Well That's Cool

In celebration of the 200th episode of Well That’s Cool, we are giving you a chance to win a pair of tickets to The Tuscaloosa Get Up!

Were you planning on coming but you are low on funds? Don’t like ordering things on the internet? Or are you  just lazy, live out of town and/or all the on-line tickets are sold out? Never fear… We have you covered. It just takes is a little work on your part and you just might win tickets!

All you have to do is write a three paragraph essay on any topic you choose. Any topic! These essays will be read by our very own grammatoligist Eric St. Clair and resident elementary school teacher Matt King Smith. The judges will choose a winner based on whatever criteria they choose.

Judges St. Clair and Smith can not be be bought but that should not stop you from trying!

The winner of the essay contest will not only win a pair of tickets to the Tuscaloosa Get Up; they will have their essay read on next week’s podcast and posted to wellthatscool.com. As if that was not motivation enough, the night of the show you will also have a chance to take a picture with the judges (you just might get a beer outta this too!).

The contest deadline is Wednesday Feb. 22 at noon. E-mail all entries to wellthatscool200thepisode@gmail.com

Need some help coming up with a topic? We made a list to help you jump start ideas!
Anteaters
BEER
Cat Videos
Didgeridoos
Eric St. Clair
Freedom (AMERICA! Fuck Yeah)
German Engineering
Hewlett Packard
Indigo Girls
The word Janky
Kelly Lebrock
Lake Titicaca
MOXIE!
Noaa Weather Service
Oak City Barber Shop
Pudding Pops
Q-bert
Race Cars
Steve Holt
Travelocity Gnome
Uranus
vuvuzela
Wankers
Xylophones

Popularity: 6% [?]

Well it’s that time of the year again…

A time were we start gearing up for spring by knocking the dust off the lawnmower that has been shuttered away for the past six months and plan to get all that cleaning and work done.

Sounds like a bummer right?

Well this is also the time of the year for Tuscaloosa’s own celebration of southern beers.  Yes my friends, it is time for Suds of the South III.  For those who have come to the first to can attest this is a great event with a focus on southern breweries.  The goal is show people that good beer does not only have to come from the west coast, Colorado or any where else.  We are lucky enough in the south to have some of the best breweries around. This event is also a fundraiser for freethehops.org, with out their work we would have so many less choices.

Suds of the South III will take place on Saturday March 10th from 4pm to 7pm.  Attendees will receive a keep sake glass on entry and receive samples from each brewery throughout the event.  A limited amount of early bird tickets are available for $15 and after that they go to $20 . Many of the breweries bring special extremely limited releases just for this event.  We will have a full list of beers in the coming weeks, but here is a list of the breweries involved:

Alabama

Good People (Birmingham)

• IPA
• Brown
• Coffee Oatmeal Stout
• Special rare batch announced the week before

Back Forty (Gadsden)

• Naked Pig
• Kudzu Porter
• Truck Stop Brown
• Freckle Belly IPA
•  Special rare batch announced the week before

Avondale (Birmingham)

Straight to Ale (Huntsville)

• Monkeynaut IPA
• Lily Flagg Milk Stout
• Montesano Maibock
• Rocket City Red (Irish Red)
• Special rare batch announced the week before

Blue Pants (Huntsville)

Yellow hammer (Huntsville)

Georgia

Terrapin (Athens)

• Hop Karma (India Brown)
• Rye
• Hopsecutioner
• Special rare batch announced the week before

Sweetwater (Atlanta)

Tennessee

Yazoo (Nashville)

• Hop Project
• Slye Rye Porter
• Special Cask announced week before event

Mississippi

Lazy Magnolia (Kiln)

Louisiana

Abita (Abita Springs)

Nola (New Orleans)

• Blond
• Hopitoulas IPA

North Carolina

Highland (Asheville )

Our sympathizer from outside the south

Tallgrass (Manhattan Kansas)

• 8 bit hop Rocketed Pale Ale
• Velvet Rooster Triple
• IPA
• Buffalo Sweat

Here are some highlights from the last few years events!  Be sure to get your tickets soon.  You don’t want to miss out on one of the best beer events in the state!

Popularity: 20% [?]

