Vores Ol combines two of my favorite things: beer and open source. Mmm…Beer.
Category Archives: Entertainment
WLS does it again: Part 3
According to a post on Jay Marvin’s blog, he is no longer part of the on-air staff at WLS. He even ended the show today with “back tomorrow” so I wonder if some bad shit went down.
My guess, he wasn’t reading straight from the Republican talking points that are faxed to WLS every morning. Okay, that’s a bit of tin foil hat wearing thinking, but Jay was the only left leaning voice on the station. I guess its all right all the time now. I’m almost certain that’s why he was asked to leave. Eileen is now free to share her passionate and well-meaning but often under-informed opinions without someone with a warehouse of facts to correct her.
This means I’m down to just listening to just listening to Don and Roma when I wake up and Roe in the afternoon. And the quality of Roe hasn’t been there enough to keep me. D&R are good and mostly not rabid in their right wing views. They give that opposition, but not the enemy (all credit to Jay for the phrase) voice for balance in my life, but I think I can give them up to tell WLS to go screw.
[Update 12/29: Robert Feder’s Sun-Times column today had more on Jay’s departure.]
Hi Bob! *drink*
I think I have been remiss and never mentioned the statue of Bob Newhart: psychologist edition that was parked outside my place of business for most of the summer. I should also mention there was an unveiling ceremony aired on TVLand that was in the courtyard that is right outside my office window. It was pretty surreal.
Rachelle Bowden did what I always thought about doing, but was too lazy to actually do: She took a bunch of pictures of people “talking” to Bob.
Unfortunately, she missed the one lady who was there daily that seemed to have really animated discussions with Bob. I don’t think that would have really translated well to still pictures anyway. You needed to see it for yourself.
Bob Chinn’s downtown edition
I finally made it to the new Bob Chinn’s Crabhouse downtown. Its been open for awhile, and its only a few blocks from work, but its a bit expensive for lunch. Dave and I went over there for our “last time to have lunch before the new year, oh yeah and lets have beer” lunch.
To compare it to its Wheeling cousin its definitely a more formal atmosphere. The food, most importantly the rolls, are just as good as the original. The menu is different, so it took me a bit to decide what I wanted to eat. I decided on the Louisiana-style fried catfish. It was great. I also had a nice Goose Island Honker’s Ale and stuffed myself on the garlic rolls.
As pointed out to me by Jordan, according to this article on Metromix the Chicago Bob Chinn’s is actually owned by Bob’s son. That explains some of the differences. However, the goal of the food is to stay as true as possible to the original.
Earthsea starts next Monday
The SciFi channel‘s Legend of Earthsea miniseries starts next Monday, Dec. 13th. It’s, of course, based on Ursula K. Le Guin‘s Earthsea books. I imagine it covers the events in the Earthsea trilogy that starts with A Wizard of Earthsea.
I really fear this based on the disaster that many fantasy and science fiction book-to-TV miniseries have been. I especially fear for Earthsea thanks to the 2002 A&E adaptation of Le Guin’s Lathe of Heaven.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m going to TiVo it and watch it anyway, but I’ll probably be bitching after I watch it.
[Update 12/20: I still haven’t watched it and there’s a lot of reasons why. I’m even less motivated than I was after my first post after reading what Le Guin had to say about it on Slate. Mark Ashton had a really good post about the whole thing at this blog as well.]
Coffee
“Its like [Mountain] Dew, but hot!” — Geoff Raye
At least it wasn’t the version from the crappy movie with Matthew Broderick
Godzilla finally getting the props from Hollywood he deserves!
Actually, don’t you (or someone on your behalf) actually have to purchase your star on the walk of fame?
WLS less sucky in the morning!
Okay, this is old news by now, but I was out of town for a week or so. I just have to say, its good to have Don and Roma back on in the morning. Much better than the crap they had on while WLS and D&R were figuring out contract stuff.
Erik Estrada
Today at work, Erik Estrada walked by me. He signed people’s autographs for 3 hours. The women are nutty about this guy. Sadly, I haven’t gotten a picture of him and me.
But still, aren’t you jealous?
[Update 5:15: Okay, it was actually 4 hours… So, at 5 it was time to close the booth that Erik was signing autographs at. As he was leaving, he was hugging all the women working the booth goodbye. I told him I was feeling left out, so I also got a hug from Erik Estrada. Be aware, you are now officially jealous. Unfortunately, the camera was already put away, but I have witnesses!]
B to the E, boyeeeee!
Anheuser-Busch is taking a step and combining two of my favorite beverage additives: caffeine and alcohol.
The maker of No. 1-selling Bud Light beer said Monday it is launching a new brew under the Budweiser label that will be infused with caffeine, guarana and ginseng–a combination it promises will be both lightly “sweet and tart.” It is the first beer to include caffeine, the brewer said.
Unfortunately, the problem with this plan is 1) they make Bud and Busch, etc and 2) they are adding other crap like ginseng to the mix. The article in the paper I read this morning is that they are trying to cash in on the crazy of mixing Red Bull with anything that has alcohol. As for their claim to be the first beer to include caffeine, I doubt it. Maybe the first good old-fashioned macrobrew to add caffeine, but there has had to have been a beer with caffeine before.
I have drank quite a few stouts brewed with coffee such as Bell’s Java Stout and Redhook‘s now-retired Doubleblack Stout. Both of those had to have had some caffeine in them. However, they were not marketed as a alcohol enhanced energy drink nor an energy enhanced adult beverage. (They also weren’t marketed as a cathartic, but they could have been!)
The new brand’s name is a mouthful: B-to-the-E — short for Budweiser with something extra.
And there is the worst part: One of the dumbest product names ever. Be