UP-CHUCK: Bill O'Reilly disliked Al Franken's book (or rather, the idea of it) so much that he and his bosses sued the author. But New York Press writer Mark Ames had an even more visceral reaction to Chuck Klosterman's new book "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs"- Ames hated it so much that he left the country.
Ames- now living in Moscow- penned a near-hysterical evisceration of Klosterman's book in this week's NYPress, referring to Klosterman's relatively innocuous observations about pop culture and everyday life as "the metaphor for everything vile in my generation." He goes on to alternately attack the author as a sellout and "toxic, disingenuous and stupid," and disparages everything about Klosterman, from his looks (comparing his mouth to a "sphincter" and saying he looks like a sex offender) to his mental capabilities, comparing Klosterman to "Sean Penn's retard character in 'I Am Sam.'"
But Ames' biggest problem is with the author's musical tastes, as he thinks "Billy Joel is great," and calls Steely Dan "more lyrically subversive than the Sex Pistols and Clash combined." I agree with both statements- Ames clearly is one who has the stupid prejudice that punk rock is both a sacred cow and the only good music in the world, and is for some reason so contemptuous of Klosterman for disagreeing that he felt the need to up and move to Moscow.
Sure, a lot of the stuff Klosterman writes is sort of lame (except for the part where he points out that every woman born since 1968 is in love with John Cusack and his "Say Anything" character. That part's right.) But why not just ignore him? Or stay and fight? Lord knows there's lots of people in the media I can't stand, but I haven't felt the need to leave the country as a result.
I haven't read Klosterman's book, but after reading Ames' slam of it, I'd sort of like to.