Beer Photos #11: Stone Smoked Porter

Stone is one of those brewers that looms large, at least on the beer landscape which I inhabit. You can find their beer here locally just about everywhere that sells beer, whether it's the grocery store or the speciality bottle shop. I have to say, I wasn't terribly impressed by their Smoked Porter. It's not bad, but it's not great either. I suppose I'm a bit spoiled by having Alaskan Smoked Porter available most of the time as well; this might seem better were it not in competition. Stone isn't one of the breweries I like a lot, but they seem pretty dedicated to the IPA market (3 of 7 year-round beers are IPAs and a fourth is a basic pale ale) so perhaps that was inevitable. Folks I respect are pretty high on them when it comes to IPAs so I expect it's not them, it's me.

Oh, and yes, I was watching QI on YouTube shortly before Christmas (hence the return of the festive mug).

Fun with language

A couple words obtruded themselves upon my notice in the last week or two. First, a friend of mine was unfamiliar with the word "cull", which I used when talking about our church library and the need to do some weeding (a metaphor itself). He's not to be censured at all, of course, for not knowing the word. Give anyone a list of 100 vocabulary words and odds are that most folks will not know all of them. We all have lacunae in our vocabulary that seem odd to others. We'll consider the words themselves after the jump.

Peter Jackson, Tolkien and Lord of the Rings

There's a Hobbit movie coming. Well, three of them, to be precise. I am not impressed. There may have been hints of this attitude in a previous post, but let me lay out in more detail, for those who are interested, why I can't get worked up about the new movies. It's really about how Peter Jackson and his merrie band failed us with the LOTR trilogy that was given into his care. He's already forfeited all the trust the director of Meet the Feebles was ever going to get from me. Detailed thoughts after the jump.

Pensée 642

The ordinary life of men is like that of saints. They all seek their satisfaction, and differ only in the object in which they place it.

~Blaise Pascal, Pensées

Taking the week off

I'm off the rest of this week from work in honor of my 12th wedding anniversary (coming up at the very end of the month) and even though it's only been a few hours that I've not been at work, it's been good times. I've played with my 5 month old son, read my kids their history lesson and I'll get to help with more of their schoolwork in a few minutes after they finish their craft interlude.

Though I often enjoy my work, it's not so consistent and wonderful as to make being home anything less than a joy and a delight. I both can't wait for the rest of this week and want it to happen as slowly as possible so it can last as long as possible.

Monday Movie Reviews #10: Largo Winch

I've been interspersing modern films, often action-thrillers, with my Yasujiro Ozu filmathon. Once in a while, one of them is quite good. More often, they're a lot like The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch. My first clue that this wasn't going to be one of the better films was that it was French. I'm sure the French can make good movies, but I can't think of a good French action film. This one managed to be not only mediocre as an action film, but preachy and left-wing into the bargain.

Sometimes it's the small things.

I took a short nap on the couch today before dinner. That was nice. But the best part was my not-quite-5-month-old son took a nap at the same time on me. I think that is my favourite thing to do with my children when they are infants: nap on the couch with my child napping on my chest.

Beer Photos #10: Pelican Tsunami Stout

Pelican's Tsunami isn't a bad stout. Tasty, though not worth a premium to seek out, in my opinion. On the other hand, if it's available on tap somewhere, in this IPA-loving world it's probably the only stout on tap so go for it without hesitation. The brewery isn't exactly local to where I am, but it's not too far off. I wouldn't mind visiting it one of these days.

Monday Movie Reviews #9: Tokyo Story

After more than a month, another movie review. I really ought to have reviewed Gosford Park and maybe The Big Clock too, but for one reason and another here we are and I'm going back to Yasujiro Ozu. Tokyo Story is a marvelous film, but it's going to kick your guts right out at the end. Don't say I didn't warn you. There be spoilers ahead!

Ah, the Internet

I found a portion of this a long time ago floating around the webs when I was in college. Judging by the date on the article, Laws Concerning Food and Drink was originally published around then. It's kinda cool that I ran across a snippet of this and was reminded of it again because I'd never read the whole thing.

Beer Photos #9: Alaskan Smoked Porter (2008)

My favourite smoked porter. I've tried a handful, and none compares to the Alaskan. This was the 2008 version, which was quite good, but I drank it well before I'd developed my palate at all. I've also had the 2010 and 2011 versions; also very good. I'm not a big fan of the Alaskan Brewing Company generally since most of their brews are not types that I prefer, but this is a solid entry. I need to see if I can snag some of their Baltic Porter which is out now, I think. That also sounds interesting.

Lance Armstrong and the Case of the Doping Allegations

I'm a bit confused by this whole thing. I know, I know, there are folks who will think me an incredible naïf for still harbouring any doubts whatsoever about the guilt of Lance Armstrong. But hear me out.

Beer Photos #8: Pipeline Porter

I was not impressed. Pipeline Porter is a holiday beer (I think) from the Kona Brewing Company and it's supposed to have Kona coffee in it. Now, I do like a coffee brew (hah!) from time to time, but this one just tasted burnt. On the other hand, at the time, I was not a coffee-drinker, so perhaps I'd like it better if I tried it again. A couple of their other varieties have met with the approval of a couple of my in-laws, so if you like flavoured beers (which most of theirs are) you might want to check them out.

Bookends

I was looking around First Things for something and I ran across an old post there about bookends. I'll let them explain.

When I discussed that post with Jody Bottum we agreed that one book would not be enough to represent the breadth of a person. However, with two data points a broader spectrum of likes, passions, and interests comes into focus. That led us to pondering the question, “If you had a shelf of books to help explain yourself, which two books would form the outer boundaries—the bookends—of you?”

So that got me to thinking, what would mine be? And I'm really struggling with limiting myself to only two books. I'd like to think that's because I'm such a widely read person with eclectic taste. Instead it probably just means I'm wishy-washy and can't make up my own mind even when the topic isn't important. I'm thinking it might be cheating to choose the Bible; at any rate, perhaps more informative if you choose other books.

I suppose if you held my feet to the fire, I'd pick The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Ideas Have Consequences by Richard Weaver. I'm not sure what that says about me, but there you go.

Dead Internet

My ISP killed my internet access for about a week before they finally got their act together and fixed it properly. I'll see if I can get back on track with regular features and such, but we've also got house-guests so don't expect too much.