Posts
Friday, January 29, 2010
THE TASTING ROOM - "Top 10 Songs By New Artists that Should Be Covered By Older Artists"
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
New post of mine up at the VSQ blog:
Enjoy!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
RIP J.D. Salinger
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
Genius author J.D. Salinger has died, he was a whopping 91. Always the recluse, Salinger wrote one of the best novels of all time. I remember in 9th grade when I read this book, amongst the horrible crap I was forced to read that year (Edith Frome? Give me break, what crap... Anything by Jan Austen, some one kill me). That book changed my life in that I suddenly cared about writing and reading again. In terms of modern literature, it's nothing too crazy really, but when you read it from the perspective of having never supposedly read a good book in your life, it opens up a world of possibilities.
Not to just harp on his novel, his short stories were equally brilliant. I still occasionally read some of Nine Stories or Franny and Zooey. I also think that partially, one doesn't really understand his work until living in NYC for a little while. Everything there still has some feel of classic-ness to it, despite the massive Gap ads. I mean, the Glass family was the original "Royal Tanenbaums".
As far as the man's private life goes, (drinking his urine), whatever, I could care less. The man has his right to privacy, and if you'd written something as sacred as his novel, would you want someone taking the piss out of it by commercializing it or trying to make money off of your life?
Nonetheless, we lost another great literary figure, and I'd like to offer up this thought: Who's left that is truly great? Who's left that really shook things up? Who's left that's really worth reading, that actually has something to say beyond shock value nowadays?
WTF: Apple iPad
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
The iPad... What the hell? I simply don't see the practical use of this thing. It doesn't have the exact same features as either an iPhone or a laptop, but a mix of the two. Do I need to use the cheap gas app when I'm walking around looking at an iPad? Do I need to spend my time tapping away at the screen instead of using a damn keyboard? Do I need the same exact size screen as my laptop? Do I need to spend that much for an iPad when buying a laptop costs a couple hundred bucks more and does WAY more for me? I just don't get it. It's a pointless product, one of Apple's only ones that I can think of. I can't think of anyone buying this except people with too much money...
Here's what the top tech sites thought...
What do you think?
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
LINK LUST: Summer Festival Action
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
Once again the Consequence of Sound has all things related to Summer Festivals down. Check out their outlook and see what's been announced yet, or who's rumored to play. I'm currently waiting on Feb. 16th to arrive so I know who's playing Sasquatch, but there's other stuff being announced sooner. Check out the full list here.
Anyone already buy tix for a festie?
Monday, January 25, 2010
THE TASTING ROOM - "Top Ten Covers of 80’s Songs In The Last Decade"
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
Here's another post of mine at the Vitamin String Quartet's blog...
For the 80's kids... Top Ten Covers of 80’s Songs In The Last Decade
Enjoy!
Friday, January 22, 2010
Vanilla Porter: Bottling
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
Last night I bottled up my vanilla porter and had a quick taste to see how it came out. The porter base was quite amazing as the recipe maker noted, and the vanilla flavor was very forward of course, considering it'd been sitting in the beans for eight days. While the recipe says to wait 2 weeks before opening, I may open after a week and a few days, because I sort of want the vanilla flavor to not to fade.
At this point, I've got enough hops to make a new batch, so I may hit up the store in the next few days, alter the grain recipe a bit to make my own brand of vanilla porter, and see how that comes out... Either way, the uncarbonated version of this beer tasted AMAZING, so I'm really pumped to crack one in a week or so.
THE TASTING ROOM - "Top Ten Albums By Bands Named After Animals in the Last Decade"
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
Check out my recent post at the Vitamin String Quartet's blog:
Enjoy!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
LINK LUST: Blog Scraping, the New Annoyance
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
I was looking around for some freelance work when I stumbled upon an article over at Blogging Tips about blog scraping. I admit it's something I've heard of but didn't really understand until I read this article. While I highly doubt my blog is something worth scraping, as it's kind of all over the place contentwise, I guess it's always a possibility and something to be aware of. Do you have a blog with an RSS feed? Then you'd better take a quick read:
Enjoy!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
LINK LUST: SixthSense Technology
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
My sister sent me over this video about the possibilities of the new SixthSense technology and she said it was definitely worth watching the full 13 minutes... It gets really good about half way through...
