# Complete Idiot's Guide to Chicken Soup for the Dummies on Mars and Venus. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 19, 2000, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976 "2000-08-19T18:09:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976/1 "2000-08-19T18:09:31Z")
dunno if this belongs in IMHO or not… Anyway, what are the pop cultural phenomena that irritate you the most? Kid stuff is too easy, so no Harry Potter, Pokemon, boy bands, etc. It’s gotta be intended for adult consumption, eg the name of this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Spider\_Woman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Spider\_Woman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spider_Woman)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976/2 "2000-08-19T18:16:15Z")
which you are supposed to accomplish by buying yet another book to add to all the stuff in your house (and actually, yes, I did buy one). ---
**Author:** ![tubagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b77776/32.png) [@tubagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tubagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976/3 "2000-08-19T20:02:49Z")
If my mom tries to pawn another “god luvin’-self help healin’- I’ve seen the light!” books again I’ll personally burn down barnes and Nobles! ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976/4 "2000-08-19T20:04:31Z")
Yeah, I think this’ll play better in IMHO. Away it goes. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976/5 "2000-08-19T20:51:05Z")
**Spider Woman** , I think I can top that. I bought the edition of _Simplify Your Life_ that came with a freaking slipcover. I obviously need more help than that book can provide. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976/6 "2000-08-19T21:03:28Z")
Infomercials for telephone psychics. I never thought anything could grate on me more than infomercials for cheap consumer crap. Guess I was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Spider\_Woman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Spider\_Woman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spider_Woman)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976/7 "2000-08-19T21:22:22Z")
My copy has been on the bathroom floor for about four months, and has probably been visited by friendly spiders. Where’s yours? ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976/8 "2000-08-19T22:34:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by black455 \* > \*\*Infomercials for telephone psychics. \*\* If they were _really_ psychic, they’d call you. ---
**Author:** ![Zarathustra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/898d66/32.png) [@Zarathustra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zarathustra)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976/9 "2000-08-19T22:46:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by black455 \* > . . . Anyway, what are the pop cultural phenomena that irritate you the most? Kid stuff is too easy, so no Harry Potter, Pokemon, boy bands, etc. It’s gotta be intended for adult consumption, eg the name of this thread. \*\* Adam Sandler, Brittney Spears, and Christina Aguilachiquitacucaracha. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976/10 "2000-08-19T23:35:46Z")
Can I count those horrible “Waaaaaaazaap?” commercials and offshoots? ---
**Author:** ![KP235](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de0a6/32.png) [@KP235](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP235)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2000, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976/11 "2000-08-20T08:27:18Z")
…and what is up with that ‘Billy Bass’. You know, the mounted fish that sings to you. Dumb as it is, people seem to gobble 'em up. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2000, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976/12 "2000-08-20T08:54:50Z")
I think you covered most of them in your OP. But since we’re talking about books, how about the Left Behind series?Not quite as popular as Harry Potter, but twice as evil. ---
**Author:** ![Sweet\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sweet\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sweet_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2000, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976/13 "2000-08-20T14:26:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by betenoir \* > \*\* But since we’re talking about books, how about the Left Behind series?Not quite as popular as Harry Potter, but twice as evil. \*\* I concur. ---
**Author:** ![FarTreker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@FarTreker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FarTreker)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2000, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976/14 "2000-08-20T14:56:47Z")
Advertisements for phone psychics on TV. The latest one features a big boned ‘Jah-may-kahn’ woman ‘mon,’ who was raised as a ‘shaa-man,’ mon and whose mother was a ‘shaa-man,’ mon. She has a loud, braying laugh that is annoying as hell. Man! Talk about the sucker factor equaling big bucks in