Allison & Jake in Philadelphia

Look out Allison, I think Jake’s after your cheese steak sandwich!

Monday Morning Music Video : I Fell for You

More music! Hurrah! The Mr. T Experience’s “I Fell for You”. Why this video? I think the video perfectly encapsulates the MTX sense of humor just as much as the song lyrics do. Their other videos are fun, but this really does seem like the music translated to visuals. Also, everyone in this video reminds me of my college years and going to parties that had bands playing and such.

5 Movies I Left Thinking They Were Bad

After seeing Alice in Wonderland the other day I left the cinema pretty underwhelmed. All I could say for it was “well that certainly was a movie.” This is much better than how I left some movies, these are the ones where I felt I had wasted more time than money. These are not just movies that I went to w/ a group thinking “aw this might be bad, but who cares” or “ok that movie wasn’t for me,” no, I’m talking about movies that inspired ire in me.

Santa Clause : the Movie
Imagine a happy little Jose, filled with candy and good cheer, it is the holiday season and he’s going to go see a Christmas movie, then it all goes to hell. Really, I hadn’t even developed any kind of critical faculties and I just KNEW I’d seen something terrible. This movie represents just about everything wrong with the 80s and it’s idiotic excess.

Sleepy Hollow
The first chink in the cornerstone of my Tim Burton fanship. I just couldn’t get over how much I hated this. I seriously almost left during that scene at the windmill at the end that took… oh, for-damn-ever! Really, after this I really didn’t mind Planet of the Apes so much. It does seem like I’m the only person who liked Charlie and the Chocolate Factory though. Still, man, Sleepy Hollow was bad, it had Walken and it was still terrible!

Star Wars Episode I : the Phantom Menace
Really, who didn’t see this one coming?

the Watchmen
I wanted to like this, I wanted to like this as much as I’ve always wanted to like the comic. But it turns out I just am not the person for either. The worst part is, the opening had me fooled! I was all “Oh man, how come I wasn’t seeing everything as being this awesome in the comic?” and then BAM! The movie becomes the magnification of what I didn’t like about the comics.

Deep Impact
A movie I hated so much that I ranted about it for a half hour straight. My girlfriend at the time eventually told me to shut up. Thing is, she didn’t like the movie either, but she didn’t want to listen to me complain about it anymore. That was the beginning of the end for that relationship. Allison and I, now we bitch about movies together… a lot, much like after we saw Alice in Wonderland!

Video Game Adventure

Jake’s smiling because he’s better than me.

23min of Ska : Meanies

Woo! More ska, and it is some of the meanest, rudest ska around this time for you. Or maybe not. I could’ve went more crass, but that didn’t turn out to be nearly as much fun as I thought it would, so much for a “theme episode”. If there’s a theme at all, I think it would be that a lot of these bands never really got their “due” as it were, in fact I think only the Suicide Machines did. I think the Blue Meanies were close and of course the Hub City Stompers, Amphetameanies and Johnny Nine & the Racers still have a chance if anyone would pay attention to how good they are. Sorely missed are Secret Society who are all but forgotten but always put on a hell of a show, and their album isn’t even bootlegged on dozens of websites like a lot of their other late 90s contemporaries.

If you’re in a ska band and would like to be featured or if you know some music that you think I should hear for future inclusion, please email me!

You can also subscribe to the podcast by going to your advanced tab on iTunes, then select “subscribe to podcast…” and entering this:
http://23minofska.podomatic.com/rss2.xml
into the box that opens. Alternately, you can even download it.

Monday Morning Music Video : Reggae Hit LA

Because no one is asking me any questions for Ask Rad Jose I’m reduced to entertaining you via music video! It’s the Aggrolites with “Reggae Hit LA”. This video is chock full of ska band cameos, see if you can recognize them all!

5 Minor Things from Scott Pilgrim Comic That I Hope Make the Movie Verison

With the announcement coming today about the release date of the final Scott Pilgrim book and the release earlier this week of the movie teaser poster I’ve never been more psyched for trips to the comic shop and cinema this summer. So I thought I’d go down a short list of minor things that I hope will make it into the final movie, things so small that if they didn’t make it in it wouldn’t even matter, but damn, it’d be rad to see them!

Ramona’s College
It’s mentioned once, in passing, with a small graphic that Ramona’s alma mater was University of Carolina in the Sky. It’s a rad concept that really fits with the rest of the tone of the book. It’s a college, on a huge rock that floats in the air & is chained to the mountains! It’s great because it is so mundane that this natural wonder just plays host to a university and not some kind of them park or something. Then again, we are talking about a world where there’s 2 holes in the moon, and it seems like not that many people have taken the time to figure out why.

Scott’s “Pee Meter”
Scott’s “Pee Metter” is full. Scott goes to the bathroom. Scott’s “Pee Meter” empties. I found this more hilarious that I should. This has the most chance of anything on this list making the movie as director Edgar Wright seems found this as funny as I did. At least that’s what I’ve heard in interviews.

