Something Shiny

Mmmm… wine, lots and lots of wine. The City Pages annual wine tasting event is this Friday 4/3.

City Pages Wine Tasting presented by MGM – Eventbrite.

From City Pages:

Hundreds of wines, delicious appetizers, great live music and a silent auction – all in one room! It’s the spring edition of the City Pages Wine Tasting presented by MGM.

The event features a variety of more than 250 wines, including some of the best domestic and imported wines available at metro area MGM locations. Enjoy an incredible array of wines and live music from Rare Medium. A portion of proceeds from the event benefit The Southern Theater – a non-profit organization which provides a vibrant home for performance, fostering a multiplicity of voices, and catalyzing connections among artists and audience. In addition to the vast selection of wine, your admission includes complimentary light appetizers (while supplies last) from award-winning D’Amico Catering, voted one of the Twin Cities best caterers.

Tickets are $28 in advance at MGM locations (no ticket fees) and through www.citypages.com/winetasting – ($0.99/ticket service charges apply); or $35 at the door the night of the event. A $10 designated driver ticket is also available. Admission includes all wine samples and light appetizers from D’Amico Catering. Must be 21 or older to participate and present valid ID upon entering the event.

International Market Square is located at 275 Market Street, Minneapolis – just west of I-94 and Lyndale off Glenwood. For additional information about the event please visit www.citypages.com/winetasting. The City Pages Wine Tasting is presented by MGM and sponsored by Cities 97, KTLK, and SRO Productions.

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The fourth book in the Supper Club Mystery series from J. B. Stanley follows in the adequate tradition of the previous three installments. I’m not in love with the series, but it’s better than most of my random picks based on cover and/or title induced impulses (“Chili Con Corpses” being the initial hook for me).

As with the previous tales, the weight watching group of friends gets wrapped up in a murder investigation. Will they save the day again? Signs point to yes. As an added bonus, this installment includes some BBQ recipes.

If you have read any of J. B. Stanley’s books and would like to learn more about her, she has a blog and some additional info over at Amazon (click on the book cover over on the right).

Via Amazon:

From Booklist

The whole purpose of this Supper Club is for its five members to lose weight. As in real life, some are more successful than others, but they all keep trying. Librarian James Henry, new sheriff’s deputy Lucy Hanover, schoolteacher Lindy, postman Bennett, and pet guru Gillian have actually gained more fame from their joint sleuthing escapades than they have from their various diet attempts. In this fourth rollicking adventure, they are invited to be guest judges at the forty-seventh annual Hudsonville Hog Festival. They can’t resist the offer; they’ll get back to their diets after the barbecue. All goes well until one of the barbecue contestants is found dead, and one of the flab five is accused of the murder. As always, a few recipes are included in the story, some of them more diet-friendly than others. While many of the antics are hilarious, Stanley’s characters really do have depth, the plotting is well executed, and the series becomes better with each installment. –Judy Coon

Review
“Readers are served a well-plotted mystery sprinkled with delightful characters and topped off with a dash of suspense.”

Product Description
When the supper club members are invited to be guest judges at a regional barbecue contest, they accept the invitation faster than you can say “hog heaven.” But the barbecue festival’s family-oriented, finger-licking fun turns sour when a contestant is found dead. Things go from bad to worse when one of the five friends is accused of the murder and lands in jail. The strained relationship between James and Lucy is still no picnic, but the supper club members must stick together to find the real killer. Includes authentic barbecue-friendly recipes!

Praise for the Supper Club Mystery Series
“Heavy on fun, light on gore, this savory mystery comes complete with yummy recipes.” —Publishers Weekly”
Well plotted …with a wonderful setting and cast of characters.” —MysteryReader.com
“Stanley offers another entry in the popular Supper Club Mystery series, and her fans now have a new volume to relish.” —Booklist

About the Author
J.B. Stanley has a BA in English from Franklin & Marshall College, an MA in English Literature from West Chester University, and an MLIS from North Carolina Central University. She taught sixth grade language arts in Cary, North Carolina for the majority of her eight-year teaching career. Raised an antique-lover by her grandparents and parents, Stanley also worked part-time in an auction gallery. An eBay junkie and food-lover, Stanley now lives in Richmond, Virginia with her husband, two young children, and three cats.

photo credit: helmet13

Bringing your own bottle of wine used to cost you $25 (plus the wine itself), but no more! In an attempt to figure out how to get more folks in the door during these rough economic times, they’ll let you bring your own wine for no additional charge.

They’re careful to point out that this ONLY applies to wine, not beer, or spirits (or probably even orange soda).

Very nice move Manny’s, I’m on my way.
http://www.mannyssteakhouse.com/
The W Minneapolis – The Foshay
9th & Marquette
Downtown Minneapolis

Two words: werewolf gangs. First, it’s written in free verse which reads sorta funny since it’s not in standard paragraph form. It takes a couple minutes to get past that but it’s well worth the effort.

