The final installment to this year’s holiday movie lineup may be a bit of a stretch but given it is a classic of American cinema, I didn’t think anyone would object.
This is my review of Great Lakes Barrel Aged Christmas Ale:
Given that sequels to this movie are still being made its easy to forget how it all started. Rocky begins in 1975 with heavyweight champion Apollo Creed learning the news his opponent for his next bout is unable to fight due to a broken hand. An injury as common in boxing as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Given the fight is intended to be part of a 1976 bicentennial celebration and is only five weeks away, Creed and his promoter scramble to find an opponent…
…Unfortunately, no fighters are able to get in fighting shape within five weeks, or otherwise committed to their own bouts. Creed opts to give a local fighter the chance of a lifetime: a shot at the heavyweight title. He finds one with the name he believes is easily marketable.
Rocky Balboa, a club fighter with mafia ties as a leg breaker, otherwise known as “The Italian Stallion” is the fighter Creed chooses to give this chance. His trainer, Duke, immediately notices one problem: Rocky is left-handed. More on that later.
We learn a lot about Rocky. That he isn’t just some meathead with serious emotional issues, hanging out with Paulie who sets him up with his sister, Yo Adrian. That his trainer, Mickey, thinks he’s a no good waste of talent and wants nothing to do with Rocky until he finds out about the fight, then suddenly Mickey wants in. Rocky isn’t just a guy that has friends throughout the neighborhood that lets him ice skate with Yo Adrian, because of his leather glove and hat fetish. Nah, its his mafia ties. The first one didn’t have a training montage! What the hell?
The fight ensues on New Year’s Day, with Apollo coming out dressed as George Washington, proving himself to be quite the showman, totally convinced Rocky doesn’t stand much of a chance to beat him. That is until early in the first round Rocky being a Southpaw messes with Apollo’s timing and knocks the champion to the mat. Apollo spends the rest of the fight beating the living shit out of Rocky in an attempt to make up for this oversight. In the end, the fight ends with Apollo getting the decision…but he didn’t win.
Can this movie be made today? Of course not, the white guy wins (sort of). Is this really a New Years movie? Of course it is. Aside from the Die Hard standard, this is a movie about seizing the American Dream by its shriveled, wrinkled ballsack. Its about taking the chance to use your middling skillset to make it big, to be a big shot in your shitty neighborhood while getting yourself a low-key mid girl in the process. This is something for whatever reason people only seem to think about doing in January. You ask why is this a New Year’s movie, I ask why not?
Great Lakes puts out a lot of good stuff. Typically they have a few offerings in my part of the country but thankfully I didn’t need to search for it because it came to my door (H/T: Nephilium). Holiday Christmas Ales tend to be Belgian quad-like, sweet, heavily spiced, and like a well placed right hand under the ribs—abusive to your liver. This one being barrel aged takes it a step further but doesn’t overpower it with whiskey. Its more complementary. Get it while its still on the shelves. Great Lakes Barrel Aged Christmas Ale: 4.7/5 10% ABV
Trading Places is the best Christmas (and New Year’s) movie. Rocky is pretty damn good tho, and I do have a soft spot for Rocky IV as I saw it in the theatre when it came out.
+ $1
I can’t remember for certain if there’s an explicit reference to New Year’s, but for some reason I’m thinking of The Survivors as a New Year’s-ish movie. Takes place in winter, at any rate.
I need to see The Survivors again, I saw it last in the 80’s.
Love Rocky! Is IV the one with Dolph? Love that one, too.
My New Year’s choice of movies is Bridget Jones’s Diary. I relate to her quite a bit. And yes, choosing between granny panties and sexy panties is a thing.
Yes that’s Rocky 4. That was the first of the series I saw. My junior high buddy and his dad took me to see it at the theater. It’s still my favorite.
Yup, that was the waning part of the Cold War and Dolph made the best frigging villain, along the Brigette at the height of her ice woman hotness. I was 10 years old and went with some friends and we frigging loved it. Still my fav of the series because of that.
