I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-“I Can Be a Frog” on Yo Gabba Gabba ( 2010).

The Flaming Lips make songs about all kinds of things.  This track, from Embryonic, always had a feel of a kid’s song.  So much so that when they modified it for Yo Gabba Gabba, they merely changed the word “She” to the more inclusive “You.”

You can be a frog / You can be a bat / You can be a bear / Or you can be a cat

This version sounds very similar to the record, but it’s really fun to see the guys playing on the hugely cartoonish instruments.  I also like when they pull back to show DJ Lance and his pals  dancing along (they dance very well for creatures in large costumes).

I’ve always been a little sad that my kids didn’t like this show.

 

[READ: February 22, 2013] Ricky Ricotta Books 1-3

Ricky Ricotta is a book series that Dav Pilkey created (with Pictures by Martin Ontiveros) in the middle of the Captain Underpants series (the guy never rests!).  He has nine books planned for the series (one for each planet).  This series is aimed at a younger audience than the Captain and is less “naughty.”  Ricky is a mouse who wishes he had a friend.  He is also picked on by bullies at school.  His parents tell him that one day something big will happen to him.  And indeed, one day something big does happen to him.

The evil mad scientist Dr Stinky has created a robot and wants it to destroy the earth.  But the robot doesn’t want to.  So the evil scientist blasts it with a laser ray.  Ricky sees the whole thing and he kicks a kickball at the scientist, making him drop and smash the ray gun.  Ricky and the Mighty Robot become friends.  Indeed the robot becomes Ricky’s best friend.  The robot immediately gets the bullies to stop picking on Ricky (without harming anyone).  And Ricky is happy for the first time.

But soon Dr Stinky is back for revenge.  He blasts the classroom iguana turning it into a huge, vicious monster which goes on a rampage.  Mighty Robot and the iguana fight (in Flip-O-Rama!).  By the end of the book the bad guy is punished and the iguana is restored to its normal self.  There is no indication of a continuation of the story (like in Captain Underpants), although we know from the back of the book that he has a while series planned.

Book Two is from Mercury.  I liked that there was a small amount of science about Mercury (giving the temperature during the day and during the night).  Mr. Mosquito lives on Mercury but he hates the temperature disparity.  He sees how nice things look on earth and decides to take it over (couldn’t he have just moved there?)   He clips his toenails and turns them into mutant mosquitoes which he sends to earth.

The Mighty Robot dispenses with the mutants pretty quickly (in a clever way) but then Mr Mosquito’s ship turns into a mecha-mosquito and Ricky is trapped inside of it!  So Mighty Robot won’t fight!  When Ricky finds a way out, the Flip-O-Rama battle ensues.

The end of the book shows a nice nod to book one (although it’s not really dependent on it at all).

Book #3 comes from Venus and it includes some nice Venus statistics.  The beginning of the book talks about learning responsibility.  And then comes the bad guy.  Victor von Vulture lives on and hates Venus.  He sees the Earth and decides to take over by hypnotizing the world.  I like that Victor sends voodoo waves through the TV on the night that Ricky is not allowed to watch the most anticipated show ever.

The gigantic vulture mutants come to Earth and all the hypnotized rodents bring them all the food they can find.  Ricky devises a clever plan to make the most unpleasant chocolate chip cookies he can and it works long enough for them to destroy the voodoo ray.  And then the real battle begins.  I got a kick out of the fact that Mighty Robot is clutching Victor (who is tiny) in his fists while he fights so Victor gets the brunt of all of the battle–(even in Flip-O-Rama)!

By the end, the jail is filling up as Victor is added there with the others from Books One and Two.

These books are all super fast and easy to read.  And, given the number of words they are perfect for young and I’d say reluctant readers.  The violence is all in the Flip-O-Rama which is more fun than violent and no people get hurt.  And the whole series has a message of friendship.

So those first books were all called Ricky Ricotta’s Giant Robot and I wondered why he changed it.  The information is no longer available on Pilkey’s site (in fact I don’t like Pilkey’s, it’s very unfriendly).  But Wikipedia gives me this gem:  The first three books were originally published as Ricky Ricotta’s Giant Robot. Dav Pilkey stopped using the word Giant in the year 2002 after many young fans pointed out that the Robot really isn’t a giant. He’s just 12 times taller than a mouse, so he’s really only about two-and-a-half feet tall. Many young readers suggested the adjective “Mighty” instead, so after careful consideration, Pilkey changed the title on all the books.  

If that’s true, that’s very cool that the fans talked to him and he agreed with them.

Moving on to Jupiter!