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Economy of Errors
While parody sites draw their subject matter from whatever their creators find worthy of skewering, the most famous obvious comparison (The Onion) is basically a general news source, for a certain value of "news." The stories in Economy of Errors are (you guessed it) more about the Nu-Economy, and swipes at the buzzword laden, sense-deprived world of corporate idiocy and technological myopia -- the world of new startups, old-line companies pretending to be startups, last-year's startups pretending to be old-line companies and so on, not to mention dangerous "Click Houses" cropping up in the suburbs.
After I grinned, I started chuckling, then really laughing. "CDNow Wins Patent for Loss-Based Revenue Model." "Manufacturers' Lobby Says Small Children Defective.""Yahoo! beats Analysts' Estimates, Dogs."
I particular enjoyed the piece titled "Judge Denies Bias Against 'Guilty Microsoft Bastards,'" which quotes Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson explaining that his rulings in the Microsoft trial over which he presided were fair, and that he was never biased against "those guilty, lying bastards." Or, pick your poison, "Microsoft Says Linux Has No Future, So Linux Firms Will Stop." Say, these headlines are probably good for another 3 to 5 years at least!
Without giving away too much, I think you can safely read these headlines, too:
- "House Sends Spam Bill to Senate; Senate Spam Filter Deletes It"
- "Shooting at Virtual Office Leaves 3 as Good as Dead, 6 Tantamount to Wounded"
- "Cubists Launch Unnavigable Web Site"
And of course, you can read these pieces on the SatireWire site as well, if you'd like too much to be given away anyhow.
Besides the stories (of which the full pagers ike "New HP Chief Can do Straddle Jump," seem to me much funnier than the shorter disinfo-blurb scattered throughout), there are a hefty selection of ads, most of which stick close enough to seeming real that I'd love to see a few scattered into a real business publication, just to see how many people notice. The spread on pages 88-89 of ads for various online trading companies certainly makes me laugh, or at least makes my face settle into a disturbing rictus. ("Thanks to Ameritrade, I quit my job as a bartender and bought that French villa I always wanted.") Maybe this is because I'm in that select group of people with a few handfuls of options on stock that costs far less than my special discounted strike price.
There are a few flat spots. For one thing, some of the parody ads no longer seem like parody, though this is hardly Marlatt's fault. (One ad shows the standard grey wash of newspaper stock listings, with enough stocks bolded to outline the familiar Absolut bottle shape, and says that the reason stocks will never fall is "Absolut Denial." Suddenly, too late -- it's like a mock gravestone for a living person, when the target suddenly drops dead.)
The same is true of two stories about the crisis that went away quietly, the Y2K bug. I wished as I was reading "Y2K survivors Devolve Ahead of Schedule" (about pre-survivors who started watching cannibalism tapes early) that each story was marked with a "first run on" date to establish more context. The undated story about the trend started by Microsoft Bob could use some context too, for when our children one day ask us seriously "What was Microsoft Bob?"
A few of the stories and ads in the book just didn't make me laugh, and small number didn't even stir a chuckle. Things like the full-pager for FamilyFetch.com ("Rent a life. Virtual Family in under an hour. Guaranteed.") seemed to take up valuable reading space, but didn't turn me on. YMMV.
On the other hand, both in the book and on the site, Marlatt makes a few forays into irreverent cultural and religious humor which may infuriate the culturally sensitive and leave those who would like to be culturally sensitive scratching their heads, not sure if they're allowed to laugh or not. I found myself in that second boat, but mostly laughed anyhow. Does anyone take real offense at a story suggesting that "Judiasm may be Y2K solution" because of the offset in years of the Jewish calendar versus the western one?
An impossible request for Marlatt when the next compilation comes out (as I'm sure it will) -- please include an index! Trying to look for an example of possibly offensive story, it would have been much faster to look for the word "Hinjew" in an index, but I think that story was too late to make the book, and is instead only on the site.
Now, I admit it -- I usually can't stand humor sites, because when they're not funny (to humor-impaired me), they're really not funny. There's no accounting for taste, which goes double for humor. This book, though, has spurred me to finally bookmark SatireWire and forced me to hand the book over temporarily to friends and family members prompted by my maniacal laughter to ask what I was reading. I look forward to the next round.
You can purchase Economy of Errors from bn.com, or from the SatireWire site. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
I find it disappointing that a satirical publication should feel the need to identify itself so obviously as such. The Onion is the masterpiece that it is because it's so clever, so subtle, so 'could be true'. SatireWire may be all of these things, but the name 'gives it away' - by clearly saying "It's a joke! Funny!", the joke's impact is lessened.
I'm not trying to be picky; it's just something of a bete noir of mine. I use The Onion as a perfect example to fellow Englishmen who claim that America doesn't understand irony, that American humo[u]r isn't funny. The Onion -- as all satire -- succeeds because it doesn't doubt the capacity of its audience to understand the humour. On this issue, SatireWire loses many points.
Something that has been irritating me no end of late is the frequency with which articles on Satirewire are copied verbatim and passed off as original work. This doesn't just happen on the 'net. The student magazine of my university (which will remain nameless) has on a number of occasions published Satirewire articles uncited and unacknowledged. I've emailed the editors to complain of this, without receiving so much as a reply (let alone a printed acknowledgement, god forbid).
This, I suppose, is the risk of running a great site like Satirewire that produces high-quality, original, goddamned funny content - people read it, wish they could write something as good, then figure "what the hell" and just steal it. I guess Marlatt could take it as a compliment, but only insofar as you would take having your house robbed as a compliment.
Pants-wettingly funny book, anyway. Get it.
