On occasion, Project Black Studios is hired up to do something that isn’t exactly “making movies”… stuff like equestrian theater, live concerts, pro wrestling shows and so on: This time around, its something different – Part cooking show, part “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations” (admittedly sans-Bourdain genius), North Texas Best Kept Secrets is an idea a couple of DFW-Area up and coming filmmaker-type friends put together, creating free-form videos promoting restaurants and the like for social networking sites.

They ran into headaches initially, trying to convince area business owners to fork over the bucks for such a service… that’s where I come in. Working for a STEEP discount (Gideon’s a charming motherfucker), I came in as a one man crew; Shooting, directing, editing, coloring and so on. Not saying I deserve any awards for the video, but I think it’ll do a lot to help the guys with their future convincings of restauranteurs (see: “Money fo’ me.“)

Anyway – Hope this video makes you hungry… as per the usual, comment and crap.

“HITCH” (2005) - Here’s a movie starring Will Smith as a Black guy trying to hook up with a Puerto Rican chick in New York City: At least, the first half of the film is like this. For the men who allowed their ladies to drag them along to see this romantic comedy, we were all treated to the sudden detonation of an improvised chemical weapon in Manhattan, flash-creating a horde of thousands of zombie vampire hybrids that cause a mass evacuation that goes ignored by our protagonist. Rather than run away like a punk bitch, Will Smith buckles in with his dog and a package of bacon to be the last man left alive in New York. Not really, (I’m talking mostly about “I Am Legend”) but still – Very funny, Will Smith showing why he’s one of the world’s biggest stars. On sale until 8/14/2011 for $7.85

“SIN CITY” (2005) – Former independent filmmaker God/Current “Independent Filmmaker” Robert Rodriguez continues his cavalcade of celebrity cameos with the infamous 2005 release of “Sin City”. The movie featured almost zero “real life” locations except for a few scenes that take place in random alleyways in downtown Austin, TX (where he lives anyway), had almost no color to speak of, was largely voiced over, but had some damn pretty artistic moments peppered throughout (which were in black and white and largely voiced over). That said, the movie is sexy and violent – Recommended! On sale until 8/14/2011 for $12.50

“The Devil’s Rejects/House of 1,000 Corpses Bundle” (2011) – Dude, what!? There’s a 2-pack of this now?! I may buy it just to buy it… and I don’t even own a Blu Ray player yet! Reading all about the struggle to get the original cut of “House of 1,000 Corpses” to come in as an R-Rated film after scoring NC-17 a handful of times was inspiring, plus as a fan of the ol’ ultra violence, there was two reasons I had to be there to watch it when it came out. “The Devil’s Rejects” improves upon “House” in almost every way, and as I sat there with my (at the time) uber conservative Christian girlfriend, I monitored her discomfort up until the point she asked politely if we could leave the movie. I said “go ahead, I’ll be out when its over”… yeah, I’m not with her anymore, but hey – I got far better memories from THAT HOTEL SCENE than I did from her. Just sayin’. On sale until 8/14/2011 for $12.50

“Terminator 2: Judgement Day/Total Recall Bundle” (2010) – Arnold Schwarzenegger. Technically, enough said… but, now that I’m 27 and asking 10 year olds if they’ve seen either of these movies, they usually reply “I’ve never heard of it.” – WOAH! People our age, we have an almost holy reverence for these films by James Cameron/Paul Verhoeven (who tragically isn’t even mentioned in the description, but you’ll know his other movies: Robocop, Starship Troopers, Hollow Man, etc.), but there is now an entire generation currently teething on Spongebob Squarepants who needs to get their priorities straight and start watching some R-Rated sci fi action. When I was that age, my parents didn’t care as long as “Stallone” or “Schwarzenegger” was written on the box somewhere… parents, give your kids some bloodsoaked bonding time. On sale until 8/14/2011 for $13.41

