Thirty-eight-year-old Liv Sándor meets the love of her life swimming in the lake. He looks like Bob Dylan. He talks like Rimbaud and he listens to me. The next scene has her storming out of her house a year later saying to her swimming sweetie that she is leaving and never returning.
After storming out Liv wanders the street reflecting on the string of relationships she has had none of which end in “success”. You may be asking yourself if lack of success over time means failure. Liv realizes that love is something that if you don’t learn at an early age you can’t be a virtuoso but if you aren’t a virtuoso you have the right to play.
You might agree with me when I say Liv is perpetually looking for certain characteristics in her men instead of taking them for who they are. A simplistic analysis?
A tiny bit reminiscent of “Groundhog Day”. Starting again after love lessons learnt. Agnès Delachair as Liv is a delight to watch as well as all her love interests in her journey.
This is one of those films you’ll be interpreting as you leave the theatre and that just might be the mark of a good film.
Dreamy soundtrack somewhere between 1951-1966 with a French twist.
Playing in the Gender Equity in Media Festival in person in Vancouver 5-9March2024 and possibly part of the virtual festival 12-26Marh2024.
Nicole set a breakfast meeting for the entire crew and cast of “A Dog Saved My Life”. We are in a state of shock and disbelief. This is no movie. This is life.
After breakfast Nicole asks for quiet announcing she will be cancelling filming. She will pay all of us as if the project had been completed. A huge moan ripples throughout the crowd.
Mel Gibson stands up and asks for quiet and in a hush he speaks,” You are my family during this project. Our family has suffered a tremendous loss yesterday. Dearest Poofy the Poodle down the throat of a Saltie, Russell Crowe having his arm ripped off and Martin Malivoire hovering between life and death. Many of you have been through hard times on a film set. Outside the walls of this villa there are hundreds of media types covering a huge story. I do not want to be calculating but do you realize the amount of publicity this incident has garnered. HUGE. Aside from the publicity “A Dog Saved My Life” has important messages to convey. Domestic and canine abuse. Mental health. To cancel production means these messages will have to be told later but is later too late? With all deference to Nicole I call a vote of whether the film should be cancelled”.
The vote was unanimous to continue filming. Before Nicole could speak Martin Malivoire appears on the screen from The Darwin Memorial Hospital. Apparently he had been mumbling “MY GAMAY” after the anesthesia wore off. 49 stitches required and a bone reset. The poor man has glazed eyes and a bit of saliva dribbling down his chin. And you know what he was asking? When he can start preparing for the special effect shoots. What a trooper! There is applause for this brave man but many are asking is “Gamay” Malivoire’s wife? Penny says she will explain later but that it is not morphine induced.
Nicole receives a call from physicians for Russell Crowe and the beer cooler stored severed arm has been reattached. Whether he can ever appear in a gladiator ring again is unknown.
Nicole steps up to the podium. Film begins shooting tomorrow at 9 a.m.
The Ratpack have braved dangers of all sorts but frankly we are terrified of Salties as Winston in “1984” was terrified of bright lights. In fact we are scared shitless. Fast, unpredictable and jaws that can gobble up and swallow a dog whole.
Sunday is the crew’s day of rest. We usually hang around the pool and listen to music and double check our lines for upcoming shoots. At 4 in the afternoon Russell Crowe, Martin Malivoire (our special effects wizard) and Mel Gibson decide to go for a walk on the beach before dinner. I am napping by the pool suffering in the terrible humidity and think those guys going on a walk is like walking into the gates of Hell. I was right.
Penny insists upon a prewalk beach patrol in her Oodlecopter to spot any wayward Salties. Up she goes promising a radio report in a few minutes. All clear she radios and Crowe, Malivoire, Gibson and Poofy the Poodle head out to the beach but a mere 5-minute walk. From this point on matters are fuzzy.
Just when I start a doze in the shade all at the pool hear a bloodcurdling scream then two explosions. Penny radios barking so wildly the Ratpack can’t understand her. Thirty seconds later she lands in her Oodlecopter and her eyes are wild with terror. There is blood splattered over her Oodlecopter. Penny faints. The Ratpack roars into action and humans and dogs run like the wind to the beach. There is a huge crowd and police and ambulance sirens are approaching.
Have you ever seen the aftermath of a Saltie attack. Best I do not fill you in for what you have never seen. A bystander and witness recount the incident.
Three Salties attacked the lads and Poofy the Poodle encircling them. Thank goodness Penny returned with Oodlecopter after having seen a Saltie attacking a penguin on her return trip. Lucky, she did as she saw the attack in progress. She fired her two mini missiles taking out two Salties but the damage had already been wreaked.
