In Recession, Drinking Moves from Bars to Home

When the going gets tough, the tough, um, go drinking. That's the word from a new Gallup poll showing that 67% of Americans are hitting the bottle, the most since 1985. Another sign of challenging economic times: more and more of those rounds are happening in the kitchen, not at the corner pub.

A new report by Mintel International, a market-research firm, shows that a growing number of Americans are guzzling down wine and spirits at home as opposed to in bars and restaurants, and many are trading down to cheaper brands as they seek fiscally conscious ways to party in a sluggish economy.

"We used to say that [alcohol consumption] was recession-proof or at least recession-resilient, but the rules have changed in this recession," says David Henkes, a vice president at Technomic, a research and consulting firm.

Though the recession technically ended more than a year ago, high unemployment, stagnant wages, falling home prices and shrinking retirement savings have shattered consumer confidence and affected where and how much Americans imbibe, according to the Mintel report. Traffic to restaurants has plunged, with fine-dining establishments taking the biggest hit as businesses pull back on entertaining clients and consumers keep a tighter grip on their pocketbooks.

Sales of alcoholic beverages at bars and restaurants fell 4.6% in 2009, while sales at liquor stores, supermarkets and other retailers for "at home" drinking rose 1.2%, the report said. Americans are gulping 10 drinks on average each month at home, compared with only 5.7 drinks in bars and restaurants, the report notes.

Certain drugstore chains and cash-strapped state governments are trying to cash in on the trend. In the past year, Walgreens has started stocking its shelves with beer and wine, reversing a 15-year ban on alcohol sales.

And in New York, Governor David Paterson is pushing for legislation that would end a 20-year fight to allow grocery stores to sell wine — a move that would generate about $300 million in licensing fees alone. "The governor is one of the big champions of this because they're turning over every rock they can find for revenue right now," says Dan Hendrick, communications director for the New York League of Conservation Voters, an environmental group lobbying for the change as a way to raise revenue. About 35 other states already allow this.

For the booze industry, the surge in retail sales has helped to at least partially offset the decline in restaurant sales. "The suppliers still benefit as long as they're getting the volume," says Raymond Jones, an analyst at Ragen MacKenzie, a division of Wells Fargo Investments LLC.

But penny-pinching consumers are not only avoiding restaurants but also trading down to cheaper alcohol brands to save money, the Mintel study says. At the retail level, consumers have shifted their tastes to the $8-$15 wines, from the $40-$60 class, and demand for lower-priced vodka, such as Svedka, has surged. To the chagrin of suppliers, consumers "are learning they can trade down in price without trading down in quality, especially among wine," says Craig Wolf, president and chief executive of the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers Association.

Suppliers have been taking extra steps to boost sales and protect market share in light of the downturn in restaurant and bar activity. Many are offering price discounts, adding ready-to-drink cocktails in retail stores, hosting wine-tasting events and using celebrities, such as Bruce Willis for Sobieski Vodka and Dan Aykroyd for Crystal Head Vodka, to boost sales. Traditionally, liquor producers rely on bars and restaurants to launch and market new brands, but with traffic down, they're having to find new ways to get people out to the bars "If you have Bruce Willis show up at a major nightclub with Sobieski, people are going to try it out and buy it," says Wolf.

FIFA 11 FACT SHEET

FIFA Soccer 11 reinvents player authenticity – on and off the ball – for every player and at every position on the pitch with Personality+, an all-new feature that sees individual abilities reflected in game, enabling clear differentiation for every player.

With Personality+ a player’s abilities on the pitch is mirrored authentically in game, creating individual personalities. Players will be distinguished from one another through a sophisticated database that evaluates and grades each player’s skill-set over 36 attributes and 57 traits, compiled by 1700 scouts around the world. Real Madrid’s Kaka will deliver crisp, creative passes, Barcelona’s Andres Iniesta will utilize tighter turns and close control to dribble through defenses, Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney will hold off defenders and strike shots from distance with pace, and top-flight defenders like Giorgio Chiellini of Juventus will anticipate, predict and react to offensive players to win back possession.

