his work here truly encapsulates life. Who cannot relate to this quote? - "Every relationship is fundamentally a power struggle, and the individual in power is whoever likes the other person less." That profundity, by the way, is from an essay that discusses the merits of "When Harry Met Sally"; another section proffers the genius of Billy Joel. Yes, Klosterman is a bit of a hipster geek.

Pop culture references are sprinkled throughout the book, but sometimes it stretches a bit too much for the sake of a clever analogy. In the forward, Klosterman assserts that, at times, he feels as though "everything is completely connected." Unfortunately, he is not adept enough to make all of his essays into a cohesive whole (as other reviewers have noted). Ultimately, the book feels like a loose collection of unrelated but very funny skits. Although that debit doesn't sink the book, it does lessen its impact. In addition, Klosterman is sometimes too self-aware for his own good; several times, he makes reference to liking something "unironically" - such as "Saved by the Bell." His definitive goal seems to be achieving irony. While this credo certainly makes "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs" a funny read, it can become rather tedious as well. Overall, I'd recommend this book, but with reservations.

Yeah, that title pretty must covers it.

Klosterman's essays are chock full (and I hate to use this term) of Gen-X references to everything we've grown up loving.

Now, these aren't essays ON Saved by the Bell and Pamela Anderson, but rather, he uses cultural icons as a jumping off point for rambling, funny and (uh-oh) thought provoking discussions. Klosterman is the kind of guy that you would want to hang out with at a party. Look. You're either going to love this book or you're not. You're either to find the tangential, rambling essays endearing and interesting, or simply tangential and rambling.

So what kinds of subjects are you in for? How about the Tori Paradox in which Klosterman deconstructs the idea of Tori on Saved by the Bell? One season, after Tiffany Amber Thiessen and Elizabeth Berkley had left for more naked pastures, Tori shows up. And then, just before a graduation special that was to air on NBC, Tori was gone. And Kelly and Jessie were back. Klosterman argues that Saved by the Bell is a lot like life. First people are there, and then they're not - gone. Only to be forgotten and at the most, vaguely remember. Of course, Klosterman explains much better than me.

Just the pure assault of pop-cultural references was enough for me. It's not uncommon for Klosterman to reference such diverse items as the music of Radiohead, Who's the Boss and Trix cereal all in one essay. And I wouldn't be exalting his references if he was just throwing them out. They actually mean something to the people that grew up in the post-Boomer era...

It was impossible to read these essays and not imagine that they were typed as spouted, realtime, by a smart, overcaffeinated english major sitting on a couch in a dormitory. You can almost see the (cheap, industrial) carpeting and hear the 'k-cchunk' of the vending machine in the background.

This can be fun, but what we all learned in college is that it's important not to take couch-speaker-guy's opinions as seriously as he takes them. That's the case here, too. Klosterman guesses at things when ninety seconds of googling would have given him the facts; he makes assertions and then, rather than backing them up, goes on to further assertions, possibly in hopes that you'll be too busy trying to keep up to start poking holes in his argument; and every now and then, despite his open contempt for people who use words without understanding their meanings, he does this himself (e.g. describing this collection as a 'manifesto').

Chuck K is undoubtedly is a very clever dude and some of the insights here will make you laught at loud. Ultimately however I would advise cherry picking through these essays, as Chuck is so enamored of his beloved

'low culture' that it will get both stultifying and extremely banal. Make sure to skip the analyses of bad tv shows (esp The Real World and Saved by the Bell). Chuck tries so hard to show why disposable pap has an influence on society that he torpeoes hiw own argument - his assertion that Gen Y behavior pettern can be correlated to a character on Real World says much more about Klosterman than anything else. Similarly, his essay on the Lakers and Celtics rivalry sets perhaps a new low in 'serious' sports journalism, as the argument that the Lakers reperesent Democratic party values while the Celtics carry the torch for Republicans (CK seems to be a fairly staunch right-winger after his addiction to pop culture is peeled away) is beyond absurd, and his assertion at the end that "if you dont' care about the Lakers-Celtics you don't care about anything" (this is said unironically) is downright embarassing.

Chuck will also be very strident in his declarations of what is 'cool' and 'uncool'. The repeated appearance of these exact words in almost evry essay (sometimes sevral times) becomes very annoying and pointless. Klosterman (by his own admission) of course is 'uncool', but his endless obsession with coolness (and defining it)renders it meaningless.

So enjoy, but be careful.

Klosterman is constantly making references to conversations he's had at parties, which is appropriate since there seems to be a "Klosterman" at every hipster party I've ever been to... The guy who is funny for the first five minutes you meet him, interesting for the next ten, and then offensively pedantic and self absorbed for the next three hours before you realize you're really either too old or too well adjusted to keep going to these damn hipster parties in the first place.

