patriots logo - round 2

Proposed New Patriot's Logo, click for larger view

A few years ago, I suggested that it was time for the Patriots to update their logo. They've had it for about half of the life of the franchise, prior to the current, flying Elvis design they had Pat the Patriot, a guy in a three point stance waiting to pounce. Pat lasted for the for about 30 years, and flying Elvis has been at it for another 30+ years. In a 2021 article, the folks at Upper Hand did a researched article which ranked the NFL logos good to bad, based on how people feel about them, using a series of metrics based on 7 different sports sites. They aggregated the data and the Patriots, I was not surprised to see, was ranked 28 out of 32 for their logo.

Graphically, the Patriots logo stinks, and people don't like it. There are others, who just love tradition and don't want to see things change. To those folks, I say this: Washington Commanders. their logo stinks too, by the way. this isn't college ball.

So what's wrong with the Pat's logo? It doesn't hold up. Part of the problem is the team name. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to change that, but the teams that are named after a "person," simply have a harder time, unless that person has some kind of strong visual iconography attached to it. The Vikings, for example, have a little something to work with. The Raiders? Nope. What does a raider look like? The Buccaneers? myeh, sort of a privateer, which a semi-legal pirate, from the Caribbean, so... Florida Pirate-y? The 49ers? What, I guy with a shovel?

Updated Version of my 2019 Logo

 

And the Patriots: A patriotic person, of the New England variety. So a guy in a tricorn hat? Again, not a lot of helpful iconography. So my thought, in 2019, was to take inspiration from the Flying Elvis logo, which includes some red stripes or ribbons trailing from his tricorn, and the white star on his blue hat, which obviously represent the stripes on the flag, and boil that down to try and eliminate the person represented by the Patriot. I came up with something similar to this, which I have since tweaked to eliminate the odd shape I had in blue. Its much more flag, or pennant-like. But maybe too much so, and maybe too close to what the Pats currently have.

 

Proposed Patriot's Logo on a Blue Background

That's where I started, and after looking at the logos that did best according to the Upper Hand research, I decided to simplify further, and go with the letters NE for New England, similar to what San Francisco, Green Bay, and even Kansas City did, AND still use the flag iconography that's built into the current logo, and the Patriot name. I used some curves to graphically express forward motion, and to recall the shapes of a football. I ran the white stripes through the letter forms to accentuate the action, and they recall gridiron lines on the field. I used a variation of the wordmark I came up with in 2019, but I removed the additional blue outline from the star as it was too similar to the Cowboys Lone Star logo. Its bold, recognizable, and easy to stitch on a hat.

On White Background with Wordmark

return to nerax - 2023

George Gendron

2016 was the last time I went to NERAX, the New England Real Ale Exhibition, 7 years ago.* That visit was actually to NERAX North, and I went with my newly minted 21 year old. This time, it was with both of my kids, at the NERAX's new home at the South Boston Lithuanian Club. We attended the Saturday evening session, and its a fun time to go, not as crowded as the Saturday daytime or the Friday evening sessions, but the casks do start to kick pretty quickly, and there were many options we didn't get a chance to try. I say that, but I've only ever tried 5 or 6 each time I go, there are just too many options.

A quick word about this year's program cover photo. I got a kick out of telling my kids about how much fun it was to see so many familiar faces of the volunteers, staff, and founders at the event. I was able to point out the woman who was tickled to see that my oldest had just turned 21 last time, reminisced a little about her own youth and then gave Alessia a few drink passes! What a sweetheart. One who I didn't see last night was George Gendron, one of the founders of NERAX, and the man on the program cover. George passed away a few years ago and is fondly remembered in a tribute within program. Thanks to George for all he's done for this great festival!

This year's exhibition dates were moved at the last minute due to some kind of scheduling problem, but we were informed in plenty of time, and our advance tickets were transferred over with no problems. However, that did mean that there were no food vendors this year at the exhibition, as they couldn't accommodate the late change in their schedules. We ended up bring a small box of snacks, which is typically not allowed. Thanks to the NERAX folks for allowing this, having a little food is great. As I normally do, I sampled quarter pints so that I'd have the opportunity to try a few things, and to be honest, I focused on the imports, given that my opportunities to try some of those ales without traveling is probably limited. All but one of the beers I sampled was from the UK.

