Weasel Stomping Day 2013

In years past, my friends and I have assembled to watch one of our favorite all-time movies, UHF, starring comedic geniuses "Weird Al" Yankovic, Michael Richards (of "Seinfeld" fame), and many others. Typically, these shindigs have been held during the summer. Since August really has no major holidays, this year we decided to hold this year's party on August 10 and to call the holiday "Weasel Stomping Day," based on the "Weird Al" song of the same name.

One of the traditions involved in Weasel Stomping day is to "put your Viking helmet on; spread that mayonnaise on the lawn," which I demonstrated in the following photo:

Well, why not?

There were only a handful of us involved this time around, but still we had a good time together watching the film. Another important tradition is the eating of Twinkie-wiener sandwiches, which consist of a hot dog on a Twinkie bun (Twinkies are rather hard to find these days, since they just went back on supermarket shelves, so we had to improvise with the generic brand), covered in Cheese Whiz.

Erica was both a first-time UHF watcher and Twinkie-wiener sandwich eater:

I think it would be safe to say that she enjoyed the film much more than she enjoyed the sandwich, which is definitely an acquired taste.

Good times were had by all!

Party Down!

I had another birthday yesterday. Try as I might, I have been unsuccessful at finding a way to stop them from happening since I turned, oh, probably 21.

At any rate, I arranged for a party of sorts at the Karaoke Café, my new favorite hangout, last night, and Ben and Adi, Steve and Summer, Biz, and Pepe were good enough to join me to celebrate the occasion. This night also marked Steve and Summer's first time returning to the spot of their first date six months earlier.

Some of the highlights from the evening included my getting to sing "Weird Al" Yankovic's "One More Minute," an old family favorite, with my three siblings on backup:

The girls collaborating together on the Dixie Chicks' "Wide Open Spaces":

Singing N*SYNC's "Bye Bye Bye" along with the other boys (actions included):

As well as the Soggy Bottom Boys' "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow":

Good times were had by all.

Sorry you missed out on things? Join us for the next birthday party, won't ya?

"Alpocalypse" Comes to Salt Lake City

My next birthday is still a few weeks away, but earlier tonight, I was given an early birthday present by my good friend Pepe: tickets to the "Weird Al" Yankovic concert at the Utah State Fair.

If you know me - I'm assuming that you do if you're reading this, but you never know - you know that I'm a huge "Weird Al" fan and that I had already been to the last four of his previous concerts in Utah, as well as one in southern Georgia in 2003 (another birthday present; thanks, Clayton). They've all been hugely entertaining, and tonight's show was no exception.

Al is currently on a cross-country tour to promote his latest album, "Alpocalypse," and he performed six or seven songs from that record, including his Lady Gaga parody "Perform This Way," for which he dressed up as a peacock.

I guess the picture speaks for itself; I couldn't make this stuff up. Of course, it's really pretty tame when you think about some of Lady Gaga's outlandish wardrobe choices.

Additionally, "Weird Al" sang several of his older favorites, such as "Amish Paradise," "Canadian Idiot," "Fat," and "Smells like Nirvana." The evening's encore performance was a medley of his two Star Wars-themed songs, "Yoda" and "The Saga Begins."

Good times were had by all.

Supplies!

Earlier tonight, my good friends Adria and Julia hosted yet another entertaining outdoor movie for a cool summer's evening in their backyard. It had also, coincidentally, become time for a third annual UHF viewing and party, so two great ideas were combined.

The result was this evening's Third Annual UHF Party and Outdoor Movie Night, which changed the lives of everyone who attended for the better.

Okay, so, that wasn't really what happened. But it is always fun to get together with good friends to watch a good flick.

This time around, we didn't go quite to the lengths we did in the past to celebrate watching this cult comedy classic, namely, preparing Twinkie-wiener sandwiches for guests to eat. (For those not "in the know" about this rare delicacy, a Twinkie-wiener sandwich consists of a hot dog on a Twinkie bun, covered in Cheese Whiz.) More than one person complained about the taste after trying it out last year - it's their loss, is all I can say - so I dared not try that again.

At any rate, as we snacked on cookies and other, less-complicated refreshments, a handful of friends and I enjoyed the comic stylings of "Weird Al" Yankovic and "Wheel of Fish," "Raul's Wild Kingdom," "Stanley Spadowski's Clubhouse," and the rest of the programs on U62.

As you might have guessed, good times were had by all.

We Got It All on UHF

Last night, several friends and I gathered to celebrate the awesomeness that is the 1989 cult-classic comedy UHF, which stars (and was co-written by) "Weird Al" Yankovic and a pre-"Seinfeld" Michael Richards.

This was the second time in three years that I have helped to organize one of these kinds of shindigs, and judging by the positive feedback that people gave, I suppose we will have to make it an annual movie party.

Adria and Julia volunteered to host the festivities in their backyard. They set up a large white screen so that we could watch the movie outside. Fortunately, the weather cooperated and gave us a cool summer evening.

Ryan was the only one to come dressed up as a UHF character. Once again, he chose Philo, the mad scientist and host of "Secrets of the Universe."


The evening's events included a few movie-related activities, such as playing one of my favorite board games, "Encore" (a singing game, which included a few "Weird Al" references); mashed potato sculpting, which references a scene from UHF that spoofs Close Encounters of the Third Kind; and the consumption of Twinkie-wiener sandwiches (hot dogs on Twinkie buns, covered in Cheese Whiz), which was no doubt the highlight of the party for many people.


Just look at the facial expressions of Christie, Pepe, Jared, Matt, Laureen, Nadine, Adam, and Kristen, which I think say everything about the experience:








Of course, I had to join in on the fun.


Sometime after the movie ended, Ben borrowed my camera and took a bunch of pictures of himself. This one is definitely the best of the lot:


I wish I knew how he does that thing with his tongue. (But don't quote me on that!)

It was a fun-filled evening spent with good friends and good entertainment.