Dylan Charles's Blog, page 3

Beer Review: Bay State Brewing Co’s Becky Likes the Smell

[image error]Hello,

I can’t stay away from IPAs. There was a time when I did not like IPAs at all, but, because I’m stubborn, I kept drinking them, over and over again. Now I kind of like them.

I really don’t know how I feel about the name of this one: Becky Likes the Smell.

I dig what they’re referring to, as the can promo woman is holding a hop (one hop?) in her hand, but man, I dunno.

The IPA does smell good. Smells like a fruitier IPA. Sweeter, maybe.

Love the can art.

No credit for the can art though...

One Shot

Hello,

I really don’t want to turn this blog into an anti-vaxxer bashing blog, but, you know what, I kinda do.

Buzzfeed just posted this story and I’m, again, angry.

New York has recently put into effect an order stating that if you don’t vaccinate your kids against measles you get fined $1000. You have to show proof that you are already immune (because you had measles at some point) or that you have been vaccinated.

They are doing this because there are now, currently, 300 cases of measles i...

Public Writer

Hello,

I’ve never been someone who likes to write in public. The thought of setting up my laptop in the local coffee shop, which will most likely be a Starbucks, and proceeding to tap away makes me cringe inwardly.

But that’s what I’m doing this morning.

I have time to spare this morning, time to kill, and I’ll be damned if I let a spare minute slip away.

That’s been an interesting side effect of writing every day and really pushing myself toward writing more each day instead of just a hundre...

Black Dog

Hello,

There are tricks I have when the black dog is visiting.

He doesn’t do much.

Just sits in the corner.

Which is unnatural in and of itself, in my experience. Dogs are sprawlers when they’re relaxed, just like cats. They don’t sit unless they want something or have been told to do it or both. Left to their own devices, they’re on their backs or on their bellies, not a care in the world.

This one sits and waits and takes up the whole corner of my office.

Just sitting and waiting.

For all I...

Beer Review: Collective Arts’ Life in the Clouds

[image error]Hello,

I decided to take another crack at a Collective Arts Brewing IPA tonight because I enjoyed last night’s so much. The initial smell is definitely not as intense as it was last night, but this is not a Double IPA.

I will say that IPAs are a devil of a thing to review because unless a company is actually trying to make a distinctive flavor, mostly all you get is the in-your-face flavor of hops. This one smells a little citrus.

The one last night reminded me a great deal of a Ballast Point...

Beer Review: Collective Arts’ IPA No. 8

[image error]Hello,

The first thing I have to say about this beer is that the moment I popped it open, all I smelled were hops. Keep in mind, I didn’t have my face right in the beer. My nose was a good two or three feet away from the can when I opened it.

Bam.

Hops.

And I mean, the actual physical hops. Like when you go on the Sam Adams brewery tour and they make you rub hops between your hands so your hands smell like hops for the rest of the day. Like that. Not hoppy or essence of hops.

Just. Hops.

I st...

Obsession

Hello,

I want to watch every movie that stars Nicolas Cage.

No, that’s not really what I want to talk about tonight.

It’s just the latest obsession.

I get…hooked onto things.

Not just actors, but movies, or tv shows or comics or genres or foods.

I will eat gummy bears every day, multiple times a day for weeks at a time. And then stop eating them and move on to something else.

I will watch one or two horror movies a night, every night, for weeks on end, and then….it fades and I replace it with...

Movie Review: Vengeance: A Love Story

Hello Again,

I just finished watching this movie and I have thoughts.

It is not a great movie. It is, at its best, an average movie. There are small moments here and there that make it interesting and there are some very large plot arcs that also make it interesting, at least to me.

****Just as a warning, the movie deals pretty heavily with sexual assault, so I’ll be talking about that as well.****

Let’s get the synopsis out of the way:

[image error] Based on Joyce Carol Oate’s Rape: A Love Story, Vengeanc...

Care About Other People

Hello Again,

Today, there was a news report about a woman who has the measles and who apparently decided to travel through every major population center in Eastern Massachusetts.

Now, ten years ago, I don’t think she would have hit the news, much less having articles tracking her progress through Massachusetts like new anchors tracking Santa’s sled during Christmas.

The thing that’s changed, of course, is that a surprisingly large number of people have decided that, just because they don’t un...

Ideas

Hello Again,

I’ve never been someone that believes in writer’s block.

There’s always something you can be working  on, always something you can be making.

Granted, I say that as someone that has never needed to survive by writing on a deadline.

I can always flit back and forth from one story to another and that’s  large part of why I never get anything done.

See? I’m already losing the thread of this blog post and it’s been less than a hundred words.

Writer’s block, to me, is not so much abou...