So, as an avid fan of his books, I just finished Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman, the man’s recent essay collection.  The collection is very good, providing something a little more than previous works with essays that reflect on our need for recognition rather than just simply how our love lives are ruined by John Cusack.  Don’t take this the wrong way-I love the previous essays very much.  But the new seem to show a side of a perhaps seasoned author, develing into subjects such as the Unabomber and This American Life in a way that makes me think his books have grown just like I have reading them the last 4 or 5 years.

Granted, there is an entire essay, lengthy as it is, devoted to football.  Klosterman’s awareness of his fan base is included in this essay, which is both funny and thoughtful.  He discusses the rise and fall of Garth Brooks in a way that makes me almost cherish the times as a child when I was forced to listen to “Friends in Low Places.”   Simply by interviewing a master of interviews, Ira Glass, Klosterman makes me feel smarter and more intellectual, which I am reluctant to admit, and perhaps proves some of his points about culture discussed in the same essay.

Though it doesn’t really have the same humorous tone as Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, Eating the Dinosaur reminded me a lot of Killing Yourself to Live.  It contained a certain vibe of self-discovery that usually only comes from the ability to be self-aware amongst this pop culture we feed upon.  When I read Sex, Drugs…, I laughed and related to the analysis of trival things that I loved.  In Killing Yourself…, I saw things about myself mirrored in his road trip, even if it was only 85% truth.  And about this book, I felt the same.

PS:  Here’s a really cool (but old) interview with Chuck Klosterman over at The Sound of Young America.  It also features an interview with Dave Foley, one of the original Kids in the Hall and one of my favorite actors, for reasons not quite understandable to even myself.  It’s great–give it a listen.

I ran out of time putting this together yesterday, so here’s this week’s  Illustration Thursday:

Vintage Illustrations, especially that from the 1950s-early 1970s, are some of my favorite things.  The style, the use of line work, the color, printing process-it’s just all awesome.  Anyways, I’ve put together a list of some of my favorite vintage illustration pools, sets, and groups from Flickr, which has an abundance of examples.  Enjoy!

1. Fun Ephemera

This is a fantastic collection of illustrated ephemera from Ward-o-matic.  Fantastic! (get it?…..har har…sad face).

2.  Mid-Century Illustrated

HUGE Flickr group with over 1,500 members.  Features everything from magazines, to brochures, to logos, childrens books, signs, ads, etc.  Great way to spend the rest of your afternoon.

THREE MORE after the jump!

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The lovely people up at the UPPERCASE Gallery in Calgary, O’Canada have put together and released their very first magazine, and it looks just awesome.  It’s a quarterly issue magazine filled with awesome reading and design inspiration.  Oh, how I wished I lived in Canada….

You can subscribe online, with the price a little deep for my pockets, but if you’ve got it, spend it, because I’m sure it will not disappoint!

MagCloud is a great new(er) site where one can publish, print, and sell your very own magazines for very little money, and this looks like a fantastic idea.  The site is free to join, and free for people to buy.

You just upload the PDF of your magazine and these guys print and ship to your subscibers when they order for only 20cents a page.  They are printed on high quality magazine paper and sitched together when they are order, so there’s no lag or heavy fee or minimum orders.

What a fantastic idea!

I’ve been on a huge mid-century literature kick recently, beginning with purchasing “Catcher in the Rye” by Salinger at Borders with a coupon in February.  Since then, I’ve read “Slaughter House 5,” “Franny & Zooey” and bought 3 John Updike collections.

And I love the cover of this book.  There’s been a lot of this style recently–new design made to look distressed.  If you like vintage book covers, the BookScans Database has a  HUGE collection of books from a variety of publishers, which large photos of each. Check it out!