BiggAndyy the Magazine

For this week’s Whiskey Wednesday I wanted to review a Single Malt Scotch I purchased for myself on my birthday. I normally don’t seek out a peaty scotch, and certainly not one with such a rich reputation as being peaty of the peats, but the Cask Strength and the Quarter Cask maturing caught my eye.

I try to find scotch’s that aren’t chill filtered and are bottled at cask strength. There is much more character and flavor to be had from a scotch that goes nearly straight from the barrel to the bottle, and much more body when it is not chill filtered. A good and raw, primitive scotch this one is.

Let me tell you, no one around me wanted to get within 5 feet of the open bottle! It is STRONG. I did not find it offensive at all, in fact, the gentle burn I did receive from the first few nosings added to the experience rather than detracted. After allowing my senses to return I could more fully appreciate the aroma of this scotch. Not being well versed in the peaty realm of single malts I was delighted at this new experience.

Some scoffed that the aroma reminded them of chewing tobacco. Perhaps it was the fireplace type attack of the scotch that put them off, and yes, it is strong, but very satisfying on a purely sensual level.

I have never seen a swirl like this Laphroaig Quarter Cask before. Such an oily consistency to the swirl! Runners coming down from all sides, the sheen left behind on the
sides of the brandy sniffer, the golden shade of autumn of the scotch had left me with the impression that I was going to balk at the power of this whiskey.

I decided to add some pure water to the first glass. Full strength was something I would have to work my way up to. I was right. Even with a bit of water to make a “whiskey neat”, I was taken hard by the full palate attack of this scotch. I have never had a scotch fill so completely every tastebud and corner of my mouth. Not an unpleasant sting, but unexpected with the smokiness from the peat adding a dimension other whiskeys have lacking.

The finish was even more surprising. So long, and it even ended a bit spicy sweet! Such a complex scotch from nose to finish! I really really really like this Quarter Cask Laphroaig. And being a middle of the road on price, it is one that I can afford to keep in the cabinet year round, not just special occasions.

Over at trailer.apple.com and at their own website 1-18-08.com we have a new J.J. Abrams movie being previewed/promoted.

I am a big fan of the Alias franchise, not so much for LOST, so I am very curious about this movie. A side note that J.J. Abrams is to helm the new Star Trek movie coming soon.

But what about this movie? I have seen speculation that the critter is everything from Godzilla to Cthulhu. I believe a clue to the storyline is found at a website slusho.jp and clicking on the History button.

Here we get the story of the “drink” slusho and its inventor. The story goes that a world wide quest for the most unique drink ever made ended in the disappearance of Norinko and the family business left in the hands of her only son Ganu.

Ganu, not wanting anything to do with the family drink business, Ganu becames an undersea scientist. On one of his many scientific journeys he stumbles upon the very same unique ingredient his mother lost her life to find. In a dream (where he drinks the ingredient and grows to fantastic size) he gets the inspiration to add the ingredient to his mothers soft drink empire, now run by his cousin, to make the most unique drink in the world.

Does this mystical ingredient actually turn out to be the germ of Cthulhu, waiting to be loosed on the surface world? Is this just another run of the mill monster movie akin to The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms? It looks interesting, even though the mandatory “destroy the Statue of Liberty” scene is the first glimpse of this super secret movie.

Here is an update: zimm41 has this to say

Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness”

So what in biblical mythology has connections to the slew of references in the trailer? The three great monsters.

In Jewish belief, Behemoth is the primal unconquerable monster of the land, as Leviathan is the primal monster of the waters of the sea and Ziz the primordial monster of the sky.

1) The first monster roar is accompanied by an earthquake (Behemoth)
2) The second monster roar is accompanied by a huge fireball (Leviathan, for it can breathe fire)
3) The third monster roar is accompanied by the flying Statue of Liberty head (Ziz).

Not convinced?

The guy who says “maybe we can get a better view from the roof” has the Slusho logo on his shirt. Slusho is a classic J.J. Abrams icon, and it has appeared in both Alias and Lost, which are his shows.

Slusho.jp has, by now, been confirmed as a part of the viral marketing campaign revolving around 1-18-08. Japan. Strangely enough, the character Rob, who is present in the trailer, was gonna fly to Japan a day after that party and the monster events.

Let’s have a look around on that site. Not all pages are accessible. But there is an odd feature about the pages that are available. The main page background is on land, the Downloads page background is on air, and the History page background is on sea.

Furthermore, the six buttons on the main page cause popups of various animals, namely a Horse, a Whale and a Bird. Behemoth, Leviathan, Ziz.

Maybe there is a Rampage video game tie in somewhere?

I have a new update on the 4th picture at 1-18-08.com.

A very good Do It Yourself video on home metal casting.

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Hope you enjoy this fun video.

Al Gore, with all the tact and tolerance a childed and hurt politician can muster, spouted off in front of supporters and friends only hours after his brainchild, “Live Earth”, lay stillborn and dead at his feet.

“These morons don’t understand what I tried to do for them!” He shouted to his staff and fellow organizers in a meeting to try to unravel what went wrong with the global event to bring awareness about Global Warming and the dangers it poses to the world.

“I want to go on every television station in every country and shake some sense into their thick skulls… [You] are too stupid to appreciate what Live Earth could have done for the planet!”

Despite pleas for calm from his friends and supporters the former Vice President of the United States fumed on for another half hour before he sulked out of the office to retire to his hotel suite.

Of course this bit of fiction is only wishful thinking on my part. I hope that is what transpired this past evening as Al Gore, the small man that his is, contemplates the failure of his world wide snake-oil campaign. A small man, a bitter man, in the end he has only been fooling himself.

Let’s hope this “event” (or non-event as Live Earth will well become to be known) beckons the eventual and final demise of the big lie from Big Al that is Anthropocentric Global Warming.

And if he feels bad in the process, I will be hard pressed to return any sympathy to him.

I Pledge:

1. To demand that my country ACTIVELY FIGHT AGAINST an international treaty within the next 2 years that cuts global warming pollution by 90% in developed countries and by more than half worldwide in time for the next generation to inherit a healthy earth.
2. To take NO personal action to help solve the IMAGINARY climate crisis by INCREASING my own CO2 pollution as much as I can and EATING A CAN OF BEANS ONCE A WEEK offsetting the rest to become “carbon NEGATIVE”.
3. To fight for a FAST TRACK on the construction of ALL new generating facilities that burn coal without the capacity to safely trap and store the CO2.
4. To IGNORE THE PLEAS to work for a dramatic increase in the energy efficiency of my home, workplace, school, place of worship, and means of transportation.
5. To fight TO REPEAL laws and policies that expand the use of renewable energy sources and reduce dependence on oil and coal.
6. To plant new trees and to join with others in preserving and protecting forests.
7. To buy from businesses and support leaders who GIVE ME THE BEST VALUE FOR MY HARD EARNED DOLLAR and share my LACK OF commitment to solving the IMAGINARY climate crisis and building a sustainable, just, and prosperous world for the 21st century.

That about covers it.  Ignore this nonsense.  Al Gore is trying to make suckers out of the morons who voted for him in 2000.  What a no class jerk he is.