RKS 2024 Wine: Vineland Estates 2021 Pinot Meunier

Aroma: Lighthearted bright red cherry. Reminiscent of Cherry Jell-O with some raspberry, strawberry and a bit of mocha. Discrete oak notes.

Palate: A lightweight wine with some surprising but evenly spread tannins that fade quickly. Gentle acidity so yes with the minimal acidity and moderate tannins the wine can cut through lean red meats nicely such as a flank steak. Somewhat lacking in noticeable fruit though. Some Smuckerish strawberry jam with traction.

Personality: My bouquet suggests a light and frivolous wine but my body is a bit bustier than Twiggy’s.

Food Match: Mushroom and butternut squash risotto topped with toasted walnuts.

Jazz Match: Alabaster dePlume “Honeycomb”.

Cellarbility: Drinking window = prior to 2025-year end.

Price: $35 CDN (overpriced I would quip).

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 88/100.

(Vineland Estates 2021 Pinot Meunier (Clone 458), VQA Twenty Mile Bench, Vineland Estates Winery, Vineland, Ontario).

RKS 2024 Film: The Worst Films of 2024

“Zombie Town” Canada 56/100

“Café 404” Greece 56/100

“Omicron Killer” USA 61/100

“Beehive” Canada 67/100

“Cold Road” Canada 67/100

“Pure O” USA  69/100

“Jeanne duBarry” France 69/100

“Guy Manley Super Spy” United Kingdom 68/100

“One Must Wash Their Eyes” USA  67/100

“What Mary Didn’t Know” Greece/France 64/100

RKS 2024 Film: The Best Documentaries of 2024

“A Photographic Memory” United States 96/100

“Devil Put Coal in the Ground” USA 96/100

“Russia At War” Russia 95/100

“Tish” United Kingdom 94/100

“To Kill a Tiger” Switzerland 94/100

“And So It Begins” Philippines 93/100

“Copa 71” United Kingdom 93/100

“Space Cowboy” United Sates 93/100

“Praying for Armageddon” Norway 93/100

“Cherry” Canada 92/100

“Stolen Time” Canada 92/100

RKS 2024 Film: The Best Films of 2024

“Fireworks” Italy 96/100

“Giannis in the Cities” Greece 96/100

“Tōtem” Mexico/Germany/France 96/100

“Daughter of the Sun” Canada 96/100

“Be Still” Canada 95/100

“The Shade” USA 95/100

“Astronaut” (Short) Canada 94/100

“Song for No One” Canada 94/100

“Fonissa” Greece 94/100

“Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World” Romania 94/100

“Sometimes I Think About Dying” USA  94/100

“Limbo” Australia 94/100

“I Used to be Funny” Canada 94/100

“The Secret Art of Human Flight” USA 94/100

“Markings of Murder” Canada 94/100

“The Stranger’s Case” Greece 94/100

“Meanwhile on Earth” France 94/100

“The Honeymoon” Ukraine 94/100

“Orah” Canada/Nigeria 93/100

“The Arrival” USA 93/100

“The Invisibles” Canada 93/100

“The Coffee Table” Spain 93/100

“Capitan Mihalis” Greece 93/100

“Velma” (Short) USA 93/100

“Piss on Patriarchy” (Short) Germany 93/100

“The Gardener’s Death” Greece 93/100

“Fallen Leaves” Germany 92/100

“The Last Taxi Driver” Greece 92/100

“Last County” USA 92/100

“Exile” Canada 92/100

“The Beast” (La Bête) France 92/100

“Sweetland” Canada 92/100

“New Life” Canada 92/100

“Sallywood” USA 92/100

“Compulsus” Canada 92/100

“The Penniless Pensioner”: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous (The Final Version): Chapter 11: My Routine at Montreal’s McGill University

Accustomed to a high-level standard of living in Bombay I chose my Montreal lodgings fitting for that standard. Being humble I rented the Presidential Suite at the Four Seasons in Montreal on Sherbrooke Street 8 minutes from most of my classes in the Leacock Building. A full staff to support my daily activities could be perceived by self-righteous by Canadians so I left them back home in Bombay to polish silver and maintain the grounds.

I have a spectacular view from my window of Mont Royal and when the fall colours bless Montreal it is a wonder to behold. I’ll take it over the Taj Mahal any day.

I have all the amenities I need. Swimming pool, steam room and a gym. I am up for breakfast each morning at 07:00 I prepare myself as I have a kitchen in my suite. A cup of organic green tea, fruit in season and two slices of whole wheat toast. On Saturday and Sunday mornings I have a big breakfast delivered to my room and read the New York Times and Montreal Gazette happily downing a big pot of tea. The Four Seasons makes a wicked French Toast!

