Read/Listen/Watch/Rent

READ: Microbrewed Adventures - A Lupulin-Filled Journey to the Heart and Flavor of the World's Great Craft Beers by Charlie Papazian

Last year, as you may know, I got into homebrewing. It is great. It's fun, time consuming, nerve wracking and rewarding all at the same time. I have made 4 brews so far, and my latest (St. Patrick's On The Fence IPA) didn't turn out. It made me really angry at first when I realized my IPA failed, but I got over it quick cause I learned from my mistakes, so now I look at it as a win. Anyways, since getting into homebrewing, I have wanted to learn all I can about beer. I came across this Papazian book. I love it. It is part biography, part history, and part recipie book. Every page has humor and insight. The ironic thing is, I was watching the wonderful documentary Beer Wars, and sure enough, Charlie Papazian shows up in it, spreading his knowledge. Beer lovers should enjoy this book.

LISTEN: The Rural Alberta Advantage

The RAA are one of my current favorites. The band (from Ontario, ironically), have that same folk meets rock style as Band of Horses. The voice of Paul Banwatt over the drumbeats and fuzz infused guitars sets a great mood. Their first full length album, Hometowns (re-released on Saddle Creek Records in 2008) is 13 gems that flow together with tales of deathbridges and small town traps. My music taste has been evolving (or de-evolving) into the corners of folk for the past few years now, and the RAA is a great companion for anyone who thinks Frontier Ruckus is to "soft" or Beck is to "out there". Below is a video for "Don't Haunt This Place". (If you are reading this on Facebook, click the link to "view original post" to see video.")


WATCH: Little Britain

Remember Kid's in the Hall? Did you ever wonder what Kid's in the Hall would be like if it was set in England? Wonder no more. Little Britain is a hilarious. It's a sketch comedy show full of recurring characters. Most of which are played by Matt Lucas and David Walliams. It's full of exaggerations of British people, and it is perfect. Characters such as Lou and his wheel chair bound (as Lou thinks) friend Andy, Emily Howard and Florence aka the two "ladies", Prime Minister Michael and his VERY helpful aide Sebastian, and my personal favorite, Teenager Vicky Pollard. The first 2 seasons of this show are up for free to watch on Netflix, otherwise you can watch a ton of clips on YouTube. It is well wroth watching folks, below is a video I only wanna preface with the word "bitty".


RENT: Extract

I mentioned this movie in a post from last year about what movies I was looking forward to seeing. And I was right, this movie is wonderful. Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck and Mike Judge are reason enough. Throw in Mila Kunis, JK Simmons and David Koechner and you have a movie. It's funny, much funnier then Judges last effort Idiocracy (which is great, don't get me wrong, but not as good as this.) and much more put together then Office Space. Taking place in the world of an Extract plant, it gets mundane mixed with insaine perfect. Everyone should rent this movie, today, Dingus. (Trailer below).

The Oscars (not included: Oscar from The Office)

So, the oscar nominations came out this week. Now, I have done my lists for best movies of last year, so it's not to hard to see that I agree/disagree with some of the noms. Oh, and a lot of folks reading this from Facebook probably do not care at all about the Oscars, and may wonder why I do. Well, the answer is, I don't know either. FML.

The Oscar Best Picture nominees for this year (which is now a 10 title category) are:

Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

Now, this is the list for my favorite films of 2009 (as written on 11/10/09):

The Hangover
Star Trek
Inglourious Basterds
Zombieland
Funny People
(500) Days of Summer
The Invention of Lying
Big Fan
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Up

Right away, we have learned 2 things. Up and Inglourious Basterds were very good. However, since I made my list in November, I have watched a few more movies that came out last year. And I have to say that The Hurt Locker is a definate force to be reckoned with, and would definatly have been on my list had I seen it before I wrote it.

Let's Pick-a-part these Best Picture Nominees:

No Chance of Winning:

-The Blind Side should not win. Why? Because I don't give a shit about it. Now I am vaguly interested in the story of Raven's Oher, but I'd rather learn his tale in a 8 minute segment on Outside The Lines, not in a fucking theater with Tim Fucking McGraw. Also, The Blind Side looked to be a disney Remember The Titans-esqe flick, and if it wasn't, then that was the marketing departments fault.

