1986, 1990 Bantam edition
Pamela Sargent
Venus of Dreams
Original price $4.95, purchase price unknown
Very worn paperback
C+
While not as bleak as Native Tongue or The Handmaid's Tale, this is another sci-fi novel that shows a female writer dealing with feminism in the 1980s, although like them it's set in the future. The heroine Iris lives in a matriarchal commune on the Plains of what was once the U.S. (Flooding caused by the hole in the ozone layer wiped out much of the land, I think.) She doesn't want to be a farmer like her mother but instead dreams of living on Venus. She becomes the bondmate of a Chinese man, Chen, although such bonds are against her more promiscuous culture. They have a baby, Benzi, but then Iris gets a chance to study at the Cytherian Institute. (She's been studying on her own with sort of a headband computer.) Chen, Iris, and Benzi eventually settle on one of the "Islands" hovering over the not yet habitable Venus, but they are not a close family.
Iris is an unsympathetic character for much of the book-- selfish, unloving, and manipulative. Chen comes across as a wimp who pines for her. I particularly disliked the characterization of everyone during the section about the Institute. The character of Anthony, and Iris's response to him, is troubling. He essentially date-rapes her, but she has an orgasm, slutty Plains woman that she is. Then later we're supposed to think he was an admirable rebel who said the unsayable. If I remember correctly, there was also an issue with rape in the sequel, Venus of Shadows, which we'll get to in 1988.
What did I like about the book? The terraforming of Venus and the impact of different cultures and subcultures on each other. And I sympathized with Iris when she was a little girl who just wanted the chance to study. Too bad she grew up so badly.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Son of "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night"
1986, Penguin edition, from later that year
Compiled by Scott Rice
Son of "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night": More of the Best (?) from the Bulwer-Lytton Contest
Original price $4.95, purchase price $3.25
Slightly worn paperback
B-
I forgot I had this sequel. It's about as good as the first one, although I thought the earlier chapters were better. The "Way We Live Now" felt less topical, although there was one sentence earlier where "Ron and Nancy" who live in "a white house" pretend that they're a sandwich in bed, which is somehow less smutty than it sounds. This is my personal favorite, from the very good children's fiction chapter: "'Calling all bunnies!' shouted Randy the Happy Wizard as he shook his carrot out the window of his jolly house in Old Mr. Oak on the edge of the Peppermint Stick Garden."
Compiled by Scott Rice
Son of "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night": More of the Best (?) from the Bulwer-Lytton Contest
Original price $4.95, purchase price $3.25
Slightly worn paperback
B-
I forgot I had this sequel. It's about as good as the first one, although I thought the earlier chapters were better. The "Way We Live Now" felt less topical, although there was one sentence earlier where "Ron and Nancy" who live in "a white house" pretend that they're a sandwich in bed, which is somehow less smutty than it sounds. This is my personal favorite, from the very good children's fiction chapter: "'Calling all bunnies!' shouted Randy the Happy Wizard as he shook his carrot out the window of his jolly house in Old Mr. Oak on the edge of the Peppermint Stick Garden."
Meet Peter Rabbit: A Pop-Up Book
1986, first edition, from Derrydale Books
Meet Peter Rabbit: A Pop-Up Book
Retold by Corey Nash from the original stories by Beatrix Potter
Original price $7.95, purchase price unknown
Surprisingly good condition hardcover
C
Nothing remarkable here, other than the odd inscription, "Kathy, You're the bestest Lucy Babe! Keep countin' those veggies Love ya, Fr. Tony." There are only three double-spread pop-ups, and they just pop, no tabs, handles, dials, etc. Nash does an OK job of adapting Potter, although the ending feels rushed.
Meet Peter Rabbit: A Pop-Up Book
Retold by Corey Nash from the original stories by Beatrix Potter
Original price $7.95, purchase price unknown
Surprisingly good condition hardcover
C
Nothing remarkable here, other than the odd inscription, "Kathy, You're the bestest Lucy Babe! Keep countin' those veggies Love ya, Fr. Tony." There are only three double-spread pop-ups, and they just pop, no tabs, handles, dials, etc. Nash does an OK job of adapting Potter, although the ending feels rushed.
Son of Golden Turkey Awards
1986, first edition, from Villard Books
Harry and Michael Medved
Son of Golden Turkey Awards: The Best of the Worst from Hollywood
Bought new for $10.95
Falling apart paperback
B
I don't think it's just nostalgia that makes this my favorite of the Medveds' books. I won a gift certificate for a bookstore, as a writing award my senior year in high school, and this is what I got. My then-future-ex-husband and I became bad-movie collectors as a result. But this book has held up really well (except physically), and the Medveditis isn't as bad as it was. (There are even moments when they're actually feminist, ironic in light of Michael's approaching "right turns.") Their humor doesn't seem as forced, and I laughed out loud a few times. Admittedly, some of the funniest bits are ones where they're just quoting lyrics, dialogue, ad campaigns, or titles.
As with their earlier books, there seems to be a bias towards more recent films, at that point including the likes of Sheena and Where the Boys Are '84, not just with the winners but the nominees. On the other hand, they do have some categories that are dominated by the 1950s and/or '60s, among them the worst Biker Film, worst performance by Ronald Reagan (again, ironic in retrospect), worst performance as a Nazi mad scientist, and worst beach party movie. Past winners, like Ed Wood, are renominated in new categories. So there's a blend of old and new, as with the "rogues' gallery" at the end.
Yes, there are some errors-- Pia Zadora was not 8 in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964), and in fact looks the 10 years that she was-- but it seems like fewer than before. Maybe watching movies on VHS helped.
Harry and Michael Medved
Son of Golden Turkey Awards: The Best of the Worst from Hollywood
Bought new for $10.95
Falling apart paperback
B
I don't think it's just nostalgia that makes this my favorite of the Medveds' books. I won a gift certificate for a bookstore, as a writing award my senior year in high school, and this is what I got. My then-future-ex-husband and I became bad-movie collectors as a result. But this book has held up really well (except physically), and the Medveditis isn't as bad as it was. (There are even moments when they're actually feminist, ironic in light of Michael's approaching "right turns.") Their humor doesn't seem as forced, and I laughed out loud a few times. Admittedly, some of the funniest bits are ones where they're just quoting lyrics, dialogue, ad campaigns, or titles.
As with their earlier books, there seems to be a bias towards more recent films, at that point including the likes of Sheena and Where the Boys Are '84, not just with the winners but the nominees. On the other hand, they do have some categories that are dominated by the 1950s and/or '60s, among them the worst Biker Film, worst performance by Ronald Reagan (again, ironic in retrospect), worst performance as a Nazi mad scientist, and worst beach party movie. Past winners, like Ed Wood, are renominated in new categories. So there's a blend of old and new, as with the "rogues' gallery" at the end.
Yes, there are some errors-- Pia Zadora was not 8 in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964), and in fact looks the 10 years that she was-- but it seems like fewer than before. Maybe watching movies on VHS helped.
Monday, March 11, 2013
MAD, Volume 2
1986, first edition, from Russ Cochran, Publisher
MAD, Volume 2
Bought newish for unknown
Worn hardcover
C
Well, this is better than the first volume. There are still the pointless text-only stories (this time a series with "BVDs" as a parody of the "KGB"), and Kurtzman's drawn-as-well-as-written Hey, Look! comic strip (and the man is even less of an artist than a writer), but the artists, Bill Elder in particular, are hitting their stride. Also the ads for MAD and its sister publication PANIC (by Kurtzman's successor as MAD's editor) have a nice satiric edge that's often missing from the movie and comic-book parodies. By the time we get to #12, with not only the classic "Starchie" but a "high-class intellectual" cover, MAD is sometimes actually funny. True, the parodies of "Mark Trail" and "From Here to Eternity" are pretty forgettable, but the 3-D piece has some good concepts.
