Intergalactic House of Paisley

Home again

2009-12-08T06:47:30Z

Got back here about 8p local time from the 1500 mile round trip to Austin for SMOFcon. I have been catching up on LJ, the news, email and such, and shall endeavour to post tomorrow about the trip and the con and such divertissments as chatting with a Greenpeace proseltyzer, an amazingly expensive paisely shirt, the flagship Whole Paycheck store and the coolest car I've ever seen, not to mention lotsa barbecue.

Maybe soon I'll be tired enough to go to sleep.

Black Friday "How Much Does It Cost? I'll Buy It" Random 10+

2009-11-27T15:41:46Z

Spent a quiet Thankgiving in Lawrence with Dragonet's mother and sister and way too much good food. While the rest of you are busily stimulating the ecomedy, I have to work, because my boss is a massive douche canoe. And now, some music to get me going.

1) mad boy, Moving sand

2) Powderfinger, Rusted Root (2005-11-26 - The Golden Ballroom)

3) Hello Hello (take 1), The Beatles

4) the book of love, the harvey girls

5) Pony Time, Chubby Checker

6) Seasons Don't Fear The Year, Citay

7) Open Doors, Kira Neris

8) Taxman, The Beatles (Ebbets Mono)

9) Alone Again Or, Gobblehoot

10) Bone Machine, Pixies

And one more helping (it's waffer thin!):

11) Wow (CSS Remix), Kylie Minogue

12) Safety Dance (Original Club Mix), Men Without Hats

13) What Is Life, George Harrison

This weekend's activities include finishing cleaning out the storage unit (one less expense), a housewarming party at NPulsifer and Gisele's new place (tukey will be brined tonight, smoked tomorrow) and the memorial service for John Taylor Sunday. And getting things sorted out for packking for Smofcon. No whist for the wrecked, as usual.

For That Special Time, and that Special Vampire

2009-11-27T04:59:25Z

Via the Bloggess:

"And it glitters."

"They'll Think They're Both Faggots and They Won't Take Either One of 'Em"

2009-11-27T03:22:48Z

This song is called Alice's Restaurant, and it's about Alice, and the
restaurant, but Alice's Restaurant is not the name of the restaurant,
that's just the name of the song, and that's why I called the song Alice's
Restaurant.

You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant

Now it all started two Thanksgivings ago, was on - two years ago on
Thanksgiving, when my friend and I went up to visit Alice at the
restaurant, but Alice doesn't live in the restaurant, she lives in the
church nearby the restaurant, in the bell-tower, with her husband Ray and
Fasha the dog. And livin' in the bell tower like that, they got a lot of
room downstairs where the pews used to be in. Havin' all that room,
seein' as how they took out all the pews, they decided that they didn't
have to take out their garbage for a long time.

We got up there, we found all the garbage in there, and we decided it'd be
a friendly gesture for us to take the garbage down to the city dump. So
we took the half a ton of garbage, put it in the back of a red VW
microbus, took shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and headed
on toward the city dump.

Well we got there and there was a big sign and a chain across across the
dump saying, "Closed on Thanksgiving." And we had never heard of a dump
closed on Thanksgiving before, and with tears in our eyes we drove off
into the sunset looking for another place to put the garbage.

We didn't find one. Until we came to a side road, and off the side of the
side road there was another fifteen foot cliff and at the bottom of the
cliff there was another pile of garbage. And we decided that one big pile
is better than two little piles, and rather than bring that one up we
decided to throw our's down.

That's what we did, and drove back to the church, had a thanksgiving
dinner that couldn't be beat, went to sleep and didn't get up until the
next morning, when we got a phone call from officer Obie. He said, "Kid,
we found your name on an envelope at the bottom of a half a ton of
garbage, and just wanted to know if you had any information about it." And
I said, "Yes, sir, Officer Obie, I cannot tell a lie, I put that envelope
under that garbage."

After speaking to Obie for about fourty-five minutes on the telephone we
finally arrived at the truth of the matter and said that we had to go down
and pick up the garbage, and also had to go down and speak to him at the
police officer's station. So we got in the red VW microbus with the
shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and headed on toward the
police officer's station.

