Zombie Spaceship Wasteland: A Book by Patton Oswalt
3.5/5
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About this ebook
Oswalt combines memoir with uproarious humor, from snow forts to Dungeons & Dragons to gifts from Grandma that had to be explained. He remembers his teen summers spent working in a movie Cineplex and his early years doing stand-up. Readers are also treated to several graphic elements, including a vampire tale for the rest of us and some greeting cards with a special touch. Then there’s the book’s centerpiece, which posits that before all young creative minds have anything to write about, they will home in on one of three story lines: zombies, spaceships, or wastelands.
Oswalt chose wastelands, and ever since he has been mining our society’s wasteland for perversion and excess, pop culture and fatty foods, indie rock and single-malt scotch. Zombie Spaceship Wasteland is an inventive account of the evolution of Patton Oswalt’s wildly insightful worldview, sure to indulge his legion of fans and lure many new admirers to his very entertaining “wasteland.”
Patton Oswalt
Patton Oswalt is the author of the New York Times bestseller Zombie Spaceship Wasteland. He has released four TV specials and four critically acclaimed comedy albums, including the Grammy-nominated My Weakness Is Strong. He put together the Comedians of Comedy tour and television series. Oswalt has also appeared on many television shows and in more than twenty films, including Young Adult, Big Fan, and Ratatouille. He lives in Los Angeles, California.
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Reviews for Zombie Spaceship Wasteland
264 ratings24 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5After hearing how wonderful this book is, I tried to like it all. I'm not a stand up comedy fan, so I failed. The last section was horrible.
I liked the music and book references, those brought back some nice memories. The first sections had some funny stories and a character description. The D&D section was neat.
But I was disappointed. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I have to admit that I picked up "Zombie Wasteland Spaceship" for my husband, because it struck me as the kind of literature he'd enjoy in the library/bathroom. It took less than a day for the book to escape and make its way to the living room where the polite reading is done. As with most collections, some pieces work more than others, but with the strong beginning middle and finish, it was easy to forgive those that didn't, while still basking in the glow of those that did. The book was smarter, more charming and nostalgic than I expected and I feel somehow guilty for my lack of expectation. Oswalt is not a comedian who wrote a book, but a writer and storyteller who happens to be funny.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The sections of the book that are biographical and narrative are excellent. The two best sections involve a story about working at a mall cinema and the story of his schizopheninic uncle. Either is worth the price of the book. The comedy bits border on the hackish that Oswalt mocks when writing in his own voice. The Zombie, Spaceship. Wasteland philosophical discussion falls flat, though it features Oswalt' self deprecating humor.Seems like a filler book.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5An odd memoir that is a mix of stories and bits. Oswalt does a good job narrating and Hobo songs were a nice touch.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A book of mostly personal essays from former comedian Oswalt about his days before and at the beginning of his career. These include his high school job at a movie theater, an explanation of how Dungeons and Dragons is played, and the first gifting suite he was ever invited to attend as a minor celebrity. The longest essay is "The Victory Tour", the story of his first headlining gig at a comedy club outside of Vancouver, a week in which the audiences liked every comedian except for him. A fast and amusing read.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Narrated by the author. Part memoir, part observational essays, part comedy act and parody. At times, Patton's Gen X pop cultural references went right by this late baby boomer, and the sound volume was inconsistent throughout. I've always liked him as an actor though. This is for the under-the-radar nerds who have a lot to say but rarely get noticed.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Reading this made me feel like I was the fastest reader on the planet--zoom! Tucked it away in two short hours, during which my wife had to keep asking me why milk was coming out my nose. The essays vary in quality but then again I honestly can say that I didn't understand about a third of the allusions Oswalt made--so who's to say I'm not some uneducated dumbass turning his back on comedic gold. The high points were absolutely hilarious, however and well worth the price of admission.