Happy St. Pat's!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all! I've got a big hunk of corned beef cooking in the oven and some cold pints of the black stuff in the fridge so what could be better?

On this national holiday of Ireland, we celebrate one of the patron saints of Ireland, Saint Patrick.

I figured it most appropriate to share with you some facts and tidbits surrounding both the holiday and all things Irish:

-First of all, proposition 317 failed considerably. You may remember that I advocated signing the petition to make St. Pat's a national holiday here in the US. Guinness created the electronic signature site in hopes to get a million signatures before midnight of last night...unfortunately not even half a million signed. Better luck next year!

-U2, the most popular musical artist to come out of Ireland, just released a new album (which I'm currently listening to) and are going on tour to support it. What about other popular Irish acts? Among others, The Cranberries are definitely in the top 5. What ever happened to them though? I just checked their site which mentioned that they reunited for a show this past January in Dublin; in response to rumors of a permanent reuniting, Dolores, the lead singer, responded that it will happen "down the road" but they're all trying to be good parents right now. Gotta respect that.

-What movies do you watch on St. Pat's? The Leprechaun? Did you know the small person, named Warwick Davis, who played The Leprechaun also played Willow? What other movies? How about Boondock Saints? In case you haven't heard, production is underway on the constantly rumored, highly anticipated sequel to The Boondock Saints.

-Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 (no typo...9,000) year lease for the Guinness brewery in 1759, which means Guinness celebrates its 250th anniversary this year! Guinness' website merely mentions that you should "expect big things" this Spring in celebration. 10 million glasses of Guinness are consumed a day in over 150 countries. I don't know about you, but I'm more than happy to contribute to that statistic.

-I just learned this one this year. Did you know every year for the past 43 years, city workers dye the Chicago River green? And you thought a green beer was impressive. What else was turned green this year? The fountain in front of the White House.

I'll leave you with those gems. Feel free to comment with your own facts and thoughts on the great holiday that is St. Pat's.

I leave you to consume the beverages that the great nation of Ireland has blessed us with. In fact, I'll even show you my prep work. Keep in mind, this is not a "Black & Tan"...Black & Tans are what the Irish used to refer to as the Royal Irish Constabulary Reserve Force, a military force established to suppress revolution in Ireland...in other words, somewhat of a sore topic. You can order a "pint of special" in Ireland, which will get you mostly Smithwick's topped off with some Guinness. This is a more balanced version, which can be called Irish Nectar:

Consecutive Friday the 13th

Watch your step tonight folks...today is the second Friday the 13th in a row!

There will even be another Friday the 13th this year, in November! Consecutive Friday the 13ths are only possible in a February-March combination in certain leap years. The next one will be in 2015. The last one was 11 years ago. The maximum in a year is 3...and you can't go a year without one.

311 Day

There are few bands out there that have a day of the year dedicated to them by their fans...actually, probably only one: 311. Of course, it's convenient because their band name is completely numerical with numbers below 12. U2 screwed themselves with the U...10,000 maniacs? Not even close. Of course you could probably develop an entire conspiracy theory behind bands with numbers in them and star Nic Cage in the feature film.

But anyway, it's good that today, 3/11, brought 311 to my mind. It turns out that after a 3-year hiatus, they're putting out a new album and going on a Spring/Summer Tour. 311's more recent albums are not as good as their earlier stuff, but I like them because they never really sold out and they've stayed true to their style of play through the years. The new album is called Uplifter and they'll be touring with Ziggy Marley this summer.

They will be doing a live chat, starting at 9 PM Eastern (6 PST/8 CST) for the big fans. Usually they dedicate 3/11 day to an all-day concert, but it seems they passed that up this year. Also, buying something from their site today and today only (like perhaps, some 311 hot sauce!) will enter you into a drawing for multiple prizes such as concert tickets, signed merch, etc. I'm tempted to support the group and buy some 311 beer glasses or shot glasses, but then I realized that I have enough of those for a drink a day for the rest of my life.

