This morning began with Dragonet being unable to open her car door ('95 Mercury Mystique). I went to help her, and we got the passenger door open, and she crawled in and headed off to another day of training. About 15 minutes later, she called in minor hysterics and said she couldn't get the window down to wave her card at the gate to get into work parking. So she came back home and I gave her the keys to the Intrepid. She handed me keys from her keychain, and I stuck them in my pocket.

At 8.45, I went downstairs to head to work. It should be noted that my left knee, which was acting up after the Xmas blizzard, had been stiffening up over the weekend, and was bad enough that I wore the brace to work (which was a 10 hour day, yay monies!). It was worse this morning, swollen and stiff and painful. I managed to get dressed, put on my coat, and reached into the pocket to pull out the keys. What emerged in my hand was the key to the van. Fortunately, we had a spare set of keys to the Mystique in the basket by the door. I grabbed them and hobbled out to the car to try and open the driver's door. Alas, the electronic mechanism was not interested in playing in the balmy 8˚ temp, so I had to clamber in the passenger door and slide across into the driver's seat. Then it was off to work, where I discovered that the windows still were not working, so I had to clamber out, gimp around the car to wave my magic card at the reader, then gimp back and re-insert myself (not a euphemism) and drive into the garage.

So, of course, in my hobbled condition, the big job of the day was installing cut vinyl lettering at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art fora new exhibit of donations made to the museum in honor of its 75th anniversary. Which involved a fair amount of clambering up and down a ladder while trying to get the letters to politely peel off the premask and go onto the wall. This took most of two hours, and then there was the long walk to and from the installation area, which left me feeling like I should be playing Chester in a summer stock production of "Gunsmoke: The Musical." The trip there and back was made in an SUV with the middle seat racked all the way forward to make room for the box of vinyl, and I was jammed in sideways, which made getting out almost as bad as with the Mystique.

After finally getting back to work at 2p and a brief lunch, I spent the rest of the day slaving over a hot table laminating* and prepping yet more Ha//mark stuff so I can cut it all out tomorrow. At 5p, I limped back to the car, which still wouldn't open. So I slowly forced my way back into the driver's seat, and on a whim tried the electronic lock button. The door lock moved to the open position, so I tried the handle. Amazingly, it opened. Alas, when I shut the door, it didn't latch. However, the window did work, so I rolled it down and was holding the door shut with my left arm as I started to drive home. After a few blocks, I realized I was so preoccupied with all the crap I had failed to put on the seat belt. I pulled it out, and looked at the door handle, and looked at the seatbelt, and decided "what the hell."

I threaded it through the handle, and it was just long enough to snap into the buckle. Didn't keep it fully closed, but enough to keep out the wind and not let the annoying "Hey, assclam, the door is open!" bell ring incessantly. I made it home without further incident, and after disentangling the seat belt, I opened the door, then closed it. Click, said the door. I shoved it, but it did not fly open. I got out, shut it again, and it still stayed shut. Victory! Ideally it will work tomorrow morning (and no, I did not engage the electronic locks).

But back to the knee. It has spent the evening under the care of ibuprofen and ice, and seems a bit better, though still very stiff and swollen (enough that at one point I forgot I had taken the brace off for the evening). If I don't have to work Monday, I am going to try and get into the KC Free Clinic on Main and get it looked at. My friendly neighborhood Tully thinks I tore the meniscus. In any event, to document this, as I did last winter's Bruise Banter, here is photo one of the Big Knee (it's my left knee, thus the one on the right in the photo. The other one is included for contrast, and to show that even when healthy, my knees ain't right).

What was the #1 song on the date of your birth? Google it and post the results, they said. All the cool kids are doing it, they said. Toss in some YouTube, even!

The double A-side single "Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog," by Elvis Presley was in the middle of a month and a half run as the Number 1 single in the US. Thankfully, by the time I began to pay attention to radio, it was just in time for the British Invasion and Motown to save music from Elvis, Pat Boone and the hell that was the late '50s, musically.

Hre's my favorite cover of "Don't Be Cruel, by Cheap Trick.