Enjoy!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
THE TASTING ROOM - "Top Ten Bands That Should Reunite Next"
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
I just got a gig blogging over at CMH Label Group, a record label that has many cool bands and projects such as the Hushabye and Rockabye series, the Pickin On series, and a lot of string love. Some great stuff over there, take a look here and here. Anyways, I'm writing for the Vitamin String Quartet's blog at the moment.
Here's my first post: The Top Ten Bands That Should Reunite Next
Enjoy!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Vanilla Porter: Stage 2 Fermentation
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
Yesterday I took on the daunting task of siphoning my vanilla porter into a secondary fermentation carboy for some vanilla goodness. I sliced up my three Madagascar vanilla beans, scraped out the gunk inside, and threw it all in the freshly sanitized carboy before attempting to siphon. Last time I was forced to suck on the tube until I couldn't breathe, this most likely contaminated my beer somewhat, so I scoured the web for the proper way to siphon and found just that here.
It worked like a charm on the second try, the first only failing because I wasn't quick enough. After seeing how easy it was I felt rightly like a fool, and laughed it off. So 8 days of second fermentation and then I bottle. I'm considering doing another batch right away since I have two carboys and the hops left over to do another, but I want to see how it turns out first when I bottle. I also went to the Multnomah County Library to check out some books on brewing and found a nice one on sustainable brewing. Should be a good read... If you're interested, check it out here.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
LINK LUST: Digital Trends
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
When scouring the web for sites to pitch to, I found this gem and was pleasantly surprised to see that they're Portland-based. Calling all nerds, get your fill at Digital Trends.
Enjoy!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Free EP On Its Way At End of the Month
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
So in the spirit of the new year, new thoughts, new projects, new jobs, new decade, etc., I've decided to record and give away a free EP of songs I've been pulling together in the last week that I don't really have the patience to await a band for.
I'm already a couple songs in, and I can't promise against the presence of non-programmed drum beats, but if bands like Crystal Castles can get away with crap (overall), then I should be allowed to do such as well (I promise it's better)... If this goes smoothly and the inspiration keeps flowing, then maybe this can be a monthly thing for 2010... but don't quote me on that, I'm not Sufjan Stevens...
Stay tuned in the next couple weeks for an exclusive EP from yours truly found only on this site...
I know I'll maybe regret asking, but any ideas on a name for this project?
Friday, January 8, 2010
LINK LUST: New Audio-Technica Turntable
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
I've been considering getting a turntable for a bit now, as the old one I've got needs fixing and it's installed inside of a system that's over 60 years old and too large to move. Audio-Technica released a new one at CES with USB. CNET discusses it here. Can anyone else suggest some good turntables?
Enjoy!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
LINK LUST: Top 5 Tech and Gadget Trends At CES
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
CES is currently destroying the 3G network around Las Vegas, but there are a lot of cool things happening as well. Over at Digital Trends, they're discussing the Top 5 Tech and Gadget Trends at this year's madness.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
LINK LUST: Freelance Writing's Unfortunate New Model
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
To keep with the joy of the New Year so far, here's a horrifying new article in the LA Times today on the terrible state of the freelance writer:
Don't fret though people, there is still jobs out there....Somewhere....
Enjoy!
Contemplating Creativity
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
Last night I watched I'm Not There and thought about my life for while. Every time I seem to watch a good movie, or a film that makes me think in some way, I fall into a sort of contemplative mood that essentially gets existential and judgmental all at once, like Billy Corgan circa 1995 if you will. I'm not sure what specifically triggered this in the film, but it was the sort of story or anti-story, depending how you look at it, that seemed to question a person's worth overall. I mean, here's a guy (Bob Dylan for those under a rock for three years, trying to saw that caught arm off) who at one point in the film gets asked why he does what he does, and if he truly believes what he says in his songs. He famously tells the interviewer, "How am I supposed to answer that if you have the nerve to ask it?" Then he walks away from the interview, jumping out of a moving car in the middle of London, shortly after tripping with the Beatles... Right.
