The House of Gordon

Chloe

2010-03-27T20:56:00.003-04:00

Winston-Salem's art house theatre a/perture beckons yet again, this time for the Atom Egoyan film Chloe.

Gorgeous Julianne Moore frets over her hunch that husband Liam Neeson is having affairs. What better way to get the scoop yourself than to hire a hooker to bait him and report back to you, right? This is the premise of the far-fetched film Chloe, a remake of a 2003 French film entitled Nathalie.

Distrust sends one into previously uncharted depths. To what lengths would you go to get the truth? As a wife longing for just a loving touch, how easy is it to go from using a hooker as an information gatherer to getting physically turned on by the specific details of the encounters?

With the news you receive, consider the source. Can anyone be trusted?

Matinee.

Alice in Wonderland in 3-D

2010-03-26T21:45:00.003-04:00

Honestly, on a day off, there's an absolute way I enjoy unwinding and detaching myself from reality: an afternoon in a darkened theater with some sort of film on the big screen taking me away to other worlds, other times, other realms. My most recent day off found just such a scenario. A 12:00 viewing of Tim Burton's version of Alice in Wonderland in 3-D.

Tim Burton + Johnny Depp? Is there nothing wrong these two collaborators can do? Granted, the story in this updated film of Alice going BACK to Wonderland 13 years after her first trip (and I do mean "trip") is a touch lacking. But the dark visuals of a Tim Burton film plus the iconic and trippy acting of Johnny Depp trump the weak story. Visually mesmerizing, especially in 3-D, but a rather dull story.

Trippy and engaging if you just check your brain at the door and drink in all of Depp's scenes and let the screen do the thinking for you. Groovy man.

(And it didn't hurt that Alice was hot.)

Matinee.

The White Ribbon

2010-03-24T23:56:00.003-04:00

Hit up a/perture for another arty film. Tonight? The German film The White Ribbon. Black and white, subtitled, and a 2 & 1/2 hour mindfuck.

Eerie. Observe:

"I gave God a chance to kill me. And he didn't. So he must be pleased with me."

Creepy.

Pre-World War I Germany. A country hamlet is "ruled" by the triumvirate of the estate baron, the preacher, and the doctor. Each rules with unbending and vicious control. Strange accidents occur: a wire is stretched between two trees felling the doctor from his horse, the farmer's wife falls through rotten floorboards at the sawmill, a local child is found bound and beaten, a disabled child is found nearly blinded. Who's the culprit? This tight-knit village is rocked with tragedy, but no one knows anything....

The preacher's children are punished for their particular insolence by a "purifying" beating with a cane and then the public disgrace of wearing the symbol of purity: a white ribbon, a la the scarlet letter or more appropriately in this scenario a yellow Star of David.

The local schoolteacher reminisces and narrates the tale as he recalls. He was determined to find out which of the hellish children committed these heinous acts...until the powers-that-be squash his inquiry with threats of arrest.

A mystery that does not reveal the criminal(s). You are left hanging. The news of Archduke Ferdinand's assassination occurs, and the movie just.....ends.

An artsy whodunit that frankly left me not caring. Too long and tedious to not get anywhere. Filmed artistically and framed well, but I just started to daydream and waver mid-film.

Matinee minus.

Crazy Heart

2010-03-24T00:34:00.003-04:00

OK, I'll admit that generally the musical genre does NOTHING for me. But being a rabid Oscars fan, I was intrigued by the Best Actor nod to Jeff Bridges. So as a lemming, I hit the theater last week (yes, I'm behind on blogging) to see what all the fuss was about. Outstanding.

"Funny how falling feels like flying for a little while."

Old country singer Bad Blake is down on his luck playing bowling alleys and general low-scale venues. His headlining days are behind him. His protege has taken the "new country" fans by storm. Whiskey and cigarettes and cheap motels and his 1978 Suburban "Bessie" define his existence. Single mom Maggie Gyllenhaal is a reporter named Jean who covers him for a small newspaper and becomes smitten; never mind she's young enough to be his daughter, or possible GRANDdaughter. Bad Blake's on a relentless course towards destruction via booze. Can Jean save him? Should she? Can anybody? Can music?

Really a treat and a deserved win for Bridges. WOW.

Is there even a doubt? Full Price.

Jonathan Coulton

2010-03-15T22:57:00.005-04:00

John Hodgman + They Might Be Giants / Weird Al Yankovic.

Work out this equation and you get Jonathan Coulton. Witty lyrics, but not clownish. Thoughtful subjects, and not obnoxious. He had a good line at last Friday's performance at the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA: a young man in his early teen years in the 80s reading Omni magazine. Songs about moving to suburbia and owning a Shopvac; a love song between Pluto and its moon; mad scientist love and the stretch one takes to make a gift for his love: a half-monkey, half-pony monster. All done with dry wit and humor and touching sentimentality.

It was quite possibly the most entertaining evening I've had at a musical performance in a long, long time.

Here are some videos from my seat at the performance. I hope you enjoy. JoCo rocks!!!

Eric Clapton...with a surprise ROGER DALTREY

2010-03-10T01:19:00.003-05:00

OK, so on a whim over this past weekend, I realize Eric Clapton will be in concert Monday night in Raleigh. Had no clue. And it so happens I worked 8-4 Monday. Out of the blue, I decide to trek on over to the RBC Center in Raleigh to see a blues guitar GOD. (As a non-religious man, I drop the term "god" discriminately.)

So I leave at 5:00 so I can sit in Triangle rush hour traffic for quite some time, then arrive in my seat by 6:40. At 7:30, the opening band is making its way to the stage. I have absolutely no idea who it could be, and stare in amazement as the singer's identity is made clear...

ROGER FUCKING DALTREY. The lead singer of my ALL-TIME favorite band, The Who.

I frantically wave my arms and soil my trousers repeatedly. OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!

Amazing....

Newest addition to my DVD library

2010-03-08T00:29:00.001-05:00

Best Picture. It won. The Hurt Locker. Stunning film. Commented on these very pages in August 2009: http://thehouseofgordon.blogspot.com/2009/08/hurt-locker.html And now, in accordance with my collection addiction, it joins all the other Best Picture winners on the shelf.

Congratulations Ms. Bigelow on recognition of your very powerful film.

It's here. It's really here.

2010-03-08T00:24:00.004-05:00

Greensboro, NC. Harris Teeter grocery store. Friendly Center shopping center. Saturday, March 6, 2010. My vision blurs due to tears of joy.

Esperanza Spalding

2010-03-06T23:37:00.003-05:00

Friday night I traveled over to Raleigh on the campus of NC State to see a gorgeous and up-and-coming bassist: Esperanza Spalding. Esperaza, a pianist, guitarist, and drummer entertained for two hours. Jazz, both classic and modern, filled the air. Soulful ballads, upbeat numbers, offbeat acid beats; Esperanza manages to command her bass with virtuosity.

Really an exciting and mesmerizing performance. Here's a video I took on the iPhone:

Around the World in 80 Days

2010-03-06T23:29:00.005-05:00

Thursday, Triad Stage night! Another evening using the season pass. People tire of hearing me blather on and on, but I will continue to scream it from the rooftops: I HEART TRIAD STAGE!!!!!

An amusing romp following Philleas Fogg in 1872 and his wager to travel from London around the world via steamer and train. A witty and comedic production, with various pitfalls befalling Mr. Fogg along the way. A table from the set doubles (quadruples?) as boat, elephant, train, etc. The actors really appeared to have a whale of a time stimulating your imagination by pretending to be speeding (in 1872 terms) across the world.

Quite fun. As usual.

Proper Oktoberfest

2010-03-06T23:09:00.003-05:00

This past Thursday was another brew day. This time, it's an adventure into brewing days of yore. A proper Märzen was the recipe and the procedure: brewed in March and ready to go in September.

Brief synopsis. Before the days of refrigeration, brewers were forbidden to brew during the warm summer months. The final product was subpar and frankly rancid due to the heat. So in March, before the weather turned, a large batch was brewed and stored (lagered) in cool caves over the summer. In the fall when the mercury drops, these barrels were brought out in a massive autumnal celebration. So, my beer was brewed in March and will lager in my fridge until September. My second lager beer, so we'll see how it goes.

In a strange twist, one of my college buddies from ol' Founders Hall at ONU was traveling from Charlotte to Virginia on business, so he stopped off in Greensboro for brewday and then dinner at Natty Greene's. So I have ZERO photos from brewday since we bullshitted and caught up during the afternoon. But I have two: one from Natty's and one afterward with the start of the lagering.

The recipe:

1 lb. Weyermann Caramunich II malt

2 lbs. Pilsen Dry Malt Extract (DME)
6 lbs. Amber Liquid Malt Extract (LME)

1 oz. German Hallertau hops, 3.7% alpha acid @ 60 minutes

Saflager W-34/70 dry lager yeast

Great seeing Kurt after 15 years! And with a possible move much closer to Greensboro, the hilarity may ensue in earnest....

2 days, 3 movies

2010-03-04T09:19:00.005-05:00

I'm super behind on posting here (shocking). But suffice to say I spent a good chunk of time at a/perture cinema recently. My upcoming schedule is brutal with regard to free time spent blogging (in a fit of irony I'll try to blog about what I've done) so here's just a quick re-hash fo what I saw:

First, the North Carolina-filmed Wesley

The YouTube trailer is quite grainy and frankly not blogworthy, so here's a much clearer trailer from the film studio website: http://founderypictures.com/pages/pages/trailer.php

********

The 2nd film was The Last Station.

********

Lastly, was A Single Man.

Our long national nightmare is over...

2010-02-19T11:02:00.004-05:00

My beloved Great Lakes Brewing Co. is making its introduction into the North Carolina market. O! The joy! (I'll see you in Winston-Salem on March 9th. All the Greensboro locations are sketch.)

Per their Facebook post:

Great Lakes Brewing Company's Notes

GLBC To Enter North Carolina!

Today at 10:40am

Great Lakes Brewing Company announces its entry into the Charlotte/Greensboro markets of North Carolina starting the week of March 1, 2010! Visit the below locations to meet GLBC reps and sample GLBC's five year round beers: Burning River Pale Ale, Commodore Perry India Pale Ale, Dortmunder Gold Lager, Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, Eliot Ness Amber Lager!

CHARLOTTE:

Monday, March 1, 2010
Midtown Sundries University: 5:00 PM
3425 David Cox Rd.
(704) 597-7413

Tuesday, March 2, 2010
The Liberty: 6:00 PM
1812 South Blvd.
(704) 332-8830

GREENSBORO:

Monday, March 8, 2010
Stumble Stilskins: 5:30 PM
202 W Market St.
(336) 691-1222

The Pour House: 8:00 PM
360 Federal Place
(336) 333-2226

Tuesday, March 9, 2010
First St. Draught House (Winston Salem): 5:00 PM
1500 West First St.
(336) 722-6950

Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Coopers Ale House: 5:00 PM
5340 W Market St.
(336) 294-0575

Common Cleveland Steamer

2010-02-18T23:12:00.006-05:00

The homebrew bug hit yet again, mainly to get through these final extract-based recipes to start to dive head first into "all-grain" brewing. Basically, as a metaphor, instead of making brownies from a boxed mix, I would add the flour, cocoa, etc. myself. All-grain is a more "from scratch" version of brewing and one where you have more control over every aspect of the recipe and final product.

So anyway, next on the docket was a California Common, alternately known in the beer world by Anchor Brewing's trademarked flagship Steam Beer: basically, a lager yeast strain used at a warmer ale yeast temperature to bring about more fruitiness. So, being from Cleveland, and as a childish play on words, I titled my homebrew "Common Cleveland Steamer". Insert your eye-rolling and groaning [here].

Here's the recipe I had:

8oz. Munton's Dark Crystal

6.6 lb. Light liquid malt extract (LME)

2 oz. UK Pilgrim Gold hops 11% alpha acid @ 60 minutes
1 oz. UK First Gold hops 7% AA @ 1 minute

Saflager S-23 dry lager yeast

And now it rests in the kitchen sink next to the British Bitter with my markedly non-electronic temperature control method: wet t-shirt in water bath. Time to rinse dirty dishes in the half-bath sink for a few more days!

Harry Connick, Jr.

2010-02-18T23:02:00.004-05:00

What a fun Mardi Gras I just had! For whatever reason, instead of partying in his home of New Orleans, Harry Connick, Jr. was on tour and in Durham! Worked 8-4, let the dogs out, then headed over for dinner at Tyler's and then the show at the Durham Performing Arts Center. It was a LOT of fun! Between the Saints winning the Super Bowl recently and Mardi Gras happening, he was in a REALLY good mood. Some of the lovey dovey songs (which he mentioned might make those not in love "a little awkward") were a little awkward for me. But other than those two songs out of the 2-hour show, it was FUN!!!

Sadly, I don't have any video or photos from the show. I was too close to the aisle and the DPAC camera gestapo. But here's a fun toe-tapping number I found online that brings me right back to Durham and last Tuesday's show:

British Bitter

2010-02-14T22:29:00.003-05:00

Time to brew again. On Valentine's Day. I swear it was an act of coincidence, but the style brewed on this day of romance and love was a....bitter. Rather appropriate.

