It's Just Bourbon: A New Chapter in the BEER2WHISKEY Saga

I'm not the kind of guy who expects different results from doing the same thing. I may be crazy, but I'm not insane. At least that's what I tell the voices in my head. What I do know for sure is that there are only so many hours in a day. As I mature (translation: grow old), I highly treasure my available productive hours. I treasure all my time, really; but productive hours are those in which I have the energy and motivation to accomplish one task or another.

Historically I've been a slacker at heart. Neutral, and not overdrive, my natural gear. I have always been a procrastinator rather than a doer. My over-worn response to my mother when she would remind me of some basic chore, like taking out the garbage, was, “It's at the top of my list.” It was a list that rarely saw anything checked off. Alfred E. Neuman was my role model.

My attitude has somewhat evolved during the last decade. Maybe that's a result of a ride around the block on the reality bus, bringing me face to face with my mortality; but I find myself less and less inclined to waste time. In fact, I abhor it.

I confess that most days when I'm in residence at my Greenville home I am in my recliner in front of the TV by 4:30 or 5. I watch a fair amount of TV when I am in town – none of it educational in any way, shape or form. Nope. I'm one of those escapism-TV types. I enjoy brainless TV. But, the only way I can plop down in front of the TV at the end of the day is if I have actually accomplished something earlier. I have to have done something to earn some money, put in a few hours working on the house or furthering one of my video projects.

My Saturdays have suffered most from this new-found work ethic. I always loved Saturdays because it is the one day of the week when I had nothing to do and all day to do it. I didn't even need to fret about going to work the next day because it was Sunday. Now I find I can't just sit on my rump watching movies all day. Things left undone don't call to me, they scream to me. Ugh, I hate being responsible. Now, even on Saturdays, I must accomplish something.

When you freelance doing anything from home, you either adopt a degree of self starting or you starve. Think of it as a daily gym workout. The toughest thing about going to the gym is, well, going to the gym. Donning your gym attire, pushing yourself out the door and making the trip to the gym is the toughest part of the exercise. Beginning some project, any project, demands some amount of self motivation. I have somehow developed that.

Making yourself productive when you don't punch a clock or have someone prodding you on is a challenge. Inertia is my natural state. Setting myself in motion requires some serious inner dialogue. Prioritizing tasks is another learned skill that remains a struggle for me. That list of things to do is always in my head taunting me with the tasks remaining undone. A decade ago I could tune them out. Today: not so much.

The above is a preface to sharing with you that I have made a slight change of direction in my BEER2WHISKEY YouTube channel. Over the past couple of years I invested a ton of money in to this project. Acquiring all the necessary gear, including editing software, and traveling around the country shooting videos all cost money. I decided that this year, I'd scale back on the B2W trips. I did take a road trip to Ohio in May to shoot some brewery videos; but because I drove and stayed with a fraternity brother in Dayton, the cost was minimal.

I am always pondering other things I might introduce into the B2W format that will 1) gain some audience traction, and 2) be cheap to produce. I decided to try something new and created the “It's Just Bourbon” playlist. The plan is to shoot videos in my home with me (and perhaps sporadically me plus one) talking about bourbon. Some videos will be recommending specific bourbons and some will be tasting them. The first of these went live last Thursday; I've embedded it at the end of this post.

“It's Just Bourbon” checks a few boxes for me. It certainly fulfills the “cheap” requirement. It also allows me to shoot multiple segments at a single sitting as does the “Big Jon in 5” playlist. Plus, it also contributes to the whiskey content, which has been somewhat lacking to date.

So, addressing the “not doing the same things and expecting a different result” statement at the top of this post, we'll see how well this new playlist works. Early returns are in and I'm optimistic. We'll see.

A note to my TAWA friends: I am putting together a small group to visit Austin's Whiskey Vault on the Sunday afternoon we arrive for the Truck Rodeo. I booked a 1:30 p.m. reservation for October 27^th. I directly reached out to a few members who I know would have an interest, but the reservation is for up to 12. Three of us have already registered. Anyone attending the Rodeo, including non-media types, with some interest, reach out to me and I'll provide more details. Cheers!

Red Box Failure Turns into Old-Movie Gold

"Wow" From "The Great Escape."

I'm not the kind of guy who can't appreciate old movies. No, I'm not a huge fan of Casablanca, but I own DVDs of several John Wayne films and watch them from time to time. And, of course, there are classics such as “The Godfather,” “The Great Escape,” “The Magnificent Seven” and “Hard Bodies.”

I am waxing on about old movies because I watched one last night. First a bit of background. On Saturdays that I'm in residence at Casa Heaps, I usually rent a couple of Red Box movies. Sometimes they are movies I know about and have an interest in watching, and sometimes they are movies I'm not familiar with.

Yesterday I rented two movies I knew nothing about. One was “London Fields.” It's one of those movies defying description. “Mulholland Drive” meets “Pulp Fiction” is about as close as I can come. Never have I watched a movie so centered around sex in which there was no skin. That, at least, would have been a redeeming quality. At no time before, during or after watching it did I have a clue what it was about. I could have dozed off three minutes into it and awoken in time for the end credits and had the same tenuous grasp of the plot that I have now. I rented it because it stars Amber Heard and Billy Bob Thornton. How bad could it be? I reasoned. Bad enough.

Not since Cheech and Chong has anyone made a career out of burning one.

The other DVD I rented was a comedy? Apparently so. I had never heard of it. Called “Long Shot,” it features Charlize Theron, whom I like a lot, and Seth Rogen, whom I don't. Obviously I rented it based on Theron. I can't tell you what this movie is about either because I ejected the DVD about 20 minutes into it. Rogen has had a very successful 20-year career essentially playing the role of the “stoned dude” in countless movies and TV shows. It's as though he is on the top of Central Casting's list for burned-out doper. “Hey, the script calls for someone who can pull off a couple of marijuana gags; send for Rogen.” Rogen's character's name in this turkey is Fred Flarsky. If that made you chuckle, it would have been the only such reaction you would have watching this thing. I guess the writers went with Fred Flarsky because Paul Blart had already been used.

This brings us to the old movie I wound up watching to fill in for “Long Shot.” I probably haven't watched it in five years, but last evening, as I scanned the 200 DVDs in my cabinet, my gaze came to rest on “Proof of Life.”

I didn't realize until I researched it this morning that this movie was released in 2000. I think 19 years qualifies it as old. I was sort of surprised it was that long ago. It still holds up reasonably well. It's notable on several levels; none having to do with the story or its execution – both of which are solid.

No, what I find noteworthy about this film that failed so spectacularly at the U.S. box office despite being good is, it was the movie that brought Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe together. Their fling began just as her marriage to Dennis Quaid was ending. In one fell swoop, Ryan fell from grace as America's darling. Her career never really rebounded from that six-month tryst. She finally drove a stake through the heart of her reputation with her role in "In the Cut" that released in 2003.

"Bad news, David, looks like your movie career is about over."

"Proof of Life" is also notable as providing our last glimpse of David Caruso on the big screen. If you recall, he left the wildly popular cop series NYPD Blue in 1994, after just one year, to pursue a career in the movies. It never really happened. A supporting role in “Proof of Life” was probably his biggest movie, and it was about his last.

As it turned out, I was sort of glad I had invested two bucks so poorly in renting “Long Shot.” It provided the motivation to revisit an old favorite. Maybe I have finally learned my lesson for taking a flyer on movies I've never heard of. Then again, probably not.