Top Twelve Weird Al Parodies-Number 9

The Original(s)
So in this case, I'm going to cheat a little bit. Weird Al usually diversifies his parodies, but in some cases he will come back to the same artist because the music works for what he wants to do. One such artist is Michael Jackson. Weird Al parodied two of his songs, Beat It and Bad and had also requested to do a parody of Black and White, but Jackson didn't want the message of his song distorted by the parody.

It's fitting that these are the two songs that were used because they really do seem to be connected. In Beat It, Jackson plays the tough guy telling the listener that they'd better get away while they have a chance to do so. Whatever is going to go down is not something you can handle. I always like to think that it's the same character in Bad stepping up again to show the world just how tough they are. I may be wrong on that, and Jackson may not have ever had that intention, but that's how I view it.


The Parody
Eat It and Fat are the parodies based on the Jackson hits, and they also have a common theme-food. If you listen to Weird Al parodies long enough, you begin to notice his love of food or at least a love of singing about food. The thing that is great about these songs isn't the actual songs. They're good, but the music videos are better. Let's talk about each song.

The song for Eat It sounds like a parent telling their kid to eat something. It even includes the standard parental excuses like there are kids starving in China. The video is shot for shot like the Jackson video for Beat It with the exception of the dancing skills. Weird Al goes out of his way to show he can't move like Michael Jackson. The biggest thing to note about this song is that it reached #1 on the charts while Beat It only reached #3.

Fat is one of the most bizarre videos ever made. Visually it is as close to the Bad video as a frizzy-headed accordion player can manage. What makes this video so great is the moment that the title of the song makes sense. You get all the build up of the Jackson video. Michael hiding out in the subway station and confronted, but in the Weird Al version they are fat guys questioning his fatness. Then you get the amazing scene where Weird Al goes from his skinny self to a fat man. Then you get the dance scene with the song.

Both songs and videos are worth a look especially if you watch the original and the parody one right after the other. Leave any comments below. Number 8 is on the way soon.

"Stuart Little" by E. B. White (a book review)

Before you start to wonder, this is a book review, and no I haven't seen any of the movies based on the book. There is no way that the book I just finished could be transferred to any screen. With that being said, let's talk about E. B. White in general and Stuart Little in specific.

So what do I think about Stuart Little? I think it is a magnificent book. It certainly was not what I was expecting at all. More importantly, not a single one of the things that I expected happened. I should correct that just a little. I didn't get any of the endings I was expecting. Don't worry, I'm not about to give away the ending, but I want you to know that you won't get a simple ending even though this is a "simple" book. With Charlotte's Web, you get a nice neat ending. Everything comes together in the end, not so with Stuart Little.

The way the story starts lets you know right away that this won't be a typical story. After all, how many women give birth to a mouse? For those of you that are familiar with the Tom Thumb style story you have some idea of what to expect. The tiny child (Stuart eventually reaches 2-1/4 inches) grows into a tiny man and goes off into the world to seek his fortune. This is the same style of story.

Every hero needs a reason to leave the safety of home. We get lots of chances to see Stuart in action. He takes up sailing and wandering the city even though he is just a very small creature. His only fear is dogs. He isn't even afraid of the family cat, Snowbell. What really drives Stuart to wandering though is his concern for his best friend, a beautiful bird named Margalo. When she disappears, Stuart decides to go look for her. He doesn't have much to lead him in the right direction. He just has Margalo's explanation of who she is, "I come from fields once tall with wheat, from pastures deep in fern and thistle: I come from vales of meadowsweet, and I love to whistle."

This quote shows just how great a writer E. B. White was. He had an amazing way with words that make this book a pleasure to read. I won't give away the ending, but I will tell you that Stuart has adventures as a sailor, and a teacher. He also learns to drive and encounters a woman his own size. I can't say more without giving away the ending, and I really want you to read this book. 

Go find a copy right now. That's my opinion, of course and your free to have your own. If you want, you can leave any comments below.