The recipe:

1/2 lb. Simpsons Caramalt

1 lb. Golden Light Dry Malt Extract (DME)
3.15 lb. Gold Liquid Malt Extract (LME)

1 oz. Kent Goldings hops, 5.0% alpha acid @ 60 min
1 oz. Kent Goldings hops 5.0% AA @ 1 min

Danstar Windsor Ale dry yeast

Easy to brew, should be easy to drink. Session pub ale.

Bitter on Valentine's Day....go figure.

Two Greensboro bands in two nights

2010-02-14T22:18:00.002-05:00

In a fit of local music appreciation, I hit up two local bands in two local venues: Amelia's Mechanics on Friday at The Blind Tiger, and Holy Ghost Tent Revival at the Green Bean on Saturday. Both bands were a little out of my "element", but I quickly became fans of both.

Appears my iPhone video microphone is a touch sensitive. Sorry for the boisterous audio.

Amelia's Mechanics, one my own video and one not:

Holy Ghost Tent Revival, again one video my own and one not:

Fun nights.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

2010-02-14T21:49:00.003-05:00

There is nothing I can really say here that would make sense unless you had consumed a frankly voluminous amount of hallucinogens. Wow.

The inevitable HofG trailer has a glitch in that the powers-that-be do not want anyone to embed the trailer, so here's the best I can do: a link to the trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khizyk3Y5lo

Just a visually stunning feature. Terry Gilliam strikes again with a film of such grandiose visuals and mind-bending scenarios. Sideshow artist Dr. Parnassus has a magic mirror, one where your dreams become reality when you step through it. Where did this mystic come from? Just how old is he? What's to become of the wayward vagrant (the outstanding Heath Ledger in his final role) that joins them? Ledger died during shooting, so his character behind the mirror is played with various quirks by Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law. Mesmerizing.

Stream of consciousness Monty Python animation meets Alice in Wonderland meets LSD. Confounding.

If you're into this sort of thing, it's easily worth the Full Price I'll give it. It makes it so just for the fact that Tom Waits plays the Devil. Tom Fucking Waits!

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

2010-02-08T18:54:00.003-05:00

Movies at a/perture cinema in downtown Winston-Salem do not hang around long. There are just two theaters and so many independent films out there that most last for just one week, Friday through Thursday. Between the snow accumulation we received and a stretch of 2-10 workdays, this past Thursday was my final opportunity to see an all-star cast in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee.

The trailer:

Pippa had a checkered past of dangerous habits and wayward journeys...until she met a publisher 30 years her senior. Now, freshly released of most material possessions, they begin the final chapter in their marriage in a retirement community. Flashbacks and zig-zags in Pippa's story continue throughout, giving you the glimpse that the down-to-earth Pippa who dotes on her elderly husband was once a hellbent girl with touches of counter-culture danger. Which Pippa is the real Pippa? Can she handle holding up the airs of humble wife or will her past come back to retake its proper place?

A great cast that kept me in awe. However, the final movie product fell a smidge below Full Price for me.

Matinee.

Colonial Amber

2010-01-29T20:29:00.004-05:00

The snow was a-comin' this weekend, and my day off for the week was Thursday. It was 58 degrees outside. BREW DAY! The next in line for my little Brewery-That-Could was a basic amber ale. I titled it Colonial Amber well, just because. Early colonial American brewers probably brewed something similar to this, and North Carolina was an original 13 colony, and I wanted to wear my 1754 Albany Plan "Join or die" t-shirt. Makes perfect sense.

The recipe:

1 lb. Briess Caramel 20

6.3 lbs. Amber Liquid Malt Extract

2 oz. Cascade 7.1% alpha acid @ 60 minutes
1 oz. Cascade 7.1% AA @ 1 minute

Safale US-05 dry yeast

Easy peezy lemon squeezy. Another successful brew day on an unseasonably warm day right before a LOT of snow would be coming.

A Serious Man

2010-01-29T20:08:00.002-05:00

Filmmakers the Coen Brothers are at it again. This time with a study on a lowly Jewish professor in suburban Minnesota who is just trying to do right amongst the loads and loads of disasters that befall him.

The trailer:

With regard to his health, work, marriage, spirituality, anything and everything is heaped upon him as he tries to make his way through the world. Obstacles abound.

The film begins with a short piece set in Poland decades upon decades ago. A stranger who helps a local man fix his wheelcart arrives at the door...to the dismay of the wife who insists the stranger died three years ago. The man is a demon, she exclaims.

How many demons show up at the door of the poor protagonist in A Serious Man? Too many to count.

Matinee score from me here.

Broken Embraces

2010-01-29T19:50:00.002-05:00

Another evening of independent cinema at Winston-Salem's a/perture cinema. Last time it was a film from Belgium, and now...Spain: Pedro Almodóvar's subtitled Broken Embraces. Penelope Cruz....yum.

The trailer:

A back-and-forth mystery from 1992 to present-day with Cruz as secretary-by-day/escort-by-night who is discovered and fulfills her dream of being an actress...against the wishes of her elder lover. The director of the film is smitten by her and it results in his best work ever. What a film! It will be a fine piece of cinema! Until...

Disaster.

The director is blinded. The muse is....

I don't want to ruin it. Twists! Turns! Gasps! A shocking ending!

A truly remarkable film. I loved it. FULL PRICE easy....boutique theater or not.

Katrina vanden Heuvel

2010-01-29T19:20:00.007-05:00

OK, I told you that the posts here would be quite sporadic from now on. But some gentle readers are not on Teh Facebook portion of Teh Internets, so this would be the only forum to see this news.

Two weekends ago (yes, two weekends have elapsed) was one of my beloved 3-day weekends off, so it was a trip into DC for shenanigans. A bunch of the "regular" spots were hit: District Chophouse, Ben's Chili Bowl, Lincoln Waffle Shop, Shelly's Backroom, et al. A new one on the docket was the Langston Hughes-inspired Busboys and Poets, coffee/book shop. The 14th and V Street location was the destination for lunch Friday. There was a symposium/salon sponsored by the Institute for Policy Studies concerning President Obama's first year in office. (Final grade? C-. Can't argue that.) Special guest? My not-so-secret most favorite editor EVER from The Nation magazine: Katrina vanden Heuvel. (By the way, not to be TOO creepy, but she felt and smelled GREAT.)

What a GREAT weekend!!!!

A Town Called Panic

2010-01-11T22:59:00.005-05:00

My first venture over to the new a/perture cinema in downtown Winston-Salem occurred tonight. The inaugural Gordon showing? A Belgian stop-action animation film A Town Called Panic. Yes. Belgian. From Belgium. Subtitled.

The trailer:

Wallace and Gromit meets little plastic toys.

It's Horse's birthday (June 21...quite nice). Cowboy and Indian have forgotten. A gift! What to give their good friend Horse???? A barbecue pit. They'll build Horse a barbecue pit. Doing the calculations, 50 bricks will be required. Ordering online, with a few extra zero's added to the end of '50' yields hijinks and hilarity. The mischievous Cowboy and Indian have finally gone too far and the town is set upon its ear.

Psychedelic with its warping plot line and scene locations. A bizarre journey. But one that results in plenty of laughs, touching moments, and outright drug-induced jaw dropping. I'm not condoning illicit substances to augment the film...but it might help.

Oh such a quick FULL PRICE score is given. A barrel of fun careening over the falls.

a/perture cinema

2010-01-11T22:54:00.004-05:00

If you live ANYWHERE near Winston-Salem, NC and you enjoy film, you owe it to yourself and to the arts community to go to the new a/perture cinema. It's downtown right across the street from the Mellow Mushroom and a few blocks up from Foothills Brewing. Described rather succinctly by the theater owners themselves:

an independent theater in downtown winston salem. 2 screens, 160 seats, beer, wine, and a whole bunch of movies you’ve probably never heard of.

Outstanding. REALLY looking forward to the films they'll show. Sadly, the window for most of them is small, so if you see something you may enjoy....GO SEE IT IMMEDIATELY. It might not hang around very long.

I foresee many a 30-minute drive from Greensboro to the newest theater in the area.

Avatar in 3-D

2010-01-11T22:01:00.003-05:00

Had a day off recently and quite thoroughly enjoyed sitting in a dark theater with crazy 3-D glasses on for over 2 & 1/2 hours. I fell in line with the hive mind and offered my own tribute to the throne of James Cameron. Cannot. Stay. Away.

Here's the trailer, which pretty much tells the whole story:

Breath-taking visuals. Seriously. Just truly awe-inspiring. A good thing too, as the incredible sensory optics are needed to trump the knuckle-dragging dialog. Who knew that in the year 2154 stereotypical military-types are still using such W. phrases as "Shock and awe" and fighting terror with...wait for it....terror.

The story? Dripping with irony and modern day comparisons. The lush and beautiful world of Pandora is a hotbed for a mineral highly sought after on our dying Earth. We've made our way to their world to obtain the precious rock, but need to protect ourselves behind a "green zone". Apparently the inhabitants of this gorgeous world are rather protective of their environment and use guerrilla tactics against the military to keep them at bay.

To coordinate a more diplomatic solution, human and Na'avi DNA are melded into clone material that can be controlled via an elaborate mind-meld. The creatures are "avatars" of the controllers. This way, humans can more readily interact with the locals and "convince" them to relocate so we can mine their precious mineral.

A Marine grunt paraplegic whose twin brother scientist has died is transferred to the Avatar program since his DNA is so compatible. He's charged with using this new skill to infiltrate the locals and "convince" them to relocate. As he spends more time with the locals, he inevitably sees the errors of his military's ways, falls in love, and eventually leads the locals against the humans.

Dances with Wolves + the Smurfs + the Iraq War + Al Gore. The human becomes immersed in the foreign customs, thereby attempting to make a social statement against war and the urbanization of greenery.

Dialog dripping with cheese overcome by FANTASTIC visuals. Still, the 3-D experience made it an EASY FULL PRICE rating. It readily overcame the script and cheap metaphors. A cinematic delight.

Farmers' Almanac Maple Porter

2010-01-04T21:22:00.004-05:00

A couple months ago, Duke confessed to me his retirement from homebrewing. I was sad. I understand his time constraints and the lack of inspiration, but still, he won a freakin' medal and got a photo in the homebrew journal Zymurgy! Anyway, last month I was bequeathed some of his equipment (House of Gordon kegging coming soon!) and ingredients.

On another note, The Farmers' Almanac has an interesting little tidbit called "The Best Day(s) to Brew Beer in the Next 60 Days". Sweet. The website is here. It happened that the most recent good days were January 1 and January 2. Now January 1 I had to work 8-4 then there was Ohio State in the Rose Bowl at 4:30, so that was out. But Saturday January 2? Score!

Put the two together, and I'll brew Duke's ingredient gift on a great Farmers' Almanac day!

One glitch, it was COLD. 30 degrees cold. I hooked up my garden hose for my Therminator plate chiller and....something in the hose was clogged or it was downright frozen inside. No water flow through the hose. Water came out of the spigot just fine, just nothing through the hose.

Shit.

I thought about canceling the brewday, but there was not another good Farmers' Almanac brewday in the next 60 days. And I just HAD to test the Farmers' resolve. So, it was cold enough that a chill plate or an immersion chiller would not be needed. Observe the simple setup to the right! I'll go old school: stir occasionally and allow the natural heat exchange to go from hot liquid to stainless steel to outside ambient temperature. Took forever, and frankly I was a little fearful of wild yeast or bacterial infection, but screw it....the Farmers' Almanac is on my side!

The hodgepodge makeshift recipe:

4 oz. Briess Special Roast
4 oz. Caramalt
4 oz. Belgian Debittered Black Malt
4 oz. Chocolate Malt
4 oz. Caramel 60L
2 oz. Caramel 40L

6 lb. Gold LME (Liquid Malt Extract)

1 oz. Cluster hops, 7.2% alpha acid @ 60 minutes

2 lb. Grade B Maple Syrup @ 0 minutes

Munton Dry Yeast (the Activator Smack Pack of London Ale did not activate nor swell)

In one week upon transfer to secondary fermentation, another pound or so of maple syrup will be added for more mapley aroma in the finished product.

OG (original gravity) 1.055. In the "robust porter" range in the grand scheme of things. Good to brew again. It's been a while. Even with the time consuming cooling scenario. Good brewing karma...the Almanac said so.

One lonely December 2009 post

2009-12-31T01:02:00.005-05:00

Post #601.

Been a while, eh? You still come around here? You still on the edge of your seat waiting for an update? Or have you given up? I wouldn't blame you. Why keep coming back when I don't update anything for over a month. This being said, the muse to type something relevant or witty or newsworthy on these very pages has seemingly disappeared. The urge and wanting to do so is gone. Those who follow my oh-so-interesting (sarcasm) adventures already do so on the interwebs via The Facebook or The Twitter. Here on The Blogger?....I just don't "feel it" at the moment.

So maybe in 2010, there will be an update on a brewday or a movie or something interesting I've done. But for the most part, the urge to share these types of things on this medium has subsided greatly. I guess I'll be around, just not so often. Try not to wait up.

So to recap December 2009 in one fell swoop:

The Fantastic Mr. Fox / Chargers game / Great Lakes beer school / Steelers game / Dave Matthews Band concert film in 3-D / nasty snowstorm that canceled my yearly A Christmas Carol theater excursion / wicked bronchitis.

Here's to an improved 2010. Finally, a vigorous and hearty FUCK YOU to 2009 and the events that threaten to ruin me as the entity you previously knew.

