Happy Labor Day weekend to you:

You know how homemade burgers sometimes lack that exciting, indulgent taste found in your favorite restaurant burgers? Here’s how to fix all that…

1. Choose the right blend. There are numerous cuts of beef that can be mixed together to create the best burger flavor. This post recommends sirloin, brisket, and….oxtail! A more traditional recipe we have calls for half sirloin, a quarter brisket, and a quarter chuck. Try out your own combinations to make your friends ask how you could have possibly made this burger at home. We’re talking fresh ground, by the way. Your butcher will be happy to help.

2. Shape your patty well. You wouldn’t be impressed if you saw a sloppy, too-large burger on a restaurant plate. So take the time to figure out your bun-to-burger ratio, taking some tips from this post on burger shaping.

3. Season the burger correctly. Chefs love salt, which is a large reason why restaurant food generally tastes so much better than home cooking. Take the time to season correctly and you’ll ramp up your burger flavor substantially. See tips #5 and 6 from this list of burger clues for more help.

4. Add a sauce. At Shake Shack in New York City, the signature burger has a delicious sauce (which they use amply) that makes it stand out from the pack. Their recipe? “It’s mostly mayo, with some ketchup, mustard, a few spices, and pickles blended in.” And when they say pickles, they don’t mean relish. Get the exact recipe here.

5. Choose the Right Bun. While a processed bun can make a great burger for grilling out, taking extra effort to make your own buns can make a huge difference. If you want to walk the extra mile for the perfect burger, try making these light brioche buns.

- Thanks to Yahoo.com’s Serious Eat’s blog.

The movie was set in 2015, so it looks like Nike is doing its best to make sure that everything we saw in “BTTF 2″ happens in real life.

Sweet…now get to work on the HOVERBOARD!

Here’s the Top 5 list of Things Animals Learn From Watching us:

5. Dog doo is such a valuable commodity it should be collected and put away.

4. Humans lack the flexibility to properly groom themselves,but take great pleasure in licking their friends clean.

3. The best way to attract a mate is to shave off all your fur.

2. It’s more fun to sit and stare at a box than it is to do the fun things the people in the box are doing.

1. All that “Alpha Male” talk is bogus. It’s obvious that the head woman runs the family.

Rapper T.I. and wife have been arrested on drug charges last night after police smelled alleged marijuana coming from their car.  Really dude?  Smoking and driving around…out in the open? The 29-year-old T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr., and his wife were booked at the West Hollywood sheriff’s station and bail was set at $10,000.

T.I., is a key performer in the current movie “Takers,” which took the #1 spot at the box office this past weekend.

T.-Clifford-I needs to remember this. There are specific celebrity roles out there.  Snoop Dogg is the weed smoker.  Lindsay Lohan is the insane one.  Mel Gibson is the angry one.  Perez Hilton is the D-bag.  Katy Perry is the lame one.  You can’t co-opt one of their pre-existing roles.  It upsets the natural celebrity universe balance.

Cee-Lo Green’

He’s the guy that made a big splash with the group “Gnarles Barkley.”  They had a 2006 hit with the song ‘Crazy.”

Cee-Lo newsong has a profanity in the title, but the nice version is “Forget You.” Green says it started like many his songs do: as a way to make his friends laugh. He says it’s not about anyone in his past but everyone has felt that way at some point.

He considers it art because it’s edgy and alternative while keeping its integrity. He says one of the best parts is, “I get to be bad a little bit.” Green’s album, “The Lady Killer,” will be out December 7.

Here’s the clean version…followed by the NSFW video.

Cee Lo: Forget You

Here’s the other hit “Crazy”

This coming semester though, I may take “Swingtown 101” and audit “Jet Airliner” just for fun.  UW Grad Steve Miller is taking on a new role…professor.  He’s the Artist in Residence at the University of Southern Carolina’s Thornton School of Music.  The job will have him working with undergrads…and probably playing a kegger or two.

Can you imagine how off the hook a college party could get if The Steve Miller Band was playing live?  The Greatest Hits collection is the essential soundtrack to a college party!

If you’re a UW student…sing it with me .

“O-oooooooooooooooooh-woahhhhhhhhhhhhh-oh-oh-oh-ooooooooooooooh. SUCKS!” (NSFW)

The FDA says thousands of places that sell food including movie theaters, airplanes and convenience stores are going to soon be required to post calorie counts.

Will this make you change your mind on what food you’re shoving into your piehole?  I guess if I see that the popcorn has the same effect as eating a side of lard, I might think twice about it.  How about you?

Here’s some of the movie theater menu items I’ve found:

Large Buttered Popcorn (20 cups): 1500 calories, 116g fat, 90g carbs
Hot Dog (1 dog with bun): 305 calories, 4.5g fat, 23g carbs
Nachos with Cheese (large, 4 oz): 1101 calories, 59g fat, 131.5g carbs
Soft Pretzel (large): 483 calories, 4.5g fat, 99g carbs
Cotton Candy (2.5 oz): 300 calories, 0g fat, 74g carbs
Junior Mints (3 oz): 320 calories, 5g fat, 68g carbs

Milk Duds (3 oz): 340 calories, 12g fat, 56g carbs
Sno-Caps (3.1 oz): 360 calories, 16g fat, 60g carbs
Raisinets (3.5 oz): 380 calories, 16g fat, 64g carbs
Gummi Bears (4 oz): 390 calories, 0g fat, 90g carbs
Goobers (3.5 oz): 525 calories, 35g fat, 55g carbs
Twizzlers (6 oz): 600 calories, 4g fat, 136g carbs
M&M’s (5.3 oz): 735 calories, 31.5g fat, 105g carbs
Skittles (6.75 oz): 765 calories, 9g fat, 166.5g carbs
Reese’s Pieces (8 oz): 1200 calories, 60g fat, 138g carbs
Starburst (24 pieces): 480 calories, 10.5g fat, 99g carbs
Coca-Cola with ice (large, 3 pints, 18.9 fl oz): 353 calories, 0g fat, 88.4g carbs

Oh wait, their higher education can also be dumb too.  I guess this is funny to the cornfed.

Iowa State University students have been campaigning on Facebook for Professor Tin-Shi Tam to play Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” on the carillon (bell tower). On Friday, Gaga’s desire for leather studded kisses in the sand rang out across campus.

In any case, the producer of American Idol (Nigel Lythgoe) is now pointing a strict finger at Simon Cowell, saying he is the reason why Ellen DeGeneres bailed out.  He says there is a place for Ellen, but that her and Simon just didn’t get along.

Lythgoe let Ellen out of her contract one year ahead of time, which is pretty cool.  But that begs the question.  Would you ever quit your job just because of a co-worker that’s a major jerk?  Do you rat them out if they’re being rude or just handle it yourself?

Here’s my contribution for the day.  I think several movies would be significantly improved with just a slight name change.

Take for instance:

Finding Nemo Delicious

Rear Against Window

Exploding Bridges of Madison County

When Dirty Harry Met Sally

Dude, Where’s My Car Seat?

The Fairy Godfather

Dr. No S#!t

Men in Black Tu-Tus

Inception Explained

I’d go see any of these.