CheapThrills

The October 7th presidential debate, cocktail party politics style

I've been covering the politics beat over at AOL's Lemondrop for a couple weeks now, writing a column called Cocktail Party Politics. It's basically a fun way of discussing a current political issue... I give a short recap, then offer up talking points according to your stance.

And, of course, what political debate would be complete without a complementary drink tip?

Today's post covered last night's presidential debate. I think my take on the debate shines through my apparent "unbiased" stance. This week's drink? "That One": No real recipe, just involves pointing to whatever the guy next to you is drinking and saying, "I'll have whatever 'that one' is having."

You can also check out last week's post on Sarah Palin - a commenter calls me "liberal trash"! Haha! Total crazytown. 

Rock out with your glock(enspiel) out in London

During my trip to Europe (ooo, Flickr photos!), I actually spent about 15 hours in London (long story). While I saw virtually no British sights and spent most of my time paying cab drivers, I did manage to make it to a cell-like Austrian restaurant called the Tiroler Hut. I'm not a huge fan of Austrian food (sausages and big slabs of meet and potatoes and stuff), so I ordered the shrimp cocktail platter. And I mean, I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't very good.

What was pretty... impressive, I'll say... was the entertainment. It was like semi-karaoke but with no projected lyrics.

For example, there was this guy, an Asian man singing Italian ballads. 

And then this guy, a Brit (I think??) hollering a somewhat terrifying rendition of New York, New York (with background dancers).

And then, of course, the MC - decked out in Lederhosen and rockin' with his bells (I simply had to include the video as well, just click the photo below or the link underneath - takes a couple seconds to load).

Man Playing the Bells

If you're ever stuck in London on a business trip or something and need a place to go, maybe check this place out. Maybe. ...or maybe not.

Tips for Successful Kegulation

Found myself wandering around one of my news/tech trends sites and stumbled upon a blurb on The Kegulator.  Basically, it's a simple site where you can estimate how much beer, ice and cups you'll need for a party by how many people are attending and how drunk you think they'll get. 

Neat idea - but the site needs a few things:
1)  Zip code liquor store locater (maybe pull in a Google Maps mashup?)
2)  Shotinator
3)  Terminator, to beat the crap out of all the drunk fools
4)  A page dedicated solely to Power Hours, because they're just so much fun
5)  Party-intensity estimator with playlist accompaniments
6)  Instructions for kegstands and funnels

Funny how "Share on Facebook" is so prominently displayed right above the estimator.  Since when  did Facebook users get the boozehound rep?