This article is noteworthy because unlike other NRO articles on popular culture  which have always been clunky,  unoriginal, boring, and  wrong, this one is only unoriginal.

Writing an article about the demise of the martini, and not getting sidetracked by the emergence of Vodka, is an exercise in focus and discipline. I have tried to write the same article, but I always end up losing my cool, the text spiraling out of control.  And I hardly drink the things. 

If I were going to nitpick though, I would argue that most of the classic cocktails had to be sweeter because the alcohol was so damn teriible, what with prohibition and antique technology.   I would also add, that a whisper of Vermouth in a glass of Gin, is a better ratio than  any amount of Vermouth in a glass of vodka.     Drinking vodka out of a large glass with any amount of vermouth is sheer mummery.  

See.  Get me started on Martinis and I end up on Vodka, the great cocktail bugbear.

All this reminds me that I haven't been writing about bars much lately, mainly because I haven't been drinking much.     Rathbuns Steak has a nice looking one, but I must say I had a disapointing experience drinking there.  It all started when I asked for a Sazerac....

 They didn't know how to make one, so they asked me for the ingredients. I  foolishly tried to comply.   The fustration was evident on the faces of both bartenders.   The first bartender interupted my explanation, exclaiming "Well we don't have any anise seasoned glasses!".  I tried to explain what I meant but she handed me off to the other bartender, who got that far-away, 'I can't believe this guy is wasting my time' look on his face when I tried to again to explain.  Pissed me off.    They had a full dinner crowd, but the load on the bar was otherwise moderate.    I felt vinidicated when the GM, to whom I was previously indebted,  said that he knew of the drink, and more on it's heels when a Server overheard and chimed in with "The Sazerac! the first cocktail!". 

I will continue to ask for Sazeracs in Steak Houses, because that is where they most hit the spot.     Sometimes they surprise you.   The rewards continue to outweigh the risk.   Now get off my lawn.

Bisset's in Athens, and that new Cajun Restaurant opened by the Agave people, both serve shaken ones.  From what I understand, that'll upset the purists, but they sure go down easy. [LSU football jokes here]

I am nw reminded  of the first time returned to Athens after graduation and went to Boars Head mid-afternoon to see Pat, who had taken over there after leaving the Roadhouse.  I asked him for a martini, and he immediatly grabbed some kid who was washing glasses, and taught him how to make one.  It was one of the best martini's ever. More so because it was a Found martini. Like a truffle in pile of turd. I mean, that particular pile of turd has served 2 Gin Martinis, and 6,123,123 jager bombs.  (Wait, did I just offend a bunch of race baiting, red-pant-wearing golden-tee champions?)

I am probbably way behind the curve on these guys, since I had been reading about them for years,  but oh well. It's new to me!   ;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t want to brag.  Really I don’t. For instance I hardly mentioned, years ago,  how, drunk and ill prepared, I bested a bunch of Spaniards on the beach in Valencia, in a game of 3am pick up soccer.  I just felt that national relations are more important that one man’s exploits.  Sure, my time playing for CSAA’s soccer team in San Francisco were well documented here (Start from the bottom), but  if you are able to isolate from those dispatches the truth of my underlying class and skill through all those self deprecating remarks, you’re an oracle. 

 

No, bragging just isn’t my style.  So I think I will make only short mention of my latest appearance on the Pitch, this time here in Santiago.      Just a short blurb, a dry one at that, free of hyperbole.  Like, for instance: “Played small role on victorious side by leading team in scoring and assists”.     Or maybe I’ll skip all of that. Yeah, I’ll just skip the personal accolades (as I am wont to do) and instead say that afterwards I drank beer out of 40oz bottles with the rest of MY team, in a  lean-to shack like a Maori tribesman getting ready to beat his wife. And it was good.

 

Now, I just have to keep hold of this buzz until I make it back to the states tommorrow.

 

 

Incidently, to those who blanched at the maori reference.  First, it's a reference to the movie Once Were Warriors.   Second, I am surprised to find out that Indian Insults represent the height of put-down humor here in Chile.  If at any point someone in your party stutters,  mumbles, or otherwise has difficulty with the language (his own or your own), others respond by acting like an American Indian, and the whole group rises up in laugheter.  

 

Strange.

 

I prefer lurching around with finger-horns repeating 'Ta-tonka!' but basically, anything that you would do at a braves games will work, which , now that I think about, makes me a bit sympathetic to the whole anti-braves, anti-redskins, PC cause.

