BOO!

Latest Brewing Headlines!!!

from the Lexington Herald-Leader for Tue, Oct. 23, 2007:

"Lexington Brewing Co. brought home two silver medals from the Great American Beer Festival in Denver.

"The Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale placed second in the wood and barrel-aged beer category, finishing behind the Oak Whiskey Red from Twisted Pine Brewing Co., in Boulder, Colo. There were 26 entries in the category.

"Also, the Lexington Brewing Co.'s Kentucky Weissbier, brewed only for the festival's pro-am competition, took a silver medal. An English Style India Pale Ale from Allentown/Bethlehem (Pa.) Brew Works took the gold. There were 48 entrants in the category."

The Monarchical Gift Game!

Hey everybody! Let's play a blog game, inspired by my occasional "Thoughtful Gifts for Monarchs" postings. Here are two photos that beg for funny captions. In the comments, send in your own. The winner will have their home town spared in any forthcoming invasions. Fun for the whole family! I'll get us started. . .

#1

"I know we have just the place for this around here... somewhere...."


#2

"Ha! Checkmate! You're country's mine!"

It's Greek to me

I've been meaning to draw your attention to one very, very odd occurrence. For some odd reason, on my office computer only, the tool bar across the top of the blog pages appears in Greek. To wit:

Έχετε επισημάνει αυτό το ιστολόγιο ως ιστολόγιο με απαράδεκτο περιεχόμενο.

Αποστολή ως SMS

Αναζήτηση ιστολογίου

Επισήμανση ιστολογίου

Επόμενο ιστολόγιο Αποσύνδεση

Happily, of course, I can read Greek, but classical Greek. The modern language is quite different, and of course, the ancients didn't have a way of saying "unflag blog." Trust me, after a while, you get used to your life being this weird...

New Obsession!

Well... many of you will be aghast to learn that I've retained my obsession with Korean historical dramas. Some may recall reaction to my post on "Hwang Jini" (see HamsterPost for 16 July 2007) which went over like the proverbial lead balloon. Well, now I'm into something far, far more butch. "Dae Joyoung!" This one is chuck full of war, torture, murder, deception, and... oh yes... FABulous costumes!

SYNOPSIS
This 100-episode epic drama vividly depicts the life of King Dae Jo-yeong and other heroes of the Balhae Kingdom, which dates back 1300 years ago. The role of Dae Jo-yeong is portrayed by actor Choi Su-jong, while the role of Yi Hae-go, Dae Jo-yeong’s rival for the supremacy in the northern territories, is portrayed by actor Chung Bo-seok. The two also face off over the love of Cho-rin, a woman from the Georan tribe, and King Bojang’s niece, Suk-yeong. The role of Cho-rin is played by Park Ye-jin, while Suk-yeong is portrayed by Hong Su-hyun. Several key historic figures in the drama are played by seasoned middle-aged actors, whose masterful acting underscores the drama’s well-knit plot. The drama drew the spotlight even before its premiere for efforts to produce a perfect picture, as even a special KBS video team was set up to create true-to-life fighting scenes, such as a massive siege warfare between Goguryeo and the Tang Dynasty created using 3D digital characters and the scene showing the collapse of a mountain during the Ansi Fortress battle.

A quick Google search will demonstrate what a world-wide phenomenon this is. The series is 100 episodes long. On AZN, we're somewhere in the 50"s Woohoo! Lots left to go! Here are some images for your delectation:

Blogger's Block

Well... I've been racking my brain for ideas for a post, and have come up with bubkes. Anybody got any ideas?

Start of Another Work Week

Here, imperial bureaucrats arrive for work at the office wing of the HamsterPalace. Another day, another Imperial Hamster Piaster!

You callin' me fat? -or- Read the labels carefully

So we're tooting around Yorkshire, and in many a shop there is an assortment of very Yorkshire products, from teas, and tea-cakes, to little sheep toys, you get the picture. Amongst the wares I always found some lovely looking soaps. But they all seemed to me to be made with sheep fat. I'm certain the soaps were very nice, but the idea of washing with sheep fat was not terribly appealing. Eventually, I succumbed out of curiosity and, mostly, because this particular little bar of soap had such a pretty wrapper on it. I figure "souvenir," and the thing certainly didn't smell like left-over mutton.

