Monday, October 27, 2008

DIY... Bergman movie watching

Late last night, I watched another Bergman movie, The Seventh Seal, a heart-wrenching story of an aged rock musician and his one-legged wife traveling in the Canadian Arctic who, despite numerous challenges, finally manage to save a baby seal's life (they failed six times before that, hence the title). The baby seal grows up, encounters a beautiful Swedish blonde and begins to ask the big questions of life and death.

Ok, hope that was enough nonsense for a Monday morning, take a look at the real synopsis. What can I say -- another movie that makes me want to watch again all of his movies that I've seen, and then all of the ones that I haven't. What an incredible talent.

DIY... winemaking

We ordered a batch of Pinot Noir and a batch of Gamay at a local winery on the weekend. And I've got to tell you, there's something incredibly appealing about mixing those oak chips and yeast into a bucket of dark-red fragrant grape juice. I kept working the liquid with a long spoon, and they literally had to drag me away from the bucket.

Then again, there's something very exciting as well about tossing things into that grape juice that normally, in your everyday understanding of how edible and drinkable things work, you wouldn't think about tossing into grape juice. Like oak chips and tiny round pellets of fresh yeast and some special sort of clay. And dried elderberries (made world-renowned by a character from Monty Python's Holy Grail, whose mother apparently smelt of them). By the way, dried elderberries smell great, so maybe that segment of the Holy Grail movie is a hint about another Monty Python work, Defence Against The Fresh Fruit, a poignant account of a military training excercise, led by a victim of fructophobia, that had gone horribly wrong.

Anyway, ordering your wine like that is fun, makes good sense financially (comes to $4.60 a bottle at the most expensive not-from-concentrate option) and is a great entry point into the world of wine making. If you're in Ottawa, check out these guys (Corks Ottawa). Otherwise, go and support your local winemaking Ontario shop, as a gesture of protest against the insulting puritan alcohol policies of the Ontario government. You'll also obviously avoid the provincial alcohol tax, too! Take that, Alcohol and Gaming Control Board! Go control... somebody else!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Elections: Almost Blue

Turns out Diana Krall has some timeless musical commentary on the outcome of this election.