Lesson Plans Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

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But she is a poet, well-published, now in a PhD program in Creative Writing. During the song I saw this look on her face, like, fuck, you never had a chance! Louis was my residence during high school. Then finally, she laughed, asking, did she just say, "he's a green"? That's what it sounds like this book is about, Charlie as Wiki calls him, for some reason; maybe they're familiar to each other Manson saying, I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

Coming from the distant past, now my daughter is having a baby. From the ashes of the past, we rise, rise, rise, and continue to rise. Hail, human beings, do what the fuck you have to do! See all 10 questions about Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs…. Lists with This Book. Sep 26, Jen Padgett Bohle rated it liked it. English majors who like to play deconstruction, hipsters who used to make mix tapes,anyone who knows of Lloyd Dobbler, guys who are really into music and didn't get laid until college, the girls who love them Forgive me for what I'm about to do.

I'm really not a complete curmudgeon, and I feel nefarious for the review I'm about to give, mostly because everyone I know likes this book, but I simply can't promote all of these essays as refreshingly creative and brilliantly written Recommended for: I'm really not a complete curmudgeon, and I feel nefarious for the review I'm about to give, mostly because everyone I know likes this book, but I simply can't promote all of these essays as refreshingly creative and brilliantly written pop culture analyses.

But in Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs he seems as if he still has to prove how hip, smart, and deserving of ladies and attention he really is. There's a telling point when Klosterman is discussing country and alt country music see "Toby Over Moby" and chastises hipsters for their elitism and fickleness, but simultaneously, Klosterman name drops obscure little bands, and makes sure to let readers know what hallowed and respected hipster singers inhabit his CD shelf he has 17 Dylan and Phair albums, to be exact.

Actually, there's no shortage of evidence about how hip, cool, and sensitive Kklosterman is. This collection is his ode to his coolness, and it feels amateurish. These are the essays we've all virtually written after rounds of drinks at the local dive bar. These are the musings of anyone who has ever had any knack or talent for deconstruction or charming, somewhat intellectual bullshit after overdosing on Mountain Dew and the equally empty calories of Teen dream television Klosterman chooses Saved By The Bell and MTV'S first Real World here.

Klosterman's writing is problematic because many of these essays feel like they were written for a junior composition class although I have to admit, Klosterman would certainly be a favored student. I can practically feel the teacher's notes on the pages: These essays will resonate with you, overeducated hipster reader. If you grew up in the 80s and early 90s, then you will get these, and they will likely be the encapsulation of everything you and your drunkard Chuck Taylor wearing, irony branded, PBR drinking buddies discussed on the long walk home from the party.

Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto Chapter Summaries (Sponsored)

I admit, Chuck Klosterman amused me, but mostly because he wrote down all the thoughts my friends and I used to discuss. View all 13 comments.

Jen Padgett Bohle Perhaps I wrote them down and they just weren't published? Not all criticism equates to jealousy. Aug 06, I agree with you. May 11, Aug 27, Alegria rated it did not like it. I know I'm supposed to be won over by Chuck Klosterman's supposedly keen and cutting insight into pop culture and therefore the modern human experience, but I really just felt like I was at a really dull party and cornered by some annoyingly pseudo-intellectual guy whose sole enjoyment is to contradict and mock anything anyone says just to hear himself talk.

View all 9 comments. Jan 31, Matt rated it it was ok Recommends it for: If I met Chuck Klosterman, I would probably end up attempting to pick a fistfight with him. I say "attempting" because I don't know whether he hits girls. And I say "probably" because, for all I know, he may be far less infuriating in person than he is in print. A lot of space in this book is aimed at mocking the pretensions of people who, I admit, sound an awful lot like me: Maybe I'm a little touchy about being mocked. Especially since Klosterman goes to great lengths to include plenty of self-mockery.

I guess what I find grating in his form of judgment is the way his conceits are flouted as endearing quirks, while those he does not possess are somehow extrapolated into indications of deep character flaws -- assuming anyone so shallow could be anything "deep. But back to getting into a fistfight with Chuck Klosterman.

The thing is, I really enjoyed reading this book, despite intensely disagreeing with much of it.

And perhaps because of it: I think I would be willing to trade in my imaginary fistfight for a solid argument over a few beers. It says something that this book made me evaluate my views, and, as a bonus, was so well-written that I not only actually read the chapters about sports, I enjoyed them. It scared me a little. View all 4 comments. Mar 06, lauren rated it really liked it.

