Ray Isle

@HenryGJeffreys Reminds me of advice I was given by an actor (RSC, tv roles, etc), which was "If you can think of anything else you could do, at all, do that. If you feel there is absolutely nothing else in the world you could ever, ever, even possibly want to do, then yes, be an actor."

This is number one in my post on advice to aspiring writers.

@JamesSurowiecki @rational_wiki Maybe the most uneven great band ever? Regardless, I’d vote Trouble Boys as the best rock bio I’ve ever read.

@rational_wiki The Replacements? Wow -,I'm surprised.

My musical taste has stayed incredibly consistent over time. The one great exception is New Order. I used to think they were slight and pointless. Now I understand their brilliance. What bands have you changed your mind on, either positively or negatively?

See above, @ExpediaHelp. Stunningly bad customer service.

Just had to listen to @Expedia call center being incredibly rude to my wife on the phone - initial call center guy and manager. Is that your policy? Treat women like they are idiots? Interrupt them repeatedly when they are trying to speak? Tell them to stop talking? #totalfail

Evidently the Obamas aren't anti-wine. 😁 🍷

I spent a long, long time trying to answer a question that I really care about. Is moderate drinking—say, 1 glass of wine a night (and, let's be honest, sometimes 2!)—"okay"? Here's the article: theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/… 4 things to emphasize: 1. The science is a total mess The surgeon general wants new cancer warning labels on booze based on large meta-analyses. But wait: The National Academies also did a large meta-analysis and found moderate drinking is associated with longer lives. But wait: Many popular podcasts emphasize the risk of drinking *any* alcohol on cancer and brain matter shrinkage. But wait: Many other popular scientists point out that those studies are deeply flawed. Ahhh!! 2. Beware over-corrections in science The 1990s conventional wisdom that moderate amounts of red wine were very good for your heart were (almost certainly) based on over-confident conclusions drawn from bad studies with improper comparisons between moderate drinkers (who are often healthy for reasons that have nothing to do with alcohol) and non-drinkers (who are often less healthy for reasons that have nothing to do with abstinence). We're smarter now. We've fixed this error. But now we're talking about slapping warnings on wine bottles about mouth and throat and breast cancer. And I'm worried we're throwing the same bad "fruit" into the "juicer" of health meta-analyses and calling it a perfect smoothie (to paragraphse @VPrasadMDMPH). 3. When evaluating health warnings, consider the difference between relative and absolute risk. Even if you choose to take the new cautious CW seriously, the upshot is that moderate drinking only slightly increases the risk of some cancers from an low absolute number to another low absolute number. What might appear to be a large increase in relative risk—say, a 40% increase in oral cancers—is a very small increase in absolute risk, because oral cancer is so rare to begin with. 4. "Every drink of alcohol decreases your expected lifespan by five minutes" *If* you choose to believe the new observational study meta-analyses (an important if! see point 1 above!) this is the all-cause mortality upshot. That sounds kinda bad. But as @euanashley and his team at Stanford have also calculated from observational studies, every minute of exercise *increases* your expected lifespan by five minutes! So, there's your new longevity math: HAVE ONE DRINK; JOG FOR ONE MINUTE. TLDR: I'm gonna keep enjoying my evening glass of pinot. Because, at the end of the day, I'm much more confident that I love wine and that it makes me happy that I'm confident that messy observational study meta-analyses should rule my life.

@KentTorrey @TheCheeseShop1 The wine that made me fall in love with wine was a 1984 Diamond Creek Volcanic Hill...

Proud to say we (@TheCheeseShop1) were one of Al’s first customers starting with the first vintage 1972! Unbeknownst to me at the moment, I shared a birth year bottle (78 Volcanic Hill) of one of my former staff on the night Al passed away… #serendipity

@noahsfriedman same

I went out for dinner last night in NYC and 90% of tables were drinking booze... on a 22 degree Wednesday evening... the first week of January. No matter what the headlines say, the booze business will continue to plow forward.

@KentTorrey @blackberryfarm @andychab So you're the culprit! 🤣

@blackberryfarm With apologies to ami @islewine but @andychab served me the last 2002 des Tours in @blackberryfarm cellars last May for #cheesegeek (🙏🔥🍷)! But it looks like you had some serious en fuego wines for your #winegeek event!! 👏👏👏

We know what you really want to see. Swipe for the bottle lineup from Wine Geek! Want to know more about the tastings and wines we got into at Wine Geek? Click the link to read about them and even see who pairs better, our sommeliers or ChatGPT! bit.ly/BFATasteOfWine…

We kicked off the 2025 Blackberry Year by welcoming Ray Isle, to the Farm for our 20th anniversary of Wine Geek! This year's Wine Geek gave guests access to the Blackberry Farm cellar, and an incredible roster of bottles to sip throughout three days of tastings and pairings.

@blackberryfarm Such an honor to be the 20th anniversary guest!

@HenryGJeffreys Loved both of those, though it's been an eon since I read Ice Cream War - should reread it!

The new William Boyd, Gabriel's Moon, is pretty good. Certainly very exciting. I think the best of his thrillers though I still pine for the immersive brilliance of Any Human Heart, Ice Cream War etc.

Today on All Of It: We talk holiday drinks w/ @foodandwine's wine editor @islewine and drinks editor Prairie Rose🍷 ! Plus, food editor Andee Gosnell on apps🧀 , @Vulture critic @alisonwillmore provides film suggestions, and a performance from @WVChorale. Live at Noon @WNYC!

“Putting this to bed: Bauhaus was not 'inspired' by Joy Division. We were 2 months ahead of them and both camps were being told about one another mutually.”- Peter

Please enjoy these ducks changing their minds.

Kudos to writer @KorinMiller on this, & yes, significant news.

@HenryGJeffreys Perhaps they’ve forgotten why anyone cares about the wine…

Just been offered an interview with former poodle-haired rocker Jon Bon Jovi but... "all questions must be solely focused on the wine with no reference to Bon Jovi's music career."

RIP Phil Lesh, a legend for so much including his hilariously honest testimony during a Jerry Garcia estate hearing in 1996.

An honor for me, too @calebsilver !

@SOMMspirations Petrelle. It's in the 9th, I think. Lovely.

One night in Paris. The goal: a cozy (not super fancy or buttoned up) dinner for one. In or near the 10th arrondissement. Where are you going?