Sometimes there are brands and products that are so well loved, they draw their own fan base and subculture. Take, for instance, Volvo owners, who push their cars until they're ancient rust buckets in an attempt to get 500,000 or more miles out of them. Or, consider McRib lovers, who search for the elusive sandwich high and low. Then there are the people who literally brand themselves head to toe with their favorite logos, paying for the privilege of wearing a Corona bikini or Budweiser board shorts.

One would think that the real-life Don Drapers of the world are insanely happy when someone announces "eat an Oreo day" or sets up a "Shamrock Shake finder". I mean, isn't a fan-based rap called "I Love McDonald's" the ultimate in free advertising? Isn't that the goal of every corporation with a Twitter or Instagram account? To have a product so well loved that a specific burger or taco or car goes viral?

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Yesterday a committee of the Florida Senate unanimously passed Florida SB 1344. The bill -- introduced by Bill Latvala, a Republican senator from Pinellas County -- doesn't have anything to do with campaign finance reform or tourist development taxes or ethics. It has to do with allowing Florida breweries to sell 64-ounce growlers.

Growlers, by the way, are refillable bottles that contain beer. Long before suds were mass-produced and available at grocery stores, they were brought home from the local pub in lidded buckets or bottles. The noise of the CO2 gas escaping sounded like a growl -- hence the name.

The typical size of the modern-day beer growler in 47 states is 64 ounces -- a half-gallon of beer. But because Florida has to be contrary, growlers in the Sunshine State can hold no more than 32 ounces of "malt beverage." More »

Police in Southern California are hunting for Christopher Dorner, the ex-Los Angeles Police Officer and former military man who is believed to have killed three people in retaliation for being fired from his LAPD job.

Dorner, who is assumed to be somewhere near Big Bear Lake, about 80 miles east of Los Angeles, is eluding about 100 police officers involved in the chase, according to CBS News.

After the alleged killings, Dorner issued a lengthy manifesto on his Facebook page, which was published in its entirety on laist.com and LA Times.

The rambling missive calls out members of the LAPD and states that, "No one grows up and wants to be a cop killer. It was against everything I've ever was. As a young police explorer I found my calling in life. But, As a young police officer I found that the violent suspects on the street are not the only people you have to watch."



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Ron Jeremy, star of over 2,000 adult films and the man behind Ron de Jeremy, Ron Rolling papers, and anything else he could put his....ummm...face on and make a buck, is resting after aneurysm surgery.

The actor/entrepreneur/personality drove himself to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles early Wednesday after experiencing chest pains. He was found to have had an aneurysm near his heart and doctors performed surgery on the 59 year-old Jeremy.

According to Reuters, the actor is "resting with complete privacy and no visitors" after the surgery.

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Ron Jeremy Offers Rum and a Lapdance
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New York Times food critic Pete Wells has reviewed Guy Fieri's new Times Square-area restaurant, Guy's American Kitchen & Bar.

Well, it's less a review than a fully-formed script for a Saturday Night Live episode in which a food critic asks the bowling shirt-attired television personality...why? Just why?

Never have I sympathized with anyone at their utter confusion and disappointment (or laughed so hard I snorted) than with Pete Wells. Maybe Cindy Lou Who when the Grinch stole her Christmas out from under her and her fellow Whos -- but never a real person.

In this review, which begs to be read aloud by Christopher Walken or William Shatner on some insanely viral YouTube video, Wells channels the infamous Clint Eastwood moment at the Republican National Convention and simply asks questions to an invisible Guy Fieri:

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Oh PETA, I've got your number. You're like that girl in college who always got drunk and flashed her boobs before vomiting on her shoes. You'll do anything for attention.

Look, I know that you've got an important message to get across, and we need animal rights advocates just as much as we need the Cattlemen's Beef Board and the American Meat Institute.

Both sides are hellbent on letting you know that they're right and the other people are crazies -- sort of like the two extreme sides of our two-party political system. After all, you can't have the Tea Party without the ultra-liberals as a check and balance.

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We started a war.

When I spoke with the Iron Fork Food Truck Battle contestants to get a little piece on strategy, I thought it would be the usual "the other chef is so talented...I'll do my best...blah blah blah."
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For about a century, soda companies have been telling us that their products are the best way to do everything from quench your thirst to celebrate the holidays.

Coca-Cola, especially, has set the tone by equating its product to happiness ("Have a Coke and a smile"); world peace ("I'd like to teach the world to sing"); and the true meaning of Christmas (Santa and some adorable polar bears seem to love the stuff).

As a kid, we were given soda in school. Not as a treat, but as an alternative to milk. There were soda machines in the hallways and, just in case I didn't have enough of the sugary substance, my mother would put a can of coke in my Brady Bunch lunch box -- along with my baloney on white bread and package of Twinkies. Standard lunch for a child in 1970's Brooklyn and the start of what would become a struggle to stave off the start of obesity (or what my Jewish mother would always call "a little baby fat").

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Mike Huckabee, former governor, former presidential candidate, former marathon runner, political pundit, and author of a children's book, has announced that today, August 1, be proclaimed across this great nation as Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, in honor of the company that sparked a shitstorm of controversy after its president and COO, Dan Cathy, reaffirmed his support of traditional marriage in an interview with the Baptist Press. In the interview, Cathy was quoted as saying: 

"We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that .. We operate as a family business... our restaurants are typically led by families; some are single. We want to do anything we possibly can to strengthen families. We are very much committed to that," Cathy emphasized.

"We intend to stay the course," he said. "We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles."

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When it was announced that Fiat was bringing its little Italian cars back to the U.S. market, I was excited. Fiat's blend of sexy chic and utilitarian sensibility truly embodies all things Italian. Besides, it costs thousands of dollars less than the Mini Cooper, another cute import.

In an attempt to win over consumers, the company opened little "studios" complete with colorful car models and an espresso machine. When I walked into the showroom studio, I was accosted by a salesperson. Here we go, I thought, steeling myself for the typical automotive hard-sell. Instead, I was offered a cappuccino and the opportunity to look around and kick the tires on my own -- all while holding a rich, satisfying drink in my hands.

I was enchanted by the company's non-sales technique and complimentary hot beverages (not to mention an economical car at a reasonable price) and eventually wound up driving away in a pistachio-green model.

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