The Bombast Transcripts: Rants and Screeds of RageBoy® (Paperback)

by Christopher Locke (Author) "Though I had passed the same buildings nearly every day, walked and driven the same streets, they now appeared alien, even threatening, as if some..." (more)
Key Phrases: teenage brain surgeon, entropy gradient reversals, valued readers, World Wide Web, Weather Channel, Trip Report (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
With The Bombast Transcripts, Christopher Locke (a.k.a. RageBoy, that iconoclastic cybervoice of dissonance, disdain, and all things provocative) is leaping from your screen to your bookshelf. Look out. The scathing rants from the creator of Entropy Gradient Reversals--probably the most wittily outrageous, cryptically observant, and eagerly puzzled-over Web zine ever to pollute the airwaves--are explosive.

As a tag, screed is only partly accurate for the contents of this volatile collection; they're long harangues, all right, but by no means monotonous. Listen in as Locke lets his alter ego loose in friendly chat with IBM's Lou Gerstner (well, actually an exit interview with Lew Firstner, pompous and clueless chairman of the 666 Corporation). As he not-so-clearly illustrates what "getting it" means (by pondering T.S. Kuhn, voodoo ceremonies, and a sacred space you can't enter with your mind on, let alone your shoes). And as he gleefully admits that most of his readers "seem to enjoy abstruse and obfuscatory exegeses on themes that utterly elude them" but apparently "alleviates their anxiety about not knowing anything that wasn't covered by Geraldo." Don't be insulted; be alleviated. Locke may indeed be the Web's most acerbic gonzo journalist and techno-semiotic social critic, but he's also written for Forbes; worked for MCI, Ricoh, and the Japanese government's AI project; and been named one of the top 50 business thinkers in the world. If you missed out on this cyberpundit's irreverent rants the first time around, catch him now (if you can). As Locke himself reminds us, "Being totally insane is hard work. People don't realize that." They should now. --S. Ketchum --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
RageBoy, the cyber-handle of gonzo-journalist Locke, has collected here his online columns, mostly from his Web zine, Entropy Gradient Reversals. Entries range from the autobiographical (his LSD and drinking years, followed by his own weird version of sobriety) to mock-interview (his chats with TV horse Mr. Ed or "Moe Ron Hubbard, father of Diuretics and Sayonaralogy"). Favorite targets include corporate culture (which he'd consider an oxymoron) and academic posturing (his "Snack with Andr‚" imagines situationist philosopher Guy Debord as Port Authority panhandler DeMerde; his piece "deriding Derrida" exposes French postmodernists as so many "petty control freaks"). While his rants take potshots at a variety of cultural sacred cows (including a wicked analysis of America's fondness for the Weather Channel), it's Locke's own history as an early artificial intelligence/cyberspace pioneer that informs his most damning critique the co-optation of the Internet. In the early days, people who knew how the Internet worked "were mainly using it to fuck off We thought it was important to fuck off." They wanted the Internet to be different from all the other media, a place to "tell stories" about things that mattered, like "heaven, earth, man, woman." But it wasn't long before the "marketing boys" took over, reducing the Net to just another way to sell product. Resurrect William Burroughs, Charles Bukowski and Ken Kesey, add a dash of Dilbert and that's RageBoy. Though it's not for everyone, this "browser-free format" may bring in new audiences. (Feb.)Forecast: This work will be popular with college kids at places like Berkeley readers of Locke's earlier Gonzo Marketing may not get these rants.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (January 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738208051
• ISBN-13: 978-0738208053
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #988,310 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond description, September 22, 2003

By	Paul Ritchie "chatrat" (Australia) - See all my reviews

This is the crash course in understanding the fundamentals of the necessity of change as seen through the eyes of the author, Christopher Locke. Everything you previously thought was lore is turned on its head in riotous fashion in The Bombast Transcripts. Each chapter takes apart some standard you thought was a given, an immutable and constant attribute of practically every aspect of life in the western world.

The best part is that Chris does it in so many different ways in one book. There's flat out ranting and there's cutting ridicule including interviews with himself, Rupert Murdoch and the famous one with Mr Ed. (Yes, the horse.)

Using those cliched critic's terms of rollercoaster ride or rollicking good yarn don't do this volume any justice whatsoever. In fact, this book defies any label you might care to ascribe.

In fact, I defy anyone to come up with a label for this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "You have GOT to READ this guy!!", January 28, 2002

By	S. Oneill (Greenville, NC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Bombast Transcripts: Rants and Screeds of Rageboy (Hardcover)

That was my introduction just over a year ago to Entropy Gradient Reversals and the evil genius mind(s) behind it, Christopher Locke/RageBoy. From that first mind-blowing, breathless reading of his newsletter, I was alternately charmed, alarmed and disarmed by the decidedly unpretentious Chris Locke. His new book, the Bombast Transcripts, a collection of essays previously published to the Entropy Gradient Reversals mailing list, contains that first newsletter that caught my imagination, and so many more.

As I've read through this book, I have found myself again reacting to it in the visceral way that I had to become accustomed to as one of his faithful Valued Readers at EGR. While some may call him pompous and crass, I find him to be merely open and honest. Then again, I've always had a soft spot for intelligent, over-indulgent, semi-vulgar Don Quixotes. His chosen windmills are big business that don't have a clue (IBM et all, no small potatoes here) and, while a book about business practices would normally make my eyes glaze over while putting me in a semi-catatonic state, I find this book to be human and engaging at every turn. Each essay stands on it's own as either a rant or a screed, yet each could also be expanded into its own little book. Irreverent, engaging, transforming, contemplative, hilarious....and each page is more of the same.

While I read Locke's words, I get the feeling that I am a part of something much bigger and more important than anyone can guess, especially those that think the internet is nothing more than a collection of chatrooms and porn sites. No, I get the feeling I'm getting a glimpse of a creation, a rapturous inferno of truth and emotion, two key elements that, when exposed to each other under the heat of RageBoy's passion, cause a brilliant flash of evolution that could change the world as we know it. What a wonderful world that would be.

Idealistic? Maybe. Bombastic? Hardly. Evil Genius?? Indeed.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Genius at work. Chew on carpet while you wait., July 15, 2002

By	Marek J (Planet Earth [The Rich Section]) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bombast Transcripts: Rants and Screeds of Rageboy (Hardcover)

I only have one thing to say about this: "The Solution is Poetry". Excellent reading. Warning, you may not get it if you consider yourself too smart and significant.