New year, new challenges! In 2013 I will be conducting experiments on myself to test whether aspects of the paleo/primal lifestyle suit me. Here’s the first instalment as I chronicle the journey, on my new blog, Revenge of the Caveman:

Fat caveman | Revenge of the Caveman.

I have pieces in these three magazines, available now: Just remember stocks, Gosling, rich people; big numbers on the covers. I don’t think you can read any of these online, so you’ll have to buy magazines made out of paper, or else maybe downloading apps could work (?).

• In Canadian Business, I have a decently long feature about why introverts might make the best leaders, contrary to prejudices. This one’s for all my semi-secretly introverted homies out there (woot, Susan Cain).

• Got a last-minute booze gift to buy? Readers of MoneySense are privy to my cash-saving choices. Save yourself nearly five grand and get Appleton Reserve instead of the 50 Year Old, for example. Glad I told you, right?

• In Sharp magazine, I offer cocktail party hosting tips. It’s short, but useful, I hope.

Like the NRA, I believe there is a connection between shootings and Hollywood. Movies perpetuate the idea that guns shoot bad guys. They foster the myth, the illusion, the fantasy that a gun is something you use to empower yourself and keep you and your loved ones safe. People don’t buy guns imagining the moment when their disturbed child will pick it up and use it against himself (or others). Women don’t buy a gun thinking about the day their husbands will use it to murder them. People buy guns because they fantasize about shooting bad guys. Does anyone doubt the ultimate source of fantasies so powerful that they can blot out any memories of the headlines?

It is Hollywood (and to a lesser degree the video game industry) that portrays guns as props in heroic scenarios: victorious duels at dawn, liberating Europe from the Nazis, escapes from captivity. God forbid we should read the news and contemplate the real-life scenarios of robberies, domestic murders and suicides — and, yes, school shootings.

Guns look a lot better on the silver screen  than they do in real life. They look cool instead of menacing. Hollywood inadvertently fuels the delusion that weapons protect their owners. The NRA and gun manufacturers should be kissing Hollywood ass for creating the guns-as-empowering myth that masks what guns really are: instruments of chaos that can turn one person’s moment of mental crisis or instability into a catastrophe for all.

On Dec. 4, my first e-book will be released.

UPDATE: Here’s where to buy it:

iTunes
Kobo
Amazon
Google
Barnes & Noble
OverDrive

Drink Different: A Refreshing Guide to Home Mixology is based on my columns in the National Post, but I rewrote stuff and added to it so that it functions as a primer on making cocktails at home. That’s fun and easier than you might think.

As a teaser, you can read the first chapter here.

Anyway, if you have a thirst, a thirst for knowledge, and an e-reader …

Imbibe is a quality magazine about drinks based in Portland, Ore.; in my opinion, it’s the most important publication on the subject of drinks that are not wine. Why? Because if you’re a good bartender or booze geek in North America, it’s how you keep on top of the trends, simple as that.

In the current issue, my Destination Toronto piece talks about the great things that have been happening for cocktail and beer drinkers in this burg over the past couple of years. I’m pretty proud of us, so it was really gratifying to do the story. Pick the issue up if you see it! There’s other great stuff in there, including a DIY spiced rum recipe that I plan to make very soon.

Then pick up the fall/winter edition of Sharp’s Book for Men. No, you can’t read my piece online. But if you buy a copy, you’ll also learn about knifes and tuxedos and watches and stuff like that.

When I caught wind of some changes happening at the Revue Cinema — a Roncesvalles institution I wrote about a few times circa 2006-7 — I took the story to The Grid because I thought their readership would appreciate the heads-up. This is the result:

Revue Cinema on Roncesvalles plans digital-projector upgrade.

As of this week, I’ve joined HuffPo as a blogger, specifically on the subject of booze. I’m still not sure about the whole writing for free thing,  but people who think a lot more about branding and self-promotion than I do assure me that raising my profile/traffic/whatever is a good thing. OK then.

This is my page at The Huffington Post.

Only one post so far, but it’s a start … here’s an idea: You could subscribe to the RSS and check regularly.

Who is the Toronto Sun’s Sue-Ann Levy, really? | OpenFile.