RKS 2023 Film: “Fireline”: Global Warming and Wildfire are Good Bedfellows

This documentary follows a team of firefighters from the Cal Fire Lassen-Modoc unit battling the 2021 monstrous Dixie Wildfire in California that burned for 104 days destroying 963,309 acres of forest and 1,329 structures. 1,973 firefighters were involved. The cost of firefighting was $637 million USD. A combination of global warming, too dense of a forest and a black beetle infestation led to bone dry conditions ideal for a wildfire. Additional commentary from firefighters and the Office of Emergency Services of California (OES).

Dispel any idea of a wildfire taking a linear path. Rather it spreads to and fro creating pockets of wildfires. A highly co-ordinated effort was required considering the OES. local, state, out of state firefighters and federal agencies were involved. A OES war room coordinated the effort and immediate reaction and predicative strategies were deployed. As an OES official stated there is no second chance in battling a fire of this magnitude. Firefighting requires a holistic effort. The biggest issue is the management of state resources to firefight and as the wildfire situation in California is worsening each year balancing these resources is becoming increasingly difficult.

While the camera follows the firefighting crew the cinematography presents a kaleidoscope of horrors. Massive walls of fire moving like a freight train destroy and damage everything in their path. The crew is experienced but even these men are awed, excited and fearful in their battle not to mention exhausted having to work multiple shifts often separated from their families for weeks. The horrors they have seen they share and they are grisly and one can imagine a fertile breeding ground for PTSD an all too common psychological affliction for first responders. As one of the crew said that if we don’t do it right we could be just like the badly burnt humans and animals they have witnessed suffering and dying.

This 82-minute American documentary was directed by Tyler Norwood and produced by Ben Sinclair. The film will be released on 5December2023 on digital platforms.

You can see the trailer here https://vimeo.com/864972698?share=copy

RKS 2023 Film Rating 82/100.

RKS 2023 Film: “Overtime”: Canada’s National Sport is Hockey and a Part of So Many Personal Histories!

Canada loves its hockey. If I may serve as a sorry example as I never reached the National Hockey League, I still have a deep reservoir of hockey memories. At five years of age in freezing winter pre global warming days I hit the outdoor natural ice in Montreal not knowing much more than shoot the puck in the opposing team’s net. Hockey is a Canadian obligation for all able-bodied citizens.

Hours and hours of practice and games. Winning a city championship. Scoring 5 goals in a hockey game a personal highlight. Then coaching my son and his team for 6 years winning 3 championships and learning that winning isn’t everything. My lads lost a championship game in overtime but in that loss they roared back from a 5-goal deficit to tie the match and force overtime. My crowning glory was therefore in a loss with a tremendous pride and respect in my boys. OK so this documentary sent my hockey memories soaring. Damn it perhaps a book on my hockey memories is in order. Many Canadians have books to write about their hockey memories!

“Overtime”, a Canadian documentary, is the story of Kelley Lee-Gilmore a 60-year-old mother of two and a professor at Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University. We learn about her childhood in a Chinese family where sports was indeed far from a ladies sport. There were very few opportunities for a woman to play hockey and Chinese women…forget it. Kelley started playing as a teenager when she could afford fees to join a league and continued playing in the United Kingdom while studying and teaching at the University of Sussex. She dropped the sport to raise her children but resumed her hockey passion in 2006. With that passion and familial support she picked up hockey again in British Columbia in the 55 plus women’s league and we follow her to a national 55 plus hockey tournament and listen to her and her teammates views on hockey and life.

An interesting documentary written and directed by her daughter Jenny Lee-Gilmore but its power to resurrect personal hockey memories was remarkable. Of course, it could apply to any sport. An inspiring story of an underdog fighting for and achieving her dreams. Overcoming age and ethnicity? Horatio Alger story? Simply a story that could be repeated by any Canadian hockey player?

“Overtime” will have its television debut on 5December2023 on TELUS Optik TV Channel 8 with global reach online at telusoriginals.com

Well done despite its somewhat cheesy music.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 74/100.

RKS 2023 Wine: A Lighter Style of Australian Cabernet Sauvignon?

In the past 20 years Coonawarra has earned the reputation of producing less brutish Aussie Cabernet Sauvignon. On occasion a big jammy Aussie Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon hits the spot but risks the moniker of an overdone wine.

In this case a 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon from Wynns Coonawarra Estate deserves a try.

Aroma: Blueberry, black cherry, cola and a certain creaminess.

Palate: Tannic. Big waves of blueberry and blueberry pie with hints of dark chocolate. This strikes one as a young wine brimming with fruit that is being restrained by the tannins. The solution which may be rewarded with a migration to restrained lushness, or elegance if you prefer, would be to decant prior to serving or wait patiently until the end of 2024 to unscrew.

