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pixiegrl · 3 years

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You Are My Horizon

Jack comes to visit Rian at work. Rian's hopelessly in love.

Alright lets take it from the top:

Bet you never saw ATL fic coming from me? Well, here it is. Once again, this is part of a larger fic I'm writing. I'm blaming Rian's v-day thirst trap and Jack just being, you know, Jack for writing this. The only important thing to know going into this is that Rian and Jack are dating, Jack is trans, and that Rian works at a tattoo parlor owned by Ashton and Calum. The tattoo parlor is across from the flower show Luke (also trans) and Michael (non-binary) own.

Second: big thanks to @tigerteeff for whom I write all trans content. Thanks for listening to me yell about Trans Jack he is a special boy and I love him. Thanks to @lifewasradical @cakelftv @blackbutterfliescal and @staticsounds for listening to me yell about this fic (and the flower shop/tattoo parlor verse) and telling me how emo in a good way this is. I love you all dearly.

on ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29500365

Rian’s sketching out the tattoo he’s designing when Jack comes into the back area of the parlor. He sighs dramatically, dropping himself into Rian’s lap and straddling him.

“Babe,” Jack whines.

“Hello to you too. Who’s watching Cam?”

“The puppy can be left alone for like an hour. I’ve been home all day. I missed you.”

“You saw me this morning.”

“That was hours ago. It’s like almost 5:00pm. I missed you,” Jack says, dropping his head down, resting it under Rian’s chin. Rian sighs, putting his pencil down and running his hands under Jack’s shirt. Jack sighs, pressing a kiss to Rian’s neck, easing into the touch. Rian likes Jack, all long legs and lean muscle, the contrast he is to Rian himself. He’s dyed his hair recently, a soft shade of blonde that contrasts with the dark hair of his beard. Rian remembers how excited Jack was about the beard when he started growing it, crowing that getting the hysterectomy finally helped him grow the hair that being on T didn’t. Jack’s painfully handsome these days, angled cheekbones and jaw framed by his beard, comfortable in his own skin. Jack has a soft smile on his face, as he pulls back, kissing Rian on the lips softly.

They trade soft kisses for a few moments before Jack pulls back, grinning mischievously.

“No,” Rian says.

“You don’t even know what I was going to ask.”

“You may not suck my dick at my place of work.”

“Why not?”

“I’m not sanitizing the whole workstation.”

Jack sighs dramatically, flopping onto Rian, “But you have to do that anyway.”

“And I’m not letting you get this place dirty. Or risking someone walking in on us Jack, these are my co-workers.”

“Spoil sport,” Jack says. Rian huffs a laugh, letting Jack steal his snapback and put it on. He snuggles into Rian’s side, watching him sketch out the flowers.

“What’s this one?”

“Tattoo for a client. She wants a whole bouquet for flowers for her family.”

“Isn’t that Sierra’s thing? The flowers?”

“She wants it in watercolor.”

“So your speciality.”

“My speciality,” Rian says. Jack hums, getting a hand underneath Rian’s shirt, tracing his abs lightly as he keeps watching Rian. He has to be uncomfortable, at the angle he’s at but Jack makes no move to change his position.

“Why don’t you head home? I have to finish this sketch up and it’s not going to be very interesting for you,” Rian says, after Jack shifts for the fifth time in ten minutes.

“I don’t want to head home though. Wanna go with you.”

“You drove your car here Jack. You’d be going home without me anyway.”

“I don’t want to go home and wait around for you though. I want to wait here, with you. I want to spend time with you,” Jack says, pouting lightly. Rian sighs, heart soft. He ducks his head down pressing a kiss to Jack’s temple. Jack laughs, scrunching his nose up. He rests his head on Rian’s shoulder, watching as Rian works on the sketch around Jack’s long limbs.

“You know, I didn’t see myself being 32,” Jack says, just barely above a whisper. Rian stops what he’s doing, turning his attention to the boyfriend in his lap.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. At 15 I didn’t see myself making it to 20. I was a depressed teen, self-harming because I hated the way I looked and that I couldn’t understand what was going on. I thought I’d kill myself before 20 trying to figure it out. Then, I was 20 and I couldn’t see myself at 25. I finally had the words to understand what I was feeling and who I was, but then you’re going through therapists and doctors, people are giving you papers and reports and explanations and telling you how much money it all is to just be yourself. I thought I’d die under the stress of it all, the constant feeling of just having to fight to be myself,” Jack says, shrugging.

He picks at the edge of Rian’s shirt, pulling at a loose thread there, head resting on Rian’s shoulder, nose touching his neck. Rian puts his pencil down, stroking his hand over Jack’s back, letting Jack nuzzle into him. They sit there for a few moments in silence before Rian finally works up the courage to ask Jack his question.

“What about at 25?” Rian asks, soft, squeezing Jack’s hip lightly.

“I got the right therapist. I went on T. They finally approved things and I had the money for my top surgery. There was light at the end of the tunnel. And then I met you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. I love who I am, don’t get me wrong. I love being trans and I love being myself and I’m happy with myself. It took me so long to get there, but I love myself. But it’s hard, when you’re two months out of top surgery, when your voice still cracks, when you’re worried about how everyone else will see you, to picture someone loving you the way you love yourself. Especially when they look like you,” Jack says. He tilts his head up, looking at Rian, eyes a little wet. Rian laughs, breathless, at the idea of it all.

He remembers meeting Jack with the sort of clarity that only comes with the certainty of knowing that this is your person, with the knowledge to capture this moment, so you can tell your family, your friends, write it into your wedding vows, tell it to your children. Alex had invited him to the back to school brunch he hosted with Lisa every year before school started. Rian had grumbled about it, considering he’s not a teacher what does it matter, but Alex has insisted that as his oldest friend Rian should come (he found out later Alex had intentionally done it to try and set him and Jack up, but Rian can’t really be mad about it). He’d found Jack, with his grown out emo fringe and home dyed red hair, standing by the music, trying to hijack it to play Blink-182 and complaining that Alex never let him have his way. Rian had found himself hopelessly enamored, listening to Jack rant about music and the merits of not teaching Romeo and Juliet to bored teens when Shakespeare has better plays. Rian had been so caught up in what Jack was saying, he hadn’t even noticed brunch had ended until Alex kicked them both out. Brunch had led to late lunch, led to dinner, led to Rian taking Jack for ice cream just so he didn’t have to leave, giving Jack his number and waiting for a phone call. Rian doesn’t think there’s ever been a time he wasn’t enamored by Jack, hopelessly in love with him from the moment Jack had demanded to see Rian’s Blink-182 tattoo.

“What do you mean someone who ‘look like me’?”

“Handsome, masculine, rugged. You’re a tattoo artist and you work out and you’re like the kind of guy I wanted to be when I was a teen except I’m not. I’m me and there’s nothing wrong with me, but like compared to you. I’m the dorky English teacher. I’m all tall and lanky and stuff.”

“I love dorky English teacher Jack.”

“I know you do. You look at me with such love and adoration it hurts sometimes. The first time you told me you loved me I went home and cried,” Jack says. He’s sitting up now, arms draped over Rian’s shoulders, tears in his eyes. Rian, reaches up, brushing them away.

“You did what?” Rian asks, quiet.

“I cried. I cried because you were everything teenage Jack dreamed of and couldn’t have. You loved me and loved me and you didn’t care that my voice cracked or about the scars or about anything else that made me feel self-conscious at the time because it was new and fresh. The first time you called me your boyfriend I didn’t know what to do. I felt so special and loved. You just loved me and it felt so real. And I was 25 and for the first time, I could picture myself at 30, at 40, at 50 because I could picture my life, I could picture sharing my life with you. And now I’m 32 and I want to tell teenage Jack that it’s worth it, all the waiting is worth it because you’re here. You’re here and I love you so much Ri,” Jack says. He’s crying now, eyes red, nose red. Rian pulls him into a hug, realizes he’s crying too.

“Well, I love you. You’re a hurricane and I never expected to fall in love the way I did with you, but god did I. I was so worried that first day if I let you go home, if I let you leave, you’d forget all about me. Except you kept calling me and texting me and then you practically moved into my house and I didn’t want to let you go. We have a home, a life, a dog. It’s everything I pictured when I was 17 and realized I liked guys too.”

“Guess we’re just stuck together,” Jack says, sniffling. Rian laughs, a little wet, pulling Jack into a hug.

“Guess we are.”

“Think Ash will let you leave early? I wanna go home now and I don’t wanna wait for you.”

“Yeah. I don’t have any more appointments and I can take the sketches home.”

“Good. I think we deserve some pizza and white claws,” Jack says, solemnly. He’s smiling though and Rian’s hopelessly in love with him.

It isn’t till the drive home, which Rian barely managed to get to because Jack kept kissing him against his car, refusing to just let Rian get in the car and drive home so they could have dinner and cuddle, that Rian wonders what’s stopping him from making this permanent. They live together, they have a dog, Jack’s all but told Rian he sees them as forever and Rian feels the same way. What’s stopping Rian from just proposing?

He takes the thought with him for the next week, searching for rings on his off time, trying to get other people’s opinions on what Jack might like until Rian finally decides on a simple black band for the ring. He ends up in the flower shop the next week, deciding that Jack deserves nice flowers for a proposal.

Luke is at the counter, fixing up a floral arrangement when Rian comes in. He looks up, surprised, blushing a little. Rian’s not dumb, he knows Luke has a crush on him. He also knows Luke has a crush on Jack and a major crush on Ashton, so he’s pretty sure Luke is just falling for anyone he thinks is cute until Ashton finally kisses him.

“Rian, hi! What brings you in? More flowers for the shop?”

“Flowers for Jack. I want to propose and I thought the sweetest man deserved some flowers to go with it.”

Luke looks at Rian in awe, lips parted in an “o.”

“You’re going to propose?” Luke whispers. Rian furrows his brow, confused at Luke’s surprise, until he remembers that Luke’s trans too. Luke’s trans and he’s probably having the same reaction Jack did the first time he and Rian went to pride and Jack saw other people like them together, the idea that they weren’t alone. It softens Rian’s heart even more. He gets the older brother affection Jack has for Luke and Michael, the need to care for them. It’s hard not to when Luke’s staring at him, all wide blue eyes and open wonder.

“Yeah. Figured my boyfriend of seven years deserves to be my husband forever. Have some roses for it?” Rian says. Luke beams, hurrying around the counter, pulling out red roses to make a bouquet, bouncing with excitement. It’s infectious, making Rian even more excited to propose to Jack, seeing how excited Luke is, smiling the whole time. Ashton let him out of work early too, so he could be home to make dinner with Jack when he gets back from school.

Rian’s anxious the whole drive home, flowers in the passenger seat, tapping his hands nervously on the steering wheel. What if he’s overthinking this whole thing? What if he’s fucking up the best thing in his life by proposing? What if all the nice words Jack said don’t mean marriage, they just mean staying together? What if Rian’s about to make the stupidest decision of his life?

Jack’s car is already in the driveway when Rian gets back. He wasn’t expecting Jack to beat him home. It makes the pit in his stomach open wider, makes him even more anxious. He drops his keys five times before he finally manages to get them into the lock and open the door.

“Ri?” Jack calls when Rian’s through the door. Camden comes sprinting through the house, barking excitedly at Rian until he picks him up, holding him in one arm while trying to keep the roses out of the way.

“Yeah. You’re home early.”

“Took the rest of my shit home. Why the fuck should I grade bad essays on The Odyssey at my desk when I can grade them on our couch while you yell at Jeopardy.”

“I don’t yell at Jeopardy,” Rian says, offended.

“Yes you do babe,” Jack says. Rian drops his bag by the front of the kitchen, placing the flowers on the counter and Cam on the floor. Jack’s back is turned to him, watching the chicken quesadillas he’s making in the pan intensely. Rian sneaks up behind him, wrapping his arms around Jack’s waist and running his hands over Jack’s hip bones, resting his chin on Jack’s shoulder. Jack sighs, leaning back into the touch.

“Hi,” Rian says softly, pressing a kiss to his bare shoulder.

“Hi,” Jack says, turning his head to get a kiss from Rian. He glances over Rian’s shoulder, perking up when he notices the flowers on the counter.

