First of all, very appropriate name. I’ve sipped on Rogue’s Dead Guy Ale before, but fleetingly. It is rumored that drinking this infamous amber-colored northwesterner immediately makes you want to fight somebody. The ale features two distinct tastes that are really easy to separate. Upfront, one tastes a light, bready and carbonated flavor, which is then overwhelmed by a quite enjoyably bitter aftertaste that gives it the name (reminds one of grapefruit, as one Beer Advocate review mentioned). Other key terms are whole, creamy, bready, malty and full. It’s rather drinkable, but quite heavy after kicking back a few; made for taste, not binging. I was reading what others had to say about Rogue’s prized offspring, and many mentioned a hint of honey. I did not immediately pick up on this, but a day after my initial investigation, I tried a flat glass full (god forbid) and it was actually much more noticeable. I assume the heavy carbonation distracted from this interesting honey flavor. In the end, it’s not my type of beer, and I give it a C+ (dark and IPA kind of guy). My roommate was more impressed and said it deserved at least a B. But who knows, I popped open a fresh one today, and I already seem to be getting used to it. 

Ok I get it! I’ve heard you – everywhere – at local events, here on craigslist, in the grocery line…..I know you want it! So here it is…… 

I’m hosting a queer womyns speed dating event in November at The Broadway in downtown Eugene. 

I have lots of information to share but first want to see a show of hands of who truly is interested in meeting new women and not just complaining about the lack of…….whatever. :O) 

And if you aren’t interested – don’t you have a friend or three who is? 

I’m a local gal just trying to provide fun entertainment to all my systers…. 

Laura McNamara 
541.232.0284 
euglove@gmail.com 
http://eugene.craigslist.org/w4w/861743708.html

Some excerpts from my article today came from the following essay, “Thank you for Speed Dating,” that I wrote last year. Dating can evoke lovely and nightmarish tales–– I’ve chronicled both in my journal since I was 15. One heinously awful date stands out, though.

What I failed to mention in both my article and essay was that I went on a date with another one of the speed daters before I had the guts to pursue my speed dater of choice. The guy asked me out on Facebook, showed up in a T-shirt that read “I can be your private dancer” and was four inches shorter than I had remembered sitting across from him at a speed dating table. I’m 5’10 and had decided to wear heels that night, which for some reason made me self-conscious.

Not only did he take me to see a terrible movie with his obnoxious friends and declare his love for President Bush in the car, but he decided we should go on a shopping trip to Wal-Mart and ordered us a meat supreme pizza from Little Ceasar’s (I’m vegetarian). 

Needless to say that when he asked me what type of guys I “dug” I replied with the antithesis of him: “anti-consumerist, vegetarian hippies who like indie films and wear tevas year-round. Oh, and height is a great plus.”

What sort of dating fairy tales and nightmares have you had? Have you tried speed dating? Matchmaking websites? What advice do you have for students?

Thank You for Speed Dating

Blood rushed to my cheeks, sweat flooded my hands and my body trembled under the flickering fluorescent lights. 20 small tables with chairs on each side created a huge circle, surrounding me and my best friend Nicole. I coyly avoided eye contact with the two guys who arrived early like us. Nicole and I laughed hysterically about nothing and let on that we were the most breathtaking women in the room. 

Speed dating, an intense matchmaking, game intrigued me two years ago. Scenes from movies and TV shows such as “Hitch” and “Sex and the City” caught young people’s attention and made us wonder if meeting a slew of strangers in timed “dates” could offer us romance. I read about metropolitan twenty somethings who speed dated as a social outlet. If it entertained trendy young city dwellers, speed dating could add pizzazz to my lackluster love life. Or, at least speed dating could provide me with hilarious writing material.

I speed dated on a whim. Students active in student government at the University of Oregon tabled in the dorms to involve residents. “Come on guys! It’s for Valentine’s Day. You should come!” the girls called to first-year students. Five people signed up after several days of tabling. “Please come!” they asked me. Without much thought, I told them, “Sure!” and became the sixth speed dater.

My anxiety rose soon after. “What the hell have I gotten myself into?” I thought. “Only really cocky or desperate people are going to come! I can’t put myself out there like that!”

Nicole succumbed to my peer pressure and wrote her name down, too. I felt better knowing we would support each other in our dating adventures. 

To humor my dorm friends, I made a running joke that I would “meet the love of my life at speed dating.” They teased me. “You’re crazy! I would never speed date,” some proclaimed.

