Vote for the 2024 #HatofSummer

 You have seen all for hat choices for #OfficialHat2024. (But if you need a refresher on what the four hats are, check out the 2024 #HatofSummer playlist.)

So now you can get busy voting.

Please vote as many times as you want!

#HatofSummer Video #4: Anders Erickson

Today's post features the final option in the 2024 #HatofSummer contest.

The Anders Erickson hat is merch that I bought from this YouTube channel.

Anders makes very good weekly videos about making cocktails and often discusses the history and creators of the drinks featured in each video. As I say in the video, I'm learning more about making cocktails and have started experimenting with spirits and liqueurs and the like. Cocktails always intimidated me as the ingredients always seems confusing and foreign and odd. But, as with everything else in life, if you take your time and think about it, you can learn.

So, please drink responsibly.

But . . . vote irresponsibly!

All of the #OfficialHat2024 choices are now public and the voting sheet is live. Start clicking and voting with abandon! You can start casting votes for your favorite hat here.

I'll start posting update videos to give you progress on voting soon!

 

#HatofSummer Video #3: Temperance Row Brewing Co.

 Here is the third of four choices for the 2024 #HatofSummer.

It's another bit of swag from another local Westerville business--a hat for the Temperance Row Brewing Company, housed within Uptown Deli and Brew.

This is a favorite restaurant of ours. The food is simple, but tasty and I enjoy their locally brewed beers as well. And from a historical point of view, this restaurant is notable for being the first Westerville brewery since the temperance movement hit alcohol sales in the United States back in the early twentieth century.

As you may know, Westerville was a very important headquarters for the temperance movement before and during the Prohibition era in the United States. Westerville once called itself the Dry Capitol of the World. And it mailed information against the sale of alcohol across the globe from this (then) sleep town in central Ohio.

But those days are over. Prohibition ended in the 1930s, but Westerville remained dry until the 2000s. Now there is a museum for the movement in the local public library and information about the Anti-Saloon League. As well as a memorial statue on Main Street outside of City Hall. 

But we also have alcohol sales and many good restaurants and wine bars up and down that same Main Street. And if you look, you might see me on a summer weekend with a glass in hand, wearing the Temperance Row Brewing Co. hat--if it wins the most votes, that is.

Watch the video and cast your vote!

Martin Scorsese films that I have seen . . . ranked

 In my effort to see more Oscar nominated movies before yesterday's 96th Academy Awards, I sat down with Grace on Saturday and watched Killers of the Flower Moon. And I had feelings about it. And while I'm glad to have watched it, I do not think it was inappropriately snubbed at the ceremony on Sunday. But I'm not a professional movie critic . . . just a guy who's seen an average to less than average amount of films.

Definitely file this in the "Who Asked You?" file.

TOP

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Gangs of New York (2002)

Goodfellas (1990)

Cape Fear (1991)

The Color of Money (1986)

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

Taxi Driver (1976)

The Aviator (2004)

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

BOTTOM

A Comparison

 

#HatofSummer Video #2: Whits Frozen Custard

I bought this hat a few weeks ago.

I was in Delaware, attending Grace's latest concert band performance at Ohio Wesleyan. It was a rare opportunity to get the whole family together to see Grace's concert. Sarah and her boyfriend drove up from Columbus. Jay didn't have a Friday night conflict of some kind. And even though it was (maybe?) the worst snow storm of this winter, we all made it there and back home again.

After the concert was over, we drove in the snowfall and trudged through the sidewalks of downtown Delaware to have a quick late night dessert at the Delaware Whits. And there, beside the counter, was this hat.

It looks bright and nice and I decided then to buy it!

So, will it be this year's #HatofSummer?

 

#HatofSummer Video 1: Seersucker

Today, the Google Form opened to receive votes for the 2024 #HatofSummer.

So, I'm posting video number 1 here to start publicizing the choices for #OfficialHat2024.

And, to peek behind the curtain a bit, I have a bit of dilemma. You see, I make the videos and I don't open the voting until all of the videos are ready. But when I have all of the videos ready and I open up the official voting, I am reluctant to post all of the hat videos in a block. Because I want to tease out the time period of new videos to try and draw people in. (You see I still labor--after all these years of evidence to the contrary--under the delusion that I will ever be able to generate any sort of Internet interest in the things that I do.)

So, I have videos ready. And I want to time delay video presentation. BUT . . . the Google Form already tells you what the hat choices are--even if you don't have all of the videos to watch yet.

But does it matter?

Untimately, no. I doesn't matter.

So I guess what I will do is this--

I've posted video 1: Seersucker now. Here. And you can start voting now. Over on this linked Google Form. But you will also see the other choices, even if you don't have the full context. But I'll be releasing those videos in a sort of accelerated pace over the next few days. It won't matter or make any difference. But that is what I've chosen to do.

Happy voting!