Earlier this week, I posted a map that the Houston Press had put together, showing the United States of Beer. Although some states were lucky enough to be represented by a craft brew, the inclusion of such industrial swill as Bud, Keystone Light, and Pabst Blue Ribbon brought out howls of protest in the comments thread.
It turns out, much to my delight, that the GOOD community is passionate about GOOD beer! So we asked you to nominate the most awesome, best-tasting, sustainably brewed, independently owned, community-oriented craft beer brewed in your state, and then we made our own map, showing the breweries with the most nominations.
It is truly the United States of GOOD Beer, and you can click on the image above to check it out in detail. There were some very close calls—in New York, Ommegang received only one nomination less than the winning Sixpoint, and in Pennsylvania, Tröegs only narrowly lost out to Victory. GOOD's home state of California was the most hotly contested, while Michigan's Bell's Brewery scored the clearest win. We were excited to receive nominations from forty-nine states (beer lovers of Idaho, where were you?), many introducing us to amazing-sounding beers and breweries that we hadn't come across before. Time for a road trip?
As I recently learned from the documentary Beer Wars, three companies—Coors, Miller, and Anheuser-Busch—account for an astonishing 78 percent of the United States market, with 70 percent of beer wholesalers only selling Anheuser-Busch products. As Jim Koch of the Boston Beer Company (makers of Sam Adams) said in the movie, "It's as if all we know about food, we learned from McDonald's!"
It's clearly time for a beer revolution. After all, to my mind, part of drinking responsibly should mean paying attention to how and where your beer was made, and who your consumer dollars are supporting. So, thank you for all the comments and suggestions, and if you're heading out to the store to stock up for Sunday's Superbowl, we hope our map will inspire you to drink the right thing—and perhaps even discover a new favorite.
UPDATE: This map has been updated. We replaced a mislabeled photo for Washington's Epic Ales; added Star Hill Brewery for Virginia and Capitol City Brewing for Washington, D.C.; and made a few spelling corrections. Thanks for alerting us in the comments and please continue to nominate your favorite brews.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Thanks again for your nominations. In response to popular demand, we are working on a poster of the map but need your help to fund it! Hop on over to our Kickstarter campaign page and become a backer!
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TikTok shocked by 15-year-old unhinged viral clip of kids performing Scarface in school play
Think about the most outrageous film that could be adapted to the stage. Now, imagine the cast of that theatrical production is entirely children, ranging in age from 7 to 10. Now, film it and let the world react.
That’s what director Marc Klasfeld had in mind when he held auditions with professional child actors for a shocking video, meant to look like an elementary school production of the cult film-favorite Scarface. In a now 15-year-old interview with Entertainment Weekly, when asked why he thought this was a good idea, Klasfeld admits, "I thought this would be a nice fit into the kind of YouTube arena of viral videos. And I was right."
The result? Kids yelling “mother-fudger,” piles of popcorn meant to look like cocaine, and outrageous, lengthy scenes of children pointing Super Soakers at one another.
Marc, mostly known as an accomplished commercial and music video director, later adds, "I enjoy making provocative art. I like stirring debate and causing conversation. You're going to get two sides of the coin no matter what you do. People are going to love and hate everything. People loved and hated Avatar. People loved and hated the Jennifer Aniston movie. And people love and hate this. I guess that's a part of having something that's successful out there. There’s got to be certain people that hate it for people to love it."
Once they got their perfect cast, it didn’t take long to put together. He shares, "It was a one-take, so it was pretty much just choosing the right take. About a month altogether."
People sure did react, as it acquired millions of views and comments from all over the Internet. Some were horrified, some were outraged, and many thought it was the funniest thing they'd ever seen. But Marc emphasizes that the kids in the video were not scandalized. "They’ve heard the f-word. They’ve seen more violence in their everyday lives for as long as they can remember. So for this, they’ve seen worse things than this all the time. So this wasn’t that big of a deal for them."
Enter TikTok. The clip (which just popped up again recently on Facebook) was reposted a few years back, and, once again, the comments continue to run the gamut from indignation to full praise. One TikTok user exclaimed, "Bro, I can’t even remember my grocery list, how the fudge did these kids memorize this whole scene lol?"
Others expressed confusion: "I'm not sure whether to be angry or amazed." Some chose anger: "Just imagine, you know these kids watched the movie to get the characters right. And the parents cheering? Yeah, yeah."
Many commenters believed it was a real school play and commended the production for "keepin' it real": "That school keeps it real. Nowadays, kids know so much about guns and drugs, might as well teach them that bad choices don’t end well."
Yet another enjoyed it but was concerned that the parents of the children would not. "Love the tray full of popcorn. But my God, I would hate to see the hell these parents probably raised."
For the most part, the reviews were glowing. Many complimented the acting, and one claimed they definitely would have "preferred this play over their own school production of Macbeth."
And perhaps the biggest compliment? "Al Pacino will be proud."