Rating: 
Summary: Easy, Chuckles...
Review: This is a collection of essays that range from internet porn to racism in basketball and how one may go about living in such an animated world like we live in now.Pop-culture thought has always baffled me to some extent. On the one hand it's great to have an original thought accompanied by a 'one-liner,' but on the other hand it pains me to see that in Western society the punch line is a valid means for an argument. If you enjoy some clever observations mixed in with some sarcasm and a hellava lot of pseudo-intellectual banter, get this book. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed these essays. They're a great collection of post-grunge thoughts served with a side of wit from someone who wears his torment (due to growing up in such a sugar-coated mundane era) like a badge. However it seems with his wording ( I swear Chuck's thesaurus is dipped in gold by now), he's gonna miss his target audience so to appease the colleagues.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm More of a Sex, Alcohol, and Golden Grahams Man Myself
Review: This is an interesting book for people in their twenties. Though taking pop culture references and tying those to societal behavior is nothing new, Klosterman sometimes intelligently places real and intense thoughts about subjects that weren't meant to be dissected socially. He goes into how the Sims, Saved by the Bell, the 80s Lakers-Celtics rivalry all represent or influence society in one form or another. This book contains 18 disjointed, unrelated chapters explaining Klosterman's view of random popular culture phenomenons.
The good part about this book is that at some points it's smart and hilarious at the same time. Klosterman's view on Soccer and why neither he nor America will ever accept is worth the price of the book alone. The first half of the book is far superior in that you'll find yourself laughing at loud (like I did on a plane). If you had part of your life influenced by random and useless things like toys or television shows when you were a kid, then this sort of sheds light on how minute items can influence anyone.
There are two bad parts about this book though. Since he devotes a chapter to a random idea based on an aspect of culture, you'd be somewhat interested in that aspect. He went on a giant tirade about how classical country music is better than modern Nashville country music. Not only did I not care about that genre of music, I was unaware of the division of classical and modern country, nor did I really want to know about such a division. The worst part of this book is that he does a lot of useless explaining of random facts in detail that really aren't intriguing, funny or interesting, and doesn't incorporate these long winded details to anything noteworthy. In the chapter where he describes religious fanatics, he gives a boring and long summary of a religious movie for almost no reason. The second half of the book is really chalked full of such useless information and provides nothing interesting, funny or thought provoking at all.
By the way, there is hardly any mention of Sex, Drugs, or even Cocoa Puffs in this book.
All in all, it's interesting and unique, but the latter chapters were so dull that it left a dull taste in my mouth. There were some great chapters, but the inconsistency just makes it an average book at best.
Rating: 
Summary: I want to marry this man !
Review: What a brilliantly clever book . the essay on "The Real World " is worth the cover price alone . if you're dithering just buy it !
Rating:
Summary: A Sold, Entertaining Look at Pop Culture
Review: While this book may not be the "best" book I have ever read, I would say it was the most entertaining. There is one problem though. To fully enjoy it you must think like the author. Klosterman tackles a different topic in each chapter and looks at it in a humrous light each time. While I personally found it hysterical, I could easily see someone else finding it to be nothing more than a set of annoying journal entries. If you are familiar with Klosterman's work and are a fan of his I would no doubt reccomend this book to you as I have to all my friends already. If you are not sure about him yet however, you may want to pick up a Spin magazine and check him out beforehand.
Rating:
Summary: Finally!!! A Great Lost Generation Book
Review: Within every generation (Generation X, Baby Boomer, Yuppies) there is a subsection I call the Lost Generation. These are the wanderers. These are the drug addicts who somehow manage to avoid getting caught although they make not effort to hide it. These are the people who could be successful but just can't get over their own tendancy to screw up people. For every generation a few writers emerge that capture the Lost Generation in their books. For our current generation (what are we called anyway?) I have been waiting and waiting for someone to answer that call. Last month I found Rikki Lee Travolta's "My Fractured Life" and fell for it hook line and beer bottle. Chuck Klosterman has rewarded me again now with "Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs." Finally!!!! Another Great Lost Generation Book!!!
Rating:
Summary: Sex, Drug and Cocoa Puff-a-rific
Review: Yeah, that title pretty must covers it. Klosterman's essays are chock full (and I hate to use this term) of Gen-X references to everything we've grown up loving. Now, these aren't essays ON Saved by the Bell and Pamela Anderson, but rather, he uses cultural icons as a jumping off point for rambling, funny and (uh-oh) thought provoking discussions. Klosterman is the kind of guy that you would want to hang out with at a party. Look. You're either going to love this book or you're not. You're either to find the tangential, rambling essays endearing and interesting, or simply tangential and rambling. So what kinds of subjects are you in for? How about the Tori Paradox in which Klosterman deconstructs the idea of Tori on Saved by the Bell? One season, after Tiffany Amber Thiessen and Elizabeth Berkley had left for more naked pastures, Tori shows up. And then, just before a graduation special that was to air on NBC, Tori was gone. And Kelly and Jessie were back. Klosterman argues that Saved by the Bell is a lot like life. First people are there, and then they're not - gone. Only to be forgotten and at the most, vaguely remember. Of course, Klosterman explains much better than me. Just the pure assault of pop-cultural references was enough for me. It's not uncommon for Klosterman to reference such diverse items as the music of Radiohead, Who's the Boss and Trix cereal all in one essay. And I wouldn't be exalting his references if he was just throwing them out. They actually mean something to the people that grew up in the post-Boomer era...
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