I would think to ask about your beers

My local Lucky's put a couple of brews from Firestone Walker Brewing on sale this week, and so, I *had* to pick something up; I've read such good things about them and, now, the price was right. And all I can say is that I've been missing out. Their Pale Ale is now my go-to, high-quality, session beer at the house, PBR or Tecate party nights notwithstanding. haha. Come by and we'll put back a few (if we don't break out some of my more exotic offerings, like Ommegang's Chocolate Indulgence Stout or Russian River's Damnation Batch 23).

On another beer-related note, I've removed The Beer Pirate from the "Social Lubricants" link list on the right. No offense - it's a fine site - but it's not updated frequently enough, or with enough "required reading", for me to keep it.

But I do have a replacement: Pacific Brew News Blog, a site with great beer-related news and reviews, updated a few times a week; it's associated with the folks - it *is* the folks - that put out the Pacific Brew News print 'zine found in better beer stores here on the West Coast. If you live in the area and are into beer, it's required reading, for sure, but many of the stories have appeal to the beer world at large.

Yeah, so, get acquainted with the PBN crew via their Favorite Beers of 2007; in fact, you can learn a lot about *anyone* by talking with them about their favorite beers (and I guess it says something about me that I would think to ask). Cheers! And, no, really, do tell..

An approximation of insanity

I'm always interested when I come across - by reading, usually - folks developing "new forms of life", a topic that, without fail, sparks the imagination; for me, it has always been this way (as an incorrigible daydreamer). While I'd like to think that, over the years, my education and experience would allow me to cast more subtle molds around the subject.. I must admit that crazy animal hybrids are still the first things that come to mind when I hear the phrase "new forms of life". Liger, anyone? haha.

But then my (ahem) deeper intellect takes hold, and I think of the possibilities for maybe some less-extravagant flora and fauna; more specifically, my attention turns to transgenic organisms, in all their controversial, and financially-lucrative glory. In fact, Christmas is almost here and I've always wanted a GloFish®, or a bunch of cancer fighting tomatoes. Both would be great in a salad, I bet. But I digress..

It's rare when I'm blown away by something - especially something I read/see on the Internet, ha! - but I came across the work of Theo Jansen today, a man at the crossroads of art, engineering, and insanity (in a good way!). His creations, well, at first, shocked me, and then, they made me a little uncomfortable; finally, I settled into amazement. Mr. Jansen is best known as a kinetic sculptor, but that title doesn't do him justice; simple mobiles these are not.

From his website (transcribed sans typos):

"Since about ten years Theo Jansen is occupied with the making of a new nature. Not pollen or seeds but plastic yellow tubes are used as the basic material of this new nature. He makes skeletons which are able to walk on the wind. Eventually he wants to put these animals out in herds on the beaches, so they will live their own lives."

Behold his Strandbeests!

While nice as a teaser, a still photo of these massive, protoanimal devices should only be used to whet your appetite for watching videos of their incredible locomotion.. once they get going, that is. You see, the metabolism (I use the term loosely, in the spirit of the project) of most of the creatures is based on the wind; early ones used this energy source directly, turning beautiful sails or propellers that would then actuate their manifold legs, while later generations - who said evolution is dead? - have additional facilities to store this sort of energy for later use. Lemonade bottles never had such a glorious existence.

So, without further ado, check these videos (and if you're thinking about eating a brownie beforehand, then I would say to eat the brownie):

1. First, indulge in discovery. VIDEO #1!

2. Now, listen to Theo Jansen present several of his designs to an audience at a TED conference earlier this year; he talked about "The art of creating creatures". I will admit that occasionally he sounds like a madman, but his commitment to his ideas - and the ideas themselves - is/are fascinating. VIDEO #2!

3. Finally, watch more action of a Strandbeest on the beach - its natural habitat, of course - as it detects if/when it arrives at water's edge and reverses its direction, surely avoiding a dramatic and oceanic death. As you can imagine (or, as you heard, if you watched VIDEO #2 above), these lifeforms are very susceptible to drowning. VIDEO #3!

