RKS 2024 Wine: Izadi 2019 Reserva Rioja

100% Tempranillo.

Aroma: Warm and effusive black cherry and lots of it! Secondary notes of blackberry. Tertiary notes of milk chocolate.

Palate: Cherry, blackberry with some raspberry and black licorice. Some chalky tannins. Full mouth feel. Easy drinking but a wee bit hot. Too bad the alcohol is up at 14%.

Personality: I am a winner brimming with black fruit and am good with food and as a sipper.

Food Match: Turkish Braised Green Beans.

Cellarbility: Drink by 2026-year end.

Price: $23 CDN (Ontario).

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 89/100. Wine Align 90. Jamessuckling.com 94.

(Izadi 2019 Rioja Reserva, Rioja DOC, Bodegas Izadi, Villa Buena de Álava, Spain, 750 mL, 14%).

RKS 2024 Television: AMI’s “Postcards From…”: Season Five Episode 3: Dawson City, Yukon

In the third episode of season 5 of “Postcards From…” showing on the Accessible Media Incorporated television network and streaming service host Christa Couture takes us to Dawson City, Yukon a remote Northern town of some 1600 inhabitants. It is quaint and relaxing and the drone photography and commentary of Couture makes it a tempting Canadian tourist destination.

Couture takes pains to not only to describe and visit some interesting sites but the focus in this episode is more on her interactions with people she encounters while visiting an off the grid cabin to discuss off the grid living and eat Arctic grayling right from the pan, placer gold mining the old way with a pan down by the river, drink a sour toe cocktail, learning burlesque dancing and travelling on the “hissing” Yukon River. Couture’s most interesting observation is that in Dawson City and environs there is a willingness of the locals to accept you for who you are.

To see episode 3 https://www.amiplus.ca/m/0/episode?seriesId=qvZHiKIn&app-config=ami-tv. Available as of 5June2024.

RKS 2024 Television: AMI’s “Postcards From…”: Season Five Episode 2: Fredericton New Brunswick

In the second episode of season 5 of “Postcards From…” showing on the Accessible Media Incorporated television network and streaming service host Christa Couture takes us to Fredericton, New Brunswick a smaller city of 66,000 nestled by forest and on the Wolastoq River. It is quaint and relaxing and the drone photography and commentary of Couture makes it a compelling place to visit.

Couture making a dizzying effort to learn the bagpipes

Couture takes pains to not only to describe and visit some interesting sites but the focus in this episode is more on her interactions with people she encounters while visiting Kings Landing, leaning how to make decorative foam on lattes, learning the basics of axe throwing, bagpipe playing and boot tossing. Hungry? Watch an indigenous chef prepare salmon fillet wraps topped with fiddleheads and burnt pine needles.  

You’ll also understand the cultural base of Fredericton with its indigenous, Scottish and Acadian roots.

Couture concludes Fredericton has captured her heart. It is quite understandable!

To see episode 2 https://www.amiplus.ca/m/0/episode?seriesId=qvZHiKIn&app-config=ami-tv. Available as of 29May2024.

RKS 2024 Television: AMI’s “Postcards From…”: Season Five Episode 1: Drumheller, Alberta

In the first episode of season 5 of “Postcards From…” showing on the Accessible Media Incorporated television network and streaming service host Christa Couture takes us to Drumheller, Alberta known as the dinosaur capital of Canada.

Christa on a haunted school tour in Drumheller!

Witness some incredible topographies but Christa notes it is the people which are the real treasures of Drumheller. The scenery is rugged and jagged in places so much so it reminds one of Arizona or the Gobi Desert in Mongolia which too is a hotspot for dino bones. Let me exaggerate and make a comparison to the Grand Canyon.

Christa goes on a dino bone hunt, visits The Last Chance Saloon, goes on her first motorcycle ride, visits a haunted East Coulee School Museum and the Royal Tyrell Museum and with a good streak of naughty and ribald humour enjoys some prairie oysters being told a popular local event is the testicle festival where chefs present innovative calf testicle recipes. Not all is smiles as Christa reveals some very personal history.

