Yes, You Should See That Jon Stewart Rant About CNBC. Brilliant.

Confession: I've never actually seen an episode of the "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart." Yes, I realize that makes me a Total Loser.

(But I already knew that. I also have no idea who Hugh Jackman is or why he hosted the Oscars.) (Which I didn't watch, but news about which was hard to avoid.)

But I have seen a number of Stewart's videos, and yes, this one about the lunacy of CNBC is absolutely worth watching. Stewart plays the role, in our times, of exceptionally brilliant court jester. When we look back on this era, his will be regarded as works of comic genius. (I saw the Santelli rant several times last week because, ya know, it was hard to avoid. My personal opinion is that it was all part of his effort to get his own program on some cable network.)

Found at many places today, but tip o' the mug in this case to The Big Money. (Which, in all honesty, belongs in the Top Ten Most Confusing, Badly Designed Websites Ever.) (But is otherwise worth following.)

Beer, Economics, Statistics, and Other Things. Including Tall Women . . .

. . . of which I am one. Jacob Grier notes this piece in the Financial Times (always an interesting read, by the way), on the connection between and among beer, statistics, and other things. (Including, only by a stretch of my imagination, tall women...) Tip o' the mug to the always on-the-ball Jacob, who, according to Twitter, is mixing interesting drinks tonight. If we're lucky, he'll share some of the recipes when he's finished.

Steve McCarthy of Clear Creek Distillery In the NYT "Proof" Column

The "Proof" column in the New York Times mostly drives me nuts because it's mostly written by people hell-bent on explaining how horrible alcohol is. True, every once in awhile strays to the Dark Side and features something positive about alcohol. Proof (no pun intended)?

The most recent essay was penned by Steve McCarthy, the guy who founded Clear Creek Distillery in Portland, Oregon.

I LOVE Clear Creek pear brandy. Well, okay, I love everything CC puts out, but especially its pear brandy. Read and enjoy. And if you've got the dough and can find it, track down a bottle of Steve's pear brandy -- take a gorgeous sip . . . and enjoy more!

Random This/That for the Last Day of February

In no particular order:

--- Michelle, you seriously rock.

--- A sweet homage to Bob Lachky from Jeremiah McWilliams. (Jeremiah's probably saying "Sweet? Ewwww!" But I'm a girl; girls see "sweet" where boys see friendly shoulder-punch.)

--- Two weeks into my foray into Twitter, and I'm hooked, mainly because I'm getting such cool stuff from other people's tweets. Turns out that most people's tweets go way beyond "I'm in the frozen food section now."

--- The economic disaster affects real people. Read the farewell columns and blogs and watch the video at the (late) Rocky Mountain News website.

--- Re. the upcoming "Beer Wars": Lotsa people are wondering why it's a one-night release, as if that's a bad thing. These one-nighters are common. I've seen several operas beamed live (Fabulous!) (Well, it is if you're a fan of opera.) The documentary I.O.U.S.A. also originated as a satellite-delivered, one-night event. (It makes the move to television in, I believe, March.)

---- An op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal about corporate executives' salaries. Completely worth reading.

---- Been on a Willie Nelson jag the past few days, in part because of this hugely entertaining blog entry by Ann Ivins over at Scholars & Rogues. If you only have time for two, make them Across the Borderline and Teatro. Well, okay, include Red Headed Stranger. And don't forget Stardust. And . . . Oh, never mind.

"Beer Wars." April 16. Be There or Be Square

Make your plans now: "Beer Wars," a new documentary about the American brewing scene (and the American dream....) debuts in theaters nationwide on April 16. This is a one-night, two-part event: First the film and then immediately after the film, Ben Stein will moderate a live discussion from Los Angeles with some of the people who appear in the film. It's all yours courtesy of the wonders of satellite. The website is up. You can buy tickets online (there's a link at the site).

A Couple of Good Rants

I'm always up for a good rant, especially when it's a reasoned, thoughtful rant. Just read two such critters at Tony Comstock's blog. Here and here. (In case you're wondering: The blogs I read cover a spectrum of topics: food, beer, economics, politics, publishing, and so forth. As far as I'm concerned, it's all fodder for my creative mind, such as it is.)