And Then There's This...

In case you haven't seen it yet, prepare for radtacularness on June 24th.

Devastator Has a Posse

Some images were leaked today for the new Transformers movie due out this summer. It looks as though one of my childhood fantasies will come true when I get to see a real life Devastator on the big screen. Have a look.

Source: Transformers Live Action Movie Blog

More Tecmo Super Bowl

There's no disputing the fact that Bo Jackson is the greatest Tecmo Bowl player of all time. But Christian Okoye had his moments too.

Super Bowl catch according to Tecmo Bowl

Remember This in 1986

This is really cool!

Is Bo Jackson the best video game football player ever?

G I JOE Trailer

Transformers Trailer

ZOMBIES in AUSTIN!!!

Who is the Greatest Living American: Tim Tebow or Jack Bauer?

Tim Tebow and Jack Bauer have both been important figures in America over the past several years. I decided to line their accomplishments up side by side so that we can decide once and for all which one is the greatest living American.

TIM TEBOW

*Spent his summers in high school working with orphans in the Philippines.
*Has won two national championships as a quarterback for the University of Florida.
*On October 20, 2007, made a handoff to Kestahn Moore that resulted in Moore scoring a touchdown. That handoff is now considered the finest handoff in the history of football, and popular opinion is that if Tebow had not handed the ball off to Moore with such perfect technique, Moore would not have scored a touchdown.
*Won the 2007 Heisman Trophy for being the best college football player in America.
*Loves Jesus - Tebow paid tribute to J.C. by wearing John 3:16 (a well known bible verse) on his eyeblack during the 2009 BCS National Championship Game.
*Won the 2007 Heisman Trophy for being the best college football player in America.
*Circumcised some Filipino babies.
*CBS color commentator Gary Danielson makes it a point to tell his own son, "Why can't you be more like Tim Tebow?" every single day.
*Spent 20 minutes with Fox announcer Charles Davis, thus enriching his life to the point where Davis told an audience of 20 million about the experience live on national television.
*New "WWTTD" wristbands being sold in Gainesville, FL indicate Tebow is a moral compass to many.

JACK BAUER

*Protected President David Palmer from an assassination attempt by terrorists (season 1).
*Prevented terrorists from detonating a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles, CA (season 2).
*Shot and killed his boss, a reputable U.S. Government employee of 18 years, to uphold his end of a deal he made with a terrorist - in order to save America from another terrorist attack.
*Prevented the release of a deadly virus by taking down a Mexican drug cartel despite being addicted to heroin (season 3).
*Prevented another attempt by terrorists to steal and launch a nuclear weapon (season 4).
*Cut off a terrorist's head and kept it in his bag to use in the future interrogation of another terrorist.
*Has tortured several dirty, dirty terrorists in order to get information that led to the prevention of a terrorist attack.
*Prevented terrorists from stealing nerve gas (season 5).
*Has discovered and snuffed out several government conspiracies, including the nerve gas plot involving President Charles Logan, who had a crazy wife.
*Prevented a war between the United States and Russia by keeping Chinese terrorists from setting off suitcase nukes (season 6).
*Spent a lot of time between season 6 and season 7 in Africa where he undoubtedly helped feed hungry children.
*Is poised to defeat terrorists again by apparently rebuilding the firewall responsible for protecting America's government computer infrastructure (season 7).

CONCLUSION

With such similarly impressive resumes, it's a tough call to make. To me, though, it comes down to one important question:

I know Tim Tebow would have no problem thwarting a terrorist attack should he happen across a terrorist cell in Gainesville, but could Jack Bauer pump his fists and run the quarterback draw as effectively as Tebow?

WINNER:

Tim Tebow

Greatest Living American

Memory Lane

In case you missed it...
Ghost of the Russian Empire

Rumors of a scheduled recording session this winter under a new band name are unconfirmed.

Two of my Best Ideas Ever

Idea #1

The Houston Texans of the NFL have a problem. They have two quarterbacks, but neither one of them can seem to get the job done. Matt Schaub is the designated starter, but he's not much more than a serviceable player. In fact, he's prone to big mistakes and terrible throws. BUT Schaub has a history of being solid in the clutch. Sage Rosenfels on the other hand is a consistently solid player UNTIL it comes down to key moments late in the game (see the meltdown he suffered against Indianapolis two weeks ago).

Now, I'm not a Houston Texans fan by any means, but I figure if I can pass along some great advice to a franchise that is in desperate need of a breakthrough of any kind, I figure I might as well help them out. So here's the idea:

In the spirit of the Major League Baseball playoffs, I propose the Texans use their two quarterbacks like baseball teams use pitchers. Since Rosenfels is good throughout most of the game and fails down the stretch, make him the starter. Tell him you want 3+ solid quarters out of him and then bring in the closer, Matt Schaub. Schaub can be trusted not to blow a double digit lead in one quarter, so let him get the "save" and close out the game.

Idea #2

This isn't an idea as much as it is an open letter to Jim James of My Morning Jacket.

Dear Jim James,
It is my lifelong dream as a soon to be 31-year old male to see a live Rickroll. If you don't know what a Rickroll is, you aren't the Jim James I know, but here's a LINK to the explanation anyway.

I figure the live Rickroll could work very similar to the online version: advertise for a big My Morning Jacket show, maybe with the Chicago Symphony as you guys are known to do from time to time. Then when the audience shows up all ready for another epic MMJ show, send Rick Astley out to perform his signature hit. I can't think of anything more hilarious than the looks on the faces in the crowd!

