Netflix: Just getting better and better

I signed up for Netflix almost a year ago, and while I have consistently been pleased, last night I was reaffirmed that my $15 a month is a much better investment than shelling out $50+ a month for cable.

As many people know, Netflix offers a number of movies and TV shows to watch instantly on your computer. However, the selection on there has always been pretty weird, to say the least. While there have been some gems mixed in there, it has mostly been made up of low-budget movies and TV shows from the 80s and 90s, along with a number of black and white movies from the 40s that I have never heard of. In spite of this, I could usually find something to watch on there if I was really bored and both of the DVDs that I get were in the mail.

However, last night I poking around on the Watch Instantly section and noticed a new genre called "Stars Play." I hadn't seen it before, so I clicked on it and was amazed at the number of new releases and "real" movies that are on there. There were at least three or four movies in my regular queue that were now on the "Stars Play" list, and even more that I went ahead and added to my queue. Needless to say, I am pretty excited, and now have even more options to entertain me when Fox (the only channel I get) insists on having evenings made up of nothing but "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" and "Don't Forget the Lyrics."

Michael Crichton: 1942-2008

I meant to write this last week, but I ended up being busier than I had planned. It wasn't until last week that I found out that author Michael Crichton passed away on November 4th from throat cancer. I guess that it likely got swept aside in all of the hubbub surrounding the election. However, I was really disappointed to hear this news and was somewhat annoyed that I didn't find out about it until a week later.

While I can't say that I have read a lot of Crichton's books, I can still remember the first times reading both Jurassic Park and The Lost World and what an imparct they had on me. They are still some of my favorite fiction books and I love the way that he was able to incorporate cutting edge real-world science into his stories to make them that much more believable (which I guess was his forte). Anyways, I'd suggest checking out his website; there is a good summary of all of his work and includes a number of essays that he's written on various topics.

Michael Crichton, you will be missed.

Outsourcing

While listened to the The Moth Podcast today, I heard the October 20th episode which is entitled "My Outsourced Life" and features a guy named A.J. Jacobs In it, Jacobs recounts his experience in hiring an Indian outsourcing company (Brickwork India) to handle some work tasks for him, before eventually hiring them to handle a plethora of personal tasks in his life. The story is also recounted in an article he wrote about it in Esquire which can be found here.

While his experience was entertaining and interesting, at the end of the podcast, Jacobs was talking about how he had been racked with guilt that perhaps in hiring this foreign firm, he was taking jobs away from hard-working Americans. That is, until he received an email from a guy who had an IT job that was outsourced to India. After reading Jacobs' article, the guy hired an outsourcing firm to find him a job, which they managed to do in about a week.

This has really got me thinking. I am currently trying to find a job, in real estate, which is proving to be quite difficult, not surprisingly. If this firm can really do what they guy said what they did for him, I believe I would seriously consider hiring them, assuming if I could manage to gather up the necessary cash.

This post doesn't really have a particular "point," however I just really found that one idea quite compelling.

In the News

I may try to make this a semi-regular topic (for those that care). These are a few news stories I saw this week that were pretty interesting.

Mad Dogs and Englishmen- An article about British citizens are essentially unable to defend them from personal attack due to the convoluted British law. Hat tip to Ammo Guns and War Blog.

Google Uses Searches to Track Flu's Spread- Pretty self-explanatory title, but quite interesting, nonetheless.

Over the Rhine concert: Athens, GA

Last night I went down to Athens to see Over the Rhine perform at a place called the Melting Point. After my Ryan Adams experience a month ago, I have to say that my concert standards were not very high. Fortunately, Over the Rhine put on one hell of show. Certainly the best concert I've seen this year, and probably in my top five of all time.

I think that part of the key to the success of the concert was the mediocre opening act who preceded them. The guy wasn't terrible (I don't even remember his name), but by the time he was wrapping up, I was more than ready for him to get off stage (and I'm not convinced that this wasn't an intentional strategy on behalf of the band). Anyways, OtR finally came out and opened with "I Don't Wanna Waste Your Time," the lead track from their latest studio album, The Trumpet Child. This may be one of my favorite OtR songs (the trumpet piece at the beginning of the song on the album is outstanding) and was really a great way to start the show. They ended up playing a lot of songs from Trumpet Child, but actually did a great job of mixing in a lot of older songs. They've been around since the early 90s, so they have quite a good bit of material to choose from. I was also really impressed with the way they balanced performing the original arrangements of some songs while doing extended jams on other songs. This included a 2-3 minute drum solo on the song "Who'm I Kiddin' But Me" that was pretty unreal.