I hope some of our more rowdy denizens will join us on Zoom tonight because I need to get fucking wasted after a week with my brother and my dad’s wife (dad and dad’s wife’s son are cool)
Well…starting to test some of the beers available locally – but hard to determine some of the taps I’ve seen – regarding exact providence or label. The variety of Peroni available here is interesting – a little better than the generic standard I’ve had in the US – but I do need to try a few more of the ones in my fridge. I have already picked up a couple of German beer special fest release boxes (3 or 4 beers plus a mug/glass) – since I don’t have any good glassware on hand and this stuff is all good quality.
I guess my biggest frustration with being here right now is…expectation management. Only a couple restaurants on base right now. One in the main lodge is a newish private one owned/run by a local vineyard – as far as I can tell from the branding. Ate there a couple times last weekend. Beer on tap was ok (see above), but the food/service was distinctly what I would consider sub-par (even if the prices weren’t bad). This is compared to say…the restaurant at the Dragon Hill Lodge in Korea (15 years ago) – which is I guess….a higher standard hotel too based on location/role…but still on base.
This afternoon I went over to the Bowling Alley because the “Irish Pub” there is supposed to be decent quality…supposed to be open from 3 PM till 11ish…yeah…4:20 – no lights on except in the game room. Nobody certain if they’re actually opening or not. Why have hours posted all over the place if they’re not open. Not normal for on-base facilities.
Not a lot of updates on holiday hours for most of the offices here on base – unless they’re run by the military folks.
Turns out the Toyota I really wanted is EU specs only – so can’t even register it on base much less ship it back to the US…maybe a Rav4 after all.
Sounds like the Eye-Talians are in charge of the food & bev there, given the lackadaisical service and hours-keeping
We all want a Hilux with a machine gun mounted in the bed, but it’s just not going to happen Fish.
I’m hoping for the AA Hilux.
[ tries to imagine what an Alcoholics Anonymous Hilux would be like ]
We all want a Hilux with a machine gun mounted in the bed
🙂
but it’s just not going to happen Fish.
🙁
Probably something like this
Top Gear proved the Hilux was indestructible. Me want.
We all want a Hilux
There’s a small gray market for importing JDM vehicles.
Aside from the Die Hard standard, this is a movie about seizing the American Dream by its shriveled, wrinkled ballsack. Its about taking the chance to use your middling skillset to make it big, to be a big shot in your shitty neighborhood while getting yourself a low-key mid girl in the process.
Of course, the first film also has the message that you’re not going to rise above South Philly, so be happy with your shitty lot in life. That’s a fairly radical message for what everyone thinks of as a feel-good film.
My favorite New Years movie would probably be The Apartment.
And when you watch Rocky, take note of George Jetson as one of the ringside commentators.
There’s something above South Philly?
Goode cleaned things out to the west.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_MOVE_bombing
Oof, West Philly. I’ve heard horror stories.
you’re not going to rise above South Philly
True. In Rocky V, he’s broke from bankrolling the fight in Rocky IV, so that’s exactly where he moves.
Another athlete with awful financial management.
BTW re: the TikTok discussion this morning, the China Show did an excellent deep dive (again) on bytedance/CCP discussions yesterday. They’ve been doing a ton of good work on this over the past year or two. Should be about the start point of the main point: https://www.youtube.com/live/U5PxfqCkqpU?si=L3yt_MS82x9KJce7&t=3150
Once you get settled in and can get around town there are some, scratch that, many excellent places to eat in and around Naples. In fact, the best meal of my life was in a restaurant across the street from the closed typewriter factory. You parked on the street and walked down to it. Your only decision was “red or white wine” and then the appropriate courses flowed. The seafood was all caught that day, and the chosen wines were first rate. I recall the views of the bay were nice as well. But the food and wine made you believe in god and the price in 2004 was very reasonable.
