Movie Review: UHF
Movies can be magic. For a brief moment, a flickering screen can offer us a glimpse of who we are and who we’d like to be. Just about anything the human mind can dream can be “brought to life” onscreen…and the credits of UHF demonstrate this vast range of cinematic possibilities with remarkable succinctness. The cast section lists Conan the Libarian, “Weasel Boy,” Uncle Sam, Gandhi, and Satan among the dramatis personae, all while “Weird Al” himself croons the movie’s titular song, in which he expresses the central promise of U-62: “We gonna show you things you ain’t never seen.”
Part of the “Brian Terrill’s Film Favorites” series
Weird Musical Instruments
It’s far better to play an interesting instrument in a mediocre fashion than a mundane instrument expertly. After all, there are a lot of decent violinists out there…but not many thereminists, period. Play a weird instrument, and there’s a niche ready-made for you to fill. The same philosophy motivated my switch from regular clarinet to bass clarinet in the school band…and then to contrabass. If you’re the only one willing to lug around a seven-foot clarinet, you’ll always make the all-district cut. Let’s meet a few more folks who share this “oddmusic” mindset.
More samples available on request.