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Breaking News That’s Not Breaking News

Breaking news is supposed be news that’s suddenly occurring like a plane crash or unscheduled and still developing.  The term implies that the news is coming in as it’s being reported, something that’s becoming quicker and quicker in today’s social media society.

 

However you often see the term used for things that are not breaking news.  The other day the TV said, “Breaking: Congress to vote on jobs bill”.   A scheduled vote is not breaking news; it’s not a surprise or an unexpected twist in a story.  It’s possible to prepare a broadcast for this vote in advance, which makes it simply news.  People were discussing the vote, and the implications of the vote, well before I saw this on the television last night. 

 

Additionally, followup news stories to breaking news are no longer breaking news.   If President Obama announces a press conference in the afternoon for 8pm, that’s breaking news because it’s altered the daily schedule and no one was prepared for it previously.  When 8pm rolls around it’s no longer breaking news, it’s a followup story.  If the president says something that’s new, such as “We’re going to bomb Mordor”, then it becomes breaking news.  If he’s merely updating the status of an existing war, or discussing the progress of a bill, it’s not breaking news. 

 

The overuse of the term breaking news is an egotistic one.  The news media suggesting that their stories are so important that they preempt everything going on at that time is arrogance at it’s finest.  It’s also a boy who cried wolf scenario: artifically creating hype for non-critical stories lessens the impact of truly breaking news.  The story should create the hype, not the other way around.

 

Breaking news also implies that there is something new.  If you portray a story as breaking, it should be bringing the audience new information that’s developing in real time.  If you’re recapping something that’s been being discussed on the Internet for hours, you better be bringing something new to the discussion or clearing up rumors with hard facts.

Link: Goose Island Brewpub Review

A friend of mine visited the Goose Island brewpub in Chicago recently, one of those ‘must-visit’ places when you’re in Chicago.  Give it a read.

 

Interesting to note is that while the brewery was sold to Anheuser-Busch, not all the brewpubs were.  The brewpub ties in well with my last post about beer menus.  Obviously you expect a brewpub to have a solid one, but it looks like Goose Island goes above and beyond.   Okay, now I’m thirsty..

When Restaurants Don’t Have Beer Menus

As a fairly normal suburbanite, both here in New Jersey and when I lived on Long Island, I occasionally go out to eat and like to try new restaurants.  If I hear about a new place, or am just searching through popular restaurant sites, the first thing I’ll do when I find something interesting is go to their website to look at the food and drink they serve.

 

Nothing annoys me more than when they leave off the beers.  Now, I don’t _have_ to have a drink with dinner, but a cocktail or a beer or a glass of wine is often an enjoyable part of the experience.  If a menu leaves off the drinks I assume they’re not interested in that part of the experience, and it often makes me choose a different restaurant.   Another annoying habit is if the menu infers that they have beer, but doesn’t list them or elaborate on what type.  Beer comes in vastly different flavors and varieties, you wouldn’t list your entrees as ‘pasta dishes’ would you?

Another restaurant menu sin is when they don’t keep it updated.   You often see this in newer restaurants that create a website when they are first starting, but don’t have anyone managing it regularly.  This is a shame in the day of social media; a Twitter and a Facebook page tweeting current specials and seasonal beers being tapped go a long way to drawing in customers that enjoyed the restaurant when they tried it, but need something to draw them back in.  I recently experienced this at a restaurant in South Orange, NJ called the Gaslight Brewery and Restaurant.  It’s a local place that both me and my wife enjoyed, with all the beer brewed on premise.  However their menu online is out of date, and so is the menu at the restaurant.  They had around 15 beers listed, but only actually had about eight of them available.   That’s understandable as it’s a smaller place and it’s not always possible to keep up with that many different brews, but simply printing out a new sheet of paper and editing the website would go a long way towards letting customers know what the options are.  Even worse is that the website claims they keep the current draft list posted on their blog, but it hasn’t been updated in a year.

 

The very best restaurants are ones that have a solid base beer list and a couple of rotating taps that they can fill in with whatever seasonals or trial beers they want.  This type of setup suggests that the people running the establishment are truly interested in the beers they serve, and want to give the customers a quality brew.   A tweet or sign stating that a restaurant has the newest Brooklyn Brewmaster Reserve is often enough to make me plan to have a meal there.

