ttrentham

Bar Lists: Good and Bad

Jan 162008

Austinist points out that Mohawk has topped Esquire’s list of best bars in America. Other local bars mentioned in the list are Mean Eyed Cat, Donn’s Depot, and Ginnys Little Longhorn. The lists are generated by users submitting a location and then voting on it, so it only takes a few zealous fans and some high ratings to get on to the list. That probably explains the weird results.

I’ve been to Donn’s Depot a few times. It’s a bit quirky and has an old Austin feel, but unless you’re into swing dancing, there’s not much to recommend it. I’ve been meaning to get over to Mean Eyed Cat since it opened, but still haven’t made it over there. I’ve never set foot in Ginny’s Little Longhorn. Isn’t that the one with chicken shit bingo or is that the Poodle Dog? I always confuse the two. I’m still partial to La La’s Little Nugget when I’m in that neighborhood. Mohawk seems pretty cool. I’ve seen some great live photos from the patio, but have yet to experience a live show there other than a Rock N Romp during SXSW last year, which isn’t a good show on which to base an opinion.

That being said, I 100% agree with their other two Texas choices: La Tuna in San Antonio and Inwood Lounge in Dallas.

The Esquire list coincides with another list involving bars: APD’s annual list of most frequently mentioned bars during drunk driving arrests. None of the bars on Esquire’s list show up on APDs list. In fact, I don’t frequent any of the bars listed on APDs list either. My theory is that these places are where the amateurs hang out. Dallas Nightclub, the perennial list-topper is still on the list, but far below the number of arrests of Oilcan Harry’s. Between that and Rain, it looks like APD was targeting gay clubs in 2007. Bars west of Congress are more frequently mentioned than their eastern brethren.

Roky Erickson on Austin City Limits Tonight

Uncategorized 4 Responses »

Jan 122008

I was lucky enough to score tickets to the taping of the Austin City Limits episode featuring Roky Erickson back in November. The performance airs tonight at 7pm locally on KLRU. Kings of Leon will be featured first, followed by Roky.

Roky’s backing band included Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top and members of Summer Wardrobe. The list of songs that will air are on the ACL show page. If I remember correctly, they played both “Night of the Vampire” and “I Walked With A Zombie”, but it appears that those two were dropped from the broadcast. It was a great performance and I saw several local Austin musicians at the taping, including King Coffey from the Butthole Surfers. Roky’s come a long way in the last 15 years and he never lost that awesome voice.

Here’s the schedule for January:

Jan. 5 – Crowded House
Jan. 12 – Kings of Leon, Roky Erickson
Jan. 19 – Coldplay (encore presentation from last season)
Jan. 26 – Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley

It’s a pretty good representation of the breadth of music that the show is presenting these days. They’ve made attempts to update themselves and having bands like Kings of Leon and Coldplay are an attempt to do just that. Crowded House isn’t really keeping up-to-date, but it’s a little more pop oriented than would have been typical of the show in the past. Kings of Leon fall into the Blues / Rock category and Brad Paisley and Dierks Bentley are solidly Country.

Flying Saucer Lands in Austin

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Jan 112008

The local beer blogs are atwitter since Ft. Worth-based chain Flying Saucer opened up its first location in Austin last night in the Triangle near 47th and Lamar (see allowing development there brought us more beer!).

I’ve been to their location in Dallas and it was one of the only places that I could tolerate (other than the Gingerman location there). That being said, if you’re used to Draught House, Gingerman or Dog & Duck, you’re going to feel a little out of place at Flying Saucer. It definitely has more of a Dallas feel to it (I know Ft. Worth is like Dallas’s neglected little brother, but still). I don’t want to rip on the place since any place that offers up a good variety of beers is ok in my book.

I’ve been meaning to check out Mandola’s for months. Now that there are two destinations in The Triangle (does anyone else hear Twilight Zone music when they refer to that development?), I’m going to have to make a stop.

Image from Flying Saucer’s web site

Blade Runner Redux at The Paramount

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Jan 102008

Blade Runner: The Final Cut is coming back to the Paramount for a third week, so if you missed it last month, you’ve got one more chance. It’s impossible to describe the influence of this film, particularly on my generation. I remember seeing it the first time in the summer of 1982 in a small two screen theater in Dallas. It had a huge impact on me.

I caught it on the first run at the Paramount and it’s a must see. I don’t care if you saw it when it was originally released or if you already saw the director’s cut or if you own one of the many versions on DVD. Go see it at the Paramount on the big screen. There are subtle differences to this cut and I do think they’ve finally gotten it right. You won’t be disappointed.

Show Times:

January 16-20
Wed-Fri @ 7:30 pm | Sat @ 4:30, 7 & 9:30 pm | Sun @ 2, 4:30 & 7 pm

Purchase Tickets Online or at the Paramount Theatre Box Office on the day of show.

8th Grade Science

Geek 3 Responses »

Jan 032008

I passed and, in my defense, I think I answered most of the important questions. I missed 2, 3, 7, 11 and 13. I never learned much Astronomy or Geology, so I missed several of those. I guess I didn’t remember all of my Biology either.

