No accent required

I was interviewed for a story about the performing arts center on WRIR last week. You can hear it here (it starts around the 15-minute mark). I don't think I sounded like a total idiot, but it was close. Also, may I just add that it drives me crazy when people "French up" my name unecessarily? It's pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable, just like any good Virginia kid would do.

Trends in spam

Anyone else getting lots of unsolicited solicitations pertaining to dog training? My "junk folder" is full of them. I can appreciate that there's a gray market for ED drugs and software, but obedience school? Then again, I just may look into it as an alternative to daycare, which is killing us.

Why not start an obstetrics practice while you're at it?

Wow, I can't imagine two worse businesses to be in: Song, Delta's low-cost airline, is starting its own record label. From the press release:

Song Records will initially spin with two artists, followed by the introduction of new music each quarter. The first slate of new releases include: Better Than Ezra’s “Before The Robots,” which includes the radio hit “A Lifetime,” scheduled for release on May 31; and, Jaguar Wright’s “Divorcing Neo 2 Marry Soul,” scheduled for release on July 12.

Those are both fine artists, and I wish them good luck getting back their master tapes a year from now.

A blessed existence

I've had a lot of exciting things happen in my life. Well, not as many as happen to, say, Mark Holmberg on a regular basis, but for someone lacking a prominent sagittal crest, I think I've done pretty well.

Until tonight, when I restocked the beer drawer and found this, and no it's not for sale. A two-labeled bottle of Yuengling Black & Tan. Check it out and weep, fellas.






Sorry I've been so blog-shy lately. All the doings on the Save Richmond front have been taking up what little spare time I have, which excuse may be a hard sell now that I'm putting pictures of my beer on the Internet.

The road it is my home

Is there anything more boring

...than killing four or more hours in an airport when your original flight was canceled? Oh yeah, reading about it. Sorry.

Don't hate the player

...hate The Game. Sarah Godfrey absolutely kills it today in a hilarious review of the Snoop Dogg/The Game concert on Sunday at the Patriot Center. I'm fairly certain this piece marks the first time the term "contact high" has appeared in the Washington Post, incidentally.

"Shooooeeeebuddd"

I'd always figured the reason Ross McKenzie was so angry was that women got the vote, or maybe that FedEx replaced passenger pigeons, but now I realize that the roots of his bile go much further, to something he lost as a teenager.

New bottles

I just stumbled on a frequent commenter's blog, Genevelyn Steele Swallows. Oh, grow up, it's mostly about wine. Have a look at it for some inspired comparisons (a pinot noir is like a "Latino she-male; elegantly dressed, well-coiffed and fragrant, infused with dirty mushrooms,drug-store dark chocolate, and craisins").

Personally I tend to stick to $3 bottles of Charles Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon from Trader Joe's, but a couple of these descriptions make me want to venture beyond the bargain rack.

Cultural differences

Monday night the missus and I watched the last episode of Wire in the Blood's second season on BBC America. It's a pretty good detective show set in Leeds about a professor who profiles serial killers and a cop who catches them. We were discussing whether certain aspects of the show were "realistic," when Mme B pointed out that in the series, no one seems to think it's particularly remarkable that serial murders take place week after week. Being American, I hadn't given the scenario a second thought.