Think of your most indulgent guilty pleasure – a Japanese whisky with a splash of water in a beautifully cut rock glass or that sought-after 2015 Super Tuscan. Now, what if you could enjoy your favourite booze without the hangover? Higher quality non-alcoholic drinks, be it 0.0 beers, Campari substitutes, zero-proof gins are hitting theContinue reading “Elliot Faber on the future of drinking well (and a perfect highball recipe)”
Category Archives: Current Affairs
A monument to witness – interview with Pamela Longobardi
Normal is curating a series of experiential programming for Patina Hotels & Resorts throughout 2013. This fall, we are collaborating with the renowned artist Pamela Longobardi to unveil a large scale art called Ocean Archeology of Our Time in the upcoming multi-day program, Cosmopolitan Ocean. Words: Jinou Park A large scale, permanent art installation calledContinue reading “A monument to witness – interview with Pamela Longobardi”
A conversation with Avery Whitmore, humanitarian of healing arts
Recently, the ancient practice of breathwork has gained renewed attention as a powerful tool for enhancing overall wellbeing. Its bodily, mental and emotional benefits have been reported by the most rigorously peer-reviewed, respected medical journals. New England Journal of Medicine found that regular slow breathing exercises improved lung function and reduced asthma symptoms while InternationalContinue reading “A conversation with Avery Whitmore, humanitarian of healing arts”
On lent
Are you happy? Yes, you – right now. Are you perusing these pages while smiling ear to ear and chuckling with good cheer? Much as I would like to think that my journals could induce you to ecstasy, I’m prepared to go out on a limb and reckon that your emotions are actually more prosaic.Continue reading “On lent”
Wonders of non-alcoholic cocktails (and 4 of my best recipes)
Each year in October, an estimated 60,000 people give up drinking for Sober October, Macmillan Cancer Support’s fundraiser. In the UK, about a fifth of adults say they’re teetotal, and among 16-to-24-year-olds it’s almost 30% (yikes!). Although stats presented here are those of the UK, this isn’t a local trend but rather a global andContinue reading “Wonders of non-alcoholic cocktails (and 4 of my best recipes)”
Descent into baloney we must fix
Boisterous bullfrogs wake me up earlier than usual. They’ve been going literally since three in the morning, went on for 30 minutes, stopped and started again at six, they haven’t stopped since. I am not in favor of killing them but I’d love to figure out a way to get them outta here. Yesterday, aContinue reading “Descent into baloney we must fix”
On travelling while Covid
Familiar hubbub greets me, although today it feels a little awkward as it has been months since my last routine. Flight crew performs their usual and soothing benedictions while the plane taxis on the runway in snail speed, flanked by permanently idling planes on either side. The wings lift and comes alive, the wheels foldContinue reading “On travelling while Covid”
Watching In the mood for love on New Year’s eve
It is level 3 in Seoul which means restaurants are only open for take-out and entertainment is all but nil. So when I found out that movie theaters were open (with capacity limits) on New Year’s eve, that’s how I was going to spend the evening in this oddest of the odd years. I wasContinue reading “Watching In the mood for love on New Year’s eve”
Year of the Covid holiday gift ideas
Holiday season 2020 It’s that time of the year when everyone including editors and contributors of magazines and newspapers dispense their seasonal wish-lists. Normal’s proprietor is shamelessly no exception so I’m having a go at my own rendition but hopefully of a conscious kind appropriate in this time of anguish. Frankly I wasn’t expecting toContinue reading “Year of the Covid holiday gift ideas “
Cities, profit from this
As I write this story I glance down from my perch in Seoul. On this particularly crisp October morning I was enjoying a cup of Fall Blend on the terrace of a coworking café. Groups of young men dressed in the sharp, telltale style of consultants in their first year on the job (navy suit,Continue reading “Cities, profit from this”
Normal . 