Ah, the weekend is here. After a long week of 10+ hour days, I'm taking today off. I often work part of Fridays out of my home (courtesy of PC Anywhere), but I'm not even doing that today. I'm just walking to Mass, taking a long exercise walk, taking a nap, then reading on my front porch. Eventually, I'll probably make it out to the drinking club.
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Brings back memories: comic book covers from the 1970s.
This cover's reference to The Sandman reminds me of this unusual literary anecodote:
G.K. Chesterton was a leading character, and a surprisingly true-to-life one, in DC's award-winning comic book, The Sandman, numbers 10 through 16 (November, 1989–June, 1990). The character returned to The Sandman in issue 39 (July, 1992); and showed again for brief third and a fourth turns in numbers 63 and 65 (September and December, 1994). The Gilbert character's later appearances were brief, unexciting, and devoid of apparent significance. The third ended with his violent, grisly, unfunny comic-book death. Gilbert's final appearance came in the August, 1995 issue, as he indignantly refused to permit Morpheus (the Sandman) to raise him from the dead! DC Comics ended publication of The Sandman with issue number 75.
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The first review I've seen of Tolkien's Children of Hurin. Excerpt:
Turin is a kid who grows up with an absent father, who happens to be a hero, and deals with the fear of terror every day. His father, Hurin, captured by the Satanic figure of the story--Morgoth--is held in thrall in Middle-Earth's version of hell. As Turin's world breaks apart (Morgoth stretches out his hand to conquer his family), he flees to the Elves where he is fostered by the Elven King. Yet, as he grows into adulthood, he remains a man apart, a loner, given to flashes of anger and compassion, in the grip of emotions he doesn't understand. In his hatred of Morgoth, he dances with the Dark. His loathing is very close to a perverted form of love, for his very self finds its only meaning in relationship to this terrible evil force. Elves and men who try to befriend him, women who try to love him are pushed away in favor of his lust for revenge.
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Brews You Can Use
Aussies infiltrated with San Fran lifestyle:
After 113 years, the country's biggest selling beer, Victoria Bitter, or VB, is to be produced in a mid-strength version to keep pace with the country's fast-changing beer tastes.
VB, with its distinctive green label, has since 1894 been a staple of hard-drinking backyard barbecues, student revels and football games, not to mention healthy overseas exports.
Now brewer Foster's has decided for the first time to produce the beer in a weaker yellow-label version with 3.5 percent strength, down from 5 percent, as Australians abandon it for scores of more upscale "boutique" or craft beers.
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An attendee recounts his visit to Durham, North Carolina's World Beer Fest. Sounds neat, though there's something mildly unsettling about passages like this one:
I was at station 6, cleansing my palette with a sample of Rare Vos by Brewery Ommegang when he appeared and muscled his way thru the sea of happy beer drinkers. He squeezed by me and grabbed the arm of the young man directly behind me.
“You have to try the Clipper City Loose Cannon Hop3 Ale!” he shouted over the din.
“Yeah I'll work my way over there!” the young man shouted back.
“It'll be gone! There's a line and and and ”¦ it'll be all gone dude!” the tall man said dragging his friend away.
I like beer for lots of reasons, but one of its primarily gifts is the mellowing effect. Whereas life is often hectic and rushed, beer isn't. It strikes me as a violation of beer's essence to run about frantically, gulping two-ounce samples. It's hard to explain, but it kinda strikes me as similar to buying a bouquet of flowers so you can hack them with a scythe.
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I won't make a special trip to Chicago for it, but this pizza beer sounds interesting. "For the next few weeks, Walter Payton's Roundhouse will be offering pizza beer on its menu – a barley-based beer that's flavored with tomato, basil, oregano and garlic."
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I found a legitimate artist on the web. Timothy Jones. Here's his Bleu Cheese and Beer. He does non-alcoholic pictures, too. Good stuff.
