This Saturday night, Courtney and I got a rare night out, just the two of us. We always look forward to making these “date nights” fun and romantic evenings, and this time was no different. We started off at a lovely local restaurant called Ruvo, where we sat at a corner table and enjoyed pancetta wrapped scallops, grilled mahi mahi and crispy Long Island duck, and two rich deserts, all accompanied by a nice bottle of Prosecco. After dinner, we took in a night of legitimate theatre:

“Weird Al” Yankovic live in concert!

I wrote about my desire to go to this concert before, and my mother got me two tickets for my birthday.  (Thanks, Ma!)   Courtney was initially not totally on-board, but she was a good sport and figured we’d have a fun night out even if she isn’t quite as obsessed with Weird Al as I am. And I am pleased to report that on my fourth time seeing the mighty parodist live, I was not disappointed.

First of all, The Paramount in Huntington is a really nice venue. Having just reopened, it was a great opportunity to get in there while everything is still new. It’s a smaller venue, to be sure, but there’s something to be said for a more intimate experience, and the Paramount certainly felt more cozy than cramped. The fact that it’s right in downtown Huntington is a great bonus. And they have an abundance of bars around the place, so if you like to enjoy a cocktail while at a concert without having to walk too far, this is the place for you.

But back to Weird Al. Here’s a guy a day away from his 52nd birthday, yet the trademark manic energy of his concerts hasn’t subsided at all over the years. He changes costumes regularly, he jumps around, redefining what it means to be double-jointed, and he even jumped into the crowd to serenade every woman he saw during Wanna Be UR Lover. Not surprisingly, the set-list featured the new album heavily, but since I love Alpocalypse, I had no complaints there. He performed two of my favorites from the disc, Party in the CIA and Skipper Dan, though I was hoping he would also have sung If That Isn’t Love, but that and Stop Forwarding That Crap To Me ended up being the only two tracks that didn’t make the cut. Oh well.

The requisite old favorites were all there – Fat, Amish Paradise, Smells Like Nirvana, White & Nerdy. There were also a handful of non-parody album cuts, like the aforementioned Wanna Be UR Lover and Frank’s 2000″ TV, as well as a very long and comprehensive parody medley, that featured snippets of songs from throughout Weird Al’s entire lengthy catalog (except for the Polka Party! album, which never gets any love.) Interspersed throughout the show were video clips – short segments from UHF and The Weird Al show, Al’s fake interview bits, where he cuts himself into interviews with celebrities, and various moments where Al has appeared or been referenced in various movies and TV shows – yes, including his hilarious Naked Gun cameo.

He ended the show as he has done for several tours now, with a Star Wars mini-montage, consisting of The Saga Begins and Yoda – and a mid-Yoda “rap” of nonsense that has to be seen to be believed.

As a an added bonus, we bumped into friends of ours at the show (shout-out to Adam and Marisa!), and since we had a sitter, we were able to go out with them for an unplanned drink after the concert. (An impromptu drink with friends?! It was like we were 23 again!)

It was a great show, and I even caught Courtney laughing and bopping along to the music a few times. My only complaints about the show would be that there weren’t any new, unreleased songs, and that I’d already seen all of the fake interview pieces before. I mean, watching Al “interview” Jessica Simpson and Celine Dion is still funny, but it is definitely time for a new Al TV special, complete with all the requisite hilarity and newly spliced together interviews. Surely some television producer (with more clout than myself) can make that happen, right?

That way, there will be a ton of fresh material for Weird Al’s next tour!

Totally unrelated, but I also wanted to share this (non-embeddable) video – starring Eli’s two favorite characters!

And finally, if you want to start 5772 off on a positive note, do yourself a favor and buy this book. (And, while you’re at it, Like the Facebook page.) It’s called My Sweet Saga, and it was written by a friend of mine, Brett Sills. (He also blogs – check out his page while you’re in a link-clicking mood.) I haven’t read this book yet, but I have had the pleasure of reading some of Brett’s other writing, and it has always been amazing. I just purchased my copy, and I can’t wait to read it!

Happy New Year, everyone!

A brand new concert venue, so close to us – how cool is that!

But it gets better.

Guess who is playing one of the very first concerts at the Paramount?

