Christopher Lee sings about cocktails

For iRob, laughing-magpie, and all my cocktail enjoying friends.

From "The Return of Captain Invincible"

Bacon Vodka

I would love a bottle of Bacon Vodka to mix Caesars and Bloody Marys. Early reports are mixed, but I believe the attempt is worth the attention.

Tales of the Cocktail

I was delighted to discover "Tales of the Cocktail" a mixology convention in New Orleans. There is no part of that phrase I don't like. Over five days in July, the French Quarter hosts "mixologists, authors, bartenders, chefs, and designers — for a five-day celebration of the history and artistry of making drinks."

What sort of things can one expect at such an event? There are seminars like "The Molecular DNA of Classic Cocktails" and "Low Country Libations: Obscure Cocktails & Spirits from the Netherlands, Belgium & Luxembourg". Some of the better bartenders will be participating in Iron Chef style mixing competition. A "Spirited Dinner Series" sends attendees to some of the best restaurants in town, where a fine meal has been crafted and to learn mixing and pairing techniques straight from the menu designers. Doesn't the phrase "Vintage Bar Ware Collectors Symposium" fill you with warm feelings?

As fantastic as all this is, it sounded like an industry-only event. I contacted the organization with this concern and they assured me that a cocktail enthusiast like myself would be more than welcome.

I don't think I'll be able to attend this year, but perhaps in the future. Until then, my porkpie hat and cocktail shaker lie in wait.

Rachel Maddow: Mixologist.

I really enjoy a well mixed drink. I also enjoy watching "The Rachel Maddow show." These two thoughts would not typically be joined in any meaningful way. As it turns out Rachel Maddow is not just a Rhodes scholar and a talented radio and television host, but a amateur mixologist.



Cocktail mixing would make for a great cooking show series, would it not?

[Youtube video link]

Tiki Bar TV: The Roman

New (to me) Tiki Bar TV!

Trivia to show how smart you are

Here are some quick facts you can use at cocktail parties to show that you are, indeed smarter than the people around you.

-The names of the MGM Lions, in order of use are "Slats" "Jackie" "Tanner" and "Leo". There is an unnamed fourth lion in the sequence, who roared mid-1956 to early 1957.

-Lasersdisc was first sold in 1978 under the name DiscoVision. The first title marketed in North America was Jaws, and the last title released in North America was Sleepy Hollow in 2000.

- The ritual of burning sugar over a glass Absinthe dates from the late 1990's and is not a historical method of serving the drink. This is done with bohemian-style 'absinth' because it lacks many of the oils that create a louche when water is dripped in.

-The book "A Clockwork Orange" was inspired by a real assault on the author's wife. The book inspired a film, which inspired Arthur Bremer to shoot Governor George Wallace. Bremer's diary inspired the film "Taxi Driver" which in turn inspired John Hinckley, Jr. to take a few shots at Ronald Reagan. Don't ever think people can't be inspirational.

Mondo Lounge Atomic Frolic in Las Vegas

While on the prowl for Atomic Tiki drinks and cinema for laughingmagpie's annual luau, I found that there is an honest to goodness Tiki/Lounge convention in Las Vegas the weekend of January 26-28 2007.

"Mondo Lounge Atomic Frolic is the Ultimate Retro Party and Conference. The event is themed around the lifestyle and culture of America from 1957 to 1963 & will bring together fans of Retro Fashion, Tiki, Exotica Music, Car Culture, Bachelor Pad Living, Pin-Ups, Swing Scene, Vintage Las Vegas Rat Pack era"

I will be unable to attend this event with only two week's notice. I think some of us MUST go down next year, should the event be repeated. There is a Friday night pyjama party, Bongo jam session and a Fez contest. Hold me down!

The vintage fashion, Tiki and lounge trade show would also be full of one-of-a-kind finds. A tour of vintage Las Vegas? A Burlesque show? A Miss Mondo Atomic contest?

I'm a little dizzy with the thought of it all. I need a Manhattan, a well tamped pipe and a good sitdown.

Drinkbot Symposium

RoboExotica 2006
Originally uploaded by ioerror.

On November 14th, I blogged about Robot Bartenders, both real and fanciful. Seems that the serving of cocktails by a robot is significant enough to warrent a symposium.

Roboexotica is an event that runs December 5th-10th in Vienna, Austria in an attempt to:

"publicly discuss the role of cocktail robotics as an index for the integration of technological innovations into the human Lebenswelt, or to document the increasing occurrence of radical hedonism in man-machine communication."

The official sub-title of the event is "Cybernetics and Robotics as an Interdisciplinary Universal Science."

To me that sounds like an excuse to build funky robots and drink lots.

"If you turn your back on science, science will take you from behind" - Dr Tiki.

[Link] (via BoingBoing )

Drinkbot: Life imitates art

First of all, I would like to apologize to those who read Slashboing via an RSS feed via Livejournal or other such reader. During my resent switch over to the Blogger Beta system, I inadvertently re-published some of my DragonCon entries from September. It is a little early in Slashboing's life to be running a "best-of" series.

To complete the circle on the earlier post about robot-bartenders, I present the spiritual antecedent to the Motoman; The Tiki Bar Tv episode: Drinkbot!

Here we learn why robot-bartenders will never be able to replace human cocktologists. [Link]

Robot Bartender

I found this robot bartender in an industry design magazine. It uses a touch screen for the user to enter the drink choice, then it makes your drink. It kind of resembles the robot bartender from "The Fifth Element."

Expect to see these things pop up in convention centres, airport lounges, and novelty rich-guy places.



"Do you want some more?"

Technorati Tags:
Robots, automaton, bartender, mixed drinks, real world science fiction, Fifth Element

"Well, I can see you're serving drinks, but this place is dangerous"

Thinkgeek has a Star Wars Pewter Bar set that must be one of the coolest adaptations of the licence yet.

You know all the hep cats on Coruscant had a set like this:

• Darth Vader - Corkscrew
• R2D2 - Bottle Opener
• C3PO - Foil Cutter
• Yoda - Wine stopper

The set is missing a jigger and a strainer, but even lead free modern pewter is rarely used for items that will be in contact with food or drink. A Boba Fett flame thrower cigarette lighter would also be a nice addition.

Technorati Tags:
star wars, barware, thinkgeek

Faux Soviet Meme #2

The second installment of "Not real but fake Soviet type stuff on the web" is from our friends at Tiki Bar TV. Episode 9 of their popular video podcast or "vodcast" reminds us that Russian men in fezs can not be trusted.

The redesigned Tiki bar site is great, and the embedded links makes sharing fun!



Tags:Soviet CCCP memes Tiki TikiBarTV