An Alternative Method of Opening a Bottle of Beer

As with virtually any video I see that's related to beer, I bring you this one. Watching this video really puts into perspective the fact that some people just have way too much time on their hands...



Only in Japan.

I'd also like to give a little shout out to my nephew Connor on his 3rd birthday! Happy Birthday buddy: may the force be with you.

A Late Reflection on St. Stephen's Day

So I'm a bit late to discover the video coverage, but I was happy to find today a video from the 1st Annual St. Stephen's Stumble, a pub crawl that celebrated the relatively unknown holiday of St. Stephen's Day, which happens to fall on the day after Christmas, December 26th.

This holiday is observed and celebrated more in Ireland and other parts of Europe. It's the feast day of St. Stephen, who is known as the first Christian martyr. The celebratory tradition has died down but consisted of groups of people carrying a caged wren (a type of bird) from house to house, singing and dancing as a performance. These people are called Wrenboys or Mummers (and here I thought Mummers started in Philadelphia).

Anyway, an Irish pub in New Haven called Anna Liffey's took this holiday, and like any other American person does with an Irish tradition, turned it into an all-day drinking event.

The pub crawl was led between pubs by a bagpiper, which was largely my attraction to going in the first place. When else do you get a chance to walk around a city with a large group of people in daylight with a buzz, led by a bagpiper? The turned heads were rather abundant that day.

Here is the video coverage. The strapping young lad in the tan coat that you may notice walking (NOT stumbling) is yours truly...you can also see me in the "Ole, Ole, Ole" chant on the right, which was one of about 300 Ole chants we did that day...

Holiday Shopping - Best Buy all the way to Dubai

It's November believe it or not...which means the holidays will be here before you know it and you're going to be hitting the malls and the web to get presents for everyone. This year might be a little bit different though. Since we're in an economic crisis, chances are that both: (a) people will not be buying as much and (b) people might be relying on the holiest of all days in the shopping world, Black Friday, for their shopping. Even so, stores might seem a bit worried about their sales this year so you may be seeing more promotions...after all, you probably felt the oddness of getting your Halloween costume with Santa, Rudolph and possibly even some jingles playing near you.

Best Buy, a mecca for people with turkey hangovers, is trying something different this year...something a bit odd...something that kind of makes me think of A Christmas Story. An Essay Contest. [You'll shoot your eye out] The Black Friday VIP Contest wants people to write, in 250 words or less, about how Black Friday is "an important annual tradition" for families. 25 winners get a limo ride to/from the select Best Buy locations, early admittance (30 minutes ahead) into the store, a camcorder to record the experience and a $1,000 Best Buy Gift Card.

Pretty sweet prize but annual tradition? Personally, I've experienced Black Friday madness a few times and it was to get Christmas presents...for my family. Call me crazy, but I just don't buy Christmas presents for my family when I'm with my family, nevermind the fact that everyone in my family will usually sleep well beyond 5 am the day after Thanksgiving. But I guess I'm just not the demographic for this contest...good luck to the entrants.

If you really want a nice shopping experience, you may want to go to the amazing city of Dubai, a city that I have blogged about before. They just had the largest, single-day mall opening in the world: about 600 retailers, an aquarium, a fashion catwalk, an ice-rink and art galleries that cover about 12 million sq feet with about 14,000 parking spaces. I don't think they need to promote this monster with an essay contest. Take that Mall of America!

Election Day

VOTE TODAY!!

Post Halloween

Halloween has come and gone...I just wanted to post a couple of pictures from our night downtown at Southport Brewing Company (SBC)...


I saved people loads of money on car insurance all night...


And Hilary was a pumpkin...

The best part of the night: you may notice the guy behind Hilary dressed as Tony Montana aka Scarface...ironically at some point in the night, he started a fight which ended with beer all over the floor...which slowly crept toward my gecko feet.

Hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween!

Halloween Week - Music Playlist

Ok, so I've been digging around for a good Halloween soundtrack and here's what I came up with...

1. Halloween, Alaska - "Halloween": Ok, the song itself isn't very dark but I like the group.
2. Godspeed You Black Emperor! - "09-15-00 Pt. 2": This is an instrumental track that definitely has dark tones and to me, gives off a somber tone as well...but definitely nice, eery background music
3. Shawn Lee - "Halloween": This is from a video game soundtrack and is a pretty short track, but it's definitely a livelier track to bring you back up from the somber GYBE track
4. Dead Can Dance - "The Host of Seraphim": This one has that creepy operatic tone to it (what they're actually saying is beyond me but it sounds dark) and it sounds similar to the music from Eyes Wide Shut
5. Silver Mt. Zion - "13 Angels Standing Guard Round the Side of Your Bed": Appropriately, this group is made up of members from Godspeed You Black Emperor, so it has similar tones to track 2.
6. Sleepy Hollow Score - The entire score from this film is fantastic because it comes from Danny Elfman who has done most, if not all of Tim Burton's films as well as many others.
7. Ray Parker Jr. - "Ghostbusters": It doesn't matter if you're dressed up as a Ghostbuster or not on Halloween...this song will make everyone dance.
8. Halloween Theme - I watched this tonight and it's definitely one of the best horror themes...I especially like the video that I saw back in the day of guitar phenom Buckethead playing this on guitar
9. MC Hammer - "Addams Groove": Nevermind the original theme...I'd rather listen to Hammer's version
10. Dr. Dre & Ice Cube - "Natural Born Killas": I love the begining little skit of this song and how the bullet shot extends into the drop of the beat...which is the illest beat ever (yea...I said illest)
11. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - "A Nightmare on My Street": Oh yes...this one has to be played no matter where you are...Will Smith in his old days rhymes about Freddy haunting his street...classic.
    

Halloween Week - Movies

There are plenty of horror movie scene marathons on every year so I won't attempt my own list because it will probably be similar. You may be familiar with the phenomenon known as "Power Hour," in which you drink a shot of beer every minute for an hour. This drinking game has gained popularity and therefore people have made hour-long 60 song-clip music playlists and it has even led to video playlist compilations as well. With the Halloween season upon us, I have recently started putting together a Halloween power hour, although if you're a fan of horror movies (like me), it could be used any time of the year. I'm compiling 60-second scary movie scenes to put together a video...let me know if you think any scenes are a MUST to be included. Whether you're actually partaking in the actual power hour or not, I think the finished product (which of course I will not be posting for copyright, etc. purposes) will be entertaining.

As far as movies go, however, I thought I should mention a few...

First of all, I'd like to commend the "After Dark Horrorfest" event, which, in its third year, has obviously gained some popularity. Starting as an all-day/multiple day horror movie festival at various participating theaters across the country a couple of years ago, the "8 Films to Die For" are a series of films that either don't have the budget to make it as big releases or perhaps are a little too grotesque or obscene to make it. That said, they are definitely entertaining from what I have seen. I have seen most of the first year's releases, recently have seen (on DVD) last year's releases and look forward to the next festival which will be held between January 8-15 of 2009. Check horrorfestonline.com for details and if it's shown at a theater near you.

As far as future movie releases go, here are a few that you should keep on your radar:

• A Hellraiser remake from relatively unknown French director Pascal Laugier
• (Possible) remake of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (possibly) starring Naomi Watts and George Clooney (vague enough for you?)
• My Bloody Valentine 3D - Yes!!! It's about time they start making horror movies in 3D...by the way, this is a remake of an 80's slasher flick
• Underworld 3 - I don't think I even saw the 2nd one...and probably for good reason...but the first one was definitely entertaining so hopefully they bring that back for the trilogy completion
• Friday the 13th - set to come out next February
• It's merely rumors right now as far as I know but they're talking about a Ghostbusters 3 - if it actually comes to fruition...noone will accept anything less than freakin' amazing...hard to face those standards

Halloween Week - Zombie Portrait

So Hilary and I took a day trip to Salem, MA a couple of weekends ago to experience the various Halloween festivities and whatnot...