If I haven't said anything about the constant sexism (and occasional racism of the "cannibal" sort) in both volumes, it's because when the writing is this mediocre, I don't really expect any sort of nuance or sensitivity.
MAD, Volume 2
Bought newish for unknown
Worn hardcover
C
Well, this is better than the first volume. There are still the pointless text-only stories (this time a series with "BVDs" as a parody of the "KGB"), and Kurtzman's drawn-as-well-as-written Hey, Look! comic strip (and the man is even less of an artist than a writer), but the artists, Bill Elder in particular, are hitting their stride. Also the ads for MAD and its sister publication PANIC (by Kurtzman's successor as MAD's editor) have a nice satiric edge that's often missing from the movie and comic-book parodies. By the time we get to #12, with not only the classic "Starchie" but a "high-class intellectual" cover, MAD is sometimes actually funny. True, the parodies of "Mark Trail" and "From Here to Eternity" are pretty forgettable, but the 3-D piece has some good concepts.
If I haven't said anything about the constant sexism (and occasional racism of the "cannibal" sort) in both volumes, it's because when the writing is this mediocre, I don't really expect any sort of nuance or sensitivity.
MAD, Volume 1
1986, first edition, from Russ Cochran, Publisher
MAD, Volume 1
Bought newish for unknown
Worn hardcover
C-
Like I said back in the '50s, I think Harvey Kurtzman is over-rated, and certainly this collection of the first six issues of MAD shows why. He seems to have almost no concept of how to set up a joke, some of the endings to the stories being particularly ham-fisted, such as "Yes, Dear Reader! The machine did break!" and "For, you see...Bumble...Fumbled!", both in issue #1. That said, he improves somewhat as things go along, although the text-only stories, like the Cosmo McMoon ones, never work. It is nice to see the artwork in color, although it also is not great to start out with. I like the interviews with Kurtzman and Gaines, including their memories of how the outrageous "Publisher of the Issue" profile got in the magazine while Kurtman was in the hospital. It figures that the funniest piece in the first half dozen issues had to sneak in behind his back.
"'I don' care if it don't gotta plot! I don' care if it don't got grammar! I don' care if the pitchers ain't from talent! All I care is get into every story sadism, snakes, masochism, pyromania, snakes, fetishes, snakes, necrophilia, phallic symbols, snakes, and all the rest of that esoterica what I can't think of this minute.'" Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, I rest my case.
OK, OK, Exhibit B to follow....
MAD, Volume 1
Bought newish for unknown
Worn hardcover
C-
Like I said back in the '50s, I think Harvey Kurtzman is over-rated, and certainly this collection of the first six issues of MAD shows why. He seems to have almost no concept of how to set up a joke, some of the endings to the stories being particularly ham-fisted, such as "Yes, Dear Reader! The machine did break!" and "For, you see...Bumble...Fumbled!", both in issue #1. That said, he improves somewhat as things go along, although the text-only stories, like the Cosmo McMoon ones, never work. It is nice to see the artwork in color, although it also is not great to start out with. I like the interviews with Kurtzman and Gaines, including their memories of how the outrageous "Publisher of the Issue" profile got in the magazine while Kurtman was in the hospital. It figures that the funniest piece in the first half dozen issues had to sneak in behind his back.
"'I don' care if it don't gotta plot! I don' care if it don't got grammar! I don' care if the pitchers ain't from talent! All I care is get into every story sadism, snakes, masochism, pyromania, snakes, fetishes, snakes, necrophilia, phallic symbols, snakes, and all the rest of that esoterica what I can't think of this minute.'" Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, I rest my case.
OK, OK, Exhibit B to follow....
