Monday, March 4, 2013

03/04 Eddie Osterland, Tom DeMichael

Eddie Osterland - America's 1st Master Sommelier


Eddie Osterland, America's 1st Master Sommelier, has helped hundreds of executives and CEOs become successful power entertainers, and he speaks to more than 30 organizations per year, including companies such as Accenture, General Mills, Citigroup, IBM, Merrill Lynch, GE, Ford, UBS, Discover Card, Sprint, Procter & Gamble, Oracle and American Express.  Eddie has been featured as a wine expert by Esquire Magazine, Jet Set Magazine, and was the Director of Trade Education for the International Wine Center in New York City. He served as the wine editor for Restaurant Business Magazine for nearly a decade, and has regularly contributed his expertise to the National Restaurant Association.

Eddie Osterland is an internationally acclaimed expert in the culinary arena of food and wine. For more than 25-years he has delivered workshops and given highly entertaining dinner talks to corporate audiences on power entertaining with wine and food. Eddie has the distinction of being America’s very first Master Sommelier, the highest international distinction that a professional can attain in fine wine and beverage service. He holds the prestigious degree of Diplôme Universitaire d'Aptitude à la Dégustation (DUAD) from the Université de Bordeaux, in Bordeaux, France. Upon completing his studies there, he went on to pass the grueling Master Sommelier Diploma in London in 1973, on his very first attempt! From there, he become head sommelier at the Hôtel de la Poste in Beaune, Burgundy, France—an American running a French wine cellar! In 2008, he was the only Master Sommelier invited to entertain corporate clients at the China Olympics. Eddie is the Business and Entertaining Coach for Vistage International, the world’s leading CEO organization with more than 14.000 members worldwide. http://www.eddieosterland.com/


Tom DeMichael - "James Bond FAQ"

Over the last 50 years, moviegoers around the world have spent more than five billion dollars to escape into a world where they can pretend they drive a Bentley, Rolls-Royce, or Aston Martin; a world where they get the chance to save millions of lives; a world where they can make love to the most beautiful women imaginable; a world where martinis are shaken, not stirred. Women want to be with him. Men want to be him. The name is Bond…James Bond. James Bond FAQ by Tom DeMichael (Applause Books, $22.99, February 2012) covers the gadgets, girls, guns, gangsters, and goings-on of everyone’s favorite secret agent. Completely up-to-date as to include Skyfall (2012), the book focuses primarily on the Bond films, but also includes Ian Fleming’s books, composers of Bond music, and unofficial Bond projects, such as TV versions and other films.

Leaving no stone unturned, James Bond FAQ discusses both the characters and the portrayals of Bond’s villains, friends, and beauties. Also included are cast lists, movie posters, photos and illustrations seldom seen in print, profiles of producers and directors, synopses, and production stories. DeMichael also ranks the actors who have played James Bond from worst to first and gives his reasons why, guaranteed to cause discussion and debate among the most passionate of Bond fans. Tom DeMichael (Chicago) holds a degree in U.S. History and has published numerous books and magazine articles in subjects as diverse as the U.S. Civil War, American film, collectible toys, American firefighting, and television's greatest game shows. A devout and longtime student of cinema, he has followed the screen exploits of James Bond since the age of ten. By his own estimate, he has watched Goldfinger more than fifty times.