Chicago - Day 3

2009-11-26T16:12:00.005-05:00

Sunday saw my Chicago weekend trip come to a close. I debated whether or not to visit the Museum of Science and Industry. Robin mentioned the Art Institute of Chicago as an option. I had one afternoon to do something, and I knew that it would have to occur after lunch of deep dish Chicago pizza at Giordano's which was just two blocks from the hotel near the Sears, er, Willis Tower. Outstanding. (And I'm insanely glad the chick in the boots turned ever so slightly for the nice ass profile shot. Kudos to you fine lass!)

So, instead of just seeing ONE landmark for my final Chicago afternoon, I chose the best of them all: double decker bus tour. Two+ hours driving around town and seeing the sights. Touristy? Yes. Cheesy? Quite possibly. But it afforded me a trip all around town in one fell swoop before I had to depart.

A great weekend chock full of activities and sights. A lot of fun was had. The concerts were stellar. Now, back to reality...

Chicago - Day 2

2009-11-26T15:29:00.008-05:00

Woke up Saturday excited and ready to go. My first day in Chicago was a BUSY fun-filled one. Today looks to be another great day out of town for more friendship, more beverage, and more Pixies.

Hopped on the "El" train again and traveled northward to meet up with Jonathan and Robin again. Stopped off at their place to meet Lily and Alice: two chihuahuas of infamous repute. After an interesting and novel display of barking, it was time to lay on the floor and get my ears and nose cleaned out by voracious tongues. Dogs rule.

We walked over to the El through their neighborhood and had lunch at Belly Shack for some Asian/Latin fusion sandwiches. Meatball pita with noodles for me. Appetizers of maple squash and fried plantains. Tasty.

Bellies full, we make our way over to another of the best bars in the land: The Map Room. The Ohio State/Michigan game was on the TV, Great Lakes Brewing's Edmund Fitzgerald Porter was going down the chute, and on a Saturday afternoon the bar became more and more lively with patrons. The place is just so cool. National Geographic magazines line the shelves on the wall. The wallpaper is comprised on (surprise!) maps. Belgian lambic Cantillon Lou Pepe quickly became a winner as more and more goblets of the tart nectar were ordered up.

From here, we walked some blocks over to Piece Brewery & Pizzeria for (surprise!) beer and pizza. The beers here have a decidedly, um, naughty air. I asked for something hoppy, so instead of their Full Frontal pale ale the waitress suggested the Camel Toe IPA. Giggle giggle. Also, some tasters of their Moose Knuckle barleywine were presented. Tee hee hee.

With excellent public transport instructions from my Chicago hosts, I hopped on a bus, then the El, and again arrived at the Aragon Ballroom for my 2nd concert in two nights. Another great set. Now since they're playing their Doolittle CD in its entirety, the bulk of it is the same. However, they ended with my two all-time favorite Pixies songs, making it the best night ever.

Dancing The Manta Ray
Weird At My School
Bailey's Walk
Manta Ray
Debaser
Tame
Wave of Mutilation
I Bleed
Here Comes Your Man
Dead
Monkey Gone To Heaven
Mr. Grieves
Crackity Jones
La La Love You
No. 13 Baby
There Goes My Gun
Hey
Silver
Gouge Away
Encore:
Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)
Into The White
Encore 2:
Holiday Song
Something Against You
Vamos
Where Is My Mind?
Encore 3:
Gigantic

Chicago - Day 1

2009-11-26T13:44:00.014-05:00

I've been home for a few days now, so I guess it's time to post about my 3-day weekend in Chicago. Why Chicago? The 20th anniversary of the seminal Pixies album Doolittle. The band went on a small tour to celebrate and will play the album in its entirety. The closest town they were coming to for me was Washington, DC. But those dates occur the Monday/Tuesday after Thanksgiving. And as a retail grunt, those dates are virtually impossible to get time off for. So looking at the tour schedule, Chicago fell on my normally-scheduled 3-day weekend off.

HELLO CHICAGO!!!

I was supposed to fly out of Raleigh Thursday night (an hour away but super cheap Southwest fares), but that FAA computer glitch from that morning rolled along and affected later flights. I thought I'd be out of the woods with my 6:30pm flight, but it ended up delayed 4 hours...making me miss my connection. Soooo....EARLY Friday morning it was. In bed by 10pm, up at 3:45am to have enough to time to drive over to make the flight.

By 8:30am Friday I am in Chicago. And by 10:00am I am here:

103 floors up and 4 feet out. "The Ledge" on the Sears, er, the Willis Tower. Took a cab from the airport, dropped off my bags at the hotel, then walked the 2 blocks from hotel to the tallest building in the U.S. Incredible views. Ears popped constantly on the elevator rides up and down. Unbelievable structure.

Chicago is a great beer town. Fellow beer geeks Jonathan and Robin moved from Chapel Hill to Chicago a few years ago. Since I was in town, we planned to meet up and do some pubcrawling together. First stop for lunch? The Lincoln Park neighborhood and Goose Island - Clybourn. A tasty burger with bacon of course was my fare. Delicious Belgian-inspired Matilda, offered a sample taste of their new altbier, then their dark Belgian Noire, Imperial Brown Goose, and finally a Black Cat Espresso Stout. (Wow, we went through a bunch of beverages didn't we?)

From here, it's to a divey bar with plenty of taps called Local Option. Just had a couple here, most notably the hoppy sensation from Three Floyds Brewing Co., Dreadnaught. On tap. Hear that Bones? Dreadnaught on tap. It was quite delicious.

From here, it was to one off the better beer bars in the country let alone Chicago: Hopleaf. Surly Brewing's Bender and a Stone/BrewDog collaboration called Bashah were the hits. Robin got some sort of muddy silty creation from Belgian brewer Wostyntje: Mustard Beer. Looked absolutely disgusting, but was actually pretty tasty. Looks nasty. I mean, look at it:

For dinner, I did have a delicious sammich: a CB&J. Cashew butter, fig jam, and gruyere cheese. Serve it with mac-n-cheese? Sold! YUM!!!

From here, we parted ways as I had a PIXIES concert to go to. They performed at the beautiful Aragon Ballroom. It was so sweet to see them live!!! People were cramming to get centerstage, but I was interested on hanging around towards the right of the stage in front of uber-cool bassist Kim Deal. Got it. Right up front. Leaning against the barrier. NICE!!!! The concert was a dandy. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Dancing The Manta Ray
Weird At My School
Bailey's Walk
Manta Ray
Debaser
Tame
Wave Of Mutilation
I Bleed
Here Comes Your Man
Dead
Monkey Gone To Heaven
Mr. Grieves
Crackity Jones
La La Love You
No. 13 Baby
There Goes My Gun
Hey
Silver
Gouge Away
Encore:
Wave Of Mutilation (UK Surf)
Into The White
Encore 2:
Isla De Encanta
Nimrod's Son
U-Mass
Velouria

John Hodgman

2009-11-14T00:12:00.006-05:00

Drove over to Salem College after work Friday for hors d'oeuvres, wine, discussion, book signings, photos, mingling, and VIP seating within an austere and bucolic setting. Salem College was the setting. John Hodgman was the reason. Sound elitist? I hope so, you fucking bloody commoner!

Brandy and robustos in the drawing room, anyone? From April, 2008:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Hodgman - Elitist Persecution

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Crisis

A book tour commenced to celebrate the paperback release of his book More Information Than You Require. Winston-Salem was the only North Carolina stop on his tour. Heard about it on NPR as the alarm clock went off one morning at 7am. In a sleepy haze I thought I heard that John Hodgman was coming to Winston-Salem. No, that couldn't be true. Alas, upon checking WFDD's website, it was TRUE! Instead of the usual 7:00pm auditorium-only ticket, I opted for the 5:30pm pre-show meet-n-greet on campus. What a treat! Hodgman was genuinely pleased to meet those of us who were there. With a warm and caring smile he engaged us all individually with empathy and care. It was really pretty sweet.

Books were signed. Wine was drunk, specifically for me the Cupcake Merlot. Photos were taken. Schmoozing and mingling were occurring. Then it was time to walk over from the fancy campus house to the auditorium and our VIP front 4 row seats. Life is indeed difficult. He spoke for almost two hours in a loosely moderated Q&A forum.

It was indeed a fantastic evening.

Darwin's Meditation for the People of Lincoln

2009-11-08T17:35:00.005-05:00

Drove over to Raleigh and the campus of NC State to see yet another performance by Daniel Bernard Roumain, otherwise known as DBR. This piece, a multimedia production entitled Darwin's Meditation for the People of Lincoln. Two iconic figures born on the same day in 1809. DBR wonders, what would they say to each other if they met? The performance and the piece can be best described by the man himself:

Not knowing what to expect, some "modern" portions of Act I were oddly intriguing. I suppose I had it in my mind that traditional melodic measures would flow. Act I included many sporadic notes and off-tempo beats. Once I settled into the show, it really opened up for me and I enjoyed it immensely.

The treat before the 8pm show was the 6:45pm discussion in the student center on campus. Got there right as it began, and no one was sitting in the very front row! Hell, I'll sit there! Great to hear his thoughts on the piece firsthand. Also cool to hear his tackle audience questions with humility and grace. And finally, even better for him to offer to shake my hand after the discussion. I squeal like a girl.

Oleanna

2009-11-08T17:16:00.002-05:00

Triad Stage season pass night, this time for David Mamet's Oleanna. A two-person play of "he said / she said". College professor and young co-ed. What happened? What can be proven? What crime is defined? Each sees the proceedings with their own eyes: How could the professor DO that to the student? How can the student try to RUIN the professor?

The characters names are Carol and John. So what is Oleanna? Oleanna is a utopian vision of society. Whose vision are we striving for? Whose dreams should be squashed in reaching these heights?

An uncomfortable performance. Couldn't get comfortable in my seat watching it. But that's the point.

Paul Krugman

2009-11-08T17:06:00.003-05:00

Tuuesday November 3rd and it was time for another Guilford College Bryan Series lecture, this time with Nobel Laureate economist Paul Krugman. It was a sobering evening of financial crises, looming despair, and "avoiding catastrophe but facing tragedy". Ugh.

Not blessed with the business mind, I found myself wandering at times. A heavy topic that SHOULD hold my attention, but business and economics and accounting hold no interest for me. A speaker whose merits and knowledge are unsurpassed, yet I struggled to pay attention. I struggled to decipher the topic.

You can see a clip here as embedding is not authorized into websites.

Paul Krugman—Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009, 7:30 p.m.

Paul Krugman is an American economist, columnist, author and intellectual. He is a professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University, a centenary professor at the London School of Economics, and an op-ed columnist for The New York Times. In 2008, Krugman won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences “for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity.” Krugman is well-known in academia for his work in international economics, including trade theory, economic geography and international finance. His most recent books are The Return of Depression Economics and The Conscience of a Liberal.

Read and respond to Paul Krugman's New York Times blog here.

Between Two Ferns

2009-11-05T22:51:00.003-05:00

Zach Galifianakis is an absolute nut. He was awesome in The Hangover and also in Visioneers. Now I've stumbled upon a series of "interviews" he's done on Will Ferrell's Funny or Die website. Classic. Here are all 6 for your enjoyment:

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis from Between Two Ferns

(MY FAVORITE ONE:)

Between Two Ferns With Zach Galifianakis from Between Two Ferns

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis from Between Two Ferns

Pearl Jam

2009-11-03T12:41:00.003-05:00

Wednesday night October 28th, after a long wet cold day in Philadelphia, it's time for the main reason for the trip: PEARL JAM. Nice. Ten Club fan club tickets on the floor of the arena. Social Distortion opened up, then Pearl Jam goes on and plays for almost 3 hours. Fantastic. They rocked. Absolutely rocked.

Video from my seat of their opening tune:

The setlist:

Wachovia Spectrum Arena

Oct 28, 2009

Set 1

Encore 1

Encore 2

"Down" featured Mike Ness and Johnny Two Bags. "Just Breathe" and "Lukin" featured a string quartet

Philadelphia

2009-11-03T11:42:00.015-05:00

OK, so recently we had the weekend trip to DC, followed immediately by the Yo-Yo Ma concert Monday, and immediately followed by a Tuesday night post-work flight to Philadelphia, PA. Boom, boom, boom. I'm here, I'm there, I'm everywhere. The reason for the trip? A Pearl Jam concert Wednesday night. The beauty of this trip? No vacation days required.

DC? No vacation.

Yo-Yo Ma? No vacation.

Pearl Jam? No vacation.

Tuesday, work 8-4. Scheduled flight out of Raleigh at 7:35pm. Concert Wednesday. Flight out of Philadelphia 8:20am Thursday. Work 2-10 Thursday. Whew.

But, before the concert, there's sightseeing to do. PLENTY of historical items to peruse in Philadelphia. Sadly, it rained the entire day. So the entire day was spent wet and cold and soggy and miserable. Here's what occurred:

Start off with a 9:45am tour of Independence Hall.

Then THE room inside the building where the Declaration and Constitution were debated and voted upon:

The courthouse that originally housed Congress:

The House downstairs:

The Senate upstairs:

Then it was a visit to the Liberty Bell in the shadows of Independence Hall:

Afterward, a walk (in the ever present rain) to visit Benjamin Franklin's grave at the (open via appointment only) Christ Church Burial Ground:

Then a walk towards Chinatown to catch a cab to travel to South Philly for lunch. The item on the menu? CHEESESTEAKS. The destination, Geno's Steaks:

From there, a walk through the Italian Market and a stop at Anthony's Italian Coffee House for some Pumpkin Latte and a canoli. Time to warm up and infuse some caffeine.

