Lots of Monkeys

After listening to the glowing praise bestowed upon it by Julietz80, I decided to try an Amstel Light. So, trusting her palate, I bought a single bottle, along with a six pack of “backup beer” in case the experiment didn’t pan out.

The decision was not made without overcoming a bit of trepidation. It’s a beer that labels itself of the “light” persuasion.

Overall, it’s not bad. Not something that I’d want to drink on a weekly basis, but it’s not horrible. The color is what throws me off. It just doesn’t look like beer. When I first poured it into the glass, I really had my doubts. It’s a very light amber color, and that’s all I’m going to say. Flavorwise, it’s crisp, and there’s a hint of sweetness to it, which disappears. There’s little to no aftertaste that I could detect, which is a little strange, at least for me.

On the whole, not a horrible experience. I’d drink it again without arm twisting.

Dead Whale Explodes.

Finally, some real news.

Nice to see the Minibosses getting some press. In short, a video game music cover band.

So FuriousGeorge and I were wondering how many types of media we will see phased out in our lifetime. So far, it’s cassette tape, 5 1/4 inch floppy diskettes, BETAMAX, and the death and rebirth of vinyl. We estimated about 2 years for 3.5 floppy diskettes to leave the market. I couldn’t gauge the time for VHS tapes, since there’s another standard for DVD coming to market. It’s been in the works for a year now, but still no sign of it.

I found a review of the Panasonic AV-100 I was gushing about earlier. This guy also has sample movies, which is great for checking out the quality of the video.

The review itself is favorable, but he has a great point about waiting for next generation tapeless camcorders with hard drives.

The movies from the AV-100 look great. Then again, I’m comparing the quality to the wallet-friendly-yet-just-barely-adequate AIPTEK Pocket DV2. On the other hand, the taiwanese site has the new model of the Pocket DV, the 3500, which is also intriguing from a budget point of view.

Now I’m just waiting for a digital camcorder with an iPod dock. That would be something.

I found a box full of cassette tapes in the closet. One of them was labeled, “The Art of the Toy Piano.” Now, I vaguely remember the circumstances that lead to my acquisition of this tape. I know it was a legitimate backup copy of a CD that a friend of mine had that she wanted to keep, “off site” for archival purposes. I have obviously kept it safe these many years.

The music is creepy. Not, “zombies are jumping out of a doorway” creepy, but “there’s something not quite right” creepy. There’s something about hearing “Eleanor Rigby” being fervently banged out on a toy piano that makes you feel uneasy.

I wanted to hear it again, so I hit rewind. And I waited. And then overshot the beginning of the song. And then I hit fast forward, waited, and then overshot the beginning of the song. I was searching for the song in the way that artillery used to range their shots.

So, before the advent of CDs and DVDs, I wonder how many minutes of my life was spent waiting for things to rewind or fast forward.

Now all that remains is getting rid of camcorder tapes.