Not Sure How To React

Ian has been bothering me to post more, but since I haven’t tried anything new in the cocktail area recently I’ve been bad about that. (In case anyone is wondering: gin is still excellent.)

That said, there’s always links to things out there on the internet and, in this case, apparently on television as well. Here you go – I am, as the title suggests, not sure how to react to this. On the one hand, it really does appear to exist. But there’s always the chance that this isn’t true, and all that’s happening here is that my brain has started misfiring in dramatic and surprising ways. If it’s the former – enjoy!

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Update!   Because I can’t leave things like this alone I started googling “Dog Wedding” and apparently this is, yeah, kind of a thing people do.  A lot of the results – like, I hope, this one and, more straightforwardly, this one – are just about how to include dogs in weddings (ring bearers and the like).

But I also found this how to page on, well, exactly what it sounds like: How To Host A Dog Wedding, which has to be one of the more amazing how-to guides out there.  Highlights include “Set up a dog sized wedding place. The garage will work…” and, (in the “Tips” category) “Don’t go too overboard.”

And, best of all, right in the middle of these search results was this useful page.

 

From the Vocabulary Saves the World Desk: Free Rice.com

Two short things

1) A request: Colin, what’s it been like being on the ground in Pennsylvania with the _six weeks_ of primary madness there now finally coming to an end (sort of)? And how do you feel about Hilary’s win? That kind of sounds like a weird formal interview question or something (“how do you feel about world peace?”) but I’m curious.

2) English nerds, this is for you: lately I’ve been obsessed with FreeRice.com, where you answer vocabulary questions. For every word you get right, 20 grains of rice are donated to the UN World Food Program. It’s all my weird word nerdiness finally put some good use!

 

From the music and behind-the-times desk: Radiohead’s “In Rainbows”

Okay, so I feel like I should have something coherent to contribute to vegetarianism discussion, seeing as how I’ve been a vegetarian since I was twelve (although I do eat fish, making my claim to vegetarianism shaky in many eyes). I’ve dealt with and contemplated many of those issues, including the strange hostility that merely saying “No thanks, I don’t eat meat,” tends to produce. However, I feel like I need to take a little more time before saying something…which segues nicely into my theme for the post, which is that I often find myself behind the times, pop-culture or literary-culture wise. I feel like my response-time functions just a little too slowly for this culture of ours sometimes.

Perhaps it’s my disinclination to seem like a bandwagon jumper, or simply laziness, or a superstitious tendency to let books and bands and movies and TV shows drift into my life, rather than taking a more pro-active approach, but I often find myself enthusing about something long after the cultural moment has peaked. Someone once pointed out that my bookshelf by my bed was full of “big books” from the 90s, as apparently I can only enjoy the literary bestsellers of 1998 in 2007.

 

Next Big Thing: Vermouth Cocktails!

Last night Ian and I decided to spend some time brainstorming new cocktails. We ended up with around eight new things to try, only four of which we had the ingredients to try. Below the fold I’ve posted their recipes and generally how they turned out, as well as an older drink that I invented a while ago but never got around to posting. Given how cocktails work, it’s worth noting that while I am certain that Ian and I invented all of the cocktails below (either together or working separately) there is no guarantee that someone else hasn’t also invented one or more of them, so any claim to originality here is only on the grounds of my being not willing to spend a day or two investigating each recipe. That said, I think at least a few of these are fairly likely to be original to us, and pretty good at that.

 

From the music desk: Amy Winehouse

Alright everyone. It’s Friday night—time to get your groove on. I bit the bullet this week and finally purchased Amy Winehouse’s US debut album “Back to Black.” It’s damn good. Really good. Nothing to lose your mind over, but definitely something to consider.

 

Travel Report: New Jersey. “How you doin’?”

Over the holidays I spent almost two weeks in New Jersey, the land of my birth. Whenever I return to the east coast, I feel as if I have reached civilization. Although I pride myself on not being one of those uppity mofo’s from the east coast who believe nothing can exist outside the Northeastern bubble, I do feel as if I’ve returned to civilization when I see glitz and glamour of the Northeast corridor from my plane window. When my plane is descending into Newark and I peer out my window, I sigh a breath of relief upon seeing the lights of the Empire State and Chrysler buildings.

 

Travel Report: Seattle

I celebrated New Year’s in the wonderful city of Seattle. It didn’t rain when I was there. Well, until the morning I left and my plane was delayed. Whatevs, I had two full, beautiful days in Seattle and was almost convinced to move there after grad school. Here’s the thing—Seattle is a great city. There’s a great neighborhood feel to it, and yet it still has big-ass buildings to make you feel like you’re somewhere important. Yes, I do require big buildings to make me feel like I’m somewhere worthwhile. Big buildings convince me that I’m part of civilization. It’s a personal thing, probably resulting from living in small towns outside of New York for most of my life.

 

From the music desk: Dear Sam Beam, I love you.

Like all of Iron and Wine’s releases, The Shepherd’s Dog (2007) requires a certain amount of patience. Sam Beam’s breathy vocals and gentle melodies are not for rocking out, and an antsy listener will miss the calm beauty of his songs. Still, The Shepherd’s Dog is Iron and Wine’s lushest, most upbeat, and most produced album yet, and it’s darn near accessible. The number and variety of instruments is startling, and they provide a warm, full sound that envelops the guitar’s folky twang and seems to extend from Beam’s vocal harmony with himself.

Last week, Iron and Wine, a band officially including only singer-songwriter Sam Beam, performed to a full house at 4th & B in downtown San Diego, and Jeff and I were there to see it. We arrived downtown shortly before 8pm when doors opened, and already there was a line around the corner. The crowd was different than I expected, older and cleaner-cut, and the venue floor was arranged with folding chairs. Theater seats filled the back, and I worried that this would be an atmosphere that sucked the energy from Iron and Wine’s already subdued repertoire.

I was wrong.

 

From the music desk: Songs that pull on your heartstrings…

The power of music to move a person to tears is a remarkable and sometimes unexpected quality of the medium. When coupled with a real-life event or a powerful cinematic depiction, music can enhance the moment. Although choosing the perfect song for a moment is difficult, the emotion achieved in the end makes it worth it. In some cases, the song may not be linked to a particular moment in time. It could just be a lovely string of notes. This business of music evoking emotion is personal, and certain prized songs mean nothing to others. Below I list some of the songs which have always moved me, whether it be hastening the pace of my heartbeat or drawing tears to my eyes. Enjoy.

 

One More

I thought the following link deserved it’s own post…