Check Out My Six Pack - Volume 3 - Bud Select 55

March 28, 2006...that was when the Volume 2 installment of this feature was written. Thanks for waiting.

When I decided to do this, I thought it would be a nice idea to try a bunch of different microbrews and try to refine/develop my palate. But when I saw that there was a 55 calorie beer on the market I couldn't resist checking it out.

I wouldn't classify myself as a "healthy" eater but I have taken to looking at calories and other nutritional information when making some of my food choices. Although I knew this beer couldn't taste good, the idea of a 330 calorie six pack was pretty enticing as my mid-week beer. It's less calories than a chocolate chip muffin!

I flew through this 6 pack in roughly an hour and a half. I did like it better than MGD64 but that's really not saying much. It's not disgusting but at the same time it tastes like a watered down beer. The main problem with it was that I didn't feel anything. I woke up the next morning with no feeling that I had any alcohol the night before.

As it turns, the ABV for this beer is only 2.4%. Compare that to Bud Light which is 4.2%. So if you really look at it. If you're a person that likes to get a little buzz on when you drink, you would have to drink between 6 and 7 Bud Lights to drink the same amount of actual alcohol as a 12 pack of Bud Select 55. Dig a little further down and those 6+ Bud Lights is actually 9 less calories than 12 Bud Select 55s.

All that being said, if you're the type that just likes the feeling of having a beer bottle in your hand while watching a game than it's a serviceable product. I'm not saying I'll never have one again but I can tell you I won't pay 7 dollars for a 6 pack of it.

Wish List

Here is a list of musicians I'd like to see in 2010 (all releasing albums) :

The Hold Steady

Ben Folds

New Pornographers

MGMT

Band of Horses

Arcade Fire

Rush?

A to Z: The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You

So it's time for me to start another feature on this blog that most likely will not be finished.

The idea of this is pretty self serving. It's a chance for me to go through my iPod and check out either new albums, new albums for me or revisit albums that I haven't heard in awhile. Figure what better way to do this than taking one artist per letter in the alphabet.

I'm kicking this off with the latest album from The Avett Brothers. I don't fancy myself a music connoisseur or a music writer by any stretch. I'm also not one of those guys who buys new albums every week. That's why it's taken me this long to give a good listen to an album that came out in September 2009 that has gotten a lot of good reviews. Now that I have proven myself to be less than qualified for this task, here it goes.

To be honest, the title track of this album was the first Avett Brothers' song I think I've knowingly heard. They played at the Newport Folk Festival in 2008 that I was at...and I didn't see them which I am retroactively regretting since I'm really into this as I'm rolling through my second listen of the day.

After two songs, the album was taking on a roots-rock feel which was nice for me since I consider myself a fan of that genre but hadn't picked up a Jayhawks/Golden Smog type album in awhile. After six songs or so, I couldn't place them in one particular type of music (not like I try to pigeon-hole bands or anything). All I know is that all of the songs whether they were upbeat numbers or piano ballads all seemed to be catchy which makes total sense after I read that Rick Rubin produced the album. I went back and listened to a few songs from their earlier stuff and it's extremely obvious. His finger prints are all over I and Love and You. I look forward to picking up something from their back catalog.

Life's getting in the way

"I don't know if it'll make a difference, but I figured it's time for me to start playing ball."
-Jimmy Chitwood

That's the best quote I can think of about a guy who hasn't done something in awhile and wants to start doing what ever that something is again.

Since June, I've gotten married (sorry ladies), started a torturous search for a house (still ongoing) and knocked up my wife. This has left me with not a whole lot of time to blog.

Troufazz is leaving for another job and I'm moving in to another office. So now more than ever, it's important to keep this part of Southpaw Cove alive.

I'm going No Holds Barred. If I want to share my feelings on a episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians or debate with myself that The Royal Tenenbaums in the best movie ever, I'm going to do it. Talk about a crazy ending to a sporting event or tell a nightmare house hunting story, I'm going to post it. If I want to write a short story or just type a bunch of random characters together, I'm going to do it.

But like a person who wants to start a diet...I'm going to start tomorrow.

The Terrible Twos

In honor of our 2nd year doing the Southpaw Cove blog we decided on a little re-design. The posts have been few and far between since June but we're going to be more diligent in getting more content up here in the future.

Remember to Forget

This morning, I went to log into my work e-mail account, only to realize that I had forgotten what my password was. I realize it's Monday and I didn't sleep much last night, but I knew the damn thing on Friday. What further concerns me is that any time I am prompted to change my password, I just go up a digit from the current one. For example, if my previous password were sparkles12, my new one would be sparkles13. (Rest assured, my password is not sparkles13... anymore).

This lapse of memory got me to thinking: Do I forget things because I subconsciously want to? For instance, I really don't want to be at work today. Nothing good awaits me in my inbox. Is my mind trying to protect me from something undesirable? Or am I just losing it?

To take it a step further, there are things I would like to forget that I can't. Or so I believe. If my theory of the subconscious acting as a gatekeeper holds water, couldn't the opposite also be true?

As much on the surface level I'd like to forget certain things, maybe my subconscious is overruling me. Maybe it wants me to remember those things. And only when I've reached a level of resolution (or at the very least, comprehension), will it allow me to cast if off.

