SOUNDTRACK: “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC-“My Own Eyes” (2014).
There are only four songs from Al’s new album that he didn’t make videos for. This song really didn’t grab me right away the way the other ones did. I have learned that it is a style parody of the Foo Fighters. I kind of see it, but I feel like it doesn’t quite convey the Foo Fighters well enough.
There’s something odd about the verses as well. Like maybe there’s too many words? Or maybe because he’s singing them so fast they are hard to parse? The chorus is really great and catchy, as Foo Fighters songs are, but this is probably my least favorite song on the disc. Of course that’s surprising since I usually like his heavier songs.
But if he plays it live, the chorus will totally rock, so that’s alright too.
[READ: July 14, 2014] The New York Four
This was probably my least favorite of all the Minx books so far. And the reason was actually a combination of the story and the art that I didn’t like so much. I have been intrigued by how many stories about girls there are which are written by boys. Not that they can’t write them, but I’m surprised there weren’t more women writers in this series. Of course, I didn’t much care for Burnout either, so gender knows no bounds.
This story is set in New York City. Our main protagonist is Riley. Riley lives in Brooklyn but has just started going to NYU. Her sister was a wild child who left the family and went out on her own. This has made her parents very protective of Riley, and she rather resents that (she was ten when her sister took off though, so she doesn’t really remember her).
The first double spread page is an example of why I didn’t like the art so much. Over a wonderfully drawn intersection of Broadway and Houston Street we get this superimposed kinda cartoony but not quite image of Riley coming up the subway stairs. She looks green screened in, and I find it very distracting. Indeed all of the characters seem too big for the page, which was probably intentional, but which I just don’t like.
I do like the “tips” that are included though about navigating the cooler sections of NYC. I also enjoyed how each character was given a small avatar with stats and details as a brief synopsis. Merissa (the tall loud one); Lona Lo (born in Canada) Ren (lapsed vegan). Then just as the girls (who are in some of Riley’s classes) are about to talk to her, Riley’s sister Angie storms in. They are meeting for the first time in years and Angie, who is an NYC pro by now, whisks her away.
A little later, Riley meets the girls and tells them about a job proofing PSATs for $25/hr (that sounds amazing). The only catch is that they have to maintain their GPA and do weekly video interviews (which is how the book opens, with Riley in a video interview). It’s an interesting technique to have the girls talk to a “counselor” and maybe even a little groundbreaking in 2008, but it’s not used to its full potential. The videos reveal the flaws and insecurities of the girls (whose behaviors border on the criminal) .
One very weird thing about this story was that Riley has a Blackberry which she is always texting (or whatever they called it back in 2008). Her three friend hate that she is always on the phone. And they seem really standoffish that she even deigns to use a phone like that. Perhaps this attitude did exist in 2008 but I find it so hard to believe that none of these other hip young New Yorker girls has a phone that is not constantly plugged to her ear (for reference, the iPhone 3G came out in 2008).
But so Riley starts chatting with a guy who slipped her his email address at a club (strangely enough, the email address is at a band’s website–one where she also has an email address…did we do that back in 2008?). It seems to me to be obvious after about two or three pages just who this mysterious stranger is, especially after one or two walloping clues give it away. But well, that’s what a drama is, I suppose.
Anyhow, we see Riley getting totally hooked on her online “date,” blowing off her friends and her classes (although if she’s texting the guy, why is she missing classes? Can’t she just go to classes with her phone?).
Things sorta work out for them, but the epilogue infers that things are far from settled. Which made the story feel so much smaller than it needed to be in NYC. Between the glam drawings, the stalking subplot, the sex with teachers subplot, and the girl show can only date older men subplot, the book felt very 90210 to me. I also just discovered that they made a sequel (not by Minx) called New York Five.
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