How cool does this place sound?

My friend Neal -- over at Oblivious to Melody (yeah, he hasn't updated his blog in about half a year, but still give it a visit) -- sent me a link to this new bar in the city. Tickle me interested in this neat concept:

http://www.urbandaddy.com/nyc/6143/At-Your-Keg-Service

Hey, I'd take keg service over bottle service any day...

UPDATE: More great bar information....

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[a case of the summer] - Top Ten Cases: Best tag teams of all time

A while back my friend Jim sent me a text asking me for my list of the ten best tag teams of all time. Apparently, he and his friend Pawel were in the midst of a pretty intense debate. For my list, the criteria was pretty simple. The following factors played into my consideration: the team's success, longevity, legacy, popularity and overall talent. Oh, and since it's my list, how much I liked them. There are some important distinctions in that criteria, though. For example, Paul London & Brian Kendrick were far more successful a team than, say, The Rockers. And they were arguably just as exciting and talented. Yet in 10 years will many people even recall that these two teamed up, no less use them as the measuring stick for every other modern high flying team? Anyway, here is my list (Click the "Read More" link to view):

10. The Hardy Boyz
9. The Rockers
8. Edge & Christian
7. The British Bulldogs
6. The Freebirds
5. The Hart Foundation
4. The Steiner Brothers
3. The Dudley Boyz
2. Demolition
1. Legion of Doom

Jim's List:

10. Powers of Pain
9. The Outsiders
8. The New Age Outlaws
7. Edge & Christian
6. The Steiner Brothers
5. Harlem Heat
4. The Hart Foundation
3. The Dudley Boyz
2. Legion of Doom
1. Demolition

Pawel's List (Please note that Pawel did not give me the list in order, but did specify that Demolition was #1. I'm assuming the rest of the teams were essentially in order):

10. The Natural Disasters
9. The Quebecers
8. The Dudley Boyz
7. Edge & Christian
6. The New Age Outlaws
5. The Hart Foundation
4. The Steiner Brothers
3. Legion of Doom
2. Harlem Heat
1. Demolition

Whose list do you most agree with? Vote in the latest poll to voice your opinion!

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What a difference a year makes....

Last year I posted a poll asking readers who they thought was hotter, Rachel Bilson or Mila Kunis. Bilson won, 5 votes to 3. And last year's Maxim Hot 100 List agreed, as the love of my life was ranked #28, while the smoking Sarah Marshall star came (hehe) in at #81.

Well, as the title indicates, what a difference a year makes! Just twelve months later, with neither vixen being featured in anything significant, the now engaged (sigh) Rachel Bilson dropped to 54, while Mila Kunis catapulted to number 5!

I'm not necessarily surprised that Rachel dropped, simply because the Maxim list tends to favor people who are in the public eye, and she hasn't really appeared in any movies or television shows since the last installment. But that's also why I'm pretty shocked that Mila Kunis made such a gigantic leap -- into the top five, no less. Last year was when she was the hot topic. She starred in the very successful Forgetting Sarah Marshall, where she was very funny and incredibly hot. She hasn't really done anything since then. And to my knowledge, she hasn't even appeared in Maxim since promoting the film. But hey, in my opinion, Mila totally deserves top five. She looks great. But still, R.B. is #1 in my heart!

Some other notes of interest...

Elisha Cuthbert came in at #43, compared to last year's 6. Lily Allen beat her?

Just above Elisha is the incredibly underrated Avril Lavigne. Her old pal Hilary Duff (who, in my opinion, is much prettier as a brunette) ranked #31. That's fair, but I'm partial to Hayden Panettiere, who came in at #36.

Vanessa Hudgens went from #12 to 27. She is beating Ashley Tisdale (#73), though, which was an injustice last year.

Speaking of 12, that's where Leighton Meester found herself. Good for her.

Here's the entire list:

http://www.maxim.com/girls/articles/79154/2009-hot-100.html

So, what do you think: Is it fair?

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[a case of the summer] - Video of the Week

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[a case of the summer] - Pet Peeves

Remember: Feel free to e-mail me some pet peeves of your own!

1. When people who use the phrase "Jump the Shark" incorrectly.

2. The fact that you have to leave so much space open for a fire hydrant. As long as the hydrant itself isn't blocked, what's the harm in parking beside it?