A live performance of "I Don't Wanna Waste Your Time" (not from last night's concert)

Most of the OtR music that I own is from some of their older albums (like Ohio), but I have been listening to Trumpet Child online a good bit lately (you can do the same here). Trumpet Child has a decidedly more jazzy and playful tone to it than some of their older stuff, and while I liked it, I wasn't quite sure about their move in that direction. However, after hearing them live, the newer songs really seemed to come into their own and were excellent. Also, Karin's voice is really on a different level in a live setting and is frankly, incredible. She and Linford also provided some nice banter in between songs.

Anyways, as I stated before, this concert really was excellent, and if OtR is going to be playing anywhere near you, I would highly recommend you going. As an added highlight to the evening, Katy Bowser was working the merchandise table and I got to speak with her after the concert. She has been very involved with the Indelible Grace movement and sings on most of, if not all, of the Indelible Grace CDs.

As a bit of a side note, after the concert my friend and I went to downtown Athens to visit a friend of mine who is a bartender at this place called Bourbon Street. She was supposed to be working that night, so I figured I would stop by and say hello. Well, the bar was packed and it took us about 5 minutes to get up to the bar where I found out that my friend wasn't working that night. So, we turned around and started to head out and when I was about 10 feet from the door, squeezing my way through the crowd, I felt/heard what I thought was someone drop a beer next to my left foot. I looked down and saw a white puddle, which I assumed was foam from a beer, and turned around to look at the girl behind me. She was pretty hot, wearing a black cocktail dress and had something on her face. About that time, she said aloud, to no one in particular as far as I could gather, "Oh, I just puked on myself." No, that puddle next to my foot was not beer. Seeing as how I haven't thrown up since 1993 and how I have learned in that time to steer clear of such situations, I made my way to the door as quickly as I could. Outside I discovered that I had become collateral damage and the girl had managed to get some vomit on my Barbour and on my shoes. I went in a bar next door and got a cup of water and some napkins to clean up with a bit. I assure you, however, that I have never been more grateful to Mr. John Barbour and his invention of waxed cotton.

Pimento cheese: UPDATE

Thanks for all of the suggestions and comments from everyone regarding my pimento cheese troubles. I appreciate the recipes and advice. Given all of that information, yesterday I headed off to the grocery store to get the necessary ingredients. I ended up following the recipe (or technique, rather) of Anonymous at 12:33PM since it appeared to be the easiest and seemed to be the way that I would imagine most grandmothers have made it over the years. After experimenting with my ratio of mayo and peppers (and adding a bit more onion than was originally suggested), I was finally able to create a delicious concoction worthy to be called "pimento cheese." Perhaps all it required was having a better understanding of the ingredients and where the unique flavor comes from, but now I am afraid that I am having trouble restraining myself from eating the entire batch this weekend.

A Trip Down South Beach

View of the ocean from the rooftop bar of The Hotel in South Beach

So last week I went down to Miami with the rest of my grad program for the ULI Fall Conference. The conference was technically in South Beach, and our hotel was located a few blocks away from the conference center in the Art Deco District. I have never been to Miami before, let alone South Beach, but based on the limited information I had received, I had a feeling that I was not going to be a big fan. After staying down there for five days, I can only say that my suspicions were confirmed.

Don't get me wrong, there was were some nice aspects. The art deco architecture was pretty cool, and it was fun to imagine what it would have been like in the 40s and 50s. I should note, however, that staying in the hotel rooms in the art deco hotels (or at least the ones that haven't had the room layouts redesigned) can be pretty annoying especially if you are sharing the room with someone else. We stayed in the Surfcomber, which is now operated by Doubletree, and the rooms were tiny. There was barely enough room for my roomate and me to put our bags anywhere.

Anyways, the weather was nice, and it was nice to see the ocean (although the sand on the beach was really pretty terrible). Until we actually walked out on the beach, I did not know that South Beach was a topless beach, and while naked women were not exactly littering the beach, I did see more than a few mammaries. I did get to eat lunch at this delicious Cuban restaurant one day, and that might have been the highlight of the trip. I did also like the mix of Cuban/Latin culture. I would say that this is about the extent of good things, though.