Monday February 20th

Chamber in Session -with Richard Shelby from 7:30-8:30am at the   Country Club of Tuscaloosa.  $25 for Chamber of Commerce members, $30 for non-members

Wonder of the World. 7:30pm at the Allen Bales Theatre

Tuesday February 21st

Terrific Tuesday Concert Series. It runs from 1:15-2:15pm at the Shelton State Community College, Martin Campus, Atrium

A Dangerous Method.  7:30 – 9:30pm – Bama Theatre

Music Trivia Tuesdays with Sweet Dog. starting at 9pm, Green Bar

Fat Tuesday Dance Party with DJ Brian Oliu – Egans

Wednesday February 22nd

Win tickets to The Tuscaloosa Get Up by sending a 3 paragraph essay to wellthatscool200thepisode@gmail.com no later than noon today! (Wednesday)

Open Mic.  9:30pm.  Green Bar

 Thursday February 23rd

Lunch ‘n Learn Workshop – Zotero.  1-2pm.  205 Gorgas Library

Thursday Night Trivia at Wilhagans.  8pm

Free showing of Die Hard, followed by a performance from Happy Lemmy. it all starts at 9:30 at Green Bar

Friday February 24th

Come to Moody Music Building, Recital Hall for An Exciting Evening of New Music – 7:30

CBDB – Green Bar – 10:00 P.M.

Saturday February 25th

The Kiwanis Club of Tuscaloosa Pancake Day.  6am.  Central High School, Cafeteria

Asses of Fire Chili Cookoff.  2-5pm.  Egans

UA Ultimate Women’s Tournament  at the UA Outdoor Recreation Center

The Sunshine Factory and Stargazer Lillies.  10pm-1am.  Green Bar

Sunday February 26th (More like upcoming events):

2012 Wellthatscool.com Suds of The South beer fest – March 10th – Wilhagans

Popularity: 6% [?]

Only the best clip art for us

Every year around this time, we here at the well that’s cool headquarters get the hankering for the savory bean, meat and spice concoction known as chili. So how do we fulfill the gastronomic self flagellation of ingesting as many batches of chili as we can while drinking beer? The “11th Annual Asses of Fire Chili Cookoff” at Egans of course. So if you got some mad chili skills and want to show them off to Tuscaloosa, come to Egans on Saturday Feb. 25th. Registration is from 2:00pm to 3:45pm with judging by panel starting at 4:15pm. You’ll need to bring a crock pot, your own ladle and even better it’s free to enter. We will award the top two chilis with cash prizes with third place taking home a case of beer. It gets even better. If you take the time to make a chili, you shall be rewarded $1.50 Bud and Bud Lights and $2.50 full pints of any of Egans drafts. If you wish to partake in the adventure but don’t want to make a chili,  you may dine on the smorgasboard of chilis for a mere $3.  Is there a better way to spend a non-football Saturday in Tuscaloosa than hanging out with cool people, drinking beer and eating chili? We dare say no. Hope to see you there! For more info email us at wellthatscool(at)gmail

Popularity: 8% [?]

Hot on the heels of my previous review, here are some quick, down-and-dirty reviews of the movies that the Bama’s been showing. Keep coming back for the full series as it happens.

Melancholia: Missed most of it, I was selling tickets to the movie (Well That’s Cooligans support our community). It seemed super depressing. Plus, who wants to have sex in a sand trap? Sounds… gritty.

Martha, Marcy, May, Marlene: A wonderful meditation on why postmodernism is ass-backwards and modernism is alienating.

*Bonus* The response from the Bama’s manager upon hearing that line: “Bill, you’re full of shit.”

Bellflower: Bad in a good way and good in a bad way.

The Other F Word: Punk rockers explain some of the best reasons to have a crumb-snatcher. It’s pretty heartfelt. Not a lot of reality show bull here. Just punk rockers as dads.

Black Power Mix Tape 1967-1975: This film is impossible to sum up in one sentence. It was informative and showed many people from the Civil Rights Movement as persons and not just names in a text book. See this film.

To come: Carnage, A Dangerous Method.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Apologies for lateness. Color me lazy.

As I didn’t read the book, I went into Scorsese’s film quite blind. A combination of his daughter’s request for a movie she could watch and Scorsese’s own love of 3D film, Hugo tells of an orphan who is determined to repair an automaton his father started fixing.

This movie’s plot is one to watch instead of reading a summary in a review. The technical aspect of the plot is that it is two part, the setting and the stage. In all, I found it too fragmented. I plan to read the book and watch the film again.

The characters are fun and actor chemistry is fantastic. The story is dripping with a sense of adventure that accompanies childhood naivete. The movie also reminds younger viewers that those older than they were once as young and as idealistic as the young are now. This holds especially true when the movie diverts from Hugo’s story to a biographical one.

It’s a tough film to critique without having read the book. Therefore, I won’t numerically score this. Simply put, see it if you have read the book, or if your kid wants to see it, or if you want to see some of the first films ever made in 3D.

If you miss it in theatres, get the 3D Blu Ray. Scorsese made it 3D for a reason.

Bonus info: this movie got a ton of damn Oscar nods. Take that how you will.

Popularity: 5% [?]

In honor of our big announcement about the Tuscaloosa Get UP, we have opened up the Wellthatscool.com Vault (combination 21-0) and are giving you a never before seen Alabama Shakes video. We hope you enjoy another video of The Shakes playing at the Well That’s Cool World Wide HQ!

