Jim "Plate Lunch" Miller

If anyone out there follows UFC, you may have seen Jim Miller. He looks like a lumberjack that can kick your ass. Well, my friends and I noticed that too.

For a while now, we've been referring to Mr. Miller as "Plate Lunch." Those of you who have eaten gas station or truck stop food will get the reference. We found Jim Miller looked like that kind of guy, the typical hunting/fishing/tobacco-chewing southerner. Never mind that he's from Jersey, we drunkenly latched onto this and ran with it.

So, a few days ago, I decide to twitter Jim Miller about this (@jimmiller_155 by the way...). He re-tweets it! What the hell? Awesome. Cue to a couple of days later, and for some reason, I decide to google "Jim Miller Plate Lunch." I was floored. Someone noticed! Soon enough, there was a six-page thread on Sherdog.com talking about it. Some liked it, others had no idea what a plate lunch was.

As expected, I made a Sherdog account solely to post about this and explain it. My favorite part, later in the thread, is a quote from "rjmbrd."

"A rare once in a while, the internet wins."


This is my favorite thing ever. If he comes out as Jim "Plate Lunch" Miller, and Joe Rogan has to explain that shit to the country, I'll laugh till I die.

Second Wind

I crashed for a few hours and woke up again. Looks like tonight is going to be an all-night DVD party.

An Explanation and Two Links

So I'm tweaking real hard on caffeine right now. I had two Rock On Energy Shots, which are not unlike a Five Hour Energy, in the span of an hour. Twenty minutes after I took the first one, I didn't feel anything and decided to chug the other. Very soon after, it fucked me right up. So, despite wanting to sleep, I'm stuck waiting this out. If you see several posts for today, it's my hyperactive brain wanting content. Now, onto the promised links...

First of all, people should check out my friend Eric's blog. He talks gadgets, music, books and such. Click upon this: The Parfait Report

Secondly, BUY SWEETS! It's going into trade, and if you've missed any or all of it, now is a great time to catch up. If you're a fan of true-crime style comics,  I think you really would dig Sweets.  Here it comes now...















As you can see, it is the double whammy of both good AND cheap. Five issues of saucy New Orleans goodness await you. I was the editor on this one, and I'd like to see it hit big. If you want to be my friend, you'll buy it. All others will be flogged.

Aug 2nd - 5th DVD and video game releases of note...

I'm gonna try to do one of these every week. I won't necessarily cover everything, but I'll bring up things that catch my eye.

Conan the Barbarian [Blu-ray]  - I believe this is the bare-bones release, but nice to see Conan on Blu-ray anyway. I personally won't pick up this one until they put together a proper collector's edition on Blu-ray with good special features.

Conan the Destroyer [Blu-ray]  - And the awesomeness has left the room. This is worth watching only if you plan to tell your kids that Grace Jones is the boogeyman, and she'll sneak into their room at night if they don't listen.

Soul Surfer - Spoilers. She never does get her arm back.

Better Off Dead [Blu-ray] - A classic finally makes it to Blu-ray. This will probably also have next to no special features. In a world where movies come through our internet magically, special features are key to me actually buying a movie.

MST3K Vs. Gamera: Mystery Science Theater 3000, Vol. XXI [Deluxe Edition] - Sweet Jesus, finally! After much legal wrangling, the fabled Gamera episodes of MST3K have finally been released. Insta-buy for me.

Eastbound & Down: The Complete Second Season [Blu-ray] - I've purposely avoided everything about season 2 of this ridiculously awesome show. That way, when I buy it, I can plow through a few hours of Kenny Powers goodness.

Tracy Morgan: Black and Blue - This DVD will get you pregnant.

Facez of Death 2000 Vols. 1-7 - Holy shit. This is still a thing? These were shocking back in the day before the internet. Now, it seems a little sad.

Not a super awesome week, but Eastbound season 2 and MST3K are definite buys. And no, I don't care about Rio.

You know how Pixar comes out with a good CG movie, and then someone jumps on the bandwagon and releases a poor-man's version of it? See Bug's Life and Antz or Finding Nemo and Shark Tale. And those are the ones from major studios. What about that shitty Cars knockoff from some other country?  Yeah, well, Rio feels like one of those bandwagon movies to me, except Pixar didn't release a good CG movie about birds.

