coppermac, have you visited BeerAdvocate.com? It's really just an epinions.com for beer, but there are a lot of fairly smart people posting intelligent reviews of (usually imported and microbrewed) beer. They have reviews for ten beers from Mill Street, and rate your Mill Street Organic Lager a relatively high 3.75/5 - I'm going to have to see if I can find a six-pack of it hereabouts.
As I understand things, ActuallySettle, the BTI only tastes samples that are sent to them, which explains the absence of some fairly important brands.
A longtime reader of Tastings, I can vouch for the accuracy of the BTI's judgements: their ratings of scotches and bourbons have been especially useful to me.
Phenomenal, quidnunc. Makes me want to read the books again, as though I had time.
(Say, does anyone happen to have a link to good maps of Proust's Combray? Crayon or ASCII would be fine...)
I have this thing for dead languages - given the opportunity to satisfy my linguistics req. my MA year by taking an (eminently practical) course in language pedagogy or by taking a (phenomenally useless) Old English course, I didn't even hesitate. And the next semester I even more uselessly took a Beowulf seminar.
There's something hauntingly beautiful about reading, say, Homer in the original, or Catullus: these vital human poems that tell us that Humanity Hasn't Really Changed.
The next language on my list - more useless than any one I have learned yet - is Sanskrit. I hope to fit it into my graduate work so I don't have to pay for it later on, perhaps by way of T. S. Eliot.
Thanks for the awesome link! Ever since I read David Sedaris's "Six to Eight Black Men" (TAL reading) I have wondered what other countries' roosters sound like.
Answer: not quite as ridiculous as ours.
As much as I love MeFi, I think drjimmy11 has it right: there never was a more xenophobic tribe than those who post under the Blue & Gray. Even though they count as a Community Website for the Bloggies, MeFi really isn't friendly and open the way MoFi has always been.
In part, I think MeFi's early entrance onto the post-usenet community-discourse scene helped siphon off the first class donkeys, leaving us more human writers--ironically--to be Monkeys.
Pres. Bush's "weaknesses" are seen as strengths by many of the politically-concerned citizens of America. Here's my favorite example: unlike that flip-flopper John Kerry, Pres. Bush can make a decision and stick to it no matter whether facts or situations change. Bush decided early on to attack Iraq, and he bull-headedly followed through with that plan and defends it to this day, whereas Kerry has gone back & forth on Iraq and China and numerous other questions. Because of the language developed by the GOP--that of one candidate "flip-flopping on the issues" and the other "staying the course"--this makes Bush look good and Kerry look bad.
Never mind that Sen. Kerry's flip-flops are (or at least were, before his campaign started) considered reappraisals. Smart men and women change their minds when the situation changes. This is a subtlety that is difficult to convey in 30-second ad spots. Apparently.
I'd just like to say that the liberal optimism of MoFi is just as refreshing as it is disturbing. If Pres. Bush is "unelectable," is Sen. Kerry any more so?
(And what does it mean to be electable anyway?)
Alumroot, you don't find Miller's unspeakably bland? Do you somehow have access to the excessively rare Westbourne Strength Gin? A gin without that "junipery taste" is basically a vodka with a couple spices.
Woolf's The Waves convinced me first to major in English and then to go to grad school in it. Now that I'm here, I have not only retained my love of Woolf (and Joyce--I'm one of those twits who calls Ulysses one of his favorite books), but have grown fond of some more recent pop-literati like Rushdie and McEwan. While Atonement hasn't changed my life like Woolf has, it has certainly changed my conceptions about how literary works should be organized.
Weezel is dead on: the ad is saying that Democrats are nasty people who are too focused on criticism to make any sort of positive change. (Of course, the ad itself is focused on criticism and does nothing to promote positive change except promoting the power of positive thinking, which is perfectly pointless.)
Interesting theory, squidranch, and interesting post. However, just like all the Rah-Rah America Boom-Bah books out there (typically by Messrs. Hannitty and O'Neil or Ms. Coulter) Anonymous seems high on bombast and low on facts. I know this is just an article, but I would have liked to have seen just a little more explanation about Anonymous's reading of the Iraq war, for instance.
