"Idiot Letters"

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got this book out of the library recently called "Idiot Letters" by Paul C. Rosa. He wrote a bunch of humorously annoying letters to various companies and corporations and documented their responses. pretty damn funny, i recommend it if you can find it.
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/038547508X.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

however i found another book on the same shelf called "Letters From A Nut" by Ted Nancy. it looked to be the same premise as the other, so i checked that out as well. turns out, it's so similar to Rosa's book that he even wrote to some of the same companies. also his letters are dated '95 while Rosa's are '93, so it's fairly obvious this guy stole the idea pretty blatantly. this wouldn't be so bad if he had taken the idea and done his own thing but it's like a dumbed-down version of Rosa's book. the worst part is that it has an introduction written by Jerry Seinfeld, gushing about how good this book is. why is Seinfeld endorsing the inferior rip-off?

― sherm, Sunday, 20 June 2004 17:46 (twenty-two years ago)

after a little research, internet-style, i discovered that there are two more volumes of "Letter From A Nut", all have intros written by Seinfuck. i'm guessing he is doing them psuedonymously as "Ted Nancy." what a douche.

― sherm, Sunday, 20 June 2004 18:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, what a FUCKING douche! GRRRRR there's nothing more odious than famous people ripping off people nobody's heard of and not giving them credit... hopefully Rosa is plotting a glorious revenge.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Monday, 21 June 2004 04:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Then again, they and Rich Mackin are all ripping each other off... and anyone rerember Lazlo Toth?

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Monday, 21 June 2004 04:20 (twenty-two years ago)

yes i've read the toth book, which rosa obviously took from and but he at least put his own spin on the idea. is that too much to ask of a famous tv comedian or has he fallen that far since the sitcom days? there's no 'grrrr' or 'revenge' talk in my post, calm down. i'm sorry if i offended you by pointing out that seinfeld seems like a smug hack. really i could care less about whether he gives someone credit or not, but ... ah fuck it, who cares. i don't. (yes you do). well i did, but not anymore. (wimp). hey!

― sherm, Monday, 21 June 2004 07:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Shame on him Nancy. I really hate when writers do this and it really upsets me. I think it´s disgusting and everybody should know what a fraud he is.

― Jens Drejer (Jens Drejer), Monday, 21 June 2004 10:01 (twenty-two years ago)

I have the 'Nancy' book - I suspect Seinfeld actually wrote it himself. Didn't realise it was a rip-off, but see also Henry Root.

― Archel (Archel), Monday, 21 June 2004 12:18 (twenty-two years ago)

thanks archel, i'll have a look-see for those root books.

i'd like to clarify that i'm not proposing any 'who invented the wheel?' type debate. it's just that the two books are so similar, disturbingly so at times, and yes, maybe being that he is famous allows him to get away with it. as far as my obviously biased invective against seinfeld... well just ignore that i guess.

― sherm, Monday, 21 June 2004 15:07 (twenty-two years ago)

sherm, I see all your points, and I wasn't offended by you, I was offended by Seinfeld. Sorry if I overreacted. It just er disgusts me.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Monday, 21 June 2004 22:15 (twenty-two years ago)

oh my! please accept my apologies Ann, i completely thought your response was sarcastic and that you were defending Seinfeld or at least his book! i'm an idiot, sorry again.
(hehe now we're both apologizing. god, i think lurking over at the ILM board has oversaturated me with sarcasm so that i expect it everywhere...)

― sherm, Monday, 21 June 2004 23:42 (twenty-two years ago)

upon re-reading your post, i now fail to see how i thought it was sarcastic in the first place. hindsight = 20/20

also found out about this one recently, only this time the guy is sending prank cover letters with his resume which is brilliant: Hire Me Dumbass

― sherm, Tuesday, 22 June 2004 00:02 (twenty-two years ago)

The best idiot letter is either the one where he's campainging for the death of the snuggle bear or harassing Wilford Brimley.

― Anonymous, Please, Tuesday, 22 June 2004 14:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Psweew! It's so hard to tell, lacking tone of voice, when people are being sarcastic. Glad that's cleared up so I can go on to say: I've got nothing against fame when it's merit-based, but these days there are so many humans, therefore so many artists, that when somebody gets to the very top of the stack in their genre you have to wonder how skullduggerous they've been... perhaps this accounts for much of the thick scum of mediocrity that seems to float atop nearly every field with the possible exception of soft pornography...

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 20:39 (twenty-two years ago)

it's a depressing fact that networking, or "schmoozing", is a more important skill than actual talent. i'm in constant denial of this despite the proof being, well, everywhere i look. (plus in Seinfeld's case, here's a guy whose fame is arguably based on the writings of one Larry David.)

― sherm, Wednesday, 23 June 2004 14:28 (twenty-two years ago)

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