I never win anything. That's why I'm such a lonely and embittered old man. Well, one of the reasons. The inability of pretty girls to appreciate my inner beauty is another. And the inexplicable reluctance of multimillionaires to give me enough money so I never need to work again.Which is why I'm so overjoyed to have finally won a prize. In Alan and Stonch's annual photo contest. A bit surprised, too, as my photo has no obvious beer connection. It's a photo of a bit fat book. Well there is a sort of beer connection, because the big fat book in question is a Whitbread Ale log. But only I know that.
And what a prize. As much beer as I can drink in the Gunmakers. My sort of prize. And appropriate as the photo was taken just a couple of hundred yards away.
Ron, the instant I saw that decrepit book while perusing the photos I knew who took the photo and that it was a brewing log of some sort. I suspect I need to get out more.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the Necronomicon of brewing. In case that makes no sense, it's from the movie Evil Dead
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw Stonch's umpteen galleries of photos I thought(in the current vernacular) I couldn't be arsed: silly me.The epitome of photography.
ReplyDeleteI think it is fair to say that it was chosen because it was you taking the picture of the object in front of you. A certain level of deconstruction was at play. Remember, you plus that object and others like it may well revolutionize thinking about beer or at least open the door to more and more widely attainable historic recreation of the great lost beers. If that gets a good night out for you, I can only say I am sorry I will miss it being over here in the land of blizzards and maple syrup.
ReplyDeleteNepotistic wanker that Stonch bloke is. My piccie was much better but I'm not his mate, so I didn't win.
ReplyDeleteAt least I'm bitter about it.
Which is yours? I saw no "fatman" entries?
ReplyDeleteAlan,
ReplyDeleteOh, well, you've exposed me. I didn't send it. But that shouldn't have made a difference in a fair world and well you know it.
See, it's better to be nice at Christmas but, for some like you, coal is all you should expect because, just to let you know Mr. Grinch, Stonch had nothing to do with that part of the selection process. Calling out someone as being unfair when you are talking out of your arse speaks for (and from) itself.
ReplyDeleteSeems to me that in the slightly tetchy discussion between Fatman and Alan, the point which Fatman was making rather obliquely has been lost. This might not be the right forum to discuss this, but since Stonch hasn't actually posted the results of the photo comp on his own blog yet, there's nowhere else.
ReplyDeleteNow I know that when you run a competition you can make up the rules and criteria as you go along, and select who you like as the winner, but whoever did do the judging (and Alan I acknowledge you said Stonch didn't), clearly had it in mind to reward the winner for something other than the quality of the photo: "you plus that object and others like it may well revolutionize thinking about beer or at least open the door to more and more widely attainable historic recreation of the great lost beers".
Ron's pic of a brewing log may or may not be the best of all the photos that got sent in, but I reckon you at least have to be alive to the possibility that some of the readers of both blogs might find it a little disillusioning that the world of beer bloggers is so self referential and self reinforcing that you would award the prize to a fellow beer blogger, partly on the basis that his blogging is great (which it is). I mean, I didn't enter and had no stake in who won, but I raised an eyebrow when I read Ron's post - what would the point of me entering and participating in a future competition be anyway?
Lest anyone call me a Grinch, I'll take this opportunity to thank you Ron for all the great posts. I read virtually every day and look forward to them. Anytime Ron that you get round to publishing your big book, perhaps in the same way as Zythophile published his as an electronic book, I'll be happy to get my credit card out and put some money in your pocket (i'd buy the amsterdam pub guide but there's not much point, since I'm not even a chance of getting there in the next two or three years.)
Happy Christmas all...
Superb photo Ron, well done!
ReplyDeleteFatman doesn't have a point, either he is just joking or really is bitter. Either way his comment is unkind and uncalled for, Ron's photo is brilliant.
Perhaps we should blame Ron for having an excellent blog and for taking a great, evocative photo as well as Alan and Stonch for going to the trouble of organising a free-entry competition at no personal gain at the busiest time of year?
Maybe they should give up blogging and handing out free beer prizes to complete strangers and dedicate themselves to making snide, anonymous comments on the internet?
I don't know any of them but sent in a photo and won a prize and am delighted.
If you think I'm actually going to give Ronbo free pints at the Gunmakers, you must be fucking kidding!
ReplyDeleteThe amusing thing about the snide comments above is that the "prize" awarded to Ron was clearly tongue in cheek! The free pints he'll get will be the same as those he got a couple of weeks ago - the contents of the lines when I flush them with water at the end of each session!
Cheers "Ed"!
Stonch/Jeffrey
ReplyDeleteSorry - my comment wasn't meant as snide and it looks like I missed the point, partly because I didn't know what the Gunmakers was. It looked like something it wasn't. That's cool and I still wish you all a good Christmas because I like both your blogs, and I'm not some troll making trouble for the sake of it.....
ok?