Even today recalling that meal makes me salivate. I’ll try to recall the name.
Thanks. That is the feeling I get….reminds me a LOT of SE Asia…just a lot chillier comparatively speaking (still warmer than Norfolk). Driving looks like that as well – but I can’t get my license for at least a couple more weeks. Gotta get my orders modified to remove a school so I can properly start looking at housing. I was really thinking about something further out of town and more country – like back home…but folks reminded me that that typically means fewer English-speaking neighbors, etc as well…so a consideration to take into account…the current housing options do look pretty intriguing, but I need to sit down and narrow things down more – which is tough until I can get down to the area. There’s a train station a few miles from base that I may try using…or it’s a half hour bus ride to the other base and then another public bus to downtown – not quite as convenient as I had envisioned for getting around – especially being new in country. Being here during the holidays also kinda sucks in that regard because a lot of stuff is closed or has abnormal hours and most of my coworkers already have plans – should ease up after New Years though – and I do need to get my quals in and focus on that stuff too.
I don’t know if you saw my post early yesterday morning, but I was thinking of you when I saw the story about two yachtsmen dying during the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.
I saw that. Two separate deadly boom accidents in one race. I am sure there were other non-fatal accidents that will come out as well. It sounds like the winds were flukey.
Even around here some people wear helmets on the Bay. Our winds are pretty consistent and not honking like in the Bass Strait but even so a couple times a season someone gets bonked.
Has there been a second NYC subway fire incident? I cant find anything but the Mrs. says she saw it on the tv news this morning.
Sort of
https://nypost.com/2024/12/27/us-news/man-56-burned-inside-nycs-penn-station-cops-probing-cause-of-injuries/
Unclear if he set himself on fire.
I walk that exact tunnel roughly 4 times a week.
I was happy to work around Wall Street my entire couple decades+ in NYC.
Always hated Midtown.
*Until of course my job got shipped to Jersey City but still. Better than Midtown.
Great Lakes puts out a lot of good stuff. Typically they have a few offerings in my part of the country but thankfully I didn’t need to search for it because it came to my door (H/T: Nephilium). Christmas Ales tend to be Belgian quad-like, sweet, heavily spiced, and like a well placed right hand under the ribs—abusive to your liver. This one being barrel aged takes it a step further but doesn’t overpower it with whiskey. Its more complementary. Get it while its still on the shelves. Great Lakes Barrel Aged Christmas Ale: 4.7/5 10% ABV
This sounds delicious.
It’s damned good. It used to be a pub exclusive, then it was eventually a bomber release at a special event, finally a bomber release in limited footprint, to a fairly wide distribution in 4 packs of 16 ounce cans all around the Cleveland area. I don’t know how far out it goes.
I’m looking at the beer finder now.
Their regular Christmas Ale is available in MA, but then I’d have to go to MA to buy beer. I’ve done it recently to get some stuff from the now defunct CBC, but I’d really like to not do that.
Next time I’m in PA I can get the regular Christmas Ale if it is still available.
It looks like no barrel aged Christmas Ale on their beer finder.
DEG:
Just checked, it’s under Ba Christmas Ale on the beer finder, and just checking Boston area, there’s some shops showing they got it. So it’s opened up a lot in distribution.
Oh, nice. Thanks!
It’s damned good.
It really is.
“the American Dream by its shriveled, wrinkled ballsack”
Ackshully, the American Dream looks like this:
https://imgur.com/gallery/facial-massager-Z5ZxL0u
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream_(shopping_mall)
Exactly the corrupt debacle you’d expect.
There it is.
Ever been there? I’ve only sailed past a zillion times.
No. I refuse under general principles.
Yeah, it doesn’t exactly appeal. At all.
Satisfaction guaranteed. I wonder if any were ever returned.
OM said this morning about following Napoleon’s advice…
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5051005-dnc-chair-race-lacks-diversity/
FFS. They are still tugging their chins trying to figure out why they lost.
