Halloween Ribfest 2010

So last year I smoked my famous Pineapple Jerk Ribs to wild acclaim. It worked out well on several fronts. 1) I got to smoke ribs, which is one of my favorite things ever to do. 2) Handling the cooking for the Ribfest party meant I didn't have to interact with hundreds of children and hand them candy. (Yes, I'm still bah humbug on holidays, get over it.)

Well since last year was such a success, the wife and I decided to declare the 2nd Annual Halloween Ribfest. And to honor the occasion, I decided to bus out an entirely new recipe. This time I went crazy and made some Fillippino-style ribs. About 70 different spices went into the marinade and dry rub, which made this one of the more expensive rib recipes I have undertaken since it involved a bunch of items I normally don't have on hand, like whole Szechuan peppercorns or whole fennel and coriander seed. Oddly, we grew lemongrass in our garden this year, so we actually that covered!

The recipe was a 150% success. Holy crap those ribs were tasty. The only downer was the accompanying sauce, a plum-ginger sauce that I also made from scratch. The wife and the rest of the party loved it, but it wasn't my bag, just something wasn't quite doing it for me. But nevertheless, it looks like we have created a nice tradition with Halloween Ribfest. So mark it down, and reserve your seat for next year.

My Rally of Restoration

Saturday, for those living under a rock or playing a little too much Halo: Reach, was the Stewart/Colbert Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear, and I couldn't miss a chance to be part of a cool rally in which nothing mean or aggravating was said.

The rally was sweet, featuring The Roots doing a nice four-song set and some solid comedy bits and pre-taped spots to keep the people livened up. I was supposed to meet a couple groups of friends, but sadly a technology black hole was in effect down at the Mall, so I instead was left to fend for myself amongst 200,000 people. Thankfully, the people I ended up nestled next to were all cool folk, some environmental tech students, some funny hippies and some girls who all decided to dress up like Rosie the Riveter for Halloween (you can see them in the photo ... they did well with the costumes). Good times.

As a whole the rally kicked ass because Stewart and Colbert made some great jokes, and at the end Stewart made a simple, poignant speech that was all about coming together and stopping the bullshit division that the media keeps pushing and that politicians don't help themselves but propagating. It's a vicious circle, and yes I blame the politicians first and the media second, but it's infected our everyday lives and I appreciate the way Stewart reminded everyone that in the end we're all trying to get things done and it's not worth hating each other during the journey.

Here's a brief video I took to give you a sense of the size of the crowd and the vibe. I was all the way near the back of the crowd and it's still damn huge. Way to go, America, showing those posers Palin and Beck what kind of movement you can create when you put sanity instead of crazy.

Friday Funnies

I had a couple ideas for this last week and then forgot them, so I'm sorry for being uber-late coming up with a Friday Funnies. Plus, Kristin might be the only person who cares enough to ask me to post something because it helps her get through the final push after another week of work on our team.

In case you missed it, last night's opening prank of The Office was one of the best ones ever, and it didn't even revolve around pranking Dwight. Loved it. Laughed out loud a couple times. Yes, maybe I like The Office a little too much.

What I've Read: Bright-Sided

Just because I've haven't posted any book reviews lately doesn't mean I've given up the written word. Far from it. I just took the summer months to crush through a whole bunch of books from the fiction writers I love, and since those don't have the same umph as the nonfiction I spend a majority of time reading, I thought hey weren't review worthy.

But I'm back on my nonfiction kick, and I started off with a good one. Barbara Ehrenreich is one of my favs. She's got a great reporting style to bring her theses to life. In several of her past books that I really enjoyed (Nickel and Dimed, Bait and Switch), she didn't just talk about the problems facing middle class families, she took jobs in the same industries that many laid-off workers were having to take to see how the economics took their tool on them. Good reads, check them out.

In Bright-Sided, she goes head-first into the uber-sketchy positive thinking industry. As someone who is often thought of as a grouch in the family and always pushing depressing and serious and non-reality TV viewing, this was right up my alley. She first tackles the subject of her breast cancer diagnosis, and how those who have been diagnosed are almost forced to swallow nothing but positive imagery and the belief that if they think and pray enough, their cancer will somehow magically disappear. It's a startling look into how that "fighting cancer industry" is hellbent on only celebrating survivors and not those fighting it with the same passion, and how anyone who dares have a bad day or a negative chemo session is blasted for being human and having negative thoughts.

