I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: SARA HICKMAN-Radiation Man (1997).

This is a bouncy song from Sara Hickman  a folkie who I saw open for Natalie Griffith many years ago.  I liked her enough to get a couple of her CDs back in the 90s (Her song “500X (The Train Song)” blew me away.  And one of those CDs was Misfits, from which this song comes.  It’s a collection of oddities which is why a silly song like this is on it.  Interestingly, I know Hickman more recently as a children’s music maker. W e have her CDs Newborn and Toddler.

So this song is about Radiation Man. He’s having a bad day.  He landed his spaceship on the planet and when he waved to everyone he radiated everything in sight.  Oops.  There’s no real redemption for Radiation Man, but the song does try to mak e you feel better about your mistakes.  It’s also got some fun backing vocals and comments from the other musicians.  It’s a bit of fun.

The end of the song encourages everyone to  take off their clothes and mingle naked.  And to send your clothes to her so she knows you bought the CD.    It’s not too late to still do so.

[READ: January 22, 2013] Captain Underpants and the Invasion of the Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies from Outer Space (And the Subsequent Assault of the Equally Evil Lunchroom Zombie Nerds)

I admit that one of the things that I really like about Captain Underpants is the really absurdly long titles that Pilkey gives the books.  And it is quite accurate as well.  Like the previous book, this one opens with a summary of the life of Captain Underpants so far.  We see all of the details and learn that a snap of a finger turns Principal Krupp back into Captain Underpants.

The book opens with George and Harold learning about adding vinegar to baking soda and making a volcano.  They decide to play a great prank by creating a recipe for Principal Krupp’s birthday  cupcakes that contain baking soda and vinegar.  The lunch ladies make a batch that is ten times the size and it floods the halls with the fizzy lava.  And then the lunch ladies quit.

As it turns out, three aliens named Zorx, Klax and Jennifer landed on the roof of George and Harold’s school.  They intend to take over the world, and with the lunch ladies having left, they apply for the jobs.  That day they serve  a hilariously awful menu to the kids (a menu that George and Harold marvel at because it sounds like something they would change the menu board to say).  The highlight is Zombie Nerd Milkshakes.

George and Harold did not have the milkshakes and are thus unaffected.  When they see that the lunch ladies are really aliens, they investigate.  They discover the evil growth serum and pour it out a window.  Right on a dandelion (uh oh).

The boys are ultimately captured by the aliens and taken to their ship.  The boys see all of the diabolical cartons of serum that the aliens have and they make a few switches (with hilarious comments on how lazy the writing is) which eventually gets them free.  But as they fall to earth, they are grabbed by the now gigantic dandelion!

How will George & Harold survive?  Is there anything Captain Underpants can do (aside from swinging on toilet paper, which doesn’t work?).  Is this the end for our heroes?  And what can a squadron of zombie nerds actually do to the world?

The more books Pilkey writes the better and more complex the jokes are.  I can’t wait for Book 4.