Global Mitch

The response: shit real New Yorkers say (more in-jokes for...

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:12:02 -0500

The response: shit real New Yorkers say (more in-jokes for native New York residents and visitors).

Lol: shit New Yorkers say (in-jokes for anyone who’s been...

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:16:20 -0500

Lol: shit New Yorkers say (in-jokes for anyone who’s been to NYC).

Drink Beer!

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:40:54 -0500

Drink Beer!

This is crony capitalism.

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 11:16:22 -0500

Crony capitalism - a capitalist economy in which success in business depends on close relationships between business people and government officials.

UPDATE/DISCLAIMER: The post at lewrockwell.com I listed as the source has been updated with more information about the origin of these diagrams. They were created by Stephanie Herman and are now accompanied by links to geke.us. I did not create or alter this graphic from the original post at lewrockwell.com.

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-12-25)

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 13:42:13 -0500

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-12-25):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-12-18)

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 21:42:15 -0500

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-12-18):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

“God chose me. He made a path for me. I am God’s vessel….But my...

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:29:00 -0500

“God chose me. He made a path for me. I am God’s vessel….But my greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live.”

— Kanye West

One of many, many, many Kanye quotes bound to end up on this site: bigger-than-jesus

Sorry! via nevver

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:13:05 -0500

Sorry!

via nevver

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-12-4)

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:11:17 -0500

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-12-4):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

Libertarian icon Ayn Rand interviewed on television for the...

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:11:00 -0500

Libertarian icon Ayn Rand interviewed on television for the first time by a smoking Mike Wallace on CBS in 1959. Fascinating discussion.

It’s meme o’clock! First watch this video of Fox...

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 21:52:55 -0500

It’s meme o’clock! First watch this video of Fox News’ Megyn Kelly telling Bill O’Reilly that pepper spray is “a food product, essentially” in relation to a police officer blithely strolling down a line of seated student protestors, spraying them in the face. Now observe the Kelly meme, which sprang to life within hours.

Or you can just hail the internet for giving us the comments on this Gawker article.

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-11-20)

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:40:20 -0500

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-11-20):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

Satire: With seemingly no way out of its sovereign debt crisis...

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:21:00 -0500

Satire: With seemingly no way out of its sovereign debt crisis mess, what is a way forward for Europe?

Tracks of the day: Cut Copy - Hearts On Fire. Post punk new wave...

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:40:04 -0500

Tracks of the day: Cut Copy - Hearts On Fire. Post punk new wave meets catchy electro-house via Melbourne. And a sax solo.

What then, of the cocktail?

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:08:00 -0500

I recently blogged about the incredible renaissance of American beer brewing going on right now, but there’s another concoction that’s also enjoying a resurgence of intoxicating creativity and quality - yes, crack - but I’m referring to the cocktail.

While the origins of the word cocktail are murkier than a politician’s soul, some say the first printed use of the word is in The Farmer’s Cabinet on April 28, 1803. Jared Brown of Mixellany argues however, that there was an earlier printed mention. Brown says in 1798 the Morning Post and Gazetteer reported that a London pub owner, on winning a lottery prize erased all his customers’ debts:

A publican, in Downing-street, who had a share of the 20,000l. prize, rubbed out all his scores, in a transport of joy: This was an humble imitation of his neighbour, who, when he drew the highest prize in the State Lottery, not only rubbed out, but actually broke scores with his old customers, and entirely forgot them.

The next week, on 20 March, 1798 the Morning Post and Gazetteer satirically listed the details of seventeen politicians’ pub debts, including the following:

Mr. Pitt, two petit vers of “L’huile de Venus”          0 1 0

Ditto, one of “perfeit amour”                                      0 0 7

Ditto, “cock-tail” (vulgarly called ginger)                0 0 0 3/4

William Pitt the Younger was Prime Minister at the time, whose tenure was marked by the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars. Implying he was drinking French beverages was akin to calling him a cheese-eating surrender monkey, but also suggests the word cocktail may have been a French loan word.

No doubt people had been drinking cocktails for many, many years prior to their making it into print. A cocktail was originally described as any concoction composed of a spirit (or spirits), water, sugar, and bitters (the ingredients of an Old Fashioned). At the time, bitters were a key constituent that differentiated a cocktail from Slings, Sours, Punches, Flips, Toddies, and a variety of other mixed drinks. The distinction has since largely evaporated.

An Old Fashioned

While America’s experiment with alcohol Prohibition from 1920-1933 was a truly fantastic failure, it did have a couple of serendipitous side effects. In the speakeasies that sprang up to serve illegal, home-brewed alcohol, women were able to socialize with men for the first time. Up until prohibition the only place a woman could publicly enjoy a tipple without social censure was in hotel bars - if she was a guest, as the wild west nature of the saloons were no place for a lady.

This ability for the sexes to mingle in public sexually charged the atmosphere of America, and also had an effect on the drinks served. Partly because it became almost impossible to find quality, unadulterated beer, and partly no doubt, due to the tastes of women, mixing and watering down the likes of rum and gin* became increasingly popular. By the end of prohibition on December 5th 1933, cocktails had become part of the American fabric.

