Starbucks’ holiday drinks usually leave me cold — not for me Josh’s strange Peppermint Mocha Fetishism. But this year I’ve turned a new leaf (or rhizome), as their 2008 Winter Lineup includes an imaginative re-thinking of the old standby: Gingerbread Latte. New this year is the Gingersnap variant, which marries a reformulated sugar syrup with a genuine ginger innovation: “authentic Austrian crystallized ginger.” Yes, it’s the Kurt Waldheim of caffeinated beverages. The only problem comes ...

tags: starbucks

We here at Seattlest have been seeing more shows than ever lately, so to help you keep up with the best theatre, dance, and performance, we've started running down the weekend's best shows every Thursday, with info on tickets, show times, and reviews. OPENINGS ACT kicked off their annual production of A Christmas Carol last Sunday, and last night Seattle Rep's You Can't Take It With You opened (both reviewed tomorrow). Plus, this Friday the holiday theatre ...

tags: weekend matinees, annex theatre, black nativity, holiday theatre, new horizons, nextstage, nact, intiman, stars in their eyes, holiday classic, adding machine, 25th anniversary, christmas carol, twilight zone, intransigent, full moon, theatre dance, stop motion, little girls, headbands

Conference call this morning with Uncle Howard, who says there's nothing to worry about, really. Those Dunkin Donuts commercials, nah; America runs on Starbucks, folks. Micky D? A low-rent interloper. Cut the price of $4 lattes and you imply that Starbucks might not be a premium company after all. Coffee taste tests? Don't even think about it. Loyalty cards for sale in bulk at Costco, on the other hand, that's classy. The market lapped it ...

tags: calm conference, dunkin donuts, loyalty cards, coffee taste, costco, interloper, taste tests, low rent, lattes, starbucks, commercials, uncle howard