I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: ADAM ARCURAGI-Tiny Desk Concert #42 (January 10, 2010).

I had never heard of Arcuragi before this show and in the five years since I haven’t heard of him elsewhere.  Bob introduces the show by raving about Adam’s voice.

But I don’t really think there’s anything special about his voice.  It’s a good decent string voice, but nothing notably unique about it or anything.  So it was a bit of a set up for a let down.  Which is  shame because Arcuragi and his mates sing three delightful songs.

“She Comes to Me” features acoustic and electric guitars and mandolin.  “Steal People’s Medicine” uses the electric guitar a a slide guitar, which sounds remarkably different from the first song (no mandolin either).  “Bottom of the River” which switches the mandolin for a tambourine is the most fun of the three songs.  It’s a bit more upbeat, there’s some good harmonies and the crowd even starts clapping along.  And Adam does wail a few notes showing that his voice is better than I suggested.

Watch it here.

[READ: April 7, 2015] Handbook of World Domination

I was unaware of The Vault of Simpsonology Series.  This is the third book in the series, the other two being from Homer and Bart with future books from Lisa, Grandpa and Bartman.  I’m also not exactly sure why our library received this book,   But it’s a fun little addition to all things Simpson.

The book is 64 pages about 6 inches square and it is chock full of insights into Mr Burns.

On the first page is an envelope with a poster.  Given the incompleteness of the back, I assume that all the books have similar posters with which you would make one giant poster.

The introduction (by Mr Burns) explains that he just wants to entertain with this volume–not to give away secrets.   So we get Burns’ bucket list (#29–keep a meal down completely; 17- Buy the EPA and rename it the Environment Profit Administration) and Secrets to Burns’ long life (a bizarre medical contraption involving syringes, a small devil and a drooling baby).

More fun are the pages that have lift-able flaps like The Secrets of Mr Burns’ Office.  Or the CMB TV Network which has an attached mini Program Guide (full of all kinds of parody shows–Freaks and Leaks, Release the Hounds, Bribezilla.

The writers of the book also have some fun corporate bashing with the Burns Industry Subsidiaries Page.  Companies like Burns Petroliates (BP). Meerkat Safari Tours (stuff and mount your own!).  Fraxxon and Fracking Valley Spring water (natural spring water and natural methane gas come together!).  My favorite was Swelmart which in a small paragraph explains why superstores are actually bad for the economy.

The general tone feels very Mad Magazine (and there is an “apology to Al Jaffee” for (Snippy Answers to Irksome Questions)) like in the 21 types of employes.

Perhaps the strangest thing to me is  the secret society: The Stonecutters.  This is the secret society to which Mr Burns belongs.  And it’s funny but there are five pages devoted to it, which seems much.

There’s also a strange extended joke about Mr Burns as super hero Fruit Bat Man (in no way inspired by the uniform of a different vigilante known as Batman). This includes a mini comic of Fruit Bat Man and Nuthatch (Bart).  I’m not sure if this has been in recent episodes or if its original to the book.  It’s a funny idea, but still kind of weird.

I enjoyed the WWMBD? Quiz, and I really liked  the Employee Motivation Posters, which were possibly the funniest thing in the book.  The back page has a sleeve of Burns cards which defines some phrases that Burns says  “I’m suckling at the hind teat!”  (I am getting the worst end of this deal)  She wears a lot of folderol!  (Her adornments are eye-catching but ultimately worthless).  It’s fun and would be a lot of fun to be able to use them in casual conversation.

The book is full of a crazy orange/red/yellow computer generated backgrounds which I am fairly certain is some kind of 3D glasses thing. But I’m not sure what kind of glasses would make sense of them (none come with th ebook), thus I am left out of the real secrets.