Resistance is Futile

Eating Plano: The Counter / Eating Dallas: Village Burger Bar

Sometimes the stealer of a concept does a better job than the owner of the original concept.

That appears to be the case with these two upscale burger joints.

Exploring my lunch options at The Shops at Legacy, I discovered The Counter. Upon entering I felt like I had been there before. In fact it seem to be almost the exact same concept as Village Burger Bar in the West Village (which I never got around to reviewing since I ate here before going to see Juno)

Both place feature large gourmet burgers with a variety of gourmey options, fries from both white and sweet potatoes and "onion strings". Also, both places have a full bar for smart cocktails and a good, but typical beer selection.

I found both burgers to be very good. But the Village Burger was juicier and more flavorful. And, while I had the sides at VBB, I had none at The Counter. The sides of VBB weren't that great and like Twisted Root, I would not order them again.

Looking on their respctive websites, it appears that it's actually Village Burger Bar that has stolen (or at least co-invented) the concept. They have the better burger and better atmosphere. And I really enjoyed their ice cold Shiner, which always helps a review.


Village Burger Bar
3699 McKinney Ave C-325, Dallas TX 75204
A

The Counter
5700 Legacy Drive Suite A5 Plano TX 75024
B

Netflix Review: Windy City Heat

I really thought I was going to like this. It had been hyped several time on my leader's show -- he even makes a cameo as a gladiator in a gladiator in a gladiator/dog buddy film.

But good Christ is this a piece of garbage the cat yakked up on Norm's poopy pillow.

This movie is essentially a giant prank on someone who is this far (please picture me with my hand up and my thumb and forefinger a few centimeters apart) away from being a complete retard. The producer have convinced this moron that he will be the star of Windy City Heat -- a generic film noir movie in which he plays a sports memorabilia private investigator.

The concept of the movie is great but there are two major flaws in the execution.

The first is that the prankee, Perry Caravello, a failed comedian that, at times, seems to have stolen Sam Kinison's act. This dude is a pathetic, deluded schmuck. He could have easily been one of Billy Mitchell's stooges. You start to feel sorry for this guy who is being tormented throughout the film by the main pranksters.

The second is a character in the film called Mole. He's a writer for Jimmy Kimmel who, along with the other main prankster Don Barris, has been playing pranks on Perry for years. The problem is that Mole does not look or behave as a normal person. Throughout the film, he is sporting a terribly fake wig and generally looks ridiculous. And he is so distracting that it's hard to believe that anyone could possible fall for this prank except someone with severe brain damage.

This is a generally mean-spirited movie with very few laughs.

• 0 breasts (geez, 2 movies and no boobies)
• several stuffed beasts
• donut table fu
• limo fu
• Academy Award nomination to Adam Carolla for being my leader

King Wally says check it out

D

Don't Try To Walk In Plano

As a white person that relates to Stuff White People Like, one of the important things for me is being able to walk to things. I live in a neighborhood where I can walk easily to several great bars, great restaurants, a couple of grocery stores, and an infinite number of banks.

So one of the cool things about working at Beal Bank is that it's just across the toll road from The Shops at Legacy where many great (Naan) and generaly fine (Starbucks, Taco Diner) restaurants reside.

The other day I didn't bring my lunch to work and decided to walk over to The Shops and grab a sangwich. I had no idea that this simple act would put my life in mortal danger (cue the erie music).

First, there is no protected pedestrian walkway across the toll road. There is a "sidewalk". But this is merely a wide curb separating the left turning north-to-south u-turners from the people going east to west.

Once across the toll road I was confronted not with a side walk or concrete of any kind, but grass. It's like no one in there wildest imagination ever thought someone would walk across the highway rather than drive. Seriously, why walk when you can drive your giant gas guzzling Hummer 2 blocks and catch 5 minutes of Limbaugh?

After about a half block, I'm in The Shops proper. Here there are actual sidewalks and pedestrian traffic lights. So, I guess Plano thinks that as long as you've driven and parked here, you might as well walk. But, please don't let anyone see you do it.

The trip back was even more dangerous. As I tried to cross the toll road with my Potbelly (the sandwich, not my actual potbelly, but I guess that too) I was confronted with your typical suburban cell-phone talking coose who is so distracted with everything else going on in her vehicle, she can see a large man trying to cross the street with a roast beef sandwich in hand as she attempts a second lane right turn.

I'm still alive and will continue to defy death by walking over to The Shops for lunch. It's what my people like.

Netflix Review: No Country For Old Men

I should state up front that I am a big fan of the Coen brothers. As you can see from the list of my top 10 favorite moves, two are from the Coen brothers. And there are others -- The Hudsucker Proxy, Oh Brother Where Art Thou?, The Big Lebowski -- that are also huge favorites of mine.

