For a while now I’ve been meaning to compile a list of things that I think have cool titles. So here goes:
“Atlas Shrugged”-book by Ayn Rand
“Soul On Ice”-book by Eldridge Cleaver
“A Streetcar Named Desire”-movie starring Marlon Brando
More as I think of them.
Sorry, I must have been reading too many ‘Celebrity Jeopardy’ threads. I read your topic line as “What are the best titties?” Sorry.
Anyway,
Reality is What You Can Get Away With, by Robert A. Wilson.
Coin Locker Babies by Ryu Murakami
–sublight.
“Things to do in Denver when you’re Dead” (flick)
Cannibal: The Musical! (Trey Parker/Matt stone flick)
God is a DJ - (song by faithless)
And God Said HA! (flick.)
Sympathy for the Devil - (Rolling Stones song)
Guh… Im sleepy and fuzzy and not making awhole lot of sense… but yeah
[nit]Prior to this it was a song by Warren Zevon.
My personal favorite book titles:
• The Last of the Moe Haircuts (a Three Stooges bio)
• Jim Phenix’s Big Bulge (an 1890s penny dreadful—the “bulge” is a bankroll)
• Lively Lays for Dreary Days (an 1880s book of children’s poetry)
• How to Turn a Trick a Day with Bisquik (a 1930s cookbook)
• Be Bold with Bananas (a 1940s cookbook)
An XXX movie called, “Yank My Doodle, it’s a Dandy”
The Devil Went Down to Georgia by Primus
Sins of the Fathers by Course of Empire(1 vote for the song, 1 for the band)
[ul]
[li]Many Things Have Happened Since He Died (and Here Are the Highlights), a novel by an acquaintance from grad school, Elizabeth Dewberry Vaughn[/li][li]The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies, one of the oddest films of all time, from one of the masters of odd, Ray Dennis Steckler[/li][li]“More Songs about Chocolate and Girls”, song by Belfast rock group The Undertones[/li][li]“Thankfully, Not Living in Yorkshire, It Doesn’t Apply”, song from Searching for the Young Soul Rebels, the first (and best) Dexy’s Midnight Runners album[/li][li]“The Nips Are Getting Bigger”, song by Mental As Anything (n.b., the titular “nips” are from a bottle – and I think I can now die happy, having had occasion to say “titular ‘nips’” in a totally innocuous context)[/li][/ul]
Have to run for now; more to follow.
BTW, I’ve always thought there ought to have been a rock band called Gloria Monday, whose first album should have been called Sick Transit. If there ever were, I’m sure they’d be awful and completely uninteresting, with Frazetta cover art and all, but still.
Only two good ones spring to mind at the moment:
I have no mouth, and I must scream -short story by Harlan Ellison.
Meathook Sodomy -Song by Cannibal Corpse (I think)
Thrash
Just remembered a few more:
‘Clams have feelings too (actually they dont)’ (NOFX saong)
‘And now for something completely similar’ (Another NOFX song)
“Pantera Fans in Love” (Nerfherder song)
“I cant get invited to the prom” (Queers song)
“If you love someone, set them on fire.” (Dead Milkmen song)
The Ellison is one of my favorites. I also like his “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman.”
Philip K. Dick had some good titles. “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”, “The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.”
Horror and SF short stories have great titles, don’t they?
Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad – M. R. James, I think (?)
Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man’s Back and My Dead Dog, Bobby – two from Joe Lansdale
It’s the rhythm, maybe.
[ul]
[li]“This World, Then the Fireworks”, short story by Jim Thompson[/li][li]“Tortoise Brand Pot Scrubbing Cleaner’s Theme (Sea Turtle)” and “Tortoise Brand Pot Scrubbing Cleaner’s Theme (Green Tortoise)”, Shonen Knife song titles[/li][li]Take Your Tongue of My Mouth, I’m Kissing You Goodbye and If You Can’t Live Without Me Why Aren’t You Dead Yet, books by Cynthia Heimel[/li][li]dig . . ?, title of first album by The Coolies, consisting entirely of Simon and Garfunkel covers (plus a cover of Paul Anka’s “Having My Baby”)[/li][li]Doug, title of second album by The Coolies, a brilliant rock opera about a skinhead who kills a transvestite fry cook, becomes a millionaire by publishing the cookbook he finds on the victim, and crashes back to poverty and paranoia, with spot-on parodies of R.E.M., The Who, and many more[/li][li]Life Sentence in the Cathouse, album title by Tav Falco and Panther Burns[/li][li]Joshua Judges Ruth, Lyle Lovett album title[/li][li]“Gimme Back My Wig”, song title by Chicago bluesman Hound Dog Taylor[/li][li]“Throwing My Baby Out With the Bathwater”, song title by Tenpole Tudor[/li][li]“You Broke My Heart in Seventeen Places”, song title by Kirsty MacColl[/li][li]“There’s a Guy Works Down at the Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis”, song title by Kirsty MacColl[/li][li]“Pacchiarotto, and How He Worked in Distemper”, poem by Robert Browning[/li][li]“Extract from Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven”, unfinished short work by Mark Twain[/li][/ul]
Tea for the Tillerman- an old 70’s album by Cat Stevens
JimmyNipples- A poster on the SDMB
"Repent, Harlequin!" Said The Ticktockman, short story by Harlan Ellison.
Hole of the Brave, gay movie.
“Come Down from the Hills and Make My Baby”-an album title
by Braindead Sound Machine
“Ethel Merman Jism Spoon” title of a song by The Wrong
“The Gods Must Be Crazy” - Funny movie
I tend to like titles that are imperatives, e.g.
Damn the Defiant!
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Go Tell it On the Mountain
Go Tell the Spartans
Look Back in Anger
*Hang 'Em High *
Pray for Death
Some titles are just funny to read:
They Only Kill Their Masters
Razor Blade Smile - Stupid, stupid movie, but is that not the coolest title ever for a vampire flick?
*Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead * - Ditto to everybody.
The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies - Ditto again.
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
*From Russia With Love *
*Burglars Can’t Be Choosers *
Some are imperative and funny:
Please Don’t Torture a Duckling
Some have a haunting quality I like;
*The Executioner’s Song
A Bullet for Sandoval
Two Mules for Sister Sara
The Man Who Would Be King
Alas, Babylon!
Is Paris Burning?
The Ballad of Little Jo *
The titles I least like include two-word adjective-noun banalities, e.g.
*Deep Cover
Deep Rising
Basic Instinct
Primal Fear
Pitch Black*
Thank you! I was trying to think of this title in another thread.
My fav. titles:
Is’nt it funny though how many thrillers have titles like this though? Obviously someone is following the “How to Make a Thriller” handbook to the letter.
“My Own Private Idaho”- movie with Keanu Reeves.