Also don’t forget about the late night TV debut of the Alabama Shakes, Feb. 7th. on Conan!

Popularity: 19% [?]

A few days after the April 27th tornado, we called our friend Elliot McPherson of the Dexateens with the idea of trying to organize a benefit  show to help in the recovery. It was decided that any sort of concert should be put on hold and the help the city needed most at that time was definitely more hands on. So with the one year anniversary approaching, we would like to announce the “Tuscaloosa Get UP”

The Tuscaloosa Get Up will take place at the Bama Theatre in downtown Tuscaloosa on Friday March 23rd at 8pm. The event is a partnership between us, the Tuscaloosa Arts Council and Tuscaloosa’s own Dexateens. It will showcase the music of the Alabama Shakes, The Dexateens and Lee III and the Glory Fires.  The event is all ages and will be $15 for general admission with a limited amount of VIP tickets for $50. The VIP tickets will entitle attendees to early entry to a preparty at the Bama featuring light food, free local beer and limited edition poster and a short acoustic set from the some of the bands.

This event is a fundraiser for Tuscaloosa Habitat for Humanity. All proceeds from the event will go towards our goal of rebuilding a whole house for a family that lost theirs during the storm. We want to harness the power of music to help heal Tuscaloosa.

General admission and VIP tickets are available here

If you can’t make it but still want to help, you can make a tax deductible donation here.

Here is a little wellthatscool.com taste of what you have in store.

Popularity: 100% [?]

That’s right everyone it is time for a new league to start. The league will start this Wednesday Jan. 18th. This will be our…..12 to 15ish league. Its hard to really remember when the sport practically demands that you drink large amounts of beer. The league works like this;

• You and two friends come out to the AMF bowling ally on Wednesday nights at 8pm. Come a little early this first week to fill out paper work.
• If you don’t have two other people to help you form your very on three headed monster pure
  bowling awesomeness come out anyway there are always a few people looking to join a team.
• You each bring $12, this covers the cost of the games, shoe rental and league scoring
• You get assigned a handicap to make it fair when bowling against better bowlers.
• How does this handicap work? Well I’m glad you asked, It is 100% of 200. I know you thought there would be no math but bear with us, all it means is that if you average 100 pins you’ll get 100 pins added to your score. So lets say you average 120 pins well you get 80 pins, 150 you 50 added and so on. So what ever you average under 200 will be added to your score.
• At the end of 12 weeks there are cash prizes as well as well as a big pot luck and free bowling. We also have it on good authority that there will be a special prize for each team this league. Hint it rhymes rolling fall.

We like to look at the league as sort of a midweek weekend. Something to help on Monday because

Hip socks encourged

shit it’s only two days till bowling and after bowing it’s almost the weekend. It’s also a great way to kick it with your friends and play one of the few sports that encourage drinking. If you have any questions please drop us a line at wellthatscool(at)gmail(dot)com. We hope to see you there.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Monday January 16th

Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday

Tuesday January 17th

Norman Fischer – Meditation Session.  9:00am – 10:30am.  Riverside Community Center – UA Campus.  Reservations 348-7884

BAH Presents: Martha, Marcy, May, Marlene - 7:30pm – 9:30pm.  Bama Theatre

Wednesday January 18th

Meditation and Discussion “Judaism, Catholicism, Buddhism – Intersections of Spirituality”.  6:30 pm – 8:00 pm.  Bloom Hillel Center

Open Mic with Ham Bagby.  9:30 pm. Green Bar

Thursday January 19th

Meditation Session.  8:30 am – 10:00 am.  Riverside Community Center

National Popcorn Day.  3:00pm – 4:30pm.  Children’s Hands-On Museum

Pacifica String Quartet. 4pm. Moody Music Bldg

Friday January 20th

A Presentation of the Reggio Emilia Program.  noon-1:30pm.  211 Carmichael Hall

Convocation.  noon.  Moody Music Bldg, Concert Hall

The Fab Four: The Ultimate Beatles Tribute. 7:30 – 10:30pm.  Bama Theatre

The Woggles, Model Citizen. Midnight-3am.  Green Bar

Saturday January 21st

January Art Fair at Kentuck.  10am-2pm. Clarke Building (previously Kentuck Annex)

Tuscaloosa County High School Beauty Walk. 7pm – 9pm. Bama Theatre

CBDB.  9:30pm-12:30am.  Green Bar

Sunday January 22nd

Student Recital featuring Amanda Roberts, violin.  2pm.  Moody Music Bldg, Concert Hall

Student Recital featuring Bruce Faske, trombone. 4pm.  Moody Music Bldg, Concert Hall.

Student Recital featuring Arthur Bosarge, piano. 6. P.M

Gospel Show.  5pm – 7pm.  Bama Theatre

Popularity: 19% [?]