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Tuesday, February 14, 2012

2 in 1: Humor for adults

Honey Badger Don't Care
Author: Randall
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Date of Publication: January 24, 2012

Sweet Jesus—a riotous wildlife book for adults! The mononymous Randall, narrator of the You Tube sensation (15 MILLION views) "The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger," is the wild new voice of nature. In Honey Badger Don't Care™, Randall presents a dozen crazy, badass animals of the wild kingdom as only Randall could. Don't be stupid—buy this book! 

 To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect when I got this book to review.  I had never seen the You Tube video and didn't realize there was one until I did some investigation. I do like to broaden my literary horizons when I can so I decided to give it a shot.  I thought that this book would be a humorous look at various unlikeable and maybe a little unknown animals. Even though it does have some interesting facts, I didn't really care for the book.  I thought that the author's use of profanity was over done and unnecessary for the most part. It did nothing to add to the humor he was striving for.  This is definitely NOT a book for kids.  I would keep it to adults only.  I know there are some out there who will find this book amusing.  Unfortunately, I am not one of them.



Do you See What I See? A Collection of Photo-Hooliganism
Author: James Sallie
Publisher: Bookmasters
Date of Publication: August 2011

The book is an amalgamation of photography, humor and art. An expression of the creator's perception.  By means of carefully crafted imagery, the book explores precepts and corresponding perceptions; moreover, each image is a projected vision of an alternate reality of what would be normally considered as a natural scene. James refers to his technique of manipulating the original photographs he takes as Morphography, or in his street terms 'Photo-hooliganism.  James is a professional photographer and graphic designer and has blended these skills with a distinctive brand of subtlety, to create a unique twist on everyday situations.  The eclectic works combine to provide a new and interesting take on clichés, the puns and sayings of the titles compliment the images and trap the reader into having a longer, closer look of what each photograph provides. 'The objective of this collection of work is to raise a smile or provoke a deeper thought with the audience, to allow the viewer a moment of escape and to share the vision I had at a particular time.' 'To see what I saw' says James.  There are no boundaries for James and this is what makes the book full of creative genius.

I thought this looked like an interesting book when I read the synopsis.  I like books with funny photos. They can be a nice little break from the stresses of life.  Who doesn't like to have a good laugh, right? The author has taken photos and manipulated them with humorous drawings and images. Sometimes the changes are subtle puns and others are glaring and in your face jokes.  I found myself laughing at many of the pictures.  While it may not be everyone's type of humor, I think this one is worth leafing through.  As the authors warns in the beginning, this isn't for the kiddos as there is some nudity in it.  The preface is also worth reading.


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