So yet again, I find near another place where I work . . . a BBQ joint!

Fat Jack's BBQ

It's a franchise, but that doesn't mean it isn't good. Hell one of my fave BBQ joints down in Nashville was a chain.

I should probably take this as a sign. Maybe I should open my own BBQ joint or something! Only thing is, next to the traditional Memphis/Carolina/Texas/KC style BBQ dishes, I'd have to have my own Satay BBQ as well!

Maybe after I perfect that Sarsaparilla BBQ sauce . . .

EDIT: Holy shit! There's a Bar-B-Cutie in Delaware! I've probably driven by there on my alternate routes to and from MD/DC/VA!!!

Anyone remember Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins?



Well, the series of books it was based on, The Destroyer, is being "reimagined" for the big screen.

The Destroyer Is Coming Back to the Big Screen

I am actually looking forward to this. The original movie, while flawed, was still kind of enjoyable. I just could never get why they didn't get someone Asian to play Chiun.

And I wonder if the fictional martial art of Shinanju is still about "fingering"? XD

Pitchmen finale last night was awesome and sad. Billy Mays took on Vince Hooker Beater (sorta) and Sully and won. There's going to be a tribute tonight on Discovery called, of course, Pitchman.

And Michael Jackson is even more awesome to me now. Why? He was a Laserdisc collector!

Working in Los Angeles for the last 19 years, I've had a variety of different jobs. One of the ones I enjoyed the most was at a place called Dave's Video in Sherman Oaks. It was a laserdisc only store, and I started there in 1991, when laserdisc was a niche market, mainly for wealthy film nerds and industry folks.

I met a lot of people in the business when I was working at that store, but one in particular stood out. Michael Jackson would call us before we closed and tell us he was coming in just after closing. We would wait for a few minutes after we locked up and, sure enough, Michael would pull up in his van and come in. We'd relock the doors and then just let him shop for as long as he wanted. He would typically take an hour or two and browse the racks, buying $1000 or more worth of discs each time.

The article goes on with an amusing story involving Macaulay Culkin and how Michael finally was banned from the store (which involved a Japanese Laserdisc of the permanently moratoriumed/banned by Disney in America, Song of the South.) A pretty good read.

Hmmmm . . . I'm hungry for ribs right now.

Sorry I haven't been able to make you a new one in the last 2 years!

Hmmmmmm . . .

Legg Mason Moving

Gonna be weird looking at the Inner Harbor Skyline as I'm pulling in off of I-95 and not seeing the Legg Mason logo on that tower on 100 Light St. after doing so for so many years now of travelling to Otakon.

I was in my car listening to NJ101.5 when they had a breaking news story (that you all have heard by now) of Michael Jackson having died today. After the news blurb, they played this song as if in memorial:



I'll just say this . . .



RIP

Sooooo . . . Revenge of the Fallen. I'm kinda torn on this movie. Some parts I did like, some parts I found exceedingly annoying.

Long and short end of it, I don't hate it by a longshot, but I probably won't see it again.

Guess she wasn't ready to settle down? Still . . . OUCH!

Surely to make whowantscookies spooge (or at least make him wish he had a PSP even more)

I had heard that a PSP Soul Calibur game was in the works. I immediately thought what kind of special characters they're going to have in this (like they did with SCII--Link, Spawn, Heichachi--and SCIV--Yoda, Darth Vader.) Well, the answer was given at E3 . . .



( more pics under here--Athens vs Sparta! )

I'd say that's about the most sensical crossover the Soul Calibur series has had yet!

Now, I still want to see Namco and SNK team up and give us Soul Calibur vs Samurai Shodown XD XD XD

King of Fighters Hollywood Movie Promo Images



The Van Damm Street Fighter movie is looking better and better these days . . .

VS VS

- Which one is best? Go here to find out.

- First shot of Mickey Rourke as Whiplash. :shrugs: unfamiliar with the actual comic character, so I dun have much comment. Yet, I'm glad they were still able to get Mickey Rourke after the initial reports that he turned down involvment in the movie earlier.

- Liam Neeson as Hannibal in the upcoming A-Team movie? Eh . . . as much as I love Liam Neeson, I don't think he'd make a good Hannibal. Neeson is a stoic looking bad ass, and that ain't Hannibal. I think George Clooney would make a good Hannibal.

- Hmmmmm, I had thought that Itagaki was still head of Team Ninja (now working on the new Metroid game) and that Team Ninja had parted from Tecmo, but it seems that Itagaki is no longer with either. He has revealed that he has a new development team called "Tokyo Vikings" and working on new properties, but when asked the most important question . . .

1UP: So does this mean you won't have women in your next game, or that you just won't have sexy women in your next game?

TI: Don't be stupid.

:breathes sigh of relief:

Hope you have a good one man!

Couldn't sleep after I got home from the gym last night so I made another MD mix. This time, we got good ol' Rock & Roll! Not really hard, but not at all light stuff for this one.

