Greatest fortune EVAR!!!
I have received the greatest fortune ever tonight. ALL will be well!
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May 27th 07
Apr 25th 07
An evening with Neil Gaiman
Last night my Brother-in-law Scott and I went to Bryn Mawr college to see a reading by one of our favorite authors, Neil Gaiman. The event was free and in Bryn Mawr’s Thomas hall. A large, ornate, cathedral like hall- a perfect setting for Mr. Gaiman and his “rogue’s gallery” of characters.
We arrived just before 7pm, the official start time to find the hall about 50% full. We grabbed seats in the front row of the second section with a very clear view of the stage. Mr. Gaiman was introduced and started reading around 7:15pm. He spoke wonderfully and with great characterizations and was very personable. He read 4 selections, for about an hour and 15 minutes. What a treat. We were treated to 2 selections from Fragile Things - his latest release, a collection of short fiction. He read Instructions – a brief poem on what to do if you ever find yourself trapped in a Fairy world – and The Day the Saucers Came – a poem about the end of the world, but not really.
The treat of the evening was the reading of 2 unpublished works. I felt like we were at a concert and got to hear a great piece of music before it was released. The first was a piece called Orange which is a series of answers, without the questions. It was quirky and funny and yet built a plot and characters. Very impressive. It is slated to be included in an anthology for young readers. WHEN – he did not even know. BUT to show it’s “crispness” he read it from his laptop.
And then, in my opinion, the best piece of the evening was Chapter 2 from his upcoming book to be released next summer. He called it The Graveyard, though I am not sure if this is a working title or the official title. It was a first draft – literally handwritten!. What a treat! And his first drafts sounds like something I would have spent months revising and fleshing out and ultimately not sound as good as something he wrote in an airport.
He then did a brief question and answer segment, but only actually took one question. He first gave out information about upcoming films, with Coraline being the one that was the most exciting. It is being produced as stopmotion animation by the same people who did Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. Should be absolutely fantastic!
At the end, he did a signing and I brought 3 books, but we were only allowed one to be signed. Of the three I brought, Angel & Visitations was my choice, as this is out of print. He was kind and patient and very nice. He signed and drew a picture in the book. It was a nice evening and very glad we decided to go. If it was a bookstore reading we would never had gotten the time and unpublished readings.
Apr 9th 07
Dinner at Drafting Room
Catherine and I were taken out to dinner on Saturday to one of our favorite places, the Drafting Room. We were taken out by good friends Nicole and Stephen. Catherine had watched their 3 kids other kids (#1, #2 & #4) while #3 was rushed to the hospital. It was scary and I am glad Catherine could help out. They took us out for dinner to say thanks. It was not necessary but …. The Drafting Room…. YUMMY.
The drafting room has quite the brew selection and I enjoyed 3 beers.
- Rogue John’s Locker Series – JLS #23 – Black Bitter: I decided this was my first brew of the night, no questions. It is a rich mahogany brown and arrived at the table with little to no head. It had a rich smoky malt flavor and was a slow drinker but a very nice treat. A nice match for the unseasonable cold weather as of late.
- Gouden Carolus Grand Cru Emperor: A sweet fig-like and general “fruity” smell with alcohol smell. It had a raisin and alcohol taste.
- Blue Point Sour Cherry Stout:: With our desert I order up this stout. Though a fine stout, the cherry flavor was less than I wanted. I was hoping for a stronger fruit presence since I was matching this with a slice of chocolate cake.
Cool note about the brewery: Using direct fire brick brew kettles, Long Island’s only microbrewery is located in the 1970’s Penguin Ice Factory
It as a nice night out and the company was the best part.
Mar 14th 07
Happy PI day
Here is some Pi
3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375.
And the official site : http://www.piday.org/
Mar 5th 07
Beer Review: Thomas Hardy’s Ale
In conjunction with our wedding anniversary, I bring you a review of Thomas Hardy’s Ale – 1st anniversary edition. As a bit of back story, my brother gave Catherine and I an amazing gift for our wedding. He gave us 20 bottles of Thomas Hardy’s Ale with each bottle engraved with anniversary dates. Thomas Hardy’s is famous for its ablity to age like wine, with bottles maturing for 25 or more years. Brian gave us a bottle for the day of the wedding and every year up to anniversary 10. After that, he engraved one for every 5 years up to our 50th anniversary and then a special bottle engraved for our 100th anniversary. Will we get to drink that last one? I don’t know, I would hope, but if not – it is one cool heirloom.
The brew poured to a rich chocolate color with a rich nearly cappuccino style head. The smell is strong – the alcohol notes are very pronounced. Taking a sip gives a rich mouth feel, seemingly heavier than the expect appearance. The taste is already mellower than last years, which was biting and nearly not finishable. One year has already started to show signs of a developing softness to the edges, and the flavor starting to be similar to a barleywine. The alcohol notes are less evident in the taste, and the aftertaste is a pleasant malt and caramel note.
Very enjoyable.
We did not get a bottle of this year’s vintage to do a side by side tasting, but in the future as it changes, I would like to do that.