Signs of the Apocalypse-Willow Smith will be touring with Justin Bieber

Well, I just saw a scary news story, Willow Smith, the 10-year-old singing sensation, is teaming up with Justin Bieber, another singing sensation that is often mistaken for a lesbian. I might be over reacting, but this does not sound like a good combination. It might just be part of one of those scrolls in Revelation. OK, I am over reacting. There's only one thing that keeps it from being that bad. I don't have to go to any of their concerts.

I have lots of issues with this anyway. First, who decided that "I whip my hair back and forth" was something that should be performed live? There's no way that Willow can actually sing and whip her hair. It works out fine in the video, but the poor girl's going to get whiplash and have to wear one of those goofy collars. Then she'll wish she could whip her hair back and forth.

More importantly, what are Will and Jada thinking letting their 10-year-old daughter go on tour? Will Smith has been there and should know what it will be like. How many stops will this tour be taking? How long before this poor girl either drops out from fatigue or ends up like the younger version of Drew Barrymore? (Thank God Drew got herself cleaned up.) It's not a good environment for such a young girl.

In other Willow Smith news, the article also says that Willow will be filling the starring role in the new remake of Annie. Wait a minute. Isn't Little Orphan Annie supposed to be a red head? How are they going to make that work? I'm not against diversity, I'm all in favor of it, but let's be fair to the source material. This sounds like it could be as bad as that one Disney TV version of Cinderella where the prince was Asian, but his Dad was George Costanza and his mother was black. (How does that make sense at all?)

OK, I've rambled on long enough. I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the matter. Comment below.

Top Twelve Characters from MASH (part III)

Here we are in the next part of the Top Twelve list, but before we get started, let me review the people from the earlier list.

Number 12-Dr. Sydney Freeman

Number 11- Maxwell Klinger

Number 10- Father Mulcahy

Number 9-Radar O'Reilly

So now that we have that out of the way let's get on with the list.



 Number 8

Larry Linville played Major Frank Burns the perpetual target for Hawkeye, Trapper, and BJ.

 So, we start with Major Frank Burns. Poor Frank was a character that was designed to be hated. While he is a competent surgeon, he is not cut out for the pressure of a MASH unit. While he dreams of being a leader of men, he can't even get his bunk mates from pranking him every chance they get. Frank's main interest is trying to get people to do things his way, and "Hot Lips" Houlihan. Frank is married, but that doesn't stop him from making the most of any time the two can manage to eke out.

It's harder to come up with important moments for Mr. Burns. Because of what they were doing with the character, it's hard to come up with significant moments that don't involve him becoming an involuntary blood donor or having his latrine fall apart while he's using it. I do have a couple that will work pretty well. In the first season, Colonel Blake makes the decision to make Hawkeye the Chief Surgeon. Frank spends the whole episode throwing a fit, but at the end of the episode, Frank asks Hawkeye for help with a patient. It isn't much, but it shows he knows Hawkeye is a better doctor. The other moment comes when Frank learns about "Hot Lips" marriage while she was away on leave. He completely falls apart. It is a mixture of comedy and tragedy that really shows who his character is.

 Number 7

Veteran actor, Harry Morgan, played Colonel Sherman Potter, the commander of the 4077 after Lt Colonel Blake went home.

 How can you go wrong with a commanding officer like Colonel Potter? He has experience from WWII and unlike Henry Blake, Colonel Potter has experience running a MASH unit. Potter understands the people around him, and even though they won't jump to attention and salute like regular army, he knows that they all have the same concerns-saving lives and getting home safely. Colonel Potter is a painter and a Calvary man at heart and Radar even manages to find him a horse in the middle of the war. Also, in an unexpected move that works out very well for both of them, Colonel Potter puts Klinger in charge of the office after Radar goes home.

One great moment for Colonel Potter comes in an episode where he was shooting from the free throw line on the camp's make shift basketball court. Someone walked by and noticed he was doing pretty well, soon the whole camp was around the court waiting to see if he could break the camp's record for consecutive baskets. On the very last shot, Colonel Potter misses and the audience disperses. Potter picks up the ball and starts again.
The best moment is of course at the end of the show as everyone is leaving Korea. Colonel Potter is trying to figure out what to do with he faithful horse, Sophie. There's no way he can bring her back to America so the Colonel follows Father Mulcahy's advice and leaves her with the local orphanage to help them work the fields.

