Universal Joint

I wasn't there... so I need a review from one that was.

Thinking Man Tavern
★ ★ ★

I used to drive by this place and think it was a lesbian bar. That's just because I think everything is a lesbian bar in Decatur. I'm not sure if I was wrong, but there were guys here. There was also another "drinking club" there. I was not sure whether we considered ourselves a "drinking club" because that just sounds stupid. Then I remembered that we have business cards. Apparently, we are in the business of drinking, and we have the cards to prove it. We are a drinking business. I like the sound of that much better than being in a "drinking club."

The bar itself was ok. There weren't very many people there despite the fact that two drinking associations appeared there randomly on the same night. I think they had an underwhelming beer selection. It was either that or an overwhelming one. I cant remember which. It was decorated with silly 70s highschool-ish decor, (get it, Thinking Mans), which seemed to be trying a little too hard. It was not a bad place to grab a beer, but we have been to much better.

Stool Pigeons
★

Arriving at the Stool was a good turnout of folks that normally do not come. This can be attributed to the fact that the planning for the Snead/Klaw engagement party was done at this bar before the rest of the crew arrived.

Stool Pigeons is your run of the mill sports bar. There is not a lot special about the place, but nothing bad either. If you work in the area and need to go enjoy some of the March Madness hoops, I could encourage it for that. For anything else I would like elsewhere.

Righteous Room
★ ★ ★ ★

The Rightous Room is in a strip mall in the Highlands. Thankfully, it did not attract your usual Highlands crowd, I see enough of them in the office. Instead, RR attracts people who are pretty sure they are cool, but unsure whether they are cooler than you. This is the opposite of say, the EARL, where everyone who enters truly believes they are the coolest person they have seen all week, whether they are or not.

Contrary to what Chris told me, the RR serves food. I should have known this since I recently found out that it is a City law that a bar must serve food. Please explain how this makes sense. If you don't believe me, Im a lawyer. If you still don't believe me, try to think of one bar you have been too that doesnt serve food. See.

It's small, I found this quaint, but had it been crowded (it wasn't nearly as crowded as the Dixie Tavern, but more crowded than the Gravity Pub), it would have pissed me off. It's a fine bar to escape the typical Highlands crap. I like the exposed brick walls.

Pal's... closed
Padriac's
★ ★

6:30... driving home from work, decide to swing by Pal's. Pal's is on Auburn Ave in downtown, which is not the safest neighborhood we have gone to. I have never had in trouble on Auburn, but I have never felt welcome. As I drive by, there is a chain on the damned door. They have either decided to close down, or been closed down. This was a heartbreaker to me, because it is nice to venture out and experience something new. And this would be a new that is unlike the Clermont new.

So, very last minute we direct efforts to Padriacs. This is not a great bar. It is a restaurant that has a bar with a descent beer selection. The people were very suburbia, which in fact is a new twist for this group. Turnout was pretty good seeing as how this was rescheduled at the very last minute. Meka gets big credit for taking herself to the hood to find us at 9:30, only to find we were not there. I knew I would get her to give me her number...

O'Terril's
★ ★

This is an intown neighborhood 'Irish Pub'. They had a giant serving of fish and chips that seemed to go over well, and descent beer prices. We managed to sit on the patio, and drink a fair amount of beer. Everyone was calm and low key, almost bored looking. Then Bill arrived with a pitcher and some glasses, and a table was cleared for quarters. 'Only one pitcher'... yeah right. We played... we drank... we cheered. I believe everyone got caught a few times and we went through 3 pitchers with the 5 of us in about a half hour. Good thing I had a designated driver... Even though my first lame ass driver left me at the bar so she could go play trivia with some 19 year old boy.

Northside Tavern
★ ★ -due to us

Well, the Alphaholics had a truly terrible showing this week. A total of 3 people made it. Pathetic.

But, for those that did make their way to the Northseide tavern a diverse and eclectic bar was visited. It is truly the bar where you see a homeless guy sitting next to the preppy alike. Bikers, pimps, hoes and college kids. Good music makes it worth a stop.

