Matt’s blog

3 of the Most Expensive Wine Bottles in the World

nobody@vox.com(Matt) — Fri, 09 May 2008 20:44:00 -0700

What makes wine expensive is not just the taste or how much it was aged. Sometimes, it's not even the wine itself that gives it its value - it's the bottle. People have the tendency to collect old stuff and would pay a high price to have a certain item. Here are three of the most expensive bottles of wine in the world.

Chateau Lafite 1787

Christie's London sold a Chateau Lafite 1787 in 1985 for $160,000. The bottle bore the initials Th J - Thomas Jefferson, the third US president's initials.
The most expensive white wine ever sold also bore Thomas Jefferson's initials. It was a bottle of 1784 Chateau d'Yquem sold at Christie's London in 1986 for $56, 588.
A bottle of Chateau Margaux that also bore Thomas Jefferson's initials was being sold for $500,000 by William Sokolin in 1989. However, before anyone could offer to buy it, the bottle was broken by accident - a waiter bumped the bottle with a coffee tray. Fortunately for the wine merchant, the bottle was insured and he got $225,000 for it, a price he could not have received had the bottle been safe and still being sold with the hefty price tag.

The wine in the bottles are no longer drinkable at this point in time (even if the Margaux managed to survive today). Like any item for collection, the rarity affects its value. And as time passes, the number of such items dwindle. Imagine how much those things would cost in the next century?

Source: http://www.forbes.com/2003/11/19/cx_np_1119feat.html

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Barbados: Festivities You Shouldn't Miss

nobody@vox.com(Matt) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:50:50 -0800

For those people interested in going to festivities like I do, here are some festivities in Barbados you shouldn't miss.

Holetown Festival

This is a week long celebration of Barbados for its anniversary. This festivity celebrates the first

Holetown festival

settlement in Holetown last February 1627. The festivity started February 17 and ended February 24, 2008. I guess this is one celebration we will have to look forward to next year. But don't worry there are still more festivities we can look forward to.

Holders Season

Holders season

This festivity features a collection of music including classical, opera, jazz, Latin and Caribbean. The celebration started last February 23 and will end on March 15 of 2008. It will be held at the Holders Plantation House. So if you are a music lover, don't miss it!

Amistad's Atlantic Freedom Tour

Freedom tour

Celebrated on March 28 to April 5 of 2008, this shows when Freedom Schooner Amistad lands in Barbados for the historical recognition of the Atlantic Slave Trade's abolition's 200th anniversary.

Oistin Fish Festival

Fish festival

This is a two day festivity celebrates the local fishermen's contribution to the island. The Oistin Fishing Village holds this annual celebration traditionally during Easter weekend, which would be March 22 to March 24 this year. They will have competitions such as fish boning, boat racing,crab racing, and the most popular fishing.

Barbados Gospelfest

Gospelfest

It is a popular festivity done each year that gospel artists wouldn't miss. The Artists from United States, UK, and Caribbean are always present during this celebration which will be held from May 19 to May 26 of this year.

Celtic Festival

Celtic festival

This is again a celebration for music lovers, a two week festivity for Celtic Music Lovers. This year, it would be held on May 2008 and it features Welsh Choir and the Scottish Folk dancers.

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New Orleans Reborn - The 2008 NBA All-Star Game

nobody@vox.com(Matt) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:29:45 -0800

All star game 2008

The 2008 all-star weekend held in New Orleans just recently is one of the most important events the town has held as it is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, event that was held there since the town was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The spectacle's success was remarkable, letting tourists know that New Orleans has been reborn.

The festivities started with the Rookie Challenge, sponsored by T-Mobile. The game featured fancy

Daniel gibson

passes, spectacular dunks, and athletic feats that the younger generation boasts. But among these great plays, one Daniel "Boobie" Gibson from the Cleveland Cavaliers, with his deadly three-point accuracy, stood tall among other rookies and sophomores. He led the sophomores to victory with 33 points, all of them coming from beyond the arc.

