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Archive for the ‘Cupcakes’ Category

Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm–Babymouse: Skater Girl [#7] (2007)

Posted in Cats, Children's Books, Cupcakes, Figure Skating, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Ice Skating, Jennifer L. Holm, Matthew Holm, Mice, Rush, Short Books on August 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RUSH-“Not Fade Away” (1973).

I never understood this song.  Grammatically it drives me nuts.  “Love is real, not fade away.”  Why would someone write that?  Anyone with even a rudimentary grasp of English would know that that is just a horrible way to speak.  Okay, I got that off my chest.

So this is the first single that Rush ever released.  You can find out information about it on the web (of course, I didn’t know it existed until a couple of days ago).

What we get here is a pretty rocking version of this rock n roll standard.  The band has some nice group vocals on the chorus.  I like the echoed chanting of the chorus before the solo kicks in.  And I love the rough sound that Alex’s guitar has as the song opens.

As I noted the other day with the concert from circa 1974, the band was really all about Alex’s guitar work back then.  Geddy doesn’t do anything impressive on the bass (a couple of fills, but nothing special).  But Alex’s guitar solo is amazing (and you can hear snippets of future guitar solos buried in this solo).

It’s funny to me that when they recorded their covers EP Flashback, that they didn’t include this song, too.

Check it out:

The B-side comes tomorrow!

[READ: March 12, 2011] Babymouse: Skater Girl

Well, fair enough, I said that I liked Babymouse: Dragonslayer because it had a plot.  This story has a plot, too.  Interestingly, it ties in kind of nicely to the Dragonslayer story, too.  (It’s all about winning something).

As the story opens, Babymouse feels bad because she never wins anything.  She’s looking at all of the trophies which she has not won; then there’s an amusing fantasy of all the things she has won (honorable mention for spelling the word “the” correctly; honorable mention at the swim competition for “getting wet”; and amusingly, archenemy Felicia Furrypaws’ trophy for worst whiskers).

But despite her complaints about not being good at anything, we quickly see that she is actually very good at ice skating.  She rules the pond in town–until the big hockey players crash into her, that is).  She even daydreams of winning a skating trophy. (more…)

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Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm–Babymouse: Dragonslayer [#11] (2006)

Posted in Barenaked Ladies, Cats, Children's Books, Cupcakes, Dragons, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Jennifer L. Holm, Matthew Holm, Mice, Short Books on August 7, 2011| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: BARENAKED LADIES-Live at the NJ Festival of Ballooning, July 30, 2011 (2011).

I ‘ve loved BNL since their first album.  I’ve even seen them live a few times.  And “One Week” was a huge hit, not to mention they did the theme for The Big Bang Theory.  So, imagine my surprise to see that they were playing at the Festival of Ballooning in an airport near my house!

I thought perhaps their star had fallen on hard times.  Ever since Steven Page left, I haven’t been too sure what the band has been up to (their post-Page release is kind of bland).  And maybe they didn’t get very much for their performance (no way of knowing of course).  Nevertheless, the audience was packed with fans and, in what must have been a cool site for the band, hot air balloons filled the field, many of them lighting up their balloons in sync with the music.  It was very cool.

It was great to see that the Ladies were still fun live–one of the best things about their shows is their spontaneity.  They play tight songs and they sound great, bu they also goof around.  Like with this Ballooning Rap

I was also impressed that without Page–their primary lead singer (and one of the best voices in music)–the band was still able to play their old songs that Page sung.  Now lead vocalist Ed Robertson (who does the fast part in “One Week”) manages a remarkable approximation of Page’s voice.  Indeed, a few times, I forgot that he was gone.  Check out “The Old Apartment”, which Page used to sing:

There are some notable differences of course, “If I Had $1,000,000” misses the repartee between Page and Robertson.  But in fairness, drummer Tyler Stewart more than makes up for it (he even does lead vocals on one of the songs).

There were a number of newer songs which I’d never heard (I don’t have the newest album), and they were pretty uniformly mellow.  But they sounded great. And when the band played some of their older tracks (“Falling for the First Time”?!) it was magical. And I’ve had “Brian Wilson” in my head for three days now.

Sarah took a brief video of the balloons lighting up, to “Light Up My Room”.

And here’s mine at the end of “Brain Wilson”, the bass solo! (sorry it’s sideways, I’ll try and fix it).

[READ: March 12, 2011] Babymouse: Dragonslayer

This has been my favorite Babymouse so far.  Perhaps it was because there was more of a “story/plot” than in the other stories–and the other stories were fine without a real plot, but this one was more focused.  Also the fantasies sequences were wonderful referenced to great stories like The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Lord of the Rings.

I honestly couldn’t imagine what the title of dragonslayer would refer to.  I mean, aside from the animals, the story is pretty accurate to a middle school life. I assumed there’d be fantasies, but what could ground a dragon story in middle school? W ell, the big surprise for me is that the “drgaon” in the story is actually math.  Babymouse hates math and has just failed a math test with an F-!  The teacher says that she will overlook the test if she joins the mathletes (okay so maybe it’s not ENTIRELY based in reality). (more…)

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Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm–Babymouse: Queen of the World! [#1] (2005)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Cats, Children's Books, Cocteau Twins, Cupcakes, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Jennifer L. Holm, Matthew Holm, Mice, Short Books, Wye Oak on July 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: WYE OAK: “The Alter” (2009).

