Magazine Addiction

Magazine Addiction (moblogging post)

 I am a complete magazine addict. Part or all of thirty magazines a month is not unheard of in my binging, all without shame. From this vast reading I have decided to compile a list of some of my favorites. For those that have better things to do, read deeper material, and you illiterate trolls that avoid even gazing too long at the cereal box, this list may point out a periodical or two that might of slipped your radar. They are in no particular order.

Mental Floss

A collection of the inane, this magazine compiles strange facts and best/worst of lists on random categories that at once make you feel smart while requiring absolutely no cognitive effort. An example: Hound of the Baskervilles and Other Terrible Pets Koala - While few animals are as cute as the sleepy koala, as pets they wouldn't be much fun. Koalas sleep up to 20 hours a day and aren't all that peppy when they're awake. Maybe thats because stressed-out koalas are particularly prone to Chlamydia. Yes, that Chlamydia.

Modern Drunkard

This against the grain publication takes its motto from Charles Bukowski: "When you were drunk, the world was still out there, but at least it didn't have you by the throat." With articles advising how to get thrown out of a bar and how to successfully diffuse an intervention ("If one of them smokes, point out the dangers of second hand smoke, and remark that at least when you're drinking you don't go around spitting bourbon in people's mouths.") the surprisingly literate magazine is an unapologetic paean to the practice of getting smashed. Amusing, if a bit over the top, and definitely not for the those with a penchant for taking offense.

The Robb Report

The nouveau rich and masses of wannabes all delight in this lifestyle magazine for the well-to-do. If your buying a corporate jet or just looking for the perfect single malt this journal considers all the tough aspects of living the luxury lifestyle. Beyond Bentley reviews however, are the true joy, the advertisements. The ads are from a litany of chronograph companies, sculptors, and fashion lines you've never heard of with models trying their best to look at once beautiful, young(er), and old money. Unfortunately, the classifieds, where one could score a second hand island or river, or buy the home of a celebrity, have been removed. It still is a good time killer none the less.

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Blackout Stout Review

Lord Tennyson wrote, "And out of darkness came the hands That reach thro' nature, moulding men." During August of 2003 the northeast was cast into the darkness. Some blame trees and others squirrels but whatever the cause--and no doubt man played a role as well-- there was little seen as positive stemming from the temporary loss of power. The millions of Americans for whom being on the grid is as vital as shelter or garlic-butter suddenly found themselves without the thousand electronic distractions modern life in the United States affords. What to do then but break out the beer before it goes bad, head out to the porch, and meet the neighbors. And that is what many did.

In memory of this convivial moment in the face of grand annoyance comes Blackout Stout, a new beer from one of the midwest's finest micros Great Lakes Brewing. This Russian Imperial stout is currently on tap in the new basement bar of Great Lakes or available in limited bottled release in four packs. The Judge and I reviewed the bottled version for the Tri-City Beer Club.

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Onion fools many

"Is this.. real?" For anyone who lacked forwarning, this is the most common utterance following a first read of the online parody paper the Onion. Stories like the Burundi Beef Council can anger people so quickly that they often miss the joke, at first. Although the hillarious journal has been out for years people continue to confuse the paper with an actual newspaper, as this Wired story explains:

Onion Taken Seriously, Film at 11. People continue to mistake The Onion's stories as real news -- partly because the stories are so deadpan, partly because people are desperate to validate their twisted beliefs. Whatever the reason, the folks at The Onion just laugh and laugh. By Daniel Terdiman. [Wired News]

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The deadly camel spider

Perhaps the scariest site to any GI serving in Iraq is the camel spider.

A soldier recently returned from the front has described the fiends as "the real weapons of mass destruction". Large, wicked fast, and able to leap to heights well beyond expectations, these creatures are not in fact a spider or a scorpion but belong to an order all its own, the solifugid. Usually docile, the camel spider will at times turn to a soldier, raise its two hairy front legs, and charge. This blitz has been known to send the doughtiest of troops into a full on retreat. If your not faint of heart, check out this video of the nasty buggers.

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Daft Punks

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Low Carb Facts

Are you a beer drinker suffering on a low carb diet like Atkins or South Beach? Wondering if that Mich Ultra or Miller Aspen is really a low carb alternative? The Real Beer page story below explains the details of new federal guidelines on what can and cannot be called low carb in a beer.

What's low carb? [Real Beer Page: Beer News]

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No Man's Candidate

Democrats have been biting their tongues for sometime now over the nomination of Kerry but that may be ending. Sen. Kerry, while rated one of the most liberal of the hundred has taken many positions that place him far from off from the average Democrat. Beyond his never once having caved to labor's isolationist schemes, Kerry's now well known flip-flopping has him facing the disgust of the anti-war Phish crowd. Whiskey Bar, a devout Bush bashing blog recently published a post that may signal the first cracks in the dam. Billmon, as the author has dubbed himself, writes acerbically of Kerry's "cowardice" and "shameless war whoring" before explaining his biggest grievance; the irony he perceives in a man who became famous protesting war who now as a senator votes to support it. In brutal honesty the author confesses "I guess irony is one of those things you can't afford to recognize about yourself if you want to be president. And I'll still vote for Kerry, even though I do recognize it. My reasons for supporting him have always been, and still are, independent of my feelings about him." Has Bush bashing gone so far as to bring men to vote for a candidate unto whom so much disgust is piled?

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