American Pale Ale
Rating: B
Poured from can to pint glass.
Dull golden amber color. Slim, tiny-bubbled head with an average retention. The aroma is sweet, hoppy and citrusy with a bit of pine. The taste is average; light malt with a hoppy back. Very indicative of an American Pale, but a bit bland. Crisp with a medium body. The bitter finish settles on the back of the tongue with citrus and a hint of peach.
American Pale Ale
Rating: B+
Poured from can to pint glass.
Very amber in color. The foamy, off-white head was comprised of medium-large bubbles; good retention and nice lacing. The aroma is very hoppy and floral with a bit of plum. The taste is hoppy, malty and resiny with a tad of citrus and caramel. The beer is fairly balanced, but might be a little on the hoppy side. Medium body with medium carbonation. The finish is bitter but satisfying. The beer seems to almost border on an American Amber. The packaging was deceiving. I would encourage Oskar Blues to hire a marketing company.
Music From the Unrealized Film Script, Dusk at Cubist Castle by The Olivia Tremor Control (1996)
The Olivia Tremor Control’s first album, Dusk at Cubist Castle, is a psych pop tour de force. It is supposed to be the soundtrack for an unreleased film about two girls, Olivia and Jacqueline, and an apocalyptic quake in California. The album offers a wide range of genre exploration: neopsychadelia, indie rock, lo-fi, folk, Krautrock, surf rock and noise. The first time I listened to it, I expected Continue reading
So it turns out Joe Son, the idiot who played Random Task in the first, and only watchable Austin Powers, is not only famous for these idiotic actions: Joe Son carries cross to ring; wears thong, not all in one fight, or this deserving punishment: Groin strikes of death. But he’s also infamous for his heinous crime of felony torture and gang rape. It’s a shame Keith Hackney couldn’t have done those groin strikes four years earlier. Son was sentenced to life in prison. May he be remembered as a bad actor, a winless fighter, and an atrocious human being.
Belgian Pale Ale
Rating: B-
Poured from bottle to pint glass.
Bright amber color. A half-inch white head lingers briefly and leaves behind a thin lace. The aroma is very piney and spicy with citrus and a bit of banana (almost like a Hefe) and other fruity undertones. The taste is crisp, fruity and malty, but in typical American fashion, they slightly overdid it with the hops. Light-medium body with very little carbonation. The finish is sort of dry and the aftertaste hangs back by the tonsils. Not particularly thrilled, but I would try it again.
Imagine a world where getting into the redzone was worth more than a touchdown; where getting a runner into scoring position was worth more than actually scoring. Welcome to the world of mixed martial arts, where a fighter putting himself into a position to inflict damage is often rewarded over actually inflicting it.
Wrestling is mixed martial arts version of ball control. The superior wrestler dictates where the fight takes place. In football, a team like the Pittsburgh Steelers keeps possession of the ball with their running game in order to limit opponents like the Indianapolis Colts from using their aerial assault. This is similar to how the superior wrestler keeps opponents desiring to strike against the fence or on their back.
Combatants should be able to use every legal means to win a fight: If a fighter cannot avoid being controlled, he deserves the disadvantages that come with it. What mixed martial arts judging mismanages is the valuation of stalling and favorable positions.
A fighter does not deserve points for failed takedowns or favorable positions where he does not inflict damage. To put it bluntly: Hitting an opponent in the face hurts him, and failing to secure a guillotine tires the fighter attempting it more than it damages the fighter receiving it. If a fighter hits his opponent with a flying knee, and then is wrestled to the ground, held there for the rest of the round without receiving damage, why is his action and his opponent’s inaction rewarded similarly? Jon Fitch is not the enemy: He’s given an assignment, and he finds the most effective way to accomplish it. Besides, as unaesthetic as his approach is, Fitch may stall the action, but he still inflicts more damage than his opponents do. The problem is a system that rewards position over performance.
Fighters, for the most part, behave rationally; their primary incentive being victory. If the rules allowed for groin strikes and fish hooking they would enact these tactics in order to win, and who could really blame them. If the judging of takedowns and top control were properly valued, than stalling a fight would become ineffective to victory. Risking losing possession to attempt a submission would gain value because being in an unfavorable position wouldn’t lose you points unless your opponent actually effectively used his positional advantage. Until then, fighters with inferior skills will continue to out point fighters who have styles that are valued inferiorly.
There’s nothing more enjoyable than immersing yourself in a good TV show, and nothing more maddening than wasting more time than it takes to watch a Yanks Soxs game scrolling through Netflix, only to find there’s no shows left to watch. Here are the difficulties I face every time I go to Netflix.
Personally, anything with a laugh track is immediately excluded. Laugh tracks are usually more a symptom than a cause of a bad show, but either way I hate them. From Saved by the Bell to Seinfeld I’ve seen quite a few laugh track shows, but besides turning on TBS when I’m hung-over, I’m pretty sure I’m done with them. Continue reading
Belgian Pale Ale
Rating: C+
Poured from bottle to pint glass.
Clear gold/amber in color. The head is thin and doesn’t last for long, leaving minimal lacing. Unpleasant vegetal, mossy aroma with a bit of berry and spice. I am fairly certain that the beer was out of date and so I will try not to be too harsh. Light-medium body with a balanced carbonation. The aftertaste is crispy, slightly dry and soapy. I am jealous of those who were able to try it on tap.
In 1977, David Bowie teamed up with Iggy Pop to “co-write” and produce The Idiot. The Stooges had been defunct for about three years and Pop, thanks to copious amounts of drugs, was also defunct. With Bowie’s direction, The Idiot was a great success and was able to effectively keep Iggy Pop’s name on the pop/rock radar. Continue reading
Stands for Decibels by The dB’s (1981)
This debut album is experimental and mercilessly catchy. Chris Stamey (formerly of The Sneakers) and Peter Holsapple take a creative approach to the blossoming genre of power pop. Stamey’s post-punk/psychedelic leanings and love of playing with sound(s) are reined in by Holsapple’s more conventional, simple songwriting that is at the same time completely infectious.
The album starts off with a powerful Continue reading
the self-hating hipster 