Personality: I am a powerful wine attributable to my youth. But often good things come to pass with those blessed by patience. Like a Roman or Greek statute consider the fig leaf my tannin. When the fig leaf drops witness me in all my glory!

Food Match: Kangaroo steak????? Bison burgers for us folks in Canada. Something gamey!

Cellarbility: Happy to sleep away until 2028.

Price: $24.95 CDN (Ontario).

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 89/100. Campbell Mattison 92.

(Wynns Coonawarra Estate 2021 “The Siding” Cabernet Sauvignon, Wynns Coonawarra Estate, Coonawarra, Australia, 750 mL, 13.7%)

RKS 2023 Film: “Making the Yuletide Gay: A Very Special Paul Lynde Christmas”: Groaning Through a Very Smutty Christmas

I will admit it. I simply can’t watch “It’s A Wonderful Life” yet another time as that squeaky clean piece of cinema is beginning to grate on the nerves. Diametrically opposed to that Ivory Soap piece of cinema is “Making the Yuletide Gay: A Very Special Paul Lynde Christmas” teeming with sacrilegious smut perhaps just what your over cleansed mind may require. By December 25th aren’t we all saturated with Christmas carols and “The Messiah”? We need something naughty perhaps to maintain sanity.

If you remember early gay entertainment (no not Gary Grant) you will know Liberace and Paul Lynde portrayed overly gay when “gay” was a dirty word for about 93% of the population.

“Making the Yuletide Gay” is a parody of American television Christmas specials of the 1960’s and 1970’s including satirical of the time advertisements for shampoo, deodorant, life insurance, air travel and pizza rolls with a cutting destructive and mocking tone.

The Christmas special is hosted by Paul Lynde (Michael Arlington) with a slew of current and well-known drag queens, heavily gay stereotypical Santa dancers and out of closet men. Plenty of one liner smut filled jokes that I assume are intentionally poor and in brutally awful taste. Sugar plum fairies and fruit cakes….get the idea. The North Pole is not the South Pole but it means you know what. As Paul Lynde says, “Christmas only comes once a year just like me.”

I wonder if you weren’t even a glint in your mother’s eye in 1960 and 1970 if you’ll capture the numerous jives into the culture of the time.

What can you say about a film that is intentionally bad? Best to groan and suffer through it as you were meant to do and then take the middle road and watch “Die Hard” as your Christmas movie. Yes that political incorrect term “Christmas” lives on in “Making the Yuletide Gay” and gay in this case does not mean happy.

Will be released in North America on 15December2023 on VOD and DVD.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 65/100.

RKS 2023 Wine: “Dough” Chardonnay: A Great Chardonnay on the Rise!

What a name for a winery…dough.

Yes yeast is used in the fermentation of wine. It can be natural or added. Yeast is also used helping the bread dough to rise. However dough is not a taste you really want in a white wine although if you read reviews of sparkling wine you might encounter a descriptor of “fresh baked brioche” and the like. Now adding on another layer dough winery gives money (“dough”) to the James Beard Foundation “to create an inclusive, equitable and sustainable food culture…”. I say this as I have some cinnamon raisin bread baking!

Now that all this trivia is discussed shouldn’t we try a dough 2020 North Coast Chardonnay?

Aroma: Pear, apple, homemade apple sauce, marzipan and mango somewhat bold and beautiful. This might be a challah of a wine!

Palate: Mango, pineapple and apple in a muscular and most serious framework. Really well crafted and although oaked it is as if you can taste it but your focus is on the power and strength of the wine rather than its oak. Had American oak been used instead of French you might be chanting , “ABC”. Some of the wine was fermented in stainless steel preventing oak from domineering.

Personality: Quite frankly I am proud of myself as while I am oaked my winemakers certainly managed the oak very well offering you me a sophisticated Chardonnay. No overdone oak to soil my reputation. I am fit for a Kaiser! I bagel you to try me! You bun looking for me a long time!

Cellarbility: Drink by 2027-year end.

Food Match: Macaroni and Cheese with crispy breadcrumb topping. Use OKA cheese.

Price: $24.95 CDN (Ontario).

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 91/100.

(dough 2020 Chardonnay, North Coast, California, dough wines, Sonoma, California, 750 mL, 13.5%).

RKS Museums: The Met Presents “Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930’s” (Until 10December2023): Ben Shahn’s “Welders”

The 1930s was a decade of political and social upheaval in the United States, and the art and visual culture of the time reflected the unsettled environment. Americans searched for their cultural identity during the Great Depression, a period marked by divisive politics, threats to democracy, and intensified social activism, including a powerful labor movement. Featuring more than 100 works from The Met collection and several lenders, this exhibition explores how artists expressed political messages and ideologies through a range of media, from paintings, sculptures, prints, and photographs to film, dance, decorative arts, fashion, and ephemera.