Now friends, there was only one or two things that Obie coulda done at
the police station, and the first was he could have given us a medal for
being so brave and honest on the telephone, which wasn't very likely, and
we didn't expect it, and the other thing was he could have bawled us out
and told us never to be seen driving garbage around the vicinity again,
which is what we expected, but when we got to the police officer's station
there was a third possibility that we hadn't even counted upon, and we was
both immediately arrested. Handcuffed. And I said "Obie, I don't think I
can pick up the garbage with these handcuffs on." He said, "Shut up, kid.
Get in the back of the patrol car."

And that's what we did, sat in the back of the patrol car and drove to the
quote Scene of the Crime unquote. I want tell you about the town of
Stockbridge, Massachusets, where this happened here, they got three stop
signs, two police officers, and one police car, but when we got to the
Scene of the Crime there was five police officers and three police cars,
being the biggest crime of the last fifty years, and everybody wanted to
get in the newspaper story about it. And they was using up all kinds of
cop equipment that they had hanging around the police officer's station.
They was taking plaster tire tracks, foot prints, dog smelling prints, and
they took twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy photographs with circles
and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each
one was to be used as evidence against us. Took pictures of the approach,
the getaway, the northwest corner the southwest corner and that's not to
mention the aerial photography.

After the ordeal, we went back to the jail. Obie said he was going to put
us in the cell. Said, "Kid, I'm going to put you in the cell, I want your
wallet and your belt." And I said, "Obie, I can understand you wanting my
wallet so I don't have any money to spend in the cell, but what do you
want my belt for?" And he said, "Kid, we don't want any hangings." I
said, "Obie, did you think I was going to hang myself for littering?"
Obie said he was making sure, and friends Obie was, cause he took out the
toilet seat so I couldn't hit myself over the head and drown, and he took
out the toilet paper so I couldn't bend the bars roll out the - roll the
toilet paper out the window, slide down the roll and have an escape. Obie
was making sure, and it was about four or five hours later that Alice
(remember Alice? It's a song about Alice), Alice came by and with a few
nasty words to Obie on the side, bailed us out of jail, and we went back
to the church, had a another thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat,
and didn't get up until the next morning, when we all had to go to court.

We walked in, sat down, Obie came in with the twenty seven eight-by-ten
colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back
of each one, sat down. Man came in said, "All rise." We all stood up,
and Obie stood up with the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy
pictures, and the judge walked in sat down with a seeing eye dog, and he
sat down, we sat down. Obie looked at the seeing eye dog, and then at the
twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows
and a paragraph on the back of each one, and looked at the seeing eye dog.
And then at twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with circles
and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one and began to cry,
'cause Obie came to the realization that it was a typical case of American
blind justice, and there wasn't nothing he could do about it, and the
judge wasn't going to look at the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy
pictures with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each
one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against us. And
we was fined $50 and had to pick up the garbage in the snow, but thats not
what I came to tell you about.

Came to talk about the draft.

They got a building down New York City, it's called Whitehall Street,
where you walk in, you get injected, inspected, detected, infected,
neglected and selected. I went down to get my physical examination one
day, and I walked in, I sat down, got good and drunk the night before, so
I looked and felt my best when I went in that morning. `Cause I wanted to
look like the all-American kid from New York City, man I wanted, I wanted
to feel like the all-, I wanted to be the all American kid from New York,
and I walked in, sat down, I was hung down, brung down, hung up, and all
kinds o' mean nasty ugly things. And I walked in and sat down and they gave
me a piece of paper, said, "Kid, see the psychiatrist, room 604."

And I went up there, I said, "Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I
wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and
guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill,
KILL, KILL." And I started jumpin up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL," and
he started jumpin up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down
yelling, "KILL, KILL." And the sargent came over, pinned a medal on me,
sent me down the hall, said, "You're our boy."

Didn't feel too good about it.

