Your Worst Nightmare... Reviewed

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Over the weekend, Izzy & I watched an American treasure… also known as the original John Rambo trilogy. Now, I’ve watched & reviewed the 4^th installment a few years ago… but this is the 80’s action movie series that relaunched the career of thespian icon Sylvester Stallone. After becoming an Academy Award winner with “Rocky”, following it up with a few commercially successful sequels, but then not really doing anything else decent… his career was at a turning point. Then the story of a returned Vietnam green beret fallen on hard times comes across his desk (after being passed on by just about every actor alive during the time…seriously, read IMDb but some of the names listed that passed or were considered BEFORE Stallone are Pacino, DeNiro, Eastwood, McQueen, Hoffman, Travolta, Newman, Bridges, Ryan O’Neal, James Garner, Kris Kristofferson, Chuck Norris, Nick Nolte, Michael Douglas, etc.) and he had a poignant story about America’s treatment of its veterans, how they adapt to life after the war, and some great action set against the scenic beauty of the Pacific Northwest.

 

From that… a first movie was made… based off a 26^th version of a script adaptation of a novel by David Morell… and originally, the movie clocked in at THREE HOURS!!! That movie… was 1982’s “First Blood” starring the aforementioned Stallone, Brian Dennehy & Richard Crenna (as well as a young David Caruso & Bruce Greenwood in bit parts). Well, the studio didn’t want a three-hour epic… and so the movie was cut in half. How so? Well, apparently the original version went into the whole backstory of John Rambo… probably from high school to being transformed into the “ultimate killing machine” of his days in Vietnam… and even more into the backstory of why the Sheriff of the city of Hope (actually British Columbia but I think it’s supposed to be Washington) resents and hates Vietnam vets… but allegedly they decided that it dragged on too much, was even more depressing & so they start the theatrical version about half way through… where John Rambo is wandering the countryside after learning that the last of his elite team passed away… and he’s just looking for a place to roam & hold onto a job thanks to his PTSD and the nation’s view of Vietnam vets a.k.a. Baby Killers. As he wanders through town, the local sheriff (Dennehy) basically gives him a ride to the edge of town… and tells him to keep walking… and Rambo just turns around and heads back towards town. This infuriates the Sheriff, so he arrests him and takes him to the jail… one asshole officer beats him down a bit while the others watch… and basically he snaps when they’re… trying to give him a shave? Anyway, he snaps, beats some ass, steals a motorcycle, goes into the woods, the police go after him, his former commanding officer (Crenna) shows up to try to bring him in… and sh*t ensues. Check it out! It’s on Netflix… watch it now! Stallone acts his ass off the last few minutes! Death count of this movie? ONE!!! It’s epic though.

 

Now… that being said… Rambo’s kind of a dick in this movie. “What?” Yeah… and he’s not that bright for being green beret. “How so?” Well, master of strategy that he is… when the sheriff takes him to the edge of town, just turns and walks back to town… right in front of the sheriff. Why? Take a few steps in that direction, sheriff turns around and leaves… and then you go back to town to grab a bite to eat off the main road, maybe grab a cot somewhere. Instead… you’re basically begging this hick cop to take you in. Then again, maybe that’s the cot he was looking for & then the other cops roughing him up was what really set it off. Still… easily avoidable. That being said… why were they giving him a shave? Is that a thing? Was that a thing back in the early 80’s? Shaving guys in prison? It seems really weird… but whatever. The movie is pretty damn good… and I recommend that you check it out. I had only seen the first half-hour and the last ten minutes before… and yeah, I’m glad I checked it out. Again, this movie kinda saved Stallone’s career when he was kind of considered a one-hit wonder at the time… and because it enjoyed commercial success…

 

