Archive for year 2011
Guinness Black Lager Is Awesome
I was sent a bottle of a new Guinness beer – Guinness Black Lager. It’s a black colored beer that’s supposed to be served cold. It was billed as light, but I had my doubts. Regular Guinness can serve as a meal replacement, so Guinness Black Lager, how light could it be?
Well when I tried that thing, I couldn’t believe it. Seriously. It’s better than advertised. You’re supposed to drink it right out of the bottle, so I did. As soon as that sweet, frosty light/black combo hit my lips, that bottle was toast. It had no chance. Stout – 1, new bottle of Guinness Black Lager – zero.
So what does this thing taste like? Well for starters, it’s super refreshing. I like Guinness on occasion, but I wouldn’t call myself a habitual stout drinker. The beer bares my name so you’d think it’d be a match made in heaven, but I don’t always like the heavy, not-so-brisk taste that comes with stout beers.
That’s why I’m such a big Newcastle fan. It’s really not that heavy. All that “lighter side of dark” talk rings true with Newcastle Brown Ale. If you like the invigorating effect of a cold Newkie, you’ll definitely dig this new Guinness. It’s a fantastic extra-cold beverage; black beer that drinks like a light lager but still has distinctive malty undertones and full-bodied flavor.
Now when I say light, I don’t mean low-cal. I just mean not heavy and overbearing. I could care less about the calories with this black lager. It’s just too damn good.
Now maybe it was the presentation or the special delivery (the bottle of Guinness Black Lager that I received came in a fancy box with its own coozie bottle cooler jacket), but the next time I see this beer — in the store, at a bar — I’m definitely going to reach for it. If you like dark beer flavor without the heavy, heavy impact, you’ll enjoy this new Black Lager from Guinness.
Oct 4th
PERT Plus Giveaway
Summer is over and everyone’s back to school or back to a regular, vacation-less schedule. As we get into the first few weeks of the Fall season, routines are being reestablished and free time is quickly becoming sparse for everybody. To get you through the daily back-to-school or back-to-work grind, we’re giving away a PERT Plus prize pack to one lucky reader.
Why shop around for different hair products when you can pick up a single, 2-in-1 solution that works for men and women? Guys, you know you’d never condition your hair unless the conditioner was already included in your everyday shampoo choice. And ladies, why do you need to fill the shower with five different bottles of hair washing product? Why not simplify your shower routine and minimize your hair care shopping hassles? You can jumpstart this effort by scoring a PERT Plus prize pack that includes:
- 2 bottles of PERT Plus
- PERT Plus branded baseball
- PERT Plus t-shirt
- PERT Plus USB drive
Do enter the giveaway, just like us on Facebook and send us an email below telling us why you need to simplify your hair care routine. We’ll pick a winner at random next week. Good luck!
Oct 4th
Week 4 NFL Picks
At Dallas -2 Detroit
Like everyone else, I’m fully committed to the Detroit Lions. Megatron’s caught two TDs in each game this season. The Cowboys barely beat the Redskins. Romo’s missing Miles Austin and the Dallas ground game isn’t going anywhere. I’ll take Stafford and company to keep the hype machine rolling.
Pick: Lions +2
New Orleans -7 At Jacksonville
Brees is totally dialed in this year. He’s completed 68.5 percent of his passes for 1,059 yards, nine TDs and two picks. That comes out to an average of 8.1 yards per pass and a passer rating of 109.7. The Jags strength is their defense, but I don’t think they’ll be able to stop the second most potent offense in the NFL.
Pick: Saints -7
At Philadelphia -9 San Francisco
The Eagles are 1-2 and staring up at three 2-1 teams in their division. Vick is going to play, but it’s McCoy and the ground game that have been the strength of this offense so far this season. The Niners are allowing only 62.7 rushing yards per game (third best in the league). The Eagles are desperate for a W, but San Francisco is 2-0-1 ATS this year. I think the Eagles will win, but I’ll take the 49ers and the points.
Pick: Niners +9
Washington -2 At St. Louis
The Rams are still searching for their first win, while the Redskins are coming off of their first loss of the young season. If the Rams want to win, they better do it now. The next three games include trips to Green Bay and Dallas and a home game against the Saints. I say the Rams put it together at home with Steven Jackson back on the field.
