Luscious Lushes » Uncategorized

Writing right for your blog

winebratsf — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:33:42 +0000

A few weeks ago, I found myself in Walla Walla, Washington, attending the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference. These meeting of minds brought together over 300 wine writers, blogers, and professionals to eat, drink, be merry, and learn from each other. Among some of the sessions, there was one that particularly stood out in my mind because it continues the discussions about writers vs. bloggers. Are writers bloggers? Are bloggers writers? Are we the same? Are we different? Should we play by the same rules? What’s going on here?

Bloggers and writers are often sparring about this subject, and even though some writers (i.e. Steve Heimoff, who delivered a dry but somewhat interesting keynote) claim to be bloggers, there are still some hotpoint differences while maintaining a core thought process that is the same. More Effective Writing in Your Blog with Meg Houston Maker, Andy Purdue and Hardy Wallace pitted bloggers against professional writers ,and sought to discuss how to best express yourself with the written word, while keeping your voice pure and true. Let’s just say that there is still a quiet war being waged between the two and while I see many writers who are trying to bridge the gap by being great bloggers, bloggers may be writers, but we are not PROFESSIONAL writers and therefore are not subject to the same rules.

According to Meg, writing is thinking is hard. - and thinking is hard. True enough. It might be easy to chuck up any blog post, but it does take thought to forumlate a thought provoking post that is more than a wine review. Even those blogs that are strictly wine reviews (Wannabe Wino) put thought and critical thinking in to play when writing posts. Meg also came up with some other interesting tidbits, 25 in all, and I’ve picked a few of the choice ones to chew on below.

Write for the reader and not for yourself. Really? This is my blog; I am not writing a novel, and I don’t need to sell 40,000 copies. I’m not sure this is a valid point for many bloggers, as we are not getting paid to put our pens to paper. While I certainly hope that you enjoy what I write, I am not editing my content to please my audience. What’s your take?

Assume limitless intelligence and no prior knowledge. This is good advice for anything that you do, particularly writing and professional work. I am constantly reminded of this in my work life, as my audience might be an uneducated user with no prior experience, but might also be a user with more experience than I have. Know your audience and play to them.

Tell a story nobody else can tell. Having a unique voice is important. Why do readers navigate to your blog? Being interesting and authentic will give you an edge. Who wants to read your blog if you are like 100 other blogs?

Position yourself in the narrative. Providing evidence that you know what you’re talking about is important for any subject you want people to listen to you about. While I don’t consider myself and expert on many things, I do occasionally know what I’m talking about and backing yourself up with facts and knowledge will encourage your audience to look to you as the authority. This is true for both professional writers and bloggers.

You may not know what you think at the start of a piece, but you’d better know by the end. You better know at the beginning – if you are writing a piece on something you are passionate about, which all of your posts should be, why wouldn’t you know your position from the get go?

Exclamation points should be reserved for exclamatory remarks. I struggle with this one, but in general it’s true. Just because you are writing a blog, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use good grammar.

If you don’t know something, you may need to find it out. Also, you may have an opinion about these facts; this is welcome to your readers. Absolutely true – if you learn something new at a tasting, or at an event, or just in passing, you should research the topic to make sure you are sharing the best information possible. There is nothing worse than spreading the gospel of wrong information.

Don’t assume your experience is the same as your reader’s. Don’t resort to clichés. Nobody’s interested in reading clichés. Is that why certain blogs who rely on porn, photos, and snarky roasts are so popular? I think not.

Be ruthlessly authentic about your own experience. Don’t over-rely on metaphor, especially sexual metaphor. Wine is an experiential product, so find, focus on, and talk about your own true experience in your most authentic voice. This is the story only you can tell. Here here!

Re-read your work the next day, then publish. If you proof instantly, you’ll still be in love with the person you were when you wrote it. I fundamentally disagree with this as I believe a blog is much more about instantaneous access and publishing. If you continue to read and reread your blog posts before you publish them, they will be a different entity. Yes, I believe that you need to proofread and review your posts before you publish them, but I don’t think you should stew on them for too long because your purity of voice will be lost in the tediousness of editing your work.