There were close to 100 ales available this year

Dark Fruits Porter - Salem Brew Co., Wainfleet All Saints, England (ABV 4.4%) **

The first two beers I asked for were already kicked before the Saturday evening session started. The Dark Fruits Porter was my third choice, and it almost wasn't to be. They were able to get a quarter pint for me, and then maybe only one or two more before the cask kicked and the Reaper came out to erase it off the board, accompanied by a death knell, rung out on an empty keg. Bright black cherry on the nose, with notes of lemon lollipops. Dark, nut brown with a browned-butter colored, lacy head. Thin bodied, fruity and super smooth. There is a snappy brightness at first, smouldering to a soft, lasting bitterness. Reminded me of jam on toast!

Cross Borders Session Pale - Cold Black Label, Bridgend, Wales (ABV 4.2%) ***

Pale honey colored, with a light and wispy cream colored head. Citrusy fruit salad on the nose, which delivered in the initial taste. Full mouth flavor with a bready, sourdough finish and smooth mouth feel.

Beach Hut - Leigh On Sea Brewery, Leigh On Sea, Essex, England (ABV 4.5%)

Dried grass yellow with a frosty looking haze with a thin, wispy head like cirrus clouds and a fine ring of white foam at the glass edge. Slight funk with fruit juice on the nose, and notes of pineapple. Finely texture, creamy mouth feel, tropical fruits, and a dry, wheat cracker bitter finish. I like this one very much, and the next one I went for was from the same brewery.

Legra Pale - Leigh On Sea Brewery, Leigh On Sea, Essex, England (ABV 3.8%)

Blazing bright, warm yellow color with a fine bubbly, tatted top. Huge, juicy start. Clean, grapefruit pith astringency, and a crisp dry finish. I bragged about this one, and made a note that this would be a perfect house beer. Super drinkable and refreshing, with a low ABV so you could have a few throughout the day. Would be great for a winter party or a summer barbecue.

Sweet Stout - Well Drawn Brewing Co., Bedwas, Caerphilly, Wales (ABV 5.0%) ****

Deep brown-black that let no light pass with a caramel colored, bubbly froth. Brown bread and molasses on the nose. [All of the beers I've had so far are thin! This one too.] Rich dried fruits flavor. Prunes, maybe? Cherry cordial filled chocolate, like a Bon Ami. After after, slightly under ripe pears, with the skins still on. Long, creamy finish. There was a lot going on with this one. Dessert beer at its best.

Ishmael Ale - Rising Tide Brewery, Portland, Maine, USA (ABV 4.9%)

Call me Ishmael. The tasting notes indicate that this beer is a collaboration with New England Distillery Co. They rested the beer in American oak barrels, which had been used for a rye whisky, that was distilled from one of Rising Tide's rye based pale ales. Rich amber brown with a delicate head. Sweet, malty tones on the nose. Citrus juicy with red wine tannin and sweetness which evaporates to a dry, orange amaro bitterness. Sweet, clean burnt sugar finish. The whiskey aromas dance over the glass and on the palate. This was a great way to finish up for the evening!

 

Stefan & Alessia sampling the wares

* The first time I went to NERAX was in 2010. I just took a quick look at that post, from 13 years ago, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that I paid $15 to get in, and $5 glass deposit. Exactly the same as we paid last night! The quarter pint sample were pretty close to the same price to, if not the same. I didn't record that in 2010. What that means is that the sponsors of NERAX are stepping up to keep this longest running real ale exhibition in North America affordable for all of us.

** I think the tasting notes on this one may need some clarification. I found the Dark Fruits Porter by George Bateman and Son Ltd, Salem Bridge Brewery, Wainfleet, Lincolnshire. I think Salem Brew Co. is a subsidiary, or a brand/trade mark owned by Bateman. Bateman had their XXXB on tap for the festival as well.

*** Cold Black Label also appears to be the mother company to at least two beer labels: Brecon and Lithic. Brecon had their own three offerings, so perhaps this was a special cask for the festival. Note: Brecon's website just has a beautiful mountain scene splash page and no content, which you can find thru Cold Black Label's site.