No woman will ever satisfy me. I know that now, and I would never try to deny it. But this is actually okay, because I will never satisfy a woman, either. Should I be writing such thoughts? Perhaps it's a bad idea. I can definitely foresee a scenario where that first paragraph could come back to haunt me, especially if I somehow became marginally famous.

If I become marginally famous, I will undoubtedly be interviewed by someone in the media, and the interviewer will inevitably ask, No woman will ever satisfy me. If I become marginally famous, I will undoubtedly be interviewed by someone in the media, and the interviewer will inevitably ask, "Fifteen years ago, you wrote that no woman could ever satisfy you. Now that you've been married for almost five years, are those words still true? Those were the words of an entirely different person -- a person whom I can't even relate to anymore.

She satisfies me in ways that I never even considered. She saved my life, really. Now, I will be lying. I won't really feel that way. But I'll certainly say those words, and I'll deliver them with the utmost sincerity, even though those sentiments will not be there. So then the interviewer will undoubtedly quote lines from this particular paragraph, thereby reminding me that I swore I would publicly deny my true feelings, and I'll chuckle and say, "Come on, Mr.

That was a literary device. You know I never really believed that. I do believe that. It's the truth now, and it will be in the future. And while I'm not exactly happy about that truth, it doesn't make me sad, either. I know it's not my fault. It's no one's fault, really.

Or maybe it's everyone's fault. It should be everyone's fault, because it's everyone's problem.

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

Not boring people, and not the profoundly retarded. But whenever I meet dynamic, nonretarded Americans, I notice that they all seem to share a single unifying characteristic: And someone needs to take the fall for this. So instead of blaming no one for this which is kind of cowardly or blaming everyone which is kind of meaningless , I'm going to blame John Cusack.

I remember taking a course in college called "Communication and Society," and my professor was obsessed by the belief that fairy tales like "Hansel and Gretel" and "Little Red Riding Hood" were evil. She said they were part of a latent social code that hoped to suppress women and minorities. At the time, I was mildly outraged that my tuition money was supporting this kind of crap; years later, I have come to recall those pseudo-savvy lectures as what I loved about college.

But I still think they were probably wasteful, and here's why: Even if those theories are true, they're barely significant. Stories like Say Anything are fucking people up. We don't need to worry about people unconsciously "absorbing" archaic secret messages when they're six years old; we need to worry about all the entertaining messages people are consciously accepting when they're twenty-six. They're the ones that get us, because they're the ones we try to turn into life. I wish I could believe that bozo in Coldplay when he tells me that stars are yellow.

I miss that girl. I wish I was Lloyd Dobler. I don't want anybody to step on a piece of broken glass. I want fake love. But that's all I want, and that's why I can't have it. Dec 23, Dan Schwent rated it liked it Shelves: It's also one of the rare books I'm not really sure how to review or even rate.

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto by Chuck Klosterman

Chuck's essays cover such diverse topics as how the movies and TV are giving people unrealistic expectations about life and love, serial killers, the relationship between Reality Bites and The Empire Strikes Back, and that weird half season of Saved by the Bell that had that leather jacket wearing girl instead of Kelly Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: Chuck's essays cover such diverse topics as how the movies and TV are giving people unrealistic expectations about life and love, serial killers, the relationship between Reality Bites and The Empire Strikes Back, and that weird half season of Saved by the Bell that had that leather jacket wearing girl instead of Kelly and Jessie.

All of the essays within are peppered with Klosterman's insights and observations. Some of them are hilarious, like all women being in love with John Cusack and how the Lakers vs. The Celtics was really different social strata of Americans. Others feel a little too self-important to me and therefore aren't as enjoyable, kind of like watching an interview with Quentin Tarantino and enjoying his movies slightly less the next time you watch them. The back cover of my edition mentions Nick Hornby and Douglas Coupland, and I can understand the comparisons, but I've read a few books by comedians over the years and that's what this book reminds me of the most.

Throw in a few "What is the deal with That's about all I have to say. I liked it but if I was at the same party as Klosterman, I'd probably avoid him and hang out near the food and booze. I'll guess I'll give it a 3, the traditional safety rating. View all 7 comments. Apr 06, Jessica rated it did not like it. Jan 28, Tess rated it did not like it. This book was a total waste of time. As a huge fan of philosophy, my breaking point was only by page I thought, this whole book can't be THAT bad But alas, no, this was truly a masterpiece of crap.

