DAVE BARRY ON BEER

“What may seem depressing or even tragic to one person may seem like an absolute scream to another person, especially if he has had between four and seven beers.”

RIP: ST PETE PIER

1973 - 2013: After 40 years as an iconic sight on the waterfront of St Pete(Florida,not Russia!), the pier closes today at the end of business. Went there quite a few times since we moved here in 1988; picture below is from that period; you can see the masts of the HMS Bounty replica ship - you know, the one that sank during Hurricane Sandy last year. Used to have some nice shops, and an aquarium that the kids enjoyed seeing (long before there was a Florida Aquarium in Tampa).
 Too bad they're going to knock it down and replace it with something called 'The Lens' - go ahead and Google it; sure looks to me like that'll blow away in the first hurricane to come along.

FRIDAY FUNNIES

VEGAN ZOMBIES

So if a vegan becomes a zombie…

what does he eat??

CHINESE DRINKING WINE - SAY WHAT?

‘China’s economic ascendancy has created a thirst for luxury goods – and produced a bubble in wine prices. But whereas the buyers of the most expensive wines in the West tend to be investors, the Chinese are buying them to drink.’

(From BBCOnline)

WOW! Actually buying wine to drink…now that’s a novel idea!

THE BILLY BOB TAPES: A CAVE FULL OF GHOSTS

Billy Bob Thornton and Kinky Friedman:

“I’m cynical about cynicism. Cynicism has become popular, funny, and entertaining, so in order to combat it,

I have to become cynical about the perpetrators”

FRIDAY FUNNIES

THE NATURE OF BALANCE

by Tim Lebbon:

What seems to be a nature run amok story turns into a mish-mash of three different story concepts. To me it was a book I almost gave up on finishing; not once, but a few times. But I stuck to it and kept my fingers crossed, and was ultimately disappointed. Despite all the blurbs from other horror authors I’m afraid this book really wasn’t my cup of tea (and I read a lot of books - and drink lots of tea!)

SPOTTED IN HONG KONG HARBOR

Imagine if you were drunk and saw this floating by!!

RIP: TREVOR BOLDER

1950 - 5/21/13: Bass player for Spiders From Mars (1971-73)& Uriah Heep (1975-81 & 1983-2013). And amidst all that even managed to play with Wishbone Ash & Mick Ronson.  Actually saw him play with the Heep back when they toured with Kiss in the mid-70s, and have his autograph on the Uriah Heep Acoustically Driven VHS booklet that the band signed for people who pre-bought the VHS/CD combination.

Another great talent brought down by cancer; seems like if you survive the drugs & alcohol, them something else like cancer will get you.

Sorry to see Trevor go, I’m sure he would have played on many more Heep albums…

Rock on, Trevor, rock on…

HEY! IT'S WEIRD AL'S GREAT-GRANDFATHER!

ON YAHOO BUYING TUMBLR

"It's very hard to just buy something cool from somebody else and for it to remain cool," says Robin Klein, a partner at technology investors Index Ventures.

So basically, you may possibly be able to inherit cool, but you certainly can't buy it.

RIP: RAY MANZAREK

1939 - 5/20/13: The great keyboard (and bass keys) 

player for the Doors.

An integral part of the Doors sound, to my mind never better than their first album.

Rock on Ray, rock on...

FRIDAY FUNNIES

DEVIL BONES

By Kathy Reichs: ‘Despite the nuclear power plant humming on it’s southwestern shore, Lake Wylie is ringed by a number of upmarket developments - River Hills, the Palisades, the Sanctuary. Palisaded against whom? I often wondered. Sanctuary from what? Day-Glo bass and eight-legged toads?’

SAY WHAT?!

'Holder had plenty of other confrontations with other Republican committee members – Rep.Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, even accused the attorney general of “casting aspersions on my asparagus.”'

WOULDN'T THAT BE A SWITCH

He ( Pope Francis) has previously said that the Church has a special duty to defend the poor.

"I would like a Church that is poor and is for the poor,"

he said following his election as head of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics two months ago.

The pontiff said he had chosen the name Francis in a direct reference to St Francis of Assisi, the Italian founder of the Franciscan Order who was devoted to the poor.

WAR IS NOT A WAR CRIME?

"I swear to God we will eat your hearts and your livers, you soldiers of Bashar the dog," the man says, referring to President Bashar al-Assad as he stands over the soldier's corpse.

"The desecration and mutilation of a killed person is definitely a war crime," Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director of Human Rights Watch, told the BBC. "This one particularly disturbing because of the sectarian nature of the language used by Abu Sakkar."

However, for some odd reason killing him in the first place is NOT a war crime…go figure!

AMERICAN CRAFT BEER WEEK

FROM 'PARTS UNKNOWN'

The new Anthony Bourdain show: While visiting Quebec, one of the crazy French-Canadian chefs he was with told him,

 “Food is feces-in-waiting.”

Not a great thought while looking at (or eating) food,

but hard to argue the point…

(Though I do love poutine)

FRIDAY FUNNIES

RIP: RAY HARRYHAUSEN

At the age of 92: Famous for creating most of the incredible stop-motion monsters we all grew up watching. King Kong, assorted dinosaurs, characters from Greek Mythology...who can forget the skeleton army that Jason had to fight, and let's remember Medusa and her snaky hair! 
What a talent, one that will live on forever in the movies he did effects for.

RAISE YOUR GLASS...MORE THAN ONCE

(Don't) stay thirsty, my friends...

THE CRYSTAL BALLROOM, PORTLAND OREGON

In 1967, largely psychedelic acts such as the Grateful Dead, Blue Cheer, and The Electric Prunes performed in the ballroom. This was cut short in 1968, due to concerns about what such music was doing to the youth of Portland.

That’s so funny; you can’t make that kind of stuff up!! 

Ahhh, the good old days…

JUMP INTO THE FIRE

The late, great Harry Nilsson & friends.

FRIDAY FUNNIES

KAISER WILHELM II ON BEER

“Give me a woman who loves beer,

and I will conquer the world.”

TRUE THAT