Proceeded on down the hall gettin more injections, inspections,
detections, neglections and all kinds of stuff that they was doin' to me
at the thing there, and I was there for two hours, three hours, four
hours, I was there for a long time going through all kinds of mean nasty
ugly things and I was just having a tough time there, and they was
inspecting, injecting every single part of me, and they was leaving no
part untouched. Proceeded through, and when I finally came to the see the
last man, I walked in, walked in sat down after a whole big thing there,
and I walked up and said, "What do you want?" He said, "Kid, we only got
one question. Have you ever been arrested?"

And I proceeded to tell him the story of the Alice's Restaurant Massacre,
with full orchestration and five part harmony and stuff like that and all
the phenome... - and he stopped me right there and said, "Kid, did you ever
go to court?"

And I proceeded to tell him the story of the twenty seven eight-by-ten
colour glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and the paragraph on
the back of each one, and he stopped me right there and said, "Kid, I want
you to go and sit down on that bench that says Group W .... NOW kid!!"

And I, I walked over to the, to the bench there, and there is, Group W's
where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after
committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly
looking people on the bench there. Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father
rapers! Father rapers sitting right there on the bench next to me! And
they was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible crime-type guys sitting on the
bench next to me. And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest
father raper of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean 'n' ugly
'n' nasty 'n' horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me
and said, "Kid, whad'ya get?" I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay
$50 and pick up the garbage." He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?"
And I said, "Littering." And they all moved away from me on the bench
there, and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I
said, "And creating a nuisance." And they all came back, shook my hand,
and we had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, mother stabbing,
father raping, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the
bench. And everything was fine, we was smoking cigarettes and all kinds of
things, until the Sargeant came over, had some paper in his hand, held it
up and said.

"Kids, this-piece-of-paper's-got-47-words-37-sentences-58-words-we-wanna-
know-details-of-the-crime-time-of-the-crime-and-any-other-kind-of-thing-
you-gotta-say-pertaining-to-and-about-the-crime-I-want-to-know-arresting-
officer's-name-and-any-other-kind-of-thing-you-gotta-say", and talked for
forty-five minutes and nobody understood a word that he said, but we had
fun filling out the forms and playing with the pencils on the bench there,
and I filled out the massacre with the four part harmony, and wrote it
down there, just like it was, and everything was fine and I put down the
pencil, and I turned over the piece of paper, and there, there on the
other side, in the middle of the other side, away from everything else on
the other side, in parentheses, capital letters, quotated, read the
following words:

("KID, HAVE YOU REHABILITATED YOURSELF?")

I went over to the sargent, said, "Sargeant, you got a lot a damn gall to
ask me if I've rehabilitated myself, I mean, I mean, I mean that just, I'm
sittin' here on the bench, I mean I'm sittin here on the Group W bench
'cause you want to know if I'm moral enough join the army, burn women,
kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug." He looked at me and
said, "Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send you fingerprints
off to Washington."

And friends, somewhere in Washington enshrined in some little folder, is a
study in black and white of my fingerprints. And the only reason I'm
singing you this song now is cause you may know somebody in a similar
situation, or you may be in a similar situation, and if your in a
situation like that there's only one thing you can do and that's walk into
the shrink wherever you are ,just walk in say "Shrink, You can get
anything you want, at Alice's restaurant.". And walk out. You know, if
one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and
they won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony,
they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them.
And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in
singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an
organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,I said
fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and
walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement.

And that's what it is , the Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement, and
all you got to do to join is sing it the next time it come's around on the
guitar.

With feeling. So we'll wait for it to come around on the guitar, here and
sing it when it does. Here it comes.

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

That was horrible. If you want to end war and stuff you got to sing loud.
I've been singing this song now for twenty five minutes. I could sing it
for another twenty five minutes. I'm not proud... or tired.

So we'll wait till it comes around again, and this time with four part
harmony and feeling.

We're just waitin' for it to come around is what we're doing.

All right now.

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Excepting Alice
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Except Alice

Da da da da da da da dum
At Alice's Restaurant

Hope everyone had a fun, filling and safe day today. Enjoy the long weekend, you lucky bastards; I have to go back to work tomorrow.