Martin Malivoire lies on the sand twitching his last. He has a huge gash on his leg from a Saltie chomp. The sand is red from the enormous amount of blood he has lost. An off-duty paramedic is applying a tourniquet. But it may be too late. He looks like he is in death throes with an ashen face. We can see his bone protruding from his flesh. Not much flesh but yellowish fat and gristle. A Roman Catholic priest on vacation from Ethiopia bends over Malivoire administering last rites. I liked the guy and what a way to go. Rest in peace buddy. An ambulance arrives and scoops him up. The paramedics are shaking their heads saying this Baron of Beamsville “will never be leaving Darwin”.
Russell Crowe has lost an arm torn off in the attack. He is also scooped up and carted away in an ambulance. Nicole Kidman had been told by Penny about Crowe’s loss of an arm and a reattachment specialist is on a private jet chartered by Kidman and should arrive in 3 hours from Perth. His arm has been placed in a beer cooler full of ice.
Mel Gibson hasn’t a scratch as he had been detained by a fan on the beach for a discussion about terrible sequels to Mad Max missing the attack.
Poofy the Poodle? A few tufts of hair and some intestines are all that remain. Witnesses say Poofy the Poodle engaged in a fierce battle with the surviving Saltie shredding one of the Saltie’s eyes but being thrown off and gobbled up in an instant. That last surviving Saltie slithered away.
Good-bye to our dear sweet Poofy the Poodle
What a horrific scene that perhaps not even Martin Malivoire could special effect. We expect a call informing us of his death any moment. Good luck Russell with that missing arm.
The Ratpack and angry Darwinians form a Saltie possie to hunt down the one eyed Saltie. We rip the bugger to shreds but derive no pleasure other than delivering justice. As the croc lied dying on the beach Penny delivered the final bite to the jugular. You harm a Beamsville man like Martin Malivoire expect the wrath of a Beamsville dog! Penny washes the blood off her snout in the sea. Can a killer like Penny ever be a contestant at the Royal Hamilton Dog Show?
After this horrific incident will Penny be a basket case?
Gender Equity in Media Society presents their 19th annual international film festival, GEMFest in Vancouver in person 5-9March2024 and virtually 12-16March2024 with 14 Canadian films. The festival, now in its 19th year, continues to provide a platform for challenging gender imbalance and the lack of equity and diversity in the screen-based media industry.
In a German short, “Pissing on Patriarchy”, Marie is zipping along the Autobahn desperately seeking a service station to empty her bladder. Man, women and dog experience this sensation. Marie pulls into the service station and the bathrooms are closed due to a pipe burst.
Nothing but men are in and about the service station and reality and fantasy commingle with absurdity (or feminist paranoia). Poor Marie has fantasies of relieving herself in diverse places all frustrated by leering and suspicious men. Combining these images with fantasies of a proper urinating spot she graduates to Richard Speck and Charles Whitman intentionality’s. Nice to be in an equal gender situation. Yes women and men can equally be psychopaths. Marie as Tarantino in “From Dusk until Dawn”?
This short is initially humorous but after 3 more views it is more chilling than chuckly. A connection with “Run Lola Run” is evident in the cinematography.
A wonderful job here of Caroline Hellwig as Marie as a frustrated, flippant and deadly Millennial. As for a comment on feminism reaching the lowest wrung somehow is this a celebration of “equality”? Are we at the Titty Twister in Tarantino’s “From Dusk Until Dawn”.
This German short is showing in Vancouver in person 5-9March2024 and virtually 12-26March2024. There will be 14 Canadian films of which 6 are from British Columbia.
“It is considered a rather cheerful axiom that all Americans distrust politicians. (No one takes the further and less cheerful step of just what effect this mutual contempt has on either side of the public or the politicians who have, indeed, very little to do with each other.) Of all Americans Negroes distrust politicians most, or, more accurately, they have been best trained to expect nothing from them; more than other Americans, they are always aware of the enormous gap between election promises and their daily lives. It is true that promises excite them, but this is not because they are taken as proof of good intentions.”
“I am not one of the people who believe that oppression imbues a people with wisdom or insight or sweet charity: though the survival of the Negro in this country would simply not have been possible if this bitterness had been all that he felt. In America life seems to move faster than anywhere else on the globe and each generation is promised more than it will get: which creates in each generation, a furious, bewildered rage, the rage of the people who cannot find solid ground beneath their feet.”
“It seems unlikely within this complicated structure any real and systematic cooperation can be achieved between Negroes and Jews. (This in terms of the over-all social problem and is not meant to imply that individual friendships are impossible or that they are valueless when they occur) The structure of the American commonwealth has trapped both these minorities into attitudes of perpetual hostility. They do not dare trust each other-the Jew because he feels he must climb higher on the American social ladder and has, so far as he is concerned, nothing to gain from identification with any minority even more unloved than he: while the Negro is even in the less tenable position of not trusting anyone.”
