Story: In this collection of columns from the now-defunct Brunching Shuttlecocks, Sjoberg picks around five members of a given group, and then spends a paragraph making witty comments in praise or denigration of said items.
Review: The Ratings were my favorite recurring Brunching feature, and I’m very happy to see they now have their very own website. Sjoberg has a very smart sense of humor, and could probably teach Dennis Miller a thing or five about blending pop culture references with obscure facts to create humorous non sequiturs on seemingly inconsequential topics. Sometimes Sjoberg specifically targets pop culture phenomena – hence the ratings for Star Wars villains, Super Friends, classic video games, and so on – while other times he focuses on everyday items, cultural oddities, or longstanding pillars of our religious and social traditions. (You’ll find the ratings of the plagues of Egypt, for example, hysterical or blasphemous. I lean strongly to the former.)
Now, as good as the Ratings are, there is a very valid question to ask here: why should I pay twelve bucks for a compilation of material that’s free on the web? I initially justified the expense as a show of support for the Brunching folks, but I soon realized that the book form really enhances the material. It’s great to pull the book off the shelf and read a couple chapters, or toss it in a backpack for the bus, or just turn the page to get to the next entry rather than click through menus. To my own surprise, I’m not always at a PC when I want to have a quick laugh or two, so until I have a portable notebook with a wireless net connection, the book is great.
I admit that I have a slight quibble or two with the selections in the book, but that’s more a matter of taste than anything. Ways to Leave Your Lover and Star Wars Lego Figures will just have to wait for a sequel. On the other hand, there are bonus Ratings in the book, such as Aspects of the Personals and Cryptozoological Creatures, so I’m not going to spend too much time obsessing over the editing.
Both the book and the website are well worth your time.
Year: 2003
Author: Lore Fitzgerald Sjoberg
Illustrator: Stephen Notley
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Pages: 192