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I work in a bookstore and it isn't often that a new book comes out that I absolutely can't wait for the cheaper paperback edition and feel I have to read right away. I enjoy Patton Oswalt on TV but it was a a piece he for Playboy a few years back comparing life with his crazy stripper ex-girlfriend to life with his lovely wife which had me laughing so hard, tears streaming down my face, that made me pay the 20 some odd bucks I did for this book. I cracked the first few pages and prepared myself for the painful hilarity that I was sure would ensue. Then I kind of shrugged off the next few pages, then I started to feel a little bummed that this book wasn't as funny as I thought it should be. Then I got a little pissed that I paid as much as I did for it but figured since I did pay that much I should see it through to the finish if for no other reason except to tear it to shreds and be able to say I did it. No such luck, Patton Oswalt is one sneaky ass little dude as although the chapters read kind of like the life story of the most boring guy ever when I got to the the last chapter, it seemed like the joke he'd been setting up all along suddenly came to uprorious fruition. It seems that the pivotal point this book is making is to prove that all people fall into one of three catagories but I think he proves with is concluding chapter that all of us who have ever recieved a present from an elderly relative, (and isn't that really all of us, serioulsy all over the world ALL of us?) are actually all ultimately, cut from the same cloth. If you find yourself buying this book and wondering why it's not as funny as Patton Oswalt stand up, wait for it, the punchline is a doozy and well worth the 20 some odd bucks for the book. Tears streaming down my face, it cracked me up to no end.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Highly sarcastic, funny, touching and unflinchingly honest. Great for an older teen, who has felt odd and out of place. *Mature language and themes
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Wow. Well, this book was a waste of trees. It was nothing. It wasn't funny, it wasn't a memoir, it was just 189 pages of unfunny rambling. With footnotes that took up half the page and should've just been included in the actual paragraph.
Yikes. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5If you like Patton, read this. Don't listen to the audio book (if there is one). Read it for real. It's a quick read, super funny, and just really great.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I know of Oswalt but I'm not that familiar with his work. But, from the reviews I read this sounded like it would be of interest to me.It's a little bit of everything - some memoir, some humor, some meditations on nerd culture. It's not as uproariously funny as I expected it to be. But there are funny bits, and in the end it left me wanting more. (It's a slim volume - not quite 200 pages.)
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Zombie Spaceship Wasteland was another disappointment; this time, from a very funny guy who could have done much more than this sad excuse of a memoir. Contents include two funny stories; one from a bad comedy tour another from his teenage experience of working at a movie theater. The rest is a hodge-podge of self-important garbage. Really wanted this to be good but it wasn't meant to be.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5If the level of humor were a car Patton Oswalt begins driving his readers in an Acura at as sensible speed. The first two thirds of this book are funny, but not hilarious. In the two appendices at the final third of the book, the Acura morphs into a Mazerati driving at an unsafe and exciting speed. It is a high bar for me to laugh-out-loud at something I'm reading. Few books come to mind, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Loser Goes First by Dan Kennedy. The final third of Oswalt's book is that funny, so funny it's worth the purchase of the book for the final parts. One of the appendices is a collection of script treatments for terrible movie ideas. The treatments are based on treatments he saw while working at a production company and various Hollywood blockbusters. I can't do them justice in this review, but they are a scream. One of the titles is something like Slade III: Pimp Summer Razor Cut Up.The second appendix has a few examples of reviews Oswalt wrote as if he were a vulgar, over-caffeinated fan boy writing about action and super hero movies (which isn't too much a stretch for him).. I'll paraphrase from the review of Blade 2 "Blade $%&#ing 2 is awesome and right away you'll want to break up with your girlfriend because girls won't like this movie unless they ride motorcycles and beat up pit bulls and maybe not even then."If you enjoy Oswalt's humor or if you've never heard him but enjoy a good laugh and nerdy pursuits I highly recommend this unconventional memoir.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I have never laughed out loud uncontrollably at a book before. The Wine List chapter is the funniest thing I have ever read in my life. Touching, observant, with just the right amount of snark to help the earnest go down. GET THIS BOOK IMMEDIATELY.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5It was... okay. I like Patton's standup, and his biographical sections, especially the recounting of the 11 days he spent performing for a coked-up comedy club-owning a-hole in Vancouver, Canada was the best of the book. The whole part on his pet theory about how geeks fall into the Zombie, Spaceship or Wasteland categories was kind of interesting, but it seemed a bit of a stretch.