More later...

Fear and Loathing...and Delirium.

Here's the scene. I finally sat down to watch Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, a movie I had seen bits and pieces of, but never the full thing. I had food and drink, and I was ready to give the movie my full attention.

I got through a good chunk of the movie before my exhaustion began to catch up with me. I had been running on two-and-a-half hours of sleep, not the good kind, and my body was ready to call it quits. Sometime around the scene where Raoul and Dr. Gonzo hit ether and stumble into the casino, I started to experience my own type of trip. The most natural, and most likely the first kind, of trip mankind had ever encountered: Sleep deprivation.

Maybe the first caveman to experience this had a tough few days of hunting woolly mammoth, and finally gave out. Who knows what myths and legends were born of this process of the brain; stringing together random facts and images into horrifying journeys. I'm sure there are a good number of people who will eventually read this that have never partaken in illicit substances, but I highly recommend at least one run of sleep deprivation tripping. It's free, it's legal, and all it costs you is a couple of sleepless nights. One of the only ways, I think, to understand the power of the human mind is to see the batshit-crazy things it does when it betrays your senses. 

So, while watching this movie where hallucinogenic drugs are key plot points, I began to lose my own sense of reality to my exhaustion. I remember popping in and out of recovery sleep, the kind of sleep where your body and mind basically force you unconscious. My mind began to use the movie to fill in holes. Between waking and sleep, I saw parts of the movie; a hotel room filled with water, Dr. Gonzo with a gun, the waitress, an increasingly-wrecked convertible, lizards in a club. I woke up, fully woke up, at the scene where Raoul is tearing through the Nevada desert, trying to get Gonzo to the airport in time. My brain saw panic, and gave me panic in return. I woke up not rested, partially because 30 minutes or so of sleep isn't very restful, but with adrenaline in me. I couldn't miss my plane.

Gradually, my mind started to separate fact from reality once again; movie from real life. By the time the end credits rolled, I seemed more worn out that when I first started. Sometimes, it's amazing how much control over your body your mind has. Perhaps I'll fall asleep better tonight, but not to Hunter S. Thompson.

Doctor What?

So in the course of the last month or so, I've continually plopped down in front of the TV to catch up on this "Doctor Who" thing people are raving about. I've read up on the subject, perused Wikipedia entries for hours, and put all other TV shows on the back burner.

Suffice to say, I'm on board.

Now, being a Doctor Who rookie, I had to start from a good jumping-on point. The beginning of the 2005 series is perfect for this. My first Doctor was Christopher Eccleston. While he was only there for one season, he did a great job of pulling me in and getting me attached to the character. He was strange and quirky, and absolutely believable when he threw down the gauntlet and pulled the bad-ass card. I had heard great things about David Tennant, but I wanted to reserve judgement until I saw him. After all, Eccleston was my Doctor! My doubts instantly faded as soon as Tennant's season started. He was a brilliant Doctor. One thing he did well was portray this great sadness behind most of his actions. There was a long history of tragedy in his eyes, and every time he had to make a hard decision, his pain was believable. I knew Tennant would end up leaving, but I put it out of my mind and enjoyed his time as The Doctor. So when Tennant regenerated into Matt Smith, I was legitimately bummed. Smith had a lot to live up to. Thankfully, he fit in well and ended up being a great Doctor in his own right.

The series has a great crew of writers, and I've found plenty of favorite moments across all of the new seasons. Some may criticize the show for its use of techno-babble and deus ex machina, but in the setting of Doctor Who, it feels fine to me. The series is so fantastical, I don't waste time commenting on how "that could never happen," or "that made no sense." It just somehow works.

Another thing I love is the writer's attention to continuity. Things that are done and said matter for many episodes to come. I like it when a show makes you pay attention, because usually, the payoff for it is pretty ingenious.

I've just finished with Season 5, and I'm about to try and catch up with the current episodes. Overall, I love the show. It's entertaining, funny, and has some genuine heart. The characterization is far above most on television. It just makes me feel like a kid again, and that is never bad.

ABIDE

-Dru