SOUNDTRACK: “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC-“First World Problems” (2014).
“First World Problems is what Al calls a style parody. This is a parody of the Pixies. I can kind of hear it (especially in the riffs), but his Black Francis voice is somehow off (he’s usually so spot on with his mimicking). But as it is basically a Pixies song, it is loud and quite rocking. And, better yet, it’s really funny.
I get a kick out of the expression “first world problems” because why should that make a problem any less invalid, and yet, Al’s first world problems are outstanding.
I couldn’t order off the breakfast menu, cause I slept in till two
Forgot my gardener’s name, I’ll have to ask him later
Tried to fast forward commercials, can’t – I’m watching live T.V
My barista didn’t even bother to make a design in the foam on the top of my vanilla latte
The opening bass and the female backing vocals are fantastic, and as always, guitarist Jay West gets their guitar sound perfectly. The video doesn’t scream Pixies to me (although it is very very funny). In fact at one point he looks more like Iggy Pop than anyone else (except with a shirt on), but that’s okay, it still makes me laugh a lot. Who knew Al was a fan of the Pixies?
[READ: July 10, 2014] Day of Doom
This is the first book by David Baldacci that I have read. Baldacci is typically an adult writer who I know is quite popular and prolific (he has done some kids books too). I very much enjoyed the suspense and thrill of this book, but I have to say I feel like he really does not write very believably for his characters. There is a romance that is played off quite flatly, there is an act of contrition which I don’t think anyone would believe, especially not a family member, and the bad guys are just so bad they are cartoonlike.
These characters have been through seventeen books now, so we know them pretty well, and I hated to see them get smoothed so much here. I also didn’t care for the way Amy’s love dilemma was solved fairly easily for her. And I was really surprised by the body count in this book.
Four major characters were killed by the end of the book. It’s pretty brutal and really takes the series out of the realm of kids book and way into the realm of YA. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 