Princeton University Publishing

Think Least of Death – Spinoza on how to live and how to die

Essentially, Spinoza did not waste any mind on the mundane or belief systems – be it religious or otherwise – that humanity relies on to make sense of the mess we are in. What Spinoza had a different outlook, which culminates in the notion that nature in itself is perfect and humans should apply themselves to follow suit to reach their full potential.

Steven Nadler, the philosopher who penned the book, examines Spinoza closer to arrive at the conclusion that individual strife for perfection ultimately serves the betterment of humanity at large, which results in a responsibility and makes Spinoza both a psychological ego- and altruist.

What I like about Nadler’s elaborations is that his intricate knowledge of Spinoza and his oeuvre enables him to explain his core tenets in layman’s terms and thereby makes them accessible in a way that helps to relate them to one’s personal circumstances.

Needless to say, given the nature of Spinoza’s complex constructs, the book still demands attention and interest to really decipher the nuances, which is gratifying as oxymorons start to make sense and point towards ways to lead a more ethical life.

The Marquis de Sade and the Avant-Garde

If your interest for Marquis de Sade goes a tad further than the lyrics of Kickback, this is the book for you as it goes beyond the vile pornography and madness de Sade has become known for.

In a scholarly engaging manner, Alyce Mahon takes a step back and discusses de Sade in the context of sexual freedom, power and resulting conflicts, which unveils deeper layers of the human experience.

Being an expert on the subject of sexuality, Mahon not only examines de Sade’s life and his relationship to women but his significance at large, the rebellions he spurned with his ideas and sheds light on the intellectuals who championed him.

What would be interesting for the uninitiated is the fact that de Sade advocated equality and perceived women to be in positions to be harbingers of change. Needless to say, his ideas did not find a wide audience during his lifetime as his controversial emissions were forbidden and censored up until almost the midst of the twentieth century.

Mahon meticulous research arrives at the conclusion that essentially fulfilling desire drives us to find peace and if you are remotely interested in such endeavours, this compelling tome dedicated to the political and aesthetic Sadean power is bound to inspire you.

Bosch and Bruegel: From Enemy Painting to Everyday Life 

Easily two of my all-time favourite artists that have influenced my from an early age are Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel. Needless to say, I was excited to get my hands on skilled wordsmith’s Joseph Leo Koerner book on the two, to experience his wordplays to describe the commonalities and his findings pertaining to selected works by each artist.

With each chapter being dedicated to a single masterpiece, a microscopic view is taken which is specifically interesting when Koerner zeroes in on parallels when he compares and contrasts each artists’ emissions.

Apart from being an opulently illustrated feast for the eyes, Koerner’s research results in an account that not only helps to contextualise the artworks but juxtaposes them, thereby eliciting further findings about their musings on the devil’s enmity with god, the differentiation between medieval times and the renaissance as well as the original sin.

Packaged in an engaging narrative and infused with Koerner’s idiosyncratic points of view and his enthusiastic observations, the tome is a welcome and captivating addition to my library.

Water of Life - Glenfiddich Grand Cru

Having lived on four continents and with a weak spot for a wee dram of good Scotch hardwired into my DNA, I have grown to appreciate certain brands that can be banked on to be on the menu of etablisssements off the beaten track.

While trips to Ulan Bator, Lhasa and the South of China are never not exciting and mind-blowing when it comes to mingling with the locals and seizing opportunities to try local fare and libations straight from the source, detecting a known and trusted Scot in the spirits section of a bar or an in-flight menu is always reminiscent of an instance of returning home.

The Speyside single malt powerhouse known as Glenfiddich is one of those global brands and given the fact that they have effectively shaped the modern single malt category as we know it, it is not further wondrous that their iconic stag logo is omnipresent on this earthround.

With Glenfiddich channelling its alchemy at a single distillery using their swan neck shaped pot still distillation process and a mash of malted barley that is cut after cask maturation with pure local Robbie Dhu spring water, a remarkable benchmark has been set in terms of consistency across their core range comprised of 12, 15 and their excellent 18 and 21 year old expressions. A benchmark of quality that has become part of the cultural narrative going as far as infiltrating the realm of pop cultural references, with e.g. David Horton from The Vicar of Dibley attempting to hide a bottle of Glenfiddich from his visitors in a bid to not waste “fine whisky” on them.

Now, the fact that the distillery’s approach has been refined over the decades and the resulting quality having become an expectation, has resulted in Glenfiddich following the axiom “cobbler, stick to your last”, i.e. the distillery deliberately avoided venturing too far outside the confines of the flavour profiles of their core expressions – not even with their experimental series:

Despite releasing delicious releases like the marriage of peated and malts matured in bourbon / Latin rum casks known as Fire & Cane and the zesty, citrussy and hoppy IPA variant along the fantastic Winter Storm, the punchiness of which really benefits from a higher ABV content - at the end of the day, neither of these were an overly exotic departure from what is easily identifiable as a “Glenfiddich”.