Fast forward to the onset of the late 60’s, and other recreational drugs had become more freely available: weed, acid and coke chief amongst them, and cocktails found it hard to compete with the novelty of that sort of buzz. They fell out of favor, and it wasn’t until the 80’s that cocktails came back into fashion, as popularized by the 1988 Tom Cruise movie Cocktail.

Cocktails: they keep you young and gay

Like much of the pop culture of the time however, these were often terribly garish, syrupy, fruity concoctions, lacking in depth and subtlety. What most people equate with a Mai Tai for example, usually has little in common with its origins, which featured multiple rums and “fresh lime juice, given an ineffable twist with a dash of almond-flavored orgeat” (a syrup made from almonds, prepared with sugar and extract of orange flowers). The focus was less on the drinks - as flavorless vodkas came to replace gin, than on the ‘scene’ associated with them.

This started to change around the turn of the millennium. Taking off in the 90’s, there began a real shift from mass production and consumption towards smaller, natural, ‘authentic’ and local goods and services, particularly in food and drink. Traditional cocktails and gin began to make a come-back. One of the leaders of this new wave in cocktail making was an ambitious young New Yorker named Sasha Petraske. Aged 26, he opened a new bar called Milk & Honey in January 2000, situated at 134 Eldridge Street in New York’s Lower East Side; a formerly run-down, shabby neighborhood right on the cusp of being up and coming.

Getting away from the hoi polloi at Milk & Honey

With no signage, a reservation number that changed regularly, seating for less than 25, dim lighting, and most importantly - classic drinks hand-made with lots of love, Milk & Honey was a new type of establishment. It quickly racked up awards and featured on the World’s Best Bars. In the process Milk & Honey single-handedly redefined the term speakeasy from referring to an illegal Prohibition-era bar serving bootlegged or adulterated hooch, to a legal, modern bar with no street signage that served artisanal cocktails in a refined environment.

It was the first modern speakeasy.

Petraske attracted a lot of attention for various controversial measures, such as not taking walk-ins, disallowing standing, and the house rules:

1. No name-dropping, no star fucking.

2. No hooting, hollering, shouting or other loud behaviour.

3. No fighting, play fighting, no talking about fighting.

4. Gentlemen will remove their hats. Hooks are provided.

5. Gentlemen will not introduce themselves to ladies.
Ladies, feel free to start a conversation or ask the bartender to introduce you. If a man you don’t know speaks to you, please lift your chin slightly and ignore him.

6. Do not linger outside the front door.

7. Do not bring anyone unless you would leave that person alone in your home. You are responsible for the behaviour of your guests.

8. Exit the bar briskly and silently. People are trying to sleep across the street. Please make all your travel plans and say all farewells before leaving the bar.

While they appear overly anal to many, these rules were made for specific reason. Petraske’s landlord/friend lives directly above the bar, and he “only agreed to lease the space to Milk and Honey if Petraske would promise to maintain pin drop silence”. Petraske wanted clientele who knew “how to drink and remain polite, to each other and the residents of Eldridge Street.” It didn’t matter how famous you were - or weren’t, you couldn’t bribe your way in. You just needed to be referred by a friend, make a reservation, not be a dick - and you were in.

Petraske’s rules made the atmosphere much more relaxed - like being in a friend’s living room, than if you were being jostled and stood over by other patrons, and meant you could actually converse with your friends without having to shout. Tres civilized and egalitarian.

Milk & Honey’s success and influence caused variations of these rules to be adopted by several of Manhattan’s top speakeasies, such as PDT - short for Please Don’t Tell, accessible via a phone booth in the side of a hot dog joint in the East Village.

Mind your head at Please Don’t Tell

All this would be moot, falling into the realm of lame gimmickry, and Milk & Honey and PDT would have closed long ago - were it not for their serving cocktails that taste like freshly milked angel juice. But they are just two of many bars where mixologists construct elegant concoctions based on the classics, utilize locally-grown and seasonal produce, and make their own infusions, tinctures and bitters.

So enough history. What’s happening right now? Current cocktail trends include an explosion in artisanal and home-made bitters; the rediscovery of rum punches and consequent resurgence of tiki bars; ice sculpted to fit the glass they’re served in (not a gimmick: large, circular ice melts more slowly, keeping your drink cold without watering it down); speakeasies and bars that specialize exclusively in whiskey, tequila, or rum; savory drinks featuring food like bacon; molecular mixology; multiple types of absinthe coming back in a big way; and the rise of pulque, a Mexican fermented beverage made from the juice of the agave or maguey plant.

Today’s mixologists aren’t doing this part-time while they wait for their real life to kick in - they’re lifetime professionals, dedicated to their craft, constantly creating new levels of deliciousness that can be personalized directly to your tastes. (And when you’re spending $13+ for a drink, don’t be afraid to send it back if it’s not to your taste; they would rather you were a satisfied, repeat customer). Modern speakeasies are a great place to take a date, pontificate after dinner, or find out more about the always intriguing history of alcohol in an environment where boorish behavior is left at the door.