the TV psychic world! How to get rich books, programs, classes and CDs. The writers get rich but the consumer doesn’t. One of the promoters of a rags to riches program currently shown on TV was caught years ago for creating the infamous Dare to be Great pyramid scheme that suckered in thousands. Any exercise machine infomercial needs to be banned. I rank them right up there with the phone psychics. Super sports. I walk through stores and see people working at minimum or slightly above minimum wage jobs, notice the price of housing going up, fuel costs going up and every year something in the vegetable and fruit harvest is going to go up – yet here are guys and gals jumping out of aircraft with ‘airboards’. (Cost of aircraft and equipment for the jump: roughly $2 – 400.) High speed snowboarding – $1000 and up. Mountain biking over mountains – $2000, Serious 4 wheeling – $50,000 and up. Base jumping (legal type) $1,000 and up. Serious ATV racing $10,000 and up. Cell phones. Commercials make it look like you and the kids each need to have your own, along with one mounted in the car and the SUV. They cleverly don’t mention the enormous cost monthly for the things. Lastly: the Internet car. DUH! What are these people thinking! Now as folks cruise down the road with a cell phone glued to one ear, coffee held between the legs, listening to the $4,000 CD stereo, checking stuff on the lap top in the seat, they can surf the net on the dash. So, when are they going to have time to actually drive the car? Anyone want to guess the national automotive death rate increase once these cars hit the road? That’s enough. Excuse me, I’m going out to weld crash bars – big thick ones – on my car. On all sides. Steel. Heavy steel. Then again, I understand one can buy surplus tanks. I wonder if they’re air conditioned. ---
**Author:** ![Amthystre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Amthystre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amthystre)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2000, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976/15 "2000-08-20T15:18:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by betenoir \* > \*\*. But since we’re talking about books, how about the Left Behind series?Not quite as popular as Harry Potter, but twice as evil. \*\* Oh man, I worked in a bookstore for about a year and the people who buy those books can be spotted miles away, much like those who buy the True Story books. Scary. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976/16 "2000-08-21T13:51:37Z")
All the commercials for websites named [ecrap.com](http://ecrap.com) and [ebuymore.com](http://ebuymore.com). I am absolutely sick of them!! ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976/17 "2000-08-21T14:07:21Z")
It took me weeks to figure out that that horrible “Wazzup” thing was supposed to be funny and a commercial for some beer company. Shows you when I last watched Network TV. Okay, adult type things that irritate me. 1. Driving 2. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ For Dummies. I’m going to write a book called “Making boatloads of cash off suckers for dummies.” 3. e-anything 4. yeah, that Internet car worries me too. 5. People in the news thinking I really care that Tiger Woods won Yet Another Golf tournament. ---
**Author:** ![Lnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/fbc32d/32.png) [@Lnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lnix)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976/18 "2000-08-21T17:48:52Z")
Oprah’s Book Club. Are we so stupid this woman needs to tell us what to read? Does she read anything besides quirky-but-nice-women who-face-adversity-and-find-the-true-meaning-of-love books? And then (here’s the payoff, now) we get to listen to her and some of her millionare friends tell us what it _ **really** _ means. Bite me, then bite me again. I’ll think I’ll just have to muddle along on my own. Theenks. ---
**Author:** ![thinksnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thinksnow/32/2849_2.png) [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976/19 "2000-08-21T18:02:41Z")
…but there is also this commercial for something (air freshener, I think) that has this really annoying, gap-toothed, hevy woman in close-up face shots then bounding across the stage, all a-blubber. Makes me ill. I don’t want to sound anti-heavy people, but damn! Psychics are the worst, though…closely followed by all those stupid work-out machines, touted to be the only piece of equipment you’ll ever need: “ab-roller,” “cardio-step,” “cheap-plastic-pieceofcraponwheels.” Such a bargain, they always are. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976/20 "2000-08-21T20:01:01Z")
**"Extreme."** Extreme sports, extreme contact, extreme flavor, extreme amounts of brain matter squirting out my ears every time the already-overused adjective gets attached to something else undeserving. I think I saw a macaroni-and-cheese commercial use the word, fer Chrissakes. It’s even worse when it’s spelled “X-treme”… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-idiots-guide-to-chicken-soup-for-the-dummies-on-mars-and-venus/29976.md?page=2)