Magic Hat Howl
Dark beer with red highlights and a thin head that fades quickly.
Lots of roasted malt aroma.
Plenty of chocolate malt in the flavor which pretty much takes over. There is some hop bite trying to break through, but it gets smacked down by the chocolate roasted malt.
A tad thin on the mouthfeel, but that keeps it on the lighter (drinking, not color) side of things.
Overall rating: 3.6
My Last Concert
Yesterday, thanks to a presale code I received from the Michigan State email list, I bought two tickets to the U2 concert in East Lansing, MI next June. Combined with the Bruce Springsteen concert we're going to tomorrow night up in Baltimore, I think that this is the last concert that will be a "must see" for me.
I didn't go to too many concerts until I was in college, so I missed out on Bruce and U2 and others back in the 80s and 90s for the most part. But in the past ten years, I've been lucky enough to afford to be able to see concerts like those and Billy Joel (with Elton John), and even Bon Jovi and Def Leppard (making up for missing them in my youth). Looking around at some of the top concert tours going right now, I find little else I actually want to go see. The Eagles and Dave Matthews Band seem to be the highest draws that I might want to see, but they're not must see material for me, definitely not for what tickets cost these days. The only "new" artist I'd be interested in seeing is Arcade Fire (not on tour), and the "old" artist would be Beastie Boys maybe (also not on tour).
What do you think? Is there a great concert out there that I "must see?"
Far North
Far North: A Novel by Marcel Theroux
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Disclaimer: I have not yet read The Road, which this book draws comparisons to, so I write this review untainted by that work.
That having been said, I really did think this was a simple masterpiece. There are authors who write seemingly because they think their "prose" is God's gift to readers. And there are those, like Marcel Theroux, who write to tell a story, simply and powerfully, without pretense. And a story like Far North, set in the Russian north, needs no pretense, heck, it demands austerity. Theroux succeeds with a wonderful story.
Juliet, Naked
Juliet, Naked: A Novel by Nick Hornby
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Nick Hornby, once again, flat out nails his characters. The seemingly reclusive "genius" musician, the lonely internet fans who stalk him, and most especially the woman trapped in a relationship she hates but can't escape. He gives them all voices, and paints them such that you are sympathetic to each, yet you are still able to see each for the flawed individuals they are.
Classic Hornby, well worth the read.
Next up is Far North, by Marcel Theroux, National Book Award nominee.
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