#equally hilarious is 'we have to get married because otherwise my father WILL shoot you'

[way-too-obsessed-gamer]

I need you all to understand anytime it's said that the (non canon) ye olde new vegas wedding that Kremy and Gideon had was a "shotgun wedding" I am laughing my ass off. I don't think that means what you think it means

Actually you know what I firmly believe Gricko has called it that before and nobody has corrected him

[carriagelamp]

I read more books this month than I anticipated. I should probably wait before doing a February book round up, but I already feel like I’m struggling to decide which ones to cut from my list so I’m doing it this weekend instead of next. If I read much next week I’ll bump ‘em up into March’s round up

Asterix and the Missing Scroll / Chieftain’s Daughter

I got the last two “new” Asterix books out of the library so I could officially say I had read them all. Over all my opinion is… they’re fine! None of these would ever become one of my favourites, but they’re all fine stories. The art is good, it is completely in-line with the original, and the stories are… fine. I liked The Missing Scroll quite a bit more than The Chieftain’s Daughter but I never find a ~hurr hurr teenagers~ plotline that interesting, whereas I do enjoy seeing Romans get chased down by unicorns so that’s probably not surprising. There’s some spark I can’t put my finger on that the new Asterix books just seem to be missing though… a bit of humour or cleverness or something. Still, they’re fine reads if you’ve been hungry for more Asterix and I’m glad I read them. (Though the library gave me the American translation of The Chieftain’s Daughter, something I didn’t realize until I started reading and realized that this is wrong??? I’ve been reading these books since I could read and I know this is wrong??? What the hell is happening??? The I realized the publisher was different and I simmered in fury the whole time I read it — WHY ARE YOU CHANGING NAMES AND WORD CHOICES IN A WELL ESTABLISHED SERIES THAT ALREADY HAS AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION YOU ANIMALS WHY ARE YOU DUMBING DOWN THE LANGUAGE AAAUGH

The Bride Was A Boy

This one was cute! The Bride Was A Boy is an autobiographical manga written by a transwoman recounting her experience with transitioning, meeting her boyfriend, and eventually getting married. It’s mostly done in a 4-panel style and is interspersed with lots of information about the LGBT community, particularly in Japan. A lot of it was stuff I was already familiar with, but I still found it adorable and a very worthwhile read. it would be a fantastic book for young queer people who are looking for more of an introduction into international queer space

Cul de Sac: Children At Play

Cul de Sac is just a weird, fun newspaper comic series about the children who live in a small neighbourhood. It fully taps into the children-as-semi-feral-chaos-agents, and there’s something hilariously nostalgic about the whole thing. Lots of times when stories try to portray children there’s always something… wrong about it, something that doesn’t mesh with true childhood, but in this comic I can see glimpses of my grimy, dirty-covered self as a preschooler running around the pages. I would definitely recommend trying them!

The Cremation of Sam McGee

I reread The Cremation of Sam McGee and The Shooting of Dan McGrew and man, they don’t stop being buckwild. These are two really famous Canadian poems that were then illustrated by equally famous Canadian artist Ted Harrison. Harrison’s style is gorgeous and distinct and given what strangely grisly stories these poems are they fit the mood perfectly. Everything feels just a little tilted and wrong and unsettling. If you enjoy an occasional poem (especially ones that are super fun to read out loud) and haven’t read these before, I would recommend them! Or do what my teachers did, and read Sam Gee to a young child in your life and watch them be baffled and concerned and horrified.

There are strange things done / in the midnight sun / by the men who moil for gold...

The Gryphon’s Lair

The second book of the Royal Guide to Monster Slaying series written by Kelley Armstrong; I’ve been eagerly awaiting this book! It’s a very cool fantasy series because it really leans into environmental stewardship and the importance of studying animals and conservation so you can find ways to live alongside a healthy ecosystem. In this book Rowan is officially accepted as the Royal Monster Hunter, which means a whole new set of trials and burdens. She has to contend with a baby gryphon that is becoming increasingly large and dangerous, plotting family members, doubt about her abilities, a potential curse, and a daunting quest deep into the mountains in order to set things right. If you’re looking for some very gentle high fantasy, this series delivers.

