Comments on: Sad Books Are Bad Books

Sad Books Are Bad Books

carsonb — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:18:31 -0800

The Happy Endings Foundation aims to eradicate sad thoughts from all literature.

By: Frank Grimes

Frank Grimes — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:21:39 -0800

Why did I think this post was going to be about massages?

By: ten pounds of inedita

ten pounds of inedita — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:22:31 -0800

The name of the foundation strikes me as being one that might be better suited to a guild of masseuses.

By: zenzizi

zenzizi — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:22:36 -0800

This will not end well.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:22:50 -0800

"The Foundation" translates into Arabic as "Al Quaeda" _{And "The Happy Endings Foundation" translates to "النهايات السعيدة مؤسسة", according to Google. I have no idea how to pronounce that, though}

By: ten pounds of inedita

ten pounds of inedita — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:24:44 -0800

This will not end well. Depends where you go.

By: ClaudiaCenter

ClaudiaCenter — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:25:00 -0800

Spoof.

By: FelliniBlank

FelliniBlank — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:25:37 -0800

I just can't wait to see what they do with The Diary of Anne Frank.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:25:47 -0800

If some were to masturbate me to orgasm, I think I could deal with not reading the end of Old Yeller.

By: Poolio

Poolio — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:26:26 -0800

*taps foot*

By: BClady

BClady — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:28:43 -0800

A fake site.

By: Ryvar

Ryvar — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:30:02 -0800

I was all lolz until the gerbil thing - eating books is likely to poison the poor guys.

By: ALongDecember

ALongDecember — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:33:18 -0800

-Oh Rhett, Rhett! Oh, Rhett, where will I go? What'll I do? -Frankly my dear, I love you. Let's remarry. Didn't that movie used to have a war in it?

By: davidmsc

davidmsc — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:33:26 -0800

I honestly can't tell if this is real or not.

By: tepidmonkey

tepidmonkey — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:34:12 -0800

Funny thing – this web site is actually depressing. Unless it's fake, in which case it's the least funny joke ever. And if it's not meant as a joke, then I have no idea what the hell it is. Maybe I'm thinking about it too hard. Or is that the point?

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:34:51 -0800

Spoof. Gotta be. Pretty well done one, though, more subtle than expected. Here's my favorite spoof site, that maybe some folks out there haven't come across yet: Black People Love Us.

By: rottytooth

rottytooth — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:34:54 -0800

Not slick enough to be fake. If it were fake, you'd think someone would put more effort into it.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:37:28 -0800

-Open the pod bay doors, Hal. -Allright, Dave.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:38:56 -0800

If it were fake, you'd think someone would put more effort into it. I think that's exactly the point. It has the look and feel of something, er... real. I'd say they put a lot of effort into making it look like that.

By: forallmankind

forallmankind — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:44:29 -0800

May I suggest everything ever written by Edith Wharton?

By: amyms

amyms — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:54:31 -0800

I honestly can't tell if this is real or not. Here's a hint: Click on the "disclaimer" link at the bottom of the page. ;)

By: ManInSuit

ManInSuit — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 21:05:03 -0800

Bah. It's a marketing stunt for Lemony Snicket: http://www.inkygirl.com/happy-endings-foundation-a-book-marketing-ploy/

By: solotoro

solotoro — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 21:05:20 -0800

From the site:So we are thinking about setting up a new daily paper that only brings the positive side of news stories. I would buy this paper. "In world news, a tidal wave yesterday killed a mere 0.005% of the world's population." "Flu virus 'In no danger of extinction,' elated scientists report." "In local news, alleged arsonist A. Tigris, released on a technicality last week, is optimistic that his next fire will be the biggest and prettiest yet." "Corrupt politician points out that from a utilitarian standpoint, allowing taxpayers to fund his vacation 'was the only ethical choice.'" Cute site.

By: ManInSuit

ManInSuit — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 21:17:09 -0800

I'm gonna come on the side of : as marketing stunts go, this is sort of an unpleasant one. The ad agency for publishers of a pretty massively financially successful book series seek to increase sales by creating a fake controversy around the books. Sure it's done w. some wit and some humour, but it was also done w. real intention to deceive ("Clare Hughes" did interviews with several newspapers, which covered the story as true). I dunno, for me this crosses the line from "funny media prank" into "icky marketing lies" (a sort of reverse astroturf).

By: carsonb

carsonb — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 21:19:21 -0800

By: Steven C. Den Beste

Steven C. Den Beste — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 21:51:32 -0800

Disney did this to "Hunchback of Notre Dame", didn't they? They also managed the amazing feat of making Quasimodo cute and cuddly.

