The People's Republic takes another step...

At the national level, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Barack Obama have seemingly been sufficiently warned off of trying to trash the nation's health care system and replace it with the "Bolshevik plot" that was pushed most of last year. But California lawmakers have shown themselves to be completely and utterly intractable:

Read this article.

The CA state senate has passed a bill that would outlaw private coverage and cost the taxpayers $200 billion a year. Sounds like a bargain, right? Except that the current bloated state budget is only $85 billion a year...so, you know how they'll pay for the extra, right? That's right...higher taxes on everyone and everything they can think of.

The bill has to go through the state assembly (it will, like a hot knife through butter) and then will have to be signed by Governor Arnold (you know, the one who supported the Democrats' health care plan). California gets screwed again!

Snow Day

The past 24 hours has been pretty remarkable in my experience, although I'm sure there are some out there who can relate. Having grown up in Southern California, my snow experience is rather limited.

Around noon Friday, the long-expected storm hit. It didn't just start with flurries like most of the previous storms this season...it just started dumping snow right from the beginning. The first picture here was taken about an hour after the beginning of the storm.

The NWS had predicted that most snow would be north of I-40, which is about 50 miles north of us, but that did not happen. Before the night was through we were up to about 4 inches as measured by the accumulation of the exposed front porch deck rail. You can see a similar accumulation in the picture I included which shows the table that the Tiki Bar used to meet around and the chairs the members would sit in.

I even took time to build my first snowman...a rather pitiful small-scale assemblage on the hood of my car. I couldn't find a carrot for a nose or two eyes made out of coal, so I broke some twigs off the tree out front and used my sunglasses. Instead of Frosty's corncob pipe, my snowman is smoking a cigarillo...but at his size, it's practically a Presidente!

Later on the TV went out as the dish started filling up with snow accumulation. At this point it hasn't fallen off yet, but if it hasn't in the next hour, I'm going to try to force the issue. Overnight the snow turned to freezing rain and sleet so a lot of the piled up snow has already melted or turned into ice.

Woke up to the power going out at 7:45 this morning. It came back on about an hour later, Thank God. I was able to get my morning coffee after all and the house started to warm back up.

I'm sure there are parts of the country, especially directly north of us, that see this whole experience as pretty mild, but this was my wildest storm experience yet...and a good educational experience for times when it might be even worse. At this point it's still too dangerous to drive, so I'll be staying home for the day. Even if I did make it to town, I probably could not get home because of the several steep hills in the way--steep hills and icy conditions are rough on a front-wheel drive car!

It's warmed up to a nice 37 degrees at this point (although it is a "wet cold") so I might actually get out to smoke a stogie today as I watch the snow melt. Wish y'all could be here...this would make for a great "snow herf."

Movie Recommendation: Terminator Salvation

Terminator Salvation (2009)
The big question in the Terminator franchise was whether there would be a viable franchise or not with James Cameron out of the picture. After the smashing success of the first two films, he stepped away from the 3rd movie and it was noticeably lacking as a follow-up to the truly classic storyline. I never watched the Sarah Connor Chronicles TV show, so I can't speak to it, except that there must be some reason it only lasted 31 episodes, the equivalent of 1.5 seasons. After Terminator Salvation, though, I think the franchise just might have some life left.

This movie takes place in the future when John Connor is now one of the leaders of the resistance against the machines. For all the work he and his mother did, "Judgment Day" still happened. The story here tells how Connor meets his father, who is younger than he is in the movie. Strange what time travel can do, eh? I was afraid Christian Bale would basically be "Batman in a Terminator world" but he actually spoke intelligibly and his acting is at least as good as Arnold Schwarzenegger's ever was. To me, the movie started off a little slowly, but the pace picked up appreciably with the flight from Los Angeles and the giant Terminator robots that were collecting humans.

Not the deepest movie you will ever see, but well worth an investment of a couple hours as a great action/adventure movie. I am anxious to see how they now will continue the tale.

Quote of the Week

Experience, that most brutal of teachers...but you learn, my God, do you learn...

C.S. Lewis

Second Opinion: Davidoff Millennium Blend

Robusto, 5.25" x 50 ring gauge, approx. $17
A year and a half ago, in one of my first reviews for the Tiki Bar blog (this version, anyway) I got the need to try a Davidoff out of my system and thoroughly dissed the experience. In the time since, I've had few good things to say about Davidoff. Seriously, they think so much of themselves that they sell leather and gold cigar bands for $1200 and gold-trimmed desktop humidors for $16K. I find it hard to regard anything they do as anything more than a status-symbol. Since I am not insecure about my station in life, I feel no need to be seen with a 20-year-old trophy wife, Italian supercar, or Davidoff cigar. I try to be fair, though, and when given the opportunity (read: I didn't have to pay for the stick) I wanted to give their cigars a second chance to impress me. I like to think that with all the cigars I've smoked and rated in the past year and a half, my palate has matured a bit and I am better able to appreciate milder, more nuanced smokes as well as those that just slam me in the face with power.

The Millennium Blend was brought out in 2001 as Davidoff's "full-bodied" cigar and it features Dominican filler and binder along with an Ecuadorian sun-grown wrapper. The appearance of this particular stick is less than I would expect for a cigar from Davidoff: the wrapper was stretched and wrinkled in places--I've seen $8 sticks wrapped better. There were a few medium-sized veins but nothing to worry about. The color was very even. The aroma from the wrapper was strong, sweet alfalfa along with a little barnyard; the foot had a grassier smell but was still very pleasant. The prelight draw had flavors of hay and caramel; the draw itself was excellent.

Initial puffs featured the same caramel and hay flavors that I got in prelight. They created this to be full-bodied, but the only way that label applies is if you add "for a Davidoff" when you say it. It definitely started off in the mild-to-medium range. I experienced all the flavors of a classic, super-premium, mild cigar in the first third: caramel, hay, cream, honey--all of these with just a little more body than you might typically expect in a mild stick. The construction was just exquisite: an almost perfectly straight burn line, perfect draw and ash that held on for an inch or more. It was very easy and smooth on the retrohale with just a little nutty aroma.

During the second third, the stick achieved medium-body status. There was a definite roasted nut flavor that came on more strongly, but still some creaminess and sweetness, although the caramel and hay had faded quite a bit. Much as I tried to resist, I found myself liking this stick an awful lot.

The final third was nutty, with a touch of leather. There was some caramel underneath, with a little pepper on the finish. With all that going on, there is no point in denying that this is a fantastic smoke. It had all the best qualities of a mild cigar with more oomph. It was good smoking all the way down to the nub--lots of flavor and no sourness anywhere. The construction was flawless, as you would expect. So, the bottom line is this: I really, really enjoyed this stick. Surprisingly, especially to me, I could see myself purchasing one of these in the future for a "special occasion" stick...not something I ever expected to say.

Body: 5/10
Strength: 6/10
Complexity: 8/10

AFP Scale:
Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 5/5
Value: .5/1
Total: 9/10

P.S. 9/10 represents a dramatic improvement over my initial review of this stick where I only gave it a 7.5/10

Apple's New Toy/Tool/Thing

Wow, what a day for Apple. I can honestly say that I may have just gotten over my iPhone envy. Why? you might ask...because of iPad. What does it do? you might also ask...to which I would reply, "What does it not do?" Seriously, how many devices would this replace?

Netbook: Most people use a Netbook for web surfing and e-mail. The iPad excels at this and starting price is about the same as a high quality (oxymoron?) Netbook. I'll be generous and call the Netbook $200.