Last year when we went to the Fall ULI Conference in Las Vegas, I thought that I had been to one of the most over-priced places in the country. However, after going to South Beach, that assumption has been altered. Meals were overpriced everywhere, and drinks were even more so. One night, I accidentally bought a Coors Light for $9. Yes, $9. I lost count of how many Bentleys and Aston Martins I saw driving around, and perhaps these people have no qualms about paying $9 for a beer. I, on the other hand, appreciate the fact that I can buy an 18 pack of Coors Light for $9, and do not like getting ripped off.

I guess the bigger problem with South Beach was that somewhere along the way people down there decided that good taste and style should be replaced by flaunted wealth and trendiness. This extended all the way from the way people dressed, what cars they drove, and what stores and restaurants were present. While there was plenty of shopping near us, I didn't see a single store that even tempted me to set food inside of it.

I feel like my whole experience can sort of be summed up in an encounter that I had the last night we were there. We all had eaten a nice dinner at a restaurant called Wish (the tab was picked up by some Clemson alumni who had given us a tour of some projects in Miami earlier that afternoon) and were sort of doing a pub crawl on the way back to the hotel. Well, it turned out that a number of people from our program had ended up at some club that was right down from our hotel, so we started heading that way. We got to the door and our group, about 8 guys and one girl) were told that since we didn't have enough girls, we could only get in if we paid the $20 cover charge. Well, one guy went in with the girl, and 4 or 5 of the other turned around and headed back to the hotel. Not to be deterred, I tried talking my way in and ended up calling one of our girl friends who was already inside and got her to come out to see if she could convince them to let me in. Well, after a couple of minutes without much success, I decided to leave and said to my friend (the girl) something to the effect of "Fine, I don't even really want go to in this shithole anyways." At this point, the bouncer (with a shaved head and tattoos on his skull), who I had previously had no interaction with, starts yelling at me and telling me to leave. Although I don't remember with 100% accuracy what he said, he did include something about me being a "9-5 Brad Pitt," told me to go over to Ocean Blvd., called me a "yuppie", said something about my "sense of entitlement," and asked me if I was wearing a costume. It should be noted that at the time I was wearing an oxford cloth shirt, khakis, penny loafers, a navy blazer and a tie with skulls & cross bones on it and compared to the douchey clothes that everyone down there normaly wear, I suppose that I did look a little "yuppie"ish. I told the guy at I appreciated him calling me Brad Pitt and ended up walking back to the hotel. I came up with much better comebacks once I was back in my room, but I guess it didn't really matter.

So, that pretty much sums up my experience. Needless to say, I have no desire to ever go back to South Beach, or even Miami for that matter. If I'm going to the beach in Florida, I'll stick with the greater Destin area (Grayton Beah, Blue Mountain Beach), thank you.

New shotgun: Yildiz Over/Under

So, about six weeks ago I finally bought a new shotgun. While I had originally planned on buying a Yildiz over/under, as I mentioned in this old post, I ended up looking around at several other options. I started having an internal debate between an over/under and a side-by-side and nearly bought a Stoeger Uplander before being advised to pass on it by someone on the Shotgun World forum. After that I considered the Remington SPR 210 and 220, which are side-by-sides that are part of their Spartan line. These guns are made in Russia by a company called Baikal. From what I understand, they're pretty solid guns, though they're not much to look at. I was leaning heavily towards this one, until I held one at a gun store and was really turned off by how heavy it was (granted, I was holding a 12 guage and I was actually looking for a 20, but it was still enough to give me major second thoughts). Finally, I ended up coming back to the Yildiz.

I got the SPZ ME20 which is the 20 gauge over/under. It is incredibly light, comes with a full set of chokes, and the quality appears to be pretty good, especially considering the price point. It also comes with ejectors instead of extractors, which are also pretty hard to find at that price. It does not have a selectable trigger, however, so that might be a turn-off to some. I did discover sometime after New Years that the safety itself is the barrel selector, it was just never clearly indicated on the gun itself or in the manual.

