I coined a new put-down

I tried this out on my Facebook page, and two friend have liked it so far. Here goes:

"I ain't in your league 'cause I ain't playin' your games."

Slam! Yep, it's original. (c) Copyright 2008 Colin Burch

: )

Some days, my daughters just want to stay home

Mellow Mushroom's brew list continues to grow

Last week, a friend told me that Mellow Mushroom here in Myrtle Beach has been slowly but surely adding more and more brews -- beers on tap, to be more precise.

Anyone out there tried some of the local Mellow Mushroom's recently added beer offerings? Care to comment?

By the way, the friend who told me was Michael Wood, who has done an outstanding cover story on the Myrtle Beach underground music scene for the Weekly Surge. Read the article here.

Crazy about 'Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics'

I love this Editorial Statement for Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics:

"MORE THAN humane philology is essential for keeping the classics as a living force. Arion therefore exists to publish work that needs to be done and that otherwise might not get done. We want to stimulate, provoke, even 'plant' work that now finds no encouragement or congenial home elsewhere. This means swimming against the mainstream, resisting the extremes of conventional philology and critical fashion into which the profession is now polarized. But occupying this vital center should in no way preclude the crucial centrifugal movement that may lead us across disciplinary lines and beyond the academy. Our commitment is to a genuine and generous pluralism that opens up rather than polarizes classical studies. We will not be coerced into conforming either to the traditional paradigms or to the 'new' metaphysic and ideological absolutism of contemporary theory. If we are to move beyond the cant of 'isms' now dominating the academy, intellectual daring is needed, not disciplinary diffidence.

"We are in quest of freshness of vision, distinction of thought (as opposed to professional group-think), rigor of imagination, and an energetic sense of the spaciousness of the classical tradition."

The above excerpt appeared here.

Visit the Arion homepage here.

Gratitude for the givenness of the world

Following the recent death of the great Nobel Laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, I have been listening to David Aikman's essay "One Word of Truth: A Portrait of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn" on a special MP3 edition of Mars Hill Audio.

Mars Hill Audio also has a 74-minute download entitled The Christian Humanism of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (also available for purchase on CD) featuring scholar Edward E. Ericson, Jr. Here's a fantastic quote from Ericson's 2006 book, The Solzhenitsyn Reader: New and Essential Writings, 1947-2005:

"Solzhenitsyn's work and witness teach us that the true alternative to revolutionary utopianism is not postmodern nihilism but gratitude for the givenness of the world and a determined but patient effort to correct injustices within it."

Quote of the Week

In the "hot pour" interview column in the current (Sept. 4) edition of The Weekly Surge, Christian S. Gore interviews Jessie Leeson, 28, a bartender at the local Gordon Biersch restaurant and brewery.

Christian S. Gore: Have you ever thought about what it'd be like to work a shift on LSD?

Jessie Leeson: Every shift I work I feel like I am on LSD... Myrtle Beach is a trippy place."

Quote of the Week

In the "hot pour" interview column in the current (Sept. 4) edition of The Weekly Surge, Christian S. Gore interviews Jessie Leeson, 28, a bartender at the local Gordon Biersch restaurant and brewery.

Christian S. Gore: Have you ever thought about what it'd be like to work a shift on LSD?

Jessie Leeson: Every shift I work I feel like I am on LSD... Myrtle Beach is a trippy place."

Beerman has gone to every-other-week

To the readers of my Beerman column in The Weekly Surge --

If you haven't noticed yet, the editor and I decided to make Beerman an every-other-week kind of column.

I will continue to update this blog between columns.

Send me news when you have some!

cheers,
Colin

Hanna knocks down a big tree

Here in Briarcliffe Acres, S.C. --

For wine drinkers: Cavit's 2007 Pinot Noir from Italy

Wednesday night, my wife and I had a quick, casual dinner at the Olive Garden across U.S. 17 from Barefoot Landing (North Myrtle Beach, SC). We bought a bottle of 2007 Pinot Noir from Provincia di Pavia, by the Cavit Collection. It was, as advertised, light and fruity -- and we loved it. Plus, it was affordable. We spent about $20 on that bottle, which is pretty darn reasonable for a bottle at a restaurant.

Audio Prozac: The Cleaning the Kitchen And Waiting for Hannah Playlist

Coastal Carolina University in nearby Conway has canceled classes Friday and Saturday (yes, I teach a three-hour class on Saturday) due to concerns about Tropical Storm Hannah.

On such an occasion, I offer my playlist for cleaning the kitchen at 1 a.m. while looking forward to two days off to catch-up while assuming Hannah won't be a problem in the greater Myrtle Beach area:

1. Long Time Coming -- The Delays

2. Hey Girl -- The Delays

3. The Burden -- Dropkick Murphys

4. Five Candles (You Were There) -- Jars of Clay

5. Praise You -- Fatboy Slim

6. The Devil Never Sleeps -- Iron & Wine

7. Door Into Summer -- Jacob's Trouble (covering The Monkees)

8. Hangin' Around -- Counting Crows

9. Your Reverie -- Kelley Stoltz

10. Alongside You -- Molly Jenson

11. New Shoes -- Paolo Nutini

12. Don't You Evah -- Spoon

13. Stevie Nix -- The Hold Steady

14. Times Like These -- Foo Fighters

15. Rocknroll -- Lovedrug

16. Ride My See-Saw -- The Moody Blues

17. I'm Amazed -- My Morning Jacket

18. The Ritz -- Office

19. I Choose -- The Offspring

20. Bouncing Around the Room -- Phish