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Baked Potatoes: A Pot Smoker's Guide to Film & Video
From undeniable Classics to mind-grating Bad Seeds. From elusive Unsung Heroes to risky Risky Calls. Complete with an easy-to-use five-pot-leaf rating system, incisive self-indulgent babble, troubleshooting procedures for the Bad Seeds gone berserk, and much much more, Baked Potatoes arrives in a blaze of glory, rating and reviewing over 150 films and videos for the discerning high.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Blade Runner, Bambi, Repo Man, Superfly, Time Bandits, Highlander, 2001, Evil Dead II, Ganjasaurus Rex, Freaks, Cheech and Chong's Up in Smoke, The Maltese Falcon, Ronald Reagan's 1984 State of the Union Address, Gates of Heaven, Story of Ricky, The Blizzard of Aahhhs, Meet the Feebles!
Why say "No" when you can just say "Fine, I have a problem" and be done with it? Why read fiction when you can read strange but easily digestible sound-bite reviews written by marijuana users? There is no reason.
Join us for a picnic on the fried cinematic playground.
John Hulme and Michael Wexler are the editors of Voices of the Exiled and creators of the nationally syndicated radio drama Vanishing Point. Writers, filmmakers, and radio producers, they have been friends since high school.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Blade Runner, Bambi, Repo Man, Superfly, Time Bandits, Highlander, 2001, Evil Dead II, Ganjasaurus Rex, Freaks, Cheech and Chong's Up in Smoke, The Maltese Falcon, Ronald Reagan's 1984 State of the Union Address, Gates of Heaven, Story of Ricky, The Blizzard of Aahhhs, Meet the Feebles!
Why say "No" when you can just say "Fine, I have a problem" and be done with it? Why read fiction when you can read strange but easily digestible sound-bite reviews written by marijuana users? There is no reason.
Join us for a picnic on the fried cinematic playground.
John Hulme and Michael Wexler are the editors of Voices of the Exiled and creators of the nationally syndicated radio drama Vanishing Point. Writers, filmmakers, and radio producers, they have been friends since high school.
- GenresMedia Tie In
224 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1996
34 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 23, 2024
Note: This review was originally published on the ROX Quarry on 9 June 1996
I might as well admit up-front that I am reviewing this book becuz I'm in it. The authors even gave me a few free copies of the book. Has this swayed my objectivity? I should think not! It is my duty to the public to dig up the dirt on this publication. My own personal opinions mean nothing! The truth means nothing! I offer the harsh and uncompromising critique below as proof that I cannot be bought!
book review
Baked Potatoes:
a Pot Smoker's Guide to Film and Video
by John Hulme and Michael Wexler
"There's so much more to drugs than life."
There's a book hot off the presses from Doubleday that addresses two topics close to my heart: THC and TV. Cinema and Sinsemilla. Vipers and Video.
The title says it all: Baked Potatoes. Get it? No, it's not a cookbook, except in the most twisted sense. This is a video guide for stoners. In fact, it's the only video guide for stoners. Sounds great, right? If you're like me, you're probably ready to run out and buy it right now. But be advised: there are some serious problems with this book that deserve your careful consideration.
Yes, a vast array of films are reviewed. Yes, there is a freaky graphical rating system that is almost like a work unto itself. There are also numerous appendices with useful information, like how to cope with really bad paranoia.
And, yes, the writing is entertaining enough to make this a great sit-shit-and-read book, a virtual must for the bathroom libraries of the drugged and indolent.
However, all these positive attributes are compromised by the single hideous, glaring flaw which I am about to disclose. Imagine the next time you walk into a video store at 2 a.m., just before closing time, with a copy of Baked Potatoes in your pocket and a wad of crumpled bills in your hand...
You stalk the aisles, looking for an appropriate video to take home. It has to be the right one, something that will amuse and satisfy the circle of friends who are even now sitting on the floor of your home and readying the five-foot hookah for your return. But you're pressed for time. Suddenly nothing looks good. Then you see it: The Money Tree! Big pot leaf on the cover. Could be it, but are you sure? Better check Baked Potatoes.
Now the hideous, glaring flaw becomes apparent: the publishers have failed to include an index of any sort!!! Now what are you supposed to do? Thumb through it like some kind of neanderthal? How utterly appalling. Obviously with a flaw of this magnitude, I can only recommend that you buy as many copies as possible and burn them in the streets as a protest.