 Number 6

David Ogden Stiers played Major Charles Emerson Winchester III.

 Just when you think that all the rich and powerful families are keeping their sons and daughters out of the war, you get to meet Major Charles Emerson Winchester III. At first he's got a nice cushy position in Seoul, taking care of important military personnel. That is until he wins one to many games of cards. That's when he finds himself transferred to the 4077 and left there. Winchester isn't a terrible person. He's just used to a different way of life, and he has no means of adjusting to his new world. Winchester is also the replacement for Frank Burns and he is a far superior surgeon and has no qualms about telling the world that he's the best.

I think in this case, I'll stick with one moment from the end of the show. Near the end of the war, a group of prisoners is being held at the 4077. They are five Chinese musicians who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Winchester decides to take this group and teach them to play a variation of Mozart's Quintet for Violins and Strings. He continues to help them improve their performance until they are transferred to another camp. They play the song for him as they are being driven away. A few hours later more patients arrive. Unfortunately one of the patients is one of the Chinese soldiers. They were all killed. Winchester tries to find solace in his record of the piece, but after a few measures, he takes the record and smashes it.

 Number 5

Loretta Swit played Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan.

The last character on this part of our list is Major Margaret "Hot Lips"Houilhan. At the beginning of the show, Hot Lips is mainly used for comic relief as she chances around with Frank. Later in the show, she grows as a character. Her failed marriage to Donald Penobscot helps her to grow out of her military rigidness, and become a better member of the 4077. Margaret's responsibility is to take care of the nurses under her command. This includes protecting them from the antics of the doctors as well.

It is hard to pick out a specific moment for Margaret because her best moments are really the small times that she shows her concern for the people she comes in contact with- her nurses, her patients and her friends. There is a great episode where Hawkeye and Houlihan are trapped in a building while they are on a trip. The two end up sleeping together to ignore the shells dropping around them. However, the most notable moment happened in the movie of MASH. I won't say more since if you haven't seen the movie, it will ruin the moment for you.

That's all there is for now. I'll have the last part with the final four characters soon. I'm sure you can figure out who the four are, but you'll still have to look to find out who gets top place. Leave any comments below.

So you want to start watching the Fourth Doctor episodes of Doctor Who

Tom Baker thanks you for wanting to see his Doctor in action.

So you want start watching Doctor Who adventures featuring the fourth Doctor, Tom Baker? You are making a very good choice. You probably already know that Tom is my personal favorite Doctor. You have a lot of work to see all of his episodes. He was the Doctor for seven years.Why not try out a few of the more interesting stories? After all, some of the stories are better than others. (Remember that during the old series, they didn't have the budget or effects that are available today.) I could go on talking about how great Tom Baker is for a long time, but let's get on to the recommendations instead.


What better place to begin than at the very beginning. In "The Robot," we get our first real glimpse of Tom Baker as the Doctor. The Doctor is lying on the floor in his laboratory at UNIT headquarters and hasn't recovered from his regeneration.

The Doctor seems very odd after his regeneration, but it turns out that this is who he is now. There are several great parts to this story. First, you get the Doctor's first words, " " You also get the fashion show where the Doctor figures out what he's going to wear. You also get a scene straight out of the Power Rangers when the robot of the title grows from around 7 feet to building-crushing height.

If you're watching the new series, you've already met his companion, Sarah Jane Smith, and you'll love getting to know her during her younger adventures.




"The Talons of Weng-Chiang" is a very strange story. The Doctor is dressed up like Sherlock Holmes and his companion is a futuristic cave woman. Yeah, Leela is from a future human planet that has regressed to barbarism after a space ship crash lands on a planet. Leela is like an Eliza Doolittle character- she has great potential and the Doctor is trying to help her reach it. 


In this story, the Doctor has brought Leela to Earth's past to help her understand who her ancestors were. The plot revolves around a disappearing woman, Chinese tongs, an Oriental stage magician, and a killer ventriloquist's dummy. Oh and did I mention giant-killer sewer rats?






