Three Years Ago: "Bring Your Mug To-night" & "Live Blogging from the Pomegranate Raspberry Mulled Wine & Whiskey 2007 Sendoff Festivus Eritrean Party"

Once again, we bring you Three Years Ago, an always special segment which celebrates this blog's continued longevity by re-posting posts from exactly three years ago. TODAY, a double header, starting with an advertisement for the day's Christmas party, "Bring Your Mug To-night", followed by the "Live Blogging from the Pomegranate Raspberry Mulled Wine & Whiskey 2007 Sendoff Festivus Eritrean Party". If you so desire, you could make the mulled wine recipe I printed in the first post (which I realize now is quite different from how I did it this year at my War on Christmas party; I suppose it evolves each year, this one had more fresh squeezed oranges, black currant juice, no poms or berries & less zest. I also used something like 14 bottles of two buck chuck.) Then, starting at 17.15 Pacific time, for the hardcore, relive the party minute by minute.

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Several of the attendees who have R.S.V.P.'d to my invite for tonight's party are fictional, but it should be a smashing party. Bring a mug! I rather strained my back yesterday carrying a case of Charles Shaw Shiraz on the BART from the new Trader Joe's on College Avenue. In preparation for this epic mulled wine, I have had pomegranates & raspberries soaking in Jim Beam whiskey for two weeks in the window. In addition to the wine & whiskey, the following things will be added to the simmering Glühwein:

-The juice & zest from six large organic oranges.
-The juice squeezed from a dozen key limes
-Raspberries
-Red currants
-The seeds from a large pomegranate
-Many cinnamon sticks
-Nutmeg
-Cardamom
-Cloves
-Brown &/or unrefined white sugar, to taste
-More rum & more whiskey & more wine.

It's important, of course, not to let the cauldron ever come to a boil (which will decrease the alcohol content). Proselytes of the Mimosa's Witnesses will notice that Glühwein in an evening, festivus-time cousin to the Mimosa, replete with all the ingredients for secular transubstantiation. Check back to this website later, there may be Live Blogging. Here is from the original invite:

You can come earlier if you desire, & help me mull the wine, & there may be food.

The following costumes are discouraged:

-Keebler Elf
-Condoleeza Rice Elf
-Aphid or other Sternorrhyncha
-Disney Princess
-Sen. Arlen Spekter (R-Penn.)
-Cole Porter
-Luna Lovegood
-Amos or any other minor Old Testament Prophet

While these would be allowed, of course, some creative variation would be appreciated this year.
Bringing a mug would assist in transporting the mulled wine from the large steaming pot to your mouth.
My apartment is conveniently located across from the Ashby BART station:

This is a picture of a Barack Obama butter sculpture, by Duffy Lyon, the famous "Butter Cow Lady" from Iowa fairs. She has endorsed the candidate.

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Welcome to the Live Blogging of the Glühwein Party, for all of you poor cold losers who decided to settle in other parts of the world. It's 5:30 P.M. Pacific Time, 40 degrees in Berkeley, somewhat ugly weather here. Life is short, but the Webb Block has been polished & dusted, roses are on the table. A dvd of a fireplace burns on the tv set.

5:15. I am alone & I wash my hands, & make my delicious Puffed Millet Cookies.
5:30. Liam calls from the recycled paper office & tells me he is on his way, bringing friends.
5:40. Six bottles of Two Buck Chuck Shiraz are opened & emptied into a large cauldron.
6:40. Liam & friends have come & gone back to the store for more cheese & more bread. The past hour has been spent slowly warming up the wine & adding many many delicious ingredients. The third movement of Gorecki's Third Symphony, coming on randomly, made the de-seeding of the pomegranate much more emotional than it might otherwise have been.
8:30. Ten people are here eating cookies, Stolen, pineapples, & drinking Liam's amazing Raspberry Whiskey (which has been fermenting for two months), & my mulled wine. Cheeks are beginning to look a bit flushed.
9:00. A brief interlude to watch Leopard Slug sex.
10:15. Virtue's hit the rum.
10:30. The roses on the table have been replaced by a Trivial Pursuit board.
11:00. Liam creepily correctly answers "Fifty-four" to the question "What was the number of Gunther Toody's patrol car?"
11:30. Sixty-six-point-six percent of the party up-&-runs out the door towards the penultimate BART train.
12:00 A.M. My upstairs neighbor makes an appearance with her husband, erroneously thinking they have interrupted something between me & the remaining guest. They drink a glass of Glühwein & borrow The Princess Bride.
12:45. I am alone with a few glasses of mulled wine to go. A few hours ago I rejuvenated it with dark rum, sugar, & limes. It's sticking to my teeth, but I'm determined to see the sun rise, so, Merry Festivus to all, & to all a googily opulent yarblat.