After breaking that down, she moves on to other solid territory, giving you a history of the positive thinking movement and its founders during the early part of the 1900s. She gives some great history into the hucksters and other jagoffs who created this idea that you can think yourself rich and successful. Once the history lesson is over, Ehrenreich gets right back into the good stuff, going after the Joel Osteens and other success preachers of the day that are preying and outright spewing bullshit to get their congregations to pray for more money, because as she claims, "god wants you to be rich."

She closes the book discussing how the positive thinking industry relied heavily on corporations and HR departments to build their successes, and more importantly how they began feeding off each other until company leaders and Fortune 500s were insulated to never listen to contradictory advice or filling their ranks with realists. She posits that it's this cycle that helped contribute to the economic collapse, and she makes some good points though rushes through it a bit too fast to make the impression stick.

In all, a fast read that will make you honestly reconsider a lot of the messages you hear from your HR department or from others. Plus, it makes you feel good about hating all the Amway bullshit and any other fake-ass pyramid scheme shit out there that promises happiness and good health and just by having good thoughts. Sounds like the kind of shit those infomercials peddle at 3 a.m. and what they preach about on Sundays before heading back to their mansions. Oh yeah, that's because it is.

Idiot of the Day

What better place to go to find an Idiot of the Day then the place of my birth, Kentucky.

Sure, you could ask if the idiot here is the woman from MoveOn who thought being funny at a debate featuring Rand Paul. Probably not a good idea to be a leftist pinko commie like myself and be in the line of fire from riled-up Tea Partiers who probably tailgated all day for this debate.

But I'll stick with my original belief that, while this is not the most dangerous assault ever caught on film (let's cool our jets, everyone), you're still an idiot for assaulting a woman and stomping on her head while cameras are filing you. Idiot. But since he's from Kentucky and a Tea Partier, he probably is a U of L fan and doesn't know what technology or the Internet is. I'm just quietly hoping, since this happened in Paducah, no one related to my wife was involved.

Friday Funnies

I've recently gotten the wife hooked on one of the best shows ever made, The Wire. I watched it on my own because I wasn't sure she'd be into since she consumes more than her fair share of Real Housewives and other shite that the networks churn out. But I promised her if she didn't like it after the first 7-8 episodes, then we could quit. I knew she'd love it, and soon enough she was hooked like one of Stringer Bell's customers.

I also knew she'd get a kick out of the famous "Fuck Scene." Not sexual in any way, this instantly reminded her of what my life would be like if I were a detective. That, or she's convinced the writer overheard me talking to Luke or something and decided to write a scene exactly how I am sometimes known to talk.

Game On: Week of Oct. 15

Here is my column from last week, where I reviewed Medal of Honor and NBA 2K11. Thanks to the Seattle Times for publishing.

Game On: Week of Sept. 30

Here is my column from the end of last month, where I reviewed Halo: Reach and Sports Champions. Thanks to the Seattle Times for publishing.

Game On: Week of Sept. 17

I have some catching up to do on older columns. Here is one from the middle of last month, where I reviewed Professor Layton and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Thanks to the TC Palm for publishing.

Blog Action Day 2010

Change.org sponsors Blog Action Day once a year, and it's always focused on getting people involved in a cause that the members vote upon. This year, the topic I voted for got picked: water.

Blog Action Day 2010: Water from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

Just so you know why I voted for water, I've watched several stunning and moving documentaries that have raised my awareness and fear about the ability to get access to clean water. And just so you have some solid facts, here's some stuff to chew on (or swallow, since we're talking liquid here):

• Conservation Starts at Home: The average person uses 465 liters of water per day. Find out how much you use and challenge others to do the same.


• 40 Billion Hours: African women walk over 40 billion hours each year carrying cisterns weighing up to 18 kilograms to gather water, which is usually still not safe to drink.


• 38,000 Children a Week: Every week, nearly 38,000 children under the age of 5 die from unsafe drinking water and unhygienic living conditions. Learn more.


• Wars Over Water: Many scholars attribute the conflict in Darfur at least in part to lack of access to water. A report commissioned by the UN found that in the 21st century, water scarcity will become one of the leading causes of conflict in Africa. Learn more.


• Food Footprint: It takes 24 liters of water to produce one hamburger. That means it would take over 19.9 billion liters of water to make just one hamburger for every person in Europe. Learn more.


• Building Wells: Organizations like Water.org and charity: water are leading the charge in bringing fresh water to communities in the developing world.


• Technology Footprint: My iPhone requires half a liter of water to charge. That may not seem like much, but with over 80 million active iPhones in the world, that’s 40 million liters to charge those alone.