Friday "Jimmy I Know That You Want It"* Random 10+

2009-11-20T18:44:48Z

Having swapped days off this week, I have begun a four-day weekend to coincide with our local adult relaxacon, ConTraception. Later than usual this year, but never needed more. And now, on wiith the tunes!

1) He Fiddled While I Burned, Charline Arthur

2) The Future, Leonard Cohen

3) Cold, The Cure, Palais Theatre, Melbourne, Australia

4) Converging In The Quiet, Crystal Stilts

5) zmudowski, dp

6) Mr Soul, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, 10/22/86 Fox Theater, St. Louis Soundboard

7) Wednesday's Child, Emiliana Torrini

8) Message To Harry Manback, Tool

9) James Connolly, Black 47

10) Working Class Hero, Marianne Faithfull

Angelina-approved bonus tracks (she's sitting on my lap as I type, so she must like them):

11) Join Me In L.A., Warren Zevon

12) Sea Change, Jeff Parker

13) Ode To The Prostitute, The Bastard Fairies

Final packing left to do, then off to ConTraception. It will be good to see people again. This lack of con activity is getting to be a real pain.

*Quote from song 13, really.

Fascinating Experiment (with stories!)

2009-11-19T04:04:48Z

This is a very cool idea, indeed. Buy objects at thrift stores, have an author writer a short-short story about one of the object, post item to EBay with story as description. Read the post. Final item is "Jonathan Lethem vs. The Missouri Shotglass." Alas, already out of my price range. The list of authors takes you to the individual stories.

Ganked from Crooked Timber, which also has an interesting post about fonts. No, really!

Friday "How Soon Is Now?" Random 10+

2009-11-13T15:58:38Z

I woe up about 30 minutes ago as I type, raised myself up enough to look at the clock on the other side of the bed, which read 6:47, and flopped back down, secure in the knowledge it was Saturday, and I could go back to sleep. Until I thought about it some more, and realized it was only Friday. Damn. A bagel from Verminusrex and a can of Monster later, and it's music time.

1) eine Handvoll Nitro, The Vampires of Dartmoore

2) Too Drunk To Fuck, Nouvelle Vague

3) Secret Journey, Lucy Kaplansky

4) Across 110th Street (Part 2), Bobby Womack

5) My Love Grows Deeper Part 1, Nelly Furtado

6) Get a Haircut, Dad; Austin Lounge Lizards

7) Sexybacklism, ToToM

8) Uplock The Poprock, Aqua Luminus III

9) The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar, Bob Dylan

10) Burned, Neil Young (and happy birthday to Neil, a day late)

Too much is not enough, so:

11) The Boy Done Wrong Again, Belle & Sebastian

12) Moments In Love, The Art Of Noise

13) Also Sprach Schmilsson Schmixon, Harry Nilsson

The last entry is a unique item, a mashup created by Harry Nilsson of Count Down's abdication and the resignation of Richard Nixon.

Apropos of nothing, this is just sick, bad and wrong Keyboard and monitor protection recommended.

This is the third and last Friday the 13th of the year, which is the most any year can have. Next year there will be only one, in August. Enjoy it, triskadecaphiles! I'm looking forward to a weekend with no agenda, other than some grocery shopping and early preparation for ConTraception 21. Hope to see some of my tens of readers there.

"I Was Born Like This, I Had No Choice . . ."

2009-11-11T02:03:14Z

Last night Rohanna, Dragonet and I had the privilege of seeing a live performance by one of the greatest songwriters of the modern age, Leonard Cohen. Cohen has been touring on and off for over a year now, largely due to his manager having embezzled most of Cohen's earnings. Cohen started out touring in Europe, then covered much of North America, having gotten as close as Denver earlier this year. I had given up all hope of seeing him, assuming he had finished his tour and was resuming his retirement. When I saw the ad for his show here, I was shocked. When we got the tickets, I was even more stunned.

Last night I dropped the ladies off at the Midland, then found a parking place nearby (I had no interest in paying the $10 "event parking" charges for the Power & Light District). Walking back to the theater, I finally allowed myself to believe I was actually going to be seeing this show.