Goalkeepers have also been injected with Personality+. The real-life personality of the keeper, whether acrobatic or traditional, will dictate his style in game. Dive attributes will determine keepers with ability to reach for further shots while reflex attributes determine reaction times, enabling a keeper like Petr Cech of Chelsea FC to showcase world-class skills.

FIFA Soccer 11 also introduces new Pro Passing where pass accuracy is determined by a gamer’s ability on the control pad, and player skill, situation and urgency on the pitch. Plus, experience true freedom in man-to-man interactions with 360° Fight for Possession that transforms physical play from just lateral jostling to full 360° collisions.

A series of new customization tools will enable fans to transform FIFA Soccer 11 in new ways. Go online in Creation Center to create a player or team, share with friends and download into your console. Plus, assign customized chants for any team and play music tracks from your existing library within the game.

New features will be announced at Gamescom in Cologne. FIFA 11 is set to ship September 28th in NA and October 1st in EU

Johnny Flynn - Been Listening

Any music lover’s most likely said these exact words at some stage in their lives: “Why isn’t [band/artist] more well-known? They really should be!” Fans of Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit (to give his band some recognition) would seem to have more right to complain than others.

Over the last two-and-a-bit years, the London nu-folk scene’s picked up more plaudits than you could shake a stick at. Laura Marling picked up a Mercury for ‘Alas I Cannot Swim’, and Noah and the Whale and Mumford and Sons released albums last year, to acclaim and differing degrees of commercial success.

These three have overshadowed the rest to such an extent that they are refusing to budge and allow others to step into the limelight, which is disappointing. ‘Sigh No More’ is good, but the fact that it’s been whored around to within an inch of its life his ensured that many of us who fell from them in the first place have gone off them to various extents. It’ll be interesting to hear that second album, that’s for sure.

In the meantime, what you can do is enjoy ‘Been Listening’, Flynn and band’s second album. It’s not going to sell all that well (though we cannot fathom why; it’s accessible as they come, and quite consistent), certainly not in comparison to the aforementioned acts, but we’re of the opinion that it’s easily the equal of ‘Sigh No More’, and in many areas the better of the two.

An album like this is going to achieve critical acclaim, sure enough, but if ever there was a record that had the potential to be a sleeper hit, it would be ‘Been Listening’. Straight away, Flynn signifies that he’s not afraid to try new things; ‘Kentucky Pill’ has calypso overtones, and there’s a decent amount of brass in there, too. Musically it’s about as far as away from his debut (‘A Larum’) as you can get.

While it would suggest that he’s forsaken his folk roots, it’s misleading, as we are back into familiar territory with ‘Lost and Found’. Expansion and development are the order of the day on this album. Clarinets and muted strings envelop ‘Barnacled Warship’; ‘Sweet William, Part 2’ finds Flynn playing Marcus Mumford and company at their own game.

There are lots of ideas brought to fruition on ‘Been Listening’, but its highlight is the most stripped-back song on the album. The six-minute ‘Amazon Love’ is carried by a simple yet oddly affecting piano part, proving that Flynn’s every bit as comfortable with creating that kind of song as he is, say, writing upbeat, infectious folk-rock like ‘Agnes’. Those two songs sit side-by-side in the tracklisting, and are polar opposities, but provide a brilliant contrast.

With this record, diversity is the name of the game. From the tender balladry of the title track to the sumptuous climax that graces ‘The Prizefighter and the Heiress’, and everything in between, ‘Been Listening’ is a real treat, and rather unexpectedly so: it has staying power to burn, something that certain contemporaries can only dream about for now

Denver International Airport Unveils Conceptual Design by Santiago Calatrava

DENVER, CO.- Denver International Airport (DEN) today unveiled the conceptual design of the South Terminal Redevelopment Program at the Westin Tabor Center in Denver. Speakers included Mayor John W. Hickenlooper, Denver Manager of Aviation Kim Day and Architect Santiago Calatrava. In conjunction with RTD’s FasTracks East Corridor, the South Terminal Redevelopment Program is expected to create more than 6,600 jobs and is scheduled for completion in 2016.

