My Drink

If you know me well, you know I have a drink. It was my Grandfather's drink. I think he gave me a sip when I was around 12 years old. It wasn't my thing then. But he gave me another sip when I was 18 or so, and I was intrigued. My Grandfather and I were a nice pair. He liked to cook and taught me how to make a proper salad nicoisse. He was a hardcore democrat and loved laughing at my moderate politics, claiming I had spent too much time around my other Grandfather who was a Republican. When my Grandmother refused to turn the air on one 90 degree night, I snuck out in the middle of the night and lowered the thermostat to 78. In the morning he raised it back up and told me to go on, it would be our secret. He died before knowing I'd co-opted his favorite libation. At his memorial service I ordered one in his honor, as did all the other over 21 family members. I however, was nearly the only one who liked them, so I polished off mine and many of the others as well. Since then I have almost always kept gin, sweet vermouth, and campari in my possession. So cheers to my Grandpa Dan and the Negroni.

A Mick LaSalle Review I Enjoyed

I didn't think it was possible. But, add some politics to a movie review and "you go, boy." Ah, Che Guevara, you numbnut, you. Idealism doesn't go with violence. Ask Mao? I assume you're both in the same place somewhere. Still people wear shirts with your pretty bereted face on their chests. Most probably have no clue what you actually did in your life and movies such as "Che," with its blatantly one sided view, won't help with that. I haven't even gone into the fact that I think communism is mostly a bunch of bullshit used by dictators to keep power under the pretext of equal treatment. Not that democracy is actually democratic, but it sure allows for more natural human behavior than letting a lazy ass get the same rewards as the hard worker. I could continue, but I won't. I'll end on the note that, surprise, surprise, I will not be seeing this movie.

Not an I-pod, or an I-phone, not even made by Apple

It's a more environmentally friendly house. The I-House. Yes, you read that correctly, the I-House. I was prepared to make fun of this concept, but the design is actually really nice and I am all for smaller houses. How many people really need all those rooms in their houses? With the population growing constantly, houses are definitely in need of being more efficient with space.

End of the Year Music Lists

The best of 2008 lists are out from music websites and magazines. Thought I'd aggregate some of them for you. Oh and my favorites, before looking at what I missed from these lists, are 1) TV on the Radio--Dear Science 2) Bon Iver--For Emma, Forever Ago 3)Vampire Weekend--Vampire Weekend 4)MGMT--Oracular Spectacular 5) Fleet Foxes--Fleet Foxes.

No Ripcord
Pitchfork
NPR listeners
Rolling Stone

Boxing Day

A little history from the New York Times.

A Lesson in Backting

From Will Ferrell and Will Arnett

Will Ferrell and Will Arnett in the Back-tees by Will Arnett

The Modern Hookup

The new era of meeting people, having sex, maybe a relationship, maybe not. A blogger argues it isn't worse than the dating scene of old, just different.