Party Postmortem

That was a good party the other night. Most people I've ever seen in this place at once. There was no room to walk, only enough to dance. And drink.

The raspberry wheat was pretty good. People seemed to like it, and that gave me a good feeling. But this IPA (tentatively named "The Hammer")... I think it's gonna blow all the others away. We think it might crack 10%. I made it with bottled water instead of chloriney tap. I have very great expectations.

We'll see in about a month.

Running

I'm gonna start. The only reason I didn't today is because I was too tired and hung over. I've got it all planned out though. I think it's feasible. It's definitely needed, because I don't feel like myself anymore.

I've heard exercise is addictive. Let's hope it's more addictive than laziness. Laziness, man, that shit is like crack.

Pretty Furniture

What if it became popular to release books in a digital, downloadable format. Do you think people would stop buying books? Maybe, maybe not. I think a loaded bookshelf is a nice addition to any living space. It says something good about a person that a full hard drive cannot. It makes a home look homier.

Today I was screwing around with a music library program and it asked if I wanted to download album art. To me that would be a waste of time and space. I like to own albums so I can display them or hand them to friends to look at. Or just admire the way they look in my room. Downloading album art is like...it's like getting a photograph of a painting. The photograph is useful because it might show me what a painting I've never seen looks like. It might move me to buy the painting. But I'm not going to display it in my house.

Except maybe in an ironic way.

What time is it at the center of the sun?

Social Networking Dilemma

So, a few years ago I got a fs account, followed by a "space", which I went on to use quite a bit more. Fs is long dead and ms is moribund. I'm considering getting a fb account, but I dunno...

Other forays of mine into the world of online friending were largely meant to meet girls, which I was not doing much of at the time. Social networking sites did nothing to change this. Now it's not an issue, and I'm really questioning whether I want to continue posting info about myself outside of this blog.

When my high school reunion came up, I asked my friend J if he wanted to go to some of the stuff with me. He was like, "Nah. Anyone I want to see from high school, I'm still in contact with". I can see where he's coming from. I never made any friends through networking sites. I'd get a bit of satisfaction from adding someone I already knew, but in most cases, I'd very seldom check out their profile again. The ones I did look at a lot belonged to people I saw regularly IRL. Hee hee, I said "IRL"...

To ms's credit, I discovered quite a few bands that way, including some very good ones. I think it's a more useful resource for my band(s) than for me, personally. Does fb let you post music?

Anyway, I think I'm gonna hold off on the facetrain for the time being. Maybe people will keep writing/posting pics on their blogs. Or, maybe blogs will become obsolete.

Christian A: If you're reading this, my band is playing your town this summer. More info TBA.

Raspberry Party

This Friday, April 27th our house celebrates one year with Yram (and almost a year with Rocco) and wishes her luck in the future, as she is leaving town soon. We will do this by barbecuing and unleashing our raspberry homebrew upon the thirsty/cheapskate masses. The party will also serve to welcome the newest member of the Fjort family, Danny C. We'll start this around suppertime. Bring some food if you like.

A word of warning: Beardo won't be able to make it until after 11pm, and we don't tend to inaugurate a new beer without him, so bring something to tide yourself over until then.

Another warning: if you have a strong aversion to coconut (like an allergy or something), you should not drink the homebrew as it contains one can of coconut milk... spread over 20-some L mind you, but still. In our bottling day taste test, neither Dyn-o-mite nor myself could discern much of a coconut flavour, but there may be textural implications.

The Fjort: Singlehandedly Keeping The Charcoal Industry Afloat Since 2006

To Be A Human Fad

I got to thinking about this guy today. What an interesting phenomenon he was. Talk about fifteen minutes of fame...

Speaking Of Only/Good/Young

I worshiped this show when I was 13/14. I was heavily influenced by it at the time. I'm not sure how it would stand up today though, or else I'd pick up the DVDs. It's not very PC. I do own both editions of the limted-run comic book.

















Gary F, I know you know what I'm talking about!

My Liquid Child

You know how new parents are, going on and on about their kid all the time. Well, don't hold it against them. A new child (I hear) occupies basically all of one's time, leaving little else for conversation fodder.

You'd think I'd have pictures of my fucking homebrew in my wallet for the amount of time I spend talking about it. So yesterday I made the IPA, with much help from Dyn-O-Mite and Briantology. As stated earlier, I got the guy at the store to hook me up with a recipe that would at least hit 7%. Unbeknownst to him, I upped the ante even more by tossing in two kilos of honey. More sugar = more alcohol.