Saturday after drinking my tea and reading my newspapers it is culture time so I may go to the McCord Museum or Musée des Beaux Arts or wherever there is a worthy exhibit. Saturday night it may be an obscure artsy film showing at the McGill Film Society or the Greene Cinema. Occasionally I will go out with fellow students to Thompson House for some beer and peanuts. If there is a good jazz show at Didi Boucel’s Club in Vieux Montreal I might go there. I have seen Stan Getz, Gato Barbieri, Sony Rollins, John Mayall and many others.

Sundays is my mandatory walk up to Beaver Lake on Mont Royal and a stroll clear across to Park Avenue where I usually stop for a late lunch of souvlaki at Arahova Restaurant. If I have any energy left I may walk up and get some bagels at Fairmont Bagel Bakery. Just baked they are one of the 7 wonders of the world.

From Monday to Thursday it is class to class and lots of assignments and papers to work on. I have managed to stack all my classes so Fridays are free. I use this time to volunteer at the United Mutations Office in Park Extension researching specific issues as requested by Willie Montenez a big executive at United Mutations.

I play intramural hockey at McGill. A group of Indian students have created a team the Punjabi Pundits and quite frankly we stink. I am fast as hell and score a lot of goals but I am hell on wheels to watch. I mean in months I learnt how to skate. The United Mutations have a box at the Montreal Forum and occasionally I get to see Nos Glorieux play hockey in the shrine of all shrines for professional hockey.

My life is a peaceful and scholarly one.

It is difficult to make friends here but my slight British accent (rather Welsh from my late Mom) really attracts the ladies so there is no shortage of chatting and drinking 4th rate coffee from a machine at our student lounge. Occasionally I’ll ask one of these charming young ladies to Pam Pam restaurant on Stanley Street for Hungarian pastries, liking so very much the flourless chestnut cream cake and a café au lait. After my Minah incident though I wonder if these Montreal Girls are poison and too much for me to handle.

The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous (The Final Version): Chapter 11: What Courses Do I Take at McGill University?

I had mentioned I was awarded the Claire and Warren Quimby Scholarship for Third World Disadvantaged Urchins to McGill University. I was undecided as to what programme and what degree I should enroll in. My teachers at King’s School for Young Men in Bombay strongly recommended I obtain an arts degree to broaden my mind so I would have the analytical skills to easily manoeuvre to a post graduate degree. Their view of a “liberal arts” education was it was not focused on what money it could eventually lead to but rather on self development and analytical skills that could be applied to so many fields. The students at King’s School for Young Men were wealthy (like me) and white (not like me) so their view on the value of a liberal arts degree I took with a grain of sand.

The Indians were far more materialistic about my education. The relatives I had in India, on my father’s side were not as successful as my father Paneer was seeing education as a sure way to make piles of dough and escape India. They gave me numerous examples of this and that chap who hit “The Golden Temple” of wealth and status by way of MEDICINE, ACCOUNTING, LAW and COMPLIANCE. Liberal arts was in their opinion but a waste of time. How is an understanding of history going to make you money was a recurring phrase my relatives cajoled me with.

So it would seem I was caught between grubby materialism and lofty idealism. I was a man of wealth so there was no relentless drive on my part to “make it” through “the professions”. I chose to obtain a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. My relatives rolled their eyes and moaned. I had seen them sacrifice their lives to relentlessly drive their children into the holy grail of higher education. Tutors and weekend “special preparatory academies” and lack of any social life burnt out many of my young relatives. My thought on that is would you prefer an intelligent and compassionate human being for a doctor or one that had been programmed with all the right steps to gain admission to medical school! I had several of my relatives volunteer their medical prospect children to build homes in Costa Rica (for an enormous “donation”) for disadvantaged souls so their resume would sparkle in the eyes of a medical school’s admission panel. Money can be a great motivator but it can suck your soul dry. There were a limited number of spaces for foreign medical students at Canadian universities so the competition for spots was ferocious and, in some cases, deadly. The year I gained admission to McGill University 12 young men in Bombay alone committed suicide after being refused admission to medical schools in Canada.

RKS 2024 Wine: Four Vines Old Vine Zinfandel: Of Water and Wine

President Elect Donald Trump may have dazzled his MAGA base with tough guy protectionism promising a 25% tariff on all Canadian products entering the United States. Seems of late he has admitted this may lead to an increased cost of living for Americans. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau quickly scampered down to Mar-a-Lago to persuade Trump such a tariff may not be the best for both countries. “Jokingly” Trump suggested Canada become the 51st state. This observation or thought is not new to Canadians. Given Canada’s vast natural water supply hopefully any annexation, if it comes to pass, is peaceful.

Should the 25% tariff be implemented is it possible that insulted and miffed Canadians boycott United States wines, almost entirely Californian, trucked into Canada? Food for thought.

90% Zinfandel, 9% Petit Sirah and 1% Rubired which is a Californian created hybrid a cross between Tinto Cao and Alicante Ganzin. It has spent 10 months in Hungarian, American and French oak (25% new).