3. The fact that charging your cell phone battery actually weakens it.

4. People who constantly play devil's advocate when there's no constructive reason for doing so.

5. Semi-colons.

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[a case of the summer] - The Brief Case

Photo location: Bergen County, NJ

This seems like an appropriate choice for Fourth of July weekend.

There's a corner section of a cement wall painted like the American flag which I pass by on my way to work every day. Each time I'd pass it, I'd tell myself that I should snap a photo with the briefcase (which, for a long while, I'd keep in my car should an impromptu photo opportunity present itself). However, with the wall in close proximity to the town's high school, it's usually a bit too busy at that hour to get a good shot.

However, on one particular snowy day in which school was canceled (but work wasn't -- of course), I decided to take advantage of the empty area. Incidentally, the contrast of the dark briefcase, bright flag, and white snow made for a really great photo -- probably far nicer than if it was a beautiful day.

And that's the story. Hope everybody had a great Independence Day!

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Not surprisingly, another missed opportunity....

I'm not going to give away the spoilers for this coming week's edition of Raw, but as you can see, Randy Orton is going to face either Triple H or John Cena at Night of Champions, a unique Pay-Per-View that I'd argue is sold on its premise (every single championship is defended at the show) and not any match in particular. With that in mind, I think WWE missed an excellent opportunity to show us something -- gasp! -- new, instead of a variation of matches we've seen countless times over the past couple of years.

Instead, I would have added an extra round to the #1 contender's tournament. How about John Cena vs. Miz (which Cena wins), Triple H vs. Big Show (which Triple H wins), MVP vs. Cody Rhodes (which MVP wins) and Ted DiBiase vs. say, Santino (which either can win). In the semi finals, Triple H and Cena are screwed over, so as a consolation the night's host awards them a shot at the Unified Tag Team Champions. MVP then wins the tournament to face Orton at Night of Champions.

What does this accomplish? We get a fresh main event, Orton's role as champion is legitimized (after looking weak for much of his last two reigns) by beating a "top" name, and MVP is viewed as an actual main eventer with a one-on-one WWE Championship match. On top of that, you also manage to put four top Superstars -- Cena, Triple H, Edge, and Jericho -- into a championship match. Instead, we're seeing the same old, same old on an already bland show.

In other news, apparently Edge suffered a major injury this past weekend, which could keep him out of the ring up to a year. I certainly hope this isn't true. First off, he's been my favorite wrestler since before his Brood days (imagine that). He's also, in my eyes, the TRUE MVP of WWE at the moment. And while I do think it would be wise to keep him out of the World Title picture for a little while (since he's been such a dominant fixture there for so long), his absence would really hurt the Smackdown roster. So let's cross our fingers and hope for the best.

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[a case of the summer] - Top Ten Cases: Greatest Presidents in television and movies

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[a case of the summer] - Video of the Week

I trust that you will find this blog exclusive video -- detailing a drunken angry voicemail I received from some complete stranger -- quite humorous. Enjoy:

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"Revenge" receives vengeance!

With little else to do this weekend, I decided to bite the bullet and attempt to see the new Transformers movie. Sure, this film has been pushed as an epic event, but I was left really underwhelmed by the first installment. Like I've said countless times before, most people went to that movie to see kick ass giant robots, not the annoying kid from Even Stevens. In other words, I felt the first movie focused entirely too much on the human aspect.

In my opinion, Revenge delivered BIG TIME. Sure, the human characters still play a central role -- and really, that was unavoidable -- but I found their presence FAR less offensive (and let's be honest....you can do a lot worse than staring at Megan Fox). The Transformers were handled far better as well, as there were several scenes in which the robots interacted with each other one-on-one, without featuring any humans in the scene at all. Plus, there were some absolutely friggin' kick ass Optimus Prime fighting scenes. Honestly, the scene about halfway through the movie had me on the edge of my seat. Awesome stuff.

My main criticism of the movie, though, is that it's LONG. REALLY long. And unlike The Dark Knight, which began to wrap things up once it started feeling long.....Revenge just keeps going and going for about a half hour.

Nevertheless, I recommend this movie, even to people who were disappointed with the first film.

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