6 ms·

I, Libertine

150 points by sublinear 4y ago

Tokkemon 4y ago
Austin McConnell has a wonderful video all about this story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7H5kFGEyUw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7H5kFGEyUw
- asalahli 4y ago
  Austin McConnell has the perfect combination of good storytelling and finding the most interesting random topics. Love his videos.
mjklin 4y ago
See also: “Naked Came the Stranger” and “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls”. Works that were intentionally, provocatively bad, yet successful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Came_the_Stranger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Came_the_Stranger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_the_Valley_of_the_Dolls https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_the_Valley_of_the_Dolls
- narag 4y ago
  And a film about an intentionally bad play: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063462/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063462/
- rippercushions 4y ago
  Finnish rapper Petri Laurila started out as "NuEra", offering incisive social critique about societal problems. Critics loved him, sales were dismal. As a joke, he then released as album that was as crass and low brow as possible, rapping about getting drunk and having sex, with hilariously bad lyrics ("don't be so apathic [sic]/my mind is automatic/the first time I ate pussy it tasted tomatic"). It was a runaway success and he's been milking the cow ever since. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petri_Nyg%C3%A5rd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petri_Nyg%C3%A5rd
  - Cthulhu_ 4y ago
    Reminds me of Filthy Frank / Joji and the Pink Album, he seems to be doing alright these days with a lot less offensive music / caricatures. (fun fact, he started the Harlem Shake thing from some time ago)
  - yamtaddle 4y ago
    I recall Lester Bangs (the character, but based on the real music critic of the same name) in Almost Famous complaining that rock was being ruined by seriousness, and claiming that rock music was at its best and purest when it was (paraphrasing, I think) "gloriously stupid". Must admit, I like very-clever rap and intensely-stupid rap and not much in between, myself, and do probably find the latter more broadly appealing, in that it's less likely for such an album to completely miss for me.
  - pleasantpeasant 4y ago
    I believe that's how the guy from Die Antwoord started as well. His first rap persona was a clean-cut, well put together lyrical genius with a flow and voice to back it up. It flopped. Then he tries again covered in tattoos and a "ghetto" look and raps about sex, drugs, violence. Makes millions. Appealing to the lowest common denominator is usually the best for profits.
    - justwndrerin 4y ago
      A few rappers came out asking why their producers only want them to sing about those topics. Reminds me of this old Onion headline: https://www.theonion.com/sale-of-bet-to-white-supremacist-group-results-in-no-ch-1819595187 https://www.theonion.com/sale-of-bet-to-white-supremacist-gr...
bhargav 4y ago
This is exactly how most books make it in the times list now a days too
bitwize 4y ago
Pretty much the Polybius of literature, right down to it becoming real.
- FireInsight 4y ago
  Speaking of Polybius, the best gaming-related video essay produced! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7X6Yeydgyg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7X6Yeydgyg Ahoy is top notch in terms of quality on Youtube IMO.
hprotagonist 4y ago
https://variety.com/2022/film/news/martin-scorsese-addresses-fake-film-goncharov-tumblr-1235442497/ https://variety.com/2022/film/news/martin-scorsese-addresses...
thedailymail 4y ago
The pull quote on the cover, "Gadzooks,' quoth I, 'but here's a saucy bawd!", is itself a funny poke at a cliché in historical writing known as gadzookery. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gadzookery https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gadzookery
jccalhoun 4y ago
A modern version is "The Diamond Club" by 'Patricia Harkins-Bradley' but was group written by the fans of a podcast. They took advantage of how itunes and amazon rankings work to have all their fans buy them at once to put them on the top of the sales chart. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/234388-surprisingly-successful-fake-erotic-e-book https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/234388-sur... https://www.bookbusinessmag.com/article/fifty-shades-then-some/all/ https://www.bookbusinessmag.com/article/fifty-shades-then-so...
aatd86 4y ago
Wait til I ask ChatGPT to create a vacuous story about an AI bot that wasn't encoded with Asimov laws called phatGCT and publish on Amazon...
tastysandwich 4y ago
Gotta say I love these random Wikipedia articles that pop up. They're always something I didn't exactly need to know, but verge enough on the absurd that I just have to read. Despite it being a big joke, I wonder what contemporary reviews of the book actually were, and how many copies ended up selling?
AirMax98 4y ago
What we define as real is real in its consequences.
colanderman 4y ago
The popular Israeli drink limonana (mint lemonade) was similarly borne of a fictitious advertising campaign: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mint_lemonade#Names https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mint_lemonade#Names
- nasmorn 4y ago
  They thought they had a good idea with the fake campaign but actually had a genius idea with the world conquering lemonade. You can get it in Vienna at many places. I will surely tell this trivia to a lot of people.
Eleison23 4y ago
[dead]
icakir 4y ago
i read it, it is an awesome book, highly recommend it.