“All Dogs Go To Heaven” (1989) – I love this movie. I know that probably doesn’t fit the super-cool image of myself that I portray, but this was a favorite of mine since I was a kid. Charlie B. Barkin has escaped from the pound, died, resurrected himself, and is trotting through Louisiana with his loyal weenie-dog buddy Itchy trying to redeem his damned soul so he can gain reentry into Heaven and avoid eternity in Hell. WOAH WHAT THE FUCK, SERIOUSLY!? That’s some heavy shit for a children’s film, but that’s what Director Don Bluth was all about… he simply told a story that kids “would enjoy”, but he never deliberately made “kiddie shit”. Other movies from Don Bluth include “The Secret of NIMH”, “The Land Before Time”, “An American Tail” and so much more (including the 90′s arcade laserdisc-based game rarities “Dragon’s Lair” and “Space Ace”). It’s the 2010′s, time to give 80′s animation some love, fools. On sale until 8/14/2011 for $11.67

That said, Clayton’s not as important as his discovery of the Youtube Channel – “Epic Meal Time”! (Click to visit!) I can sit here and hype up why this made Project Black’s Internet Oddities page, but I think the quicker and more entertaining route would be to simply throw you into it with the first episode I saw…

Gay Bacon Strips! Gay Bacon Strips! Gay Bacon Strips! Gay Bacon Strips! Gay Bacon Strips!
Gay Bacon Strips! Gay Bacon Strips! Gay Bacon Strips! Gay Bacon Strips! Gay Bacon Strips!
Gay Bacon Strips! Gay Bacon Strips! Gay Bacon Strips! Gay Bacon Strips! Gay Bacon Strips!

While I admit this style of cooking show may only initially cater to the highest-of-brow demographic of culinary enthusiasts, I’m pretty sure that as the world moves forward and begins to adopt many of the advanced-level strategies implemented in this series that the Epic Meal Time crew will emerge as pioneers of this “Anything Goes” Style of Cooking Technique (Long way to go for a Rumiko Takahashi reference… but ALWAYS worth it.)

Again, there is a whole Youtube Channel filled with original content from these guys, and there’s really so much quality video to include in this update, so to keep both keep my time at the PC short and your time reading, I’ll set you up with one more video before I go… howzabout some Four Loko Chili?

“Someone’s Gonna Die Tonight Eatin’ Chili”… man, that sounds like a terrible idea for a movie. (BAM! Self-referencing my own filmography now!)

Flash forward to 2010: “Tron: Legacy” has come and gone, and it was good. Eye-tearingly beautiful detail in just about every single frame of the film, with repeated viewings it just gets more awe inspiring… especially when you begin to take note of the soundtrack, featuring an almost creepily out-of-context usage of “Journey – Separate Ways”, but more importantly, an original score by none other than Daft Punk.

Daft Punk, perhaps most widely known for the “Discovery” album (used for the feature film “Interstella 5555″, an animated interpretation akin to Disney’s own “Fantasia” or Julie Taymoor’s “Across the Universe”), blended their traditional sound with a full live orchestra… creating mesmerizing, dynamic musical compositions like I’ve never heard before. Despite no Academy Award nomination in a year that saw Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame winning Original Score for “The Social Network”, “Tron: Legacy” is probably my favorite soundtrack of 2010… I’m hopelessly addicted to it.

When I thought it couldn’t get any better, I’m sitting out in the backyard about twenty minutes past 4:00pm (heh) and the Slacker Radio App on my phone randomly queues up…

About thirty seconds into it, I fully recognize what I’m listening to and decide to bring up the track info: Sure enough, it is a remix of Daft Punk’s original “Derezzed”, performed by The Glitch Mob on the “Tron Legacy: R3configur3d” album! Upon further inspection, several world-calibur talents came together and contributed remixes of the original soundtrack for this compilation: The Crystal Method, Paul Oakenfold, Kaskade, Moby and Ki: Theory are just a few names you may recognize. The remixes are a natural extension of the original soundtrack and sound (in cases like the above) even MORE complex than their original counterparts… not an easy achievement, many “remix” albums tend to be quick cash-grab scams anchored around one or two particularly well-produced tracks: This sucker is through-and-through good.

“Tron: Legacy – Original Soundtrack” and “Tron Legacy: R3configur3d” are a couple of great albums that’ll probably slip right by many people who will enjoy it immensely simply because they didn’t know it existed… I’m doing my part to spread the word, at least. If you haven’t seen either of the “Tron” movies, I also recommend them to you… for reasons I’m sure I will one day address in the movie review section of this site.

Buy Tron: Legacy Original Soundtrack at DeepDiscount.com!