Hogan’s Heroes comics

What to say here. Anyone following this blog has suffered the knowledge that I’ve been rewatching Hogan’s Heroes lately. When I found out that there was a short-lived, shitty comic series in the 60s? Of course I had to hunt them down. And so I’ve read them! And they sure were a shitty comic series from the 60s! They were, shall we say, of wildly varying quality. Some were actually really funny (like #5, it easily had the best art and best jokes imho), others were a slog, and most were fine and amusing enough to read the whole way through but not much more.

If you don’t know what Hogan’s Heroes is about: it was a 1960s sitcom that took place in a WWII POW camp, in which the Allied prisoners trapped there had a massive, complex sabotage/spy ring right underneath the camp. The whole show is about constantly outwitting the bumbling Germans while keeping up the pretense that they’re all just normal prisoners. The show is hilariously funny and I would recommend that, even if I can’t say the same for the comics unless you’re like me and are just really thirsty for more content...

Magic Misfits: The Fourth Suit (Ripley)

The final book of Neil Patrick Harris’ middle grade series, The Magic Misfits. In this fourth book, the group is fragmented and forced to meet in secret to avoid notice from the mysterious and powerful Kalagan whose cruel machinations have already turned the quiet little town on its ears, putting people’s lives in peril and destroy Leila’s fathers’ magic shop. The Misfits are going to need all their skills to finally unmask this sinister magician and break the mesmerism he seems to have placed over the entire town before it’s too late to save no only the town, but their friendship and trust.

Super charming series, and the illustrations are gorgeous.

Marsupilami

HOUBA! I watched a very bad TV adaptation of this as a kid that still managed to find a place in my heart, and so I decided to finally try reading some of the original comic! On one hand: it was exactly what I had hoped! The art is cute, the marsupilami is so dynamic and fun to see on the page (and has a way better characterization than he does in the show), and it’s really funny! Unfortunately! It is also pretty racist! Yikes! That seems to be a reoccuring downfall for some of these older Belgian comics... I also tried reading the first book of Les Tuniques Bleues and aye ye ye… I couldn’t actually get through that one. That being said, these were older volumes and frankly, North American media was also real fucking racist at that point so I’m not gonna write them off either. I really liked most of this book, and will probably try to get my hands on one of the more recent volumes of both Marsupilami and Les Tuniques Bleues to see if they get better with time. (If you’ve read either of those series and have volume recommendations hmu)

The Pagemaster

I’m a sucker for novelizations, I have no excuse beyond that. I recently rewatched The Pagemaster and decided to read the chapter book. And it was a solid little adaptation! It’s about Richard Tyler, a young boy with a head for statistics which unfortunately means he lives in constant fear of (in his opinion, statistically likely) injury or death. However that fear is put to the test when he gets caught in a horrible thunderstorm and has to shelter in a nearby library with halls and shelves that stretch beyond the imagination and with untold perils hidden among the pages of the books. Richard, with only his library card and three novels that hope to be checked out, has to venture through the different genres and horrors housed int he library if he ever wants to find the exit and get home to safety.

Pumpkinheads

A very charming little graphic novel. Cute art, and really loveable characters. Josiah and Deja work every year at a local pumpkin patch, and are best friends during those weeks. However this is their last year working there before going off to university and as the last day at the patch comes to a close they realize that they both still have regrets. Deja sets off on a mission to avoid work, eat all the interesting snacks around the patch, and get Josiah to find the girl he’s been crushing on every year and has never worked up the nerve to talk to.

After being deprived of human contact for almost a year, this book really hits you right in the heart.