• Fashion Footprint: That cotton t-shirt you’re wearing right now took 1,514 liters of water to produce, and your jeans required an extra 6,813 liters. Learn more.


• Uninhabitable Rivers: Today, 40% of America’s rivers and 46% of America’s lakes are too polluted for fishing, swimming, or aquatic life. Learn more.


• Keeping Rivers Clean: We can all take small steps to help keep pollution out of our rivers and streams, like correctly disposing of household wastes. Learn more.

Friday Funnies

Because any Friday spent with the Muppets is a Friday well spent.

My Slacktivism

I know it's sometimes hard to find time to do something important for someone else. We all have busy lives, and we can't always make the time. But luckily the good folks over at IBM have created some software to help the greater good and you literally have to do nothing ... NOTHING ... but let your computer work while you work.

The World Community Grid is this wickedly cool piece of software that I read about months back in Fast Company. After reading up on it a little more, I was hooked and have been running it ever since. The basic premise: You install this tiny piece of software onto your computer. As long as it is launched, whenever you are not working on your computer, it is working. 5 seconds here, a minute or two there. All the times it is using your computer to do calculations that aid researchers in doing complex research that aims to find cures to cancer, AIDS and others.

Trust me, this stuff does good work and it doesn't cost you anything nor does it destroy your computer or hinder all that excel spreadsheet work or Internet shopping you're otherwise normally doing. Take a moment and get involved, it's free, easy and can make a world of difference.

Friday Funnies

Tonight I'm checking out some standup comedy. And not from a likely source. I'm seeing the elder statesman of "Full House," Mr. Bob Saget.

I didn't pay much attention or give any thought to Saget when he was running that show about obviously staged home videos meant to cater laughter and hopefully some cash. Then a few years back I heard Jamie Kennedy made a funny video about hanging out with Saget and watched and thought it was pretty funny. A year or two back I also randomly caught Saget's HBO special and was blown away that the dude from Full House was talking about screwing co-eds and making fun of the Olson twins.

So he's coming to DC tonight and I figure, what the hell? let's give it a shot and see how he does. It better not be all hugs and light-hearted humor. I've roped Kelly into going because I told him he's going to tell some dirty jokes and it should be funny. Come through for me, Saget!

My Return to Title Form

It's been almost a decade since I left St. Petersburg, Florida. I don't necessarily miss the job (because not many of us are missing the ever-shrinking journalism field) but I've always loved the people I met there. Thankfully, I've kept up with many of my former co-workers, and one of those ways has been playing in a fantasy baseball league. And though I was not there, naming my team after my office nickname was easy. When I worked there, during one of the morning shifts when we'd all been working the night before until 1 a.m. and then had to be back at work at 8 a.m., we often got a little punchy during those morning shifts. So Todd, Ecton and I had an oddly in-depth discussion of original Star Trek TV series. We all talked about the hilarious aliens Kirk had to fight, and one of m favorite was the Mugato, which basically was a gorilla suit painted white with a huge, inappropriately designed horn glued to the head. So when they gave me a stuffed animal version as my going-away gift, my legacy was born.

Anyone who knows me is well aware that baseball is far from my favorite sport. Far, far, far from it. I'm mocked for loving soccer devoutly and getting a little too excited about odd sports like curling. Nevertheless, I joined because I wanted to be able to stay in touch with these guys and gals. In a weird turn, I won the league back in 2003, and the other owners were stunned that someone who knew so little could pull off the win.

And now they must be hating me, because I won again. And I killed it. I think I moved into first place some time in June and never relinquished the lead. Ever. It was amazing. It was just total domination. Click on the roster to appreciate my success.

My Justice, I Guess

Many of you know that I had quite the unfortunate run-in with a mugging earlier this year. Well, at long last it seems the justice system has runs it course and now I have some justice. It is by no means closure because that kind of thing lingers forever. But at least I can say that I the individuals were caught and justice was done. Want to know more? Read the press release. This doesn't have all the unfortunate details, but it gets the main points across. My intrepid law team advises that I let the release do the talking and maybe someday in the future I can let loose about the experience and my thoughts.

Friday Funnies

It's been awhile since the Friday Funnies, and I need to bring them back in style. I don't have children, and that's not a bad thing. But several of my friends do, and this video passed along by my pal Dave is hilarious and the fact that the one guy has a UK visor on at least gives me the chance to say that Kentucky fans are a creative bunch.