Whilst doing some, uh, research at work today into the meaning behind the band name KMFDM, I stumbled across perhaps one of the greatest album designs ever. Hand stamped and all.
Oh. And no, it does not really stand for Kill Motherfucking Depeche Mode. Although, sometimes it does.
Claire over at Zulkey.com needed a manly name for her boyfriend’s drink. So I suggested a Punch in the Face. Though I am not sure how the bartenders are supposed to figure out what that means.
I then got overzealous and sent her my lab-tested recipie for a perfect (though not as perfect as Jim Coudal’s perfect) Sidecar for wintry evenings.
So, for your holiday drink-making pleasure, here is the Perfect Sidecar ala Rise Industries. Have three, and banging your head on a wall becomes a fun little thing to do. Really.
The Perfect Sidecar ala Rise Industries
For this you need an up glass (those triangular deals, like James Bond Martini style), a shaker (see below) and the ingredients (see also below).
1 jigger (ya know, the big side of a cool hourglass-shaped shot measurer) very good brandy, or better yet, decent Cognac.
3/4 jigger Cointreau. Don’t mess with the triple sec here, you will just regret it. You wanna move up to first class, shell out for Grand Marnier. Its not necessary, but then this drink is not about necessity.
Cut a lemon in half, and squeeze (just the half) on a Phillipe Starck lemon squeezer. Actually, first rub the lemon on the rim of your glass, then pour sugar onto a plate and dip the rim in the sugar. Stand the glass up and let it sit for a minute, so the sugar gets crusty. Nice. Lazy bartenders who make this drink with sweet and sour mix should be fired on the spot. Fresh squeezed lemon must be used, none of that plastic-grenade lemon stuff.
OK. Put all the liquids in a shaker (Boston shaker please, with the satisfying click it makes upon opening the two parts after shaking) with three ice cubes. Shake briskly, folks who say you can bruise liquid are hallucinating.
Pour through a fancy shaker-strainer thing into your glass. Got to catch those pesky lemon seeds.
Put on a snappy cardigan. It’s cold out. Argyle pattern works best. I have a wool sidecar drinking one with fancy silver-ish buttons that my mom made for me. Though she didn’t know it was for sidecar drinking, she would approve.
Sip till its gone. Enjoy the sweet lemony (snicket?) punch of pure liquors meeting in citrus harmony. Then nibble the rest of the sugar off the glass and repeat. Only, don’t put on another cardigan. Skip that step.
Holy identity theft batman! Someone posted our bank PIN numbers online. Yarcht, those wicked h4ck3r5!
In my email inbox today:
“According to the U.S. Census Bureau, with the following degrees, here\’s
how much you can expect to make in your lifetime:
High School Diploma: $1,900,500
Bachelor\’s Degree: $2,700,600
Master\’s Degree: $2,200,800
Doctorate: $4,200,900 “
Wonder why my Master/’s (sic) degree cuts my lifetime income by $499,800? That totally sucks man. Assuming I live to 92, that’s like 8,330 less bucks a year. Shit.
Maybe I should get a doctorate in something, I could use the extra $2,000,100 a year that’s going to bring in. Doesn’t specify say what to study, so I can study Internet Statistical Numerology. Watch for some emails like this from me in three years or so then.
There is a story about a great, Mies influenced house in the New York Times today. I really like courtyard style houses, and they use a great collection of artwork very well in the project. Photo-murals and video are integrated in a similar way to how Mies would use fine marble textures and figure sculpture.
+++ Check out these buildings built during the Soviet era. My fave is the Technololgical Institute in Belarus.
+++ Also take a look at what happened to this city after the Soviet Union collapsed. Some stellar photos.
I just added a banner for a charity organization called Child’s Play – over there to your left. They are a Seattle based group working to organize donations of toys, books and games for sick kids in hospitals across the world. 100% of all donations go to the hospitals. Their primary audience is the gaming community, but you don’t have to be a gamer to get involved – go to their site and see what you can do to help out. I will keep the link up through the holiday season.
Video Gaming Fridays
Yesterday I received the first part of my prize for winning the RetroBlast! Motivational Poster Contest (my poster was based on the classic Zork text game for the Commodore 64). So, I got a big box with a QuasiCON 2 Player Controller from Quasimoto Interactive. This is the sort of thing you install in your video game cabinet (only I dont have a cabinet yet), but it also works just fine on the coffee table. Plugs into my Playstation 2 (also works with PS3, Xbox, PC, etc…) and is ready to go. Now its all button bashing madness and retro-stick gaming. I set it up with my projector and the PS2 version of Asteroids (of course) and gave it a test run. Totally cool. SO we will have a little gaming party up in the Rise Studios this Sunday, if you are in the ‘hood. Here are a few pics.
I found some other good video game stuff out there this friday – like this old school Hamster Game I have been dying to get my hands on. Runs on pellets and water I hear.
And speaking of RetroBlast!, I found this cool video linked on their site showcasing the evolution of video game graphics over my lifetime. Starting of course with pong, then asteroids. The video is over at Break.com
Then I found this hot new calendar.. from Nerdcore. Pin-up girls with video-game consoles. It goes right on my Xmas list. Depending on where you work, this link is likely not work safe (nudies).
Lastly, but by no means leastly, this weekend there are two events at Telic in Chinatown (not the one in Boston, the one in LA):
(These take place among the installation Mario’s Furniture, by Hillary Muskin and S. E. Barnet, which we tested out on its opening night. I have to post a review/report from that too soon – but check the Telic web site below for more info on it.)
GAMES FOR 5 JOYSTICKS
Friday, December 1, 2006 @ 7-10 PM
ADRIENE JENIK
Saturday, December 2, 2006 @ 8 PM
Telic is happy to have two events on the final weekend of “Mario’s
Furniture 2,” an installation and game created by Hillary Mushkin and
S.E. Barnet. One is a screening of seven new games for a console with
five joysticks on Friday; and the other is a talk given by the artist
Adriene Jenik on Saturday. See below for more information.
TELIC Arts Exchange
975 Chung King Road Los Angeles, CA 90012
T: 213.344.6137
info@telic.info
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