Live-Blogging the Netherlands-Uruguay World Cup Match from the Reno Aces Stadium!

Good day. I spend the morning wandering around the casinos in Reno, Nevada, trying to find a sports book with free wifi so we could LIVE-BLOG this important SOCCER GAME.

It's been awhile since this blog has live-blogged - - - - - - - - - - -

Sadly, there's no rowdy crowd of orange or blue shirts here. Unable to find wifi in a casino, I ended up meeting my parents at the minor league Reno Aces baseball stadium, where there's some comfy bars above the park. They have the soccer game on huge screens, free internet, but there's NO ONE HERE! Full disclosure: on Mr Aha's suggestion, I put some money on Uruguay to win in regulation time, even tho I obviously expect the dutch to win.


11:40am. Here's the lonely scene of my parents & me watching the game at the Reno Aces stadium. Score is still nil-nil.

11:50. Incredible shot from far away! The crowd (of three of us) goes wild!

Mr Aha adds: I turned down the ESPN3 volume because of John Mr Negative Harkes and turned on the radio to hear the Irish Tommy Smith get excited. "How to Make Corn Liquor" also makes great background music for soccer!

12:12pm Oh shit! Now it's a game. Uruguay's Diego Forlorn [sic] comes forth for a perfect goal. Now it's tied before halftime.

Halftime roundup from Sandy: A few of the Reno Aces employees have filtered in to watch the game. Mr Quill’s opinion: “Now that it's even, I can say that I'm betting on Netherlands. Too bad they've made a career of choking.” I told him I have ten bucks on Uruguay winning during regulation time, with a payoff of $50. He was surprised the odds were that high, even tho Uruguay’s best players are out. He responded, “Still. I wouldn't have thought it THAT unlikely. And Netherlands profound choking should be taken into account. After the Euro Cup.” I was wondering if the playbook takes Paul the Psychic Octopus into account also, who unexpectedly picked Spain for tomorrow (He’s had 100% correct predictions this year, including Germany’s loss against Serbia. The only time Paul was wrong two years ago was, strangely enough, also the game against Spain. Who should I bet on! What a mindfuck, Paul!)



Halftime Roundup from Brains Aha!

Half time round up!

This is a big day for Uzbekistan. Sepp "Schwyzertuetsch" Blatter of
FIFA has chosen an Uzbek referee to officiate a semifinal in the World
Cup. This is crafty. If things go well, FIFA chose the best. But if
there's a bad call, FIFA can say, "Hey, we're just being inclusive
with referees from underrepresented, agrarian countries. Got a problem
with that, elitist?"

Diego Forlan scored for Uruguay. He also scored twice in the Europa
League final for his employer Atletico Madrid, which no one expected
against London Fulham's great goalie. He's like Barry Zuckerkorn.
"He's very good."

I don't know if S. Sandrigon will get his ten dollars back. It's not
likely. But Uruguay can win this. We'd have a very strange and
interesting final. Before it all started, I picked Holland to win
everything. I have proof.

I hope Sebastian Abreu gets to shoot another penalty kick. He has a
good sense of humor with eleven meters: http://youtu.be/3iZ5UkZdVJE

12:50pm One of the only other fans (my mother, with an eye for who's who, points out to me) in Bugsy's club above the Reno Aces stadium watching the soccer game is Bugsy himself, the manager of the Aces, in the company of a pretty woman.

