The Bacon-Wrapped "Danger" Dog (aka the Tijuana Dog) - Yay or Nay?

There's an interesting phenomenon in Los Angeles: any time a crowd of ten or more people is gathered on a sidewalk near downtown, near a bar, near a club, near a sporting event they appear...

...street-cart vendors selling delicious smelling bacon-wrapped hot dogs.

For a couple bucks, (usually open for haggle depending on how much pocket change you have left on you at the end of an evening) a fully-loaded dog, wrapped in bacon and topped with ketchup, mustard, mayo, peppers and onions is yours for the taking. And usually incredibly welcome depending on what type of debauchery you were partaking in prior to coming across this street cart oasis.

I used to eat the delicious and completely unnecessary treats more often, until the practice of eating a hot dog made from a small street cart was frowned upon by my significant other. Her concern (other than always calling them "gross") is that there's no telling what the dogs contain. Rats? Small kittens? Yoga mats?

Apparently they're also illegal. 

LA Weekly has a great article on the phenomenon and how they're illegal (and how many are calling for them to be legalized and sanctioned, which might help assuage any fears of what exactly it is that you're eating). According to the article, most of the vendors have been cited or even jailed for selling the late-night snacks. 

Where do you stand in the consumption, legality and/or overall deliciousness of the street bacon-wrapped hot dog? Sound off and let us know!

Thor: The New Goddess of Thunder

Hot on the tails of DC announcing a revamp of one of their most popular female characters, Marvel announced today that a change is coming for the mighty Thor: and she's not to be trifled with... an all-new female Thor will debut with a renumbering in October.

Writer Jason Aaron will be penning the story and Russell Dauterman will handle art on the new title. Thor: God of Thunder, which began with the Marvel NOW! restart will be coming to an end in September.

According to the Marvel.com release, Thor sounds like he's taking a long vacation and this new female Thor will be "more than just a temporary female substitute." The publisher is stressing that this isn't a parallel Thor ala She-Hulk who will run in tandem with the original male character, she will be the one and only Thor in the universe.

Whether or not it's a complete reboot that retells the character's origins, or if a storyline will necessitate the change remains unclear. One would imagine that more information including how the tag out/tag in will come about at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con. But already there's been decidedly mixed reactions to the announcement of the change. It seems to be a running theme this week with character changes, how they're handled, and whether they are a positive or a negative.

Thor is a character that it's always taken a bit of motivation to get me interested in, I still haven't tackled any of the Thor: God of Thunder books, and admittedly the Cinematic Universe series of films were a pleasant surprise because my familiarity with the character is really slim to none. It'll be interesting to see how and where they take this character and the impact that she'll have on the greater series of Marvel books. And in my eyes, it's hard to get worked up one way or another over the news. 

So in summation of my apparent reactions toward character changes: Ninja Turtle Revamp: Nay, Batgirl Revamp: Yay, Thor Gender Change: Indifferent. And thus, my true nature as a fickle and unpredictable fanboy is probably revealed.

Weird Al's "Mandatory" Fun Comes Naturally

Updated! 7/15/14 1:26pm - Added the brilliant video for "Word Crimes" below!

Second update! 7/16/14 3:49pm - Added another peach of a video for "Foil" below!

Fourteen albums later and Weird Al is just as sharp as he was back in the 80s. His latest album, titled "Mandatory Fun" (which also seems to have a title and album cover art inspired by one of my previous employer's lunchroom murals, which makes me giggle) is solid from start to finish. I can't remember a Weird AlBum that has given me so much glee with each and every track since Alapalooza.

No doubt if you were on the interwebs at all yesterday or today, you've seen the video for "Tacky", his spot on parody of Pharrell's "Happy". But here are some of the other offerings on the disc:

"Handy" - A send-up of Iggy Azalea (don't worry, I had to look that up) and her song "Fancy" which is the hard sales pitch for the self-proclaimed best handyman on the block. 

"Lame Claim to Fame" - A Weird Al original akin to "Dare to Be Stupid" that pays tribute to all those friends you have that have six-degrees of six-degrees of separation and use it for social status.

"Foil" - Probably my favorite track on the disc next to "Tacky" which is a clever take on Lorde's acclaimed "Royals" which begins with the practical uses for aluminum foil and then takes a turn to hilarious result. Update: The music video for "Foil" went live, here 'tis!

"Sports Song" - A marching band fight song that you'll soon be hearing clips of at sporting events to be sure. To put it in a rudimentary way, "We're the best and you suck."

"Word Crimes" - Which takes the Robin Thicke/Pharrell team-up and turns blurred lines into lessons in proper grammatical use. This song shall henceforth be used as the Still Playing with Toys style guide. Update: Staying true to his word, Weird Al has released the second video in as many days, check it out:

"My Own Eyes" - Would you believe that he's seen these things? Would you believe it if he said he saw them with his own eyes?

"NOW! That's What I Call Polka!" - Always the delightful track on Weird Al's offerings, his mega-mix of bubblegum pop songs mashed into one romp doesn't disappoint. Bonus points for Gangam Style working in a Jerry Lewis "Hey sexy lady!"

"Mission Statement" - Have you ever worked in a corporate environment and had to read the mission statement filled with buzz terms that sure sound great but don't make a whole lot of sense? Weird Al turns them into a beautiful and catchy Crosby, Stills & Nash "Judy Blue Eyes" melody. Value added synergy never sounded so serene.

"Inactive" - Oh Imagine Dragons, I bet you never thought your "Radioactive" single would be in everything from car commercials to stadium rock applications. Nor did you imagine Weird Al would turn it on its head as a tribute to supreme laziness.

"First World Problems" - How many are you guilty of, be honest? 