I might as well admit up-front that I am reviewing this book becuz I'm in it. The authors even gave me a few free copies of the book. Has this swayed my objectivity? I should think not! It is my duty to the public to dig up the dirt on this publication. My own personal opinions mean nothing! The truth means nothing! I offer the harsh and uncompromising critique below as proof that I cannot be bought!
book review
Baked Potatoes:
a Pot Smoker's Guide to Film and Video
by John Hulme and Michael Wexler
"There's so much more to drugs than life."
There's a book hot off the presses from Doubleday that addresses two topics close to my heart: THC and TV. Cinema and Sinsemilla. Vipers and Video.
The title says it all: Baked Potatoes. Get it? No, it's not a cookbook, except in the most twisted sense. This is a video guide for stoners. In fact, it's the only video guide for stoners. Sounds great, right? If you're like me, you're probably ready to run out and buy it right now. But be advised: there are some serious problems with this book that deserve your careful consideration.
Yes, a vast array of films are reviewed. Yes, there is a freaky graphical rating system that is almost like a work unto itself. There are also numerous appendices with useful information, like how to cope with really bad paranoia.
And, yes, the writing is entertaining enough to make this a great sit-shit-and-read book, a virtual must for the bathroom libraries of the drugged and indolent.
However, all these positive attributes are compromised by the single hideous, glaring flaw which I am about to disclose. Imagine the next time you walk into a video store at 2 a.m., just before closing time, with a copy of Baked Potatoes in your pocket and a wad of crumpled bills in your hand...
You stalk the aisles, looking for an appropriate video to take home. It has to be the right one, something that will amuse and satisfy the circle of friends who are even now sitting on the floor of your home and readying the five-foot hookah for your return. But you're pressed for time. Suddenly nothing looks good. Then you see it: The Money Tree! Big pot leaf on the cover. Could be it, but are you sure? Better check Baked Potatoes.
Now the hideous, glaring flaw becomes apparent: the publishers have failed to include an index of any sort!!! Now what are you supposed to do? Thumb through it like some kind of neanderthal? How utterly appalling. Obviously with a flaw of this magnitude, I can only recommend that you buy as many copies as possible and burn them in the streets as a protest.
January 11, 2018
Totally hilarious. I think. Can’t remember.
October 9, 2023
A worthy concept and mostly funny reference guide. I only own the book because it was among a bunch of free giveaways when I was working for a newspaper. And the only reason I don't give it another star is for its tendency to trash a few movies that I enjoy (Brazil, Carrie, Meet The Feebles), while elevating a few I consider sub-par (Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory). Useful overall, though some of the ideas come off as dated, stoned or not.
November 1, 2012
This is an entertaining book- I did laugh out loud a couple times (I definitely remember laughing at their reviews of "Nosferatu the Vampyre" and "Yentl"). I've seen quite a few of the movies they included, and was delighted to see that "The Adventures of Buckaroo Bansai Across the Eighth Dimension" was the first review in the book. This was the very first video we rented when we bought our first VCR oh- so-many years ago. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that the authors had included Joseph Campbell's "The Power of Myth" (yes, the six-tape Bill Moyers interview that aired on PBS). Their synopsis: "Baked guy in regular chair figures out universe." They certainly did include a variety of videos. Some of the reviews really meandered off topic. I enjoyed the ones that actually addressed the films in more detail the most. A fun read.
July 22, 2008
"Baked Potatoes" is an entertaining, uh, reference book for people who enjoying getting stoned and watching movies. I read it in pieces over the course of a few months and found the book to be relatively amusing, and maybe even moderately helpful.
The book is divided into sections, movies highly recommended, "questionable" picks, "bad seeds," etc. Some of the reviews actually give the reader an idea of what the movie is about; others are completely off-topic, and none are more than a page long (most less).
This is a good book to search through if you're looking for a particular movie, read on the toilet, or go through in a couple hours, if you have nothing better to do.
The book is divided into sections, movies highly recommended, "questionable" picks, "bad seeds," etc. Some of the reviews actually give the reader an idea of what the movie is about; others are completely off-topic, and none are more than a page long (most less).
This is a good book to search through if you're looking for a particular movie, read on the toilet, or go through in a couple hours, if you have nothing better to do.
September 11, 2008
the greatest book ever written
December 7, 2007
Actually, quite an insightful guide to cult cinema. Gift from a friend back in the 90s.
June 16, 2009
This is a really great...wait...what? Oh, yeah, book. Totally awesome. Dude.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews