Throwing down the glove: A guide to challenging restaurants... to an honor du-el!

Ever since my dad started taking me to Famous Dave's, a rib joint, whenever I go back home, I have been an extremely strong supporter. I've been going to the one in Bellevue, NE for years it seems. To my surprise and joy, I recently discovered a Famous Dave's out here in Midvale (SLC), UT. To my disappointment, I had heard from several colleagues, most notably from one of my bosses at work, that Famous Dave's here in SLC was absolutely horrible. I got a little discouraged, but I had always had good experiences in Omaha, so when my roommate got his first golf hole-in-one ever, I suggested we go out to Famous Dave's to celebrate with some friends.

I arrived a little ahead of my friends and reserved a table. While being seated I mentioned to the hostess how much I enjoy Famous Dave's in other places, but had heard really bad things about the one here. Of course I delivered this news in a smooth way to indicate that I wanted to believe otherwise than what my friends had warned me about. The hostess brought over the manager to chat and I reiterated my hopes and worries about his restaurant. The manager acknowledged that the store had undergone some management changes a few months back and were doing their best to push forward and put that behind them. The manager took my remarks as a kind of "friendly challenge" and promised that I wouldn't be let down...

I actually felt a little bad at first because I felt they took it alot more personally than I had really wanted. They left me feeling like I set the bar to some unimaginable and unattainable level that they couldn't hope to surpass.

Funny enough, they put on their finest dog and pony show for us! The waitress was extremely nice and took real good care of us. Our food was excellent and when all was said and done, we got free desserts and two trays of free cornbread on top of our rather large meals. Utah football head coach Kyle Whittingham happened to be in the other room as a guest on some radio show hosting their event at Famous Dave's. I don't think he got HALF the royal treatment that we got that night. The level of service we got was pretty ludicrous.

I had an epiphany. I want to formally challenge restaurants on a regular basis! But that would require a legitimate, secret weapon to justify the challenge. I want to find some really cynical guy--the type that nobody wants to be around because they suck the joy out of life. His angst-filled opinions on life (specifically, about every good restaurant in the Salt Lake area) would be more than enough to justify the challenge to any restaurant, any restaurant, that I so desire.

For you commercial buffs: I BRIAN URLACHER, CHALLENGE THEE TO AN HONOR DU-EL!

Biker Gang Cops

I was walking the streets of downtown Denver with some work buddies when this group of five bikers came strolling down the road. As they passed by I realized they were all cops, and they were slow riding their way down the promenade street.

Ironically, they strolled by a closed shop whose alarm was sounding and by a car crash a block away, but they just kept rolling along without even flinching. That's one way to shrug off your duty just for the sake of looking badass. I would've figured at least one of them would deviate from their entourage to check out the scene. Shooting the TV show "Cops" with these guys could be pretty interesting. It could probably generate that kind of awkwardness found in shows like "The Office." :)

Fox's "Hole in the Wall"

LOL. I predict two episodes before it gets cut off the air. Japanese game shows are fun and all, but they belong on Spike TV, not Fox. SORRRRRRRRYYYYY :(

BYU vs. Washington

BYU managed to pull of a close, but earned win vs. Washington today. Unfortunately, the game will be mired in controversy due to a penalty call against Washington's late rally which ended up in a touchdown with :02 to go in the game. The penalty was for excessive celebration. The TD was not cancelled; however, the yardage penalty was pushed back 15 yards against the extra point, which BYU happened to block to keep Washington from tieing and thereby securing the win.

This game brings up two important points:

1) PAC-10 Refereeing is laughable at best. I am a BYU fan and I will still agree to this. In recent memory, the Huskies have been screwed over several times by PAC-10 Refereeing ineptitude. This penalty was a joke and it did make things tougher for the Huskies, but lets not forget that BYU still earned the block PAT. I'll also recall the USC vs Washington game a few years ago had some clock refereeing issues that cost Washington an upset victory. Every PAC-10 game I see I laugh at how poor the officiating is. It needs some serious help. Thank you ESPN for putting some spotlight finally on it.

2) Lou Holtz is also laughable at best. I can't believe they still let this guy drivel on the table with his nonsense. Lou just last week ripped a Bowling Green linebacker's celebration for a sack which was not excessive but called for as an excessive celebration penalty anyway. Lou strongly sided with the referee call. Now he reverses his support for tough, by-the-book penalties during the BYU game. Pick a side buddy and stick with it. The call was "by the book" so defend it. You're not a politician. Stop flip-flopping, get your stuff together, and generate some consistency for once.

Someone said last week that you get some breaks and you get some bad calls, whether by user error or by bad officiating, but in either case you take what is dealt and work with it.

I sure hope this quote wasn't from Lou Holtz, because he got all fired up over the "ifs and buts" of how things would've been different if the Huskies didn't get penalized for this call. All I can say to Huskies fans is tough luck. Controversy happens, but something like this will disappear for sure. I think the Seattle Seahawks were robbed of a 1st quarter TD vs the Steelers in their last Super Bowl run, made by a slight pushoff (which every receiver does) by Darell Jackson. Maybe that would've completely changed the chemistry of the game. Tough luck. It happens. And it's already forgotten.

Radiohead, WTF man?!

I saw that Radiohead keeps chugging out new songs and "hits." I followed a link on facebook to see Radioheads new "hit" video. It sucked. Wtf Radiohead? I think that was about 4 minutes wasted out of my life. What happened to Radiohead since their Amnesiac album? I searched around for a few other newer Radiohead songs and they're all horrible.

Radiohead used to be my favorite band and had something good going with The Bends and something even better with their experimental OK Computer album. I guess they had so much success from it that they decided to continue getting weirder and weirder until they just plain suck.

Their music is just lifeless and dull now, and it all sounds the same. I'm sure to get some heat from Radiohead diehards that are still in denial that their band has gone off the deep end. I've always been a "slow adopter" when it comes to new and modern music, but I found a few bands that definitely deserve more attention these days, like Muse.

My friend Adam Tate I think put it best, "Muse is just like Radiohead, but more talented." Yeah that pretty much sums it up. Matthew Bellamy sounds kinda like Thom Yorke, which is good; however, the music is out of this world--leagues better than Radiohead. The guitar and bass riffs are epic. Try playing "Hysteria" on Rock Band and you'll know what I mean.

That's not to say I don't like Radiohead for what they WERE, just what they are NOW. Screw you Radiohead! Cheerio, fetcher!

MMMM: George Lucas' Money Making Marketing Machine

Yes, this post is a review of George Lucas' MMMM at work: Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

I had to be delicate entering into this movie with the right expectation. All of the newer movies have had some pretty good concepts, but very poor dialogue and acting. Luckily, since this was a cartoon, I decided that such corny lines and voice acting could be very much more forgiven than with the other movies.

Funny enough, I thought Anakin was still more annoying than his new padawan, leaving him with a 4 movie streak of arguably being the most annoying hero of all time. Might I also question how such a retarded character could ever become as badass as Darth Vader? These will remain as unanswerable riddles in the delicate, space-time fabric of movie history.

The difference between a movie like this and movies such as Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones is that as a cartoon movie, The Clone Wars is allowed more room to be cheesy and over-the-top. Hey I watched some pretty awesome cartoons like X-men or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a kid, and they were pretty cheesy too. How different was this movie in the terms of cartoon quality?

Which brings me to make my stance that Star Wars I and II fall behind and continue to be the worst Star Wars films ever made, and nestling The Clone Wars as 5th best in the series.

My friend Courtney thinks I'm nuts for thinking this. She does make a good point that Episodes I and II have the best fight scenes. That is true. Episode I's fight scene probably ranks as the best, even maybe above Yoda vs. Palpatine, but that's arguable and for another time. While I love the fight scenes of all the new Star Wars movies, a 10 minute sequence just cannot shore up the ridiculousness of a whole movie's worth of bad acting and horrible dialogue. Sorrrrry guys! I and II remain the worst. Star Wars: The Clone Wars gets a 7 out of 10.

Come see all of my movie ratings and reviews on Flixter by using the Movies application on Facebook!

The Magic of '80s... and Keeping that Magic Alive!

I was looking for a particular quote online from the movie "Over the Top" and I ran into a fellow blogger, Shelktone, who had it posted on a blogpost of his, except he was using it to completely trash the movie!!!

Like that weird, tall Persian guy exclaimed, "This is MADNESS!" This is utter blasphemy. Not only is Over the Top the only valid arm wrestling movie ever made, but it is a movie deeply rooted in one of film history's greatest pseudogenres of all time! Yes, I am talking about the pseudogenre of Cheesy '80s Flicks.

Of course, I must admit this Shelkton guy is somewhat correct. The movie definitely has its cheesy moments. We are talking about Sylvestor Stallone here trying to make a Arm Wrestling Family Drama movie! However, I have to contend that this is probably Stallone's best acting performance 2nd to Rocky.

