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).