Hollywood Nights by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band - great late 70's tune from Bob Seger. The drum beat is an odd one in this, but it still sounds kick ass. preview

Reach Out by Cheap Trick - one of the songs Cheap Trick contributed to the soundtrack an early 80s animated movie; Heavy Metal. The other animated movie would be Rock and Rule. I'd so love it if the soundtrack to that movie was released, but like the HM soundtrack, it would probably take a lot to resolve the rights to that. In any case, this song is still awesome--even if we had to wait until 1995 to get it! preview

Roll With the Changes by REO Speedwagon - I had only recently heard this song, and was a bit taken back as I usually associate REO Speedwagon with soft, wimpy crap like "Take It on the Run" and "I Can't Fight This Feeling." This one, however, is pretty solid. preview

Me Wise Magic by Van Halen - this is such and awesome and sad song. Awesome because it was David Lee Roth returning to Van Halen after so many years apart; again creating that unique synergy they had as a band. It's sad because it's only a glimpse at what could have been, as shortly thereafter, the tour that they planned was cancelled. I forget the details, but I remember it as being a totally stupid reason. preview

It's a Long Way to the Top by AC/DC - I was only trying to put one song per band on this mix, and I was so torn between including this one and "Girl's Got Rhythm" as they are suck rockin' tunes. Still, the bagpipes won me over. preview

Foreplay/Long Tkime by Boston - I'm sure many of you are tired of this song after it being included in Rock Band. I still love it lots, and is probably my favorite Boston tune (though I was so close to putting "Piece of Mind" on here instead.) preview

Don't Stop Believin' by Journey - I'm still wondering why this song was used in the last episode of The Sopranos, but still, this is still one of the best rock tunes (if not one of the best tunes, period!) of the 80s. preview

Kickstart My Heart by Mötley Crüe - I hadn't listened to this song in years, but recent uses of the song for some movie promos (Shoot 'Em Up, Crank: High Voltage) reminded me of how awesome this song is, and made me dust off that old Dr. Feelgood CD. preview

I Love It Loud by KISS - sure, it's not "Detroit Rock City", "Rock and Roll All Nite" or "Dr. Love" but it's still one of my favorite KISS songs preview

Dreams in the Dark by Badlands - it's a wonder why this hair band, which came about at the apex of the hair band era didn't get very far. With former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Jake E. Lee on lead guitar and great vocals from Ray Gillen, they were primed for at least 15 minutes of fame (I think they only got 5!) Now the only thing they're remembered for is the fact that Bo Bice sang one of their songs a capella on American Idol. preview

Right Now by Van Halen - yeah, I know I said before I was only putting one song per band on this compilation, but Van Halen is a different band when Sammy Hagar is on the mic. Not to say that they are a bad band without DLR, but they're just different. preview

Paradise City by Guns 'N Roses - sure Axl Rose is a grand tool, but they made some grand music, with this song probably being my favorite off of Appetite for Destruction album. preview

Thunderstruck by AC/DC - same rule for Van Halen as for AC/DC. Though, AC/DC isn't all that different of a band with Brian Johnson on the vocal as they were with Bon Scott. preview

White Unicorn by Wolfmother - whlie this is the most recent tune in this mix, it still is a damn good, rocking tune. It has a very 70s feel to it. preview

So that's Rock Mix vol. 1. I'll get to vol. 2 next time I have trouble sleeping.

Hah, wow, talk about shameless rip off (of two Michael Bay films no less)!

Transmorphers: Fall of Man

Apparently, that is a SEQUEL! So there's another movie out there called Transmorphers XD XD XD

Free movie night in Wayne, PA was funs even though I was hoping we'd actually be watching O Brother, Where Art Thou? off of a reel, rather than a DVD, but hey, it was free!

Now, if I had to pay for it like The Colonial Theatre's First Friday Fright Nights, it had better be film rather than DVD!!!

In other movie news, first shots of the Clash of the Titans remake are out:

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=56094

I'm kinda torn on this remake, as I loved the original, but know it could have used some tweaks. Yet, I know it's going to be all CG'd up, and not have Ray Harryhausen's aged, but still neat to me, stop-motion-animation.

Liam Neeson's playing Zeus, so that's a plus at least!

By now most of you have head that David Carradine was found dead in his hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. Some of you have heard that he was found hung. Some of you have heard that he hung himself.

Wellllllllllll . . . The BBC report says:

Thai police told the BBC a hotel maid found the 72-year-old naked in a wardrobe with a cord around his neck and other parts of his body.

Hmmmmm . . . hung? Naked? Other parts of his body? Thailand (land of many vices, you know!)?

Sad to say it, but it may have turned out that "Snake Charmer" was into erotic asphyxiation and went a little too far.

Very sad. Always liked David Carradine. Even though he is most known for his role as the good guy in Kung Fu, I think he played villians best. Like opposite Chuck Norris in Lone Wolf McQuade and of course as the titular "Bill" in Kill Bill.

Card has been finalized for the very first UFC card in Philadelphia. Can't wait for this one! I especially don't see either Penn vs Florian or Silva vs Griffin going the distance.

In other MMA news . . .

Former Playboy Playmate wins first MMA fight

Eh . . . I still think Gina is hotter!

Gina'd prolly kick her ass too if they weren't friends--though a 9-3 Muay Thai record and having wrestled in High School is pretty impressive!

( Deadliest Warrior Season Finale Spoilers )

I sure hope the show is picked up for another season. Though I can't imagine what other matchups they do next. Maybe that's a good thing!

Saturday, while I was getting an oil change at Walmart, I was looking in the lawn and garden section at the backyard grills. I nearly got a hard-on looking at this one charcoal grill that had a ton of cool features. It had so much space beneath the grill along with an access door in the front that you could use it for wood fire smoking--in other words, REAL Barbecue!

Yes, I am obsessed with barbecue. I'd rather go to a good BBQ joint with straw and hay on the wooden plank floor with some big bubba named Luther cooking up the food in a huge converted 55-gallon drum in the back of the shack than any fancy-shmancy 5 Star restaurant any day.

Oh yeah, also had another try at making a BBQ sauce from Sarsaparilla. It turned out better than last time, but still not what I feel is a good sauce. I think I might have to forgo either the Cuminos or Mustard Powder, as I think one or both of them are overpowering the rest of the spices.

I'll probably try grilling some chicken with the sauce sometime this week to see how it turns out.