Instead, the two brothers have left the baseball diamond behind this summer for another amateur team, Flying-J Studios, and the silver screen.

“I’ve been in Chicago doing professional video and website design in Chicago for a while,” Ed Sochacki, President of Sochacki Communications said. “But several years ago, I decided I wanted to do something outside of the everyday rat race and creating Flying-J Studios was it.”

Flying-J Studios made its fourth consecutive appearance in Chicago’s 48 Hour Film Contest, with the premiere of the critically acclaimed film, “Pitchman” at Logan Theatre on Wednesday night.

Thad Sochacki said the opportunity to be on the other side of the camera for an extended period of time was too tempting to ignore. “I’ve wanted to be on camera for some time now.”

The rest of the cast and crew were delighted at the response the film received, and are hoping to make it out of the preliminary round and into the “Best Of” screening next week.

Executive Producer Ed Sochacki wanted to thank everyone on his team for their dedication throughout the weekend, and was optimistic about his film’s chances to make the finals. “Everyone put a lot of time and effort this year, but, there always seems to be one, two or three major obstacles to overcome every year,” he said. “This year, it felt like there were dozens, even though things had been carefully planned out for months.”

Should “Pitchman” make it to the finals, it will be the second time Flying-J Studios will be up for the “Best Of” award in the past four years.

Sochacki did go on to mention that he was surprised at the complete nudity and vagina shots from one submission, and over-the-top swearing in a few of the other films.

“Some of those filmmakers are fortunate that this wasn’t the same crowd from the 2009 season – when parts of their film “Last Resort” was booed for cleavage.

“Interesting,” he said.

Sochacki is inviting everyone to feel free and post a comment and let Flying-J Studios know what you think about the film!

From the creative talents that brought you Unemployed Stormtrooper, Unemployed Stormtrooper II, Tom Fullery and Unemployed Stormtrooper for Mayor, comes a behind-the-scenes look at tactics the Empire uses to conquer a planet.
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According to advanced weather models, Chicago is about to be hit with upwards of 20″ of snow over the next few days. And, because we are all expecting hundreds of thousands of people to be stuck in their homes, AND, because we know many of you out there are very creative people, TomJalana.com is hosting our first every Snowpocalypse 2011 Theme Graphic and Photo competition open to all of our readers and their friends.

Their are two separate categories to this competition, and are as follows:
1. Theme Graphic Competition – Create a theme graphic, 412 pixels wide by 232 pixels tall (or, for you non-technical people, roughly 4.5″ wide by 2.75″ tall). The graphic must make use the words “Snowpocalypse 2011″. Other than than, we’ll leave the rest up to you. All submissions as they come in (and provided they are not obscene in nature) will be posted to our site to be voted on by the world.

2. Feature Photography Contest – Take your best snapshot and submit it to our site. Just please avoid sending a file over 4mb in size. JPEG format is preferable. The photo you submit will be judged for creativity, composition, and dramatic effect. Again, as with the theme graphic contest, all submissions will be posted to the site for vote by our viewing audience.

All submissions can be e-mailed to the address listed at this link between now and midnight on Thursday, February 3rd. Each winning entry will receive a TomJalana.com prize package, as well as be featured on our website.

Ed Sochacki is a frequent content contributor for TomJalana.com and is owner of the Chicago-area website design agency, Sochacki Communications.

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TK-822, better known in the YouTube community as “Unemployed Stormtrooper” announced today that he will be entering the race for Chicago’s next mayor. Like some of the democratic candidates before him, the unemployed stormtrooper immediately played the “race card” letting the world know (specifically the blind) that he is in fact, white, and asked that all other white Stormtroopers contemplating a potential run for mayor withdraw from consideration.

“Chicago needs one consensus white Stormtrooper candidate,” said TK-822 from his campaign headquarters. “In order for us to do what’s right for Chicago, and to represent all of the other Stormtroopers out there – whether they are black (tie fighter pilots), red (Royal Guard) or green (BARC Troopers), we need the best individual to run and it just so happens, it’s me.”

No stranger to controversy, TK-822 immediately pointed out that for individuals looking to vote for Chicago’s next mayor strictly along the color barriers, his long-time friend Jawa was an excellent brown choice and that Darth Vader, whom TK-822 described as “his home boy”, would make a great choice for those wanting to vote in the black color spectrum.

While further details were still forthcoming from the unemployed stormtroopers campaign headquarters, sources close to the candidate say that TK-822 is “in this thing to win it” and asked that all supporters go to his Facebook page and download his profile picture and use it as their own to show unified support for the candidate. Additionally, TK-822 will continue to post updates to his blog at www.unemployedstormtrooper.com.

For complete coverage on today’s announcement by TK-822, click here for the video.

