Rating: 
Summary: Funny, but....
Review: Mike's first solo effort "Megacheese" was so hilarious that his new bok can't quite compare. While parts are funny, they are not "laugh out loud funny" like Megacheese. Some parts seemed more like leftover Dave Barry bits.
Rating: 
Summary: Another gem from Mike
Review: I laughed out loud at this book. I rarely do such a thing so take it as a compliment, Mike! Mike's writing style reminds me of Dave Barry, who reminds me of Robert Benchley! If you like wry observations of things you never would have observed before, like toasters, buy this book!
Rating: 
Summary: Michael Nelson has another hit!
Review: Mind Over Matters is a book that should be enjoyed in a certain atmosphere. On a lazy Thursday night, curl up in your favorite arm chair with a cup of chamomile tea, and soak up his humor. Or enjoy it during rush hour on a psychotic Monday morning whatever works for you. His new book is definitely a different format from his first one Movie Megacheese, and while some fans of his may not like the essays on life's little eccentricities, I do. Being a Midwesterner myself, (Yeah he mentioned Omaha!) I might understand better somewhat he is talking about. Or maybe that brain damage I have from falling out of a hayloft is starting to show up. Anyway, to sum up, while this book may not be as phenomenal as Megacheese, it is still a great book to spend a hectic Monday reading.
Rating:
Summary: Mike Score's Again: Even Better than His Last Effort.
Review: The author's last book "Movie Megacheese" was a wonderful assault on the imperfections of those movies and stars MST3K would never get a crack at. In this book Mike Nelson, aims higher to provide his humorous observations of the everyday annoyances and small events of life. All with his practical and midwestern-honed sense of humor. Particularly memorable to me are sections on "The Radio Shack Experience" and Mike's self-mocking account of his days acting in the theatre. Also memorable descriptions of living in Minnesota and investigating why his wife has so many friends. Mike Nelson as an essayist is right up there with David Sedaris in my opinion. Buy the book.
Rating:
Summary: Mike is a C&C geek, but I love 'em....only not in that way.
Review: I really enjoyed this book ... I liked MOVIE MEGA CHEESE, but this stream of consciousness trip is funnier than that book. If for no other reason, buy it for his scripted fantasy interview with that cheesebag Lipton from the Actor's Studio... Also, Mike's also from Wisconsin, and we stick together.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't believe the blurb on the back cover. . . .
Review: The line on the top of the book's back cover reads "Something's Funny Around Here. . ."; not even close. Far from being "more than fifty hilarious essays," this book is full of the dullest, stalest, and (worst of all) un-funniest so-called "observations" I have ever read. Perhaps I should qualify that--tried to read. After plodding through the "gut-busting discourse on the history of television" (another quotation from the back cover), I threw the thing down, only picking it up for purposes of this review. And, though EVERY SINGLE ESSAY IN THE BOOK provides the same amount of humorless[stuff]) as every other essay, I shall give just three examples here, from essays 1, 2 and 3. Examples could easily be culled from essays 4-50.
Essay 1 is about the perils of staying in a hotel room, in which Mike complains about bell-boys, room-service and bad television. Yawn. Add to this his inclusion of the phrase "never-ending treadmill of horrors" and you have the makings of a truly rotten 300-word essay that even routine business travelers will not find funny. Oh, he also complains about the cost of the minibar. Yuk yuk.
Essay 2, as near as I can tell, is about nothing, and I mean it. Entitled "Pessimism:Overrated", it describes, over the course of, again, about 300 words, the random neural misfires of someone who is just barely exerting the mental energy to type, let alone think about what he is typing. In this "Essay" (and I'm having more and more difficulty applying that term to these THINGS), the "author" attempts to poke fun at the philospophy of Schopenhauer, or suicide, or perhaps something else altogether. Just find someone who has unfortunately already bought the book, and get them to read this section to you (before they throw it out). You'll see what I mean.
