Geeking out on Wine

Among the bevy of things I’ve learned while working Snooth, one that caught me off guard (even though it’s pretty much the entire point of the site) is that it IS possible to know a lot about wine and not be a dick about it. I guess for a number of historical reasons, being “into” wine is seen as a pretty snooty endeavor, but the more I think about it and the more I learn, you can geek out about wine as much as you can geek out about anything.

Gregory Dal Piaz - a fellow Snoother, a Master of the Domaine (wait, that’s actually pretty funny), and a genuine nice guy - first got me thinking about this when he referred to his peers as fellow “wine geeks” rather than what I was expecting him to say - “wine snobs.” (True, while a snob would probably never admit to being one, it takes a true geek to refer to him/herself as a geek - it’s a basic tenant of Geek Pride.) So when Greg dropped that g-bomb, everything just became a lot clearer for me.

As with any topic, hobby, sports team, or other endeavor that inspires geeking, wine offers all the back-story, trivia, subtle distinctions, and of course - enjoyment - that makes it hold up as a pretty enjoyable thing to geek out about. Plus it can get you shitfaced. (Let’s see you try THAT, stamp collecting.)

So anyway, all this is what’s swirling around in my head as I read Greg’s latest blog post on the Snooth Blog, covering a blind tasting of Pinot Noirs for Thanksgiving. There’s a lot of no-nonsense, entertaining, and enlightening discussion about these wines (as well as a few well-placed curse words), and it’s all especially entertaining because nobody knows what they’re actually drinking until after all the reviews are done. Hence, none of the snottiness and all of the geekiness. It’s a lot of fun to read. (The photos are pretty good too. I’m just sayin…)

Geeky but fun question - how long has it been since you’ve restarted your computer? (If you’re a Mac user, the best way to find out is to open up the “Terminal” program inside your Applications > Utilities folder and type “uptime” without the quotes, then press return. Shazam.)

To the comments!

Do you ever have days when you feel privileged to know people who can make stuff this awesome?

Check out the trailer for Jason Pollock’s new documentary, “The Youngest Candidate.” Trailers don’t get much better than this.

PS - check out the movie’s website, http://www.theyoungestcandidate.com. It was designed by Shepard Fairey. Don’t know who Shepard Fairey is? He’s the guy that designed this. ‘Nuff said.

Ever wonder how creative professionals at a big ad agency goof off during brainstorming sessions? Check out markercomp.blogspot.com to see more. Full disclosure: this kicks ass.

Here’s another cross-post with the Snooth blog. I promise I’ll be adding more to this site in the near future, or Snooth isn’t a made up word!

If anyone’s curious, here’s some of the stuff I’ve been up to at Snooth.

Some very encouraging news coming from America these days. There’s not much particularly insightful information I can shed on the situation except to mention that from a branding perspective, it’s finally time to ditch the Obama “O” logo as fast as possible. It was a great symbol of change and it’s served him well, but to McCain supporters (who make up slightly less than half of our country) I’m sure it remains a strong symbol of their opponent. It’s time to switch back to the good ‘ol American flag - one of the most powerful brands in the world - and move forward as one country with one brand.

Palin Failin:

Yesterday was a pretty cool day at Snooth. Among a slew of usability improvements we rolled out, we launched the Snooth Pulse - a real-time geographical measure of what people are searching for on Snooth. I hope you’re ready to have your mind blown.

We also added a Features page, which basically gives people an overview of Snooth at a glance, and showcases a pretty nifty video I put together. That’s right - I just said nifty.

Exclusive photo of John McCain’s notepad from last night’s debate:

It’s no surprise to me that the very same scheming Wall Street financial engineers who masterminded such risky practices as credit default swaps and naked short selling have unveiled their latest, and perhaps most brilliant way to keep raking it in - the “triple fist”.

Hold on to your shoes people. Or at least tie your shoelaces very tight. Because what I’m about to tell you is going to knock your socks clean off and I don’t want your shoes flying all over the place and hitting some person in the face.

Tomorrow I’ll be leaving my post as group creative director at DCF Advertising as I transition my career trajectory from advertising into interactive and information design. So starting next Monday I’ll be settling in as the full-time web designer at my favorite website ever, Snooth.com.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t first say that the folks at DCF Advertising have been great to me for the past four and a half years. And when I told them I’d be moving on they were incredibly understanding and supportive. I’m going to miss working there. But enough with the tiny violins. Let’s talk about wine.

I’m so psyched to be working at Snooth it should be illegal. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Snooth, it’s the world’s largest online wine database wrapped in a slick interface (designed by my buddy Clint) and backed by a home-grown, extremely powerful social network and community. I could call it “Facebook for wine” but that would be a gross understatement. It’s a place where you can review wines (even if you’re a wine idiot like me), see what your friends are drinking and reviewing, and find wines close to your home. But here’s the kicker - Snooth’s magical algorithm will recommend wines for you based on what you like and dislike - automatically. So it’s a great site for people who know everything about wine and for people who know nothing about wine. Stop what you’re doing right now and create a free account and add me as a friend - my screen name is solomania9. Do it. DO IT!!!

So the bottom line is that working at Snooth will allow me to stay on the cutting edge of today’s web technology, while utilizing my passion for creating engaging and memorable experiences on the web and beyond. That’s a roundabout way of saying it’s going to be pretty fucking sweet. I’ll keep everyone posted.

Now please carry on and start picking up all the smithereens that used to be your shoes.

I just finished creating the website for ID Real Estate Partners, LLC - a New York based real estate company that offers a progressive approach to real estate mixed with boatloads of experience.

Long-time readers of this blog will remember a photoshoot I did at the top of Nelson Tower (link here). Well as you may have guessed, that shoot was for the ID Real Estate site. I’m very happy with how everything turned out, and especially glad that I didn’t die in the process.

I just finished reading the macabre yet entertaining Wikipedia’s list of unusual deaths.

Of the 125 entries mentioned, only 12 involved women. Anyone care to offer any insight by being particularly insightful or sexist in the comments?

This is a pretty cool judge of your visual accuracy - woodgears.ca/eyeball/. If anyone has the time (less than five minutes) I’d love to hear how you did in the comments, as well as your profession.

Today I spotted what looks to be another Banksy painting in SoHo, on Broadway and Howard (it’s facing the green patch on this map). Click on the thumbnail to view it larger.

I wonder what he’s trying to say?

I’m curious to hear about the different types of calendars everyone uses. How are people keeping appointments these days? To the comments!

In case anyone’s interested, you can now see what I’ve been posting to Twitter on the top-right of every page on this site. Prepare to be disappointed!

If you’re a professional geek like me, making an important home decorating decision is impossible without firing up the ol Photoshop. A great example of this is the rigmarole I recently went through to make sure a new rug would be a worthwhile purchase. Whether or not you’ll like the rug is debatable, but my Photoshop skills are totally slammin.