Music Player: If you have iPad, is there any reason to own iPod Touch? My own music collection requires a much, much larger memory allocation, so I generally use an iPod Classic, but I've thought several times about the iPod Touch. If I got one, it would be the top-of-the-line: $400

Photo/Video Viewer: Okay, so I haven't exactly been clamoring for something in this category, but it's still a pretty cool feature. I'll put the value/price at about what you would pay for a 7-inch photo frame: $100

PDA: Do they even make stand-alone PDAs anymore? I found a few on Amazon, but nothing I would even consider buying? iPad integrates with your calendar and address book functions very well. Even a dirt cheap PDA is $140

Book Reader: Finally doing what I've criticized Kindle and Sony's e-book readers for: bringing it in color. Let's face it, I'm unlikely to ever buy a lot of e-books, but electronic newspapers and magazines are a different story. And if you want magazines (or newspapers nowdays) you want full-living-color. Apple's solution uses the most widely used electronic book format and has some of the largest publishers around. By the way, if you are already heavily invested in Kindle books, Amazon already has an iPhone app that will work on the iPad--and I'm betting a dedicated iPad app is in the planning--so you would never lose you investment in those books. For a screen as large as the iPad (but in black and white), Amazon charges big bucks for the Kindle DX: $490

All those devices put together add up to a whopping $1,330, which is $600 more than I will eventually pay for the iPad. If I choose to get one with 3G cellular capabilities (allowing full internet access anywhere, even if it is with AT&T), it's $130 more plus usage fees when I want to use it. That's a quandary as in 90%+ of all cases, I would use the device either at home or another place where WiFi is available. Do I want to pay so much extra for such a minor feature? I'll have months and months to think about it, I'm sure. Even at a relative bargain price of $700 (or $830) I've got more important things to spend my money on this year...like CigarFest!!!

Ah, well, by the time I get ready to buy, at least they will have worked out any bugs...

American Idol Wrapup...

The new season of Idol is underway, but I have no predictions at this point. I was only able to watch the first two audition episodes so far and while there were some laughs, there seemed to be something missing...oh, yeah, Paula's often-inane, but always amusing, drunken rants! The guest-judge scheme was okay, but there were decidedly mixed results: Posh Spice (Victoria Beckham) guested in Boston and was mostly good despite that funky doily she had on her head the first day; Mary J. Bilge (sic) was a spectacle in eye-rolling rudeness that I really could have done without during the Atlanta auditions. There was one rather hilarious moment where Bilge told someone that he needed "to have some humility to be in this business" but then she spent the rest of the episode showing that she had none herself.

For regional interest, Vanessa Wolfe of Vonore, TN, showed up at the Atlanta auditions, proceeded to sing an Old Crow Medicine Show song and got sent to Hollywood. The girls sings well and appears to play guitar, but she is one of the poor around here that probably never would leave the area without this break. I hope to God AI and Hollywood don't swallow her whole. (Vonore is less than 60 miles away from this author's home.)

Unfortunately, my wife had to fly to see be with her family for a couple weeks right after those episodes, so we're DVR-ing the rest for when she gets back.

I guess there could be some question as to my seriousness about American Idol. Do I really like this show or is this all some kind of put-on? Folks that know me personally know that I do actually like the show...AND I like to laugh at it. While it's easy enough to just laugh at the audition episodes, when the actually competition gets started, I check out a few websites every day after a show airs to see what mischief they've gotten up to.

First and foremost is VotefortheWorst.com. This website started several years ago with the intention of piercing the illusionary American Idol bubble. They start out with the premise that the Idol producers have a few "favorites" that they would like to succeed and others are promoted are "cannon fodder" that the viewers will vote off quickly. So they proceed to determine who the absolute worst performer/singer/personality is and encourage as many people as possible to vote for that person. I have not actually done that, but their show re-caps are ROFLMAO funny.

The other must-read site is Entertainment Weekly's TV Watch. While not as vicious as Vote For the Worst, the reviewers are still often-hilarious and worth reading. Actually, I would recommend TV Watch for other shows you regularly watch as well...their Lost re-caps are always intriguing, pointing out the myriad small details you probably missed and all the connections to books, movies, philosophy, and other TV shows that are contained in the show.

If you are still skeptical of AI, this season may be the last chance you have to jump on board. With Paula gone and Simon leaving, if next season even happens, it will be a shell of its former self. My suggestion: take it for what it is--good entertainment--and don't worry about voting unless you really, really like a contestant that much. Then read Vote for the Worst the next day for a good laugh. If you try that for a couple weeks and still don't get it...at least you tried.

Cigar Review: Avo Signature

Belicoso, 6" x 48 ring gauge, approx. $12
This review was written on December 5, 2009. I woke up that morning to a thin blanket of snow on the ground--the first significant snowfall the Tennessee Valley has had in a while and the first we've seen since we moved here in January. The temperature was in the mid-30s and the entire neighborhood had a magical quality that only the soft fall of snow can give. I got up and ready as quickly as I could so I could enjoy my first-ever "cigar smoked while it snows." I decided to choose a cigar that I had received a few weeks previously at the CBC/Burns membership renewal event, a cigar I had never smoked before but a brand with a reputation that is hard to top: the Avo Signature. This cigar was originally created as the Limited Edition 75th Anniversary to celebrate Avo Uvezian's 75th birthday in 2001. Customer demand drove the company to adapt those sticks for this new format. The filler is Dominican from the Cibao Valley and consists of a high proportion of ligero. The wrapper is a sun-grown Ecuadorian leaf, fermented several times in the Dominican Republic.

The wrapper was very nice-looking, but not all that smooth. There were quite a few lumps and bumps and a few stretched and wrinkled places. The aroma was alfalfa with a little barnyard from the body along with a little cocoa from the foot. The draw was very good and had flavors of hay, caramel and just a tiny bit of spice.

It was surprising to me how difficult combustion is when it is snowing and the temperature is hovering around freezing. When I was finally able to light it, the initial puffs had hay, cream, and hints of nutmeg and clove. As the first third went on I got flavors of creamy coffee, more hay, and raw peanuts; later on there were hints of black pepper as well.

During the second third, the draw tightened a bit and by midway through it, I was getting a buildup of sap coming out of the end of the stick. I re-cut it with no apparent ill effects. The flavors were of roasted nuts with bits of leather and coffee. The smoke was very smooth so far, with an excellent draw and straight burn. I would have to put the body in the medium category, most likely aided by the sungrown wrapper, which also imparted a little more spice as the second third came to a close.

That spice really kicked in during the last third: a nice peppery tone that left a lasting burn on the tongue. Overall, the Avo Signature was a very good cigar, but just did not have the fullness of flavor or complexity to justify its premium price tag. The construction was flawless and it was definitely an enjoyable experience, but not so much that I would seek these sticks out at $12. If you were somehow able to score these for $6 or 7 each, you should do so; otherwise, I would give them a pass.

Body: 5/10
Strength: 4/10
Complexity: 6/10

AFP Scale:
Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 3.5/5
Value: 0/1
Total: 7/10

American Idol Alumni: Taylor Hicks & Melinda Doolittle

Today, I will be looking at a couple people who have unfortunately fallen through the cracks of American Idol stardom.

