On Tap: Magic Hat

Ever thought about brewing your own beer?  Being a fairly picky beer drinker, I know it's something that has crossed my mind from time to time.  I'll think to myself, "If I learn how to brew beer, then I can brew beer that I know I'll enjoy.  I can also experiment and create my own signature beer!  It would be my own little creation!"  As exciting as all this sounds, I have yet to purchase a brewing kit or even get very far in my search. You see, I can be a bit lazy and easily discouraged, and well, this beer making business sounds tough.  I'm not sure if I'll ever actually go through with it and purchase a kit, but for those of you who are interested, this kit seemed like a good one from what I could tell.  Anyway, just thought I 'd share that, now on to this week's brews!

Although I didn't sample many new brews this past week, it was nonetheless a very good week, beer-wise.  The two new beers I had, I enjoyed immensely.  The first beer I sampled was Wolaver's Wildflower Wheat Ale.  The beer boasts that it is brewed with organic Vermont honey and it shows.  Wildflower Wheat has a good, clean malt flavor with just a slight bite to it.  Overall, a very good beer that I would definitely get again.

I did, however, save the best for last this week.  This week's best brew, the A-1 ale, the king cold one, the super cerveza, the leading libation, the prince of puke fuel is... Magic Hat Circus Boy.  Magic Hat is quickly becoming one of my favorite brewers.  I've honestly enjoyed every one of their beers, and that's saying something.  Circus Boy is, in a word: amazeballs.  It has a rich wheat beer flavor, no bite, and a slight citrusy aftertaste due to the fact that it is brewed with lemongrass.  This beer was very refreshing and perfect for an afternoon spent lounging around outside.

Well, that's it for this week.  It's Friday and this weekend is shaping up to be absolutely gorgeous.  Can't wait to get out and enjoy myself.  Hopefully I'll have some new brews to share with you next week!

Trailers: Moonrise Kingdom

Welcome to the first of a new segment I’m calling, Trailers, in which I’ll discuss some of my most highly anticipated movie releases.  Despite the expensive food and the crowds, I’ve always loved going to the movies, especially during the summertime.  Nothing beats an air-conditioned movie theater on a hot summer day.

Moonrise Kingdom – May 25, 2012: Ever since I saw the trailer for this I have been counting the days.  It is directed by Wes Anderson, who also directed one of my favorite movies of all time, The Royal Tenenbaums.  Although the storylines are unique, a lot of his movies tend to have the same feel to them, which can be an acquired taste.  Set on an island off the coast of New England in the 1960s, the movie centers around a young boy and girl who fall in love and are moved to run away together.  Various factions of the town mobilize to search for them and the town is turned upside down.  The movie boasts an all-star cast including Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, and Jason Schwartzman to name a few.

On the Road – May 25, 2012 (tentative): This film is set to debut at the Cannes Film Festival and is based on the novel of the same title by Jack Kerouac.  Having read and enjoyed the book, I was instantly drawn to this movie.  The film follows an aspiring writer and his friends on a fast-paced, cross-country adventure, something I have the secret desire to do myself.  As is the case with most book-to-movie adaptations, my only concern is how they are going to fit it all into one movie.

The Dark Knight Rises – July 20, 2012:  I have a bit of a soft spot in my heart for superhero flicks.  I guess I’m a bit of a dork in that way.  I loved the first two movies in this series (Heath Ledger’s final performance as the Joker was Oscar-worthy) and the third installment looks like the epic conclusion I was hoping for.  The film is set eight years after the Dark Knight Returns.  A new terrorist leader, Bane, has overwhelmed Gotham’s men-in-blue, and the Dark Knight resurfaces to protect a city that has branded him an enemy.

New Poem: A Dog's Life

I wrote this the other day while thinking about my dog Bleeker.  He has quite the life.


A Dog’s Life

Beneath my kitchen table a dog comes
with a wet, black nose, his only tool,
grinding across the stone-tile floor.
And gathering up some dirt on the tip, he pulls
his tongue across to savor a bit of human food.
Soothed by the slightest taste of my dinner
he fixes himself beside the table legs
and falls uncomplaining into dreams. Seeing
this, I track an idea back through my head
like a faint smell; a dog’s life is not so mangy
a way to live for one whose resolve is
sharpened on the scent of things
and sustained by crumbs.