Aroma: Strawberry jam, black cherry, cassis and bits of mocha. No need to worry about excessive oak. But some coffee on the nose may be a warning sign of a wine on the decline or from grapes that may have been harvested too late.

Palate: If you were expecting a Soprano’s ball buster Zin it is not here. It is demure, low in tannins and controlled acidity. Blueberry and pomegranate. Dare I say a delicate Zin attributable to old vines?

Personality: I might be far less robust than what you might expect a Lodi Zinfandel to be. So happily, you’ve been caught with your pants down. Please no Stormy Daniels snickers here!

Food Match: Red meats, pizza, pasta…whatever.

Cellarbility: Consume by 2025-year end. No benefit to age.

Price: $22 CDN. $13 USD (SRP).

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 89/100. Natalie MacLean 90/100.

(Four Vines Old Vine 2021 Zinfandel, AVA Lodi, Four Vines Winery, Grafton, California, 14.5%, 750 mL).

RKS 2024 Film: “Deaner’ 89”: Satire? Comedy? Socially Relevant?

Dean Murdoch (Paul Spence) known as “Deaner” finally after enduring many “shit bands” achieves stardom in 1989 and has moved into his mansion where he shares his story.

Dean and his sister Jen (Star Slade) are adopted and advised of their Indigenous heritage late in their teens by their mother telling them the government told us to reveal nothing to you about your past “as it was best to grow up in a white world and leave the Indian behind”. As Dean remarked they shot children out of the reservation into the white world like a T-Shirt launcher gun. Dean is Métis and Jen a Blackfoot.

Dean grew up in a small steel town East Hayden, Manitoba described as in the middle of “butt fuck Canada”. There are a few jabs in the film at small town Canada where hockey is the only way out.

Dean’s life is converted from hockey jock to metalhead with the arrival of a satanic steamer trunk from his late father crammed with heavy metal paraphernalia and ephemera. His girlfriend’s aunt, May (Mary Walsh) is a former metal bassist and when her guitar is amped to the max it blows Dean through the wall and at that point he knew he had metal flowing in his blood.

There is a strong streak of juvenile humour with farting, beer swilling, car and bus chases but discretely the film gently reminds the viewer in a non polemic manner of the racism and stereotyping prevalent in Canada directed against its Indigenous population. In one scene a delightfully raunchy and sleazy college agent Dack (Stephen McHattie) ready to sign Dean to a 4-year hockey scholarship replies to Dean’s question if there are any Indians on the hockey team. No there are none as we like to keep it clean.

The movie is a combination of genres and rich with homage to many a teen movie and while attempting a neat characterization I was met with a melange but if Dean were asked I believe his response would be don’t torture yourself and just sit back and have some fun and ROCK ON! Good advice.

Oh, and his secret to success a mixture of the Métis fiddle and warlock bass.

Mary Walsh as May absolutely rocks. Stephen McHattie as Dack hits the perfect cord akin to a William S. Borroughs’ Tom the Priest performance in “Drugstore Cowboy”.

Excellent soundtrack and you won’t run from the room listening to metal! The Deaner’ 89 Studio Band knows its chops!

Directed by Sam McGlynn. Written by Paul Spence.

Available on digital and on demand.

Trailer can be seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZs-5v_lR4Q&t=1s

RKS 2024 Film Rating 81/100,

The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous (The Final Version) : Chapter 10: More Editorial Interference from Wuhan Wet Market Publishing: What I Don’t Like About Canadians

I am attempting to write my biography here collaborating with the renowned journalist Robert K. Stephen but yet again Wuhan Wet Market Publishing is interfering with my creative process. I received a call from senior editor Natasha Polehead demanding I should refrain from comparing Canadians to Indians, Brits and Americans as I will alienate some readers and the name of the publishing game is money. You don’t make money by pissing off Brits, Indians and Yanks it seems. I had planned to talk about obesity, politics, culture and a whole lot of comparative points however I signed a rather hasty contract with Wuhan and I have no wiggle room. So what I will do to even up the score, in the mind of Wuhan, is advise readers what I don’t like about Canadians.

Canadians have many great qualities as well as Brits, Indians and Yanks (ass kissing) but of course the all-knowing Wuhan Wet Market Publishing thinks they know better than I do so I can’t praise Indians, Brits and Yanks.

Canadians don’t fornicate on the beaches of Spain like the Brits, storm capitals and try to hang politicians like Americans and they don’t like or cozy up to the Russians like Indians do. They have a quiet superiority complex to the world. The great neutral peacekeepers. The polite and respectful people. They travel in Europe and strut about adorned with their maple leaf flags and think the world will come running to them with open arms. I call it quiet arrogance. And then there are the hidden closets of residential schools, the shameful treatment of early Chinese immigrants and well why go on. Are you happy now Wuhan Wet Market Publishing?