Beer is Peachy?

The last update had the beer list up to 31, well on my way to that magic number of 126. Why am I counting to 126? That’s the number it takes in my local bar to get my own mug and a tasty 10% discount. Now as we found out with the Bacardi Silver Raz, the name beer list is a little misleading. While there is no liquor at the bar I go to, there are a few more things then beer. There is also wine. Now I’m not a fan of wine but I knew I’d eventually have to drink some. What happens next I was not expecting.


Check out the full story after the jump.

Guest Writer Hired!!

I haven’t been crushed under the pressure of daily blog writing or anything. I just a strange frantic idea forming in my head, much like when I decided to blog in the first place, I decided that I needed a guest writer. He is in Texas and I’m in Orlando, so he probably hasn’t read the text I sent him yet. He really has little choice in the matter though. One of my closest friends for years now he has had a giant list of nicknames (BK, Beatbox, Meatbox, Dancin’ Brandon) but his posts will be marked with this image:

 The picture is from the great Chris Moreno. The same image is where I pulled my headshot. There is no one better at doing strange Comic Convention commissions. Seriously, give Chris your money.  But back to the Cake Fucker. This year is going to be full of big Green Lantern news. Now I’m pretty well versed in Lanterns, enough to know that Guy Gardner is the best one anyway. But good old CFer has been a Lantern fan long, long before Rebirth so I’ll be relying on him for any doses of Nerd Rage or fans perspective.

So remember. The next time you see that image of awesomeness, it won’t be my inane ramblings. Oh and CFer, when you read this for the first time. Welcome aboard!

Building a better Noir....body wash

Bath and Body works has a body wash for men named Noir. According to them, “Noir is a bold, exotic blend of black cardamom and white musk. Key fragrance notes: Sage, Coriander, Cardamom, White Vanilla, Vetiver and Amber Musk.” I didn’t smell it, I just saw it in a flier that my wife was mailed. I don’t know what half of those “Key fragrances” are so I have no idea what it smells like.  But I think I know enough about Noir to put together what it should smell like.

Noir to me would probably not be a scent most people would pay for. So today I’m going to build my own Noir Fragrance. I’m going to say to start off we’ll use a base of sweat. Can't have a good Noir scene without someone ending up as a sweaty mess.  Maybe even add some undertones of Old Spice and Aqua Velva.

Working with that as our base we’ll add the smoky aroma of…well smoke. We could go a number of different ways here, but I think stale Lucky Strike would be the best one. I think adding hints of that match head smell would probably be appropriate too.

Next up, it is time to add the alcohol. There are so many ways to go here. I think it would have to be bourbon, rye, or gin. Maybe a splash of all three would be the way to go. On a side note, it should be much easier to find a picture of William Powell with a drink in his hand.

I think I’ve built a pretty standard Noir smell. Maybe add the scent of gunpowder and that smell rain makes when it hits hot asphalt. Did I miss anything important? Am I out of my mind and Bath and Bodyworks got it right? Oh well if nothing else, I think I just inspired myself to watch the Big Sleep when I get off work tonight.

Giant Sized Flash Friday

Flash Friday is here again and today is going to be a giant sized edition. Not that the review itself is going to be double sized or anything, I’m talking more about the size of the item I’m reviewing. Last week I said I was waiting for UPS to deliver a package and happily it did come on time. From SDCC 09 we have the 12 inch Flash, Giants of Justice figure.

So it is over sized, but is it any good? Check out after the jump.

Hangover Cures

So it is Hangover Thursday and I feel great. It might have something to do with I had other obligations last night and was only at the bar for an hour. I stuck to Session Black and Guinness, so nothing to mark off my list. But after going through my personal hangover ritual last Thursday I started thinking about what other people do to cure hangovers. Sure there is the drink lots of water beforehand or don’t drink to excess but those are no fun.

My personal favorite is orange Gatoraide and a giant chicken parmesan sub from Jersey Mikes. Something about the way the sauce, cheese, and bread merge together just makes me feel better. I drink orange Gatoraide because I don’t like many other of the flavors. Do they still make cherry? That stuff was fantastic. I seem to like doughy things when I’m hung over. Back when I was in the Air Force I’d spend Sunday Morning eating two or three bowls of Chicken and Dumplings at a local restaurant when I was really hung over.

The internet tells me some people like raw eggs or Prairie Oysters (Raw Egg, Worcestershire Sauce, Salt, and Pepper). It also told me that after Oktoberfest Germans eat a breakfast of pickled herring and onions. Japanese people go for umeboshi, a pickled plum-like fruit. In my mind the funniest cure is Director Edgar Wright’s preference for Cornettos when hung over. I tried it with the American equivalent, the drumstick, and it didn’t do much for me.

By this point I was pretty interested in what everyone else does so I started polling people in my office. The results were fun. There was the very specific mixing half a quart of Gatoraide with half a quart of water; to the unexpected Hot Tea with Lemon. Ibuprofen is apparently good with water the night before or a beer the day after depending on who I asked. Advil was much the same, although it was paired with a greasy cheeseburger and weed. Water, water, water, was of course the most sensible and least fun answer. I think there were equal parts Advil, Aspirin, and Ibuprofen. Did I miss anything? What is your hangover cure?

Blacksad

Blacksad is one of those things I’ve heard about for years. “You have to read it, you’d love it,” people would tell me. I’ve seen the pictures for the book’s hero numerous places. Artists I really admire have done their own pictures of John Blacksad and I’d look at those and say to myself, I really need to track that book down. But I put it off and after a while I’d forget about it. Until earlier in July I finally got around to reading it. It helps that Dark Horse just put out a hard cover collection of the first three stories. And now that I’ve read them I can honestly say this, you need to read Blacksad.

So what is so good about this book? Check it out after the jump.

Copepods or WTF is in that shark’s mouth??

So Shark Week is well underway. I’ll take back what I said about Ultimate Air Jaws, the show was fantastic especially the ending sequence. I’ll still give Expedition great white the edge on being the coolest show about the whites, but Ultimate was very cool. Then we come to Into the Shark Bite. The point of the show is to have the shark bite an object that is protecting the camera so we can see into the shark’s mouth when it bites.

The show has some good footage of sharks but was pretty pointless until they showed inside the shark’s mouth and then, “Oh my god what is that?!?” It looked like a white barnacle attached to the shark’s gums and then a patch of hair came flying out of it. It was a Copepod.

These things are pretty common apparently. In a paper I found written by George Benz and Susan Dippenaar they go on to say that the blue shark holds the record for having the most different kinds of Copepods. They could have some on their pectoral fins, on their nose, in their gills, and on their body. There may be around 3,000 of these things living on the shark.

The one I saw on the white shark lives between the teeth. There are some that attach to mako sharks that live on their tongue and the roof of their mouth. Virtually ever Greenland shark has these things living on their eyes. On their eyes. They go partially blind because of these things. And that is all the time I’m going to spend on these things, because looking for images of these things has been pretty nasty. On the bright side, I couldn’t find pictures of the hairy looking ones inside the shark’s mouth. So on that note, Happy Shark Week!