Over her history, Chicago is a city rich in tradition, ethnic diversity, and historical significance. From the Great Chicago Fire and the Columbian Exposition of 1893, to the Prohibition Era, Gangsters, and the birth of the Chicago Political Machine, the city’s magnificent accomplishments, while many, have also been overshadowed by what in recent years have been a laundry list of almost-did’s.

Here are our Top 10 Issues of the past 30 years Chicago thought she solved for the world, but came up short.

#10 – Entertaining Housewives. Only in America, and only if it’s Oparh. She’s defeated every mid-day talk show host every network has put up against her since 1984. But with her eminent retirement looming, desperate housewives will find themselves flipping channels in search of Oprah’s Favorite Things, only to be disappointed. Who will fill the void and save the world from an impending housewife uprising?

#9 – Urban Renewal. From the failed urban development policies of the 1940’s through the 1960’s, Cabrini-Green, Robert Taylor Homes, and Rockwell Gardens will always be a stain on Chicago’s reputation for urban development, no matter how many giant beans, lake front parks, or luxury Trump building appear in the city this century.

#8 – Chicago Cubs World Series Drought. We all thought 2003 would be the year the Chicago Cubs finally returned to the World Series. At that time, 57 years had eclipsed and a generation-and-a-half of the human population passed away, nobody will be remembered for the epic failure of those 2003 Cubs more than Steve Bartman. Yes – we all know seven years later that Bartman wasn’t the initial fan that interfered with the foul ball, and that he also wasn’t playing shortstop later in the inning when Miguel Cabrera hit a routine double play (or so we thought).

#7 – Graffiti Removal. No stranger to controversy, on March 31st of 2003, Mayor Richard Daley decided to join in the gangland “tagging” fun that was plaguing neighborhoods around the city, but in typical Chicago style, the mayor did it up proper. Eyeing one of the largest areas under Federal jurisdiction, Mayor Daley, along with his posse of private contractors, tagged several large X-shaped gouges into Meigs Field, permanently closing a chapter on the city’s relationship with private aviation. To this date, the runway has yet to be restored to its original condition by the mayor’s Graffiti Removal program and is now better know in gang terminology as Northerly Island
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#5 – Vote Early, Vote Often. A slogan that rose from the ashes after The Great Chicago Fire of 1871, it has continued to be twisted over the past dozen decades by the likes of the Chicago greats: Cermack, Thompson, Kelly, Richard J Daley, and continues on with the recent generations of political leaders, Vrdolyak, Rostenkowski, and Jesse Jackson Jr.

#4 – Ending Brett Favre’s playing career. Monday night’s beat-down of the Minnesota Vikings was great to see, but the knock-out blow delivered by Chicago Bears rookie defensive end Corey Wootton was the highlight of the evening (Minnesota withstanding). Unfortunately, as long as Favre can put on a pair of Wranglers and is provided unlimited text messages for sexting, something tells us he’s far from completely done.

#3 – Home of the 2016 Olympics. Chicago, in all her glory and financial debt, really did want to host the 2016 Olympics. What’s a few billion dollars in expenses here and there to a city that at any given minute, can lease anything city-owned that we want for the next 99 years? Don’t think we’re serious about our bid? Oprah, the First Lady and POTUS will drop in to lecture you about our seriousness between their lay-over flight to Kazakhstan.

#2 – Authoring the tell-all “How-To Privatize City Contracts” series. Maintaining the paltry 8 miles of the Calumet Skyway? Who needs it. Sell it to Australians and Spanish and let them worry about it. We’ll take the $1.83 billion cash infusion and help plug the gaps in the city’s budget. City parking meters? Rent those too. Who cares if our residents have to deal with the increase in fees. We’re Chicago. Need we say more?

#1 – Removing Rahm Emanuel from Washington. Just when you thought he packed his things and headed off to the Nation’s capital for good, to play Tonto to Obama’s Lone Ranger, Mr “I-still-live-here-even-though-I’ve-been-away-in-Washington-for-the-past-two-years-to-advise-the-President” Emanuel is back in town, kicking the tires in his hopeful bid as successor to Mayor Richard Daley. And just when you thought the rampant corruption was leaving the city, look what the cat dragged in…

INGREDIENTS:
2 – 1lb. bags of Kraft Shredded Low-Moisture, Part-Skim Mozzarela Cheese
48oz. of Frigo Part-Skim Ricotta Cheese
8oz. of thinly-sliced Provolone Cheese
2oz. of shredded Parmesan Cheese
2oz. of grated Romano Cheese
2 – 4oz. containers of Athenos Garlic & Herb Feta Cheese
1lb. ground lean turkey
1lb. ground pork
2lb. 80% lean ground beef
3oz. of thinly-sliced Proscuitto
3oz. of thinly-sliced Pancetta
48oz. of Barilla Italian Baking Sauce
14.5oz. Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes
2tbs. dried Italian seasoning
2tbs. dried parsley
1tps. garlic powder
2tps. salt
1tps. black pepper
1 box Barilla Lasagna noodles

Editor’s Note: During the assembly process, it became clear that the baking dish that was to be originally used wasn’t large enough to hold all the ingredients. Chef Sochacki, seeing this would be an issue, quickly devised two recipes out of the ingredients above. For Chef Sochacki’s award-winning Republican Lasagna, read on. For his Democratic Pasta, click here.