Bun E. Carlos FTW!


And here's Big Mama Thornton (the firt artist to record the original Leiber & Stoller version of "Hound Dog"), with Buddy Guy:





Sweet. Now it's your turn.

I did listen to these Friday morning but didn't have time to post as I had to go to work early, which I did all this week, as well as working on Monday, my normal day "off" (without pay). Jon took the week off, and of course we had a sudden influx of super rush stuff from Ha//mark, so I had to step up. In order to get one of these "Oops, we didn't get our files ready until now, but we still need the product back tomorrow" things done, I went in this morning for four hours. If only this was a harbinger of enough regular work to go back to full time, but alas not so much. In any event, I had a full 40 hours last week for the first time in almost a year. I had forgotten how much more work that was. And now, the tunes.


1) Immigrant Punk, Gogol Bordello

2) Driving Around (Radio Storm), Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians

3) RR vs. D, Au

4) Neon Orange Glimmer Song, Mountain Goats

5) William Howard Taft, The Two Man Gentlemen Band

6) Magpie To The Morning, Neko Case

7) Making the Run to Gladewater, Michelle Shocked (Live 08-1990)

8) Cat Food Sandwiches, David Lindley & Wally Ingram

9) Tell Her No, Zombies

10) Cherub Rock, Smashing Pumpkins (1996-11-15 - Ice Palace)


And now, the rest of the story:


11) Ultra Modern Nursery Rhyme, Terry, Blair & Anouchka

12) Safety Of Distance, Lior

13) Country Punk (live at WFMU), Psychedelic Horseshit


What with the new hard drive and all, last week I found myself with 19,999 songs in iTunes, and I was paralyzed by the thought of what song I wanted to be the magical 20Kth. It was really messing with me, until I realized that I'd probably be bouncing over and under that number several times as I culled songs* and added new ones.


*In fact, I have already dumped song #10 above, as it was a really crappy live bootleg version of my favorite Smashing Pumpkins song.

not tough enough to walk 12 blocks in high heels."

Ex-Saints QB Bobby Hebert to lead drag parade in New Orleans on Sunday, wearing a dress made for him by his daughter.

Viad Deadspin.

Only ten today, since I have to head out momentarily to the dentist's to find out how bad the situation with the post that fell out is. Lucky moi.

1) Two-Lane Highway: Preacher Man..., John Zorn

2) Joy (Demo Version Guitar), Nilsson

3) Poison Arrow, ABC

4) Stone Free, The Jimi Hendrix Experience

5) Theone, Lambchop

6) Burned, Neil Young

7) She's Lost Control, Joy Division

8) Claustrophobia, Logical Disorder

9) You Got Yr Cherry Bomb, Spoon

10) Riders Version, Dry & Heavy

After a day of working that involved actually working for the whole day for the first time in way too long, I joined NPulsier and Gisele at Waldo Pizza (the best damn pizza in the metro area by a long shot) for a beer tasting. Schlafly* was hosting a special evening with their Bourbon Cask aged Imperial Stoud from 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. The last of the list was on tap, the rest were in bottles. It was quite interesting to be able to compare the different vintages directly. The weakest of the lot was the '07. The '06 was amazing, and the '08 and '09 both have a great deal of potential to improve with proper cellaring. If you have an opportunity to pick up any of these, do so. It is definitely worth it.



*Yes that Schalfly, but the ones who are doing good

Here’s my conclusion: the only strong evidence we have that Oklahoma Senator James M. Inhofe isn’t a clown is that his car isn’t small enough.

Further deponent saith not.

As is true with so many things, I have accumulated a collection of beer mugs and glasses over the years. Some were direct purchases, others came as part of a package deal with the beer. Just before McGowanmas, I received a package in the mail from Roger "Pinky" Tener, head of the Dawn Patrol, chief pilot for White Knuckle Airlines and all-around great guy. He is also, like myself, a fan of the Firesign Theatre, and inside the box was this fine addition to the collection. It holds a full (US) pint, and fits in my hand perfectly.