Learn to work with an editor. A good editor is on your side, trying to coax out your best story. This is great advice for professional writers, however, working with an editor for a blog is overkill. I choose to not have someone telling me what to write, that is why I blog and choose not to work for a magazine or other publication.

You need a good ending, but not a clever ending. Don’t trick your reader at the end; they will never forgive you. Agreed, however, a clever ending will catch the reader. Who wants to reader a boring story?

The end will change the beginning. This is why you cannot write a story in only one pass. This might be true, but as a post is a full story, if you sketch it out and put some key points down before writing the entire story, you will be able to write it in a fairly quick and concise manner. If your story changes and changes, I fear you might lose your voice, and the purity of the piece will be abandoned for the sake of editing. I do work on my posts a few times before publising, but I don’t believe in changing the beginning based on the ending – otherwise, you would be completely changing your novel when you write the last chapter, which doesn’t make sense to me when I am working my best to write a full and complete story.

If you succeed at this, and if you tell the truth—your own truth—you will have achieved one of the most intimate and beautiful of acts: you will have penetrated another mind. This is absolutely true and I couldn’t have said it better myself.

While I”m not sure I agree 100% with these themes, I do agree that writing with passion and thought is critical if you want to be taken seriously. The core difference, as I stated in the session, is that – as bloggers – we are not paid. At least I am not paid. I do this out of my love of wine and my passion for the subject, a well as my slightly maniacal need to have myself heard (even if I’m a forest of trees and no one is around to hear me). As in my IT career, when one is paid to do something, regardless of the love or passion they might feel, they are prevented from truly expressing their passion by the boundaries of the organization they work for. As someone pointed out in the session, there are certain baseline requirements that the law and common decency require – not that every blogger follows these ground rules – so I’m not talking about liebling a winery or inciting riots. That said, while I love my day job (at least in theory, i love what i do), I am not allowed to do whatever I want whenever I want it. I must play by the rules of those that sign my paychecks. Not so in my blog. I am not blogging for a winery, I am not blogging for the WSJ. I am blogging for me, and I hope that other people will be interested in reading it. When I started blogging it was purely for me, and because my friends got tired of my old school e-newsletters. Now, I blog because I want to share my knowledge with other people that want to learn. I hope I have accomplished this, and I look forward to incorporating some of these 24 theories with my own personal spin.

Please excuse my dust…

winebratsf — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:13:59 +0000

Freshly back from the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference in Walla Walla, Washington, my laptop is dead my brain is overloaded.

Stay tuned as I learn how best to blog from my iPad, and await the return of a working laptop!

And now, for something completely serious.

winebratsf — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:01:01 +0000

Recently, I was invited to take part in a very important and prestigious wine judging event. Fortunately, my trusty sidekick was availablet o capture this moment on video!

We all know about the Judgement at Paris. But have you heard about the Judgement on Silverado Trail? A few weeks ago, we sat, we tasted, and we judged.

Please, watch and judge for yourself!

And oh. Drink Judd’s Hill and watch The Enormous Wine Show!

And buy a copy of Merlove, which shall be reviewed right here, very soon!

Episode 9 – Judd’s Enormous Wine Show: The Master Cut from Rod Bentner on Vimeo.

Finding you inner wineaux

winebratsf — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:18:53 +0000

If you’re like me, you have a lot of wine in the cellar. Maybe it’s organized, maybe it’s a mess. I’m a bit of both, with racks of wine mostly organized by varital, but also with stacks of wine in boxes all around the cellar.

So, when Vino Finder recently contacted me and asked me if I’d liket o check out a sample of their winetags, I was – at first – not sure what to expect. Then the box came, and when I saw what was inside, I was very excited. The Vino Finder tags are ultra thin wood, which has been laminated. They are so thin that they are very flexible, and really aer like a thick piece of paper. The coolest part about these tags is that because of the laminate, you can use dry erase markers to write on them, and reuse them over and over again. Further more, you can order them in several wood finishes to match your cellar, and they can be customized with your cellar name. There are several style to choose from, including some with spaces for vintage, varietal, and producer.

The good folks at vino Finder even sent me customized examples for Luscious Lushes, and now I think i might have to order more!

BINGO!

winebratsf — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:15:16 +0000

Bar Bingo that is. Have you ever been in a total useless meeting or concall at work and wish you had an escape? Many of us who came of age during the digital revolution got our feet wet on Bullshit Bingo for our Palm Pilots in the 90s and early 00s.

