Files this under ‘News of the Weird… Al’. The past four days, University of Chicago students ran around taking part in what is perhaps the world’s largest scavenger hunt. Among the items sought after were

• a tar gun and a feather gun [18 points]
• a voting receipt from the Democratic Party primary of Guam, Indiana, or North Carolina [4 points]
• 22818877@N06
• Have a Nobel Prize winner or “Weird Al” Yankovic witness your organ donor registration. [15 points for a Nobel laureate, 16 points for "Weird Al"]

That’s right, imagine if “Weird Al” was a Nobel laureate, too! I dunno, maybe for Physics or Most-Bean-Burritos-Eaten. He’d be worth a whopping 31 points!

News Source
Scavenger Hunt Website - with the full list of items to get
The Four Days 2008 - the Official University of Chicago Official Scavenger Hunt Official Organizing Committee’s Official Blog for the Official year of 2008

Another show has just been added to the Straight Outta Lynwood Tour:

July 4 - Louisville, KY - Iroquois Amphitheatre

It is with deep regret that I must inform you of the passing away of one of Yank Blog’s most cherished employees… Olaf Sol. Although he spoke no English, and nobody else on the staff spoke whatever it is he spoke, we will truly miss his presence. His sometimes lewd behavior towards all lobsters and his refusal to wear pants even when the Pope visited our premises has always made work an interesting experience.

I remember the first time he walked into our office, holding a bloody toaster in one hand and a copy of Atlas Shrugged in the other, we all instantly knew he’d be perfect the position of DVD Rewinder. He was truly a master in the field.

In his 9 minutes of working here, I think we all learned a little something from Olaf. I, for one, learned how to write five novels at the same time while carving bananas into incredibly obscene shapes. And thanks to that skill, I finally have something to put on my resume. Thank you Olaf. You will be missed.

Hello faithful readers,

This isn’t really Weird Al related, but I just wanted to say that everyone should watch Wheel of Fortune this coming Wednesday (April 2nd 2008).  You might just see your favorite Yank Blog author as an actual contestant spinning the wheel and guessing letters for prizes and cash!

Uh no, your OTHER favorite Yank Blog author.

No… the OTHER one!!  Yep that’s right, me.  Tune in and see how I did! 

Hee hee hee… check out today’s episode of Real Life Comics

(Thanks Erica!)

In the not-too-distant future, next Sunday, A.D., there was a guy named Al. He was weirder than you or me….

And the folks at Rifftrax asked him if he’d like to add some commentary to their upcoming version of “Jurassic Park” to which Al said “ummm, sure”. What is Rifftrax? Well, Do you remember that show Mystery Science Theater 3000 where Joel (or Mike) and his two wise cracking robots were made to watch really bad movies and poke fun of it all the way through? Well, this is the next version of that. It’s like DVD commentaries, but intentionally funny. For the moment, this is really only a rumor, but it’s coming from a reliable source. So that’s basically the deal. Al will be a guest “riffer” providing commentary with a few other robots people. Perhaps he will tell them where to stick it! More details will be posted as it becomes available.

1/31 Update: Well, it’s now official. The track will be Al with Mike Nelson and will be available for purchase starting on Feb 5th.

Feliz Navidad

The Yank Blog cast and crew takes a break from their 900 day vacation in the Bahamas fully paid for by the loyal subscribers of readers like you to wish everybody a very Happy Holidays and Happy New Year.

Just quick reminders to set your recording devices for tomorrow’s A&E Biography on Weird Al.  And if you have HDNet, check out “Sound Off with Matt Pinfield” at 8:30 pm and November 12th at 12:30 am and 4am

Recently, the following conversation took place:

Torsoboy: Huh, we still haven’t posted a news item about Al in the Transfromers.
HappySteve: Transformers? What are you talking about?
Torsoboy: I dunno. Our friend Devo was telling us that Al is … oh here, according to this entry on IMDb, Al will be providing the voice of Wreck-Gar in the upcoming new Transformers animated series or something.
HappySteve: Huh. I hadn’t heard about that. Any idea when it will debut?
Torsoboy: The folks who edit Wikipedia seem to think it will be next spring… they also tend to think that Atlantic Records sucks. I read that somewhere.
HappySteve: We should probably tell people about this.
Torsoboy: Eh, I’m too lazy to post about it.

If you’re a parody artist, you don’t get much better praise than this, as reported in USA Today:

Ridin’ sold more than 4 million ringtones and sparked Weird Al Yankovic’s White & Nerdy. [..] “That parody was the reason I won the Grammy, because it made the record so big it was undeniable,” he says. “It was so big overseas that people were telling me they had heard my version of Weird Al’s song.”

Whoa!! Read that again. He credits Al as the reason he won a Grammy! Go Chamillionaire! Go Al! Chamillionaire’s new profanity-free album, Ultimate Victory, comes out this Tuesday.