12:58pm Even tho it didn't go in, I liked the style of Diego's penalty kick. The next few failed attempts from Holland sure looked like the smell of dutch downward spiral. Uruguay's playing pretty well.

1:00pm Nevermind! Holland! Crazy! That seemed to take place in slow motion.

1:03pm Again - - Netherlands 3-1, this time from Robben, a player with the same name as the island Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on. I've definitely lost my wager.

1:20pm Onward to an all-European final. Europe wins the Euro Cup every time, of course, which is hardly fair. What can we say, Uruguay - - - -
Emergency update! Last minute score from Uruguay! A little late for a crazy comeback.
Over & out from itwaslost bloggers in Reno & San Francisco.

POST GAME ROUNDUP! from Brains Aha!

The world's most competitive soccer tournament isn't the World Cup.
It's UEFA's Champions League, which is a year-round tournament. In
April of this year the remaining teams in the Champions League were
filled with Dutch players and Dutch coaches. None of the remaining
teams were from Holland's league(s), but the remaining teams had
players from Holland. Put them together and you might win another less
difficult yet more famous tournament. Sorry about the ten dollars, S.
Sandrigon. I'll buy your next sandwich.

Live Updates from the Hottub

ssandrigon
About to soak in a hottub all afternoon with @grainnefrances. We might either shut off all communications, or, alternately, live-blog it.
about 5 hours ago from txt

ssandrigon
Decided to live-tweet instead. Have infiltrated the pool area of a schmancy gated apartment complex in downtown oakland, with flavored vodka
about 4 hours ago from txt

ssandrigon
Live-twitting from the hot-tub Part 2: reading out loud "The Hunting of the Snark", interspersed with Allure mag, history of pantyhose &c.
about 4 hours ago from txt

ssandrigon
Live-twit no. 3: This apartment complex is BRANDED: it has a logo. Their pool should be deeper & hottub hotter.
about 3 hours ago from txt

ssandrigon
Live from the hottub no. 4: This musaak is beginning to get to me, & I think the unnamed Baker has come across a snark...?
about 2 hours ago from txt

ssandrigon
Live-twit no 5: It was a boojum. We softly & suddenly vanish away.
about 1 hour ago from txt

Twitting the Obama Speech & Glenn Beck's Oligarhy

The CBS news stream of President Barack Obama's Health Care speech had a live-twittering column to the right of the video, so I cautiously waded into the debate:

SSandrigon
@cbsnews He needs to offer a Publican Option for bartenders & Roman contractors. (CBS News live > http://ustre.am/2bWW)
25 minutes ago from Ustream

SSandrigon
@cbsnews And, Obama needs to offer a Glennbic Option for revolutionaries against the oligarhy
20 minutes ago from Ustream

SSandrigon
@cbsnews Finally, Obama needs to offer a Pubic Option for Freudian misspellers.
18 minutes ago from Ustream

I was mentioning that Glenn Beck oligarh-acronym moment to a friend of mine, who had never heard of it, & it occurred to me that with Jon Stewart on vacation, a lot of these amazing cable-news moments get missed by a lot of people. So for our far-flung correspondents in the Balkans & the Navigator's Islands, here's FoxNews's fiery teabagging revolutionary:

Thanks to Andrew Sullivan, where I first saw that clip.

Live-Tweeting Tonight's A's Game from the Coliseum

Last time I attempted to live-tweet something, they came in all out of order & delayed. I was happy that tonight's twitterings seemed to come into the tweetosphere punctually & chronologically. Sending Mr Quill, our Bulgarious Baseball correspondent, updates from the Oakland Coliseum was almost like being there with him - however, going with my niece, she has a more grounded, less statistics-&-history-laden way of explaining the game to me. Altho I didn't get any responses, I'm pretty confident that Mr Quill woke up at dawn Baghdad-time to follow my play-by-play.