Perfect.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), a former DNC chair, noted that while diversity was important, other attributes were equally important.
“And it could be a white man at the top of the DNC, it could be a Black woman at the top of the DNC, and anybody in between. That’s always going to be the thing that matters, not the — not the figurehead diversity,” said Aisha Mills, a former president and CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund and Institute.
When Wasserman Schultz and an LGBTQ+ leader are your voices of reason, you’re in real trouble.
I love it. I’m rooting for Williamson because the screw ups will be unending. If O’Malley wins then I will only refer to him as Carcetti.
Damn, that beer sounds good. The beer store (my local beer and pizza joint with call it 16 beers on tap) rarely has seasonal beers and generally stocks AZ microbrews.
Today is the Huss Brown Cow Chocolate Milk Stout. It finally cooled off a little, here, so stout time it is. A little sweet, but good body and a nice roasty malt.
Great Lakes regular Christmas Ale is a tradition here. You’d have bars with one Great Lakes handle (usually Dortmunder Gold) changing that out for Christmas Ale when it was available. It’s at the point that nearly every local brewery does a spiced brown/red ale at ~7.5% ABV named with a Christmas/holiday theme (Festivus, Three Hos, Holly Jolly, etc.).
Huss makes a stout now? Hmmmm.
Rocky’s creation is another example of “seizing the American Dream by its shriveled, wrinkled ballsack.” It’s ‘inspirational’ that Stallone insisted he be the star. Wrote it himself and shopped it, got the part, won an Oscar and created a career. Well-done, man. Ya earned that shit.
A conversation with a friend got to who is the ‘best’ ‘American Story.’ He unequivocally (and quickly) answered “Arnold schwarzenegger.“ Hrm. Clever businessman who kinda used eastern Euro immigrants to boost his construction business (interesting origin); World-Champion athlete; becomes world-champion movie star; then a fairly successful(?) governor of a massively important state (might as well be president of Austria, power-wise); sex scandal; and obviously an immigrant. ← Damn, Greg. I might not agree with you, but helluvan argument.
Interesting question.
Very interesting that Stallone wrote it so his character lost the fight. Much better story that way, IMO. Having him win is just too obvious and cliche.
He didn’t ‘lose.’ He went the distance. He proved he could.
That’s ‘American’ as fuck. Rock on.
And, yes. A MUCH better story. Far more interesting, especially with it being ‘happy’ with Adrian, his prize. The judges don’t award him the W, but he wins in every other way. *takes notes*
Evan gets it
They made that movie (Cinderella Man) much later based on the career of the real-life boxer James Braddock
I wouldn’t argue against Schwarzeneggar but dayum California turned him stupid in later years.
The Kennedys turned him stupid.
Intelligence is highly compartmentalized.
It might be a tumor.
That too.
He was a big disappointment as governor. At the beginning of his term, he took on multiple powerful interests at once. It was a rookie mistake. He needed to divide and conquer. He never recovered from those initial defeats. Then he just got stupid, implementing a statewide cap and trade initiative.
Didn’t the delta smelt bullshit start with him?
I think that started before him MS. But I’m not certain.
He still has the turtles from Rocky, which I find amusing trivia:
https://people.com/movies/sylvester-stallone-kept-original-turtles-from-rocky/
Ha! Did they move today?
I think since then he is down to one turtle, which still moves.
We were in Korea at the same time! And damn, 15 years ago was a MASSIVE turning point in my life: Me, 22 years-old on Dec 27, 2009: “I start my first real job today. I teach four classes in a row, completely blind, and depending on the circumstances I may have to teach some middle school classes. Caffeine, I implore you for assistance. I’ve never had to dress up like this…fuck I feel awful.”