Worst parts were the odd greeting-card bits, and the reverence given to R.E.M.'s "Fables of the Reconstruction" during his stories about his days spent growing up in Sterling, VA. I get that it was your favorite album, Patton, but as a veteran R.E.M. junkie, even I will tell you that "Fables" was a stinker. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nice anecdotes about growing up and life on the road as a comedian, interspersed with less entertaining oddities like a short comic and a poem fragment. Worth reading if you're a fan.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I have a hard time rating these types of books, you know, books written by comedians about comedy or their lives or whatever. I was a bit disappointed by David Cross' I Drink for a Reason. It was basically a bunch of stand up bits strung together. Luckily Oswalt doesn't do this, the book is more memoir-ish, yet still maintains the funniness you'd expect. So, yeah it's four stars for this one.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5At first I thought the writing might be leaning a bit towards smug and overly self absorbed but it really grows on you. Patton Oswalt is charming and genuine, with wit that surprises you and leaves you with jokes rattling around in your head for years. I'm glad that I kept reading, especially since those Hobo songs will haunt me forever (in the best way).
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Not as good as I expected but still had some flashes of brilliance. I had a hard time relating to the story of his teenage years which took up a good chunk of the early book, and there seemed to be a lot of filler that I didn't find all that interesting. But, the story about his uncle and what drove him to leave his hometown was probably the highlight for me. It was both heartening and bitter sweet. Also the epic poem about his brutish D&D character was pretty impressive.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I don't know what to say. This didn't leave any kind of marks in me. I didn't laugh once so apparently this was not funny for me, I wasn't touched, angry or sad, I just listened it though and moved on. I'm still going to give it three stars because of the title, the fact that I didn't HATE it, because I like Patton Oswalt, and because he read the audibook himself.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5There were a few stories that I found interesting or amusing but mostly they weren't my thing. I'll keep enjoying Patton Oswalt on TV and Twitter and probably not in books.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Just finished, and...
here I am, reading in bed. At the line "Worst Beckett play ever", I laughed so hard that my CPAP mask briefly levitated off of my face. Bravo, Patton, you got me. - Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5This was truly...TRULY...the worst book I have ever read in my entire life
Book preview
Zombie Spaceship Wasteland - Patton Oswalt
"Fans of Patton Oswalt’s stand-up comedy have always known he was a born
writer at heart, and now here’s the proof. This is a surprisingly affecting, sincere,
and, I daresay, vulnerable collection of essays, all keenly observed,
always very funny." —DAVE EGGERS
"Sharp storytelling and sardonic wit … Oswalt populates these stories with
expertly drawn characters and infuses them with a limitless supply of cultural
references and deft turns of phrase." —THE BOSTON GLOBE
"Further proof that Patton Oswalt is way funnier than I am, which is either high
praise or an insult. Your call." —JUDD APATOW
"Portrait of a witty, vulnerable funnyman. The autobiographical passages have
the detail and emotional nuance of fine short stories."
—ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
I don’t know what’s sharper, Oswalt’s brains or Oswalt’s tongue.
—SARAH VOWELL
"A thoughtful, hilarious quasi-memoir that puts the standard-issue
comedy-routine-in-book-form to shame." —SPIN
"Patton Oswalt is one of those rare performers whose material translates
into any medium without losing its sharpness—including, for the first time,
print. … It is well worth it to join him on his odyssey."
—THE WASHINGTON POST
PATTON OSWALT has released four TV specials and four critically acclaimed comedy albums, including the Grammy-nominated My Weakness Is Strong. He put together the Comedians of Comedy tour and television series. Oswalt has also appeared on many television shows and in more than twenty films, including Young Adult, Big Fan, and Ratatouille. He lives in Los Angeles, California.
Praise for Zombie Spaceship Wasteland
Patton Oswalt. . . is one of those rare performers whose material translates into any medium without losing its sharpness—including, for the first time, print. . . . It is well worth it to join him on his odyssey.
—The Washington Post
A believable portrait of a witty, vulnerable funnyman. The autobiographical passages . . . have the detail and emotional nuance of fine short stories.
—Entertainment Weekly
[Oswalt] brings that postmodern sensibility to his debut book, a wildly diverse collection of essays that careens from sincere introspection to inventive comedic material that would fit seamlessly into one of his sets. . . . The humor comes from his sharp storytelling and sardonic wit. . . . [Oswalt] populates these stories with expertly drawn characters, and infuses them with a limitless supply of cultural references and deft turns of phrase.