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Its just some hipster-type asshole, who thinks he's got it all figured out, and says things like, "If you define your personality as 'creative,' it only means you understand what is PERCEIVED to be This book was a total waste of time. Its just some hipster-type asshole, who thinks he's got it all figured out, and says things like, "If you define your personality as 'creative,' it only means you understand what is PERCEIVED to be creative to the world at large, so you're really just following a rote creative template. Klosterman just sounds like an over-educated, arrogant Greenwich Villager, with a mind closed so tight he's lacking enough oxygen to think straight.

But that's just my opinion. View all 3 comments. Dec 26, Kristen rated it it was ok. Klosterman was recommended to me by a friend, and while I'll admit he has some funny bits, he really is that guy at the party who is exceedingly nerdy in a hipster sort of way and who thinks he's clearly better than everyone else.

And no one -- no one -- should devote the amount of time and attention to pop culture that he does. And this is coming from a girl who gets a regular dose of Perez Hilton every week. I'm his target audience, and yet he still turned me off. He critiques pop culture at Klosterman was recommended to me by a friend, and while I'll admit he has some funny bits, he really is that guy at the party who is exceedingly nerdy in a hipster sort of way and who thinks he's clearly better than everyone else.

He critiques pop culture at such a level of extreme minutia that only four people on the planet know what he's talking about.

Summary of Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto by Chuck Klosterman

Furthermore, he makes a point of saying that certain shows, bands, etc. For example, he writes that only people born between the aforementioned years ever watched "Saved By the Bell," which aired when he was in college. In fact, I think SBTB was watched by many more viewers in younger generations than his, but it serves to illustrate the point that Klosterman seems to feel that everything in pop culture only applies to his narrow generational window.

He writes as if he thinks he so much better than all of these people he makes fun of, and yet he spends his career hyper-evaluating pop culture. Mar 13, Daniel rated it it was ok Shelves: When I was in college, one of my professors assigned a book that used bridge, a card game he apparently loved, to illustrate the principles of sociology. I found the book, which he had written, to be a waste of time and was annoyed that he made us buy and read it.

At the end of the semester, we had to write a paper that applied sociological theories to something in American culture we were interested in. So, in an attempt to mock the professor, I focused my paper on several children's cartoons i When I was in college, one of my professors assigned a book that used bridge, a card game he apparently loved, to illustrate the principles of sociology.

So, in an attempt to mock the professor, I focused my paper on several children's cartoons including, if I remember correctly, "The Smurfs" and "Scooby Doo. Except, as far as I can tell, he means for us to take him seriously. For much of the book, I felt like I was stuck in a dorm room listening to the ramblings of a sociology major who has devoted far too much time to analyzing crappy TV shows, breakfast-cereal commercials, and basketball-team rivalries.

Sure, he admits that the subjects of his essays aren't always deserving of his analysis, but that doesn't make them any easier to take. This analysis is interspersed with sweeping generalizations of American society that, in fact, are more like sweeping generalizations of Klosterman's white, middle-class, Generation X friends and colleagues.

His fans might stop me here and suggest I'm too old to truly appreciate his ideas. The problem is I'm actually a year younger than Klosterman. I would have given "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs" just one star, but I allowed it an extra one partly because of Klosterman's entertaining story about Paradise City, a Guns 'n' Roses tribute band.

The piece shows that Klosterman is much better when doing actual reporting instead of sitting in a room, watching Pamela Anderson's famous sex tape, and comparing the video vixen's legacy to Marilyn Monroe's. Also, I liked his analysis of Billy Joel's career. Klosterman may be the first person to accurately describe how good Joel was in his prime without ever actually being, unlike most rock stars at their best, cool. Feb 17, Ashley rated it did not like it Shelves: The more I sit here trying to think of things to say, the more my blood pressure skyrockets and I get more and more retroactively angry at the book.

If taken tongue-in-cheek, this essay is pretty funny and a little insightful. Between each essay, or track, is an "interlude"—a short, entertaining blurb linking the essays. The following essays are included in Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs:. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs was positively reviewed by critics. Critic Mark Greif in The Guardian called it "one of the better essay collections of recent years," noting "Klosterman has attained cult status, his books joining the select and successful canon of reading for people who do not read.

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