eating crow

After I attended the Indy Beer Fest this past summer, I wrote up an article for Indianabeer.com which you can read here. I said a somewhat negative thing about Brugge Brasserie's "Trippel de Ripple". Brugge is that newish Belgian brewpub in Broad Ripple in Indy. Here is what I said in the article: "I wasn't terribly impressed with the Tripel, to be honest. I thought the fermentation character was quite harsh. I really prefer a much smoother Tripel."

Well, after that article was posted, Ted Miller, the brewmaster and co-founder of Brugge has some choice words for me. Here is an excerpt from the email he sent me:
"What are your credentials? Your comments are going to look pretty silly when that Tripel comes home from Denver draped in hardware. Or not. But I'll gladly take critisism from grand masters and if they find it phenolic I'll take back everything I said."

After I responded to him with a very reasonable response, he sent me this back (he's an awesome speller): "I don't care if you like the beer at all. I don't think it is in the best interest of journalism to let your opinions alter my customers perception of an otherwise fine beer. If there was somthing really wrong with it, I would gladly accept your critisism, but it just ain't so. Post those comments on another site with a bunch of underqualified beer raters, not Indiana Beer that can be construed as an authority."

As you can see, Ted is not my biggest fan.

Well, the ironic thing is, Ted's Trippel just came back from Denver, indeed, "draped in hardware". The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) is held in Denver every year. It is probably considered to be the most influential beer competition in the United States. It suffers from the same problems that all other comps do: namely, they only judge "to style", so if something isn't to style, even if it is fucking awesome, then it won't do very well (hence Stone's poor performance over the years) and secondly, you can only win if you enter and it costs money to enter. But anyway, winning a GABF medal is a pretty big deal.

And Brugge's Trippel won a Silver medal.

So this morning I received this image in the mail from Ted at Brugge:



Eat crow (from Answers.com): "Also, eat dirt or humble pie. Be forced to admit a humiliating mistake, as in When the reporter got the facts all wrong, his editor made him eat crow. The first term's origin has been lost, although a story relates that it involved a War of 1812 encounter in which a British officer made an American soldier eat part of a crow he had shot in British territory. Whether or not it is true, the fact remains that crow meat tastes terrible. The two variants originated in Britain. Dirt obviously tastes bad. And humble pie alludes to a pie made from umbles, a deer's undesirable innards (heart, liver, entrails). [Early 1800s] Also see eat one's words."

Well, this is funny and all, but I stand by my assessment of the beer I tried at the Indy fest. I imagine it was a different batch than the samples sent GABF. The samples sent GABF were also, I hypothesize, aged longer. They were also definately in bottles, which can make a difference. I would certainly love to try that bottled, well aged version.

Also, I feel that I certainly don't like every beer that the GABF judges like and vice versa. While the comps try to maintain some level of objectivity by judging "to style", I certainly think there is some room for personal tastes and unique palates to influence the outcome.

Mac's notes from Sri Lanka

My friend Mac, who I haven't seen in about 5 years, has moved to Sri Lanka. I'm not sure what he's doing there, but it seems like some sort of legitimate job. Either way, he's definately still living the life that really only Mac can live. Or at least writing about the life that only Mac could live in a way only Mac could write about it. He has a blog on Myspace.com, but I figured I would post some of his stuff here because I think it's interesting.

Check it out over here.

ahhhhhhhhh...Amanda Congdon, and new photographs from around the beautiful IU campus

Amanda Congdon is charming. And I think Rocketboom's new video might be the best they've ever done. The yellow shirt is a nice touch. See it here.

Today was an absolutely beautiful day here in Bloomington IN. Now I've had a ridiculously busy week, and Thursday is my hardest day. Had HPS seminar this morning which is great. I think I got a lot out of today's class. I need to be more assertive though I think. I wonder if I know what I'm talking about?

Anywho, the weather was fucking gorgeous. ZERO humidty. Absolutely gin clear, bright blue sky, sun searing down. Luckily it was so cold. Right now my window is open and my bare feet and quite cold.

Anywho, don't worry, cause I'm tough.

Anywho, I had to go to campus in between seminar and logic. which is kicking my ass. The first exam is a week from today; time to start memorizing definitions like this one: "if Φ=(∃α) Ψ then Φ is true under ℑ if and only if Ψ α/β is true under at least one β-variant of ℑ." (I had to improvise; 'ℑ' refers to an interpretation of the formalized language we use, note my use/mention distinction.)

Anywho, I had to run to campus today before logic and I took some pictures when I was there. Here are a few.