- SMJ - (It's not just a name: it's a bad aftertaste.)
are you sure about this? i was never under the impression that satirewire was this focused. consider these headlines:
- POLICE MUST NOTIFY RESIDENTS WHEN CATHOLIC CHURCH MOVES INTO NEIGHBORHOOD
- HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS DEMAND WARS IN EASIER-TO-FIND COUNTRIES
- AUSTRALIA GETS DRUNK, WAKES UP IN NORTH ATLANTIC
maybe i'm being dense but i fail to see how any of these are related to fortune, forbes, cio, or adbusters.--
irb(main):001:0>
LOL:-) Sometimes the oneliners are the funniest!
I've been reading SatireWire for a couple of years now, and this remains one of the funniest graphics I've seen on the net. Sometimes the humour can vary a bit but occasionally it's spot on. I'm slightly disappointed that the book seems to be a collection of old stories from the site, I was looking forward to something new.
:-)
I'm not planning on cancelling my order though
Agreed, it's just too bad he updates once in a blue moon.
Wow, that's the second time you've plugged this site in this thread. Are you an employee?
do not read this line twice.
I think that the religous and cultural humor is some of the best satirewire content. I generally think of myself as fairly sensitive to other people's beliefs and cultures, but I don't see a problem with these stories. I don't think they're derogatory. Now if there was an article about how stupid Jews are or how all those black people are drug dealing gangbangers, I'd definately have a problem with them. I am Catholic and I thought the story about having to notify the public when a priest moves in funny. I think you have to take religion as with any other aspect of life with a grain of salt. If you can't laugh at yourself you need to lighten up.
I'm not saying that its ok to go attack people because of their beliefs. The line may be blurry to me but it is definately there, and I don't think these things have crossed it.
"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh"
His writing is okay, but being a sarcastic glib critic who needn't deal with the devil in the details of his sweeping opinions, it's much easier to do his thing than to do the onion thing.
"Old man yells at systemd"
The Subversive Intellectual Society runs an interesting site. It's not really a mock news site, but it contains a lot of satire, mostly about government, corporate and technology subjects. They pose as some kind of underground political group, and claim that their web site is hosted on a hacked DARPA server.
Right now they are chronicling a fictitious candidate's race to become "Dictator" of Florida.
Like I said it's a matter of opinion.
I too often find myself in awe of the way the writers over at The Onion handle the many details involved in writing such stories as "80s Retro Craze Sweeps Executive Branch" and "Canadian Girlfriend Unsubstantiated".
How do you deal with something like that? How do you ingest the information necessary to write something as complicated and far reaching as that? The ramifications of writing an article titled "Study Reveals: Babies are Stupid" are mind boggling to say the least. Clearly these kinds of stories should not be confused with the writings of a sarcastic glib critic. These stories clearly require the ability to "deal with the devil in the details".
Or something like that.
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
Slow down, boy.
.. which somewhat jarrs your mind out of the 'alternate universe' parody stories presumably take place in.) While The Onion's concepts are generally not as outright funny as Satire Wire's, nor potentially as laugh-out-loud funny as Sean, the actual quality of the writing and the authenticity of the tone found in The Onion is what will forever sell its parody to me.
Sean is not satire. He seems to write his opinions. He editorializes. In that respect, while his opinions and jokes can be funny, his targets tend to be somewhat obvious and easy to ridicule. Since he doesn't have to deal with the ramifications and implications of his opinions, he's pretty safe. Again, his writing can be very funny, but his opinions are the 'easy to make' flavour; mostly self-serving and generally glib. Y'know, spill a little blood, caveat emptor, that kind of take on the world. Make fun of those who've already lost. Whatever. I'm not arguing against his opinions - I'm only saying that its infinately easier to scrawl hilarious but ultimately substanceless diatribes than to parody something with a straight face and still get a point across. Sean can be funny, but he has a luxury of freedom with regard to the format of his site that The Onion and Satire Wire do not have.
The Onion is satire. Their goal is to parody truths in life by writing satirical articles in an understated and dead-pan fashion. Their research and authenticity as it relates to the subculture they are parodying in any given article is second to none, in my opinion. (I find SatireWire has great concepts, or head-lines, but the writing itself is a little too self-aware and not always up to snuff with the tone you generally find in a newspaper
You disagree, but thats okay. No need to try and poke fun at me for dissecting these sites. I simply like to consider the 'difficulty level' of a comedic goal before I declare who's come closest to reaching it.
"Old man yells at systemd"
The U.N. said the incident is already under investigation, and promised swift action against those found responsible for giving the Canadians guns. Initial findings indicate that the Vancouver crew may have been watching too many American television shows.
Yes, that's one of their best ones... I also liked the "Australia gets drunk" and "Hindus and Jews merge, form Hinjew religion" ones.
Carl Sagan screwed this one up. Absence of evidence is the ONLY kind of evidence of absence you can ever hope to find. Granted it's not conclusive, but if went through life with the mentality that you must have things disproven before you let go the hope that they exist, then you will end up believing in anything and everything ever proposed to you.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
Hmm, there are two things wrong here :)
1) I pointed out that I don't *generally* find humor sites funny, but that this book was an exception, and it's actually made me appreciate better the website from which it sprang.
2) Paid to run reviews? Wow! I had no idea. I wonder if Andrew Marlatt pays me directly, or if I have to go through the publisher, Broadway Books? Or will Hemos send me a special check marked "book payola?" I'm really glad to know about this, because I could use an oil change, not to mention a newer laptop. Do you have any idea how much I might be paid? Please answer soon, because it will affect what I tell my broker later this week.
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5