kieth olbermann really lets the president have it here:

if you haven’t snagged this ep by dangerdoom, you should go and grab it now:

earlier this week, tommy sent me this clip of a news reporter standing in a field of pot and getting stoned. clearly, the laugh track indicates it’s a fake. but, in REAL funny stoner movies, check out professor john hall, formerly of the University of Florida Warrington College of Business here and here. i especially like how hilarious he finds the students comment of “check the copyright” in regards to sun tzu’s art of war.

if anyone is interested, i’m looking for a few people to join a team music blog project that i’m working on. the basic concept of the blog will be creating collaborative playlists.

very basic requirements:

1. a strong interest in music
2. a large and diverse mp3 collection (it’s the web afterall)
3. the ability to write short (25-100 word) descriptions about music and handle deadlines.

also, it would be very helpful to have an email account that lets you send larger (up to 10MB) attachments (gmail works great for this.)

if you’re interested, send me an email. meanwhile, the first collaboration will be up sometime before this weekend. while the first one was a complete playlist trade off, future installments will be one CD length (78 minutes) playlist assembled by the group.

the last of the the three coffees i recieved from chris at metropolis is ethiopia yirgacheffe.  the fragrance is nice and floral, suggesting honeysuckle or jasmine, with a soft sweet citrus alongside it.  in the aroma is an even more pronounced honey, a little warm spice, and a touch of lemongrass.  once in the mouth, the coffee blossoms with jasmine-like sweetness and a little bit of cream.  the body is velvety smooth with a charming butteriness.  the finish is clean, a few wisps of vanilla escorting the coffee from the tongue.

coffee guy ben drove 9 hours to watch and video the southeast regional barista competition.  when he got home, none of the video came out.  rather than let this keep him down, he decided to shoot a video of what the finals looked like if they had been done by puppets.  pretty awesome stuff:

continuing further into the gifts from metropolis, i decided to hit the costa rica as i’m warming up the roasters.  sweet, sweet vanilla aroma, a little bit of something savory in there.  maybe a bit of hickory as well.  (chris’ cupping notes call it maple and cherry wood.  i can definitely see both in there.)   the aroma is thick, sweet with a hint of smoke and a nice masculine blood orange vibe that i am digging.   there’s a nippy little bit of acidity in the front that reminds me of apple skin, followed by more of that maple syrup flavor that was hinted at in the aroma.  a caramel like burst at the end sits on top of a nice creamy body.  the finish is long and sweet and with that creamy body reminds me of a well prepared cherry cordial, also some really nice buttery tones.  i’m thinking how good this is going to be tomorrow morning.

nice little package from biz at metropolis showed up today.  samples of kenya, yirg, and costa rica.  the kenya kirigu ab smelled delightfully of hops, sweetness and coconut straight away such that i had to make a press of it as soon as i opened the box.  upon grinding i got the delightful savoriness that is a sign of a great kenya.  some fruit and florals came through as well.  in the brew, i smelled some delicate green tea, as well as something akin to pomodoro sauce.  the taste was sweet;  nice brown sugary tones at the start, coupled with some nice citrus and a nice savory herb coming in shortly thereafter.  the body was syrupy, and the finish pretty clean, with some very mild notes of cashew and grapefruit sticking around for the afterparty.

also in the package was a CD that’s the start of something biz and i are calling the mix and match project.  more on that as it develops.

and so, famous first lines will be the topic for tonight.  and what lo i apologize for forgetting to post this yesterday.

many apologies for the lack of update.  i’ve been doing some judging at the southeast regional barista competition.  mad props to nick cho of murky coffee for taking home the top prize this year, and a special note of gratitude for reinforcing what the competition is supposed to be all about:  the coffee.  nick’s signature drink went a long way to demonstrating that while the flash and flair of the barista is extremely important, the barista’s ultimate goal is to be the final representative of the coffee.

the other great thing about being in an industry like specialty coffee is the multitude of really awesome professionals you meet that are doing their part to ensure that the coffee gets taken care of.  this week i got to hang out with so many people i know and love, and of course, expand that ever increasing circle of people that tim is now referring to as “the hardcores”.  a really great turn of phrase.

a really great interview with geekartist/game designer john klima is available at wonderland.