Autumn Beer Season!

It’s autumn beer season again, meaning Oktoberfests and pumpkin beers.  This season is the Christmas of craft beer.  It’s the most popular season and comes earlier every year.

 

I saw Magic Hat Hex as early as three weeks ago, and since then most other seasonals have showed up, including my own.  The only popular one I haven’t seen in stores yet is Sam Adams, and I’ve heard that’s out too.  Traditionally Oktoberfest, the real one in Munich for the last 201 years, is celebrated for the 16 days prior to the first Sunday in October.

 

It’s my favorite season as well.  This is why I chose an Oktoberfest to brew as my wedding favor.  Two of my favorite brands are Sam Adams and Brooklyn, although there are plenty of other tasty and excellent varieties out there.  I’m not as big a fan of the pumpkin ales, but I’m interested to try Six Point’s Autumnation now that it’s going to be available in cans that I can get without going to the right bar.  Interestingly, the third Google result for Six Point Pumpkin is a post about how if you don’t like pumpkin ales you’ll like this, although it refers to last year’s variety.

 

So lots of fun and interesting beers to try.  I just hope they stick around long enough for me to try enough of them before the next beer season rolls around!

Spotting Craft Beer in TV and Movies

I get a kick out of spotting specific craft beers (And non craft beers) in movies and television shows even though they often try to not to specifically focus on the beer label.

 

Sometimes you can even identify the city early by the beer.  This happened in the movie “He’s Just Not That Into You”.  An early scene features two people in a supermarket, and one of them is purchasing a six-pack of Clipper City and I knew it was set in Baltimore.

 

Most recently I spotted Shiner Bock, a famous Texas craft beer, on an episode of True Blood. (In Shreveport, LA)  Alcide drank it with the pack leader Marcus.

 

I have no idea what prompts the producers to use these beers.  Perhaps someone on set is a beer lover and they reuse the empty bottles for the show.  Maybe they’re looking for something with a little local flair and think it makes a fun prop and they want the character to be a craft beer drinker.   Perhaps they’re just annoyed Budweiser turned them down for a sponsorship.

 

Whatever the reason, whenever I see a different beer can or bottle on my television or in a movie I try to identify it.  It’s a fun little game to play, although you shouldn’t forget to pay attention to what the characters are doing.  I’ve had to rewind a show many times because of that.

Verizon Fios’ Multi-Room DVR Is Not A Perk

Like many people, I switched from Cablevision to Verizon Fios, mainly because it was cheaper.  It _is_ cheaper and I’m getting more movie channels and a faster internet connection.  However, one of the main perks Verizon hypes is their multi-room DVR.  This allows you to record on one central unit, and watch it from any room in the house.  Sounds like a good deal, except..

 

How often do you really watch something on multiple tvs?  You may want to record something on the main television and watch it later in the evening in the bedroom as you’re falling asleep, but for the most part you watch something where you record it.  This  benefit is not worth the drawbacks.  Especially if you don’t have all HD televisions.  You’ll record that movie in HD, but what if you then want to watch it on the tiny 12 inch CRT television in the kitchen while cooking dinner?  It’s not uncommon for HD programs viewed in SD to have some of the edges of the program cut off. 

 

You cannot record on the other boxes.  Watching a movie in the basement, but getting sleepy and want to record the rest of it?  You have to walk back to them main box and record it from there.  This isn’t a huge deal, unless someone happens to be using that tv.  Do you want to be interrupted everytime your husband/wife/kids want to record something?  What’s mind-boggling to me is that I can grab my cellphone or go to the computer to record a show (And often the user interface is easier to use), but I cannot record from a box directly connected to the network.

 

The worst part about not being able to record from any box except the main Multi-Room DVR is that you cannot pause live TV.  Want to go grab a beer, use the bathroom, or answer the phone during the Mets game?  Better hurry, because there is no pausing or rewinding unless you’ve already set it to record.  You cannot rewind to see a replay, or a scene you missed because someone was talking to you from the other room. 

 

Verizon hypes the Multi-Room DVR, even runs offers that give you a free one for life, but it all feels like a scam to me.  Their website will even suggest it to you as the ‘best option’, duping you into thinking you’re getting a deal.  Truth of the matter is that it’s probably more hassel than help.