Mr. C's Lounge
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Mr. C's started off my New Years Eve weekend bender that included doing a lot of things that I wish I could forget (going to a club with a bachelorette party that turned out to be a gay strip club, anyone?). It all started by getting shithouse drunk at Mr. C's. Looking back on that night, I am having a bit of trouble remembering much of anything. I know that sometime around midnight I was playing speed quarters. Its not often I find myself in a bar where drinking games are appropriate. Mr. C's is off Howell Mill by Collier Road, which is a pretty decent part of town. Its grungy, and I guess you would call it a dive bar, but it has TV's all over the place, and even has a retro big screen shaped where the wood encasement is larger than the screen itself. What I liked about this bar, as opposed to some of the others we have been to, is that it is clearly set up for serious drinking. Sure, they may have some food, but it aint particularly good. Stick with the beer here folks.

Im not sure that a grungy bar is the same as a dive bar. For me, its all about the customers. If there arent at least two homeless guys at the bar buying a drink with quarters they got panhandling, its not a dive bar. Mr. C's is close, but the customers, and there were quite a lot towards the end of the night, were not exactly hurting for money. Of course, this is the first place I have ever been where they poured Guinness from the tap straight into a plastic cup with a straight face. A fucking plastic cup. I knew better than to make a pussy move of asking for a real glass. At Mr. C's you take what they give you and you like it. Else you risk being cut off for being a too much of a pretty boy to deserve a drink.

The night itself was a good time. The bartender doubled as the waitress (also a sign of a dive bar), who was kind enough to walk around from behind the crowded bar to get my signed receipt, instead of making me hand it over a bunch of people back to her. Unfortunately, this bar lived up to the general rule that dive bar waitresses are butt ugly, so I ignored what was an obvious come-on. That, and I had already lined up a redheaded Kiwi to go home with that night.

There was quite a diverse group of people show up for this event, and I am sure that now with the holidays over, there will be less commitments, and this thing will only get bigger.

Little 5 Corner Tavern
★ ★ ★

Kastaway's
★ ★ ★

Despite the fact that only the very dedicated Alphaholics showed up…Kastaway’s is worth going back to for a number of reasons:

1. Inexpensive beer and food, which isn’t shabby
2. Less than a mile from where I live is an added bonus
3. Cozy atmosphere with a friendly, albeit not-so-responsive server
4. Last but not least… Ring ran away with a really sexy swimsuit that was passed around from girl to girl till it finally got to me.

So, for those of you who didn’t get a chance or chose not to show up at an establishment OTP, Kastaway’s is worth the trek outside your comfort zone. A mediocre bar/restaurant enhanced by the people it serves.

James Joyce
★ ★ ★

We went to James Joyce, and Irish Pub in Decatur, which was a little confusing to me, because I didnt think of a name like "James Joyce" as being Irish. Further adding to the confusion was that I don't believe it was actually in Decatur, and Im still not convinced that somehow we didnt venture outside the perimeter even though we never crossed under 285. I don't think it is possible to drive that far in a straight line from any point ITP and remain ITP. But for now, lets just pretend it is both an Irish bar, and in Decatur.

It was trivia night. I enjoy a good round of trivia, but by god, trivia announcers annoy the hell out of me with their pseudo-happy-enthusiastic-radio-DJ voice. They all talk the same, kind of like deaf people. Why don't they just read the questions in a normal voice. I don't really understand it. Even though we had about 20 people there, we still arent very good at trivia. Its sad when the Asian girl doesnt even get the math question right. Very sad. The teachers among us also don't know their state capitals, but they do know cities in Africa, because that's where all their kids are from. Which I think makes up for the capitals thing.

We sat outside in the covered and closed-in and heated outdoor seating area. It was nice. It was fine. It was nothing out of the ordinary. There were a surprising amount of people in a place which, to me, was not really on the way to anything, except maybe Lithonia. The food was decent. That means people went out of their way to go there. The food was perfectly edible. I had a Greek salad at an Irish pub. You figure that one out. We also had some new faces, and not-often-seen faces make the trek out, which is always good.

I will say that from the outside of this place, much like Fuzzys and the Clairmont, you wonder if its going to be a complete shithole, but like the others (ok, not like the Clairmont), it was not a shithole at all, but a decent place to have a meal and drink some beer. I think the main benefit of this whole exercise will ultimately be that you have the knowledge to find a decent place to get a beer, and perhaps a meal, no matter where the hell in Atlanta you may one day find yourself. We have been from one end to the other, and are now filling in all points in between. Next week, we are going out of town to Marietta, god help us all.

