"Beware the Ides of March"

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:11 pm

"Beware the Ides of March...."

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JimHow
Message 1 of 12 from JimHow date 3/15/2000 1:30 PM

Act I, Scene ii.

Flourish. Enter Julius Suckling, Antony, Calpurnia, Portia, Decius, Cicero, Brutus, Cassius, and Casca, and JimHow (as the Soothsayer).

JimHow: Suckling!

Suckling: Ha! Who calls?

Casca: Bid every noise be still: peace yet again!

Suckling: Who is it in the press that calls on me? I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music., Cry "Suckling!" Speak; Suckling is turned to hear.

JimHow: Beware the Ides of March.

Suckling: What man is that?

Brutus: A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.

Suckling: Set him before me; let me see his face.

Cassius: Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Suckling.

Suckling: What say'st thou to me now? speak once again.

JimHow: Beware the ides of March.

Suckling: He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass.

(Sennet. Exeunt all except Brutus and Cassius)

We want to be more than your wine tasting site...

We want to be your center of culture....

Happy March 15th, Jim How.

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PeggySue
Message 2 of 12 from PeggySue date 3/15/2000 1:59 PM

Bravo! Author! Encore! Encore!

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Setab
Message 3 of 12 from Setab date 3/15/2000 2:26 PM

I was thinking a little more like this:

Suckling: Do you bite your thumb at me, sir?

BWE: We do bit our thumbs, sir.

Suckling: Nay, do you bite your thumb, at me, sir.

BWE: We do bite our thumbs, sir.

BWE: Alas, poor Suckling, we knew him well.

With apologies for mixing plays and paraphrasing.

Dennis

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JScott
Message 4 of 12 from JScott date 3/16/2000 12:03 AM

When's the scene where Suckling rides the knife?

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JimHow
Message 5 of 12 from JimHow date 3/15/2001 9:24 AM

Seems hard to believe it has been a year since we last posted the above.

Happy second BWE anniversary of the Ides of March!

JimHow

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gilglin
Message 6 of 12 from gilglin date 3/17/2001 3:27 PM

Greetings!

(With advance apologies to The Reduced Shakespear Company)

LATIN
BRUTUS: In tempore praeterito plus quam perfecto de te mox dicent, Suckling!
ENGLISH
BRUTUS: People will soon have to refer to you in the past pluperfect tense, Suckling!

LATIN
SUCK: Di! Ecce hora! Uxor mea me necabit. Abeo!
ENGLISH
SUCK: Golly, look at the time! My wife will kill me. I'm outta here!

LATIN
BRUTUS: Ecce! Spiritus Elvis!
ENGLISH
BRUTUS: Look! The ghost of Elvis!

LATIN
SUCK: Ubi?
ENGLISH
SUCK: Where?

(Suckling caeduntur)
(Suckling is stabbed)

LATIN
SUCK: Et tu, Brute? Ad domum adligaris, et nulliam ultravisionem spectabis per septiem dies! Subito minime valeo. O, obesa cantavit!
ENGLISH
SUCK: Even you, Brutus? you're grounded, and no television for a week. Suddenly, I don't feel so good. O, the fat lady has sung!

(Mortuus est.)
(Dies)

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JimHow
Message 7 of 12 from JimHow date 3/17/2001 3:29 PM

Bravo! You know, we are more than just your favorite wine tasting site. We are your center for cultural advancement.

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JimHow
Message 8 of 12 from JimHow date 3/19/2002 9:26 PM

Celebrating BWE's third March 15th....

A BWE Ides of March tradition!

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JimHow
Message 9 of 12 from JimHow date 3/14/2003 11:15 AM

Continuing the tradition a day early, since I will be out of town this weekend.

Is it possible that this is our fourth Ides of March together?

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Setab
Message 10 of 12 from Setab date 3/14/2003 1:19 PM

Ides, I know not Ides. Oh, you said Prides. Pour on, then. Sorry, I'm getting just a little hard of hearing.

Dennis

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JimHow
Message 11 of 12 from JimHow date 3/15/2004 1:38 PM

Something I pull up every March 15th, this being the fifth such Ides of March in BWE's history.

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The Jackdaw
Message 12 of 12 from The Jackdaw date 3/17/2004 4:02 PM

JS: Who, Who's there? Who's there in this dark hour?

BD: Tis I, the soothesayer. Fear not me, oh proud spitter, for I shall not be the one who tears out your tongue.