Wii Christmas

Family 2 Responses »

Dec 282007

I lost my firewire cable and had to get another one before I could post this from Christmas morning. Check out The Boy’s reaction to the arrival of a Wii.

[tags]nintendo, wii, christmas, kids, reaction, joy[/tags]

Fear – real and imagined

News, Politics, Rant No Responses »

Dec 212007

Two things cropped up today and I think they tie together nicely. I’ve got plenty of immediate concerns to worry about, but these are two “big picture” items.

First, Sean, linked I Am Not Afraid from Downsize DC this morning. I completely agree that the Bush administration and the GOP in particular have used fear of another terrorist attack as the reasoning for doing all sorts of ill-advised, bone-headed and criminal things over the past 6 years. However, I don’t want to blindly endorse another push to downsize the government. There’s no doubt that bureaucracies are bloated with waste, but we can’t use the method employed by the current administration to kill it off, namely incompetence and privatization. I’m still baffled as to how I’m drawn into left and right, us and them arguments with friends and co-workers whose viewpoints I have a lot more in common with than somebody like George W. Bush. We’re arguing with the wrong people and about the wrong things.

The second, somewhat related, news item is the death of Nataline Sarkisyan. Jason Calacanis is all over this with posts to his own blog and Mahalo. Speaking of bloated bureaucracies, if it turns out that hers was a legitimate case for a transplant, one was available and she died because of wrangling from Cigna, then this case will be a rallying cry for everyone who’s ever had to deal with the crap that health insurance companies can dish out. This is exactly the sort of thing that illustrates how all of the free market whackjobs need to STFU. Some things can’t be evaluated on their profit potential and if that’s the sole criterion, then you end up with a dead 17-year-old who could and should have been saved. How does fear play into this? I fear that one day; I might have to face a similar situation with my own children.

[tags]fear, terrorism, healthcare, natalinesarkisyan, bureaucracy, policy, failed[/tags]

Another Year

Family No Responses »

Dec 162007

I marked another year today. I spent the morning running the Jingle Bell 5k with some co-workers and The Boy. Not surprisingly, he beat me by several minutes. I was glad just to finish it without having to walk. We hit Trudy’s South for brunch (they’re moving from Brodie Oaks to Stassney and I-35 in front of the Metropolitan b/c of rising rent). I got a couple of books and a t-shirt from the family. We trimmed the tree and watched Santa Claus Is Coming To Town this afternoon.

Chicken Little

News, Politics No Responses »

Dec 062007

Keith Olbermann goes off on GW. I know it’s for theatrics and that Olbermann has carved a niche for himself as the anti-O’Reilly, but this quote is too good not to repeat:

A bright man, or an honest man, would have realized no later than the McConnell briefing that the only true danger about Iran was the damage that could be done by an unhinged, irrational Chicken Little of a president, shooting his mouth off, backed up by only his own hysteria and his own delusions of omniscience.

I’d laugh harder if it didn’t scare me so much.

Crest Pro Health Rinse Turns Teeth Brown

News 16 Responses »

Dec 032007

The subject pretty much sums it up. At the recommendation of the dental hygienists at our pediatric dental office, we bought Crest Pro Health Rinse for our kids, especially the older one, who got a poor score on the last visit. True to form, The Boy hasn’t been very good about using it, but The La has been very conscientious, using it every night for the past month or so. This past week, we noticed brown staining near the gums on several of her teeth. It looks terrible and since I’m the one who typically brushes her teeth, I felt really bad and started to worry about what was going wrong.

Well, The Wife googled about teeth staining and, lo and behold, there’s tons of comments on several sites about Crest Pro Health staining people’s teeth brown and causing some to lose their sense of taste, including an Amazon product page. I also found this snarky, but spot on editorial and this article.

I e-mailed Proctor and Gamble this morning and they responded within an hour or two with this message:

Thanks for contacting us, Tim.

I’m sorry about your daughter’s recent experience while using Crest Pro Health Rinse. Some people who use an antimicrobial product such as Crest Pro Health, may experience some tooth discoloration. This is true especially among those people who experience a lot of tartar. Unlike stains due to smoking or beverages which can discolor the entire tooth, antimicrobial tooth discoloration can occur in hard to brush areas like between the teeth and at the gumline. This type of staining is only temporary and on the surface of the tooth. This temporary tooth staining can be reduced or eliminated by using a power brush and a tartar control or whitening toothpaste. I’m sending you some free coupons for other Crest products. Watch for my postal reply to arrive within 2-3 weeks.

Meanwhile, to help us understand your daughter’s experience, we would like to request some additional information. We will share your information with our Health and Safety Team who will follow-up with you regarding your dental expenses.

For answers to medical questions, we recommend you speak with your dentist who will be able to give you the best advice.

Thanks again for getting in touch.

Amy
Crest Team

I love how the main thrust of their response is to buy more of their products and that they readily acknowledge that Crest Pro Health will stain your teeth brown. Of course, if they did The Right Thingâ„¢ and warned you about it on the bottle, they’d lose sales, so there’s no chance of them doing that. I contacted our dentist’s office and the person that I spoke with on the phone hadn’t heard of the brown staining problem. We’ve already got an appointment for a regular cleaning next Wednesday, so I’ll report back with what they say. I’m also going to add photos to this post tonight.

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