Introducing GentleTrashmen, the Hot New Trend Where Kids Wear Tuxedos and Post About The Joy of Trash on TikTok!

Everywhere you go everyone is talking about Minions: Rise of Gru. In its first day at the box-office, the spin-off sequel grossed over a quadrillion dollars, making it the most successful commercial endeavor in the history of the universe.

No part of the Minions: Rise of Gru is more instantly iconic than the heartwarming, inspirational fad of enterprising young people with WAY too much time on their hands dressing up in tuxedos to go see Minions: Rise of Gru in groups for TikTok videos.

It’s the kind of thing that gives you faith in your young people and hope for our future. People like to say that young people aren’t shit, that they don’t care about anything or anyone. They say that they should be hunted for sport and eaten like a fine delicacy. I’m not sure I agree.

Now I can conclusively say that that’s not true: young people care about dressing up in fancy clothes and then seeing the latest entry in Illumination’s multi-billion dollar Despicable Me franchise.

Every generation has to have a cause. For the hippies it was ending Vietnam. In the eighties our big cause was still ending the war in Vietnam because we were very badly educated and thought that the war was ongoing.

In the nineties it was all about ending video piracy but in the ensuing decades young people looked everywhere for a cause, something to believe in, something bigger than themselves that they could devote their lives towards.

They finally found one in ironically wearing formal attire to attend films pitched at small children. Culturally, this is like Woodstock or Woodstock 99: a generation-defining phenomenon.

I’m proud to say that the Gentleminions trend has found an exciting new permutation: social media-mad kids buying copies of my books from me directly at my site’s store over at https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop while wearing fancy clothes, and then making sure-to-go-viral TikTok videos of themselves reading and/or buying my books in classy clothes.

The kids doing this very real thing that I did not just make up for purely selfish purposes call themselves “GentleTrashMen.”

You might think that I’m making this up in a desperate attempt to generate interest in The Joy of Trash but this very real thing has the approval of Minions screenwriter and The Joy of Trash fan/purchaser Brian Lynch, who said of the hot new fad, "Like it or not, America, for better or worse, GentleTrashMen is here to stay, mark my words."

To promote Gentletrashmen, I will record a personal video lasting no less than sixty seconds (that’s a minute!) for EVERYONE who makes a TikTok video of themselves buying and/or reading my books while fancily attired with the hashtag #GentleTrashmen. I might just send you additional autographed books, or crap, or rather wonderful treasures I have lying around my house.

Just let me know that you’ve made a  #GentleTrashmen video or Instagram post (I‘m not picky, just desperate!) and I will make the magic happen.

Let’s do this, people! I would argue that my book is a more worthy recipient of this kind of grassroots enthusiasm than a movie that will match the gross domestic product of a medium-sized continent whether people make TikTok videos about it or not.

Did you miss the Kickstarter campaign for The Fractured Mirror, the Happy Place’s 600 page opus about EVERY American movie ever made about the film industry? Then you’re in luck! You can still make the magic happen over at Make it happen over at https://the-fractured-mirror.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

The Joy of Trash, the Happy Place’s first non-"Weird Al” Yankovic-themed book is out! And it’s only 16.50, shipping, handling and taxes included, 30 bucks for two books, domestic only! 

Buy The Joy of Trash, The Weird Accordion to Al and the The Weird Accordion to Al in both paperback and hardcover and The Weird A-Coloring to Al and The Weird A-Coloring to Al: Colored-In Special Edition signed from me personally (recommended) over at https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop

Or you can buy The Joy of Trash here and The Weird A-Coloring to Al  here and The Weird Accordion to Al here

Help ensure a future for the Happy Place during an uncertain era AND get sweet merch by pledging to the site’s Patreon account at https://www.patreon.com/nathanrabinshappyplace We just added a bunch of new tiers and merchandise AND a second daily blog just for patrons! 

Alternately you can buy The Weird Accordion to Al, signed, for just 19.50, tax and shipping included, at the https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop or for more, unsigned, from Amazon here.

I make my living exclusively through book sales and Patreon so please support independent media and one man’s dream and kick in a shekel or two!