Thursday, February 19, 2015

The library blurb



It is most famous as a way to sell prospective movies: the mash-up. For example: "It's Bad News Bears meets The Matrix. Plucky but troubled kids realize they're in a reality simulation with the help of a super cool pool cleaner." But, alas, movies have moved on from the mash-up and have become focused far more on the retell:

"It's Star Trek!"

"Yes, Star Trek meets what?"

"No, no, just Star Trek again, but new."

So the mash-up has had to go seek more fertile pastures. Fortunately they have found in books a happy home. One can hardly look at a book cover quote these days without seeing a mash-up. It's The Great Gatsby meets The Hunger Games! Man, I want to read that! Whatever it is, I mean. I read both of them and now presumably I can get all that quality in a single dose. I don't have time to read two books! I have a blog to write!"

"Oh, really, what kind of blog do you write?"

"It's sort of Bridget Jones Diary meets Bartleby, the Scrivener."

Who can resist the mash-up, especially if you're a book reviewer and you want to see yourself plastered onto book covers. But really, they're for anyone. They're so evocative, leading, suggestive, and, above all, economical. You can get your puny sentence to partake of whole beautiful novels and all the rich feelings they bring, but also you get to pretend to great creative insight through your juxtaposition of unlike things. It's like sticking a cherry bomb in a frog, irresistible!

Wait, did I just suggest that sticking a cherry bomb in a frog is irresistible? I'm pretty sure I can resist that. I'm nearly positive I can resist that!

Nevertheless, exploding frogs aside, the mash-up may be too valuable a tool to leave to narrative. It's just such a dynamic way to describe something. There I am at the library I work at. I am shelving.


Wait, what am I doing?

Ah, Shelving. It's, um, sort of Nineteen Eighty-Four meets The Little Prince.

  

Who will I be on the front desk with later? 

Well, she's like Pollyanna meets The Metamorphosis


 And where is it I work, how shall we mash-up my library?

How about Papillon meets Winnie the Pooh?

The Odyssey meets The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death?

War and Peace meets Go Dog Go?


Oh hell, in the end, just grab any two books off our shelves. That should be accurate enough.


 







2 comments:

  1. *Nothing* meets Go, Dog. Go! Impossible! They have a party in a tree and he ends up *liking* her hat! Unmeetable! Unmeetable I say!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It particularly pains me to be argumentative, but, actually, I met Go, Dog. Go! once at a gas station in Iowa. Go, Dog. Go! was so simple and unassuming that I almost didn't recognize Go, Dog. Go! at first, but when I did I sheepishly asked for an autograph that I still have to this day! I will never forget this encounter and so must stand in opposition, as unbelievable as it seems, to your fervent contention.

      Delete

If you were wondering, yes, you should comment. Not only does it remind me that I must write in intelligible English because someone is actually reading what I write, but it is also a pleasure for me since I am interested in anything you have to say.

I respond to pretty much every comment. It's like a free personalized blog post!

One last detail: If you are commenting on a post more than two weeks old I have to go in and approve it. It's sort of a spam protection device. Also, rarely, a comment will go to spam on its own. Give either of those a day or two and your comment will show up on the blog.