150 points by sublinear 4y ago

Austin McConnell has a wonderful video all about this story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7H5kFGEyUw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7H5kFGEyUw

asalahli 4y ago
Austin McConnell has the perfect combination of good storytelling and finding the most interesting random topics. Love his videos.

mjklin 4y ago

See also: “Naked Came the Stranger” and “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls”. Works that were intentionally, provocatively bad, yet successful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Came_the_Stranger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Came_the_Stranger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_the_Valley_of_the_Dolls https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_the_Valley_of_the_Dolls

narag 4y ago
And a film about an intentionally bad play: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063462/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063462/
rippercushions 4y ago
Finnish rapper Petri Laurila started out as "NuEra", offering incisive social critique about societal problems. Critics loved him, sales were dismal. As a joke, he then released as album that was as crass and low brow as possible, rapping about getting drunk and having sex, with hilariously bad lyrics ("don't be so apathic [sic]/my mind is automatic/the first time I ate pussy it tasted tomatic"). It was a runaway success and he's been milking the cow ever since. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petri_Nyg%C3%A5rd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petri_Nyg%C3%A5rd
- Cthulhu_ 4y ago
  Reminds me of Filthy Frank / Joji and the Pink Album, he seems to be doing alright these days with a lot less offensive music / caricatures. (fun fact, he started the Harlem Shake thing from some time ago)
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  I recall Lester Bangs (the character, but based on the real music critic of the same name) in Almost Famous complaining that rock was being ruined by seriousness, and claiming that rock music was at its best and purest when it was (paraphrasing, I think) "gloriously stupid". Must admit, I like very-clever rap and intensely-stupid rap and not much in between, myself, and do probably find the latter more broadly appealing, in that it's less likely for such an album to completely miss for me.
- pleasantpeasant 4y ago
  I believe that's how the guy from Die Antwoord started as well. His first rap persona was a clean-cut, well put together lyrical genius with a flow and voice to back it up. It flopped. Then he tries again covered in tattoos and a "ghetto" look and raps about sex, drugs, violence. Makes millions. Appealing to the lowest common denominator is usually the best for profits.
  - justwndrerin 4y ago
    A few rappers came out asking why their producers only want them to sing about those topics. Reminds me of this old Onion headline: https://www.theonion.com/sale-of-bet-to-white-supremacist-group-results-in-no-ch-1819595187 https://www.theonion.com/sale-of-bet-to-white-supremacist-gr...

bhargav 4y ago

This is exactly how most books make it in the times list now a days too

bitwize 4y ago

Pretty much the Polybius of literature, right down to it becoming real.

FireInsight 4y ago
Speaking of Polybius, the best gaming-related video essay produced! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7X6Yeydgyg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7X6Yeydgyg Ahoy is top notch in terms of quality on Youtube IMO.

hprotagonist 4y ago

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/martin-scorsese-addresses-fake-film-goncharov-tumblr-1235442497/ https://variety.com/2022/film/news/martin-scorsese-addresses...

thedailymail 4y ago

The pull quote on the cover, "Gadzooks,' quoth I, 'but here's a saucy bawd!", is itself a funny poke at a cliché in historical writing known as gadzookery. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gadzookery https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gadzookery

jccalhoun 4y ago

A modern version is "The Diamond Club" by 'Patricia Harkins-Bradley' but was group written by the fans of a podcast. They took advantage of how itunes and amazon rankings work to have all their fans buy them at once to put them on the top of the sales chart. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/234388-surprisingly-successful-fake-erotic-e-book https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/234388-sur... https://www.bookbusinessmag.com/article/fifty-shades-then-some/all/ https://www.bookbusinessmag.com/article/fifty-shades-then-so...

aatd86 4y ago

Wait til I ask ChatGPT to create a vacuous story about an AI bot that wasn't encoded with Asimov laws called phatGCT and publish on Amazon...

tastysandwich 4y ago

Gotta say I love these random Wikipedia articles that pop up. They're always something I didn't exactly need to know, but verge enough on the absurd that I just have to read. Despite it being a big joke, I wonder what contemporary reviews of the book actually were, and how many copies ended up selling?

AirMax98 4y ago

What we define as real is real in its consequences.

colanderman 4y ago

The popular Israeli drink limonana (mint lemonade) was similarly borne of a fictitious advertising campaign: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mint_lemonade#Names https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mint_lemonade#Names

nasmorn 4y ago
They thought they had a good idea with the fake campaign but actually had a genius idea with the world conquering lemonade. You can get it in Vienna at many places. I will surely tell this trivia to a lot of people.

Eleison23 4y ago

[dead]

icakir 4y ago

i read it, it is an awesome book, highly recommend it.