Having grown up just minutes outside of West Chester, PA, the relatively obscure little city that produced Bam Margera and the series "Jackass," it is no small wonder that the fates have decided to drop me his book, Serious as Dog Dirt. Or that I can't escape anything that this man does. If you live in the vicinity of West Chester, PA, you know all about The Note, a bar/theatre he opened in September of 2008, as well as his production company, "Bam Margera Productions." So why would his book be excluded from my purview?
Now, despite the fact that "Jackass" pretty much ruined any chance of dating a guy who wouldn't quote from the show or try one of the asinine pranks or stunts, I generally associate "Jackass" with some of the first true Reality TV series. Even if the stunts were scripted, the outcome and dialogue certainly weren't.
When I think back to high school and the male gene pool that was available, I have to wonder what possessed hot-blooded, hormone-raging pubescents to skate naked, or with midgets, or purposefully find ways to all but disfigure themselves. With not one, but two "Jackass" movies floating around, I find myself creeping down the cavernous pathways of Bam Margera's twisted little mind and discovering he is the culprit.
Which is why this book is so great.
You won't be surprised to see that the book comes in an eighth grade social studies form. Or that he title s written in chain letter form. Some things never change.
Serious as Dog Dirt is not your typical fluff and dry biography, it is a series of personal notes, drawings, calendared events, that include having sex with numerous girls, and time budgeting, that includes chalking off time to party, as well as personal pictures documenting people, places, and things that are important to him. It also exposes the reason why to this day, pubescent teenagers, whether truly in their teens or those in their thirties who never quite gave up the lifestyle, can't get enough of emulating Bam Margera's ridiculousness.
Bam Margera's biography/travelogue, Serious as Dog Dirt is exactly what you would expect from the prankster/skate sensation. A complete disaster that works. Serious as Dog Dirt captures the wild imagination of a young man thrust into an exotic and chaotic world of mass recognition. It is at times touching, other times revolting; never-the-less, it is that raw, in your face self-exposure we have come to expect from Bam Margera.