But with any great artists there are also great misses. Seriously people, Blood Simple is just a bad episode of Threes' Company. And what the hell were they thinking with The Ladykillers???

But No Country belongs in the first list. No quite making my top 10, this is still a great film worth of the Oscar it received. (unlike There Will Be Blood, which was largely a beatiful mess)

By this point, you've probably been beaten down with what this movie is about, so I won't rehash that. If you're still interested, though, IMDB it.

The greatest controversy of this film is the ending. Reviewer after reviewer complained about the ending. I don't see it. It ends strangely, yes I agree. But, to me, the movie ends about 20 minutes after the main story ends. But, I guess, I don't see that as a bad thing.

Overall, this movie held my attention from start to finish. It is an amazing thriller.

• 0 Breasts
• 1 Beast
• 8 murders
• coin-flip fu
• pit-bull fu
• Academy Award nomination for Stephen Root for finally getting his comeupence for burning down Initech.
• Academy Award nomination for Javier Bardem for, oh wait, never mind.

King Wally says check it out.

A

Another Typical Night for JT

Creepiest Documentary Ever

BAD Radio Reports on Thursday featured this documentary about guys who have relationships with Real Dolls.

Enjoy.



I hope to get mine this next week.

Because, Clearly, Some of You Still Need A Reason

No Egrets

Yet!

Alex, where's the squirrel??


There it is.

Get Out of My Head!!!!!

Stuff White People Like, the current contender for funniest website (sorry Drudge), has an item that hits a bit too close to home:

#23 Microbreweries
White people don’t like stuff that’s easy to acquire. Beer is no exception. They generally try to avoid beers like Budweiser, Labatt’s, Molson, Coors, and Heineken because if it’s mass produced it is bad. No exceptions.

So when they need a beer, they turn to microbrews who seem to be located almost exclusively in New England, Ontario, Quebec and Colorado. Being able to walk into a bar and order a beer that no one has heard of makes white people feel good about their alcohol drinking palate.

A friend of mine once met a white guy who brought a notebook with him to every bar. He would then keep a record of all the beers he drank and his experience with
them. He called it his ‘beer journal.’

Also of note: most white people want to open a microbrewery at some point. One that uses organic hops.

Others good ones:

• #87 Outdoor Performance Clothes
• #80 The Idea of Soccer
• #65 Co-Ed Sports
• #62 Knowing What’s Best for Poor People
• #61 Bicycles
• #57 Juno
• #52 Sarah Silverman
• #38 Arrested Development

I suggest that for a future posting on Stuff White People Like, they do an article on Stuff White People Like.

I Miss Nortel?

Well, only in that at Nortel I would have had time to blog. This Beal Bank job keeps me way too busy to even think about blogging.

And everyone is so nice. Every time I finish a task, I'm thanked for it.

Weird.

Media, Stop Telling Me the Price of Gas in Gorda, CA

Back in 2000, I took a trip to San Francisco to play in one of their very hippie Ultimate Tournaments. It was called Revolution and it was a coed tournament in which each team was to have a "cause". Since we had, over the last couple of years, lost several in the Dallas Ultimate community to the Bay area, our cause was to bring Shiner Bock to the Bay. It was not received well by the anti-corporate, anti-American, anti-everything coordinators. And real causes were a requirement the next year.

But I digress.

That year, instead of just flying into San Francisco, I flew in to LAX, rented a convertible and drove the beautiful Pacific Coast Highway to SF.
There is a long stretch of PCH in which there is nothing but ocean and winding narrow road between San Simeon and Big Sur. I had neglected to get gas in San Simeon and soon started to panic as each turn of the road revealed yet another place with no gas station.

Finally, in remote, craphole Gorda there was a gas station. Now, remember this was 2000. Gas was still about $1.00/gallon here in Texas and maybe a little more in California. But in Gordo it was $3.00/gallon.

There are a number of reasons the price was(is) so high there. It's remote. It has to generate it's own electricity. But, basically, it's the only station for miles, so suck it.

And, now, every time the price of gas goes up around the country, someone has to run a story saying basically "Gas already $5/gallon seen in California." But it's always this same craphole gas station.

So, media dipshits, cut it out. You've been exposed for the fear mongers you are.



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I Only Posted This for the Excellent Parody of an 80's Classic, Honest

Enjoy!

Sorry that it's a link. The fucker turned off embedding.

Waste of Time?

My New Job At Beal Bank

Wow. Everything is so nice here. The cubes are about twice what I had at Nortel and with wooden cabinetry. I have a double 17" flat screen monitor attached to my computer that was manufactured this century.

Even the security guards are nice.

So far things are going well. It has only been a couple of days, though. But there should be lots of OT and thus lots of money. So hopefully some of that money can go into Wally's, but importantly, another road trip.

And They Have A Plan

A joke for maybe one of my readers.

Bloggy Quick Hits

Cause I haven't done it in a while and there's a lot of good stuff out there today.

• Agreed!! Wait. Did that say minutes???
• He cleans up nicely.
• I, for one, am greatful for our Archer Daniels Midland Overlords.
• Douche Juice not listed.

Battlestar Galactica Recapped in 8 Minutes

WARNING ** SPOILERS ** (Seasons 1-3 Only, Not Season 4)

If you have any desire to watch BG from the begining unspoiled, do no watch this.
If you need a refresher or are just curious what this show is about, then enjoy.

Good News Everyone

The Summer of Steve is finally over. My long, twilight struggle to find employment has ended. I have a job and I start tomorrow. The good news is that it's only 3-4 months long. So expect a Summer of Steve II: Electric Boogaloo -- This Time It's Personal on a web browser near you.

I will be assuming the position of code monkey for Beal Bank way up there at Legacy and the Toll Road. No doubt many of my evenings with be spent hob-knobbing with the cougars at Martini Park.

Pray for me.

Better Than Cloverfield

GILF Hunter

You have to hand it to Alaska. They find the hottest chick in the state and make her the Governor. Unfortunately, Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin done got baby up inside her again. So John McCain will have to look elsewhere for a running mate.

Laura Roslin is still available. And she may be here sooner than we think.

I Can't Go to Target Until My Suit Comes Back From The Cleaners. Damn You One Hour Martinizing and Your Lies

Courtesy Bloody Pants

I Hope You Like Your Olympics Extra Chunky

This is a picture of Beijing from a two weeks ago post on James Fallows' blog.

Hard Core Food Porn

Even I think this may be over the top. It's a 1/2lb burger with a fried egg and bacon and a Krispy Kreme bun. It's brought to us by the Food Networks most annoying personality (and there are a lot to choose from, but not you Alton) Paula Dean.

Here's the recipe for those wanting to play cardiac roulette.

I Kept Waiting for GOB to Show Up

Should cellists be this cocky???

I've Had Two of Them

Campus Squeeze has a list of the six strongest beers you can get in the US. They are:

6) Avery's The Beast (abv 16.4)
5) Samuel Adam's Triple Bock (abv 18)
4) Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA (abv 20)
3) Samuel Adam's Milleniums (abv 21)
2) Dogfish Head World Wide Stout (abv 23)
1) Samuel Adams Utopias (abv 27)

Bill Endorses Obama Again

Thanks to KO for the headsup.

HD DVR Review: 300

The great Sarah Silverman said of 300, "It's called 300 because on a scale of 1 to 10 in gayness, it's 300." It's a pretty gay movie -- lots of shirtless buff guys. Christ, even that sounded gay. But there are enough topless women in it to balance out to bi. Think of it as The Grapevine of Greek warrior movies.

For what this movie is, a comic book -- oops sorry -- graphic novel come to life, it's pretty good. Ignore the historical inaccuracies and enjoy it for what it is. The action sequences are great but occasionally long.

Visually, the movie is amazing. Only occasionally does it look overly CGIed. And this is really what the movie is all about -- visuals. Do not see this movie in SD. If you have to, go to someone else's house and watch it in HD and crank up the 5.1.

• 18 breast
• 10 beasts
• Elephant fu
• Rhino fu
• mutant fu

Academy award nomination to Dominic West for his five years as McNulty on The Wire.

King Wally says check it out.

B

Movie Review: There Will Be Blood

I have to admit it. I had no interest in this movie until I saw the sketch on SNL. If you haven't seen the sketch, here it is:





And if your interested in the source material, here that is:



There are a lot of things to say about this movie. I just wish I could form coherent thoughts about them. It was beautifully photographed. There that's something, right. And I'm glad to see that Daniel Day Lewis has toned down his Bill The Butcher character.
But this picture left me with one very important question:

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?????"

And why did they use the music from Lost? Seriously, I kept thinking the smokemonster was about to kill H.W.

In the final analysis this was a well crafted mess that, for the most part, kept me watching until the end. So I can't say it's bad. And I would, for the most part recommend it.

• 0 Breasts
• oil derreck fu
• bowling ball fu

Academy award nomination for, oh wait never mind.

King Wally says check it out.

B

Since JT Stole My Blog Layout

I'm stealing his content:

Star Wars Credits in the Early 60s.

The Spring of Steve

Yeah, I know.  Spring is still almost 3 weeks away.  But with Winter League over, by my reconning, this is the first day of Spring.  Even though it's in the 40s today, everyone should take the dog out to the lake a throw a frisbee.