I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC-“Amish Paradise (single)1996).

Al took some time off between Alalpalooza and Bad Hair Day and he roared back on the scene with “Amish Paradise,” a wonderful parody of Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise.”  There’s a funny saga about how Coolio didn’t appreciate the joke and Al (who always asks permission even if he doesn’t need to) was really upset because he thought he had the green light.  For awhile there was an unpleasant scene between the two (not like they were in the same circle or anything) but when they finally patched things up Al admitted he could stop wearing a bulletproof vest.

The song is a spot-on recreation, (Al has totally upped his game in the studio bu this point) and while the Amish jokes are easy, they’re still funny   This single (yes, I was buying singles at the time) contains three other songs, “Everything You Know is Wrong” a great style parody of They Might be Giants and very funny song in it own right.

It also includes “The Night Santa Went Crazy (Extra Gory Version).”  I recall thinking it was very funny but now that I have kids I’d hate for them to hear it.  The extra gory part is actually the original final verse which the record company asked to tone down a bit.  So he released it here.  The last song is a very strange  an instrumental version of “Dare to Be Stupid.”  What a random song to strip words from.  Although granted, the music is pretty cool.  But still…weird.

[READ: April 7, 2013] Extreme Babymouse

I was excited to see that book 17 of the Babymouse series had come out.  This one is called Extreme Babymouse and, as you can tell from the cover, it is about extreme sports, specifically snowboarding.

What was fun about this one is that Babymouse’s fantasy dream sequence involved Sean White (for who else would you have in a snowboarding book?)  She even has crazy hair under a toque.  But what is all this extreme talk all about?  Well, everyone in her class is headed to the mountain to go snowboarding this weekend (including her locker!) and (naturally) Babymouse wants to, needs to, simply must go!  (Even if she has never been snowboarding before).

After dying inside because she can’t go, the fates align and Babymouse is able to go (her family is given a cabin for the weekend–which sounds great except that everyone else is staying at the beautiful chalet!).

But never mind the accommodations  because everyone wants to get on the slope.  Babymouse (who is instantly cold) gets some snowboarding lessons (I learned a thing or two from them) and then flies dangerously down…the bunny slope.  With that accomplished, she sets out for the hugely dangerous black diamond (only to be seen riding the ski lift back down to the bottom).

Felicia Furrypaws is there to smash all of her dreams and fantasies especially when she asks if Babymouse will be joining her on the triple black diamond.  The narrator tells Babymouse to listen to her inner voice  and we next see her apres ski, eating cupcakes–sensible inner voice, Babymouse!  And, naturally, there is some comeuppance for Felicia as well.

The word “extreme ” is thrown around about 150 times in the book and it goes from being funny to being annoying to being funny to being really funny again.  And of course, the message of being true to yourself is always present.  This was a good one, and I’m looking forward to Book 18 coming out in September.