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Selected Shorts
Sunday, August 10, 2008
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(jawcey/flickr)In vino, veritas?
"Now everyone was watching Richard Pratt. Watching his face as he reached slowly for his glass with his right hand and lifted it to his nose. The man was about 50 years old, and he did not have a pleasant face. Somehow it was all mouth; mouth and lips—the full wet lips of the professional gourmet.”
Two tales of wine snobbery escalation.
--Roald Dahl, “Taste”
SELECTED SHORTS’ long relationship with the Getty Center in Los Angeles was celebrated last season with a series devoted to “food fictions,” and from those programs come two delectable stories about wine. Roald Dahl’s quirky tale of passionate oenophilia at an elegant dinner party, and a high stakes wager, is as outsized in its way as the children’s books for which he is most famous "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "James and the Giant Peach." Dahl was also a screenwriter and contributing writer to dozens of magazines including Harpers, Playboy and The New Yorker. His story “Taste” is lusciously rendered by John Lithgow, himself now a best-selling author of children’s books, but best known, of course, as an award-winning actor whose many stage, television, and film credits include the series "Third Rock from the Sun," for which he was a three-time Emmy winner, "M Butterfly" (Tony Award) and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" (Tony nomination). Films include "Dreamgirls," "Kinsey" and "Terms of Endearment."
If wine drinking is perilous in Roald Dahl’s world, it’s hilarious in James Thurber’s “How to Tell a Fine Old Wine,” which purports to be a wine taster’s guide, but is really designed to skewer the pretentions of wine snobs. It was read by Raphael Sbarge, whose film credits include "Independence Day" and whose long list of prime-time television credits place him in edgy favorites like "24" and CSI.
“Taste,” by Roald Dahl read by John Lithgow
“How to Tell a Fine Old Wine,” by James Thurber, read by Rafael Sbarge For additional works featured on SELECTED SHORTS, please visit Symphony Space
“How to Tell a Fine Old Wine,” by James Thurber, read by Rafael Sbarge For additional works featured on SELECTED SHORTS, please visit Symphony Space
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A relevant article from my book, Ornamentally Incorrect.
Attention Winos
If you want to drown your sorrows about the high price of gold in a glass of wine, you’d better hop on the wagon.
The London International Vintners In-dex, Live-
ex, rose 40% in 2007. Gold rose 31%. Live-ex tracks prices of the top 100 wines. It’s even listed on Bloomberg. Needless to say it’s not for plonk.
I guess I’m not a wino, excuse me, oenophile. I never did taste those notes of raspberry, black cherry, sweet oak(?), or currants. Basically, I drink for effect: a convivial euphoria followed by a snooze in the barcalounger. It just shouldn’t taste bad. If I wanted to drink something delicious, I’d have a glass of chocolate milk.
I spend 8 bucks for a bottle of wine every Saturday night, chosen from the Phil-ex.*
*I don’t know why the Philistines get such a bad rap. They make good wine.
The Taste by Dahl was so thoroughly engrossing that it took me a few seconds to realize that the radio had gone silent at the VERY END of the story.
I waited but the end NEVER CAME - what followed was the intro to the next story
Please show some mercy and make the story available on Listen Again...
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