G&G's Top Five Shotguns from 2015 SHOT Show

Garden & Gun's Irwin Greenstein breaks down his five favorite shotguns that debuted at this year's SHOT Show.

I thought the 486 by Marc Newson was pretty sweet, but with price tag of $25k, it's about as obtainable for most people as a Ferrari.

My Top Five All-Time BBQ Joints (So Far)

Some ribs of my own making. (click image for higher quality picture)

I was inspired to do this post since Brad informed me that he was going to serve Memphis-style BBQ at his political re-education camps. With that, I kind of figured: How bad could re-education be?

Anyway, it got me thinking about my favorite BBQ places. These are my top five. I'm not saying they are in this particular order. All I'm saying is that these are the top five places that I've been to. If your favorite BBQ place isn't on here, then it's either a place that I've been to and not in the top five, or I haven't been there.

I've been told that I make some pretty good BBQ ribs and pulled pork, so I (very humbly) feel like I have a good palate for what constitutes good BBQ.

If one of your favorite places isn't on the list let me know! I'd be happy for you to drop some BBQ knowledge on me and recommend some places to try. I really haven't done BBQ in North Carolina that often, hence the lack of North Carolina's representation on this list. That's a glaring problem that I should fix soon. Anyway, here's my top five:

Rolling Stone Confirms That They Don't Know Jack About Guns

The magazine that is the authoritative source about firearms has a new piece out about the "The 5 Most Dangerous Guns in America".

No, it's not Guns & Ammo. It's Rolling Stone. I mean, when you think of expert analysis on firearms, you automatically (or at least semi-automatically) think of Rolling Stone. Or am I alone here?

Anyway, the firearm experts over at Rolling Stone have come up with a list of the most dangerous types of firearms. I'm sure this was published after extensive research and serious thought. You ready? They're about to drop some knowledge on you. Seriously, they're about to tell you "These firearms are causing the most harm." You ready? There is a lot of knowledge (and some music) below the jump.

Garden and Gun Fried Chicken Recipe

Since the inception of this blog, one of the most viewed pages of all-time is my Top Five Places in Columbia for Fried Chicken. Hey, what can I say? People like fried chicken.

To carry on with the fried chicken theme, I thought I would share this recipe from Garden & Gun for fried chicken:

 

The first thing that caught my eye was that the recipe had sugar in it. My wife has told me that her great aunt always put a little bit of sugar in things that she pan-fried, and it was some of the best food she's ever had.

I might have to give this recipe a try, because that finished product looks delicious. Anyone else have a favorite homemade fried chicken recipe?

The Five Worst Christmas Songs Ever

Happy Monday.

Brad's got the list of worst Christmas songs over at his place, and my only quibble with it is that I like Frank Sinatra's version of Little Dummer Boy. Otherwise, I concur.

On a related note, one of my pet peeves with Christmas music is people who play it before Thanksgiving. There should be a law allowing people to make a citizen's arrest when that occurs.

Anyone got any other Christmas songs they could do without?

What Books Should You Be Reading?

Happy Monday, y'all.

I was looking at my bookshelves this weekend and trying to decide how to best organize them. My house doesn't really have a great amount of bookshelves relative to the amount of books I've accumulated, so space is at a premium.

I'm pretty heavy into non-fiction, while Mrs. Permanent Press enjoys novels. You can pretty much go through our bookshelves with that in mind and figure out which books belong to whom. On Sunday, she and I were discussing which books that should be read in order to be a well-informed citizen to participate in our little constitutional republic as a reasonably informed person. We tried to come up with a top 5 list.

Obviously, there's the Constitution. That's kind of a gimme, like naming The Beatles in a list of top five bands. Barry from High-Fidelity wouldn't like it.

After some thought, here's what I came up with:

Top 5 Books You Should Read to be an Informed American

1. Democracy in America
2. The Federalist Papers
3. Capitalism and Freedom
4.  The Guns of August
5. American Rifle

Democracy in America made the list as it is an outsider's view of America shortly after the revolution. The Federalist Papers made the list because they are probably the best "companion" to the Constitution that you could have. On economic matters, I wanted to include a work from Milton Friedman, hence Capitalism and Freedom. I liked it, but your mileage may vary. The Guns of August is in the list as a cautionary tale of how countries plunge into war. I thought about including a book on the Civil War and/or WWII, but I wanted to stick with my limit of five. Finally, I put American Rifle in on the list because the development of the rifle through our history had a profound impact on our country. Again, your mileage may vary.

Anyway, it's impossible to come up with a perfect list if you're held to only five books, but it's fun to try. Anybody think they can come up with a better list?

Top 5 Bond Girls

Here's an important top 5 list for everyone, since some people think that Tiffany Case is the best bond girl. I can't let that kind of wrongness stand. She's not even in the top 10. So anyway, as part of my public service to everyone, here are the actual top 5 Bond girls.

1. Honey Rider: This first one isn't up for debate. First of all, there's no better scene than when she comes out of the ocean up on the beach and sees 007 watching her. Shes asks "What are you doing here? Looking for shells?" and Bond says, "No, I'm just looking." Enjoy just looking.

Ursula Andress as Honey Rider

2. Tatiana Romanova. The Russian KGB agent checks in at number two on the list. She's used as a pawn by SPECTRE, but Bond ultimately prevails and ends up with her in a gondola in Venice where Bond destroys the evidence that he's sleeping with her - to keep up foreign relations and all.

Daniela Bianchi as Tatiana Romanova

3. Pussy Galore. She's probably the toughest and most assertive of the Bond girls, as she's an accomplished pilot, and in her first meeting with 007, she tells him to "Turn off the charm" because she's immune to it. After a little roll in the hay (literally) it's all over for her. Probably the best name, but that's not the sole criteria. She also holds the distinction of being the oldest bond girl.

Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore

4. Sylvia Trench. Although some people would argue that she's not technically a bond girl, this is my list, so I get to do what I want. Get your own blog. She was originally intended to be 007's regular girlfriend in the film adaptations, but she was dropped after two movies. She holds the distinction of being the only "Bond Girl" to appear in multiple films. The scene where 007 hears noises in his apartment and opens the door gun in hand only to find Sylvia chipping golf balls in high heels and a dress shirt is classic Bond.

Eunice Gayson as Sylvia Trench

5. Xenia Onatop. She's an ex-Soviet Air Force villainess who crushes men to death between her thighs. Everyone except for 007 that is. That's enough to make the list.

Famke Janssen as Xenia Onatop

No, my list is probably not the same as yours. That's because I'm right and you're wrong.