International Bowl and Arcade
★

Bowling has a long and rich history, and today is one of the most popular sports in the world. The sport of bowling is enjoyed by 95 million people in more than ninety countries worldwide. Thus it was that faithful Thursday night when the Atlanta Alphaholics ventured into a more eclectic and ethnic part of the sport, known as International Bowl and Arcade.

Coupled with a wide array of entertainment ranging from cheesy arcade games to karaoke to bars run by skinny, malnourished Asian guys… the International Bowl and Arcade is a smorgasbord of a cultures that can only be equaled if you were at an international market, which incidentally is right next door!! There was even a security tower in the parking lot to ensure the whities made it into the vehicles that did not have large wings on them.

While many of us drank pitchers of terrible beer, Ring dominated the 'Daytona 500' video game. The night was finished with Bill taking Chris down in a Dance Dance Revolution challenge. Neither looked like they should have been competing, truly too damn white.

The Highlander
★ ★ ★ ★

Most of us liked the bar and food... here is ODB's version for a little hating on others:

I was excited about going to the Highlander because I read all these really wonderful reviews of it on the internet, on those sites where anyone can write their opinion, which is usually a good barometer of a place because generally they are honest reviews. After reading them, I expected to find food like the EARL, the imposing facade of the Clairmont Lounge, and the clientele of the Yacht Club served with huge shots, huge beers, and at cheap prices. Basically it was described as the best bar in Atlanta. After having been there, I can safely say that most people are not qualified to give opinions.

Don't get me wrong, it was a fine place. The food was pretty good, the drinks were in fact huge and cheap, they had pool tables and air hockey, but nothing struck me as being particularly scary, divy, or interesting. Being dimly lit and having bartenders with tattoos does not make a place scary, or even interesting, much less fun. The Highlander is decent, but I fail to see what all the fuss is about. I wish I could identify the intangibles that make a bar feel interesting and exciting, because if I could, I would be rich. But whatever it is, the Highlander did not strike me as having it.

Let's see what others had to say about it online. Some guy wrote "This bar had me thinking about moving to the ATL. I'm still thinking about moving there, I want to work there that's how much I thought of this place." It must really suck where this guy lives. Apparently, he is "a northern guy, 30, from Pittsburgh, PA." Yes, it does suck where this guy lives.

Another genius wrote this, "we always have fond memories from our many experiences there." Its not a fucking vacation destination, it's a bar. I usually have no memories of bars except for a headache and a credit card receipt. She goes on, "We especially adore the lack of the Buckhead crowd, as well as the absence of yuppie scum and frat boys!" Is this the 80s, do we even have "yuppies" anymore, isn't pretty much everyone a yuppie now, and so the term is pretty much dead. Anyone who uses yuppie as a derogatory term is pissed off they didnt finish school and are stuck driving a Daihatsu.

From another opinion giver, "The Highlander has one of the best jukeboxes in town." I wont dispute this, the thing is and 8 feet tall. "The place may look a bit scary, but the people are interesting and for the most part, friendly." Its located in a strip mall, a well lit one, in the Highlands, and sits behind a Brewsters. The only thing scary is seeing gay men grab each others asses outside in the parking lot. But in the same token, Chris saw to girls having lesbian sex in their parked car, so it works both ways.

"It looks more imposing than it really is, although I wouldn't mind if it were a bit scarier to keep away some of the preppie types that show up, obviously "slumming it." Again with the, "we are poor and shabbily dressed and tattooed so we are scary and cooler than people who take baths" attitude. No you aren't. No one cares. The alternative became mainstream in the early 90s. There is no such thing as being an anitconformist in this day and age, because EVERYONE is anti something. Everyone has a tattoo. Everyone listens to punk rock. Get over yourself.

As for the Alphaholics, this was a fine turnout, and probably the most diverse group yet. We have new faces show up at each bar. Unfortunately, I have not been able to drink as much as I did at the first few bars due to factors beyond my control. Accordingly, things have been pretty tame. For this, I apologize to all my Alphaholic friends, and promise to inspire more debauchery at future gatherings. Last night was not my best showing, I don't even have a headache today. I will do better next time.