Weird Al!

After his book came out, I was hoping he would come to town to do a signing at The Book Revue, a local store that attracts celebrities/authors for book signings.  (It’s where I met the lovely Olivia Munn last year.)  Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.  But it turns out the pull of Huntington was too much for Weird Al to resist!

And it gets even better still – the concert will be this October, which is the month of my birthday and wedding anniversary!  It’s the perfect present – though for which occasion is still to be determined, given as how Courtney has expressed the tiniest bit of hesitancy.  But c’mon, you can’t fight fate!  Right?!

PS If anyone else is interested, the show is Saturday, October 22nd, at 8pm.

It’s been a long time coming, but it’s finally here! The new Weird Al CD! Alpocalypse! YAY!

So how is it?

Obviously, I picked it up on my way to work this morning, and I’ve listened to it repeatedly as much as possible. (With headphones, in case you were wondering. Not because I’m embarrassed, but because I want to enjoy this experience totally for myself, and not have other people’s conversations get in the way of my listening pleasure.)

So how is it?

Amazing.

Over the past two years, Weird Al released some tracks online as part of his “Internet Leaks” EP. (I posted some of the videos here, here, and here.)  Those original tracks, coupled with the parodies Whatever You Like and Perform This Way have already been released, so when I listened to the album in its entirety, I’d already heard half of the songs before.  That did, in all honesty, make the experience slightly less exhilarating.  Still, the tracks that were new to me were all brilliant: TMZ, Party in the CIA, Another Tattoo, If That Isn’t Love (which is so far my favorite), Stop Forwarding That Crap To Me (which is especially relevant to certain family members who absolutely LOVE sending email forwards – cough cough), and of course the newest polka medley, Polka Face.  They alone made the disc purchase worth it.

Of course, being old and out of touch, I must admit that I am not super familiar with the contemporary songs that Weird Al parodies and includes in his polkas nowadays.  (And by “not super familiar with,” I mean I’d never heard them before in my life.)  Taylor Swift?  Miley Cyrus?  Justin Bieber?  Sure, I’ve heard of these people, but I’m not really a big fan of any of them.  I wouldn’t have minded hearing some songs that I do know, at least in polka form – Single Ladies and F—/Forget You come to mind.   But (thorough fan that I am) I’ve gone back and listened to the originals to make sure I’m picking up on all of the subtle jokes along the way, as Weird Al usually gives extra winks to the source material in his parodies.  But whether or not you know the original songs or not, these songs are funny.  Weird Al is a master humorist, and the writing on these tracks is every bit as sharp as it’s always been.  The “funny music” genre has become more crowded over the last few years, with Flight of the Conchords and The Lonely Island moving in on Al’s turf.  And don’t get me wrong – those acts are damn funny, too.  But on one listening to this album, it’s clear that Weird Al, three decades into his career, still has it.

If I had to complain about anything (this is the internet, after all!) it’s that there is no ‘epic’ track on this album.  Running With Scissors had the 11+ minute Albuquerque.  Poodle Hat had the 9 minute ode to Frank Zappa, Genius in France.  Straight Outta Lynwood had the 11 minute parody of Trapped in the Closet, Trapped in the Drive-Thru.  I loved those long songs, and I was hoping for another one on this album.  Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be.  Yeah, Stop Forwarding That Crap To Me is close to 6 minutes, but I could imagine that track having gone on for a little while longer. Oh well… maybe next time.

Still not satisfied?  Geez, you’re demanding!  Well, you can also get a deluxe edition of the album (what, you’d really buy a NON-deluxe version?) that contains ten (Ten!) music videos.  There are 12 songs on the album, and you get videos of ten of them for an extra two bucks!  I mean, come on, you can’t beat value like that!  The videos are, not surprisingly, also very funny and well done, and only serve to enhance the album.

So bottom line – I heartily endorse this album, and every other album Weird Al Yankovic has ever recorded.  Go buy them all right now.  You can thank me later.

And just in case you missed the full video of his Lady Gaga parody, Perform This Way, here it is. (For a 51 year old man, Al makes for a pretty foxy looking lady, huh?)