To see episode 1 https://www.amiplus.ca/m/0/episode?seriesId=qvZHiKIn&app-config=ami-tv

Season Five of “Postcards from….”: Canadian Tourism Inclusive of Accessibility

ACCLAIMED INDIGENOUS WRITER & MUSICIAN CHRISTA COUTURE HOSTS AMI’S POSTCARDS FROM… 
 

VANCOUVER, BC (May 22, 2024) — Black Rhino Creative and not-for-profit media company Accessible Media Inc. present season five of documentary travel series Postcards From… on AMI-tv and AMI+ starting May 22, 2024 at 9:30 p.m. ET. The veteran doc series launches with a brand new host in musician, writer and amputee Christa Couture. Couture is proudly Indigenous (mixed Cree and Scandinavian), queer and disabled.

In Postcards From… we follow Couture as she reimagines travel through the five senses in eight cities across Canada with new episodes airing weekly. This season’s destinations include Drumheller, Fredericton, Dawson City, Salt Spring Island, Niagara Falls, Montreal, Edmonton and Whistler.

In the first episode of Postcards from…, airing on May 22, Couture visits Drumheller, the “Dinosaur Capital of the World.” She meets fascinating locals who introduce her and the audience to the lesser-known side of Drumheller as they chase ghosts, rev up a motorbike and try the infamous culinary delicacy prairie oysters. Throughout the season, Couture takes us through her travels with a focus on accessibility; using descriptive language to inform the audience about her experiences in each location. Postcards From… is unique in that it spends equal time presenting the locales as it does highlighting how Couture witnesses them through the sensory experiences of taste, touch, smell, hearing and sight.

Over the course of her acclaimed career, Couture’s work has mostly explored personal experiences of loss, from the childhood cancer that led to the amputation of her left leg to the deaths of her two infant sons. Her memoir How to Lose Everything was the inspiration for a series of short-animated films of the same name, but after her maternity photos that showcased her prosthetic leg went viral in 2018, Couture has been drawn to sharing stories that intersect with disability. Couture is a musician, filmmaker, writer, broadcaster and now host of Postcards from… Prairie-raised, Couture spent 17 years in Vancouver and now calls Toronto home.

Postcards From… was written by Christa Couture (How to Lose Everything), directed by Danny Berish (Red Chef Revival) and Ryan Mah (House Special) of Black Rhino Creative, produced by Joanna Wong (Not Your Butter Chicken), executive produced by Leah Mallen (Coast Modern), field and story produced by Rachael Ransom (Anne Murray: Full Circle) and Richard Tran is DOP. Postcards From… was made possible with the support of AMI, Canada Media Fund, Film Incentive BC and the Canadian Film and Television Tax Credit.

RKS 2024 Wine: Featherstone’s Canadian Cabernet Franc

Not willing to speak in absolutes but chances are a Cabernet Franc from Ontario seldom steers you off the cliff but don’t let me be your GPS on this! We try a Featherstone 2020 Cabernet Franc from Ontario’s Niagara region. 2129 cases mean an ample supply for domestic consumption.5% Merlot in the blend. Aged in 25% new American oak and 75% in 1–4-year-old American oak barrels.

Aroma: Black fruits rule the roost particularly black cherry and blackberry. Some dark blue plum, black licorice with some almost imperceptible vanilla.

Palate: Blackberry and black cherry bordering on juicy if not tart. A medium bodied wine with a longish finish that amps up tartness a bit.

Personality: I am a lip smacker.

Food Match: Rabbit stifado.

Cellarbility: Drink by 2025-year end. Decanting now allows a bit more American oak to seep in. I venture to say any more new American oak would dumb down the wine like some Washington State Merlot!

Price: $22.

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 91/100. Dean Tudor 92.

(Featherstone Estate Winery 2020 Cabernet Franc, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Featherstone Estate Winery, Vineland, Ontario, 750 mL, 12.5%).

RKS 2024 Film: “In a Violent Nature”: Horror on the Screen and in the Screening Room

As a journalist I have learnt over the years that you never know when your next story can jump out at you while in the midst of working on your target story.

