'First they came for the racists. . .'

So saying that prejudice is commonplace in society requires self-awareness and possibly self-censorship? Fuckin' liberals are ruining everything!

My dad abided by this rule. His 8-5 job was as a paid father to a different family.

Well, there goes my weekend.

And then we tried to parse the other sentences in the summary and failed. . .

Jerry Bruckheimer looks like a mulleted skeleton that was kicked around in the dirt.

I like that every time you say this (accurately, I might add), no one from the AVC staff ever tries to correct you in any way.

This. I saw him in a commercial a few years ago and while I probably shouldn't be saying this about a kid, he was an atrocious actor.

I feel like most people in this thread are saying the things I want to say, but better! You're all great, seriously.

Your last few sentences are precisely the reason why my enthusiasm for him lessened. Too cutesy, too shallow, too simplistic. imo, that is the core of satire, which I don't like. Anyone can poke at something and mock our existences (though, as others pointed out, there was a thread of awe in his mockery), but it takes…

I have! As a younger man, I liked him a lot and as his books are somewhat quick reads (and because you can find them in almost any thrift store), I went through them all except Timequake, Hocus Pocus, and I believe Slapstick (I just read the synopsis and it didn't sound familiar). Very good point about it, and it is…

Sort of related as I initially thought that maybe this was a Hollywood remake or something, but the short film The Accountant with Walton Goggins is pretty great. If anyone's interested, it's on youtube apparently.

He really is. I was taken aback at first when he started his book club a few years ago. His core followers are all pretty amazing, too.

It does! His interviews are fun to watch, too, for just that reason.

I should point out, I guess, that I still enjoy Slaughterhouse Five, Sirens of Titan, and Cat's Cradle. I don't love them, but I appreciate them.

I think you've got it. I'm not a huge fan of irony and often would find myself wishing that KV would try to write something substantive about the things he clearly knows something about (ie depression/bleakness) when instead he'd double back onto his cutesy satire and irony.

I find satire in general to be dishonest, and KV trades in that in a number of his books. I had a more concrete reason for finding him dishonest a while ago, but it escapes me now so perhaps you're right. I don't know if you've ever read any of Norm Macdonald's opinions on Vonnegut, but I share many of them.

Unfortunately, it makes perfect sense. Hope you feel better.

You gave his mom a stool sample?

I tried to watch this a few months ago. I used to love Vonnegut (not so much anymore*), but I figured this would be a fun and breezy watch. I couldn't make it past 10 minutes. Everything about the movie was horrible and amateurish to the point of distraction.