Now, Mr. James, I'm writing to you because (a) I know you guys are banking right now and you can probably afford to pay Mr. Astley for three and a half minutes of his time, and (b) because I know you're just crazy enough to do it.

Please take this idea under advisement as I believe it could go down as the greatest moment in Rickrolling history, as well as maybe warrant a footnote in rock and roll history.

Sincerely,
Jason Pike of Pikes Picks

P.S. If you could avoid the obnoxiousness on your next album I would greatly appreciate it.

J.Pike, Homeowner

As of today, one of your gracious hosts here at Pikes Picks is now a homeowner. Fancy.
Your move, Tracy Morgan.

ACL Festival Weekend

As I mentioned, I attended the Austin City Limits Music Festival this weekend down at Zilker Park in Austin, Texas. It’s funny, at a music festival like this you can pretty much directly correlate the lameness of the band with how many times they shout out or work the name of the host city into the lyrics of their songs (I’m talking to you Xavier Rudd). It’s also funny that crowds never cease to respond to this transparent ploy with a hearty “Woooo! That’s where I live!!”

Anyway, I went to the festival with my lady, Holley, and we saw a handful of fairly diverse acts this weekend. Some were good, some weren’t so good, and others defied description. Here’s a recap of what I saw.

FRIDAY

The first couple of bands we saw were Mates of State and Jenny Lewis. Mates of State played a lot of stuff from their new album that wasn’t nearly as bouncy and obnoxiously keyboard-tastic as their older stuff. They also incorporated a violin and cello which gave some much needed warmth to their music. All in all, a nice little surprise to start the festival.

The always adorable Jenny Lewis impressed me with her vocals. I had no idea her voice was that spot-on live. She had just the right amount of twang to shine over her band’s authentic but somewhat generic brand of Americana.

We only caught two full sets, but they came from polar opposite ends of the spectrum. The Swell Season is the band that formed out of the movie Once, which if you haven’t seen I highly recommend. Glen Hansard is a ham and he writes nice soaring ballads that everyone can sing along to. That led to some cheesiness during the set, but overall it was good.

The Mars Volta on the other hand avoided cheesiness in favor or total awesomeness interspersed with random acts of extended wankery. Watching Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala work their magic is like watching a more avant garde version of Page & Plant in their prime. Their chemistry allows them to feed off each other and steer the band off course on a whim. The Volta play with outstanding energy, which allowed them enough momentum to propel through ten minute pools of saxophone and drum solos back into perfect chaos several times throughout the night. Rodriguez-Lopez is a phenomenal guitarist, but chances are 95% of you reading this would hate this band.

SATURDAY

We had to get up "early" on Saturday to go see Fleet Foxes play at 12:30 pm, but they definitely made it worth our while. Not only did they play their excellent folksy Appalachian music well, the lush harmonies were excellent live, and they provided a comedy show in between songs as well. This was probably the highlight of my weekend. I can’t recommend Fleet Foxes enough.

After Fleet Foxes there was a lot of waiting around in the hot hot sun waiting for another act we wanted to see. We heard a little Drive-By Truckers while knocking down some barbecue from the Salt Lick. I have a soft spot in my heart for southern guitar rock (especially while consuming brisket), so I sort of like Patterson Hood’s outfit. But the Truckers, who have multiple songwriters, can veer off into the lame zone quickly when not performing Hood’s songs.

We also accidentally caught a couple songs from Man Man’s set while walking over to get a spot for Erykah Badu. Man Man was easily the worst band I heard all weekend long. I don’t even know how to describe their music other than just to tell you to look at this picture and imagine what kind of ridiculous music a tool like that would play. Sometimes I wonder if hipsters even listen to the bands they hype?

Erykah Badu put on a great show. Her hair was as huge as ever and she even gave a shout out to My Morning Jacket before playing “Tyrone”, a song that MMJ covered. Badu’s confidence and stage presence is second to none, and we were treated to a new song called “Soldier” that was as good as anything else she played. At 36 she’s still got it.

To cap the night I took in the always reliable Black Keys. Patrick and Dan put on a great show full of raw energy Saturday night. For some reason they only got a 45 minute set though, so it felt like they were just getting started when the final fuzzed out riff of “I Got Mine” sounded and they walked off stage.

SUNDAY

We took some time off in the morning to recharge the batteries (and do a little studying) for the final day of the festival. The first band we saw was Silversun Pickups at 4:30 pm. The Pickups aren’t good live. Singer Brian Aubert’s penchant for screaming during the choruses can be glossed over in the studio, but live it’s impossible to control. From afar you may have thought somebody was getting beaten to a bloody pulp on stage. Not pretty.

Gnarles Barkley was great. This is a band that can put on a great live show with a lot of diversity. In their one hour they covered more styles and tempos of music than most bands could hope to accomplish in a career. They even closed the set with a cover of Radiohead’s “Reckoner”, which fit in so comfortably that it took me a moment to realize it wasn’t a song of their own.

To close out the night we took in back to back performances by Band of Horses and Foo Fighters. Band of Horses is a personal favorite of mine so there was little they could do to not be good. They played their songs well and Ben Bridwell’s tenor sounded every bit as comforting live as it does recorded. I particularly enjoyed him shouting “WOOO!!” in between every song. You could tell the guy was enjoying himself up there playing for all us “kind folks”.

The Foo Fighters were as expected. Dave Grohl is a born performer so it’s really no surprise he has now been in two bands of this magnitude. The band played all their hit songs and thrashed about the stage enthusiastically enough to send the crowd home in a good mood. And now we're all addicted to Sweet Leaf Tea...

All photos courtesy of the ACL Festival official website.