They made 1985’s “Rambo: First Blood Part II” which meets up with Rambo some time later working at a prison where they have guys break down rocks… oh, spoiler alert… he turns himself in at the end of the first movie and goes to jail. There’s a sequel. It’s not really a spoiler that he survives. Anyway, his former CO (Crenna) shows up… and he needs Rambo’s very specific set of skills to infiltrate a Vietnamese POW camp & confirm that they have POWs. This movie is directed by George Cosmatos (“Tombstone” & “Cobra”) and also stars the great Charles Napier as Marshall Murdock, the general in charge of the covert operation… who has all the surveillance technology in the world… but needs Rambo’s badassery. Where the first movie was more of a statement movie on the treatment of America’s veterans… this movie basically goes full balls-out action… and a small part for the great Martin Kove (Reese from “Karate Kid”). There’s even a love interest for Rambo along the way… and it’s pretty fantastic. Fun facts about this movie… co-written by JAMES CAMERON!!! Yes, THE James Cameron cowrote this movie… while he was also writing “Aliens” & “The Terminator”. Another one… originally the Russian general in this movie was going to be played by DOLPH LUNDGREN!!! Of course… it was decided that Dolph was going to be Rocky’s rival in the gestating “Rocky IV” movie out the next year… so instead they switched the role out for Steven Berkoff (Victor from “Beverly Hills Cops”). I would suggest watching this movie too… but yeah, you’re going to have to separate your beliefs just a bit with regards to some things to enjoy it. Death count of this movie? 67… and 57 by Rambo himself. If you’re okay with that though, you will enjoy it… and America did… so then there came…

 

1988’s “Rambo III” which at the time was the most expensive movie ever made at $63 million budget… and apparently $12 million of that was used to buy a Gulfstream jet for Stallone to star in the movie… and I’m assuming about half-a-mill was used strictly on “gun butter” for both the weapons and the arms that Stallone was sporting… and his luscious, luscious head of hair. It’s pretty magnificent. Anyway, this movie picks up a few years after the last one… and Rambo has turned to a life of helping Thai monks build temples & attempt to find peace with his life… so of course, Lt. Trautman (Crenna yet again) shows up with Kurtwood Smith (“That 70’s Show” & “Robocop”) to invite him along on a mission… and he declines of course. Well, Lt. Trautman, a man in his late 50’s / early 60’s & not of the best physical shape, goes instead… and gets captured. So Kurtwood Smith then pops up in Thailand the next day and is like “Hey Rambo, your buddy was captured on that mission we invited you to… just thought you should know…” and walks away. Seriously, at this point, I would’ve been perfectly OK with Rambo saying, “Then why the f**k are you here? I told you I was interested yesterday! You sent an elderly man in a covert operation? That’s f**king stupid!” Instead… he asks to be sent into Afghanistan so that he can join forces with the Mujahideen rebels to get Trautman back. What’s that? Oh… I didn’t mention that this happens in Afghanistan & they’re essentially American forces against the Russians in this movie? I don’t see why that’s important nowadays… back then we were thick as thieves with Afghan resistance forces… and I haven’t been in a high school history class lately but according to the last textbook that I read we still are… right? Fun fact: This movie is DEDICATED to the resistance forces of Afghanistan!

 

So… they get him into the country (and he of course doesn’t stand out like a sore thumb at all), he meets up with the resistance, and the rest of the movie is shot like “Rambo of Arabia” if they had a $60+ million budget for explosions & Laurence Olivier looked like a yoked-out bodybuilder with a flashdancer’s Jheri curl. It’s pretty amazing in all the wrong ways… and it’s odd to see the full character & story arc that Rambo goes through from the beginning of the first movie to the end of this one… and just scratch your head a bit. I highly recommend it… and all three are on Netflix now, so check them all out immediately! Death toll for this movie? 108 recorded… 221 acts of violence… and probably more implied in a “Man of Steel” kind of collateral damage.

 

Nowadays though, it’s all about the reboot… and if we were to do that today… who would star in the Rambo Reboot… dare I say RAMBOOT??? Izzy & I had a little discussion… and this is what we came up with. Oh… the story is pretty much the same… well, maybe the countries involved switched around. You know… John Rambo is a veteran of Afghanistan… he tries going back home to Arizona & gets some guff from the local sheriff (and maybe the governor?)… he goes on a journey of self-discovery north… and finds it in the Pacific Northwest… so yeah, the cast of the original story set in Hope, Washington (British Columbia). This is the one that’s going to go for a little bit of that Oscar buzz…

 

Kit Harrington as John Rambo – While watching the trilogy the other day, we were straining to think who could possibly pull off that head of hair that is John Rambo… and of course we could only think of Jon Snow from “Game of Thrones.” Sure, that “Pompeii” movie wasn’t that incredible… but I’m totally down with Kit Harrington as Rambo. He’s young… he has the baby face… he could probably get ripped for the brief nude scenes while he’s hosed down by the cops and subjected to homoerotic hazing by the bigot cop we’re supposed to hate named Gault (played by Mel Gibson cameo?) and then the movie will go on from there where it’s Rambo vs. the cops & the elements… and then the big Oscar scene. By the way, I was REALLY considering giving this role to future Academy Award winner Channing Tatum in a wonderful wig as John Rambeau & setting this in the South… but yeah, I want to bring Jon Snow back from the death of type casting.