Nine Month Mensiversary: Brunch

Skipping around a bit; i posted earlier about my first month anniversary and celebrating it.  We’ve celebrated each month in some fashion, but I haven’t quite written them up yet.   Well this weekend was nine months and we celebrated with brunch. 

Brunch may not seem like a huge deal, but this was never about being a huge deal.  We’d been recommended this place, called The Bethwood, as having good brunch, and we had not been out for brunch together since we’d gotten married.  Sunday made for a perfect time to do so.  It was a lazy day, just hanging out with each other, eating too much food and relaxing.  A perfect lazy married Sunday. 

The Bethwood was very good; omelettes, waffles, a Viennese table, carved meats, pasta salads, fruits, vegetables, pastries and bagels and breads and cheeses and all sorts of wonderful foods.  We got there early, so it wasn’t that crowded yet.  They served a complimentary glass of champagne to start too.  This actually disappointed me; they chose a Verdi prosecco, which I felt was too sweet for a breakfast champagne.  Still tasted good with a little orange juice splashed in it though.

My Internal Google Map

I spent 26 years on Long Island but the last three in New Jersey.  Someone mentioned Smithtown to me recently and I immediately knew it was on Long Island, but I was drawing a blank as to exactly where on the island.  My internal Google map and sense of direction has faded without regular use.

 

The problem is my body hasn’t downloaded the New Jersey versions yet.  I’ve started to get a feel for the roads and areas I travel on regularly, but the ways to get from here to there, or where a town I’ve never been to like East Hanover is, still elude me.

 

While driving around Long Island, if I encountered traffic on the Meadowbrook Parkway I might know where to get off and how to get around it, or cut over to the Wantagh Parkway.   If I’m stuck on route 4 in New Jersey, a road I travel pretty regularly, I’m still sketchy on how best to bypass it.  A couple of weeks ago I tried to get off and head south towards 46/80 knowing that it would lead me to the same George Washington Bridge that I wanted to cross, but I ended up getting crossed up and it took me longer than it would’ve to just sit in the traffic.

 

I suspect that in time I’ll learn more as I live here longer, but I’ve crossed the threshhold where I can say “Hey, I just moved here give me a break!” when I don’t know where Haledon is even though it lies directly between the town I live in and the town I work in.

Celebrating Our First Month Wedding Anniversary

Between the amazing wedding and the unbelievable honeymoon to Hawaii, the letdown afterwards was quite harsh.  One of the ways we chose to mitigate that was to celebrate each month of our anniversary.   We weren’t doing this for excuses to buy huge presents or anything, but simply to recognize and remember.

We declared the one ‘monthiversary’ the gourmet hamburger anniversary.  We got burgers from Bobby’s Burger Palace and sat together and enjoyed them.  Bobby’s makes great burgers and it’s always a nice treat to eat them.  Certainly better than Bubba Burgers out of the freezer.

So nothing overly fancy or heavily planned out.  Just a simple dinner to represent one month of marriage bliss.

Gassing up in New Jersey

Gas is cheaper in New Jersey. That’s always a thought whenever a New Yorker takes a trip to or through the state. Another point of interest is that there is no self-serve, so you never have to pump your own gas. However, this loses some of it’s appeal when you’re in a rush.

Sometimes I’d just rather get out and pump it myself. I don’t have to wait for the guy to come over and swipe my card. Especially if it’s crowded. I don’t have to wait while he go takes care of the next car that pulled in while my tank sits full for three minutes. I’ve been very tempted to get up and remove the nossel myself, especially when I’m in a hurry and just want to get out of there.

Another popular annoyance in New Jersey, at least North Jersey, is cash and credit prices. A growing number of gas stations are putting two prices on the big billboards; one for cash, and one for credit. Accustomed as I am to looking for the lowest price, and dismissing the rest as premium gas prices, I’ve been fooled before.

This creativity is getting around though. I saw a sign on Long Island advertising a price 20 cents cheaper in the same manner, with small print saying “with oil change”.

The best thing about self service gas is still that you don’t find an attendant with nothing better to do than squeegee your windshield with dirty water.

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