Taylor Hicks was crowned the Season 5 champion in 2006, beating out Katherine McPhee, Elliott Yamin, and Chris Daughtry for the big prize. Taylor's goofy smile and goofier dancing was part of the charm that went with his "blue-eyed soul" voice. Separated from the grinning and dancing, though, his debut album, Taylor Hicks, just did not seem to make it out of the gate. The CD starts off with a romp with "The Runaround" and there are many other very good songs, including "Heaven Knows," "Just To Feel That Way" and "Soul Thing." I like this album a lot; it is unique in my collection, which is lacking much in the way of old-timey soul. Taylor does this "soul thing" very well, but in the end it is fairly derivative, especially of greats like Ray Charles. That, coupled with the fact that soul music is not terribly popular today, doomed Taylor's album to be the worst-selling debut by any AI winner (it has sold just over 800,000 copies worldwide to date). It is unfortunate that not many people picked up this truly entertaining album, but it is available at bargain prices these days.

Melinda Doolittle finished in third place the following year, losing out to Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks. There was something about Melinda, though...she consistently showed the most talent and professionalism of practically any contestant ever on the show, whether singing country, rock, or soul. In her post-Idol career, I believe she made two mistakes. First, she did not "strike while the iron is hot." It took nearly two years to bring her album, Coming Back To You, to the public. The second mistake was the music style. While Melinda Doolittle possesses the pipes to make practically anything sound good (I can hear Randy saying, "Dawg, you can sing the phone book, yo!!!"), her soulful album was as out of time and place as Taylor Hicks' was. The album is a total throwback, to a point where all the songs were covers and most were quite old. A great concept for an album, but not for a debut. I can't single out any particular tracks for recognition--the are all good, but disappointing in that there is nothing original in either the songs or the sound. I hope for more in the future from Tennessee-native, Melinda Doolittle, but I fear she may have squandered her one big chance.

Smoke One For...

White comedian, Paul Shanklin, whose works are consistently hysterical and, in this case, very prescient. Shanklin's comedic impersonations are a constant companion on the Rush Limbaugh show--even more for those who have Rush 24/7 as we get to hear Shanklin's bits during commercial breaks. This piece actually came out last summer, but it seems appropriate now that the stake has been driven through ObamaCare's vampiric heart...

*Also, thanks to Tennesseefree.com who own posting of this video alerted me to its existence.

Quote of the Week

Thanks to my mom for sending me this quote...it was too good not to pass along...

Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit.

Anonymous

Movie Recommendation: Star Trek

Star Trek (Three-Disc Edition) [Blu-ray]

Full disclosure up front: in the Trek vs. Wars debate, I was always more of a "Star Wars" fan. Growing up I always found the Star Trek show to be rather dull and the first movie did nothing to dispel that notion. I grew up, though, and learned to better appreciate both franchises (at least until Episode 1, which was neither as bad as some critics insist, nor as good as George Lucas believes). Of all the Trek crews, I came to enjoy the first the best. William Shatner's James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy's Spock were classic pieces of American film culture, especially as presented in films like The Wrath of Khan.

So...J.J. Abrams wanted to "refresh" the Trek series, eh? This should be interesting...

Holy cow! If you have not seen the Abrams-directed 2009 version of Star Trek you owe it to yourself to drop everything and see it. While not without its faults, this film has something to please just about anyone. My wife is a much bigger Trek fan than I and she was blown away by it. The action is riveting. The acting is mostly great. Chris Pine makes a great young Kirk and Zachary Quinto is uncanny in his Spock. The rest of the supporting staff is good to excellent: Anton Yelchin's Chekov is pretty much just adequate, Karl Urban's Dr. McCoy is very good, and Simon Pegg's Scotty is absolutely inspired.

The villain, played by Eric Bana, is not the most interesting character in the world, but, then again, almost any villain pales in comparison with Ricardo Montalban's Khan. He is still better than Christopher Lloyd's Klingon captain in Star Trek III.

There are some discrepancies with the accepted Trek-lore and mythology, but this film cleverly dispels with any complaints that there might be over said discrepancies. Really...one of the best movies of 2009 and one that should be fun to watch over and over. Easily the best Trek movie in over 25 years.

Cigar Review: Carlos Torano Exodus 1959 50 Years

Short Churchill, 6" x 48 ring gauge, $7.44
The Torano family fled Cuba in 1959 after Fidel Castro came to power and nationalized all tobacco farms and cigar factories. The Exodus 1959 cigars were introduced in 2001 to commemorate the leaving of Cuba by Carlos Torano and other important cigar personalities. It was recognized in 2006 as one of Cigar Aficionado's Top 5 Cigars. This new version of the Exodus was unveiled at 2009's IPCPR trade show and was intended to be a full-bodied blend in the line. It features Nicaraguan filler from Esteli and Pueblo Nuevo, a Honduran binder, and a Brazilian Arapica Sun Grown wrapper.

This is a much more rustic-looking cigar than others in the Exodus line...so much so that it reminds me in some ways of a Backwoods: lumpy, bumpy, and somewhat misshapen. The wrapper itself was dark and oily, velvety to the touch and practically flawless. The aroma from the body is leather and humidor; from the foot I got some cocoa and wet earthiness. The prelight draw was good and had flavors of dark chocolate and dried fruit.

Initial puffs were very full-bodied and thick. There were touches of leather and earth in a semi-sweet, pepper-infused melange. There was a lot going on from the very start and it was already more full-bodied than any other Exodus 1959 stick. The rest of the first third was very heavy on black pepper with the burn that brings and also some raspiness in the back of the throat. There was also some leather and earth; so far the 50 years was proving to be full in body and flavor.

The second third was where things started to go wrong for this stick: there was a sour, citrusy taste that came around for a while. I did not care for it, but it did go away fairly quickly, leaving a nice, rich black coffee flavor.

In the last third there was more pepper again, but the problem was the tangy citrus sourness came back and hung around on top of everything else. This did prove to be a full-bodied, peppery smoke that is a departure from the Exodus line that I have grown so fond of. I just did not enjoy this version nearly as much as the initial line. The sour flavors were a bit off-putting, so I really do not see myself purchasing this one much in the future. Of course, there is a chance I got a bad sample or two, so I will try these again at some point, but for now, there are just too many other sticks in the same price category that I enjoy far more.

Body: 9/10
Strength: 7/10
Complexity: 7/10

AFP Scale:
Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 3.5/5
Value: .5/1
Total: 7.5/10

American Idol Alum: David Cook

American Idol's Seventh Season in 2008 was dominated by two people two guys named David. There is some debate, but for my musical tastes...the right David won! The first time I remember paying attention to David Cook was during the 3rd week of competition. It was '80s week, which is always fun for me as the music I remember most in growing up was from the 1980s. Cook comes out with electric guitar in hand to sing Lionel Richie's "Hello." What the...?!? From that point on I was always interested in seeing what alternate version of some song Cook would come up with, whether on his own or some obscure band's version. He sailed through "Eleanor Rigby" and "Day Tripper" on Beatles weeks, tore up "Billie Jean" on Michael Jackson week, and lent a very creepy edge to "Always Be My Baby" for Mariah Carey week. He proved he can really sing with "Music of the Night" for Andrew Lloyd Weber week and even knocked "I'm Alive" out of the park on Neil Diamond week. His alt-rock style and great voice made me actually like a lot of songs I would not have even considered before.

His debut album, simply title David Cook was released in November 2008. He showed his hard rock side with "Bar-Ba-Sol," "A Daily Anthem" and "Declaration" and his sensitive side with "Permanent," "I Did It For You" and "Come Back To Me." He even mixed the two sides with the first hit single, "Light On." The entire album is guitar driven, power chord pumping, big chorus fun. As an American Idol winner album, it does have its flat parts and little bits that did not quite work, but it seems like the producers did not try to control Cook as much as some of the other winners...they just let him be a bit and we were rewarded with an album that is mostly successful. So far, the album has sold 1.25 million copies.

Smoke One For...

Tuesday, January 19, with about 87 percent of the vote counted, Massachusetts (or "Massachusettes" to some) has shown signs of rational thought, voting for Scott Brown, a fairly conservative Republican, to fill the Senate seat that Ted Kennedy used to occupy (that should not be read as "Ted Kennedy's seat" by the way).

In one of the most reliably liberal of states in the union, the fact that a Republican not only won, but won by 5 points--a virtual landslide!--is a sign that the American public has a severe case of buyers' remorse over the election of Barack Obama as President, as well as the continuation of the Democrat majorities in both House and Senate.

I'm not a political expert, but I believe this, along with the Republican gubernatorial wins last year in Virginia and New Jersey, is a sign of things to come this November. The liberal/progressive/socialist/Communist wing of the Democrat party has shown no sign in backing off of a highly unpopular healthcare "reform" agenda and has shown disdain for the American people in doing so.

I think the voting public is very likely to turn control of the House of Representatives over to the Republican party this fall, and there will be severe and surprising losses in the Senate as well. Ms. Boxer, I'm talking to you. Mr. Reid, your retirement awaits. Mr. President, the bloom is off the rose...you are no longer "the One."

Smoke one for Scott Brown! It's a great day to be an American!

Cigar Review: Perdomo Lot 23 Maduro

Robusto, 5.0" x 50 ring gauge, $5.48
Perdomo has a reputation of creating quality cigars for a reasonable price tag. In 2009, with the federal government mandating increased cigar prices through the new SCHIP taxes, Perdomo was among the first (and only) companies to stand up to say they would absorb the cost of the new tax rather than passing it on to the consumer. At a recent event, our local south-east Perdomo rep told me that the company actually lowered prices during the last year in response to the weaker economy. For these things, I applaud the company and invite everyone to find a favorite Perdomo stick to partake of frequently. The Lot 23 cigars are composed entirely of tobacco from a certain field (Lot 23--kind of like Area 51, I guess?) they own in Nicaragua. The original cigar used Connecticut-seed, shade-grown leaf, while this variation uses a Broadleaf Maduro.

The band on this stick was so big that it covered about a third of the stick. The wrapper was rough and rustic with some apparent veins. It felt quite oily and had just a little give, so a nice firmness. The wrapper smelled of humidor and barnyard, while the foot smelled like chocolate. The prelight draw was excellent and featured flavors of cocoa and coffee.

Upon lighting, the smoke was smooth with a little chocolatey sweetness and roasted nuts, with a bit of leather on the retrohale. The first third turned out to be so nutty I started to wonder if Jimmy Carter was in on the blend. The flavors both on puff and retrohale have a large roasted peanut component. There was a little coffee and even less sweetness to it. The ash started to banana-peel almost immediately, causing me to tap ash at half an inch, and the burn line started to canoe immediately after that.

There was some coffee flavor as the second third started--black coffee, but not very strong. The burn line continued to be uneven and the ash was exceptionally flaky, making a mess on my shirt, in my lap, and on the magazine I was reading. Disappointing and irritating.

This flaky ash problem continued through the end of the stick. The last third saw a bit of spice showing up, but the cigar as a whole was still predominantly roasted nut with a little cocoa. The draw was excellent from beginning to end. I was disappointed with the Lot 22 Maduro after enjoying the natural version quite a bit. This stick did not bring nearly the amount of flavor or body that I had expected and seemed rather dull. That might be acceptable if the cigar cost a couple bucks, but I expect a lot more for $5+, especially from Perdomo. Try it yourself, though, your results may vary...if you end up liking this cigar, it is a spectacular deal.

Body: 7/10
Strength: 8/10
Complexity: 7/10

AFP Scale:
Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 1/2
Flavor: 3/5
Value: .5/1
Total: 6/10

Liar and Traitor

No, I'm not referring to B.H. Obama this time...

Thanks to my friend, Jim S., who hates USC for his own reasons, for forwarding this gem to me!

American Idol Alum: Kris Allen

On May 20, 2009, Kris Allen was declared the winner of 2009's eight season of American Idol. It was widely seen as a wild upset against talented competitor, Adam Lambert. There were wild conspiracy theories, too, about AT&T pushing extra help for Allen's hometown voters and Christian voters turning out in force to vote against Lambert, but the bottom line is that Kris Allen is a very talented, if somewhat understated, vocalist. I will admit to not even noticing him the first week of competition when he sang Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror." I was surprised on results night that he was one of the highest-rated and suspected it had to do with his looks which surely caught on with the pre-teen girls. His next performance was during Michael Jackson week and I was somewhat surprised at his more-than-sufficient performance of "Remember the Time," but when I really started considering him a front-runner was with "Ain't No Sunshine" several weeks later. Original and very, very good. I enjoyed the remainder of his performances, but the show-stopper was when he performed Kanye West's "Heartless" as one of the Top 3 contestants. Not only did he perform a song that the original artist had performed only a few weeks before...he did it better. Where West's rap is noisy, chaotic and rather unfocused, the acoustic guitar-driven, pop-rock version was fantastic and showed that there really is a good song there. During his stay on Idol, Kris showed that he there was an impressive range of styles that his voice could fit comfortably in, but he showed his true calling with upbeat power-pop and acoustic-driven pop-rock, sometimes with a little hip-hop kick to it.

And that is pretty much what he delivered with his debut album, simply titled Kris Allen. The first single is "Live Like We're Dying" and is a catchy, hooky song that should have been a much bigger hit than it was. At the time of this writing, the song was at number 30 on the singles chart--its highest position thus far. The lyrics are inspirational, if a little hard to sing because they come at you so fast. Allen wrote or co-wrote 9 of the 13 tracks on this album and he shows himself to be a more-than-adequate writer with songs like "Before We Come Undone," "Can't Stay Away" and "Red Guitar." The last song was actually written solely by Kris before he ever auditioned for Idol and shows some U2 influence. I would go so far as to say that if the exact same song came from the songwriting team of Bono and The Edge, it would be an instant classic album track, but not a huge hit; because it comes from an American Idol winner it will probably be mostly dismissed. "Lifetime" and "I Need To Know" show a heavy influence of Switchfoot; in the case of "Lifetime" this is not really that strange as the band's lead singer, Jon Foreman, actually came in to co-write with Allen. The album is finished off with a re-recorded version of "Heartless" and, honestly, I can't decide if I like this version or the acoustic-oriented version from the show better. Overall, a fine album that should hold up well for quite some time. Traditionally, Idol-alum sophomore albums show the real growth and potential for the artist as they tend to break free from the producers' restraints after figuring out who they are and should be as artists; this is a fine start and that future album could be a classic.

Quote of the Week

The inherent vice of Capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
Winston Churchill, 1945

Movie Recommendation: The Haunting in Connecticut

The Haunting in Connecticut (Unrated Special Edition) (2009) It's always time for a good ghost story. The story told in this movie was reportedly "inspired" by true events, although after watching the special feature about the true haunting, "inspired" is probably generous. The movie cuts down the cast of characters and changes so many key points that there really ends up being little in common with the actual events in Southington, Connecticut in the 1980s. But does that really matter? Probably not. This was a creepy and, in places, very scary movie that centers around a family who temporarily moves into a house while their son has cancer treatment at a nearby hospital. The bizarre and frightening events start to happen around the time we discover that the house was formerly a mortuary, but embalming of the dead was apparently not all that went on there. Issues touched on are seances, necromancy, and exorcism, so it may not be a movie you want to watch with your conservative Baptist family members. As to the actual "haunting" aspects, my belief is that there are spiritual realms all around us and angels and demons fight in those realms for the attention and souls of humans. I think it most likely that demons are using the memories of people and the fear we may have of the afterlife to fool people into believing in ghosts and hauntings. I believe an exorcism of the demons would have more impact on a haunting than "Ghost Hunters" or "Paranormal State" investigators would. The real-life person that The Haunting in Connecticut is based on (the mother in the story) now lives in north-east Tennessee and is a "spiritual adviser" who has had a "spirit guide" since early childhood. I think it most likely that she has been opened up to dark spiritual influences most of her life and they have followed her around everywhere she goes. As for the movie: if you like scary stories, you will probably enjoy this one. Not a great deal of blood and gore, but plenty to keep you awake when you turn out the lights after watching this film.

Cigar Review: Xikar HC Series Habano Colorado

Toro, 6.5" x 52 ring gauge, $9.30
The last of the new Xikar HC Series is the Habano Colorado. This stick was developed by Jesus Fuego and Xikar to fit into the medium-to-full bodied niche. It utilizes a Habano Colorado wrapper from the Jalapa Valley of Nicaragua along with aged filler from Costa Rica and the Jalapa region and a binder from Esteli, Nicaragua. The HC Habano Colorado (HCHC?) is also in the only one of the HC series cigars that is available in 6 sizes; all 3 varieties are available in Lonsdale, Robusto, Belicoso, and Toro vitolas, and the HCHC is also available as Churchill and Petite Corona.

Of the 3 HC cigars, this is definitely the best-looking. The medium-dark brown is evenly-colored and makes the greatest impact visually. There are some largish veins, but probably nothing to worry about. The feel is velvety and oily The aroma from the body was barnyard and compost, while I got some rich chocolate aromas from the foot. The prelight draw was excellent and had flavors of chocolate and a little coffee; it also left a spicy tingle on the lips.

After lighting, I got some initial flavors of leather, sweet tobacco, and roasted nuts. These were joined a couple minutes later with some black pepper. Overall, the first third tasted heavily of leather. There were some pepper and nut notes, but nothing could come close to the flavor you get when chewing on a boot or wallet...okay, a little exaggeration, but just a little. There were also some occasional whiffs of manure from the smoke that came from the lit tip.

During the second third, the leather toned down a bit, allowing more woody and nutty flavors to come through. There was still a good amount of pepper underneath everything, too.

The last third saw the cedar flavor increase while the nuts decreased; the pepper stayed pretty steady. In all, I would say the HCHC hits the mark of being a medium-to-full bodied smoke, but I did not find that it was as full-flavored as the other two HC varieties. It was good, but did not blow me away with complexity and it seemed like there was a rather earthy quality to the whole proceeding that seemed to mute and muddy the flavors. Of the three, I would rate the Connecticut as my favorite, followed closely by the Criollo, with the Habano Corona bringing up the rear. It was not a bad cigar by any means, just not as good as the other two.

Body: 8/10
Strength: 7/10
Complexity: 7/10

AFP Scale:
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: .5/1
Total: 8.5/10

Cigar Review: Xikar HC Series Criollo

Lonsdale, 6" x 46 ring gauge, $8.50
If you are a Prince fan, you might refer to this one as "The Cigar Formerly Known as Defiance" or TCFKAD, for short. When Xikar dipped their big toe into the cigar pool, they produced one medium-bodied stick called the Defiance, gave part of the proceeds to pro-cigar PACs, and created a quality smoking experience...eventually. The truth is that many people who tried the initial Defiance release were unimpressed and even refer to it as "terrible." I was lucky enough to not actually smoke one until around six months after initial release so my first experience was very good. When they expanded the line, one of the decisions they made was to jettison the baggage unfortunately associated with the Defiance name. I personally still think it sounds too much like the alphabetical melange of the luxury auto world: "Hey, have you seen the new Acura HC? At least it's not as ugly as the ZDX! That thing was a total turdbucket!" So...Defiance is now the HC Criollo, but is supposed to have the exact same blend: Honduran and Nicaraguan filler, Nicaraguan Criollo sun-grown binder, and a Nicaraguan Criollo shade-grown leaf that is aged 4 years for the wrapper.

Like the Connecticut, this cigar is a little lumpy, although not as much so. The color is dark tan with a reddish tinge. There was a just a little oil to the touch and no large veins. The wrapper gave off a barnyard aroma, while the foot had a mixture of manure and chocolate. After cutting the draw was free and there were pleasant flavors of hay, caramel, and just a hint of pepper spice.

After lighting, initial puffs had a little pepper, but that increased quite a bit after 4 or 5 draws. It was from the start creamy, nutty and woody. The black pepper started off fairly mild, but really kicked in and became the major flavor component. The smoke seemed creamy, but did not seem terrible thick--but it was a little hard to tell as I was smoking this on a windy day. It started to canoe shortly into the first third but I let it have a chance to correct itself...and it did. The ash held on for up to an inch, which I considered another remarkable accomplishment on a windy day.

In the second third the pepper diminished somewhat at the beginning and flavors of cedar and roasted nuts came to the forefront. So far is was a very good flavor profile, although it did not strike me the same as the Defiance I reviewed some time ago. That had more caramel, coffee and chocolate notes, which I did not pick up so much in this cigar. Of course, part of that could have to do with the different vitola and different environmental conditions at the time of rating.

The final third had more cedar and some sweet spice from time-to-time. Eight months or so ago, I declared the Defiance to be "one of my favorite cigars introduced in the last year." I am very happy that it lives on in the HC Criollo. This stick had plenty of pepper spice on top of a solid cedar and roasted nut base. The construction was especially rock-solid, with the cigar maintaining an even burn line and long ash through winds that were easily the equivalent of smoking while driving a car with the windows down. Love live the Defiance! Er, I mean...long live the HC Criollo!

Body: 5/10
Strength: 6/10
Complexity: 8/10

AFP Scale:
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10

Cigar Review: Xikar HC Series Connecticut

Robusto, 5" x 50 ring gauge, $8.25
Xikar has long been known for their superb lighters and cutters; I personally have two different cutters and two different lighters from the company and am a committed "Xikar advocate" because of their lifetime warranty and fantastic customer service. In 2008, they teamed with Jesus Fuego to enter the cigar production field with the Defiance. Although it scored high in ratings, that cigar did not make the impact the company hoped for so they returned to the drawing boards to re-vamp the line in 2009. Teaming once again with Fuego, they released the HC Series in mid-year as a cigar that complements their HC Series accessories. There are 3 distinctive blends available, targeting mild, medium, and full-bodied cigar smokers, and denoted by the wrappers used on each cigar. Tomorrow and the next day, reviews of the Criollo (medium) and Habano Colorado (full) will appear on this blog; today's smoke is the Connecticut Shade. This cigar has been 5 years in the making and is meant to be slightly stronger than the average Connecticut stick, while staying true to the wrapper's character. It has filler from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Mexico; a Sumatran binder; and a Connecticut-seed wrapper, grown in Ecuador.

The wrapper was not smooth in either texture or color on this cigar; there were quite a few lumps and bumps and the color was uneven and quite mottled in places. On the other hand, the dual bands were attractive and colorful. The aroma from the body was hay with a touch of barnyard; from the foot I detected cocoa and hint of coffee. The prelight draw was very good and free flowing; there were flavors of sweet hay and cedar and it left just a little spice on the lips.

Initial puffs were buttery smooth with lots of hay and cedar flavor, along with roasted nuts on the retrohale. While it started out fairly mild, it bumped up to more of a mild-to-medium well into the first third. The flavors were overwhelmingly of cedar and roasted nuts, along with a creamy smoke with a peppery undercurrent. The peppery heat continued to increase and the woody notes were joined by a nice creamy coffee flavor. By the end of the first third, I was completely blown away by the great flavor of this new offering from Xikar. If the rest of the stick was as good as the beginning, it would score very highly.

During the second third, the pepper faded a bit, but did not disappear completely. There were still some cedar and hay notes, but the coffee and roasted nuts increased to become most prevalent.

The HC Connecticut finished with an increase again in black pepper along with a nice mix of autumn spice on top of the brilliant nutty, woody base. It had a perfect burn line and draw the entire way. After years of ever-increasing body and strength in the cigar industry, it seems the trend right now is to produce more full-flavored and interesting mild-to-medium cigars; this stick is a very worthy addition to that trend and a fantastic addition to the Xikar cigar line. The only thing I counted against it was its less-than-attractive wrapper.

Body: 3/10
Strength: 6/10
Complexity: 9/10

AFP Scale:
Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10

American Idol Alum: Jordin Sparks

In January 2007, I can remember watching an episode of AI, seeing this young girl audition, and saying to myself, "She'll be in the top 5...easily." That young girl, only "yo, 17, dog" (as Randy Jackson would say time after time) was the 2007 American Idol winner, Jordin Sparks. She fought her way through the competition mostly on the strength of her big ballad singing, namely Christina Aguilera's "Reflection," Shirley Bassey's "I (Who Have Nothing)," Diana Ross' "If We Hold On Together," and Martina McBride's "A Broken Wing." I remember that season of Idol as the first one where songs were released on iTunes a day or two after being performed on TV, so I bought several of those, along with some of the other contestants' numbers; going on 3 years later, I still enjoy those early recordings by Jordin, Blake Lewis, and Melinda Doolittle.



Sparks' first album was simply titled Jordin Sparks and came out in November 2007. It was crafted as "top 40, radio-friendly, and uplifting" and succeeded in those goals for the most part. To be sure, there are some absolute gems on this album: good, catchy song-writing cannot be completely obscured by lousy musicianship and lackluster production. Which brings me to the biggest complaint I have with this album: lack of live instruments. So much of the album is played through synthesizers and loops that it really detracts from the overall enjoyment. For example, the first single from the album, "Tattoo," is a great song with a great message...that is almost completely undermined by the incessant "Hey" yell in the background. Despite this type of nonsense pervading the album, there is some hope with songs like "No Air," "Just For The Record," "Permanent Monday" and "Save Me" (the last available only on the special edition release). Good songs with good messages, sung in a beautiful voice that (mostly) overcomes the limitations of a pop/dance-oriented recording.

Jordin's second album came out in July 2009 and is titled Battlefield, a name it shares with the first single. "Battlefield" (the song) is almost a re-imagining of "Love is a Battlefield" by Pat Benetar, put through the filter of "Awesome God" by Rich Mullins...seriously, if you listen closely, you can hear where to sing "Our God is an awesome God, He reigns from heaven above" in the middle of the chorus. Despite that tribute/lift/plagiarism/whatever I really like the song...and I really like most of this album. The main criticism I had for the first album was fixed: there is a much larger presence of live instruments here...or at least it seems that way. Standout tracks include "Walking On Snow," "No Parade," "Let It Rain," and "Faith." I even like a couple of the more dance-oriented songs, "S.O.S." and "Emergency (911)"--yes, as the titles indicate they are full of teenage melodrama, but they are fun, nonetheless. Overall, a very good pop album with a variety of styles from the rock-edged title track to dance club numbers to big ballads.

Watching Jordin Sparks in the future should be interesting; she has consistently shown that she has the chops to handle big songs and as she matures away from the more bubblegum pop, she could easily be the industry's next Celine Dion or Whitney Houston.

CA's Top Cigars of 2009

So, Cigar Aficionado magazine finally got around to revealing their top picks for 2009. Coming in first place was Padron's Family Reserve No. 45 Maduro. Being as this is the 3rd time in 6 years that Padron has taken the top spot, I call shenanigans! Everybody knows that Padron cigars are really worthless dog rockets that are far overpriced and simply status symbols for the uninitiated. No real cigar enthusiast would be caught dead with a Padron, especially their overhyped and overpriced anniversary editions. How much money did Padron pay to get top billing? Inquiring minds want to know!!!

Okay...the above paragraph was written with tongue-in-cheek and with sarcasm generator on full-blast. Padron makes some of the best cigars on the market and I genuinely congratulate them on winning the top spot again. What the first paragraph is attempting to do is "illustrate absurdity by being absurd." So many people believe that CA's reviews are bought and paid for that I thought I would take the same attitude.

Regarding the top 25, I have tried some, but not most, of the cigars, and most of them are very good. The only exception I could find was the Casa Magna, which came in twelfth place for their salomon size. I had one and it was honestly not even close to a top 25 stick...not even top 50 in my opinion. LFD's Salomon came in 13th place and that does not make much sense either as it was one of the top-rated sticks of the year when it was originally rated. Oh well...as I always say: "If we all agreed on what the best cigars were, these debates would be pretty boring!"

Quote of the Week

I believe that the government is supposed to promote the general welfare. I don't think it is supposed to provide it.
Ronald Reagan, 1970

Movie Recommendation: Up

Up (Disney/Pixar, 2009)
Pixar has a long-standing reputation for making some of the highest-quality films around. Not just the highest-quality animated films. Not just the highest-quality family films. Highest-quality films. Period. It is easy for adults to get caught up in the magic of Toy Story or Cars or Finding Nemo even though they seem like kids' films, at least on the surface. The magic that Pixar has been able to work is to make films that appeal to children, yet have enough storytelling strength to appeal to adults. And, so far, they have done so with no vulgarity or innuendo that Dreamworks and some of the other computer-animated films specialists have employed.

Case in point is their latest: Up. The brief synopsis is that a boy dreams of adventure and meets a girl that has the same dream. They grow up promising to live a life of adventure, but never seem to make good on those dreams. They marry, have no kids, and grow old. She dies and is left alone. He eventually decides to do something about their dreams and sets their house afloat with thousands of balloons and flies to South America.

And that's all in the first 15 to 20 minutes of a 90 minute film, of which I will reveal no more. I had heard that the "growing up/growing old" montage was great, but nothing really prepares you for actually seeing it. In the space of about 10 minutes, a life's story is told with more depth and emotion than some filmmakers manage to evoke in their entire career. This segment is truly inspired. And so is the rest of this film. If you have not seen it, you owe it to yourself to rent it or buy it (after you rent it, though, you'll want to buy it).

Another important note on this movie: it is the first film that I have seen in the "ultimate home movie package." Let me explain: my wife loves Pixar films and I like giving them to her as presents. Since buying a Blu-Ray player a year ago, I do wish to purchase movies in Blu-Ray when possible...except, that she often watches movies in the kitchen while working and there is only a DVD player there. So if I buy a movie as a Blu-Ray disc, as I did with Wall-E, she can only watch it in the living room where the Blu-Ray player is. But if I only buy it as a DVD, it won't look as good as the BRD, especially in the future when we get a larger television than we now have. With Up I was able to not be forced into that choice: it is available as a 4-Disc set, featuring the film on BRD, an extra BRD of "extras," the film on DVD, and the film as a digital file for your Mac or PC. Truly the best of all worlds. And despite the MSRP of $45, when I wrote this review it was listed on Amazon for only $17.99. Thank you, Disney and Pixar, for a great movie package; and thank you, Amazon, for a great deal!

Cigar Review: A. Fuente Anejo

#46, 5.6" x 46 ring gauge, $9.75
Arturo Fuente's Anejo has been described as "one of the rarest cigars in the world." It was introduced in 2000 and has made appearances once or twice a year since, usually around Christmas and/or Father's Day. It features the same Dominican filler and binder found in the Opus X, but substitutes the Opus' Dominican wrapper for a 5-year-old Connecticut Broadleaf maduro wrapper that is aged in cognac barrels. I purchased mine at my local B&M for what I can only assume is pretty close to MSRP; I looked around online and found the exact same cigar available for $23 elsewhere. Sometimes it pays to be nice and support your local retailer.

After removing the cello and cedar wraps, I finally got to the velvety maduro wrapper leaf. There was some oil, as well as the reflective glint of plume in some places. This wrapper was not perfect--a few nicks and dings--but it was beautiful and rich-looking with a dark brown color and medium veins. It gave just a bit in the squeeze test. The wrapper gave off aromas of cedar, barnyard and leather while the foot had more manure and leather. The prelight flavor was surprising and unique: sweet, but not chocolately. It was more of a caramel-creamy sweetness, with some interesting fall spice mixed in. I detected some dried fruit, too--maybe apricot.

Initial puffs were strong on the leather and I caught a whiff of manure from the smoke coming off the lit tip. Early on in the first third I had flavors of roasted nuts, fruit and black pepper. I honestly cannot remember a Fuente that was as unique and intriguing in flavor--sweet dried fruit and a peppery finish that seemed to build for almost a minute after each puff. There was a great nuttiness and something I had trouble describing, although I believe it was a flavor imparted by the cognac barrel aging process. The Anejo was full-bodied and rich right from the start, with thick and oily smoke. Thick as it was, though, the volume of smoke was not all that huge. There was no draw problem so I chalked that up to more of a slow burn that anything else.

The second third was still nutty, but there was more leather, too. The peppery finish was muted, but there was still quite a bit of the maduro sweetness. The draw was fantastic and the burn line almost perfectly straight.

The last third featured a dramatic return of spiciness, as the pepper came roaring back near the beginning of this segment. The Anejo did not disappoint from initial light all the way to the nub. It had an explosion of flavor, unique not only to the Fuente line, but in the cigar world. It featured superb construction and a fairly reasonable price tag that helped round out a perfect "10." Even at my retailer's more-than-fair prices, it is not economical enough to be considered a daily smoke, but it is also far from being priced into the "special occasion-only" category; the fact that it is so rare does that all by itself.

Body: 9/10
Strength: 8/10
Complexity: 9/10

AFP Scale:
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 10/10

We the People

God Bless Ray Stevens...and not just for "The Streak" and "Santa Claus is Watchin' You"

Happy Happy...Joy Joy!!!

Jeffrey Folks has a great article on American Thinker discussing a CDC study. The study in question is about "life satisfaction" in the 50 states..."life satisfaction" being egghead-speak for "being happy."

Not surprising to me is that my home state of Tennessee ranked #4 in happiest states. Also not a surprise is that my former home state of California ranked #45. Of the 15 happiest states, 13 were "red states;" in other words, Republicans tend to be happier than Democrats. Odd in this day and age when Democrats control both houses of Congress and the White House. The bottom 15 states in happiness are all either leftist havens or "swing" states like Nevada and Missouri. And occupying the cellar-dweller position: New York. I guess that makes both California and New York "good places to leave."

So, do I mean to say that I am happier now that I have been in Tennessee for almost a year? Actually...yes. Despite the coldest winter I've ever experienced (and I'll admit my experience is limited). Despite the fact that I miss herfing it up with the guys on a Friday night. Despite the fact that my wife and I both miss her family. It is amazing what fewer people, lower cost of living, the ability to be a home owner instead of renter, clean air, lower taxes, and less government intrusion can have on your basic outlook.

American Idol Alum: Kelly Clarkson

After I caught the AI bug I started to get interested in who had come before, in the days before I cared about Idol. Fantasia and Reuben were just not doing my style of music, but a friend at work told me that Kelly Clarkson had some good stuff. I had been impressed with the preview of her upcoming album on the 2007 season finale when she sang "Never Again" so I decided to give her a look. Clarkson was the first winner of American Idol in the inaugural 2002 season. Her first album was titled Thankful, was released in April 2003 and has sold about 2.7 million copies to date. The lady who had both first and second albums said that Thankful was more pop-oriented, so I ended up never picking it up.


I did pick up Breakaway, though, and it is a fantastic album by pretty much any measure. In a break from normal these days, the album was released barely 18 months after her first collection of music, in November 2004. It features a great mix of ear candy, touching on many sounds and doing a good job with all of them. The title track is a nice piece of acoustic, folksy pop-rock. "Since U Been Gone" has a hardy rock crunch, without sacrificing hooks and singability--very much a power pop number; same with "Behind These Hazel Eyes." "Because of You" is one of several ballads on the album, and became a cross-over hit when re-recorded with country star, Reba McEntire. Really, there are not any bad songs on this album; some are better than others, of course, but the overall strength of this album is evident in the fact that it has sold over 6 million copies.

Clarkson followed up this smash success in 2007 with My November, a haunting, personal and powerful collection of song that just did not catch on with the public very well. "Never Again" was an edgy piece and signaled the kickoff of an album that just was not the same as what came before. The music was harder in many places ("One Minute" and "Hole") and where it wasn't the subject matter was challenging ("Sober" or "Irvine"). There is definitely some interesting and beautiful music here if you can get past the fact that it is not very pop-oriented, but for the most part, the public couldn't do that and the album failed to break the 1 million mark.

The residual ill-will produced by Clarkson's battles with her record company and producers seemed to carry over to her next album as well: 2009's All I Ever Wanted. Despite an initial hit single in "My Life Would Suck Without You" there were disputes in how to market the album and it failed to gain traction, selling fewer than 800,000 copies between March and December.

With the pop sensibilities Kelly Clarkson showed in her first two albums and the artistic depth she showed with My December I find it hard to believe that her best days are behind her. At some point, I believe she will resolve the issues with record company executives (or find new ones) and produce strong-selling music again.

Cigar Review: LG Diez 2009

Lusitano, 6" x 54 ring gauge, $12.40
The roots of the LG Diez line of cigars go back more than 10 years: in 1999, Litto Gomez challenged himself to produce a cigar made entirely from tobacco grown on the La Flor Dominicana farm in the Dominican Republic. After years of experimentation, aging, and testing, the LG Diez debuted in 2004. It was not long before Litto decided that trying to make the blend the same from year to year would be more than just a challenge, but practically an impossibility, so he announced plans to have each year purposely be a different blend, influenced by the exact conditions for the tobacco harvest used in each vintage. That means, of course, that this cigar will be a different animal from the 2 examples I smoked back in October, which were from the 2008 release. Both of those cigars received 10 out of 10 points in my reviews, which raises the expectations for this cigar to a pretty high level. Also of note, this is the first LG Diez to actually note the vintage year on the label.

On inspection, this was a beautiful, oily wrapper with just a slight reddish tinge to it. There were no obvious flaws or over-large veins. The aroma from the body was barnyard--a little alfalfa, a little manure; from the foot I got a complex and challenging aroma: some barnyard, but also some kind of spicy, sweetness that was hard to nail down. The prelight draw had just a little more resistance than I normally prefer, but it did not make any difference in the draw throughout the cigar. The prelight flavors were of spiced cocoa along with a little leather.