Anyways, it reminded me of a question that a good friend posed to me back when I was in high school, playing in a hardcore band, thinking I was king of the world because people came to our shows, thinking I had it figured out because I was inspired, I had my whole life in front of me after all. Music came easy then, and I had barely even known what I was doing. I taught myself how to play guitar in order to join a band with my friends literally a month beforehand.
While I was hardly the first person to begin playing music with no idea what I was doing, I wonder now if it was better to not know. Half of the time now, I find myself thinking of all that I've learned, and all the possibilities open to me, and then when I strum it always sounds the same to me. Back then, it was just about power chords in drop D, the easiest thing to possibly play. When we'd write, our first drummer would just say, "Make it tech, like such-and-such." That was easy enough, throw in some heaviness, add some melody, and our singer would growl over it all anyways. It wasn't even about the beauty of it, because that would show itself in the form of people slamming into each other at various community centers around town to our shows.
Anyways, back to my friend's question, which was posed to me close to graduation, when I was still considering continuing on with the band while I was at college an hour and a half away. I don't even remember the original conversation in any way, but I believe we were talking about creativity and the creation of art, be it visual or musical. He was a visual artist at the time, though he's shown quite a passion for music as well (kid can kill on harmonica). At one point he asked me, "What are you trying to say?" He could understand me just fine, what he was getting at was, WHAT THE FUCK IS THE POINT OF YOUR ART? I feel like you could go up to any artist of any medium, and ask them that and they'll either scowl at you and tell you to piss off, or they'll take it into their mind like a precious gem and let it shine so brightly that it begins to overtake their thoughts. Maybe they'll start to obsess over this, maybe they'll start to overanalyze to the point where they can't possibly be creative on any level anymore because every stroke, every note seems presumptuous or over-saturated. Maybe this is just an excuse, but I still can't answer it.
Maybe his question got to me at that point in my life. Shortly after I stopped playing music, dissolved the band, and began to write stories and poems like crazy. I had seemingly found a new passion and I spent all my spare time writing furiously on a typewriter throughout my four years at college. I don't believe I ever really had any type of message or point in mind though, so even though I was pumping out pages, I still had nothing to say. Two novels later, which do nothing more than hold up other books on my shelf, I found that I wasn't saying anything there either. I was killing time, I was filling in space up to the big message that never appeared.
Later, I moved to Arizona, and ceased to write a word creatively to this day. I took up music again, got very into writing it, found some people that inspired me, and did some recordings. But I wasn't happy with the outcome and the overall situation, so I moved to Brooklyn, where I figured everything would make more sense and my message would come. But the outcome was similar to AZ, I still had nothing to say, and though I wrote a bunch of songs, did some rough recordings, and bought much better gear, I was still unsatisfied. So I moved to Portland, to try and get out in the trees, to remember what the point of this whole creative process is. Up to this point, I've got a bunch of songs, people interested in playing with me somewhat, but I'm still not sure what I'm trying to say completely.
So, I found myself contemplating all this last night as Dylan's unreleased title track of the film, "I'm Not There" played in the background. The film ends with this quote from Dylan, which pretty much sums up the idea of the whole story:
"People are always talking about freedom, the freedom to live a certain way without being kicked around. 'Course the more you live a certain way the less it feels like freedom. Me? I can change during the course of a day. When I wake I'm one person, when I go to sleep I know for certain I'm somebody else. I don't know who I am most of the time. It's like you got yesterday, today and tomorrow all in the same room. There's no telling what can happen."
Food for thought I suppose, but maybe he's on to something there. Am I stuck being me? Is there someone else inside me that I've ignored? Or am I someone else? I feel like I've changed a lot since I was a passionate 17-year-old kid with a Nirvana hat and a Buick, but maybe I've gone the wrong way, maybe I've been thinking about the whole process all wrong. Maybe I need to be someone else to really pinpoint the story inside me, because I know there's something to say in there but I can't seem to find my tongue. Maybe I'm still there in my hometown in my subconscious, finding solitude in headphones from my surroundings, feeling the excitement and sweat from a successful show or practice, still having the time of my life with music and creativity as a whole. Or maybe I'm not there...
