(SpoCOOL) A Spokane Blog

Well, what do you know... December 31st? That came fast. And while we have sort of a theme here at ye olde SpoCOOL -- some call it an agenda -- we don't see any reason not to end the year with a random list of things you may or may not have missed. That's just how kind we are!

Here are a few recommendations from 2013...

You might have gone sour on Bowie somewhere around Let's Dance, but you kinda suck if you're not loving on his latest, The Next Day. Plus you have Kingsbury Manx's Bronze Age, Camera Obscura's Desire Lines, and -- almost literally good god! -- Sébastien Tellier's Confection. Fire up Rdio or Spotify and queue them all up right now.

With that said, you're not going to beat Euros Childs's song and video, «Tête à Tête».

The album, Situation Comedy, which is awesome, is even available as donation-ware!

For reading, Sherill Tippins's Inside the Dream Palace -- a history of Chelsea Hotel -- is excellent. (Grab it for Kindle.) And while technically released last year, Breon Mitchell's new translation of Kafka's The Trial is about as trippy as a book can come. (Pick up Mark Harman's translation of The Castle while you're at it.)

Run and grab The World's End from iTunes; our favorite movie this year. And we're unappologetic comic-book fans, so grab Man of Steel and Wolverine too.

In fact, for an actual comic-book, run over to Comixology to pick up Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy's The Wake. There are also twenty collected editions of Fables waiting for you.

Pair all of this with the Abyss '13, our favorite beer of the year. Although Firestone Walker's Double DBA might be right on par with it.

For coffee, we really were into DOMA's Santa's Little Helper, and are equally happy to see Manners stepping up as a great new roaster. Really, to us there are DOMA and Manners around these parts; then there's the rest.

Our favorite fake(?) Twitter accounts this year were the tag-team of South Hill Steve and Jerry in the 509. That was the peak, and they're sadly both shut down. The random accounts that have cropped up lately have been of a... negligible... standard. (But we will gladly take recommendations!)

Restaurants, we agree with you there.

And please, to counter the use of the letter «z», we ask all pizza places to start serving «pissas».

And so on and so forth. 2013; not a bad year. Run down to the Bartlett to check out Helado Negro tonight -- it should be a great show.

See you next year!

We're at the end of 2013, and you would assume the trend of replacing the letter «s» with a «z» would be dying by now. It is not. It is, in fact, increasing in popularity. Why? We don't know! It makes no sense! A radio station with a backward «z» is apparently opening. Backward! Z!

Remember how business names with «2000» in them was all the rage during the late nineties? That's what the «z» has become, and it has to stop. Let's make that our new year's resolution for 2014. No more «z» where it does not belong.

In other news... The old Rex's is seeing a new tenant: Mi Casa. We can only assume this is a Mexican restaurant, but if it's related to the old Mi Casa which was located Picabu's space we don't know.

Finally, remember how we bitched about Red Chair seeing a January release? We were wrong. It's already out there, and presumably loving it. And good as it is... December? Sheesh.

Seasons are a funny and often misunderstood thing, at least as far as breweries are concerned. Winter, for example, starts in December, but that doesn't stop Deschutes from kicking out its Jubelale in mid-September. (By next year we might see it in August.) This January they'll be releasing their Red Chair, which for many is, or was, more of a late-winter/early-spring ale. And yes, in years past it used to hit shelves toward the end of February.

Point is, it's still winter -- it has barely started -- and there are still plenty of current seasonals to enjoy.

Like 21st Amendment's Fireside Chat.

This is one ale we kind of overlook every year, and that's a little bit sad. The Fireside Chat almost literally pushes you down to the ground and tosses winter all over you. And that is not an uncomfortable feeling.

It looks all Christmas-y too, all nutty brown with an inviting head setting the scene for a spicy nose. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and dried fruit dominates in a way that screams Christmas. 

The flavor, too, is dominated by those spices, with a good malty backbone. At 45 IBUs it is not a hoppy beer, which is a good thing as far as winter seasonals go. Save the hops for other seasons.

Now granted, what you taste is what you get here. Fireside Chat has a strong flavor, but you probably won't pick up on too many subtleties beneath what first hits you. I'm OK with that. That's fine as far as a winter seasonal goes. It doesn't need to be too complex; just comforting like a warm sweater.

Pick up a six pack while it still is winter. This one can be enjoyed for quite a while longer.

Oh, you know what you like, and you voted for your favorites with glee in your heart. But! You also scored places you did not like, to the point we could almost smell the hatred.

Or was that actually hate?

Aren't these spots places you at least check out now and again? Don't you do so with just a little bit of guilt and a little bit of pleasure? Hey, we all do it. So with further ado, here's your top picks for top guilty pleasures.

Best Guilty Pleasures
1	-	Hop Jack's
2	-	Maya Earth Coffee
3	-	COSTCO Pizza
4	-	Lalo's Pizza
5	-	Screaming Yak
6	-	Pizza Pipeline

Their mugs are so frosty you have to wear a parka to drink beer from them. That was enough for Hop Jack's to receive the lowest average score. But hey, you still scored it, so you must have tried it, right? Right!

And high as pizza places scored overall -- two out of six hit the overall best of list -- three spots ended up at the bottom. (COSTCO is of course not a pizza place, but whatever.)

We're actually a bit surprised seeing Lalo's here. It's not a downright stellar spot, but it sure is better than the Pipeline. I guess the people has spoken, though, and we kind of respect that.

As for the others... Maya Earth Coffee is... Well, it is what it is. And the Yak isn't what it used to be, at least not after Winggate 2011.

Hey, these might not be great places, but we go there now and again, and we enjoy-ish them, and that's OK. No need to be too snobbish!