The controversy started when Al wrote a blog post detailing his issues when trying to get Lady Gaga to approve a parody of her song “Born This Way” called “Perform This Way.”  Definitely give his blog post a read – he is certainly a better blogger than yours truly, after all. (And a darn good children’s book author, to boot.)

After this news hit, there was an internet outcry (is there really any other kind of outcry anymore?) Why would Gaga object to a parody of her song?  Isn’t she a champion of people being allowed to express themselves?  Isn’t that exactly what Born This Way is about?  Does she have no sense of humor at all?  Why would she make Weird Al jump through so many hoops only to reject him?  Doesn’t she realize that legendary artists like Michael Jackson, Madonna, and James Brown (remember “Living With a Hernia?”) gave Al their blessings?  Hell, the man was even going to donate all proceeds from the song to the Human Rights Campaign!  WHY IS LADY GAGA RUINING EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE???

(And shouldn’t she know that it’s not a good idea to upset Weird Al?)

But this story has a happy ending.  By the afternoon, Lady Gaga said that the whole thing was a big misunderstanding, and that she had no knowledge of the parody at all.  She said it was her erstwhile manager who had been making these decisions on Gaga’s behalf, and that she loves Weird Al in general, this parody in particular, and she does in fact sanction Al to release it as a single.  Huzzah!  And there was much internet rejoicing.

Of course, some people are accusing Gaga of just back-peddling, and that she did n reality try to squash the parody, and only relented after the backlash.  There’s no way to really know, and who honestly cares?  The important thing is that Weird Al can release the song as a single, charity can be raised for the HRC, and of supreme importance to the human race… he can make a proper video for the song!  He’s promised it is going to be epic, and given his track record and the song’s lyrics, that’s easy to imagine.

Oh, and since this song will be his next album’s lead single, that means that there will be a new Weird Al album coming soon!  Yay!

Without further ado, here is the song that caused all of this hubbub in the first place.  Keep in mind that the text at the beginning and end are now moot – this video was posted when Al thought the song wasn’t going to be released on his album.  And this is (obviously) not the epic video that is sure to come, just the music and lyrics.  But they’re still hilarious.  Enjoy!

It’s been all over the web today: Weird Al Yankovic told billboard.com that he only has three parodies left to record for his new album – and that Lady Gaga is “a great candidate” to be parodied.  I, for one, totally agree.  Not that I’m an expert on popular music or anything, but her music is pretty ubiquitous right now, and that can make for a great Weird Al parody.  Sure, she’s been parodied and covered before (the Eric Cartman version of Poker Face is an instant classic), but as Al himself points out, that is just the world we live in now, and it just means that if his parody can’t be the first, it has to be the best.  Yeah, like that could ever be an issue…

The article also has Al on record saying that he hopes to have his next album out sometime this year, which I also think is a fantastic idea.  And I can’t wait to get his childroon’s book next spring!  Yay, Weird Al!

Great news on an upcoming film sequel!

It turns out that there *may* be a Gremlins 3 – and it could be in 3-D!!!

It’s just a rumor at this point, but still, that’s pretty damn exciting news.  Of course, everyone in the world loves the two Gremlins movies… with the notable exception of my sister.  Now 28 years old, Sam is STILL traumatized by the Gremlins, the memory of being scared by them as a child still fresh in her brain.  The mere mention of the word Gremlns, or of the words Gizmo, Mogwai, or even Zach Galligan, will result in Sam running out of the room with her hands over her ears.  If she sees this post, she may never read my blog again.

Which is all somewhat silly, considering the Gremlins aren’t really scary, as they fall more into the genre of comic mischief than evil monsters.  Especially in Gremlins 2: The New Batch.  And Gizmo is so cute!

But I for one would love to see another Gremlins movie, and if it’s in 3-D, well that’s even better!

In other new movie developments, Weird Al is reporting that he will be writing and directing a new feature film! He’s apparently got a development deal with Cartoon Network, and a new movie is number one on his list of things to do for them.  A few main bullet points from his blog: It won’t be a sequel to UHF, it will be live-action, and Weird Al will not star in it, though he will appear in front of the camera in some capacity.  Since everything Weird Al does is genius, this movie is already guaranteed to be hysterical and brilliant.  Hopefully by the time it opens, Eli will be old enough to come see it at a midnight showing with me!

