What is in "A Name"?

[Janz]

Do it yourself Absinthe.....on ebay no less. That's hilarious.
It's the elixir of starving artists..they can't afford to pay 100$ a bottle! lol.
But this really makes me wonder what the h*** is in mine...next time I have some, I'll check.

janz

[Vince]

I think it is actually banned everywhere. As someone mentioned, the key ingredient is a wormwood extract. It is pretty deadly stuff. I don't know if there are any ersatz recipes for Absinthe sold to the public, but I think the real thing is hard to come by.

If you just want something green with a kick, I recommend green Chartreuse. As I remember it is something like 110 proof, and has a delightful flavor as well as a lovely color. The price is also elevated. Made by monks from a formula held secret for ages. Don't bother with the yellow Chartreuse, it is not worth the effort. The advantage for Chartreuse is that there are no toxic effects other than the normal ones associated with drinking too much.

Vince

[Janz]

That sounds neat Vince...I'll keep an eye out...monks with a secret recipe..I love stuff like that. We found our absinthe under lock and key in a glass cabinet in one of the uh...SAQ's it's society de alcool de quebec...
anyhow, it was 60$. Now that I'm looking for the stuff, I'm sure I'll never see it again.

We once had a discussion in College about artists who work better when "sick or otherwise inebriated" (oug, spelling?)
I guess it's sort of the same thing as all artists being insane...or however it goes. If Vincent painted starry night while he was dead drunk, would you think any less of it? Or is it a case of when you are "inebriated" and come up with a GREAT idea, and then the next day you're like, oh man...what did i do?

Poor people who never get to know what their art means to us.
Did anyone read White Oleander? (and seeing the movie doesn't count!) Ingrid is a great example of (what I consider) a real artist...she's crazy too...but she doesn't have absinthe or oil paints for an excuse.
The artist is the phoenix who burns it all to emerge once more.

I'm done rambling...and no, it's not a drunken ramble. Just chattin.

[Ofilia_Cinta]

This thread has become quiet interesting! Thanks for the article link, Emily. Very informative! Chartreuse was the color of my first car (hey, it WAS the 70's! after all)! Maybe we can all split a bottle when we have the Gathering in New Orleans, I'm sure a little can go a long way (what's in Chartreuse anyway?) and wear our green beads and peridot jewelry?

Habitual users of narcotics or halucinogens and opiates can go beyond the casual search for recreation. This cannot be compared to the 'true' religious/divination use of certain agents- speaking anthropologically. I'm not a phychologist nor a fairy of fantasy, simply a person who "has been around the block" and persued many diversified personal curiosities, none ever to the point of no return. I think this is what is important. NOT loosing oneself to an outside influence. Keep control and USE that control to your benefit. I can't say this is an actual lesson we are "taught" growing up. The subjects I was most drawn to when I was younger always led to exercising 'observation'. I saw many a friend loose themselves to various forms of self destruction. This was hard, a very hard lesson.

Again, we come back to things being about "choices" and "attitudes".

Why do people become addicted to alcohol or drugs? It does not descriminate as it happens all over the world! If there were an easy solution or answer, I don't think the magnitude of these problems would be where they are now and have been for a long time.

Could this absinthe have been a catalyst for van Gogh's, for that matter Hemmingway's demise? Can anything be so simple to answer?

Humans ARE complex! That is what's so <font color="purple">WONDERFUL [/color] in my 'butterfly and fairy dust' sort of inclination !

Ofilia

[Vince]

The immediate cause of Hemingway's demise was a shotgun. What caused him to arrive at that point is open to speculation. He had a long complex life, and lived it hard.

Vince

[Debby_Weaver]

Hum-m-m-m-m

Vincent (not our Vince) shot himself, too.

Interesting???

This has become quite an interesting and educational thread. Thanks, everyone!
Debby

[rightbrainlynne]

And here's something else to consider....

Not sure if you're saying wormwood is 'pretty deadly', or absinthe, Vince... Wormwood is not . It's sold 'over the counter', and I take it every year as part of a sort of spring cleaning. (and yes, I know what the FDA says about it)

lynne

[Emily]

Practically anything is a poison if you take too much of it.

Another entertaining discussion of absinthe, including a link to the story of the guy who bought pure oil of wormwood over the Internet and drank it -- he survived, but it wasn't lots of fun, and it seems like he more or less admits that he's a bonehead:

http://www.gumbopages.com/food/beverages/absinthe.html

Apparently the definitive website about absinthe is La Fee Verte (link in the above article) -- but my net nanny blocks the site for sexual content, so who knows what else is on there.

My take on Hemingway is that he died from depression, and that the alcohol intake was a combination of self-medicating for depression and acute testosterone poisoning. From the little I know about Van Gogh (which includes reading his letters to Theo, almost all of which are pleas for money), it sounds like his mental issues were something other than, or maybe in addition to, depression -- but alcohol wasn't the root cause of the problems for either of these guys. It can rot your brain, absolutely -- I just don't think that's what was going on for Papa or Vincent. JMHO. Your mileage may vary.

[Soupy]

"Practically anything is a poison if you take too much of it."

Do you realize that in a recent survey done, it was found that ALL of the people who have died of cancer since the early 1900's had eaten at least one dill pickle in their life?

Just goes to show, doesn't it?

Boy, I sure hope that survey wasn't done with MY tax money!

[margi]

Emily: Acute Testosterone Poisoning? Gads, I'm STILL laughing. Thanks--I needed that, as a break from racing around getting ready to take off to yet another show. I know a number of men who are obviously suffering from that malady, and it may be terminal for them too! LOL!

Margi