To see the Strandbeests in real life, get thyself to the Netherlands! Hmm.. it is tempting; you never know how one's travel plans with shake out. ;)

In any case, beyond the visceral amazement, knowing about this project - especially after hearing Mr. Jansen explain his (physical and philosophical) mechanisms - gets you thinking about what characterizes "life" itself. As I've alluded to, or, I guess, have said outright, hearing the artist say that he is developing "new forms of life" from plastic rods and lemonade bottles sounds fantastical at best, and (pleasantly) insane at worst. Still, let's keep in mind that definitions change all the time, as new information comes to light, or new ways of interpreting data are developed. Think about such debates surrounding viruses, prions, and other biological phenomena that straddle the boundaries of what it means to be alive. Pushing those boundaries further, Stephen Hawking once posited that "computer viruses should count as life"; needless to say, that comment caused quite a stir in the academic community.

But regardless of how you choose to define existence, what is *not* in question is the genius of the artist, the engineer, the man, Theo Jansen. And I hope he continues to evolve his Strandbeests so that one day he can realize his dream: to behold herds of them autonomously patrolling the beaches of his native Nederland. Wild!

The difficulties of multiple brains

More and more, all the little computer brains inside our laptops, in our communication equipment, and even in our handheld devices have multiple execution units in them. In other words, the tech guys that make these things have taken, say, two separate computer processors and stuck them into one chip.. and do it in a way that's cheap enough to put these powerful computing platforms everywhere now. As they say, this trend is the (foreseeable) future..

That said, this technology isn't particularly new (it goes back decades, in fact), but what *is* new is their proliferation into everyday devices. Sounds good, right? Well, for the end-user (i.e. you and me!), it is, for sure. This sort of computer architecture makes some really neat applications possible - in ways so much cheaper than the solutions available before. And *we* don't have to worry about what's going on underneath the covers, so to speak, as long as "it works"; we let the engineers and programmers and the rest of the geeksquad take care of that (amen).

But for them, this new development environment can be a nightmare!

You see, to make the best use of the multiple brains on these new computer chips, they have to figure out how to break up their programs (i.e. what they want the computer to "do"), and partition this work across all available resources. And this is a logistical problem that is, for the most part, easier said than done.

Yesterday, the NYTimes published an article about this very topic:

Faster Chips Are Leaving Programmers in Their Dust
By John Markoff
Published: December 17, 2007

It caught my eye because part of my job is to help our customers make the best use of these multiprocessor devices (i.e. my company sells such things), specifically for embedded and communication products. As the article implies, it is a new field of study and development - at least for the mainstream - and, therefore, no one solution is well-established. In fact, there aren't really that many experienced engineers doing this sort of thing right now; the industry has asked all these folks to get-with-it pretty abruptly.

Luckily, I've been doing this bit for a long time now (think: 1999!); as I mentioned, this isn't new technology; I used to work with some network processors that were pretty advanced for their time.. and, in some ways, more powerful than the mainstream stuff I work with now. More importantly (for my career - ha!), the theories are the same, and so I've ended up doing a lot of training and customer talks and so forth the past couple of years.

At a later date, I can bore you with the details.. if you're interested. ;) In the meantime, check out the article; it will give you a taste of what I do at work, as well as a greater appreciation for the advanced technology going into all our next generation computer gizmos.

Mixtapes for new kettle selection

In between episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, icing my damaged (body) parts.. and making Chipotle Smashed Sweet Potatoes (it's pretty good), I've been playing a few of those mixtapes that I sometimes namedrop in casual conversation. Yeah, I've been playing them loud.. and, I guess, doing some approximation of dancing at my desk chair and/or on the floor. haha.

Here are my favorites; check them out:

1. Top Billin - Megamix Vol. 8
2. Djuna Barnes - Urbanizer mix
3. Crimp Yr Hair DJs - Eyeball & Chainsaw Mix

and.. still top dog:

4. Sam Sparro - Songs Not Bombs

Ok.. time to attend to another pot of tea. Ah, that reminds me, the handle of my ancient (but beloved) stovetop kettle broke the other day, so we've upgraded to modern times. It's amazing that sometimes it's the simple things in life that can be the most pleasing; drink up!

C'est la vie and all of that

I guess it's back to the swimming pool for me.

Man, I'll just say one more "what the fuck?" - I've been saying it a lot the past 24 hours - to the fact that I'm limping around the house today, icepack wrapped around my left foot. I even had to break a date at the climbing gym this morning. And, as, you can imagine, that's totally not cool, given my recent on-the-rock advances.. both physically and mentally; and I'm not interested in losing any hard-fought ground.

But, c'est la vie and all of that.