Today, after having dropped off a couple of months' worth of bottles at our handy neighborhood glass recycling dumpster, I ran by Gomer's Midtown to replenish the larder. At one point I looked over at a shelf of glassware, and what do my wondering eyes behold but one of these babies. I've been wanting one for a while, and this was the first time I had seen one. It is now on my desk, holding the last few sips of a Samuel Adams Noble Pils. Obviously, a lot of testing will be necessary to determine if this glass is the breakthrough it's claimed to be, but I am up to the task.

To celebrate the State of Kansas finally getting around to distributing the unemployment extension from last summer/fall, we went the new brunch being offered at the 75th St. Brewery. $12.99/person, all you can eat tables o' food, plus omlettes to order and Eggs Benedict. We showed up just after 11a, and caught the pre-church lull perfectly. The only downside was that the first two beers I tried to order (Dante's Dream, a Belgian ale, and the Irish Red Ale) were no longer available. They were both seasonals, so that happens. Our server then informed me that among the guest beers they had on tap was Unibroue's Trois Pistoles, which I immediately ordered. So when I was heading back to the table with my first plate, I hear the bartender announce "that's the bottom of the Three Pistols." Alas, they did not have another keg, so they gave me the half-glass that had poured as a "taster," and I had the nummy IPA. Good food, good beer, a very good price. I recommend it highly.

Ratings: Trois Pistoles, 7.75; Good Hope IPA, 7.

Sated, we headed into the wilds of Overland Park to hit Microcenter. Ro priced laptops, Dragonet got the adapter cable she needed to hook up her monitor to her laptop, and I was pleasantly surprised to find they had the Sonnet USB 2.0 card I had mentioned in the previous post on hand. A quick stop at Whole Paycheck resulted in the acquisition of two large buffalo chuck roasts ($3.99/lb through next week), and we headed back home.

The new card installed quickly and easily, and boy it makes working with the external drive a whole hell of a lot faster. Joy. Now back to feetsball and cleaning.

I have been remiss in my posting, and there have been so many interesting things to talk about, like driving in the Stephen King-quality fog up to Lawrence last weekend (the road was fine, but there was nothing but white right up to the edges of the highway), watching KU finally wake up and beat Nebraska with NPulsifer (got to taste Magic Hat #9; the description of it as a "Not Quite Pale Ale" is very much correct) and other adventures. But the biggest story, of course, was getting Dragonet her new laptop Tuesday. She is so happy. It's a good thing.

But while I was at Nebraska Furniture Mart picking it up, I got myself a 1T LaCie external hard drive. It was the only one that specifically said on the box that the backup included had a Mac version. Got it set up, partitioned and the initial backup done that night. Wednesday evening, before I went to NPulsifer and Gisele's place to watch KU play Baylor, I began the process of transferring the 105G of tunes on my machine to their new home on the 681G partition. That process continued until this afternoon, almost 48 hours. Obviously, I need to get a USB 2.0 card for my machine. This looks like it will do the job, just need to scrape the shekels together.

The weekend promises a distinct lack of required activities, which is a nice change of pace. Sunday will be spent watching the conference championship games. I am definitely rooting for Nawlins to finally put a stake through Brett Favre's heart (re: last week's NO/AZ playoff game, once again Kurt Warner comes to the Big Easy looking for football glory, only to have his BFF Jesus desert him come game time to spend the day in the French Quarter turning water into Hurricanes*). It's the other game I am conflicted about. I would have no problem sending Peyton and the Colts home, but I really don't want to encourage the spawn of noted sociopath and former coach Buddy Ryan. But then, I remember that GRRM is a Jets fan, and his team making the Super Bowl would make him deliriously happy.


*Note to Smofbabe: the drink, not the U.

Thanks to the wonders of fandom, NPulsifer, Rohanna and I were part of a sneak for "Legion" at the spiffy new AMC Wonder Theater downtown. There were a number of good things: the concession stand carries real beer and wine (though they were out of both bratwursts and Polish when I was there, and I wasn't willing to wait 10 minutes for the next batch). The seating was excellent, with good legroom and a footrest bar. The seats themselves were very comfortable, and had the "Buttkicker" subwoofers in them to enhance the cinematic experience. Overall, the place is very impressive.