From there, a walk through the South Philly neighborhoods until finally finding a cab-friendly zone. Cab it to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for a cheesy touristy "Rocky" pose at the top of the steps:

Then, another cab to the hotel to drop off any souvenirs, bags, books. A walk from the hotel back towards the Independence Hall area to acquire some dinner. But on the way...

American Philosophical Society museum:

American Philosophical Society library:

Carpenter's Hall, home of the first Continental Congress:

Then a walk for (a planned) dinner at City Tavern, home of many a discussion and debate concerning revolution. However, I stumbled upon a beer geek nirvana of unparalleled proportions: Eulogy Belgian Tavern. Revisited my trip to Belgium one year ago. Belgian food and Belgian beer. However, they don't open until 5:00, so let's continue on to Penn's Landing:

Now, back to Eulogy for a Grilled Three-Cheese sandwich (with tomato and bacon) and some fine refreshment with Vuuve, translated literally to "boobs".

So, my wet, cold, soggy, miles-walked day is complete. From Eulogy there is one final destination for this chock-filled Philadelphia day: Pearl Jam.

Yo-Yo Ma

2009-11-03T11:07:00.002-05:00

A bonus program in the Guilford College Bryan Series of lectures, Monday October 26 saw a concert performance and discussion session with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Third row seats in the orchestra pit. VIP, baby! It was intriguing and engaging. He discussed various levels and pockets of development in his life. I was mesmerized.

No embedding onto websites, so you have to go to YouTube for a brief discussion clip here. His main focus on performance was the Bach Cello Suite. He talked about it being the first cello piece he learned. He broke it down for us all. Pattern recognition is the foundation of most of life. Listen to the patterns. Listen to the repeating theme. Beautiful.

Washington, DC (again) - Sunday 10/25

2009-11-03T10:58:00.003-05:00

Sunday was a relaxing day. Had to be at work Monday morning at 8am, but until then, I could squeeze as much Alexandria time as I could. The entire Brannon clan and I went out for brunch in Old Town on the water. A number of choices are at our disposal. Some of them were not open yet, so it whittled our list down somewhat. Where did we end up? At Chadwick's. French toast with strawberry cream cheese in between? Yes, please.

After brunch, Monica and I did some driving around checking out the real estate scene. Never know what might happen or where if anywhere I may end up. So I wanted to see what you would get for the cost. Eye-opening to say the least.

Afterwards, it got to be about 6:00pm, and time to head home. Sam is drugged, the Jeep is packed, and we hit I-95. 4 & 1/2 hours later, we're home and ready for bed. Another great Alexandria/DC weekend!

Washington, DC (again) - Saturday 10/24

2009-11-02T22:39:00.007-05:00

Saturday, James and I were debating on where to have breakfast: the Brannons' for his world famous omelet, in DC at the Lincoln Waffle House for possibly the best sausage on the planet, or favorite haunt Ben's Chili Bowl. This decision was not to be taken lightly. The first meal of the day is an important one. What to do? Consume a famous homemade omelet??? Go across the street from Ford's Theater and have pancakes and the best sausage in the world? Or maybe, just maybe.....chili on U Street. Needless to say, with Metro travel time, by the time we got up to U Street, it would indeed be close enough to be considered lunchtime. Ben's it is!!! And what a delicious lunch it was...

From Ben's, we Metro'd back inward in DC to 7th and F. There's rumors of a particularly delicious beverage to be found at the District Chophouse: Bourbon Stout. So James and I bellied up to the bar, and ordered a couple of "warm up" pints before the grand finale: Bourbon Stout. Yum!!!
Satiated beyond belief, we walked over in the rain to the Newseum to make sure we got a good seat for a 4pm program: "The Future of News: Investigative Journalism...How Will It Survive?" The main attraction? An appearance by the man himself, Bob Woodward. Giddy! Being Newseum members, we RSVP'd to get first dibs on seating before the unwashed masses. And it worked. We were there about 3:00 and ended up in the front row on the floor. Nice. Perfect view of the interview. It was taped and will be broadcast sometime in January for PBS.

What I like to call "Take 1":

And what I like to call "Take 2" (with a YouTube upload since it's too large for Blogger):

And of course afterward, as a nightcap before heading back to Alexandria, a stop at Gordon Biersch for some fine schwarzbier. And the final photo of me with a girlie. James was on a mission to get my photo with whomever amongst the hotties he could find along our travels:

Washington, DC (again) - Friday 10/23

2009-11-02T20:55:00.012-05:00

It's been a while, fair reader. Been quite busy around here. Trips out of town. Workin'. And a sudden debilitating case of a snottily clogged cranium. All have taken me away from my usual quiet time here with you on these pages. Never a dull moment for me. Let's catch up, shall we?

After work on Thursday October 22nd (yes, that's over 10 days ago) me and the pooches pile into the Jeep and travel one state northward to Alexandria, VA to crash at the Brannons. Late after arrival, James and I begin the first of our two cinematic critiques. We'd been arguing back and forth via telephone, email, and Facebook on the merits of Citizen Kane and Touch of Evil. I am firmly in the Kane camp, James in Evil's. Late, late Thursday...into the wee hours, and the cinematic gem Citizen Kane is in the books.

Early Friday morning after scarce sleep, and it's time to hit the Metro at Huntington Ave. to make my way into DC. First stop? The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. They were having a special exhibit on Charles Darwin and his travels, writings, and theories. Quite interesting. I'm always a sucker for a good museum exhibit. And I am always amazed at the cursory glance some museum-goers give the displays. I know I am a notoriously s-l-o-w museum visitor as I read everything, but some people looked as if they were speed walking through the place.

From here, I Metro it over to Capitol South and walk up to the Library of Congress, specifically the Thomas Jefferson building. Absolutely beautiful here. Unless you're a Congressperson or a researcher, you cannot actually enter the reading room. (I ask every time.) But still, they have some sort of exhibit going on all the time. And the tour is nice. Ornate and grand and a spectacle. All for books. The Library of Congress is yet another of the multitude of structures in DC that fascinate me. The architecture amazes me. Since my recent relationship meltdown, I found solace in a previous trip to DC and a book purchased there at the Hirshhorn Museum entitled How to be an Explorer of the World. It's full of tips and tricks to take note of the small things around you that you probably pass up countless times a day. Buildings in DC offer up a variety of discovery points and minutiae that thousands may miss. Like for example these chaps holding up the facade of the LOC:

Pretty cool. I always enjoy the quiet and solace of the LOC. The books and books that must lie in wait behind the scenes. Thomas Jefferson's donation to the new nation after a fire destroyed virtually all the original library. Awe-inspiring.

After the LOC, it was a few blocks walk northward past the Capitol, past the Supreme Court, to my destination near Union Station for a late lunch: Capitol City Brewing Co.

Belly full and thirst quenched, I hopped back on the Metro to the Smithsonian stop for that was the closest stop to my next destination, my favorite in all of DC: the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. Without a car (or a tour bus) there's just no easy way to get there. So me and my plodding feet hoofed it from the Mall, past the Dept. of Agriculture, past the Holocaust Memorial, past the Bureau of Engraving & Printing, down to the tidal basin and around its edge to the (in my opinion) most stately of presidential memorials. I love it. So I walked and walked and walked, then made it up all the steps, then just sat and pondered and meditated for a while. I brought a Jefferson book or two for kicks, so after sitting quietly in the rotunda where his statue stands, I sat on the steps of the Memorial and read. Instead of reaching and searching for things to bring me joy, sometimes it's just the little things that do it: sitting on the steps in front of Jefferson, reading about Jefferson, seeing the Washington Monument across the basin, and watching the sun go down. Outstanding.

The sun goes down, it gets chilly, so it's time to walk all that way back to the Smithsonian stop and catch the Metro back to Alexandria. A full day in DC to say the least.

Jeff Coffin Mu'tet

2009-10-20T20:02:00.007-04:00

Last Thursday, I got the crazy idea to drive over to Black Mountain, NC for a concert. Granted, my presence at a musical performance is not all that extraordinary. But this time it was a 2 & 1/2 hour drive one way to the west to Black Mountain, a lengthy concert, the 2 & 1/2 hour drive one way back to Greensboro, then a little thing called "work"at 8am the following morning. Ah screw it...ROCK AND ROLL!!!

The performer? The Jeff Coffin Mu'tet. Who is Jeff Coffin you ask? His website is here. He plays horn for Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and I was introduced to him via the two Dave Matthews Band concerts I attended this past spring where he filled in on horns.

The venue? Pisgah Brewing Co. A quirky brewery set inside an industrial park. The bar is no nonsense, cash only. Plenty of Pisgah taps along with a smattering of guest taps. L-shaped bar with seats for about 20 or so. Oktoberfest, Red Devil, Porter, Solstice all made their way down my gullet throughout the course of the evening's festivities. And at $3.00 for a pint (or $5 for a higher gravity offering) it was easy on the wallet too. All organic brewing here. Means they have to be creative in their concoctions as not all ingredients they might want to use are certified organic. But what they do have at their disposal for ingredients turn into some phenomenal beer...as the medals on the wall would suggest.

The performance was outstanding. The garage doors were open, a fire was roaring in the center of the picnic tables outside, the beer was flowing, the hippies were out, and some funky jazz was permeating your essence and making your feet tap and your head bob. A late, late night that offered me 3 & 1/2 hours of sleep before work, but that's what a barrel of coffee is for. FUN!!!

Sorry the videos are so dark, but I'm sure you can get the idea with the music...

Zombieland

2009-10-20T19:30:00.004-04:00

I'm a little behind on some of my entertainment "goings on", and for that gentle reader (all three of you) I wholeheartedly apologize. Took in some late night brain candy last week after work. Hit the pool hall (won just 1 out of 3) then a 11:30pm screening of guilty pleasure and comically bloody Zombieland.

The trailer:

Humanity is in ruins. Zombies now run rampant feasting on the living (or the recently deceased) for their sustenance. A few hearty humans have survived the traumatic turn of events and band together for survival and, well, the fun of zombie killing. Names mean nothing in this post-apocalyptic world, so to not to get too close, our heroes are known by their destinations: Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, etc. Just trying to make their way through and survive, they battle trust issues along their travels.

Frankly, a fun movie. Woody Harrelson is terrific. Jesse Eisenberg is great with his "how to" list of survival guide tips. A special guest star gives a jolt of comedic flair giving the cameo of all cameos. A solid Matinee.

Now limber up, perform some cardio, and find yourself a Twinkie.

Pretty Hate Machine

2009-10-20T18:28:00.005-04:00

Twenty years ago today: October 20, 1989. NIN releases "Pretty Hate Machine". I am mesmerized. Life and concert-going as I know it changes drastically. From the old Cleveland Agora to my final show in Charlotte this year, NIN has been a mainstay. Trent Reznor may have gone off in a different direction after the "Wave Goodbye" tour, but the creation he spawned will live forever for me.

1. Head Like a Hole

2. Terrible Lie

3. Down In It

4. Sanctified

5. Something I Can Never Have

6. Kinda I Want To

7. Sin

8. That's What I Get

9. The Only Time

10. Ringfinger

I love Sarah Silverman.

2009-10-14T23:43:00.001-04:00

Silversun Pickups in Charlotte

2009-10-11T14:16:00.004-04:00

Saturday night and yet another concert. This time around it was to see the Silversun Pickups. The setting was the GORGEOUS Fillmore down in Charlotte. Photos of the venue are on Facebook here. Just beautiful. Chandeliers, tiered platforms to maximize your view of the stage, bars all around the perimeter. Just beautiful.

Local Charlotte band Sugar Glyder took the stage at 9:00pm. Nice. The lead singer sounded like a meld of Geddy Lee of Rush and Tommy Shaw of Styx. I liked 'em.

Next? Australian duo An Horse on stage at 10:00pm. A woman singer on guitar and a man on drums. Pounding rhythms from just two performers. She reminded me of Tanya Donelly of Belly. Again, I liked 'em.

Then, at 11:00pm, the main event: Silversun Pickups. Loud, grungey, reverb, noise, melodic, quiet, screaming, pulsing bass, violent drumming. WOW. Just such an invigorating show. At 1:00am I was in the Jeep, and at 2:20am I was home to let the dogs outside. This morning I awoke quite sluggish and with a hefty case of tinnitus. An incredible evening. Great show!!!

And to follow along with the lines of my many crushes, in the mold of the girl bass player, I go from (still) adoring Kim of the Pixies to adoring Nikki of SSPU. Ahhhh....

And I already have the glasses and beard like the SSPU keyboardist, so now I just need to get me a hat to complete the enemble.

An Evening with David Sedaris...in Greensboro

2009-10-08T23:32:00.003-04:00

Row F, orchestra center, on the aisle...sweet seats for yet another of my groupie-esque arrivals at a David Sedaris reading. Yes. It's true. I am willing to spend gobs of money to listen, as he says, "to a middle-aged man read out loud."

David was in a particularly good mood tonight. Not sure if it was because he was back home to native North Carolina with family in the audience or what. But I've seen him in Raleigh, in Winston-Salem, in Charlotte, and those time he wasn't nearly as giggly and jovial as he was tonight. It was a treat to see him so happy.