I only finished this book out of a sense of duty to the 9 dollars and 99 cents I spent to download this adolescent diatribe to my Nook. Klosterman's an intellectual lightweight with a Mohammad Ali sized personality, which is why the ideas in the book are forgettable , but the voice of the author sticks with you like gum on the bottom of your shoe. I felt like I was stuck in a room with Rush Limbaugh, if Rush Limbaugh was a tad funnier and a tad smarter but just as obnoxious, sexist, solipsistic, and frivolous.

Do not buy this book. Go to the book store, skim the essay about The Sims (which, like so many of these essays, already feels dated but, unlike the rest, is actually though-provoking), and move on with your life and your wallet.

Glad this was a collection of essays, rather than a novel. I don't think I would have been able to make it through a novel of this type of writing. Also made it easy to read while on the pot.

The essays start out with brilliance (especially the first two, about romance and The Sims, respectively), but my interest in them fizzled out. There are a few bright points here and there in the remaining essays (the essay about serial killers and our fascination with them is dead on). There is no doubt Klosterman is an adept writer, can pinpoint emotions, and locate intermittently with a witty finger the pulse of certain social issues (like what the hell tribute bands are all about and WHY). But the tone in which he does so is sometimes reminiscent of...how shall I put it? A smart-ass thirty-year-old who thinks he is very clever with his observations, and justifies it by saying he is a Gen X'er and entitled to his lofty superiority. In other words, if you read Klosterman, you're just the type of person he'd look down on.

In trying to deconstruct pop culture, Klosterman sometimes comes across as believing himself an expert about everything American. He also has no qualms about insulting outright the very audience reading his book. Even though he jokes in the beginning that he writes these things late at night in a state of near-delirium, you still get the impression he thinks he is, as he might put it, the "uber-mensch".

Some of the essays are so specialized that I had absolutely no interest in reading them, and skipped right over them as I realized the entire essay was absorbed in deconstructing, say, basketball heroes. So I can't really say I enjoyed the entire book - some of it was unintelligible to me; hence, 3 stars (IMHO).

True, Klosterman has been saturated with pop culture through his research and work with major magazines, but most of his off-the-cuff opinions are just that -- opinions and rantings rather than hard facts supported by any type of references, so keep in mind that you're reading personal essays, rather than research articles.

Perhaps I was tainted, since I had just finished reading half of Michael Moore's "Stupid White Men," and the entire of Jon Krakauer's "Under the Banner of Heaven," so one more book illustrating the hopeless stupidity of the human race may have caused me unfair irritation.

Strong essays for the most part, well written, but I lost interest and read them very patchily throughout the last half of the book because the tone grated on my nerves.

this is exactly the kind of book so-called hipsters cling to, namedrop, and reference when discussing 'popculturally-relevant-events-common-people-don't-understand-but-i-do-because-i'm-cool-and-hip-and-use-words-like-uber.' in the age of 'best week ever,' a bazillion blogs devoted to 'pop cultural,' and beating the term 'gen-x'er' to death, a book 'analyzing' said phenomenon is wholly unnecessary.

to his credit, klosterman does have a nice comedic eye when it comes to observing pop culture phenomenons. what initially drove me to read this book was his opening 'essay' in which he reference coldplay as a facsimile of travis who was a facsimile of some other band i don't remember. that made me laugh. i was hoping for more of the same.

instead we get pretty vapid 'analyses' of 'saved by the bell,' pornography, and well, i really don't remember what else (that's how impactful this book was on me). the subject matter is certainly ripe for analysis, but klosterman just tries way too hard to extrapolate meaning and signficance out of most of his material. sorry, chuck, but 'saved by the bell' was just a geeky tv show for kids. don't read too much into it. it reminds of so-called 'academics' who overanalyze every single word of a short story or novel and forget the fact that literature should sometimes just be enjoyed for the sake of it.

most of the time klosterman, unfortunately, comes off sounding like a poor man's douglas coupland, who wrote the two definitive 'gen-x' novels, 'generation-x,' and 'microserfs.' i say unfortunate because klosterman does often exhibit a keen eye. however, one page of either of couplands shames any of klosterman's 'essays.' also, i don't know who served as his editor, but most of the essay, while occassionally interesting, where shambolic, rambling, poorly organized, and frustratingly unrealized. klosterman would be well-served to get himself an editor capable of keeping him on track and focused. too often klosterman tries to display his supposed cleverness (just like david eggars), but more often than not (just like david eggars), it's just empty calories.

i don't mean to sound overly cynical and critical, but in the end this book a sometimes pleasant diversion, but little else. just like it's titular reference point, 'sex, crugs, and cocoapuffs,' is ultimately a sugar-coated cereal with little substance or nutritional value.

