It’s strange, emerging from the events of the last few weeks to write about Chuck Klosterman. His drill on the importance of Saved By The Bell and outing of John Cusak as the source of our generation’s inability to understand love had me rolling in my bus seat just a few weeks ago. But, I’ve been lax in updating the blog — I finished Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs soon after seeing Klosterman speak at Cody’s at the end of August.
I wish I hadn’t read these essays yet. I wish I could mute this sunny San Francisco afternoon, crawl underneath my covers and find the same laugh they provoked a month ago. Unlike his new book, Killing Yourself to Live which appears to be a more sober reflection on the mortality of rock stars and mortals, these essays and incidental pieces play to the cheap seats. At Cody’s, Klosterman noted that the unexpected success of his first book, Fargo Rock City , had his publisher clamoring for a second book. Sensing his brief moment of authorial advantage, he shuffled video games, porn, the NBA and — of course — music into an infuriatingly funny collection.
Like any good humorist, Klosterman is at his best when he casts a fresh eye on the obvious. Are people in their twenties and early thirties getting married later? Yep. Is the blood on John Cusak’s hands? Who knows, but it’s a good enough theory. When told in Klosterman’s indignant geek-boy-gone-cool squeal, it’s made even more plausible and, more importantly, damn funny. He’d have a field day with me , glum faced under my hooded sweatshirt, listening to Sigur Ros on a sunny day, trying to remember what was funny about this very funny book.