I hadn't been in the Midland since sometime in the '80s, and not since the renovation completed a year or so ago. I was pleased to find that AMC had left the beautiful art deco stylings of the 18927 building intact, and restored the venue to its prime.

At 8p sharp (just like it said on the ticket), nine-piece band came onstage. And then The Man himself, 75--year-old Leonard Cohen, came sprinting to his microphone, dressed in a sharp black suit and fedora. When the first of numerous standing ovations finished, he launched into "Dance Me to the End of Love," and the room became perfectly still. The set list was much the same as the "Live in London" cd/dvd currently available, featuring a mix of classic songs from Cohen's lengthy career. Though he is a little thinner in the higher ranges, that "gift of a golden voice" is still a powerful instrument, and was more than up to the 3.5 hour, four encore show. Early on, he told the audience "I don't know when we'll pass this way again, but for tonight, we're going to give you everything we've got," and he and the band proceeded to do just that.

Without a doubt, this was one of the best concerts I have attended. A once in a lifetime opportunity, ad a dream fulfilled.

On Teh Road Again

2009-11-08T05:04:34Z

The announcement is here! Rohanna and I will be attending SmofCon in Austin, Dec. 4-6, thanks to the good offices of NPulsifer. Looking forward to dining at Stubbs and otherwise checking out the island of sanity in the midst of Texas. Hoping to see lots of my tens of readers there.

Jon Stewart FTW

2009-11-07T04:20:23Z

Out Becking Glenn Beck. Prepare to guffaw. Keyboard and monitor protection warning in effect.

Friday "What the Hell Am I Doing Here?" Random 10+

2009-11-06T15:48:01Z

Another week gone,this one with less drama/trauma so far. I should have an announcement later today, if all goes well. Nothing earth-shattering, but it should be fun. In the meantime, some tunes.

1) Chains And Things, B.B. King

2) Stairway to Bootleg Heaven, DJ Earworm*

3) where there's a will, The Final Solution

4) agrippa's trilemma, gillicuddy

5) Shaded Water, Brian Eno

6) Carry That Weight, The Beatles

7) Girlfriend, Matthew Sweet

8) James K. Polk, TMBG

9) Oxford Comma, Vampire Weekend

10) Butterfly Radio, Avenpitch

yet more:

11) No Self Control, Peter Gabriel

12) Idiot Wind, Bob Dylan

13) Flee (to the hills), Bastardgeist

Tomorrow the smoker gets fired up again, this time for the KaCSFFS Thanksgiving meeting/dinner. Why so early, you ask? Well, the normal third Saturday is smack in the middle of ConTraception, of course! The meeting is at the Writer's Place, and here are the details:

Come feast with your KaCSFFS friends on Saturday November 7, 2009. This years Thanksgiving dinner will again be held at the Writer's Place, 3607 Pennsylvania, KCMO 64111. Starting time will be 5:30 PM for setup, dinner at 6 PM, with a short business meeting to follow.

Food assignment suggestions:
A - J Sides and Salads
K - R Drinks
S - Z Desserts

So if you're in the KC area, come on out and meet people and chow down. And going to ConTra wouldn't be a bad thing either. Saturday will be the last opportunity to get the discounted membership rate, as well. Plus smoked turkey!

*Dolly Parton - Stairway to Heaven vs. Eurythmics - This City Never Sleeps vs. Beatles - Because vs. Laurie Anderson - O Superman vs. Art Of Noise - Moments in Love vs. Beastie Boys - So Whatcha Want vs. Pat Benatar - Love is a Battlefield

This Is Not From the Onion, Amazingly Enough

2009-11-06T03:46:09Z

Via Making Light.

Laptop Steering Wheel Desk.

Yep, what the label says. Read the reviews. My fave:

I am an OB-GYN and this has helped me take my practice mobile. It's the perfect height for my patients to sit on so I can examine them while I drive. I highly recommend!!!!

A big plus is it being an additional seat for your toddlers, just in case you need room for office supplies.

Stirrups needed!!!

Maybe some ridges in the plastic, we've had lots of sliders!

