Cool Shit 3/18

With the NCAA College Basketball tournament starting soon, you will see a plethora of bracket style tournaments popping up all over in the next few days. And while I normally think the gimmick has been slightly overplayed, I feel this one with Star Wars characters is mildly interesting. At first glance, it's hard to not predict Han Solo and Boba Fett facing off in the finals, but then there are some factors that could ruin it. This genuinely has the potential for upsets, something other pop culture bracket tournaments don't have. I feel I could write another 2,000 words on this, but will stop here.

Even famous authors get rejected.

The good, the bad and ugly of films at SXSW this year.

Was the Death Star's destruction cause by rebels? Or was there something more going on? If you've seen Loose Change, this is definitely for you.



This is an interesting article on the potential of a beer monopoly coming, and what it would do to prices on a global and national scale.

Sometimes tagging with graffiti isn't just about gangs; sometimes it can be quite literary.

The U.S. Open Starts Today - and Lil Wayne Has Got the Goods!

Who am I to suggest Lil Wayne doesn't know tennis?

From prison, he still gives us (courtesy of Sports Illustrated) his picks for the championship (as well as some commentary about the other players) right here.

Care to take Lil Wayne's breakdown and apply it to your own U.S. Open bracket? Go for it! (Quick aside - the user interface for the brackets might be the worst thing I've ever seen. Still, it's also the only tennis bracket online I've seen, so I guess I can't get too mad.

March Madness is here again!

...Which means, it's the Popcorn Trick's 2nd Annual March Madness Tourney!

Prizes galore! If galore means something that I have in my house that I may or may not send to you. Seriously though, last year's winner for some reason didn't want a used, slightly broken snowmobile trophy. So it's still in the mix. And there are plenty of other prizes you may or may not get! (Hey - shut up - this is for free. You start sending an entrance fee, then I'll start auditing the prizes.)

SImply click here, and fill out a bracket. Group name is The Popcorn Trick. Password is popcorn

Good luck to everyone who enter!

Anger at the so called "Tournament Of Meat"

Earlier today, I added a link to the tournament of meat bracket someone filled out and posted and didn't think much of it after that. I casually glanced at it, saw the winner, turned my nose up slightly and soon forgot about it.

Time passed and I noticed a few comments questioning the rationale of some of the "games." So I jumped back in to take a closer look.

What I saw disgusted me...



As a clever way to get some page views, I guess the tournament of meat achieved it's objective. But with a little more analysis, what could have been something cool, seemed to be nothing more than a silly parlor trick and easily forgotten. But why? Why not give a little more thought into it? Sure, I know no matter what you come up with people are going to disagree and spew vitriol, but that doesn't mean you can't have pride in what you put up. And it's clear the person who did this has no pride. Pork chops a #8 seed? Chicken - the entire animal, a #8 seed?

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Instead of bemoaning the lack of thought that went into creating the Tournament of Meat, I chose to do something about it. Because it's a good idea at heart. It just needs some tweaking. And in the Popcorn Trick's spirit of overanalyzing the most mundane of things, I am turning my attention toward this. Below a bracket by bracket analysis complete with redos.

The Beef Bracket

Possibly the best thought out bracket, but that still doesn't mean everything is a-ok in this region. Steakumm has no business being a #16. With Steakumm, you can go from nothing to cheesesteak in about 30 seconds. That gets it to #10 at least.

Ground chuck (aka) hamburger is criminally under seeded. It's fucking hamburger! And don't get me started about filet mignon. Here's my new seeding for the beef bracket:

1. Filet mignon
2. ground chuck (aka hamburger!)
3. T-bone
4. Beef ribs
5. Porterhouse
6. Ribeye
7. NY Strip
8. Smoked brisket
9. Pot roast
10. Standing rib roast
11. Steakumms
12. Short ribs
13. London broil
14. Pastrami
15. Corned beef
16. Hanger steak

Sausage Region

Here's where things start to get wonky. First, it's ambitious to think you can come up with 16 sausages people have a familiarity with. Throwing in the idea of lunchmeat is a decent solution. Still, there are some listed I'm unfamiliar with, so I tried to remedy that.