Drinko de Mayo

I have been quite the slacker lately.  In my defense, last week was a blur and I can hardly remember where it all went.  But went it did, and along came the weekend.  I kicked off my weekend around noon on Friday with a Cinco de Mayo party at work, complete with tacos, enchiladas, and delicious chips and salsa.  It was only suppose to be a luncheon, but the rest of my coworkers and I decided to extend the party until the end of the day.

Saturday was filled with even more fun as I slept in super late and lounged around the apartment with Nikki watching old episodes of The X-Files.  After dinner, we went out for margaritas at El Rodeo.  I tried a lime margarita and Nikki got the strawberry.  After just one of these puppies I was buzzed and feeling pretty good.  Tequila and I have a love/hate relationship, but as long as I don't overdo it I am usually okay.

While we waited for our drinks we feasted on more chips and salsa (side-note: I could drink El Rodeo's salsa, it is so good), followed by my first Mexican dessert: xango.  It's essentially fried cheesecake and for a fat kid like me it hit the spot.  Afterward we decided to take in a nightcap at a bar in Mechanicsburg called The Gingerbread Man.  There's kind of a neat two-level bar inside, but beyond that it wasn't much to look at.  Also, smoking is allowed so needless to say, we didn't stay long.

Well folks, that was my Drinko de Mayo.  It definitely had its moments.  Hope yours was just as much fun!

Photo Apps

When I first got a smartphone one of the things I was most looking forward to was downloading and playing with camera apps.  I’ve always enjoyed looking at artsy photography and felt it could be something I could get into.  One of the first apps I downloaded was Vignette.  The reviews seemed mostly positive and it had a free demo version (the full version is $3.99).  Ever since that day this little app has helped me explore my creativity and provided me with countless hours of fun.

The app has gobs of photo effects (76 to be exact) and frames (57) to customize and create one-of-a-kind photos.  The only drawback of the demo version is that once a photo is saved it can no longer be altered.  So once you’ve applied an effect and saved the photo, you can’t go back later and try different effects.  This, however, is remedied in the full version (I think).  Regardless of this little snafu, the Vignette app has been far and away my favorite camera app to date.

In contrast to the Vignette app is the widely popular Instagram app that was just recently made available to the Android market.  I was very excited and downloaded it immediately.  However, I quickly discovered that Instagram doesn’t hold a candle to Vignette.  The main draw of Instagram is that it provides a social network in which to share your photos and view those of others.  Beyond that, the app is fairly sparse with what it can do; it only has a fraction of the effects of Vignette.   Instagram’s user interface is slightly better, but not enough to make up for the reduced functionality.

In short, if you’re looking for a camera app to capture your life in photographs, Vignette is the way to go.  Check out some of my photos on the right-hand side of the blog or on my Facebook page and let me know what you think!

Dazed and Confused

So I didn’t really have a topic for today’s blog planned; I’ve been really lazy lately and this is just another example.  Anyway, I found these questions on a blog that promises “practical tips for productive living.”  The questions are designed to provoke thought and they sounded fairly interesting so here we go:

1.       What is it like to wake up every morning and pretend that you aren’t dying?  I wake up every morning aware that I am dying.  I think about death a lot, probably more than I should.  It is my number one fear.

2.      Do you believe in the death penalty?  Absolutely not.  The legal system is not fool proof and the thought of condemning an innocent man to die is sickening.

3.      If you had a friend who spoke to you in the same way that you sometimes speak to yourself, how long would you allow that person to be your friend?  That person would be my best friend forever!  Finally, someone who understands me J.

4.      Would you rather be rich and paralyzed from the waist down or poor and able bodied?  Hmm, maybe I could use my riches to discover a cure for my paralysis.  Nah, I was poor and able bodied for the first 23 or so years of my life and I’ve kind of gotten use to it.

5.       What’s the most expensive gift you have ever received?  Is it the best gift you have ever received?  Hmm, to make this easier on myself I’m going to go with the most expensive Christmas/birthday gift, which if I’m not mistaken was my Philadelphia Flyers jersey given to me by my little sister.  I don’t know if I would call it the best gift I’ve ever received but it’s certainly up there.

6.      When was the last time you lied?  Is it possible to lie without saying anything at all?  The last time I lied was today.  I fudged the time it took me to get to and from my client meeting so I could have an extra long lunch, which is a perfect example of lying without saying anything at all.

7.       Stealing is immoral, right?  But what if stealing was the only way to feed a starving child?  Stealing is immoral…unless you’re talking about my justice khakis.

8.      If I gave you $20, what percentage would you – really – save?  If I gave you $200,000, what percentage would you save?  Should there be a difference?  I would blow the $20 on food or new clothes or books.  I would save most of the $200,000, maybe use a small amount for a kickass vacation.

