Make an Ash of Yourself at Lebowski Fest

What are you and the cremated remains of your loved one doing this weekend?

Grab that funeral urn, throw what's in there into a Folgers coffee can, and head on down to San Francisco's Big Lebowski Fest -- the No. 1 gathering for slackers who idealize the Jeff Bridges' titular character from the 1998 Coen brothers classic, a man best known as "The Dude."

In case you forgot, Bridge plays a bowling-loving stoner whose laid-back life is turned upside down by thugs who mistake him for another guy named Lebowski -- a millionaire who owes them money. They ransack his home, pee on his carpet to send him "a message," and that leave the Dude bent on revenge.

In the madness that ensues, one of the Dude's bowling buddies, (Steve Buscemi's "Donny" character), dies, leaving Bridges' crew toting around his remains in a makeshift urn.

"The first time someone showed up with a Folgers can, and their uncle's actual ashes inside, we thought it was wild," said co-organizer Will Russel. "By the second time, it became a tradition."

That's how seriously some people take this film. So much for those Wizard of Oz freaks who dress up like Winged Monkeys and Munchkins.

These fans are just very particular -- just as the Dude is about his name. As he famously says to his millionaire double:

"I am not 'Mr. Lebowski'. You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. You know, that or, uh, 'His Dudeness', or uh, 'Duder', or 'El Duderino' if you're not into the whole brevity thing."

Of course, these fans aren't into the brevity thing. They're going to celebrate The Big Lebowski forever.

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Photo © (upper) Polygram Filmed Entertainment; (lower) BigLeboskifest.com

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