JS: What sayeth thou?

BD: heh heh, Lynch Bages 1995, heh heh,

JS: And what of it?

BD: heh heh, 1989, heh heh. Other than a few 1996 Medocs, heh heh.

JS: Marvin? Marvin? MARVIN!!!!

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JimHow
Message 13 of 13 from JimHow date 3/15/2005 12:29 PM

Enter Ghost

Nelson: Whither wilt thou lead me? Speak. I'll go no further.

Ghost of How: Mark me.

Nelson: I will.

Ghost of How: My hour is almost come,/ When I to sulph'rous and tormenting flames/ Must render up to myself.

Nelson: Alas, poor ghost!

Ghost of How: Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing/ To what I shall unfold.

Nelson: Speak; I am bound to hear.

Ghost: I am thy Benevolent Dictator's spirit,/ Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night,/ And for the day confin'd to fast in fires,/ Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature/ Are burnt and purg'd away./ If thou didst ever thy dear Benevolent Dictator love--

Nelson: O God!

Ghost of How: Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.

Nelson: Murder!

Ghost of How: Murder most foul, as in the best it is;/ But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.

Nelson: Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift/ As meditation or in the thoughts of love,/ May sweep to my revenge.

Ghost of How: Know, though noble youth,/ The serpent that did sting thing Benevolent Dictator's life/ Now wears his crown.

Nelson: O my profetic soul!/ JScott!

Ghost of How: Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast..../ Fare thee well at once./ The glowworm shows the matin to be near,/ And gins to pale his uneffectual fire./ Adieu, adieu, adieu! Remember me...

Exuent Ghost

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JimHow
Message 14 of 14 from JimHow date 3/15/2006 12:07 PM

I believe this is the seventh Ides of March in the life of BWE.

Spring is in the air!

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MarkDignam
Message 15 of 16 from MarkDignam date 3/15/2006 11:11 PM

Jim,
if you are sick of cold weather, hop on a plane for Australia.
It's 31 degrees C here (about 88 F) and its already Autumn.
I missed a chunk of summer when in the USA, but it has been a very hot summer.

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JimHow
Message 16 of 16 from JimHow date 3/15/2006 11:20 PM

We had a pretty mild winter up here in Maine, Mark, I didn't even have to put my snow tires on this year... knock on wood....

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JimHow
Message 17 of 17 from JimHow date 3/15/2007 11:09 AM

Friends, Romans, BWEers...

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Jackdaw05
Message 18 of 20 from Jackdaw05 date 3/15/2007 6:17 PM

It makes me chuckle to look back on the old posts.

I dare say that time and wisdom have tempered my issues with the Wine Spectator and their staff. Sure, I don't agree with a lot of their critiques, but they have improved, across the board. Sanderson has a very keen palate, Molesworth is doing a good job I believe, and Sogg is a good writer.

Best,

John

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Michael
Message 19 of 20 from Michael date 3/15/2007 6:43 PM

I look forward to seeing this post come back up every year.

As for Wine Spectator, I finally let my subscription lapse, there's just not enough wine content I cared about and too much lifestyle and travel filler. I subscribe to the site every April for the Bordeaux futures reviews, but that's about it.

Man what I wouldn't pay for a Burghound like journal that focused only on Bordeaux...

Mike

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SteveH
Message 20 of 20 from SteveH date 3/15/2007 9:51 PM

What about Steve Tanzer? I've been considering subscribing to his newsletter. What I've seen of his notes appear to be direct and clear. He seems to appreciate earth and mineral highlights in wine.

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JimHow
Message 21 of 24 from JimHow date 3/15/2007 10:15 PM

For some reason I kept my Wine Spectator subscription but let my Tanzer subsciption lapse, which makes no sense to me. You are right, Steve, I find Tanzer a nice complement to Parker. i bought a case of 2002 pichon Baron at NH Liquor store yesterday for $39.99 per bottle based on your recommendations and Tanzer's description and 91 point rating.

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Seattlite
Message 22 of 24 from Seattlite date 3/15/2007 10:33 PM

Tanzer was considering not reviewing Bordeaux this year, just 'cause he thought that so many other reviewers cover it (timely), and it is a year where the review may have less market impact (e.g. everybody knows what Bordeaux '04 and '05 are about, and '06 is not a vintage likely to attract a large futures following at this time).

I'm not sure what his conclusion was.

My opinion (which is not worth much!) is that Tanzer's reviews tend to be analytical in a way that complements Parker's emotional style; between the two of them there is balance.