Well, now there is Bar Bingo. Happy hour just got a lot happier with this silliness. Drink one of each of the drinks – 5 in a row and POW! You win! It’s actually pretty hilarious, especially if you’re game for a mix of drinks.

Did you get picked up? B!

Wear your sunglasses inside because you’re so cool? I!

Well the N is free so…

Text your future ex husband? Or girlfriend? G!

And finally, did the bartender show his flair with a shaker? O!

You win! Play with your friends in the bar and buy each other rounds. Makes for a very interesting evening to be sure.

I have one of these Bar Bingo pads to give away, just comment on why you want to play bar bingo and I’ll pick a winner in the next week!

They also have Rate That Wine! which is a great tool for the beginner wine drinker to learn about some of the common attributes of wine when rating it.

Have fun!

The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai and other tales of blending

winebratsf — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:14:05 +0000

First – apologies for this post being late on arrival. As some of you may know, I have been dealing with some personal issues that have been hammering me in to the ground like Wile E. Coyote under an Acme Anvil. I’m trying to come up for air, so here goes. Please excuse the lack of video, since I still don’t entirely know how to work my Flip. I will learn someday, but not today. And the lack of pictures is mystifying since I swear I took some of at least the bottles, but they are lost. C’est la vie, tech fail!

One recent Sunday, before the madness of Christmas, and after the food orgy of Thanksgiving, a crew of bloggers descended upon the good graces of Paul Askiman and Conn Creek Winery’s AVA Room to create our own personalized blends of wine.

The Conn Cree AVA Room is a one of a kind wine adventure, where mad scientists wine lovers, and it this case, some bloggers, can learn how Conn Creek blends its flagship wine Anthology.

The AVA Room was developed in Conn Creek’s search to find the best Cabernet Sauvignon that Napa had to offer, and in doing so, they found fruit sources from almost all of the 14 sub appellations in Napa. In this secret room at the back of winery, next to the gardens, you will find 15 different barrels of Cabernet Sauvignon and a barrel each of the classic Bordeaux blending grapes Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petite Verdot.

The Cabernet barrels are grouped by major profile, like Soft, Supple, Complex, Rich and Bold. One of the fascinating things about this experience is that as a wine ages in barrel, it may not stay in its category, as it becomes more complex or develops some backbone and loses some of the plush fruit upfront. This is what makes wine such a tremendous beast. Each Cab barrel starts out as 100% new French Oak, and eventually matures in 50% new / 50% neutral Oak, which also contributes tot he changes in the wine profile.

I apologize in advance for not remembering all of the different component wines – I just lost my mojo and can’t find my booklet. If i do, I’ll be sure to share!

The base wine contenders that I particularly enjoyed were:

Atlas Peak – Stagecoach Vineyard
Rutherford – Conn Creek Vneyard
Stags Leap – Clos du Val Vineyard

After sampling the different options for the base wine (the Cabernet) I got to work creating my master blend.

First, I tried 50% Atlas Peak – Stagecoach, 15% Rutherford Conn Creek, 25% Stags Leap Clos Du Val, and a splash of Petite Verdot and Cab Franc. While I liked this wine, it was the first one i tried and I found it a big of a fruit bomb with blackberry pie, subtle spice, and firm tannins. I thought I wanted a bit more structure, so I moved on to Blend 2 while keeping careful track of this beginning.

The 2nd try was

45% Atlas Peak
15% Conn Creek
20% Stags Leap
20% Cab Franc.

This was totally different than Blend 1, and it was too earthy and I wasn’t sure if I liked it. Back to the drawing board.

Blend 3 was another experiment.

50% Rutherford Hozhone
15% Conn creek
20% stags leap
15% cab franc. Given that this was a totlaly differnet base wine, it wasn’t waht i was looking for.

