Tag Archives: booze

I choose to believe this is true

Originally, this was going to be an epic post was about how Husband and I watched a double feature of Flashdance and Poltergeist on Saturday night.

We have a big muddy pit in our backyard while the renovation happens so maybe Poltergeist wasn’t the best choice ever. I dragged Sean to see it in the theatre a couple of years ago. It’s hokey, but it’s still got some scary moments.

Then I read that Michael Sembello originally wrote this song after watching the movie Maniac. The Flashdance version of the chorus is:

She’s a maniac, maniac on the floor
And she’s dancing like she’s never danced before.

The original chorus is allegedly:

He’s a maniac, maniac that’s for sure,
He will kill your cat and nail him to the door.

That’s so ridiculously silly and awesome I don’t think there’s anything left to say.

The Gin Greasy

Over at Wait wait, don’t blog me, Ian Chillag decided to experiment with the gin and mayo cocktail Tom Robbins mentioned on Wait wait, don’t tell me! this weekend.

There’s more to the post, including the backstory, but I just can’t resist a pull quote to highlight Ian’s conclusion:

Gin & mayonnaise don’t combine well, probably because God doesn’t want them to. So rather than a single disgusting sensation, the gin and mayonnaise battled for the title of Flavor I’d Most Regret Having In My Mouth. I had hoped even the small quantity of alcohol would provide enough impaired judgment to make the experience tolerable, but no.

I also want to point out, for people who don’t pay attention to these kinds of things, the tags for that post:

Tags: ian needs counseling, ian deserves a raise, bad ideas, mayonnaise, gin

Indeed.

Scott Jurek

We have a number of friends who are ultramarathoners, a sport I find more interesting than triathalons, for reasons I can’t really explain. I think I like the idea of having one task to focus on for 24 hours. (Can you tell I’m already exhausted and overwhelmed this week?)

New York Times columnist Mark Bittman recently went for a run & then had a meal with ultra-runner Scott Jurek.

If last year was a wash, this year he is fit and psyched for the 24-Hour Run world championship in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France, on Thursday and Friday. It is a grueling race to determine how many miles runners can complete on a 1.4-kilometer road loop (about nine-tenths of a mile) in a 24-hour period.

Jurek says he can break the American record, 162 miles, held by Mark Godale. (The world record, 178 miles, and just about every ultramarathoning record from 100 to 1,000 miles, and from 24 hours to 10 days, are, Jurek said, “unassailably” held by Yiannis Kouros of Greece, who no longer competes.)

To win Brive, Jurek said, he must: “Get on it, crank around it, and get it done. It’s all in a day’s work.”

It’s a long day, and one that raises a particular aspect of Jurek’s training that makes him an especially interesting athlete: he is a vegan, consuming no animal products.

I thought it was a nice piece, Bittman talked about Jurek’s diet without passing and judgements or making any outlandish claims about the superiority of one diet over another.

Incidentally, Jurek succeeded in breaking the American record later in the week:

Local runner Scott Jurek finished in second place at the IAU 24 Hour Run World Championship held in Brive, France. Jurek finished with 266.008 km or 165.284 miles in 24 hours. The American record was 162 miles in 24 hours, set by Mark Godale of Ohio in 1999. Jurek passed Godale’s mark with 30 minutes left to run.

First place winner was Shingo Ouene of Japan, completing 273.531 kilometers (169.96 mies) in 24 hours.

That’s seriously cool. Also a little crazy, maybe.

On a minor tangent, let me just say that I have no problem at all with Bittman’s mint juleps “the wrong way”. I’d write more, but I need to go check make sure the bourbon has been restocked….