Take one barely skilled Chinese martial artist. Add a beefy hunk of traditional blaxploitation, and top off with a complete selection of Asian actors who played bad guys on M*A*S*H. Stir rigorously.

Bake for two hours under the high heat of Mystery Science Theater 3000-inspired quips, and you end up with the new live DVD from Cinematic Titanic, "East Meats Watts."

This latest release from MST3K veterans Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Josh Weinstein, Mary Jo Pehl and Frank Conniff features a clunky 70's mess on celluloid mocked before an affectionate live audience. While Cinematic Titanic's earlier DVD releases all pack more than the U.N.-mandated share of laughs, the energy provided by the comics' interactions with the crowd make this the comic troupe's most successful DVD release so far.

You may not have gotten the day off for this momentous day in American history (damn you, socialist government!), but today marks a very special anniversary: the first ever episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

The show officially hit the airwaves on a local Minneapolis station, KTMA, on Thanksgiving Day in 1988 by a young, fresh-faced Joel Hodgson. The rest, as people who rely on cheap cliches to heighten the dramatic effect with their weak words, is history. You can read the rest at the Satellite News site, the most exhaustive and interesting MST3K site on the Internet.

Every fan of the show and even occasional glancers remembers where they were when they first discovered this kind of cult comedy classics. For me, I discovered it with my old man who hates it when I call him my old man during the hilarious Pod People episode, arguably the funniest episode for the show and the worst movie the show has ever skewered.

Are you a Mike person or a Joel person? And of course by Mike I mean Mike Tyson, and by Joel I mean singer/piano man Billy Joel.

OK, I'm actually talking about Mystery Science Theater 3000 hosts Mike Nelson and Joel Hodgson. Some people like Joel, who was the original kidnapped guy stuck on a ship with robots, but other people are loyal to Mike, the guy who took over for Joel when he left the series. I liked them both of course, though I think Mike grew on me a more. The commentary on The Brain That Wouldn't Die had me in tears.

Fans of Joel will be happy to know that he's coming back with a very MST3K-sounding project called Cinematic Titanic.