After previews for "Iron Man 2: The Ironing,"* "The A-Team,"** and some other films that I have already forgotten, the feature began. I'm afraid they don't have enough beer in the whole complex to make "Legion" palatable. The effects have their moments (the foulmouthed old lady doing the Spider-Man impression is fun), but otherwise this is a sad and silly bit of hackwork, devoid of any redeeming value. As NPulsifer said on the way home, "If you stumbled onto this on HBO, would you watch it to the end? No."

I'm sure there's a theology student out there who can take apart the Biblical butchery of the story, but the Michael and Gabriel interaction had more than a whiff of "Brokeback Heaven"*** to it, and the "Dad always liked you best" ending was mildly amusing, if only because the deus ex machina was an actual deus ex machina! I don't want my two hours back, but it was close. To paraphrase Monty Python, "This is not a movie for watching, this is a movie for lying down and avoiding."



*I am hereby copyrighting, trademarking and otherwise claiming that line for me, damnit! And yes, I have a flag.

**Why? Why? Why? What the hell is wrong with everyone involved in this?

***that one's NPulsifer's; credit where credit is due

That pretty much sums it up right now. Oh, look, tunes.


1) Come Away with Me, Norah Jones

2) T-Bone, Neil Young & Crazy Horse

3) Don't Take Me Alive, Steely Dan

4) If Your Kisses Can't Hold The Man You Love, Rasputina

5) Hawks & Doves, Neil Young

6) Planet Telex, Radiohead

7) Wish You Were Here (feat. Thom Yorke), Sparklehorse

8) Nobody's Fault But Mine, Walter Wolfman Washington

9) Lit Up, The National

10) Sky And Sun, Sun Ra


And the rest


11) Under The Weather, KT Tunstall

12) Lovely Rita, The Beatles (Sgt. Pepper Mono)

13) Nobody's Fault But Mine, Abigail Washburn


A point of clarification: despite the identical titles, (8) and (13) are completely different songs. The latter is a spare banjo-based version of the traditional blues song popularized by Led Zeppelin; the former is a fine piece of funk.

And the usual 3rd Saturday scrum: KanPoly in Lawrence, ConQuesT and KaCSFFS meetings back in KC. On the plus side, Dragonet got her induction notice from the IRS and starts wok Feb. 1. Hooray!

From Deadspin:

Random FKS-Style Tidbit
My eleven-month-old has begun walking. Seeing kids walk for the first time is awesome because they all look like Frankenstein's monster if someone got him shitfaced. TOILET WINE… GOOOOOOD!!!

That is all.

Update: White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on the blatherings of senile Christian douche canoe Pat Robertson:

"It never ceases to amaze me that in times of amazing human suffering somebody says something that can be so utterly stupid."

Amen, or something like it. Thanks to Erik V. Olson for the quote.

I don't think KC quite got to 32˚F today, but it was definitely in the mid-upper 20s, for the first time since before MacGowanmass. The two huge icicles that were spanning the space between the third floor dormers and the second floor roof broke apart and descended this morning; fortunately no cars or cats were harmed during the collapse (we're talking several pieces well over a foot long and several inches thick). There are rumors of the 40s tomorrow!

But that's not what I came here to talk about. I came to talk about chili. This batch turned out particularly well, so I want to get the recipe down while I remember it.

Ingredients:

Olive Oil

1 medium/large yellow onion

half a head or so of garlic (if you're not sure you've got enough, you don't)

5 lbs meat, cut in cubes (I used a 60/40 ratio of beef arm roast and Boston butt [it can be made all beef, but I like the flavor the pork adds, and besides it makes the baby Moses* cry])

1.5 t Dr. Paisley's Reasonably Hot Chili Powder (available from moi! Also comes in Unreasonable)

3/4 t Penzey's® Adobo Seasoning

2 T Penzey's Ancho chili (ground)

1 t Penzey's dried oregano

1 can (16 oz) Swanson's®** Beef broth

1 8 oz package homemade broth

10 oz red wine (I prefer burgundy, but I was on a tight budget and in a grocery store, so this time it's Jacob's Creek Cabernet Sauvignon, siince they were out of Chateau Chunder)

The Process:

1) heat 2-3 T oil in medium skillet.

