I’m concluding Peeling The Onion with The A.V. Club’s semi-original book Inventory, named after and consisting of the long-running A.V. Club feature of that name featuring pop culture-related lists. Being a guy who likes pop culture and lists, that appeals to me, and I hope The A.V. Club’s new bosses start doing it more often again.

I said “semi-original” because some of them come from the website, although there are plenty created for the book. Like The Onion’s original books, this book has plenty of range, from the most accessible pop culture topics to esoteric stuff like “16-Plus Books Based Around Odd Literary Conceits.”

Some of the book is of its time, like the fact that there are two lists about DVD commentaries: “9 DVD Commentators Always Worth a Listen” and “The 15 People You Meet Listening To DVD Audio Commentaries”, the latter of which came from the website so I’ll link to it here: https://www.avclub.com/inventory-the-15-people-you-meet-listening-to-dvd-audi-1798209447

One list that I think didn’t age well is “6 Keanu Reeves Movies Somehow Not Ruined by Keanu Reeves.” One thing that I think was odd even at the time is that Speed wasn’t included. (The 6 that were included were Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, My Own Private Idaho, River’s Edge, The Matrix, Point Break, and A Scanner Darkly.) The book also has plenty of cheap snark of the type you’d hear on VH1’s “I Love the…” and “Most Awesomely Bad…” shows. Also, Leonard Pierce gets credited as a contributor.

Flaws aside, it’s still a fun book that shows the kind of pop culture expertise that drew us to The A.V. Club in the first place.