One of the biggest announcements at Comic-Con 2006 last week -- at least, for me -- was the news that Kurt Russell, one of my all-time movie heroes, had signed on to star in Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's double feature "Grind House," which is scheduled for release next year. "Grind House," which is an homage to low-budget exploitation films of the 1970s, takes on an unusual format by featuring two movies; Tarantino and Rodriguez are each making a separate 75- minute feature.

Russell will play the a killer called "Stuntman Mike" in Tarantino's segment,
titled "Death Proof," which is said to be Tarantino's take on slasher films.
"Death Proof" will also star Rosario Dawson (see more on href="http://www.twitchguru.com/2006/07/25/the_jive_dudes_at_comic/page4.html">T
witchGuru) and Rose McGowan. Meanwhile, Rodriguez's segment, titled "Planet
Terror," will also star McGowan as well as Naveen Andrews (TV's "Lost"), Michael
Biehn ("Aliens," "Terminator"), and Josh Brolin ("Goonies," "Flirting With
Disaster").

Personally, I'm thrilled that Russell is taking on an edgy role in this unusual
project. Ever since I saw him as Snake Plissken in "Escape From New York," he's
been one of my favorite actors of all time. After a rough stretch a few years
ago -- "Solider," "3,000 Miles to Graceland," and "Vanilla Sky," which were all
awful -- he rocked the house as Herb Brooks in "Miracle" and as a corrupt cop in
"Dark Blue." I'm still waiting for Kurt to reteam with John Carpenter and make
another Snake Plissken movie. In the meantime, I'm starting a "Plissken for
President" campaign.

I had an interesting conversation the other day about drugs and pro gaming with Liquilife and Vicious at UncleGamer.com. In case you're not familiar, UncleGamer Radio does a weekly podcast devoted to gaming. Well, Liquilife and Vicious caught the recent TwitchGuru story about the Cyberathlete Professional League making preparations for drug testing at its events next year.

If you missed it, the CPL will require all participating players in 2007 to consent to a potential drug test. CPL founder and president Angel Munoz told me he doesn't think the use of performance-enhancing drugs in CPL competitions is an issue yet, but he wants to be proactive before cheating via drugs becomes a problem. And with hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake - not to mention fame - Munoz and others in pro gaming have no doubt that people will use drugs to get an edge, if they haven't already.

Liquilife, Vicious and I chatted about everything from gamers taking Ritalin to NHL hockey players taking Sudafed and how the allure of money-making competitions in sports will always lead to cheating in some way or another. We also chatted about favorite games, the best consoles, and why I'm not a big fan of Halo or the Call of Duty sequels. Good stuff.

If you haven't tuned into to UncleGamer Radio already, here's a good interview with a guy who literally broke his knee while playing Guitar Hero.