Chaos! Panic! Pandemonium!

The Anarchist Cookbook

by: William Powell

I have recently been made aware of several websites that focus on The Anarchist Cookbook. As the author of the original publication some 30 plus years ago, it is appropriate for me to comment.

The Anarchist Cookbook was written during 1968 and part of 1969 soon after I graduated from high school. At the time, I was 19 years old and the Vietnam War and the so-called "counter culture movement" were at their height. I was involved in the anti-war movement and attended numerous peace rallies and demonstrations. The book, in many respects, was a misguided product of my adolescent anger at the prospect of being drafted and sent to Vietnam to fight in a war that I did not believe in.

Unfortunately, the book continues to be in print and with the advent of the Internet several websites dealing with it have emerged. I want to state categorically that I am not in agreement with the contents of The Anarchist Cookbook [anymore] and I would be very pleased (and relieved) to see its publication discontinued. I consider it to be a misguided and potentially dangerous publication which should be taken out of print.

Amazon Price: $19.77 (as of 12/21/2009)

The Prankster's Ultimate Handbook: The World's Most Infamous, Illustrated, Hardcore Guide to Fiendishly Clever Practical Jokery & Much, Much More!!

by: Erik L. Buckman

This book teaches insane antics such as: The Seat of Agony, Sizzling Underpants, The Pool Of Swill, Goopy Shampoo, The Offensive Car Door Handle and Problem Toilet Paper. You will master-fart ventriloquism, mortify your mate with foul noises in the night and learn how to make someone's car emit a stench more powerful than an open septic tank!! But there is much , much more! * Over 150 proven and unusual gags * 40 proven methods of aggravation * New ways to use joke shop items * Tricks to play on drunken fools * Diabolical illustrations & diagrams You will be a master of mischief after reading eleven chapters of this totally sinister handbook! From simple stunts to convoluted capers, this book has all you need to be well on your way as a die hard hooligan!!

Amazon Price: (as of 12/21/2009)

Don't Get Mad, Get Even

by: George Hayduke

I grabbed a copy of this book acoupla' years ago, and I've loved it ever since. Not so much used for actual revenge, this book has been more a resource for my (sometimes bizarre) art projects, 'cuz it contains a wealth of useful info. I will admit that it DOES make good fodder for revenge fantasies, however. Its almost as much fun fantasizing about how this book could be used to do evil to those that 'done one wrong' as it is fantasizing about what you'd do w/the money when you've bought a lottery ticket.

Anyhoo...I'd highly reccomend picking up a copy of this lil' jewel of a tome- -if the only thing you use it for is revenge/revenge fantasies, you'd still get more than your investment outta' it. --customer review

Amazon Price: (as of 12/21/2009)

Poltergeist

Tobe Hooper, the director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, teamed up with family-oriented producer Steven Spielberg to make Poltergeist. The film is about a haunted suburban tract home in a development very much like the Arizona one in which Spielberg was raised. (Because it came out the same summer as Spielberg's E.T., it was tempting to see both movies as representing Spielberg's ambivalent feelings about childhood in suburbia. One was a fantasy, the other a nightmare.) Spielberg also cowrote the screenplay, which taps into primal, childlike fears of monsters under the bed, monsters in the closet, sinister clown faces, and all manner of things that go bump in the night. At first, some of the odd happenings in the house are kind of funny and amusing, but they grow gradually creepier until the film climaxes in a terrifying special-effects extravaganza when 5-year-old Carole Anne (Heather O'Rourke) is kidnapped by the spooks and held hostage in another dimension. Though not nearly as frightening as Hooper's magnum opus, or the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, which came along two years later, Poltergeist is one of the smartest and most entertaining horror pictures of its time. --Jim Emerson

Amazon Price: (as of 12/21/2009)