Firstly, the Friendly's that was near me that was barely hanging on has since closed. As I noted then, there was nothing I could do.
Secondly, and more importantly, Chi-Chi's is coming back. From wikipedia:
On December 3, 2024, it was announced that the restaurant chain will re-launch in the United States in 2025. Michael McDermott, son of original owner, Marno McDermott, will lead and operate the new restaurants under Chi-Chi's Restaurants, LLC. Hormel Foods, the current owner of the Chi-Chi's trademark, has allowed the use of the Chi-Chi's name for the physical restaurant locations. A few months later, McDermott announced that he will convert his two Rojo Mexican Grill restaurants in St. Louis Park and Maple Grove to the revived Chi-Chi’s brand.
As far as I can tell, the St. Louis locations are the only announced locations. Stay tuned.
I posted the full Harvey Pekar/David Letterman collection a while back, but I know from firsthand experience that that's not for everyone. If you want just the highlights as well as humorous commentary, Blind Mike takes you through Harvey Pekar's appearances on Letterman.
And in case anyone's wondering, I'm fully on Letterman's side in this. The "you're a guest in my house" paradigm is 100% correct. But while I don't fully agree with the thrust of "American Splendor," it is quite a good film.
Aside from the fact that this is a great Summer-to-Fall transition song, I just noticed recently that one of the guys in the band is wearing a Penn State shirt. I did some research to try to figure out what the connection is between a British band member and Penn State and I found absolutely nothing.
Last known photo of this guy
Plus, at 2:44, Joe Strummer narrowly avoids getting run over.
Ranking the films of Joe Dante continued. Another great movie discussion.
I don't have the same relationship with the "Gremlins" movies that other people seem to have. It's probably that I didn't see them when I was a kid, I watched them later, so that may be it. I love "The 'Burbs" though and I'm glad to see it high on the list.
It's all pretty much for hardcore Star Wars fans only. Nothing crazy here, just small subplots and insignificant bits of dialogue. I did find one thing though that is worth noting.
When I was a kid, growing up in the days before the internet, the word went around - I don't know where it came from and how it moved - that George Lucas' student film was called "THX 1138" and he had hid references to it in "all" his movies. From that point, the hunt was on, to find the hidden references in all the Star Wars movies.
A New Hope - Luke (posing as a Storm Trooper) claims that Chewbacca is a prisoner being transferred from "Cellblock 1138." I remember being surprised that "THX" was left off but there it was, obvious enough.
The Empire Strikes Back - A little trickier this time. During the Battle of Hoth, an officer is heard to say "Send Rogues 10 and 11 to Sector 38." It required close attention and some processing to decipher but it was plain enough.
Return of the Jedi - Nothing.
There I was scrutinizing every line of dialogue, looking at every sign, trying to pause on shots of computer screens while watching on blurry VHS... and I found nothing. And not just me but all my friends.
Fast forward a few years and the internet exists. I "google" (or whatever it was) the answer. Other people are online looking for the answer and also stumped. I seem to remember some person claimed to have found the answer because of a new, higher quality home release. The number flashes on a computer screen briefly, they say. I didn't have access to that version and never confirmed it later - all I saw was gibberish on every screen.
A few years after that, someone else claims the answer, "1138" was printed on the bounty hunter's helmet. It was discovered via photographing the prop in better lighting. Well, that's disappointing because that remained strictly behind-the-scenes - they gambled on the lighting, shot angles, shot selection and so forth, and lost. But if that's what they did, it is what it is.
Why is this relevant? Because now it's like 30 years later and at 7 minutes into the above video, I hear Moff Jerjerrod say, "Open the power discharge gates. Flood sectors 304 and 1138. That should slow them up a bit." Unreal. After all that time, the mystery is finally solved. Sure, it's still not a reference in the movie, but it's clear, it's spoken - just like in the other two movies - it's on film. It's great. It was in the script, it was filmed and it just happened that that scene was cut from the final edit..
Editor's Note: This "newest" Easter Egg is not noted on Wookiepedia. Am I a bigger nerd than the entire community of editors of Wookiepedia? In fact, I don't see anyone else mentioning it anywhere, but I'm not digging too deep.
