In the Indie drama “Everything Must Go”, Will Ferrel plays an alcoholic loser on a big downward spiral.  He loses his job, his home and his family in one fell swoop.  He gets fired, only to come home and see all his worldly possessions tossed out on his front lawn by his angry wife.    He sits at a traffic light, paralyzed from doing anything but drinking out of his liquor flask.  The movie has a redemptive theme and shows how Ferrell’s character, Nick Halsey, gets his life back.  While I have no seen the movie, this review at Entertainment Weekly, really raves about Ferrell’s performance.

Public Service Announcement: Without getting to preachy, we must add a gentle reminder.  Please, please, please use your liquor flasks wisely and responsibly.  Do not drive while using one or after, EVER.  A few tugs of your flask can enhance a good time.  Too many tugs can just lead to ugliness.  There, said it, now back to our regular programming.

Back to our original programming: Anyway, this movie looks like a good one and we look forward to seeing it.  the release date is May 13th.  We’d love to hear from you if you’ve seen it.  We loved him in classics like Old School and Anchorman, what did you think of Will Ferrell’s first big dramatic role?

-Pete

We’ve seen you out there, you know who you are. Taking every opportunity to sully the good name of hip flasks everywhere. We’ve seen you in forums asking things like: “I want to get the groomsmen in my wedding party gifts that they’ll actually use. I don’t want to get them something like a flask, that will sit in their closet forever.” How dare you.

We take the stance that hip flasks are ideal for groomsmen gifts, birthday gifts, anniversary gifts or any other gift giving occasion. Not only do we take that stance, here our 5 reasons we’ll give to back it up. So without further ado, 5 reasons hip flasks make great gifts:

1) Economics. Times are tough right now and we’re all trying to save where we can. Hip flasks fit right in here. No more 10 dollar beers at the baseball games or concert. Just pack your trusty flask full of a few ounces of your favorite liquor and you’ll have all the booze you’ll need for a night of fun. Flasks are compact so you can keep them in your pocket and some of the larger ones hold up to 10 ounces for your heavy drinkers. Even if it were a dollar a cup, who wants flat draft beer anyway!

2) Convenience. Have you tried getting a drink at a ball game, a concert or even a crowded bar? We’ll, I hope you have your iPod and a half hour to kill. With business everywhere cutting back on staff, lines for everything are getting longer and booze lines are no exception. You can avoid all this by keeping your hand hip flask on your person and stocked with your favorite liquor.

3) Retro Cool Factor. Whether you want to admit it or not, hip flasks right now have a retro cool vibe going on. Maybe its the HBO hit “Atlantic City” which is situated during prohibition times or maybe its the AMC hit “Mad Men” which shows real men drinking hard liquor during working lunches. Not sure of the exact reason, but flasks definitely are back in style!

4) Uniqueness. Face it, guys are tough to shop for. Most guys are not sitting around thinking how they wish they had a certain item. For the most part, guys see something they think is cool and we go get it. You don’t often hear a guy sitting around thinking how he wishes he had the newest gadget. We don’t clothes shop, we stick to low cost foods like pizza, and we spend our money buying gadgets we like. A hip flask is a cool gift that will make the recipient happy upon receiving it, even if he never uses it again (which is not likely!)

5) Personalization. The final reason that hip flasks make great gifts may be the best. Gift giving is hard, especially for men. We are notoriously tough to shop for (for the reasons stated above, among others). Its even harder to get a guy a gift that has sentimental meaning without making him want to throw up or run and hide. Enter flasks. You can add a few lines of heartfelt sentiment to the front of a flask and, because its a flask, not risk ridicule. This comes in particularly handy when you want to thank your groomsmen for standing by you but it works for birthdays and anniversaries too! A very popular engraving our customers order is: “To times we won’t remember and friends we’ll never forget.” What a perfect way to let a guy know he’s special to you without sending him running!

What do you think, we’d love to hear your feed back. Do you think a flask makes a great gift? What are some other gift ideas for men can you add?

