This is the second of short duration and quick to release News Flashes that we intend to share with you on the progress of various Sideways projects - the new book, the musical, the new movie, and all other Sideways related activities.

This News Flash is the latest update on Sideways projects along with the big reveal of the new song – Without a Man -  for Sideways – The Musical. The song was inspired by a list of what’s all wrong with men (Why not listen to Episode 15 – The Worst Things About Men).

The Sideways wine collection (handpicked by Rex Pickett) is now on sale, so please head to https://www.blackmarket.co.nz/promo/sideways-wines-feature or www.158.co.nz and taste the movie!

This is just a reminder that this episode comes with a content warning and is created for adult audiences only. We advise listener and reader discretion for adult themes and language mentioned.

Produced by 158 Limited.

Youie wants to know why Rex writes in this episode. The inspiration for this episode is Youie’s re-reading of George Orwell’s famous essay ‘Why I Write’ (you can find the pdf easily on the web). Rex explains his younger days and shares with us at what point in his life he decided to become a writer. He shares the impact DH Lawrence had on his writing and gets deeply personal explaining how the way he was brought up influenced his career. Along the way, we learn about Pickett’s Pocket Rockets, his School Principal’s unhelpful feedback, birth order, Carl Jung, George Lucas and Star Wars, Joseph Campbell, atheism, agnosticism, and Freud.

Youie then shares with Rex the list of reasons why George Orwell wrote according to the list and Rex responds to each in his typically open and honest style.

Youie struggles to keep up with Rex in this episode as it truly is ‘Rex unleashed’ and at his best.

The words of the podcast are ‘via regia’ and ‘diaphanous’. Remember, you’ll always learn something new on these podcasts.

The Sideways wine collection (handpicked by Rex Pickett) is now on sale, so please head to https://www.blackmarket.co.nz/promo/sideways-wines-feature or www.158.co.nz and taste the movie!

Have you got a question to ask Rex about wine, all things Sideways (the books, the movie, or the play)? Then please write to him on [email protected]

This is just a reminder that this episode comes with a content warning and is created for adult audiences only. We advise listener and reader discretion for adult themes and language mentioned.

Produced by 158 Limited.

Incredibly, this episode is still related to Sideways but in a more sideways way if that makes sense. Rex discusses with Youie how he needed to replace one of the songs from the Sideways Musical and how it led to one of his female friends providing him with a list of the worst things about men. You will need to prepare yourself for a long list!

This list provided the spark for Rex to write the replacement song, Without a Man, and he explains on this episode how he did it. Rex reads out the list and along with Youie they discuss this list with reflections on the characters of Mile and Jack from the Sideways movie and book. Rex seems to be at peace with list whereas it irks Youie a bit more.

Rex then invites his male and female listeners, in particular, to write in and share their reactions and thoughts on this long list of male ills. Don't forget to ask Rex any question you like on [email protected] Rex then shares with us the full lyrics of the song and we have our first two letters from listeners including a question that leaves Rex stumped requiring him to do some homework which we're sure he'll share the results of on a future podcast.

The word of the podcast is speciousness which pops in the conversation. Don't forget to listen to all the episodes, why not go back and listen to them all from the start. Here's the RSS feed for you to click on, https://anchor.fm/s/7829a34c/podcast/rss or alternatively, search for 'Sideways The Life of Wine' on Spotify, Apple, Google, Podcast Addict, or any good podcast player out there. Why not subscribe?

The Sideways wine collection (handpicked by Rex Pickett) is now on sale, so please head to https://www.blackmarket.co.nz/promo/sideways-wines-feature or www.158.co.nz and taste the movie!

Have you got a question to ask Rex about wine, all things Sideways (the books, the movie, or the play)? Then please write to him on [email protected]

This is just a reminder that this episode comes with a content warning and is created for adult audiences only. We advise listener and reader discretion for adult themes and language mentioned.

Produced by 158 Limited.

In this episode, Rex delves deeply into the psyche of Miles and Jack. Referencing Carl Jung, Star Wars, and the use of ‘conflict’ in the cinema – creating drama, bringing in comedy and then squaring it away with resolution - Rex then discusses both sides of the Miles and Jack coin and reveals on whom these characters are based.