2) chop onion into small-medium bits. Throw in skillet with oil

3) chop garlic fine and add to onion. Cook on low, stirring occasionally, until soft and glistening, 20 minutes or so

4) heat 1/4 cup or so of olive oil in a 4-5 quart pot. Add the meat, and cook over medium low heat until all pieces lose their pinkness, but are grey, rather than starting to brown.

5) Stir the garlic/onion mix into the meat. Add 1 T ancho, 1 t chili powder, and adobo, stir to blend in. Simmer for a few minutes.

6) Add liquid ingredients, stir to mix. Turn up heat, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Let simmer uncovered for 1.5 hours, stirring occasionally (this is a good time to try the wine, if you haven't already)

7) Taste the chili, and adjust seasonings. In this instance, I added the oregano, the second T of ancho and 3/4 t of chili powder. Stir. Simmer for another 30 minutes, or until meat is done to your liking. If you wish, use cornmeal to thicken the broth.

8) Put in bowl. Add toppings to taste (sharp cheddar). Nom.

This came out pretty well. I am fairly sure it will be better tomorrow after the leftovers have spent the night in the fridge commingling.


*Moses Maimonides, that is

**If Penzey's made a broth, I'd be using it. So glad they opened a store in the KC area. Note to Adam Maker, Puddlediving and JoyflGrl: Penzey's is opening a store in Buffalo soon!

Our local tv stations seem to have a major problem with hiring people who can type up the onscreen crawls and captions (big shock, I'm sure). I think most of ours are originally native speakers of Linear B. In any event, we were watching the CBS affiliate, and I was watching the loop of activities that have been cancelled for tomorrow due to the fact it's too fucking cold˚F right now, with an expected low of -Christ on a popsicle stick˚ overnight and a high of you've got to be fucking kidding me˚ tomorrow.

So amongst the many items* listed was "Baruch Hashem Synagouge, Saturday services." Now, my first thought was that if this was an Orthodox congregation, they wouldn't be watching Letterman to see this information, unless they happened to be married to an Australian atheist who would turn on the tv for them. And then it came around again, and I read it more closely.

"Baruch Hashem Synagouge"

I was not aware that MMA was kosher. Learn something new every day.


*It should be noted that the vast majority of these cancelled items were religious in nature. Where is these people's faith? Just get in the car and floor it, your sky fairies will protect you. I mean, it's how y'all drive the rest of the time. But my favorite item was "God's Open Closet," which will be closed. Further deponent saith not.

. . . and we're back, with some hot tunes to warm you up! Here we go:


1) Renaissance Eyes, Don Dixon

2) Perfect Way, Scritti Politti

3) Things, The Backsliders

4) She's a Jar, Wilco

5) Reckoner (Chark Mu Remix), Radiohead

6) Experience, Gentle Giant

7) Hair Of The Dog, Bauhaus

8) Beaumont Rest Stop, Red Molly

9) Air, Talking Heads

10) Rita, Los Lobos


And the bonus:


11) Half A World Away, R.E.M.

12) Can't Buy Me Love, The Beatles

13) Love Is A Stranger V2-1, Saint Bernadette


And off to work. The knee s mch bettertoday, and I hope to be able to stay off it as much as possible.

Review of the Prime Rib Grill, in the KC Star today. This, to my mind, is the highlight:

If you have the appetite of a rancher, try prime rib Fridays. From 4 to 10 p.m., you can order a 10-ounce cut for $21.95, includes soup or salad and a side, and then you get free 8-ounce cuts until you’re done.

This must happen. And soon. With many people. Nom nom nom.

Went to bed at 12.30a, after reading an incredible story by Peter Watts from the latest issue of Clarkesworld Magazine. (link via Making Light). Go, read, I'll wait.

Early leader in the clubhouse for the 2011 Hugos, am I right?

