Book-It 'o9! Book #13
Apr. 9th, 2009 10:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alivemagdoleneMore of the Fifty Books Challenge! This was a library request.
Title: I'd Rather We Got Casinos: And Other Black Thoughts by Larry Wilmore
Details: Copyright 2009, Hyperion
Synopsis (By Way of Front Flap): Within these pages are the musings, the revelations, the ruminations, and the reflections of the incomparable Larry Wilmore. Here, collected for the first time, all in one place, are his Black Thoughts. From why black weathermen make him feel happy (or sad) and why brothas don't see UFOs to his search for Black Jesus or his quest to replace "African-American" with "chocolate," Wilmore has finally relented, agreeing to share his unique (black) perspective. Soon, you too will have the ability to find racism in everything. Bring back the Shetland Negro and do away with Black History Month! After all, can twenty-eight days of trivia really make up for centuries of oppression? In Wilmore's own words, "I'd rather we got casinos!"
Why I Wanted to Read It: Dude! Larry Wilmore! Daily Show Senior Black Correspondent!
How I Liked It: This book is fucking hilarious. I might add that I also read it during a week not particularly conducive to humor. I was sketchy about the idea of his book, despite his being on The Daily Show and having a rock solid history of comedy writing.
I was afraid it would be too stretched and too rushed and just... flat. But this book, however it came about (borrowing the a line Wilmore uttered on the show) is a wonderful medium for Wilmore. He takes the Jon Stewart road of Naked Pictures of Famous People, having it be a collection of essays (or as it's presented, a collection of Wilmore's "Black Thoughts" by "Professor Elister Morrison Lawrence, Director of the Historically Oppressed Peoples Enterprise (H.O.P.E.)") and it makes for a hilarious, easy read.
Memorable passages include:
"When I hear African-American, my mind doesn't snap back to the march on Selma or the bus boycotts. It doesn't stir up nostalgia for Joe Louis or the Harlem Renaissance. I'm not charged with pride by our victory over slavery or Tiger's at the Masters. It doesn't even make my stomach growl for hog maws and black-eyed peas. It just makes me think of Africa. And to be honest, I'm not that crazy about Africa.
I mean, I know that's where we come from, it's our heritage and blah, blah, blah. 'Africa' just makes me think of hot. A hot land where you have to hunt your food, black people speak French, and you might get malaria.
I'm sorry but that's just not very sexy. And if I want to be around black people who talk different in an unbearably hot environment where my ancestors once roamed, I'll go to the check-cashing place." (pages 4 and 5)
"THE 'SHAKING YOUR TURKEY NECK' APOLOGY
This works only if you have enough fat under your chin to constitute a turkey neck. It was first popularized in the films of the 1930s and was more a show of indignation than an apology. A pudgy patron of society would suffer an indignity and cry out, 'This is unmitigated gall! Unmitigated gall, I tell you!' Because this is so old school and no one says 'unmitigated gall' anymore, this probably shouldn't be the 'go to' apology. But in a pinch, I like it for its boldness. Thre is no better show of solidarity for a cause than when the apologizer is more outraged than the apologizee.
Here's how it might play: when discussing the notion of an appropriate apology for slavery, the president or government official shakes his turkey neck on the words 'inexcusable, unconscionable, and deplorable.'
For example, 'This country's actions were INEXCUSABLE, UNCONSCIONABLE, and represented the most DEPLORABLE of deeds, I tell you! The most DEPLORABLE of deeds!'
Don't be afraid of this technique. Brothas will be so impressed by your anger that they'll probably overlook the fact you didn't really apologize." (pages 199 and 200)
"As I said to the doctor, my point is not to promote hatred but to release it. Hatred in the wrong hands can be a tool of destruction. But directed at the proper targets, it can be an instrument of redemption. I look forward to the day when we can hate all of God's people who work at McDonald's at the airport. But for now, I'll take black people who work at McDonald's at the airport. I really hate them." (page 218)
Notable: Wilmore's book, despite the fact it features a blurb from Chris Rock on the back, carries a very antisexism and antihomophobia message throughout. His character corrects sexist slurs and in the chapter If Not an Apology, at Least a 'My Bad' (a chapter which offers various ways America could apologize for slavery, wherein the second quote above is taken), one method is the "MY OPPRESSION IS GREATER THAN YOUR OPPRESSION" wherein "a high-ranking female government official (of course, a female president is ideal)" makes the apology while making it clear that "slavery is nothing compared to what women have faced." Wilmore notes at the beginning "This [apology] is a tough one because there aren't too many grievances worse than slavery. The closest is sexism. Women have been treated poorly pretty much since the beginning of time." (page 202)
As if you needed another reason to love this book, there it is. Male feminists are awesome and hilarious male feminists are, well, teh awesomesauce. Just ask John Oliver.
Title: I'd Rather We Got Casinos: And Other Black Thoughts by Larry Wilmore
Details: Copyright 2009, Hyperion
Synopsis (By Way of Front Flap): Within these pages are the musings, the revelations, the ruminations, and the reflections of the incomparable Larry Wilmore. Here, collected for the first time, all in one place, are his Black Thoughts. From why black weathermen make him feel happy (or sad) and why brothas don't see UFOs to his search for Black Jesus or his quest to replace "African-American" with "chocolate," Wilmore has finally relented, agreeing to share his unique (black) perspective. Soon, you too will have the ability to find racism in everything. Bring back the Shetland Negro and do away with Black History Month! After all, can twenty-eight days of trivia really make up for centuries of oppression? In Wilmore's own words, "I'd rather we got casinos!"