The South Terminal Redevelopment Program includes the construction of a train station to connect the airport to downtown Denver, a signature rail bridge and a plaza. The program also includes a planned 500-room hotel and conference center connected to Jeppesen Terminal.

DEN is one of the few major airports in the world without a passenger rail link to the downtown city core. The train station, plaza and hotel will form a highly integrated and dynamic complex located directly south of and adjacent to the existing Jeppesen Terminal. This program will complete the original plans for the airport, which included an on-site hotel and a train station for a link to downtown Denver.

At present, the South Terminal Redevelopment Program Phase I, which includes the hotel, train station, signature bridge and plaza, is estimated to cost $650 million. This estimate is based on a conceptual design, and individual projects will be developed only after analysis shows their financial viability. Phase II of the redevelopment program includes a new parking structure and renovations to the Jeppesen Terminal Great Hall. If airport management decides to move forward with Phase II of the redevelopment program, it is estimated to cost an additional $250 million, for an overall estimated total of $900 million, which is less than the $950 million originally projected.

The program will be primarily financed by General Airport Revenue Bonds (GARBs) which will be repaid from airport revenues. No taxpayer and no General Fund money from the City will be used for the program. The City is in the process of reviewing the various program components to further refine the figures and develop a financing plan.

“Denver International Airport is one of the most envied facilities in the industry,” Denver Manager of Aviation Kim Day said Thursday. “With the addition of the rail connection to our city core and the terminal hotel, we will truly be competitive with major international airports worldwide. The design complements the existing iconic architecture and provides an enhanced passenger experience while improving the connectivity for passengers and employees alike.”

The airport will approach each project in the South Terminal Redevelopment Program individually in an effort to control costs and maintain budgets.

“We are committed to fiscal responsibility for this project,” Day added. “We will keep a close eye on costs and we will not move forward with any project that does not make good financial sense. In addition, no taxpayer or General Fund dollars will be used to complete any of the projects in the South Terminal Redevelopment Program.”

Parsons Transportation Group’s Denver office was selected as program manager in July 2009 based on its expertise and proposed personnel, including Santiago Calatrava as the team’s signature architect. Calatrava is a world-renowned structural engineer and architect who has designed visually stunning and instantly recognizable structures such as the Sundial Bridge in Redding, Calif., the TGV Railway Station in Liège, Belgium, the new Sondica Airport terminal in Bilbao, Spain, and the Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece.

Calatrava developed the overall concept of the South Terminal Redevelopment Program, which encompasses the siting and relationships of all the elements (hotel, train station, plaza and signature bridge) as well as establishing the passenger flow.

The hotel architect is Gensler, a global design and architecture firm with a local office in Denver. M.A. Mortenson, Co., also located in Denver, is the construction manager/general contractor (CMGC) and will collaborate in the design process with Gensler to ensure constructability and an on-time and on-budget project. The hotel, scheduled to be completed in late 2013, is expected to create approximately 1,000 construction jobs, 225 permanent hospitality jobs and will potentially provide the City with up to $2 million in annual tax revenue. Revenue generated by the hotel will be used to pay off bonds used for its construction costs. Additional non-airline revenue generated by hotel amenities and plaza retail locations will help to maintain a competitive cost structure for DEN’s airline partners.

The signature rail bridge is expected to be finished by early 2013, the terminal station two years later, and RTD’s train is scheduled to be opened to passengers in 2016. RTD’s train will link passengers between downtown’s Denver Union Station and the airport. The 22.8-mile airport corridor is the first for RTD to use commuter rail technology, with larger and heavier cars than the existing light rail system. Over 5,400 jobs are expected to be created at peak construction in 2012. It is being financed through a public-private partnership between RTD and an international team led by Fluor and Macquarie, which will operate the system for RTD.

