Movie Review: Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022)

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022) directed by Eric Appel

An entirely true and accurate record of the life and death of Weird Al Yankovic (Daniel Radcliffe), the pop music talent famous for his parodies of hit songs. From his early childhood his parents discouraged a musical career (his mother advises him, "You shouldn't be yourself or do anything you enjoy"). Undaunted, he moved away to college and fell in with supportive college roommates. They helped him record his first parodies and perform his first gigs. Yankovic's meteoric rise led him to become boyfriend with Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood) who only used him to advance her own career. Will he manage to get out from under her creative wet blanket and reconcile with his parents before it's too late?

The movie does a great job parodying musical biographies. He has the standard problems: unsupportive family and skeptical music execs (one of whom is played by Weird Al himself), creative dry spells, the need to be taken seriously as an artist, the need to cram in as many classic songs as possible. The movie succeeds in delivering a cliche-ridden narrative that pokes good-natured fun at those cliches. Radcliffe is very convincing (even with the increasingly ridiculous plot) and leads a very good cast. As the latest parody in a long line of Yankovic parodies, this movie is a lot of fun and well worth watching.

Recommended.

Celebrity Silliness

I guess that's the Scotch Refutation, which sounds like an awesome name for a Robert Ludlum book.

h/t to Michael Flynn and Mark Shea

If Bruce isn't enough for you, how about some Chuck Norris?

h/t to Craig Summers on Facebook 

According to the wikipedia page on Mr. Norris, he was actually born on March 10, 1940. They have a footnote citing Chuck Norris's biography, if that can be believed. On the other hand, wikipedia has this to say about the German surrender in 1945:

At 02:41 on the morning of 7 May, at the SHAEF headquarters in Reims, France, the Chief-of-Staff of the German Armed Forces High Command, General Alfred Jodl, signed the unconditional surrender documents for all German forces to the Allies.

Snopes.com has no refutation of either picture. I did run across this funny false story about how Pia Zadora was so bad in a stage production of The Diary of Anne Frank that when the Nazis appear an audience member got up and shouted, "She's in the attic!"

h/t to myself

V-Day Review: Every Zombie Eats Somebody Sometime

Every Zombie Eats Somebody Sometime: A Book of Zombie Love Songs

Just in time for Valentine's Day, there's a book of zombie love songs. Well, it's a book of love songs rewritten with zombie lyrics. For example, this is the rewrite of the Beatles classic "Yesterday."

Yesterday,
All the zombies seemed so far away,
Now it looks like they're here to stay,
Oh, I'm hungry for something gray.
Suddenly,
I'm just half the man I used to be,
Part are falling off of me,
Oh the virus came on suddenly.
Why she
Had to bite me I don't now, she wouldn't say.
I said,
Something's wrong, now I want some brains.

And so on. The songs are all pop tunes from the 50s up to the 90s (I think that most recent song is Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" as "My Heart Will Taste Good"). Some songs are more hilarious than others and your knowledge of classic pop will help enjoy the parodies.

Each song has a zombie illustration at the start, either the performer as a zombie or something from the song ("You're the One That I Chomp," the gag version of "You're the One That I Want," has some "Grease" zombies). Other oddball romantic zombie pictures are included at the end of the individuals songs (dancing zombie couples, zombies at dinner with a violin-playing zombie, etc.). They're barely gruesome and clearly for comic effect. The best was a zombie wedding cake that's a pile of brains. The couple is feeding each other bites of brains. Cute and funny if you've got the right sense of humor.

I hope you have a great Valentine's Day!

Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Day, Parody of

It helps to appreciate this if you've seen Evil Dead II or Army of Darkness, or both!

Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams

Dismember, dismember the undead of November,
Chainsaw shotgun and graveplot.
We see no reason why
The undead can't re-die
When off the head is chop't.

Bruce Campbell did shout
And blow their brains out.
Three Evil Dead movies would show
How medieval Ash could go.

The Necronomicon's curse
Made Ash's hand worse.
So, holler Ash, holler Ash, chop it off fast.
Holler hand, holler hand, for you won't last.

And what did he do with it?
Blast it!


Original text:

Guy Fawkes by George Cruickshanks

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot.
We see no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!

Guy Fawkes, guy, t'was his intent
To blow up king and parliament.
Three score barrels were laid below
To prove old England's overthrow.

By god's mercy he was catch'd
With a darkened lantern and burning match.
So, holler boys, holler boys, Let the bells ring.
Holler boys, holler boys, God save the king.

And what shall we do with him?
Burn him!

Quick Review: Zombiefication: A Short Film

In case you are wondering why there hasn't been some zombie apocalypse safety awareness campaign based on airplane safety demonstrations (and let's face it, who hasn't?), then you haven't seen Zombiefication: A Short Film.

The short is set in a movie theater and goes through the standard airline safety tropes with a zombie spin. For example, the theater is equipped with zombie pacification equipment under the seats and the lady informs the viewers to get their own weapons out before helping others around them with their weapons. How to take out a zombie and what to do if you are bitten are also covered.

The production quality is amazingly high. The zombies look as good as the best of TV and movie zombies (if "look as good" is the right way to put it). Don't watch this with little kids. The actors do a great job, hitting just the right tone. The pacing is a little slow and some of the jokes aren't edited tightly enough to bring out the most humor.

The movie is available for download from iTunes here or for watching on YouTube here. I recommend YouTube, because you are not likely to watch it more than once, other than to show it off to your friends. Make sure they are friends who would be into it. Don't forget the wisdom of xkcd: