Saturday, February 5, 2011
Unaired But Now Unlocked!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
The Clothing Drive
Monday, January 31, 2011
Effing Awesome
Sunday, October 31, 2010
You're Not Really Offended
In another example of a company caving into allegedly "offending" a consumer (or potential consumer, I guess), we have a brewing company being informed by some overly sensitive individuals that their label was offensive and contained am image that should not be tolerated in our society anymore. Note: The person was a Wiccan astrologist and "healer". (Translation: She fancies herself a witch.) Side note: The image on the beer bottle was of a "witch" being burned at the stake. Wait. What now?Correct. According to the delicious folks over there at Slashfood, the Port Brewing Company concocts a "...wheat beer, spiced with grapefruit zest, orange peel and coriander" called Lost Abbey Witch's Wit. Yummy. But it wasn't the deliciousness of the beverage that sparked the outrage of a one Vicki Noble. She is the aforementioned "witch" from the paragraph above. She saw the label on the bottle and flew off the proverbial broomstick handle! (That means she wrote a strongly worded email to the company.) Behold! Said label!

capitalism isn't the focus of this tale. No, it's that there was a drawing of a person seemingly being burned at the stake with throngs of onlookers gathered 'round. THAT was the nugget of contention that Ms. Noble had with the beer. In her email she wrote: "Can you imagine them showing a black person being lynched or a Jewish person going to the oven?...Such images are simply not tolerated in our society anymore (thank the Goddess) and this one should not be, either." Oh, for cryin' out loud.
You know what the difference is between showing a black person being lynched or a Jewish person "going to the oven" and the depiction of someone being burned at the stake? The difference is that the first two might stir up some outrage because they actually happened. Witches being burned at the stake did not happen! You'd think that someone who claimed herself to be a witch would know that.
allegedly offensive when it isn't even real? First of all, it's a drawing. It's not like there was a really nice color photo taken at the fiery event that was plastered on the bottle there. No, someone drew that. Second of all, witches that were tried during the Salem witch trials (which is what I'm assuming that she is wrongly referring to with all of her misplaced outrage) were generally hanged. I think that there were only around sixteen of them (not the gazillions like people have been led to believe) and they weren't burned at the stake. They were hanged. And finally, witches aren't real! Good Lord.
But what do you think the Port Brewing Company, of which Lost Abbey is a division, did? You got it. Instead of saying, "Tough witches teats" they instead will "...spend thousands of dollars to change the label." ::: sigh ::: What is wrong with you people?
spokesman, a one Sage Osterfeld, said that "complaints flooded the brewery, accusing Port Brewing Company...of "inspiring violence against women. . . . We have been compared to the violence in Darfur." Oh, for Christ's sake! Are they burning people at the stake in Darfur? No? Then that's not a very good comparison then, is it? And it isn't crap like the labels on beer bottles that inspires violence against women. There are plenty of things that do inspire violence of all sorts, but I'm going to stick my neck out and say that beer bottle labels are NOT one of them. And I'd really like to know how many complaints "flooded the brewery". Ten? Regardless, if these people weren't loyal consumers of your brand, who gives a fat rat's ass? They can complain all they want; it's not like it's going to hurt sales or anything.
Port Brewing Company, I am deeply saddened by your actions. There is no reason why you should have had to change your awesome label. Why couldn't you have just told those who were all fake outraged that you were sorry? What did you think was going to happen if you didn't change the label? Were you afraid that they would cast a spell upon you? Psst! I'm going to let you in on a little secret. That doesn't work!
fake outrage over a non-existent issue, I would have been tempted to go out and buy up your wonderful beverage by the truckload. But now? Now, not so much. Now I just see you as another cowardly company (not that I had ever heard of your before today, mind you, but I'm just saying) who would rather give power to the undeserving rather than stand up for what is right. I won't be buying any of your beverages in the future. Do you think that changing your label is going to make all of those "witches" flock to buy your product? I think not. Good choice, though. Reeeaaaalllly good choice.Thursday, August 12, 2010
You Gotta Get Two Beers And Jump
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Steven Slater - My Hero
If you haven't heard the name Steven Slater by now, you will. And you will be glad that you did. This guy takes awesome to a completely different level. If you're going to give an impromptu resignation from your job, take some tips from Steven on how to go out in style.See, Steven was a flight attendant working for JetBlue.
The flight he was working had just landed at JFK when some idiot passenger does what at least one person does on every single flight that I've taken. They get up the second that plane hits the ground. Where do you people think that you're going? You're trapped inside of a metal tube. You're not going anywhere for at LEAST another five minutes and you're not getting OUT of the plane for at LEAST another eight minutes. Sit your ass down and wait until the freaking plane has at least stopped, you morons.
Seriously, you people jump for that overhead compartment as if it was on some sort of 'first come, first serve' basis, what are you thinking? It's not like there is going to be a better selection of luggage for you if you get the first. It doesn't work like that. It's not a sale. Generally speaking, you're supposed to exit the aircraft with the exact same bags that you brought onto the aircraft. What's your hurry?According to the NY Post, Slater had an "...argument with a passenger, who sources said told
Slater "to f--- off" after being told by Slater not to remove baggage from the overhead compartment." Granted, this flight originated in Pittsburgh and landed in New York, so I'm not overly surprised that this sort of individual was on the flight, but still. Do you really need to tell anyone that you don't know to f**k off? Especially when you're the one in the wrong? I don't think you do.
After that "The passenger insisted on opening the overhead compartment, hitting Slater in the head with the door as it dropped down." See?! This is why we don't do that. You moron. That was apparently the tipping point for our hero, Steven. As passengers were herding themselves (likely as always in the most ineffective fashion ever) toward the exit, our boy Steven got on the intercom and bellowed, "I've had it! To the f----ing ass---- that told me to f--- off, it’s been a good 28 years!" And it only gets better.He then pulled the lever that activates the plane's
inflatable evacuation chute. Nice touch. He then threw his bags down the slide, but before he slid down after them, there was one more thing he needed to make sure he took with him. That's right. He grabbed a beer off of the beverage cart and then slid down the slide to freedom. How awesome is that?
The tale doesn't quite end there. Steven grabbed his bags and kept a firm grip on his beer as he ran across the tarmac and caught the AirTrain to the employee parking lot where he got in his car and drove home. Just picture this in your head. Let's say your on the flight and you've just heard an airline employee cuss someone out on the intercom. Your interest would be piqued. Imagine how great it would be when you turned around to see what was going on and saw our hero, beer in hand, go sliding down that inflatable chute and then run across the tarmac! That might be the best thing I had ever seen in my life! It's one of the best things I've ever read about, I'll tell you that much.Sadly, Steven's tale doesn't end there. No, according to the NY Post again, Steven had "...raced
home to Belle Harbor, where he hopped into bed with his boyfriend." It is there and presumably in that position (or at least in some sort of position) that the cops arrested him and charged him with criminal mischief and reckless endangerment. Not a bad end to a pretty good day if you're asking me. You quit your job in style, get laid, get arrested and become an instant folk hero in the process. Well done, sir. Well done, indeed.
I hope that the tool who wouldn't sit down and who just had to get her bags out of the overhead compartment and told Steven to "f**k off" will face some sort of charge as well. Isn't that interfering with a flight crew or something like that? There has to be something. But even if there isn't, I think Steven is going to be OK. And I'm pretty sure that in the end he'll be a lot better off with this sort of a tale to follow him around. Who wouldn't want to be able to say that's how they quit their job? No one.Sunday, July 25, 2010
Getting A Little Squirrelly
I'm not a fan of "The Most Expensive ____" (put whatever you want in the blank) because there's no reasonable scale on which to judge something. I can say that I have a pair of socks for sale for one million dollars and that they are the most expensive socks in the world, but that doesn't necessarily make them so, you know what I mean? It's just like having "The World's Biggest (insert food item here)". If it's a food that you're growing in the ground or on a tree, that's fine. But if it's a food that anyone can make, that's ridiculous. Sure, you can have the World's Biggest Hamburger and have it weigh 750 pounds, but what is stopping anyone from having a 751 pound hamburger (other than sheer sanity)? Not much. World records that are the biggest and the most expensive should have a small degree of luck or chance to them.That's all why I was not overly interested when I heard that, at $770 per bottle,
a brewery in Fraserberg, Scotland, is selling a new Belgian blonde ale which is 55 percent alcohol. It's the process to make the beer which the brewers claim is the reason for the exorbitant expense. Apparently they need to keep the beer at far below freezing temperatures so that water separates from the solution. They apparently repeat that process a gazillion times and it takes hundreds of liters of the beer in order to make just one 330 ml bottle. Granted, it's a super boozy bottle, but it's still just one.
Is the process necessary? I have no idea. And while I have a fondness for beer, I don't have much of an interest in drinking a $770 bottle of beer. I just don't. That's not what beer is about. You know what else beer isn't about? Dead rodent road kill that are all taxidermied up with the bottle of beer shoved down inside them. Wait. What? Behold!
Mr. Watt went on to say, "We want to show people there is an alternative to monolithic corporate beers, introduce them to a completely new approach to beer and elevate the status of beer in our culture." Well, that's all fine and good, but I don't know that you're going to elevate the status of much by cramming it down roadkill. I'm just saying. Mr. Watt added that (referring to beer drinkers in the United Kingdom) "are constrained by lack of choice; seduced by the monolithic corporate brewers' huge advertising budgets and brainwashed by vindictive lies perpetrated with the veracity of propaganda." I really wish he had given an example of the vindictive lies by corporate brewers. What could a brewer lie about? This beer won't get you drunk even a little bit? I don't get that. As for the constraining lack of choice, you DO live on an island, my good man. It's hard to have much variety when there isn't a lot of choice to be had. That doesn't mean that one needs to create variety by shoving a bottle of beer down a....what is that? A chipmunk? Never mind. All I'm saying is that you'll adjust the the drudgery of no variety.
Fortunately, there are only 12 bottles of The End of History. Unfortunately, they've already sold out of them. Of course they have. (In case you were wondering, the one creature is a stoat and the other one is a squirrel. There were 8 stoats available and only 4 squirrels. Apparently, stoats are more prone to getting clobbered by traffic than are the squirrels.) This is only going to make them try to do something of this nature again. They'll just strive for something a little more outrageous, is all. Maybe they'll cram a keg of ale inside of a hippopotamus or something. Or have a whole variety of beers on tap being poured from a cow's udder. Who knows? I only wish that I wouldn't have to find out.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Ale to the Chief
Finally. Gatesgate is finally over. Either that or it's just beginning. And I'm not sure which one I'd prefer. As long as it isn't in the damn headlines every single day, simply rehashing the same stuff over and over. But I suspect we're going to have to hear about this "beer bonding" that these three did for a while.Has there ever been so many flapping gums that completely miss the entire point of what they're flapping about other than this beer summit thing? Oh, sorry President Barry. It's not a "beer summit". That's right. What did you call it? Oh, yeah. "This is three folks having a drink." So...what? Did Biden crash the party or something? Behold!

Good Lord, had I known
Biden was going to be there, I would have been more enthused about the whole thing! Have you heard the guy talk when he's sober?! He is a sound bite per minute, that Vice President Biden is. Get a few drinks in him and look out! Maybe he'll get really drunk like Mel Gibson and call someone "Sugar Tits" (probably President Barry). Yeah, in my dreams that would happen! But I still couldn't help but hoping that's how this little powwow would turn out. My perfect scenario would have had them all (as Jimmy Fallon put it) "doing Jaeger shots out of Betsy Ross's thimble", followed by an exchange of words and everyone stripping down to the waist as a slight scuffle ensued and finally breaking up when Sergeant Crowley broke out his Taser and started showing folks just how Mr. Zappy there works. How GREAT would that have been?! Pretty great!But alas, none of that was to be. ::: sigh ::: Instead, they all came together as one! Now, is it
just me or is it a little odd that each one of them got to choose what brand of beer they wanted to drink? AND they all chose something different. Yep, everyone coming together as one and doing it separately, that was their goal! (By the way, I think that Professor Gates was making or retracting some sort of political statement with his choice in beverage. He had originally requested Red Stripe (a beer which hails from Jamaica and which I find extremely unpleasant), but then word had it that he was drinking Samuel Adams. Soooooo....did he start off with the Red Stripe as a statement of his heritage and then worry that was going to make him seem too radical and so he went with Samuel Adams, the great American patriot who was likely not a brewer of any sort of beer? I just found it interesting that he switched, is all.)And they drank it out of mugs. And they had snacks in a silver bowl on the table. What the hell? All that was left for them t
o do was to join hands and start up a rousing chorus of Kum-Bi-Ya. Seriously, though, what's with the Chex Mix in the silver bowl? It's Chex Mix for cryin' out loud! You're in the ROSE garden. You're drinking out of GLASS mugs. You've got some crunchy snacks in a SILVER bowl. Y'all are wearing TIES. What a bunch of wusses y'all looked like. (Except for Sgt. Crowley. He looked rather uncomfortable with the whole thing. Not uncomfortable in the sense that he wanted to leave or didn't want to be there, but uncomfortable in the sense that he wished he could loosen his tie and that these other folks would do the same. It's hard to be relaxed and try to work things out when you've got a little noose around your neck.)Up until the beer was poured into the mugs (which didn't even appear to be chill
ed! Have they no sense of the common man over there at the White House?!), this had been billed as being a "teachable moment". Yet when the "teachable moment" rolled around, the press weren't allowed anywhere near the pansies. (And they couldn't go around the flowers either!) They took a few pictures, just so that they can prove that it actually happened? But there was no audio. There was no video. None of that. We don't even know if they FINISHED their beers! Er, beer. I think they all had A beer. Well, whoop-de-whoop! They're animals!
So not only do we not know if they finished their beers or not, we have no idea what they talked about other than there were no apologies and that two men agreed to disagree. Too bad that one of those men couldn't have agreed to disagree as to whether he should show the other one his ID to prove that he lived in the house. Had it been that simple THEN I highly doubt we'd be having this discussion.
I'm having a hard time supporting President Barry on the decision to get involved in this. Yeah, I know he said that the police acted "stupidly". Why couldn't he just have explained that comment the same way? Just said that HE acted "stupidly" and went on with his day? No, he had to play the fake-peacemaker and act like he was mediating at the G-20 summit (only it would have been the G-2 summit and that just takes all the ooomph out of it for me).
If it was such a "teachable" moment, what did we learn? I'll tell you.
We learned that it is apparently just fine to yell and scream and call someone a racist, a racist cop, a rogue cop and someone who shouldn't even be a cop and to say those things directly to media so that they will be heard by the entire world. That seems to be OK. And it also seems to be OK, after you're done running someone's character through the mud, to NOT apologize for calling them a racist. That seems to be alright as well. And finally, it would seem that after you've behaved as poorly as one did, you know, with all of the calling the other person "a racist", you can expect to go to the White House and sit down and have a beer with the President and Vice President. But you WILL have to stop yelling "Racist!" for a little while so that you can feign interest in what anyone else is saying. Deal? Deal! What a joke. It makes me more aware of how politicians work. And
President Barry is the KING of having things appear as if they're getting done or that some good is going to come out of something and then just quietly moving on to the next thing without even acknowledging how something else is going or how it turned out. He's very smooth that way. Or weaselly. Your choice. Do weasels drink beer?
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
It Doesn't Get Much More Flori-duh-y Than This
Oh, but the residents of Flori-duh are not doing themselves any favors by continuing to behave in ways that, sadly, continue to personify the entire state. Seriously, it's to the point where 9 times out of 10, anything you hear in the news that is just beyond bizarre is likely to have taken place in Flori-duh. Flori-duh is the exception to the "Authorities believe alcohol may have been involved" rule of thumb when it comes to boneheads behaving badly.- There is some sort of an assault with an object that is not your typical assault object. This would include wildlife, food, alcohol bottles and/or any variation of a tiki statue/idol, etc.
- Very often, a convenience store, laundromat, truck stop or moving vehicle is involved.
- The participants are either under 30 or over 65.
- Theft, money, drugs, strippers and/or hookers will also play a prominent role.
And this one meets and/or exceeds all of the above qualifications to render it a genuine Flori-duh WTF story.
According to tampabay.com, what we have is a one 26-year old Daniel L. Winter w
ho was at a strip joint called Calendar Girls. (That's in Port Richey, FL. Just in case you happen to be in the area and feel like popping in just to see what all of the fuss is about.) When said stripper watching was completed, Daniel's friends, a one 18-year old Ashley Decicco and her boyfriend, a one 30-year old Shaun Nater, picked him up and drove to Burger King for a late night, post-stripper ogling snack. No problems with that. Yet.
As Ashley
drove along US-19, she asked stripper-watcher Daniel for $3 to cover her gasoline costs. One would assume that he had the $3. After all, he was just watching strippers and they tend to require that one has a multitude of one dollar bills (even though they continue dancing whether you're throwing money at them or not. Go figure.). But Stripper-Watcher said no because "his rent was due". Um, dude, you just watched chicks on poles and then paid for the food you wanted your way and now your rent is due?! Then things start to get a little weird.
"According to authorities, they argued and Winter slapped Decicco in the face
as she drove." Rule number one when being given a ride home: Never slap the driver while she's driving! I don't know what surprises me more. The fact that he's a guy and he slapped her (man up, dude!) or that he was sitting in the front where he could slap her. Oh, wait. He wasn't. What?
Correct. Daniel was in the back seat when he made the ill-advised decision to slap the person driving while they were on the freeway. Her boyfriend was in the front seat and all of the girlfriend slapping from the backseat apparently enraged him (you think?!) and he twisted around and punched Daniel. That's when the fish tank came into play.