The Screwfly Solution

A deeply upsetting scifi/horror short story! I read it on the recommendation of a friend and, yes, can confirm that this fucked me up a bit. I honestly don’t even know what to say about this that wouldn’t spoil it, but frankly with everything being as it is, this hit a little bit too close to reality. (That being said, it was very well written, like this is a very good story on a literary level and it does exactly what it sets out to accomplish.) If you feel like reading twenty pages and being really disturbed, give it a go! Otherwise go and read any number of the much happier books on this list!

The Whipping Boy

This was a book I remember reading as a lit circle book back in elementary school and really loving. After telling myself I’d reread it for years, I finally sat down with it again. If you somehow got through school without reading this one, it’s about a brat of a prince and his whipping boy — since it would be unspeakable to strike a prince, when the prince misbehaves it is Jemmy who gets whipped. Unsurprisingly, there is no love lost between the two of them, because the prince is always intentionally causing problems that Jemmy has to suffer for. Things begin to change though when the prince decides to run away and drags Jemmy along with him. On the run, being chased by highwaymen, and desperately trying to hide their identities, these boys go on a fast-paced adventure beyond the castle walls. It wasn’t as special as I remembered it being as a kid, but it’s a fine little chapter book.

[sheepdogdg-blog]

Some days are best described as surreal.

Certainly, living in 2020 we can say that a lot, but there was a day not long ago that seemed like it would be the enduring surreal experience of a lifetime.

One bright and sunny January morning in Los Angeles, only a couple of miles from a certain star on Hollywood Boulevard, just over two hundred and fifty men, women, children, babies — and one dog — sat in a small studio parking lot. These were not normal people. Oh no. These intrepid souls were of a very weird ilk, and each one of them was there to prove themself passionately so.

I was among them, you see, so I know a little bit of how we all felt on that day.

THE DAY THE MIRTH STOOD STILL

  First, let me begin by saying I do not own the content of the pictures in this story. The majority of them are from two incredible articles by New York Times Magazine (this one and this one), and I would highly encourage anyone who wishes to learn more to show the journalist and photographer the love they deserve. I also don’t mean to suggest I actually know how every participant on that day felt; this is merely my personal account.

Okay. Now that we’re done with the gratuitous exposition, let’s get back to our regularly scheduled program.

The casting call was put out at the end of December. This was to be a once-in-a-lifetime photoshoot with a living legend, an icon, the ingenious prince of parody, known to the world as “Weird Al” Yankovic. Word was, Al was going to be photographed with three hundred warriors willing to stand in the breach while wearing “vanilla 80s Al” costumes.

Now diehard fans (and Paul Rudd on Halloween) already know what that means, but in case you don’t here is the recipe:

1 ‘Magnum P.I.’ Hawaiian shirt

1 jerry curl wig

1 pair of Jeffrey Dahmer glasses

1 porn ‘stache

1 pair of canvas top shoes (cost in 1984 – $20; current cost – $200)

1 unfailing sense of irony

Accordion, optional

Thousands responded, and just two short weeks later, hundreds of us were calling out of work and, in some cases, flying to California. I never dreamed I would get so lucky, but I was among the chosen few. I rushed up from my San Diego home. Destiny awaited.

Those of us in the fandom, having been sworn to secrecy, began to covertly contact one another with coded queries. “Are you – uh – going to the – uh- eagle landing?” I myself made plans with several dedicated luminaries I had met through mutual adoration of Al’s music (especially his originals, but the parodies are good too). I already knew his work appealed to a diverse group (of mainly white and nerdy) people, but nothing — not the concerts I have been to or the fan pages or the chance encounters while wearing merch — could prepare me for the pure spectacle.

There were accountants and real estate agents, flight attendants and grocery store clerks, comic book artists and reality TV editors, teachers and health care providers, police officers and criminals on the lam, all dressed as their hero. As we waited, we sang, danced, and played squeezeboxes of every shape, size, and color. When Al came, we stood and cheered, excited to see his excitement.