NPR has introduced me to Wye Oak (with two concert downloads).  This is the official single from the recent album Civilian.

It is a cool swirly track which avoids being ethereal because of the rocking drums.  It feels a bit like the Cocteau Twins without being otherworldly.  And then there’s Jenn Wasner’s voice which is deep in a kind of Alison Moyet way.  This song features an awesome guitar swirl in the center which is sort of a guitar solo but isn’t.

The song builds over the course of the three minutes with more instruments and more voices layered over and over–there’s no real chorus.  Not bad for a duo.  Soon they’ll be some full concerts reviews of the band.

[READ: June 29, 2011] Babymouse: Queen of the World!

So this is the first Babymouse book: Queen of the World.  This one sets up the series and satisfies so many unanswered questions.  No, not really.

This first book has all of the trappings of the other two books that I read: fantasy sequences drawn in pink (good diversity here–a horror story, a space story, Cinderella), the same cast (including the arch-enemy Felicia Furrypaws), and more humorous interactions between Babymouse and the narrator (and a lot of Babymouse’s slogan: “typical.”) (more…)

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Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm–Babymouse: Our Hero [#2] (2005)

Posted in Cats, Children's Books, Cupcakes, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Jennifer L. Holm, Kids Corner, Matthew Holm, Mice, Set at School, Short Books, Superheroes, The Amoeba People, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA on May 31, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE AMOEBA PEOPLE-“Cosmology, Your Futon and You” (2010).

I found out about The Amoeba People from the Kids Corner Top Ten Songs of 2010 list (this was number one).

The Amoeba People are a fun, weird kids band who write clever, often science-based songs.  This song has a wonderful bass line that opens the song.  There’s suitably weird space sounds (theremin) and a nice choral chorus).

Lyrically it’s a distorted spoken story full of clever word play.  It features a whole lot of facts about outer space (and jokes about futons).   And while you won’t get all the lyrics on the first try, it rewards repeated listens.

You can hear the track here.

[READ: April 16, 2011] Babymouse: Our Hero

This is the second Babymouse book (nope, I’m not reading these in order, which goes against a lot of my neuroses, but I think I can handle it).

As this story opens, Babymouse oversleeps and misses her bus.  And right from the start the fantasy/dream sequence kicks in.  The voices that try to wake her are not her bratty sister, but her adoring fans!  And when she misses the bus, the walk to school is really a trudge through the desert…will she survive???

It’s all quite funny, especially the “voiceover” which she can obviously hear, and with which she argues from time to time. (more…)

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Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm–Babymouse: Heartbreaker [#5] (2006)

Posted in Cats, Children's Books, Cupcakes, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Jennifer L. Holm, Matthew Holm, Mice, Short Books, Valentine's Day, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA, Y Rock, Y-Not Radio.net on April 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: Y-Not Radio (2011).

I received an email recently from Josh Landow.  I know, who?  Well, he went on to tell me that he and some friends had started Y-Not Radio.

I’m still trying to piece together all the details, but Landow was a DJ for WXPN’s Y-Rock radio.  His email states that he and a bunch of other DJs left (or were asked to leave?) WXPN and started Y-Not Radio as Philly’s “real alternative.”  What they have going on is strangely impressive for a station that has only an online presence.  There’s also a disclaimer that (despite lifting and modifying the Y Rock logo) they are not affiliated with The U of Pa of WXPN.

The YRock Branch of WXPN is still operational.  And, looking at the music they still play, it’s not that radically different from the music of Y-Not Radio (in other words, it’s all great current indie rock and old school alternative music).  So, basically what we have is an embarrassment of riches from alternative radio online.  Of course, I don’t really like listening to the radio online (except at work).  I only wish I could get them both in on my actual radio.

It’s all a fascinating fight about indie rock and online radio.  Let’s see how it plays out!

[READ: March 12, 2011] Babymouse: Heartbreaker

The kids at the library love Babymouse.  And since I am greatly influenced by the opinions of fourth graders, I decided to read it as well.  This is the fifth book in the series (but relax, they don’t appear to have any kind of thread that makes it hard to follow).

The basic set up of the stories is that Babymouse is a mouse in school.  Her classmates are other animals.  It’ hard to determine very much about the school or even the setting of where Babymouse lives because this whole book is about Valentine’s Day.

The most fun aspect of the book for me was the dream sequences.  I’m not even entirely sure if the targeted audience would get all of the references, but I sure liked them.  For instance, while Babymouse is wondering if anyone will invite her to the dance, she has a Cinderella dream sequence and a Snow White Dream sequence (which goes astray) and, my favorite, a Dirty Dancing sequence (“Nobody puts Babymouse in the corner,”) complete with a Swayze quiff on the male mouse. (more…)

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