Our computer is ill. We’ll be hopefully posting again by the end of the week.

So, we just noticed this is our 525th blog post. Beer news is slow this week, so for the interim, here are some random things we’re reading and thinking about.

Ashvegas lists best beer names
One question gets asked more than you might think: “What’s the funniest/best beer name (or label) that you have?” Ash grabs this list. We think Blithering Idiot should be on there.

If Big Brown wins…
We don’t even like horse racing, honestly, but the name got us thinking the other day about how psyched these folks will be if he takes the Triple Crown. Seems some other people are thinking the same thing. “I want every kid in America to be able to walk into a Wal-Mart and buy a Big Brown shirt or a Big Brown Beanie Babie.” In related news: They still make Beanie Babies.

Wii takes it to the next level
We’ve been marveling at that crazy Wii Fit commercial, thinking what an interesting marketing approach to our fat nation. “Hey, USA! It’s Japan. You’re fat.” It’s a rather strange contraption, if you think about it, since you could actually do all the same exercises standing on the floor like a regular person. Last week, however, Wii topped themselves by releasing “Major League Eating: The Game.” We see an Amazon “buy these together now” deal coming soon.

Tackling greenhouse gases in a whole new way
New Zealand scientists created a “flatulence innoculation” to curb all the methane gas from cows, sheep, goats and deer. Apparently all the gas is causing environmental problems, which contrary to popular opinion, may mean that farts aren’t funny after all.

The Asheville Mural Project (AMP) is underway! This project is a collaboration between artists that will beautify the underpass of I-240 on Lexington Avenue. The project is being sponsored by Arts2People. We are fortunate to have the Simple Gift mural on the side of our building and can’t wait to see this one, which is just around the corner.

From the press release:

ASHEVILLE, NC—The first stroke of paint on the I-240 underpass on Lexington & Broadway Avenues has begun on the six concrete piers supporting the bridge marking the Northern Corridor into downtown. Director of Arts 2 People’s Asheville Mural Project (AMP), Molly Must, expects phase one of the painting of the much anticipated Lexington Gateway Project Mural to be complete by the end of June.   

 ”This bridge has always been a sort of dirty monument emerging from a conventional urban pattern.  It ushers hundreds of people to and from the downtown area every day, including a steady stream of local pedestrians.  The space presents wonderful opportunity to memorialize and further manifest the unique and beautiful collective intention that keeps so many of us in this town.  If we’re going to complain about gentrification, we should surely try harder to embrace the culture we still have, surround ourselves with it, and push it to the surface”, states Must.

AMP has full support from the Asheville City Council, the Public Art Board, the Office of Economic Development, the Asheville Downtown Association, the Downtown Commission of the City of Asheville, Public Works, the Department of Transportation, and many others throughout the community.  There are still sponsorship opportunities available to support this imaginative and creative project. Anyone interested should contact AMP director Molly Must at molly@arts2people.org.

The AMP team, consisting of 5 local artists and several auxiliary painters, has planned a variety of themes for this expansive mural. The majority of the mural will portray original images of local characters and scenes that represent the unique Asheville community.  Themes include Sustainability, Arts and Culture, Community, and Asheville Saints.

The Asheville Saints portion of the mural will consist of over forty standing portraits of actual Asheville people, painted on the insides of the 3 x 12 foot concrete columns.  AMP seeks community input for the Asheville saints and is calling for nominations.  Nominees may be contemporary of historical, and should be community-minded and active in some way. A team of five community members will be established to select saints from the nominations. The committee members will be elected based on their knowledge of local issues, history, and their respective community interaction and involvement. To nominate a saint, visit www.ashevillemuralproject.org.

The Asheville Mural Project, a branch of Arts 2 People, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, exists to beautify and diversify Asheville’s urban landscape, providing artists and local community members with the opportunity to design and implement their own public art. AMP believes that murals enhance quality of life and create artful metropolitan experience through the transformation of conventional architecture. AMP’s murals are both the testimony and celebration of a lively local arts culture.

Arts 2 People also houses the Lexington Ave. Arts and Fun Festival (LAAFF), the REACH Programming series, the new Pritchard Park Cultural Arts Program, Moving Women, the Faces of Asheville and more.  LAAFF has played in integral role in the fundraising and awareness raising efforts to support AMP for the past six years; we are all excited to see this vision turn into reality.  Arts 2 People is devoted to promoting the role of the arts as an integral part of our culture by serving the entire community through arts outreach, bringing the arts to those in need of the healing power of art, supporting the careers of artists, and through community cultural development. To find out more, visit www.arts2people.org.

New Holland brewery has a little gaming going on called Capslam. What is Capslam, you ask?

Where slam poetry and handcrafted beers meet!
Well, it all starts with some friends and a case of New Holland Beer. Starting this fall all bottles will ship with a word hidden under the cap. Collect the words, make your poems and of course—share them with us!

We’ve never even noticed the words underneath the caps, but we like the idea. We’re not even sure which “Fall” they launched this project, but they don’t seem to have kept up with it. We do like this one, though. “You are happiness in my glass.”

[Image: Capslam.com]

We heart Iron Chef
The Fine Living Network (which honestly we’d never even noticed before) started replaying the original Iron Chef this week—as in the Japanese version, not the crappy American spin-off with bobblehead chefs Bobby Flay and that Italian dude. This is the real deal with Chairman Kaga in all his flamboyant glory in Kitchen Stadium. Back in the day, we spent many a Friday night watching this oddly mesmerizing show. Nothing says quality television like chefs in shiny colorful costumes rising on hydraulics. And the secret ingredient? It’s just too much. It’s like food theater!

That’s how we got hooked on Masaharu Morimoto, the Iron Chef of Japanese cooking. We have had the pleasure of meeting him twice at his restaurant in Philadelphia, where he was actually making our sushi. (And give the guy credit for launching his Rogue line of beer.) Anyway, if you’ve never seen Iron Chef, you must. Every night at 11pm. 
[photo: fineliving.com/Fuji Television Network]

Tom Waits playing in Knoxville
We picked up a Mountain Xpress yesterday and flipping through, out of nowhere, we see this big picture of Tom Waits. He’s touring. And playing Knoxville. The Glitter and Doom Tour went on sale at 9am this morning. The awesome hubby got us orchestra seats, though a credit card glitch bumped us from row C to row T. At $85 per ticket, it’s pricey, but being that he tours so infrequently—and we had a Tom Waits song as our non-traditional bridal dance—we would not miss it for the world. For more stuff on Tom, go to the Library.

“We’re going to the deep south where they still love a man who wears red pants and they make him feel welcome.”

We leave you with this fine performance of 1985’s Rain Dogs.