Gravity Pub
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The coolest thing about the Gravity Pub is the downstairs. To get there, you have to kinda walk back into the kitchen like you belong there, look to the right for some stairs going down into what appears to be some dank cellar, and head down the rickety stairs. There are no signs pointing you in the right direction. Well, there may be one, but its not real clear if it is a real sign, or one of the many that were stolen from other establishments, like "Warning, No Life Guard On Duty."

I showed Cathy the downstairs, she had no idea it was there, despite having been to Gravity several times. But when we went into the kitchen and came to the stairs, I saw a sign that said, "Downstairs closed until further notice," and it was a real sign this time. Of course, we just ignored it and went on down, its not like it was locked or anything, and the lights were on. It looked normal to me, pool table, fooze ball, graffiti covered walls, random juke box, leaking sewer pipes. I did not really see a reason for it to be closed. No raw sewage or anything.

Back upstairs, I asked the bartender, the one that Chris thinks is pretty much the best bartender in Atlanta, and she said that the fire marshal shut it down until it was brought up to code. Code. What the fuck, the place is a dive, there is nothing up to code. And the downstairs is a cinder block cellar, what the hell is there to bring up to code. The last thing a place like the Gravity Pub needs is to be "brought up to code." To quote Booger, "Who decides the standards?" Unfortunately, just as in Revenge of the Nerds II, Nerds In Paradise, the answer is, "why, your democratically elected leaders...of course." And so you cant hang out downstairs anymore, at least not without violating the fire code, but I don't think anyone is really checking.

Either way, the upstairs is great even without the downstairs. Its never crowded, there is good beer on tap, poured by a hot alterna-chick bartender/owner, and there are plenty of dart boards. Its fine if you don't roll your own darts, or hand carve them like an Indian, or whatever these Dart Dorks that try to hog the boards, with their dart gloves and all, like to pretend is cool. You can just get them from the bar, for free. Im not good at darts, especially when drinking. Which is the whole point of the Gravity Pub. The people there arent trying to look cool by pretending they don't care if they look cool, like everyone at the EARL. Its not a fashion show, where everyone tries to "out scene" each other. Its just a funky old bar with dart boards, good music, and a secret "closed, but only if you obey signs" downstairs. You should stop in sometime, its my favorite bar in EAV, and probably Atlanta.

Fuzzy's Saloon
★ ★ ★ ★

I have driven by Fuzzys probably a hundred times. Everytime, I think, what a hell hole. Its right off of 85 in North Buckhead-ish land, off of North Druid Hills, and stands alone sandwiched between an aging hotel and a car wash.. If you have ever gotten off there to go to REI, Lenox, Phipps, you have driven right past it and probably thought the same thing. Its location is not exactly conducive to walk in traffic, so why would you go there. Well, ordinarily, I wouldnt. Except this is alphaholics, and that is kinda the whole point.

Fuzzys has its own website, so you know it cant be too bad. And, apparently, the guy who invented Dale's seasoning owns/runs/works there. THE DALES GUY WORKS THERE. How fucking awesome is this place. I love Dale's, I put it on everything. Fish, chicken, beef, salad, straight from the bottle. It's the nectar of the gods. So naturally, they have a decent cajun menu. I get there early and order a shrimp po boy, it doesnt come with Dale's, but it is mighty tasty.

The bar itself is your typical shabby dive bar, but it has plenty of tvs, though only about 20 inches each, and a good pub menu (Dales!), and sometimes a live band. There is the bar, and then dining seating off of each side in a separate room. One of which sometimes has live music. There was a band when we were there, but I cant remember what they called themselves. The clientele is not near as rough as I would have expected, just typical normal people, but not Buckhead normal. More like, south Georgia city dwellers. It was nice. The band played, but at such a low volume, we didnt have to raise our voices to hear each other. They also didnt charge us a cover, thanks Fuzzy.

This is like what the Earl would be, if the Earl was not cool at all, didnt have rockabilly hipsters, turned down the volume, and aged 25 years. Its just a no frills decent place to down a drink and get a surprisingly decent meal. If you ever need to duck off 85, say, to avoid traffic, you will not go wrong knocking back a couple at Fuzzys.

The Earl
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The Earl is probably East Atlanta Village's most well known bar. Its not exactly a dive bar, not exactly a hipster bar, not exactly a restaurant ,and not exactly a live music venue, but it is all those things at once. The Earl anchors East Atlanta Village. Without it, the village would not hold its designation as "hippest neighborhood in Atlanta." That is what Creative Loafing calls it, not me. I call it home.