Saturday Night: A Backstage History
1986, 1987 Vintage Books edition
Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad
Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live
Bought new for $8.95
Falling apart paperback
B+
In a way this is a follow-up to 1975's CBS: Reflections in a Bloodshot Eye, since it not only covers the first ten seasons of SNL, but it provides background to the ratings madness that ensued when ABC shot to #1 and NBC fell to #3. But unlike Metz making everything less interesting, Hill and Weingrad are great storytellers, so it doesn't really matter that I don't much care about SNL these days. Growing up in the 1970s, it was the show that the teens and twentysomethings watched, and so when NBC started showing (edited) episodes in prime-time (in 1980 I think), I tuned in, and I watched new episodes fairly regularly through the '80s. I believed "the show just isn't as good as it was," but there were moments that worked. I stopped watching sometime during the Dana "Bush" Carvey years, although I'd later catch things like "the ambiguously gay duo" and the "needs more cowbell" sketch on Youtube.
One thing that happened was when Nick at Night showed '70s episodes (edited down to an hour), I realized the show wasn't that funny to begin with. Again, there were moments that worked, but it wasn't any better (or worse) than the '80s shows (the Doumanian season aside of course). The "slash and burn" humor aged very badly, which is one reason that I ironically like the 5th season, when writer Michael O'Donoghue and Belushi and Ackroyd were gone, better than much of the first four seasons.
Anyway, although the book is very dated (Joe Piscopo did not exactly emerge as one of the cast members with long-lasting success), it's the first book where I can feel a definite time shift, as I did when I read The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. That book was the first truly "modern Victorian" novel I'd read for this project, with trains and telegrams. This is the first book where I feel some connection to the present, the sensibility of the humor (not just SNL's but Hill & Weingrad's). That I bought it on my (first) college campus probably has something to do with this. The feel is not yet contemporary but we're getting there, as opposed to Missile Envy, which despite its '86 revision seems more like '83. On the other hand, it's hard to believe that Eddie Murphy was only 27 when this book came out.
Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad
Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live
Bought new for $8.95
Falling apart paperback
B+
In a way this is a follow-up to 1975's CBS: Reflections in a Bloodshot Eye, since it not only covers the first ten seasons of SNL, but it provides background to the ratings madness that ensued when ABC shot to #1 and NBC fell to #3. But unlike Metz making everything less interesting, Hill and Weingrad are great storytellers, so it doesn't really matter that I don't much care about SNL these days. Growing up in the 1970s, it was the show that the teens and twentysomethings watched, and so when NBC started showing (edited) episodes in prime-time (in 1980 I think), I tuned in, and I watched new episodes fairly regularly through the '80s. I believed "the show just isn't as good as it was," but there were moments that worked. I stopped watching sometime during the Dana "Bush" Carvey years, although I'd later catch things like "the ambiguously gay duo" and the "needs more cowbell" sketch on Youtube.
One thing that happened was when Nick at Night showed '70s episodes (edited down to an hour), I realized the show wasn't that funny to begin with. Again, there were moments that worked, but it wasn't any better (or worse) than the '80s shows (the Doumanian season aside of course). The "slash and burn" humor aged very badly, which is one reason that I ironically like the 5th season, when writer Michael O'Donoghue and Belushi and Ackroyd were gone, better than much of the first four seasons.
Anyway, although the book is very dated (Joe Piscopo did not exactly emerge as one of the cast members with long-lasting success), it's the first book where I can feel a definite time shift, as I did when I read The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. That book was the first truly "modern Victorian" novel I'd read for this project, with trains and telegrams. This is the first book where I feel some connection to the present, the sensibility of the humor (not just SNL's but Hill & Weingrad's). That I bought it on my (first) college campus probably has something to do with this. The feel is not yet contemporary but we're getting there, as opposed to Missile Envy, which despite its '86 revision seems more like '83. On the other hand, it's hard to believe that Eddie Murphy was only 27 when this book came out.
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