I have a 30 yo barely single professional son. He says this book is his Bible - so I read it. What better way to find out who or what this boy worships?

Klosterman is an entertaining writer, serving up a unique critique of post-modern popular culture. Although each essay contains a major theme, over 400 individual entries are in the index - songs, movies, personalities from all entertainment venues, sitcoms, concepts, rock bands, periodicals, organizations, events - even a little religion thrown in for the "Left Behind" crowd.

*Billy Joel is popular because he's so good, he doesn't have to be cool - whereas the usual rock band doesn't have to be exceptional if they are consistently cool.

*Our author got fired from being a Little League baseball coach one high school summer for trying too hard to win. I'm just impressed when a high school kid takes on that kind of responsibility - but you may have to consider an "enhancement factor" for this story.

*excerpts about self-delusion, evolutionary psychology, and philosophy - without the formal terminology, especially in his bit about Woody Allen. He wouldn't be interested in a girl uncool enough to be interested in him.

*tribute to Guns 'N Roses as he travels with a band trying to duplicate their songs and general funk.

*instructions on how to be a conversationalist (he has enough material for three dates only): "First, make an intellectual concession (makes listener comfortable). Next, make a completely incomprehensible but remarkably specific 'cultural accusation' (makes you insightful). Finally, end the dialogue by interjecting slang lexicon that does not necessarily exist (makes you contemporary). Example: When talking about sports: I mean, come on - you just know that Rodney Rogers is sitting in the locker room before every game reading Nietzsche, and he's totally thinking to himself, "If Ron Artest tries to step to me one more time, I'm gonna slap jack his brisket, Philly style."

A pervasive nihilistic attitude runs through this book - the angst of single yuppy-hood, deliciously judgemental, documenting the rites of final passage toward marriage, responsibility, and adulthood. I liked it.

And that "certain generation" includes me. I think Klosterman is maybe one year younger than me, so I understood virtually all his pop-culture references. The Sims, Saved by the Bell, The Real World, Lloyd Dobler. If you don't know what any of these are, you probably should skip this book. If you do, you should probably read it.

I've never read anything by Klosterman before, but I don't know why. I laughed through the whole book. I see some people didn't like the ending chapters, but one of my favorite sections was actually near the end, on what you should really be afraid of in terms of the media (hint: it's not the "liberal media" bias everyone talks about). I wanted to copy that section and send it to at least 5 of my friends.

Also great, though not particularly unique, is his view on why people today have unsatisfying relationships. I've long held similar theories (that we're constantly bombarded by unrealistic ideals of love through movies/music/television), but he presents it better and funnier than I ever could.

Do I think, say, my mom would enjoy this book? No. Do I want to give a copy of it to all my friends? Yes.

This book of various essays on pop culture is nearly priceless. Klosterman finds so much relevance in so many throw away items in items in pop culture at times its astonishing. And hilarious. I never thought Saved By the Bell or MTV's Real World could inspire even an interesting paragraph, but Klosterman finds a way to show the significance of these items at the same time conceding their banality in two excellent essays. It's very impressive.

The essay on breakfast cereal was completely mindless, and completely laugh out loud funny, especially the descriptions of the socialogy and psychology of various cartoon characters in breakfast cereal ads.

Klosterman will take positions you'd never think he'd defend, like describing the brilliance of Billy Joel. I can barely tolerate this artist, but Klosterman has made me reconsider him, and frankly, he was about the last person I'd expect to do this. Nor does he take himself too seriously, as he describes his attendance at a Pop Music Conference for academics and music critics, which he totally skewers, even though he readily admits the conference is made for people like him.

And sprinkled through the book are some very insightful comments and insights about the human experience. And Klosterman clearly exposes his personal weaknesses throughout.

Is it perfect? No. There are moments where Klosterman comes across like somebody drunk or stoned at a party who thinks he knows it all, and clearly doesn't. Not all of the essays are great. A comparison between Marilyn Monroe and Pamela Anderson as the representative sexpots of their generation isn't anywhere near as profound as Klosterman thinks it is, and is about twice as long as it should be. And the chapter slamming soccer is a pointless, claiming that his experience as a youth baseball coach made him realize how soccer has failed in America. Uh-huh.

Let me digress that in the United States, many go to endless lengths to say why soccer in un-American, or fails to capture are collective interest, or will fail as a sport, when the fact of the matter is, the just don't get it. In other countries, people will freely admite they "don't get" baseball or American football, but Americans feel we need to go to endless lengths to avoid saying "I don't get soccer". You might say Klosterman inspired me to write this commentary on his commentary.

But ANYWAY, read this book, laugh a lot, look at the world a different way, and enjoy a few nuggets of wisdom.