Harking back to the good old days when MTV actually stood for Music Television and is wasn’t the JSDN (Jersey Shore Douchbaggery Network) here are 20 songs that you need to listen to right now. If these don’t bring you back I don’t know what will. I’ve also created a playlist over at Groove Shark for your listening pleasure.

Ahmad – “Back In The Day” (1994)

Skee-Lo – “I Wish” (1995)

I know what I’m doing this weekend… Going to find some abandoned cars, and playing Hammer Golf… See ya on the green (or, well, blacktop?)

Take a moment to read through the previous episodes, especially the first one if you haven’t already. It will give you a better understanding of the “characters” involved with the show and with the rules and procedures for the BBQ competition circuit.

BBQ Pitmasters Episode 1 Smokin’ in Mesquite Nevada Open BBQ Championships
BBQ Pitmasters Episode 2 Murphysboro Barbecue Cook-off
BBQ Pitmasters Episode 3 Decatur Riverfest Cook Off
BBQ Pitmasters Episode 4 American Royal Invitational

This episode was the American Royal Open held in Kansas City, Missouri. Held right on the back of the Invitational which took place Friday & Saturday October 2-3, 2009. The Open took place on Sunday and as it’s name implies is not exclusive with is competitors as you can see with the nearly 500 who have entered.

This is one of the largest BBQ competitions in the nation…so any finish remotely near the top is darn good. One of things about the American Royal Open is that there is a group of competitors that tend to do it more as a party rather than a contest. More power to them but the real serious guys don’t appreciate that much. Harry Soo had an issue with this as the team stationed right next to him held a party with 300 guests that went into the wee hours of the night affecting his sleep.

Another interesting thing about this competition is that they require a 1:1 competitor to judge ratio. That means that there are a lot of judges that have been certified just for this contest…which also means that they’re brand new and don’t have experience. Myron discusses this a bit and brings up the point that their tastes are different and mentions that if he had chicken legs he would serve those over his thighs.

No matter how much Conan (and I as well) hate the moniker CoCo, it seems his fans have taken a liking to it. How did it come about you might ask. Here is the video from the second episode of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien … a.k.a. the CoCo Christopher Show. Thanks to the announcer’s question “Bro’s a No No for CoCo?” which was obviously written because of the text (meaning he did it to himself) and to Tom Hanks insistence to carry on with the joke Conan now must live with this new nickname.  Looks like The Tonight Show should be avoided, I think it’s bad luck.

Seriously, eSmart Tax is offering just that. They are subsidy of Liberty Tax Service and they are giving 2.2 million people the opportunity to file their tax returns with them absolutely free of charge. There’s a catch though (there always is right), but this catch is pretty interesting. They’re offering this free filing service to anyone with the last name “Johnson,” and as the Internets tell me, there are roughly 2,200,000 of them in the US. The Johnson clan ranks second most popular trailing only Smith.

If you head over to www.iamajohnson.com (even if you’re not, ’cause they also have good options for us less-than-Johnsons) you can apply for your free return. They’re using a bunch of social media including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. They’ve also gotten the help of a real-life Johnson, Daryl Johnson in fact, to be the face of their entire campaign. If you didn’t guess by now, that’s his lovely mug up there.

Dear Internet,

Leno took over The Tonight Show from Johnny Carson in 1992 and I was curious as to how it had affected his boyish good looks since then. How did the show treat him? Well it looks like the hair got a lot grayer (except the good ol’ skunk stripe, that got blacker), the face a little rounder and the belly a bit more “full”.

Back in 92′ sir O’Brien was still holding down the geek-boy dream job as writer for The Simpsons but he began his stint on Late Night the following year. So as for how his show treated him, aside from that hair really starting to take over, he looks pretty much the same. A little less wiry, a bit more fit. One thing is evident though, one need not have a decent mop on top to be a late night host. After comparing these I would say Conan is better off without the The Tonight Show after all.

Honestly I know that statement is hyperbolic but seriously the album Enter The Magical Mystery Chambers created by Tom Caruana of Tea Sea Records is really that good. He’s taken 24 classic Wu-Tang Clan songs and created beautiful tracks using Beatles samples. Not since Danger Mouse’s Gray Album have I heard a piece of work like this.

Tom has really taken the time and effort to keep to the sounds and feeling of both groups…as much as that is possible. From ODB rapping “Got Your Money” over samples of “You Never Give Me Your Money” to Method Man doing “Release Yourself” over “Come Together” samples or Raekwon rapping “Smith Bros.” over samples of “Can’t Buy Me Love” you will not be disappointed with this album. Especially considering that it’s available completely free in 320K MP3 or FLAC format. Seriously, what are you waiting for…go download and listen to this right now.

Looks like our favorite Melmacian has come out of the 80′s and straight into 2010. The Twitterverse is a tweet with @Verified_ALF. He’s only posted a couple times but so far they’re comic genius. From the the very astute “Putting humans in charge of the earth, is the cosmic equivalence of letting Eddie Murphy direct.” to the lamenting “The only thing that sucks about lunch is catching it.”

It seems as if there is a lot we can learn from this Alien Life Form. His bio reads “If you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you, it’s yours. If it’s run over by a car, you don’t want it.”

I would love to chat up Gordon Shumway (ALF’s given name) but he only follows cats. I guess I don’t blame him, everyone’s gotta eat. There is a push going to get him more followers than @BillGates who is currently just shy of 300,000. Wonder if he’ll get there. Maybe he should start with just being a trending topic first. Let’s help the furry guy out!

Believe it or not this is a brand new commercial. Granted it’s brand new to Japan and they probably don’t know that the accompanying soundtrack is over 25 years old (but still so awesome). I don’t know if I could put together a cooler mix of “American” for our good friends across the Pacific.

This is for McDonald’s new line of Big America burgers and this particular ad features The Texas Burger. A delicious concoction topped with mustard-relish, barbecue sauce, bacon, cheese, and crispy fried onions on top and separated by the middle bun more barbecue sauce, onions, and bacon. This beast is worthy of our Will They Build It? series.

At ¥400 to ¥420 ($4.38 to $4.60) a piece, this badboy helped McDonald’s Japan break their single day sales record of ¥2.8 billion, about $30.7 million. Damn. I just wish I could get something like it here.

Name: Elizabeth “Liza” Ann Powel
Born: November 12, 1970
Hometown: Bainbridge Island, Washington
Current Residence: Brentwood, California
Children: Neve O’Brien (October 14, 2003) & Beckett O’Brien (November 9, 2005)
Occupation: Copywriter