Here's one of the souvenirs that we brought back:

Halloween Week - Jack O Lanterns

Well, Hil and I literally just finished carving a jack-o-lantern (and we just poured ourselves a Southern Tier Pumking Ale too!):

You can probably guess which one is mine and which one is Hilary's.

I'm pretty proud of ours, of course, but I'd also like to post some very creative, awesome ones too:


Cannibalism is cool (when it's with pumpkins).


I think this is my nephew Connor's favorite Star Wars character so I had to put it up just for that.


This guy can kick Frosty the Snowman's ass any day of the week.


(Suddenly our pumpkins don't look so amazing) And finally, the Keene Pumpkin Festival in New Hampshire, which competes with Boston every year for the Guinness World Record for "most jack-o-lanterns lit at the same time":

Halloween Week - Decorating Houses

Decorating houses during holidays is a heavily debated topic. I remember an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air when Will decorated their house with more than the classy white-light approach during the Christmas season, going all out with plastic reindeer, santas, and multi-color lights. This sight was met with anger by the surrounding neighbors because their neighborhood was so "high-class," but of course they eventually embraced it (I think Evander Holyfield made a cameo appearance in that episode...before his ear got Tyson-ed). Anyway, I'm all for the Clark Griswold approach...make your house as cheesy as you want...I love it!

I'm even more for it when it comes to Halloween. There are multiple approaches you can take with Halloween decorations because you have to consider the fact that very young children don't want to take advantage of the fact that they're wearing a diaper when they approach your house. Because of this, many people take the conservative approach, hanging things here and there. Other people become a little more active, covering every square inch of their yard, but still don't make things too scary. And then there's the other people...who don't feel satisfied until someone goes into cardiac arrest when approaching their lawn.

Here are a few examples of what I'm talking about...


*Yawn* Oh is it Halloween? I wasn't sure. Oh ok...I get it...a witch...and a couple pumpkins...cool...I bet you these people hand out mini-size candy. Whose bright idea was it to call the miniature size, "fun size" anyways? What's fun about it?


Yea...you're probably squinting at this one. That's the point. Overstimulation. You approach this house with caution...because God knows what's hiding in that yard. Give this house a standing ovation...for both their exterior decorative skills...and the fact that they use 60% of their house for Halloween decoration storage.


I swear...people have addictions to plug-in blow up holiday decorations. There used to be a time when people would put out one of these things in their yard. Nowadays, with about 500 to choose from, people put out as many as they can. I can't look at one of these things without thinking of the time a guy I went to high school with snuck one of these (a turkey) into his parent's room while they were asleep and plugged it in. To say they were confused would be an extreme understatement. Anyway, it's pretty cheesy to have one of these things in your yard...to have atleast 4 is just fantastic. Where the hell did they get that enormous Hulk?


These people have a front yard...and come Halloween...they're gonna use it. They've used the conservative approach as far as the scariness factor, however, most people probably get dizzy when walking to and from this house.


This one is just one-of-a-kind. They've taken the B-rated old-school horror movie approach with giant creatures. I just saw a portion of a gem called "The Food of the Gods," apparently based on an H.G. Wells novel. The premise was that a substance that animals were eating was making them enormous and of course, dangerous. The best part was that because it was made in 1976, cheesy CGI took a backseat to the use of actual rats...on a scaled-down scene with a house...and the movie just panned between that and the actual house where people were shooting the rats. Classic.

Anyway, the site that I got this picture from gives a little more insight to the mood of this house. That dragon on the right...spews actual fire. So not only has this house achieved a scariness factor...but also a danger factor. A+!