 

Strange Indeed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hate to jump back into politics, after the long hiatus,  on such a tired note, but this article sums up what I hate about Bill so nicely.

Ladies and gentlemen," Clinton told 400 Iowans at the start of his three-city swing, "I have had a great couple of days out working for Hillary."

In the next 10 minutes, he used the word "I" a total of 94 times and mentioned "Hillary" just seven times in an address that was as much about his legacy as it was about his wife's candidacy.

He told the crowd where he bought coffee that morning and where he ate breakfast.

He detailed his Thanksgiving Day guest list, and menu.

He defended his record as president, rewriting history along the way.

And he explained why his endorsement of a certain senator from New York should matter to people.

"I know what it takes to be president," he said, "and because of the life I've led since I've left office."

I glad to see that someone besides myself is counting.  Bill talks about himself more in any one speech more than Bush has done in his entire presidency.  You might try to spin that somehow, but it can't be done. It's true and it's damning.

UPDATE:  Someone in the comments section at HeyJennySlater thinks that since I like Brian Regan I should keep my comments to myself.   I am going to back away from this whole discussion slowly and without sudden movements.    I obviously had no idea what I was getting into.     I'll just say that though  Brian Regan gets the nod by some margin as greatest cstandup ommedian in the last 20 years.  Notable mentions  include Chris Rock,  on the strength of his first HBO special, and Dennis Miller on his many such specials.  The rest of the field include   the late Mitch Hedburg, Eddie Izzard, David Shappel.  Where Jeni, Seinfeld, Pollack, Wright are on the list I don't know.

 

I always knew the Doug at Hey Jenny Slater was a liberal-- in fact his blog started out a political one-- but his recent Maher Quotes and Miller diss have made his politics inignorable.  Is there anyone out there, with a developed sense of humor, who finds Maher to be Funny?  Much less funnier than Miller?

I wish I would have had time to do a thanksgiving roundup. Thanksgiving is my Favorite Holliday for practical and pincipled reasons. The Practical part if it is that I tend to have a great time doing nothing except being close to my family.  The principled part of it is that I think we all have so much to be thankful for, that a weekend based on that premise is well met.    I had  a bunch of links to post, to lileks, and Steyn, and  ring-magazine, and Orson Swindle, that would have offered a buffet of things to be thankful for. Things you might not have considered.    But since two of my friends have lost friends or family withen the last week, it seems best to stick to basics:   I am thankful for my Friends and Family, and for all the health and happiness that they might enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday after work I left Santiago for Renaca.  Renaca is a Small beach resort town a few miles from Vina Del Mar, which is a upscale beach town which is itself down the road from Valparaiso a bustling blue collar Port City.

Not too much exciting to report. It was cold there both days, which is the excuse I have been using for not surfing.     I spent some portion of friday , saturday, and sunday, in the casino,  enjoying the restaurants and Spa more than the gambling. 

I only have one more weekend in Santiago before my project is over. That of the Dec 16th.  I think I will return to the region then, in hopes the weather is nicer.  I made some friends at the Bar and Hotel whom offered to take me surfing.  Plus, Hector will probably like to return there too, so he can resume his courtship of a young lady he met.   (He spent Sunday, their second date, with her and her family)

Stupid Kentucky. Stupid Broncos.

Dec 8th is the Big Fight.   The thrashers play NY on the 5th.     Just saying.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go Kentucky!

The top guys at Crossfit Atlanta are officially Monsters, and I am officially no longer counted amongst them.  Mike has his Fran down under 2:30, which is nearly 2 minutes faster than mine, and he still almost got beat by some guy I didn't know.    Eva casually asked me if I had my 15 bodyweight overhead squats yet, which put the gap between me and elite fitness into sharp relief.

But I am on the mend,  that's the good news.  I met with Dr Kilgor, Rip, and Eva at Papaduex's last weekend, and being the boor that I am asked Rippetoe for his Diagnosis.  Being a man of action, he didn't get into the possible causes of my back issues, instead prescribing a bunch of Reverse Hyper Extensions.  His reasoning being that whatever the issue, the treatment is likely to be the same.  Then we all resumed eating our fried fish.

The only problem is that there aren't a lot of ways to do a reverse-hypers in a normal gym. I was stacking benches and reconfiguring nautilus machines in Santiago, which made me appear more Brian Regan-ish than usual. ("This here works your flactoid!"..."Sir can you get out of the painter's scaffolding"). So for the moment I am following K-Stars plan of serious hip stretching, with extra emphasis on the Psoas. I am avoiding serious DeadLifts or Back Squats too.   