That was the moment I think we’ll all remember the most. He came out from the barn doors leading to the large white backdrop we’d all be standing with him on, and he thanked us for coming and making the day special for him.

Special for him.

There were two noteworthy people standing there with him. The first was his wife, Suzanne. She’s an accomplished person herself, a brilliant woman us fans are thrilled Al managed to marry. She’s a former television executive, responsible for putting many of your favorite shows on the air. Her photography is fantastic, and I’m very proud to have one of her pieces hanging on my wall. I, like many other Weird Al fans, am also a fan of her work.

The second person of note was Nina, their daughter. She seems to be equal parts Al and Suzanne, a brilliant mind with a large heart, passionate about the environment and a shy participant in her father’s legacy. Those of us who love Al simply can’t wait to see the woman she someday will become. Great things are in her future, to be sure.

The best part, possibly of the whole day, was seeing Nina dressed up like daddy. She would be posing with the rest of us.

  We stood in relative silence. We were a crowd of respectful people, unwilling to disrupt the project. Not that it was a somber shoot. We laughed a lot. Our photographer was great! Hilarious and visionary. He was laughing along with everyone else at the absurdity of a horde of Weird Als standing in ranks like Terracotta soldiers, all smiling for the birdie.

This was not a man of little experience. Art Streiber is an award-winning photographer who’s snapped off shots of — well, everyone! Just check out this slideshow.

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My own personal experience may have differed from that of the others, but I’d like to take a few moments to write them for posterity’s sake.

First, I was fortunate enough to be placed in a memorable position for the shot. I got to hold one of the “weird” signs, and they even let me keep it. When the work was done, Al stayed and (reluctantly, perhaps) said hello to the whole mob. Yes, I am the very proud owner of a signed sign.

I would also like future generations to know that while directing the crowd to get into its ideal configuration, Mr. Speigel kept comically referring to me as Santa Claus. “Santa Claus,” he would say, “hide more of your face behind that sign.”

This one is for my own ego, but something I said made the whole group laugh, including Art — and I hope Al, but I couldn’t see his face. It was something I said intending to be funny, which is a bonus, because no one likes those incidental instances where everyone laughs at you. It may not have been groundbreaking, but it was good enough for the guy standing behind to pat me on the back.

Art: “Can you lift the dog higher. I want to see more of her face.”

Me: “That’s not a dog. That’s my wife.”

You probably had to be there, and I wish you had been. Especially if you’re a “Weird Al” fan. It was a great way to spend a day.

As I’ve said in previous posts, the Yankovic community is a good bunch of people, and I enjoy spending time with them. On this particular day, I got to meet a lot of great people. A big group of us went out afterward to the Farmer’s Market, where we shared our thoughts on Al’s legacy, some of us still greased up with Groucho-esque mustaches. We still keep in touch, sending each other funny memes or heartfelt messages of acceptance.

To anyone at that shoot or any other fan of “Fat,” I’m extending an open invitation. If you chance upon me at a show, say hello. After all, in a way doing so is like spending time with Al himself, because as the pictures prove, we’ve all got a little bit of his weirdness in us.

  On a final note, I’d like to say something a bit personal.

First of all, thank you to the team who put this together. Thank you for including me. A special thanks to the participants who turned what could have otherwise been a dull block of hours waiting into something truly memorable. And thank you to Al himself for inspiring our passion.

On a day when I was notified I would be put on furlough from work. . . On a day when my sister, who is a nurse, was tested for Covid-19. . . On a day when she informed me of three infants at her hospital whose deaths were supsected to have been caused by the virus. . . On a day when Facebook totally changed their layout to something annoying. . . It is truly a comfort to have pictures like these to look upon and smile at the memory of.

  270 Maniacs – My Lame Claim to Fame Some days are best described as surreal. Certainly, living in 2020 we can say that a lot, but there was a day not long ago that seemed like it would be the enduring surreal experience of a lifetime.