The Internet is a Playground by David Thorne
Paperback, 368 Pages
2011, Tarcher
ISBN: 1585428817
Synopsis
From the notorious Internet troublemaker who brought the world the explosively popular "Next Time I'll Spend the Money on Drugs Instead", in which he attempted to pay his chiropractor with a picture he drew of a spider; "Please Design a Logo for Me. With Pie Charts. For Free," which has been described as one of the most passed-on viral e-mails of all time; and, most recently, the staggeringly popular "Missing Missy", which has appeared everywhere from The Guardian to Jezebel to Andrew Sullivan's The Daily Dish, comes this profoundly funny collection of irreverent Internet mischief and comedy.
Featuring all of Thorne's viral success, including "Missing Missy", The Internet Is a Playground culls together every article and e-mail from Thorne's wildly popular website 27bslash6.com, as well as enough new material, available only in these pages, to keep you laughing-and, indeed, crying-until Thorne's next stroke-of-genius prank. Or hilarious hoax. Or well-publicized almost-stint in jail (really).
Review
Somehow, in the hundreds of thousands of hours I've spent mindlessly procrastinating on the internet, I never came across 27bslash6. When I read the synopsis for The Internet is a Playground, the antics of David Thorne were totally new to me and I was intrigued. Paying a doctor with a drawing of a spider? It seemed just the right level of random and slightly insane that my sense of humor seems to gravitate towards.
In his emails, Thorne manages to walk the line of obnoxious without ever having to resort to rudeness. It's hard to believe these people continue to reply to him. The book is full of articles and emails from his website, but the best are the emails with pictures, either along the same lines as the spider or where people ask him to create something for them but give him way too much room to interpret their directions. Another favorite is a email conversation between Thorne and a hate mailer beginning with "I have read your website and it is obviously that your a foggot."
Those who believe that adults should act as such and take life seriously will find Thorne and The Internet is a Playground offensive. Most, I think, will wish they'd found him and his website sooner. Seriously funny on a hard to describe level, you'll either "get" David Thorne and his book - or you just won't. In my case, The Internet is a Playground caused out of control laughter and caused people to look at me funny.
Rating
Links
No comments :
Post a Comment