9.      If someone could tell you the exact day and time that you are going to die, would you want them to tell you?  No, I prefer to be blissfully ignorant.

10.   If you found out you were going to die today, would you have any regrets?  Would you be happy with the way you spent the last 24 hours of your life?  I would have a ton of regrets; places I’d never been, food I’d never tasted, things that went unsaid to people who mean more to me than I could ever explain or admit.  The last 24 hours of my life were wasted at work and sitting home alone.

11.    What’s your single greatest moment of personal failure?  Looking back on it now, did it make you weaker or stronger?  What did you learn?  This is a little personal.  Suffice it to say that it involves a fairly big lie(s) to someone very important.

12.   Do the words ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’ mean not being persecuted or discriminated against, or do they mean doing whatever you please?  To me they mean having the ability to do what you want, as long as it doesn’t hurt others or hinder their ability to do what they want.

13.   Have you ever discriminated against someone?  I’m sure I have.  As a child I thought black people were made out of chocolate.

14.   Is it crazier to choose to be poor or to spend 40 years of your life hating 40 hours a week?  It is crazier to be poor.  I grew up watching my dad work 2 full-time jobs just to scrape by and be miserable.  At least if you’re making good money working a 40-hour-a-week job you have the funds to do some fun stuff.

15.    Do you ever feel like you don’t have enough time?  How many hours a week do you spend watching TV, or playing video games, or…?  I constantly feel like I don’t have enough time, especially during the weekends.  Haha, I wonder what the “or…” is referring to.  I’m not going to tell you how often I do “that”. 

16.   Do you ever celebrate the green lights?  Yes, by stepping on the gas!

17.    If you could be given another talent or ability, what would you want it to be?  Have you ever – really – tried to perfect this ability in yourself?  I’ve always wanted to be able to play the guitar.  I got one, along with a Dummies Guide for Christmas.  It is not going well.  If I’m not immediately good at something I tend to give up.

18.   No matter how bad things get, are you aware that someone always has it worse than you do?  Yes, but when things get bad I get selfish and tend to focus on me, which I realize sounds terrible, but hey, I’m only human.

19.   When you help someone, do you ever think, “What’s in it for me?”  Not consciously, but I’m aware that when I help people it causes them to perceive me in a positive light, which is important to me.  I want people to like me.

20.  Joy is found with simple awareness.  What does your joy look like today?  Today my joy looks like Scramble with Friends!

21.   What’s the difference between ‘living’ and ‘existing?’  Everyone exists, not everyone lives.

22.  Are you willing to sacrifice the life of your child or lover to support a war?  No. 

23.  Do you ask enough questions, or do you settle for what you know?  I like to think that I’m a fairly inquisitive person.

24.  If you could do it all over again, would you change anything?  I would change quite a few things. 

25.   If your life was a novel, what would be the title and how would your story end?  It would be called Dazed and Confused and since a novel is fiction, it would end with me making out with Natalie Portman in the rain.

HIMYM

As with most things, when it comes to television, I can be kind of picky with what I watch.  I can't just watch garbage TV to pass the time; I hate reality television, all singing competitions, and most crime dramas.  When I find a show I really like, I savor every last bit of it.  I watch every new episode religiously, I watch and re-watch old episodes when I'm feeling bored or sad or sick, and I quote the characters nonstop.  It's a disease really, and I have no interest in a cure.

Today, while goofing around on the internet, I stumbled across Entertainment Weekly's Death Watch, which lists the major network's shows and which ones appear destined to be cancelled.  While looking over the list I noticed that one of my favorite new shows, Whitney, is suffering from lackluster ratings and is in danger of being discontinued.  As sad as this made me, it got me thinking about some of the other shows I enjoy.  For the last seven years one of my favorite shows has been CBS' How I Met Your Mother.

If you've never seen it then I don't know what you've been doing with your life.  I love the show for so many reasons.  It is filled with great one-liners, memorable nicknames (Swarley, Big Fudge, Teddy Westside, etc.), hilarious actors, and good music.  It can do it all; it can make me laugh, cry, you name it.  If it is an emotion, I've probably felt it while watching this show.  I don't know if the EW article is necessarily to blame or the recent episodes, but it is just now hitting me that it's all coming to an end, that in just a short time the story that I have enjoyed for so long (since my college days!) will be over.  I know that nothing will stop me from feeling sad that it's over, I just hope that when it does end I am left feeling satisfied.