FlaSoxxJim

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Oct 1, 2009 -> 12:20 PM) Anyone know where to get some Don Q rum around Chicago? Hard to imagine it not being readily available in Chicago. It's everywhere down here. I particularly like the Limited Edition Gran Añejo they produce.

Questionable district realignment might help that happen in Texas I'm told.

Yep, I'm in Florida. And you sure would expect the tropical-themed restaurants and bars here to make decent rum drinks, but for the most part they don't. Spiked Kool-Aid is what you get 9 times out of 10, although that is slowly changing for the better as the Tiki resurgence continues. There are a handful of places in my part of the state who make a decent rum drink here and there. The Keys are probably an exception, and most of my favorite rum bars are down there.

Just don't let it go to your head.

QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 1, 2009 -> 09:29 AM) You substituted ghost for Nephew!!!

Dancing Queen! By Bjorn Again. (see what I did there?)

QUOTE (knightni @ Sep 30, 2009 -> 09:58 PM) A few people might be expecting an ABBA video here. No such "luck."Bjorn Again is going to have to suffice, unfortunately.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 30, 2009 -> 10:06 PM) But most of the movies Knight mentioned were intentionally bad. Brooks wasn't going for that. I think the stated premise of going for intentionally bad is a copout. Nobody intends to make a bad film. Sure, parody films intend to send up the core attributes of the films they are satirizing, and they usualy do that on a shoestring budget. But the ones that succeed do so because they are FUNNY, not because they are bad on purpose. The movies Knight mentioned were shooting for funny, but according to critics (I haven't seen them), they have to settle for just being bad.

QUOTE (knightni @ Sep 30, 2009 -> 09:56 PM) Yeah. Date Movie, Meet The Spartans, etc. are meant to be bad because they are parodies. Parodies don't have to be bad by definition, and that's the difference between Date Movie, Meet The Spartans, etc., and a parody that succeeds on its own right as a film. I'm not saying it's easy, but I'll posit Young Frankenstein as Exhibit A. One of my top 5 favorite all-time films, an outstanding parody of the classic Universal Monster films, and a visually satisfying, meticulously designed film in it's own right. An unfair comparison, I realize. I think Young Frankenstein is Mel Brook's masterpoiece, and is an order of magnitude better than anything else he ever did (and I'm a fan of quite a bit of it).

QUOTE (3E8 @ Sep 30, 2009 -> 09:29 PM) I Heart Huckabees was the worst movie I've ever seen, I'm surprised it got favorable reviews. That Ang Lee Hulk was really horrible as well Strong disagreement on Huckabees, which I think is intelligently written and in which I think Mark Wahlberg was especially good. Minor disagreement on Ang's Hulk because I give him credit for sticking by his guns and giving the Big Guy purple pants.

It has taken a year or so, but I think I now officially grok J. Wray and Nephew overproof rum. Like most people, I wasn't even sure what to make of the stuff when I first encountered it. Heck, when even the likes of Kaiser Penguin title their JWray pieces, “Why does my drink taste like gasoline?”, you know there is a learning curve associated with this rum. For several months, I stuck to using the JWray in a purely suporting role, just a bit to add some Jamaican authenticity to caribbean punches (and the flavor does cut through nicely and make itself known). More recently, drinks where the Wray is more front-and-center like JWray and Ting and Jasper's Punch (see aforementioned Penguin post) have become more appealing to me, and I find myself going through bottles of JWray quicker than anything else. Tonight I think I finally reached the next level with this unique rum. I revisited a Beachbum Grog Log recipe called Blackbeard's Ghost that is itself an embellishment of a 1970s grog cocktail from a long-defunct Newport Beach CA pirate-themed restaurant. A really good, very quaffable drink in its own right, with a couple of ounces of sour mix, falernum, and apricot brandy compliment a moderate (2 oz) amount of light and demerara rums. A couple months ago I'd have mixed this one up and been perfectly content to not tinker with it. Tonight, though, I tasted the Ghost, liked it quite a bit, but then thought, you know, going Jamaican and subbing JWray for the light rum and Myers (or Coruba) for he dark rum WILL make a really good drink. Thing is, I had no doubts about this whatsoever. Before I ever mixed it up and tasted it, I pretty much knew how this would come out and I knew it would click. And it did. And I think I really get J. Wray and Nephew now. So, instead of Blackbeard's Ghost, I'll call this one Blackbeard's Nephew (see what I did there?), and it will be fast-tracked out of the experimental column and into the locked-in house drinks column. yay rum!