Something that isn't mentioned about Michael Moores's books, at least not very often, is that he extensively footnotes every fact he uses. While I complain about his shrillness and his unwillingness to say that the other side isn't actively evil, I have to say that I learn more factual evidence from his writing than I do from pretty much any political commentator.
Hmm. Just yesterday I gave a two-hour lecture on Ulysses to an unfortunate group of MA students at my university (it features on their exam in early August, and they wanted some critical direction).
I'm in the midst of my third official reading of Ulysses, in preparation for my prelims in a year and probably for a dissertation chapter or two in the dim years to come. Every time I read it I am struck not so much by its beauty as by its magnificence. Joyce understands and manifests the grandiose in ways we can scarcely conceptualize; there is something legitimately universal about his prose, and I hope more than one of you will pick up Ulysses on Wednesday, just to see what it sounds like.
And if you want to avoid all the nasty hateful stuff that tends to turn readers off, start with the fourth chapter, Calypso. Here, I'll start it for you:
Mr Leopold Bloom ate with relish the innor organs of beasts and fowls. He liked thick giblet soup, nutty gizzards, a stuffed roast heart, liver slices fried with crustcrumbs, fried hencod's roes. Most of all he liked grilled mutton kidneys which gave to his palate a fine tang of faintly scented urine.
coppermac, have you visited BeerAdvocate.com? It's really just an epinions.com for beer, but there are a lot of fairly smart people posting intelligent reviews of (usually imported and microbrewed) beer. They have reviews for ten beers from Mill Street, and rate your Mill Street Organic Lager a relatively high 3.75/5 - I'm going to have to see if I can find a six-pack of it hereabouts.
posted by Mm 19 years ago
As I understand things, ActuallySettle, the BTI only tastes samples that are sent to them, which explains the absence of some fairly important brands. A longtime reader of Tastings, I can vouch for the accuracy of the BTI's judgements: their ratings of scotches and bourbons have been especially useful to me.
posted by Mm 19 years ago
In "Photographing America - "
This is awesome. Thanks, polychrome!
posted by Mm 19 years ago
In "Maps of Narnia."
Phenomenal, quidnunc. Makes me want to read the books again, as though I had time. (Say, does anyone happen to have a link to good maps of Proust's Combray? Crayon or ASCII would be fine...)
posted by Mm 19 years ago
In "Curious George: Which new language"
I have this thing for dead languages - given the opportunity to satisfy my linguistics req. my MA year by taking an (eminently practical) course in language pedagogy or by taking a (phenomenally useless) Old English course, I didn't even hesitate. And the next semester I even more uselessly took a Beowulf seminar. There's something hauntingly beautiful about reading, say, Homer in the original, or Catullus: these vital human poems that tell us that Humanity Hasn't Really Changed. The next language on my list - more useless than any one I have learned yet - is Sanskrit. I hope to fit it into my graduate work so I don't have to pay for it later on, perhaps by way of T. S. Eliot.
posted by Mm 19 years ago
In "bzzzpeek"
Thanks for the awesome link! Ever since I read David Sedaris's "Six to Eight Black Men" (TAL reading) I have wondered what other countries' roosters sound like. Answer: not quite as ridiculous as ours.
posted by Mm 19 years ago
In "For $5 the wonderful world of MeFi can be yours"
As much as I love MeFi, I think drjimmy11 has it right: there never was a more xenophobic tribe than those who post under the Blue & Gray. Even though they count as a Community Website for the Bloggies, MeFi really isn't friendly and open the way MoFi has always been. In part, I think MeFi's early entrance onto the post-usenet community-discourse scene helped siphon off the first class donkeys, leaving us more human writers--ironically--to be Monkeys.
posted by Mm 19 years ago
In "Curious George: why are the Democrats and Kerry so inept"
Pres. Bush's "weaknesses" are seen as strengths by many of the politically-concerned citizens of America. Here's my favorite example: unlike that flip-flopper John Kerry, Pres. Bush can make a decision and stick to it no matter whether facts or situations change. Bush decided early on to attack Iraq, and he bull-headedly followed through with that plan and defends it to this day, whereas Kerry has gone back & forth on Iraq and China and numerous other questions. Because of the language developed by the GOP--that of one candidate "flip-flopping on the issues" and the other "staying the course"--this makes Bush look good and Kerry look bad. Never mind that Sen. Kerry's flip-flops are (or at least were, before his campaign started) considered reappraisals. Smart men and women change their minds when the situation changes. This is a subtlety that is difficult to convey in 30-second ad spots. Apparently.
posted by Mm 19 years ago
In "Colorado to decide whether to end "winner take all" electoral vote distribution."
