MILK EGGS VODKA [By Bill Keaggy]

“Next time you go shopping, please get some buttmilk. I like the store-bought much better than my homemade stuff.”

When they ggo to the ggrocery store, I gguess they always gget a lot of hot doggs and hamburgger.

I enjoy reading your site whenever I need a break and a good laugh. Thanks for doing the leg-work to post what we send.
— Michal

From Mike Crowl’s Roving Report:

By chance I came across an article today on odd online museums. I guess the Internet is a place where people will try out anything, and here’s one that’s really oddball. It actually manages to turn something mundane into a kind of art work — a ‘found’ art work, in fact — because what Bill Keaggy has done is collect the scraps of paper people write their shopping lists on, and his collection of some 1600 items has all been carefully photographed and put on the Net. Crazy, you think. Well, you’re right. I think even Mr Keaggy thinks it’s crazy, but that hasn’t stopped him writing a book about his collection, called Milk Eggs Vodka, grocery lists lost and found.

It’s worth checking out the top ten lists; they point out some of the curiosities of the lists, and have cheeky comments alongside. But it’s probably even more fun to check out Keaggy’s other (promotional) site, where he writes a short story incorporating some of the lists. I think in the end it’s Keaggy’s own clever sense of humour that makes the lists worth looking at.

I get the feeling someone’s having a very bad day.

Well, it’s a mention at least:

For years, Keaggy collected grocery lists that had been tossed away by shoppers. He sorted through them and offers the best from different categories (funny, healthful, sad, upscale and so on).

An excerpt from over at Journal to a Muse:

Anyway, Milk, Eggs, Vodka is one of the things I bestowed upon my DD for her birthday. It is a book that has photographs (and some comments) about found grocery lists. It is humor, psychology, social anthropology and philosophy all combined… Many of the ones in the book made me feel LESS weird than I usually feel.

“& whatever else you might want” — sweet!

“Suchi and strimp.” I love seafood too!

Scroll down for this short, but perfect, quickie about MEV:

When making your list for your next trip to the bookstore, put MILK EGGS VODKA: GROCERY LISTS LOST AND FOUND at the very top. An extension of Bill Keaggy’s website on the same subject, the book presents page after page of people’s discarded lists. Aside from the inherent humor in the numerous misspellings of “bananas” or hysterical demands not to forget and/or purchase this product or that, there’s a fascinating, almost voyeuristic aspect at work here as well; some of these lists read like an encoded glimpse into their owners’ personal lives (not that the list simply reading “tissues, oil, AAA batteries” needs much cracking). Thoroughly hilarious, the book made me laugh out loud every few pages. And as good as it is for the funny bone, it’s also fortifying for the eyes, with incredibly attractive design. We also can’t ignore the utterly genius title.

A couple weeks ago I did an email interview with Associated Content producer, Donna T. Here it is!

If you’ve ever made a shopping list and accidentally left it in the shopping cart, or gasp, littered your list, it very well could have been made public. In 1999 blogger and webmaster Bill Keaggy put his personal collection of lost and found grocery lists online. Nearly ten years later, his collection of funny and often sad lists have been turned into a book, Milk, Eggs & Vodka.

St. Louis Magazine calls me one of the “13 St. Louisans Who Are Redefining Cool” in their June 2007 “Cool Issue,” based in part on my book, “Milk Eggs Vodka: Grocery Lists Lost and Found,” and in some other part on my various online exploits. Hooray!

But I guess I’m so cool you can only check me out in the print edition. The magazine has just six of the 13 online:

Lucky Us: Our Cool 13. Landmarks can’t talk. Parks can’t paint. Custard can’t dance. What makes a city cool? The people who live there. Here are 13 St. Louisans we consider highly cool—in every sense of the word.

Today is radio tour day and I’m having a blast talking to everyone. Big thanks to the hosts, producers and listeners of the following stations and shows:

• WBEX in Columbus/Chillicothe, Ohio
• KFNX in Phoenix, Arizona
• USA Network International
• KPAM in Portland, Oregon
• WHAM in Rochester, New York
• Bob and Sheri Network
• WGTD in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• WAZO in Wilmington/Long Beach, North Carolina
• WDEV in Burlington, Vermont
• KFRU in Columbia, Missouri
• WMDC in Mayville, Wisconsin
• KEX in Portland, Oregon
• Lifestyle Talk Radio
• WRVC in Huntington, West Virginia
• WMKX in Brookville/Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania
• WMAY in Springfield, Illinois
• WDWS in Champaign, Illinois
• WFLA in Tampa, Florida
• WKRC in Cincinnati, Ohio

Most of these were live on the air, but some stations will be re/broadcasting our talks about Milk Eggs Vodka over the next week, so listen in!

This one is sort of a classic just for the variety…

The wise Rod Lott over at the Oklahoma Gazette reviews the book. I have to say, I completely agree with most of what he says — especially these parts: “Genius” and “hilarious.” But he did misunderstand the recipes chapter. The food actually is delicious (as in not “gastronomically displeasing” — especially the French Toast and the cheesecake recipes)!

Found humor is among the funniest kind of humor, and “Milk Eggs Vodka” is a must-have, sharp-looking collection of this type.