The discussion then heads into a chat about introversion and extroversion and the way that these concepts may have influenced the development of the characters. Rex goes deeper into the different functions of introversion and extroversion, namely 'thinking' and 'feeling' explains Miles and Jack's behaviours.

Rex then explains the differences in the characters between the book, the movie, the play, and the musical. He shares some of the byplay between him and Alexander Payne, the director of the movie, about the characterisation of Miles and Jack including references to porn and school teaching. Rex then turns the conversation back to Miles and Jack and they interact more deeply with Maya and Terra in the book, the play, and the musical.

Towards the end of the conversation, with a bit of prompting from Youie, Rex reveals more about the depth of relationship between Miles and Jack and how the book is able to express it with more nuance than the movie can allow because of its time restrictions.

The word of the podcast is archetypal which Rex attaches to Miles and Jack's characters. Remember, you’ll always learn something new on these podcasts.

The Sideways wine collection (handpicked by Rex Pickett) is now on sale, so please head to https://www.blackmarket.co.nz/promo/sideways-wines-feature or www.158.co.nz and taste the movie!

Have you got a question to ask Rex about wine, all things Sideways (the books, the movie, or the play)? Then please write to him on [email protected]

This is just a reminder that this episode comes with a content warning and is created for adult audiences only. We advise listener and reader discretion for adult themes and language mentioned.

Produced by 158 Limited.

Rex takes us through the world of Sideways and how it’s grown from a book and become the basis for the movie and the play and now the Musical. You will find out how with each of these iterations, the characters begin to develop, and the plot lines are altered slightly to get the best out of each of these iterations or mediums. During the discussion of the Musical and how it came to be, you will be treated to two snippets of more songs from the Musical.

Now, don’t forget each episode begins with a great track ‘Life of Wine’ and ends with an even greater track ‘No Fucking Merlot’, so the two snippets are well overdue for listening and enjoyment. Rex also gives us an update on how the Play is going in Spain and for the record, it’s doing a 30 date run just in Madrid let alone everywhere else it’s been and where it’s going.

Youie teases Rex about how he is always up for a suggestion, so maybe you have a suggestion for Rex? Don’t forget to write to him at [email protected]. 

We discuss the plans for staging the Musical in New Zealand and Australia as a precursor to a Broadways and West End runs in the future. The words of the podcast are Rex (as a Latin word) and the marvellous ‘efflorescence’. Remember, you’ll always learn something new on these podcasts.

The Sideways wine collection (handpicked by Rex Pickett) is now on sale, so please head to https://www.blackmarket.co.nz/promo/sideways-wines-feature or www.158.co.nz and taste the movie!

Have you got a question to ask Rex about wine, all things Sideways (the books, the movie, or the play)? Then please write to him on [email protected]

This is just a reminder that this episode comes with a content warning and is created for adult audiences only. We advise listener and reader discretion for adult themes and language mentioned.

Produced by 158 Limited.

This is the first of short duration and quick to release News Flashes that we intend to share with you on the progress of various Sideways projects - the new book, the musical, the new movie, and all other Sideways related activities. This News Flash is an update on how the 'Sideways - The Play' is getting on in Spain where it's in the middle of an 18-month run around the gorgeous theatres of Spain which will come to an end in 2023. There are two troupes of players, one in Spanish and one in Basque and the play is about to go to Madrid to do a 30-day run there. Rex gives us an update on the background to the development of the play in Spain. So, to all you listeners out there in Spain, make sure you go and watch the show which is called "Entre Copas" which translated into English means 'between drinks'!!

This is a reminder that this episode comes with a content warning and is created for adult audiences only.

We advise listener and reader discretion for adult themes and language mentioned. Produced by 158 Limited.

Rex and Youie decide it's time to tackle the 'elephant in the room' which in the world of wine is wine snobbery. This is a tricky topic that Rex neatly guides Youie through. This episode starts off with Rex and Youie working out that their lucky number is 11 and then quickly turns to focusing on sommeliers (including how the word is properly pronounced) and Rex helps demystify their role and defuse any concern that Youie experiences when in the company of a sommelier in a restaurant.

Rex is clear that he is not a wine snob and helps deconstruct what snobbery is about and how people become snobs in other areas and then returns to explaining it in the context of wine. He admits that wine lends itself to snobbery but that it needs to be resisted. The talk turns to the original location where Rex had his 'conversion' to Pinot Noir in Santa Monica and a discussion about epicureanism. 

