The Hunger for Dew

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

Saw a few good movies this past week… first up was “Sicario” starring Benecio Del Toro, Emily Blunt and Josh Brolin. This movie is about an FBI agent (Blunt) who joins an elite task force that is cracking down on the Mexican drug trade… by any means necessary. Her ideology is called into question as their methods are not “by the book” but… can it be by the book when those that they are fighting against don’t play by the book? The movie is… intense. I loved it. There are twists and turns throughout… Benecio Del Toro gives a great performance… really everybody does a great job… there are great cameo performances… the subject matter is dark & disturbing… definitely one of the best movies from last year that I’ve seen. Even the parts of the movie that some might see as slow… still pretty damn intense. Even the occasion establishing aerial shots of the Juarez / El Paso area are great at showing that… basically the land is pretty barren… yet people live there… and they’re struggling every day to survive in this fruitless land… and then they drop you in the movie up close. Man, it’s just a great movie. Lots of violence & language… definitely rated hard R but… holy sh*t, go see this movie if you’re not squeamish.

  

Also, this weekend, Izzy & I continued the series of movies by continuing with “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” and “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part One” with Part Two coming out later this year. For those who don’t know, the original movie set up the world of basically an alternate reality United States where after a major civil war, there are 12 Districts essentially ran by a Capital City (that may or may not be located in Salt Lake City looking at a few maps online?) and... basically once a year, they get one teenage girl & one teenage boy from each district… and have them fight to the death in a completely controlled environment for sport… and maybe the winning district gets food. Why is this how it works? You know what… don’t think about it too hard… but apparently this gives Hope to those who are being oppressed. Well, the first movie is about this girl named Katness (Jennifer Lawrence) who volunteers for these Hunger Games to save her little sister during the lottery selection process… and spoiler alert: She wins! After 2.5 hours and a LOT of shaky cam, that’s the end result of the first movie… but that’s only the beginning of the story. Now she’s a symbol of Hope for the common people of all the districts… and President Snow (Donald Sutherland) is not a fan of this… but he can’t make a martyr of her… and basically, I’m just going to say… you kind of have to soldier through & watch the first movie to get the basis of the movie (or at least try to)… but it’s really the following movies where the cool action & intrigue actually pops up. There’s a lot of political maneuvering, some decent action scenes, a sprinkling of teen angst, but far more stuff like PTSD and morality issues rather than “Oh man, which boy do I love?” and all that other Twilight BS… it’s mostly a movie about REVOLUTION!!! And sprinklings of Revenge!!! Go check them out!!!

 

So for the next month… I’m doing the No Mountain Dew Challenge that I’ve thrown on myself. I’ve been drinking Mountain Dew for a loooooong time. Basically since high school that has been my drink of choice… and when I was playing basketball 8 hours a day then I was at least burning off the calories (and I was definitely drinking more before). However, I’m going to try to cut it… and replace it with tea or water. Why? Well… I’m getting a few pounds of me… and let’s face it… soda probably isn’t the best for my organs. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.  Yes, I know it’s been on the $tevies for like 8 years in a row to give up… but I’m confident that it can be done. Come on cheer me on. Well, besides not having Mountain Dew around… how else can I kick it? Well…

 

This weekend, Izzy & I tried a little brewing experiment called “Mountain Brew” which… is exactly what it sounds like. Basically it’s beer… made with Mountain Dew, some other malt sugars, and yeast. I know what you’re thinking. “Why the f**k would you do something like this?” Well… because I’m curious how it will fare. I have no idea who it will turn out. Will it taste like alcoholic Mountain Dew? Very doubtful. Will it be a delicious experience? Probably not. Will it probably be some sort of horrible concoction that induces vomiting? Hopefully not. So then what will it taste like? I’ll let you know… but I’m hoping for some sort of citrusy pale ale… but I’m sure if it were incredible then every microbrewery would have a version of this. What if it’s great? We’ll be surprised… and even if it’s half-decent… then we’ve already got another idea ready to go: Dr. Pepper Stout. Anyway, here are some pictures of Mountain Brew…

 

Lastly, we’re in the final stages of getting our Podcast up & running… so I’ll have the link information out to you as soon as possible when it’s up & running and maybe we have a few episodes up too… you know, so you get an idea of what Izzy & I are throwing out there. It’s going to be amazing! Until then, have a great day everybody!!!