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Month: May 2018

Wednesday Music and Cocktails: Having Trouble Breathing In

Wednesday Music and Cocktails: Having Trouble Breathing In

Courtney Barnett, at age 30, has been hailed as many things: she’s been called “the female Bob Dylan of the era,” “arguably one of the greatest songwriters of this decade,” and “undeniably the biggest breakout singer-songwriter of an Aussie generation.” All of these accolades totally work for me since I happen to absolutely love her music. I just described her the other night, in fact, as a force to be reckoned with. They don’t, however, always work for her. When her debut album, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, exceeded everyone’s expectations and even earned a Grammy

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Friday Musings: Control and Surrender

Friday Musings: Control and Surrender

I have an issue with flying. I was on a flight to Dallas when I was in my twenties that got into some trouble with a wind sheer right after takeoff, and I’ve never quite recovered from the fear. I’m well aware that I’m in more danger behind the wheel of my car than I am at 38,000 feet in the air, but for me it’s a matter of who has control. If I’m driving, then I think I’m the one who’s running the show, even though that’s nothing more than an illusion. If I’m flying, then I have no idea what’s going on in that cockpit,

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Wednesday Beer Cocktails: Twisted Collins

Wednesday Beer Cocktails: Twisted Collins

I wasn’t sure of the direction I wanted to go in for my final beer cocktail of this series, but I met a Dogfish Head sales rep last week and had the opportunity to taste their SeaQuench Ale. I was so impressed with it that my wheels immediately began spinning to find ways to work it into a drink. Hailed by Men’s Health Magazine as possibly “the world’s most thirst-quenching beer,” things like margaritas and mojitos immediate came to mind. SeaQuench is a session sour, which means that it is a beer

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Monday Movie Bars: Short and Sweet… and Very Japanese

Monday Movie Bars: Short and Sweet… and Very Japanese

The idea of something being lost in translation simply means that the full meaning of a word or phrase can sometimes be impossible to capture when translating from one language to the next. In the 2003 movie of the same name, directed by Sofia Coppola, there are a number of things that are actually lost in translation. There is a scene early on in the movie that I find to be hysterical, where Bob Harris, played by Bill Murray, is filming a commercial for Suntory whiskey in Tokyo. The director rattles off an

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Friday Musings: What Would I Keep

Friday Musings: What Would I Keep

For many, many years there has been a poem by Robert Frost that has always been in the back of my mind, its words sitting there patiently, waiting for me to finally understand them and the meaning I’ve always sensed they had for me. I originally read it in college and dog-eared the page in my book of Frost’s poetry that I have sitting here next to me as I write this post. I forgot about the poem for a long time after graduation, and then it resurfaced when I came across the final stanza in the introduction to a

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