The Earl has arguably the best bar food in town. Its only competition is the Vortex. The Vortex has a stranglehold on the best burger in town, and I love it. But the Earl has the edge in overall bar food. If you did not get here early enough to eat, you just dropped the damn ball. Expect the typical fried fare, burgers, fries, and even hotdogs. You wont be disappointed.

Thankfully the Earl is one of the best bars we will visit during the entire alphabet. It has live music, good food, and interesting people. Most lean towards the hipster set with a dash of rockabilly thrown in as well. Pratt said it best, "Most of the people here look like they havent bathed in a month." This is probably true, but it is a look they are going for. Only a handful truly had not bathed in a month.

This is the EAV, so expect plenty of tattoos, dyed hair, and studded jewelry. The Earl, and the EAV with it, has become the defacto alterna-destination now that Little Five has gone suburban. But with it comes the feeling of realness, without any of the cheesiness you find in the Highlands and now, even L5P. You just get a good feeling when settling in to the bar here for a drink. Its like the people there are more serious about drinking than what kind of car they drove to the bar in.

Of course, there is plenty of PBR to go around to all who feel that it is necessary to drink PBR in a slightly shady bar. I am on a personal crusade to end this ridiculousness. There is no reason not to enjoy the beer you are drinking. Order the good stuff. Beer is more than a means to an end. Good beer gets you just as drunk as shitty beer, its just more fun along the way.

I was scared that EAV, being so deep in the hood, might scare off our less adventurous alphaholics, given that people are routinely held up at gunpoint in the Village, carjacked, robbed, threatened, and what have you. But that just adds a little flavor to the night out. Of course, its probably safer than Buckhead. I did not get a final count, but we had a lot of regulars and many some timers, and it is safe to day we had well above 20 show up to what was the probably the largest outing yet. By far the most fun bar we have been to, setting aside the Clairmont, which is an experience that cannot be compared to anything else.

So please, if you are ever in East Atlanta, by all means stop in at the Earl, you will find good food, interesting people to look at, and a well poured pint, without attitude. What more could you ask for.

Dixie Tavern
★ ★ ★ ★

Thursday brought us to the letter "D" as the Alphaholics are four bars in to drinking their way through the entire alphabet one bar at a time. Dixie Tavern would be the "D" bar, even though it is OTP as hell. I used to live OTP, now I remember why I moved into the city. I was skeptical of the Dixie Tavern. I always thought of it as a dive bar full of suburban rednecks. Dive bars a fine, rednecks are funny sometimes, but the suburbs have no redeeming qualities at all.

What surprised me most about this bar is the clientele. For the most part, they were reasonably attractive girls, just out of college. What the hell. Why did they decide the Dixie Tavern, located in a strip mall, sandwiched between car dealerships, in the middle of suburbia hell, was the place to go. Im not sure, maybe it was the live country music. Country music is awesome, as long as it was made no later than 1983, or, if later, was made in Texas. This was neither. This was the shit you hear for three seconds on the radio before saying, "what the fuck is this shit" . Apparently young college girls like it, because they were there in droves. And by college, I don't mean real colleges like you and I went to, but the outlying technical colleges, junior colleges, and the four year schools where you dont have to apply, you just show up the first day and sign up.

The bar itself is fairly spacious, they have decent pub food, and a nice selection of beer on tap. Dive bars do not have Octoberfest beer, or Purple Haze on tap like the Tavern, so this was surprise number two (number one was the girls). Of course, they did have the requisite $2 PBR, which everyone except me felt compelled to buy. PBR sucks. I refuse to drink shitty beer just appear ironic, which is why 99% of people drink it. The other 1% are kids who really dont have any money, so every dollar saved is half another PBR. College educated professionals should not drink PBR.

There are TV's lining the wall, and a few projectors. I get the impression that this would be a good place to watch a few games, if, you know, you lived in the suburbs. I found it funny that the guys behind the bar, at a place called the Dixie Tavern, were not the rebel-flag-patch-on-sleeveless-denim-jacket wearing, Copenhagen spitting, civil war re-enactors you would expect, but a bunch of guys from New Jersey that seemed to have come straight out of Orange County Choppers.

