Four and three and two and one What up! And when I'm on the mic - the suckers run (Word!)

Quick Hitters and Random Thoughts

--Saul – “That’s what the kids call epic fail.” Double epic fail for Gus this week. He’s got Hank after him, the non-negotiating cartel and maybe some ricin with his name on it. In other words, Gus is screwed. Great monologues in this episode, first from Jesse, shocker. Then Hank’s meeting with the DEA higher-ups. You knew Hank was going to Pollos for something and you knew what as soon as he asked for that refill. As much as Hank has been through physically it was nice for him to get a little moment where he controlled the room once again and could give his little dramatic “except” to introduce Gus’s fingerprints. When the DEA initially called Gus “a reach” as a suspect I wondered if all those police donations above the table also meant some under the table. I can’t tell whether that would be Gus taking care of future obstacles or if it would be Gus being sloppy. I can’t wait, and yet I can, to see if Gus goes down in one of the last two episodes or at least reveals to Hank that his hospital bills are being paid by Heisenberg. Hell, Gus can tell Hank that he was the one who gave him the heads up on “The Cousins” that probably saved his life. And surely Gus can Gus his way through an explanation of how his fingerprints came to be in Gale's apartment. What I’m saying is I can’t wait to see Hank and Gus sit down over a bucket of chicken.
Misdemeanor trash burning. Awesome.
And if there’s a show with a better opening scene every week I haven’t seen it. If Rage actually cut in the image of Gale being shot every once in a while then I’d probably be forced to buy it. Liked how we also got another example of vegan Gale. Fermented lentil bread joins vegan s’mores in Gale’s cookbook, the non-meth one.

--Just in time for Labor Day a $140 at Costco and you can get a Guy Fieri Marinated Meat Variety Pack that includes 14 pounds of Flavortown. Oh the joy.

--Screw Flavortown, it’s getting close to Frytown time with the Big Tex Choice Awards from The State Fair of Texas. The 8 heart attack inducing finalists:
Buffalo Chicken in a Flapjack – very simple, flapjack wrapped chicken strip coated in jalapeno breadcrumbs and fried.
Deep Fried Pineapple Upside Down Cake – yawn
Deep Fried Texas Salsa – finally. Salsa dipped in masa before being rolled in tortilla chips and fried. Like I wrote, finally.
El Bananarito – banana rolled up in a flour tortilla before hitting the fryer. Eh.
Fried Autumn Pie – also eh.
Fried Bubblegum – that’s what I’m talking about. A bubblegum flavored marshmallow fried and topped with some icing and powdered sugar. I can’t even imagine.
Hans’ Kraut Ball – yes, it has sauerkraut.
Walking Taco – essentially a frito pie. Bo-ring.

--In other disgusting cooking news, by now you’ve probably heard of the 21-year-old Russian chef who killed a man because he wanted to taste flesh in the form of meatballs and sausage. The full story here. Two things that jump out for me. One, “Nothing like this has happened in Murmansk in 20 years.” Uhhh, that’s not a lot of time between cannibal chefs. Two, “The accused faces up to 15 years.” Wait, murder and cannibalism is punishable for only up to 15 years?! What a country!

--Don’t know how I missed all these last week, but thankfully @bcstagg brought this tumblr to my attention.


--Props from Lost? Sweet. Props from Entourage? Uhh. Writing of Lost it sounds ol’ drunk, get back to the island Jack is back. Seriously Matthew Fox. How ya gonna take a swing at a female party bus driver and then proceed to get smacked by said bus driver?

--Will I buy Lay’s potato chips just because Coach Taylor does voice work on their commercials? Well, duh.

--A Blues Brothers TV pilot? No, thanks.

--I give this A.V. Club battle of LCD Soundsystem “All My Friends” covers between Baths and Tokyo Police Club to Baths. Being able to embed was the tiebreaker.

Baths cover LCD Soundsystem

--Danny Pudi showing up on Chuck at some point was a given.

--I’m not saying Texans fans are overconfident, but I was in a fantasy draft and the first defense off the board was Houston’s. In the 8th round.

--Did not expect the University of North Texas to have the nation’s first all-vegan, full-service cafeteria. Nice. I’d have spent more time on UH’s campus if it had a Radical Eats.

--You are missing out if you're missing @airelav2's monthly music reviews on Ape Donkey. I can almost fake my way through a music conversation.

--It’s very important when you have an argument with someone to actually end said argument and not leaving it hanging in the balance. Bonus if you get the last word. This man in Virginia accomplished both of those. The New York Daily News with the details:
“They were talking with the ex-wife when a deputy saw a white Ford Explorer towing a utility trailer. The trailer was on fire, and a man identified as her ex-husband was behind the wheel. Firefighters arrived, and authorities attempted to get the man to exit the SUV. That's when they noticed a cable tied to a nearby tree was wrapped around his neck.
Officers pleaded with the man to surrender, but instead he hit the gas. He was pulled from the vehicle, and his head was yanked clean off his body.”
A win’s a win...except when you Ned Stark yourself

--How has this not happened yet?


--Powers Boothe in on History’s Hatfields and McCoys miniseries is all I needed to know. Tom Berenger and Red Dawn writer Kevin Reynolds is just icing. Nice of History to broadcast a little something from, you know, history.

--90 minutes of Sons of Anarchy next week. Yes, please.


--I was getting my Sporcle fix in the other day when the category of Best Selling 2011 NBA Jerseys by Team came up. Some were easy like Kobe for the Lakers or Rose for the Bulls. For the longest time though I couldn’t answer for the Rockets. It ended up being none other than Shawn Shane Battier. There was zero chance I was ever going to guess Jonas Jerebko for the Pistons. I’m still not even sure if that’s a real person.

--The Houston Press turned me on to this place and you are seriously missing out if you live in or near Pearland and don’t hit up Thanh Phuong.

--Our Florida Story of the Week comes to us from Arizona. ‘Twas there 21-year-old Jessica Callaway was dealing with her crying 10-month-old daughter. And by dealing I mean yelling at her to shut up and slapping her. For some unknown reason that didn’t work so she decided to revert to her more natural motherly instincts which led her to blow marijuana smoke in baby’s face. Thankfully mommy’s roommate got the police involved. When asked what the hell she was thinking mommy said she was having a bad day and was having difficulty picking out an outfit for the night. Been there.

Questions, comments or if you’re pleasantly surprised Matthew Stafford is your common denominator among your fantasy teams…