Tales of the Salty Bag

This is my second time writing about Blair's Death Rain chips. The first time I had just consumed the Death Rain Jolokia Pepper . They were pretty metals! Get ready for round 2. This time I munched on Blair's Death Rain Buffalo Wing cauldron-cooked potato chips. They come in the same (metal looking) bag [however with Buffalo Wing they switched out the black drop with a yellow (not as metal)]. These were a gift from the in-laws (as were the previous bag of Blair's if I remember correctly). When i peeled the laminated aluminum apart I was greeted with the smell of kettle cooked chips with a slight cayenne hit. I tossed one into my mouth and BAM! Nice crunch, not overly greasy. The bag says that they're a medium heat and I'd have to agree (if not a little more than medium [after all they are Blair's Death Rain]). You can taste the potato and at times you get a hint of BBQ..other times there's a touch of sweetness to the chips. As with all Blair's Death Rain...

When something leaves a bad taste in your mouth it's hard to get over. Sometimes it's literally a taste..sometimes it's a wack name. A few months ago I mentioned the abomination that was Late Night all nighter Cheeseburger Doritos . Doritos didn't stop there with their Late Night line, they also released a "last call Jalapeno Popper". This post is however not about Doritos repugnant misstep, it is about President's Choice and how they once again took the same concept as Doritos and ran with it. Taking this into consideration I was understandably cautious when I picked up a bag of President's Choice Loads of Jalapeno Popper chips. They come in a standard PC bag with a 5 chili pepper heat rating. The background/wallpaper of the bag tips you that these are ridged chips. When I cracked the bag open I could see that these weren't the weakest link in the 'PC Loads of' line, there was a good coating of seasoning on these wavy lil potato slices. ...

Dude Ranch is one of my all time favourite albums. This may be due to the fact that it was a gateway album for me..or possibly it truly is great (I'm not sure if I have the ability to formulate an unbiased opinion). Blink 182 delivered 45 minutes of pop punk that was catchy as hell with lyrics that drilled themselves straight into your cerebral cortex. Whenever I put the album on, from the first note of Pathetic to the last note of I'm Sorry (I can do without the dog drinking urine 'skit' after I'm sorry) I'm transported to a happy place and can't help myself from nodding my head and singing along. Shit's rad. I celebrate(/ed) Blink's entire proper catalogue Cheshire Cat through their 2003 S/T (Buddha and They Came to Conquer.. yes, that live album no [man overboard was decent]). When I heard that they broke up after their 2003 album I thought it was a great choice. The self-titled showed some interesting progression (shit, they did a song with Rober...

In a city not too far away there exists three rock and roll surf punks. Do these punks have names? Yeah dude, (buy the album or look at their bandcamp if you really want to find out their personal information ya creep) these fellas collectively go by the name of The Thrashers . This past spring The Thrashers released a stellar album on Transistor 66, ROBOT INVADERS FROM THE DEATH GALAXY featuring music by THE THRASHERS. Robot Invaders opens with a  instrumental surf track then proceeds to lyrically (and musically) delight and amuse. Musically, as mentioned above this is a rock and roll album with heavy surf influence. On top of that there's punk energy all over the place. The vocal delivery is fairly animated with spurts of 80's hardcore. Lyrically (on the surface) this album is [as the title may lead you to believe] a B-movie (mixed with the musical tone that gives me a real psychobilly vibe). Robot Invaders finds The Thrashers blending their musical influences together perfe...

A month? or so ago the mysterious Ri cky left a present in my mailbox; a lil bag of MACKIE'S of Scotland haggis & cracked black pepper (naturally grown & seasoned) Potato Crisps. I've been intrigued as shit ever since I laid eyes on the bag. A quick skim revealed that these are 'thick cut potato crisps' (lets see if they hold up to standard set by Brannigans for thick cut perfection). As soon as I cracked the bag I took a whiff..animal feed? Visually they look like a nice slab of off-white potato goodness with dark specs of flavour. Snatch, chomp..they're on the puffy side of crunchy (I personally would've liked them cooked slightly longer. That said, they're a 3.5..maybe 4 out of 5 on the Brannigans thick cut scale [so not too shabby]). From chip to chip the flavour varies somewhat. Some have a strong initial black pepper..some the pepper doesn't come on until the 2nd half of crunchtime. Either way there is a lot of black pepper in the seasoni...

If you listened to punk in the 90's I assume that you're at least aware of the "Short Music for Short People" comp that Fat Wreck put out in '99. I'm also betting that you assumed the joke died with that cd.  Well, This past spring when I was going through used 7"s at Sloth Records in Calgary I came across a 45 (from 2006) that I vaguely remember hearing of before; Short Attention - (This isn't written anywhere on the jacket, it's only shown on the actual record label...or when you purchase it digitally) Clever, Maddening & Annoying. Yes, short songs are a novelty..but when done right can be quite enjoyable. Short Attention is an east coast pop punk all star team consisting of (now mostly) former members of Dirt Bike Annie/The Slaughterhouse Four/The Ergs/The Unlovables and The Steinways. Short Attention takes short songs to an extreme delivering 29 pop punk blasts in less time than it takes to finish a bag of chips (or 8 minutes and 8 secon...

BURTS, THICK CUT HAND COOKED POTATO CHIPS...GUINESS FLAVOUR. The bag's black and the overall design makes me think of a basement beerhouse [like one with those rustic wooden tables made out of massive wooden planks..one that you might find a boot at]. When I opened the bag I found some tasty lookin' chips that didn't appear to be very greasy with visually generous powdercoating of 'Guiness' flavouring. I popped one of 'em into my mouth not really knowing what to expect. What I got was..sort of bland. I'm not a huge fan of Guiness, I'll drink it if it's there but I won't go out of my way to partake in consumption. Luckily for me these chips taste more like a salty beef broth flavour. Every few chips I think I get a faint bitter taste. Once in a while it seems like Mr. Sweet, who wasn't invited to the party [and hasn't showered in a week] but found out about it and is lingering outside the window allowing his b.o. to waft by without really ...