“You bought flowers?”

“I did.”

“For your other lover?” Jack teases, abandoning the pan to turn around in Rian’s arms, kiss him softly. Rian smiles, tugging Jack closer, kissing his lips, his neck. Jack laughs, squirming in his arms.

“You can’t kiss me like that while I’m cooking. We’ll start a fire,” Jack says. Rian rolls his eyes, letting Jack play with his hair.

“I missed you,” Rian says softly. Jack snorts.

“It was only 8 hours babe,” he teases.

“You didn’t text me today. I’m used to you texting me.”

“The teens were being wild today. I don’t remember this much drama when I was their age,” Jack says. Rian rolls his eyes, pulls Jack in for a hug.

Jack eventually wiggles from Rian’s hold, turning back to the stove. Camden’s flopped down next to them, sighing heavily. Rian swallows, hand in his pocket fingering the ring box.

“Hey Jack?”

“Yeah?”

“Will you marry me?” Rian asks, sinking to one knee, pulling the box out.

“Very funny Ri,” Jack says, turning to face him. Whatever else he was going to say dies as he takes in the sight of Rian on the floor.

“Will you marry me?”

“Holy shit,” Jack breathes out.

“I’m not the English teacher, but I have a whole speech planned. You know, the moment I met you, I knew. I saw you standing in the corner of Alex’s living room, yelling at him to pick better music and I knew. I wanted to commit everything to memory because that was the memory I wanted to tell everyone at our wedding. I’ve known since the minute you demanded to see my tattoo in front of everyone and practically stripped me shirtless that I wanted to marry you. You’re it for me Jack. When I was 17 and scared shitless at the idea that I liked men, I didn’t know what to do. I never felt confident or comfortable enough to come out, to be myself, to picture myself with someone like you. And then I met you and it’s all I could picture. You made me comfortable with myself, happy with myself. Your endless love and support and just being reminds me everyday how lucky I am to know you, to have met you, to have you love me. You’ve never given a shit about my depression or the way I am or my anxiety. You just remind me of brighter days, of the idea that I’m allowed to have this, to have your love. I can’t picture my life without you, without loving you. I want forever. So, will you marry me?” Rian asks.

“Yes, what the fuck yes! Of course I’ll fucking...come here!” Jack shouts, dragging Rian up to him. He pulls Rian in for a kiss, bumped noses and teeth because they’re too excited to kiss properly. Jack leans back, tears running down his cheeks, smiling widely.

“I was worried for a minute,” Rian jokes, pulling the ring from the box and sliding it onto Jack’s finger. Jack holds his hand out admiring it.

“Like I would say no. Maybe all the coffee has fired your brain cells,” Jack teases. He turns to Rian, kissing him again, softer this time.

“You never know.”

“Hell would freeze over before I said no to marrying you. You’re the love of my life,” he says, quietly. Rian smiles, pressing another kiss to his lips.

“Hey, is something burning?” Rian asks after a few moments, when he realizes he smells smoke.

“Oh shit!” Jack yells, turning frantically to fix the burning quesadillas, fanning the smoke to stop it from setting off the smoke detector. Rian laughs, helpless in the face of Jack’s panic, Camden’s distressed barking. It’s perfect, it’s everything Rian’s ever wanted in life. It’s everything he’s wanted since he met Jack at Alex’s brunch. It’s the life he’s always wanted.

#all time low #dawkat #rian dawson #jack barakat #whom the fuck am i writing atl fic #we'll return to our 5sos bullshit momentarily #for now you can all have #trans jack barakat #soft boyfriends in love #camden the puppy #a proposal who's surprised not me #curating trans 5sos and atl fic is my thing now #i blame rian's thirst trap and the way jack looks for this fic #i fell down a rabbit hole who am ii #my writing #self harm mention #body image mention

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nwbeerguide · 3 years

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At 11% ABV, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company announces 2021's Hoptimum Triple IPA.

image courtesy Sierra Nevada Brewing Company

Press Release

CHICO, California … Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. announced the release of Hoptimum Triple IPA, which will be available at select retail locations starting in mid-April. Hoptimum is a special, limited release and a member of the brewery’s High Altitude Series. This limited-time offering, which is touted as Sierra Nevada’s hoppiest beer, is available in 6-packs of 12-ounce bottles and draft while supplies last or through August when the next beer in the High Altitude series is rolled out. New this year, the beer features the highest ABV ever for a Hoptimum Triple IPA release.

Each year the brewers refine the Hoptimum Triple IPA recipe, tinkering with the hop line-up to ensure the beer offers a similar flavor profile, while also featuring the finest, most flavorful hops of the recent hop harvest season.

“Traditionally, we try to maintain that piney, citrusy flavor because it’s what we’re known for,” explains James Conery, Innovation Manager and brewer at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. “This beer contains the best lots of the hop pick, and has that piney, citrusy flavor with a little bit of dank and stonefruit in there for a twist.”

For 2021 the beer features Magnum, Idaho 7, El Dorado, and Mosaic hops on the hot side, and finishes by dry hopping with Citra, Mosaic lupulin powder, Loral, and Magnum hops. It comes in at 11% ABV and 75 IBU, up from last year’s version that was 10.6% ABV. The process of creating the beer involves the use of Sierra Nevada’s innovative dry-hopping device dubbed the Hop Torpedo, which is used to impart optimal hop aromas and flavors without adding bitterness.

The High Altitude series from Sierra Nevada consists of three limited-time offerings each year, including Bigfoot Barleywine-Style Ale (December-April), Hoptimum Triple IPA (April-August), and Narwhal Imperial Stout (August-December). This collection of monstrous beers each tout high gravity ABVs of 9.5% or more and are released in limited quantity so they are available only while supplies last.

About the Hop Torpedo

Dry hopping is a way to give beer more flavor and aroma, not more bitterness. A traditional method is filling nylon sacks with hops and suspending them in fermentation tanks. But sometimes brewers would remove those sacks—even weeks later—and they’d be dry in the middle! With the Hop Torpedo, the brewers can maximize every hop. Beer circulates out of a fermenter, flows through the column of hops, and back into the tank. By adjusting the time, temperature and speed of circulation, brewers can control the aromas and flavors in a finished beer. The Hop Torpedo invention led to the development of the successful year-round beer from Sierra Nevada called Torpedo® Extra IPA.

About Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

Inspired by frequent trips to the Sierra Nevada mountain range, Ken Grossman founded Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in 1980. Highly regarded for using only the finest quality ingredients, Sierra Nevada has set the standard for craft brewers worldwide with innovations in the brewhouse and in its sustainability efforts. The pioneering spirit that launched Sierra Nevada now spans both coasts with breweries in Chico, California and Mills River, North Carolina. Sierra Nevada is famous for its extensive line of beers including Pale Ale, Hazy Little Thing®, Torpedo® and a host of seasonal, specialty and limited release beers. Learn more at www.sierranevada.com.

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from Northwest Beer Guide - News - The Northwest Beer Guide https://bit.ly/329K84u

#Beer #News #Brewery

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bikeforlife · 3 years

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Bike Tour Blog

I honestly can’t believe I made it from the Pacific to Atlantic. This morning I woke up in my own bed for the first time since early February. Oh my god it felt so good. If a mattress maker wanted a testimonial, today would definitely be the day to get one from me. After 45 days straight of being on a bike it feels really good to be home.

On the first week we made from San Diego to Tucson Arizona. This section had some significant climbs through places like Alpine CA and Pine Valley CA and lots of desert riding in eastern tip of California and the state of Arizona. We camped in San Dunes CA where ATV’s are very popular and in places like desert view towers that had insane views of the Ko-Pah mountains. We also slept in a town park in small town in Arizona called Welton. I did snap my chain in Pine Valley but Tone was right there to help out. It was also the first time I rode my bike on the interstate and the first time I ever had rode a bike 10 miles straight downhill from the Ko Pah Mountains to Ocatillo California.

The next few week would take us through New Mexico and the beginning of Texas. The highlight of this section was the climb through the Gila National Forest on our way to Emory Pass. This section had absolutely breathtaking views and an abundance of nature. We climbed to over 8200 feet of elevation at the peak and went through awesome towns like Silver City NM and Hillsboro, NM. A couple days later we crossed the border into Texas at El Paso. This mammoth state would be approximately 1/3rd of the total miles we would cover. Many parts of the Us but especially Texas had recently experience significant weather event with snow, freezing conditions, and a failure of the local power grid. Fortunately we got to the state about a week after the weather had passed.

In Eastern Texas a significant portion of our miles would be on US highway 90. This would feature some awesome small towns like Marathon and Sierra Blanca Texas. The route also had remote areas of riding where there wouldn’t even be a gas station for 80+ miles. I found myself having more to think and unwind than at any part of my adult life. It was also during this stretch that we stayed at some great state parks. Seminole Canyon State Park and Lost Maples State Park in particular stood out to me. There is something magical about looking at the stars on a clear night without light pollution.

Eventually we went through Austin, Texas and I got to reconnect with my friends Jason and Max. After so much time pedaling through remote areas it feels really good to see friends and be in a city. Austin as a city has grown so much since I was there last. I ate great food during our off day and found an amazing bike mechanic that help me resolve a derailleur issue that had been lingering since San Diego.

We would hit a few more state parks on the eastern half of Texas and eventually crossed into Louisiana. After being in a very dry part of Texas the swamps of Louisiana offered a very different riding experience. For the most part the terrain was flat and the roads were in good condition. This part of the tour was special to me because of the amazing friends we made. During one week we stayed with Mandy in Deritter, LA and Perry in Jackson, LA. These amazing people took us into their homes and did everything they could to be helpful and make us feel at home. We were able to take a day off in New Orleans which was awesome. My friend Chris and his friend Bobby came down from from Jackson Miss and we all got a chance to hang. It was great to see Chris again after almost a decade of not seeing him. Hopefully I’ll make it to Mississippi at some point

The final stretch would have us riding through Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. During this time we met even more incredible hosts. Kellie/Mason in Bay Saint Louis and Dave/Stacy in Bagdad, Fl were both incredibly kind and generous. Thank you for everything. The ride took us through places like Dalphin Island, Alabama. I never knew there were islands in Alabama . They are absolutely gorgeous.

We stayed in a couple more awesome state parks in this stretch. In Bainbridge Georgia we stayed in the east bank campground operated by the army core of engineers. They gave us a site right by the water and it was a pretty magical experience. The final section of the tour featured a massive uptick in the number of bugs in these parks. I found that during camping were almost always under attack from mosquitoes or being visited by either argentine ants, caterpillars , or bees. Bug spray can help but sometimes you just have to cover every single bit of skin on your body.

During the final day push to the ocean Tone and I split up. The original route that we were using had us going through Jacksonville to Saint Augustine Florida. He wanted to stick to the route while I made a decision to go directly to Jacksonville which was more direct to the Atlantic Ocean. For me the final day was filled with a range of emotions and thoughts. Admittedly even 10 years later I still have some anxiety of my past medical condition. As i’m riding i’m feeling a huge sense of accomplishment and simultaneous release of anxiety/stress. To be able to survive a full coast to coast tour of the United States on a bike is the kind of proof that the only limitations are the ones I place on myself. I think about my life with Riana over the past 10 years and how fortunate we’ve been to be able to experience living in larger cities, traveling abroad, and getting to start our own business.

I think about how grateful I am to Tony for doing this tour with me. I’ve known him for 15 years and he’s always pushed me to do things outside my comfort zone. From helping me get first passport stamp, to hosting great events, to now riding through the US on a bike. Particularly on this tour he went above and beyond. He help me with mechanical issues which i’m not particularly good at, he lead our route navigation almost every day, he found places for us to stay, and helped lead us through all kinds of unique day to day challenges.

My tour came to a strange end. I was on my way to stay at my friends Stephanie’s house in jacksonville when I stopped at a convenience store. When I came out my bike and all of my gear was stolen. This included my passport, clothes, tent, sleeping bag, paneers, bike tools, food, journal, and more. I tried my best to look through the neighborhood and called the police but no luck in recovering any of it. As unfortunate as this situation is, I'm grateful it happened on the final day of the tour just a couple of miles from my friends house. I won’t let that person take away my memories and diminish the experience. They are worth infinitely more than the material value of the bike and my belongings.

