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Stella Artois Lager — .8 oz. Less Filling

A while back I recommended a lovely little movie from Norway called Buddy. It was in the modest selection of free, on-demand movies offered with Verizon FiOS TV, on the Film Fest Channel, sponsored by Stella Artois, a lager beer from Belgium. Here’s the commercial that runs before the Film Fest movies.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/OCT07/StellaArtois.flv 448 336]

When we ate at a TGI Friday’s I noticed Stella Artois on the menu and I ordered one and had my first taste. I’ve had many Belgian ales, but no lagers that I could recall. It’s a nice, light beer, with a lot more flavor than mass-produced American beers, and less bitter than a Heineken, a pilsener that borders on being skunky. (Marston’s Pedigree Bitters is an ale that is my idea of a truly great dry beer.) Later, I spotted a six pack of Stella Artois at a local store, and in further appreciation for the movie, I bought it.

The bottles are only 11.2 ounces! I’m sorry, but I don’t care how good the beer is. If the guy pouring Stella Artois in the commercial is going to be picky, then so am I — twelve ounces, and no less! Until then Stella Artois has lost me as a customer.

MADtv On Japanese Korean Soap Operas

With the Writers Guild of America on strike, TV is full of re-runs, of course. Last night I caught a MADtv show that featured TV parodies, including a hilarious take on what they say are Japanese soap operas. However, Eric informs me the writing is in Korean, and cast member Bobby Lee is Korean-American. Anyway, six months ago I featured the Japanese romantic comedy Train Man, and I can see elements of that in this parody.
[flv:/Video/DEC07/MADTV.flv 400 300]

Conceding A Point

Have you heard me yet on the Shokus Internet Radio calling into Stu’s Show? I’ll post my part of it on Wednesday, after the re-runs of last Wednesday’s program are done.

And have you heard the AARP online audio interview with Schulz biographer David Michaelis? One point he makes is about a Peanuts comic strip with “Snoopy chickening out of giving a speech at the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm.” Unless Michaelis is referring to a different series than I think, that’s not quite how the story played out. In fact, in his book Michaelis includes a couple of strips from those weeks in 1970, because they introduce a “girl-beagle” that Snoopy pines after. A girl-beagle who apparently represents Charles M. Schulz’s real life object of affection, a woman named Tracey.

Snoopy And The Girl-Beagle
©UFS

Reading these comic strips in the context of the timeframe, the connection seems pretty clear, and I have to agree with Michaelis about that. However, Monte Schulz’s complaints against the Michaelis book are given great weight by his candid admission that the family knew and accepted that his father’s affair with Tracey would be revealed.

The Daisy Hill Puppy Farm sequence with the unseen girl-beagle won’t be reprinted in The Complete Peanuts for a couple more volumes, so I’ll put it here. The first cartoon is above, and you can read the rest of them by clicking the thumbnail pictures. Isn’t the closing gag in the very last panel laugh-out-loud funny?

Snoopy And The Girl-BeagleSnoopy And The Girl-BeagleSnoopy And The Girl-BeagleSnoopy And The Girl-BeagleSnoopy And The Girl-BeagleSnoopy And The Girl-BeagleSnoopy And The Girl-Beagle

Note: If the images look jaggy, your browser is re-sizing. Click again to see them full-size.

Accidental Terrorist

Everett MA Fire

Around here the big story — besides the undefeated Patriots — is a huge fire that happened a few days ago in the city of Everett, just north of Boston. Rather than explaining it to you, I recommend The Boston Globe’s excellent interactive map of the event. Click here to go there.

Everett MA Fire

He couldn’t have planned it out any better if he tried! Thank God nobody was killed or even seriously injured.

In a bizarre plot twist, ten years ago the driver of the tanker, Chad LaFrance, made a bomb threat against UPS after being fired by the company. He has had other trouble spots and setbacks, including hitting a police officer, divorce, bankruptcy, and the loss of his house. This has led to speculation that the crash — which has displaced a dozen families — may not have been entirely accidental.

AARP Michaelis Audio Interview

Recently, Mr. Media interviewed David Michaelis, author of the controversial and disputed biography Schulz and Peanuts. I featured the interview at this link, which includes some vital commentary by Monte Schulz. And of course a couple of days ago Monte was on Shokus Internet Radio discussing the book, and answering a question submitted by yours truly.

The AARP has now posted its own audio interview with Michaelis. The link is here, but the file can be downloaded, so I’ll also post it here.

David Michaelis

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/DEC07/peanuts.mp3]

I haven’t listened to this at all yet! It’s very late, and I’ll have to do it later. So you may very well hear it before I do.