 

Kevin Costner as Sheriff Teasle – Speaking of Academy Awards, I want Costner playing the role made famous by Brian Dennehy in the original. He’s a decent cop nearing the end of a long career… and in the name of looking out for his town that’s already seen its share of recession-based unemployment, he notices a man whose brandishing a GIANT F**KING KNIFE to the city lines… but he passively resists… so he has to take him in. Then after some of his deputies (again, Gibson cameo as the weathered bigot Gault?) rough him in the holding cell, hell is unleashed in the form of PTSD Green Beret Rambo… and it’s up to Sheriff Teasle to bring him back in & protect his constituents. I like the idea of Teasle doing questionable things for reasons perceived as right in this complex issue… and Costner can act his ass off when given a proper script/situation.

 

Bryan Cranston as Col. Samuel Trautmann – “And the award for Best Supporting Actor goes to…” American treasure Bryan Cranston as The Man who made Rambo the “ultimate killing machine” during his various tours in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, wherever he was needed by the government. Now, his monster has been set loose on innocent & not-so-innocent civilians alike. Why Cranston? Because he’s a BADASS!!! “But $teve, Bryan Cranston is too big of a commodity now to be in a big budget movie for only a few minutes of screen time… besides, he’d just act the sh*t out of everybody else & it’d just anger the audience.” Somebody has never seen Godzilla…

 

Then based on setting all kinds of box office records, there comes a big budget sequel, he’s released from jail to go to a mission in the Ukraine (filmed in British Columbia again?) or North Korea (filmed in British Columbia?) or Columbia (filmed in non-British Columbia?)… but let’s face it, we want the Russians to be the bad guys because of who will be the baddie… and this too shall just be an all-out action royale with lots of explosions & one-liners.

 

Mickey Rourke as Marshall Murdock – Col. Trautman may have recruited Rambo to handle this covert operation… but it’s Murdock who pulls the strings for the operation… and he won’t let you forget it… and he’s seem some sh*t in his day, so he’s not to be messed with. I like Rourke because he looks like he’s seen some sh*t, is a pretty damn good actor & let’s face it… he can probably throw down & do a few stunts. I’ve seen “The Wrestler” and “Double Team.” This role was played by the great character actor Charles Napier in the original sequel… and yeah, I like this pick… so get used to it.

 

Eliza Dushku as Mission Contact / Love Interest Cameo – Mila Kunis, Milla Jovovich & Natalie Portman (apparently she’s of Russian descent?) would have been easy… but I like to go HARD Eastern European… and frankly, I haven’t seen her in anything lately… so if she’s game to take on this acting challenge still, I’m game to cast Eliza Dushku, who you may remember from the Buffy & Dollhouse TV Series… or maybe “The New Guy”… or maybe as the teenage girl in “True Lies”. Let’s be honest… if you’ve seen the original… you know it really doesn’t matter who’s in this role… spoiler alert… it’s short-LIVED!!! If she’s retired or something, then maybe I’ll reach out to Olga Kurylenko (“Quantum of Solace”, “XXX”, “Oblivion”, “Hitman”, etc) to take over.

 

Dolph Lundgren as the General Drago – Ladies & gentlemen, the Rematch!!! So regardless of the location of the covert op… near the start of the 3^rd act, in walks the towering Russian General behind the whole situation… and I’m thinking it’s actually reveals via TANK!!! Anyway, infiltration of base… plenty of explosions… maybe a few hostages are lost along the way (love interest?)… hand-to-hand combat with the big boss… perhaps on top of a MIG… FINALE!!!

 

So yeah… that’s how I’m rebooting Rambo… and I think Izzy’s along for the ride too… now I just need to check with Mario Kassar & Andrew Vajna (not Vajina) to get them to produce again… and maybe Stallone… I almost wanted him to be Trautman but he can’t hold a f**king candle in the same room as Bryan Cranston. Anyway, gonna try to get a body cold or something that I’ve been feeling since yesterday… in the meantime, have a great weekend everybody!!!