As i’ve had a couple of days to relax before going back to work i’ve been reflecting on the experience more. I absolutely would recommend doing something like this to anyone I know for a few reasons. It’s a great way to decompress. You have time to actively think and it helps your focus significantly. The riding is tough but manageable. I only rode my bike on a couple training rides beforehand. I was also asked a ton of questions from people about my experience. So I wanted to answer them one by one below.

What did you eat?

Being a vegan on a bike tour has its challenges. I ate a lot of clif bars, peanut butter banana burritos, trail mix, , Fritos chips, subway Veggie Delights without cheese and Impossible burgers from Burger Kings. Honestly a lot of days on tour it was challenging to find vegan friendly dishes. Thankfully our hosts made some really nice home cooked vegan meals and every large city we visited had great vegan options.

Where did you sleep?

It was a mix of hotels, backyards , rv parks, state parks, town parks , and then random wild camping. On nights where it was too cold to camp we opted for hotel most of the time.

What gear did you have? This was my packing list before the bike was stolen.

Tools Bag

Park tool Allen key Hand pump Kevlar spoke Back up derailleur Baby wipes Chain scrubber Degreaser Spare tube x2 3 tire lever adjustable wrench Poncho Hand warmer Head lamp

Food Bag Varies but generally 3 portable camp meals Clif bars

Back paneer 1

Extra water plastic jug - Nalgene Sleeping bag (40 degrees) Sleeping bag liner. (10-15 degree etc) Micro fiber Towel Waterproof socks Large winter gloves Small gloves Zip ties

Back paneer 2 Short tech shirts (red and green) Socks (long wool, short cotton Medium wool Blue t shirt

-Toiletries bag

Deodorant dr Bonner liquid and bar soap, bug spray toothbrush toothpaste back up Masks Hand sanitizer

Electronics bag Solar charger Headphone and charger Cell charger Extra water container - 3 liter emergency

Duffle Sleeping pad Wind pants Under armour Long sleeve shirts (grey , black , blue yellow winter Jacket

What was the hardest part? I suspect every single rider will have a different answer to this . For me there were two things that probably equally as challenging. First and foremost there are large portions where people are not wearing masks. It was very demoralizing to be in situations constantly where people have made a conscious decision to disregard the health of others. Since the services were so spread out I found myself having to get food from places that have anti mask propaganda on their front door.

Secondly this tour really taught me that I am more comfortable in cities and around people. It was charming to spend days riding our bikes through farm country in remote roads but eventually it began to wear on me and I found myself crave cities. Also in cities the percentage of people wearing masks shot up significantly.

What was your favorite small town?

I really enjoyed Silver City New Mexico. It was a quirky mountain with good architecture and really nice people. There was also a very helpful bike shop, great co-op, nice motel, and the town was filled with cool art.

What was the weather like?

For the most part we had good weather. I would say were typically 50-60’s during the day on the first half but colder at night. We were able to avoid some of the extreme weather that hit Texas but still found ourselves that was a little too cold to camp in. Most of the biggest issue that would we would face would be consistent headwinds. After a first week full of tailwinds the rest of the tour would almost always deal us 10-25 mph headwinds.

How many issues did you have with your bike?

There are always some day to day issues but the most common were flat tires ( I think i had 5 throughout the trip), My front derailleur was a consistent issue. The fenders on the bike were kind of a pain. However for an old 80’s bike with an older drive train it held up pretty well. I would recommend to anyone thinking about touring to consider customizing their bike to their own needs as opposed to buying a brand new touring bike. There will always be maintenance.

How did your body hold up?

For the most part I wasn’t in a lot of pain on this tour. Everyone’s body is different. I found that if I got a majority of my miles during the morning I would do much better. However on days where we were riding until close to sun down i found myself in a lot of pain near the end of the day. Most commonly knees, butt, lower back, quads. Occasionally my hands would be numb on long riding days.

How long did it take?

45 days coast to coast. During that period we took 3 full days off and had a number of short days (30-40 miles). I’m told that this was a very quick trip as many folks take between 60-70 days to complete this route.

What would you recommend to someone doing this?

There are a million things but i’ll try to summarize here.

If you’re touring with other people try to have honest conversations in advance about things like how many miles you want to shoot for a day. How early in the morning do you want to start pedaling. Where you are you comfortable staying. What kind of timeline you’re under with work? What food you’re comfortable sharing. If you’re comfortable deviating off the route to save miles/time. Ultimately the more you and your riding partners discuss this in advance the less confusion you’ll have day to day.

With your work I would communicate to co-workers honestly how involved you want to be while away. Some have traditional jobs that allow them to totally leave work and decompress. In my case as an entrepreneur I found myself involved on almost daily basis with work. For me that was comfortable but for others it might take away from their experience.

I would also make sure that you have a good instinct for eating food even when you’re not hungry. I had to learn this throughout the tour as my food options were limited with a vegan diet.

I would recommend that you try to do some level of training in advance. On my first bike tour I did almost no training and I was in pain almost right away. On this one I did some cross training and some scheduled rides. It made all of the difference in the world as far as my day pain levels.

Would you do it again?

I don’t personally know if I would do a tour of this length again. While I enjoyed the experience and the bucket list aspect of it I found myself going through the motions on a lot of days. I think I would enjoy much more doing a tour of a 7-14 days. Possibly if I’m ever retired I may feel differently but the looming pressure of my career was a bit hard to get through mentally.

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corporationsarepeople · 5 years

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Donald Trump and his intimate relationship with organized crime

Let’s talk about Donald Trump and his intimate relationship with organized crime—the only partner he’s ever been faithful to his whole life. (THREAD)

1/ The Russian mafiya is a global crime syndicate, but it’s best to think of it as a lawless business—or, rather, a business where it makes the laws. It is closer to the East India Company administering the entire colony of British India than some slick Scorsese picture.

2/ In Russia itself & other mafia states, the mob runs the show—charging protection for businesses, taking bribes, imposing restrictions on airports, seaports, etc. It steals from the people, and from the supine central government, to keep itself in power.

3/ When the USSR fell, mobbed-up oligarchs raced to gobble up the country’s wealth & natural resources. Untold billions, maybe trillions, of dollars were spirited out of Russia, most to banks in quasi-Western places like Cyprus.

4/ Remember in The Sopranos, when Tony & Co. took over Ramsey Outdoor, extracting all of its value, and leaving the rest to rot? The Russian mob did that to Sierra Leone—a COUNTRY, not a sporting goods store on Route 17. Bribe a dictator, take over operations, steal the diamonds.

5/ The mob requires organization, discipline, logistics on a massive scale. It can’t use law enforcement, so it uses muscle: assassination, extortion, etc. But, like a parasite, it cannot live without a host body that DOES follow the law. Thus it safeguards its cash in the West.

6/ The much-ballyhooed sanctions imposed by Obama hurt because they were on INDIVIDUAL MOBSTERS, not on the country. They cut off the ability of these crooks to safeguard their loot in the West.

7/ The vast fortune stolen from the USSR + the cash generated by the mob’s illicit activities = a mammoth pile of capital—unusable unless it is “washed,” or made legitimate. Money laundering is a necessary cog in the crime machine. What good is cash that can’t be spent?

8/ Some businesses lend themselves well to money laundering. Real estate tops the list. Art dealing, for sure. Entertainment, sometimes. Political campaigns work well, too: “donate” dirty rubles via Super PAC, hire consultant. ALL THINGS TRUMP DOES.

9/ In Western countries, the mob does import/export of illicit goods (drugs, arms, humans)…and it also runs complex operations to defraud various government agencies & big corporations. Tax fraud, Medicare fraud, insurance fraud, and so forth. Stealing from US.

10/ When Trump knowingly sells apartment after apartment to known Russian mobsters, foreign dictators, and other unsavory elements, he is laundering money for the mob.

This pattern is not an accident:

https://twitter.com/Zeddary/status/1155486497451184128

11/ When Trump hires illegal immigrants to do hard labor, ignores laws concerning worker safety, and then stiffs them out of the pittance they were promised, he is behaving EXACTLY as his mob associates behave.

12/ When Trump violates the Emolument Clause to exploit the presidency for personal gain, he is doing what his beloved mobbed-up dictators like Putin do.

13/ When Trump intimidates journalists, erstwhile paramours, FBI agents investigating his Russian mob buddies, and others who stand in his way, he is using straight-up mob tactics.

@CheriJacobus: One of the most terrifying moments of my life was when someone close to Team Trump told me (trying to help) that I needed a squad car in front of my building because Trump had bad guys maybe coming over from Queens to harm me. 11:30 at night. I didn't leave my apt for 5 days.

14/ When Trump obsesses about the border, and tries to impose restrictions on which foreign nationals can or cannot enter the country, he is emulating Semion Mogilevich, the head of the Russian mob, who enjoys such control in Russia.

15/ (Sidenote: per Friedman’s “Red Mafiya,” Mogilevich has COMPLETE control of Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow. So if a self-styled NSA “whistleblower” manages to spend 40 days there avoiding the media, you can be damn sure the Brainy Don authorized it).

16/ When Trump runs afoul of the law, he likely offers to give information to the FBI to avoid prosecution. This is a big Russian mob tactic. They would give up their own grandmothers to escape capture.

17/ And when Trump manipulates his tax returns to game the system, he’s doing what the Russian mobsters do—screwing over the government (which is to say, you and me) to line his own pockets.

So, as @lincolnsbible said long before I did: when we call Trump a mobster, it’s not hyperbole. He is a longtime mob money launderer, among other nasty things.

I know it, you know it, and soon, the entire world will know it.

via @GregOlear on twitter

#donald trump #corrupt af #republicans #maga #us politics #politics #russian mafia

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purplesurveys · 4 years

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709

Just another names survey, because there’s nothing like looking back at everyone you’ve ever met at 11:28 AM.

Do you know anyone with these names?

Sara: I know a Sarah from my college. She’s kind of a friend-ish? Like I’d say hi to her if we pass each other in the building but I wouldn’t get lunch with her or send her a meme. She also goes by Chloe, her second name. Gabby: Pretty common name. My girlfriend is a Gabie and I had another high school batchmate named Gaby; I also had an old friend from the wrestling fandom whose name is Gabbie. The last Gabbie also goes to UP but I’ve never met nor seen her in the four years I’ve studied there, which is still such a weird thing to me. Rochelle: My Language teacher (it’s basically a subject that taught us English grammar) in the 5th grade was a Rochelle and she was a massive bitch. She is the manifestation of small and cute but terrible, and she didn’t like me and made sure I knew it. I’m glad she aged terribly in the last few years. Alexis: Apparently my Uncle Alex’s full name is Alexis, but I didn’t know until today when I read the obituary for my grand aunt who had just passed. Aurora Summer: I have an orgmate/coursemate named Summer. She’s nice but I think she’s a little lazy and doesn’t make a good co-worker in projects.

Peyton Bianca: Also a common name, but it’s a pretty middle-class/white girl name too. I knew lots of Biancas from high school and all of them are studying in the more expensive university just beside ours. Jordan Eliana: I don’t know Elianas but close enough - we have a current applicant for our org named Liana. Liberty: Eh, noun names like this one aren’t too common at all where I live. Meadow Cheyenne Acacia: Nah. The only Acacia I know is the name of one of the many dorms inside campus. Laurice and Jo used to live in Acacia but their applications got denied this year. Erica: I used to ride the bus with an Ericka but it’s all very hazy - I was only in Grade 1 and I think she moved schools not long after, so I don’t have a lot of memories of her. I had a high school batchmate named Erycka but I never liked her either - just seemed too uppity and had a bit of an attitude for no reason. She used to be Gabie’s friend so when the two would hang out I would fuck off so that I didn’t have to deal with her loud ass. Chantell Shawna: Gabie has a coursemate(?) named Shauna. I don’t know her and I dunno if I’ve met her. I think I have, but I never talked to her. Suzy Maria: I can confidently tell you a good 70% of Filipino girls/women have Maria as their first names. No one uses it as their main name though; it’s usually just given to complement second names. Gretchen: Eh, I know a couple of popular personalities with this name but no one personal. Isabella: I have a second cousin named Isabella but I’ve never gotten to form a relationship with her because she was born and is being raised in Australia. Isabela is also the name of one of Gab’s sisters.

