This book is full of essays so new they feature commentary on events that happened only a few months ago. Unlike Klosterman's last essay collection, Eating the Dinosaur is full of new, never been published pieces. In order to review a book like this I should really just say something about each essay:
1. Something Instead of Nothing: This one is about why people answer interview questions. Aside from self-promotion, it's strange to answer questions in an interview type situation. Subject matter aside, Klosterman breaks up his arguments in a strange way, he writes several mini-chapters within each essay. 1, 2, 3, 1A, 2A, 3A, 2A, 2B etc. it's a bit annoying to read something like that. I mean it's an interesting way to write, but a bit hard to follow at times. You have to remind yourself of what you just read a few pages back, "Oh, were back to that topic..."
2. Oh, The Guilt: This one is about Nirvana's In Utero and The Branch Davidian disaster from the 90s. I didn't know about the Branch Davidian thing, so the references were a bit lost of me. The gist of the essay is that Nirvana tried to make an album that people would hate because they felt guilty for being so popular, or something to that effect. There is reference to the show Lost that I enjoyed. It was about how the character of Jack was listening to a song off of In Utero before he was about to try to jump off a bridge - due to his guilt over leaving the island. Sorry if my geekdom just went into overdrive there for a moment.
3. Tomorrow Rarely Knows: This one is about the problems that arise when considering how time travel might actually work. Most of the references are about how time travel has been used and portrayed in films. The title of the book comes from this essay, as Klosterman discusses travelling back in time: "What's the best reason for exploding the parameters of reality? With the possible exception of eating a dinosaur, I don't think there is one."
4. What We Talk About When We Talk About Ralph Sampson: This one is about a basketball player who failed to dazzle in the 80s. I didn't get much out of this one.
5. Through a Glass Blindly: This one is about voyeurism. Klosterman talks about being about to see a woman in a neighbouring apartment through her window, and how she would be able to do the same. He never saw anything creepy or wrong, and enjoyed just seeing her doing everyday things. He had no desire to create some sort of story for her. I thought he probably should have bought some drapes, but that's just me.
6. The Passion of the Garth: This one is about that period in Garth Brooks' career when he became "Chris Gaines." This one is pretty amusing - I never really knew too much about it when it happened, but I knew it was a failure. The essay explores other artists failed attempts to create a persona.
7. Football: I read this and I don't know why.
8. ABBA 1, The World 0: About how everyone loves ABBA. Also, another Lost reference/joke in this one. I love that Klosterman watches Lost.
9. "Ha ha" He said. "Ha ha": This one is about how annoying laugh tracks are, and I understand why. But I have realized that I tune out laugh tracks. In the essay he mentions that laugh tracks are still used by shows such as How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory, and I honestly can't recall really noticing ever. Even last night I didn't notice the laugh tracks while watching those shows. I read this essay last week, so you'd think I'd be more aware of them, but I'm not.
10. It Will Shock You How Much it Never Happened: This one is about Pepsi's recent rebranding. They used Barack Obama and the recession to sell pop. Trying to engineer false optimism. He also ties in Mad Men, a show about a 1960s advertising firm.
11. T is for True: This one interested me the most because it mentions Weezer and Rivers Cuomo. This essay is about three people who are very literal when it comes to what they create and say. He uses German filmmaker, Werner Herog, Rivers Cuomo, and Ralph Nador as examples. The issue with Cuomo is that his songs are all very literal. The lyrics usually talk about very specific events. Klosterman discusses that this is how Weezer's songs have always been, but fans, or former fans have only been annoyed by it since Pinkerton. I believe Klosterman is defending Cuomo, but I'm not so sure.
12. FAIL: Is an essay about Ted Kaczynski (The Unabomber) and the points he makes that are correct, but irrelevant now because he murdered people. Klosterman is in no way defending the Unabomber, just stating that some of the things he wrote about in his manifesto weren't entirely crazy. I also learned why he was known as The Unabomber. "Un" is because he sent letter bombs to Universities, and the "a" is because he sent them to airports.
Well that is my review of Eating the Dinosaur. Hope it serves you well.
Up next: Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris.
