Month: March 2008

Beer in the Movies Round

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Great event at Triumph Brewery. We had 15 teams, and we had a lot of fun. Herve Villechaize came away with a 97-92 win over Chowdershirt and the Emperor’s Club VIPs. Here’s the wild card round, “Beer in the Movies”. See how ya do. Answers after the jump:

  1. In what 1976 comedy classic does heavy drinker named Morris Buttermaker drive a bunch of 11 year old kids around drunk in his convertible?
  2. What brand of beer was being shipped east in the movie Smokey and the Bandit, since it was illegal in the eastern US at the time?
  3. In what 1986 cult classic would you hear the lines: “Heineken? F*** that s***! Pabst Blue Ribbon!”
  4. Nicholas Cage played the alcoholic, but who played the prostitute in Leaving Las Vegas?
  5. What was the name of the hardest drinking fraternity in film history, Animal House?
  6. This hard drinking poet and short story writer wrote the screenplay for a film called Barfly.
  7. What was the Irish sounding last name of the brothers in Strange Brew?
  8. The 1933 comedy The Fatal Glass of Beer stars this legend, who is glad he’s dead and not here.
  9. What was the name of the party where Frank the Tank goes streaking in Old School?
  10. In what beer comedy would you have found a drinking glass named Das Boot?

Continue reading “Beer in the Movies Round” →

Birthdays today


First of all, a happy 105th birthday to one of the most stylish men to ever live, Lawrence Welk. Why are there no shows like this on today? Secondly, a happy birthday to Dock Ellis, the only pitcher to ever throw a no-hitter while high on LSD. From classy to trashy, today is the 52nd birthday of Joey Buttafucco. In case you’re wondering, he’s doing fine and the Long Island Lolita recently released a sex tape. Fisher said in a recent interview that she feels no sympathy for the woman she shot in the face. The interview contains one of the most amazing lines I have ever read: “I feel no sympathy for Mary Jo the multimillionaire! The fact that Mary Jo has a bullet in her head means nothing! I still have silicone in my boobs, and you don’t hear me complaining. She can’t feel her bullet, and I can’t feel my silicone.”

Suspects are armed, dangerous, and they love Malibu

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A UPenn dental student was held captive for 12 hours begning Sunday night in West Philly, as the criminals ransacked his house. But, as D-Mac points out, this wasn’t the interesting part of the story: The student stood by helplessly as the thieves tore through his apartment and was stunned to see them stop to watch reruns of “American Gladiator” and old movies on his TV, Walker said. Now, it would have been one thing if they had watched the new American Gladiators. But these guys stopped, mid-crime, to see how Nitro and Zap fared in the Atlasphere in 1991. Maybe they’re just big Larry Csonka fans.

Quizzo Bowl Tickets Now On Sale!

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Tickets to Quizzo Bowl IV are on sale now! Just click here or on the link on the upper right hand side of the page and place your order. I found a great fair trade ticket service called Brown Paper Tickets. There is a ridiculously cheap $1.61 surcharge to order online. Tickets are $25 (plus sucharge) per person in advance, $30 at the door. That $25 covers not only the Quiz, Black Elvis, and the Legendary WID, it also covers your drinks, courtesy of SlyFox Beer. Oh, and keep in mind, there is going to be a documentary team there, so your win won’t only secure your team $600 cash and free subscriptions to Zipcar, but immortalization in film! I will have tickets ($25 flat) on sale at quizzo starting on Wednesday. Team max is 8 people, and if you attend, you must play. If you have any questions, let me know.

The Lovely Ginger Gives us the Scoop on Beer Week

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I’m too lazy to snoop around for what fun stuff is going on for Beer Week this week, and let’s face it, so are you. And we’re both too poor for fancy beer dinners. So I asked the lovely Ginger to give us a Cliff Notes/Beer on a Budget version of the highlights of the coming week. Here are some things Philly’s Beer Lass recommends:
Thank goodness. It’s here. Philly Beer week is really here. After Months of preparing my liver for mass amounts of beer-I think I’m ready. Hopefully, you are too. With over 130 competing events, we might not get to see each other too much… But here’s my agenda and perhaps we can have a beer or two here or there. Lots of events are already sold out. I decided not to do the fancy shmancy dinner thing and set up a bunch of casual nights like happy hours, quizzes, and runs. Runs? Well-run. I am co hosting the only event of the week involving any sort of athleticism. Here’s my line up, and a few other fun events.