—The Boston Globe
A thoughtful, hilarious, quasi-memoir that puts the standard-issue comedy-routine-in-book-form to shame.
—SPIN
"The book echoes Steve Martin’s memoir, Born Standing Up. . . . Oswalt is trying to convey his own path into comedy without navel-gazing or falling back on tropes."
—Los Angeles Times
[Oswalt] proves he can pen a compellingly entertaining fast read.
—Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Hilarious.
—Lincoln Journal Star
[Oswalt] brings insight and passion to his subjects that lift the book above hipster snark to the level of something you’ll want to reread and savor. . . . He also shines a light on a side of Los Angeles that you don’t often see or hear about, but that you’ll want to visit after devouring this hilarious, incisive read.
—Penthouse
To delve into this book is to take a tour of Oswalt’s delightfully offbeat mind. . . . Oswalt is a wonderfully descriptive writer.
—Booklist
Funny and occasionally heartbreaking. . . a cerebral and somewhat surreal tour through the thought processes of Patton Oswalt. It is an inspired and unique work, operating well outside the realm of the disposable comedy memoir.
—AintItCool.com
"Zombie Spaceship Wasteland is very much a memoir—and a subtly haunting one at that. . . . Thoughtful, poignant prose evoke an aura of loss that permeates the entire collection."
—Splitsider.com
Alternately revealing, hilarious, and livid, a description that would seem to apply equally to [Oswalt’s] work as a stand-up comedian.
—Hitfix.com
Further proof that Patton Oswalt is way funnier than I am, which is either high praise or an insult. Your call.
—Judd Apatow
Patton Oswalt is a brilliant rarity: a relentlessly creative and original comic who is also a superb writer. If you don’t buy this book you are a fool and I will, I swear, fight you.
—Conan O’Brien
Funny, thoughtful stuff. Patton alternates the spit-take hilarity of a great stand-up with the quiet, mordant insight that clearly helped make him one. Which is amazing, ’cause he’s an idiot.
—Joss Whedon
Fans of Patton Oswalt’s stand-up comedy have always known he was a born writer at heart, and now here’s the proof. This is a surprisingly affecting, sincere, and I daresay, vulnerable collection of essays, all keenly observed, always very funny.
—Dave Eggers
I don’t know what’s sharper, Oswalt’s brains or Oswalt’s tongue.
—Sarah Vowell
I have impeccable taste, and I only converse with the following three: God, the Devil, and Patton Oswalt. All three have opened for me. This book is a funny tragedy. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll convert to Pattonism. If you do not love this book, remember, I know where you live in your mother’s basement.
—Harlan Ellison
Perfect—I can describe Patton’s book the same way I describe his stand-up—brilliant and prolific. I am slackjawed, amazed, and left feeling both inspired and fraudulent.
—Sarah Silverman
Patton Oswalt is among the funniest onstage talking humans I am aware of, so it annoys me deeply that he is also an incredibly talented writer. It annoys me, but it does not surprise me. Every sentence in this book is funny (except for the sad ones), but it also brims with Oswaltian smarts and surprising poignancy.
—John Hodgman
ALSO BY
PATTON OSWALT
NOVELS
The Brannock Doom, Devil’s Brain-Collector Series
The Forgotten Tomb of the Worm-Serpent
The Remembered Citadel of Screeching Victory
The Lost Mage-Pit
The Discovered Witch-Keep
The Falsely Recovered Troll-Bog Memory
The Thane Star-Mind Series
The Nothing Ray
Song of the Cyrus-5 Dream Hunters
Sand-Riders of the Fifth Sigil
Andro-Borg-Bot
Solar Star
Galactic Universe
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
The Candy Van
A Ewe Named Udo Who Does Judo and Other Poems
Everyone Resents
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
Certain names and identifying characteristics have been changed,
certain characters are composites, and some are made-up altogether.
Copyright © 2011 by Dagonet, Inc.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof
in any form whatsoever. For information address Scribner Subsidiary Rights Department,
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Scribner trade paperback edition November 2011
SCRIBNER and design are registered trademarks of The Gale Group, Inc.,
used under license by Simon & Schuster, Inc., the publisher of this work.