A few days before Valentine’s Day, my nerves raged. For “not caring” about speed dating, I wore butt- tight jeans and a snug sweater, styled my crazy hair with mounds of stiffening hairspray and smothered layers of smokey shadow and deep pink gloss onto my eyes and lips.

Then, I rollerbladed to calm myself. The cold air stung my skin. I felt bold that afternoon and bladed around the curvy hills lining Fairmont Neighborhood without a helmet. 

Bad idea.

Between listening to Peter, Paul and Mary’s “Puff the Magic Dragon” on my pod and calling Nicole on my cell phone to arrange a pre-speed dating dinner, I spaced out. A car bolted across the intersection I prepared to cross. My breaks failed.

Smack!

To read more, e-mail me at landerson@dailyemerald.com

Congratulation’s America for electing our next president! Here’s a guide for how to celebrate from Northwest Beers Magazine.

Democratic Brews                                                                          

Ninkasi Lefthook Lager (Eugene, OR)                                     

Brew Moon Democratic Bitter (HI)                                          

Sweetwater Donkeypunch IIPA (GA)                                     

Black Sheep Holy Grail (England)                                              

Avery The Reverend (CO)                                                           

Baron Liberator Doppelbock (Seattle, WA)                          

Wynkoop Obamanator Maibock Lager (CO)                        

Republican Brews

Laurelwood Green Elephant (Portland, OR)

Great Divide Old Ruffian (CO)

Bear Republic Red Rocket (CA)

Powerhouse Belgian White (Puyallup, WA)

Bull and Bush Justice IPA (CO)

Rogue Dead Guy (Newport, OR)

Hale’s Red Menace (Seattle, WA)

In my Thursday Pulse article, I will be looking at what students do with their Palin buttons and Obama shoes post-election.

What will you do, based off of who wins? Throw in the closet and forget about your political fashions until the next election? Save them to create a political history collection?

Here are some ideas I have:

1) Hang a cork board in your room and cover it with the political buttons you’ve amassed. You’ll be making a quiet political statement and have a great conversation instigator when friends and acquaintances visit.

2) Modify your political T-shirts and continue wearing them.

3) If you aren’t comfortable wearing your T-shirt after the election, make it into a throw pillow or seat cushion.

• Or, dress your favorite stuffed animal in the T-shirt.

• Or, cut up the T-shirt with other recycled cloth material and create a blanket.

4) Create a political time capsule. Fill a shoe box with your mementos and write a journal page, chronicling your thoughts about the 2008 election. Set a date for when you’ll open it next and refill it every four years.

Attack of the pumpkins!

With the seasonal flood of jack-o-lantern orange in the beer aisle, I decided to find out whether a pumpkin beer could ever be taken seriously. My roommate and I sampled the five kinds we could find at the grocery store.

According to CNN’s column, “The Good Life,” pumpkin is a flavor of renewed interest and experimentation since the microbrewing revolution (I think the author forgot to mention the marketing aspect). As the article points out, colonial American brewers used alternative ingredients, such the native pumpkin, to substitute the more expensive and scarce English barley. Pumpkin beer is typically mild, malty and dominated by associated pumpkin ingredients, such as ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and allspice.

We observed quite a variety in the beers we tasted, but they all had a weird pumpkinness that I just couldn’t get used to. Actually, it wasn’t the taste of pumpkin, as much as the overwhelming spices. With every new bottle came another doubtful smirk from my roommate. Mostly in agreement, I was beginning to reconsider our experiment and starting to give up the quest for a good pumpkin beer. But as I uncapped the next one and prepared for the worst, I found our first good beer. On the other hand, it didn’t really taste like pumpkin.  

Considering the relatively spendy price, I wasn’t too impressed with these microbrew experiments. It leads me to me to wonder whether there will ever be a truly great pumpkin beer. I can’t do any better than the brewers, but my tip to trick-or-treaters is to stick with the pie.

Pumpkin Head Ale

Brewer: Silver moon Brewing, Bend OR

Nutmeg, nutmeg, nutmeg… When opening the beer, the aroma is promising. It offers an interesting tang that dries out.   

Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale

Brewer: Portland Brewing

A sweet medium-bodied brew with more spice than pumpkin. Tingling.

Night Owl Pumpkin Ale

Brewer: Elysian

Strong presence of brown sugar. Thick and dark.

Pumpkinhead Ale

Brewer: Shipyard

Lighter orange start, with an aggressive aftertaste of spices that gets to the back of your throat.