My final thought (before I forget) is that when those things are allowed to pass through and it no longer follows you around, they are recalled much differently when you summon them back. Most times, the memory is smoothed of its jagged edges... the image gets Disney-fied.

In the song 'Time,' Tom Waits says this better than me (of course):

And they all pretend they're orphans and their memory's like a train

You can see it getting smaller as it pulls away

And the things you can't remember tell the things you can't forget

That history puts a saint in every dream

We often remember things the way that we want to, not the way they really were. We revise. The darkness gets bathed in sunlight and the villain becomes a saint.

Even if it's much harder to carry some stuff around with you, I think it's better to hold onto some of the things we would rather not.

Like your email password.

My least favorite day of the year

No need to write up a new one

Leaving the festival. Surprisingly I only saw one sitar all day.

I think this is going to be my last band of the night. Susu is on. Not overly impressed but the drummer is actually really good

The lead singer is now throwing off a Conor Oberst vibe. They have a female singer which wins me over a little. They should use her more

I think I'm seeing The Boy Bathing at Bar Matchless. They're decent although the lead singer is giving off a hint of douchey-ness. It might just be his hair

Studio B is a sweet venue. A nerd rock band is coming on next I think. We're not sticking around. Going to check someplace else out

Boo to the Heineken open bar. Stopped giving free beer with 40 minutes left. It said 5-8pm. Apparantly they only had 150 beers to give away. I don't see how that's our problem.

Heineken Open Bar...my group makes up more than half the population

Just saw Anamanaguchi. I would classify them as video game rock. Checked to see if the baseball game was on...not surprisingly soccer was instead

At Spike Hill checking out 8 NYC bands You Need To Hear showcase. Brooklyn is a cool scene. I should have done more shit like this in my 20s.

Just got to Brooklyn. Got our badges and right away we were directed to free Heineken. This is promising.

Northside Festival

I'm headed to Brooklyn today for the Northside Festival. There is only a handful of bands that I've ever heard of but I'm using this as an opportunity to go check out some live music and also as an excuse to go check out the area. I've only been to McCarren Park pool over there so it gives me a chance to explore it.

Once again I'll give mobile blogging a shot.

Star Trek?

I never wanted to give Star Trek a chance. Growing up as a Star Wars guy I felt there was a stigma attached to being a Trekkie. I wanted to no part of it and in no way did I ever imagine myself sitting in a movie theater waiting for a Star Trek movie to begin.

Funny what a film maker I trust and a kick ass trailer will do. J.J. Abrams could remake the First Wives Club and I'd at least entertain the thought of seeing it.

Being that I don't have any Star Trek fans in my group of friends, the only Star Trek knowledge I had going in is what has seeped into popular culture. And honestly, I think that enhanced my enjoyment of the experience. I didn't have myself or anyone else saying how the originals were better or I wasn't looking for references to "old" Star Trek-isms. The only part it probably hurt was during a scene like where the Enterprise comes in to view for the first time. The reveal shot was amazing looking and everything but emotionally it didn't do anything for me since I've only been invested in the Enterprise for about ten minutes at that point.

The good:
-I'll go as far as to say that the cast was awesome. The only thing that I've ever seen Chris Pine in was some movie where he was unlucky and Lindsey Lohan was lucky and they kiss for some reason and wouldn't you know it...their luck changes. So kudos to him for being able to reverse my opinion on him. I can't give too much credit to anyone casting for casting Zachary Quinto as Spock. It had to be the most obvious casting choice in Hollywood history (maybe outside Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison). And all the others: Simon Pegg, John Cho, Zoe Saldana etc were all more than serviceable.

-For actually including Leonard Nimoy in the movie in a way that worked. It didn't come off as pandering to old school Trekkies. Forcing him in the movie for the sake of having him in the movie could have backfired massively

The bad:
-Not a great villain. Eric Bana was fine with what he had to do but as an overall villain, for a big movie, I would have liked something more.

Overall I really enjoyed it. It was a fun two hours and I'd definitely continue on with some sequels. Was it enough for me to go back and start watching Season 1 of Star Trek or the first Star Trek movie? Absolutely not, I'm happy starting from here.

Live long and-----

I'm not quite there...yet.

Jon and Kate plus Eight. Yeah...I'm actually writing about this

In the midst of what would be a multiple day hangover from my bachelor party, my fiance was watching a Jon and Kate Plus Eight marathon and I was powerless to stop it.

I was aware of the allegations of Jon "stepping out" on Kate and their marital problems and had seen a few episodes here and there but not enough to pass judgement. But I have now.

I took a few psycholgy courses in college so I'm more than qualified to identify what went wrong with them.

When the show first started they thought it was a nice and interesting way to document their kids growing up while getting them material things and free vacations. I'm completely on board with that reasoning. I can't imagine how much money it costs to take a family that size on vacations and they are going to need a ton of bank to put all of them through college later.

Surprisingly, the show became popular and Kate changed gears from having the show be a means to document their kids growing up into a springboard to become a media mogul. Now Jon doesn't work anymore to stay home with the kids while Kate is off travelling to do talk shows and book tours. That coupled with Kate always putting him down and interrupting him during interviews, it's not a surprise that they are on the outs.

Now if you don't mind I have go prepare my next blog post which will be about guns, beer and sports.