Republican Lasagna Assembly/Cooking instructions
Start by bringing a large pot of water to a boil and submerse 5 lasagna noodles at a time for cooking. Remove the noodles once al dente and place on a moist towel for drying. Repeat as many times as necessary until all noodles are cook.

In a frying pan, begin browning the pork and turkey. Add half the amount of salt, pepper, parsley, garlic powder and Italian seasoning while browning the two meats. Once cooked through, drain the fat and remove the ground meat into a large bowl. Using the same frying pan, brown the ground beef and add the remaining spices. Drain fat and combine the browned ground beef in the same bowl with the turkey and pork.

Now the layering process begins. Drizzle olive oil on the base of the cooking pan and use a napkin to spread it around for equal coverage. Arrange a base of lasagna noodles on the bottom. Equally distribute the slices of Proscuitto to cover the pasta. Follow this layer by adding a new layer containing the mixture of beef, pork and turkey. Cover this layer with a generous portion of the Barilla Baking Sauce. Next, lay a base of Ricotta cheese over the sauce, followed by two evenly distributed cups of Mozzarela cheese. Next, sprinkle 1/8 cup of Romano and Parmesan across the top.

Once again, lay another base of Lasagna noodles, followed by the beef/pork/turkey mixture, another layer of Barilla Baking Sauce, then Ricotta, two more cups of Mozzarela and another 1/8 cup of Roman and Parmesan. Add a layer of the Pancetta to cover everything, and finally, place the last layer of lasagna noodles on top and distribute slices of Provolone and one final cup of Mozzarela. Salt and pepper the top layer and finally, cover it with more baking sauce.

Cover the pan with aluminum foil, keeping the foil pitched in the center so as not to have the cheese melt to it. Place the pan in a pre-heated over at 375-degrees and cook for 45 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil and leave the pan in the over for another 5 minutes, so as to brown the top layer of cheese. Remove from the over and let it rest for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

Ed Sochacki is a frequent content contributor for TomJalana.com and is owner of the Chicago-area website design agency, Sochacki Communications.

Don’t worry about the Pancetta, Proscuitto, Provolone, Romano, Feta and Parmasen. Those are Italian and Greek products and may offend your guests’ taste buds. Just focus on using the Ricotta and Mozzarela as those two ingredients are liked and widely accepted by nearly every nationality, Hollywood elites and local union leaders. Plus reducing the amount of ingredients will make it harder to screw anything up. For the sauce, use something red-colored and authentic-sounding, like Prego.

Now, carefully follow this repeating layering pattern: noodles, beef, cheese, sauce, noodles, beef, cheese, sauce.

We are almost there and we know you are finally getting the hang of it, but CAUTION! The last two steps are different, so pay close attention. After the sauce (from the previously mentioned pattern), you add the noodles BUT, the last step – contrary to what you may think, is not beef. It’s cheese! That’s right! Cheese!

Now, if you’ve used too much of any of the ingredients and don’t have enough to complete the recipe, fear not. Call your neighbor and see if they have any of the items. You can pay them back later. Just remind them that sharing is caring.

Finally, stick the pan in the preheated over to bake for 20 minutes (be sure you have adult supervision when operating the oven – ovens have been known to burn people). Using oven mitts, remove the pan from the oven, being careful not to touch the sides of the oven. If you do happen to burn yourself, contact your lawyer and start a class-action lawsuit against the oven manufacturer. If nothing’s gone amiss, the pan is ready to rest. Let the piping-hot lasagna cool before serving.

While this Democratic Lasagna will lack the complex flavors from its Republican counterpart, it can be made by anyone of voting age. While this recipe has been described by many as generic, bland and unoriginal, we think it’s the best lasagna recipe we know because you get more of the same, bite after bite. It’s cheaper and faster to make, and, you can tell your friends just how much you respect and appreciate the delicate intricacies of Italian cooking when talking to them on your Palm Treo between reruns of Jersey Shore, the final season of Oprah Winfrey and episodes of the Rachel Maddow Show.
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Ed Sochacki is a frequent content contributor for TomJalana.com and is owner of the Chicago-area website design agency, Sochacki Communications.