It went really well! *pats self on back* I landed in a great school with amazing coworkers. There’s an embarrassing, hilarious story about my first night in Korea a couple days before… I looked up the Dragon Hill Lodge, and it’s in Seoul, very close to Itaewon, the biggest foreigner area in the country. (Or most famous, I’d say. Known for music, partying and food.) How frequently could you leave base? I wonder what y’all could do and what went on. At some places, especially in Itaewon or near military bases, bars would sometimes have ID checks when you went in. Not for age, but to show you weren’t a soldier. US soldiers didn’t exactly have a good reputation. They were certainly tolerated and appreciated, but the bad rep was apparently legit earned. (US soldiers being asshole soldiers, especially regarding Korean girls.)
I got there Dec 2006 and transferred out Feb 2008. The problem at the time…(particularly getting there right after the first NORK nuke test) was that military folks always had to have battle buddies. I was stationed at Yongsan – which was an amazing location – compared to the new megabase at Camp Humphries.
So…I was a SGT. I had a shitty little house on base (50s or 60s era) directly behind DHL – on the same block – that I shared with 2 other NCOs. We had 3 full size fridges in the kitchen, 1 bathroom, but we each had our own bedroom. Had to buy drinking water by the gallon at the commissary…like Naples come to think of it.
But I had junior enlisted – who got married during language school – who were allowed to have an apt off-base since there was no married housing on base for enlisted…how in the world am I expected to know what’s going on with them? I was a squad leader for a squad I saw at most once a week at the Friday safety briefing – because most of them worked in buildings I didn’t have access to – on different shifts than me…that’s organization for you. No way to have proper accountability.
I only went off base with the Korean conscripts from my work office (who often had better English language skills than the KATUSAs assigned to our unit). I’d just tell them to just take me to a decent place downtown – always my treat – worked out really well quite a few times. Didn’t hang around Itaewon – too many weird foreigners – I had to do the courtesy patrol once a month or so – making sure no obvious military folks were hanging out in places that were off limits.
I seem to remember that Korea used to be unaccompanied hardship tours.
Right around the time I got there, they started opening it up. My junior folks were kinda exceptions – since they got married at DLI – and they were both Korean language linguists. I don’t recall what the other options were for living off base at the time – pretty sure it was unaccompanied officers, etc. If I had re-enlisted to stay longer…it might have been an option, but probably not from what I recall. Nearly everyone else in the unit lived in barracks, or houses like mine for the NCOs.
Now at an Advance Auto Parts in Laramie with my husband engaged in taking off the left front wheel well liner. Also, changing a wiper blade.
Sounds chilly. Stay safe.
Safe travels!
Now at an Advance Auto Parts in Laramie with my husband engaged in taking off the left front wheel well liner. Also, changing a wiper blade.
replacing a headlight bulb?
No. Taking off the wheel well liner because it was loose and flapping all over the place, rubbing on the ground and tire.
Hopefully the Wyoming “breeze” isn’t too bad today. Good luck.
It’s not so bad in Laramie, but had 55+ mph gusts for about 100 miles. My shoulder aches a little from fighting it.
it was loose and flapping all over the place, rubbing on the ground and tire.
That’s not good.
Very unsettling, yes.
Husband has done what he can. Now we are at a tire shop, where they will take the wheel off and take off the rest of the liner.
Amtrak just needs a bigger budget and more routes
We were supposed to board at 10pm. Got in line at 9:40, got a text sayings it time to board.
10:15 train says it’s departed, 100 of us are still waiting for the gate to open
11:00 station manager says the train left because no one came down to board
All aboard!
I read that. Compared with the shit Amtrak lies about at Penn NYC that’s seriously a fuckup that barely registers.
An employee didn’t open the gate to let people on the platform. The train departed. It’s not the train crew’s fault. It’s the dipshit that didn’t let people board.
After 20 plus years on the rails that is nothing compared to the shit Amtrak does on a daily basis.
It wasn’t until 2020 that I learned there was an Amtrak station in Cleveland. I looked into it for a potential way to get myself to and from a GAP ride (Pittsburgh – DC). There were two trains each day (one in each direction), it was nearly impossible to find a cost, and the one heading to PA left at something like ~0515.