My consolation package comes in the form of the First Season DVDs of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (borrowed yesterday from the library), more time to self-study a half-semester of Russian before Russian 2B starts in January, and more time to finish a couple mix CDs that I started a while back.. oh, and, I guess, like work or something.

But, again, the one thing I'm trying to keep in mind is "c'est la vie and all of that". Still, it's a good thing I'm stocked up on quality beer.. and ingredients for making winter-inspired muffins; those will be delicious, and welcome, distractions of the highest order. And the framed Egon Schiele print, revived from storage and recently-hung in the living room - by the request of my roommate - will excite an altogether different set of senses.

Seize the immediate order

A few of you know that I've already got some big ideas for adventure holiday(s) in 2008; in fact, I have several trips in mind:

1. Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro / visiting my sister in Kenya
2. Climbing Mt. Elbrus / indulging in contemporary Tblisi (Грузия)
3. Climbing Mt. Shasta / rocking some Northern California breweries
4. Trainride across Russia to Lake Baikal / visiting friends in Japan

I think you can see a common theme; yeah, but I'll admit I'm not sure exactly where this mountaineering kick is coming from. Oh, and note that I'm down for fun beyond what I've listed here; keep them ideas coming. I've even got some other trips in mind (ex. hiking Denali and Mt. Aconcagua, getting buzzed at the Great American Beer Festival), presumably to be done *after* the ones above, but totally willing to reorder. More specifically, I can appreciate the notion of taking advantage of serendipitous opportunities as they present themselves (front and center!).. even moreso, now that I've started reading "Seven Summits." More on the book later..

In any case, I *do* want to, um, rock several of the bad boys on the list above, but realize the need to, first, prioritize and, then, start some concrete planning. There are a couple of complications, of course, but one of them is that my sister is actually climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in February, which is a little bit sooner than I had in mind (i.e. if I wanted to join her).. and, also, she's leaving Kenya altogether in August, giving me a deadline for having a place to stay in western Kenya (and to see the life that she's put together for herself this past year or so). Beyond that, I've got a friend in Kyiv (the guy I went to Russia/Kyrgyzstan with this past summer, actually), who - as we've already discussed - might be interested in all or part of the Elbrus/Tblisi trip; and I'm not sure how long he's staying in the area. Oh yeah, in the bigger picture, I find out today that some of these adventures actually fall under the umbrella of "Doom Tourism", where the destinations are "endangered" for one reason or another. Still.. I know, I know.. poor me; I'm choosing from a set of awesome alternatives. ;)

And, for sure, I know it's cliché, but I've sorta (mentally) resigned myself to not, actually, getting my ass in gear, so to speak, planning-wise, until after the New Year. So we'll see how everything actually shakes out - and who I can cajole into adventuring with me - over the next couple of weeks.

But back to my reading list.

After finishing "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families" - a book about the (still ongoing?) Rwandan genocide - a few days ago, I started into "Seven Summits" - a most timely birthday gift from one of my aunts. It's about the the first two guys to climb the highest peak on each of the seven continents. The proposition sounds like something that would have been accomplished a century ago, but is was only the early-1980's that two amateur mountaineers - both in their 50's! - gave it go.

As I mentioned, I just started into the story.. and was thinking, at first, that it might not be for me at all, given that the book was written from a beginner's - wow, we're climbing mountains! - point of view. But, it's actually resonating with me quite a bit! In particular, I'm overlooking the minutia of the climbs (ex. the main "characters" not necessarily being in shape), and taking note of the bigger themes, those on the order of "seize the day!". Hmm.. I guess those are the types of messages I'm looking to hear right now..

That actually reminds me of a conversation that I had with a friend a few weeks ago at a wine bar, here in San Francisco. Among other things that we talked about, we agreed for the need to say "fuck it" every once in awhile - not in a nihilistic sense, but in a sense of escaping from the expectations of our particular "daily existences"; further, we talked about the need to say it more often. I'm feeling, lately, that I haven't been following this particular advice; it's amazing how that sort of thing works - or, I guess, doesn't work - even when you "know what to do".

So, it's all well and good - née, great! - that I'm planning all these far-flung adventures, but I also need to keep in mind that I should also, well, seize the day closer to home. But I think *that* discussion is another blog entry altogether.. wait, that "discussion" is, actually, something to *do* in real-life, something to make *happen*, preferably, with a partner-in-crime; writing about it later, after the smoke has cleared, would be bonus. ;)

Whew! With all that said, let me leave you with this, admittedly, tangential recommendation: if you ever come across the 2006 Sauvignon Blanc from Kawarau Estate (New Zealand), drink up! It is, for sure, one of the most delicious white wines I've had in recent memory. And who wants to say no to that?