Skye: Someone I went to high school with has a kid nicknamed Sky... Skylar: ...because the kid’s whole name is Skyller. Cecily Paige: Nope but this did remind of the WWE wrestler Paige. Autumn Arielle: I went to grade school with an Aerielle. We lost touch for a bit when she had to drop out for a bit and ultimately moved schools, but we’ve since reconnected ever since she got into UP. She’s taking up journalism too. Brianna: Callo’s third name is Brianna. Her chaotic behavior on social media had pissed me off in the last few months so I cut ties with her. A little sad considering how incredibly close we were in high school, but I just have to remember how annoying she’s been and I feel ok again. Cassandra: I used to go to school with a Cassandra but she moved when we started the 1st grade, so I never actually got to talk or be close to her. Like Aerielle, it turns out she’s also in UP now and she’s in the football varsity too. I see her sometimes but given that we’ve never talked, the most we’ve given each other is a look of recognition of being in preschool together lmao. We also had a batchmate named Kassandra but she lives in Singapore now. Small, sweet, and just the nicest girl. Cassidy Sierra: Aya’s second name is Ciara, which is pretty close. Some of us say it similarly to Sierra, and others pronounce it as Sha-ra, so it varies. Cheri Shariah Savannah Greta: My sister had a batchmate named Greta and I remember her mostly because she’s the daughter of my high school’s old theatre manager/director/I never actually found out what his position was called, but basically he used to produce all of our school productions. Leandra Lauren: I went to grade school and high school with a Lauren. We were close as kids but she changed crowds in like the 6th or 7th grade and we lost touch from there. Austin Samantha: Lots of Samanthas were I’m from; it’s a fairly common middle-class name. I used to be best friends with a Sam; I had a high school batchmate named Sam; I knew someone a high school batch higher with the name; and I also currently go to college with a Sam. OH and I also have a cousin with this name hahahaha. She lives in New York but she visited the Philippines a couple of years ago and I was able to spend time with her then. Shayne: My sister’s kindergarten teacher was a Shane and all I remember is that she was really nice and motherly to my sister who did nothing in school but cry because she had bad separation anxiety. Seth: I have a cousin named Seth, but he lives in New York and I’ve never seen him. He’s the younger brother of my cousin Sam. Scott Ryan: I have a uncle with this name but I haven’t seen him since I was a little girl. He used to live with one of my aunts but I think he has since moved back to our home province. Maverick: One of our org’s alumni is a Maverick but he goes by Mawel. I’ve always thought he was intimidating so I’ve never approached nor talked to him. Dylan: My sister had a batchmated named Dylan which I think is a badass name for a girl. Anna: I had several former teachers named Anna. Two of them taught AP (social studies) and another taught us algebra. Katie: I will sometimes call Kate this, but I dunno anyone who legit goes by Katie. Jessica: Went to high school with one. Was always too boisterous and a little fake for me. She also loved to surround herself with boys as early as when we were 13 and while that’s never wrong I just never vibed with people like her. Lydia: I don’t know anyone with this name but this did remind me of the Breaking Bad character who was always a little bit annoying. Ellery Dakota Epiphany Galaxy Ariana: I think Yumi’s sister is an Ariana, but I’ll never know for sure because she always just calls her Ari. Gabriella: My girlfriend is a Gabriela. Rachel: My math teacher in Grade 1 was Ms. Rachel. I don’t have an opinion on her but I remember one time when our class was too noisy, she got way too pissed off and she spent the entire 45-minute period doing sign language to us to be petty. I never did like her after that. Amy: I go to college with an Aimee but I never get to see her on campus because her whole person screams Ateneo. I have no idea why she just didn’t enroll over there instead looooool, her boyfriend and all her friends are there and she’s always hanging out at their campus it’s so weird. My late grand-aunt Amet was also called Amy by some of her peers. Marissa: This is the second name of Kayla, someone I go to college with. Her schedule is weird though because she went on exchange in Canada two sems ago and she’s supposed to have been back a long time now, but I haven’t seen her at all. I have no idea if she’s still even in Canada or is back in the PH now and is just keeping her whereabouts on the down low. Taylor Rebecca: One of Rita’s older sister is named Rebecca but she goes by Becca. She graduated from my college last year, so I’m pretty familiar with her. We’re not close but I’ve encountered her a few times before and she’s reeeeally pretty and nice. The few times we’ve crashed at Rita’s place she had always greeted us out of familiarity from seeing us in our college building. Ashley: I had an STS class with an Ashley but I didn’t get to know her all that much. Allison: I used to have an instructor named Allison but I think she only taught so she could have extra cash because she’s also taking up her Master’s in the same college, so she wasn’t that good of a teacher. I do remember finding her pretty though. Oh and she also got into a really bad car accident in the middle of the sem and we didn’t have classes for like a month, so there’s that. Madison Abigail: My mom is named Abigail. Zachary: I have a cousin named Zachary but he mainly goes by James. Gabriel: Yep I have an orgmate with this name but we call him Gab. He’s...a bit of a character. Either you can tolerate his presence or you find him plain annoying. Used to play his music LOUD in Skywalk which annoyed the hell out of everybody. I’m still not sure what to feel about him so I just give him a nod when we see each other. Mitchell Joe: I have a friend named Jo but she’s a girl. I don’t think I know any guys named Joe. Corey Shawn: I know a friend of some of my friends is named Sean but we’ve never encountered each other. He’s into broadcasting and has done hosting gigs and I think he’s a junior jock in one of the local radio stations as well. Carly: Carley was my old internet best friend. We first found each other because we were huuuuge Stephanie McMahon fans on Tumblr a decade ago and we’d do edits and read fanfic and reblog photos of her, so a really close friendship blossomed from there. She had a rough life those days with a bit of an abusive mom (who has since passed) and I’d video chat her in the afternoon when I’d come home from school (by then she was preparing for school, since she’s from the US). After a while her schedule turned weird and she’d be offline for months at a time only to resurface for like two days then disappear again. She did this for like 3-4 years until I got tired and just stopped talking to her. She’s still my Facebook friend and she shares a lot of memes, but that’s all to it now. Carmen: I went to school with someone who had a very lengthy name and one of her names was Carmen, but she goes by Pam because she also has a Pamela in her name. She does streetdance and I was classmates with her once but we never really got to talk. Melissa: Eh, sure. Someone from high school. Lazy ass. Stephanie: The only IRL Stephanie I know is this girl who’s supposed to be enrolled this sem and is supposedly a classmate of mine in several classes, but never showed up from January through March. And now the lockdown hasn’t helped her case either. Shannon Selena: I have a cousin with this name but it’s spelled Selina. Also she goes by Bia because her other name is Bianca. Christine: Fairly common name. I know lots of Christines/Christina but I’m only close with one, who’s my orgmate and is the VP for Membership for the org, aka she’s the one in charge of recruiting new applicants for the two sems that she’s in charge of the committee. Paula: I went to grade school and high school with a Paula. She was SO painfully shy and quiet but friendly. She studies in Ateneo now but I wouldn’t know if she’s gotten extroverted in the last few years. Harmony Serenity Tessa: My prof in PR was Ma’am Tessa. One of the nicest, softest people ever who’s always down for anything. I think she’s in her 70s now but she’s definitely still kicking and doesn’t miss a single basketball and volleyball game during UAAP season. Claire: One of my very first guidance counselors was Ms. Claire. I remember her being motherly and she was also the counselor that intervened when I had a fight with one student in third grade that was big enough for both of us to land in the guidance office heh. Ruby Rhiannon Harper Riley Brandon Brayden Mystery Noelle: I vaguely remember going to school with a Noelle in kinder but she only stuck around the school for 1-2 years so I have no memories of her whatsoever. Destiny Darcy Dianne: Went to kinder, grade school, and high school with a Dianne. She was quiet for most of the years but she had a really blooming glow-up in high school, where she was part of the popular clique. Super smart and she’s now in business school in UP; also a terrific dancer. Felicity Grace: I have a grand-aunt named Grace. She’s very sweet and funny and is doting towards her grandkids and her grandnieces and nephews, but she and her sisters have notorious track records in the family for having a bit of an attitude and/or for making scenes, and she’s the pettiest of them all given that she’s the youngest. Despite that, all in all I have a soft spot for her. Hannah: One of my best friends in UP. We first met when she and Macy (my old high school friend) transferred to UPD from UPLB, but in the end Hannah and I ended up becoming closer friends because Macy has since struggled to adjust to the transfer and has pushed people away in the process, including me. ANYWAY I’m glad I was introduced to Hannah because she’s one of the most hilarious people I’ve ever met. She’s also insanely talented and a hell of a performer. I’ll miss her the most when I have to graduate. Kayla: That girl who went on an exchange program in Canada that I mentioned earlier mainly goes by Kayla. I remember her notably because she’s the first EVER person I talked to when I got officially enrolled in UP - we were seated together in the welcoming assembly for freshies back in 2016. It was nothing more than a random encounter though and we didn’t end up becoming close after that. Liam: My cousin Seth is also named Liam. Morgan Natasha: I went to school with a Natasha but we all called her Tashie. She had a bit of a larger build than the rest of us which made her look domineering, but she’s really nice and is a big softie if you get to know her. She posts workout videos from time to time and has since lost a lot of weight in college. Nathan Olivia: My future daughter loljk Bailey Emily Amanda: I have an orgmate named Amanda. She’s mostly shy and reserved and I haven’t really gotten the chance to know her since she’s quiet and always has to head home earlier than the rest of us. Addison Adrienne: An old classmate from high school has had her third kid that she named Adrienne. Molly Siona: I don’t know Sionas but I do know a Fiona, heh. Emerald Chelsea: Yeah Chelsea was one of my close friends in high school. We don’t talk these days but we’ll sometimes react on each other’s posts on Twitter or Facebook which is enough for me. We used to have parties and drinking sessions at her family’s gazebo behind her house, so even though we’ve mostly lost touch I’ll always have fond memories of her. Naomi Bethany: A very very very VERY old mutual on Tumblr had this name but we mostly called her Beth. She lives in the UK and I remember her being a CM Punk fan. Had unique eyebrows but was super pretty and she used to post webcam selfies all the time. Brittany Hope: Someone I went to kindergarten with had Hope as a middle name but she went by Maezelle. Super blurry memories of her as we were never close, but I remember her specifically for her teeth lmao - she had some cavities as a kid so she had a bunch of silver teeth. OK just checked Facebook and it turns out she lives in California now, as do most of my batchmates who migrated to the States as kids. Joy: I know several people who have Joy as a middle name but don’t go by it, like high school batchmates named AJ and CJ. Jade Aaron: Old friend from high school. Like Chelsea, he was a part of our friend group. He studies in UP too and we’ll say hi and hug when we see each other, but we aren’t personally close. Andrew: Coursemate, classmate, orgmate, groupmate in several projects, and now my thesis partner. At first I found him annoying and a bit too invasive and extroverted for my liking, but I gave him a chance and he’s turned out to be a really amazing, loyal, supportive friend. He’s an extremely talented writer, singer, performer, host, and radio jock. Wimpy drinker though haaaah. James: I have a cousin named James. He lives with his family in Vietnam and since his dad is from New Zealand, he’s picked up a bit of an accent as well. Jonathon Zachariah Malachi Victoria: I had a classmate in a polsci elective with this name, but I called her Jillian during that time cos it’s her first name. Judging from social media posts, she mainly goes by JV. Solomon Sorin Celia Heather: Went to high school with a Heather and is actually attending the same course as Jillian ^ in UP now. We were quite close in high school and she used to confide in me about relationship issues, back when she was seeing someone who had plans of transitioning. Heather’s parents were very strict against the idea and went to great lengths to forbid her from seeing him, so yeah that’s what she would rant to me late into the night about. We also bonded over One Direction and Joe Sugg for a time, and those days were a blast. She also got me to be in a Twitter DM thread with Caspar Lee for my 16th birthday which was a HELLUVA SURPRISE lmao. I’ve never forgotten those days with her and I’ll always remember her fondly even though we never talk anymore. Ivy: My prof in feature writing was named Ivy. She’s... a meh instructor at best. She loved telling HER stories and HER experiences and narrating HER interviews with famous people, politicians, celebrities, athletes, etc. but she left a few lessons behind which is really what we all enrolled for lmao, so I didn’t really learn anything from her class. Jasmine: Someone I went to high school with. She was into K-Pop, J-Pop, and anime back then and I think she still is. We were always good friends towards each other even though we were never close close. She’s taking up linguistics in UP now. Jasper Kaylee Anica: An instructor from the broadcast communication department in my college. Nothing much to say about her except she weirdly tags along with one of the other professors ALL THE TIME TO EVERYWHERE, including the washroom. I’m definitely not judging but yeah, it’s what I notice first when I think of her.