Every December, a ton of “Best of the Year” lists pop up everywhere, and they can get old pretty quick, but I’m digging the “Best of the Decade” lists that I’ve been seeing lately. So I figured I’d jump on that particular bandwagon, and so I now present my list of some of the best pop culture trends of the past ten years.

Funny Music from Artists Besides Weird Al
Don’t get me wrong – my obsession with Weird Al Yankovic, the king of parodies and musical comedy, is still strong as ever. And he had a great decade in his own right, with the fantastic albums Poodle Hat and Straight Outta Lynwood, as well as his several Internet Leaks songs and videos. But he also had some competition in the funny music department. Tenacious D’s first album is side-splittingly funny. Though the movie and its soundtrack were less hilarious than they could have been, the genius of their first batch of songs more than makes up for it.

Then there’s Andy Samberg and his Lonely Island crew. The videos for Lazy Sunday, D*ck in a Box, I’m On a Boat, and others are brilliant in their lyrics and their visuals, and the digital shorts have been some of the best stuff on Saturday Night Live in recent years.

And who could forget the brilliance of Flight of the Conchords? Their two seasons on HBO, their two albums, and their EP were full of catchy, quotable, fantastic, and hysterical songs. I cried a little bit (on the inside) when I heard the show was officially done. Hopefully they’ll keep putting out music into the next decade.

The Renaissance of the Serialized Drama
The aughts may be remembered as the decade when hour-long, serialized dramas came back with a major vengeance. The best of the bunch has to be Lost – a show that not only blows your mind every week, but it has you obsessing in between episodes, talking over theories and trying to guess what it all means. The season 1 and 3 finales are two of my personal favorites in a standout series.

While the writing may not be as strong at 24 as it is on Lost, it’s still an extremely entertaining show, and it’s made Jack Bauer an instant kick ass pop icon. Sure, it’s cheesy when he screams “Dammit, we’re running out of time!” yet again, but it’s hard to resist the show’s real-time Die Hard feel. Then there’s Smallville, which has gotten much better at telling long stories over multiple episodes instead of just relying on freak-of-the-week episodes. And Fringe straddles the line of stand alone episodes with a greater mythology, and so far has been doing a great job of both. I also have high hopes for FlashForward and V, but it will remain to be seen how well those shows pay off long arcs, but they’re both off to good starts.

Even when theses kinds of shows haven’t worked all that well (Dollhouse, Terminator, Heroes) or when they were good concepts that were canceled too soon (Eli Stone), it’s still good that network executives are giving their audience some credit, understanding that we have patience, and can appreciate the kind of story-telling where everything isn’t all wrapped up in a tidy package in 42 minutes.

There is a great, albeit very long article about this topic at GQ.com with the guys from Bad Robot – I recommend it if you have a half-hour to kill.

Sit-coms Are Amazing Again!
It wasn’t just hour-long dramas that rocked the decade; the sit-com was reintroduced as a medium of clever comedies, and not just full of pratfalls and one-dimensional characters. Arrested Development was able to use bad puns, sight gags, kissing cousins, and The Final Countdown to great effect for powerful belly laughs. The British version of The Office gave us an amazing new brand of painful and awkward humor that would live on in the American series, as well as Ricky Gervais’ show Extras. 30 Rock is written so brilliantly and the jokes come so fast I find myself having to constantly rewind back to listen to jokes again. How I Met Your Mother gave a new twist to the story of urban singles looking for love. And we got 8 great years of Scrubs – even if Season 9 leaves a little to be desired.

The Superhero Is Cool Again
It seems like ages ago, but there was a time in the not-so-distant past that superhero movies weren’t really anything to get that excited about. Then in a single decade, we got four fantastic films in the genre: Superman Returns, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and Iron Man. (I know I’m going to get mocked for making those the ones I single out… but I just can’t get behind Spider-man. I tried, really, I did. And I enjoyed X-Men and X2, but I don’t know if they were amazing.) Too often, superhero movies were considered formulaic drivel, and could be released, hated, and forgotten about quickly. But the aughts made them not only bankable hits, but films that both nerds and critics agreed were actually good. I’ve defended Superman Returns so many times I’ve lost count, so I’ll just make this quick – it had its fans, and its share of people who hated it, but I loved it, so it goes on *MY* list, OK? The rebooted Batman films were also incredible, and they made that world so dark and believable it’s hard to not be foaming at the mouth for more sequels. And even though I knew nothing about Iron Man, I thoroughly enjoyed that film as well. Sure there have been some bad superhero movies in the past ten years, but the good ones were so great, it almost doesn’t matter.