My final blend wa a variation on Blend 2, which after much tasting and talking, was widely agreed upon (mostly by Marcy Gordon) to be the best. Yep THE best. Therefore, I ended my Dr. Bunson Burner experiments with:

45% Atlas Peak
15% Conn Creek
20% Stags Leap
5% Petitie Verdot
15% Cabernet Franc

As I put the finishing touches on my blend, we snacked on Sift Cupcakery baked goods, and the little ginger man called out my name. Thus, was born, the 2009 GingerMan Bordeaux Blend that I hope to enjoy at the Wine Bloggers Conference in Walla Walla in June. I really enjoyed making this wine, but I know with a little time to settle together and meld the flavors, it will become even better. I look forward to writing about that tasting in the coming months.

The moral of this story is – for $95 you get 2 hours of hysterical fun and a LOT of wine, education on the different sub-AVAs of Napa Valley, a priceless learning experience of how the Pros do it, and…your very own bottle of wine to take home. This is a MUST do if you are a wine geek, and you find yourself in Napa. Considering that many Napa Cabs cost $95 just for the wine, this is a tremendous value and I reccomend it to any one who wnats a unique experience in Wine Country. In Fact, I gave my mother a “custom blending session” gift at christmas, and my dear old brother was asking where his was. I told him I’d consider it for his birthday if he was a good boy.

There are several places that do custom blending sessions for consumers, including Judd’s Hill (3 bottles), Bennet Lane, Fontanella (case only), and Ravenswood (half bottle). There are probably more, but I haven’t heard of them – yet. You can also avail yourself of Crushpad’s FuseBox, where you can blend your own samples at home and then send away for a case of custom labeled wine. I really think that for the value and the experience, Conn Creek gets a gold medal!

Conn Creek can be found on the Silverado Trail at Conn Dam Road in Napa. They graciously hosted us in the AVA room and were lovely! Thanks again for your hospitality Paul!

Rockaway baby, in my wine glass

winebratsf — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:49:34 +0000

Who can forget, the Rockaway Scandel of 2008, where bloggers around the country were courted sent bottles of the Rockaway Cabernet Sauvignon by Rodney Strong. Now, I wasn’t part of the original Rockaway 10, or however many it was, but some of you might recall that the big bruhaha was becuase of a misunderstood condition that all bloggers must write something in return for the sample bottle of wine. Again, I wasn’t participating at that time, but I do think that a huge mountain was made out of a molehill. Yes kids, that’s my opinion, please don’t string me up for it. Fast forward to 2009, when I have become one of the cool kids and was asked to play kickball at recess, in the form of my very own bottle of 2006 Rockaway Cabernet! To be clear, no one asked me, cajoled me, or otherwise insisted that I write this piece.

This luxury cab comes from Alexander Valley in Northern Sonoma country, where there is an interesting mix of old school zins and high end cabs planted. I was really excited to try this wine after all the conversation, and opened it up. The 2006 Rodney Strong Rockaway cabernet Sauvignon Single Vineyard is 97% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% malbec, and 1% Petite Verdot, which spent 22 months in 47% new French oak barrels. Rockaway is planeted primarily to Cab and Merlot, but includes all af the major Bordeaux varietals. The vineyard is belanted between 250-750 feet, which provides a variety of microclimates.

to further my experience, I also decided to take advantage of an Eisch Breatheable glass that was sent to me as a press sample. The Eisch Breatheable Glass claims that with it’s patented breathable technology that you will have the same effect leaving the wine in their glass for 2-4 minutes, as you would in a decanter for 1-2 hours. Now, I was skeptical, but what the heck. To control the experiment, I also used a Riedel Bordeaux glass, as well as a “standard” glass, aka a regular tasting room glass.

The first sip was in the Eisch, and I found dark cherries, leather, and notes of ceder on the nose. on the Palate I tasted mocha, chocolate, coffee, molasses, smoke, and it was rich and elegant. The first impression was that it was a bit young, but that’s not surprising given that it’s only a 2006. The tannins were very mellow, and this was smooth. It was elegantly bold with firm backbone, and the dried cherries from teh aroma made their way in to the palate with a finish of bittersweet chocolate. There was a touch of soy sauce in there as well, with big blackberry pie flavors. I really enjoyed this wine right out of the glass, with no decanting.

In the Riedel Bordeaux glass, I had a hard time getting the nose. Again, this wine did not decant, and was only in the glass about 4 minutes before I tasted it. At first, I got a slight whiff of alcohol, followed by bright red fruit. I tasted bright red fruit, cranberries and pomegranate with a touch of bitterness on the finish that I wasnt’ expecting from teh previous taste. I went back to taste out of the Riedel after about 30 minutes and I still tasted that bitterness. This was not a good outcome, surprisingly.