-Pete

The world famous auction house Christie’s is auctioning off 22 love letter from a young Jackie O. The letters, written to her Harvard boyfriend, R. Beverly Corbin, are expected to command between $25,000 and $35,000 at auction.

Written by a teenage Jackie while attending Miss Porter’s Boarding School in Connecticut, the letters show a feisty and playful side not usually seen by the public in her later life. While the letters reveal some of Jackie’s deep thoughts on life, children and her future, we were most interested in one particular line that discusses her fondness for hip flasks! Cool article, read more about it here.

-Pete

Ellen Degeneres thanked Lady Antebellum for their appearance by giving them camouflaged flasks like a Cell Phone Flask that they could sneak into the Grammys.  Pretty nice gift and thoughtful too.  I’m sure Lady Antebellum could use few swigs to calm their nervers, they ended up winning five Grammys!  You can read all about it at The Country Vibe.

-Pete

“Like” is you need rescued!

Many times people and pets alike come to the rescue. Popular stories abound like ones that follow where the rescuers had a nice hip flask with them. 

- In some cases people and animals arrive carrying a flask of spirits. You may recall seeing St. Bernard dogs in cartoons and Saturday morning kids’ shows come to the aid of mountain climbers and other snow activists with their tiny barrel flask of beverage! Then their handler arrives on the scene, too, with a first aid kit that also boasts a flask of spirits. Now there’s a win-win!

Read more by heading to:   Reuters next…

-Pete

“Like” if you work with virtual assistants!

When you are communicating with your virtual assistants about your executive gift buying and other tasks, you need to be sure that you have a clear and concise approach in your communication. These are the items that are going to help you form a working relationship with an individual, who in some cases you might not have verbal communication with. It is because of this, that you need to look over five important points to help you have effective communication.

1.       Your communication should be brief and to the point, like about which products are in question for buying: flasks or other items, for instance. Adding too much irrelevant or detailed information in a request can actually backfire when you are working with a virtual assistant. Get the point across and hit send. 

2.       Keep your communication formal. As your partnership increases, you can begin to communicate on a conversational level. Acting as a professional allows this individual to look at you as a no nonsense individual and can help you to receive higher quality work.

3.       Explain what you need to accomplish with this individual. This means you lay down your expectations up front to clear the air. Adding in surprises later can actually result in tension between you and the virtual assistant.

4.       Until you get a feeling for this individual, have all communication go through your e-mail. This will help you to avoid having phone calls at 2 AM that could have been answered in the morning.

5.       Be sure they know your schedule. You can let them know they can Instant Message or email you and expect a response between certain hours. This opens the lines of communication you both can have.

You will find that simply and effectively communicating with your virtual assistant will help to ensure that you have your projects done properly. In addition, you will find that your assistant will have a higher respect for you and will in turn help you to create a positive working relationship.

“Like” if you work with virtual assistants!

-Pete

Some people like to engrave favorite sayings on gifts. And popular gift items include a hip flask engraved with the favorite saying of a friends or loved one, as in the case of the words, “CARPE DIEM” on a pewter hip, noted on Drift Surfing website (below).

Engraving is actually easier today, more so than ever before, because you can order your gift right online in a few clicks. Find the gift of your choice, choose a favorite saying, date, nickname or other words to have engraved, and complete your order form.

Read about the above mentioned hip flask by clicking: Drift Surfing today…

-Pete

Heads up! The ever popular hip flask is not only   to soothe thirst, but to also soothe the funny bone!  If you also work from home – and on a computer, you may want an exemption like John Kramer, Institute for Justice, discusses in, “Meet Thane Hayhurst, An Apparent Poster Boy for Job Creation Through Deregulation.”

Learn more by clicking: Dallas Observer today…

And also check into popular flasks while you’re at it. Should computers techs (and others) get tax exemptions? I vote, “Yes!” for exemptions for all computer – users! Place your vote here, too, and we’ll pass the stats along to our government

-Pete