I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC-Off the Deep End (1992).

It was this “Weird Al” album that brought me back into the fold.  His parody of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (“Smells Like Nirvana”) was hilarious.  And the video was even better.  It was enough for me to get this album (the cover of which even parodied Nevermind) and was a huge seller for Al.  This great cover makes the rest of the parodies seem so strangely one-hit wonderish (which is, of course Al’s bread and butter), but when you read the other parodied songs, it’s so amusingly “who?”

We have  “I Can’t Watch This” (“Can’t Touch This,” MC Hammer).  This parody is pretty funny as his TV stuff is usually very good.  “The White Stuff” (“The Right Stuff” New Kids on the Block–really??) is very very funny.  It works on a parody level and it works so well internally including the way the O-O-O-OREO fits in in both respects.  It’s probably his best overall parody for a song whose original I dislike.  “Taco Grande” is a parody of Rico Suave” (does anyone remember that song?).  This song also happens to be a favorite of mine–the way he says “Taco” in an oddly sexy way makes me laugh every time.  And, internally it works really well, too.  “The Plumbing Song” is a parody of Milli Vanilla.  While the plumbing  jokes are good, the actual chorus, the “punchline,” really doesn’t work.  Just like Milli Vanilli.

The originals are quite strong on this disc, too.  “Trigger Happy” is a Beach Boys style parody which actually is quite relevant in the big gun debate of 2013.  “I Was Only Kidding” is one of his anti-romantic songs, in which he says all of these romantic things and then takes it back.  It’s pretty funny, even with the Wayne’s World joke.  Wikipedia suggests that it’s a style parody of Tonio K, but I don’t know who that is or what he sounds like.  “When I Was Your Age” sounds a lot like a song from the UHF soundtrack–that same musical style, I wonder if the band works on the music together. It’s a funny song that’s all about old people yelling about how easy young people have it.  It’s a good one.

“Airline Amy” is an original song about a stewardess which doesn’t really do much for me.  But the final song on the disc “You Don’t Love me Anymore” is just outstanding.  It’s a funny acoustic ballad, an anti-romantic song with some very funny lines.  The video parodies Extreme’s “More Than Words,” even though the original song wasn’t a parody of that song (but since people thought it was he made the video reflect it). The video is awesome.

And of course, the polka medley is wonderful.  There’s such a weird mix of songs, and this one really dates the record (not in a bad way).  The previous medleys mixed a lot of different eras, but the songs in this one are of a very specific time: “Cradle of Love,” “Tom’s Diner,” “Love Shack,” “Pump Up the Jam,” “Losing My Religion” (the second R.E.M. nod from Al), “Do Me” (I don’t know the original but I love that he throws in a yodel at the end of it), “Cherry Pie,” “I Touch Myself,” “Dr Feelgood” and the unforgettable “Ice Ice Baby.”  It May be the only place where Metallica and “The Humpty Dance” play next to each other, too.

In a final nod to Nirvana, Al tossed in a 5 second piece of noise after ten minutes of silence which he called “Bite Me” (because Nevermind had a very noisy song called “Endless, Nameless” after some 30 minutes of silence).  My friend Matt has a very funny story about not knowing that “Bite Me” would come on and getting the crap scared out of him by it.  Al makes us laugh in many different ways.

[READ: February and March 2013] The Weird Zone series

Readers will know that Clark and I love Tony Abbott.  We keep looking for his older, somewhat harder to find series, and this past month the library came through with The Weird Zone, eight books set in the small town of Grover’s Mill.  There’s a Secret Government UFO testing base at the north of the city, a dinosaur graveyard to the west of the city and Humongous Horror Movie Studio to the east.  Living in this weird triangle between these oddities can mean only one thing–Grover’s Mill, is known to the kids as the Weird Zone (their school is even call W.Reid Elementary).  The adults in town don’t seem to realize what’s going on (although, clearly they must) are called Zoners.

The Humongous Horror Movie studio is run by Mr Vickers.  His kids, Sean and Holly, are two of the five protagonist.  Although it’s a little funny that in book one, Sean is away at camp.  Mr Vickers makes a horror movie every week–they are terrible  but he shows them at the drive in and people come (perhaps because of the huge searchlights he waves around through the sky).  But having this crazy creature shop in town means that things are very rarely normal anyway.

In Book One, Zombie Surf Commandos from Mars!, Liz Duffey, Holly Vickers and Jeff Ryan are enjoying a day at the beach of Lake Lake (named after someone named Lake) when a tidal wave surges forth from the water.  Riding that wave are a bunch of Martian zombies.  They march after the kids looking for brains!

There’s some good fighting (including using mustard as a weapon) as well as a spectacular rescue from Jeff’s mom who arrives in a  helicopter (she’s just a shoe saleswoman though–there’s nothing unusual about a shoe saleswoman flying around in a helicopter–it picks her up and drops her off every day for work).