In the standard glass, I smelled brandied cherries, sour plums, and something slightly off at the first whiff. I tasted soy sauce and underdone meat, with a bitter note again. After 30 minutes, the funk had gone away, but ti was still very astringent and not so enjoyable without food. It tasted very much like the wine in the Riedel but after 30 mins – 1 hr i couldn’t tell the difference.

After a full hour, the Eisch sample was full bodied, focused, and full of dark fruit, coffee, leather, figs and burnt toast. At this point the Ridel was starting to match the Eisch, and was opening up to all black fruit, figs, burnt toast, and smoke. I didn’t like the wine in the standard glass at all, and I would avoid it if were served in that glass. After one hour and fifteen minutes, there is no difference between the Eisch and the Reidel so for impatient drinkers it’s awesome

The moral of this story is two fold:

Glassware matters! I’ve always believed this, and force my friends and family to do mad scientist experiements to prove this point. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on good stemware, but it does make a difference.
The Rockaway is a beautiful wine, but it needs a good hour of decanting to enjoy properly.
You would probably enjoy this wine more with food.
The Eisch Breatheable Glass is an excelletn idea that works far better tahn I anticipated. if you are a drinker that is in a hurry the $20 per stem price tag is well worth it.

Rockaway is an allocation only wine, but I would suggest that you get on the list if you are a Cabernet lover, as it is apt to sell out quickly.

The Rockaway Cabernet and the Eisch Breathable Glass were sent as Press Samples. However, I did put the Eisch glasses on my holiday wish list so I could round out the set of 1 I currently have! There are no rocks in the Rockaway, but it might Rock you Away.

Bacon is BACK! A day late, a strip short.

winebratsf — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:54:32 +0000

Yes I know, I started Bacon Fridays, and then promptly dropped it when my time was not my own. I am BACK! BACON is back!

One night this week, I got home and was mildly irritated at myself to discover that i really had no food in the house. Fortunately for myself, I had a half open bottle of wine and the basic food groups -

pancake mix
butter
syrup
BACON!

Sometimes, you just need to have breakfast for dinner! I also found blueberries and bananas in my bag of tricks, so I cooked up a stack of pancakes and some applewood smoked bacon.

After pouring myself a glass of Calaveras County Syrah, I added the requisite butter and pure maple syrup to my pancakes. IN the process, the syrup sneaks up on the bacon. The taste sensation that maple syrup drenched bacon provided is, in a word, orgasmic.

Add in a smokey, blueberry infused syrah, and I was in love. Pure love.

Everyone should have blueberry pancakes, bacon, and syrah for dinner soon! P.S. i recommend the warm climate syrah over a cool climate syrah as it has the fruity smokiness that pairs well with pancakes and bacon. Cool climate syrah is equally delicious for other reasons, and would go well with meaty dishes including bacon.

Happy short stack to you!

Hospitali-teed off!

winebratsf — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:30:29 +0000

This weekend, I was fortunate enough to find myself in Napa, celebrating Lisa’s (@winedivergirl) housewarming. Since I was staying the night, we had planned to go wine tasting the next day with our friend Brian from The Roger Smith Hotel (@bsimi), who was visiting from New York. When we got going on the rainy winter Sunday, we opted to start with some bubbles, so Lisa took us on over to Domaine Chandon. Now, I know this winery well. I have been there many times. I buy their sparklers int he grocery store – a LOT.

As we pulled in to the winery, the river passing through the property was a bit wild, which really should have warned us of the impending visit. As we walked through the retail store, several employees were milling about, did greet us on entry. As we made our way upstairs, we saw that while the tasting bar was hopping, it was not busy. I did see immediately, that there were only 2 employees working the whole bar – which normally would not be surprising, but if you’ve seen this tasting bar, you can easily line up 25 people along the perimeter.