Pick: Rams +2
At Cleveland -1 Tennessee
Ever since the Browns let me down in Week 1 of my survivor league, I’ve been finding ways to hate this team. Tennessee may have lost their best wide receiver, but they still have a hungry running back who’s ready to earn his paycheck. Plus, I’m really surprised by the way that Hasselbeck is playing. He’s completing 69.6 percent of his passes and averaging over 300 yards per game. Add in a much better defense and the edge goes to the Titans.
Pick: Titans +1
Buffalo-3 At Cincinnati
I like Cincy’s D, but I love everything about the Buffalo offense. Fitzpatrick, Stevie, Chandler, Nelson, Fred Jackson leading the league in rushing. The Bills are my new favorite team. I’ve saw them give up big leads to Oakland and the Pats, but this offense has proved that it can move the ball when it wants to.
Pick: Bills -3
Minnesota -2 At Kansas City
The Chiefs made it interesting there for a bit last week against the Chargers. The Vikings have turned three first half leads into an 0-3 start. I think Minnesota will find a way to play 60 minutes and win this weekend.
Pick: Vikings -2
At Chicago -6.5 Carolina
One week, the Bears are amazing (Week 1), the next week (Week2-3), they just can’t get it done. The Panthers can’t run the ball or play defense, but Cam Newton’s keeping things interesting. Chicago doesn’t seem to keen on running the ball at all. It might be a good week to rethink that strategy. The Panthers are giving up 117 yards per game on the ground. It’s not easy taking the Bears here, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.
Pick: Bears -6.5
At Houston -3.5 Pittsburgh
Damn the Steelers looked terrible on Sunday night when they barely escaped with a win over the Colts. And the Texans almost pulled off the upset against the Saints. I really hate picking against the Steelers, but it’s kind of hard not to in this situation. Arian Foster is back. Pittsburgh’s ground game is sluggish at best and their o-line is a mess. I’m still not buying into this the Steelers defense is too old business, but I think the Texans get the edge here, especially at home.
Pick: Texans -3.5
Atlanta -4.5 At Seattle
Seattle plays well at home. Atlanta plays poorly on the road. But who are we kidding? The Falcons are just a better team. If they can get Turner involved early and often, Matt Ryan will have an easier time delivering a road win.
Pick: Falcons -4.5
NY Giants -1 At Arizona
The Cardinals have problems. Their defense is atrocious and they only managed one offensive touchdown against the Seahawks last week. Meanwhile, the Giants, despite having tons of injuries, have rebounded to a nice 2-1 start after losing the opener in Washington. Eli’s gotten better each game. G-Men win in the desert.
Pick: Giants -1
At San Diego -7 Miami
Desperation time just got even more desperate for the Dolphins. Daniel Thomas is doubtful for Sunday’s game in San Diego. The Chargers don’t look like an elite team so far this year, but you don’t have to be elite to beat the Dolphins.
Pick: Chargers -7
At Green Bay -12 Denver
I don’t care how high the spread is here, the Packers are going to crush the Broncos.
Pick: Packers -12
New England -5 At Oakland
This is the trickiest game to call this week. New England has the best air attack in the NFL by far (540.33 passing yards per game). Oakland has the best ground game (185 rushing yards per game). New England can’t stop anything on defense. They’re the worst team in the league at surrendering passing yards. Oakland’s D isn’t that great against the run, and they’re not all that great against the pass either. It really comes down to offensive strength vs. offensive strength. The Raiders will play keep away while the Pats will get points off of almost every drive. In the end, Brady’s arm outperforms McFadden’s feet.
Pick: Pats -5
At Baltimore -3.5 NY Jets
Ray Rice is the real deal. You saw what he did against the Steelers. This guy is matchup-proof. Sanchez and the Jets are averaging 27.7 points per game, and all that offense is coming through the air. Shonn Greene’s not getting it done and LT can’t be expected to carry the load. The Ravens will make sure that the Jets ground game doesn’t get going. If they can force Sanchez into making a couple bad plays, they should be able to take care of business at home.