Halloween Week - Pet Costumes

It's less than a week until Halloween, one of my favorite holidays. For that, I'm committed to posting on Halloween-themed topics every day from now until the 31st - if I don't, then everyone can feel free to TP my apartment on Mischief Night.

Today, I'll start with a hot topic: dog costumes. Let's face it...dogs don't like costumes. Dressing your dog in a costume is like making Ralphie dress up in the pink bunny pajamas in A Christmas Story. Some dogs seem to tolerate it more than others, but most dogs simply look miserable with anything on their bodies other than dirt. And let's not forget that Halloween is a traumatizing experience for dogs...people walking around the neighborhood in costumes all day, constantly ringing the doorbell and knocking on the door. So is it wrong to have a laugh at a dog's expense? Well I don't have a dog, so I'm not faced with this moral dilemma...therefore, I can post pictures here and laugh all I want. Ha.

We all know Yoda is like...the best character ever. If more adult males were about a foot and a half shorter on average, I think we'd see a lot more grown-up Yodas walking around on Halloween. Unfortunately, that's not the case, so many dog owners resort to dressing up their dogs as Yoda (case in point: my brother's dog, Midge). This dog looks especially miserable sporting the Jedi get-up.

Some dogs just walk around with a disappointed look on their face even if they're happy - it's just how they are. That doesn't mean a costume won't make them even more miserable. I mentioned Ralphie in the pink bunny pajamas before...this picture reminds me of exactly that.

Ok, these last ones are pretty creative...I'm not even quite sure that they're all real.

Christmas List

I know it's only October and I'm committed to Halloween right now, after which I'll only be committed to Thanksgiving until Black Friday. And I know the economy is in the toilet right now and all, but if any of you are looking to go all out and get me something nice for Christmas, here's an idea:

My Christmas Wish

Isn't today a Federal Holiday?

Why are we at work right now? Do people not realize that today is the 75th anniversary of the repeal of prohibition of beer?

Yes, on April 7th, 1933, eight months before the ratification of good ol' veinte y uno, the 21st amendment, that repealed the 18th amendment which had called for national prohibition, breweries got a jumpstart and started brewing away.

God bless America.

Virgle

Richard Branson is truly...the man. Excuse me...Sir Richard Branson. The guy is one of the most successful businessmen in the world...but he definitely mixes work with pleasure. Yesterday, he pulled a prank at the CTIA wireless show...and man, those guys are gullable.

He announced to the huge crowd of mobile insiders that along with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, founders of Google, they would be flying a solar-powered "Noah's Ark" to Mars. Their name, a combination of Virgin and Google of course, would be Virgle. Why a "Noah's Ark"? Because he said that they would be taking animals with them. Ultimately, their plan would be to put life on Mars and build a city there. At no point did anyone start laughing...in fact, they started applauding. Branson continued by saying that the first people who would go may not come back, but the hope is that it will be beautiful by the time they finish building the city.

At the end, he asked for volunteers, at which point atleast 30 people came on stage...probably mostly to get a picture with Branson. Google did their end of the prank by creating a page about the project.

I admit...Richard Branson is crazy enough that people would believe him about something like this. Awesome April Fools prank though.

Speaking of April Fools pranks, I'd like to thank Dave for his successful decoration of magnets all over my car yesterday...not here at work in the parking lot, but in the parking lot of the apartments where I reside. My paranoid level has been elevated to orange.

Also, speaking of Virgin (uh oh, where's he going with this?)...the company Virgin...they announced the headliners of their festival in Baltimore this summer - Foo Fighters, Jack Johnson, Kanye West, Nine Inch Nails, and Stone Temple Pilots. Pretty sweet basis for the festival I think. My brothers and I went to this 2-day festival last summer and had an awesome time. In fact, we saw Richard Branson walking through the crowd. Another reason I love the guy - I also saw him on the sidestage during Wu-Tang Clan.

Richard Branson ain't nothin' to f*** with!

Final Post

Well guys...unfortunately I've come to the decision to end this blog. I know, I know...dry your eyes, get a tissue. Why am I doing this you may ask?

Well, I've been thinking about time as a major resource of mine lately. You may have noticed that I haven't posted as much in the last couple weeks. Well, let's put this into perspective...if I continue to average a few posts a week and spend, say about 30 minutes on each post, that's about an an hour and a half a week spent on this blog. That's atleast 78 hours a year, strictly spent on this blog.

3 1/4 days a year blogging...about 0.009% of the year, I'm blogging. That's almost 0.01%!!

And for what? I could be devoting that time to something more productive.

So, I'm going to take back that time and use it wisely. It's been fun...and it's been an experience. Thank you to everyone who read this blog, especially those who consistently read it and commented on it occasionally.

I realize that this blog is not legendary or anything, and only has a handful of readers, but I've been thinking about the last words to post on here. You gotta end with something powerful, you know? This is what I came up with...


APRIL FOOL'S!

Happy St. Pat's!

Well, it's March 17th, which means that we're celebrating the anniversary of the patent of the rubber band! No just kidding...noone celebrates that (except maybe Dave, who insists on exemplifying its use as a projectile all day).

Anyway, Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Here is a picture from my time in Ireland a couple years ago...I like to call it "Heaven."


My agenda tonight:

1. Drink whiskey and beer
2. Eat corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and beer bread
3. Watch "Boondock Saints" and/or "Braveheart" (yes, I know Braveheart is Scottish, but one of the best characters in it, Stephen, is Irish):

Stephen: (looking up at the sky) All right, Father...I'll ask him...(looks down at William Wallace) If I risk my neck for you, will I get a chance to kill Englishman?

Hamish: Is your father a ghost, or do you converse with the Almighty?

Stephen: In order to find his equal, an Irishman is forced to talk to God...(looks up) Yes, Father? (looks back down at Hamish) The Almighty says, "don't change the subject...just answer the fuckin' question"

"Danny Boy" Ban

We all know the classic, Irish-related ballad known as "Danny Boy." We also all know that St. Patrick's Day is coming up, and that's the Irish holiday. It seems natural that the two would go together - amongst other Irish ballads, play "Danny Boy" on March 17th.

Has anyone ever questioned that though?

An owner of a Manhattan pub called "Foley's Pub" is putting a ban on playing "Danny Boy" for not only St. Patty's Day, but the entire month of March. Why? Because it's depressing, it's not sung in Ireland on St. Patty's Day because of that, and the song wasn't even written by an Irishman! I love the song, and it's held a special significance in my family because we are Irish and my brother's name is Daniel. And I could get past the sad nature of the song on this happy holiday if it were truly an Irish song.

But it was written by an Englishman who never even visited Ireland! One funny thing about it is that he wrote it after his sister apparently sent him the music to a song called "The Derry Air" (say that out loud...get it?)

Anyway, The article that I read about this offered the alternative, a bar owner in Detroit who will be having a "Danny Boy" marathon on St. Patty's weekend, playing it over 50 hours in 1,000 different renditions. I don't care what song it is that you're playing in variations for 50 hours...this guy must have an extremely mentally stable staff to put up with that. And when it comes to siding with a bar called "AJ's Cafe" in Detroit or "Foley's Pub," owned by an Irishman Shaun Clancy who started bartending when he was 12 in his father's pub in Ireland, the choice is clear.

It's unfortunate to learn that "Danny Boy" isn't really Irish, so I definitely don't blame Clancy for his decision. A smart businessman, he's even offered a free pint of the good stuff for anyone who sings an Irish song other than Danny Boy at his pre-St. Pat's karaoke party. However, it's hard not to still like the song - I'll just have to listen to it on different, more sobering occasions.