Lalla Ward is the second actress to play the Time Lord Romana (actually Romanadvoratrelundar, but who wants to say that more than once?) The character of Romana is great in either incarnation because she is a Time Lord, and in some ways is smarter than the Doctor. The first Romana is forced on the Doctor during the Key of Time stories, but she decides to stay with the Doctor after that adventure is over.

This is often considered one of the best Doctor Who stories of all time. The Doctor and Romana take a well deserved vacation in Paris and soon discover involving six original copies of the Mona Lisas. There's lots of adventure in this story and the Doctor makes a trip back in time to have a chat with Leonardo Da Vinci.



Of course there are plenty of stories featuring Tom Baker (42 stories with 172 episodes) so once you check these stories out, you'll have plenty of opportunities to enjoy this incarnation of the Doctor. Let me know if you have any feedback or thoughts on these episodes below.

What's happening with MTV's "Skins" experiment?

When I heard that American television was going to produce an American version of the popular BBC show "Skins," I had fairly low expectations. I was never interested in the British version. It's just not the kind of show that I'm interested in. I've had my teen drama, and I'm not interested in reliving those days.  Even so, I knew enough about the show from the advertisements to know what to expect. I love British television, and American television has a long history of "borrowing" ideas from across the pond. "Life on Mars," Who's Line?," and "All in the Family" are just a few examples of shows that started overseas. Some of the ideas do very well and others just flop. I think part of it comes down to familiarity. I would hate to see an American version of "Doctor Who", and I think this is part of the problem we are seeing with "Skins."

So let's talk a minute about why it's an issue for "Skins" to be a really popular television show already. Ever since BBC America has hit the air, American audiences have massive exposure to at least the BBC variety of shows so they already know what to expect. Take a truly American example like the SciFi (it was SciFi at the time) reboot of Battlestar Galactica. The writers for the show made a choice to reimagine Starbuck. They chose to take the male character originally played by Dirk Benedict and make the character a female played by Katee Sackhoff. This was a choice that they made that I think worked out well. It provided a new dynamic to the show that let it explore a variety of issues that a male Starbuck wouldn't have been able to address. "Skins" has a similar issue.

First let's consider how Battlestar Galactica avoided problems with the gender change. Rather than ignore it, they actually advertised the change. I remember an add where both Starbucks are playing cards and Benedict makes a comment about how in his day Starbuck was a guy. They didn't try to pull the wool over the eyes of the audience, even though the original show had been off the air for decades. "Skins" on the other hand changed the gender of one of the major characters to avoid complaints. From what I've heard from friends of mine who were huge fans of the British version, the character that was changed was a lesbian. I think the producers didn't want to deal with the questions that might come up from the character so they simply changed her into a guy so it wouldn't be a problem, but there's the problem. People loved the original character and aren't happy with the change.

There are tons of other problems with this show being brought to American television that I won't get into now since I don't follow either show, but I think I've made my point. The American version of "Skins" will probably be off the air in a few weeks and this won't even be an issue anymore.

Take my opinion for what it's worth. Feel free to comment below if you have something you want to add to the discussion.

Should we just give up on equality?

 So I just finished reading an article that titled "Why Rich Parents Don't Matter." (see the article here:
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/111917/why-rich-parents-dont-matter?mod=family-kids_parents)
I thought I was going to read about how smart kids will always out perform no matter the background, or perhaps an article that says that all the extra help money can buy doesn't make that much difference. Instead I read an article that basically says that it doesn't matter if we remove the class-side of the equation because some kids are genetically predisposed to being smart.

What is the point of saying this? Why do we need someone to tell us that education won't ever be completely fair? That's not a new revelation. So rather than trying to make things better, we should be content to leave things the way they are? That doesn't make any sense at all. Our education system should be giving every student a chance to reach their full potential. I doubt we can do much about the financial concerns, but that doesn't mean we should dismiss them as being something not worth our time and effort.

In case you haven't figured it out I disagree with the title of this article and its final conclusion, but look it over and decide for yourself. Then feel free to leave a comment below.