So once I went to bed, I lay in agony for a couple of hours before giving up and putting the knee brace back on. Knee brace, you say? Why yes, thank you for asking. Monday evening the back of my left knee began prooduucing a stabbing pain in a line down the back of the knee, pretty much centered, when I tried to bend or straighten it out. By morning, the knee was somewhat swollen and did not want to bend much at all. I made it through the day at work, and after several extremely cranky rotations through sitting, standing and moving around and back to sitting, it seemed to be better-ish, though by the time I got home it was swollen to approximately 150% of the size of the other one.

Yesterday, before I left, Rohanna dug up her old knee brace and I wore it for the day. It seemed to keep things in place and under control, while providing me slightly more mobiility than Chester had in "Gunsmoke." I took it off briefly when I got home, and discovered the pain was concentrated in the upper left quadrant of the knee (possibly in part muscle pain due to the knee parts being forced into unaccustomed positions by the brace [my kneecaps are rotated 55˚ along the vertical axis congenitally, and everything else is screwed up trying to keep them in place]).

So, back to this morning. The pain was terrible, so I finally put the brace on and kind of dozed while uncomfortably laying (lying? recllining?) on my back until 6a, when I got up, bundled up, and went out to shovel the snow. The tracks I had scraped out for the cars in the driveway had com[pletely filled up, though some of that could have been due to the vivacious north wind that made the ambient temperature of 5˚ that much more refreshing.

And now I am typing this while trying to find a comfortable position at the desk. Not looking forward to going bck downstairs to take my shower and head off to work (must go, it's payday, such as it is). So if any of you in my tens of readers happen to about knees, please feel free to let me know just how totally fucked I am here. Thanks.

Having survived Avataron Wednesday, we stopped for gas and I was extremely pleased to discover they were carrying "Heritage" Dr. Pepper, made with sugar as opposed to the Demon High Fructose Corn Syrup. I had run across a variant form in Texas, but was amazed it had made the trek this far north (unlike Texas's other main export, armadillos, which have made it up here, but tend to freeze once the temperature gets into the winter area). Upon awakening on New Year's Eve, the family made a trek to Lowe's, where we returned a very lovely oil heater that had a nasty habit of blowing whatever circuit it was plugged into, and not in a good way. We then went to the WalMart next door, where they also had the new/old Dr. Pepper. I was allowed to get two 12-packs of the precious drink. I am assuming this is a short run production, and plan on hoarding the stuff to the maximum extent possible. It that spike in sales convinces the corporate overlords to continue the product, so much the better.

We began the evening at the home of friends where we have spent the holiday before, and a lovely variety of food was available, along with much good company. But I left there at 8.30p or so, to join other friends for a special beerfestapalooza. My very dear friend Bob Hise had emailed members of the KaCSFFS Zymurgists to say he had a bottle Sam Adams Utopias he was wanting to share on NYE. I was fortunate to have some of the 2007 bottling at the Boston SMOFcon, and was more than looking forward to another taste of this unique brew.

The 2009 version did not disappoint at all. According to some online reports, some of this batch was aged for 16 years in scotch barrels, while another part was aged in bourbon barrels. The combined product was then finished in wine casks of various types. It is incredibly rich, with so many different flavor notes it's hard to keep track of them all. The 27% abv* gives it an incredible kick. The highlight of the evening was watching our friend Paul Burns (who works at my neighborhood liquor store of choice*) try Utopias for the first time. The variety of expressions that crossed his face as he savored the first sip was wondrous to behold (and enhanced by the glo-stick "shock collar" around his neck).

In addition to that fine brew, I broke out a bottle of Arrogant Bastard I had brought back from Austin, and Bob shared several of his fine home brews (including an interesting Belgian Golden Ale and an incredible Bell's "Two Hearted Ale" clone that if anything was superior to its inspiration). Finally got home at 3a or so.

On Friday, we were joined by NPulsifer and Gisele and Lyle UU for a trip to Flying Saucer (the person who called for the trip wussed out at the last minute) I had the new stout from Left Hand Brewing, Fade to Black, as well as a generous amount of NPulsifer's choice, Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout, which I had never had on tap. Thick, black, full of malt and hop goodness and redolent of fine bourbon, it's one of my favorites. Even better fresh from the tap.

