How Macgyver boozes

This is the coolest trick I've seen in a long time: how to open a wine bottle with your shoe. The demo is en francais (in honor of tomorrow's Bastille Day), but you don't really need to understand what monsieur is saying in order to get it. Watch, learn, then impress your friends over a bottle of Bordeaux while celebrating La Fête Nationale with cigarettes, Breton stripes, Brie and baguette.

Watch the tutorial here.

Eat that up, it's good for you

It is a crazy end to a crazy week, one in which I've had to remind myself more than a few times to breathe, to close my eyes, and do things that are beneficial to my own sanity.

Planning vacations (even ones you don't end up taking) is good for you.
Blogging is good for you.
Laughing is good for you.
Single-servings of wine are good for you.
Hugging is good for you.
Music is good for you:


Don't forget to smile, my friends.

Breakfast of champions

Five minutes at my computer today, just for you guys, so my half-ass post comes courtesy of the folks at UrbanDaddy. Their e-lert just informed me that tequila den-of-sin-and-wonders, Los Feliz, will now be serving brunch, which will include a black truffle-pico de gallo omelet and a beautiful disaster: spiked Frozen Mexican coffee (also known as a tequila milkshake). See you on the floor.

Dinner and a movie

There are a few things that Baltimore has over New York: hardly any lines for a plethora of free/cheap good concerts, a more hilarious breed of hipster, John Waters, and Old Bay seasoning, to name a few. Now, something I never thought New York would legally allow us to enjoy is crossing over North. Gone are the days of paper-bagged 40s and purse popcorn, because the blissful trio that is food, booze and a movie screening will soon be possible (sans-smuggle) at Williamsburg's indieScreen (of course it's in the 'burg, and of course that's what it's called). Opening Thursday for the Northside Film Festival and built by the guy who curates the Brooklyn Film Festival, it will have a single screen playing a rotation of classics, as well as new indie films. Each seat features a personal fold-out desk for ease of chowing down on the restaurant's international fare, and although drinks will only be allowed from the bar into the theater on special occasions, well ... there's always Baltimore.

Absolut Brooklyn

Chances are, you haven't thought about Absolut vodka's marketing campaign since you used to tear out those magazine ads and paste them on your preteen bedroom wall next to pictures of Johnny Depp and the guy who played Roger in Rent. Or ... maybe that's just me. Either way, they're getting hip to the groove once again with the launch of Absolut Brooklyn, and this time, it's a Spike Lee joint. The BK-raised director (whose childhood address is depicted on the bottle's label) helped conceive a flavor that tastes just like the borough - "a fresh and distinct character of ripe apples with a slight hint of ginger." Actually, that sounds pretty on the money. If they can manage to legalize drinking this on stoops, they might really have something here.

Oh yeah, and Absolut is donating $50,000 from the proceeds of the limited-edition bottle to Habitat for Humanity's project to build affordable, green homes in Bed-Stuy. Drink the right thing.