Suthenboy – y’all OK down there?
An employee didn’t open the gate to let people on the platform. The train departed. It’s not the train crew’s fault. It’s the dipshit that didn’t let people board.
And nobody thought it was odd that there wasn’t a single passenger for that trip. It’s not as if there might be some way to know if tickets had been sold.
“No passengers? Not my job to wonder.”
See, this union guy gets it!
I’m sure you are right.
Oh there are a myriad of ways they could run the railroad better.
But the union guy running that train is only has to open the doors and close them at a certain time.
Depending on the stop and you may not see the whole train. Various crew only close sections of it. So you just may assume your section has no new passengers.
The whole system is fucked and cares about passengers slightly less than Soviet airlines did.
I’m by no means defending the entity.
You made Joe Biden cry.
Workers of the World, Unite
Park City Mountain ski patrollers officially went on strike early Friday, citing unfair labor practices and marking the latest chapter in the union’s ongoing contract negotiations with the resort’s owner, Vail Resorts.
Together at 7:30 a.m., members of the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association “hung up their jackets and walked out of the locker room” to form a picket line of roughly 200 patrollers and safety workers, the union announced Friday. The strike, they said, is meant to “amplify our fight” for a fair contract.
Union members gathered at four separate picketing locations near both the Canyons Village and Mountain Village base areas of the resort, holding signs and chanting as music played and passing cars beeped their horns in short bursts of support.
——-
The union has had the ability to strike since Dec. 13, when 98.5% of its members voted to authorize the move with 100% approval.
Since then, the union has reported that Vail Resorts has brought in patrollers from other areas to take its patrollers’ places in the event of a strike — something on which the union has filed Unfair Labor Practice complaints with the National Labor Relations Board.
It should be illegal for a company to make plans to operate while a strike is in progress.
Ski bums have a union?
I’ve been trying to avoid looking at this, but there is a good chance you will be unable to record lots of broadcast TV. I thought the whole point of allocating them a frequency for free was to be able to watch it and that includes recording it.
https://www.techhive.com/article/2009693/nextgen-tv-drm-puts-future-of-the-over-the-air-dvr-in-doubt.html
It’s been pushed off until 2027. Good news is I don’t give a shit about sports and TV shows can be easily acquired elsewhere. The same ones I DVR off air now. They also get fewer and fewer. So the problem will solve itself. Likely not the way the broadcasters think.
An obvious move to push more people onto pay-streams.
If I wasn’t giving less of a shit year after year, I might be pissed.
The company I’ve been using for over 20 years lays the issue out here.
https://forum.silicondust.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=78888
It’s fucking unreal that arguably a “public” standard is mandating a Google licensed DRM.
The assumption is Fire TV and certified Google Android TV boxes will be able to play it.
Issue for me is that I network my DVR. Any TV in the house can play content from a dedicated server.
https://shop.silicondust.com/shop/product/hhdd-2tb/
I have both a cable tuner and two over the air tuners that are networked to it. I can play the recorded video on TVs or PCs.
When I moved upstate, I dropped DVR (and one of the sports tiers, together knocking off about $125 on my monthly bill).
Sometimes I miss it but not that much TBH.
The whole reason I have this setup is to avoid equipment rental fees.
I pay rental for a cablecard and that’s it.
My hardware costs have easily paid for themselves several times over.
There are still broadcast channels? I thought they shut down a decade or more ago.
Joke is on them. I stopped watching years ago.
My alma mater just scored off an INT in the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl to take the lead! 😁🏈
Of course, it was just a field goal, but that’s all either team has managed to make after one quarter. 🤷♂️
Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl? I thought this was a joke, until I looked it up.
The guy is fucking everywhere. I just don’t get it.
Wait, wut? Seems like calling it The Marijuana Bowl would be a lot clearer.
It’s real! Full name and sponsor:
Miami’s student body raises an open container in salute!