Category: Consuming

No, I have decided that even the Lacatus II red wine is gross. Moulin de Gassac “Le Mazet” Old World Red Wine is a much better wine at the same price. Just so you know. Also Estio from La Purisima is a good choice.

Bookdwarf is at an event tonight with Jared Diamond, where he discusses his new book, Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed. His book is about how societies collapse and die: Rwanda, for example. Or Easter Island. When some guy chopped down the last tree on Easter Island, what was he thinking? Or that Viking settlement in Greenland which starved to death without eating any of the abundant fish in its waters. These societies chose a cultural imperative over survival. Whether it was creating giant stone statues, or sowing salt into the earth of a rival tribe, or killing all the Hutus around, or just plain refusing to compromise on the taboo against fish, they more or less chose to die.

I decided not to go to the event. I know, looking at our consumer products, that we have already chosen death.

Oooh, want to see something funny? Here are some of the top Google results for “Choose Death:”
Weird art site about death aesthetics
Anti-abortion screed

The Hardees Monster Thickburger has 1417 calories, according to the interactive menu and nutrition information page. Combined with a small Coke (the page doesn’t seem to display large size beverages…) and a large fries, it’s 2282 calories. Take it with some silver pills so your monster shit will be all sparkly.

Spend nothing on January 20th (inauguration day). Write letters of protest to, and boycott, the following companies which have donated money to BushCo’s party.

Remember: A vote for Bush is a vote for torture, terror, and misery. A dollar for the inaugural is a dollar to celebrate torture, terror, and misery.

Confession: I keep back issues of Dwell magazine. And they have sticky-notes stuck on the pages with things I covet. My dream home would have a kitchen where the sink is not tucked in a corner and therefore does not cause back pain when used. Or maybe even a dishwasher. That’d be nice. Also a sink that doesn’t explode, and flooring that doesn’t peel up when the sink explodes. Grr.

Lacatus I, a $7 red wine, is a great value. Lacatus II is the white version and it’s just not very good. Not that I’m going to leave the bottle unfinished. No, I am grimly determined to work my way through it.

When realtors ask if you’re pre-approved for a mortgage, tell them you plan to pay cash.

Hey, check out the obsessive consumer lust for specific genres of gear: Not just gadgets and cars, Smaller things, like t-shirts, coffee machines and basketball shoes.

As a weblog name, A Fistful of Euros is brilliant: it describes the topic (Europe and finance) while at the same time playing with the idea that Euros just aren’t all that exciting: it is, after all, incongruous to imagine Clint Eastwood fighting for Euros the way he did in For A Fistful of Dollars.

That incongruity suggests that we readers feel that US currency is the best one, not just because it is easily converted and stable, but because it’s just plain cooler. It is the coin of the American cultural empire, of rap stars, of Hollywood. It connotes international power and wealth in a way that no other currency does. Bank notes with color in them just seem all funny: in the Simpsons episode “Blame it on Lisa,” kidnappers finally getting a ransom say “Gee, our money sure is gay.”

That may be changing. According to Slate, the dollar is going out of style in that bastion of economic innovation, the illegal drug smuggling racket.

Bookdwarf and I have been drinking a series of moderately priced Rioja from my new favorite liquor store, Downtown Wine and Spirits in Somerville, MA. (Note that the Flash animation wait message is “Getting Loaded…” and that they give a great case discount on full and half-cases).

The Rioja contestants:

Lan Rioja 1998, $10: Friendly, warm, good value. Tannic but not harsh.

El Coto Rioja 2001, $11: The most well-rounded of the group, and the one that made us decide to go try a bunch more Rioja. Earthy, not fruity or sweet, but still easy to drink. We picked up a couple bottles of this one.

Palaciego Rioja 1999, $12: Rioja in general is full-bodied and earthy, and most of the ones we’ve tried also have somewhat harsh tannins and rough edges. This is much smoother and silkier than the rest in the group.

Cerro Añon Rioja 2001, $14: Big, smoky, and not at all sweet or fruity. Bookdwarf liked it more than I did, but both of us agreed that it was overpriced.

Cortijo III Rioja 2003, $10: I was immediately attracted by the bright orange label, and it turns out that this is one of the featured selections at Best Cellars as well. However, we didn’t really like it. Bookdwarf’s notes say “Nothing special, not even that good a deal. 5.5/10”

Darien Rioja 2002, $10: This one confused me. It was a little too wood-and-mineral flavored, and so acidic I was almost tempted to say it was spoiled. Perhaps we got a bad bottle? Or maybe it needs to be left in the dark for a couple years? I can’t tell. My guess is that we got a bottle that had been improperly stored.

Rioja-style Spanish wines that are not technically Rioja:

Lacatus I vino de mesa, (n.v.) $8: Not actually a Rioja, because it’s not 100% Tempranillo grapes, but very much in the same style. Definitely rough around the edges but not harsh, and quite full-bodied and a great deal. The other Lacatus wines (Lacatus II is a white table wine, and there’s also a Cava) are also great deals.

Estío vino de mesa 2003, $9: 70% Montrastell, 30% Tempranillo, great bargain. Smoother than the Lacatus and many of the other less-expensive Riojas.

By comparison, two bottles of completely different varieties:

Francis Coppola Rosso Shiraz 2003, $14: more expensive than all but one of the Shiraz bottles we bought, and completely opposite all of them: almost absurdly fruity, and pretty sweet.

Mont-Pelier Merlot 2002, $8: OK. Easy to drink, medium-bodied, not too sweet, definitely a good deal if not a great wine.