Pick: Ravens -3.5
At Tampa Bay -10 Indianapolis
I’m never betting against the Bucs again, even when they’re favored. The Colts played with pride last week, but Curtis Painter’s not gonna get it done.
Pick: Bucs -10
Last Week: 7-9
Season: 26-20-2 ATS
Sep 30th
National CofFREE Day at 7-Eleven Tomorrow
It’s National Coffee Day tomorrow, and 7-11 is celebrating by running a National CofFREE campaign. On September 29, participating 7-Eleven stores in the US and Canada will offer free medium cups of coffee from 7am to 11am. You can grab a free cup of coffee, a latte or a capucino in the morning tomorrow at no charge, folks. If you get your early morning coffee fix going on the regular, do it for free tomorrow. At least until supplies last.
Sep 28th
Killer Elite Review
A few weeks ago I went to a screening of Killer Elite. I went in expecting to see a Clive Owen movie with Jason Statham in it. But really, it was a Jason Statham movie with Clive Owen in it. That’s pretty much the best way to describe it. Less Inside Man and Children of Men. More Transporter 3 and Crank 2.
Not that there’s anything wrong with Jason Statham movies. You know how they go. Statham always looks a little worried, but deep down he knows, and you do too, that he can pretty much kick anyone’s ass in any situation. Statham dreams of a normal life with peace and quiet and a decent relationship, but you both know that won’t work out for the guy. He’s just too damn good at kicking ass, so he has to stick with the job.
There’s some quality action in this movie. The Clive Owen vs. Jason Statham brawl in the hospital is pretty intense. You got some sweet car chases, a couple crazy shootouts and entertaining death scenes. If you isolate the action, it’s hard to complain about this film. It delivers on pacing, on elaborate assassination plots and the whole cat and mouse chase thing. All that stuff works really well.
But then you get into the actual characters. Now this is supposed to be based on true-ish events, so the opportunity was there to build out these characters into interesting, layered people. That didn’t happen though.
Yvonne Strahovski is a prop in this movie. She plays Statham’s love interest and spends most of the film aimlessly walking around Paris. At the end of the movie, you know nothing about her; why she’s around in the first place, what she’s into, what she doesn’t like. I’m pretty sure if you paid me 50 bucks at the end of the movie to tell you her character’s name, there’s no way I could have done it.
Same goes with De Niro. He plays this father figure/super-assassin type, but really, he comes across as a tired old man doing a not-so-great impression of Robert De Niro. He just doesn’t have it anymore. I realize that we can’t expect a Heat-type performance here. I really wasn’t setting the bar too high. But De Niro just comes across a sad, fatigued, campier version of himself. Homey needs a vacation or he needs to get more selective with his roles.
Even amidst this Statham-driven world of super-action and underdeveloped characters, Clive Owen still shines. I’m totally biased here – I love the guy – but he was the best part of the film. If the lead role went to Owen, it’d be a totally different movie. He gets plenty of face time (even with that porn stache), and he makes the most out of it.
To enjoy this film, you just have to know what you’re walking into. It’s not a layered story about political intrigue, deep characters and interwoven agendas. It’s a Statham movie where villainous henchman run around saying stuff like “Remember, the only rules are, there are no rules.” (Seriously, that happened).
If you suspend your critical judgment, need for character development and just go into it looking for some action – real, elaborate, well-paced assassin/cat-and-mouse action – then you can just sit back and have fun with a not-so-serious movie.
Sep 28th
Van Heusen Big Game in Style Contest
At the start of the football season, Van Heusen launched the Institute of Style at VanHeusen.com. The Institute of Style is challenging dudes everywhere to spiffy up their fashion selections. If you use Van Heusen to transform yourself from schlub to swagger, you could win a trip to the Super Bowl. Not just tickets to the big game either. If you win this thing, you and four of your friends will be flying the Indy in a private jet and watching the Super Bowl in a suite with Steve Young, Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders.
To enter, visit then Van Heusen website and submit before and after shots of you looking like a schlub (sans Van Heusen) and you looking like a super dapper swagger (after the Van Heusen touch). You can see examples of different looks and style tips on the website.
