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It’s Always Five O’Clock Somewhere…
…in which I talk about home brewing, even if I am cutting a lot of corners.
When I first got interested in home brewing, I saw Mr. Beer as a gateway into a more involved, more traditional home brewing. I though, I’ll use Mr. Beer as a way to learn the concepts of beer, what makes the simple ingredients come together into a malted, alcoholic beverage. And besides, the starter kit isn’t that expensive. So when Heather bought it for me as a gift, I made the first beer and saw this kind of “Kool Aid of beer making” as a jump off point for true home brewing. I mean the kit is kitschy and you use all pre-processed ingredients, but the concept is sound.
Now that I’ve been doing it for a few years, I’ve found that while it still may be kind of a shortcut to true brewing, you still have a lot of room to play, and you still end up with real beer. I’ve discovered that you can use their refill kits as a starting point and play around with the additives to get a dramatically different result. There can still be a lot of art in this color-by-numbers home brewing kit. So, damn the naysayers, I’m gonna keep on doing it my way.
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It Was Unequivocally Designed To Make Your Body Rock…
…in which I talk about our latest adventure into Dallas.
In my recollection, it was about two months ago in the sleepy town of Denton that we first became aware of the fact that Gogol Bordello was to depart from a faraway land and return to the nation of their birth, the United States. Such an return as this was deserving of a most excellent party, and they kindly decided to share it with all the peoples of this country. As a part of this celebration, they would not only bring around vodka and marinated herring, but also they would bring an nearly illegal amount of gypsy punk!
I’ve been listening to Gogol Bordello for maybe a year now, and while I am no superfan, I am pretty fucking fond of their music. I am not, however, one to go to a concert stag style. I didn’t really give the idea of going to see them much of a second thought because I figured I could find no one to go with me. It turns out that I should maybe have made the suggestion to Heather earlier.
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In Case you Haven’t Met Me, I’m Tall…
…in which I talk about the trials and tribulations of finding clothes that fit, but also don’t suck.
So, recently, I happened to win a $50 gift card to ThinkGeek from the fine folks at GeekDad. Yes I am, in fact, a geek and a dad, myself, so I am kind of surrounded by such sites in my internet neighborhood. At any rate, it just so happens that my favorite hoodie of late, had a bit of a zipper malfunction, and while I’m usually quite adept at repairing zippers, this one seems to be immune to my tool-using ways. As a result, I found this $50 fortune to be a sign from fate to go ahead and buy a nice, new, albeit pricey hoodie. As it turns out, this inspiration may have been delivered by a false prophet.
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Bigger and Badder…
…in which I talk about board games and how much better they’re getting.
So, I’ve been buying a lot of board games lately. Part of it has to do with the somewhat increased salary coming in – though most of these were purchased before that – but also because they’re just getting so much better. Most recently, I picked up Wrath of Ashardalon and Mansion of Madness. These are massive, board games, rivaling anything I’ve ever owned before, and unlike some of the very interesting and entertaining games I’ve got on the shelf, these are seeing a distinct increase in play. Is it because I’m demanding to play them, or because they’re just more appealing than, say, Monopoly.
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The More things Stay the Same…
…in which I talk about vast, sweeping, slow moving change.
There have been some immense changes in my life recently, surrounded and accompanied by many small changes. The least of which, is I’m wearing a better class of shirt. The thing is, when you get a raise, a significant raise, a raise that is years overdue, you kind of feel like you should put forth a bit of a deserving image. That has lead to me buying a few new shirts and just trying to look, overall, a bit more professional.
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Fourteen Months…
…in which I look at my life in the past year.
I can’t believe it’s been fourteen months since I wrote anything in this blog. Even that entry ways simply an excuse to share some old photos. Really the last time I wrote was nineteen months ago, almost to the day. In that last discussion, I tried to convince myself that the key to writing, and continuing to write, depended on my ability to remove myself from the self-importance of the text and to focus simply on the act of writing.
(“How’s that working out for you?” asks my condescending inner monologue.)
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GATW’s Coding Ninja’s Top 10 of 2010
Once again, it is time for me to fess up and reveal to the world how few movies I actually get a chance to see, despite my working for a movie news and review site. To be honest, this year, I thought I would be writing “The Seven Movies of 2010 That I Actually Saw.” Thankfully, with quick DVD releases, and even some Netflix Streaming, I was able to see a grand total of seventeen releases for the year. But I digress. Here, in all its glory, is my entirely unconventional Top Ten of 2010!
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…And We’re Back
Here we are, on the other side. We hope it was worth the wait and we look forward to your continued patronage. Enjoy the new server. The news should start flowing again, shortly, with the regularity you’ve grown accustomed to.
Again, thank you for your patience and we’re glad to have you back!
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GATW Site Maintenance
Gordon and the Whale is getting a little more power under the hood. Tuesday, November 2nd, starting at 4pm CST, we will start the process of migrating to a new web server. We expect the process to take 24-48 hours, but it could take even longer.
Fear not, we will not be gone during this time, but we will not be able to post any new news until the process is complete. Feel free to keep browsing the latest news we’ve posted, up until the point where we start packing our bags and heading over to the new server. Comments made during our transition are also not guaranteed to make the trip, so save up your witty repartee for the finale when we’re all settled into our new server.
We will be sure to alert you as soon as we’ve made the transition, so keep your eyes out for a followup announcement.
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The Wrap is Following Chase Whale
In October of 2009, Hollywood news blog The Wrap featured 30 Twitter accounts that they were keeping a close eye on. Gordon and the Whale Twitter fiend, Chase Whale, made the list amidst several high profile celebrities and columnists. You can see Chase hanging with the rest at The Wrap’s article.
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