-Precious, is one of those movies that had such rave reviews, I knew I wouldn't be able to watch it. In the past however, I have been surprised by films like this (Brokeback Mountain, Into The Wild), but for every one of those actual gems you get so many polished poopies (Gran Torino, Blood Diamond).

-An Education, has a hard time getting a win. It looks great, I love Nick Hornby as you can see in almost every post I have written on here. However, I have not seen it yet because I am lazy as all get-out. It is on my Netflix que, and as soon as I get done with the 1988 season of WWF, I'll watch it. (JK, I hate wrasslin'). I do not think this will win, but I do think it will be a great movie, with great performances.

-I haven't seen A Serious Man. I also haven't seen a bad Coen Brothers movie. (WHO SAID THE LADYKILLERS? IT WAS GREAT!) However, this is no No Country for Old Men. No chance to win (Oh, and how the fuck did Burn After Reading get no Oscar noms?)

-When it comes to the movie Up, I am stuck. When I watched this in the theater I loved it. When I watched it with Stacie, I loved it. I even picked it as my favorite movie of 2009. But now, I don't know what it is, but I regret giving it my Best Picture for 2009. Also, I regret considering it a better animated film then Fantastic Mr. Fox. I don't think Up will win the category, but if it was nominated for Best Picture and Best Animated Film, then it should be guranteed to win it. Even if I think Fantastic Mr. Fox is more deserving (but still, both are great movies).

Chance of Winning:
-I saw District 9 after I made my best of 2009 list. District 9 would be on my list had I seen it before. It was a great movie. I liked everything about it, and I wish I had seen it in the theater. I think this has a 1/4 chance of winning the Oscar.

-Inglourious Basterds was almost perfect. Exactly what I wanted it to be. No bullshit Tarantino stuff that I had to sit through in the Kill Bills and Grindhouse. Just a balls out, no excuses great romp (yeah I said romp). It is the only Oscar Best Picture nominee I already have on dvd (And have watched 2 or 3 times). I think this has a 1/4 chance of winning the Oscar.

-I haven't seen Up In The Air, but I want to. It looks really good, and I like all the actors/writers/producers/directors/airports involved. I think this has a 1/4 chance of winning.

- Like District 9, I saw The Hurt Locker after I made my list. The Hurt Locker is the best movie I have seen in the past few years. It sucked me in, I felt like I was in the movie. I bit my nails raw. An Iraq movie with no politics, no bullshit and no breaks. Just BOOM BOOM BOOM. Jeremy Renner should get best actor, without a doubt. Have you seen Neo-Ned? Netflix that som-a-bitch. I think this has a 1/4 chance of winning the Oscar, however I am really hoping it gets it.

Toilet Paper:
-Last, and ceratinly least is Avatar. Avatar is the first movie I ever walked out of the theater on. I do not understand it's draw. The story isn't new. Ferngully and Pocahontas should go to the SVU, because they both need a rape kit done. Seriously, I thought this was god awful. Sure it might have been pretty and the graphics were neat, but I don't go to a movie to see a blue dude stick his ponytail penis into some horse-like-things tail vagina. If Avatar wins, I will shit my pants.

I really wish I had seen An Education, Up in the Air, In the Loop, and Crazy Heart. Also, since I made my list I have seen Adventureland and Schencdouche, New York, which I really liked.

Also, I think Patton Oswald should have got a Best Actor Nod for Big Fan.

Below is a complete list of who I think will win/who I want to win, in the major categories:

Best Actor:
Jeff Bridges/Jeremy Renner
Best Supporting Actor:
Christoph Waltz/Christoph Waltz
Best Actress:
Sandra Bullock/Carey Mulligan
Best Supporting Actress:
Monique/no clue...
Best Animated Film:
Up/Fantastic Mr. Fox
Best Documentary:
Food, Inc./The Cove
Best Director:
Kathryn Bigelow/Kathryn Bigelow
Best Picture:
The Hurt Locker/The Hurt Locker

Cigarettes Wedding Bells

Well here is a website for you to visit: It is Stacie and my wedding website.

(note: not nearly as much .gif as you'd expect. and I blame me for that.)