Your before and after shots will be judged by the three aforementioned NFL Hall of Famers, Van Heusen’s fashion director, an editor at ESPN Fashion and an the market editor of GQ magazine. Here are the judging categories/requirements:
- Use of Van Heusen Clothing and Merchandise (33.33% of score)
- Extent of overall transformation between photos (33.33% of score)
- Level of personal style (33.34% of score)
You don’t need to purchase anything to enter. Five entries allowed per person and per email address. All entrants must submit their photos by 12/31/2011. The approximate retail value of the grand prize has a not to exceed prize of $22,900. That grand prize includes:
- Round trip private air transportation on a G4 airplane for five (winner and (4) guests)
- A total of (2) standard hotel room accommodations, each for a total of (4)-nights
- Five (5) tickets to the Big Game being played in Indianapolis, IN
- Five (5) tickets to the ESPN Next party
- Five (5) tickets to the GQ party
- Five (5) tickets to the NFLX Experience
- Van Heusen Wardrobes for winner and each guest, with a maximum total retail value not to exceed $1,000
- 5,000 in cash
So yea, enter this thing, dude.
Sep 28th
Help Us Select Our Jim Beam Bold Choice!
A couple weeks ago, we posted about our partnership with Jim Beam and our participation in the Jim Beam Bold Choice campaign. It’s a pretty exciting opportunity, man. Jim Beam is giving us $2,500 to experience a Bold Choice that we’ve always wanted to make. I narrowed down the options to three Bold Choices, but it’s up to you, loyal reader, to vote on which Bold Choice you’d like us to experience.
The first option was diving in the Great Barrier Reef. I hear it’s on of those must-do bucket list time things, and I’ve always wanted to go to Australia to check out the largest reef system on the planet.
The second option is to hike a volcano in Hawaii. This probably won’t entail any sort of life-threatening close distances to actual lava or anything. I just think it’d be fun to see the fury of Mother Nature’s wrath all up close. Plus, I’ve never been to Hawaii and I always wanted to check it out.
The third Bold Choice option is a combination of skydiving in Austria and experiencing Oktoberfest. Seems like a pretty sweet pairing of things I really want try. I mean flying in Austria and checking out the Alpine scenery while freefalling from the clouds sounds amazing. The added Oktoberfest bonus is just another bucket list style item that I’d love to cross off my Bold Choice checklist.
Thanks to everyone who already voted. We’re going to tally the final votes up at the end of the week, so there are only a couple more days to chime in with what you think we should do! Just use the email form below and let us know if you want us to choose option 1, 2 or 3.
Sep 28th
Accell MHL to HDMI Adapter Review
We receive a lot of tech items to review on the site. The last thing we got was an MHL to HDMI Adapter from Accell. Basically, this adapter is used for connecting specific phones and tablets to your TV. Why would you want to do this? Well let’s say you have family over and you want to show off some photos or videos or play some music from your phone or other handheld device. Instead of passing around a tablet or smartphone, you can just hook your device up to your TV and showcase audio, video or photo in full, easy-to-access high definition.
The adapter works with any MHL or USB Micro-B devices. Depending on the device you’re connecting, you may need to use a power adapter as well. The adapter supports digital audio and HD video resolutions (1080I/60Hz or 1080p/30Hz). If you have a Samsung smartphone on an HTC smartphone or tablet, this thing will be real easy to connect. Here’s the list of products that support MHL:
- Samsung Galaxy S2
- Samsung Infuse 4G
- HTC Flyer Tablet
- HTC Sensation
- HTC Evo 3D
Sep 26th
Win Original Newcastle WTDD Artwork from Ron English
This past Saturday was the first annual Newcastle Walk the Dog Day in Los Angeles. Five different venues across LA participated in the celebration of the tasty Brown Ale. We had a good turnout at Finn McCool’s in Santa Monica. Thanks to everyone who came out and enjoyed a pint (or more) of free Newcastle!
As part of the event, Newcastle teamed up with renowned artist Ron English. English produced original artwork that was available on the t-shirts that were handed this weekend. An original canvas of the Ron English Newcastle WTDD design was also on hand, and we’re giving that canvas away to one lucky reader.
Here’s what the canvas looks like:
To enter the giveaway, just use the form below. Send us an email and tell us why you love Newcastle. We’ll pick a winner at random next Monday.
Good Luck!
Sep 26th