The partypoopers from the company include the following in the product description "For safety reasons, never use this product while driving. Easily convert your car into your personal automobile office with the Wheel Mate car desk by MobileOffice." Yeah, right.

Happy Happy Again

2009-11-05T12:52:52Z

Remember, Remember the Fifth of November
With Thermite & Magnesium so hot
Throw back a Molson*
So Erik V. Olson
Will never be forgot.

Happy birthday, fella. Hope the coming year brings you much happiness.

*The only beer I could think of at this hour that rhymed.

My Brain, She Are Broke

2009-11-05T03:32:11Z

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, performing "The Theme from 'Shaft'" at the Cambridge Folk Festival. Don't worry, that sproing sound between your ears is perfectly normal.

Now, if they'd only cover "Black Hole Sun." Hey, it worked for Steve & Eydie!

Happy Happy

2009-11-04T14:39:54Z

to solan_t! Have a great one, sweet minion o' mine. As always, I am standing by for corset adjusting duty.

Friday "You Gotta Move" Random 10+

2009-10-30T14:52:15Z

Started off the week performing a wedding for two long-time friends (of mine and each other), before he went into the hospital with pneumonia. Spent yesterday in the rain helping NPulsifer and Gisele move out of their dupplex and into their new home. Lotsa furniture, lotsa boxes, lotsa books, and the quietest trip in a car with a pet ever (lizards not being noisy, as a rule). They took their cat to the vet for teeth cleaning that morning, and took her to the new place when they picked her back up that evening, so the poor cat came out of the drugs in a whole new place. Wow, man. Have you ever really looked at your paw? Music to soothe the fucked up beast, or not.

1) The Long Winter, Allister Thompson

2) Out Comes The Evil, Lords Of Acid

3) Come Closer Together, Nine Inch Nails vs The Beatles

4) Shake, Synthesizer Shaikh

5) Revolution Earth, The B-52's

6) Dan Stepford, Austin Lounge Lizards

7) Lightnin' Hopkins, R.E.M.

8) Care Of Cell #44, Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs

9) Til the Wheels Fall Off, Amy Rigby/Todd Snider

10) Sycamore, Bill Callahan

And then these hapened

11) Cat People (Putting Out the Fire), David Bowie

12) Really Saying Something, Bananarama Ft Fun Boy Three

13) King Of The Road, Jim White

The weekend will be filled with cleaning the house for the reception Sunday (3 p.m., c'mon by!), Hallowe'en and, of course Falling Over (which follows from Springing Forward).

Friday "No Time!" Random 10+

2009-10-23T14:57:40Z

Srsly, running late

1) Burning House Of Love, X

2) Darkness, Brian Eno

3) Message To Love, Jimi Hendrix (Live At Woodstock)

4) Papa's Got A Brand New Bag (James Brown), The Sweet Vandals

5) Greenwich, To Rococo Rot

6) Desert Rose, Eric Johnson

7) Country Feedback (Live), R.E.M.

8) Autumn, The Strawbs

9) Hotel Yorba, The White Stripes

10) A Terraformed Existence, Kosovo

And some pudding, since you ate your meat:

11) Oasis, Amanda FUCKING Palmer

12) Serious Alchemist, Pseudosix

13) I Know There's An Answer (a cappella), The Beach Boys

Housecleaning weekend. Joy.

Farewell, Good Friend and True

2009-10-23T03:12:30Z

Tonight, I drank the last of a bottle of Port Ellen Islay Single Malt Whisky. It was a Signatory Vintage, and thus has its personal information on the bottle, thusly:

Distilled: 8.4.75*

Bottled: 13.5.99

Cask No. 1753

Bottle no. 61 of 250

I purchased the bottle on May 28, 2004, at the Gomer's Northland store. I noticed the Signatory can the bottle came in, noted the price, checked the info on the bottle, put it back in the can, put the can in the cart, and told Rohanna "We are buying this. If they have more, we are buying them all," because the price was $24.99. That is, just over $1/year. Sadly, they did not have any other such bottles. After ConQuesT, I looked this particular vintage online, where I found it for £149, or about $225 at the time.

Tonight just seemed like the right time to finish it off, and it was still wonderful. I shall keep th bottle, for the memories. Nom.