A few short stories, a few diary entries, a bit of Q&A, it was your usual Sedaris evening. The first story was a new one concerning health care and demanding to "take my country back" with the wit of a right-leaning teabagger who is blindly convinced by her left-leaning son to wear not a sombrero with teabags dangling (that would be a tacit acceptance of illegals) but rather a conical hat with the term A.S.S.H.O.L.E. upon it. You know, A.S.S.H.O.L.E. "A Savvy Senior Hoping Obama Loses Everything". Started off the evening juuuuust right. And this time all the stories and essays and commentary stretched out to about two hours. I LOVED IT.

Here's a classic essay "Jesus Shaves" just to give you a taste of what I heard for two hours tonight, smiling every minute:

Garry Trudeau

2009-10-08T11:31:00.003-04:00

Doonesbury in a Time of War.

Wednesday night was the first lecture in the 2009-10 Guilford College Bryan Series The American Experience. Doonesbury cartoonist and satirist Garry B. Trudeau was the speaker. The topic was his coverage of various wars from Vietnam to the present with main character D.B. and his multiple stints and tours in the military. For background and context of his strips, Trudeau makes it a point to go behind the scenes and immerse himself in the story. Trips to Kuwait, Walter Reed Army Hospital, etc. help give the story relevance. If memory doesn't fail me, it was a longer talk than previous ones. Full of historical Doonesbury strips on the screen to augment his talk and give a timeline. Vietnam, Grenada, the Cold War, Iraq I, September 11, Iraq II: all were topics of social commentary in 4 panels in the newspaper. An interesting lecture from an otherwise quiet and publicly mysterious satirist.

Here's a clip posted on the Bryan Series Facebook page (yes, even a lecture series has a Facebook page):

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1125525619636&ref=mf

Garry Trudeau—Wed., Oct. 7, 2009, 7:30 p.m.

Garry Trudeau created the cartoon Doonesbury (in 1970), now syndicated to almost 1,400 newspapers worldwide. In 1975, he became the first comic strip artist to win a Pulitzer at the time, since it is traditionally awarded to editorial-page cartoonists. He was also a Pulitzer finalist in 1990. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1977 in the category of Animated Short Film. Trudeau has been called “far and away the most influential editorial cartoonist of our time.” He is married to the former broadcaster Jane Pauley and maintains a low personal profile.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

2009-10-02T11:01:00.003-04:00

Last Wednesday's movie extravaganza ended with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Three movies (tried to make it four) in one day. A wonderfully satisfying day.

The trailer:

I didn't see the 3-D version, just the regular. Sometimes those 3-D glasses give me a headache, so the regular version it was. A fantastical film of a young inventor whose concoctions didn't quiiiiite turn out well. Until,.....

Living on an island in the Atlantic, the Swallow Falls community lives off the sardine trade. A sardine cannery, fishing tackle, everything related to sardines keeps the island vibrant. Until the sardine demand plummets, leaving the town to subsist on their wares that won't sell. And suddenly the gray skies seem grayer, and the sardines become a drudgery to consume.

The savior is our young inventor, whose first successful invention turns water into food. And once the first cheeseburger rainstorm occurs, the island turns itself around. And of course, once a good thing happens, people want more. The mayor sees a cash cow and demands more and more. Can the invention handle the demand? What happens when people get all that they ask for? Can the proverbial day be saved?

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Really. Full Price for me.

9

2009-10-02T10:46:00.003-04:00

This past Wednesday was mega-movie day. After Extract and lunch at Natty Greene's, the 2nd film of the day was 9.

The trailer:

An animated film concerning a post-apocolyptic world where machines have overtaken humans and nine little patchwork creations scurry about with their attempt to survive. A seemingly mix of The Terminator, Star Wars, and The Lord of the Rings.

Fascinating animation and a heavy story. What more would you expect when the name Tim Burton is involved? It had a dark story, but the similarities to Frodo (along with his voice) and the whole "I'm going to stay uber-positive during these dark times and we're gonna DO IT!" was a bit out of place for me. The visuals were stunning, the other parts not so much. Entertaining, yet I felt it could have been heavier and would have more to tell.

Matinee.

Extract

2009-10-02T09:59:00.003-04:00

Had a day off Wednesday. I have been having a shitty work schedule lately, carving into my free time and my more enjoyable activities. So, to compensate, Wednesday saw a whopping three films viewed. THREE! It was to be four, but my dinner plans were skewed and it ran into the final 9:35pm showing of Movie #4. So three it was.

The trailer, including the final few seconds of it that just makes me laugh so hard I physically choke:

Mike Judge goes from Office Space to Extract. The boss as fool in 1999 to the boss as empathetic character in 2009. A potpourri of everyman (and woman) in the workplace environment, with Jason Bateman the approachable owner of a food flavoring extract company. Storylines not about the fantastically obtuse, but "regular" people. For example: the small business built from the ground up. Not a huge auto manufacturer, not an enormous plant, but a small town company where the CEO knows the names of everyone on the floor while they make and package a passion....food flavoring. The wife whose sweatpants equate to a chastity belt. The dreadfully dull chatterbox of a neighbor. The town's big name personal injury lawyer who's a big name because he advertises on bus benches.

Your everyday small town life, until a beautiful drifter rolls into town and turns everything on its head. The hardest part for me was to separate the voice. Mila Kunis does the voice of homely Meg on Family Guy, and it was difficult to see beauty with THAT VOICE come out.

This being said, it was struggling to make a Matinee score. HBO would probably suffice, but I'm feeling generous and will go for Matinee.

Spiced Winter Ale

2009-09-27T14:49:00.006-04:00

In order to have this ready for the winter holidays, I went ahead and brewed this one up Saturday. Instead of my usual yeast starter in a growler and a vigorous shake whenever I walked by it, I got myself a new toy for the job: a magnetic stir plate. A constant stirring to introduce oxygen and get the highest cell count possible for brewday. And I have to say, after brewing was complete, it was an astounding 30 MINUTES before bubbling occurred in the blow-off tube. Wow. A good investment.

This holiday brew is spiced with a potpourri-esque concoction right at flame-out. Smelled delicious with all sorts of cinnamon and mace and nutmeg....your basic Christmas potpourri aromas.

As far as brewing environment, I was desperate for some fun and levity and brighter moods, so even though it was drizzling and at some points a steady rain, I set up my brewery regardless in the backyard by the patio and went to work. Well, "work".

The recipe:

1 lb. Simpsons Dark Crystal malt

6.3 lb. Gold Malt Syrup
1 lb. Light Dry Malt Extract

1 oz. East Kent Goldings hops, 5.3% AA, at 60 minutes

1 Whirlfloc tablet at 15 minutes to clarify

1/2 oz. mulling spices at 0 minutes

Safale S-04 yeast

Smelled delicious. The mulling spices came in a 1 oz. bag, so I am debating using the second 1/2 oz in secondary. This kit was from Northern Brewer, and after customer reviews, it was determined that a full ounce of spices at flame-out resulted in drinking perfume. I'm wavering on adding just a smidge more into secondary, but we'll see how it smells upon transfer next week.

The National Parks: America's Best Idea

2009-09-26T22:22:00.003-04:00

Way back when on these very pages (specifically on July 12, 2008) I mentioned the news of Ken Burns's next documentary about the National Parks. Well, on Sunday September 27, 2009 it will finally arrive. The 6-day, 12-hour feature concerning these beautiful glorious places is upon us on PBS.

Everything Burns touches is mesmerizing to me. And this newest project will surely not disappoint. What a great week it will be next week to sit down for two hours a night and be cast under a spell.

"The parks represent our best selves."

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

2009 Great American Beer Festival winners

2009-09-26T17:37:00.007-04:00

Two North Carolina brewers bring home some medals. Woo-HOO!!!!!!

The entire list of winners can be found here. But more importantly, here are the winners from NC:

Category: 18 Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer, 110 Entries
Bronze: Duck-Rabbit Barrel Aged Baltic Porter, The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery, Inc., Farmville, NC

Category: 39 Baltic-Style Porter, 16 Entries
Gold: Duck-Rabbit Baltic Porter, The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery, Inc., Farmville, NC

Category: 75 Imperial Stout, 56 Entries
Bronze: Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout, Foothills Brewing, Winston-Salem, NC

Congratulations to Paul and Jamie! You've done NC quite proud.

Red Oak brewery tour

2009-09-25T23:59:00.007-04:00

To help shake out the cobwebs of a rather nauseating week, and to help get my mind back on track, I decided to do something fun and head over to Red Oak Brewery in Whitsett for their weekly Friday 3:00pm tour. It didn't really completely reset the brainwaves, but it kept my mind free from otherwise shitty thoughts and moodiness for an hour.

Your basic brewery tour, complete with shiny stainless steel and a re-hash of the brewing process for my umpteenth time. But for as many tours as I go on, as many stainless tanks I see, as many speeches about the brewing process I hear, they're all enjoyable regardless.

The different aspect from this tour however is that Red Oak is strictly a LAGER brewery. No ales. So the brewmaster tainted his speech to the wondrous beer that is a lager and frankly poo-poo'd many aspects of the ale.

- They abide by the German Purity Law of 1516 (the Reinheitsgebot) and only use malted barley, water, hops, and yeast. There are over FOUR HUNDRED possible additives and preservatives in those ale bastards! Oh the horror! What poisons! What crap! Quick, someone inform the Belgians!!!!

- Lagers ferment at a cooler temperature, resulting in less characteristics like the warm-temperature ale's fusels and esters. And hangovers and that "blah" feeling are a result of the ale by-products. Really? Seriously? Ale fusels and esters? Not from dehydration? Really?

- Never mind that in 1516 not ALL beers were lagers. There were certainly some ales brewed at warmer temps back then, but you would think that the cold-fermented lager has been around for 500 years.

Aside from the "yay lager / boo ale" rubbish, it was a neat tour. I always marvel at the brewery when driving past at night with those tanks lit up behind the enormous glass wall. Their beers are "meh" to me, but the process and their commitment to all-lager brewing is commendable. And the new bottling line was neat to see. Red Oak had up to now been strictly keg/draft sales only. Now they are reaching out to the bottled market in only 12-packs to cut down on paper use. Also, the bottles will be UV-inked so that you won't have to become ill from seeing a crooked paper label on the beer you buy.

Even with the frankly anti-ale propaganda spewed forth making it a bit much to choke down, it was a nice hour to get away from the muddled mess that is my current psyche.

The Age of Stupid

2009-09-22T23:41:00.005-04:00

A "green" movie advertised strictly by word-of-mouth (thanks for the heads-up Rep. Dennis Kucinich!) that tackles the issue of global warning. Documentary meets dramatization. Entered the Guinness Book of World Records for a film premiere: 400+ American cities and 60+ countries. To cut down on environmental carbon "build-up", instead of cans and cans of celluloid shipped across the country, it was a satellite link-up simulcast from New York City. Kinda cool to see live pre-screening footage on the big screen. Raleigh, Charlotte, Asheville, and Concord were the NC towns screening it. Concord it was.

Anyhoo, the trailer:

"Why didn't we save ourselves when we had the chance?"

The director was inspired by Steven Soderbergh's film Traffic, with its multiple characters and their intertwined stories concerning the drug trade. For this, there are multiple characters and their own particular stories (the wind turbine engineer, the African woman dreaming of the medical field, the entrepreneur in India and his airline startup, the Hurricane Katrina survivor, etc.) and how they relate to global warming.

Fascinating. Think Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth with added drama. Rising tall in the watery Arctic in the year 2055 is a "storeroom" of the world's antiquities and preserved animals, and one sole human prepares his computer transmission to the stars trying to fathom why we did what we did to ourselves in hopes someone out there could understand why we sentenced our entire world to extinction.

The film ended with a rather dark pallor, but luckily afterward the live feed occurred again with comments and interviews with global figures. This lightened the mood. The focus was Copenhagen in December 2009 and the update of the Kyoto Treaty. 77 days until Copenhagen. 77 days to work out a truly worldwide deal to combat this issue.

Less than 1% of scientists do not believe in human behavior affecting global warming. 2015 is the common year targeted as the pinnacle of the bell curve where the world's "healing" can begin to sweep down the curve. Afterward it may be too late to reverse the upward global temperature rise. 2 degrees yields catastrophe, 6 degrees yields extinction.

A wonderfully introspective film that causes much discussion, and hopefully changed behavior. We are seemingly living within an age of stupid. Luckily, this stupidity can be reversed.

Will we?

Picnic

2009-09-21T16:38:00.004-04:00

First show in the new Triad Stage season for William Inge's Picnic occurred, and the season tickets were used Saturday night. Before the show, the Managing Director made his customary announcements before the performance, and in addition to the usual speech he added that they were having drawings from among the season pass holders, and MY NAME was picked for a weekend stay at either the swanky O.Henry Hotel or the Biltmore Hotel here in town. Wow....great. Just....great. Too bad this couldn't have happened BEFORE the shitstorm of my recent life occurred. Anyone want to hang with me in a Greensboro hotel for a weekend? I'll show you a good time. ;-)

Anyway, this post is basically a little "hey this is where I went" and not a full "let me delve deep into the storyline and ponder the meaning" because frankly I was cast into a rather shitty mood beforehand and could not adequately pay attention throughout. I give serious thought to paying again to see it and really concentrate on the story, etc.