All in all, it was probably the most fun bar we have been to, with the exception of the Clairmont. The Clairmont is an experience in and of itself, and cannot be described in terms of "fun" or "not as fun." The DT was packed out with young girls, there was a live band, though not exactly my style, apparently appealed to some, because you had to squeeze through the crowd to get to the bar. We had a lot of new faces show up, and though I dont have the official count, I am sure it was the most we have had yet. It strikes me that, for a lot of people, the suburbs are considered close by, and not some strange far away land that takes forever to get to, which is how I view it. In any event, it probably helped with the numbers as a lot of people apparently live way the hell out here....and don't feel compelled to move into the city. I don't understand it either.

If I ever find myself trapped OTP, and in need of a beer (and really, when am I not in need of a beer), I would definitely go back. Next week will be at on of my favorite bars, which happens to also be in my hood. The East Atlanta Restaurant and Lounge. You my know it as The Earl.

Clermont Lounge
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

When I walked into Clermont Lounge, the our "C" bar for the Alphaholics Anonymous weekly meeting, I was shocked. Like most people, I could not believe what I was seeing on the stage. But its not what you think. This was not my first time, or even my 20 th, so I was not taken aback by meth-addict-rotting-teeth-bruised-ass 50yr old hookers on the stage. I was shocked because there was only about two strippers out of ten that looked like homeless crack whores. The rest of the girls could easily be found in your average low rent strip club. On every previous trip, the average age of the strippers was 55. But now it appears to be closer to 25. If it wasnt for Sophie, the late sixties great-grandmother (whose life story once made Rikki cry), it would be tough to shock the uninitiated with the obsenity that is seeing most of the Clermont strippers nekkid. These new girls, while by no means hot, were actually watchable without clothes on. It was the first time I have ever considered getting a table dance from a stripper at the Clermont, but in the end, it still wasn't quite worth the $5.

A lot of people are scared of the Clermont, but that is just stupid. Its not scary, its just dirty, but also a hell of a fun time. It had been a while since I had been there, but we all agreed that we should return more often. The thing I like most about the Clermont is that it is what it is. It doesnt try to be a shitty dirty dive bar, it just is because that is the way it always has been. Sure a lot of other places are dingy and dirty, but only because the owners are going for that vibe. It has an authenticity about it that is not tarnished by being listed in magazines and newspapers and "Best Dive Bar in Atlanta," year in and year out, whatever the hell that means. The women behind the bar have been there for years, as have many of the strippers. It's the only place I've ever been too where the girls come by after dancing and thank you for tipping them. Hell, half the time I got a thank you, I didnt even tip.

Brewhouse Cafe
★ ★ ★

The "B" bar was at the Brewhouse Cafe in L5P. One of the waitresses there turned 21 that day. For some reason, I took this as my cue to relive my 21st birthday, and pound a number of shots that, looking back, was pretty stupid. I woke up this morning with the distinctive taste of Jager bombs still in my mouth. I can barely function today at work, and don't remember the ride home. Luckily, I wasnt driving. I have been told by the end of the night I was referring to the waitresses as "my bitches," but that they did not take it as the compliment that I intended. Im sure the hookers at the Clairmont Lounge, our next bar location, will not have the same uppity attitude. If you make it, I will buy you a lap dance. I think they are only $1.00 each. See you there.

Atkins Park
★ ★

A decent showing for the first night out. Everyone knows what Atkins Park is, and the only reason we went there is because we found out the day before that the original bar, AJ's was closed down, or at least bad enough off that their phone was disconnected. A highlight of the evening was when the least self aware girl of all time, whose hair was the color of a well poured Black and Tan, claimed to be blonde. She was as blonde as Samuel L. Jackson. She even admitted to having brown pubes, but insisted that she was a blonde. Everyone knows the pubes are the deciding factor. If you don't like it, shave them off so that when you are asked to prove it, you have no incriminating evidence. Also, don't tell one of the girls that her purse is fake just to stir shit up. This will lead to every girl at the bar weighing in on proper purse stitching and zippers and a bunch of other boring ass shit that doesn't inspire them to take their tops off. You have been warned. Next week, the bitches and hoes of Brewhouse Cafe. Buckhead Saloon was overruled by voice of opinion at Atkins.