If you have ever wanted to look different than you currently appear, you’re not alone: more than 12 million cosmetic surgical and non-surgical procedures were performed in the US alone in 2008. That number includes everything from liposuction to Botox, but doesn’t include bariatric (weight loss) surgery or body art like tattoos and piercings.

The “Devil’s Wine,” as the monks who created it dubbed the volatile spirit, has become the staple of our celebrations, an object of affection and obsession for rappers, crucial for the christening of ships, a bartender’s secret weapon in scores of dazzling cocktails, and has secured its place in our culture as the highlight of high society. In the world of spirits, champagne is a relative newcomer with a short history, but this effervescent elixir has had little trouble garnering popularity and status amongst vinophiles and cocktail connoisseurs worldwide.

Accused of being a large contributor to many artistic creations over the past centuries, it would seem absinthe is a revolutionary tool; individuals such as Vincent Van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, and Picasso have all been storied to drink from this fabled bottle, yet its reputation for bold artistic direction has been outshined by its darker, more belligerent transgressions. Sure, Van Gogh may have partook in a number of absinthe drinks to rev his creative engine, but it is also said that he cut off his own ear while under the spell of the same elixir. Now, in a country where absinthe has only recently been taken off the blacklist, Americans can enjoy the beverage many have labeled the “Green Devil.”

From John D. Rockefeller to Howard Hughes, eccentricity has long permeated the great minds of modern industry. This axiom is equally true of the pioneers of the automotive world, as demanding personalities and unbridled vision were hallmarks of quite a few automotive visionaries, ranging from Henry Ford and Gottlieb Daimler to Enzo Ferrari and Dr. Ferdinand Porsche. Few among them, however, compared with Ettore Bugatti, an icon of another era whose name has largely been relegated to the shelves of wild-eyed automotive historians and the opulent garages of equally admiring car collectors.

Before long, the holidays will be here and entertaining will bring us together and food will be the glue. Our fondest memories tend to center around food, and we all certainly have our favorites. I hope the creative process of producing a wonderful meal and the delight of spending time with family and friends makes the holidays all the more enjoyable for you. Let the entertaining begin!

Speed Technologies has just made off-road racing a lot easier. The company, a leading team in the SuperLite Championship series, has launched a rental program that puts drivers behind the wheel of one of its fleet of SuperLite trucks, while removing the logistical nightmare of race support, heavy start-up costs and post-race shop time.

Ain’t nothin’ like the smell of money, honey: freshly minted, its ink seared into the embossed filigree of that stiff, crisp scrip that is the focus of so many dreams. It’s so dizzyingly arresting it warrants pressing a new bill to your lips with tender care to breathe it in; but money, that fickle, fleeting lover, is false—his eyes rove over your shoulder, he winks at someone else, and he’s gone before you know it, slipped from your fingers into another’s, and only his shapeless, nameless, perfumed memory is left.

Malta has been a Mediterranean Forrest Gump, finding itself always in the middle of important events. Yet, with such an extraordinary history, how could it have just 1.5 million visitors a year? With a main island just fifteen miles long and seven miles wide, it has more World Heritage sites per square mile than anywhere else in the world, and, after a recent visit, we’ve concluded that Malta is the biggest little country in the world.

Are you a trendsetter, always on the cutting edge of fashion, fads or cultural developments? Are you the type of person who abandons a style as soon as others begin adopting it en masse? Do you shudder when people begin copying your look, your purchases or your ideas?

If these descriptions sound familiar, you might be considered a contrarian.

DEX New York, a New York City-based company, has a unique concept: their flagship studio is home to a photography studio, make-up studio, progressive hair studio, learning center and relaxing beauty oasis. So what exactly is DEX New York? Well, to sum it up in one word from founder and CEO Dex Phillips, “It’s fun.”

Meant as a tribute to one chef’s troubled and tormented son, A Boy After the Sea: An Untold Story is not an ordinary cookbook. When chef Kevin Snook learned of his youngest son’s drug overdose, he vowed he would not let him die in vain. After being sexually abused while working onboard a commercial fishing boat, Daniel (Snook’s son) turned to drugs to cope with the reality of what happened to him. At the young age of 19, and after three years of drug use and depression, Daniel ended his life by overdosing.

In an age of environmental awareness, individuals and companies alike are looking for ways to make their eco footprint less conspicuous and less harmful. Words such as “green,” “environmentally friendly,” and “carbon neutral” have become common references to the way we all strive to exist. With the global attitude shifting toward an efficient means of sustainability, it seems that no one can stand out in the crowd. However, John Hardy does, and for that, it is set apart from its competition in the jewelry arena.

Few architects have achieved the international status of Antoni Gaudí. He produced some of the most unique and controversial buildings in the Art Nouveau movement. A genius before his time, Gaudí’s work was often the target of ridicule by even the progressive artists of his era. His flamboyant designs drew praise and his deep religious conservatism created rifts between him and his critics. Reviled by some but respected by all, he was an architect, artist, catholic, patriot, and ecologist all rolled into one.

For many celebrities, fame offers a chance to lose staggering amounts of money in a winery. For others, the wine business is paying off. Celebrity wine makers have about one per cent of the American wine market, adding about $42 million per year to their wealth, up almost 20 per cent from last year.

Almost any vacation can be improved with a visit to a winery, for they not only offer superior samples and fine restaurants, but they may also be surrounded by scenery one wouldn’t see anywhere else.

One of the great wonders of travel is that a journey far from your everyday surroundings can help eliminate the cobweb maze that daily stress creates. What better way to travel than to create a vacation that becomes much more than just “time off” by including some spa treatments?

You’re stylish. You’re affluent. You’ve got a fabulous house, fashionable clothes, and lots of fun toys. Life is luxurious.

While we are bombarded with media messages that spending is the only way to stimulate the economy, most Americans are showing restraint. In addition to taking a “wait and see” attitude about the economy in general, many individuals are rethinking the amount of savings they should maintain at all times. A healthy trend towards saving coupled with responsible consumption is a more realistic and sustainable track for economic health than we have been on.

The rarely considered reality of convertibles is that in the beginning they were not the exception, but rather, the rule. That is, at the dawn of the motorcar, most vehicles were open-air; convertibles did not evolve as a way to open cars up, but instead were a function of the act of putting roofs on cars that did not previously have them. Because of this, the term convertible did not even arise until some thirty years into the evolution of automobile mass production.

It is a journey that takes the intrepid golfer to eight of the most extreme golf courses in the world: the highest, the lowest, the hottest, the coldest, the most southerly, the most northerly, the hardest and the greatest.