Generally speaking, organic wines are cleaner tasting than non-organic. How many dead wines do we encounter? Probably too many. Spray and spray and eventually kill the soil. God help you if you have any vegetation growing between rows of vines. Why would you want to have sheep munching on the growth between the vines? Forget sheep poop as a fertilizer when we have chemicalized fertilizer pellets? Dead wine has little vibrancy and almost no taste but so much cheaper to produce than organic.
Can a Frogpond Farm 2019 Organic Gamay Noir from Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario be deserving of a round of applause?
Aroma: Vibrant cherry, raspberry, strawberry and forgive me for saying this very clean and pure.
Palate: Light, perhaps too light, bits and flecks of cherry, strawberry and raspberry streaming by like on a colonoscopy monitor. Aaargh!!! Nasty acidity kills the appeal of this wine. Should I have known better when the LCBO Vintages catalogue (17Feb2024) described in part the wine as “tangy”. Tangy perhaps a polite excuse for fierce acidity reminiscent of a Vinho Verde white or dare I say an oxidized wine? Funny that I recently tasted a Gamay from a god of Niagara winemaking. It had indigenous yeast and was close to a pre-admission to wine heaven according to gurus of this winemaker god. It was, in my opinion (for whatever that is worth) seriously compromised by acidity.
Personality: Leave me alone as I am on an acid trip man! Who needs, cannabis, shrooms or LSD when you have this acidic wine to groove on?
Food Match: Green tomato pasta in late October here in Ontario. This wine will be a fizzy as root beer by then.
Cellarbility: Stay out of your cellar as the acidity of this wine might cause major damage in any Chernobyl spill.
You won’t be emitting moans when imbibing most Côtes du Rhônes. That is not to say you won’t encounter tastelessness or excess acidity but rarely. Expect Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsault in the mix for a Côtes-du-Rhône red.
We try La Croix de Beauliac Creation 2021 Côtes-du-Rhône. 60% Grenache and 40% Syrah.
Aroma: With a sizeable influence of almost overly ripe strawberries Grenache is obviously hard at work here. There are black cherries, raspberries and a touch of coal.
Palate: Full bodied with substantial power. Moderate tannins initially but they increase in intensity. Medium and mildly chalky/peppery finish. Some blackberry and blueberry.
Food Match: A Bucky Burger for me from my favourite bistro in New York Les Deux Amis at 356 East 51st which is a stone’s throw from the United Nations. A charming mix of 1970 New York and traditional French neighbourhood bistro.
Personality: A great bistro wine for beef! I am firm and muscular and delightfully simple.
Cellarbility: Drink by 2024-year end.
Price: $15 CDN (Ontario).
RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 89/100. Natalie MacLean 95.
(La Croix de Beauliac 2021 AOP Côtes-du-Rhône, Florian Mathieu, Valros, France, 14.5%, 750 mL).
Packed up the Megane and off southbound to Estoril. Uneventful drive although finding the entrance to the Hotel Palacio was a bit tricky. Alex and Andrew had a suite beside ours. Two levels and three bathrooms in each suite. We are right beside the Orson Welles Suite. He stayed here when in Estoril. We face the ocean.
Orson Welles Suite next to ours!
The Palacio is one of Portugal’s top hotels. During World War Two Portugal was neutral and the hotel was a Rick’s Café like in the film Casablanca. Spies and displaced aristocracy and gold, jewelry and diamonds were often used as “cash”.
I spoke to the concierge Mario and he recommended a restaurant Beluarte a short distance away. He also recommended Guincho Beach as the best beach in Portugal. I went for a brief walk after chatting with Mario. There is a large park directly fronting the hotel. There was some sort of youth festival there including skateboard ramps and an air force recruiting centre. Just across the park was a Pharmacia and a pasteleria. Bought some wine and huge Spanish peaches. Before dinner a glass of red Casa de Colheria a Vinho Regional Ribatejo lighter and fruiter than a Douro red.
At 16:00 off to Guincho Beach. Parking was difficult but found a spot on the side of the road. Guincho Beach is huge with enormous waves and much wind hence its reputation in Europe as its best wind surfing beach. Typically freezing water. We stayed a couple of hours. A traffic jam arriving and leaving. Had a shower and put on a plush bathrobe and felt just like not going out but made a reservation at Beluarte so off we went. A delicious meal starting with a platter of cheese, ham, spiced olives with some paté. I had the sea bream and Andrew the shrimp and squid kebab while Alex and Fotini the mixed shellfish grill. Went to the youth festival at the park and a suspicious bunch of youth were hiding in the shadows smoking some weed. The band playing seemed to lack energy so we headed home after a few numbers.
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