Bonus Time: Thirsty? Want to find the best speakeasies and cocktail lounges in New York City - spiritual home of the cocktail? I’ve painstakingly constructed a Google Map that’s taken countless hours of research to personally verify each venue’s worthiness. Enjoy…

View New York’s Finest Cocktail Joints in a larger map

*What we know today as gin is the English version of a 16th century Dutch liquor called Genever (which used to outsell gin six to one in the US before Prohibition, and is another vintage spirit that’s making a comeback). Genever began as a type of malt wine infused with juniper berries to mask the flavor, and is where we get the term ‘dutch courage’ from.

Autumn leaves in Hell’s Kitchen, NYC.

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 13:44:31 -0500

Autumn leaves in Hell’s Kitchen, NYC.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE INANIMATE OBJECT?

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 13:27:06 -0500

My precious - aka my Android phone.

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-11-6)

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:24:26 -0500

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-11-6):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

Scamming the scammers

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:12:00 -0400

Is it wrong to take pleasure in the mocking of people who are trying to defraud you? A friend of a friend forwarded an email discussion where a would-be scammer from Ghana gets the tables turned. This friend of a friend is a big fan of the New York Mets baseball team (who are usually pretty terrible, including this year), and in particular, former Mets catcher Mike Piazza.

Transcript follows below:

I got this picture yesterday. It’s a scammer from Ghana that thinks $6000 is coming his/her way for holding up this sign for me..

Overseas hazing is AWESOME.

For a little more background, here’s one email exchange I had with a scammer. She had originally emailed me with one of those standard you-can-get 10 million dollar scams, but I got her off that topic quickly.

I am “Rusty Trombone”, she is “Gloria”, and Jack Hass is a side character. She thinks that “Lord Piazza” is the leader of a religion, and that I’m going to pay her money for starting up a branch of the religion in her home country.

> Dear Gloria:
>
> I have spoken with Jack Hass and he will be sending you email on Tuesday
> which is tomorrow. Today, he has a few seminars with several leaders of
> the Faith, but tomorrow he will put aside some time to explain more about
> Lord Piazza to you. Jack Hass will be happy to provide his write-ups to you
> and your brother about Lord Piazza.
>
> Most importantly, Jack will ask you if you are able to secure a proper
> building or space where a temporary Hall of Fame can be established. Jack
> has the money for this purpose but it will be your responsibility to obtain
> a proper Hall. Can you accomplish this? In this faith, the Lord Piazza is
> worshipped in what is called a Hall of Fame.
>
> The idea is that you and your brother will enable Lord Piazza to “catch”
> souls, You will toss these souls towards Him, and Lord Piazza symbolically
> digs them out of the dirt and into his Holy Glove of Righteousness.
>
> May the Strong Arm of Lord Piazza be with you,
> RUSTY TROMBONE

hello Rusty,

Thanks for your email.i have gone through your email and it is well
noted.i am glad that Jack Hass will be sending us his write up and
also he will be sending an email to me.

Yes Rusty we can handle this very Task of finding a temporary Hall of
fame.i have told my brother that i would want the Hall of fame to be
located in the capital city.

As soon as i get the write up from Jack Hass,i and my brother will
study it carefully and know more about Lord Piazza, Catcher of
Souls.with the write ups and teaching we will get from Jack Hass,that
would enable us to explain and toss soul towards Lord Piazza, Catcher
of Souls .

Rusty i would like to know if there is any religious book,like the
christian uses Bible,the muslim uses Quran and i want to know what we
use and also i would like some to be sent to us so that we read and
meditate on it to enable us know more about Lord Pizza, Catcher of
Souls .

Tomorrow i will be expecting my brother to visit me and he will be
coming with a house agent whom will help us in finding a good location
in the city for the Hall of fame.

Waiting to hear from you.

Lord Piazza Catcher of Souls, bless us all.

Gloria.

—-

————— Forwarded message —————

They are supposed to be dressed up like Mr. Met in celebration of Lord Piazza’s upcoming birthday feast day.
They decided to give him a powder blue face which was NOT in my instructions.

Too bad this technicality is going to deny them $7000….
—-

Hello Rusty,

How are you doing today? I hope all is well. We have been able to take pictures of ourselves and the new place. The landlord went with us to the place and he has the keys so we were able to see the place and the area but cannot begin to explain to him about wearing costume in the hall and taking pictures with masks. Nobody will understand that. You can go through the pictures and see what we have been able to do. The No. 8 pledge couldn’t come on that day because her mother was ill and she was with her plus the countryside is far from the city and the transportation costs money. I want you to see that we have done all you asked for and then you can let us know where to go from here.

May his strong arm be with you.

Gloria.

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-10-30)

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 07:48:30 -0400

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-10-30):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz