Paul Balsom

Don't Catch Up on Game of Thrones. Just Jump In.

balsombrewing — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:53:07 -0500

Don't Catch Up on Game of Thrones. Just Jump In.:

At its heart, Game of Thrones is the most purely escapist show on television. Maybe ever.

Woolly mammoth rising: can we bring extinct animals back to life?

balsombrewing — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 16:17:06 -0500

Woolly mammoth rising: can we bring extinct animals back to life?:

After centuries of extinction, new plans emerge to bring back the passenger pigeon, Tasmanian tiger, and more..

How to Keep Your Secret Society Secret

balsombrewing — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 10:20:20 -0500

How to Keep Your Secret Society Secret:

Running a secret society can’t be that tough. After deciding on the number of snakes in your cryptic logo and choosing which ethnic groups to exclude, all that’s left is to maintain secrecy. And yet it’s that part that so often vexes collegiate secret societies, transforming them into publicly known and easily ridiculed clubs, no different from a Hunter’s Lodge or the GOP.

"Time is the longest distance between two places."

balsombrewing — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 10:18:56 -0500

“Time is the longest distance between two places.”

- Tennessee Williams

Is Kickstarter the New Oscar Marketplace? Plus: 5 Films Worth Backing

balsombrewing — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 10:34:07 -0600

Is Kickstarter the New Oscar Marketplace? Plus: 5 Films Worth Backing:

More and more independent filmmakers are looking to the people—rather than major movie studios—to green light their latest projects.

At this year’s Sundance Film Festival, 10 percent of the films were funded, either in part or in full, via Kickstarter. Just last Sunday, Innocente, a documentary short about a 15-year-old homeless girl with dreams of becoming an artist, made history as the first (partially) crowd-funded film to win an Oscar, having tapped 294 backers for over $52,000.

Q&A: Kristen Kish on Her Top Chef Victory, and How to Cook Like a French Chef

balsombrewing — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 11:52:40 -0600

Q&A: Kristen Kish on Her Top Chef Victory, and How to Cook Like a French Chef:

With the conclusion of Top Chef: Seattle this week, the long-standing cooking competition show crowned Boston’s Kristen Kish, a 29-year-old instructor at Stir the winner. For fans of the series, the significance of this win is twofold: Kish is only the second female to take home the title in ten seasons as well as the first cheftestant to win after being eliminated (she rescued herself by winning the webseries, Last Chance Kitchen).

I’ll Take Mine… How 16 Men of Note Take Their Coffee

balsombrewing — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 11:46:48 -0600

I’ll Take Mine… How 16 Men of Note Take Their Coffee:

Coffee is the 2nd most valuable traded commodity after oil, employing 25 million farmers and coffee workers in over 50 countries according to some sources. The U.S. market is worth 22 billion annually alone by some estimates, with over 79% of the population stating they’ve had a cup in the last 12 months.

Given the global nature of this precious brew, our Fortnight of Coffee has tried to address every aspect of the subject, ranging from its natural origins and the art & culture behind it to the various gear and methodologies that have evolved to make it. But there’s still one gaping hole left to fill: the variety of roles (both major and minor) it plays in peoples’ lives.

Here, we’ve gathered together a series of brief interviews with a 16 leading men, whose ranks include actors, authors, athletes, chefs, designers, editors, and founders. Chances are, you’re already familiar with some of their life’s work. Read on, and learn about their own personal coffee habits and how it compares with yours.

Over 1,000 days without a trial: Bradley Manning, WikiLeaks, and the culture of secrecy

balsombrewing — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:45:23 -0600

Over 1,000 days without a trial: Bradley Manning, WikiLeaks, and the culture of secrecy:

His requests for a dismissal denied, the accused WikiLeaks source heads toward trial — and possibly life imprisonment.

This monthly radio show compiles a list of the month’s...

balsombrewing — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 10:30:22 -0600

This monthly radio show compiles a list of the month’s most-blogged new original and/or remixed music. Have a listen!

COFFEE SKILLS PEOPLE ACTUALLY PUT ON RESUMES

balsombrewing — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 10:29:03 -0600

COFFEE SKILLS PEOPLE ACTUALLY PUT ON RESUMES:

Coffee is delicious. It’s made America and much of the rest of the world run for who knows how long, peaking in 1946 according to MarketWatch. But when we learned that 161,000 people on LinkedIn list “coffee” as a skill, we had to wonder. Do these people mean making coffee? Do they mean handing it to a patron in a diner? Drinking it every morning like most of us do? All we’re saying is that it seems pretty vague, so we took to LinkedIn to find some more specificity, eyeballin’ their values between 3K, 4K, 5K etc. as necessary. And below, the only true skill you need to know when making coffee, courtesy of Clint Eastwood.

The LinkedIn Guide to Coffee Skills

“Coffee” — 161,000

“Making Coffee” — 4,000

“Latte Art” — 605 (and a 17-percent growth in the last year, more than any of the others)

“Specialty Coffee” — 3,500

“Barista Training” — 4,500

“Roasting” — 1,800

“Cappucino” — 421

“Coffee Roasting” — 3,000

“Espresso” — 12,000

“CoffeeCup” — 181

“Coffee Shops” — 2,800

“Coffee Script” — 8,000 (you know, the programming language)

Sony fails to show PlayStation 4 console at PlayStation 4 event

balsombrewing — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 10:14:17 -0600

Sony fails to show PlayStation 4 console at PlayStation 4 event:

Yeah, so Sony ‘unveiled’ the Playstation 4 at a press event yesterday, except they forgot one thing. The Playstation. Read more at The Verge.

Q&A: The Funniest Man on The Mindy Project

balsombrewing — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 11:32:00 -0600

Q&A: The Funniest Man on The Mindy Project:

Ike Barinholtz of The Mindy Project, who got his start in Chicago improv. “I would walk up after the show, and Tina [Fey] would be leaving, and I would be like, ‘Great set today, Tina! I really liked that! When you made the reference to Governor Ryan, I thought that was really, really funny.’ And she’d be like, ‘Oh, thank you, bye.’”

Red Square - Wicker Park's Russian bathhouse and bar

balsombrewing — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 09:51:41 -0600

Red Square - Wicker Park's Russian bathhouse and bar

THE BEST MOVIES FROM A-Z

balsombrewing — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:48:01 -0600

THE BEST MOVIES FROM A-Z:

Cool Material made a list of the best films starting with each letter of the alphabet. For the most part, I agree!

Thom Yorke: What I've Learned

balsombrewing — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:09:18 -0600

Thom Yorke: What I've Learned:

Yorke, the cofounder and lead singer of Radiohead, has just released the album Amok with his other band, Atoms for Peace. Here are some nuggets from his December 2012 interview with Esquire.

Girl Walk // All Day — you will love this.

balsombrewing — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 11:43:32 -0600

Girl Walk // All Day — you will love this.

Which Wes Anderson character are you?

balsombrewing — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:14:18 -0600

Which Wes Anderson character are you?

Can I Stream It?

balsombrewing — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 17:35:59 -0600

Can I Stream It?:

Check this out: website lets you enter a film’s title and see where you can stream it online!

‘Filmography 2012’: compilation edits together...

balsombrewing — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 14:57:20 -0600

‘Filmography 2012’: compilation edits together hundreds of movies from this year

Inception in the form of a doodle.

balsombrewing — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 13:20:14 -0600

Inception in the form of a doodle.