#survey #surveys

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glenngaylord · 4 years

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THE LAST RADIO SHOW - My Review of THE VAST OF NIGHT ( 3 1/2 Stars)

With their feature film debut, director Andrew Patterson and his co-writer Craig W. Sanger have made an idiosyncratic splash with the micro budget yet winning sci-fi mystery, The Vast Of Night. Set in 1950s small town New Mexico, the film begins with a Twilight Zone-style introduction as we push in on an old fashioned television. The main story, the film-within-the-film, centers around two teens who one night discover a strange signal at their respective jobs as a radio host and a switchboard operator. Have aliens invaded or perhaps the Soviets? With the rest of the town at the local high school basketball game, can the two of them save humanity?

While admittedly, the story feels very slight, the charm lies in the telling. Patterson, along with his resourceful cinematographer, M.I. Littin-Menz, go for long, sometimes swooping, sometimes static takes which allows us to immerse ourselves in this world. We first meet Everett (Jake Horowitz), a talk radio host at WOTW (War Of The Worlds, anyone?) as the camera follows behind him as he’s summoned to the gymnasium to help with an electrical problem. Cocky, immensely self-assured, Everett talks fast as he lopes from one interaction to the next. He invites Fay (Sierra McCormick), the aforementioned telephone operator, to tag along and show him a new tape recorder she’s purchased. Fay, although much more naive than Everett, possesses an inviting sense of wonder about the new technology. He goads her on to interview various people in their cars in a sweetly charming sequence. What seems like a throwaway scene actually cuts to the heart of the film, which, to me, is about the joy one experiences when you discover a like-minded person who feels thrilled by anything new and unknown. I could watch Everett and Fay banter all night, which is exactly what you get with this film. Because they’re so delightful, it’s easy to enjoy their discussions about future tech like cell phones, GPS, and self-driving cars, all of which would have felt too on-the-nose with lesser filmmakers and actors. Horowitz and McCormick have wonderful chemistry and make a great impression so early in their careers.

As the two go off to their night jobs, we stop with Fay for a stunning, long single take as she patches calls in until the fateful signal comes across her switchboard. McCormick proves adept at holding our attention through what could have felt like a monotonous scene. As she involves Everett in this mystery, the filmmakers go on a fantastic flight of fancy as the camera glides past Fay, whooshes through the town, makes a pit stop at the basketball game and ends up in the WOTW radio station as Everett involves himself in the story. It’s amazing what one can do on a tiny budget when you have such resourceful filmmakers.

Eventually, we get another set piece involving a black man named Billy (Bruce Davis) who calls in to provide some information key to the origins of the strange signal. Much of it is told with the screen blacked out, emphasizing the radio show feel of this story. As Billy very calmly tells his long tale, Everett and Fay listen intently, slowly realizing that black voices very rarely get heard in their world. It’s an important moment in the film as our heroes learn how secrets remain secrets when held by an oppressed minority who nobody would give the time of day. Somewhere in this film lies a message about what little progress we’ve made since, but it does get overshadowed by the almost rom-com nature of our central relationship.

The film gets more intense from here on out, leading to another eerie encounter or two and a cathartic yet subtle ending. With its high school background and one horse town qualities, the film reminded me of Peter Bogdanovich’s masterpiece, The Last Picture Show, mixed with Orson Welles’ radio broadcast of War Of The Worlds. Like Picture Show, you learn every inch of this town and like the radio show, your imagination fills in the eerie blanks of a story told mainly in darkness or on the faces of our two leads.

Much of the 1950s aimed to keep the population in fear. People feared the communists, nuclear war, and emerging social changes. Everett and Fay represent the hope of a future where what we fear is also what excites us the most. This little film, with virtually no big special effects, filled me with a sense of wonder and awe.

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clarencenicholsonata · 4 years

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5 Tasty Social Media Marketing Tips for Breweries (With Examples!)

Thanks to beer’s enduring appeal in our culture, there’s also more competition than ever. USA Today reported that in the United States alone, the number of craft breweries has nearly doubled since 2014.

How can breweries stand out in an increasingly competitive market?

Quality products, first and foremost.

Great marketing, second.

For fledgling breweries, the good news is that stellar marketing doesn’t necessarily require a big budget.

Here’s a guide to leveraging social media, one of the few free tools, and simultaneously one of the most powerful.

Keep these social media tips in mind when crafting your social media strategy and your marketing plan and watch your follower count roll in and your engagement stats rise.

Social media marketing tip one: Tell your brand story

Social media is a fantastic outlet for creativity and a good place to weave your brand story through photos, copy, video, and voice.

This isn’t something that’s achieved by one post, but over time, and means connecting your product to something much wider than the beer itself.

Mexican brand Corona understands the appeal of their beverage isn’t just the beer itself: a corona and lime brings to mind relaxation, sun, vacation, letting go.

They’ve fully embraced this as their brand, tying the image of plunging a fresh lime into a cold Corona to diving headfirst into the waters of a blue ocean.

Canadian beer brand Kokanee knows that an overall brand look can be as compelling. Each post contributes a solid identity: distinctly Canadian and northern, their brand photos send a message and create a community aesthetic without saying a word: this is an outdoorsy beer for adventurous explorers.

Tips for telling your brand story

Think about what separates your product from others in the market, and try to focus on that.

Everything will contribute to your brand’s story: not just your images, but the voice you use, the way you reply to your customers, your posting schedule, etc. A brand story and brand personality are closely interlinked.

Pay attention to the language and words your target audience uses, and weave that into your posts and copy. It’ll make your audience feel like you’re part of their community.

Social media marketing tip two: Showcase Your Company’s People

Getting to know the people behind the logo is now a marketing stable! Staff profiles and Q&A’s are simple to do, but important and let your audience know that your company is made of people like them.

However, if you’re looking for something more than a profile or a staff photo, there are a few things you can try.

Sierra Nevada Brewery company, one of the most successful beer brands, has made sharing their team’s story creatively into an art form.

In one poignant Instagram post, they give a glimpse at their original story, without getting too nostalgic, by taking a photo of a notebook with scribbled recipes.

View this post on Instagram

#TBT to when notebooks cost $0.75 and if you wanted a neighborhood brewery you had to build it yourself. ?

A post shared by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. (@sierranevada) on Apr 11, 2019 at 6:18pm PDT

In another, more recent post, their founder posted a screenshot of an amusing text exchange he had with another entrepreneur. It showed an ability to make fun of himself, as well as their work ethic and friendliness.

View this post on Instagram

Once our founder Ken Grossman got @pinthousebeer Joe to save his phone number, we could truly start our hazy collab. ? Who This Be IPA is a 6-hop beauty, stuffed with the freshest whole cones from Yakima, exclusively for the Hop Harvest Festival we’re hosting in Chico, CA on Saturday, Oct. 19. Hit the profile link for tix! #whothisbe #beerandpizzaday

A post shared by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. (@sierranevada) on Oct 9, 2019 at 4:20pm PDT

Tips for showcasing the people behind the brand

Staff profiles aren’t the only way to let people get to know your team. If you want, you can give them glimpses into old notebooks, fun company emails, or casual texts like the one above -- sometimes, these say volumes more about us.

If you do have staff profiles, make sure your photos are high quality and on brand. They don’t have to all be done in-studio, but it may be jarring if some of your profiles are LinkedIn profile photos in business suits, and others are on a beach.

Social media marketing tip three: Engage with People

The key word in social media is “social”.

People don’t log on to be spoken ‘at’, they go for an interactive experience, and your brand will get the most out of social media by catering to that need.

Magic Hat Brewing has earned itself a place on must-follow lists for its irreverent tweets, not only about its products, but also asking followers about their opinions of Lord of the Rings movies and what they’re up to.

Reminiscing about being a kid and sneaking kraft singles into the movies wyd?

— Magic Hat Brewing (@magichat) October 1, 2019

They’re not the only brand to strike gold by using Twitter as a semi-personal account. Wendy’s has amassed a cult following for its sassy tweets, and Sunny D went viral for having a mini-existential crisis online.

Your brand voice may not be this casual (or emotional), but there’s still much to learn from Magic Hat, Wendy’s and Sunny D. Audiences have had their fill of being spoken at. People far prefer interactive, relatable brands.

Tips for Engaging with Your Audience

Interact with other brands too, but don’t bring them down! It doesn’t make your brand look good to bully others.

Bots are good for some things, but not great for establishing a real, fun, sharp voice on social media. For that, to really stand out, you may need a human team.

Not everyone you meet on social media will be nice, and how you respond to hostile, angry or dissatisfied customers will say more about your brand than almost any other interaction. Establish a plan for handling angry customers online and train your social media team.

Social media marketing tip four: Connect to a Cause

Just as social media users don’t only care about likes and clicks, beer drinkers don’t care solely about beer.

More and more, consumers care about the ethics behind the products they’re buying.

It’s worth the investment, on multiple levels, to put some of your efforts into giving back.

New Belgium Brewing Co. put meaning behind their message with their #FindingCommonGround campaign, which not only connect their brand to a wider cause, but work to raise $250,000 for charity.

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Whether you’re a wheeler, a biker, or just a beer drinker, we can all stand on common ground and stand up for public lands together. Visit the link in the bio and share the videos to make a donation to 6 non-profits who help to protect our public lands. Let’s start #findingcommonground.

A post shared by New Belgium Brewing (@newbelgium) on Jul 17, 2019 at 9:08am PDT

Tips for connecting to causes:

Your cause should be a long term commitment.

You should be willing to dedicate your brand to your cause in promotion, in action, through volunteering, or through donations.

It’s best if your cause connects with your target market somehow.

Choosing a charity partner to align with can make this much easier and your impact much more powerful.

Social media tip marketing five: Partner with other brands

A beer’s better with friends. Likewise, a brand’s better in a partnership.

Consider doubling up your power for promotions with a brand that can amplify your message and sweeten your offer.

Take Budweiser, for example. In 2016, Budweiser teamed up with ride service Uber for a seasonal campaign to stop people from driving drunk. With a code, they could get one ride free (encouraging safe drinking practices, as well as introducing people to Uber), and promoting Budweiser as the carrier of the promotion.

As well as the print ad, the campaign went a step further, running a video ad with Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren delivering a withering, no-holds-barred lecture to any potential drunk drivers (while having a Budweiser).

Tips for partnerships:

Partnerships are especially good for giveaways, allowing you to expand your offer and reach two different audiences.

Find a brand aligned with your goals, and of similar size to get maximum value from a partnership.

Summary

Breweries have a product that is in demand, but they are working in an increasingly competitive market. Luckily, digital marketing allows them to stay ahead of the game through creative branding and audience engagement.

As a recap, here are some social media tips for breweries:

Don’t neglect visual brand storytelling

Showcase your company’s people

Engage with People

Connect to a Cause

Partner with other Brands

Interested in learning more? Here’s some recommended reading from around our blog:

50 Amazing Social Media Marketing Ideas, Strategies & Tips

20 Clever Social Media Giveaway Ideas You Can Use Today

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cassiecantyousee · 7 years

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Tree Huggers in Church

“But Cassie, why AREN’T Christians environmentalists?” If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me that, I would have enough money to have more interesting hobbies than ranting about things on the internet. But the point remains that, at least here in America, Christians and Environmentalists are rarely seen sitting together at lunch.

