Trace Beaulieu

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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WHAT'S SILLY RHYMES FOR BELLIGERENT CHILDREN?
The back of the book says:

You certainly don't need to be a belligerent child to appreciate these silly rhymes by Mystery Science Theater 3000's and Cinematic Titanic's Trace Beaulieu - but you may learn a thing or two about handling infected pets or living dangerously through sledding. While the subject matter may make you a bit queasy, you'll delight in the perfect storytelling encapsulated show more in each poem. Each selection is a dark and distasteful delight - a fascinating collection of raw honesty, cool understatement and looming tragedy, all brought to life by the whimsical illustrations by Len Peralta. Silly Rhymes for Belligerent Children isn't the book you'll keep on the bookcase for decades. It's the book you'll keep under your bed within easy reach so you can page through it long after you've committed all the poems to memory.

That's pretty much what the book is—in the forward/Author's Note, Beaulieu says these poems were inspired by daydreaming, and what better source could there be?

Well, these rhymes are meant for the kind of child I was, and frankly still am.

So don’t come here looking for nice little poems with fuzzy-wuzzy pictures of fluffy cute animals or impossibly happy youngsters fetching pails of water.

This book is intended for kids who hate that kind of stuff: older kids, of course, and adults with... well nothing better to do.

Some are short...some are longer (at least when it comes to page count), they're all a great mixture of fun rhymes, great images, and eccentric (to say the least) ideas. Some are morbid (in a kid-friendly way), some are just strange, some are gross (in a kid-friendly way).

MY ONE COMPLAINT
There aren't enough poems.

Or illustrations.

Or anything else.

I want more of everything in this book.

A QUICK WORD ABOUT THE ART
WOW. The art is fantastic. Can you go through this book, ignore all the words in black type, and still enjoy it? Probably—some of the pictures won't make sense without the black text, but yeah, I can see the book working if you think of it as a collection of odd illustrations (I've tried this twice, but keep slipping and ended up reading the poems, so I can't promise).

They are the perfect augment/supplement/accompaniment to Beaulieu's quirky rhymes and sensibilities.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT SILLY RHYMES FOR BELLIGERENT CHILDREN?
This is just silly fun. I, apparently, am an odd adult with nothing better to do, because I've read this a handful of times from cover to cover in the last few months and am pleased I did so each time.

You know how there are certain movies/shows that when you're just mindlessly flipping through the channels (assuming you still do that) you have to stop and watch for at least a few minutes? This book is kind of like that. I cannot tell you how many times since I first read it that I've stopped to read a poem or two when I see this book. I've yet to pick it up without reading at least three poems. Generally more. And not always the same ones, either.

From the poems to the illustrations and all points in-between, I had a blast with this. I wish I knew about this back when it was first published, my kids would've loved it then. I probably can't get them to slow down enough for it now. Hopefully in a few years.

Track down a copy and lose yourself in these pages. Your inner child (and inner odd-adult) will thank you. show less

If you're a fan of the show at all, this is essential reading. It's not just a useful episode guide with notes for when you're watching the Turkey Day Marathon, it's full of fascinating behind-the-scenes info and tidbits that give you more insight into how this show was actually made and how the staff thinks. It's also very, very funny. The book itself, that is. Turns out that people who write jokes for a living can also write an entertaining book.

It does have two notable flaws, in that the show more book stops at season 7 and never had an updated or 2nd edition to cover the rest (there were web-only entries for seasons 8, 9, and 10 that are still floating around different fansites), and that this sort of reference book really, really could have used an index. But I don't think those flaws are harsh enough for it to lose stars. show less

Flipping through this episode guide makes me MySTy-eyed with nostalgia. Gotta say, I enjoyed TV in the 90's: Bill Nye, The Tick, Hercules & Xena, a bunch of great PBS shows, and of course Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K). A lot of relaxing and sometimes silly stuff.

Anyway.

Just in case you aren't familiar with the show, MST3K has a poor guy stranded on a space station with his robot friends. Together, they make snarky observations while watching bad old movies and film shorts. And these show more are very, very…very wretchedly bad movies. "Eegah" and "Killer Shrews" somehow revoltingly come to mind when I say this. Still, the MST3K crew somehow manages to polish these uh, coprolites via merciless riffing. And it's all grist for the crew: awful miscasting, miserable dialogue, poor camera work, dismal film editing, and woeful special effects.

This book was written a while back, so it only covers seasons 1-6 and just touches on the movie. So we miss the Sci-Fi era, but you take what you can get, and here we are (sorry, "Prince of Space"). What you do get is a description of each MST3K show including a synopsis, skit summary including the stinger, and extra observations that generally lament the horror of the movies being riffed on. Sprinkled throughout the pages are tidbits such as a list of particularly disgusting movie moments and poor dialogue quotes. Oh yeah, and there's tributes to Miles O' Keefe (haha) and Beverly Garland. Finally, there's some MST3K history and some silly bios thrown in. The entries are all penned by the show writers and cast.

So what's missing? Primarily, Joel Hodgson. The entries are great, but it would have also been fun have his take on some of these shows included here. It would also be nice to have a table of contents to make it easier to find episodes. But then again, this book targets "MSTies," who'll generally be able to match episodes up with seasons. I don't think any other audience would know what the heck this book is about, anyway.

It's a really enjoyable book for an awesome show, and if by some crazy chance an updated version is published, I'll grab that, too. show less

A great collection of vividly illustrated funky children's poems. Reading these twisted little verses by MST3K's Trace Beaulieu takes me back to my childhood, reading Flapdoodle and The Portmanteau Book in the school library, just like the author describes in his introduction. Apparently out of print, this book is worth trying to get your hands on.