Matt Yglesias

Super Train, Super Beer

I was initially very excited that the train from Frankfurt to Hamburg featured wifi, but it turned out to be super-unreliable. The real good news about Deutsche Bahn trains is that you can buy Franziskaner beer, my favorite German offering from the Saloon on U Street:

And while Diet Coke may be more expensive in Germany, Franziskaner is definitely cheaper.

Just a Friend

My friend A.M. pointed out this morning that somehow Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend” has wound up as number thirteen on the iTunes hip-hop charts despite being old. My hypothesis is that this once again illustrates the underestimated cultural power of mediocre Dutch beer. The upsurge in Markie enthusiasm, in other words, is probably due to the fact that this Heinecken ad, currently in heavy rotation during NBA playoff games, is pretty funny:

Alternatively, everyone’s so glued to the energy bill debate on the Hill that they’re confusing Biz Markie and Representative Ed Markey (D-MA).

The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism

I’ve heard it speculated, and even done some speculating myself, that the reason “socialism” is growing in popularity is that you have so many hideously unpopular right-wingers saying the broadly popular Barack Obama is a socialist.

An alternative hypothesis is that this Amstel Light ad is leading some to conclude that socialist Europe is not quite the dystopia Mitch McConnell’s been warning about:

I’m not really an Amstel fan, but there’s no denying that Amsterdam is great. Beyond the obvious, they’ve got some very interesting early childhood policies there and delicious Indonesian food.

The New Beer Track

In the spirit of Barack Obama’s call for national reconciliation and a de-escalation of the culture wars, after knocking off work yesterday I went with Chris Hayes (pictured) and Ari Berman of The Nation and Mike Tomasky of The Guardian to grab some beers and, like any good beer-track voter, pair them with a selection of local cheeses.

This was all in St. Paul’s Summit Heights neighborhood, which seemed to come straight out of liberal elite central casting. Indeed, we literally — and not just Joe Biden literally, but actually literally — wound up in Garrison Keillor’s living room. He turns out to be a very generous host, but not a blog reader. The other place I went in St. Paul that was good was Golden’s Deli on the other side of downtown. A local independent media operation called The Uptake secured the location as a workspace and also secured a bunch of delicious sandwiches.