Seven reasons why Inventory should be the primer for pop culture enthusiasts everywhere

Inventory -- Writers of the A.V. Club -- Simon & Schuster -- Non-Fiction --Grade: A

By Jonathan Estuart | Section: Nov 20th, 2009 Arcade, Issues, November 20th Print Edition
  1. It’s written by the pop culture savants at The A.V. Club, the non-satirical, yet still witty entertainment flipside to The Onion.
  2. Inventory isn’t so much a traditional book, but rather an extension of the Inventory Web series at avclub.com that takes a theme and crafts a list surrounding the idea. It’s a collection of lists that range from uproariously humorous, like “9 lyrics from U2’s Achtung Baby that might be about oral sex,” to genuinely illuminating, such as “15 things Kurt Vonnegut said better than anyone else ever has or will” or, in the case of “13 particularly horrible fast-food innovations,” a mixture of both.
  3. Some of the lists exclusive to the book include the guest lists “My 5 favorite fax numbers” by Zach Galifianakis and “Our favorite ‘Shrek’ movies in order of preference” by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim.
  4. What’s great about The Club isn’t just their geeky obsession with semi-useless facts, but the reverence with which they describe their subjects. They are like wise lore keepers in the grand religion of pop culture, not just informative but entertaining.
  5. There’s something in Inventory for everyone: music snobs (“10 highly pretentious musical instruments”), bibliophiles (“16-plus books based around odd literary conceits”), film buffs (“5 essential books about film”) and even pedophiles (“3 oldies songs for pedophiles”).
  6. The actual listings are great and all, but the real show stealers are The A.V. Club Heaven and Hell “lists” of vaguely related pairs of good and bad things that run along the top and bottom of each page. Examples: Wagyu Beef/Shia LaBeouf and Samuel L. Jackson/most movies with Samuel L. Jackson.
  7. Number 14 on “25 sure signs that a sitcom is terrible:” “There are more than two but fewer than three men mentioned in the title.”

      8. It’s more than just a series of facts to use as icebreakers at parties — though it is great for that purpose. “Inventory” is a showcase of lists at their most enthusiastic, thought-provoking and, again, entertaining. The A.V. Club has created a pop culture nerd’s ultimate fantasy.

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