SSandrigon@qwill I'm going to an A's game tonight. Nomar is out with calf trouble. Live tweets starting at 5am, Bulgica time.about 11 hours ago from txt
SSandrigon@qwill orlando Cabrera just hit a foul real close to us, behind 1st base. The security made me dump my water bottle full of beer.about 4 hours ago from txt
SSandrigon@qwill sparse crowd growing sparser when it rains. 2nd inning sucked for A's pitcher Anderson.about 3 hours ago from txt
SSandrigon@qwill score's Angels 5-0 & they're taking out lame Anderson before the top of the fifth is over.about 3 hours ago from txt
SSandrigon@qwill Cabrera's third time at bat, knocked the hat off the right fielder, finally on base.about 3 hours ago from txt
SSandrigon@qwill double! Orlando's in scoring position! Matt Holliday at bat.about 3 hours ago from txt
SSandrigon@qwill bases loaded, they're playing dramatic movie music with church bells. Travis Buck at bat.about 2 hours ago from txt
SSandrigon@qwill balk!about 2 hours ago from txt
SSandrigon@qwill i just spent twenny bucks on the world's smallest coldest pizza & the world's flatest fat tire.about 2 hours ago from txt
SSandrigon@qwill Suzuki purposeless one-run home run. Orlando up for the fourth time.about 2 hours ago from txt
SSandrigon@qwill a's pitcher Gallagher hasn't allowed any points, but he has sprayed the audience with all manner of smashed fruit detritus.about 2 hours ago from txt
SSandrigon@qwill 5-2, a tiny crowd, a pitiful game with only one tense moment. Going to search the emptying stadium for treasures.about 2 hours ago from txt

Live-Twitting the Opéra-Comique

I'm irritated that my attempt to "live twit" the Berkeley Opera matinée of The Tales of Hoffman by Jacques Offenbach (pictured to the right - mustache, sideburns, no chin hair, pince-nez), due to either my lousy phone or a bogged tweetosophere, came in delayed & OUT OF ORDER. I apologize to the thousands that were following & flummoxed. Also, my phone doesn't cut me off after 140 characters, so some of the final tweets are incomplete (I've corrected that below), I'll try to learn how to do this technology better by the time I live-twit the Ring at Beyreuth. One of my failed tweets, just picking up the second half, only read "SSandrigon gets a girl this time." I assure you I wasn't womanizing, either successfully or otherwise, at the Berkeley Opera. Here is the reconstructed attempted live correspondence:

SSandrigon
It's too early in the day to be going to an Offenbach opera.


SSandrigon
We hereby declare that Heath Ledger was 100x better as Ennis del Mar than as the joker. Stay tuned for live tweets from the Berkeley Opera.

SSandrigon
Looks like the tales of Hoffman is totally impenetrably sold out. Lovely day for waiting around outside the theater tho. I Should have brought champagne.

SSandrigon
I snuck past the Ushers at the last second! Hoffman falls in love with a robot, they worked some jokes about Lehman bros into the plot.

SSandrigon
We couldn't quite figure out why Dr Miracle was making Antonia sing to death. I went & sat in the front row, great stolen seats. One more tale, I hope H gets a girl this time!

SSandrigon
The heartless whore was in league with the devil to steal Hoffman's reflection! Poets are idiots. In whole a first-rate local production.

Inaugural Libebloving

1:44pm I'm confused, they just said the parade was "finally getting started..." Here we go! Alive Ablogging!


I nominate this as the best picture ever on itwaslost.

I'm fond of the dark & gloomy empty inauguration capitol just below here. I'm come into my own as a photoshopper.

1:57pm Obama & Michelle are officially going into a BUBBLE to watch the parade.

2:05pm Yes! They're playing Aloha Oi, Hawai'i finally in the white house.
2:06pm We've already heard one out-of-tune "Celebrate good times", is this like America's most popular patriotic song or something??

Grainne! All of our comments from the below Alack Alas post just disappeared? What happened? Do you have them saved? I just re-entered mine, do you have yours?

2:20pm Besides some of it getting deleted, I see the libebloving has slowed down. I guess, how exactly do you comment on the thirteenth straight marching band playing "from the shores of montezuma"?

I'm going to the Berkeley Bowl to get supplies for inauguration day nachos. & more senator beer.

Alack Alas Alive Weblogging the Inaugural Gay Obama Parade Live!