Given the aforementioned, I was excited to learn about the first expression that was going to herald the launch of their ‘Grand’ Series, i.e. the release of Grand Cru; a 23 year old whisky matured primarily in American Oak before enjoying a finish in French Cuvée wine casks.

With Glenfiddich recently pursuing an approach where they support trail blazers and innovative movers and shakers in the realm of fashion, business and cutting edge new initiatives at large, I was fortunate enough to sample the Grand Cru expression in different contexts over multiple days as part of e.g. Semi Permanent’s collaboration with Highsnobiety, which we covered, along with the 2021 incarnation of the Australian Fashion Week.

Given the nature and overarching concept of the ‘Grand’ series, the presentation of the new drop was Great Gatsby-esque in every meaning of the word – the question was if the drop was actually living up to the hype.

Now, as a start and contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as a “champagne cask” as the secondary fermentation, which gives champagne its fizz, eventuates in the bottle after the wine has left the confines of its cask.

However, what was used to give the Grand Cru its premium finish are cuvée wine casks that previously held wines that would go on to become the sparkling variety.

Now, what is it like?

In essence, Glenfiddich has accomplished to marry the best of both worlds with the French cuvée casks adding an extra layer of complexity, which in that finessed form I have not tasted before in a whisky.

What tickles the nostrils on approach is a melange of honeyed almonds set against a backdrop of fruity and lemony highlights. Hints of vanilla blend in with subtly spicy notes, hints of ginger resting on a young oaky backbone underpinning it all.

What the nose promised, seamlessly materializes on the top of the mouth via a delightfully oily mouthfeel: Pears and apples sit on a foundation of yeast-leavened dough and vanilla, accentuated by tropical notes culminating in a crescendo of roasty hazelnuts, papaya and white pepper.

The elongated finish reverberates vibrantly on the spicy, citrussy and lemony end of the spectrum with oaky distinctions, brioche as well as the trademark Glenfiddich orchard and grape fruit notes shimmering through.

Summa summarum, if you are remotely into experimental flair, the Grand Cru is a well-crafted whisky living up to its name in terms of richness, decadence and one for special celebratory occasions or as an opulent gift.

A great introduction to the new series that sees Glenfiddich pushing the boundaries in creating exciting new flavours.

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Bloomsbury Publishing

Fashion Crimes: Dressing for Deviance 

The use of symbolism and coding in fashion and the implications as well as the perceptions it results in, is an interesting field that goes far beyond of what fashion stands for at face value.

With Fashion Crime: Dressing for Deviance author Joanne Turney has chosen an appropriate title as she explores the intersection of dress and criminal actions along with highlighting the media plays in sensationalising certain styles and stigmatises them, which again feeds back into the creation of new styles and flirting with stereotypes and clichés.

In a well-structured manner, the essays carry the argument forward and bases findings on case studies that have been conducted in a academically, interdisciplinary and methodologically sound manner.

Interdisciplinary in its approach and using a series of garments and group wearers as case studies, this edited collection explores the connection between fashion, gendered norms and criminality.

A book interesting for anyone using clothes as an expression of ideals in a world that becomes increasingly tokenistic and tribal and where the way you look has a tangible impact on societal behaviours and become a means of performative communication.

Pier Paolo Pasolini, Framed and Unframed: A Thinker for the Twenty-First Century 

by Luca Peretti (Editor), Karen T. Raizen (Editor)  

The much fabled about and highly controversial director Pier Paolo Pasolini has left an impressive oeuvre, infused with his idiosyncratic outlook on the world, i.e. eroticism, Marxism and Catholicism.

What I like about the collection of essays is that they approach the protagonist in an objective and unprejudiced way and examine the man’s emissions with questions pertinent to the times we live in.

Thereby they add layers to his significance and offer new vistas on his time and trials that offer insights and appreciation going beyond the shock value of his movies that some might know him for.

The Formative Years – Riot Grrrl Cardi B

Part of my formative years were shaped and influenced by the underground feminist punk movement that emerged out of Washington and the greater Pacific Northwest at the early 1990s and what eventually became known as “riot grrrl” spearheaded by bands like Bikini Kill actively destroying the traditional image of femineity and addressing issues like domestic abuse, rape, patriarchal structures, et cetera. To this day, I am grateful that I got to meet some of the protagonists and exposed to the ideas propagated by them.