The '80s movie pseudogenre is best known for cheesy actions and epics that may or may not have been intended for humor. Think of actors like Stallone and Schwarzenegger and you're heading on the right track. Movies like Commando, Rambo, Dune, and Army of Darkness come to mind. Some of these movies get pretty ridiculous that it actually makes them even more memorable than they should be! Take Commando as an instance. This movie happens to be my favorite Schwarzenegger flick, half because the movie is so cheesy that it chugs out some of Schwarzenegger's best one-liners, action scenes, movie deaths, and even manages to be awarded by someone (need source) as one of the most unfair movie matchups of all time (Vernon Wells (Bennett) vs. Schwarzenegger (Matrix)).

Anyway, back to Over the Top. Rotten Tomatoes had this to say about Over the Top, which actually gives an admirable 36% for the type of movie it is, "Why draw the line between "so bad it's good" and a pedigreed artistic success?" I agree with Rotten Tomatoes. Think of the fun quotes it offers to mankind. Think of the song "Winner Takes it All" by Sammy Hagar. Think of the popularization of the arm wrestling subculture. Yes, this movie popularized arm wrestling like CB Radios in Smokey and the Bandit.

Even Stallone movies have their place in movie history. If everyone thought these movies were so awful, then I wouldn't be seeing Stallone sitting up with the big boyz with a big house, wads of cash, and a trophy wife touted at his side. I rest my case.

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And now for a few memorable Over the Top quotes (courtesy of IMDB and Shelktone):

John Grizzly: When I get to the table, that person, I don't care who they are, they're my mortal enemy. I hate them.

Harry Bosco: My whole body is an engine. This is a fireplug [makes a fist] ... and I'm gonna light him up.

Lincoln Hawk: Tell you the truth, the truck is, uh, you know, the most important thing for me. I... I don't really... it doesn't matter if I, uh, become the champion or anything. That's, that's not the most important... I... I need this truck.

Bob 'Bull' Hurley: I drive truck, break arms, and arm wrestle. It's what I love to do, it's what I do best.

Bob 'Bull' Hurley: Being number one is everything. There is no second place. Second sucks.

Lincoln Hawk: When I turn my hat around, it's like a switch going on. And I love that feeling. I feel like a machine. Kinda like a truck.

Bob 'Bull' Hurley: You ain't got a PRAYER in Vegas!

GoMusic.ru

So I just got $10 free credit from gomusic.ru to continue downloading their questionably legal music. Go Music is a Russian website that has literally hundreds of thousands of artists and their songs for download, all for $.15 a song! That beats the hell out of iTunes $.99! In fact, it beats the hell out of it so much that I exclusively buy from GoMusic.

Of course, using this site this brings up a variety of question marks and gray areas.

1. Are they stealing your credit card information?

--I monitored my credit card statement closely the first few times I sent money halfway across the world for cheap songs. Never had a problem. Except now I don't think they accept credit cards online, only by the phone now. That might be a problem.

2. Is it legal?

--I don't know, probably not.

3. Does the RIAA know?

--Probably. This all-knowing entity of evil can even read minds of any and all would-be copyright infringers. I'm sure they know about these guys too.

The fact that the RIAA has done nothing to shut these guys down from the internet brings up three possible conclusions:

a.) The RIAA has absolutely no jurisdiction or recognition in Russia. I'm sure the web of international law is very gray and sticky when it comes down to it.

b.) The RIAA finally gave up. I mean think about it. I haven't seen Limewire or those other pirating promotion programs get burned up and shut down. On top of the fact it would probably be a monstrous hassle with the international law thing, why bother with gomusic?

c.) Maybe GoMusic struck a deal with the RIAA or artist conglomerate of whatever to offer cheaper music to a country with a weaker economy. Afterall, other industries do the same thing. For you college students, you may recall looking online for a cheaper chemistry book to buy and coming across the famous "International Edition" of your needed book, that ultimately ends up saving you half the cost of buying the actual American edition. The International edition textbook is nothing more than a paperback version of the regular edition sent out overseas in an attempt to increase education (and publisher profits of course) of people in third world countries that otherwise wouldn't be able to afford the actual version. U.S. students found a loophole around that through amazon.com. GoMusic perhaps happened to find a loophole around the music issue through the internet.

4. Do I feel justified?

--I always come across this question. Because in the end, if I feel like I'm heading into an ethical gray area supporting some foreign music site, why not just say, "screw it," and download free songs on limeware? The short answer, is that because a gray area (GoMusic) isn't a black area (Limewire)--it is just less defined. Gray areas are open to interpretation and can be justified, and I so happened to justify my position here.

So I guess I'll continue to endorse this shady music download website until they are put to justice and shut down, if such action is necessary at all. Afterall, Russians aren't all that bad. :)

At least I'll get to finally download The Black Parade album my brother recommended to me over a year ago. Thanks Phil! :)

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