Rex and Youie then start discussing strategies for buying wine at the restaurant table and how restaurants price their wine and then they finish off on the topic of which country produces the best wine and how would you rank the order of the others particularly when there appears to be a lot of wine snobbery attached to French wine. 

The word of the podcast is recondite and Rex easily explains what that word means (you'll get the joke if you know what the word means).

All in all, a wonderful and varied episode where somehow War & Peace, Fellini's 8 1/2 and James Bond are all discussed in this episode to illustrate the democratisation of access to things that we love and like.

Have you got a question to ask Rex about wine, all things Sideways (the books, the movie, or the play)? Then please write to him on [email protected]

The Sideways wine collection (handpicked by Rex Pickett) is now on sale, so please head to https://www.blackmarket.co.nz/promo/sideways-wines-feature or www.158.co.nz and taste the movie!

This is just a reminder that this episode comes with a content warning and is created for adult audiences only. We advise listener and reader discretion for adult themes and language mentioned.

Produced by 158 Limited.

Youie asks Rex to open up and share some of  the background to his trips to Chile and his views on Chilean wine. Rex’s third book in the Sideways series was set in Chile (Sideways 3 Chile) and so in this episode he shares his views and experiences on Chile, its topography, the vineyards. Later in the episode he then focuses in on one Chilean Vineyard in particular. Then, much to the chagrin of Youie (based in NZ), Rex announces that the best Sauvignon Blanc in the world comes from Chile – find out which one! The discussion then turns to some of the recent political history in Chile and he reveals an abandoned plot for Sideways 3 that involved Miles being politicised and the reasons why he steered Miles from that controversial path.

The word of the podcast is portent or portentous, and Rex and Youie have a little battle about the proper usage of the world. Decide for yourself who won!

The Sideways wine collection (handpicked by Rex Pickett) is now on sale, so please head to https://www.blackmarket.co.nz/promo/sideways-wines-feature or www.158.co.nz and taste the movie!

Have you got a question to ask Rex about wine, all things Sideways (the books, the movie, or the play)? Then please write to him on [email protected]

This is just a reminder that this episode comes with a content warning and is created for adult audiences only. We advise listener and reader discretion for adult themes and language mentioned.

Produced by 158 Limited.

Youie interrogates Rex – kindly – on why he chose Merlot as the ‘baddie’ of the wine world. Find out the real reason why Miles dumps on Merlot in the movie. Learn all about the French Paradox and what it did to wine sales in the USA and around the world. Listen to the full recording of No Fucking Merlot, the song from the upcoming Sideways The Musical and learn how Rex approached the writing of the song. And, of course, learn more about Merlot and whether there’d ever be a Sideways Merlot released.

The Sideways wine collection (handpicked by Rex Pickett) is now on sale, so please head to https://www.blackmarket.co.nz/promo/sideways-wines-feature or www.158.co.nz and taste the movie!

Have you got a question to ask Rex about wine, all things Sideways (the books, the movie, or the play)? Then please write to him on [email protected]

This is just a reminder that this episode comes with a content warning and is created for adult audiences only. We advise listener and reader discretion for adult themes and language mentioned.

Produced by 158 Limited.

An interesting episode where Rex explains the huge difference between a variety of wine and a varietal of wine. But he focuses more on helping explain whether old vintage wine is better than recent vintaged wine. He also provides some good tips and insights into how wines age and some of the factors you should consider when looking at wine. He also exposes the 'commodification' of wine by the conglomerate makers of wine and how to avoid those where you can. He talks about something called a ‘dumb phase’ that happens when wine is aging. He also clarifies the difference between wine that comes in caps and those who use corks.

Youie’s favourite word from the podcast is ‘declivity’. You will learn heaps on this episode.

The Sideways wine collection (handpicked by Rex Pickett) is now on sale, so please head to https://www.blackmarket.co.nz/promo/sideways-wines-feature or www.158.co.nz and taste the movie!

Have you got a question to ask Rex about wine, all things Sideways (the books, the movie, or the play)? Then please write to him on [email protected]

This is just a reminder that this episode comes with a content warning and is created for adult audiences only. We advise listener and reader discretion for adult themes and language mentioned.

Produced by 158 Limited.