So I'm just going to use denial. I refuse to admit that I'm only blogging once every three months or so, in fact I'm blogging daily but I just don't post the blogs.
That's it, that's my story take it or leave it.
Anyway the kid is back in school and I have some time on my hands so I thought I'd actually post my blog today.
I've had a good run with red wine lately including two new products, one old favourite and one great bottle from the cellar.
Wine #1 Soleus Cabernet Sauvignon "Organic" 2006 - Chile, new listing, CSPC#705306, $12.99.
Anytime I can try Organic Cabernet for under $15 I'm going to give it a shot. This wine is made by the large, and under rated, Chilean producer Mont Gras. As befits its' price point the wine is fruit forward and ready to drink but not so one dimensional as to be boring. The wine has definite Cabernet character with black fruits and plums in the taste, it is medium to full bodied with moderate acidity and I think very solid value. The wine has good distribution in the Lower Mainland.
Wine #2 Nieto Senetiner Cabernet Shiraz "Reserva" 2005/06 - Argentina, Specialty Listing, CSPC#367193, $14.49
Nietro Senetiner is one of my fave Argentinean producers but they are sadly under represented in the BC Public store system. This Reserve Cab/Shiraz is the only product fron Senetiner that the BCLDB carries but it's a good one. As with most Argentine producers the Malbec is the best red wine but this full bodied blend has a lot to like, the nose is a bit smoky with some red berry and leather underneath. The flavours are cherry, spice box and a bit of strawberry and it has good acidity and a long finish. This wine drinks well above it's price point and is highly recommended, the wine has good distribution in the lower mainland.
Wine #3 Lungarotti Rubesco - Rossi di Torgiano 2003, Italy, CSPC#41947, $15.99.
An old fave the wines of Lungarotti are always good value, the wines are produced in Umbria which is sort of like Tuscany without the hype. This wine is a blend of Sangiovese and Canaiolo and possesses much of the charm of a Chianti. I gave in to the fact that fall was dragging it's heels on Sunday and made stuffed cheese Manicotti in sweet basily tomato sauce and the medium bodied dried cherry, tobacco, leathery character of this wine with it's dry acidity was perfect. Great wine for tomato based anything and highly recommended. This wine has moderate distribution in the Lower Mainland.
The last wine I had recently was a bottle of Kettle Valley Merlot, McCrae Vineyard 2003 which we drank on Saturday night with grilled Angus Rib Eyes. Both the steaks and the wine were superb, the wine showing all those qualities which made Merlot so popular with the masses. The wine had gobs of red and black fruit flavours and was layered over sweet vanilla from the oak. The flavour just went on, and on, and on in an almost hedonistic way. The wine was so rich that we saved half of it for the cheese plate an hour later and it was still excellent. Sideways may have killed Merlot for many people but this bottle was outstanding, and sadly I have only one more.
A couple of "Life Observations":
Read in the paper today about a 60 year old couple who had been kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Somalia being rescued by French Commandos. Did I read that correctly: France has Commandos ? Wow, just Wow.
The BC Liberal Party, behind their leader Gordon Campbell, have decided that the fall session of the legislature is irrelevant and will be canceled. This after Gord got busted for breaking his own guidelines by taking a private jet to China with Peter Brown. I'm pretty sure the cancellation is to allow for the February coronation when Gord will change his name to "Gord il Cambo the First" and be crowned Emperor for Life.
I mean hey, if you're going to deny the democratic process why not go all the way.
I don't think they can win it all but man the Tampa Bay (don't call us Devil) Rays are fun to watch.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Theme Songs, Plagiarism and the Azzuri
Is this the biggest news story in history or what ?
Some wizened old crone decides to hold up the mothercorp for more than a million bucks for her jingle and Scott Moore shows some fiscal responsibility by saying No. The result is that the weasels at CTV jump in and pay a reported $2.5 million for Dolores Claman's ditty and you would think someone had just taken a dump on the front lawn of the Parliament buildings and wiped their ass with the flag from the resulting firestorm.