For some reason (one that is inexplicably left out of the story), there was a fish tank in the back seat and according to tampabay.com, "...he allegedly beat Nater with it, but the fish tank had no effect on Nater." Oh, I don't know that it didn't have any effect on him. I'm sure that it made him more angry! It's not often that you're doing a guy a favor by giving him a ride home only to be whacked in the head with a fish tank. (And keep in mind, they're driving on the freeway at the time of this little altercation!"
In an effort to beat the guy with something that would have an effect on him (I guess), Daniel
then looked for another weapon and "...grabbed....a beer bottle, also from the back seat (How convenient) and "...pummeled Nater with the beer bottle, but Nater was able to wrestle it away from him." Still driving! Still driving down the freeway!
"After getting the bottle from his friend, Nater bashed it over Winter's head several times until it broke." And yes, they're still driving at this point. But this must have been just a bit too much for Ashley, the 19 year-old driver who apparently has nerves of steel as evidenced by the fact that she didn't drive them all off of the road. Seriously! She has the equivalent of a WWF match going on next to her and yet she manages to keep on driving until she spies a Denny's and decides that looks like a good place to pull over in and call the cops.
"Both men were arrested on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon."
Huh. "Deadly weapon?" I guess that anything and everything could be considered a "deadly weapon" if you're using it to bash someone else over the head. While I can't condone the fish tank beating and the beer bottle pummeling (and really, who could?), I can totally understand getting angry with Mr. Cheap-Ass Stripper Gawker there. Come on, dude! Three bucks?! It's not like you didn't have it! You saw strippers! You ate burgers! Give the chick her three bucks!
Given as how both of their bails are $10,000, that three bucks is looking like a pretty good deal right about now I'd imagine. Welcome to Flori-duh.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Double the Dip S****s in Flori-duh

to be a problem. There are two reasons that one buys beer in the morning on a Saturday. One is that you have a function or an event which requires you to have beer. Those events would include tailgate parties, any sporting event (and yes, golf, tennis and beer pong all count!) and college graduation. (Spring break doesn't really count because you're drunk all the time during spring break. It's like a prerequisite of the break in the spring. One must be continually smashed . It's the rule. I'm (fairly) certain of it.) The second reason that one buys beer in the morning on a Saturday is that they still think it's Friday, as they're very drunk and haven't been to bed yet, mainly because they have a hankerin' for some more alcohol. Guess which one of those situations was likely applicable to Mr. Merino's situation? Here's a hint: Not the first one.
beer. Naturally, that was completely unacceptable to
A few minutes later, "911 dispatch operators received a second call from the store. This time it came from the customer, Armando Merino, who allegedly used "abusive" language with the operator." Only in Flori-duh.
According to the arrest report officers "...attempted to calm the man down, however he continued to use abusive language with the clerk as well as the responding officers." Shocking, I know. But if you thought that was shocking, this will really floor you: "Police say the man smelled of alcohol and appeared to be "unsteady" on his feet." Shocked? I thought so!
ow that story ends. What about Dip S #2 with a remarkably similar tale? We go now to Boynton Beach, Flori-duh where we find a one Jean Fortune, a 66 year old man who really likes lemonade, apparently, in the drive-thru of a Burger King. When Mr. Fortune (aka Dip S the Second, or just Dip S II) ordered his food, he was told by the drive-thru cashier that the Burger King did not serve lemonade anymore. That did not bode well with Dip S II.
Correct. According to the folks over there at the Palm Beach Post, Dip S II called 911 after he "...became angry when he picked up his order at the window and threatened to call police" and the cashier told him "Go ahead." I think I probably would have responded the same way. Whatever dude. Call away! Have a good time! Say 'hi' to dispatch for me, will ya? Thanks!
nel. Five minutes. How could one complain for five minutes about the BK not having lemonade? What else is there other than "I'm pissed off because they're out of effing lemonade and I'm quite parched, dammit!" That seems all inclusive right there and it wouldn't have taken five minutes. Then again, he was in Flori-duh and they tend to need extra time sounding out big words and all. But according to Dip S II, he made the call because "I was hungry and I didn't like the way she was acting with the customer."
ice report it said that Dip S II "...could not explain why he resorted to calling 911 for a "civil dilemma." " As a lame ass attempt at explaining it, the best he could come up with to the SunSentinel.com was "I am not from here and I didn't know I couldn't do that." Was he from the moon? He didn't know you couldn't call 911 because there wasn't any lemonade? I'm pretty sure that even if you weren't told specifically that calling 911 due to a lack of lemonade would be frowned upon, I think one could be expected to noodle that one through themselves. Look at the logo! Does it say "Beverages"? No. And it's an even lamer excuse considering that this doofus "...has been in the U.S. from Haiti for at least 25 years." 