Abbott sets up the plot very nicely with Holly’s dad’s horror movie studio helping out in the big climax.

The book was funny, but not all funny.  It was a little scary, but not too scary (Tabitha didn’t seem too frightened by it, although there are some scenes of scariness that she may have been a little frightened of, even if she didn’t admit it).

Book 2 is The Incredible Shrinking Kid!

In this one, we meet Sean Vickers who was away at camp in the last book and the new kid in town Mike Mazur.  Mike and Sean were at camp Smiley together.  And on that first night back, Sean and his friend Jeff and sister Holly go to visit Mike’s house (the tenth one on the block) but when they get there, there’s no house.  Sean was ahead of the group and saw a huge flash of purple light and then the house was gone.  What could have happened to it?  Later in the book, Jeff reveals that his garage is gone now too, just completely gone.

The subplot of the story focuses once again on Mr Vickers and his horror movies.  He is planning on making a movie in which a monster crushes a miniature version of Grover’s Mill.  So he has the local toy maker create a scale model.  It look incredibly realistic.  But on the way out, the toymaker tells Sean that he’ll be back for a closer look soon enough.

And then Sean starts shrinking.  I enjoyed that Abbott put the part in the beginning about Sean’s pants being too short (and his sister calling him floods–it seemed gratuitous at first but it paid off nicely).  Because soon enough his pants fit fine.  And then they are entirely too big.  And then he is so small he can fit in Holly’s purse.  And yes, some of the action does take place in the miniature set.  It’s amazing!  (Well, no as Sean’s dad points out, in sci-fi films Amazing is always something that’s very bog.  Something that’s very small is always Incredible.

The conclusion was very satisfying.

Book #3, The Beast from beneath the Cafeteria!, the janitor quite a lot.  And despite the fact that he is obnoxious and claims that the school is his, he actually proves to be an asset.  The beast is a gigantic dinosaur-like creature that was unexpectedly brought to life (this is the Weird Zone, after a ll) and started gorging on the food supply stored beneath the school cafeteria.  In this one the whole town gets involved–indeed, the whole town gets destroyed as the dinosaur tries to eat the donut and the top of the Donut Den.  He also gets stuck in the planetarium roof.  There’s even genuine concern at the end of the book when the secret military base at the north of town decides to fire missiles at the monster–when one of the kids is in its clutches!

The solution to the book proves to be health food.  I found this particularly funny because the solution in Captain Underpants Part 2 was oranges–the vitamins destroyed the boogers–and here the health food makes the dino shrink.

#4 is Attack of the Alien Mole Invaders!  As this book starts, the friends are playing street hockey on the newly paved (and yet suddenly bumpy) street.  What could have happened to the new street?  And more importantly who are the crazy people in hoods living in that pretty blue house on the street.  The house where the kids just whacked a puck into the front door (and the guy in the hood stole it)?  When the kids investigate, they find the house is full of dirt–like totally full of dirt.  As the kids wander through it, they discover that in the basement is an entire city of moles!  Moles who wear hoods and walk upright and talk–in other words, no ordinary moles.

What I enjoy about the series is that when the kids break up into pairs for the mini-adventures it’s usually not the same kids in the pairs.  True, I can’t really tell any of the kids apart, but it’s still cool that in this one Jeff Ryan and Holly Vickers go on the mini-adventure to Jeff’s mother’s “shoe store” where they find 2 pairs of special looking sneakers.  I enjoyed the way the sneakers paid off in the end (although Clark and I both agreed that the drawing of the secret from the sneakers was nowhere near as cool as we had imagined it would be (I haven’t said much about the illustrations because they are okay, nothing really great, and they don’t look in any way how I would expect them too).  There’s a lot of excitement and humor as the story reaches the climax, although the actual end is rather silly (which is okay) with the mole leader acting like a big baby.

#5 is The Brain That Wouldn’t Obey!  In this book, Mike is the main character and actually the cause of the problem (sort of).  It’s science fair time–and man there’s some good stuff, like the awesome skateboard and the even more awesome catapult, but Mike thinks he’s going to win with his potato powered radio called potadio.  When Mike goes to clean potatdio, it seems to be talking to him.  Mike ignores is and races back to the fair where local DJ Rock Storm is announcing the fair.  After sassing one of the teachers the potadio whispers to Mike and forces up though its skin a giant pink brain.

Soon after, the potadio is sending signals through the radio and everyone is mesmerized–except Mike (who has a wax build up problem), Holly, who has a cold and Mrs Carbonese who is hard of hearing (hard of hearing jokes are always funny–unless, I suppose, you are hard of hearing yourself).  Anyhow, all of the other townsfolk are hypnotized and refer to themselves as spudlette (with a number–at some point Potatdio offers to make Mike and Holly Supdlettes 86 and 99–a nod to Get Smart I’m sure, but they refuse).  Then the kids figure out how to interrupt the brainwaves which leaves us with one giant showdown.  And the showdown comes back to the science fair.

