Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Sh*t My Dad Says, by Justin Halpern

Sh*t My Dad Says, by Justin Halpern

I received Sh*t My Dad Says for Christmas this year; the Twitter feed is mildly amusing but after watching a couple episodes of the terrible TV show I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Luckily, the book is easily better than either of the other media forms the topic has taken. The stories around the various tweets give a depth and meaning that simply can’t be captured in 140 characters. Humor I expected, but the author’s connection to his father and the warmth in their relationship was surprising.

Having a couple of boys myself, two of the quotes in particular hit close to home. “You’re ten years old now, you have to take a shower every day....I don’t give a shit if you hate it. People hate smelly fuckers. I will not have a smelly fucker for a son.” “No. There’s no scenario where I’d eat a human being, so you can stop making them up and asking me, understood?” Halpern’s father apparently doesn’t have a filter, saying out loud exactly what every father of a boy must think from time to time.

First Sentence:
“Well, what the fuck makes you think Grandpa wants to sleep in the same room as you?”

Saturday, December 04, 2010

Who Can Save Us Now? edited by Owen King and John McNally

Who Can Save Us Now? Brand-New Superheroes and Their Amazing (Short) Stories, edited by Owen King and John McNally

I do enjoy a good comic. This short story anthology is all about superheroes and their nemeses; not the famous ones like Superman and Captain America, but B-list heroes like Manna Man, the Rememberer, and the Meerkat. None of these tales are spectacular, but none are terrible either—a remarkably even collection. Each story has a great accompanying illustration by Chris Burnham; unfortunately some of them span two pages with the focus in the center, meaning the heart of the picture is buried in the spine. Overall, this is a pleasant distraction well worth your time.

First Sentence (from the Introduction):
In 1938 a gawky, bespectacled man walked through a door, and when it opened again, a benevolent giant in red and blue tights emerged, gave a wink, and lifted right off the pages of ACTION COMICS #1 and into the sky.

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