SOUNDTRACK: “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC-“Lame Claim to Fame” (2014).
This track is a parody of Southern Culture on the Skids, a band I don’t really care about. So yes that whole southern rock whoo hoo style is not my thing. So, for this one, I have to go for the lyrics, which are very funny.
This is all about name droppers, and he gives some great examples of people who throw names around to seem impressive.
Once I’m pretty sure Mr. Jonah Hill Was in the very next bathroom stall
My sister used to take piano lessons From the second cousin of Ralph Nader
Well guess what, my birthday and Kim Kardashian’s Are exactly the same
I know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy Who know a guy who knows a guy who know Kevin Bacon
I don’t mean to brag but Paul Giamatti’s plumber knows me by name
This is the kind of song that, while I don’t like it musically, will grow on me, and will probably be a lot of fun live.
The video for this one, on the other hand, is pretty fantastic. It is done in a kind of a paper stop-motion style, with the named-dropped celebrity faces cut out and doing all manner of things. I usually prefer the Al videos in which he is in them, but this one is really stellar.
[READ: July 19, 2014] Confessions of a Blabbermouth
This book was written by Mike and his daughter Louise Carey. Louise was 15 at the time and also wrote a column for The London Metropolitan Archive called “Diary of a London School Girl.” And that makes sense because one of the characters in this story writes a column for a London paper about what it’s like to be a teenager.
But she is not the main character. The main character is Tasha, an angry, volatile (and very funny) teenager who writes a blog called Blabbermouth. The blog is where she reveals everything about herself and what’s on her mind. And what’s on her mind right now is that her mom is dating a new guy named Jed. And she figures that Jed will be like every other guy her mom has dated–annoying, stupid and paternal. When she meets him for that first fateful dinner, he proves to be just that. He’s also utterly uncool calling the blog a “blag” and subtly (and not) telling her that her lifestyle is not a good one. He even comes into her room after she leaves the dinner table and basically tells her that she had better shape up and be more like his own daughter.
His own daughter, Chloe, is new to Tasha’s class. Tasha wants to give her a chance, but she proves to be snooty, snotty and rude, especially when she reveals that she writes the column for the paper. This column also gets her a gig at the yearbook, where Tasha is the student editor. Chloe won’t play by any of Tasha’s rules, since she is a famous published author. Obviously this goes right onto Blabbermouth.
But then things change. Jed invites Tasha and her mom and himself and Chloe to go to an amusement park for the day and the girls really hit it off. Chloe proves to be fun and funny. They have a great time.
Until Chloe writes her next column which is all about the foolishness of a young female blogger. Tasha is devastated. And she plans revenge.
Which proves to be very effective (and involves a nasty rumor and the school bully). But then she realizes that Jed is doing something with Chloe–he keeps sneaking into her room at night. And Chloe is very sad. And I was shocked that the story went in this direction. Except that it doesn’t. The real surprise is even more surprising (creepy, but less super creepy). And no, I won’t reveal it.
By the end of the story the comeuppances (so many of them) are great, and there’s a very amusing conclusion.
I enjoyed this story very much and I think having a 15-year-old create the story really added to the verisimilitude (even if some of it was way over the top).
The art by Aaron Alexovich was great–perfectly complementing Tasha’s crazy attitude and wild style. It had a very punk edge and I liked the way the “online” visuals differed enough from the real visuals so you could really see the difference.
This was one of my favorite of the Minx books.
I Just Read About That... 
Leave a comment