I’ve already talked about why Christians should love science, so I won’t rehash that again. What I’m talking about here is solar panel installing, tree hugging, recycling and composting environmentalism. We’ve had a few very influential Christian environmentalists over the years, but not very many. Saint Francis, who lived around 800 years ago, is still known for his love of animals and care for the environment. Pope John Paul II even declared him the patron saint of ecology. John Muir, who co-founded the Sierra Club and is often called the Father of the National Parks, spoke often of God in his activism and his writings. Muir believed that nature revealed the nature of God, and dedicated his life to preserving natural places. John McConnell was the original founder of Earth Day and a lifelong devout Christian. He and his wife, Anna, even designed the famous Earth flag!

Aside from these few, however, the list of big names who put their faith at the center of their environmentalism essentially runs out (yes there are definitely others! But not people you would think of as historical landmarks off the top of your head, which was sort of my litmus test here). So where is everyone? To be sure, there are still Christians working very hard to care for God’s creation (the Lausanne Call to Action is a good place to start), but they’re not usually very well known or well supported within the larger American Christian community. This is usually when people start yelling things like “scientists hate Christians!” or “remember the Scopes trial!” or “environmentalism is basically paganism!” etc. And I’m here to say that I DON’T CARE. When we say things like this we sound like a bunch of whiny kids on the playground shouting, “he started it!” Not a good look, guys.

My sister is five years younger than I am, and like most siblings, we used to fight a lot. In the aftermath, my parents would always remind me that because I was older, I knew better and needed to be the bigger person. I HATED that, but they weren’t wrong. As Christians, we need to keep this in mind. God calls us to turn the other cheek, and to do the right thing no matter what other people are doing. It’s like being the ultimate older sibling (but hopefully without the Beanie Baby wars).

So even if all the usual “religious” critiques of environmentalism are true (which is debatable, but that’s a discussion for another day), it shouldn’t stop Christians from being environmentalists. The actions of others should never stop us from acting as Christ-like as possible. If we believe that God created the world, and loved it, and sent His son to die for it, shouldn’t we be working to protect it?

There is a ton of Biblical evidence in support of Christians caring for the planet, but here’s some to start you out:

The first couple chapters of Genesis, but especially Genesis 2:15: The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Sometimes people mistakenly think that God tells Adam and Eve to rule over the environment, when really he tells them to be stewards of the environment. The blame here probably lies in lazy translating, but we thankfully know better now.

Deuteronomy 22:6: “If you come across a bird's nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. One of many examples of God telling his people to help animals in need. This happens a lot, especially in Proverbs. Also a good illustration of sustainability: if you take the mother, no more birds!

Probably at least half of the Psalms: SO MANY Psalms feature natural imagery. He is the God of mountains. The God of the sea. The rocks will cry out to him. Obviously God is involved in the natural world!

The Babylonian Exile (various books, but especially 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, and Jeremiah): While there were a variety of reasons the people of Judah were exiled to Babylon (idolatry being a big one), one of the lesser known reasons was that they weren’t farming sustainably. God had told them to let their fields rest every seven years, also known as the Year of Jubilee (Exodus 23:10-11). They weren’t doing that! So the land had to rest for ten times seven, and they were exiled in Babylon for seventy years. Rotate your crops, people.

The obvious argument is that God created the earth. God created us, and there are certainly a lot of passages about how we need to take care of one another and treat each other well. It seems very clear to me that this would apply to our relationship with the environment as well. When various theologians discuss the aftermath of the Fall (a.k.a. Adam and Eve eating those dumb apples a.k.a. the beginning of Sin), they often talk about four major relationships breaking: the relationship between humans and God, the relationship between humans and other humans, the relationship between humans and themselves, and the relationship between humans and the environment. As Christians try to live lives that are as Christ-like as possible, we should be thinking about repairing that broken relationship with God’s creation.

Now I would be remiss to write this post and neglect to mention the incredible Christian environmental organizations caring for God’s creation all over the world, so check ‘em out:

A Rocha (yes, this is who I worked for in Kenya!): They’re the best, and they have a ton of great free resources. Also they’re a member of the IUCN.

Care of Creation: another great source for outreach materials! Plus, if you’re in the Valley, one of their executive directors is giving a talk on October 3rd!

BioLogos: interesting discussions on the historicity and purpose of Genesis, if you want to bend your brain around a bit.

Young Evangelicals for Climate Action: I love these guys and I’m on their mailing list!

Sojourner’s Green Team: Great coverage of environmental issues from a Christian perspective, and just good reporting all around.

Eden Vigil: Similar to CoC or A Rocha, have some good book recommendations.

Lausanne Creation Care Network: Partnered with A Rocha and CoC, and host awesome regional conferences around the world (also I mentioned them before)

Go forth and reduce, reuse, recycle!

#Christianity #environment #environmentalism #science #religion

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jobsearchtips02 · 4 years

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The bizarre conspiracy theory that Bill Gates caused COVID-19 crisis

Microsoft co-founder and benefactor Bill Gates.

Elaine Thompson/AP Photo.

As the coronavirus pandemic has actually spread out around the world, with millions infected and thousands dead, billionaire Microsoft co-founder and benefactor Expense Gates has actually promised a quarter billion dollars to combat the disease through his foundation.

Gates has been an advocate for pandemic readiness for years, and his Expense and Melinda Gates Structure is contributing funding to numerous coronavirus vaccine initiatives. He famously provided a 2015 TED talk warning of the prospective devastation brought on by– and advised readiness for– an around the world pandemic.

Those elements lag strange new conspiracy theories that claim Gates is responsible for the coronavirus pandemic and have actually rapidly spread out from fringe conspiracy theorists online to conservative pundits.

See Company Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Costs Gates has actually advocated for pandemic preparedness for several years and notoriously provided a TED talk in 2015 that cautioned of the possibly incredible death toll a worldwide pandemic might develop.

As the coronavirus pandemic has actually spread around the world, Gates has actually promised $250 million to combat the illness and develop a vaccine.

Exceptionally, it’s these two elements that offer the structure of a brand-new set of conspiracy theories that point to Gates as the origin of coronavirus– and those conspiracy theories have rapidly gone from fringe online conspiracy theorists to the mouths of conservative experts.

Here’s what we know:

In 2015, Costs Gates provided a TED talk entitled, “The next break out? We’re not prepared.”

TED.

In his 2015 TED talk, Gates took a look at the ebola break out that killed thousands of people in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

” The failure to prepare could enable the next epidemic to be drastically more destructive than ebola,” he stated.

You can watch the full TED talk right here:

youtube

Pointing out that talk, and the Gates Foundation’s $250 million contribution to combat the illness, some right-wing conspiracy theorists declare Gates is the mastermind that produced the unique coronavirus.

fotopress/Getty Images.

The Infowars piece tried to link the Gates Foundation’s continuous investments in combating worldwide pandemics to previous knowledge of the coronavirus pandemic.

That distinction, nevertheless, was disregarded by conspiracy theorists.

For the next two months, conspiracies that Gates understood of the infection ahead of time or was directly responsible for its production blew up. And now it’s reached a minimum of one Fox News host.

Two examples of coronavirus-related Bill Gates conspiracy theories online, in shareable meme type, discovered on Twitter in April.

Twitter.

Mentions of coronavirus-related Bill Gates conspiracy theories have actually blown up on social networks and TELEVISION: They were discussed 1.2 million times in the last 2 months, according to information supplied to the New york city Times by the media intelligence firm Zignal Labs.

Those conspiracy theories have spread from fringe conservative conspiracy theorists, like Alex Jones, to conservative experts like Fox News host Laura Ingraham. “Digitally tracking Americans’ every move has actually been an imagine the globalists for several years,” Ingraham tweeted in early April “This health crisis is the ideal automobile for them to push this.”

The commentary was connected to another tweet, which connected to a post about Bill Gates on a conspiracy theory site that mentions an answer Gates gave during a Reddit AMA earlier this year. Gates spoke of a theoretical “digital certificate” that would accredit if individuals were vaccinated from coronavirus.

According to the piece, “The unavoidable mass vaccination campaign to eradicate COVID-19 would be the perfect chance to present a worldwide digital ID. This system would save a wealth of information about each person (including vaccination history) and would be used to give access to rights and services.”

It baselessly claimed that Gates– alongside other rich and effective people– is utilizing the coronavirus pandemic as a method of instilling a worldwide caste system based upon a digital ID.

Ingraham’s followers comprehended the message: “I will not take a #BillGatesVaccine,” one responded

Former Trump staffer Roger Stone, who was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison earlier this year, was more direct than Ingraham. “Whether Bill Gates played some function in the production and spread of this virus is open for vigorous debate,” Stone stated in a radio interview, according to a New York Post report “I have conservative pals who state it’s absurd and others state definitely.”

Loading Something is packing.

Why Costs Gates? Even pandemics are partisan.

Mike Cohen/Getty Images for The New York City Times.

Through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the billions that Gates made from co-founding Microsoft and turning it into a global powerhouse is being utilized to combat infectious illness around the world. They have actually spent millions on the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and polio.

Gates also co-founded The Offering Promise with his pal and fellow billionaire Warren Buffet, a campaign to get billionaires to guarantee to hand out the majority of their fortunes to humanitarian causes.

However Gates has likewise voiced opposition to President Trump’s federal coronavirus response.

” Halting financing for the World Health Organization throughout a world health crisis is as unsafe as it sounds,” he tweeted on April 15, simply after President Trump announced intents to cut financing for the World Health Organization. “Their work is slowing the spread of COVID-19 and if that work is stopped no other company can change them. The world needs @WHO now more than ever.”

Regardless of Gates not discussing the president, responses to his tweet are notably partisan– and a number of oppositions implicate Gates, through association with former President Expense Clinton and the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, of being part of an Illuminati-esque cabal.

Regardless of being particularly vocal lately, Gates hasn’t stated much in reaction to the conspiracies. “It’s ironic,” he informed GCTN in a televised interview.

Expense Gates.

YouTube/Gates Notes.

Gates decreased an interview with the New York Times for its report on coronavirus-related Costs Gates conspiracy theories– an unusual no from a guy who’s made various press looks recently in an effort to get out the message on coronavirus prevention.

He did, nevertheless, answer a concern about those conspiracy theories in a telecasted interview with Chinese broadcast channel GCTN

” I ‘d say it’s paradoxical that you take somebody who’s doing their finest to get the world all set and putting, in my case, billions of dollars into these tools for transmittable illness, and really attempting to solve broadly transmittable illness– consisting of those that trigger pandemics,” Gates said. “However we remain in a crazy situation, so there’s going to be insane rumors.”

Functions Expense Gates coronavirus COVID

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johnboothus · 3 years

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VinePair Podcast: Is There a Future for To-Go Cocktails?

There was a time in 2020 when it seemed like the to-go cocktail might become so entrenched in American society that it would outlast the Covid-19 pandemic, whenever that ended. Yet now, with vaccines widely available in this country and most areas either fully resuming indoor dining and drinking or announcing dates when that will return, the to-go cocktail seems perilously close to being just another relic of a very strange and scary time.

That’s what Adam Teeter, Zach Geballe, and new co-host Joanna Sciarrino — VinePair’s executive editor — discuss on this week’s “VinePair Podcast.” Is there a future for to-go cocktails in America? Can they compete with the rise of RTD cocktails? And will drinking in public be ticketed and criminalized again after a year or more of a virtual free- for-all?

Listen Online

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Spotify

Or Check out the Conversation Here

Adam Teeter: From Brooklyn, New York, I’m Adam Teeter.

Joanna Sciarrino: From Manhattan, New York. I’m Joanna Sciarrino.

Zach Geballe: And in Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe.

A: And this is the “VinePair Podcast.” Joanna, what’s going on?

J: Hi, thank you. I’m so happy to be here.

A: Yeah, we’re happy to have you. So Manhattan, New York, huh?

J: I figured I had to make the distinction, the borough distinction.

A: Let the people know you’re in the other borough, I get it. You’ve been a listener of the podcast, obviously, so you know how we start these things off. What have you been up to? What have you been drinking? And you can go further back than just a week, if you want to.

J: Oh, great. I have a whole list. Recently, I went to Essex Market on the Lower East Side, which they recently reopened. There’s a Top Hops there, which is a really cool beer store. Their location on Orchard Street, I think, recently closed.