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
LINK LUST: Beersmith Home Brewing Blog
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
Here's a pretty good blog on brewing that discusses a lot of the issues and techniques that comes with brewing.
Enjoy!
Monday, January 4, 2010
Check out Kibrewski's Blog
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
My friend Jamie, that first piqued my interest in brewing whilst living in Brooklyn, just started a brewing blog last month and I forgot to promote it a bit.
Follow his escapades at - Kibrewski's Blog
He just finished a strong porter... Sounds delish...
Enjoy!
Vanilla Porter: Stage 1 Fermentation
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
Last night I brewed up a wonderful batch of vanilla porter and from what I can tell it went quite well. This being the 2nd time I've brewed at home, and the 3rd time overall, I felt much more confident about the process and really started to enjoy it more. This recipe is my first with two stages of fermentation, and I'm kinda dreading siphoning the beer twice, it's not something I'm too good at and I worry about ruining the beer. But I'm looking forward to seeing how this comes out. I really want to put together a solid recipe for a vanilla porter, so I bought some beans and I'm working off of this recipe below, taken from the wonderful Beer Recipator. It took awhile for me to really find a recipe I liked and could tinker with later, but this one is supposed to be a good basic porter recipe overall, so I'm hoping the vanilla will be a good focus for it. I'm not adding the amaretto it mentions or the water from Lazaretto. I also used a different yeast, the Edinburgh Ale WLP028, as the one mentioned below wasn't available at my local brew store.
Lazaretto Vanilla/Amaretto Brown Porter
Porter with vanilla bean in 4 gallons and amaretto liquoer added to last gallon. Base beer is an extract version of St. Chuck's Porter by Bill Pierce.
| Brewer: | Christo | Email: | - | |||||
| Beer: | Lazaretto Vanilla/Amaretto Brown Porter | Style: | Brown Porter | |||||
| Type: | Extract w/grain | Size: | 5.2 gallons | |||||
| Color: |
| Bitterness: | 28 IBU | |||||
| OG: | 1.056 | FG: | 1.015 | |||||
| Alcohol: | 5.4% v/v (4.2% w/w) | |||||||
| Water: | Lazaretto Creek - or what's 100' below it. | |||||||
| Grain: | 12 oz. American crystal 60L 12 oz. Belgian Special B 8 oz. American chocolate 4 oz. Belgian biscuit 4 oz. Flaked barley | |||||||
| Steep: | 155° | |||||||
| Boil: | 60 minutes | SG 1.049 | 6 gallons | |||||
| 6 lb. Light dry malt extract | ||||||||
| Add Irish Moss at 15 minutes | ||||||||
| Hops: | .5 oz. Centennial (9.0% AA, 60 min.) 1 oz. Willamette (5% AA, 30 min.) | |||||||
| Yeast: | Wyeast 1728 | |||||||
| Log: | Primary 8 days. Secondary 8 days. Slit fresh vanilla bean added to secondary. Racked 4 gallons to keg, added 50 ml Amaretto liquer to priming sugar mixture for remaining gallon. Reduce priming sugar by 1/4. Can also add almond/vanilla extracts or Amaretto extract to taste and use normal amount of priming sugar. | |||||||
| Tasting: | The base beer is one of the best porter recipes you can make. The vanilla was quite nice after it aged about 2 months - a little too forward at the first tasting. The amaretto really didn't do it for me in this beer - just kind of muddied up the flavors. And even with less priming sugar, the liqueor added too much carbonation. | |||||||
So... 7 days to go till changeover, getting excited already! Hope the new year brings good brew to all!
Enjoy!
Andrew WK: Corporate Rock Whore or Someone Impersonating a Corporate Rock Whore?
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
Happy New Year kids... I wanted to start out the year with a bit of confusion and retribution... So I'm not a huge fan of Andrew WK, never have been, he's the epitome of corporate BS rock that has no soul, however this story on his persona that's developed is quite interesting...
Here's a couple thoughts from around the web on his origin and the idea that he was manufactured in a windowless room, annnnnd replaced after 2005 by a guy who looked just like him... Hmmm...
Enjoy!
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