Book #6 is Gigantopus from Planet X!  In this book Mr Vickers the movie director returns to the forefront.  All of the kids are in the Humongous Horror movie warehouse where, under a sheet in the middle of the building is…Clawgantua, the giant crab.   It grabs Holly, terrifying her (which her dad captured on film… alright!).  And then comes the delivery of a gigantic octopus!  (Which also grabs Holly and almost chokes her).  It’s the Slither Matic Deluxe Octo Prop.  And the beautiful woman who delivers it, Mary Jones, um, I mean, Mary Smith, seems a little distracted by the thought of Lake Lake and the giant Fish outside the Baits Motel.

Of course, she’s an alien, but not like any that one might have expected–she has an octopus head!  And she plans to take over the most normal town in America which is of course, Grover’s Mill.  Well, not take over so much as take–lifting Grover’s Mill wholesale out of the ground.  How will the kids defeat this gigantic space octopus?

Book #7 has the most puzzling title of the bunch: Cosmic Boy vs Mezmo Head!  Who is cosmic boy?  Who is mezmo head?  The riddle is solved pretty quickly.  Cosmic Boy is a superhero from a TV show the kids watched when they were little (he has a theme song too).  And Jeff Ryan has the Cosmic Boy helmet toy still and he is wearing it right now.  The reason he has it out is because his school is putting on a new version of The Wizard of Oz, but set in outer space (I would love to see that) and he is bringing his own prop.  But when he and Sean Vickers are standing outside of the X-Rays R Us building, they see a man with a cabbage in front of his head operating the giant X-Ray machine.  The machine sends out a gigantic pulse and a sudden blinding light and Crash.  Turns out the man with the cabbage is an alien named Klatoo (the fact that Sean can’t get the alien’s name right through the whole book cracks me up–Abbott uses this kind of joke in Droon and I liked it then, too).

This book also gives us a little more insight into the behind-the-scenes scenes of Grover’s Mill.  We finally get to see in Mr Vicker’s home office!  And all of the cool government top secret stuff that seems to be stored in there.  I secretly hope that Abbott will reveal more secrets in the final book too (I can never tell if he intends to write just the 8 books in these series or what).  In the secret office, the kids find the Mezmo Head, an alien mind control device that Jeff’s mom (who works for the army, uh, I mean a shoe store) had delivered to their house.  And once Klatoo gets the helmet, well the title makes sense and there is a big showdown.  [I feel like there is so much potential in a story where a low budget horror director is married to a secret government agent–I’d love to see more about THAT!].

How can the kids defeat an alien with total mind control?  Well, the army comes into help, but they are no use.  So it’s up to Sean who suddenly seems to be getting more powerful–as if Cosmic Boy’s helmet has superpowers!  The final battle comes down to show business–as the kids try to fake out Klatoo on the Wizard of Oz stage.

This may have been my favorite book.  The kids laughed hardest at the book–especially the scene in school when Jeff can’t take the Cosmic Boy space helmet off and it starts beeping during class.  And I enjoyed that Klatoo was afraid of his supervisors.

Book 8 ends the series.  It’s called Revenge of the Tiki Men!  As I said, it’s unclear if he intended to make any more after this, but we all knew it was the end.  And that made the book a bit more thrilling.  Could he actually be destroying the town?  Is that why the series ended?

This book finally brings in the archaeologist Kramer Duffey, because the weird monster in this book is very old and comes from under the ground.  Apparently a long time ago, Grover’s Mill was a jungle.  And there are caves beneath the town.  When Liz Duffey taps home plate in a baseball game, the ground starts to shift and quake.  And soon enough, gigantic Tiki statues come rumbling up from the ground.  (The drawings make them look a bit like the Easter Island heads).

Turns out that a Mister Kool has brought the Mango Men (Ugh!) to Grover’s Mill to revive the Tiki men and return Grover’s Mill to its former jungular state.  And that happens rather quickly as plants start growing larger and trees begin growing through buildings and grass takes over and general chaos ensues.  See the town is really getting destroyed!

Kramer Duffey believes there is a solution underground and the kids find an old tablet with writing on it, but it doesn’t make any sense.  But the speed with which the town is being taken over is quite alarming.  (This is where knowing that this was the last book made this even more exciting because Abbott could have had the town revert back to a jungle and have The Weird Zone restored to its original state.  But really that’s not what happens in kids books).

The very ending of the book diverged a bit from the format of the other ones, and it was a little funnier.  But we know that weirdness will return to Grover’s Mill.  We will just never hear about it.  I’m only a little bummed there wasn’t more of a sense of series closure.

This was an enjoyable series.  Funny and clever with enough potential scariness to be more than goofy stories.  I guess the fact that I wanted more books means that I enjoyed them.  And Tabitha was really excited to get anointed into the Tony Abbott club too.