Mar

21

Say Goodbye to the Next Hour of Your Life

2011 at 5am     Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky

I’m currently reading the very beautiful but also very sad Say Her Name by Francisco Goldman (and no, I haven’t shaken the Destiny’s Child earworm yet), and last night I needed a break. A breather. A moment of levity. So I scrolled through my e-galleys, opened up David Thorne’s The Internet is a Playground (coming April 28 from Tarcher), and proceeded to laugh so hard I almost peed in my pants.

david thorne, the internet is a playground

As I learned in the opening pages, David Thorne is the evil genius behind wildly popular website 27b/6 and the originator of some of the most frequently forwarded viral emails on the interweb. The cover refers to the opening email exchange, Next time, I’ll spend the money on drugs, in which Thorne attempts to pay a remote chiropractor (i.e. a “doctor” who says he can heal aches and pains remotely) with a drawing of a seven-legged spider. There are emails to and from his son’s teachers, prolonged arguments with individuals who want Thorne to work for them free (and who receive pie charts documenting Thorne’s reluctance to do so and the many things he would rather do instead), and dozens upon dozens of things that will make you simultaneously wish you knew Thorne and very glad that you don’t.

And yeah, the book isn’t out for another month—I usually try not to talk about books you can’t trot right out to buy, should you want to—but a good chunk of the material (and many new varieties of e-harassment) from The Internet is a Playground is available at 27b/6, and you can go there. You should go there. Because it’s Monday, and you need a giggle, and your douchebag of a boss just asked you to fax over those TPS reports again. Thorne’s “beat them into submission or fuck with their heads until they give up” approach is just what the doctor ordered.

And did I mention it’s hilarious?

What? You want a pie chart?

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Comments

4 Responses to “Say Goodbye to the Next Hour of Your Life”

  1. Rebecca on March 21st, 2011 5:43 am

    Never heard of this site but I am heading over now. Anyone who sends out pie charts in response to stupid queries has got to be funny.
    Rebecca´s last [type] ..Books- Take Me Away to Argentina

  2. Kerry on March 21st, 2011 9:42 am

    This is not a productive way to spend my morning, but I can’t seem to look away.
    Kerry´s last [type] ..Book Review- Unfamiliar Fishes- by Sarah Vowell

  3. Rebecca Joines Schinsky on March 21st, 2011 10:08 am

    I know, right? I’m thinking of adopting that method for responding to really bad book pitches.

  4. Rachel McElhany on March 21st, 2011 5:25 pm

    Thank you so much for posting a link to that site. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time! I love the one where he designed the poster for a missing cat.
    Rachel McElhany´s last [type] ..Book Review- The Queen of Babble

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