"Tacky" - Pharrell's catchy ear worm gets the Weird Al treatment, and if you haven't heard the song nor seen the video, stop what you're doing and do so now.

"Jackson Park Express" - Closing out the album is an epic seven-plus minute love story of a man who meets a girl on a bus, and the two read a little too much into each other's body language.

Overall a great album, one that kept me entertained (over two full listens) in morning traffic this morning and kept a smile on my face. Welcome back, Al.

LeBron: The Indecision... or the Redemption?

Guest-writer Tony Garcia returns today with an opinion on LeBron James' controversial return to Cleveland. Here's Tony...

Does anyone NOT know absolutely everything they need to know about LeBron James at this point? If you turned on a TV in the last couple of weeks, you will have certainly seen something related to LeBron James and his decision to re-join the Cleveland Cavaliers after four successful years with the Miami Heat. Yes, I did say successful. Maybe it wasn’t as successful as the Heat originally thought it would be, but it was still successful nonetheless. I guess it just goes to show that you can’t have championship celebrations and a parade before you actually play a game of basketball. Games are never played on paper and the Heat certainly learned that the hard way, going up against and losing to teams that play a team game first. But two championships is better than zero by my math and for that reason, I believe the Heat were an overall success.

But that Heat team will be a shadow of their former selves without the unquestioned best player in basketball right now. The “Big 3” all opted out of their contracts and seemed to seek greener pastures via NBA free agency. The big domino to fall was LeBron. When he opted out of his contract, it was believed that Pat Riley possibly would be using his magic hair gel to woo Carmelo Anthony, the other big name in this years free agent class, to join the Big 3 down in Miami and just crush anyone that dared to walk on the court against the Heat. 

Luckily for the sake of the NBA, things always boil down to money. And in order for Anthony to join LeBron, Wade and Bosh down south ALL of those guys would’ve had to take drastic pay cuts just to be on the same team. Finally, personal greed and the want of millions of dollars prevailed over the thought of winning multiple championships. Phew.

So the big 3 are broken up. And let’s face it, the only reason they were considered a big 3 was because of the biggest fish of them all, LeBron James. The last time James was a free agent was back in 2010, right before he decided to take his talents to South Beach. You remember the ratings monster live interview with Jim Gray that pissed so many people off? Yeah, that wasn’t gonna happen this time. In fact, it was actually the opposite. James took his dear sweet time, allowing ESPN to truly cash in and milk every single minute out of this decision that will impact so many lives. People couldn’t live another day without their daily dose of LeBron Watch. 

Days passed and small time free agents were signing deals but all teams were waiting for the big domino to fall and that was LeBron James. Clevelanders lined the streets of Akron, OH outside of LeBron’s palatial estate waiting for white smoke to arise from one of his six chimneys. Nights passed and only black smoke arose. The twitter-verse was going bananas with speculation. Pictures of moving trucks lining the street of LeBron’s South Beach home surfaced on the internet. One insider spotted LeBron eating the letters F & L out of his Alphabet Soup. It was an uncanny event with speculation running rampant. Even Brian Fantana was spotted outside of Cleveland Cavaliers headquarters!

Then, like something out of the bible or some work of strange fiction, a most un-likely hero emerged to break the news of where LeBron was going to play basketball for the foreseeable future. Print Media! Well, not really. It was posted on the internet still but Sports Illustrated was first to report the evidence of LeBron signing back with his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers. Some were still skeptical that a magazine could still break some big news these days. Seriously Sports Illustrated, who are you sources? The masses demand you show your proof!

SI: Our source is... LeBron James!

People: No way! He’s not a reliable source... wait... what? You know him?

SI: Yeah, he wrote us this letter yesterday. Check it out.

Some would say, myself included, that THIS free agency period would’ve made a great TV show. The drama of everything just seemed like a made for TV, can’t-miss hit. Toss out that snoozefest of 2010 with Jim Gray where LeBron announced his decision on live TV on some washed up old gym floor. This was a week-long tease for the masses that concluded with an organic and heartfelt essay written by the man himself. 

All joking aside, If you take a look at the actual essay that James wrote, you’ll find a lot of substance in there. I don’t know if we’ve ever had a confession, written or otherwise, from as high a profile athlete that displays the passion and will to succeed in a place that he truly loves, his hometown of Cleveland/Akron. There is a humility and sincerity in his words that ring true through anyone that has loved a place they call home. I had to re-read the article to make sure he was talking about Cleveland, OH. Not even the founder of Cleveland ever spoke such high praise of that city. LeBron also talks about his regret for leaving the city in the first place and how tough of a decision that was on him and his family. But now he’s back home.

LeBron isn’t just returning home in physical form. Going back to Cleveland and writing his letter is just the beginning of his damage control on his own image and public approval rating. Sure, all six Heat fans in South Beach are burning their LeBron jerseys. But the rest of Miami is clueless to what happened. They’ll find out LeBron left the team the first time the Cavaliers stroll into town. Then they’ll collectively shrug their shoulders and go back to hanging out on the beach and not caring about sports. In Cleveland, they’re trying to un-burn the jerseys they burnt in 2010. A lot of people don’t understand the midwest sports town psyche. Sports are everything and the city of Cleveland is a passionate fan base and no exception. 

As far as basketball goes, of course this is a good move. It’s never a bad thing to have the best player on your team. I expect Cleveland will compete in the weak Eastern Conference starting immediately. If you’re a gambling man, let’s just look at it this way. Before the NBA free agency period started, the Cavaliers were at one point 75:1 odds to win the title. By the time LeBron James signed with the team, they were down to 4:1. Huge impact? Heck yes. As always there will be teams like the Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers vying to dethrone LeBron with their heart and grit strategies that never work. For the first time in 4 years, Cleveland can laugh at those jokers and say “bring it”. The king has returned.