Why I Wanted to Read It: Dude! Larry Wilmore! Daily Show Senior Black Correspondent!
How I Liked It: This book is fucking hilarious. I might add that I also read it during a week not particularly conducive to humor. I was sketchy about the idea of his book, despite his being on The Daily Show and having a rock solid history of comedy writing.
I was afraid it would be too stretched and too rushed and just... flat. But this book, however it came about (borrowing the a line Wilmore uttered on the show) is a wonderful medium for Wilmore. He takes the Jon Stewart road of Naked Pictures of Famous People, having it be a collection of essays (or as it's presented, a collection of Wilmore's "Black Thoughts" by "Professor Elister Morrison Lawrence, Director of the Historically Oppressed Peoples Enterprise (H.O.P.E.)") and it makes for a hilarious, easy read.
Memorable passages include:
"When I hear African-American, my mind doesn't snap back to the march on Selma or the bus boycotts. It doesn't stir up nostalgia for Joe Louis or the Harlem Renaissance. I'm not charged with pride by our victory over slavery or Tiger's at the Masters. It doesn't even make my stomach growl for hog maws and black-eyed peas. It just makes me think of Africa. And to be honest, I'm not that crazy about Africa.
I mean, I know that's where we come from, it's our heritage and blah, blah, blah. 'Africa' just makes me think of hot. A hot land where you have to hunt your food, black people speak French, and you might get malaria.
I'm sorry but that's just not very sexy. And if I want to be around black people who talk different in an unbearably hot environment where my ancestors once roamed, I'll go to the check-cashing place." (pages 4 and 5)
"THE 'SHAKING YOUR TURKEY NECK' APOLOGY
This works only if you have enough fat under your chin to constitute a turkey neck. It was first popularized in the films of the 1930s and was more a show of indignation than an apology. A pudgy patron of society would suffer an indignity and cry out, 'This is unmitigated gall! Unmitigated gall, I tell you!' Because this is so old school and no one says 'unmitigated gall' anymore, this probably shouldn't be the 'go to' apology. But in a pinch, I like it for its boldness. Thre is no better show of solidarity for a cause than when the apologizer is more outraged than the apologizee.
Here's how it might play: when discussing the notion of an appropriate apology for slavery, the president or government official shakes his turkey neck on the words 'inexcusable, unconscionable, and deplorable.'
For example, 'This country's actions were INEXCUSABLE, UNCONSCIONABLE, and represented the most DEPLORABLE of deeds, I tell you! The most DEPLORABLE of deeds!'
Don't be afraid of this technique. Brothas will be so impressed by your anger that they'll probably overlook the fact you didn't really apologize." (pages 199 and 200)
"As I said to the doctor, my point is not to promote hatred but to release it. Hatred in the wrong hands can be a tool of destruction. But directed at the proper targets, it can be an instrument of redemption. I look forward to the day when we can hate all of God's people who work at McDonald's at the airport. But for now, I'll take black people who work at McDonald's at the airport. I really hate them." (page 218)
Notable: Wilmore's book, despite the fact it features a blurb from Chris Rock on the back, carries a very antisexism and antihomophobia message throughout. His character corrects sexist slurs and in the chapter If Not an Apology, at Least a 'My Bad' (a chapter which offers various ways America could apologize for slavery, wherein the second quote above is taken), one method is the "MY OPPRESSION IS GREATER THAN YOUR OPPRESSION" wherein "a high-ranking female government official (of course, a female president is ideal)" makes the apology while making it clear that "slavery is nothing compared to what women have faced." Wilmore notes at the beginning "This [apology] is a tough one because there aren't too many grievances worse than slavery. The closest is sexism. Women have been treated poorly pretty much since the beginning of time." (page 202)
As if you needed another reason to love this book, there it is. Male feminists are awesome and hilarious male feminists are, well, teh awesomesauce. Just ask John Oliver.
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no subject
Date: 2009-04-10 03:51 am (UTC)Male feminists make me want to fling my bra off, if I can dabble in somewhat funny contradictions for a moment. Especially when John and Andy were poking fun at the wage difference between male and females in certain professions in Britain.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-10 04:40 am (UTC)I went "Oooh." I've been hooked ever since. ;^)
MALE FEMINIST FTW!
no subject
Date: 2009-04-10 04:20 am (UTC)::hugs male feminists::
Also... day by day I am getting MORE RIDICULOUSLY EXCITED FOR MY FIRST TCR EXPERIENCE 5/11!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't wait to hear about your next XD
no subject
Date: 2009-04-10 04:43 am (UTC)And OMG IT'S SO MUCH FUN. Seeing Stephen THAT FREAKING CLOSE is... crazy! :^D
no subject
Date: 2009-04-10 04:53 pm (UTC)And the radio interview transcripts... and... Okay, yeah, the book is <3 :D
no subject
Date: 2009-04-10 05:57 pm (UTC)And on a srs note, the bit in the acknowledgments about his nephew makes the book all the more amazing. I mean, writing a humor book while going through something like that's pretty commendable.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-10 07:37 pm (UTC)