Stupid farmers. ...and I say that as a former Iowan.
posted by Mm 19 years ago
In "First Republican Congressman to break ranks and call Iraq war "a mistake"."
I'd just like to say that the liberal optimism of MoFi is just as refreshing as it is disturbing. If Pres. Bush is "unelectable," is Sen. Kerry any more so? (And what does it mean to be electable anyway?)
posted by Mm 19 years ago
In "Curious George: Martini lounge appetizers"
Alumroot, you don't find Miller's unspeakably bland? Do you somehow have access to the excessively rare Westbourne Strength Gin? A gin without that "junipery taste" is basically a vodka with a couple spices.
posted by Mm 19 years ago
In "The Wuggly Ump"
Neville dies best. Awesome links, Zemat!
posted by Mm 19 years ago
In ""
Woolf's The Waves convinced me first to major in English and then to go to grad school in it. Now that I'm here, I have not only retained my love of Woolf (and Joyce--I'm one of those twits who calls Ulysses one of his favorite books), but have grown fond of some more recent pop-literati like Rushdie and McEwan. While Atonement hasn't changed my life like Woolf has, it has certainly changed my conceptions about how literary works should be organized.
posted by Mm 19 years ago
In "Nothing like confusing propaganda!"
Weezel is dead on: the ad is saying that Democrats are nasty people who are too focused on criticism to make any sort of positive change. (Of course, the ad itself is focused on criticism and does nothing to promote positive change except promoting the power of positive thinking, which is perfectly pointless.)
posted by Mm 19 years ago
In "Cosby: "It was the white man who got the word from somebody who was there,"
Thanks for the Prof. West link, scartol: he's awesome.
posted by Mm 19 years ago
In "From the Guardian"
Interesting theory, squidranch, and interesting post. However, just like all the Rah-Rah America Boom-Bah books out there (typically by Messrs. Hannitty and O'Neil or Ms. Coulter) Anonymous seems high on bombast and low on facts. I know this is just an article, but I would have liked to have seen just a little more explanation about Anonymous's reading of the Iraq war, for instance. Something that isn't mentioned about Michael Moores's books, at least not very often, is that he extensively footnotes every fact he uses. While I complain about his shrillness and his unwillingness to say that the other side isn't actively evil, I have to say that I learn more factual evidence from his writing than I do from pretty much any political commentator.
posted by Mm 19 years ago
In "Great minds think alike."
Nostrildamus, yer awesome.
posted by Mm 19 years ago
In "Gmail is for monkeys"
I also have many Gmail invites sitting unused. Shoot me an email if you want one of them.
posted by Mm 19 years ago
In "Tomorrow is Bloomsday 100."
Hmm. Just yesterday I gave a two-hour lecture on Ulysses to an unfortunate group of MA students at my university (it features on their exam in early August, and they wanted some critical direction). I'm in the midst of my third official reading of Ulysses, in preparation for my prelims in a year and probably for a dissertation chapter or two in the dim years to come. Every time I read it I am struck not so much by its beauty as by its magnificence. Joyce understands and manifests the grandiose in ways we can scarcely conceptualize; there is something legitimately universal about his prose, and I hope more than one of you will pick up Ulysses on Wednesday, just to see what it sounds like. And if you want to avoid all the nasty hateful stuff that tends to turn readers off, start with the fourth chapter, Calypso. Here, I'll start it for you:
posted by Mm 19 years ago
In "Ever wonder what would happen if Stalin went one on one with Hitler?"
The author sounds just a touch too credulous of Hitler's flight to Argentina and Skorzeny's magical golem-nature for my taste.
posted by Mm 19 years ago
(limited to the most recent 20 comments)