Happy Anniversay, Continental Junto!

Ironically, I just decided to look back at when this blog started and realised it was one year ago today, April 20, 2008--a day that will live in infamy.

Apparently, it's a holiday of sorts as well for those so inclined. Oh yeah, and it's Earth Week, too. Those of you with weak hearts try not to be overwhelmed by this amazing triumpharate.

By the way, I heartily recommend the brilliant author Michael Pollan's (The Omnivore's Dilemma) older work, The Botany of Desire. He puts forth some interesting theories as to how plants have used humans to advance their place in this world through coevolution by exploring our ongoing relationship with four plants: the apple, the tulip, the potato, and marijuana. Pollan combines a journalistic eye with the passion of a gardener and intriguing philosopical ideas in one of the better books I've read in a while. Check it out and celebrate.

Hey Hey, My My: Rolling Rock Will Never Die

So, I was sitting here last night knocking back Rolling Rocks and thinking of the salad days in Rahway, NJ. How young, naive, and happy we were! Times were simpler back then; often weekend nights were fraught with the great mysteries of our generation, like how did we get where we are politically today, and can we ever really escape New Jersey (Answer: physically, yes; mentally, never). And the more important things, like was Paul Lynde really gay, and why would good-looking Nordic men date Mrs. Hairy Legs?

But above all, these were the RRD (Rolling Rock Days), and no mystery was deeper or more inexplicable than the enigmatic "33" painted on each bottle of the Latrobe nectar of the demi-gods. A bartender once attempted to allay my mounting anxiety by laying a hand on my shoulder and explaining that '33 was the year Prohibition was repealed.

That's true, and not true, then true again. Read all about it here.

And to further crush your hand-painted, green-tinted glass heart, it seems RR was bought by Anheuser-Busch in '06 (the year the beer died). Subsequently, AB was bought back back by InBev, the original distributors, who are based in Belgium instead of Newark, NJ (Can you really ever escape Belgium?).

It seems that now, RR is up for grabs and they're looking for a buyer. So who wants to pony (bottle) up some cash and buy a slice of American history? Who's coming with me?