Ok fine, so they were short staffed. I thought, no problem, there is an opening at the bar, so we’ll side up and look at the menu, assuming the bartender will come by at some point. And bartender is what they are – Chandon does not offer traditional tastings, but instead offers flights of 2 different sparkling levels, still wines, as well as champagne cocktails. Having decided on our beverages, we tried to flag down one of the two staff members for assistance. NO such luck. We stood. We waited. We waited some more.

15 minutes in to this, we mutually decided to high tail it out of there. Now I know that as an industry rep, a wine blogger, and a hotel beverage manager, we might have high expectations for customers service, but this was just RIDICULOUS. To not even acknowledge our presence with a simple “I’ll be right with you” set me over the edge. What made this experience worse was that as we walked out, the Chatty Cathys in the retail shop didn’t even say goodbye, or why are you leaving, or anything. They just ignored us.

Meanwhile, as we headed over to micro winery Elizabeth Spencer, we were fuming. Inside the tiny tasting room, everything about our day began to change. We were greeted. We were smiled at. We were talked to. Vanessa INTERACTED with us. Once she found out we were tradespeople, she asked us about what we did. She showed me a very cool iPhone app, and she talked to us about the wines. This experience was so lovely, Lisa even joined the wine club! I bought a bottle of syrah. Oh and the wine was delicious!

Feeling redeemed, we even ventured over to Rubicon Estate. Known for it’s outrageous tasting fees but beautiful grounds, we were at once welcomed by the greeter. Even after we asked for their trade tasting policy, they treated us as valued guests. OK< so the guy at the tasting bar was a little stiff, but his coworker truly appreciated my rubber chicken and her escapades. After Rubicon and some lunch, we made another stop, this time at Miner Family Wines. While Miner was serviceable, we were basically abandoned after we identified ourselves as members of the trade. While I realize that many tasting rooms recoup costs by charging for tastings, I feel that $25 is excessive. If I can avoid paying for a tasting fee by utilizing my connections, that is $25 more i can spend on wine. Wouldn’t you rather have me buy wine and tell my friends about it then ignore us for the sake of a few bucks that day?

OK now I know they are less likely to get us to buy wine on the first visit, or join the wine club. But the last time i checked, my American Excess card was just as good as someone else’s. This is a rookie mistake, because if i were buying for a party or for a hotel, i would certainly not want to buy their wine, based solely on this experience.

Just a note to you winery reps out there – the moral of this story is that one ounce of great service like Elizabeth Spencer, is worth 100 pounds of gold in FREE marketing. I am telling everyone I know about Elizabeth Spencer, and that they need to go there and talk to Vanessa. I am also telling everyone to run screaming from Chandon, since you can go to Safeway to get the wines and have a better experience.

Clearly Chandon doesn’t get it. Clearly Elizabeth Spencer does. Kudos for the latter for understanding how to treat it’s customers, whether we buy today, tomorrow or not at all. Apparently, this is somewhat rampant at other established sparkling houses – see Shana’s post on Korbel!

Open that Bottle already!

winebratsf — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:53:36 +0000

Have you ever wanted an excuse to open a special bottle of wine you have been holding on to, but just can’t quite bring yourself to crack? Now is your chance!

Saturday, February 28th, marks the annual Open That Bottle Night celebration, an event started by that wine writing couple from the Wall Street Journal – Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher^. In the late 1990s, OTBN was born as an opportunity encourage their readers not to be intimidated by their wine, and to open a significant bottle and share their stories.

Since wine blogging has exploded int he last year or so, I am partnering with Vinquire (my other wine obsession) and Wilson Daniels, along with twitter Taste Live, to open some tasty treats and share with you. Wilson Daniels is a full services sales & marketing company, which represents brands from throughout the US as well as internationally. Having worked with them on Passion for Pinot as well as this event, I am impressed by their quality of product as well as service. Check them out!

I will be blending wine earlier in the day, but around 6pm PT / 9pm ET, please join me on Twitter (@vinquire) to hear about the following wines, generously provided by Wilson Daniels. If you can’t play along, check out The Jug Shop or your favorite retailer, and participate from your sofa, easy chair, or corkage free restaurant! If you are having trouble locating the wines, please click the links below, which will take you to our Vinquire search page.

Hope you can all join us! By the way, I found out about a nifty new Twitter tool. Have you tried Tweet Grid? This cool little app lets you follow along with hashtags like #ttl. It auto refreshes too!