Years ago I was doing a sociology project which took me to a large theatre on St. Catherine Street in Montreal by the name of the Capitol. I believe I was analyzing the frenzy caused by the film “The Exorcist”. Over the course of numerous showings I heard screaming and crying in the theatre and witnessed several people actually running out through the lobby into the street.

Today at a press screening at a postproduction studio in Toronto I took a seat in the small screening room with a few dozen film critics to watch a Canadian made horror movie “In a Violent Nature”. There was horror on the screen but in the seats too with a few moans as human bodies were victimized. Encouraging noises for a horror film.

Now about “In a Violent Nature” Johnny was a very naughty boy! Years ago his mother gave him a golden locket for remembrance. Poor Johnny was murdered by a gang of men in a misguided revenge killing. Somehow the locket is picked up in the forest by urban millennial vacationers. Why it was hanging in plain view is puzzling. The locket removal galvanizes the long dead Johnny into a mommy revenge. The locals have given Johnny an almost mythical reputation. A trail of grisly revenge killings follows and I mean grisly. If you appreciate this crude and graphic violence with body parts being chopped and hacked, heads rolling, heads being pulped and intestines spilling all over this film rates a 99/100.

If you prefer a more discerning bit of horror the continual tramping and lumbering of Johnny is somewhat boring. The dialogue is at times wooden and the writing leads to a few dubious moments. There is a neat song about blackflies as the credits roll at the end of the film though. Well shot and top-notch special effects and splendid prosthetics of Steven Kostanki. I mean I have seen a lot worse and stopped watching some poor horror movies 10 minutes into the film. I watched the entire film this time. My type of horror film is the recent Mexican film “The Coffee Table” where the horror is largely suspenseful, mysterious and discrete. Being horrified by most horror movies there is hope for this one and I give it a 71/100.

It has been an “official selection” in 16 film festivals so far.

Directed and written by Chris Nash.

You can shiver through the screener here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyXuRmXbS7U

This Canadian horror film commences a Canadian theatrical release 31May2024.

RKS 2024 Film: Toronto’s 2SLGTBQ+ Inside Out Film Festival: “Sisters”: Where Does Friendship Evolve into Sisterhood and Vice Versa?

In the feature film “Sisters” Lou (Susie Yankou) and Esther (Sarah Khasrovi) are best buddies doing all manner of events together platonically. Lou is an out of the closet bisexual.

Lou and Esther have a fantasy about having sisters. Then out of the woodwork at her father’s funeral. Up pops Pryia (Kausar Mohammed) and instant sisterhood. Seems Lou’s father had a little office fling immediately prior to his marriage to Lou’s mother.

An initial fascination with Priya launches Lou on a self discovery journey about friendship and sisterhood. Clever writing on the story developed by both Yankou and Khasrovi rarely morphing into fluff.

The on-screen relationship of Yankou and Khasrovi kickstarts the film and rides it throughout. Not to exaggerate but it is near magical and entirely captivating.

Many one liners spice up the film which has comedic elements embodied heavily infused with satire. A first class semi-comedic Sistercom film!

Directed by Yankou.

World premiere at the Festival on 25May2024. For more information check insideout.ca.

Robert K. Stephen 2024 Film Rating 86/100.

RKS Literature: Master Copperfield is Head Over Heels

“I had no intention of saying (and had been studying the best form of words for three miles) that I thought them beautiful before I saw them so near her. But I couldn’t manage it. She was too bewildering. To see her lay the flowers against her little dimpled chin, was to lose all presence of mind and power of language in a feeble ecstasy. I wonder I didn’t say, “Kill me if you have a heart, Miss Mills. Let me die here!’

Charles Dickens “David Copperfield”, 1850.

RKS Literature: Being on the “Right Side” of the Family (Charles Dickens)

‘Miss Trotwood’ he remarked. ‘is very firm no doubt, and not likely to give way to opposition. I have an admiration for her character, and I may congratulate you, Copperfield, on being on the right side. Differences between relations are much to be deplored-but they are extremely general-and the great thing is, to be on the right side’; meaning, I take it, on the side of the moneyed interest.

Charles Dickens, “David Copperfield”, 1850.