A: It did?

J: Yeah, I think it just happened.

A: Wow, I love Top Hops.

J: Yeah, it’s a cool spot. And we were there and I got some plum gose from Transmitter Brewing, which was really interesting and refreshing. Felt like a good summer beer.

A: Nice, that’s cool. Anything else?

J: Now, this is a little further back. I had a really interesting white Rioja. I don’t know a lot about white Riojas, but it was really delicious. The maker was Sierra de Toloño.

A: Oh, very cool. I feel you don’t see a lot of white Rioja. Obviously, it exists and you hear people talk about it, but I definitely don’t see it on lists. I rarely see it in wine shops. Zach, why do you think that is, man?

Z: Well, definitely in terms of the production of Rioja, most of it is red wine. And then a small, small, small percentage is rosé and white. Honestly, I think the other reason is that weirdly, a not insignificant number of peoples’ introduction to white Rioja is through López de Heredia, who is a classic producer. They age their wine for a decade before they release it. That style of wine period, and especially in the white and in the rosé category, is so hard for people to get their heads around. There’s almost no fruit character. It’s very oxidized, very nutty, and salty. It’s good, but it’s a little more analogous to drinking a sherry or something like that is what most people think of as white wine. That wine has become very popular for somms to put on lists and it’s a cool wine and all that, but if that’s your point of introduction to white Rioja, you’re going to think, “This is not for me.” I don’t know the specific one you mentioned, Joanna, but there are a lot of them out there that are really good. The López de Heredia is the one that I like, but it’s not a wine I would drink very often. In general, the white wines from Spain, from Rioja, from Ribera del Duero etc., are underappreciated because they don’t have the cachet that the red wines do and the other made varieties that people aren’t that familiar with. I don’t know, I think there’s not a lot of it made and then people’s point of an introduction is a weird wine.

A: Very interesting. Zach, what about you, man?

Z: No white Riojas for me lately, honestly — although now that you’ve said it, do I have one somewhere in this house? Maybe I do. Anyhow, the thing that I had most recently that I really enjoyed was a hazy IPA. We are getting to that time of year for me. Since we started talking about them on the podcast, I became a fan and this is from Fremont Brewing. A friend of mine who works there brought over some of their Head Full of Dynomite, which is good. They do a series so every release is different. They’re all labeled under the Head Full of Dynomite labels but each one is a different recipe with different hops or a different amount of various things. I haven’t been able to bring myself to dive too deeply into that, so that was exciting. Then, the other thing, and all the listeners will get more of this down the road. I just interviewed Matt Hoffman yesterday, who is the distiller at Westland Distilling here in Seattle. I think Westland is one of the boldest and risk-taking distillers in whiskey in the world, really. And I tried their just released Colere which is a single malt that they are making based entirely on a non-commodity variety of barley. You can hear a lot more about this if you listen to that episode probably in a month, so set your calendars. It is a really interesting product designed around creating a different economic reality for farmers and for distillers around these varieties of barley that have been pushed aside because they don’t fit the commodity system, even if they have lots to recommend them. So that was really cool.

A: OK, Westland. Very cool.

Z: What about you, Adam?

A: Oh, God, what about me? So I had a really amazing experience on Sunday night, and I snagged a reservation at Gage & Tollner, which is a new but old restaurant that just opened in Brooklyn.

J: It’s so hot.

A: It’s so hot right now. It was open in the 1800s. Actually, there were people that had said in the ‘40s, ‘50s, etc., that Gage & Tollner was the reason to go to Brooklyn. It was a really famous chophouse that was located on Fulton Street in Brooklyn. Fulton Mall was the first pedestrian mall in New York, so it’s really close to downtown Brooklyn. And the Fulton Mall starts from Borough Hall, which is where the borough president lives. For those of you who don’t know, our boroughs have presidents, too, although every borough knows their president except for Manhattan. I had no clue who the Manhattan borough president was.

Z: Does Joanna know?

A: Yeah, do you know who the Manhattan borough president is, Joanna?

J: I do not.

A: Exactly, I never did, either, but once you get to another borough, they say, “Oh, yeah, your borough president is X person.” Anyways, it starts at Borough Hall and then runs to Flatbush and it’s a pedestrian mall. There is this very historic building on the mall where Gage & Tollner has always been located. It was in operation for decades, decades, decades. And then it closed, I think, sometime in the ‘90s, and it sat vacantly. As legend has it, St. John Frizell, who owns a bar in Red Hook called Fort Defiance, he was apparently in the area, and thought, “It is actually a bummer that you can’t get a really good cocktail in this area of Brooklyn.” Then he saw the space and wanted to bring it back to life. Anyway, he’s brought it back to life with the team behind Insa, which is also a really hot restaurant in Gowanus. And it is this amazing restaurant. It’s super cool. They’ve taken a lot of the classic dishes the chophouse used to have, so you can obviously think copious amounts of shellfish and steak, but they also have a lot of really modern twists on things which are really delicious. And then, of course, the cocktail program is amazing. I had two ridiculously amazing cocktails. I had a perfect Martini, which was delicious. He made it in the 50/50 style, so it was equal parts gin and the vermouth. As a perfect Martini, you split the vermouth in equal parts so it was half-sweet, half-dry. It was really delicious and the perfect way to start the meal. Then, we had actually ordered a bottle of Costières de Nîmes.

Z:Costières de Nîmes, yeah.

A: We had that wine for the mains, but we had finished our first cocktails at the bar before we were seated. And so they recommended that we get another cocktail with the appetizers. And St. John is actually known for the Daiquiri.

Z: This could be Adam’s official cocktail of the year.

A: It was really, really awesome. It is my official favorite cocktail of forever now. It makes me want to only make Daiquiris. Again, if you listen to a podcast and you make rum and you want to send me some rum to make Daiquiris with, I’m not going to say no.

Z: Does this mean you demoted the Negroni?

A: I demoted the Negroni a long time ago.

Z: Really? Huh. I believe you talked a lot more about Negronis than Daiquiris until about a year ago, which is fine.

J: It’s too mainstream now, right?

A: Also, I just got tired of it. I made it a lot and I just got tired of it. I still like it once in a while. I did have a Negroni recently, actually on Friday night, when I took my niece out to dinner.

Z: She is adorable, by the way.

A: Yeah, and it was a neighborhood Italian restaurant. And that was the cocktail on the list. I got her mocktail, and she loved it. I just don’t make them as much as I used to. They’re too boozy for me. I mean I get that the Daiquiri’s boozy, too, but I don’t know, I don’t drink them as much as I used to. I drink a lot more cocktails now where the mixer is fruit, fresh fruit juice, than I do where it’s all booze. And I used to be very much an all-boozy cocktail person, and now I’ve definitely switched to a fresh fruit juice cocktail person, does that make sense? Joanna, what do you think? What kind of cocktails do you prefer?

J: That’s a good question. I don’t really discriminate. I tend towards boozier cocktails as well. I like a drink on the rocks versus something long or up. I love a Manhattan.

Z: Maybe you can name one after your borough president, whenever we figure out who they are.

J: Gale Brewer.

A: Oh, you looked it up! I didn’t mention but I should say that the other cool thing about Gage & Tollner is that on the second floor, they’re opening this place called Sunken Harbor Club. It’s supposed to launch sometime this summer. It’s going to be a speakeasy tiki bar, which I think is going to be super cool and really fun.

Z: Are we going to talk about to-go cocktails, Adam?

A: Well, I mean, that’s what we’re talking about right now, Zach. We talked about this before, but I think it’s a good time to revisit the world of to-go cocktails and what the future for them entails. Is there a future for to-go cocktails? We’ve obviously argued a lot that they should be made permanent. I think a lot of places have or are in the process of making them permanent, a lot of states. Then, the question becomes: Was it a pandemic thing or do we think to-go cocktails are going to be something that people order regularly? And this conversation I’m interested in having. What do you think, Joanna?

J: Well, I’m actually curious to know, Adam, from you, if you’ve talked to any restaurant owners or bartenders about it and if they really think that it’s a viable or a necessary path or revenue stream at this point.

A: That’s what’s really interesting. I believe some people do, but the ones that are a fan of them, I have found, are people who are located near parks or in family neighborhoods. I’ve seen that they’ve kept their to-go cocktail programs pretty active. One of the bars I’m thinking of is Elsa, which is located on Atlantic Avenue. They created a whole to-go cocktail program, right at the beginning of the pandemic. They do a lot of frozen drinks in those plastic juice bottles you’re used to getting that used to have really sugary juices or milk. Do you guys know what I’m talking about? They’re the thin, slender plastic bottle that has the plastic top that you take the weird ring off of it.

Z: Yeah.

A: They’re still doing it and they’re really close to Brooklyn Bridge Park. They’re also located in Cobble Hill where there’s a lot of families. I could see someone on their way home picking up some cocktails to take for dinner, instead of having to deal with making them. Then other places that were doing them a lot, I don’t see as much. Look, a lot who I’ve talked to have said they’re happy to continue to do anything that will bring revenue in for the business, but there’s also the question of how much do you want to take away from all the activity that is happening in a lot of these bars? Do you have time to also focus on a to-go cocktail program? I think anyone is now going to be willing to make you a to-go cocktail if you show up and ask to take something home, right? If we walk by a bar and say, “Oh, let’s just see if they’ll give us them in styrofoam cups,” most people will now. Yet, my curiosity in all of this is what about the delivery of the to-go cocktail game. Is that going to stay because we’re doing a VinePair picnic tomorrow. Sorry, Zach.

Z: That’s OK.

A: I looked for cocktails to order for the picnic, and it was really hard to find anyone in my area anymore doing large format, like really hard. And I also didn’t really know where to go look. I looked it up on Seamless and Caviar. I’m setting up for the picnic so I do need them delivered. I understand that delivery is not great for these places and that I probably should go pick it up, but I’m not going to be able to and there were a lot of singles that were pretty expensive, right? We’re thinking like $13 to $15 a cocktail. Now, there was one place which I do love, The Hi-Hi Room who was doing doubles, but they were $22 a double. I really would love to do this, but I found it a lot harder than I thought I would. I thought it would be super cool, like, “Hey guys, we’re going to have a picnic. By the way, I got a few large format cocktails from X great Brooklyn Bar.” I just didn’t find it as easily as early in the pandemic when everyone was doing that and delivering it to your home in large 750-milliliter bottles.

Z: Well, I wonder if a lot of this is just we got to the point where the bulk of the population could reasonably feel safe going back into a bar. I think a lot quicker than we thought a year ago. You know what I mean? When you and I first were discussing this, we thought that to-go cocktails become more established because we both reasonably thought that 2021 — especially the spring, summer, and fall — would be more like 2020. Sure, people would want to do things together, they’d want to go to parks, they want to congregate but it wasn’t going to be safe for them to necessarily dine indoors or drink indoors. Yeah, there were places that had outdoor bars but they were crowded. They were going to have to have social distancing in place or should try to, at least. The honest truth is we got to a point where the vaccines were widely available to people, wonderfully, a lot quicker than we thought but it does mean that to-go cocktails, I am of the opinion that they are going to, by and large have already become and will remain this interesting relic of this period. In the end, I think you made some good points out there and I would add just one more, which is in addition to the challenge of producing, staffing, and supporting a program that is not in the space that you’re used to serving people that is oriented around delivery or to-go and especially delivery that is less profitable than to-go or in-person. The other reality is, and I think we saw this, putting together to-go cocktails required a different set of potential ingredients, different styles of cocktails that could work well. I think what we’re seeing is people want the bar experience that they’ve been missing. And that is what’s driving business right now for places that are reopening. Sure, maybe there are some people who want to have a get-together in the park, but more of my friends, that’s my Instagram feed every day, are more people taking shots in bars. Both literally taking shots of liquor, but also taking pictures of themselves in bars. I think a thing that we’ve all learned out of this is that, in the end, it’s great to have the flexibility and the ability to get things delivered at home, especially when for most people there isn’t another way to consume. We also suspected the moment it became safe or at least allowed, people would beat down the doors to do what they had been missing and I think we are seeing that for sure.