Moore is vilified by every moron with a keyboard for ruining our heritage.
Let's get some freakin' perspective here people. If the Theme song to "Hockey Night in Canada" is the last bastion of our cultural heritage then we are seriously fucked.
The national economy is slipping into a serious downturn, gas prices are through the roof, Canadian soldiers are shipped home weekly from Afghanistan in body bags and our principle concern as a nation is a jingle changing networks ?
I love the song, it's an iconic anthem but I'm sorry as a tax payer who ultimately pays for the CBC I am happy to wave goodbye to Ms. Claman's anthem to greed. I mean c'mon $65,000 a year wasn't enough ? A million bucks wasn't enough ?
It's a shame that Hockey night in Canada won't have it's theme song but let's move on people.
Oh and two more things: Won't it be a bit embarrassing for CTV to advertise the competition every time they play the song? and before last week did anyone not named Claman have any idea who wrote the thing ?
A week or so ago David Pratt was dismissed from his position as a weekly columnist at The Province for plagiarism. This shocked me on a number of levels, first off that anyone read Pratt's column and thought to complain, and secondly that the editors actually fired him over it. I mean really, plagiarism is a crime against journalistic ethics and so by extension the editor is calling Mr. Pratt a journalistic. A bit of a reach I think.
Euro 2008 opened this weekend and since Scotland failed to qualify I am unburdened with having to cheer for the Tartan Army. All went as planned on Day 1 and Day 2 but yesterday a major bump occurred when the consistent under achieving Netherlands took Italy out behind the woodshed 3-0.
Now the Azzuri are the defending World Champions and as a result there appear to be as many Italian soccer fans as there are Irish on St. Patrick's day. Personally I've never been a fan of the Italian style, which for the last two decades or so has been one of stifling defense, pray for a 0-0 draw and win the shoot out.
The only downside to yesterday's Dutch Treat was that the first goal was fairly clearly off side so the Italians can all wail and moan about the officiating. Of course I'm not sure what the excuses will be for goals #2 and 3 but the early line appears to be:
"Well c'mon, after being jobbed so badly for the first goal how could we possibly concentrate".
We'll see how things progress in "The Group of Death" but I still think Italy will find a way through to the next round. Hopefully this will be the year Spain or Portugal can seal the deal overall but I'm not holding my breath.
Some wizened old crone decides to hold up the mothercorp for more than a million bucks for her jingle and Scott Moore shows some fiscal responsibility by saying No. The result is that the weasels at CTV jump in and pay a reported $2.5 million for Dolores Claman's ditty and you would think someone had just taken a dump on the front lawn of the Parliament buildings and wiped their ass with the flag from the resulting firestorm.
Moore is vilified by every moron with a keyboard for ruining our heritage.
Let's get some freakin' perspective here people. If the Theme song to "Hockey Night in Canada" is the last bastion of our cultural heritage then we are seriously fucked.
The national economy is slipping into a serious downturn, gas prices are through the roof, Canadian soldiers are shipped home weekly from Afghanistan in body bags and our principle concern as a nation is a jingle changing networks ?
I love the song, it's an iconic anthem but I'm sorry as a tax payer who ultimately pays for the CBC I am happy to wave goodbye to Ms. Claman's anthem to greed. I mean c'mon $65,000 a year wasn't enough ? A million bucks wasn't enough ?
It's a shame that Hockey night in Canada won't have it's theme song but let's move on people.
Oh and two more things: Won't it be a bit embarrassing for CTV to advertise the competition every time they play the song? and before last week did anyone not named Claman have any idea who wrote the thing ?
A week or so ago David Pratt was dismissed from his position as a weekly columnist at The Province for plagiarism. This shocked me on a number of levels, first off that anyone read Pratt's column and thought to complain, and secondly that the editors actually fired him over it. I mean really, plagiarism is a crime against journalistic ethics and so by extension the editor is calling Mr. Pratt a journalistic. A bit of a reach I think.