Now, I do not want to draw a direct line between Kathleen Hanna and the likes of Cardi B as they are not only in genres that could not be further apart but also have come up in different environments.

However, after having gotten over the first impression of superficial sexually overly explicit rap with the female protagonists appealing to the lower instincts of their audience, I started to like what Cardi B does and what she stands for.

Inherently carnal in nature and with all systems up to eleven in terms of production, what I like about Cardi B’s oeuvre is that is unapologetic in not merely mimicking the male counterparts but actively taking ownership, celebrating and articulating the sexuality of women.

Interestingly, despite expected public backlash, amongst my female friends, the sentiments seems to resonate – not necessarily in terms of the outlandish and at times vulgar delivery – but in that they welcome such a vocal voice in the public sphere.

At the core of most criticism about Cardi B and other female rappers of her calibre, there seemed to be misogyny and hypocrisy  in that the subject matter of Cardi B’s songs was deemed okay for male rappers but not women.

To come back to the aforementioned riot grrrl movement, the parallels seems to lie in the refusal to engage in sex for the sole outcome of male pleasure, which e.g. Bikini Kill clearly stated with their 7” appropriately titled “I Like Fucking”.

From that angle and given that he world has not become less patriarchal over the last three decades, I enjoy the rebellion, confident female empowerment, subversiveness and threat to stereotypes that is inherent in songs like WAP.

Water of Life

Noosa Heads Distillery / Fortune + Ginny Pig Distillery

Amongst the myriad of gin distilleries mushrooming on terra australis there is no shortage when it comes to the distilling of innovative and varied gins. However, every now and then one comes across a distillery that stands out because of its attention to detail and refined approach to channelling its alchemy.

Enter the entity founded by Tim Crabtree and the team around his head distiller Jackson Boyd, i.e. Noosa Heads Distillery.

With one of the focal points being set on provenance and paying homage to their home state of Queensland via tropical flavours courtesy of locally sourced botanicals, which infuse the distillate emanating from Noosa Head’s behemoth of a still.

With a volume of two thousand litres and a weight clocking in at close to four tonnes, it is not only of massive proportions but equipped with the capability to produce unique flavour profiles courtesy of the variants between each column of Copper Pot Reflux Still and the fact that Noose Head Distillery’s approach is centred around traditional distilling methods with their gin being bathed and boiled not unlike a traditional London Dry.

Being a whisky head, I love their Barrel Aged Gin, which saw their Navy Strength Gin aged for over five months in custom made, re-coopered and specifically toasted Shiraz Casks. With Queensland unique climate and its fluctuations I humidity, this expression has idiosyncratic notes of spicy traditional Christstollen cake with cinnamon nuances. Beautiful.

A gin that intrigued me was Noosa Head’s Sum Yung Guys X Fortune Pho Gin. With the former being a restaurant institution, the aim behind joining forces was to marry the vibrance and creative spirit of Sum Yung Guys with the well-calibrated flavour profiles of the distillery.

Clocking in at 46% ABV, this expression is in essence a gin replica of a Pho dish, with all variants being catered to, from fish sauce via chilli, seaweed and porcini mushrooms for some meaty impact, which sits against the backdrop of herbal freshness?

Sounds odd and gimmicky? It is testament to Noosa Head / Fortune that the result plays in its own league  and qualifies as a must-try for any juniper juice aficionado.

Let’s head down south, shan’t we, down to the Fleurieu Island in South Australia to be precise.

Ginny Pig Distillery is essentially a wife and husband operation, both of which started their careers in Nursing before they ventured into channelling their creative sides in the distilling of gin.

The interesting thing about Ginny Pig Distillery is that it was incepted with the mission to create the artisan gin equivalent to a hot cross bun, which was crowned with success with their Hot x Gin and soon after a Christmas Gin infused with the ingredients know from making Christmas puddings the delight they are.

Based on the fact that Ginny Pig’s gins may have exotic flavour nuances yet could not be farther away from novelty territory, makes them one of the more interesting distilleries in Australia.

The three creative gins I have had the pleasure to sample included their core Dry Gin, which unveils floral, musky and sweet notes sitting against a backdrop of citrussy and grapefruity highlights.

My favourites, however, are the spiced-fig gin, which is ideal for the current colder months with its ginger, clove and cinnamon flavours that sit on top a foundation of juniper, and especially the mouth-watering blueberry and vanilla expression. The latter is made with real blueberries which are expertly counterbalanced by tart and pine like flavours, crowned by just a hint of vanilla. Delicious.

Needless to say, Ginny Pig Distillery took its love for sweet treats to the next level with the creation of their Boozie Berry Jam – a telling name really, as it makes great used of the gin soaked berries left over from their gin production.

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