Monthly Archives: January 2012

Att. Winos: Turns Out It’s Brain Buds More Than Taste Buds

Posted on January 11, 2012 by

In this vale of toil and sin where your head grows bald but not your chin, there are very few universal experiences.  One of them is this:  You’re in your car, at the club or listening to music in your … Continue reading →

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Care And Feeding Of Your New Pet Peeve—Today’s Lesson: Booze

Posted on January 9, 2012 by

So, you woke up Christmas morning so excited that you soiled your jammies!  You ran out to check beneath the tree and found that Santa had left you a brand-new, snuggly-huggly, squeezable-pleasable Pet Peeve!  Good on ya, Junior!  But don’t … Continue reading →

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Elvis And Wine: Red, White And Blue Suede Shoes

Posted on January 8, 2012 by

Of all High Holy Feast Days celebrated throughout the liturgical year of America’s one true religion—Orthodox Schlockologyism—today is the most sacred. ‘For the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which … Continue reading →

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Beat The Muddles: Drinks from the Beatnik Generation

Posted on January 7, 2012 by

January 6, 2012 would have marked the 77th birthday of John ‘The Hipster of Joy Street’ Wieners, an influential lyric poet who was one of the lesser known writers of the Beat Generation. Like any self-respecting beatnik, Wieners was born … Continue reading →

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There’s School Smart, There’s Street Smart, There’s Book Smart And There’s Me

Posted on January 6, 2012 by

Isn’t it amazing how the creative mind works—the literary brain especially?  Isn’t it spectacular how journalists are able to compose column after column, day after day, year after year, on topics of  interest to every human alive, from slobbering pre-schoolers … Continue reading →

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I Drink, Therefore I Am: British Doctors Rail Against Abstinence

Posted on January 4, 2012 by

Sometimes, when the British are funny they know it—AbFab, Monty Python, Blackadder, Fawlty Towers.  And sometimes when they’re funny, they don’t—grownups who still have freckles, rich people with different accents than poor people, calling cigarettes ‘fags’,  chavs—especially those who incessantly … Continue reading →

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Bordeaux Is Selling Out—Or At Least, It’s On The Market

Posted on January 3, 2012 by

‘Under-the-radar wine estate for sale, Saint-Caprais-de-Bordeaux, château-on-steroids, 20 hectares of vines that are firing on all cylinders.  Priced to sell, this turn-key opportunity is a win-win.’ In the business world, you call such a find ‘low-hanging fruit’ and then, you … Continue reading →

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Inniskillin Sparkling Ice Wine: Tweaking the Tweaked Tweak

Posted on January 2, 2012 by

I have not coveted my neighbor’s wife since the eighties, when Prime Minister Trudeau’s young bride Maggie—that vamping, voluptuous Vancouver vixen who, upon publishing her third book in 2010, became the only person in Canada to have written more books … Continue reading →

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Iberian Intoxicants for New Year’s Day (And Beyond)

Posted on January 1, 2012 by

What’s the with-it Spaniard imbibing on this frosty January Sunday?  Something from Torres, no doubt. Founded in 1870 by Jaime Torres, the family now controls the largest winery in Spain along with the most extensive vineyards in  Penedès and can … Continue reading →

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