**** Well Drawn doesn't seem to have their own website, altho I found some links to a facebook page, and a listing on Untappd, which actually includes some comments about their NERAX offering this year.

death in vienna

A Death in Vienna by Daniel Silva is book 4 in the Gabriel Allon Series. I may have read this in the past, but it was probably before this blog, which makes sense given that this blog dates back to 2009, and this book was published in 2003. If I have read this previously, enough time has gone by that it didn't feel like a re-read. It was also interesting to go back into Silva's earlier Allon writing and see how things are different than they are now. There are obviously some similarities in the Allon series books, and the story arc (in more recent books) tend to be similar in a lot of cases, but not as much with this one.

It could be that this is an older, earlier work in the series, and the characters and style were still developing, but it may also be that this book is described in the backmatter as the third in a Holocaust series. It may be a combination of these things that makes things that makes this stand out, and I may be feeling like I've read this because I read one of the other books in that short series within a series.*

Fans of Silva and the Allon series will not be disappointed, and it may be worth while for serious fans to go back and re-read some of Silva's earlier efforts to see if I may be right about the style and story arc items I've pointed out, or at the very least, too see how things have changed, and remind ourselves about where these characters came from.

* I found 13 Daniel Silva books on my list of books read since 2009 on this blog.

river of doubt

At some point in February or March, I read River of Doubt, by Candice Millard, but I didn't get a chance to write about it. It was probably after Wool, but before Shift. I probably spent my time working on my post about why March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb instead of writing about this.

I heard from someone that I should read this, and its been a while since I put it on my list. It even made it to this blog; you can find it in the "notes and scribbles" applet at the bottom right of the page. The link takes you to the hardcover version of the book, so its probably been there a while.

In any case, I can see why, this was a good one. I'm not a big nonfiction fan, but I did like this one. I had no idea about this trip that Roosevelt took into the interior of the Amazon, which he decided to take just after his losing bid for the presidency in 1912. Millard lays out the trip from the early conception and planning stages through to its completion, along with some anecdotal information about the later lives of some of the expedition's members in an epilogue.

Most of the story is based on notes, letters, news stories and reports, and other documents. It seemed to me that very little needed to be glossed over by the author; she was able to find documentation for nearly every event and every day of the expedition. 

I was surprised and how difficult and trying this trip was without my never hearing about it. By the end, I was amazed that the party even made out alive.

shift

Book 2 in the Silo Series by Hugh Howey is Shift. I just read the first in the series, called Wool. I didn't like this one as much as Wool, and I guess I'd call this a prequel, rather than the second in a series, but this is based on publish date rather than a series in the traditional sense. The last in the series is called Dust, and based on what I've read thus far, I'll read that one too. But if my library doesn't have it on the shelf, I won't be running out to buy it, if you get what I mean.

Maybe prequel is too grand for this book. I know right? is this review going to get worse bro? Shift is more like the back story an author prepares for his main book, and then goes back and fleshes it out to make into a book. I'm tempted to say, Silmarillion, I'm looking at you, but that's not right. Silmarillion is a series of stories and lore from the first age of middle earth, and while they help to inform the later stories, they also stand on their own. I'm not sure if Shift came out first, if anyone would have been interested enough to read Wool.

Maybe I'm coming down too hard. There were some interesting parts to Shift, but I'm not sure I needed as much text to tell me what I learned, and I'm also wondering how much more text it would have taken to tell me everything I wanted to know. Here's my less hard critique: Story is pretty good, but it needs some tightening. This book is a lot like me; it just needs to lose 10% of its body weight and it will be fine. The story is pretty grim, and unlike some other stories involving supervillains, Shift gives us a group of villains, who have some twisted views on how to make the world a better place (yep, been there, seen that) and enough power to institute their evil plans (okay, seen that too) but apparently not enough smarts and/or foresight to understand either the short-term, mid-term or long-term drawbacks in their ridiculous plan.

