Join us for our very first bonus podcast!  With his inception into the United States Marine Corps right on the horizon, our beloved original co-host Christopher Piner sits down with Ray to talk about what led him to make the decision to join the armed forces and how he feels now that he will be plucked out of polite society in a matter of weeks.  Anyone interested in joining the military or interested in the military at all, Chris gives a very insightful everyman look at life before boot camp, and he will return after his spell at boot camp to give us his thoughts after the fact as well.

This weekend, by a rather strange turn of events, myself and Stranger Danger found ourselves at the Elementary Chess National Championship at the Hyatt in downtown Atlanta.  Now, while the pseudonym “Stranger Danger” may arise suspicions as to why we were at such an event, I will assure you that Stranger Danger is a huge chess fanatic and that I find the game fascinating as well.  Even more fascinating was seeing an enormous ballroom full of elementary-aged kids so intense, so focused, and so concentrated on such an intelligent game.

After checking out the competition, we headed down to the team rooms and met David MacEnulty, a world-renowned chess coach with whom Stranger Danger had previously become acquainted.  2005′s A&E movie Knights of South Bronx was based on this man’s experience at Bronx Community Elementary School 70 where he led a team of schoolchildren to win the New York City State Chess Championships.  His character was played by Ted Danson, and the film also starred Malcolm David Kelley from the TV series Lost.

I didn’t really understand this man’s influence until I started looking him up afterwards.  This also makes the second famous person I’ve met in the past month or so – in my brief exposure to the 2010 Atlanta Film Festival, I was able to catch Scott Mosier give an intimate chat about the trials and tribulations of film producing.

So here’s what it looks like after last week’s episode:

1. Kevin with 10 points (21 points total)
2. Raymond with 2 points (15 points total)
3. Chris with 7 points (12 points total)
4. Stranger Danger with 5 points (5 points total)

As we can see, Raymond slacked off and lost his lead…but can he gain it back this week for the final episode of the month? And who will wind up in last place, receiving our yet-to-be-determined punishment? Tune in to find out!