The Epic Blogas Week in Review

A "chugging" whiskey

This Week in Alcohol Poisoning:  This one has been making the rounds as of late, but in case you missed it, here you go:

With the recent news that a Panamanian company plans to start packaging and selling whiskey in a can, I can't help but imagine what kind of devastation this will wreak on my whiskey-drinking friends' livers.  I'm still torn as to whether to file this under "Great Innovations in Alcohol," or "Darwinism in the 21st Century."

Will other liquors be made available in can form?  Will soda companies hop on board?  How long before Coca-Cola starts making their own rum so they can package "Rum and Coke" in a can?  I'm not sure where the future will take us, but with innovations like whiskey in a can, Four Loko (RIP) and vodka whipped cream, we are on the door step of a major alcohol revolution (or the second coming of Prohibition).
(Thanks to a few readers who informed me that Jim Beam sells canned "Beam and Cola," I had no idea.)  

Baby got back (into a hot mess)

Deposed Dictator of the Week:  So, you say you're the former dictator of Haiti, huh?  And despite allegedly committing various human rights crimes (among other heinous acts) during your reign, you've somehow managed to live the last 25 years of your life in peace and quiet in France.  Enough time has gone by where an entire generation probably has no idea who you are.  So what's your next move?  You stay in France and continue to live out your days in relative anonymity, right?

Wrong.

On Tuesday, January 18th, Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier was arrested in Haiti on charges of corruption and embezzlement.  Just days prior, Duvalier returned to the ravaged nation that he once presided over.  I'm not a violator of human rights, but it's safe to say that if I was, I would never return to the country where I was suspected of committing those crimes.  Hell, ten years ago I got into trouble for underage drinking in Ocean City, MD when I was 17 and I still haven't been back.

Iggy Poop

The Epic Blogas Goat of the Week:  Andre Iguodala.  To quote the great Tom McGinnis (radio voice of the 76ers and perhaps the most under-appreciated announcer in the history of Philly sports), "Are you kiddin' me?!"

Iguodala "is what he is" at this point in his career, at least on the Sixers.  He's an amazing athlete, and he seems to give his maximum effort on a nightly basis.  If he has the right talent around him he can be a highly effective player, as we saw this past summer at the FIBA World Championship.

Unfortunately for Iguodala, players like Kevin Durant, Rudy Gay, and Derrick Rose aren't on the Sixers roster.  Instead, he takes it upon himself to try and be the star that this team so desperately needs.   By doing so, Iguodala continues to torment whatever remaining Sixers fans are left.  His inability to come through in the clutch is uncanny.   The missed free throws, and the missed shots in crunch time are tough to stomach. This week though, I can't shake the memory of the foul he committed on Jason Richardson in Orlando on Wednesday night. If you saw the game, you know what happened.  If you didn't see the game or read about it the next day, chances are you don't care anyways...

You're not gonna ask me to come back
next year, are you?

The Epic Blogas Hero of the Week:  Ricky Gervais.  I saw maybe four minutes of the Golden Globes on Sunday, but what I did see featured Gervais lambasting Hollywood.  My favorite jab was taken at Robert Downey Jr. (and I'm still not sure if Gervais was tipping his cap to The Simpsons and Troy McClure with this one): 

This Week in TV:  

• Thanks to King for pointing out to me that Deadwood went up on HBO On-Demand. I've been meaning to check this show out for awhile now.  I just watched the first episode and I'm excited to watch the rest of the series.  Speaking of which...  
• There's something to be said about being able to watch multiple episodes/seasons of a show at your own leisure.  Sure, it's nice to be on board with your favorite show from the start, but blowing through an entire series at your own pace is always appealing.  I've watched most of my favorite series in this fashion.  The week-to-week wait in between episodes can be painful, let alone the longer wait in between seasons.  My current favorite show on TV, Breaking Bad, had its season three finale in July of 2010 and doesn't start back up again until this July.  A whole year in between seasons?!  Things like this might be acceptable in Communist China, but not here... not in my America!   
• Also, look for NBC's Parks and Recreation.  Season three started last night.  If you want to catch up (and you have a Netflix account), the first two seasons are available on Netflix Instant.  Season one was short, and sort of an introduction to the characters, similar to the first season of It's Always Sunny.  Much like It's Always Sunny brought in Danny DeVito to spruce up season two, the writers at Parks and Recreation tapped into the underutilized Ron Swanson character from season one (played perfectly by Nick Offerman) and made him an iconic TV character by the end of season two. For those of you who were fans of the short lived Starz comedy Party Down, Adam Scott (Henry from PD) joined the Parks and Recreation cast as a full-timer this season.