The 56 best/worst analogies written by high school students

I came upon this over at the House of Figs blog.  I don’t know whether they came from high school students or not, but I laughed harder than that time that something really funny happened.

  1. Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center.
  2. He was as tall as a 6′3″ tree.
  3. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.
  4. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.
  5. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
  6. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
  7. The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
  8. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame. Maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
  9. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
  10. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.
  11. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife’s infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM.
  12. The lamp just sat there, like an inanimate object.
  13. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
  14. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
  15. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at asolar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
  16. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
  17. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.
  18. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.
  19. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
  20. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
  21. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan’s teeth.
  22. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant and she was the East River.
  23. Even in his last years, Grand pappy had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it hadrusted shut.
  24. He felt like he was being hunted down like a dog, in a place that hunts dogs, I suppose.
  25. She was as easy as the TV Guide crossword.
  26. She walked into my office like a centipede with 98 missing legs.
  27. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
  28. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
  29. “Oh, Jason, take me!” she panted, her breasts heaving like a college freshman on $1-a-beer night.
  30. It hurt the way your tongue hurts after you accidentally staple it to the wall.
  31. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.
  32. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.
  33. The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the period after the Dr. on a Dr Pepper can.
  34. Her eyes were like limpid pools, only they had forgotten to put in any pH cleanser.
  35. Her date was pleasant enough, but she knew that if her life was a movie this guy would be buried in the credits as something like “Second Tall Man.”
  36. The thunder was ominous-sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet of metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play.
  37. The red brick wall was the color of a brick-red Crayola crayon.
  38. She caught your eye like one of those pointy hook latches that used to dangle from screen doors and would fly up whenever you banged the door open again.
  39. Her pants fit her like a glove, well, maybe more like a mitten, actually.
  40. Fishing is like waiting for something that does not happen very often.
  41. They were as good friends as the people on “Friends.”
  42. Oooo, he smells bad, she thought, as bad as Calvin Klein’s Obsession would smell if it were called Enema and was made from spoiled Spamburgers instead of natural floral fragrances.
  43. The knife was as sharp as the tone used by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) in her first several points of parliamentary procedure made to Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) in the House Judiciary Committee hearings on the impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton.
  44. He was as bald as one of the Three Stooges, either Curly or Larry, you know, the one who goes woo woo woo.
  45. The sardines were packed as tight as the coach section of a 747.
  46. Her eyes were shining like two marbles that someone dropped in mucus and then held up to catch the light.
  47. The baseball player stepped out of the box and spit like a fountain statue of a Greek god that scratches itself a lot and spits brown, rusty tobacco water and refuses to sign autographs for all the little Greek kids unless they pay him lots of drachmas.
  48. I felt a nameless dread. Well, there probably is a long German name for it, like Geschpooklichkeit or something, but I don’t speak German. Anyway, it’s a dread that nobody knows the name for, like those little square plastic gizmos that close your bread bags. I don’t know the name for those either.
  49. She was as unhappy as when someone puts your cake out in the rain, and all the sweet green icing flows down and then you lose the recipe, and on top of that you can’t sing worth a damn.
  50. Her artistic sense was exquisitely refined, like someone who can tell butter from I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter.
  51. It came down the stairs looking very much like something no one had ever seen before.
  52. Bob was as perplexed as a hacker who means to access T:flw.quid55328.com\aaakk/ch@ung but gets T:\flw.quidaaakk/ch@ung by mistake.
  53. You know how in “Rocky” he prepares for the fight by punching sides of raw beef? Well, yesterday it was as cold as that meat locker he was in.
  54. The dandelion swayed in the gentle breeze like an oscillating electric fan set on medium.
  55. Her lips were red and full, like tubes of blood drawn by an inattentive phlebotomist.
  56. The sunset displayed rich, spectacular hues like a .jpeg file at 10 percent cyan, 10 percent magenta, 60 percent yellow and 10 percent black.

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Review of A Nightmare on Elm Street

A Nightmare on Elm Street may be my favorite horror movie of all time.  And yes, the original.  It makes me sad that I have to differentiate the two now.  See why I love it here.

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11/22/63

Has anyone read this book?  I have always been a fan of Stephen King, but the whole premise of this one seems like a major stretch.  The reviews on Goodreads are pretty fantastic (4.4 stars with 1500 ratings), though I have read some horror fans who were disappointed that the book lacks scares.  I also question the choice of topics; of all the things I would go back and change, Kennedy’s assassination is not first on my list.  I may check it out, though Under the Dome seems more enticing.

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Review of Captivity

If Susperia is one of my favorite movies, Captivity is one of my least.

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Review of Susperia

My review of Susperia, easily one of my favorite movies of all time, is up over in movie reviews.

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“A terribly fun ride.”

Wanted to share this review (by a Canadian no less!) with everyone.  Another satisfied customer!

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Review of Zone One

My review of Colson Whitehead’s Zone One has gone live.  I found the book to be frustrating, as you will see from the review.  Zone One is not a terrible novel, but I do not think it is deserving of the overwhelming praise it has received.

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Support the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence!

