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Monday, July 24, 2006

The New South

Hank Williams Jr - The New South
He is neither as good as his dad nor as his son, but he did have his moments and this one definitely was one of them.

Newest Book:

Bill Maher's 'New Rules'
definitely a book for the TV-generation, it consists of a massive amount of short paragraphs describing rules that Maher would like to lay down.
For those of you not familiar with Bill Maher (like me for example, everything about him I write is here is based on hearsay), he apparently is a TV-moderator that used to host a show called 'Politically Incorrect'. He got fired there because of some joke about the US-army he made and now he has another show in the same vein on a different network.
So, basically he attacks and criticizes American culture and politics out of a left-wing point of view with some conservative values thrown in for good measures. All in all the whole thing has a couple things going for it and some going against it.

Against:
1 - The paragraphs are way too short, basically it is one joke after another with no kind of build-up in between. Usually at the end of each chapter (which are lettered A-Z) a longer piece finds its place. These for the most part were far most thoughtful and interesting than the other stuff.
2 - Too many of the jokes centered on pop culture aspects which I personally just don't know anything about (nor really care about it truth to be told).

For:
1 - Some of the jokes really cracked me up, refreshing to read someone who as few inhibitions in his humor (especially considering his political views correspond with mine).
2 - Good, quick read. I don't think it took much more than 2-3 hours net reading time to get through it. Perfect for an evening reading when you did university work all day and just want something to relax with.

So, am I recommending this or am I not? I am. Don't expect wonders, but some laughs and an enjoyable - if fast - read.

What would interest me is whether he actually wrote the book himself, considering in these TV-shows they usually employ a million of joke writers.

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