I like all the downtime on the live CNN.come feed of the Parade, & we're liveblogging it live here alive!
Where are all the naked lesbians? What kind of parade is this?

1:04pm Western Time S. SandriBushGone signing in in this Jesus blood color, live-blogging. There is some sort of old Washington Metro Bus driving in the parade right now, is that perhaps how Joe Biden is getting to the VP house?


Wow, man. Secret Service is crazy. you have to be nuts to want to do that job. I want to be friends with somebody who is in the secret service so they can explain the desire to do that to me.

1:09pm I was hoping we'd get to see lots of motorcycles & flashing police lights in this parade.
They just referred to Obama & Mrs Obama as "You know THE MAN is coming, & the WO-MAN."

That's what CNN said? I'm on MSNBC and they're talking about how Rachel Maddow used to be a bike messenger.
hey! fifes and drums!

1:13pm Do the girlscouts come after the presidential train?

1:15pm The CNN live-feed online has no commentary, it's just the parade announcer, who keeps shouting O-BA-MA with the crowd. He doesn't have to be non-partisan. He keeps saying "What a day! Isn't this exciting! How does that sound to you, President Obama! Feel any warmer to you now? O-BA-MA".

1:20pm "Doctor" Jill Biden, what's she a PhD of, Delewaring Badassity? "Joe Biden walking the route - We Salute You!"

1:24pm We have to admit that Mr Biden is having the time of his life. It's like he was born to be Vice President.

1:31pm Champagne! Is the parade over? I can't believe I missed the earlier action. I was on the roof drinking wine in the warm sunshine, glad I wasn't in the freezing swamp capitol. The web feed just shows cops milling around some barriors. Now the audience starts their 16-hour walk back to their cars.

1:36pm The other web feed is back to Biden-cam. Why didn't they put the President in a pope-mobile so he could at least wave?

1:37pm The fifes on "Celebrate good times" are spectacularly sharp. Aren't there auditions before important parades?

1:44pm I'm confused, they just said the parade was "finally getting started..." Here we go! Alive Ablogging!

Okay apparently the parade is finally NOW starting. More Libebloving ABOVE!

Note: I apologize to posterity: a whole bunch of the entries in this post, including most of the ones by Grainne in green, got mysteriously deleted. Only the omniscient remembers the deeply witty things we said.

Live-Blogging the Obama Parade?

Few words come to mind - Michelle in Mustard! Bush departing by helicopter, Kennedy collapsing, Dr. Strangelove in his wheelchair & cane, departing to his secret puppet theater with Kissinger to pretend they still have hidden control over the world.

The Mimosas Witnesses met in South Berkeley at a co-op with a big tv to celebrate the new presidency with some impassioned transubstantiation, at like 8am. Our midwife friend Julia had cancelled all deliveries & cooked some awesome wholesome rye Freedom Toast. Now, with a new world, are we attemepting to watch cnn livefeed & liveblog the Parade! We are here.

I'll start off the live-blog with last hour's chat:

11:48 AM Olaf has joined

James Quill has joined

me: Sorry I frozw

e

e

e

e

Olaf: or here

me: I was saying,

Olaf: so, what did those ladies say?

James Quill: yeah!

me: Those black ladies were like "HOPE & CHANGE, &, uh, uh, what else was he talking about, there was one other thing? Uh... CONFUSION!"

11:49 AM Olaf: really?

me: That's what she said.

His themes of HOPE & CHANGE & CONFUSION

Olaf: that is the part i always forget as well

me: His speech was a little poetic at times

11:50 AM Feinstein was the MC

11:51 AM Olaf: Alice Walker said she "Looked different" (feinstein) is this true?

me: Michelle was wearing mustard gold diamonds

Olaf: i listened on radio

me: Alice Walker was on the radio? SLC represent

11:53 AM Olaf: word. with Amy goodman on democracy now. you should listen. there is some very nice silence between those two.

11:54 AM an ideal viewing audience. Amy goodman, alice walker, myself. i almost asked them to pass the buttered toast.

how about Aretha?

damn!

still got it!