Drinkin' with Dr Bamforth

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Saturday, about a dozen members of the SF Homebrewers Guild joined up at our VP’s house to build our booth for the Northern California Homebrewers Festival… and spoiler alert, it’s a prison theme similar to our NHC booth… but it’s called Alco-traz… and here are some teasers…

 

Sunday was the return of professional football… and I have the NFL Sunday Ticket… so I spent seven hours of my day watching the Red Zone Channel & drinking homebrew… like a f**king boss. Jealous? Well, swing on by the crib next time & we’ll do it potluck style.

 

Monday night, Izzy & I met up with Big Ben, Lone Cicerone & Li’l Jon and we attended a special event at Sierra Nevada’s Torpedo Room in Berkeley where the great Dr. Charles Bamforth (UC-Davis professor) was giving a special talk about beer, the history of beer, the chemistry & science of beer, and of course… each chapter in the talk was complimented with an appropriate beer. He discussed many thing like yeast, the chemistry of taste, nitrogen, foam, malt preparation, hops, attenuation of hops and a slough of other things… and a great night was had by all. Here are a few pictures…

 

Tuesday night was softball… and we fell into a bit of a hole early… I believe we were down 8-1 after the 2^nd inning, just a few fielding mistakes but in softball those things add up quick. However, a few innings later, we started clicking at the plate again… and we ended up winning 9-8 in a nailbiter. We’re 4-0 now… and I’m not one to brag… but I’m literally batting 1.000 this year still. 6-for-6 with two walks… I make it to the plate, son. I’ve even ran in about half of them (I’m near the end of the batting order). Anyway, great game everybody!!! Let’s keep this stuff going… and let’s get back to the blowout victories. They’re easier on my heart.

 

Well, that’s really about it for this entry… the next few days we’ll be getting ready for the Northern California Homebrewers Festival this weekend… and hopefully the wildfires here in California won’t ruin the festival… but seriously, my hearts go out to all of the people REALLY affected by the fire & those heroes that are out there putting them out in hellish conditions. God’s speed everybody! Have a great weekend!!!

Gimme All Your Lovin'

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Last Sunday night, we watched a big action movie from a few years ago… 1997’s “Mimic” starring Mira Sorvino, Charles Dutton, Josh Brolin & F. Murray Abraham and directed by Guillermo del Toro (“Hellboy” & “Pacific Rim”). For those who haven’t seen it, the movie starts with an epidemic killing children on Manhattan Island at an alarming rate that is spread by cockroaches… so some entomologists (insect doctors) create these insects that emit these enzymes that kills them off or disinfects them or something… and stops the epidemic. Roll credits. Okay, not really… the story picks up three years later… and apparently the cockroaches that saved everybody have evolved… and now they’re out to stop the epidemic of New Yorkers. The same entomologists now have to go into the subways to stop them because… apparently nobody else will or can? Now… the movie has an incredible creepy feel to it… and that’s probably due to del Toro’s direction a lot like he did in “Pan’s Labyrinth” and movies like that… aside from that though, the movie’s only okay. The plot is… eh. I really didn’t care for the characters… but Mira Sorvino is easy on the eyeballs. The monsters are f**king terrifying… but I figure as long as I stay my ass out of the subway tunnels at 2 AM, I’m pretty safe from them… so no real danger. Okay… the characters that I didn’t care about… back on those for a minute. The main ones are good enough I guess… the married couple (Sorvino & Jeremy Northam) are passable… it was good to see Roc (Dutton) as a stereotype subway cop… but the children in this movie, could not f**king stand. There’s the dopey eyed autistic kid who… is basically a retard Pinocchio to his shoe shining Geppetto father… and then there are these two “street kids” that sell bugs to Mira Sorvino… and they’re just horrible little side characters that apparently don’t have parents…  and frankly, I’m glad they were eaten up. Oh… spoiler alert, lots of people get eaten up. I’d say check it out… it’s not horrible… but it’s not really good either.

