Category Archives: Armchair Philosophy

Food & Wine Thursdays: The New Face of Natural Cali Wine

Posted on May 2, 2013 by

For far too long “natural,” in the context of wine, has been nearly synonymous with funky, earthy, so-called “terroir”-driven wines. The implication being that the presence of fruit flavor and aroma  is ancillary to these other flavors and aromas; by … Continue reading →

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Better Late Than Never: The West Wing

Posted on March 14, 2013 by

As I write this I’m wrapping up the final episode of a whirlwind of Netflixing the entire 150+ episode run of NBC’s The West Wing in about a month. I’d never seen more than a handful of episodes of  Aaron Sorkin’s White … Continue reading →

Posted in Armchair Philosophy, Dispatches From Academia, I'm Just Sayin, Projected Pixels and Emulsion | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Food & Wine Thursdays: In Praise of Fresh & Easy

Posted on December 6, 2012 by

I was disappointed and more than a little distressed to learn that the supermarket chain Fresh & Easy might be on its last legs. Since moving to Downtown Los Angeles, I’ve been doing virtually all my shopping at their locations … Continue reading →

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Food & Wine Thursdays: Local Food, Global Wine

Posted on November 29, 2012 by

San Francisco Chronicle Food Editor Michael Bauer has an interesting post on his blog today about the trend in new restaurants toward offering small, compact food menus and small, compact closely-curated wine lists that change frequently. But, Bauer notices, while … Continue reading →

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The 2012 Bellwether

Posted on November 10, 2012 by

As a rule I’ve never been that much into politics. My closest flirtations with such a thing were a few forays into class president elections in grade school where my campaign speeches were mainly just an excuse to do silly … Continue reading →

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On Forced Narrative in Journalism

Posted on November 8, 2012 by

Something I’ve written about before and have been a long-time critic of is the problem of wine writers forcing a narrative or inducing a conflict where one does not exist in the wine world. Minor regulatory disputes become a massive … Continue reading →

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WonderCon Returns to the Southland — For Good?

Posted on November 3, 2012 by

I can’t remember if I brought up the topic here or on my other blog, but the comic convention scene in the Los Angeles area still is in the midst of… sorting itself out. It’s in flux. Would I call it royally fluxed? … Continue reading →

Posted in Armchair Philosophy, I'm Just Sayin, Nerd Alert | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments