Stay Weird, Pittsburgh

Hello, and welcome back to Stay Weird, Pittsburgh — a column providing you with Pittsburgh’s weirdest hits of the week. As your host Hannah, I’m here to guide you through the biggest thrills and chills of our fair city this week.

First off:

welcome to Little Italy Days brought to you by the UPMC Gout Center

— J-Ro ⚖️ (@jtrpgh) August 17, 2022

Shaler dads arriving for Little Italy Days pic.twitter.com/LIwGXMaAMZ

— Chief Justice Keef (@ohip13) August 18, 2022

That's right: everyone's favorite nominally Italian neighborhood festival put on by a private event planning company is back! Personally, this is a very exciting time of year for me because it's the only time I allow myself to purchase a Cricket Wireless prepaid phone plan and take advantage of the low, low rates provided by energy supplier Green Mountain Energy. When I do so, I feel a connection to my Italian heritage —1% broadly Southern European, according to a 23andme test I took many moons ago!

This section of Stay Weird, Pittsburgh is brought to you by UPMC Gout Center. UPMC Gout Center: for the Martin Scorsese film extra in your life!

pic.twitter.com/knnd4PM7Yq

— No Context Pittsburgh (@PGHNoContext) August 16, 2022

Check out our newest issue of City Paper! We admit that this was a bold choice for a cover, but we wanted to pay tribute to Dr. Seuss with this sublime choice of rhyme. Sure, it might not "make sense," but it's actually an absurdist statement a la Duchamp that reveals the bizarre nature of the times we're living in. In this case, that means Metallica's recent tour stop in Pittsburgh and The Notorious N.U.T.

This image comes from this Reddit post by user billpat-joe-dinosuar, entitled "Saw this guy on his bike in western PA today! Anyone else seen him?" Responses include "He wears that most weekends and sometimes during the week. Saw him at a funeral in it once." and "I think that’s one of my ex boyfriends!" One person described the experience of seeing him, saying "Lol yeah I've seen this guy before. I was stoned with a couple of buddies in the waterfront once and he just cruised by in full costume. Felt like a fever dream."

If you or a loved one knows the Pittsburgh-area Joker and can get in touch with him, please email me. I just want to ask him a few questions. (Ideally without any pencils around.)

@pghcitypaper this is not my beautiful house! this is not my beautiful wife! (it is, however, my beautiful pigeon.) #DoritosDareToBeBurned #adultswim #fyp #pigeon ♬ Running Away - VANO 3000 & BADBADNOTGOOD & Samuel T. Herring

And finally, I must include some of our own content in a moment of self-promoting zen. And while I can neither confirm nor deny that I am the person behind the mask in this TikTok, I will say that the mask smells like ass when you have it on.

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Seen anything weird you think is deserving of inclusion in this very serious column that will no doubt land its author the Pulitzer someday? Send it to [email protected]!