Brand new blog 'Song of Myself' blog feature! CLICK on any of these images for a large and spectacular version.

new poem and more photos

Here is a new poem I wrote partially inspired by my trip to Yosemite this summer and strangely reminiscent, at least in the first verse, of Johnny Cash's Five Feet High and Risin.

As soon as the sun rose so did I crawl out.
Shivering, my hat pulled almost over my eyes,
I boiled water for tea.
I sipped and I supped and I watched the frost line retreat,
the sun chased it over the dirt and my feet,
and the tent and my boots from it’s icy grip freed,
‘It’s a damn fine day today’.

Down the trail, all alone,
A long week behind me and now I am worn.
The rocks and the roots and the snakes underfoot,
The saprophytic angiosperms litter the floor.
Charred trunks across five feet,
The pace of the step jars the heart of my beat,
‘It’s a damn fine day today’.

Crystal pure, clear crisp crunchy ice I inhale.
Air cold in the forest, the sun cooks pine needles and smells right.
Sweat in the sun, shiver in the shade,
‘It’s a damn fine day today’.

Almost there now, ten more to go,
Across a final river I find to ford,
Pass the field the night I first laid,
‘It’s a damn fine day today’.

One more now, I forget the date,
My boots alone seem to know the way,
I see the car, but my shock defrays,
‘It’s a damn fine day today’.

Here are some more pictures from the IU Art Museum. I like this painting a lot. It's really striking. Sharp lines. Very bold. Also interesting from an art history perspective. This was done by an artist who was rebelling against the anti-realism of the 20th century. While this painting isn't "abstract", it's not exactly realist either. Very expressive. Also, this is the artist's wife and she divorced him shortly after this painting was finished. I wonder if that's just coincidence?



This is one of TC Steele's more famous paintings. From his early works, it was painted when he attended school in Munich and he one a very prestigious prize for this painting. I think it's my favorite Steele painting eventhough I think he fucked up the upper arm. It's too square. My mother disagrees. I don't have any pictures of his later, "impressionist" work that he is more famous for. It's pretty cool though, and mostly of Brown County.



There are lots of paintings titled 'the adoration of the magi', and they all look kind of like this, but this is my favorite. The red cape thing is just really exquisitely done. CLICK on the image for a closer view.



This how my father really looks. I hear Outkast's So Fresh and So Clean playing when I see this picture.



This is really cool. A stauette from an Egyptian tomb of a BREWER. Read the little caption. Pretty cool.



You know you're a beer geek when this catches your attention. New Belgium isn't distributed east of the Mississippi. What's it doing here in the IU Memorial Union parking lot?



I really am my mother's son in so many ways. She used to be a professional photographer you know. This is us in TC Steele's garden again. And again, my father doesn't actually look like that.

mom and dad and TC Steele, part I

My folks came for a visit this weekend. It's been a great time. Here are some pictures I took hanging out with them today.

Let's get the weird ones out of the way first:

We went to the IU Art Museum which was cool and I have many other pictures from that to post here, which I will do at a later date, perhaps tomorrow if I'm not sleeping. This is a picture of an 18th century Japanese figurine. I can't remember what the whole deal is, but I know this: it's fucking wild and kind of freaks me out a little bit. Sorry it's blurry. I'm blaming that on the plastic or glass case it was in.



We also went to the TC Steele house in Brown County. That was really cool. Beautiful place and I really like TC Steele's work. Anyway, this is a picture of my father, mother and I in the gardens there. My dad does not normally look like that, I promise. I also have more pictures from here to post in the future.

my first in print beer article

I have finally got to see my first beer publication in print. Garrett (I think that's his name), who works over at Encore and who serves me my Arrogant Bastard most of the time, and who is really a fantastic bar keep, gave me a copy of the paper. I'm pretty happy with it eventhough it was edited, but they were mostly reasonable edits. Also, I was stiffed $25. Which kind of sucks, but I still made $50 for the article which I'm pretty happy with. The editor just told me he'd give me up to $75 for up to 1000 words. I gave him 1009 words. Whatever. It's cool.

CLICK on the image below to read the article.

new video: Ryan's "American" Pils

Here is a short video of myself that Ryan (beer Ryan, not wine Ryan) filmed on Friday and I edited today. I'm sampling his brand new Pilsner which, although made with all American ingredients, is certainly not an "American Pilsner" because it's all malt, all Cascade hops with medium bitterness and high hop flavor and aroma.

Darwin's tortwaah

Apparently a tortoise Darwin collected on the Beagle voyage is now cared for at Steve Erwin's zoo in Australia. Yes, the croc hunter. Read the whole story here.

further adventures of jenny the B and mateo: bluffage and bonsai

Also, I went to see Blackalicious last Monday. Forgot to mention that. It ruled.