Today I sorted laundry and ironed a bunch of shirts in preparation for the upcoming work week. The main issue here remains th furnace, which has been on Cheyne-Stokes breathing since we turned it on in November. A new one will be installed over Monday and Tuesday, but that leaves us dependent upon space heaters and cats for warmth until then. An of course we're in the middle of an unseasonable cold snap hereabouts with the low tonight around 5˚, and highs for the week in the teens.

So I'm going to try to keep track of new beers I have had this year, with a rating even. And sometimes descriptions, if I feel like it. Deal. I will start with New Year's Eve, because (much like happy hour) it was the 1st somewhere when I was imbibing.


Sam Adams Noble Pils (incorporating all five varieties of Noble hops): 7.5/10

Sam Adams Utopias 2009: 9.75

Boulevard BBQ Stout 2008 (aged in bourbon barrels with cherries; this bottle cellared for 13 months): 9.25

Zymurgist Belgian Golden Ale: 8

Zymurgist Two-Hearted Clone: 9.25

Left Hand Fade to Black Stout: 7.5

Goose Island Bourbon County Stout (tap): 8.75

And more to come, I hope. As for now, the new decade (and of course it's a new decade, the tens digit has changed. How can any but the most obtusely innumerate not understand that?) has yet to improve on the last one, which had some fine, fine moments, but overall was less than amusing to say the least.


*This amazingly high alcohol content is achieved with a series of specially bred yeasts that can survive the environment, as opposed to most of the "extreme" abv beers, which get there by way of freezing the beer, then removing the ice, thus raising the alcohol content of the remaining liquid. That's not right, say I.

I am free of the tyranny of work until next year, as of 1.30 today. To celebrate, we used the two AMC Gold Passes (good even when they say "no passes") Rohanna got from her boss to experience Avatar in IMAX 3D LSMFT OMGWTFBBQKTHXBAI. We were joined at the Barry Roads facility by the lovely and talented Ken Chalker, who was off with the ladies getting food when the ad for census workers came on during the interminable pre-movie infomercial.

As for the previews, I want to see Alice in Wonderland (and just when I didn't think Anne Hathaway (scroll down) could be any hotter, they made her the White Queen), and I do not want to see whatever the film is that stars Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz (in the opening bit, she walks into him at an airport, and says "Sorry I didn't see you," to which I added, "Because you're so short!"). If they had added Adam Sandler and Jim Carrey to the cast, it would have only been marginally less appealing to me.

Then we put the goggles on, and saw more previews, of an IMAX 3D Hubble movie which I must see, Shrek 43 or somesuch (which I don't), along with others I don't remember. Then, at last, the movie. Short version: it's beautiful, a technological tour de force. While occasionally some of the the 3D stuff didn't seem quite right, it was very rare, and overall it was an amazing achievement, especially the little details drifting around that looked like you could reach out and touch them, as well as the live/CGI interaction. I thought that the Avatar of Sam Worthington looked more like Brendan Fraser, but after seeing the credits I could easily match up most of the Na'vi with the actors who provided the motion capture. Certainly the perpetual twleve-year-olds looking for cool visuals, lots of 'splody and alien chicks with cute tits will be happy.

As for the story, well, let's just say James Cameron has surpassed George Lucas as the director who should never be allowed to write a script. Ham-handed, cliché-riddled steaming pile doesn't begin to describe it (and I'm not going to even get into the whole "white savior" thing, obvious though it was*). I really wanted to immerse myself in the film, but the planet-sized plot holes kept dragging me back to reality. While I am sure this will be on the Hugo ballot and might even win, all the talk of Oscars for anything but effects is ludicrous. I will vote for District 9, Up and Moon over this lump.

I do recommend seeing it, for the riide, and the battle scenes, and in general just to be aware of how good movies can look. Someday all this tech will be used with a good story, well told and acted. I hope.

Update: Here's an excellent discussion of the issue, for those interested.