There's something almost endearing to me about Juggalos. I mean, the band at the center of their community and devotion JUST SUCKS AS BAD AS A BAND CAN SUCK, and yet there's so much love and affection for this total piece of shit. It's kind of endearing in a you-will-never-begin-to-understand this sort of way. …

One more thing: I thought that the constant WE, with almost no individual voice or identity for the narrator, said something really interesting (and kind of cynical) about the value of the individual-or -the value of a reporter, of a storyteller—when the entire story can be told without ever explicitly mentioning him…

That rhythm is just off—kind of gauzy and sickly, seeming to slip down just left of where you think it ought to. It feels disorienting and vaguely threatening. And I still think a smart rapper could make it work well as a backing track. An Aesop Rock or a Quasimoto.

Interesting. And kind of disappointing.

Scott Tobias, I liked your comment about the WE seeming like an entity.
That's exactly how I felt, at least when this book was at its best—for instance, on page 119 of the paperback, when it seems like a protoplasmic blob that can move, amoeba-like in every direction at once.

@ Rowan: The book DOES lead up to 9/11, in a surprise way, giving (I think) no real dates before the end of chapter 4B, and then ending with:

BLOOD MERIDIAN, sorry. Ferris actually hated BLOD MERIDIAN. The thing was apparently typeset in China.

I liked that comment too—is it based in anything? I know in my paperback copy, there's a list in the back of Ferris's favorite books and BLOD MERIDIAN is one of them….

The double post was because of that goddamn recurring 503 error message.
But the triple is all me. (Also, in that first post: "thought," not "though.")

First
I'd just like to say I though the plot was a bit thin, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

I can't wait to get this.
Four Tet does not disappoint, even if just quietly backing up the Caribou Vibration Ensemble with some friendly little blips.

No HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS?
I thought its passages about cancer were by far its most haunting. The cancer, covered in little eyes, withdrawing when his mom was cut open and the light poured in…. Unforgettable, despite the book going on a bit too long and the inevitable hipster backlash.

I think they filmed this in New Mexico. I seem to remember some little newspaper stories about film crews taking up some abandoned gas station east of Albuquerque.

This review—wow—this review waited until the move was asleep and then nailed its head to the ground with a tent spike. Or, alternately, it did it while it was awake.

My sister killed herself and then my mom died not long after, also.
Maybe I would like this band. I've never really given them much time.

I haven't seen it for almost a decade, but I remember really enjoying it and feeling that it did a fine job of capturing the slacker side of Generation X. Why do you think it's so terrible?

Christians need to stop making Christian movies.
And I say this as someone who has seen both LEFT BEHIND and ROAD TO REDEMPTION, an oh-so-zany mafia comedy in which all the characters get saved at the end.

Thanks, man—I hadn't heard of that. I will definitely check it out.

I like how many writers here mention The Smiths.
They're on my list too, though I've got a long way to go toward having everything of theirs. I have a somewhat obsessive personality, so I've got a lot of efforts toward completism in progress, but none of them are complete that I can think of.

I think you wandered into the wrong website. I think the AVC you were looking for is over here—