READ/LISTEN/WATCH/RENT

READ: When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

This is my favorite of Sedaris' novels. I read it for the first time recently and loved every story. Much like "Naked" and "Corduroy" it delves into his crazy upbringing, but really is more related to stories of him in his mid to late 20's and beyond. I really loved his story "Road Trips" which has some graphic imagery of what can happen when you hitchhike in the late 80's. If you haven't read any of Sedaris, pick up any of his books and you'll enjoy. Like Augusten Burroughs, he writes great short stories that some how fold together in a non-linear way.

LISTEN: Childish Gambino

I am not a fan of the rap music. I never got into it. It doesn't speak to me. But, Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover (Troy from Community, and from Derrick Comedy) is wonderful. He takes an indy rock approach, and even though he is an established comedy writer (wrote for 30 Rock for 3 seasons when he was 25) it isn't comedy rap. Think Atmosphere not Lonely Island. My favorite part is he writes about shit I know. He drops lines about Aubrey Plaza, Tina Fey and Dunder Mifflin. He does have some of the normal boistours rapper characteristics, but you can tell the tounge in cheek mixed with honest rap skills in every line. This guy is like Midas, everything he does is golden. And he doesn't even charge for his music. He is a comedian, actor and writer by trade who raps on the side. Enjoy folks.


WATCH: Bored to Death

Bored to Death is exactly what you want it to be. It's like Monk written by the guys from Arrested Development. When the cast is Jason Shwartzmen, Zach Galifanakis and Ted Danson, how could you honestly go wrong? The story is Jonathan Ames (Rushmore) is a depressed writer who takes Private Investigator jobs off Craigslist in his spare time, while sharing time between politician father figure/man-child George (Sam Malone) and comic book artist Ray (He who sits betweenith two ferns). The stories are nothing special (Jonathan finds a skateboard, looses a screenplay) but they are executed perfectly. And with only like 10 episodes per season, they really focus on quality. I have season 1, and can't wait to start season 2 and hopefully it will get a season 3. Great television.


RENT: The Vicious Kind

Adam Scott showed up on my radar earlier this year in Party Down. Then he went to Parks and Rec, and so I started to investigate him. Not only did I realize he was on Boy Meets World, but he also was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor last year for this movie, The Vicious Kind. Now, I had this movie in my netflix cue for months, just because I liked the synopsis, so I finally watched it, and I was blown away. It was like The Machinist meets Little Miss Sunshine. Very dark, and awkward at times, but still with heart. Brittany Snow, who I only knew as a teeny bopper, was great (And hot) and Adam Scott really was perfect. I hope that just because he is popping as a comedic actor now, that he doesn't abandon dramatic rolls, because this was one of those rare perfect movies to me. Like Garden State or Royal Tennanbaums, where as soon as it was over, I watched it again. It is for free to watch on netflix so check it out.

The 50 States of Beer - Massachusetts

Massachusetts

Boston Beer Company - Boston, MA
Best Beer:

Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat

This is my favorite time of year for beer. October. Now, you may think it's because of all the wonderful Octoberfest beers that come out around this time. But if you wanna know the truth, I am not the biggest fan of Octoberfest beers.

But, one of my top 5 favorite beers of all time does happen to come out in the fall and it is this Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat. Yum fucking Yum.

The first time I tasted this delicious brew was at (yep, you guessed it) the Old Chicago in Ames. Now, my beer life can be broken up into three categories (so far):

Golden Age / 2003-2007
From when I started to drink beer up until Cassada, Alister and Schenck left Ames.

Silver Age / 2007-2009
From when they left Ames, until Nick told me about homebrewing.

Bronze Age / 2009-Current
From when I started brewing my own beer until now.

Cherry Wheat came into the picture at the dawn of my Silver Age. I had it on the Octoberfest minitour 2007 and fell in love. I can't think of a beer on tap I'd take over Cherry Wheat.

I tried to make my own Cherry Wheat last Christmas, which turned into "St. Patrick's We Wish You A Cherry Christmas". It didn't taste a thing like Sam Adam's Cherry, but it was great and I wish I could recreate it. But it in it's absence, I'll settle for the Boston Brewers version.


For more information on Boston Beer Company, go here.
And visit the official Boston Beer Company website here.

Up Next: Kansas

Read/Listen/Watch/Rent

READ: Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut

Bluebeard is one of my favorite all time books. The story of avant garde artist Rabo Karabekian in his twilight years, reflecting on his life. Much like all of Vonnegut's books, this is an extremely dark yet very funny book. Rabo, going through his highs and lows and recalling his triumphs and insecurities, is great. It reads like an autobiography, I feel like it's all true. The final art project revealed towards the end of the novel (and Rabo's life) is the most beautiful part of writing I've ever read. Find this and read it.

LISTEN: The Mountain Goats

"It was song number 3, on John's last cd. Gonna make it through this year, if it kills me. And it almost killed me". That's a line from this song by The Hold Steady, which was on the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie soundtrack. The first time I heard it, I thought "who the fuck is John?" Well, I went to the old interweb and found out John is John Darnielle, founding member of The Mountain Goats. Before I even listened to his music, I was surprised to find that he had spent sometime living in Ames, Iowa. What are the odds? The first song I looked up, obviously, was Song number 3, on his most recent release. The track titled "This Year". Such a voice and great song, and not at all like The Hold Steady. The songs are so dark and full. Like Daniel Johnston with better recording equipment. Click here to see the song "No Children", which played over the end of Morel Orel (another Adult Swim nod, see how I tie this shit together) and as my friend Aaron pointed out one night, this is one of the most heartbreaking scenes of any tv show. Below, is the video for "This Year" which was my anthem for 2009.