11:55 AM me: You & your girls

Aretha, everyone at the co-op I was at was mocking her hat a lot, I said she can wear what she wants

Olaf: right on, james. you tell those fools

11:56 AM James Quill: tell 'em tell 'em

12:58pm Western Time Shit! The parade was over at the other video feed. It's already started! There's a lot of three-corner hats & fifes marching right now.


He's getting out of the armored car! he's crazy!
that is a very strange color choice Michelle made, I must say. I hope she doesn't have a mustard yellow ballgown for the inaugural balls.

Save yourself! I moved to a fancier newer post above: here.

Care to Liveblog, Mr Helm?

Is anyone around to liveblog? (Post a comment below, or edit the post.) I just went back over to the Harriet Tubman Terrace & there was no line - shows how Democracy is weighted unevenly by this electoral college, swing-state nation. If there was a national popular vote, every voter would count equally on no matter what crazy backwards island they dwelled

5:29pm Western Time. Chris Matthews just called Pennsylvania "fools gold for Republicans." I'm having a grand time watching MSNBC, which I've never done before (having no TV or friends.) I'll embed the player here, & there's a bunch of other electoral maps at this website. I don't want to make rash conclusions, but can John McCain win if he loses Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, & then continues to lose a few Bush states?



5:37pm They called Georgia & Alabama... Those would have been great gets, & Barack Obama will be president of them even if a majority of their voters didn't chose him.

5:57pm Western Time - The polls in New York close in three minutes, can I please pop the cork on my Three Philosophers? Let's deflower this baby, she's fucking nubile.

Nor Dread Nor Hope Attend a Dying Animal

If you were wondering where the LiveBlog was for the Third & Final Presidential Debate, I say, I say, keep wondering! It's not like we liveblog everything. Once the new software is up & running, we'll be able to liveblog the sunrises, the neigh-at-hand jousting tourney, & the first ever International Itwaslost.org Simultaneously Binger Plum Wine Drink-up-offer Ass-orama. I went out to the El Cerrito Speakeasy Cinema (a second-run movie theater with couches, beer & pizza) to watch a twenty-foot tall McCain roll his eyes & blink a lot at a thirty-foot-tall Obama. (DID YOU KNOW, at 5'7", John McCain would be the shortest President since William McKinley. Now we all know what happened to him--: assassinated at a Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York; had an over-compensatingly huge mountain named after him, which of course eventually reverted to the proper native name, Denali. Such is why any God-fearing American should be categorically against short Presidents.) Here is a photograph of Senator McCain's graceful exit from the stage:


A search for more good whale jokes was unfruitful, so I am putting out another call for jokes, about any large sea-mammal is permitted. Are there any dugong jokes? Please, no dumb old-man puns. (Example: What do you use to weigh a whale? A whale-weigh-station. I don't even fucking get it. What's a whale-weigh-station?)

Here is a short essay by Andrew Sullivan about the virtues of blogging:

For centuries, writers have experimented with forms that suggest the imperfection of human thought, the inconstancy of human affairs, and the humbling, chastening passage of time. If you compare the meandering, questioning, unresolved dialogues of Plato with the definitive, logical treatises of Aristotle, you see the difference between a skeptic’s spirit translated into writing and a spirit that seeks to bring some finality to the argument. Perhaps the greatest single piece of Christian apologetics, Pascal’s Pensées, is a series of meandering, short, and incomplete stabs at arguments, observations, insights. Their lack of finish is what makes them so compelling—arguably more compelling than a polished treatise by Aquinas.

Or take the brilliant polemics of Karl Kraus, the publisher of and main writer for Die Fackel, who delighted in constantly twitting authority with slashing aphorisms and rapid-fire bursts of invective. Kraus had something rare in his day: the financial wherewithal to self-publish. It gave him a fearlessness that is now available to anyone who can afford a computer and an Internet connection.

I don't know why the 21st Century in general is so against definitive treatises, but it seems to me he shouldn't have made his point by referencing a bunch of twaddle. A simple Star Trek analogy would have done the trick. Good night, true ideologues! I've got to re-read Jonathan Livingston Seagull five times before bed & finish off this handle of Aguardiente.