The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors
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contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049
or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.
DESIGNED BY ERICH HOBBING
Manufactured in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2010025144
ISBN 978-1-4391-4908-9
ISBN 978-1-4391-4909-6 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4391-5627-8 (ebook)
For Alice and Michelle
my spaceships away
from the zombie wasteland
She cries black tears!
—Cindy Brady, The Brady Bunch
We’re trying to survive a nuclear war here!
Yes, but we can do it in style. . .
—Howard and Marion Cunningham, Happy Days
There’s nothing in the dark that isn’t there in the light.
—Major Frank Burns, M*A*S*H
Contents
Preface Foreword Intro
Ticket Booth
Punch-Up Notes
We’re Playing Snow Fort
Prelude to The Song of Ulvaak
The Song of Ulvaak
On a Street in New Orleans
Peter Runfola
Wines by the Glass
Zombie Spaceship Wasteland 95
Chamomile Kitten Greeting Cards
A History of America from 1988 to 1996: As Recounted by the Three Types of Comedians I Opened for While Working Clubs on the Road
The Victory Tour
Those Old Hobo Songs, They Still Speak to Us
I Went to an MTV Gifting Suite and All I Got Was This Lousy Awareness of My Own Shallowness
Mary C. Runfola Explains Her Gifts
Appendix A: Erik Blevins
Appendix B: Neill Cumpston
Thanks Props Kudos
ZOMBIE
SPACESHIP
WASTELAND
Preface Foreword Intro
In middle school, I started reading.
I’d been reading
since kindergarten. It was dutiful and orderly. Point B followed Point A.
But something happened in middle school—a perfect alignment of parental support and benign neglect. The parental support
came from keeping me stocked in Beverly Cleary, John Bellairs, The Great Brain books, and Daniel Pinkwater. Also Bridge to Terabithia, The Pushcart War, How to Eat Fried Worms—and the parallel-universe, one-two mind-crack of The Bully of Barkham Street and A Dog on Barkham Street.
And then there was the blessed, benign neglect.
The neglect
grew out of the same support.
My mom and dad were both busy, working jobs and trying to raise two kids during uncertain times. In the rush of trying to find something new for me to read, they’d grab something off the shelf at Waldenbooks after only glancing at the copy on the back.
Whoever did a lousy job writing copy for books like Richard Brautigan’s The Hawkline Monster, H. P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, Harlan Ellison’s The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World, and Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange (It’s about a teenager in the future!
said my mom)—thank you. Thank you thank you thank you. You gave me some tangy, roiling stew under the golden crust of the Young Adult literature I was gobbling up.
So yes, I still love Bellairs’s The House with a Clock in Its Walls, but I always imagine the two bounty killers from The Hawkline Monster in its basement, armed for bear and fucking the Magic Child on a rug. And somewhere beyond John Christopher’s White Mountains are Vic and Blood, hunting for canned food and pussy. And who prowled the outer woods of Terabithia? Yog-Sothoth, that’s who.
It’s a gift and an affliction at the same time—constantly wondering how the mundane world I’m living in (or reading about) links to the darker impulses I’m having (or imagining I have). The gift-affliction followed me (or was it guiding me?) through my teens, in 1980s suburban Virginia. The local TV station still showed The Wolfman on Saturday mornings—but I’d already read Gary Brandner’s The Howling. So I couldn’t watch Lon Chaney, Jr., lurch around the Scottish countryside without wondering if he craved sex as much as murder. I would recontextualize lines of sitcom dialogue to suit darker needs, the way the Surrealists would obsess over a single title card—When he crossed the bridge, the shadows came out to meet him
—in the 1922 silent movie Nosferatu.*
Then the local TV station gave way to the early years of cable TV. My parents’ working hours were such that it was impossible to police my viewing habits. Scooby-Doo and his friends unmasked the Sea Demon and found bitter Old Man Trevers, trying to scare people away from his harbor. But they missed, under the dock, the Humanoids from the Deep, raping sunbathers. Did Harriet the Spy and the Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear run afoul of Abel Ferrara’s Ms. 45, Paul Kersey from Death Wish, or the Baseball Furies from Walter Hill’s The Warriors? The Pushcart War took place on the same New York streets where Travis Bickle piloted his taxi. And it sure was cool how the Great Brain could swindle Parley Benson out of his repeating air rifle by pretending to make a magnetic stick. You know what was better? Knowing that, one state over, the bloody slaughter of Heaven’s Gate was swallowing up John Hurt and Christopher Walken.