 

Last week, we also watched the 1977 animated feature of “The Hobbit” which you may recall was turned from an epic novel by J.R.R. Tolkien into this 77 minute animated film by Bass-Rankin (of 80’s cartoon lore, and keep in mind that a few of those 77 minutes are just film credits) and then to three separate films totaling just under 8 hours on the non-extended versions by Peter Jackson. I’ve never read the books (shocking!) but I’ve seen the trilogy by Peter Jackson… and now I’ve seen the animated film. Oh, for those who don’t know… it’s about a Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins who has a wizard named Gandalf show up at his house one beautiful day… and then within a few hours, some of Gandalf’s dwarf friends show up expected to be fed like kings at a perfect stranger’s house… and then Gandalf says that Bilbo is a master thief (racist?) and volunteers him to come along with them on a whimsical journey of traveling thousands of miles to a place called the Lonely Mountain… and then when they arrive, evict the local dragon who has taken residence there & help his new dwarf friends to take back their castle filled with massive amounts of gold & jewels. Bilbo says yes for some reason (starved for human/other being affection?) and the journey goes from there. Now… again, I’ve never read the books… so if there’s more to the premise than that that’s important, I’m unaware of it. Basically it sounds like a bunch of homeless people show up uninvited and they go on a magnificent hobo adventure to me… but I’ll allow my belief to be separated when dragons are involved. Anyway, there are obviously MAJOR differences between this film and the 6x as long trilogy… mainly, in this version, the only time there’s really any conflict in the journey is when they have a VERY brief encounter with three trolls, some typical mountain travel weather, they run into a few frog-like orcs when they get to the mountain & then Bilbo shares a few riddles with Golum. In the trilogy, there’s everything from giant f**king spiders to Orc hordes riding direwolves to being thrown into prison by Elves and all kinds of mess… THEN there’s the dragon Smaug… but yeah I’m getting way ahead of myself. I realize this movie was made almost 40 years ago… but ultimately it was kind of boring… and at least it was only a little over an hour. The animation was pretty basic… I can see how it’d be interesting as a child in the early 80’s or something… but it didn’t really appeal to me. Dare I say it… not unlike the MUCH longer movies. Yeah, I saw them all… but I kinda felt like they were REALLY drawn out… and though character motivations were explained in the movies better with the extra time, but they simply didn’t do any of that in this movie. Basically Gandalf comes off as even MORE of a dick in the animated version. “Sh*t’s happening, I must go!” Poof of smoke & a crack of thunder and he’s gone. Anyway, if you really liked the Lord of the Rings trilogies, check it out… but it’s nothing that you really need to see.

 

Last week, we also watched a movie recommended by Film Vault called “Frank” starring Michael Fassbender, Maggie Gyllenhaal & Downhall Gleeson. This is the story of a young keyboard player (Gleeson) whose struggling to write songs… when all of a sudden he almost serendipitously is on the beach… and the keyboard player for a band that has a gig in town has a nervous breakdown… and so he gets the gig. Well, the band’s front man is Frank (Fassbender), whose apparently a sensitive genius type… and wears a giant paper mache head his entire life. Odd. Well, despite their first concert going… absolutely wrong… the band invites him to come along with them to cut an album at their place in the woods. Oh my gosh! This is the break that he’s been waiting for! Of course he quits his job & uses his nest egg to travel with the band… and then he finds out that they’re all ass crackers insane… and after about a year he becomes suspicious that nothing is getting done. The story continues from there… but despite my poor explanation of the plot, it’s a decent movie about… well, that apparently all artists are insane? But as long as they’re insane together it might work out? Is that the message? Because if so… I have a few counterpoints to that belief based on events in the film that I will not disclose… but yeah, it’s an interesting look at possible mental health issues & just the weird intricacies that make up the characters.

 

Side note: I almost feel bad that Michael Fassbender was publicized as Frank before the release of the film… because honestly, wouldn’t it be great to have watched this movie in which you don’t see the titular character’s face the entire time… and perhaps you’re wondering “Who is playing this person? It kinda sounds like… ugh, I can’t tell through the paper mache echo” and then in the last few scenes, it’s revealed to be “That guy from Inglorious Basterds!” Think about it… it could also have been billed as Michael Fassbender… but he was just he voice… and the actor revealed at the end is his long lost brother Jon Hamm! By the way, I Facebooked it a while back… but how the hell have those two NOT played together in a movie as brothers??? Get on that sh*t, Hollywood!

 

Tuesday night, we also started a quick batch of Strawberry Hefeweizen for NCHF ten days later… so we’re doing a little different process where we’ll start with the Hefeweizen yeast, then on Sunday (4 days later) when we add the strawberry puree we’ll also add some Super High Gravity yeast (like with imperial stouts, barleywines, etc) that should help it to convert in the days after so that it’s ready for NCHF. It’s an experiment… but worst-case, if it sucks before NCHF, we’ll just have to give it time to mature… and we’ll still have our Kentucky Common & Maple Porter to share… along with several HUNDRED kegs from the other festival goers… so yeah, it’s worth a shot on short notice. No real pictures of the brew from Tuesday… but you’ve seen a few before… very similar… and here are a few of our transfer to secondary on Sunday...