Anyway, seeing that it was a beautiful day outside, and knowing that it was saturday, when the phone rang I thought, "I bet that's Jenny the b seeing if I want to do some outdoor adventures." And indeed it was. She knew of this place called 'cedar bluff'. So we drove out there. It was pretty cool. The river was the coolest part. It actually looked like a river. The river bed was all rocks. There was some hint of a gradient with riffles here and there. Sounded nice. Looked nice. And the bluffs, maybe 75 or 100' tall limestone 'bluffs', were pretty cool. Not quite cliffs, but bluffs. It was a rugged, steep trail from the river around the back of the bluffs and up the other side. The view from the top wasn't very cool, but it was ok. There was a cool dead tree.



Jen took this picture of me by the dead tree. It actually looks like she's looking down from her picture and laughing at me. "Look at you! Haha you're in black and white."







Here's Jen's best 'deer in the headlights' pose.



At least Indiana has the whole Lycopod thing going for it. "Primitive" plants rule, but putting the word 'primitive' in quotes to refer to the fact that 'primitive' is a complicated concept in evolutionary biology rules more.



We stopped at the coolest nursery in town on the way back to look at the bonsai and the orchids.

"Natural selection? I don't think so." (I actually have no idea what Jen's views on plant evolution are)



This was probably the coolest tree there.



THe bonsai at the Brooklyn Botanical gardens are cooler though. And that's Kathy Yeo. She's ok.

the latest Mattdunn sleep news

I woke up at 1:45pm today. And I took an hour and a half nap yesterday from 7-8:30pm. I rule.

GW should get some glasses

I mean, I think part of the problem is that he just looks like such a dufus. Of course what comes out of his mouth also makes him a dufus, but I think some intellectual-seeming eye glasses would really spruce up his look. Think about Homer Simpson and how smart he looks when he puts his glasses on? Of course this is something I've always thought is fascinating about the Simpsons: everytime Homer puts his glasses on he actually gets smarter, i.e. says smarter things, he doesn't just look smarter. I'm going to do some research on this claim and get back to you. Not that GW should get glasses, but that Homer actually gets smarter when he has his glasses on.

best,
Matthew Daniel Dunn

school is hard, ID proponents are stupid and Mac's in Sri Lanka

Well, school is hard.

Sometimes I find that I don't like reading all the time. And writing all the time. And listening to lectures about logic and about how my logic professor is an insomniac and how she expects us to know the definition of a 'sentence of the sentential calculus' at 4am after being awaken from a deep sleep. I don't like drinking a lot of coffee and lecturing at students who really don't give shit. I don't like not accepting late homework. I don't like failing people. School is very psychologically taxing and sometimes it only takes one or a few other stressful things to bring you directly to the brink of a serious breakdown. Which really sucks.

But sometimes things go better. I do enjoy thinking about science. Namely about biology. Recently about how problematizing our concept of a gene is no argument against genic reductionism and how Darwin was no revolutionary when it came to thinking about humans.

So, ID proponents are still idiots.

I found this article in the NY Times to be quite funny. And so did Yaniv, which is always reassuring. Anyway, the article says that Intelligent Design proponents think that new movie about Emperor Penguins, 'March of the Penguins', is simply great evidence for intelligent design. PZ Myer deals with this over at Pharyngula, but I can't help reproducing a bit of it here:

"I've seen the movie and very much enjoyed it, but who in their right minds sees intelligent design in flightless bird parents having to alternate 70 mile waddles in order to keep their young fed? It was a movie about pitiless Darwinian circumstances. Drop the egg, it freezes and the embryo dies. Newborn chick wanders away, it freezes and dies. One parent dies of predation or weather, the other has to abandon the young to starve, freeze, and die. As an inspiration to conservative Republican ruthlessness, I can see it...but Intelligent Design? No way."

Yup. Mac, unsurprisingly, is now living in Sri Lanka.

I once knew this guy named Mac. He was a wild man. I'm not sure what his real name is and I forget what is last name is. But I remember having several good times with him. And I also remembering him being particularly 'mature' for his age. Like I didn't know he was 12 years old when he and I smoked about 3 grams of nugget on a five hour car ride to Pinkham Notch New Hampshire. I swear. Or that time we did a bunch of other drugs together. Or that time we got all drunk together. Yeah. College is kind of a haze.

I met Mac through THE Ian Fitzpatrick and we did some good hangin' out together. I've recently discovered Mac (and vice versa) on Myspace.com, the bane of my roomate's existence. Let's be honest Brian, you have a problem. Anyway, it turns out that Mac is now living in Sri Lanka. It also turns out that I am not at all surprised.

That is all.

I hope nobody gets the plague soon. That would be a bummer.