Maybe that makes my generation unique—the one that remembers before MTV and after. . . and then before the Internet and after. The generation I see solidifying itself now? They were born connected—plopped out into the late nineties, into the land of Everything That Ever Was Is Available from Now On. What crass acronym will we slap on the thumb-sore texting multitudes of the twenty-first century? The Waifnos? The Wireds? Anything’s better than Gen X,
which is what we got. Thanks, Douglas Coupland. We sound like a team of mutant vigilantes with frosted hair and chain wallets. Actually, that’s not completely horrible.
And neither was being Gen X.
We’ll always cherish the stark, before-and-after culture shift of our adolescence. We had isolation. . . and then access. Drought and then deluge. Three channels and then fifty. CBs and then chat rooms. And our parents didn’t have time, in the beginning, to sift through the Where is all of this new stimulus coming from?
and decide what was beyond our emotional grasp. Thus, the mishmash. Six-color cartoons, but with an edge of gray and maroon. YA literature laced with sex and violence. A generation gifted with confusion, unease, and then revelation.
Not anymore, I guess. It seems that every TV show, movie, song, and website for the generation following me involves protagonists who’ve been fucking, killing, and cracking wise about fucking and killing since before anyone even showed up to watch them. I’m sure that will yield some bizarre new films, books, and music—stuff I can’t even imagine. Doesn’t matter. By the time that comes around, I’ll have long had my consciousness downloaded into a hovering Wolf Husbandry Bot. I’ll glide over the Russian steppes, playing Roxy Music’s Avalon, setting the mood for a lusty canine rutting. I don’t care how high my shrink increases my Lexapro dosage—I WANT TO BE A ROBOT THAT HELPS WOLVES HAVE SEX. Otherwise, my parents threw away the money they spent on my college education.
So thank you, Mom and Dad. Thank you, League of Lazy Copywriters. Thank you, reader, for buying this book. I apologize ahead of time for not even trying to aim at Point B, or even starting from Point A. Comedy and terror and autobiography and comics and literature—they’re all the same thing.
To me.
FULL DISCLOSURE
Stuff l did on the Internet while writing this introduction:
• Looked up the lyrics to Toto’s song 99
• Played two Armor
battles of Gemcraft Chapter 0
• Checked the Facebook status of two people I hate
• Technorati’d myself
Ticket Booth
I fell asleep and read
Just about every paragraph
—R.E.M., Feeling Gravitys Pull
I still dream about them. The three screens and the ticket booth.
I spent my high school years twenty minutes from Washington, DC, in a suburb called Sterling, Virginia. Actually, in a sub-suburb of Sterling called Sugarland Run. But our mailing address was Sterling.
We were, postage-wise, suburban feudal subjects.
And no, we’re not going back to high school here, to reminisce, balance ledger sheets, or admit failings. I know that high school is the central American experience,* but my memories of what I did in high school are drowned out by what I missed. And I missed it by twenty minutes.
Twenty minutes from Washington, DC, was twenty minutes from eternal hipster cred—"Oh, I was at that Fugazi show when I was fifteen. . .
Yeah, well, I stole my parents’ credit card and caught Bad Brains at WUST Hall. . .
The Minor Threat bassist punched me outside of Piccolo’s in Georgetown on my birthday. . . "
To give you an idea of how wide a mark I missed this explosive time by, I had to look up most of those bands on Wikipedia. I had no car. I had no money. There was one bus in and out of Sugarland Run, and it stopped running at seven P.M. All the older kids who could’ve given me a ride into DC had just discovered the Doors, whippets, and doing whippets in their garage while listening to the Doors. My throat still feels floaty and burned whenever I hear The Crystal Ship.
Strange Days
still tastes like cheap beer in someone’s town house when their parents were vacationing.
There was also a plague of divorces among my friends and acquaintances when I