Christmas Lites, a holiday anthology that includes one of my short stories, hits the stores today. It’s sort of a crazy book, with a little bit of everything.  You may not like all the stories, but I guarantee you will like some of them.  Mine is a Christmas ghost story.  All proceeds go to the NCADV, making this the perfect Christmas present or indulgence. I have included a link to both CreateSpace and Amazon below. If you buy from CreateSpace, we make twice as much money for the NCADV. Let me know if you have any questions.

CreateSpace and Amazon

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I’m Thankful For You

It’s been quite a year.  This time last year, I wasn’t really sure if this whole writing thing had any future beyond a hobby for myself and my long suffering friends I make read everything I write.  Now, I’m a published author with a book that is doing far better than I could ever have hoped.  And I have all of you to thank for that.  To my family and friends, to everyone who bought the book, to all the great folks at JournalStone–Thank You!  I am truly blessed.

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The Rivalry

Great article by my friend Paul Finebaum on the Alabama Auburn rivalry.  If you haven’t lived it, you can’t understand it.  And no matter how bad whatever rivalry you are a part of is, it’s worse here.  Click me!

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Paranormal Activity III Review

Went to see Paranormal Activity III tonight.  Enjoyed the movie quite a bit.  Review is up now!

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The Art of Reviewing

Someone asked me yesterday what process I go about when I review a book. Since I have started this website with a whole page devoted to doing just that, it seemed prudent to provide an answer. I’ll start with my review system. I grade on a 1-5 star (soon to be pumpkin if I can find the right clip art) scale. You would think that would be self-explanatory, but if you read a lot of reviews you know that it is not. I rarely see a review where the written description matches the number of stars given. I think people tend to underrate books, if that makes sense. I see three star reviews with one star ratings all the time. So to help avoid any confusion, here is what each star means to me.

1 Star – One Star reviews make me sad. I am a writer, and I know what kind of effort goes into producing even the worst book. Unless you are James Patterson and you have a veritable army of co-authors who write the books you eventualy put your name on, chances are you poured everything you had into your book. And I appreciate the fact that reviews are as much for the author as they are the audience. In any event, I only give one star reviews to the very worst books. Books that make no sense, that have cardboard thin characters if they have real characters at all. Books that have cheap and ridiculous dialogue or books that are impossible to finish.

I will not give a book one star simply because I did not like it, no matter how intense my feelings. Time for full disclosure—I hate Twilight. I hated it so much that I couldn’t get past the first 75 pages. I tried. I had even bought both the first two books in the series because I assumed I would like them. I like vampires. I’m a fan of Harry Potter. What could go wrong? The less said about it the better, especially since that’s not the point. The point is that even if I had finished the book, I would not have given it one star. Why? Because I don’t think a book that has had the cultural impact of Twilight can be a one star book. You may think I am crazy, but I am not really trying to convince you. I’m just explaining. The simple fact of the matter is I will rarely write a one star review. But if I do, you know it is bad.

2 Stars – Most of the bad reviews I write are two star reviews. A two star review means that I find something redeeming about the book (Twilight‘s cultural impact for instance) even though for whatever reason I really don’t like it. Maybe the premise fails. Maybe it is poorly written or confusing. Maybe it accomplishes nothing it sets out to accomplish. Either way, it’s a book I really didn’t like. I’ll be giving a lot of these as I try and get back into the reviewing swing of things.

3 Stars – You won’t see many of these reviews. A three star review is neither hot nor cold. It’s the worst possible review, in my opinion. It means you read the book and thought, “eh.” I hate when I get a three star review. I especially hate it because I think some people cap what they will give to genre fiction. They are like high school kickers on Rivals (forgive me, football illiterate)—they only go up to three, no higher. I don’t do that. I will rate a zombie novel just as highly as I will Ulysses. Not that I would rate Ulysses that high . . . .

4 Stars – A four star novel is one that I really love. Some authors actually get upset about four star reviews. Weird, I know. It is like you are insulting them if you don’t say their book is perfect. For me, a four star book is one I would recommend to just about anyone without any concern.

5 Stars – The funny thing about five star reviews is that they aren’t necessarily “better” than books I give four stars. Five star books fit into one of two categories. Either I just loved the book, loved it no matter what its flaws might be, or it is a book I consider to be great. If I loved the book, I can forgive any number of problems. If it is a great book, I may not have even enjoyed it that much, but I will give it five stars and explain why. There are considerably fewer of those . . . .

So there you have it. That’s my standard. Let me know in the comments how you value a book.

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A Big Thank You!

I want to thank everyone that voted in the Goodreads Choice Awards this year.  We didn’t make the finals, but the fact that we were in the Top 20–out of thousands of books published this year–just shows what great people you all are.  But don’t worry, I’m working on Book 2.  We’ll get um next year!

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Roll Tide!

I’ll be in Tuscaloosa, Alabama most of the day watching the Crimson Tide take on Georgia Southern.  With Okie St. going down last night, Alabama has a real shot at a rematch with LSU for the national title.  Keep your fingers crossed!  Roll Tide!

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Review of Phantoms by Dean Koontz

My review of Dean Koontz’s Phantoms is up in the Book Reviews section.  Koontz is a very popular author, and I always like to honor those guys who have found great success, but I have simply never been a fan of his writing.  Phantoms was a big disappointment to me, in no small part because it was so over-hyped.  Interested to hear your take.

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