Wicked! Design on the Edge of Bad Taste by K. Bofinger.
Here’s a game you can play in your office, just like we did. It’s a real test of character, personal taste and gag reflexes and it only requires this book to play along. It’s a little game we like to call “Is This Book Spew or Cool?” Cue wacky game show music!
Contestant number one is asked to open up the book Wicked! Design on the Edge of Bad Taste and flick through the pages of morally dubious designs. The audience carefully awaits her reactions. There are giggles from the Bodily Fluids section. Then a gasp from the Holiest of Holes chapter. And finally an “I-want-to-buy-those” declaration at the sight of some unlawful salt and pepper shakers. Contestant number one has settled on Cool.
It’s now contestant number two’s turn. She is handed the book. She sits silently and turns pages carefully. Her eyes bulge at a certain Oral Fixation chapter but stay relaxed at the sight of a blood-stained teapot. A roadkill-esque rug is frowned upon, but ultimately contestant number two has voted Cool.
Our last contestant, number three, accepts the book with some bravado. He’s telling the audience nothing will shock him – he’s seen it all before. He flicks through the first few pages, then stops at a page called Genitalia Kitsch before snapping the book shut. “I … I need to have a lie down,” he stutters. He puts the book down and retires himself from the game. The audience votes for him. Contestant number three: Spew.
K. Bofinger (BirkhÄuser, 2011) 120 PP $65.
