In the new issue of the New Yorker (9/29/25), two monsters stalk the cartoons in its pages: Joe Dator’s hysterically creepy Wine That Breathes (It’s alive!) and Michael Maslin’s Cyclops waiter at work in an intimate little urban restaurant otherwise located in the waiter’s home territory, the hills of ancient Greco-Roman mythology.
Dator’s monster. The cartoon:
(#1) That’s breathe ‘ (of wine) be exposed to fresh air’ (NOAD); but now the wine is a living, breathing, malevolent spirit
Excursus. There are actual monster wines: Big Red Monster cabernet sauvignon and zinfandel, bold blends from Paso Robles (CA) vineyard, with stunning labels:
(#2) The big red monster on the label is the dragon legendarily slain by St. George, the patron saint of England; the scene there is a somewhat altered image of Albrecht Dürer’s Saint George Slaying the Dragon (ca. 1504), jiggled to fit on the label:
(#3) The Dürer; making the dragon red on the label inadvertently makes the label a coding of the English conquest of Wales, since a red dragon is the national emblem of Wales
Maslin’s monster. The cartoon:
(#4) That’s catch someone’s eye ‘attract someone’s attention by making eye contact’ (NOAD)
And a reminder from Wikipedia:
In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, the Cyclopes (Greek: Κύκλωπες, Kýklōpes, “Circle-eyes” or “Round-eyes”; singular Cyclops) are giant one-eyed creatures.
September 26, 2025 at 6:12 am |
That’s the kind of wine label that would attract me (and I’m fond of both Cabernets and Zinfandels in general), and Paso Robles wines are generally good; I’ll have to keep an eye out for it.
September 26, 2025 at 6:28 am |
Wines from the area are generally big and bold. Long ago I got to watch the area (very close to my father’s and stepmother’s place in Arroyo Grande) transformed into vineyards.