Adnams The Bitter

Pours a clear dark amber brown colour with a thin white head. Aroma is sweet malt, a little caramel, and lemon-like citrus hops. Medium body. Tastes of biscuit sweet malts with bread-like nutty notes. Moderate bitterness. After taste is a dry hop noted finish. 4.5% strength.

Rating: Good.
As you can see am a professional at rating beer
Overall: A refreshing hoppy session bitter. Good on tap and bottle.

The Dwarf Crew are back

I was going to wait and review it later, but I cant wait. In about 7 hours the first part of the new Red Dwarf will be shown on Dave. After ten years and the miserably failed movie attempts, its finally back.



I've been itching to see new episodes since sales of the dvd's always do well, and the endless calls for the movie. Having a 10 year wait a 3 part special is just as good. I'm hoping its not going to be a lifeless remake of itself, but a continuation.

"Red Dwarf" has been a trending topic for most of the day. Seems like dwarfers populate twitter. Even one of the cast are on twitter. Robert Llewllyn who played the Kryten twitter.com/bobbyllew.

Red dwarf is on at 9 on Dave. I know right? Dave! Who would have thought.

Comix

Avid comic book fans will like this application, but if your not a comic book reader don't dismay it's a brilliant photo viewer too.



It offers efficient thumbnail previews, full-scale mode, dual pages for those comics, a Manga right to left reading mode, open ZIP and tar archives, bookmark support, image enhancement and plenty of other features you would expect on a generic image viewer.

What I like best is the zoom feature. Its like using a square magnifying glass. The image enhancement is also clever. Changing the brightness, contrast, saturation and sharpness.



If your looking for a customizable photo viewer or comic book reader and run GNU/Linux. Try it out. Ubuntu users get the latest deb from getdeb.net/app/Comix. Other builds, source and more information see the homepage at comix.sourceforge.net.

LivingSocial Books

I use the facebook application often. At first I used it to list the books I like, and then I started keeping track of what I've read. Its good for recommendations too.



To get this widget goto books.livingsocial.com/widgets. For help see books.livingsocial.com/blog/2064-widget-guide?ref=sidebar-blog-post.
Note: Facebook application users CAN login to the main site.

The invention of morel

I have recently studied the lists (there's a few out there) of books from lost. squidoo.com/lost-book-list.

One of them caught my eye: The invention or morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares. "Sawyer was reading this book about a fugitive on a deserted island while living at the Others' barracks in episode 4 of season 4 ("Eggtown")".



I don't remember the episode. Season 4 sometimes became a choir to watch. Is that a nasty thing to say? I love series 5. Finally its going somewhere.

Just from the description and the fact that sawyer was reading it, I had to read the book. Its quite short being about a hundred pages. That doesn't bother you when your reading war and peace at the same time. Mainly plot based with it written in the form of a diary by a fugitive. While escaping the police he is told about a deserted island. The only warning is that the temporary inhabitants died horribly. Living on the island, to the surprise of the narrator, people show up and strange events occur.

I wont spoil the plot. There are a lot of connections to lost. An island. Weird others. It is eerie and a mix of science fiction fantasy. Enjoyable little read. I may read more books from lost.

Screenlets

Screenlets is a widget engine based on compositing window managers. It allows you to run python scripted widgets as well as web widgets like Google gadgets.



Right now with xfce4.6 I'm running a window list, weather updater (like I'm lazy to look outside), a simple calendar, a simple clock and a twitter updater. I'm also playing with a facebook one. It works well with xfce.

Ubuntu users can download the latest from www.getdeb.net/app/Screenlets. You may need to update or install new python libraries to run some of the widgets. An alternative to screenlets is gdesklets.

Wychwood WychCraft

Pours a light amber colour, good lacing with a small white head. Aroma is lager-ish and bready with crisp citrus hops. Light body. Tastes of biscuity malts, light toffee hint, floral spicy hops and a citrus tang. After taste is a spicy-citrus tang. Dry finish. 4.5% strength.

Rating: Okay.
As you can see am a professional at rating beer
Overall: A refreshing blonde ale. Possibly my favourite from this brewery.

Poachers Black Crow Stout

Pours a very dark colour with a medium frothy tanned head. Aroma is roasted malts, coffee and caramel. Smooth body. Tastes of roasted malts, yeast, hop bitterness and a toffee note. After taste is a fruit like sourness. Quite dry. 4.5% strength.

Rating: Okay.
As you can see am a professional at rating beer
Overall: A drinkable light coffee stout.

Robinsons Old Tom

Pours a very dark brown colour with a medium tan head. Aroma is dominated by roasted chocolate malt with a pleasant oak note. Smooth rich body. Taste is complex with a combination of dried malt, burnt sugar and dark malts. Well hidden alcohol. After taste is a warming sweet malt, almost treacle like. 8.5% strength.

Rating: Good.
As you can see am a professional at rating beer
Overall: Complex and strong.

Poachers Billy Boy

This camra approved ale is named after a border collie named 'billy'. You cant miss the bottle it has a picture of the collie.

Pours a golden colour with a medium white head. My bottle was very active and frothy. Aroma is mostly malt, sweet tarty hints and a little sour note. Medium body. Taste is sweet malt, caramel, a little sourness and moderate bitterness. After taste has a sweet bitterness. 4.4% strength.

Rating: Not bad.
As you can see am a professional at rating beer
Overall: Nice English bitter.