Kerfuffle

Newest social networking complaint: "Dude! I friended a girl on Facebook and she turned out to be a cop and busted me for underaged drinking!" (mumbles "bitch" under breath)

It's kind of like "1984" meets "Candid Camera" meets "Cops"...

From K J Lang of the La Crosse (WI) Tribune...

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse student Adam Bauer has nearly 400 friends on Facebook. He got an offer for a new one about a month ago. “She was a good-looking girl. I usually don’t accept friends I don’t know, but I randomly accepted this one for some reason,” the 19-year-old said.

He thinks that led to his invitation to come down to the La Crosse police station, where an officer laid out photos from Facebook of Bauer holding a beer — and then ticketed him for underage drinking.

The police report said Bauer admitted drinking, which he denies. But he did plead no contest in municipal court Wednesday and will pay a $227 fine.

A cursory glance through Facebook photos yields immediate examples of kids drinking beer.  Conveniently, most Facebook profiles include birth dates with years.  Add it up and it will cost you about $227, at least if you're a student at UW La Crosse.  And doesn't that suck.

The article allows that the local police justify their actions, saying...

“Law enforcement has to evolve with technology,” Iverson said. “It has to happen. It is a necessity —not just for underage drinking.”

Consider that next time you decide the beer bong pictures taken before the football game are ever so hilarious and must be shared with the Facebook universe.  Even more, consider that you don't even have to post those pictures.  If one of your friends does, and then tags you in the photos, you may end up like hapless Adam Bauer.

One thing I was wondering, though, is how can they prove it's actually beer?  Last time I poured an O'Doul's into a glass, it looked just like Budweiser.  Of course, the legal fees to have some attorney argue that will easily exceed the $227 no-contest plea.

[h/t: Pam for the link via Twitter]

At first, I thought I was being asked a totally different question

To be a member of a college fraternity is to have a bunch of friends with weird, stupid, embarrassing, meaningless or otherwise odd nicknames.  Some are drug-oriented (Pheno).    Some are trait-based ("O" as in obnoxious).  Some are just abbreviations (Goldy). Two others attached to my Sig Ep brothers include "The Narl" and "Toast."

Knowing that, maybe you will understand my confusion when offered either Narly head or Toasted head.  Whaaaaaaaat?

Oh, we're talking about wine.  Like the red stuff in a bottle.  Wow.  That's totally different.

My bad.

Either way, I'll pass. 

[h/t to The Narl for the photo!]

Ed McMahon and Budweiser: I can never think of the former without also thinking of the latter.

It says something about American culture when CNN Radio News leads a "special report" with the death of Ed McMahon.  But, fact is, anyone over 40 remembers Ed's "Heeeeeeere's Johnny!" introduction of Johnny Carson in the 30 years Ed served as the Tonight Show announcer.  And who could forget Star Search?

For me, I think Budweiser.  When I worked on the Anheuser-Busch account in the 1980s, Ed would still make appearances at distributor conventions... and they loved him.  He was as popular as the Bud Girls, and you could tell he loved it.

In previous decades, he was the Budweiser pitchman, earning him lots of jokes from Johnny about his drinking.  But Ed seemed to have a way with those spots, ever the pitchman.

Another A-B pitchman, Frank Sinatra, joined Ed on occasion...

Ed did, apparently, show up drunk for work at least once...

God Speed, Ed McMahon.  Hiyo!

It's a wonderful thing when an ad agency can crank out a successful and memorable commercial that focuses on the silent passing of killer gas

...And I am proud -- PROUD -- to have worked on this account at DDB, even though I had nothing to do with this particular spot from the archives. 

Presented for absolutely no other reason other than it still makes me laugh and I need a post for the day...

Not sure which is more amusing: building a motorized bar stool or getting a DWI for piloting it around

From TMZ...

Police report highlights:

"Unit #1 was heading west bound on Kelly Lane. Unit #1 attempted to turn around (180 degrees), and back down Kelly east bound. As Unit #1 began its turn, it rolled over and the operator was injured."

"Note: Unit #1 was a home made [sic] motor vehicle, a bar stool attached to a frame with a lawn mower attached."

"At this point I noticed that Mr. Wygle's eye's [SIC] were very blood shot and were glassy in appearance."

"I asked him what happened, Mr. Wygle stated, 'I wrecked my bar stool.'"

"I asked Mr. Wygle how much alcohol he had to drink, he said, 'a lot.'"

"I asked if the bar stool even ran and said, 'yes, it will go around 38 miles per hour.'"

Too funny.

I went in for the best walleye sandwich and found my new favorite beer in the process: New Glarus Crack'd Wheat

We were in the  Old Fashioned, a great tavern on Madison's capital square last night before the hockey game.  That is the place that serves the best friend walleye sammich you will ever taste.  Ever, ever, ever.  

Aside from the great food, the Old Fashioned sports one of the most extensive Wisconsin beer lists around.  That's one of the best things about going there, along with their 30 tap lines.  You can drink three different Wisconsin beers each week for a year without repeating a single brew. Of course, that would mean including cans of Blatz, Schlitz and Hamms as part of your rail, but that can be done if they are ice cold... and for a buck a can on special, why not?  (I'm told they make a great old fashioned there too -- brandy, of course, since this is Wisconsin -- but I've never gotten past that beer list.)

I try to look for obscure truly micro brews that I would never get anywhere else when I'm at the Old Fashioned. I even shy away from otherwise favorite products from nearby breweries like Capital, Gray's and New Glarus.  I'm glad I didn't do that last night.  Otherwise I would not have had the pleasure of enjoying a New Glarus Crack'd Wheat.  I was looking for something unfiltered, kind of wheaty, that might rival a Bell's Oberon, a Michigan favorite of mine.

Crack'd Wheat jumped to the front of my favorites list before I finished the first pint.  The second confirmed it.  The brewery describes it as follows...

This is Dan's bold creation. You hold the international marriage of a sophisticated Bavarian Hefeweiss and an assertive American Pale Ale. Amarillo dry hopping drives Wisconsin Red Wheat. Traditional open top fermentation cultivates our proprietary Bavarian Weiss yeast in our own Wheat Beer Cellars. Absolutely 100% natural bottle conditioned. This is a living beer. 

Expect to pour a thick creamy head into your glass. Savor the fierce onslaught of clove, cinnamon, and citrus nose. Our very popular Imperial Weizen ratchets down for the session. Drink to adventure and friends in Wisconsin. We are the state of beer.

Yeah, well-crafted marketing language.  But freakin' excellent beer.  Crisp, nice finish, hint of citrus.  The website says it is sold in six-packs as well as in half and quarter barrels.  I'm sure it's great out of a bottle but hopefully it will grab some tap space at more places as the warmer weather approaches.  If it wasn't 11pm on a Sunday night I might have to go looking for one now.

Mmmmmmm.  Beer.