Friday, August 27, 2010

Great Scott!

A few weeks back i made a great discovery.  While browsing through books at a second-hand book stall, i chanced upon a book by Scott Adams, titled 'Stick to Drawing Comics, Monkey Brain!: Cartoonist Ignores Helpful Advice'.  Now I've been a fan of the Dilbert comics, and hence of this great cartoonist for quite a while now, yet i'd never heard of this book ever.  I regularly visit book stores, often read up on my fav writers, etc, but had not come across a non-dilbert work by Adams yet, and was instantly intrigued.

It is an amazing collection of 1-2 page long essays and blog entries; essentially his views on anything and everything, from cloning, to the sexes, dancing less like a dork and terrorism.  Bite-sized pieces of humour, with an insight or two lurking below the surface here and there.  I am a worshiper of the fine art of sarcasm (as my wife, bro and close friends will enthusiastically confirm), and this dude is a high priest.  Add to that a wild and volatile imagination, and you've got a lot of fun coming your way.  Mind you, very few of the passages are 'haha' funny...most of the stuff is thoughtful, yet it'll bring a smile on your face.

I guess i was most blown away by the fact that the bugger sees humour in everything!  He makes even the most mundane of daily observations seem wickedly funny.  I mean, as i read i kept thinking, don't we all see these very things all around us?  Yet most of us manage to focus solely on newspapers full of depressing headlines and all the shit seemingly surrounding our buggered lives. 

What a find.  Serendipity!

5 comments:

Nona said...

:)

Minal said...

dude where have u been? RUSH TO: www.dilbert.com/blog
start following NOW!
I've been reading him religiously for the last 1 year or more! You missing out on some fantastic reads! The guy is a genius:-) Much more beyond the dilbert world he is identified with! Those blog archives should keep u busy now!

P.S: I'm a huge sarcasm fan too - implement it and love it:-)I grew up with 3 dudes who are probably Gods in the field of sarcastic comments:-)It is one of the common threads that binds us 4 together.

I often think it is a sign of intelligence and wit. Very few can practice it with dignity;-)

Ashish said...

Like Minal has said, Scott Adams is a genius.

Sarcasm is your forte. I can't pull it off if my life depended on it! Yet ppl think I'm full of it when I'm trying to be serious and put forward a point.

I hope you've picked up the book, 'coz I'm gonna borrow it.

Irony for sale?

Vivek Rao said...

@ minal: yeah, somehow i've missed out on his blog; have been wanting to chk it out since i picked up this book.

Intelligence & wit?? Thanks minal, i'll take that as a compliment!
Hahaha

@ boozy: its ur tone; when u drawl out something, it somehow feels like u r kicking us in the balls in the subtlest way possible! Sure beats sarcasm. :-)

U'll have to get in line for the book; rashmi and bro booked first.

Ashish said...

You're right about the tone. Wish I had the sarcasm to go with that!