Alistair Kimble's Blog, page 5

World Fantasy Convention 2014

Next week I'll be heading to Washington, D.C. for World Fantasy. Technically, it's being held at the Hyatt Regency in Crystal City, which is actually in Arlington, VA--but close enough, I suppose for them to say D.C.

The convention programmers have been gracious enough to have me on a panel (one we pitched to them). Programming is at a premium at World Fantasy since they limit the number of panels, and convention goers are lucky if they are put on even one panel. Many thanks to my good friend,...

The Endless River On The Dark Side Of The Moon

With the upcoming release of Pink Floyd's The Endless River, I've been thinking a lot lately aboutThe Dark Side Of The Moonand what the album means to me. Yes, it's an album--a cohesive collection that should be listened to as such and not necessarily downloaded in pieces on iTunes or wherever it is you youngsters (hey, get off my lawn!) get your music these days.

I won't go into the accolades and the number of consecutive weeks on the Billboard Album chart (741). And I won't go into how if y...

Fine Books Are Not An Endangered Species

At first glance, this post may seem like it should be on the writing portion of the site, but this article is more about reading and owning fine editions of books one loves.

Many people have been declaring print books dead, or at least on the way out due to the rise of e-books over the past several years. I'm not arguing for or against e-books, there are plenty of articles all over the web about such things. Now, I do own an e-reader, but the majority of my reading is done the old fashioned wa...

The Gates Of Hell

I have twice stood before The Gates of Hell--while on vacation in Paris--mesmerized by the scope and detail. And if there had been fewer people running up and touching the sculpture and acting like they were going to enter the Gates (ha ha--so original), I probably would have stayed and studied it for the better part of an hour.

The Gates of Hell were originally supposed to have been a pair of bronze doors to be used as an entrance for a museum in Paris, the Museum of Decorative Arts, which...

Squares, Pocket Squares

Men's fashion...wait, hold on a second--

All right, I had to step away from the keyboard and get my laughter under control before I could begin typing again, anyway...

The state of men's fashion is pretty close to being at an all-time low (with maybe the '70s being the most horrid--but I'll give them one thing--they owned it, and at least tried, the male of the 2010s does not try at all). The ape creatures of the Indus (thank you, Blackadder (a hilarious BBC show from the '80s starring Rowan At...

Ready Player One

I'm a writer, well, that's my job when I'm not at my day job. I'm also a reader (and listener) of many many books, and I should be mentioning the ones I've enjoyed--at least when the mood strikes.

The book I'm beginning with is Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline.I enjoyed this book so much that not only did I read it two times, but also listened to it two times.

I held off reading this for so long, and then was so pissed I hadn't tried it earlier.

Why do I enjoy this book? There are a few reaso...

Vintage Spirits, A Drunken Botanist, And A Legendary Writer

We own more than a couple books on cocktails. None of them are what I'd call modern books with cocktail recipes such asSex On The Beach. No, I'm more of a purist, and would much rather stick with the old standards and even discover some drinks that have been forgotten--drinks with names like The 20th Century orSatan's Whiskers Cocktail--those drinks create images in your mind, get your imagination flowing. I'm sure most people don't think ofthe famous beach scene inFrom Here To Eternitywhen t...

The French 75 Cocktail

It's no secret my wife and I enjoy love champagne, and while we usually drink it unadulterated, there are exceptions...

The French 75 cocktail is one such exception.

I first tried the French 75 during a trip to New Orleans when I found a small, but classic bar in the French Quarter adjacent to Arnaud's main dining room, named--yep, the French 75 Bar. How could I not try the cocktail responsible for the bar's name?

The French 75 Bar, pictured above,has everything I look for when sizing up a j...

The Marx Brothers: A Night At The Opera

I tell people at work they need to give the Marx Brothers a chance. However, I usually get the same responses from them: "Black and white movies are boring!" or "I don't get that sort of humor." or "Who are the Marx Brothers?"

Boring? Not the Marx Brothers. Not at all. And who are the Marx Brothers? Groucho? Harpo? Chico? Zeppo? Gummo? Okay, I'll give people Gummo and Zeppo (Gummo didn't appear in any of the films, but Zeppo appeared in all the Paramount films). But everyone should know Grouch...

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

This is a movie I wish I'd seen earlier. It's one of those things that you wanted to see, but no one else you know saw it and you missed it in the theaters. And then I remember getting the DVD in the mail from Netflix and never watched it and sent it back after two months. And then once it was streamable, it sat in my streaming queue forever and so on until one day I was bored...

There is a set of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley out there that the film was based on, and to be honest, I've...