Chuck Klosterman; Penman Extraordinaire

I first read Chuck Klosterman's Killing Yourself to Live about a year ago and my only regret is that it took me this long to read another work of his. It was the first reading experience I had that compelled me to do extra curricular research. Chuck makes an eerie conclusion that Kid A predicted 9/11. While reading that book, I listened to Radiohead and felt what a teen must have felt during the 70's listening to Dark Side of the Moon and watching The Wizard of Oz.



I'm 115 pages into Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, and he has me wrapped around his little finger. Now, I realize that this book was written in 2003, and as a collection of non fiction pop culture commentaries, you would think his work would be dated. Oh contraire. He has the ability, like my other non-fiction idols David Sedaris & Augusteen Burroughs, to make you think "holy crap, my thoughts exactly!!" as you are reading their written words. And while I don't completely agree with everything he writes, like saying Coldplay is the "shittiest fucking band I've ever heard," the way this book is relating to recent discussions I've had is uncanny.

I will outline the similarities:

Exhibit A)
This weekend, Rob told me a story about a friend of his from college who wrote a paper on the song In Your Eyes, and how, by simply holding up a boombox, John Cusack entranced women all around the world to fall in love with him ... Well, Chuck begins this book by blaming John Cusack for completely ruining his own chance at love, by having tricked his girlfriend into believing in "fake love," as seen in Say Anything. (In this same chapter Chuck also calls Coldplay a mainstream knockoff of Radiohead ... Rob emailed me mere days earlier making a similiar argument!)

Exhibit B)
On Saturday me and Rob were also talking about movies and got on the topic of Tim Allen. If memory serves me correctly, I think we were discussing the merits of Tim Allen's famous-ness even though we could only remember 3 things he has done; Home Improvement, Toy Story and The Santa Clause. The Tool Man isn't exactly someone who comes to mind often, but Chuck illustrates the fact that Tim Allen is among the leading contributers of the widespread notion that guys only like beer and football. I chuckled to myself and kept on reading ...

Exhibit C)
Now this one just plain cracked me up. Rob's aunt recently gave his brother her Murphey Bed. A Murphey Bed is a functional sleeping compartment that also serves as a storage space, and conveniently folds up onto the wall! Genius. In a chapter comparing and contrasting Marilyn Monroe to Pam Anderson, and the notion of sex icons marrying athletes, Chuck points out the fact that Jane Russell was married to Bob Waterfield and slept in a Murphey Bed. Now this may seem trivial, but who even thinks about Murphey Beds these days?! Chuck points out the strangeness of this mental image, but it just made me want to sleep in a Murphey Bed even more.


Hmm ... I think I actually just illustrated the many similarities that Rob has to Chuck Klosterman but still, it's uncanny! One way or another, Sex, Drugs & Cocoa Puffs has been on my mind all day & with that, I'm going to continue reading. Stay tuned for more on the wonders of Mr. Klosterman...