SOUNDTRACK: OLOF ARNALDS-Tiny Desk Concert #93 (November 22, 2010).
Olof Arnalds is from Iceland and she sings in Icelandic. She sings a kind of experimental folk, although in this Tiny Desk it is just her and a partner, Davíð Þór Jónsson, playing acoustic guitars.
And playing acoustic guitars keeps these songs pretty grounded. Arnalds is a classically trained violinist, but she sticks to guitar on two of the tracks.
“Innundir Skinni” is a beautiful melody and our first exposure to Arnald’s voice, which is certainly unconventional. Her voice is quite high and really rather lovely, just more Icelandic than Western. Although even though she sings in Icelandic, anyone can sing along to the “la la la” part.
On “Surrender” she plays a churango made from an armadillo shell. It brings a beautiful delicateness to this song. I love the staccato chorus
“Crazy Car” sung in English as a duet, in which their accents and non-English delivery (especially Davíð’s) is most notable. The end, when she sings a different vocal melody is lovely.
Her voice might be off-putting to some, but I always like to hear someone with a bit of character.
[READ: November 10, 2015] Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul
This has been my favorite Wimpy Kid book so far. I tend to like the ones that focus on a single long event and the whole family more than lots of little episodes at school. So this book, which follows the Heffley family on a summer road trip was perfect for me.
I also love the way Kinney taps into real things but modifies them just enough to make them somehow even funnier. Like the way he creates the magazine Family Frolic (but uses the font of Family Fun magazine) and describes it perfectly–showing idealized family moments which no family can ever hope to recreate. There’s also the hilarious way that trying to surprise kids with a trip can backfire (Manny is so excited to visit their aunt, that they have to delay their real trip to Disney World).
I also enjoyed the use of Flat Stanley (from the book by Jeff Brown) and the hilarious way he changed Captain Underpants to Underpants Bandits (by Mik Davies, rather than Dv Pilkey) which allowed him to make his own underwear jokes.
So the family is planning a road trip (inspired by the magazine). I love that Kinney introduces that Greg’s dad had bought a boat (without telling anyone) and how badly it has worked out for them (a tree has grown through it, and the raccoon are hilarious). Their mom tells them to pack light, but the boys imagine an RV to haul all their stuff. When that ‘s not going to happen, they wind up taking the minivan and use the boat as an extra hauling vehicle.
As always Manny proves to be the most frustrating and hilarious character. Like when playing the “name a food that starts with this letter” game and he simply repeats the first answer, saying bapple, dapple, fapple. It makes me laugh just thinking about it.
And while I want to admire Greg’ mom, since she tries so hard to do good things for the family, Kinney always makes sure she goes too far. Like her Mommy Meals with “fun activities” on them (name that Nobel Prize winner!) and no “screens.” I love that she wants them to only eat nutritious food but that it always fails (the callback at the end to something that Rodrick has purchased is fanaticism). And that the boys wind up eating Butter on a stick at a state fair
Speaking of the fair, it was sheer genius to have the family win a pig (what on earth can they do with a pig? on vacation?). And little details like the dad cutting into a funeral procession (with his boat) and the attack by seagulls are hilarious.
Every book needs a villain, and the Beardo family is certainly great (even if inadvertent). And the lost locker key is the stuff of nightmares.
I also love the fantastic call back to the Spanish language CD at the end of the book
Once again, my only compliant (and my son’s too) is that the book is too short!
For ease of searching, I include: David Thor Jonsson
I Just Read About That... 
Leave a comment