Euro 2008 opened this weekend and since Scotland failed to qualify I am unburdened with having to cheer for the Tartan Army. All went as planned on Day 1 and Day 2 but yesterday a major bump occurred when the consistent under achieving Netherlands took Italy out behind the woodshed 3-0.
Now the Azzuri are the defending World Champions and as a result there appear to be as many Italian soccer fans as there are Irish on St. Patrick's day. Personally I've never been a fan of the Italian style, which for the last two decades or so has been one of stifling defense, pray for a 0-0 draw and win the shoot out.
The only downside to yesterday's Dutch Treat was that the first goal was fairly clearly off side so the Italians can all wail and moan about the officiating. Of course I'm not sure what the excuses will be for goals #2 and 3 but the early line appears to be:
"Well c'mon, after being jobbed so badly for the first goal how could we possibly concentrate".
We'll see how things progress in "The Group of Death" but I still think Italy will find a way through to the next round. Hopefully this will be the year Spain or Portugal can seal the deal overall but I'm not holding my breath.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Maybe that's where the Larrys and Sharons come from
Our neighbours are expecting their second child. In fact their baby girl will enter the world today but she will be nameless.
The parents have been struggling for the past seven months or so on what to name "Baby Girl" and have not, as of last night, come to a consensus so the child will be anonymous at birth.
Many names have been suggested, probably too many, but as yet none have passed muster. Despite some wide spread appeal it appears that the suggestion by their 4 1/2 year old son of Queen Chocolate will not win out so they have a bit of a dilemma on their hands.
It's okay though because in British Columbia you have thirty days after the birth of a child to register the child's name with the government ........ or what ?
I mean what if you haven't decided after thirty days. Does the government then step in and name the child ? Does the child have to go through life as "Baby Girl" ?
My personal theory is that there is an office in the back of the Legislative Building in Victoria where an aging civil servant plays out his last days before retirement providing government approved names.
These names would, naturally, hearken back to the soon to be pensioned off bureaucrat's youth. In the 1950s, for example, both Larry, #18, and Sharon, #14, were popular names for children born in the US but by 2007 they had fallen to #322 and #715 respectively.
I mean honestly, can you imagine anyone willingly naming their child Larry or Sharon in this, the age of Ethan and Emma, the era of Joshua and Ashley ?
When was the last time you were at the park and heard a parent call out:
"Sharon, Larry, hurry up it's time to go home !".
If you did hear it just shake your head and realize that not once, but twice did those parents forget to pick a name for their kids - unless of course they were twins in which case I think you should get 60 days.
The parents have been struggling for the past seven months or so on what to name "Baby Girl" and have not, as of last night, come to a consensus so the child will be anonymous at birth.
Many names have been suggested, probably too many, but as yet none have passed muster. Despite some wide spread appeal it appears that the suggestion by their 4 1/2 year old son of Queen Chocolate will not win out so they have a bit of a dilemma on their hands.
It's okay though because in British Columbia you have thirty days after the birth of a child to register the child's name with the government ........ or what ?
I mean what if you haven't decided after thirty days. Does the government then step in and name the child ? Does the child have to go through life as "Baby Girl" ?
My personal theory is that there is an office in the back of the Legislative Building in Victoria where an aging civil servant plays out his last days before retirement providing government approved names.
These names would, naturally, hearken back to the soon to be pensioned off bureaucrat's youth. In the 1950s, for example, both Larry, #18, and Sharon, #14, were popular names for children born in the US but by 2007 they had fallen to #322 and #715 respectively.
I mean honestly, can you imagine anyone willingly naming their child Larry or Sharon in this, the age of Ethan and Emma, the era of Joshua and Ashley ?
When was the last time you were at the park and heard a parent call out:
"Sharon, Larry, hurry up it's time to go home !".
If you did hear it just shake your head and realize that not once, but twice did those parents forget to pick a name for their kids - unless of course they were twins in which case I think you should get 60 days.
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