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Bordeauxharry2
Message 23 of 24 from Bordeauxharry2 date 3/15/2007 10:54 PM

I have many subcriptions.....Tanzer goes up and down...in have some doubt about Josh Reynolds regarding CdP....BUT we'l see....
Jancis...mm not my style and my kind of approach.
WS....selective...right now only informative (good site) and good CdP reports by Molesworth.
Parker.....personally my taste differs more and more from Parker's...and this is not about quality but more about differences while I'm way more open for all kind of wine styles....
Decanter: not my cup of tea..
Burghound: no interst in Burgundy

BTW I find Parker, Jancis and Tanzer's websites very boring, uninspiring AND old fashioned....
Harry

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SteveH
Message 24 of 24 from SteveH date 3/16/2007 12:35 AM

Jim,
The ' 02 Baron is a beauty in that underrated northern Medoc vintage. You've made a fine purchase of a classic, big-boned Pauillac. I think 91 from S.T. is a high compliment. His scores judiciously.

Jon,
You are right; RP's is an emotional style. It's exclusively about fruit with him.

Speaking of Parker, a longtime member there who bid adios to the Squires board the other day saw his entire thoughtful post, together with dozens of replies deleted. He had articulately objected to the rude posters and the board's ongoing obsession with 'points' and the mercantile aspects of wine. I sent him an email and welcomed him to lurk or post on BWE.

Steve

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JimHow
Message 25 of 25 from JimHow date 3/15/2008 1:04 PM

The evil men do lives after them
The good is oft interred with their bones.
So let it be with Suckling....

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DavidG
Message 26 of 26 from DavidG date 3/16/2008 6:28 AM

"Vicious"

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SteveH
Message 27 of 27 from SteveH date 3/16/2008 6:17 PM

Out, out damned spot...

Wine speculators will be bloodied before the ides of March 2009.

W.S.

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dstgolf
Message 28 of 29 from dstgolf date 3/17/2008 2:47 PM

Jim,

Started reading this thread and wondered what you were smoking when you were talking about your mild winter in Maine with little snow and absence of snow tires this year! Then I noticed it was from 2006! Snow up to our eyeballs with no end in sight right now. Roofs collapsing in Quebec from weight of snow with four dead and counting! Pretty harsh up here this year. Was fun in the beginning but now I'm wondering about what happened to global warming!!

Danny

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JimHow
Message 29 of 29 from JimHow date 3/17/2008 2:49 PM

We've got another big storm coming to Maine here on Wednesday Danny.

That first thread on the Suckling/soothsayer interaction was first posted way back in 2000, less than a month after the creation of BWE. I pull it up every year on March 15th.

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JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 11:34 am

Happy Ides of March to BWEers far and wide in the Holy Roman Empire....

dstgolf · Post by **dstgolf** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 4:37 pm

Oh what a differance a couple of years make. Two years ago we were digging out from one of the heaviest snowfall winters in Ottawa and across the Northeast to the least amount of snow in decades. It's Spring-like conditions up here and generally warmer than it was two weeks ago in Florida. I don't understand why the flip-flop with my American friends to the south having a harsher winter than we. I'm not complaining but entering int the Ides of March I kinda like this warm winter after not skiing once this year!

Danny

JonB · Post by **JonB** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 5:43 pm

Danny - out in the Pacific Northwest we also had one of the mildest winters I can remember. No major wind storms, no snow storms.....mostly clear skies and unseasonably warm. The trade winds were nice to us this year.......

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 6:25 pm

Danny, we got yer snow right here, baby! I think (hope) we are done for this year.

I was in Seattle last June Jon in the middle of your heat wave - it was sunny and hot all 4 days I was there.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 10:15 pm

Happy Ides of March, a post from the pre-erobertparkerization era of BWE....
16 days left in my fast!
Wish spring would get here in Maine, though, it's still goddamned cold.

JCNorthway · Post by **JCNorthway** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 11:33 pm

Jim, I woke up this morning wondering if you would resurrect that old "ides of March" piece!

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 11:36 pm

Forgot to celebrate the 11th anniversary of BWE on Feb. 26th!
You've been here since before that first ides of March Jon! Where are the years going!

JCNorthway · Post by **JCNorthway** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 3:58 am

I'm not sure where the years are going, but I'd love to get a few of them back!!

Jay Winton · Post by **Jay Winton** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 2:40 pm

where are those posters i.e. Steve?

