Adventures on The Wheel of Consciousness

October 12, 2007 5:03 AM

An Ask Metafilter comment of mine (this one) has been quoted in Jeff Warren’s new book The Head Trip: Adventures on The Wheel of Consciousness. Cool, eh?

Jeff emailed me to ask permission and he sent me a free copy of the book. Oh, and I made it into the book’s index: Freud, Sigmund; Friends of The Western Buddhist Order; Frost, Robert; Fuzzy Monster. Hilarious!

posted by Fuzzy Monster to MetaFilter-Related at 5:03 AM (33 comments total)

Cool shit, congratulations.
posted by afu at 5:35 AM on October 12, 2007

Monster, Fuzzy. No?
posted by R. Mutt at 6:10 AM on October 12, 2007

Sweet! Congrats.

Wait, that comment is currently unfavorited. How did you get into a book without favorites? These favorites, they do nothing!
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 6:31 AM on October 12, 2007 [8 favorites]

Wow, congrats! Especially on being credited.
posted by piratebowling at 6:36 AM on October 12, 2007

That's pretty cool.
posted by iconomy at 6:46 AM on October 12, 2007

That's awesome!
posted by sociolibrarian at 7:13 AM on October 12, 2007

Me, me, me, me, me. What is this, ME-taFilter?

Just kidding. I think that's really cool!
posted by Brittanie at 7:16 AM on October 12, 2007

Thanks for the congrats, all... it's always interesting to see how Metafilter sloshes over into the physical world.

R_Mutt, I would've thought "Monster, Fuzzy" as well. Are there any book indexers out there who can shed light on this? A quick flip through the index reveals that The Silver Surfer is listed as "Silver Surfer" rather than "Surfer, Silver." Hmm...

Terminal Verbosity, I got into this book through sheer dumb luck. Jeff Warren just happened to stumble across my comment while doing research for The Head Trip and he just happened to like what I had to say.

I'm about half-way through the book and it's a very interesting read. One of my favorite parts occurs early in the book in a section on hypnagogic phenomena (hallucinatory and quasi-hallucinatory events which happen in the gray area between waking and sleeping). Warren writes about mining hypnagogic experiences for ideas and insights which can then be applied to the waking world: "This technique has produced at least one (personal) success: the idea for this book. Of course, for every real insight there are dozens of lemons-- this isn't magic, it's still your fallible human brain operating. I also had the idea of serializing my book as a comic, and for a deranged and tantalizing few minutes I was absolutely convinced that the She-Hulk would make a great allegorical protagonist."
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 7:20 AM on October 12, 2007 [1 favorite]

for a deranged and tantalizing few minutes I was absolutely convinced that the She-Hulk would make a great allegorical protagonist

Deranged? This is absolutely correct.
posted by brain_drain at 7:27 AM on October 12, 2007

I've had this experiance a couple of times:

1) half-asleep: I think up this brilliant idea.

2) 10% asleep: What the hell? That's the most retarded idea ever!

3) A few minutes later: Damn, what was that stupid idea anyway?
posted by delmoi at 7:33 AM on October 12, 2007 [3 favorites]

I don't suppose "Monster, Fuzzy" has any clear advantage over "Fuzzy Monster", is the thing. It's not a proper name—unless, forgive me, it is—and "Monster" isn't otherwise more identifiable than "Fuzzy" to a casual reader, so why rearrange it?

By comparison, "Spiderman, The Amazing" is at least putting the real touchstone term first, and likewise "Saramago, Jose" and "Yardbirds, The"—which should make it easier to locate them in an index, I reckon.

But that's all armchair speculation.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:38 AM on October 12, 2007 [1 favorite]

I would love to read this book that references Spiderman, Jose Saramago and The Yadbirds.
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 7:55 AM on October 12, 2007 [2 favorites]

Awesome. Also, your ask.me comment is the most perfect description I've encountered of how my own brain operates when I'm idle.
posted by Kattullus at 8:09 AM on October 12, 2007

Young Parker Goes Blind, an allegorical coming-of-age graphic-novel headtrip through the mid-sixties, by Niel Gaimen, illust. Chris Dreja.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:11 AM on October 12, 2007

Excellent! Have you been having conversations with yr friends where you say "That's me quoted there, Fuzzy Monster!" "No, really!" "No, seriously guys, that's me!"
posted by jamesonandwater at 9:29 AM on October 12, 2007

Congratulations!

I might have to get this book as I am an unfortunate experiencer of hypnagogic hallucinations - Would love to see some more thoughts on the subject.
posted by odi.et.amo at 9:41 AM on October 12, 2007

Monster is a surname. See Kate Monster, Trekkie Monster (no relation), Telly Monster, Herry Monster, and Cookie Monster

Counterexample, wherein Monster is used as phenoypical identifier: The Flying Spaghetti Monster.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:42 AM on October 12, 2007 [2 favorites]

Cool, congratulations.
posted by quin at 9:44 AM on October 12, 2007

Congrats, FM!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:57 AM on October 12, 2007

Congratulations Fuzzy! Thats great.
posted by Sailormom at 10:03 AM on October 12, 2007

Very cool, Fuzzy.

Authors, please index my name as "eye, found dog one. Thanks.
posted by found dog one eye at 10:47 AM on October 12, 2007

I would like to be cited as "man, arcticwo." You know, so the important part comes first.
posted by arcticwoman at 10:56 AM on October 12, 2007 [2 favorites]

Oh, that's awesome. I need a better sock puppet name, just in case someone wants to put me in a book!

Hey, it could happen!
posted by misha at 11:51 AM on October 12, 2007

Very cool!

Signed,

half, trip and a
posted by trip and a half at 11:58 AM on October 12, 2007

Until someone writes a book concerning guns, deniably dead-hookers, booze, cats, obscure movie quotes, and random obscenities, I will probably remain, unfortunately, unpublished.

A true loss to the literary world, you can be certain.
posted by quin at 12:12 PM on October 12, 2007

Until someone writes a book concerning guns, deniably dead-hookers, booze, cats, obscure movie quotes, and random obscenities ....

Too bad Bukowski, Burroughs, and Hunter Thompson are no longer with us ...
posted by R. Mutt at 4:27 PM on October 12, 2007

I had a stranger send me a book once. But it was hollowed out and filled with hookers, guns, booze, and obscure Cats quotes. I'm pretty sure it was meant for someone else, since it was addressed to Captain Jerkface and I never made it past Lieutenant.
posted by Eideteker at 4:49 PM on October 12, 2007

obscure Cats quotes

Meow, meow. Mao. Meow, miow, mao.

Always been one of my favorites.
posted by quin at 4:56 PM on October 12, 2007

Good work fuzzer. Mazel.
posted by Divine_Wino at 7:05 PM on October 12, 2007

Fuzzy Monster wins teh internets!
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:13 AM on October 13, 2007

Congratulations, Fuzzy

In addition, you've written a post about an AskMe comment, which has generated absolutely no snark! Congratulations again.
posted by Neiltupper at 8:14 AM on October 13, 2007

PFFFT! I have been quoted numerous times in police reports, so there.

(Goodonya though)
posted by The Deej at 4:53 PM on October 13, 2007

That is indeed cool and the author is a stand-up classy guy for both crediting you and sending you a gratis copy. I'll have to check it out if only for the pleasure of seeing Fuzzy Monster in the index.
posted by melissa may at 12:55 AM on October 15, 2007