WATCH: Eastbound and Down

Kenny Fuckin' Powers. That is all you really need to know. Or more approraiatly, Danny Fuckin' McBride. He makes this show, and makes me laugh more than anyone else right now. It started with The Foot Fist Way, and then Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder, and now with Eastbound and Down, as a former MLB hothead who gets in his own way. This show is wonderful. Follow K Fuckin' P on twitter here, and you'll find it's worthy of being a "READ" section on my blog. Below is a compilation of The Best of Kenny Powers. You're fuckin' out, I'm fuckin' in.


RENT: The Messenger

This movie came out last year, and I would say that it should have been nominated for best picture. This and The Hurt Locker go hand in hand, where as The Hurt Locker takes you just to the edge and then pulls back, this movie is after you've already fallen. It's the story of 2 soldiers whose job is to notify families when there family members have been killed in action. It is heartbreaking. Like The Hurt Locker, this doesn't politicize the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it just presents the reality of it. Woody Harrelson got an oscar nomination for this, and I think that Ben "Tucker James" Foster should have also. When I finished watching this movie it made me feel very erie about the way of the world, and made me think about the soldiers overseas. What a world.

Two New Brews for Fall...

In October I'll have 2 new brews on tap here at 1808.

FIRST:

St. Patrick's Vanilla Cream Ale, which hopefully will turn out similar to Raccoon River's Vanilla Cream Ale.

SECOND:

St. Patrick's Apartment Three Nut Brown, this is my first foray into nut browns, and I am hoping it turns out similar to Empyrean's Third Stone Brown.

Hopefully it will be a very tasty fall!

The 50 States of Beer - Indiana

Indiana

Three Floyds Brewing - Munster, IN
Best Beer:

Robert the Bruce

The first time I had Robert the Bruce was in Chicago a few years ago at a pizzeria. I really like it. I wish they would distribute to Iowa, because it seems like a waste to have such a good brewery so close and yet so far.

In the fall I start to get thirsty for red, scottish ales and nut browns, so hopefully I can find a lesser scottish ale that is comparable.

For more information on Three Floyds Brewing, go here.
And visit the official Three Floyds Brewing website here.

Up Next: Massachusetts

"Quoth"

"And [brewing] provided a sense of community as well. To become a [brewer] was to join a self-contained, rabidly idealistic society, largely unnoticed and surprisingly uncorrupted by the world at large. The culture of [beer] was characterized by intense competition and undiluted machismo, but for the most part, its constituents were concerned with impressing only one another. Getting to the top of any given [beer] was considered much less important than how one got there: prestige was earned by tackling the most unforgiving [recipes] with minimal equipment, in the boldest style imaginable. "

I came across this quote while reading the Krakauer book, and even though he's talking about mountain climbing originally (I did a little editoralizing), I think it really sticks to the whole homebrewing community. I love it.

Read/Listen/Watch/Rent

READ: Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

Jonathan Franzen is an author who I never heard of, but apperently I should have. He wrote a book back in the early 2000's called The Corrections, which Oprah removed from her book club, when he made a comment that he didn't like the idea of being on her book club. Freedom, is about a St. Paul democrat, Patty, who is going through some shit. She has lived her "cool mom raise my kids better than I was raised" life only to find her son is still rebelling, even though she did everything right. She's gotta bullshit Rush Limbaugh wannabe living across the street and an old friend, indie rock sensation Katz, shows up to test her marriage. This sounds kinda sitcomy, but it has a lot of depth to it and humor. It's a good read. Also, Franzen was on Fresh Air the other day so you can check that out.

LISTEN: Phosphorescent

Listen... I don't know one good goddamned thing about the band/guy that is Phosphorescent, alright, except that they are good. I haven't even checked out the wikipedia page. Listen to this song (video on actual post, if you are reading this on popular networking site book face) and then try not to be hooked. I put it on repeat at work all the time.

WATCH: Louie

Louie, starring Louis CK, is one of the best television shows I have seen in awhile. It's funny, obviosuly, but it is so dark and serious. It has a heart, and yet can still make you laugh fucking histarically. Louis CK has always been a great comedian, and even though his HBO series Lucky Louie didn't work, I think it's for the best. After It's Always Sunny did so well, Archer killed and The League had a promising first season, FX decided to gamble with another comedy. They fucking got sevens. I can't put into words how good Louie is, it's like Breaking Bad mixed with The Office. I wish the show was a full hour, because it's very fast paced, and seems to end to soon. But, definatly worth checking out. You can watch a handful of episodes here. Below is a scene from the 2nd episode which perfectly shows how much of the spectrum this show plays. It's 7 minutes long, but well worth it.

WATCH: Waiting for Guffman

Waiting for Guffman, written by Christopher Guest, followed in the mocumentary footsteps of it's predecssor Spinal Tap (also written by Guest). It is the tale of a small town in Kansas that is putting on a Sequisentinial play. Well, it just so happens that Corky St.Clair, former broadway actor, is now living in town and can direct. Hijinx ensue. These movies, Spinal Tap, Guffman, A Mighty Wind, Best in Show, For Your Consideration, they all just kill me. So funny, so real, so good. Everyone involved is just a pro. Rent this or check it out on Netflix soon.