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 3:02 pm

People come and go in our lives, Mr. Vino....

Life is a poignant journey through the vineyards of our mind....

Okay, I think it's about time for my three month fast to come to an end....

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:27 am

Happy March 15th!

Keep away from all Roman senators today....

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 12:44 am

A BWE tradition continues....

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 10:33 am

The problem with this is the visuals. I don't want to look upon Suckling in a thong!

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sat Mar 15, 2014 12:13 pm

What will the Ides of March bring?

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Sat Mar 15, 2014 1:59 pm

I was hoping for an announcement that a certain Maine BWE would be throwing his hat into the ring for a seat in Congress.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sat Mar 15, 2014 2:18 pm

That decision/announcement must be made by 5pm on Monday David.

Jay Winton · Post by **Jay Winton** » Sat Mar 15, 2014 4:34 pm

JimHow wrote:That decision/announcement must be made by 5pm on Monday David.

CNN will be on.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sat Mar 15, 2014 4:37 pm

I have never been more serene, whatever the announcement will be....

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sat Mar 15, 2014 6:32 pm

I will make my announcement first here on BWE on Monday afternoon before I announce it anywhere else.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sat Mar 14, 2015 6:10 pm

An annual ritual dating back to the earliest weeks of BWE back in March 2000....

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Tue Mar 15, 2016 11:36 am

The Ides of March. A very political day. Is this the day that the party of Lincoln will crash into flames?
We'll know by midnight, as the last votes come in from the suburbs of Dayton, Cincinnati, and Cleveland.
Will Ohio save the GOP? Or at least delay the inevitable?

AKR · Post by **AKR** » Tue Mar 15, 2016 3:35 pm

The ghost of Caesar hath appear'd to me
Two several times by night : at Sardis, once;
And, this last night, here in Philippi fields.
I know, my hour is come.

So many long gone posters on this thread.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Tue Mar 15, 2016 8:10 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G94Y1vz-8v4

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 10:22 pm

The Ides of March are upon us, and we are having one doozy of a blizzard here in the northeast!

AKR · Post by **AKR** » Wed Mar 15, 2017 5:10 am

"Might I suggest a silken Burberry cravat to keep you warm?"

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:13 am

It is that time of year...

jal · Post by **jal** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 2:30 pm

Amazing to see from the past how many times it's been "cold as a bastard" during the Ides of March

Jay Winton · Post by **Jay Winton** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 2:31 pm

how appropriate we find out today that the master of "make it up" made it up while meeting with the PM of Canada.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Fri Mar 15, 2019 12:24 pm

The "Beware the Ides of March" thread in its 19th year.
A rite of spring!

JCNorthway · Post by **JCNorthway** » Fri Mar 15, 2019 12:38 pm

Right on cue - was just listening to the Julius Caesar origins this morning on the radio.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Fri Mar 15, 2019 12:59 pm

Ha ha. Suckling still seems to be thriving in his empire, nineteen years later.

AKR · Post by **AKR** » Fri Mar 15, 2019 9:30 pm

"I credit my longevity to clean living, long cravats, and stinky cigars"

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:04 pm

Hey, good for him, he looks like he's healthy.
He looks a lot better than Parker.
Hail Caesar.

jckba · Post by **jckba** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 12:18 am

JimHow wrote:Hey, good for him, he looks like he's healthy.
He looks a lot better than Parker.
Hail Caesar.

Let’s not forget he is also 11+ years younger than he who shall remain nameless.

dstgolf · Post by **dstgolf** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 2:37 am

Fun thread to go through and common theme....weather. Back to a miserable winter with buckets of snow but its now pouring rain outside tonight after snowing twice earlier in the week. Maybe Caesar or Suckling shedding some tears today in memory of the Ides of March. Hopefully winter is soon to be over and done with!!

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:49 am

It was an unseasonably warm 80 degrees when we left Baltimore and 65 when we landed in San Francisco today. Feels like winter is finally over.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sun Mar 15, 2020 12:06 pm

Hail Caesar... er, Suckling.

dstgolf · Post by **dstgolf** » Sun Mar 15, 2020 5:27 pm

Oh what a different a year makes. Gorgeous sunny day here with snow melting and who would know there are any issues in the world right now returning from a walk.

AKR · Post by **AKR** » Sun Mar 15, 2020 7:58 pm

"If you can't find an N95 respirator, you can improvise with a silken cravat. Cheerio, until next year!"