I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC-“Sports Song” (2014).

Not every Al song is genius.  This original song parodies marching band anthems.  In this case, it comes down to Our team is great.  You Suck.

The music is top notch (the video shows a marching band, and I wonder if they used one for the song).  And lyrically it’s pretty funny (with Al explaining in great detail how their sports team is going to beat the other.

It’s the kind of song that would be fun to sing along with (and I’ll bet it will be a hoot live), but I ‘m not too crazy about my kids singing “You Suck,” so we differ a little on family friendly there (yup, I’m a prude).  As long as it doesn’t replace “Harvey the Wonder Hamster.”

He should have saved this for a Sunday release.

[READ: July 11, 2014] Good as Lily

I’ve enjoyed Derek Kirk Kim’s books quite a bit, so I was delighted to see that he had one with Minx as well.  I have to admit I was a little disappointed with Jesse Hamm’s art because the cover (done by Kim) is just so magnificent (I really like Kim’s style clearly).  Hamm’s work on the other hand is more comic strip than full characters.  That isn’t bad, and actually works well by the end of the story, but it’s quite difference from the sensuous cover art.

So, anyhow this story is about Grace Kwon.  She has just turned 18 and her friends (including her best friend Jeremy) are throwing a big bash in the park.  Things turn out weird when a lady with an ice cream cart gives them a piñata instead of ice cream.  The piñata turns out to be fun at first but it is revealed to have some kind of weird magical powers (of course).  After it lands on Grace’s head as she’s walking home she encounters three other versions of herself–a young six-year-old Grace who only wants to eat, a super-hot 28-year-old version of herself and an old granny-aged version who only smokes and watches TV.  And they all become Grace’s responsibility.

Grace’s major responsibility these days is for her upcoming play.  She and Jeremy are the leads and they are very excited.  Mr Levon, their drama teacher, is also super cool (and young and hot) and Grace majorly crushes on him.  She also doesn’t see how much Jeremy wants to be more than friends.  But their play is endangered when the school cuts funding for it (to support the golf team).

It turns out that her 28-year-old self is bitter about still being single and when she sees Mr Levon she immediately remembers her crush on him and starts hitting on him,  big time.  Main character Grace is obviously dismayed, and she is jealous that he seems to be responding–but can she be jealous of herself?

So where does Lily come in?  Well, Lily was Grace’s older sister.  She died when Grace was young, and the family has never really moved on from Lily’s death (understandably, but devastating to grace).  Finally she confronts them and asks if they wish she died instead.  And this seems to free up a part of her life that she didn’t know was plaguing her.

Her jealousy over 28-year-old Grace causes a major disaster though and it directly impacts the play.  It is through the work of grandma Grace that things can actually go along as planned, but not without some major changes.

There are some very funny moments in the story (as well as some obvious ones).  I enjoyed the way the story went from being a weird sci-fi mash up, with different versions of herself, to being about a lot more.  The story felt a bit slighter than say Same Difference, but it was still a good one.