September 24, 2009 marks the 250 Anniversary of Arthur Guinness signing the 9,000 year lease at St. James Gate in Dublin. On this day Guinness has set up a set of global celebrations. Dublin will of course be the place to be on this day. If we can’t get there, we will definitely be celebrating in NYC. Celebrations will begin in Dublin at 17:59 (12:59 EST), when there will be a toast to Arthur. It looks like Guinness has pulled out all the stops for this day. Just about every venue in Dublin is hosting a Guinness related event. They have just announce more artists and celebrities that will be there. Celebrities that will be raising a pint to Arthur are Sir Bob Geldof, Guy Ritchie, Carson Daly, Jerry Hall and Sophie Dahl. Here is a complete list of artists that will be joining in the celebration (as of today).

• Black Swan Effect
• Calvin Harris
• Cherbourg
• D’Banj
• David Gray
• Dirty Epics
• DJ David Holmes
• Eoghan Colgan
• Estelle
• Golden Silvers
• Hoarsebox
• Imelda May
• Jamie Cullum
• Jay Jay Pistolet
• Johnny Flynn
• Kasabian
• Mick Flannery
• Mongrel
• Mystery Jets
• Nat Jenkins
• Noah and The Whale
• Noise Control
• Razorlight
• Republic of Loose
• Reverend and The Makers
• Richard Hawley
• Soul II Soul
• Sugababes
• The Black Eyed Peas
• The Blizzards
• The Chakras
• The Chapters
• The Enemy
• The Hot Rats
• The Kooks
• The Undertones
• The Wombats
• Tom Jones

MJ is pretty excited about Tom Jones being added. I would like to see some more Irish punk added to this list. The Pogues are playing together again the last I heard. Against Me! (not Irish) would be apropos too, with their song “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong”. We still need to do a pour video with that one as the music.

If you can’t get out to an official celebration on September 24, at least make sure you visit your local Irish Pub and raise a pint of the black stuff to Arthur.

IrishFireside.com has a great Guinness 250 Anniversary themed giveaway going on. They are giving away some of the stuff Guinness gives out when they induct people into also giving away a Flip Mino HD. If you win it film a pour and we’ll post it! They used our “To Arthur” video as an example of things you can do. For details head to http://irishfireside.wordpress.com/2009/07/12/gifts-from-arthur-our-new-giveaway

Yesterday marked the 233 Birthday of our great country. After watching fireworks we poured a Guinness in honor of that birthday. Sadly the sparklers threw so much ash and what not into the Guinness it was rendered undrinkable. Happy Birthday USA!

I got word a couple days ago that my boss could no longer afford to pay me. My co-worker Eric, who’s in the Irish Car Bomb video, and did the Ruined by the dog pour, was also laid off. June’s unemployment numbers were somewhere around 9.5%. We’ll be part of July’s. Some friends came over to help me mourn/celebrate.  If you need a Web Developer I’m available!

The camera was sitting there and there was more Guinness to drink. This is an impromptu set of pours.

We enjoy our camping and we enjoy our Guinness. What makes a warm, toasty, crackly campfire even better? A Guinness of course!

We went camping on the Delaware River last week. We had a great time. The Delaware Water Gap is a beautiful place. George Washington crossed this river 17 years after Arthur Guinness signed the lease for St. James Gate. To bad they weren’t importing Guinness here yet, I’m sure he could have used one vigrx testimonials on that cold, wet night. It may have looked like this:

We didn’t get to cross the Delaware in a canoe, but we did enjoy a Guinness. This one is in shaky HD. The bank was a little steep. Thanks to Jason for the editing.

Guinness has a new promotion on their hands. As part of the ongoing Guinness 250 celebrations Guinness announces GUINNESS EXPERIENCES. There are three GUINNESS EXPERIENCES you can enter to win: Space Experience, Sea Experience and Studio Experience. Here is the promo video.

These look pretty cool, I will be entering. You can enter to win a GUINNESS EXPERIENCE from July 1 to September 24. Head over to http://Guinness.com to enter and for the rules, terms and such. The Underwater Bar looks pretty cool. Here are detailed descriptions for each GUINNESS EXPERIENCE.

GUINNESS SPACE EXPERIENCE

The GUINNESS SPACE EXPERIENCE will offer one lucky person the awe-inspiring opportunity to become one of the first early non-professional astronauts to venture into space with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic. The winner and a friend will be treated to an unforgettable trip to New Mexico – Virgin Galactic’s home at Spaceport America. Whilst there, the winner will be given full training to ensure they are mentally and physically prepared for the momentous flight that will race them through the Earth’s atmosphere at almost 2500mph – three times the speed of sound. Sitting 68 miles above the Earth’s surface, they will experience the amazing feeling of weightlessness; floating effortlessly around the cabin. The final jaw-dropping chapter to this astounding adventure will be the view of Earth from the blackness of space, stretching 1000 miles in all directions, before returning safely to the spaceport to receive official astronaut wings.

GUINNESS SEA EXPERIENCE

The GUINNESS SEA EXPERIENCE will offer one winner and two friends a truly unique experience; venturing to the depths of the sea in the first ever GUINNESS deep sea bar. The guests will be treated to an incredible four day trip to the Lofoten Islands in Norway, where they will board the exclusively designed GUINNESS deep sea bar and plunge into the black stuff. The winner and friends will be able to enjoy a GUINNESS in style, surrounded by a breathtaking seascape to depths of up to 70m below sea level.

GUINNESS STUDIO EXPERIENCE

The GUINNESS STUDIO EXPERIENCE entitles one winner and two friends to an exclusive live performance by The Black Eyed Peas at an intimate recording studio as part of their forthcoming world tour. This is a private, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the winner and friends to experience the band’s music, up close and personal. After the performance, the winner and friends will round off this great experience by spending some time hanging out with the band, before enjoying the perfect GUINNESS.

Yesterday MJ got an early birthday present. A Kodak Zi6. The Zi6 is comparable to those Flip video cameras, but HD. They have some HD models too, but the Zi6 is suppose to have the best picture of them all paige davis pokies. It shoots at 720p so isn’t quite true HD but it’s nice for what it is.

Enough with all that here is the pour. We tried out the macro mode. It’s pretty cool.

Last week, we got an email from a Guinness representative who had discovered our videos on YouTube. We were invited to join the Guinness 250, an “elite group” of 250 Guinness aficionados. We gladly accepted, and anxiously awaited our welcome packets. On Friday, the FedEx box arrived. We got more than we expected! We were positively giddy to see the letter and certificate of membership signed by Fergal Murray, Guinness Brewmaster. We also received this cool stuff:

Guinness Swag

And these awesome Canterbury rugby shirts:

Guinness Rugby Shirts

So of course we had a celebratory pour:

And put the bottle opener to good use:

Thank You Guinness!

I would like to congratulate Mr. Shark on his retirement after over 10 years of service on my keychain. Mr. Shark has worked hard and is a trusted bottle-opener, always ready to do whatever it takes to get the job done.

We wish him well as he sets off to retire in warm and sunny Panama City, Florida (actually the junk drawer in my kitchen). We will of course, always consider bringing him back for consulting opportunities if he can find time in between his bingo games.

His successor is the sleek, new Guinness bottle-opener keychain that I received from our friends at Guinness! Thanks guys, and be sure that I’ll be putting it to good use!

Cheers!