We shall see.

GO KENTUCKY!


No word n Surfing in Santiago this weekend... I have the beach picked out. I think I will stay at a casino in Vina Del Mar. No poker though, I am told, and I don't feel much in the mood for Craps.

Dave paints an unlikely scenario that puts Georgia into the National Championship game. I couldn't follow most of it, but I know Kentucky has to win. And I know that win sends us to Atlanta to Play LSU in the SEC Championship, which will give me an opportunity to fix my new magnetic DawgPrints to the Camero!

Go Kentucky (And Georgia!)

The Mosley V. Cotto fight was great.  Cotto is really good. If he played football, we’d accuse him of having a power tool for a reproductive organ.    We knew he was inexorable in the ring, but it was his ability to tag Shane with a stiff Jab that told the story.  I'm not talking about a long jab used to keep fighters at bay,  this jab was short and countering, used to disrupt shane whenever he tried to throw more than one punch.  Even though Cotto's jab dictated the terms of the multi-punch exchanges,  Shane's overhand power shots from the outside nearly won him the fight. Cotto kept his gloves up tight to his face , protecting his chin, and consequently took a bunch of shots to the temple. It was a hell of a price to pay for victory, but he paid it.

 
 That division is just sick with talent. 

 

On Dave’s strong recommendation I checked out Open Range, that Kevin Costner Robert Duval western that came out a while back.  Duval is always great, and Costner was more palatable than he has ever been not playing a surly Busch Leaguer, but the movie relied on too many Western tropes to get a big thumbs up. It’s good, but it’s the kind of western that ushered in the end of westerns the first time. Methinks.

 

I saw Infamous the other day. It was the Truman Capote movie that didn’t star Phillip Seymore Hoffman.  The movie intrigued me. I wanted to learn more about Capote afterwards, but the coolest aspect of the story was his best friend Harper Lee.  Not that Sandra Bulluck's portrayal was all that interesting: Only that I had assumed that Harper Lee would forever remain just the name on the cover of that book. Definitely not a very plain supporting character.

 Corrie is working at Steel in Atlanta, on 10^th and W. Peachtree.  Check it out.

I go back to Santiago in a couple of days, assuming Corrie and I finish Six Feet Under before my flight on Sunday. If so,  I may go surfing there next weekend.

 

 

The Calzaghe fight was good.  Kessler lost on the score cards by ~5 rounds, but neither the score nor his bruised mug told the whole story.  Fact is, if you only counted how many times a fighter made the other guy say 'ouch',  you would have to give the nod to Kessler. Now, I don't subscribe to this  McMinnish critique of boxing- that fighters are gaming what ought to just be a pure fight when they score a victory  without actually hurting the other guy.  If, "it's a sport" isn't a strong enough a defense of the smite-free victory,  I would simply argue this: If the feather fisted fighters punches were so weak, why didn't the other guy just walk through them and knock the pitty-pattter out.

Brian Regan Friday night.   The only comedian I have heard spoken of as highly as Regan was Richard Pryor.  The Pryor Fans, however, seem to mainly be other comedians.   Regan, on the other had gets it from all sides.    I was going to regal you a list of the great comedians and why Regan is better,   and then I was going to write another list, which contains the Michael Jordans of the world.  (Or should  I say Tiger Woods of the World).  This later list was going to mention by dislike of both Blonde On Blond, and The Times are A-Changing the only two Dylan albums I have listened to.   (I swear i'm giving them fair shakes.)

But then I got distracted, thinking about an old comedian I used to like, who is apparantly alive an well. Click on the Comic Relief Link on the Fun Stuff page to see him as I remember him.

 

 

 

 

I feel I am will be taken for an excitable fool if I admitted how positivly reports like this are affecting my mood.  I only met  one political events with the urge to drink: The Death of the Gipper.  But if this war ends well,  you can bet I'll be down at the bar  celebrating with long pours of dark liquor.

Hattip to Instapundit, who has this to say about the UN:

ANOTHER U.N. PEACEKEEPER SEX SCANDAL, this time involving underage girls in Haiti.

If American troops had the kind of sex-scandal track record that U.N. peacekeepers do, we'd never hear the end of it. Since it's the U.N., though, we barely hear the beginning.

and finally, at the top of th page, he links to an article by Taubes,  the man who's articles most informed my own nutritional skepticism.

Three cheers for  Instapundit.com