What Happened to the Martini?

Got back from a wedding in Houston this evening. Very fun affair, beautifully planned and executed. The families were warm and welcoming. So were the bartenders! They were doing their part (it was an open bar, God bless them) to keep everyone's spirits in the celebratory mood. But I was miffed at this conversation:

Me: Hi, can a get a martini please? One olive.
Arturo (bartender): A what?
Me: A martini.
Arturo: I... uh... (has confused look).
Me: Just a normal gin martini...
Arturo: Gin... uh...
Me (getting frustrated): Just a regular martini. Do you know how to make that?
Arturo: Ah... no.

I then proceeded to tell/show him what a martini is and how to make it (the drink that founded modern drinking standards in America). I couldn't believe it. The martini is almost as American as apple pie, baseball, and car companies losing tons of money. It's almost a symbol of American freedom: there are so many different ways to make a martini, or a variation on it, that it's astounding. But I was looking for the old standard... and was rejected. So in honor of that sequence, here's tonight's combo.

Theme of the Day: Shaken Not Stirred
James Bonds' iconic phrase may give you the impression that the martini is of anglo origin, but it is certainly American. The general consensus is that the martini is the byproduct of the dumbing down of a drink from the 19th century called the martinez (sweet vermouth, gin, maraschino liqueur, and bitters), named for its originating location of Martinez, California. James doesn't really need to clarify his drink preparation instructions, as the martini is traditionally shaken anyway. Bond always orders a vodka martini, and he (of such great sophistication) should be privy of the vodka martini's proper name: the Kangaroo. At any rate, in the name of sophistication, today we will salute the real swingers of any party who sip on their martinis whilst everyone else enjoys their various fruity drinks.

Drink of the Day: The Martini
2 1/2 ounces of gin (Tanqueray)
1/2 ounce of dry vermouth (Martini & Rossi)
1 Olive

In a shake half full of crushed ice, add the gin and the vermouth. Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with the olive. For a "dirty" martini, add olive juice/more olives. For a "dry" martini, use less vermouth and more gin.

Word to the wise about the martini: it is 95% alcohol. Too many, and you'll be needing a cab. They are considered the true drinker's choice.

Variations:
Gibson: substitute olive for 3 cocktail onions.
Silver Bullet: substitute scotch for vermouth.
Saketini: substitute sake for vermouth.
Rob Roy: substitute scotch for gin and sweet vermouth for dry.

Smoke of the Day: Nat Sherman "New York Cut"

This cigarette seems to be the best companion for the martini. Not quite a menthol or clove cigarette, but definitely a cigarette of high enough quality to be found in the suit coat of a Manhattanite. Truly enjoyable, and with an air of elitism that is just right for martini drinking. Ladies, if you smoke this cigarette, use a cigarette holder a la Katherine Hepburn (and if you're going to smoke a New York cut and look like Mrs. Hepburn in this photo, then you'll need to send your contact information to me).

Song of the Day: "Come Fly With Me" by Frank Sinatra
For martini drinking and lounge hopping, a song by the Chairman of the Board is almost necessary. While Dean Martin was famous for drinking martinis (a lot of them) on stage during performances, it's Sinatra's music that harkens to the hey day of lounge music and not Dino's penchant for Italian ballads. To quote the song, "if you could use some exotic booze there's a bar in far Bombay..."


Cheers


RP

Day's End

I have come to find that I enjoy bartending. There is something rewarding to me in mixing the right amounts of ingredients to cause the simple sound I call the Bartender's Symphony: "ahhh!" But making refreshing drinks (alcoholic or not) is only the half of it. I enjoy the role of a bartender. Ear to the world. Sympathizer for the downtrodden. Audience to the comedian. Reveler with the celebrators. Accommodating to any and all, providing they display simple courteousness. I love it. It's one of the coolest things in the world, to me. Sure, I'll make a living in life in some other way. But I'd love to open a pub one day (not a bar, mind you) and just enjoy being that ear to my guests.

Today's Theme: Winding Down the Day
Today I'll be giving you a little taste for the day's end. We'll get a drink that sweetens the evening, a smoke to savor, and a song to set the mood for a quiet end to a good day.

