Archive for the 'books' Category

Jerry Sandusky’s Autobiography is called “Touched”?

Cidu Bill on Dec 9th 2011

Seriously? Seriously???

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Filed in Bill Bickel, Jerry Sandusky, books | 12 responses so far

Somebody asked me what book I was currently reading…

Cidu Bill on Nov 1st 2011

and it occurred to me that I was in the middle of four: nothing unusual about that in itself, except that one is a hardcover, one on a CD, one on Audible, and one on a Kindle. I’m not sure what any of this means, but I know it’s not an answer I would have given or even anticipated a couple of years ago.

Filed in Audible, Bill Bickel, Kindle, books | 31 responses so far

Carrillo’s going to have to try harder if he wants to out-do reality

Cidu Bill on Apr 29th 2011

book.gif The Monobookist (the real-world version)


Also, there’s another bookstore that sells only a single title at a time — I think they change the title each month — but I only heard bits and pieces of the story on NPR the other day, so I can’t offer any further details.

Filed in Bill Bickel, F-Minus, Tony Carrillo, books, comic strips, comics, humor | 9 responses so far

The Deranged Stalker’s Journal of Pop Culture Shock Therapy

Cidu Bill on Dec 5th 2010

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The other day, I was in the library and I happened to be leafing through Ray Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man. For those of you who don’t know, this book is essentially a collection of his short science fiction stories, held together by the premise that there’s this crazy tattooed dude, and each of his tattoos comes alive and segues into the short story. Or something like that.

I guess the point of the exercise was to give the thing the illusion (as it were) of being a unified novel rather than just a collection of short stories because, you know, who would want to read a collection of science fiction short stories by one of the greatest-ever writers of science fiction short stories?

Anyway, as pointless as I thought the Illustrated Man conceit was, it didn’t take anything away from the stories themselves.

Just a couple of minutes after I left the library — literally, since the post office is right down the street from the library– I received my copy of Doug Bratton’s new book. It’s a collection of Pop Culture Shock Therapy strips, held together by the premise that they’ve all been taped into the journals of a deranged stalker who’s obsessed with Doug Bratton. Or something like that.

Okay, honestly? The premise doesn’t work for me. No more than that tattooed dude did, which I dare you to say five times fast.

creepiosity.pngThat being said — sorry, Doug, I know you put a lot of work into giving us something extra — the collection itself is well worth the price. If you’ve been visiting Doug’s web site, you pretty much know what to expect. If you’ve been visiting this website, you should pretty much know what to expect as well, because PCST has been well represented in the weekly LOL postings (and is no stranger to the CIDU postings either): Doug lampoons superheroes (especially Batman, by far comic strip writers’ favorite spandex-wearer), Disney characters, other comic strips, cartoons, Sesame Street, and more. This book would make a nice addition to your collection of comics compilations, or a good holiday gift for a like-minded friend who might not be familiar with this strip.

With the caveat that many of the comics are not child-appropriate (in addition to the fact that readers under a certain age might not get a lot of the jokes).

For the sake of family harmony, I should probably tack on another quick plug for Creepiosity. If your house has two bathrooms, there’s no reason not to buy both of these books.

And here’s today’s trivia question: What do Creepiosity and the film Parenthood have in common?

Filed in Bill Bickel, Creepiosity, David Bickel, Doug Bratton, Illustrated Man, Pop Culture Shock Therapy, Ray Bradbury, book reviews, books, comic strips, comics, humor | 18 responses so far

Shock Therapy and Creepiosity

Cidu Bill on Nov 2nd 2010

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Doug Bratton’s book is being published today. I can’t tell you much about it, because his publicist was supposed to send me a review copy and she never got around to it, but I imagine it’s a whole bunch of Pop Culture Pop Therapy strips, and we know they’re funny, and Doug entertains us with new strips just about every day which we get to read for free, and I met him and he’s a nice guy, so why not buy a copy? The guy’s got to make a living you know?

And speaking of books published by Andrews McMeel that I was promised a copy of but never received, my baby brother’s book Creepiosity is in its second printing. The biggest difference from the first printing is that I finally got my photographer’s credit in the back of the book, so I can drop my lawsuit.

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Filed in Bill Bickel, Creepiosity, David Bickel, Doug Bratton, Pop Culture Shock Therapy, books, comics strips, humor | 6 responses so far

”My Heart Belongs to Money” (or: ”Dreams of My Father”)

Cidu Bill on Sep 23rd 2009

Troubled actress McKenzie Phillips, daughter of Mamas and the Papas co-founder John Phillips, is doing the talk-show circuit revealing and discussing her incestuous relationship with Papa John (who, dead since 2001, can’t defend himself).

Why mention this now? Three guesses, but I bet you’ll only need one.

Filed in Bill Bickel, John Phillips, Mamas and the Papas, McKenzie Phillips, books, incest | 29 responses so far

Comics That Made the Groundhog Laugh Out Loud

Cidu Bill on Feb 2nd 2009

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Filed in 9 Chickweed Lane, Beetle Bailey, Brooke McEldowney, Dave Whamond, Dinette Set, Mark Parisi, Mike Peters, Mother Goose, Off the Mark, books, comic strips, comics, comics that made us laugh out loud, humor, lol | 29 responses so far

Drew Peterson Exposed

Cidu Bill on Sep 22nd 2008

Filed in Bill Bickel, Crimeweek, Drew Peterson, Stacy Peterson, books, crime | Comments Off

LOL-August 4

Cidu Bill on Aug 4th 2008

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Lola:
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Filed in Argyle Sweater, Bill Bickel, Dave Blazek, John Deering, Loose Parts, Medusa, Scott Hilburn, Strange Brew, books, cars, comic strips, comics, comics that made us laugh out loud, humor, lol | One response so far

”How I Helped O.J. Simpson Get Away With Murder”

Cidu Bill on May 13th 2008

Filed in Bill Bickel, Crimeweek, O.J. Simpson, books, crime | Comments Off

Comics That Made Us Laugh Out Loud - Saint Patrick’s Day Edition

Cidu Bill on Mar 17th 2008

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Filed in Arlo and Janis, Ballard Street, Barack Obama, Bill Bickel, Bizarro, Cornered, Dan Piraro, Dave Coverly, F-Minus, Hillary Clinton, In the Bleachers, Jimmy Johnson, Joe Martin, John McCain, Mark Parisi, Mike Baldwin, Mister Boffo, Mod Squad, Off the Mark, Pearls Before Swine, Ruben Bolling, Saint Patrick's Day, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, Speed Bump, Tom the Dancing Bug, Tony Carrillo, books, cars, comics that made us laugh out loud, cows, lol, politics | 7 responses so far

Mother Addams

Cidu Bill on Feb 3rd 2008

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The Charles Addams Mother Goose is pretty much what you’d expect, a macabre take on some traditional nursery rhymes. So what I’m wondering is… What’s the market for this thing? Amazon claims it’s for kids between the ages of 4 and 8, but I’m not sure I’d have given my kids this book when they were 4 (and my kids were hardly sheltered; my younger son, when he was 5, asked me to explain to him the difference between murder and manslaughter) — and a kid old enough to deal with Jack Sprat and his wife being portrayed as cannibals, without several episodes of nightmares, probably wouldn’t be caught dead reading a Mother Goose book even with subversive illustrations.

Just for the record, though (speaking of subversive children’s books), every preschooler should own The Z Was Zapped — and I’ve personally made sure that most of my nieces and nephews had theirs.

Filed in Bill Bickel, Charles Addams, Mother Goose, books, nursery rhymes | 4 responses so far