Upon lighting, I got initial impressions of black pepper, earth and leather. As the first third got rolling, though, I found it a difficult cigar to adequately describe; the body was medium-to-full, and the flavors were a bit earthy and a bit floral in nature, along with an undercurrent of chili pepper spice. It did not take long before I was reminded of LFD's El Museo with the herbal and floral flavors, but there were some hints of other LFD products with the earthiness and spice. It was indeed an unusual and unexpected mix.

During the second third the herbal and floral flavors were on top, dominating all others. There was also a bit of a mild coffee flavor that emerged and the pepper spice was there, but diminished throughout this segment. I found the body to be trending toward the medium as things progressed, rather than ramping up as often happens.

The last segment had a spike in the spicy heat which made things more interesting, but was still dominated with floral and herbal flavors. The body settled into strictly middle-of-the-road...dare I say it "creamed out?" Overall, this was quite a disappointment compared to the 2008 LG Diez. While not a bad cigar, it just did not meet the high expectations that the previous year's blend had set, and ended up reminding me in more than one way of El Museo. In fact, I would not be surprised to learn that this stick used the same wrapper leaf employed on that one. Your tastes in cigars may vary, so I would encourage you to try one if you get the opportunity. As for me, I am going to try to get my hands on more 2008 sticks while I can.

Body: 5/10
Strength: 6/10
Complexity: 6/10

AFP Scale:
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 3/5
Value: 0/1
Total: 7/10

Ten Most Overrated Films of the Last Decade

Just read this article on Big Hollywood about the "10 Most Overrated Films of the Last Decade" and I gotta say...I mostly agree. Read the article yourself and see what you think; I won't add much to it except that probably the three biggest offenders on the list for me are Crash, No Country for Old Men and Lost In Translation.

Crash is a mess of an ensemble film that strives desperately to be important and say something deep, but really does not say anything at all in the end.

No Country for Old Men had an inscrutable villain who could be interesting, but most of the other characters were rather insipid...as was the story.

Lost In Translation made me weep...what the heck happened to Bill Murray? He used to be both funny and a good actor! In this role he was neither.

Funny thing was all these films were technically "well done." They had great direction, some great acting (and some not-so-much), great cinematography...but they still ended up as crap. As my wife likes to say "Well done crap!"

American Idol Alum: Chris Daughtry

I did not even start watching AI until the fifth season. For whatever reason I was always too busy or too uninterested or thought the auditions episodes were hyped as too much humiliation. Finally in January 2006, my wife and I succumbed to the Idol juggernaut, tuning in to some of the auditions, before getting busy and forgetting about it until a couple weeks into the competitive portion. I was impressed right away with Chris Daughtry. I ended up voting for him every week and really thought he should win the big prize that year. Something in his voice and presentation just resonated with me and what I like in music. Daughtry was the first rock star to have a chance of winning Idol.

It was not to be, however, when he was eliminated during Elvis week, ending as number 4 for season 5. Taylor Hicks went on to be crowned the new American Idol that year, but the real winner was Chris. In November, his debut album, Daughtry, was released (his band being named after him and the album being named for the band). On the strength of singles like "What About Now," "It's Not Over," "Feels Like Tonight," and "Home" that first album sold over 4.5 million copies in the U.S. and over 850,000 in the rest of the world. It remains one of the best-selling albums ever by a debut artist. For myself, I enjoy Daughtry and think it is a very good rock album, but I feel that it is hampered by the fact that many of the songs sound very similar. It's one thing for a band to have "a sound" that is distinctive, but you should be able to tell the difference between songs after 8 or 10 listenings. From my perspective, that debut album was testing the waters to see what the public would respond to.

Daughtry's second album came along in July 2009: Leave This Town. It featured a great breakup song as the lead single--"No Surprise"--and several other powerful songs that may remain on the charts for some time to come: "Ghost of Me," "Life After You," and "Tennessee Line" being a few of my favorites. So far the album has sold about 800,000 copies; far from the sales dynamo of the first album, but maybe not so bad considering the economy in 2009 (and 2010). I thought the band came into its own with this album in a big way. The songs are more distinctive and singable; they even branched out into a bit of country-influenced music with Vince Gill's guest vocals on "Tennessee Line." I look forward to hearing what Chris and the boys have in store for us for many years to come.

The Year Past...The Year Ahead...

2009 was a crazy, busy year. This blog went from complete obscurity--only being read by a couple people on a regular basis--to only virtual obscurity. I honestly think the readership may have doubled!!! One highlight of the whole experience was learning during the first week of December that CAO Vice-President of Lifestyle Marketing, Jon Huber, had "Tweated" that he was reading my review of the LX2 Salomons. I guess this blog is not necessarily all that obscure...depending on the day of the week...and what's being reviewed, I guess.

A year ago, I was in the midst of saying goodbye to the original Tiki Bar group in Southern California as my family and I moved to East Tennessee. Without being able to hang out with the group all the time I decided to use this blog more frequently to share my opinions on cigars, politics, pop culture, and everything else we normally would talk about. I invited others to join me on this, but I guess I'm the writer in this group...so far, anyway. I developed a schedule of publication, which really helped me to organize content, and I've been able to mostly stick to that schedule.

Even though I occasionally talk books, movies, television or politics, the main thrust of the Tiki Bar Online has and will continue to be fine, premium cigar reviews. I start off 2010 with a commitment to all current (and future) readers to continue publishing at least 2 cigar reviews per week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On those opportunities when I have sometime to say about pop culture (music, movies, etc.) those post will go be seen on Mondays and Wednesdays. When I see something funny enough to repeat, I will publish a Friday Funnies entry. Politics happens constantly and there is immediacy to it. I usually won't be writing long political treatises, but just remarking on particular things said or done. Those entries are sporadic and spontaneous...and sometimes ill-advised, I'm sure!

I have already mapped out the next couple months of cigar reviews (I had to start these really early as it's just too cold to smoke that many sticks outside in January and February). You will see reviews of the LG Diez 2009 (the 2008 editions got 10/10 in 2 different sizes!), Fuente Anejo, Xikar's entire HC series, Torano Exodus 50 Years, Cubao Maduro, and 3 different entries from Don Gonzalez.

Maybe it's not cool to say, but...American Idol is one of my "guilty pleasures." I'll miss the insanity and inanity that Paula Abdul brought to the proceedings, but I am glad to see the show back nonetheless. I will be "celebrating" Season 9 during the month of January by taking a look at the Idol alumni that I have enjoyed the most, including Chris Daughtry, Kelly Clarkson, David Cook, and Kris Allen.

What else will the new year bring? Besides lots and lots of cigar reviews, I'm sure to take a look back at 6 seasons of Lost once the show has reached its conclusion. I hope to throw in a few more book recommendations, including the second volume of The Age of Reagan and Stephen King's Under the Dome. I am starting to work on movie recommendations, too. I do not often go to the movie theater any more; besides the fact that it takes 45 minutes to get to one from my home, they tend to be overpriced and filled with noisy, inconsiderate people who ruin the experience. So we watch a lot of movies at home, thanks to Blockerbuster's "movies in the mail" service. As a result my movie recommendations will be 6 months or more late for theatrical release, but not too far off for rental or purchase decisions. All these "pop culture" recommendations will have links to purchase the items mentioned; if you decide to purchase and would like to use Amazon to do so, please click through using the links I have provided.

Several original Tiki Bar members are planning a road trip in May to check out Cigars International's CigarFest; if the trip happens as planned, there will be plenty to talk about there, both the event itself and the trip there and back. And who know, we may even have some encouraging political news by the end of the year...we can all HOPE for some CHANGE from the current crop of clowns in DC, anyway!

Happy New Year and "Smoke 'em if you got 'em!"