A: Mm-hmm. Joanna, what do you think?

J: Yeah, I agree with all of that. I also think that, just in terms of a viable revenue stream, seeing other places keep up their to-go cocktail program, like PDT now has a cocktail club. You can pay money to have this membership and to get four to-go cocktails from PDT, which is really cool because that also brings in this element of access to places like that. Why wouldn’t you want to get a PDT cocktail at home? Yes, there’s the whole experience of going to that bar, but if you can’t, you can have it at home.

A: Yeah, I think that makes sense. Especially for the really big-name bars, are you going to fight to get in, or do you just want to be able to have their high-quality cocktails at home? I hope it stays somewhat because when I do order in, once in a while on a Friday or Saturday night, it has been fun to have cocktails with the food. That’s been a blast, especially the places that have taken it more seriously like the HiHi Room. Their cocktails come in a can that they’ve just canned before they send it out. Then, you open the can and pour it over ice, and sometimes they send a big cube with the meal, which has been cool. The disappointing experiences are when it comes in that paper, corner-coffee-cart cup and you’re thinking “OK, well, this was still $15. This isn’t as fun.” However, the places that have figured it out, I think, and package it well, I would love for them to keep it going forever. I wonder if that’s going to be more of the restaurants than the famous cocktail bars, right? The famous bars aren’t really known for food, whereas the restaurants are and happen to also have good cocktail programs. The other thing I wonder is throughout this year, we all got really excited about to-go cocktails, but we also all discovered RTDs.

J: I was just going to say this. Can these compete with this growing offering of RTDs, some of which are very good?

A: Yeah, I don’t know. Because for the picnic tomorrow I bought RTDs. Astor had them, and I bought a bunch of spritzes and Gin and Tonics. I wonder if it just happened at the same time and the RTD is way more convenient, and you can get it in a lot of different places. I don’t know, because there are some really good ones. You’re right, there are some really good ones. Zach, have you seen more RTDs near you?

Z: Oh yeah. I think the fascinating thing for me about this is it’s always a little bit hard to say where they shade into one another. What you’re describing, Adam, where the bar is canning it and sending it to you, presumably that can has a relatively limited shelf life, depending on what is in the cocktail. You could probably stick it in your fridge and have it in a week, and I would imagine it would be just fine. Some of these RTDs have a shelf life, too. Hopefully, a longer one than that, but are we differentiating these two things because of where the point of origin is? The use case and the experience are pretty similar. I think there are great opportunities for to-go cocktails from a smaller cocktail bar or restaurant in some of the situations that you described, Adam. Close proximity to places where it’s something that’s easy to get to. Something that’s close by and can give them everything they need in a single serve or a couple of serving sizes. The other big unknown about all this, and I think this is where we will just have to wait and see, is whatever laws were put in place for public consumption of alcohol were mostly not enforced in a lot of parts of America. Because, again, it was widely recognized that people are going to want to gather. They’re going to want to drink. The only safe place to do this is outside. It’s not a priority to enforce. Will that be maintained once drinking can and has gone back indoors? That is an impossible question, I think, for us to answer and of course will vary depending on where in the country you’re talking about. Yet, this very thing you’re talking about doing, having a picnic with cocktails, there are lots of places in the country where that is technically illegal. The viability of to-go cocktails is also tied into whether that primary use case is even allowed.

A: Yeah, I guess that’s a really good point because I definitely believe the only way to-go cocktails have a future is if al fresco drinking becomes legalized. If we can become more like Europe and walk on the street drinking a beer or sitting in the park having a bottle of wine or a cocktail, then I think more people will buy cocktails to-go, right? New York City was just not enforcing it, but then I was seeing on social media last week people who were saying they were getting ticketed in Manhattan. Now, that’s not happening in Brooklyn, at least not yet. But there were definitely people on the West Side Highway at that park. What is that park called? It is just along the West Side Highway, west of Chelsea and the West Village.

J: Hudson River Park.

A: Yeah, people were saying they were getting ticketed.

Z: Well, I think someone somewhere needs to reach out to Gale Brewer and figure out what’s going on.

A: Seriously, it’s a $25 ticket. Don’t the cops have more important things to do? Also, at this point, if it’s legal to smoke weed outside, then maybe we can have a drink. That also doesn’t make a lot of sense. It seems very backward. Now, we’ve legalized marijuana, and it can be consumed in New York anywhere that cigarettes are smoked, which is lots of places. I guess in city parks, you are technically not allowed to smoke, but everyone does. I smell lots of cannabis when I go outside, so let people have a cocktail. Last weekend, on Sunday, I was walking through Fort Greene Park and there was this guy who was wearing suspenders, a bow tie, one of those white Prohibition-era, short-sleeve button-up shirts, and a cap. He was pulling a wheelbarrow, and he had water in the wheelbarrow. Then, when you walk by him, he’d say, cocktails, cocktails, cocktails. I stopped him and he had, under the water, Negronis and Aperol Spritzes. It was awesome. This dude was the best and I want to write about it. I got to go try to find him again. I hope he comes back to the park this weekend. Maybe I’ll see him. It was super smart and he told me he was an out-of-work bartender. He was making more money this way than he had been working at a bar.

Z: There you go.

A: Man, that was smart. At the beaches of New York, people have been trying to sell things like nutcrackers and stuff like that for years, so let this dude sell Negronis instead. Yeah, I think that the only way that happens is al fresco, right?

Z: I can’t believe you didn’t ask him if he had a Daiquiri.

A: I should have. I feel like I just failed.

Z: You didn’t tell him that Adam Teeter says Negronis are dead and where are your daiquiris? That was a missed opportunity.

A: Adam Teeter says “Negronis are dead.”

Z: Yeah, until someone picks that up.

A: I’m going to get an email from Campari saying, “Thanks, Adam Teeter.” Negronis are not dead. I just don’t make it that much, come on.

Z: The vision I have, right, and maybe it is not exactly your very stylishly attired gentleman walking through the park. But the vision I have is if to-go cocktails have a future, it is actually like that. It’s little stands, maybe a window at the side of a restaurant or bar. It’s part of a broader landscape of alcohol consumption in this country. Walking down the street having a drink is not viewed as some great moral panic. It’s not necessarily the drunken debauchery of Bourbon Street or something in New Orleans, but it’s a thing that adults can do because we’re adults, and you’re not any more of a liability to people if you get wasted in a bar and then stagger out into the street versus if you have a drink in the street. Hopefully, people are consuming much more responsibly than that. And who knows what could come out of this? You could have one of the best cocktails in New York City from something that a guy makes at a stand in the middle of a park in Queens. That could be a really cool thing. The food truck model, but taken to cocktails. Obviously, there are issues. There’s licensing and there’s food safety. All the stuff is real, I understand that. But the thing I don’t like about saying “RTDs will cover it all” is that, as we’ve discussed on the podcast before and covered in a lot of “Next Round” episodes, any of these categories are liable to be dominated by a few big brands, and that’s fine. Those big brands have a lot of power, and they have the ability to crowd the market. But I don’t want my only options for a pre-made, ready-to-drink cocktail — whether I buy at a store or get it from a bar — to be the same six brands that dominate almost everything else. I want there to be diversity for my own sake and for the sake of people who want to come up and make a go of it. Facilitating that is, I think, something that should be considered a goal in New York City, Seattle, and in places all over the country.

A: That makes sense. I agree with you. I think it would just be nice if we allowed this stuff to happen and we allowed people to be treated as adults.

Z: Well, maybe finally, we will get to that point.

A: I don’t know, man. Every single college town with a football team turns a blind eye to drinking in public every Saturday in the fall. You know what I mean? Every place turns a blind eye every once in a while, so why is it OK then, but not OK at other times? Just let people be adults. Anyways, guys, this was fun. I mean, Joanna, your first podcast! What did you think?

J: Fun, I had a great time!

A: I mean, Zach talks a lot.

J: You guys are a riot.

Z: You’ll come back and join us again next week, we hope?

J: Yes! If I’m invited?

A: Awesome, yes you totally are. I will see you both next week.

J: Great.

Z: Sounds great.

Thanks so much for listening to the “VinePair Podcast.” If you love this show as much as we love making it, then please leave us a rating or review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever it is you get your podcasts. It really helps everyone else discover the show.

Now for the credits, VinePair is produced and recorded in New York City and in Seattle, Wash., by myself and Zach Geballe, who does all the editing and loves to get the credit. Also, I would love to give a special shout-out to my VinePair co-founder, Josh Malin, for helping make all this possible, and also to Keith Beavers, VinePair’s tasting director, who is additionally a producer on the show. I also want to, of course, thank every other member of the VinePair team who are instrumental in all of the ideas that go into making the show every week. Thanks so much for listening, and we’ll see you again.

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isaiahrippinus · 3 years

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VinePair Podcast: Is There a Future for To-Go Cocktails?

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Adam Teeter: From Brooklyn, New York, I’m Adam Teeter.

Joanna Sciarrino: From Manhattan, New York. I’m Joanna Sciarrino.

Zach Geballe: And in Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe.

A: And this is the “VinePair Podcast.” Joanna, what’s going on?

J: Hi, thank you. I’m so happy to be here.

A: Yeah, we’re happy to have you. So Manhattan, New York, huh?

J: I figured I had to make the distinction, the borough distinction.

A: It did?

J: Yeah, I think it just happened.

A: Wow, I love Top Hops.

J: Yeah, it’s a cool spot. And we were there and I got some plum gose from Transmitter Brewing, which was really interesting and refreshing. Felt like a good summer beer.

A: Nice, that’s cool. Anything else?

J: Now, this is a little further back. I had a really interesting white Rioja. I don’t know a lot about white Riojas, but it was really delicious. The maker was Sierra de Toloño.

A: Very interesting. Zach, what about you, man?

A: OK, Westland. Very cool.

Z: What about you, Adam?

A: Oh, God, what about me? So I had a really amazing experience on Sunday night, and I snagged a reservation at Gage & Tollner, which is a new but old restaurant that just opened in Brooklyn.

J: It’s so hot.

Z: Does Joanna know?

A: Yeah, do you know who the Manhattan borough president is, Joanna?

J: I do not.

Z:Costières de Nîmes, yeah.

Z: This could be Adam’s official cocktail of the year.

Z: Does this mean you demoted the Negroni?

A: I demoted the Negroni a long time ago.

Z: Really? Huh. I believe you talked a lot more about Negronis than Daiquiris until about a year ago, which is fine.

J: It’s too mainstream now, right?

Z: She is adorable, by the way.

J: That’s a good question. I don’t really discriminate. I tend towards boozier cocktails as well. I like a drink on the rocks versus something long or up. I love a Manhattan.

Z: Maybe you can name one after your borough president, whenever we figure out who they are.

J: Gale Brewer.

Z: Are we going to talk about to-go cocktails, Adam?

Z: Yeah.

Z: That’s OK.

A: Mm-hmm. Joanna, what do you think?

J: I was just going to say this. Can these compete with this growing offering of RTDs, some of which are very good?

J: Hudson River Park.

A: Yeah, people were saying they were getting ticketed.

Z: Well, I think someone somewhere needs to reach out to Gale Brewer and figure out what’s going on.

Z: There you go.

Z: I can’t believe you didn’t ask him if he had a Daiquiri.

A: I should have. I feel like I just failed.

Z: You didn’t tell him that Adam Teeter says Negronis are dead and where are your daiquiris? That was a missed opportunity.

A: Adam Teeter says “Negronis are dead.”

Z: Yeah, until someone picks that up.

A: I’m going to get an email from Campari saying, “Thanks, Adam Teeter.” Negronis are not dead. I just don’t make it that much, come on.

A: That makes sense. I agree with you. I think it would just be nice if we allowed this stuff to happen and we allowed people to be treated as adults.

Z: Well, maybe finally, we will get to that point.

J: Fun, I had a great time!

A: I mean, Zach talks a lot.

J: You guys are a riot.

Z: You’ll come back and join us again next week, we hope?

J: Yes! If I’m invited?

A: Awesome, yes you totally are. I will see you both next week.

J: Great.

Z: Sounds great.

The article VinePair Podcast: Is There a Future for To-Go Cocktails? appeared first on VinePair.

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