Basically, a 1950s rural Kansas town has a community picnic scheduled and a dashingly handsome man blows into town and, willingly or not, sends everyone into various states of upheaval. “I feel sort of excited…I think we plan picnics just to give ourselves an excuse—to let something thrilling happen in our lives.” -–Mrs. Potts

A glorious evening: two of my liberal mancrushes!

2009-09-18T02:39:00.003-04:00

President Bill Clinton with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show??? Holy crap, I squeal like a little school girl.

Tonight they edited the interview to fit within their television time constraints, but here are all three parts to the full interview. Again, I squeal.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Exclusive - Bill Clinton Extended Interview Pt. 1

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Healthcare Protests

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Exclusive - Bill Clinton Extended Interview Pt. 2

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Healthcare Protests

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Exclusive - Bill Clinton Extended Interview Pt. 3

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Healthcare Protests

200 years later, a proper funeral.

2009-09-17T18:18:00.005-04:00

Just received an email today from my local chapter of the Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, an organization to which I am a member. Upon the bicentennial of his untimely and mysteriously death, Captain Meriwether Lewis finally gets a proper military funeral.

The upcoming newspaper story:

A melancholy outcome

October commemoration recalls the death of Meriwether Lewis

By Tom Dillon

HOHENWALD, Tenn. -- Between 2004 and 2006, the United States celebrated the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It was a look back at the first crossing of the continent by citizens of the United States, and it was a commemoration of the opening of the West, for better or worse. Millions of people followed the trail of explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and their Corps of Discovery. It was an eventful three years even for the Indian tribes, many of whom participated with rather mixed feelings. It's easy to depict the expedition as an American triumph.

Now, however, comes the denouement. October 11, 2009, is the bicentennial of the apparent suicide of Meriwether Lewis, leader of the expedition. That's the day he took his life, about 3 a.m. at a lonely inn along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, southwest of Nashville.

That's what most history books say, at least, and neither Clark nor President Thomas Jefferson saw reason to suspect anything else. Jefferson wrote three years later, in a short biography of Lewis, that Lewis had from early life "been subject to hypocondriac affections" -- his version of what we would today call clinical depression. The disease ran in Lewis's family, and it apparently ravaged his life after the expedition was over.

Others differed, saying Lewis was murdered, and the argument still goes on today. Even the chairman of a Meriwether Lewis commemoration, set for Oct. 3-7 in Mississippi and Tennessee, thinks the explorer was probably murdered. “The facts just don't add up,” said Tony L. Turnbow, a Franklin, Tenn., lawyer who has followed the story of Lewis and Clark for years. Some even support exhuming the body for a forensic examination.

But more important, says Turnbow, is that Lewis, despite his inestimable service to the country, never had a proper funeral service. He was buried along the Natchez Trace – then a woods path from Natchez to Nashville, today a scenic highway similar to the Blue Ridge Parkway – and for years his grave wasn't even marked. Today there is a monument at a small park along the trace, as well as a reconstruction of the small inn, known as Grinder's Stand, where Lewis died. But there was no real service.

So that, along with a recounting of Lewis' life, is what Turnbow and the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation are planning. The foundation, which has headquarters in Great Falls, Montana, is the primary organization overseeing this last event of the Lewis and Clark bicentennial.

It will be a melacholy event, Turnbow admitted. There will be a re-enactment of Lewis' arrival at the inn, and even two gunshots – those two shots are one of the things that bother Turnbow, for the record – at some point. But the event, titled “Courage Undaunted – The Final Journey,” is a necessary commemoration, he said. Lewis and Clark followers from all over the country are expected to show up for it and for a four-day symposium dealing with the aftermath of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

The symposium is scheduled for the Whispering Woods Conference Center in Olive Branch, Miss., Oct. 3-6, while the commemoration will take place Oct. 7 at the Meriwether Lewis park and Grinder's Stand reconstruction up the Natchez Trace Parkway near Hohenwald, Tenn. One of the speakers will be Peyton C. Clark, a descendant of William Clark, and descendants of the Lewis family will preside over a wreath-laying. The 101st Airborne Infantry Band will perform.

The Meriwether Lewis site itself is a peaceful place some 40 miles north of the Alabama-Tennessee state line. It's at milepost 385.9 on the Natchez Trace Parkway (meaning it's that far from Natchez). The northern terminus is at milepost 442.3 outside Nashville. The land is rolling hills and wooded, an oak-hickory forest, with several sections of the actual trace available for hiking. In many places, you'll find the old route a deep depression in the topography, testifying to the Indian, French, Spanish and American traffic on it through its lifetime. Further south, there's Spanish moss around.

Lewis' monument is in the form of a broken shaft, signifying a life cut off at mid-point. It was originally erected in 1848 with the base reconstructed in the year 2000. The inscription reads, in part, “His melancholy death occurred where this monument now stands and under which rest his mortal remains.”

Nearby are a picnic area and campground, a ranger station and the Grinder's Stand reconstruction – through Turnbow took pains to point out that the cabin is not an exact replica. No one today really knows what the old cabin looked like, he said. Today's building was built by the Works Progress Administration in 1935 as a “representative cabin.” There are plans for new visitor's center on the site, but no building schedule. And perhaps that's fitting, because the whole place leaves one with a sense of something left hanging. That was the situation almost from the start.

To begin with, Lewis' death left the Louisiana territory without a governor – he'd been assigned to the job not long after returning from the west. More important was that Lewis died without rewriting his journals for publication. His death meant a long delay in their release to the public -- neither Clark nor Jefferson wanted to undertake the massive editing that would be required. The journals were not published until 1814, near the end of the War of 1812. They sold slowly, and for those reasons, it was many years before Lewis and Clark were properly credited for their accomplishments. In some respects, one can say their accomplishments are only now becoming fully appreciated.

Jefferson, however, never soured on Lewis despite what happened, saying that the country had been deprived "of one of her most valued citizens." In a 1813 letter, the now-former president wrote that Lewis possessed “a firmness and perseverance of purpose which nothing but impossibilities could divert from its direction. ... I could have no hesitation in confiding the enterprise to him.”

And those are the ideas that Turnbow and his associates want to get across. “What we want to accomplish is to help people understand Lewis as a real human being,” he said, not a plaster model. “We hope this will be something that people will always remember.”

Information about “Courage Undaunted – The Final Journey,” is available from the Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation at P.O. Box 3434, Great Falls, Mont. 59403. Or call (888) 701-3434, or visit the website at lewisandclark.org.

I may not be a hunter, but I do so enjoy cooking meat.

2009-09-17T17:09:00.004-04:00

Awwwww yeahhhhhh....new grill a-comin'. The ol' Aussie grill finally died. So many replacement parts were needed, it would just behoove me to purchase a new grill. At least that's the reasoning I gave myself.

And purchase one I did: Big Red. 750 square inches of enameled cast iron grating.

My prize is the Char-Broil Big Red 3-Zone Infrared Grill. Billed as "infrared" heating, but rather it's more of a radiant heat. Instead of directly over flame causing flare-ups an whatnot, this one has a u-shaped "trough" above the burners that radiates heat to the food. The trough will allow me to add wood chunks for smoking, liquids for steaming, and collect an easy cleanup of drippings. Goes up to 700 degrees for searing or down low for slow BBQing; my heat range choices are wider than the old one.

It's big. And it's pricey. So to minimize any screwing up that I may do, I'm having my people at the Home Depot assemble it and deliver it to me. Can't wait!!!

Booker's Porter

2009-09-12T12:41:00.008-04:00

Saturday had all the trappings of a busy day: various Big Ten college football games on TV, finish labeling the 3 batches I recently bottled, a 5:30pm 2010 Dominican trip meeting, and the primetime Ohio State game vs. USC. I wanted to brew up a beefy porter to be ready for the cooler months too. So instead of cramming more into my Saturday, I went wild and enjoyed a night brew session on Friday.

I have been ordering a lot of supplies from Northern Brewer up in Minnesota. Flat $7.99 shipping no matter how much I order. A lot of a la carte ingredients and grains to formulate my own recipes. Well for the winter months, I wanted to do a robust porter and a spiced winter ale. These are higher alcohol brews and are definitely warming sippers for those "cold" NC nights. They require about 2 months of sitting to mellow out the fire and round out the flavors. As a result, to have them ready for cooler weather, I need to brew them now. Anyway instead of a la carte, for these styles I figured I'd give Northern Brewer's kits a try. Boxes with all the ingredients ready to go.

The recipe:

1.0 lb Simpson's Chocolate Malt
0.5 lb Simpson's Dark Crystal Malt
0.5 lb Simpson's Black Malt

2 lb Wheat Dry Malt Extract @ 60 minutes
6.3 lb Dark Malt Syrup @ 15 minutes

1 oz Chinook hops, 11.1% alpha acid @ 60 minutes
0.5 oz East Kent Goldings hops, 5.3% AA @ 15 minutes
0.5 oz East Kent Goldings hops, 5.3% AA @ 5 minutes

1 Whirlfloc tablet @ 15 minutes

Danstar Nottingham dry yeast

This was my first experience with adding malt late in the boil. Usually all the malt is added after the specialty grains steep and are boiled for the full 60 or 90 minutes. Adding LME with 15 minutes to go is a new one for me. We'll see how it changes things.

The beauty of this beer will be in the secondary fermenter. There I will add bourbon-infused oak cubes and a full PINT of bourbon. Toasty oak wood plus bourbon on top of a firm porter? This one should be good.

And as far as brewing at night in the backyard instead of during the day in the garage/driveway? Definitely much cooler, and easier to clean up. I might move brewing operations to the backyard more often...

Inglourious Basterds

2009-09-10T23:55:00.004-04:00

The trailer:

A Quentin Tarantino film, so you know there will be two common themes: the love of film, and violence. Tarantino pays homage to films of yore with an opening credits reminiscent of old timey films. Also, "Chapter 1" of the film harkens back to westerns: "Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied France".

Multiple storylines intersect here. The SS colonel "Jew Hunter" and his quest: utilizing uncanny investigational techniques and skill. The Jew who escapes the hunter only to plot her own revenge. The Tennessee yank who heads up the Basterds to hunt Nazis, demanding 100 scalps per solider. Yes....scalps. Nazi second-in-command Goebbels and his eye for cinema and promoting his newest propaganda star. The British (with a snappy Mike Myers and his penchant for accents) and their attempt to utilize a film critic soldier to work with a stunning movie starlet double agent and infiltrate the Nazis. Hitler and his move to boost morale by attending the cinema in plain sight of the party. And the bold rewriting of history by Tarantino with a boisterous end of the war scenario.

I didn't realize just how long this film was until it was over. Over 2 1/2 hours? Didn't seem like it in the least. It moved. It didn't bore. And it also wasn't appropriate for the squeamish. There wasn't an overloaded overbearing amount of gore, but it's Tarantino so it was in fact integral.

Vying for second with Reservoir Dogs to chase Pulp Fiction in my personal Tarantino rankings.

I enjoyed it. Full Price.

Now on to the debate about the spelling...

Two more drafts; none of which I attended.

2009-09-06T23:13:00.005-04:00

Work forced me to have to auto-draft for two other fantasy football leagues. This brings my season total to 3 teams plus 1 Pick 'Em league. Here are the draft results for my two computer-populated teams. I wonder if I might be better off not thinking at all and allowing the wires and hardware do my dirty work for me.

I did a 2nd ESPN league and a Facebook league. Again, both had no money down on it. I would've enjoyed attending the drafts, but in order to maintain my lavish lifestyle of movies and homebrewing, I guess I really needed to be at work instead. On a holiday weekend to boot!

Anyway, here's the skinny on the two newest teams for me to follow obsessively:

ESPN league #2:

Who's Tall? Dave Logan.

Drafted #1 out of 8 teams.

1. Adrian Petersen, RB - MIN

2. Calvin Johnson, WR - DET

3. Tom Brady, QB - NE

4. Thomas Jones, RB - NYJ

5. Dwayne Bowe, WR - KC

6. Darren McFadden, RB - OAK

7. Antonio Gates, TE - SD

8. Matt Schaub, QB - HOU

9. Knowshon Moreno, RB - DEN

10. Cedric Benson, RB - CIN

11. Steelers, D/ST

12. Laveranues Coles, WR - CIN

13. Lance Moore, WR - NO

14. Ted Ginn, WR - MIA

15. Dolphins, D/ST

16. Robbie Gould, K - CHI

And then in my Facebook league, with some highly suspect pre-draft rankings if you ask me. But I went with it. It's just for some good fun anyway...

Brian Sipe's Chin Dimple

Drafted #5 out of 8 teams.
1. Drew Brees, QB - NO
2. Marion Barber, RB - DAL
3. Reggie Wayne, WR - IND
4. Marques Colston, WR - NO
5. Pierre Thomas, RB - NO
6. Antonio Bryant, WR, TB
7. John Carlson, TE - SEA
8. Titans, D/ST
9. Ryan Longwell, K - MIN (all kickers drafted in Round 9????)
10. Darren McFadden, RB - OAK
11. Reggie Bush, RB - NO
12. Donald Brown, RB - IND
13. Steve Breaston, WR - ARI
14. Santana Moss, WR - WAS
15. Kevin Walter, WR - HOU
16. Sammy Morris, RB - NE

We'll see what happens this year....

THIS is what domination looks like.