Michael Comeau’s Ring
It is a ring, that has a skull in it. When Michael shows it off to Scott it says “Ssscotttt…” When Scott asks Michael where he got it the response is “From the future.” And then the conversation goes on as if that’s a totally and perfectly logical place to get something. It is said so a-matter-of-factly, and responded to in the same way as “From a gumball machine” that it makes the whole story around the ring even more interesting. Just how did Comeau get to the furture to snag it? It doesn’t matter, Scott’s friends just want to know if his band is going to show up his ex-girlfriend’s band that night.

Scott’s Girly Poster
Scott shares a studio apartment (and mattress on the floor) with his gay roommate Wallace. Through out the comic we find that Scott own virtually nothing in said apartment except for a toothbrush, some clothes and a poster of 2 skimpily dresses girls kissing. It’s beyond tacky, and what gets me even more is that its the only thing Scott owns that purely decorative. It is his only “thing,” everything else he owns can be used to clothe and clean himself, but the poster is just “stuff.” Totally ridiculous too! The fact that Bryan Lee O’Malley doesn’t even draw it, but pastes in a scan of the actual poster makes me laugh even more, as it even LOOKS like it doesn’t belong.

A Jealous Young Neil Calling Steven Stills “Captain Homo”
I don’t know why I love this exchange where when Young Neil is discussing why Knives isn’t with him anymore it’s because she’s obsessed with “Captain Homo” AKA Stephen Stills AKA his roommate. It is just such a dumb insult, but it just plays perfect in context, which would take even longer to fully set up. There’s something about insulting someone or something as “gay” when what you’re making fun of is some that’s completely heterosexual that will always make me laugh.

More Beer?

Not sure if I can bring myself to have another one, Jake ordered it for me before he passed out.

ask rad jose : the daves i know

NotPunkJen sends a question from the wilds of Naptown,
Why is my husband DaveGrove so awesome? I understand that he is, just not where the ‘awesome’ actually comes from. (If you can’t tell, he’s been pretty good to me this week!)

Since the dawn of time Dave’s have been outstanding members among their villages. They are natural born leaders. In fact, King Arthur went by his middle name, his real first name was Dave, King Dave Arthur Penkitten. I’ve known several Dave’s throughout my life and if damn near not 98% of them totally rock. Always quick with a friendly comment of a handful of candy to share. Yes, Dave’s are special, the life blood of this good nation and a blessing to all that catch them by the toe and earn their magical flask of Goldschläger.

What makes your Dave so special, why cuz he’s the life of the party!

Hey you slackers, ask me a damn question! Do you have a question that you’d like to ask rad jose? Ask me, I’ll totally give you the best answer you’ve ever heard!

5 (Relatively Cheap & Tasty) Places to Eat in LA

My good friend asked (for herself and on behalf of her husband) what are some good, non fast food places to eat the next time they come to LA. Oh yeah, and try not to be too pricey! She asked me this in “Ask Rad Jose” and had I answered there it would’ve been “7-11,” but because she’s awesome I’ll answer this here, in a part serious manner. So take this as a guide for yrself if you ever visit Los Angeles and need a bite!

Philippes
It’s the home of the French Dip. That’s not just idle boasting either, this is where the thing was invented! Boy is it good! Be sure to ask for the double dip, only suckers get the standard dip (or so my girlfriend tells me, after I was apparently a “sucker” but that was the day I saw Mark Hoppus there, so who’s the sucker now?) And double plus awesome, it can be easily accessed by the Union Station stop on the Red Line Metro!

Canter’s Deli
Allison and I first heard reference to Canter’s from the band Something for Rockets, or maybe that’s not true, Allison could’ve heard of it earlier and then SFR reminded her of it in an old blog post on their website. Either way it is tasty as all get out. It is standard deli fare in a rockin’ environment. Be sure to grab some cookies for the drive back, no matter how much you buy they usually don’t survive the trip back. Bonus: see if anything rad is going on at the Silent Movie Theatre a few blocks down and make a night of it.

Henry’s Hat
Fast becoming local favorite of mine. I’ve yet to have a bad thing on the menu. They have fun with it, apple smoked sausage done up corn dog style and served w/ a variety of mustards, a North Carolina style pulled pork sandwich w/ cole slaw on it, cool beer and Flaming Dr. Peppers can all be ordered. They also stock board games as well to play while you wait (also in the back room, a Wii) which we’ve never gotten around to playing any as we’re talking to each other and the friendly staff. A bit out of the way in the Vally (just barely) but hey, free parking!

Big Wang’s
This place is damn near an institution by now. It’s been featured in a few TV shows (MADtv I know to be a fact) and it has pretty good wings. I barely remember the other fried goods they have, but I ate the damn out of them on a few occasions. They also have their own beer, Big Wang’s Light. I had it once. Once. Thankfully they also have Blue Moon by the pitcher too! The one in Hollywood used to be painted bright orange but if I recall it’s been painted over… that’s sad, but hey, there’s still a chicken in a wife beater flexing his arms to entice you to come in!

DuPar’s
There’s no doubt about this one, it IS an institution out here. It’s pretty awesome for diner food, but the pie, oh yes, the pie is awesome! And I know from pie, so you have to trust me. There’s a few locations around, so it isn’t to hard to find one, the most famous being the one by the Farmer’s Market. Allison and I once saw Scott Adsit at the one in Studio City and were embarrassed that we couldn’t remember his name and kept wanting to call him “Pete”.