Today's Drink: Midnight Cowboy
2 ounces Bourbon (Jack Daniel's)
1 ounce Dark Rum (Captain Morgan Tattoo)
1/2 ounce heavy cream (your choice, but half and half would work)

If you're a fan or Kentucky Bourbon, or dark liquor in general, this drink is right up your alley. Depending on the cream you use, and in combination with the rum, it will have a sweeter taste to it. The cream ensures that your liquor doesn't dominate, but doesn't dilute like water or club soda would. Perfect after-dinner drink.

Today's Smoke: Romeo Y Julieta Reserva RealToro
At 54x6, the Toro is a bit bigger in ring size and length than your traditional Robusto. However, the longer smoke does this cigar well. Nice, medium bodied smoke with a dark oak taste. Does not finish well, but the end is bearable. Ash at 1.5 inches. Grade: B+

Today's Song: C Jam Blues: Oscar Peterson Trio
My Oscar Peterson Trio album is one of my all-time favorites, and this song lists up there at the top of that album. Chances are you've heard this song before, but you haven't heard Mr. Peterson inject soul into it like he does. Excellent song for winding down the day.

Merry Christmas

"And the angel said unto them, "Fear not; for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."
Luke 2:10-11

Merry Christmas, everyone. Stay safe, remember that beyond commercialism, there is a meaning.

And for a clip from one of the most influential things in my life, and #2 on my list of life-changing media (non-Bible):

Charlie Brown Christmas

The Case for Twitter

People of my generation: do you remember the early fads of what is now known as Web 2.0? I'm talking about the Livejournals, Xangas, and other various early stage social networking sites. For those who operate solely through Facebook now, they most likely had a Myspace once upon a time.

Well, my people, I give you the future, and it is a simple one: Twitter.

Before I get into the specifics on Twitter, let's look at those migrations.

A lot of the early social networking sites for our generation were basically blogs with extensive networking capabilities. But as middle schoolers, writing epic journal entries for the world to see were both tedious and invasive. The entries declined, and the movement was dying. Then Myspace surfaced and rocketed to immense popularity. For the new high schoolers, Myspace was that pre-teen blog, without the emphasis on writing. The personalization, emphasis on pictures, and emphasis on connectivity was the light that drew the moth closer. For those who had Myspaces, you could show your pictures to friends and create an online social heirarchy based on friends list and how cool your page was. Myspace ultimately met its decline and demise through things that most found unnecessary and threatening: dangerous people hiding behind online profiles, slow loading times due to pages that overworked computers, and the invasive advertising after Myspace popularity led to corporate sellout. Once college rolls around, the beacon of social networking was discovered and followed, as Facebook took its seat at the throne of life-on-the-web. It had what people liked about Myspace, but left everything people hated about Myspace: small, college-oriented networks of people you actually met in real life, simplistic layouts designed to meet everyone's basic needs, and the one stop shop for keeping tabs on your friends. Sure, Facebook has become accommodating. You can K.I.S.S. (keep it simple, stupid), or you can indulge by adding pages upon pages of extra applications. Some collegians felt the burn when the exclusivity of Facebook changed for open registration, but in time those wounds have healed.

Acknowledging the trend, however, shows that our generation is about due for another Web 2.0 transition. Facebook has grown tiresome for many. There are negative connotations for excessive Facebook use. The new chat system, while convenient, makes the bulk of users a little uncomfortable. As our generation gets older, we're seeing the necessity of staying connected, but also seeing the frivolity of even the simplistic offerings of Mark Zuckerberg's creation. What can offer us the chance to stay connected, but keep the time-wasting to a minimum? The answer is Twitter.

Twitter, if you don't know, is very basic. You control a profile, but that profile has limited options. You choose a screenname, a short one-line bio, a picture, and a background layout. That is your profile. The bulk of the info on your profile comes from your "tweets." Tweets are the equivalent of Facebook status updates: short one-liners you post for the world to see. Capped at 140 characters, your tweets are only viewable to those who choose to follow you. The idea is that you simply post what you're doing on Twitter, so that your friends, family, and coworkers are aware of your whereabouts and actions as the day rolls on. While it sends too much of a stalker vibe to some, I tend to agree with it's introductory video: you wouldn't send an e-mail or call someone just to tell them what you're doing. Even if they wanted to know, it's really a wasted action. But with Twitter, you eliminate that action, and allow others to be a part of your daily life. Here's the video to get a good idea of what I mean.