2009-09-06T12:26:00.004-04:00

I weep for the competition. Behold. I submit to you, the mighty Greensboro Biergarteners draft:

Picking 6th out of 10 teams:

1. DeAngelo Williams, RB - CAR

2. Steve Slaton, RB - HOU

3. Philip Rivers, QB - SD

4. Vincent Jackson, WR - SD

5. Dwayne Bowe, WR - KC

6. Felix Jones, RB - DAL

7. Owen Daniels, TE - HOU

8. Titans, D/ST

9. LenDale White, RB - TEN

10. Matt Hasselbeck, QB - SEA

11. Kevin Walter, WR - HOU

12. Steve Breaston, WR - AZ

13. Earnest Graham, RB - TB

14. Jets, D/ST

15. Mason Crosby, K - GB

16. Phil Dawson, K -CLE

Just cut me my winning check now. Greensboro, for the WIN!

OH NOES! The big bad president will talk to your kids! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

2009-09-06T11:27:00.002-04:00

Double Brew Day #3 - Gordon Original Pilsner & English Dark Mild Ale

2009-09-03T23:41:00.013-04:00

Wednesday saw a much beloved day off, so it was decreed that it would be a brew day. A double brew day. Knock out two batches. On the schedule? My first stab at a pilsner, a clone of my adored Czech beer Pilsner Urquell ("Pilsner Urquell" = "original pilsner"), and an easy-drinking low alcohol English Dark Mild Ale. Milds are so difficult to find around here, and bottled varieties seem to suffer on the trip across the pond, so the only alternative is to brew your own.

The green hat? One of my September 2008 German souvenirs. A green felt hat made in Germany, with the requisite feather in it. Granted the pilsner I'm brewing is based on a Czech recipe, but the German vibe can only help when brewing a lager. Always going for good brewing karma.

I received inspiration for tackling a lager through my cold-conditioning of my Duvel clone, which saw the carboy keep at a steady 42 degrees in the garage fridge; plus from a blog I follow, Homebrew and Chemistry and his inaugural foray into lager brewing. Figured, what the hell, give it a try. Can't know how it will turn out until I try.

The pilsner recipe (the lightest [in color] beer I've ever brewed):

2 oz Vienna Malt
2 oz Carapils Malt
8 oz Crystal Malt 10L

6 lbs Pilsner Dry Malt Extract (DME)

2 oz Czech Saaz hops 2.5% alpha acid @ 60 minutes
1 oz Czech Saaz hops 2.5% AA @ 15 minutes
1 oz Czech Saaz hops 2.5% AA @ 5 minutes

WLP800 Pilsner Lager yeast

Notice the absence of my usual Whirlfloc tablet to clarify. At 15 minutes I throw one in to help clear the beer. And of course, in the lightest colored beer I've ever brewed where a bright clear yellow finished hue is desired, I forget to throw one in. Dammit.

Lager temperatures and fermentation times are much different from ales. MUCH different. For the usual ale, it's one week in primary, 2 weeks in secondary, then bottle. The cold-water bath in the sink that I've been doing lately keeps it within the ideal 68-72 degrees. Before I just left it alone in the ambient temperature of the house and it would be 76-78 degrees. Lagers, such as this pilsner, require much colder temps for the lager yeast to thrive. Here's my planned fermentation schedule for the pilsner:

One day in the sink's cold-water bath.

Move the primary for 2 weeks into the garage fridge.

Remove for two days to allow the temp to rise in a "diacetyl rest".

Transfer to secondary and move back to the garage fridge for 2 months.

Diacetyl is a buttery off-flavor. Some styles yearn for a butterscotch flair. In a crisp and bright golden yellow pilsner, absolutely ZERO diacetyl is desired. The 2-day rise in temp is supposed to burn off the diacetyl and have the yeast "clean up" the beer for a short time before it's back to the cold.

Lager yeasts ferment at colder temps (obviously from the planned schedule) and for longer periods of time. So no mere 3 weeks before bottling like the ales.

So after the pilsner, it was a darker brew: a mild. Milds are low alcohol, sessionable beers that can be consumed in mass quantities with no noticeable drunken stupor resulting. Going down to the English pub for a pint o' mild. So challenging to find a good mild on the shelves, so I did what any good homebrewer who wanted a particular style of beer but couldn't find it would do: brew my own.

The recipe:

5 oz Crystal Malt 60L
5 oz Crystal Malt 120L
4 oz Black Patent Malt
4 oz Chocolate Malt

4 lbs Extra Light Dry Malt Extract (DME)

1 oz East Kent Goldings Hops 5.4% alpha acid @ 60 minutes

1 Whirlfloc tablet @ 15 minutes to clarify

WLP002 English Ale yeast

This one will stay in primary for one week, then with no real need to clear up in secondary, will go directly into the bottle and be ready to drink a mere month after brewing. Nice and easy. Plenty of flavor in a low alcohol brew. Roasty and tasty with minimal bells and whistles. I enjoy a good mild.

So Wednesday was an enjoyable day in the garage with pleasant temperatures in the low 70's, almost the high 60's. Comfortable. And, for brewday entertainment, I watched and made sure no one fell off the water tower on the corner as they repainted it:

My first trip to Cleveland Browns Stadium!

2009-08-31T23:26:00.006-04:00

Saturday. Preseason NFL football. The Tennessee Titans travel to play my beloved Cleveland Browns. One of my cohorts in our little "North Carolina roving Browns party" on Sundays has had season tickets with 3 other guys for the Browns. One of them mentioned wanting to get out of it due to his sadness and frustration with the Browns' lack of success. I chewed it over, asked Art if it were to occur if he might be game, then proceeded to buy out the disenchanted owner.

Art and I own 1/4 of a set of Cleveland Browns season tickets.

Giddy.

So, our first game was Saturday. I used to go to quite a few Browns games pre-1996 when the "original Browns" were still around and not the Baltimore Ravens. But since 1999 when the "new Browns" returned, I had not been to new Cleveland Browns Stadium yet. Impossible to buy tickets online. Sure, I could probably buy some in person from a scalper in the Muni Lot, but that's difficult to pull off from down here.

Flash? Meet Section 504, Row 23, Seats 15-16.

Sure, they're high up. Sure, it's August 29th we began to get COLD. Sure, the players look like ants. But it doesn't matter. We have guaranteed tickets to BROWNS GAMES for the foreseeable future. And that can't be measured empirically.

Opening kickoff:

And I kept recording Joshua Cribbs and his kickoff/punt returns just in case something BIG happened, but this one was the best that would occur:

This was just too, too cool. I LOVE IT!!!!!

Dayton, OH is destroyed.

2009-08-31T23:15:00.009-04:00

Friday morning. 7:00am. I hit the road for Dayton, OH. (Amazing how this anti-morning person can get up early when it's for something sweet.) By 2:00pm, I'm at Art's house. By 3:00pm, me Art and Doogie are at our first destination: Chappy's Taproom. 30 taps, and 27 of them craft brew. Nice. Appetizers and Stone Brewing Co.'s Sublime Self-Righteous IPA. A black IPA. Powerful.

Next? To the University of Dayton campus and Dewey's Pizza. The three of us met up with Shelley and the kids and all 7 of us DEVOURED some pizza. The cool thing is Dewey's allows you to split a pizza half-and-half with two different styles. So in total, 6 different pizza styles were killed. Yum.

Then, off to see a Midwest League minor league baseball game: the Dayton Dragons vs. the Lansing Lugnuts. (How great are minor league team names?) Lansing pulls out a 5-1 victory. We got some season tickets from someone that wasn't going, so we had a great spot along the third base line:

Three of us Kappa Psi boys had a great time.

Then....the carnage truly took form. After the game we arrived at The Dublin Pub for some post-game libations. We paid the $5 cover at the door, and upon entering a pretty blond, a "Guinness Girl", approaches us and asks "Guinness 250?" We all think, "$2.50 for a Guinness? That's a good price! Sure! Bring us 3!" Little did we know that it was a special brew: the 250th anniversary Guinness beer. For free. Nice!!!

We sit and listen to the Irish band, Uncle Hamish & the Hooligans. I only know the name because apparently in my fog I purchase two of their CD's. Art and I got some face time with Liam, the bagpiper. They have a bagpiper. And his name is Liam. Kick ass.
Then, it was just blotto all night long. In addition to the pints of Guinness 250, I got the bright idea to order up shots of Jameson's. After all, it's a frigging Irish bar. Ugh. Felt like crap the next morning, but I did manage to down my tried and true "med cocktail" before bedtime to avert a truly nauseating hangover. And it worked! Dayton was successfully destroyed.

I heart Jeremy Scahill

2009-08-31T23:02:00.002-04:00

jeremyscahill: Is "war criminal" one of those forbidden phrases on TV?

(And as an aside there's also Tom Morello:

tmorello: Orwell right! Dick Cheney calling torture "enhanced interrogation". Perhaps war criminals like him will one day face "enhanced prosecution".)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

It's official: NC is "beer country".

2009-08-27T19:14:00.002-04:00

After all, CNN says so.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/getaways/08/27/beer.country.travel/

Raise a glass to 'beer country'

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Craft beer has turned popular brewing towns into travel destinations
Experts say Oregon, California and North Carolina offer some great brews
Wherever you go, make sure to talk to locals to get insider brewpub suggestions

updated 9:36 a.m. EDT, Thu August 27, 2009

By Breeanna Hare
CNN

(CNN) -- When it comes to taking spirited vacations, wandering a vineyard falls flat in the face of handcrafted brew. With more than 1,500 breweries across the United States, beer is not just a drink -- it's a destination.

Wooden barrels of beer are just part of the draw at The Lost Abbey Brewery in San Diego, California.

1 of 3

"What's happened is that the old world has influenced the new world; the U.S. is now a travel destination for beer, [even] for people from outside of the country," said Julia Herz, craft beer program director at the Brewers Association.

"What's so great about beer is that you have this range," said Randy Mosher, author of "Tasting Beer: An Insider's Guide to the World's Best Drink." "It's from 3 percent alcohol to 20 percent, from super malty to very hoppy, and then you throw in stuff like fruit, spices -- you have an enormous range of possibilities."

With such a wide flavor profile, said Stephen Beaumont, author of "Premium Drinker's Beer Guide," beer travel is less about hanging out at the brewery and more about the tasting. In other words, don't look just for an incredible brewer, but also for an incredible city in which to drink beer.

Although it's a highly contested question that Herz calls "fodder for late-night philosophical conversations," there are a few brew towns that these beer aficionados identify as the cream of the hops.

Eat, drink and brew local

If you didn't know that Portland, Oregon, is synonymous with "Beervana," then you clearly need an introduction to the beer scene.

"In a lot of ways, [it's] a very highly developed town for craft beer," Mosher said.

The city has a reputation for going local, and Portland thoroughly applies that philosophy to brewing.

Don't Miss

"When you live in Portland, you become entrenched in the whole hops and malts [thing] because you're living right where it's being produced," said Portland resident Angelo De Ieso of beer site Brewpublic.com. Thirty percent of the world's hops come from the Pacific Northwest and Idaho, De Ieso said.

The other major pull is the "high concentration of breweries," Beaumont said. "Portland is a fairly small compact area, [but] they've got a free transit system, and they've got brewpubs chockablock."

Higgins Restaurant and Bar is a great place to get advice on navigating the local beer scene, according to Beaumont. And while you're there, you can sample their impressive beer list including Oregon-bottled Rogue Morimoto Imperial Pilsner and The Bruery's "Trade Winds" Triple out of California, a brewer that Beaumont notes is "up-and-coming, doing phenomenal stuff."

As for breweries, De Ieso said "the one that really stands out is Upright Brewery with their Belgian farmhouse style beers."

Another stop has to be Hopworks Urban Brewery, an all-organic brewpub fully powered with renewable energy. "They do a lot of the standard styles of Northwest beers, like the IPA, which is our flagship beer," De Ieso said. Try the signature Hopworks IPA for a taste of Pacific Northwest flavor.

SoCal brew style

Much further south, in San Diego, California, you'll find what Beaumont calls "a hotbed of innovation," where the beer tends "to be a little stronger, with more alcohol."

And while "all of California could be considered the state from which the innovators of craft beer came, San Diego specifically grabbed the golden ring from the merry go round and ran with it," said Matt Simpson, a craft beer consultant.

So when you're talking San Diego-style beer, for most beer geeks you're talking about The Lost Abbey. "The most notable guy right now is Tomme Arthur at Lost Abbey. He was one of the early adventurous brewers in Southern California," beer tasting expert Mosher said.

Known for Belgian-style beers and a "flavor first" philosophy, beer expert Beaumont said "they're doing some really innovative, interesting stuff in terms of barrel aging and unusual fermentations, beyond basic brewers yeast."

Beer experts also fawn over AleSmith, a microbrewery that has been pumping out diverse, high quality ales since 1995. "The special beers that they do are astounding, if not sublime," Simpson said. "They do a barrel-aged series, and those beers are limited to 250 bottles or less, so you can imagine the supply and demand market for them."

Flavors of the South

Although other beer lovers often skip over the South because of restrictive brewing laws in some areas, Simpson insisted that some of the best brew can be found below the Mason-Dixon line.

"One of my top three is North Carolina, with Asheville being the center of that. Not only is it a really fun place to visit, they make amazing beers," he said. "There's Foothills, a brewpub that has a breakout hit called Sexual Chocolate, an imperial stout that put them on the map of craft beer."

