A book is like the TARDIS. Open it up and it's bigger on the inside. One part reading journal, one part educational tool for pop culture newbies and parents of young geeks. This blog is your portal into the world of movies, TV, superheroes, and of course books!
OH MY GOD! I can't believe that I've been sitting on this book for so long and I hadn't read it yet! I have 5 of the 11 published volumes. I've read the first 4 books literally a dozen times. Needing a gigantic pick-me-up, I grabbed my stash of TFTs and gave them another read. And then we've got this one! It's full of later era Toyfare productions. The photography, set designs, and special effects has taken a quantum leap. But the humor is the same as usual. THANK GOD! My sense of humor is more surrealist, black comedy stuff. Things like Monty Python, The Tick, and Deadpool. But when things get closer to toilet humor (and none of the 3 previously mentioned franchises are innocent of diving into that end of the pool), I DO tend to shy away. Yet, if you have a bunch cheaply made 1970s toys acting out explosive diarrhea, violence and general horseplay, I am a sucker for it. This is a big reason I am a huge fan of Robot Chicken! Which interestingly enough, some of the writers and staff, including Tom Root (and one one occasion, Seth Green) cut their teeth on Twisted Toyfare Theatre! No wonder I love it. There's 6 more volumes left. 4 more than I thought. Sadly, these suckers are not easy to find. Currently out of print, and likely never to be reprinted again due to Wizard Magazine having gone defunct, the volumes I can find are not cheap. But man, do I want the whole series! Featuring a surreal forward from Weird Al and more entries from the Official Handbook of Twisted Toyfare Theatre- this was a pleasant surprise on my bookshelves! Worth Consuming! Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
For an artist who has written a song about everything, it was inevitable that at some point they would do a Christmas album. I'm talking about the Price of Parody, Weird Al. The accordion playing artist has skewered Michael Jackson, Madonna, Nirvana, Coolio and created his own songs about food, Star Wars and tons more subjects in his 5 decade spanning career. His lone holiday tune is one of his original recordings and also his most controversial.
The song is called Christmas at Ground Zero. When recorded and released in 1986, the term 'ground zero' meant the direct impact of a nuclear attack. In the mid-80s, we were all scared to death of a nuclear war between the US and the Soviets. So, in demented Weird Al fashion, the artist created a Phil Spector style song that really change the meaning of the phrase 'surviving the holidays." It was meant to both relieve a little bit of tension and to mock the silly educational videos that preached how hiding under a desk would save you from the H-bomb. Now jump to 2001 and the 9/11 attacks. Ground Zero has become the term for the World Trade Center. Many, including my wife, have thought that Weird Al's song was making fun of the events of that tragic day. But he's really not. Again, he wrote and recorded the song 15 years before the terrorist attacks. I'll let Al explain things a little more... "The sad part is, I can’t really play the song live anymore because too many people misunderstand the connotations of Ground Zero. It’s not a reference to 9/11, obviously. It was written in 1987 when "ground zero" just meant the epicenter of a nuclear attack."
With that in mind, if you feel like the song will offend you, don't hit play. It's a very outdated song. It's also proof that good intentions turn out wrong as time goes by. Just think of all the controversy surrounding Baby, It's Cold Outside. So, enjoy the song if you'd like. I don't have advertisers and I don't make money off of this blog. So, there's not really anyone you can boycott if you don't like my selection for today's Advent. I'm posting the song as a sort of time capsule look at the fears and attempts to deal with the nightmare of nuclear war in the 80s. I understand that some may not agree with my decision to feature today's song. But I feel that to avoid the subject rather than brooch many sides of an argument would be just as wrong a choice. Try to enjoy...