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Sep 30, 2009 -> 07:40 PM) So Im sick like a dog and just wiped out (didnt help that I had midterms on Monday and Tuesday and got like 3 hours of sleep), so now Ive probably slept like 17 out of the past 20 hours and Im still tired. Whats the longest youve guys slept in a 24 hour period? I slept for around 19 hours once during a transit on a research cruise. I was working as a science tech and also doing double duty as a mission correspondent, so when the rest of the science team would go to bed I'd have to stay up another several hours going through the eh day's digital photos and writing a mission dispatch to put up online. When I finally had some down time I took full advantage of it. Of course, that was the night they served king crab and steak in the galley and I missed it and ended up eating corn flakes when I finally got p later that night.

I really liked Englund in Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. In fact, I think that is one of the few decent horror films in recent years. Any others here like it?

Weddings always make me cry. And by always, I mean never.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Sep 30, 2009 -> 04:58 PM) Doesn't explain the Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 tramp stamp you recently acquired. It wasn't that recent. I've matured a lot since then.

That's some funny stuff right there.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Sep 30, 2009 -> 04:54 PM) Then why do you own a Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 t-shirt as well as a license plate cover? So my kids think I'm cool?

Reading Rainbow gave LeVar Burton steady work for 23 years.

I have seen exactly 2 of those films, and only one by choice — Good Luck Chuck because it was free on In Demand looking for a movie one night. Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 is possibly the worst film I have ever seen, and I took my young kids to see it so I don't think it should even count bacause it wasn't my idea!

Having been mostly out of the Finer Things loop for a couple of weeks, I need to go back and catch up with some previous posts. . . QUOTE (G&T @ Sep 25, 2009 -> 03:08 PM) Found Stingo at the bottle shop today. Probably shouldn't have spent that much on 1 bottle, but since it's the only one I'll ever buy, it's worth it. Have you cracked this yet? I can't wait to hear what you think of it. QUOTE (G&T @ Sep 25, 2009 -> 07:21 PM) I'm currently doing a tasting of fresh Hennepin vs. Cave Aged Hennepin and the results are in. Cave Aged is AMAZING and blows away the fresh version. The Cave Aged Hennepin sounds like it's definitely worth trying. I'm jealous. QUOTE (AssHatSoxFan @ Sep 26, 2009 -> 11:23 PM) Had a Stone Ruination IPA last night and a Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale tonight... both are very good! I hope you had the Sierra first before the Ruination hops had their way with your tastebuds. I had no idea this Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale even came out, but looking at now it sounds really intriguing. I've had their regular harvest, and I've tried and failed to secure a bottle of the Chico Estate Harvest, but I'm familiar with and fond of two of the three New Zealand hop varieties used in the Southern harvest, so I'm dying to find it now.

QUOTE (bmags @ Sep 30, 2009 -> 02:06 PM) cool tips. Thanks. I want to start a thread on google wave...good idea? I wanted in on the beta test group but didn't get picked. 100K user beta starts today.

Plush purple monsters that sound like Yoda are always quality entertainment.

I've had 90 Shilling and a couple of other Odell brews that I thought were all very good. Someone gave me a bourbon barrel-aged stout from them the was great. The 90 Shilling is on the lower-octane side of Scottish-style ales, and although I'd prefer a wee heavy it's really well done. The American Scottish Ale I loved and really miss is Bert Grant's Scottish Ale which is sadly no longer being produced.

QUOTE (Brian @ Sep 29, 2009 -> 11:04 PM) This would be better if the brought back Englund. 9 out of every 10 Hollywood horror films anymore are cr@ppy retreads of somebody else's past successes. How long are these filmmakers going to get away with such an absolute lack of creativity?