So we get home and I put the bar away with my other soaps. (I have developed a thing for quality soaps. Blame DG. He started it. He has really a rather nice philosophy of "affordable luxury." There are certain commodities that, given their nature, are priced so that one could reasonably afford the best in the world. Soap is one such item, there's socks, underwear is another. We won't get into the underwear aspect here... ever. But you get the picture. I've come to really, really love good soap.)

So I finally get around to opening my adorable little bar of soap. I mention to DG that I opened "the sheep fat soap" and it was really very nice. DG then pointed out that the soap was not made with sheep fat, but with wool fat, i.e. lanolin. Oh... lanolin... that's a whole different story. As you can tell from the wrapper, it clearly says "wool fat" not "sheep fat." They all said "wool fat." My poor little hamster-brain. To add insult to injury, "lanolin" comes from the Latin words for wool and oil, i.e., wool fat. Duh! I only realized that afterwards.

Don't tell anybody about this.

More Diversions for Kel...

so that hard-working field rodents can sneak out for another wee pint...

Imperial Scottish Hamster Gardens

for Kel:

10,000 years to the penguin!

In honor of the august occasion of Travel Penguin's second anniversary (see http://travelpenguin.blogspot.com/), I will now perform the Penguin dance!

The Road to Conquest - Part 3

The Fruits of Victory

Here I am holding captured enemy standards after our illustrious triumph on the battlefield. Note I possess the royal banner of the Scottish king, personally taken from him in daring-do, mano-a-mano, and all that.

For me, the funnest part of conquest is, of course, the plunder. All sorts of goodies I get to have - cheap! The King of Scotland, poor chap, had all sorts of neat stuff, all of which now is mine all mine:

First and foremost, of course, were the pretty baubles. I just love pretty baubles! Here I'm overseeing the crating up of the Scottish crown jewels before they're schlepped off to the HamsterPalace.Speaking of palaces, here I am in front of my latest acquisition, thanks to the King of Scotland - tee hee hee!The place has nice gardens too! For Kel's delectation, I'll devote an entire post to the lovely new plantings I inherited. Ooooo! Picnics!Of course, like any conscientious tyrant, I make sure I share the booty with my loyal troops!
As I went by in my triumphant progress back south after the conquest, the good people of Oxford gave a gala concert in my honor.
Of course, the bloated and corrupt Scottish aristocracy was still far from pleased at the turn of events...

Wicked I

of the House of Hamster
King of Scotland
& Lord of The Isles

We interrupt this victory for an important message!

As many of you already know, Our Beloved & Right-Trusty Mr. Squirrel (http://hopfodder.blogspot.com/), Supreme Arch-Prefect for Brewing Affairs & Inspector-in-Chief of Ales, Arch-Provost of Spirits, First Secretary and Deputy General to the Minister of Automotive Affairs, and Chair of the Imperial Hamster Nut Conservation Directorate, and his Lovely and Beauteous wife, The Squirrelina, are expecting.

Who me ????

We rejoice at this splendid news, especially after the heroic service done by Our Squirrel in leading our distillery commando brigades in the recent conquest of Scotland. We were, of course, a little concerned when he went MIA for a couple weeks right after he assaulted his first target, so it's good to know he came out of battle in fine fettle! (Bet you didn't know squirrels had fettles!)

Yes, I can see it all a few short years from now. . .This also might come in handy: http://www.squirrel-rehab.org/faq.html.

The Road to Conquest - Part 2

Once preparations had been made and all was in order for march, Our Imperial Forces headed for Scotland.

Our Good and Trusty Bert skillfully pilots the Imperial War Chariot Northward to the border, keeping constant lookout for TRACTORS and RABBITS. The Goodly and Loyal Someone rides shotgun, carefully planning the requisite tea stops along the route of march.

Here I personally lead the troops across the border. Showing Ourselves to Our legions and bearing in person the Imperial Hamster Battle Guidon inspired the troops to acts of the greatest daring.

The common inhabitants welcomed us enthusiastically as liberators. . .

Whilst Our shock and awe filled the bloated and corrupt ruling classes with terror and dread.

Oh yes, and there was inevitably some slight damage to infrastructure.