I got a lot of Barnes and Noble gift cards for Christmas which makes me really happy.

I went and used one of them right away and have the others tucked away for future use.

When I went to use the first card I didn't have anything specific, or even anything general in mind to read so I wandered over to the "Essays" section of the store and browsed through things that looked like the sort of thing I might enjoy.

A book, the name of which escapes me, by a guy named David Rakoff seemed interesting but it was his second. I always feel like I'm missing something if I don't read an author's books in order, so I bought his first book, Fraud.

I also bought Fat Chicks and lawn Chairs, but we'll talk about that travesty another time.

Allow me to pick for you a page and sentence at random.

"Yet it all felt less ersatz than the faux Arcadianism of Omega."

That sentence was about DisneyLand.

Do you see?

This boy is sickeningly addicted to the thesaurus feature on his word program.

He goes out of his way to say how unlike everyone he is, and yet, he is sadly exactly like everyone who wants to prove how different they are.

Another random sentence:

"Even in my search for an authentic backdrop for this particular interview, I brought them to a large simulacrum, when probably the most authentically New York place is the block they live on."

Honest to God.

The whole book sounds like this.

He even gives himself clever names like Fudgy McPacker. Gee...how did he ever come up with that?

Oh SIGH.

How are these people getting published? Who reads this complete bullshit and finds it remotely palatable?

Please?

enlighten me.

By the way, if you missed the last entry about the dog video then I suggest with deepest sincerety that you go back and check that out.

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