 

We also transferred our Barleywine to secondary fermentation... where it'll be for a few months...

 

 

Thursday, I fell for the trap of telling work that I’d go in and work most of the day to help out (since we’re so grossly understaffed it’s pretty ridiculous) but I wanted to be out to beat traffic for the evening’s activities… but of course it wasn’t approved (or denied) until about 30 minutes before I was planning on leaving… and spoiler alert, I was there until a few minutes before my shift ended. Basically, I should’ve just called in sick… leaving everybody at work to stagger & attempt to cover the MANY jobs that I do at a fraction of the pay… and basically they can just suck it. However, I’m a decent human being… and I like most of my coworkers, but tolerate all. Well, now I know… and lessons can help down the road… especially when it means being in traffic for four hours on the way to escape the Bay Area on a random Thursday night… during an obscene heat wave loaded with dicks navigating vehicles on the public roads… but yeah, lesson learned.

 

So Izzy & I drove up to Lincoln after work to mark something off the Bucket List… by which is basically take advantage of viewing a favorite while THEY’RE still alive as opposed to US being alive… but we went to Thunder Valley Amphitheatre to see the great Texas rock band ZZ TOP along with opener Blueberry Smoke. Due to traffic, we missed the opener… but I’m sure they rocked… and we got there just in time for the main attraction… and they F**KING STILL ROCK!!! We fully enjoyed ourselves… even in the 95 degrees after the sun went down that haunts the Central Valley this time of year… but the venue was pretty good & it was a perfect 90 minute concert for us to enjoy… with four hours driving there & then about 80 minutes on the drive back (don’t do the math, Gretchen likes to gallop when she’s not surrounded by parked Priuses). Great evening!

 

Anyway, so it’s been a busy week or so… and it’s not slowing down any time soon… and frankly, that’s pretty awesome! I’ll be sure to keep you posted. Have a great weekend everybody!!!

Enter the Lone Cicerone

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Last Tuesday, we had our monthly meeting with the San Francisco Homebrewers Guild at Anchor Brewing and we were treated to a wonderful talk about fermentation temperatures by MULTI-AWARD-WINNING homebrewer Keith Kost who… damn… just always has about 50-60 kegs of wonderfully prepared beer at his disposal. Winners of the Guild’s own competition were also announced… and it may not also shock you that he won a ribbon in that competition as well. Our Dunkelweizen didn’t earn a ribbon… but still did fairly well scoring wise. It’s just tough when you’re always going against some of the best brewers not just in the city… or state… but the f**king nation really. We’re truly blessed to be around this caliber of competition on a regular basis. Here are some pictures…

 

We also tried our Strawberry Hefeweizen that we bottled about two weeks ago… and yeah, it’s fantastic… we’re getting this recipe down pretty good…

 It's a Pretzel Stick...

Saturday morning, Izzy & I harvested our Galena Hops as they were prime and ready… now we’ve also dehydrated them and will use them in a wet hop pale ale or something VERY soon… we’ll keep you posted…

Later that morning, Izzy put her pictures up at her first art gallery showing at Elevation 66 Brewing in El Cerrito. She’s such an amazing artist and a BIG thank you to Super Dave & his lovely wife for allowing her to put up her art.

 

Please come check it out… and of course… enjoy some of their wonderful beer and food… here are some pictures from the lunch that Big Ben & his wife Kristin treated us to in celebration of Izzy’s exhibit…

 

…and Kristin is a newly minted cicerone and we convinced her to start her own blog at Lone Cicerone. Please check it out… it’s hella entertaining.

 

That afternoon, we also stopped by Fieldwork Brewing for a quick drink as Big Ben & Kristin recommended that we try some of their new beers, including a Golden Stout & a Rye Red… both were amazing…

 

Sunday & Monday, we went to some wonderful barbecues in San Jose and Pinole… but yeah, great people, good times, no pictures to really show for it. Trust me though, it was awesome.

 

Super busy week at work… and more importantly outside of work… with concerts, new brews, and prepping for NCHF in less than two weeks… so stay tuned… and of course, check out Kristin’s blog at Lone Cicerone. Have a great week everybody!!!