Centre de Cultura Contemporanea de Barcelona Explores Labyrinths

BARCELONA.- The labyrinth as a construction and a symbol is present in many cultural traditions. As explained by Eco (author of the foreword to the exhibition catalogue), the thousands of years of history of this figure reveal the fascination it has always held for humankind, representing as it does an aspect of the human condition: there are countless situations that are very easy to get into, but more difficult to extract oneself from.

This exhibition, scripted by Ramon Espelt, curated and designed by Oscar Tusquets, with Jorge Wagensberg as advisor, reviews the concept and representation of the labyrinth throughout history, making a clear distinction between single-path labyrinths and mazes, labyrinths with a choice of paths, and reflecting on the relevance of this element and different practices and uses today.

The exhibition comprises a series of very varied spaces illustrated by works with a variety of different sources, formats, authors and periods, such as archaeological pieces, engravings, photographs, maps, screenings and models, plus specially created audiovisual, animated and interactive pieces.

1. Plaza
A shade structure will be created in the Pati de les Dones courtyard, with the floor plan of a rectangular labyrinth. The shade structure will be suspended over the arches at the entrance and comprise a system of cables supporting elements that will form the layout of the labyrinth. The shadows cast by this structure on the ground and the walls of the courtyard will form a labyrinth that changes with the sun’s position, which visitors can observe and walk around.

2. Unicursal Labyrinths
The layout of this space will be intricate, but there will only be one way out, in keeping with the aim of all unicursal labyrinths: the longest route on the smallest surface area (the divisions will be no more than a metre high).

An initial distinction will be made between conceptual labyrinths, drawn on stone or paper, which we can follow visually or trace with a finger, and labyrinths that we can physically enter and walk around. This sector will include stone engravings; the Cretan labyrinth represented on coins and Greek pottery; Roman mosaics; labyrinths from Gothic cathedrals; labyrinths as memorials; facsimiles of medieval manuscripts and various books from the 16th to 19th centuries that contain representations of the labyrinth.

It also presents the work of contemporary artists such as Robert Morris, Terry Fox and Richard Long, for whom historical labyrinths are a source of inspiration, bringing the representation of the unicursal labyrinth up to the present day.

This space ends with a room devoted to the figure of the Minotaur and the relationship between the labyrinth and dance.

3. Crisis in the Concept of the Unicursal Labyrinth
This section will analyze issues such as the uselessness of Ariadne’s thread in a unicursal labyrinth. It also focuses on Giovanni Fontana (15th c.), the creator of the first intentionally designed mazes that offered the freedom to choose a route at various turning points and the possibility of getting lost after reaching various dead ends.

The maze raises the issue of the need for Ariadne’s thread to find one’s way out, as an “external memory” that helps us to retrace our steps to the entrance to the labyrinth. A room will be given over to the relation between labyrinth and memory, with an ants’ nest as a central feature that explores the theme from the viewpoint of the natural sciences.

4. Mazes
As opposed to the unicursal labyrinth, the layout of this space will offer a range of alternatives, possibilities of choice and dead ends, with walls extending above eye level, unlike the unicursal labyrinth, in which the divisions are lower.

Here, the entrance centres on the hedge labyrinths that were planted in numerous aristocratic gardens in Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. The layout divides into different rooms that will develop themes associated with real places (the labyrinth at Versailles) or creators (writers, architects, artists: Borges, Randoll Coate, Patrick Ireland, Michael Ayrton, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Saul Steinberg, etc.) whose body of work features the theme of the labyrinth.

This space will also include a walk-through maze of mirrors and a room with an audiovisual installation that looks at the role of the labyrinth as a space of life in the cinema.

Toledo Museum of Art Announces The Egypt Experience: Secrets of the Tomb

Ancient Egyptian. Funerary Stele of Zezen-nakht. Limestone with stucco and polychrome pigment, Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 11 (2040-1991 BCE), ca. 2000 BCE. Toledo Museum of Art. Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, 1947.

TOLEDO, OH.- Discover an ancient civilization's fascinating approach to life and the afterlife at The Egypt Experience: Secrets of the Tomb, a new exhibition opening Oct. 29 at the Toledo Museum of Art. The installation of more than 150 objects spanning 3,000 years of history will be on temporary view in a specially designed Lower Level Egyptian Gallery in the Main Museum.

TMA's popular mummies return to public view for this exploration of ancient Egyptian beliefs about life and the afterlife. Believing that if they lived good lives they would live again in a better world after death, Egyptians spent great effort to ensure the preservation of both body and spirit.

Tombs were built as "houses of eternity," places for living after death with the aid of ritual prayers, food and drink, and all the good things of life. The Egypt Experience: Secrets of the Tomb introduces visitors to the conversations between the living and the dead that formed a fundamental part of life in Egypt for thousands of years. Specially built chapels and tomb-like spaces display artifacts from the funeral ceremonies and final resting places of both royal and non-royal Egyptians.

Visitors will meet a series of individual Egyptians and learn about them from the evidence of their tombs, mummies, inscribed biographies and personal possessions. Among them are: court official Akhet-hotep, overseer of the palace of King Sneuferu; Raramu, priest of the mortuary cult of King Khufu, and his wife Ankhet; Zezen-nakht, hereditary prince and overseer of the army of the Nineth Nome; the royal physician Amunhotep, chief physician and royal scribe of King Rameses II; Henut-wedjebu, singer in the temple of Amun, and her husband Hatiay, granary overseer of the temple of Aten; and Tamesia, daughter of Tashenanoup, who was buried by her mother.

The Museum's two mummies (gifts in 1906 from the Museum's founders Mr. and Mrs. Edward Drummond Libbey) will be on view, along with results of forensic and radiological studies that reveal much about the appearance, ages, gender, lifestyles and deaths of the young priest and the old man.

Elegantly carved and painted sculptures, the coffin of the lady Ankh-Tesh, a boat model, canopic jars, shabtis, and beautiful yet heart-rending grave gifts are displayed in the dramatic series of galleries. Objects from the Museum's own antiquities collection, enhanced by beautiful and significant loans from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Indiana University Art Museum, The Field Museum and the Oriental Museum Institute of the University of Chicago, among others, reveal the secrets of the tomb.

Egon Schiele's Portrait of Wally Now on Display - Only Opportunity to See it in the U.S.

A woman looks at the 1912 painting 'Portrait of Wally' by Egon Schiele which is on temporary display at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, New York, USA, 29 July 2010. The painting has been subject of a recently settled court case in which the United States ruled for a settlement agreement between the Bondi Jaray estate and the Leopold Museum as a result of a series of events starting with the painting having been stolen from the Bondi Jaray estate by Nazis in 1939. As part of the settlement, the painting will be on display for three weeks at the museum before being placed on permanent display at the Leopold Museum in Vienna. EPA/JUSTIN LANE.

NEW YORK, NY.- After a long awaited settlement regarding the Portrait of Wally, a 1912 oil painting by artist Egon Schiele, the painting will be on view to the public at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust from July 29, 2010 through August 18, 2010 before it is placed on display at the Leopold Museum in Vienna. The Museum of Jewish Heritage was chosen to host the painting by the Bondi Jaray estate who wanted "a setting that would memorialize the suffering of so many in the Holocaust and the resilience and resolve of those who escaped and/or survived." Museum Director Dr. David G. Marwell said, "We honor the memory of victims of the Holocaust every day at this Museum and we remember the millions who, while they may have themselves survived, lost their communities, families, homes, and property. While they can never recover what they have lost, it is important to set some things right when at all .