Also, the hotdog question. While controversial, I have chosen not to include it here. Yes, I understand it's technically a sausage (tube of processed meat), but to me the hotdog transcends the sausage definition, and becomes its own meat. (I'll let you reread that sentence and then wonder what kind of idiot could spend so much time deliberating on such an idiotic subject.)

New seeding:

1. Italian sausage
2. Pepperoni
3. Salami
4. Balogna
5. Kielbasa
6. Chorizo
7. Bratwurst
8. Breakfast sausage
9. Andouille
10. Lebanon balogna
11. Boudin
12. Blood sausage
13. liverwurst
14. bangers
15. Chavrice
16. Meguez

Pork Region

Ok, I don't know what's going on here. Hog jowls? Out. Pork chop at 6? No. It gets bumped up. I also really didn't want to include smoked pork AND Boston butt, since they're usually the same thing, but after careful deliberation, the committee decided to keep it in. Yes, there's a committee.

New seedings...

1. Bacon
2. Ribs
3. Tenderloin
4. Pork chop
5. deli ham
6. Pulled pork
7. Glazed ham
8. Roast of pork
9. Baby back ribs
10. Prosciutto
11. Scrapple
12. Boston butt
13. Roasted whole pig
14. Cracklins
15. Leg of pork
16. Medallions

Miscellaneous Region

Perhaps the most egregious offenses lie here in this region. The idea of introducing "wild game" is ok, but then you must think about all the wild game meats that are popular. And to have one spot for the whole chicken, that just undemined everyone involved.

New seedings...

1. hotdog
2. chicken cutlet
3. lamb chops
4. chicken wings
5. turkey
6. fried chicken
7. venison
8. veal cutlet
9. duck
10. cornish hen
11.leg of lamb
12. lamb shanks
13. turducken
14. buffalo
15.ostrich
16. liver


So there are the new brackets. Now I won't be so presumptuous to give you a definitive winner's bracket for this epic tournament. Instead, I will simply give a look at my bracket. And you have my word that no standing rib roast is going to win. I mean, that's simply absurd.



I won't get into any synopses about each bout (because I easily could) I'll just say that my final 4 is:

Ground chuck
Italian Sausage
Bacon
Hot dog

Chuck and Italian sausage would be a good game; bacon and hot dog would be a triple overtime thriller. Bacon prevails and takes on Italian Sausage, but by then it's anti-climactic; bacon wins it going away.

Not entering the Popcorn Trick Hoops Tourney? Then you won't be able to win this...

Yes, you get to win this lovely snowmobiling trophy if you win the Popcorn Trick's March Madness Tournament. No, you don't get the deodorant. I use that enough times a week to make it worth my while to keep.

Seriously, what are you waiting for? Of this crappy picture of the spoils doesn't give you a basketball jones, well, you're most likely a zombie.

Click here to enter. It's FREE. But hurry - Games start soon.

The Popcorn Trick's March Madness Tournament

I welcome you to join the Popcorn Trick's inaugural March Madness Invitational.

I've made the scoring as confusing as possible, in keeping up with the standards associated with our site. I've also made it private to keep the riff raff out. And by riff raff, I mean people that actually might take this seriously and not be any fun. Seriously though, I'm publishing the password so how "private" can it be?

Group Name: The Popcorn Trick
Password: Network Stars

I've decided to create a trophy for this year's winner. So if you win the honor of housing a badly repaired snowmobile trophy is yours. I can't think of a better prize than that. Possibly some other stuff too, it all depends on how many thousands of dollars we get this month with our Amazon associates program. Anyway, please join and spread the word to all your friends. Winning the Popcorn Trick's March Madness tourney carries a lot of prestige.