A trip to Blanchard's in Alston will do the trick for either Absolut or Stolichnaya connoisseurs. Though Boym drops a little caveat, warning that "in Russia itself there is a real vodka crisis going on at the moment, with many counterfeits at the market and rising prices."

ON THE MOVIES

Who: Professor Alfred Guzzetti, Visual and Environmental Studies

Teaches: VES 50: "Fundamentals of Filmmaking: Studio Course"

Best venue for movies:

As the shrinkage factor between the big screen and a little TV just doesn't float his boat, Guzzetti practically never rents movies. When he goes out for a relaxed night at the theater, he patronizes either Coolidge Corner, the Kendall Square Cinema or the Museum of Fine Arts.

How to get two thumbs up:

The most recent film Guzzetti enjoyed was Benoit Jaquot's Seventh Heaven, now playing at the Coolidge Corner theater. It's all about a neurotic Parisian, her paranoid husband, eastern Feng Shui mysticism on how to rearrange furniture, orgasm deprivation, and other dysfunctional artsy stuff. Guzzetti highly recommends it.

ON CHINESE FOOD

Who: Professor James L. Watson, Anthropology

Teaches: Foreign Cultures 62: "Chinese Family, Marriage, and Kinship"

Best place to sample Chinese cuisine in Boston:

His kitchen. "The only thing missing in our Cambridge home is dried grass and charcoal fire," Watson says. During their first village study in the Hong Kong New Territories (circa late 1960), Watson's wife and fellow anthropologist, Rubie Watson, learned to cook authentic country-style Cantonese food. Watson hastens to add, "I do all the buying, chopping, cleaning, polishing, and washing-up afterwards."

As for the Chinese chow here, Watson says, "The quality of Bostonian Chinese food is dreadful. Completely, unquestionably ghastly. All my favorite restaurants are in Hong Kong."

How to get some delicious chow mein: