There are a few ways to become famous in the hip-hop realm. You could develop a reputation regarding your street-wise toughness like 50 Cent and turn that street cred into iTunes sales. You could toil in your local scene, battling your peers, ascending the ladder of skill until the world can't avoid your shine. Or you could just write a song about pizza. People like pizza, right?

It turns out Batman Odyssey is not the tale of Bruce Wayne embarking on a long journey home after war, written in epic verse. Still might be interesting, however.

Union Public House, the new restaurant going in at St. Philip's Plaza, is throwing its first event on Halloween. There's a costume contest as well, with a $500 prize for the winner. More on all that over here.

I'm not certain that this is the place's grand opening, but it will be a great chance to check out what Grant Krueger and Jason Anderson have done with the former Acacia at St. Philip's location. Having seen the menu and spoken with the team behind this restaurant I can say that it is going to be a welcome addition to the Tucson dining scene. Frankly, it's one of the most exciting new things to hit town, dining-wise, in some time.

There's a bit more on the restaurant here.

I certainly have some issues with the Occupy movement, particularly now that it has spilled out into cities that are certainly affected by Wall Street, but seem to be too far from a power center to have much protest-related influence, but it's not like I don't understand the general frustration. However, part of the issue that most people seem to have with Occupy Wall Street is trying to understand exactly what's being protested other than general grumbling over the distribution of wealth. The movement would be wise to just start directing those with questions with a blog post from Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi that ran yesterday, which seems to encapsulate just what's wrong with America's relationship with the world of investments. While I hate to spoil the ending, the last paragraph is a killer:

These inequities are what drive the OWS protests. People don't want handouts. It's not a class uprising and they don't want civil war — they want just the opposite. They want everyone to live in the same country, and live by the same rules. It's amazing that some people think that that's asking a lot.

While the new Black Keys song, "Lonely Boy", is not, as I originally thought, a cover of the Andrew Gold classic, it is enjoyable watching some guy dance to the track in the above video.

Their new album, El Camino, comes out December 6th.

BONUS: The kind of depressing Andrew Gold song of the same name.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Dean Fink has yanked a proposition that would kill Clean Elections off the 2012 ballot.

The prop, referred to the ballot by the Legislature earlier this year, was not a straight-up appeal of Clean Elections; instead, it amended the Arizona Constitution to prevent any public funds from being spent on political campaigns, so it overruled the Clean Elections statute that provides funding to candidates.

Former state lawmaker Jonathan Paton, who pushed the referendum through the Legislature earlier this year, did not rule out an appeal, but tells The Range that a more likely route would be pushing a new referendum that would pass legal muster through the Legislature next year. The legal issue revolves around how money now earmarked for political campaigns in the state and the city of Tucson would be spent in the future.

"We’ll be back," he tells The Range. "It's a relatively easy issue to fix."

We'll dig in more on Friday's Arizona Illustrated Political Roundtable and in next week's print edition.

Green Gourmet is a great little restaurant that opened a few months ago in the Dunbar School Project at 325 W. Second Street. It's a small outfit but everyone who eats there seems to fall in love with it, and it now serves breakfast.

This restaurant has the highest of aspirations, in that the people operate it want to use it to help teens get a foothold in the food business. The chef - who is a former personal trainer and a former employee of Anthony's in the Catalinas - has an amazing command of fresh, local ingredients; the prices are affordable; and the portions are more than generous.

You can find more information on the restaurant over here.

CNN reports:

A new survey of Arizona Republicans indicates that Mitt Romney and Herman Cain are tied at the top in the race for the GOP presidential nomination.

And a Rocky Mountain Poll released Wednesday also indicates that President Barack Obama holds a slight advantage over three possible Republican challengers in hypothetical 2012 general election matchups.

Arizona may be more of a player in the battle for the Republican nomination, as the state has moved up the date of its primary to February 28. CNN and the Arizona Republican party are holding a debate in the state on November 30. The state may also be competitive in the general election.

According to the survey, 25% of Arizona Republicans say if the state's primary were held today, they would vote for Cain, a businessman, former Godfather's Pizza CEO and radio talk show host, with 24% saying they would back Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, who's making his second bid for the White House. Cain's one point margin is well within the survey's sampling error.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is at 10%, with all other candidates in single digits and one in five Arizona Republicans undecided.

Also:

The survey indicates that Obama holds a 45-40% margin over Romney in a hypothetical general election showdown, with Obama holding 44-38% advantage over Perry and a 45-38% advantage over Cain. All of Obama's margins are within the poll's sampling error.

Two points:

1. We have a degree of skepticism about Rocky Mountain polls in particular and about any poll this early in general.

2. Why is CNN reporting that Arizona "moved up" the presidential primary? In 2012, it's Feb. 28. In 2008, it was Feb. 5. Is this part of the crack reporting we can expect from the big guys in the national media?

Sahuarita High School's culinary arts program is holding a cooking competition this Saturday called Iron Chef Pecan. The event pairs students with area chefs to see which team can make the best pecan-themed appetizer and dessert.

I was a judge at a smaller version of this event last year, and the student chefs at Sahuarita High School are a force to be reckoned with. I was most impressed with one student's pork-rind-crusted chicken fingers, which pretty much stole the show from most of the other entries.

Plus, the kids wear their awesome chef suits and have a lot of fun at these events, and the money made goes to culinary arts scholarships. The event takes place at the Quail Creek Clubhouse, and tickets are $20. You really should go. I'll post the press release after the jump.

As part of an accidental Talking Comics doubleheader this week, Eric and Arnie discuss Canadian superhero posse Alpha Flight.