A musical three return

It was exactly one month ago that I dropped a few musical recommendations in a blog posting for folks to check out, and as coincidence would have it, three of them have appeared back in my life this week.

1. Two days ago I found out that The Cool Kids are headlining their own tour; it seems they have blown up after opening for MIA earlier this year. In fact, I even saw them recently in a commercial while watching an America's Next Top Model marathon (what?). Yeah, so I bought me some tickets to their January 17th show at the Independent.. and, per usual, have an extra. It's going to be a b-boy fest - not my usual element - but should be a great show, and within stumbling distance to my apartment. ;)

2. Next, I get wind of a new music video from those raunch-festers known as Spank Rock - for their single "Loose". In fact, I posted about it last night, maybe offending the three of you that read this thing. haha. Oh man, and I'm not exactly sure what the lyrics are or how exactly the simulated sex fits in, but, damn, that video is a wonder to behold in terms of not-giving-a-fuckness. I guess with Internet distribution, they really don't have to answer to anybody with respect to their, umm, artistic vision (although it seems the video is down as of today??).

3. In any case, tonight I got a major tip from a friend to revisit Sam Sparro's myspace page because he posted a mixtape called "Songs Not Bombs". Sounds like a sentiment I can get behind.. and wooo-whee, it's full of some delicious dancefloor jams, everything from 80's R&B to '07 bangers, one moving smoothly into the other.. and back. I've actually been downloading quite a few mixtapes lately - mostly with heads-up from the Disco Belle blog and a few other random places on the web - and this is my favorite of the past couple of weeks. I just wish they posted a track list!

So, I guess it's just a matter of time because I cross paths with DiskoError and DJ Aristocat; what's up with you guys?

On a note related to #3 above, 11 minutes into the "Songs Not Bombs" mix, a snippet of Snoop Dogg's new single, "Sensual Seduction", rolls up in your business. Have you seen the video? I *mostly* like it.. in fact, it might even be mindblowing for taking (what I'm guessing to be) some stellar 70's vibe - and production values - and tweaking them to a ridiculous level.. I mean, totally fetishizing the original scene. And I can appreciate that. BUT.. what I can't get over is that it's Snoop Dogg in the goddamn video. I mean he's done great for himself, and good for him and all that, but I just can't take him seriously anymore; I don't even really like his voice. And that's all I'll say about that. haha. Check it out for yourself.

Sexually explicit and profane lyrics

Umm, so.. I'm just saying.. DON'T watch this music video at work; it is the most pornographic music video I've ever scene (that wasn't an actual porn). And, for that, it is passingly interesting.

But there is more.. I am saying that you *should* watch this music video when you're ready for some neo-Miami-bass (and nakedness), courtesy of those 2 Live Crew aficionados, Bangers and Cash. These guys put out some pretty ridiculous music; it's totally over the top - with EXTREMELY sexually explicit and profane lyrics - but I think it's done in a wink-wink sort of way. And damn if they don't have a deep, deep, and crazydancey bassline (again, in a stripper sort of way) in most of their tracks.. something that makes the whole operation palatable.

Umm.. I'm not sure if I'm really selling this one too well (and I'm not sure I should be selling it at all!). So without further ado, just check out their latest video - courtesy of the FiftyOne:FiftyOne blog:

Bangers and Cash feat. Amanda Blank - Loose

(The link above takes you to a blog with a link to the video, along with a little bit of commentary; access the video directly here, but, again, it is EXPLICIT - nakedness abounds.)

Some people like these guys (like Fader magazine) and some people absolutely hate them (misogyny - winks or not - does that, you know?), but let me say that after I saw it, I went out and bought some champagne.

Just kidding (I already owned the champagne). haha. You see, never is there enough champagne in your possession; it seems to bring out the best in people, or, at least, it enhances the potential for silly exuberance. In fact, any sort of sparkling wine - and the willingness to spray it around the room - works too; most people don't know the difference. ;)

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UPDATE 121307: Yikes, looks like the video has been pulled for some reason, even the direct link to the Bangers and Cash site doesn't work. C'est la vie..