The next day, the all-star weekend continued, and the 2008 Haier Shooting Stars started the night off, and what a way to do so, as the San Antonio team, consisting of Spurs forward Tim Duncan, Silver Stars guard Becky Hammond, and NBA Legend David Robinson, overcame the odds and won the event, despite it being an event that requires good shooting from the perimeter (both Duncan and Robinson were known for their inside presence).

Chris paul

The Playstation Skills Challenge was the second event of the night, and continued the string of upsets, as Miami Heat star Dwayne Wade, the event's 2-time defending champion, bowed out of the competition early on, leaving Utah Jazz guard Deron Williams and New Orleans' own Chris Paul fighting for the championship. Even though the crowd was clearly behind the hometown boy, and Paul being the better man stats-wise, that didn't stop the Jazz guard from having a date with destiny, as he defeated Paul in the finals, beating the record for the fastest time lapsed in the event while doing so.

But just when people thought this would be a night of upsets, the Foot Locker 3-point shootout featured Toronto Raptors shooter Jason Kapono's dominance in the event. He breezed through the eliminations, leading the competitors with 20 points, next to both Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki and Daniel Gibson's 17. Nowitzki surprisingly faltered in the final round, and while Gibson managed to get a respectable score, both were humbled by Kapono's amazing shooting streak, and the champion successfully defended his title with a score of 25, tying the all-time record for the most points in a three-point shootout event that was held by Chicago's Craig Hodges.

Ending the night was the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest that featured Toronto rookie Jamario Moon, Memphis sophomore Rudy Gay, 7-foot-tall Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard and Defending Champion Gerald Green of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Despite being the tallest of all the competitors, Howard showed tremendous leaping ability, which the announcers mentioned all the time that the NBA has never seen anyone so tall with the high leaping ability like Howard possesses. After he successfully nailed an astonishing left-handed tomahawk follow-up dunk which sounds quite easy on paper, but the thing is he bounced it off the backboard, and by back I meant the back of the backboard; everyone was already predicting a win for Howard, and they're right. And while his first dunk raised the roof of the joint, the second and third ones blew it away. No doubt that he was the clear-cut champion of one of the best slam dunk events of all time.

The last night of the weekend featured the main attraction, the 2008 NBA All-star game, featuring the leagues brightest stars today, showcasing their amazing talents; and it showed during the first 3

Lebron james

quarters of the game, including Howard and Cavaliers star LeBron James sharing eye-popping alley-oop passes to one another. But in the final 10 minutes of the game, the competition got stiffer, and the heat was on. The East led throughout the game, but the West clawed their way back. But the West fell short when James drove home with a jam over Nowitzki that not only drew tremendous applause from fans, players and coaches alike, but also served as the nail in the coffin for the game. And it's just fitting that with the East's victory over the West, the Cavs' forward received the award as All-Star MVP, showing everyone that he was the star among stars that night.

The 2008 all-star weekend was so great a spectacle to pass up. I wish I was there to witness it firsthand, and was envious to everyone that actually watched it live. I was in Chicago at Sutton Place Hotel attending a very important meeting that weekend. But there's always next year, and I'll see to it that I can book tickets early.

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The City of an Amazing Island

nobody@vox.com(Matt) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:27:12 -0800

I was so amazed when I went to South Carolina last weekend. I never thought that there

Charleston

could be such a beautiful place in that state. I was breathless and speechless when I was proven wrong by my friends. I was arguing that there could never be a place that I would love as much as I love the Caribbean. I was incorrect.

My friends dragged me to Charleston of South Carolina because I didn't want to believe them. They told me "You should experience it, if you don't want to believe us then might as well come and see it for yourself". And so I did. To my surprise, I

Cobblestone streets

was blown away by the beautiful architectural artistry of the cities wall-to-wall mansions. They had cobbled stone streets, ancient cemetery, and iron gates.

We even spent time on the beach of Kiawah to watch the moon rise. It was quite an experience. We stayed at the Orient-Express Hotel ; the rooms are all so stylish and some rooms are like the ancient Charleston mansions. During the daytime activities, we went to the beach. And enjoyed kayaking, fishing, and watching the dolphins play around. At the end of our tour, we got satisfied from the relaxing Spa treatment.

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