Essay 3, while it is at least better than the previous 2 essays (or any one after--take note of this), still amounts to little else than boring observations about, get ready for this, Visiting Your Local Radio Shack! A topic which is, yes, ripe with possibilities-- and done better by about a thousand other people. Here, again, Nelson dwells on not just the mundane, but the utterly ridiculous, pandering to those people who are apparently incapable of walking into a [local store] and finding what they are looking for...
To wrap this up, I should say that I bought this book after reading "Megacheese", which WAS good, and so I'm not slamming Mike Nelson as an author, or as a humorist. I'm slamming him for trying to fob this collection of witless "observations" off on a group of readers whose intelligence he insults; anyone reading this book will conclude, as I did, that he insults them on purpose.
Rating:
Summary: Mike Nelson rocks!
Review: As a big MST3K fan I've been a fan of Mike Nelson's for a long time. I'm so happy that he wrote another book, it would be a shame for such a brilliant humorist to fade into obscurity. While Mind Over Matters, Nelson's second book, isn't as good as his first outing (Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese) it is a thoroughly satisfying read and still very funny. Movie Megacheese is a hard act to follow since it was so unbelievably funny (and fit into Nelson's area of expertise) that it sets unrealistic expectations for a follow up. Mind Over Matters is up to the task but I still remain true to his first book. In this one the humor focuses on the everyday life and Nelson never fails to make you laugh at the ordinary oddities and annoyances of life. The situations he discusses are pretty universal, so everyone can relate and will have no trouble finding the humor. I would definitely highly reccomend this book to anyone really, but in particular for those who like humor books like Dave Barry's or fans of Nelson's old tv show Mystery Science Theater 3000 (the best show ever made, if I may say so).
Rating:
Summary: In a word, hilarious.
Review: Not all of this book is laugh-out-loud funny, but enough of it was that I stopped taking it on the subway because of all the looks I got. The chapter about "Num-Num" and "Pee-Paw" alone is worth the price of admission.
Rating:
Summary: REALLY liked
Review: Yes, some essays fall a little flat. But the ones that made me laugh till I almost cried far out numbered the flops.
Mike has an amazing way of taking normal everyday situations and seeing the hilarity in them!
Rating:
Summary: Masterful comic essays
Review: I can't finish this book. Okay...I can, but I don't want to. You see, if I finished it, then I would not be able to do a first reading of the pieces in it. I would not be able to say "Hey, I feel like getting squeamish with laughter by reading a Mike Nelson piece."
Oh, I sure, I could reread these comic essays, from the co-creator of TV's legendary "Mystery Science Theater 3000." I have tried that, for some of the pieces. Over time, I do forget some of the one-liners, some of the dead-on takes on the surrealistic modern horrors like "customer service" lines and stadium-sized outlet stores. But that unique jolt of sweet agony that comes from laughing until you cry-that I get only with first reads.
To give a sense of what's in the book: Mike Nelson is what Dave Barry should be. The pieces are mostly bite-sized (around 3000 words) and they include Nelson's takes on contemporary cultural and social phenomena. SUV drivers with "Pat Riley" hair. The inexplicable proliferation of Radio Shacks. Nude elderly men clipping their toenails in locker rooms.
Nelson's basic outlook is a common one among comic writers: "I can't believe the world has come to this." Yet, he seems to make that attitude fresh and unique. He avoids the jadedness of a Rooney or Queenan, while at the same time comes off as much more edgy than when a Seinfeld or Brenner trades mike for pen.
MSTies (fans of MST 3000) should be pleasantly surprised. If you thought Nelson was funny as a wise-cracking movie-goer, this book will prove that the show barely scratched the surface of Nelson's comic talent. And yes, the mind-boggling reference humor is there. Dennis Miller, with his kitchen sink approach, may forever be known as the reference humorist; but Nelson is Kasparov to Miller's Deep Blue. He reels out the references only at the perfect moments, and only the reference that make the reader wonder "How did this ever remind him of that!?"
My only quibble (besides the fact that Nelson has not released as many books as Stephen King) is a couple of the essays come off as first drafts. The essay on Radio Shack, for example, does not seem as funny as it could have been. It was funny, but it made me want to call Nelson and say "Hey Mike, try this one again. I know that you can find a funnier angle on RS than you did."
|