Simpson also touts his home stomping grounds, Atlanta, Georgia. "We have one of the top five beer bars in the world in the Brick Store Pub, across the board," Simpson said. "You can go to Greatbeers.com, Ratebeer.com, Beeradvocate.com -- they're rating the Brick Store Pub as one of the top beer bars in the world. And if you're here for a few days you can hit breweries like Sweetwater, 5 Seasons, and Twain's."

Whether your drink town of choice is San Diego or Philadelphia, San Francisco or Boston, Beaumont recommends chatting up locals for clues on the local beer scene.

"Beer is a social drink, and beer people love to talk about the beer," he said. "You can find a local or savvy visitor who can tell you about something you've never heard of, and that makes it a phenomenal experience.

Visioneers

2009-08-25T22:18:00.004-04:00

Not sure how it happened, or what I ordered, or what theater or film festival mailing list I'm on, but I had received an unsolicited email from B-Side Entertainment. They were touting an independent film that sadly was going straight-to-DVD, Visioneers. It seemed eminently entertaining: mindless office drones called "tunts", the threat of spontaneous human explosion, giving someone the finger as a friendly "hello", the Jeffers Corporation (the most successful corporation in the history of humankind) is so interwoven in society that the greeting of "Jeffers morning" is given. For $15 or however much it was, how could I go wrong? And soon it was in my mailbox.

The trailer:

Sort of an Office Space meets George Orwell's 1984 film. Billed as a "dark comedy", but there wasn't much blatant humor in joke form. Just outlandish and bizarre situations and characters to give the film its smiles.

Emotion and dreaming are the seemingly plausible cause of a growing epidemic of human explosions. Mindless cog George Washington Winsterhammerman, visioneer and Level 3 tunt, begins to have dreams. This frightens him. Is he about to explode?

Stress and emotion are the culprits. What better way to combat the growing threat than to neuter the minds of the masses then to dull them into quiet submission with mind control. And what better corporation to distribute the devices than the Jeffers Corporation? After all, the president of the United States shills for them.

George's relationships are all bizarre. The employees under him at work are a mixed bag of odd. His invisible supervisor (Charisma) on Level 4 is one to ask that his work be completed by a certain time, yet leaves sticky notes of smiley faces on his papers. His mindless wife abides by the latest book bandied about by a talk show maven, 1000 items to do or acquire to make you happy (silk robes, butter, a shotgun). His brother leaves Jeffers as a Level 5 ("a king among men") to find his roots and personal happiness. Never mind that his quest brings him to pole vaulting and leading a carnival commune in George's backyard.

What's better, to lead a drone existence with no chance of explosion? Or actually LIVING and experiencing emotion and dreams with the possibility that the next flirtation with increased heart rate and blood pressure will kill you instantly?

Dark and edgy. No real "new ground" here. Your basic "submit to your corporate master" film. Your basic "group think and mind control" film. Again, Office Space + 1984 is the mold.

Straight to DVD, but I found it above my HBO score and would have paid Matinee price for this one.

Assault weapons at health care town halls...

2009-08-24T00:15:00.003-04:00

August 22, 2009. Real Time with Bill Maher.

"What do you think they would have said if it was Muslim men wearing Muslim garb who were showing up at these Obama events with assault rifles? You think they would have the same defense from the NRA?"

Think about it.

Double Brew Day #2 - Orange Pale Ale and Gaius Plinius Secundus

2009-08-22T00:41:00.008-04:00

Thursday saw a much-revered day off from work, and consequently an entire day full of brewing adventures. Two beers on the docket: Orange Pale Ale and a clone of Russian River Brewing Co.'s uber-hoppy IPA Pliny the Elder, named here by his Latin moniker Gaius Plinius Secundus.

First off, a pale ale infused with the essence of orange peel for a hoped-for juicy kick. With the variety of homebrew soon to be had in inventory, I wanted a basic pale ale for the masses to consume. But why make a "normal" pale ale? So I searched and researched and found some things to my liking that I cobbled together and hope will please.

The Orange Pale Ale recipe:

8 oz Crystal Malt 60L
8 oz Vienna Malt

9 lb Light Dry Malt Extract (DME)

1 oz Cascade hops 7.1% alpha acid (AA) @ 60 minutes
1 oz Cascade hops 7.1% AA @ 10 min
1 oz Cascade hops 7.1% AA @ 5 min
1 oz Cascade hops 7.1% AA @ 1 min

1 Whirlfloc tablet to clarify @ 15 min

1 oz coriander seed @ 5 min
2 oz sweet orange peel @ 5 min

WLP001 California Ale yeast

After primary fermentation is complete, for 2 additional weeks the carboy for secondary fermentation will include:
2 oz Cascade hops 7.1% AA
1 oz sweet orange peel

Hopefully the general public will approve.

Once that batch was racked over and the yeast pitched, it was time to do a quick clean-up and sanitation to begin brew #2, the Pliny the Elder clone. This is a huge double IPA with bursts of hops for the most addicted hophead of the bunch. If you've been following my homebrewing exploits, you may notice a common theme with hop additons: 1/2 to 1 oz of hops at minute 60, 15, and 5. Done. Usually 3 oz total. Wait until you get a load of THIS recipe!

8 oz Crystal Malt 40L
8 oz Carapils malt

9 lb Light Dry Malt Extract (DME)
0.4 lb corn sugar (to give extra fermentables and dry it out)

4 oz Columbus hops 14.2% AA @ 90 min
1 oz Columbus hops 14.2% AA @ 45 min
1 oz Nugget hops 11.2% AA @ 30 min
1 oz Centennial hops 8.0% AA @ 0 min
3 oz Nugget hops 11.2% AA @ 0 min

Whirlfloc tablet @ 15 min to clarify

WLP001 California Ale yeast

Then, once primary fermentation is complete, we transfer to secondary and in this fermenter we add:
1 oz Columbus hops 14.2% AA for 14 days
1 oz Centennial hops 8.0% AA for 14 days
1 oz Nugget hops 11.2% AA for 14 days

Then, after 9 days, for the final 5 days we add:
0.5 oz Columbus 14.2% AA
0.5 oz Centennial hops 8.0% AA
0.5 oz Nugget hops 11.2% AA

Whew. Hops galore for the boil. I mean, LOOK AT THEM!

A glorious full day of sanitizing, brewing, cleaning, racking, pitching. Now my kitchen sink is rendered out of commission for one week due to the "keep the primary fermentation at properly reduced temperatures" trick (notice the Maple Pumpkin Ale and Coffee and Oatmeal for Breakfast carboys in the background):

Due to the enormous amount of hops added to Gaius Plinius Secundus, 8 gallons of water were added for the initial boil to compensate for absorption and volume loss. Once the threat of horrendous boilover ceased, the result? The boil rocked. Hard.

The inventory and variety grows...

Fox News: The New Liberals

2009-08-20T23:18:00.001-04:00

I guess I should change my viewing habits now. It's Sean and Bill-o for me from now on!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Fox News: The New Liberals

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Healthcare Protests

District 9

2009-08-20T14:06:00.004-04:00

Went to go see yet another movie in the queue: District 9, a documentary-esque exposé on a stranded alien spaceship hovering over Johannesburg, South Africa.

The trailer:

Pretty riveting allegory. And yes it is quite allegorical, as the tale is heavily influenced by South African apartheid and the social consequences of that failed ideology. The director is a young 29-year-old South African, and his experiences growing up shape the film. Racism, xenophobia, fear of the strange all run rampant.

The aliens have been stranded for 28 years now, and have begun to form humanlike qualities: violence, gangs, theft, prostitution; all the vices of a society. Revolted humans force the aliens into a segregated camp, District 9. Eventually, overcrowding and paltry living conditions result in the government instituting a forced eviction into newly minted District 10, miles and miles away from town. Mousy MNU agent Wilkus van der Merwe is set to take charge of the eviction. Until a dreadful accident occurs, throwing Wilkus into the world of the aliens.

Of course, it wouldn't be a good "evil government" scenario without the need to understand alien weaponry. Weaponry that is tied into alien DNA, rendering it useless to humans. Consequently, the powers that be are determined to find the key to humans using alien technology...and brutal experiments to achieve this knowledge are the result.

Bloody and gory. Who knew humans were similar to water balloons filled with blood when they explode. The grainy documentary footage results in many a camera lens splattered violently.

Powerful and thought-provoking. Forces you to consider similar human atrocities over the years against any ethnic group or race that is defined as "lesser".

Full Price.

Death panel debate! Classic.

2009-08-19T23:41:00.002-04:00

"ObamaCare isn't about killing anyone. Given his Kenyan birth and background, I'm pretty sure his plan focuses on tribal medicines and holistic shaman cures based on leaves and roots and other kinds of Serengeti magic."

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Healther Skelter - Obama Death Panel Debate

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Healthcare Protests

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

2009-08-15T23:43:00.006-04:00

Disclaimer: as a kid growing up, my best friend Brian and I played relentlessly with our G.I. Joe guys. I was so looking forward to this movie. The first ad played during the Super Bowl last February had me excited for months.

The trailer:

And then? I went to see it. Ugh.

The cast:

Good guys: Hawk, Duke, Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Heavy Duty, Breaker, Ripcord.
Bad guys: Baroness, Cobra Commander, Storm Shadow, Destro, Zartan.
Shall I go above the garage and bring down my action figures for you?...

This movie was just..horrible. Not Transformers 2 horrible, but horrible. (I guess Hasbro toys make sucky films?) The special effects were pretty cool, albeit slightly stuttered and disjointed. But the plot? The dialogue? The character development?

Ugly.

Dare I say, for my beloved G.I. Joe? A paltry Wait for HBO score. Disappointing.

This being said, it was set up predictably for a sequel. And as horrible as this was, I will most assuredly see the sequel. And I know the suits in the movie studio know this. I am an enabler. Put out crappy product and the public will still see it. I feel so dirty.

At least it had the redeeming quality of hot babes in black leather and rubber fetish wear.

Funny People

2009-08-15T23:03:00.003-04:00

Friday night. Yes, it's true. Sometimes I really pay full price to see a film. And on a Friday night even! The historical "date night". I know, insane. Fellow Dominican relief trip cohort Sabrina and I hit up Funny People. (And by "Dominican" I use it as an adjective for the relief trip, not the person. Sabrina is not in fact Dominican.)

The trailer, complete with some pottymouth words so, you've been warned:

A long film. A lot of storylines crammed into one film. The lives of struggling vs. established stand-up comics. The interdependent lives of three Hollywood friends (two struggling). The face of mortal illness. The opportunity to turn around one's life with a second chance. The relationship with that one woman who you loved (love) most. The possible reconnection with past love. The consequences with respect to interpersonal relationships.

A lot of ground to cover.

Granted it's a Judd Apatow film (The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up) so this one has that particular brand of comedy with the usual suspects. But it's a drama first and foremost. The comedy is the icing on the cake, or the gravy with dinner: the comedy is not the main course, but it's a tasty garnish. If you're expecting full-blown Adam Sandler / Judd Apatow raw humor (ahem, Sabrina) you may be disappointed.

That and it's oh so long.

A score of Matinee for me.

Moon

2009-08-15T22:21:00.005-04:00

WOW. This. Was. Excellent. I've been waiting for this one to arrive, and it finally hit one of the local theaters. However, it didn't hit the usual haunt for low-budget, independent, and thoughtful films. It was at an older theater that has fallen off my radar once two newer ones opened up. Regardless, I'm insanely glad SOMEONE showed it.

The trailer:

Wow. WHAT a film. David Bowie's son (did I just type that? His SON?) directs a splendid mindfuck. A milder version of 2001: A Space Odyssey complete with creepy voiced computer, voiced here by Kevin Spacey. Sam Rockwell plays an astronaut on the moon. The Earth's energy needs have finally been solved by mining moon rock for He3, a natural by-product of the sun's rays on the moon. Easy. Clean. Problem-solver. Mining corporations set up bases on the moon and a crew of one minds the fort. Rockwell and GERTY the computer are the only inhabitants. Until...

It's so hard to type anything without giving anything away! Needless to say, the story takes a turn and what the character(s) think(s) he(they) know(s) is upended. Again, WOW. So good.

AND, as an added bonus Clint Mansell, formerly of the band Pop Will Eat Itself, did the soundtrack. Eerie. Epic.

Easy Full Price.

NC HB 392...four years later

2009-08-13T10:01:00.006-04:00

August 13, 2005 - North Carolina "Pops the Cap" with HB 392 and the beer world rejoices.

Time flies when you're enjoying the finer things in life, like locally brewed barleywines, imperial stouts, double IPAs, and the like. Four years. FOUR YEARS!!!! Today I brought out my bottle of NC's FIRST post-cap brew: Carolina Brewing Co.'s "Old 392 Barleywine". My last bottle. Won't drink it today. Just wanted to look at the label and produce a warm smile. I'll probably hold onto it for Year Five and do something special with it at whatever celebration that may occur then.

Celebrate grassroots legislation today. Celebrate North Carolina craft beer. Celebrate the cause of Joe Citizen contacting their legislators to produce valid change and MAKE A DIFFERENCE with respect to their passion. Raise a pint high.

Sure, it may be "just beer" you say. But regular people changed an archaic law. Regular people made pilgrimages to Raleigh. Regular people sent out mailers. Regular people made phone calls. Regular people attended fundraisers. Regular people told the government YOU WORK FOR US and this is what we want you to do.

And with that, any change is possible.

Tweet Boxx Ep. 8

2009-08-10T20:05:00.000-04:00

Sadly "Season 1" comes to a close...