It took me several weeks before I could make it out to the range to break it in. While I liked the way that it shot, I was almost completely unable to hit anything with the first shot, though I was usually able to break the clay with the second shot. I switch the chokes and was still having the same problem. I'm hoping that it was due to poor shooting on my part, rather than a problem with the barrel. I'll hopefully be able to take it back out soon and can hopefully figure out what's going on. Needless to say, I am pleased with my purchase so far.

Southern Staple: Pimento cheese

Photo stolen from this website

Growing up, I remember my parents and grandparents enjoying pimento cheese on a regular basis. Used on a sandwich, or ordered on a chili cheese dog at the Varsity, I was well acquainted with the mysterious yellow substance. I, however, never really enjoyed it, and lately, this has been causing me some consternation.

I would like to take a second to state that if you are unfamiliar with pimento cheese, you are likely not from the South. Basically it is a mix of cheese, mayonnaise, and pimentos. It is often served between two pieces of bread as a sandwich, with crackers as an appetizer, or simply as a condiment. While I suspect that it is not really as popular with the younger generations, I would be willing to wager that 9 out of 10 Southerners still know what it is. Somewhat related to my previous post, here is an article about pimento cheese on NPR's website.

As I mentioned, I never really found pimento cheese to be very appetizing. However, at some point last year, I decided that since my taste buds have matured, and since it had likely been a decade (at least) since I had last tried pimento cheese, I would give it another shot. I went down to the local Western grocery store and picked up a pint of local variety from the deli. Upon taking it home and trying it on some bread, I quickly came to realize that love for this substance still eluded me. In fact, as much as I like mayonnaise, I was really having trouble not gagging from the overwhelming mayo taste that accompanied this concoction. So, as quickly as it began, I gave up on my quest.

My interest was piqued again, however, while reading the November issue of "Garden & Gun." In the article "100 Southern Foods You Absolutely, Positively Must Try Before You Die," there was a featured picture and write-up of the pimento cheese and crackers from Blackberry Farm in Walland, TN, and frankly, it looked delicious. My likelihood of making it up to Walland to try the best pimento cheese in the South is pretty low, so I wondered if anyone might have a pimento cheese recipe to suggest. I would really like to avoid a recipe that has an overwhelming mayo flavor, and I am confident that it can be accomplished, I simply haven't tried it yet. I feel like my Southerner status is lacking as long as I cannot enjoy this staple, so please, share your best recipe.

Podcast love: "This American Life"

Having never really listened to public radio growing up, and after going through a 9-12 month stint, several years ago, of embracing political views somewhere right of Sean Hannity, I was pretty well convinced that NPR was a radio station that would have been officially endorsed by Stalin himself. While I had occasionally happened across an odd episode of "The Thistle and Shamrock" (which is awesome, by the way), the only other radio show I had heard of on NPR was "This American Life," though I had never listened to it, and didn't really have any interest in finding out what it was all about.

Well, this summer, while still unemployed and looking for a summer internship, I was taking full advantage of Netflix's streaming video content and came across the 1st season of "This American Life" that aired on Showtime. Curious, and bored, I took a chance and really enjoyed it. It was quirky, interesting, insightful, and entertaining. After this, I was hooked.

Since mid-June I have been downloading and listening to the weekly podcast. Since I spent a lot of time in the car this summer, it provided a nice bit of variety from music. Anyways, I really look forward to Monday each week when the new podcast goes up, and it is one of the highlights of my week to listen to it. I enjoy the variety of topics, stories, and types narratives that they manage to incorporate every week, and the filler music is usually superb. I have also discovered that "This American Life" is not a tool of the Left, and although it does occasionally have a leftist slant, it's not really something that bothers me anymore. And, I must say, that their episode a couple of weeks ago entitled "Another Frightening Show About the Economy" did a superb job of explaining some of the less well known problems associated with the financial meltdown.

So, I have two real points to this post:

1.- If you haven't listened to "This American Life," sign up for the podcast on Itunes and give it a try. Burn it on a CD and pop it in next time you're going to be spending an hour in the car.

2.- I am looking for other good podcasts and would love some suggestions. I've tried "Prairie Home Companion" and it didn't really do it for me, and I will occasionally listen to episodes of "Steve Brown, Etc.", but I'm still looking for something else. I think some of the other NPR podcasts would be alright, but so many of them are daily news and I don't really listen to podcasts every day, so by the time I get around to listening to them, they're out of date. Anyways, let me know your suggestions.