April 1, 2025
Weird Al Yankovic
Alfred Matthew, better known as “Weird Al” Yankovic, is one of the world’s best-known parody artists. He has been making silly, joke versions of popular songs since the late ’70s, when his first single, “My Bologna” — a parody of the Knack’s “My Sharona” — was released. Two years after his initial release, he was able to find his spot on the music charts with a parody of the Queen song “Another One Bites the Dust,” which was titled “Another One Rides the Bus.” He has spent the last four-and-a-half decades spoofing our favorite artists and using his unique humor to bring a little more wonderfully dumb goofiness to the world. In 2022, he was also a writer for and subject of Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, which is a satirical biopic on the life of the silly songwriter.
I would recommend giving all of Weird Al’s songs a listen and seeing what you like best. There is no rhyme or reason to any of them, so it is not a bad idea to find a playlist of his work and hit shuffle. It is bound to give you a little giggle. Some of my personal favorites include “Fat,” a parody of “Bad” by Michael Jackson; “Perform This Way,” which parodies “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga; and “Like a Surgeon,” a parody of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin.” There are so many more, but for the sake of the word count, I will refrain from rambling. If you are in a silly, goofy mood and want some music to match your vibe, Weird Al and his beautifully stupid parodies are a good way to go. Happy listening!
—Payton Rhyner, Music Editor
Released in 2013, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is yet another narrative masterpiece from video game designer Hideo Kojima. The game follows Raiden, whose real name is Jack, also known as “Jack the Ripper.” On this mission, Raiden is tasked with stopping a terrorist organization headed by the private military company World Marshal Inc. from starting a war for financial gain. However, this is not his only goal. It becomes evident that this organization also operates an organ-harvesting group targeting children. This hits Raiden particularly hard, as he was also a victim of war at a young age.
We’ll kick things off (Ha! See what I did there?!) with the Denver Broncos 1960s throwbacks. Originating as a secondhand purchase from a college team as a way to save money, these uniforms consisted of dark brown helmets and bright yellow jerseys with dark copper lettering and numbering. They also wore that same copper color in their pants and added two yellow stripes along the side. Underneath those pants, players donned copper and yellow striped tights. To complete the uniform, they wore a combination of yellow and copper colored cleats. The entire look, when finished, made players appear as if they’d just had buckets of ketchup and mustard dumped on them by angry fans. They were atrocious and looked nothing like the team colors after they were changed from copper and yellow to orange and blue in 1962.
Another ridiculous throwback uniform comes from the 2010-2012 Pittsburgh Steelers. The design was made to look like what was worn in the team’s 1934 season and was meant to celebrate their 80th season in the league. They featured the team’s all–black helmets with a single yellow stripe running from front to back and the Steelers team logo on just one side. However, that’s where the normalcy stops. Below that, they wore a black and yellow striped jersey with each numerical value of their number placed in a solid white box. This was paired with tan pants, black tights underneath, and black-and-yellow striped socks. The completed look was awful, and made every player look like a bumblebee, whether they were on the field or the sidelines. However, the worst part about it is that you can still occasionally see these bumblebee’s taking the field today!
Self-care is always so serious. Even when you’re trying your hardest to be the best version of yourself, many aspects are harsh and rigorous, making it difficult for people to see the fun side of their journey — especially at the beginning of their adventure.
The next society of ancient lovers were the Chinese. The era of the greatest love and romanticism was the Confucian era. During the Confucian era, a concept known as “Ren” came about. It is defined as the sum of all virtues in a person, such as selflessness and self-cultivation. It was very ahead of its time, as it focused on not only improving one’s self constantly but also creating peaceful relationships with
those that your lover knows. One other interesting note about love in Chinese is that the traditional Mandarin character for love, ‘ài’ (top), has the character for “heart” in the center of it (bottom).
Remember Facebook? Of course you do! It’s currently the biggest social media platform for every generation. It’s a great family place where your parents can give you a boatload of fun and fresh memes to share around the Internet. One meme has stood the test of time, and it continues to shine through the heap of the ever-changing landscape.