The way of measuring alcohol potential in a to-be-fermented beer is specific gravity. High SG means thicker, denser. In this case, it's the sugar/honey/malt that makes it this way. Yeast eat this stuff and turn it to alcohol, which is less dense, so the SG goes down. I'll spare you the rest of the science lesson. The starting SG in my last beer was 1.042, which through a magical series of calculations fortells a 4.3% beer. But the starting SG for the new IPA was 1.1... so, if it ferments out as much as the last beer did (final SG of 1.01), we could be looking at something north of 12%.

We are through the looking glass here, people.

I don't know what that means, but it always sounds cool to me.

Anyway, the stuff gave me a scare at first. It sat overnight and the yeast did fuck all. I got some more from the store and tossed it in (also turned on the heat in my room), and now there's a little action on the surface of the sweet-smelling liquid. I'm crossing my fingers.

Only The Good Die Young

I should have watched this back in the day. If you took all of the TV shows ever made, you could probably distill them down to one week of solid, high quality programming. F&G would be in there.

Rebloggitude

After a bout of internet disinterest/anxiety I will now get back to updating regularly. I haven't had a lot of time lately. Fittingly, I'll start with a homebrew update. We bottled the raspberry wheat yesterday, using higher quality caps to avoid the flatness issues we had with the stout. We had a pre-carbonation swig, and it was quite good. We'll likely release it on Friday, April 27th. This will be a party to welcome our new roommate Danny C, as well bidding à demain to Yram and Rocco. Rocco's been extremely affectionate lately, as if he's consciously trying to make the most of his last few weeks here.



He knows more than we think.

In other Rocco news, the stout ale that bore his name was successfully consumed in one night (at least 20L) over the long weekend. Other than a few cap-seal issues and a disappointing alcohol content, it was pretty ok. The party that went with it was great, but the weather was not nice enough to have it outdoors. We ate the easter bunny. No kidding.

I want to eat a little healthier at our barbecues this year. The quality of our finger food has been improving. At the first beer party, my stomach unceremoniously informed me that certain food excesses were no longer an option. We'll still be barbecuing frequently, and I'll cook anything.

On the same topic, I figure on putting out a new beer each month over the next while, so that'll be at least one large party here per month thoughout the summer. We'll also have many smaller-scale events involving good times on the back deck. Keep reading here for updates. The next beer I'll be working on is an IPA. I told the guy at the store that I wanted a recipe that would hit at least 7%. Maybe I was feeling guilty about the stout not getting people fucked up enough. Well, it's time for that ant to be crushed by a mighty sledgehammer of alcoholic devastation. Maybe that's what I'll call the new one... Fjort Sledgehammer IPA. I'll only do that if it cracks 7 though. I'm gonna toss in a couple kilos of honey again.

This summer (maybe sooner) I'm going to buy an ice cream maker. That's what this house needs.

BB hasn't been playing much (until this weekend) because we're trying very hard to write an album's worth of material to have for our summer tour. We're making progress, but it's been tough. We normally take a very long time to write, and seldom do more than one song at a time. We're working on about 6 right now.

I'm planning a trip for June to:



It's almost warm enough to fly kites.

I think all levels of goverment need to make affordable housing available to those who need it. It should be spread around within reason, not entirely relegated to the friges of town. If this isn't done, the government and ordinary citizens who participate in democracy are to blame, not people who move to and/or develop less affluent neighbourhoods when they did not grow up there. Also, there's no point in complaining about demographic shifts at this bar. Bands are, by nature, ambitious entities who will play anywhere they can get a show... and if people come out they will want to play there again, and the bar will be just as eager to take them back. That's what bands and bars do. If the pub is gentrified, and if that is bad or unfair, what is to be done about it? Is it the bar's responsibility to remain true to their traditional clientele, money be damned? Is it the responsibility of bands to have a ladies'/gentlemen's agreement to stay away from a nice, conveniently-located venue so as not to drive another "scene" out? Should goverment intervene to make sure these conditions are met? I don't think any of those options are reasonable. Decent rock venues in this city are like a pile of raw meat to a thousand starving dogs.

There, now I don't have to post in that thread.

I apologize for neglecting e-mail. It's been a daunting task, but the fog is starting to lift, and I'll likely take care of that very soon.

Ok, you're up to date.