Punkin Ale

Brewery: Dogfish Head Craft  

A dark, full-bodied chocolaty taste. My Favorite out of the pumpkin beers we tried! (I tend to like the darker)

I  posted a note on Facebook.com last week, asking acquaintances to offer their alternatives to the standard, provocative vixen costumes college women wear. I received an overwhelming amount of response, mostly by word of mouth. The printed responses are posted below.

Add on to this list with costume ideas and your thoughts about provocative Halloween couture.

• What about being an m&m or Raggedy Anne? How about being a peanut butter cup? Jen Collins

• I’ve decided I’m going to be a stereotypical 50s mom with an apron and a plate/pan of fresh baked cookies I’m on duty though, so I don’t know when I’ll where it! -Ashley Stevenson

• I am going to the Eugene Witches ball as John William Waterhouse’s rendition of the Lady of Shalott Lake. -Elena Fort

• My roommate bought a banana suit the other day! It’s pretty great. I’m over the slutty costumes… I just want to be a fat kid and wear sweats and walk around with a bucket of chicken or something. -Julia Baker

• I have a friend who dressed as a vending machine, so she wore all black and stuck food on her, with number buttons and change slots drawn on her arms. Along with random objects, it’s also fun to dress as people/characters from childhood, like the Rainbow Fish or Mr. Rogers. -Meredith Tufts

• I’ve always wanted to be Poison Ivy, even before Chris Nolan brought Batman back. That could or could not be slutty. Or Trinity from The Matrix. Maybe that would be best as a group costume. Three of my friends and I dressed up as different fairies senior year of high school; I was Thumbalina. I knew of another group of friends who were the game pieces of Clue that year, which I’m sure has been done before, but I still think is really cool and have wanted to do ever since. -Beth Evans

• One year I went as a “Cereal Killer.” I wrapped a cereal box around me, stuck plastic knives in it, and sprayed red paint (blood) on it. It was pretty great until I got to English class, and had to give a speech from Hamlet, yet nobody could stop laughing at it…! - Kendell Tylee

Savor Oregon’s beautiful golden scenery and give yourself a break from midterms. Indulge in autumn traditions during the next few weeks. The following pumpkin patches and corn maze lie within 20 minutes of the University. 

Thistledown Farm 

91455 River Rd

Junction City

541-689-2019

Hours:  M-Su 9a.m.-6p.m.

Wagon ride to pumpkin patch: $2

• Cider mill, pumpkin patch, prepicked produce, snacks, refreshment stand, corn maze

Northern Lights Christmas Tree Farm

36777 Wheeler Road

Pleasant Hill 

541-746-5161

Hours: “Colonial Harvest Days” Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 12 – 5p.m., Harry Potter “Dark Forest” Friday and Saturday nights from 7- 10p.m.

• Food, face painting, pony rides, pie eating

Lone Pine Farms 

91909 River Road

Junction City

541-688-4389

Hours: M-T 10a.m.-5p.m., F-Su 10a.m.-10p.m.

Corn Maze: $10

• Corn maze– haunted at night, grocery store with local produce, goat house

If you need a little inspiration for pumpkin carving, check out these sites:

Pumpkin Lady

Hershey’s Trick or Treats

Printable Pumpkin Carving Patterns

Pumpkin Glow

Political Pumpkins

Drummer Topper Headon was long gone and buried beneath a severe heroin addiction, and Joe Strummer and Mick Jones were at each other’s throats over creative differences.  But despite all of the internal discourse, the band managed to pull itself together to perform one of its tightest, brightest, and most energized sets ever documented on record.

The long-bootlegged and duplicated Shea Stadium performance was finally given a formal release last week with soundboard quality audio and never-before-seen photos in tact. The album marks the first time that a Clash performance has been released fully intact.

The recordings, from the second night’s performance, plays like a fifteen-song string of hits, briefly touching on the later singles off of Combat Rock and Sandinista! and a couple off of their second album Give ‘Em Enough Rope. What is alarming about this set, though played at the twilight of the band’s career, is the lack of songs from their debut. It’s easily forgivable, however, as this album features some of the best renditions of some of the best London Calling tracks to ever surface.

The performance of “Spanish Bombs” may very well be the best recording of anything recorded ever. The guitars are absolutely monster. The same goes for “Clampdown”, whose transitions from bridge to chorus may very well kill you if heard at high volume. And it’s not like it’s hard to make “Train in Vain” sound good, but holy shit, so good. So clean, so accurate and precisely timed, densely layered, and flawlessly sung by Jones.

Live at Shea Stadium would certainly make for a great introduction to The Clash, but really, you should have already owned all of their albums by now.