Beer and Food

2009-10-23T01:20:32Z

We went to the Flying Saucer for my natal celebration, down in the Power & ~~White~~ Light District downtown. They always list the latest additions to their selections on a big chalkboard over the bar, so that's where I looked first. I immediately saw what I wanted, Founders Breakfast Stout. I was not disappointed. Very rich, full of chocolate and coffee, and smoooooooth. I have not been excessively impressed with most of the beers I've had from Founders, but this and their Old Curmudgeon barleywine are definitely worth checking out.

I had the "Build Your Own" meat & cheese platter for dinner, with pepper salame, hot soprasetta, smoked
Gouda and Manchego. Om nom nom. With it I had a New Belgium Hoptober, which I have enjoyed greatly in bottles, but wanted to try on tap. It's a very tasty medium bodied ale with excellent mouthfeel and a nice, but not overwhelming, hop presence. As always, an excellent experience at Flying Saucer.

Now I am debating whether it's too chilly (48˚) to go out on the porch and have a cigar and finish off the bottle of Port Ellen that I paid a dollar per year for ($25) in 2004. Just enough left to enjoy. I'm thinking it's not that cold.

S'Truth

2009-10-22T05:32:52Z

To My So-Called Friends in Omaha

2009-10-22T02:33:59Z

Just when where you planning on telling me about this, you fuckers!

713 malts available, two monthly public tastings. Gee, why would I be interested in that?

You're making me GO ALL CAPS DAY ON YOU EARLY, BASTARDS!

Thanks to Carol Doms for tipping me off.

Friday "You Run and You Run" Random 10+

2009-10-16T14:44:54Z

Another week, another paycheck. Boss has ordered supplies, so perhaps we will remain open for a bit yet. Tunes.

1) The Sound Of Failure, The Flaming Lips

2) Purple Haze, Jimi Hendrix (Live At Woodstock)

3) Do Your Feeling, King Floyd

4) Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad, Eric Clapton (01/13/73 The Alternate Rainbow Concert The Rainbow Theatre London, UK)

5) Ice Rose, Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band

6) Someday, Doug Sahm

7) Love In A Refrigerator Box, Austin Lounge Lizards

8) Cosmic Vibration (An Afternoon Concert), A.R. & Machines

9) The End, Loose Salute

10) why you wanna treat me so bad, Prince (the ritz, 03/21/81)

and the penalty time:

11) Manic Depression, Gillian Welch

12) Stranded In Time, The United States Of America

13) Listening to Otis Redding at Home During Christmas, Okkervil River

Super duper extra bonus from my childhood!

14) Tapioca Tundra, The Monkees

And since it's the 3rd weekend of the month, tomorrow is everything at once day. Dance practice for Rohanna, then to Lawrence for KanPoly, then back for the ConQuesT meeting and the KaCSFFS meeting afterwards, then off to a party. Sunday Ro and I will be back at Ren Fest, as tourists.

FTW!

2009-10-10T19:32:02Z

Dave Weigel, via Twitter:

BREAKING: Obama named God Emperor of Dune. Sandworm transformation in rose garden 8:30 am tomorrow.

And More Funny

2009-10-10T02:29:05Z

Especially for the D&Ders and/or loan officers in the crowd.

Adventure Capital.

She is Teh Funny

2009-10-10T02:16:23Z

More fun from the crazy hotness that is the Bloggess. A sampling:

Alternate versions of The Little Engine that Could:

The little engine that did it with a prostitute and got syphilis.

The little engine that tried to do it but couldn’t and then later he found out that when he was born they weren’t sure if he was a train or a tractor so the doctor just made him into a train because that was easier but turns out? Totally a tractor.

The little engine that refused to unload his cargo because he was a hoarder.

The little engine that isn’t even applying herself.

The little engine that refused to let men into his caboose because his father made him homophobic.

The little engine that’s way too concerned about Obama’s birth certificate.

The little engine named Luka that lived on the second floor.

The little engine and the half-blood prince.

There's lots more, including her upcoming keynote address in Vegas. Go. Read. You will lulz.