The Apatow Movie Method
If some strange pop culture villain put a gun to my head and demanded I name the funniest movie of the past ten years, it’s a safe bet that I’d answer Superbad. I was laughing out loud a lot when we first saw that flick, and every time I’ve watched it since, I have the same reaction. That’s impressive considering I know the jokes that are coming. I also feel similarly about Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up, and The 40-Year Old Virgin. And Anchorman and Talladega Nights and Walk Hard and any movie that had Apatow’s name attached to was guaranteed to be at least funnier than your average comedy. Of course, Judd himself didn’t always have much to do with every all of the above movies, but his influence can be felt in them – and others where he had no involvement whatsoever, like I Love You, Man; there are outrageous moments, painful moments, and things that are ridiculous enough to make you laugh so hard your stomach hurts, but they still keep themselves grounded in such a way that you buy what’s happening. Movie comedies will probably continue to evolve, but these movies will always make me laugh.

The Pixar Streak
So much has already been said about the brilliance of the Pixar movies, but here it goes anyway: The folks at Pixar are geniuses, and each and every one of their flicks have been funny, beautiful to watch, and full of great characters and stories. Two of the greatest films of the decade in my humble opinion are WALL·E and Up, neither of which sounded like a home-run concept, but were both executed flawlessly. Sure there are other companies doing similar kinds of animation, but those movies always just fail to impress me with their stories, and often times they are so full of timely references that the jokes will be out dated in a few years. Courtney and I have been watching a DVR’d collection of Pixar shorts, and even the company’s short films are crafted with amazing precision and humor. I sure hope my kids love these movies, because I know I’ll enjoy watching them too.

Nintendo Changes Video Gaming
I’m a Nintendo fanboy – always have been, always will be. And I loved the GameCube and the Game Boy Advance. But what Nintendo pulled off with the Wii and the Nintendo DS is truly incredible. Video-gaming is no longer just associated with nerds playing alone in dark basements – it’s now something that the whole family can do together, something that parents don’t dread if their kids want to do, and it’s even something that women actually enjoy. (And are not just pretending to enjoy for the sake of their boyfriends or husbands.) Wii Sports isn’t my favorite game personally, but I love watching people who have never held a game controller pick it up and play with ease. Wii Fit is a really fun way to exercise at home. The latest iterations of the classic franchises have all been fantastic: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Paper Mario, Mario Kart Wii, Super Mario Galaxy, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii are all incredible games, as are their counterparts on the DS. (I just beat the first dungeon in The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks this morning – it’s really fun so far!)

Sure Nintendo has room for improvement – better online capability, HD graphics, etc. But the fact of the matter is what they are doing now works, and it works well, and it works well for a huge chunk of the population.

Better, Clearer, Faster
High definition television. DVR. Portable players that let us watch movies, TV shows, and carry tons of music and photos, too. It’s pretty amazing that when we started this decade, those things weren’t common, and now it’s hard to imagine life without them. It sounds like a sweeping statement, but it isn’t, really. Try to go through a week without using your DVR. Or switch back to a standard definition TV. You’ll be going out of your mind in a week. What are you going to do, record your favorite shows with a VCR? Seriously.

And remember when you had to carry a discman with you to listen to music on the go? You looked strange wearing headphones, and you could only listen to one album at a time! Now you can carry thousands of songs in your cell phone.

And remember dial-up? When it would take a half hour to load a 30 second video clip? Now you can watch entire episodes of TV shows or whole movies on your laptop – or even on your TV – that load in seconds.

It’s hard to imagine so much has happened in ten years, and it’s even crazier that in December 2019, we’ll be looking back at all of this stuff as quaint and old-fashioned.

Embedding has again been disabled (boo) so you’ll just have to click here to watch it.