Its as if they all got together and talked about this big, crazy idea, and all the while everyone assumed that it was just them that not only thought this idea was crazy, but that everyone else must be smarter than them and knew better than they did. "Go along to get along" may be a useful tactic in some situations, but a worldwide mass extinction pact is not one of those situations.

march

Clickity Click for a biggerer view

Its March fourth--that's the best day for armies to go to war right?--but for us, what March 4th really means is today is like a Shark. A Shark you say? Doesn't make any sense! But if I were to say that March 1st is like a Lion, and March 31st is like a Lamb, no problem, right?

And if the 1st is ferocious and the 31st is docile, what does that make the days in between? Weeell, now, my friends, you no longer need to worry or wonder, we've got it all worked out for you right here. Here in the Boston area, its currently cold, with a wet snow falling today. A 'wintry mix' they say.* In terms of ferocity, we aren't all that far from the Lion of Winter. not to be confused with the lion in winter, which is a  play by james goldman. 

Birthday on March 9? Celebrate with a Scorpion Bowl?

Going skiing on March 17? Lunch at Elephant Walk?

Anniversary on March 25? Dolphin, 'nuf said.

It all here, feast you eyes...

March 2023

March 1 - Lion: 4-feet tall at the shoulder, 420 pounds.
March 2 - Tiger: 3 1/2-feet tall at the shoulder, maybe 680 pounds!
March 3 - Bear: Grizzly Bears can be 3 1/3-feet tall at the shoulder, and 600 pounds.
March 4 - Shark: 1000 species, been around for 400 million years.
March 5 - Wolf: Biggest in the canine family; males can grow to 180 pounds.
March 6 - Bull: Can get to 6-feet, and 2500 to 3000 pounds.
March 7 - Moose: The big boys are almost 7-feet to the shoulder, and 1500 pounds.
March 8 - Eagle: Seeing more of these in Eastern Massachusetts now.
March 9 - Scorpion: the smaller ones can be worse than the big ones!
March 10 - Dingo: Like a wolf, but smaller... and shifty.
March 11 - Hawk: Red Tail can reach speeds of 120 miles per hour
March 12 - Lynx: The Red Lynx, or Bobcat, is what we've got in the U.S. 16 to 30 pounds.
March 13 - Bat: 9 difference species in Massachusetts; no blood suckers.
March 14 - Monkey: Nearly 200 species from 4 1/2-inches to 3 1/2-feet. HBD Coleen!
March 15 - Snake: 3900 species from 10-inches to 23-feet. Ophidiophobia is the word you're looking for.
March 16 - Ox: Difference between an ox and a steer? Training. Yeah, that's it.**
March 17 - Elephant: African Bush Elephant, up to 13,000 pounds.
March 18 - Raven: "Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore..."
March 19 - Stag: NOT the one Julie Andrews is singing about. Stags are mature, male deer.
March 20 - Crab: Been around since the Jurassic. First day of spring!
March 21 - Goat: Probably domesticated from the Bezoar Ibex in the Middle East.
March 22 - Horse: Large riding horse can be 5 1/2-feet at the shoulder, and 1200 pounds.
March 23 - Pig: Can be over 6-feet long and 800 pounds. And sloppy.
March 24 - Dog: Our third entry from the canine family. Least likely to eat you.
March 25 - Dolphin: Up to 13-feet long and 1300 pounds.
March 26 - Rooster: Domesticated from junglefowl, from Asia.
March 27 - Turtle: Shells are flatted and fused ribs***
March 28 - Toad: They're a type of frog that hangs out mostly on land, at night.
March 29 - Robin: Migratory American Robins are an early egg layer.
March 30 - Rabbit: Does anyone else have 20 rabbits in their yard? HBD Kelton!
March 31 - Lamb: Adorable, and available just in time for Easter.

 

* Why does SUMMERY have an E in it, while WINTRY doesn't? I don't know, man.

** There's your number one take away, right there.

*** Dude, that's a pretty close second.

wool

Wool is one of those books I had on a list somewhere, so that probably means I heard it was good at some point. Maybe Will told me about this one? Wool is the first book in a trilogy that I think is called the Silo Series by Hugh Howey. I don’t recall reading anything by Howey before but I’ll check here on the blog as I’m writing this sitting on a plane to Florida and I can’t check. [Just checked: nope]

Wool falls into the dystopian, soft sci fi box but it differs from a lot of the other stuff in that box in many ways. The premise is pretty original, at least in my experience, and the scope is very limited which I think helps the story because it’s so pared down.