Twitter In Plain English




What I like about Twitter is that you can keep your friend list simply to those who you would like to know what you're doing. In other words, you friend list wouldn't be full of people you don't even know. There is no need to add those people as friends; Myspace and Facebook allow the atmosphere of a public commons, where you can meet and interact with new people. Twitter is more on the lines of personal communication. The seamless integration between mobile and web usage make updating a simple matter of a text to their pre-designated number while you're out and about.

I have a Twitter account. You can find my page here. To follow someone, you either must send them an e-mail through "Invite Your Friends," or you have to visit their Twitter page. I'm telling you, the future can be found in Twitter. Embrace it now, because you'll have one sooner or later.

RP

L'amour l'apres-midi

Tonight I was doing a vast collection of information on the internet, and came across a very well done, provocative, and involving clip from a French film entitled L'amour l'apres-midi. Here's the thought process that got me to this YouTube clip:

- Read William James' "The Will to Believe."
- Researched Pascal's Wager, which James references in his essay.
- After reading about Pascal's Wager, I stumbled across the French Film "Ma nuit chez Maud" (My Night With Maud) by Eric Rohmer. In Ma nuit chez Maud, the characters (a marxist, a Catholic, and a freethinker) discuss Pascal's Wager.
- After reading about Ma nuit chez Maud, and consequently filmmaker Eric Rohmer, I stumbled across Rohmer's work L'amour l'apres-midi (Love In the Afternoon).
- While reading about Love In the Afternoon, I decided to search for video clips of Rohmer's work, and came across this clip from the film. Further research indicated that this clip is the most famous from the film, titled Chloe In the Afternoon in North America (Chloe is a major character featured later in the film).

For your enjoyment:

L'amour l'apres-midi



Really, really good clip. Lots of talking/narration, but none of it seems tiresome. Endless shots of people moving, and what normally would be boring shots of transportation scenes, seamlessly transition through the mind at the thought of Frederic's next statements. The amulet fantasy is funny and engaging. Good stuff, Mr. Rohmer.

I am also happy to know that Rohmer is alive and well, and has made films as recently as 2007, despite his robust age of 88.

RP

Love In this Garageband? Why Mainstream Music Is Fake

Saw a very eye-opening YouTube video tonight. See it for yourselves.

The video.



While the end product isn't quite what the Usher/Young Jeezy song sounds like, it's still pretty damning. I verified this for myself by going into Garageband on my iBook. Sure enough, the exact same loops that the video creator references are there. Paul Da Don, the beat's creator, straight up stole his synths from Apple Loops, a collection of sounds and loopable clips for Garageband and Apple's Logic (the high end music production software for Mac that PDD was no doubt using).

Does anyone get creative in mainstream music anymore?

I'm cool with this revelation, though, because it brings 2 things to light for me. 1) I shouldn't be ashamed for using Garageband as a music production suite. 2) I hated this song anyway, so now I'm justified.

RP

Rap As a Political Analogy?

clipped from www.theprometheusinstitute.org

American rap music answers this question by starkly eschewing politics. Rappers, next to drug dealers, are perhaps the most despised figures among American politicians, and no change in that status quo is expected anytime soon. From a continual rain of financial sanctions from the FCC to endless homiletic denunciations from moralizing politicians and pundits, rappers face astounding levels of political flack that would even make Larry Flint blush. Not even liberals will go on record defending the likes of Ludacris, 'Lil Wayne, or even Kanye West.

But instead of depending on representation from existing politicians, rappers have long exalted the representation of "dead presidents" in the form of cold hard cash. As we've noted previously, support for free market capitalism is one of the most universal themes in modern rap. As the free market has allowed them to experience the lavish appreciation of their talents, the hip-hop culture has lionized bootstrapping entrepreneurship.

This clipped piece from an article by Matt Harrison, writing for a famous Libertarian think tank, uses rap as possibly the most famous free market/capitalization proponents in the world. Who needs political candidates to represent you, when your version of the American Dream lies in how much you make? It's interesting.

The American Dream is not without its faults. The American Dream is the "traditional social ideals of the United States, such as equality, democracy, and material prosperity." We often see today that material prosperity creates social inequality, and democracy threatening the possibility of material prosperity (by regulating commerce).

So we come to a crossroads in society. Choices have to be made. Free market or popular regulation? Open rights and expression or social stability? Powerful economic growth or an equal distribution of wealth?

Well, if you ask Nas or Jay-Z, they'd certainly say that the government doesn't need to tell us how to live. Only that cash money baby. And I can bet there are a lot of people out there who feel that way as well.