I’ve never read anything quite like it. It sucked me in quickly and is a fast read. I strongly recommend it.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Barlow’s gut-wrenching, sexy debut, a horror thriller in verse, follows three packs of feral dogs in East L.A. These creatures are in fact werewolves, men and women who can change into canine form at will (Dog or wolf? More like one than the other/ but neither exactly). Lark, the top dog in one of the packs who’s a lawyer in human form, has a master plan that may involve taking over the city from the regular humans. Anthony Silvo, a dogcatcher and normally a loner, finds himself falling in love with a beautiful and mysterious woman (Standing on four legs in her fur,/ she is her own brand of beast). A strange small man and his giant partner play tournament bridge and are deep into the drug trade. A detective, Peabody, investigates several puzzling dog-related murders. The irregular verse form with its narrative economies proves an excellent vehicle to support all these disparate threads and then tie them together in the bittersweet conclusion. 5-city author tour. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From The New Yorker

In a cheeky nod to epic poetry, Barlow’s début novel is written entirely in free verse and concerns a metamorphosis, of humans into wolves, in Los Angeles. No slaves to the moon, these postmodern lycanthropes do a thousand situps at a time and choose when to “self-ignite.” (There are lapses: a grease-sensitive type inadvertently commits a massacre at Popeye’s.) The story involves a white-collar pack run by a Sun Tzu-style strategist that operates like a cross between a ruthless law firm and the Lakers; a plot to infiltrate animal shelters and high-end bridge tournaments; and a dog catcher who unknowingly falls in love with a werewolfess. Barlow deftly sketches the L.A. landscape—stucco, sun beating through smog, tract-home meth labs, fresh-cut lawns that “hiss with wealth,” freeways that devour hours of life—and metes out his tale in noirish koans: “Watch any man’s eyes / at the bounce of a ball. / His head tilts slightly sideways, just a hair, / as a primitive focus / comes to life.”
Copyright © 2008 Click here to subscribe to The New Yorker –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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I finally had to give up on Kelly Link’s Stranger Things Happen. The stories in Pretty Little Monsters were… well, they had something happen. Stranger Things Happen seemed to be more a stream of consciousnesses sorta thing. Like streams were combined into “stories.” Anyway, I gave up two stories from the end of the collection.

So, after reading Tim Dorsey’s Nuclear Jellyfish I picked up J.B. Stanley’s Fit to Die. I had picked up Chile con Corpses on a whim at the library (I’m a sucker for clever titles and shiny covers). The characters were pretty flat and the plot wasn’t particularly clever, but it wasn’t bad either.

More interesting than the plot was the diet story sub-story. Ok, interesting isn’t quite acurate. Connecting perhaps? Much like fiscal responsibilty, diets aren’t exactly the focus of positive media attention. Aside from NBC’s The Biggest Loser (which is more social manipulation than useful information), TV, books, movies, don’t ever really touch on the pain in the ass which is weight loss and weight maintenance.

The fact that J.B. Stanley includes some of the actual issues around weight loss/management as a tertiary topic makes the characters a bit more real and is positive reinforcement for my own goals.

Since Chili con Corpses I’ve read Carbs & Cadavers, and am currently in the middle of Fit to Die. Ms. Stanley has one more book in the Supper Club Mystery series, Stiffs and Swine, as well as some other books outside the series.

So, in conclusion, the Supper Club Mystery series is a collection of solid, although not outstanding, mysteries. The real draw here is for those whose weight doesn’t manage itself. You can be the 6th member of the characters’ supper club and get enjoy the benefits of their support structure, even if it is only fictional.

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Anyone need a very nice T-Mobile phone? Buy mine! Get the info on Craigslist. Please?

Sony Ericsson tm506 for T-Mobile.

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Ah, Roku box, how do I love thee? Tonight you brought Weirdsville into my home from the fine folks at Netflix. Appropriately titled, it’s a pretty loose plot that serves to string together a series of odd events, people and places.

It’s not great and fell back on the comedy equivalent of punting (use of a midget), but it’s definitely worth checking out if you’ve got the Netflix.

The mailman brought Netherbeast Incorporated earlier today (also from Netflix).  Despite an impressive cast for something I’d never heard of before some random Netflix recommendation, it was only ok. Dave Foley, Judd Nelson, Jason Mewes, and Darrell Hammond (ok, that doesn’t really count as a plus) all have substantial roles, but surprisingly none are the lead. Basically, it’s Office Space meets Interview with a Vampire. It was a great idea, but they just couldn’t quite pull it off.

Getting back to Weirdsville, at this point is Scott Speedman’s career, he’s almost made up for being “that dreamy guy from Felicity.” Almost.

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Wow, I’ve seen the gas powered models, but those aren’t very practical. Now that nearly everyone has a decently powered rechargable drill, this may be the perfect portable blended drink solution.

Anyone have one? the site doesn’t have much info as to what the blender blades are like, or any detailed information at all for that matter.

In any event, $35 +s&h can get you that blended margarita while you’re “roughing it.” Check it out over at Keg Fun.