  • Monday, March 10– Ultimate Beer Trivia with Johnny Goodtimes and IPA Beer Club’s Suzanne Woods (my witness protection name). Get a team together and see if you have what it takes to walk away with a couple hundred dollars and bragging rights… serves as a preliminary round to Beer Geek competition. Triumph Brewing 8 p.m.
  • Tuesday, March 11– Meet and Greet Sly Fox Brewmaster Brian O’Reilly at Johnny Brenda’s Try their new Standard Ale. 6 pm. Or meet brother and sister team David and Sebbie Buhler, one from Elysian Brewing in Seattle, the other from Rogue in Oregon.
  • Wednesday, March 12– Local Brewers self guided Bar tour. Join 7 local breweries and 7 local bars. Starting at Jose Pistolas at 6 pm. Beer Loving Ladies make sure you’re at Devils Alley by 8:30 to compete against the local breweries in a Sly Fox Seamus showdown.
  • Thursday, March 13– Philly Beer Week Beer Geek Competition @ Johnny Brenda’s. I will be judging along with other beer folk. 8 pm. $5 cover. Also on Thursday, the Mustache Bash with Smuttynose beers at South Philly Tap Room. Every man who enters with a moustache drinks $2 Smuttynose beers all night.
  • Friday, March 14– Sly Fox and South Hampton have a friendly square off at Good Dog Try General Sullivan’s red ale on cask, or Sly Fox Oatmeal stout. Sly cans on special. 6pm till ?
  • Saturday, March 15:– Saturday, March 15 11:00 AM. Co-hosting Philly Beer Week Beer run: In Pursuit of Hoppiness with the Brew Lounge. Meet at Art Museum at 11, run 5 miles finishing with beers at Dock St. Pub. Free. Donations to benefit pocket change for parkinson’s…Michael Jackson: the Man and his Legacy at Penn museum sessions at 1 p.m., 3:30 p.m., and 6:00 p.m. That’s famous beer critic Michael Jackson, not race morphing Peter Pan hair on fire musician Michael Jackson. Call 215-898-3900 for tickets…Do you make a mean chili? Chili cook off at the Khyber at 2 p.m…Finally, I’ll be joining SouthHampton and 5 other breweries for a special Ides of March party in Mayfair at 9 p.m.
  • Sunday, March 16-Cask Ale fest at Triumph from 1-4 p.m…Sly Fox Seamus and 29 others! And LADIES BEER TEA @ the Belgian Café 3-5 p.m. Drink great beer amongst great women.
  • And finally, The Last Huzzah, the T.U.D. at 7:05 p.m. Philly Beer Week’s last official event. Come have that last Totally Unnecessary drink at FERGIES. Cheap ass Imperial Pints for $3 Guest bartenders from the Brewing industry and karaoke. Don’t worry, you’ll be drunk enough to sing. Sponsored by YARDS and Sly Fox.

For more info, go to phillybeerweek.org. And check out my blog. Hope to see you this week!

Great Movies

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Alright, I’ve been catching up lately on some of the great movies I never saw the first time around, so that I can be kool. Here are three reviews for movies I recently saw for the first time.

Blue Velvet. I loved Twin Peaks, so it should come as no surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed Blue Velvet. Sexy, scary, and surreal (often in the same scene), the movie was a pure buzz from start to finish. I enjoyed the characters, the dialogue, the plot, everything. Dennis Hopper is downright amazing, as is Isabella Rossellini. And though I didn’t like Maclachlan’s character as much as I did in Twin Peaks (possibly my favorite tv character of all time.), he was still very solid. This one gets an A-
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The Magnificent Seven. A fun movie, really good Western soundtrack, some really great actors. Still, certainly not my favorite Western of all time. A little too cheesy (if that’s at all possible for a 60s Western) and all of the deaths were as melodramatic as possible, with essentially every character getting off some famous last words. I did, however, thoroughly enjoy Eli Wallach as the head of the bandits, and I liked the fact that they had their reasons for ransacking the village (they were starving, and hey, a bandit’s gotta eat.) All in all, an enjoyable movie (and one that will make my next viewing of Three Amigos much more enjoyable), but not an epic one. (Keep in mind I am grading in comparison to other great movies, not to regular movies). C+
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Blow Out. This 1981 Brian de Palma film is a joyride for most of the flick, though it gets a little silly at the end. Great storyline. A presidential candidate has his car tire blown out, car plunges into creek, and he dies but the hooker with him lives. A sound guy for a lowgrade slasher films (John Travolta) happens to be recording nearby and picks up the gunshot on his microphone. The government is trying to cover this up, and a maniacal John Lithgow (the shooter) is trying to kill the hooker to make sure she stays quiet. Travolta develops a crush on the hooker, played by de Palma’s wife at the time, Nancy Allen. Convoluted, but de Palma makes it tie together nicely, and it is gripping until the closing chase, which is melodramatic and ridiculous to the point of being laugh out loud funny (super-slow motion, giant American flag, fireworks, etc.) . But the little tie in to slasher films at the end is a nice touch. The reason to watch this film in the first place, though, is that the whole thing takes place in 1980 Philadelphia, with a special cameo by the Forum Theatre. Lots of good city scenes, and the car driving through City Hall is fun. It is worth checking out for the Philly stuff, the plot is fast and fun, and Travolta is actually pretty damn good in this. B