By: Abiezer

Abiezer — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 22:30:21 -0800

They'll never pull it off.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 23:25:39 -0800

~~This will not end well.~~ This will end well.

By: dirigibleman

dirigibleman — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 23:49:00 -0800

Daddy was shot through the heart. He was 43. Mommy was shot in the head and chest. She was 41. Aunt Huda was shot in the chest. She was 27. My sister Nour was shot in the right side of her head. She was 15. My sister Saba was shot through the ear. She was 11. My brother Muhammad was shot in the hand and I don't know where else. He was 10. My sister Zainab was shot in the hand and the head. She was five.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 00:25:55 -0800

Vladimir: Hello, Mr. Godot, how's it going? Estragon: And I see you remembered to bring some brie!

By: triv

triv — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 05:33:34 -0800

Ugliest site in the world. Well done.

By: StacieGlassman

StacieGlassman — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 07:16:54 -0800

The really sad part about this is that, even if it is a marketing stunt, somebody's going to think it's a just-plain-super idea and get inspired to start a movement like this on their own...

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 07:34:39 -0800

In the new version he still loves Big Brother.

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 07:49:43 -0800

OK, I know it's just a marketing stunt (and I'm OK with that, especially since the stunt seems in the character of the books themselves), but as a fan of the books, I can't leave this unremarked: "She plans to rewrite all 13 Lemony Snicket books to give them happy endings." If you rewrite the first one to have a happy ending, then books 2-13 are unnecessary.

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 08:54:07 -0800

Det. Couljian: Hang on a second. Verbal, are you Kaiser Sose? Verbal Kent: Yeah! How'd you guess! DC: I was just in the kitchen cleaning out my coffee mug! VK: Clever! Welp, I guess it's jail for me, eh? DC: 'fraid so. VK: Bully! Fade to Black

By: penguinliz

penguinliz — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 09:09:21 -0800

I knew it was a fake when I saw they had The Snowman as a recommended happy ending read.

By: lodurr

lodurr — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 10:00:39 -0800

(a sort of reverse astroturf). I'm not getting the 'reverse' part.

By: ManInSuit

ManInSuit — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 10:08:56 -0800

Normally, an astroturf group is a fake group that supports the product/cause/position you are trying to hype. In this case the fake group (THEF) opposes the product being pitched (The LS books). So that's the reverse part. The more I think about this, the more it rubs me the wrong way. Apparently, the books have sold something like 25 million copies so far. Do they really have to trick reporters into running false stories in order to increase sales further? Maybe I'm just being a grouch about this... Does anyone else feel this way?

By: lodurr

lodurr — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 10:14:36 -0800

OK, I was just thinking about the money and where it comes from. I don't really think of astroturfing as "supporting", inherently, since most of the astroturf campaigns I can recall have been oppositional, not constructive. But they were also pretty direct: "We oppose Kerry" [logical outcome: more support for Bush]. This is reverse psychology. (Or reductio ad absurdum if you prefer.)

By: ClaudiaCenter

ClaudiaCenter — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 10:30:02 -0800

It makes me a little concerned that reporters didn't figure it out ... but the whole thing is sort of unnecessary and irritating. So I'm with you, ManInSuit.

By: ManInSuit

ManInSuit — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 10:46:15 -0800

lodurr - yeah, in terms of the money and where it comes from, it's just plain old astroturf, no reverse necessary...

By: IndigoJones

IndigoJones — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:47:34 -0800

Disney did this to "Hunchback of Notre Dame", didn't they? Disney also did this to the ant and the grasshopper. In a coloring book, but still. The ant feels sorry for the freezing grasshopper and invites him down the ant hole where the freeloading grasshopper plays fiddle and tells amusing stories to while away the long winter nights. Wonder how that would have gone over a hundred years ago.

By: cog_nate

cog_nate — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:20:57 -0800

Shane: Hey kid, I'm back!

By: lodurr

lodurr — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:33:08 -0800

Little Bill: I don't deserve to die. I'm building a house! Will Munny: [thinks for a minute, then lowers his rifle] Sorry, Sherrif. Don't know what came over me. Must have been the whiskey.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 15:52:13 -0800

Harry: Ma, why don/t you come live with me an Marion? We/re getting married, she/s starting her store in March, and Tyrone/s gonna help out too. We/ll take good care of you.

By: porpoise

porpoise — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 16:15:21 -0800

- What's in the box, what's in the box?! - It's a birthday cake your wife and I baked for you.