The focus of the story seems to shift from where we thought we were when we first started reading, and then once we refocus, it shifts again. I think that helps to create empathy with the characters in the story as the story arc reveals more about this place, these people, and their situation.

Howey is able to build tension along the way while still keeping tight control of the narrative and how much we learn as we go.

There is intrigue, passion, righteousness, love, rebellion, murder, ingenuity, mystery, and a little taste of the horrifying.

I’ll be looking for the next books in this series. [Update: picked the next one up at the library. Its next.]

Read this book.

dreams underfoot

I’m not sure exactly what list I found this book on, but I’ve had the title tucked away as something to read for a while. I may have had it in an Amazon wish list and forgot about it, but it showed up for Christmas this year from Santa Claus. Maybe he just knew I’d squirreled the title away. thanks santa

Dreams Underfoot is a collection of short stories that all take place in Newford, a small, imaginary city that seems to have elements of both east and west coast cities. It seems to have some of the history and general spookiness of an eastern town, along with the hip, urban attitude--and earthquakes--of a west coast city, and the cross section of people, neighborhoods, and urban blight one would expect in many US cities.* It also has magic.

Charles de Lint would have us believe that all cities have magic, and Newford just happens to be where this collection of stories is focused. The implication, at first appears to be that Newford is special, and that is why the stories are set there. Rather, we come to understand after reading a few of these stories, that Newford is not special, and that magic things exist and occur in all cities, so why not choose a city at random and tell those stories; and Newford is as good a representation as any.

Christy Riddell is a fictional writer who lives in Newford and appears in person or by name in a few of the stories. Riddell is also an author of short-form urban mythology, and many of the characters who appear in de Lint's stories are friends, relatives and acquaintances of Riddell's. So the Riddell character seems like an odd mash-up of self-insertion and story-in-story (think The Princess Bride) that I thought was a little odd, but perhaps that sense of being a little off-kilter is exactly what de Lint is looking for in his readers, priming them for the belief--or at least a suspension of disbelief--required to fully absorb his magical stories. 

On the other hand, maybe that’s giving him too much credit, I’m not sure. I can tell you that his Urban Faerie stories are quite popular, and its seems as though he’s published quite a few since this Newford installment from 1993. [I count 26 Newford books in the series from 1990 to 2022!]

The stories are fun and escapist, each with a touch of delight, heartbreak, or horror. Sometimes all three. Wrestling mythology into the modern age is what originally drew me to this (if I had to guess) as I’ve done a little bit of that myself from time to time. If you enjoy that kind of thing, then de Lint may be worth a look.

 

* Yes, de Lint is Canadian, but the east coast, west coast thing still holds I think. But sure, Canada.

klara and the sun

I read one of Kazuo Ishiguro's novels a few years ago, and it just didn't kick it for me.

Klara and the Sun did. I didn't love this book, but at least I got it. The story is solid, and looks at a potential future we may all experience at some point when robotics and artificial intelligence get to the point that they make it into the home, in much the same way that personal computers, and the internet did. Its not clear to me that Artificial Friends or AFs as Ishiguro calls them will make the leap from page to reality in our homes as quickly as the PC or the interwebs, but I do think its out there as a possibility.

In the future that Ishiguro has created, all AFs are a little bit different. This is what I'd call soft SF, so he doesn't get into why exactly they're all different, but I'm under the impression that its due to their brains. Perhaps they're manufactured in some kind of self-assembling process, which allows for variations? In any case, Klara is different than her peers: she is more observant of the subtleties expressed in the humans she interacts with. She does however remain naive about many of the basic things around her, regardless of how long she spends in the world. There is also a mysterious observational quirk Klara experiences, often when she is in stressful situations, and whether that is just part of what differentiates her from other AFs or if its typical for AFs is also a mystery.

This book was interesting, and the interactions between humans and AFs was examined in interesting ways, that reminded me a little of my post on the emotional ties humans may eventually develop for robots as they take on these important, supportive rolls in our lives.