Mosh’s Reviews > Weird Al: Seriously > Status Update
Mosh
is on page 95 of 209
Chapter 5: "The Art of Self-Deprecation"
The most insightful chapter so far, delving into how Al has always represented nerd culture to the point of making being uncool cool. As with previous chapters, Hirsch goes off topic, makes some dubious claims, and relies heavily on other sources instead of arguing her own ideas, but the chapter ties together well.
— Oct 24, 2021 11:05AM
The most insightful chapter so far, delving into how Al has always represented nerd culture to the point of making being uncool cool. As with previous chapters, Hirsch goes off topic, makes some dubious claims, and relies heavily on other sources instead of arguing her own ideas, but the chapter ties together well.
Like flag
Mosh’s Previous Updates
Mosh
is on page 74 of 209
Chapter 4: "Sugar and Spice and Almost Everything Nice"
Some good insight into who Al is as a person and a performer, but Hirsch still digresses too often
— Oct 24, 2021 08:46AM
Some good insight into who Al is as a person and a performer, but Hirsch still digresses too often
Mosh
is on page 57 of 209
Through chapter 3 - "Policing and Playing with Language":
Hirsch brings up some interesting points about Al's use of language, but it's digressive, overly list dependent, and occasionally poorly written (she actually writes, "Webster's Dictionary defines [pun] as..." (48); I've been working for years to break my high school students of that habit).
— Oct 20, 2021 07:19PM
Hirsch brings up some interesting points about Al's use of language, but it's digressive, overly list dependent, and occasionally poorly written (she actually writes, "Webster's Dictionary defines [pun] as..." (48); I've been working for years to break my high school students of that habit).
Mosh
is on page 34 of 209
Through chapter 2: "The Prince of Pop Parody"
I hate that I'm already looking for reasons to not like this book, but Hirsch isn't helping me out. She discusses the nature of parody in ways I simply disagree with;
-"Happy Birthday" is not a parody; neither the lyrics nor words directly reference the Hills' song.
-One of her sources is "one fan named John" (23)
-Al's polkas are satire, but not parody.
-lyrics matter
— Oct 19, 2021 06:29PM
I hate that I'm already looking for reasons to not like this book, but Hirsch isn't helping me out. She discusses the nature of parody in ways I simply disagree with;
-"Happy Birthday" is not a parody; neither the lyrics nor words directly reference the Hills' song.
-One of her sources is "one fan named John" (23)
-Al's polkas are satire, but not parody.
-lyrics matter
Mosh
is on page 19 of 209
Some thoughts on chapter 1 from an English teacher/"Weird Al" devotee:
*It's all chronology, no insights
*Way too much quoting of other people, often making up the majority of a given paragraph
*Discussing Rick Derringer and NOT mentioning "Rock & Roll, Hoochie Koo"
*The paragraph on In 3D talks about Al meeting McCartney - no relevance to the album
*Random diction problems
*Discussing albums, but not the songs
— Oct 17, 2021 02:05PM
*It's all chronology, no insights
*Way too much quoting of other people, often making up the majority of a given paragraph
*Discussing Rick Derringer and NOT mentioning "Rock & Roll, Hoochie Koo"
*The paragraph on In 3D talks about Al meeting McCartney - no relevance to the album
*Random diction problems
*Discussing albums, but not the songs
