MISSION STATEMENT

Sometimes, things are wrong. At one point they may have been alright, and are now considered wrong, or, they always have been and ever will be just plain wrong. Oft times, these wrong things are also funny.

With that in mind, this endeavour features two main strands: the "Shelf of Shame" (books) and the "Screen of Shame" (film) and smaller strands such as "Sound of Shame" (vinyl) and "Miscellany of Shame" (various) - each showcasing items from my personal collection of bibliographic and cinematic oddities and curios.

Deemed shame-worthy according to varying criteria of wrongness, these humourous, surprising, and occasionally instructive items are therefore posted here for your perusal, amusement and edification. Enjoy.

Porn Title of the Week:

Red-dick (Sept 1)
Blow-Jobs (Aug 25)
The Butt-ler (Aug 18)
You're Sexed (Aug 11)
Fuck-Ass 2 (Aug 4)
We're the Fillers (July 28)
Tur-blow (July 21)
The Who-To-Do-List (July 14)
Pacific Rim-Job (July 7)
Blown Ranger (June 30)
White House Going Down (June 23)

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Shelf of Shame #4

THE SHERIFF OF DYKE HOLE
Ridgwell Cullum
Toronto: Copp Clark Co. Ltd: 1909. 1st Candian edition. small 8vo. viii + 338pp. Grey-blue boards, w. gilt titles to front cover and spine.

I have three questions:
1) What's the salary?
2) What are the benefits? (other than the obvious)
3) When can I start?



I have to admit the title sold me right away - yet another fine example of verbiage that was once innocent and unremarkable, made hilarious by the innate vulgarity of the modern era, where everything is at least vaguely lewd. And before you accuse me of being the only one who makes such connections, the lady from whom I bought it today at a garage sale looked at it and said "The Sheriff of, um, uh..." trailing off awkwardly, unable to complete the title, before hastily adding "Well, I certainly don't remember that one..."

With that in mind, some of the more notable Chapter headings are:
VI. Dyke Hole Prepares
XII. Circus Day in Dyke Hole
XVI. Domestic Affairs in Dyke Hole
XVII. Scandal in Dyke Hole
XIX. Dick Roydon Takes the Plunge


For Further Research:

By all accounts, Ridgwell Cullum (whose real name was Sydney Groves Burghard) led a full and interesting life. A brief biography & bibliography can be found here.

In tone and content, his oeuvre is somewhat smiliar to that of Zane Grey, although the latter seems to have enjoyed a lasting popularity. Sad, since the only Z.G. titles that even come close to matching "Sheriff of Dyke Hole" for unitentional perversity are: "Under The Tonto Rim" (1926) and "Raiders of the Spanish Peaks" (1938) - though one could make a case for posthumously published "Shower of Gold" (2007) which, however, is merely an unabridged version of 1915's "Desert Gold".

Sound of Shame #2

JESSE CRAWFORD:
Organ Fantasies

Spin-O-Rama Records, n.d.


Well, if you're going to think about such things, the Poet of the Organ is as good a candidate as anyone, I suppose. But it doesn't make you a bad person if you do fantasize about someone else's organ once in a while...


Acquired recently while garage sailing. To learn more about the Poetic man who wants you to fantasize about his organ, click here.