Highlights include paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe, Charles Sheeler, and Stuart Davis; prints by Elizabeth Olds, Dox Thrash, and Riva Helfond; photographs by Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange; footage of Martha Graham’s dance Frontier; and more, providing an unprecedented overview of the era’s sociopolitical landscape.

Ben Shahn’s (1898-1969) “Welders” (1943) was painted in 1943 when the United States government focused on defense efforts during World War II, it gradually disbanded Works Projects Administration (WPA) projects officially closing the WPA in 1943. Many former WPA artists went to find employment through other public ventures. Shahn worked for the graphics division of the CIO-PAC the United States’ first political action committee, which had been set up to sidestep new restrictions on the financial contributions unions could make to political campaigns. “Welders” which invokes racial solidarity in the work force, was reproduced as a poster that read, “for full employment after the war, register to vote.”

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, purchase 1944.

RKS 2023 Wine: A Steady Flow of Bordeaux at Reasonable Prices: A Burly Bordeaux

“Lower echelon” Bordeaux continues immigrating to Canada holding its own against “value” reds from Argentina, Chile and Spain. Bordeaux has a grand reputation and huge prices for its top “first growth” wines that has a few wine consumers running merely hearing the word “Bordeaux”. Most of the “lower echelon” wines are fairly good to excellent. Let the 1% revel in high-cost status grape juice if that is what they want.

In this case we try a Château La Gorce 2018 Médoc. The blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are blended after separate fermentation and then the wine is aged in oak barrels for 12 months before bottling.

Aroma: We have a “burly Bordeaux” with power and muscle nowhere elegant and dainty. Let’s call it firm. Blackberry, cassis, black cherry and a hint of dark chocolate.

Palate: Dusty tannins. Power simmering with every sip. Big time Fifth Avenue swaggering blackberry waiting for a Mercedes limousine outside the private residences of the Plaza. Residual sugar congregates at the tip of the tongue. Full bodied but not a hot finish.

Palate: I may have YMCA cost but those big fat rich New York capitalists can guzzle their Château De La Snob at Porterhouse or Per Se at the Time Warner Centre at Columbus Circle but just let’s have some fun at Angelo’s Coal Fired Pizza on 3 West 57th 6 minutes away from all the pretentious shenanigans at The Plaza.

Bordeaux for the masses? : Photo Robert K. Stephen

Food Pairing: A nice spicy pizza at Angelo’s please.

Price: $24.95 CDN (Ontario).

Cellarbility: Consume by end of 2026.

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 90/100. Jamessuckling.com 90.

(Château La Gorce 2018 Médoc, AC Médoc, Château La Gorce, Blaignan, France, 14%, 750 mL).

RKS Museums: The Met Presents “Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930’s” (Until 10December2023): Guglielmi’s “One Third of a Nation”

The 1930s was a decade of political and social upheaval in the United States, and the art and visual culture of the time reflected the unsettled environment. Americans searched for their cultural identity during the Great Depression, a period marked by divisive politics, threats to democracy, and intensified social activism, including a powerful labor movement. Featuring more than 100 works from The Met collection and several lenders, this exhibition explores how artists expressed political messages and ideologies through a range of media, from paintings, sculptures, prints, and photographs to film, dance, decorative arts, fashion, and ephemera.

Highlights include paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe, Charles Sheeler, and Stuart Davis; prints by Elizabeth Olds, Dox Thrash, and Riva Helfond; photographs by Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange; footage of Martha Graham’s dance Frontier; and more, providing an unprecedented overview of the era’s sociopolitical landscape.

In “One Third of the Nation” (1939) Louis Guglielmi (1906-1956) responded to the horrific living conditions, mass poverty and general social unease brought about by the Great Depression with this work. Its title refers to President Franklin Roosevelt’s second inaugural address in which he declared, “I see one third of the nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished…The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” In the painting, coffins litter the city block lined with lifeless tenements, and a funeral wreath adorns the building at center.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of New York City

RKS 2023 Film: “Nisei”: An American Short Film That is Far From Sweet

Inspired by stories by the writer and director’s grandfather the award winning “Nisei” follows the journey of two Japanese American brothers during World War II, John and Minoru Miyasaki. Although many Japanese Americans were interned in “segregation camps” John and Minoru volunteered to join the 442nd Regimental Combat Team an all Japanese American unit that sacrificed everything, to prove loyalty to a country that did not want them. Can you imagine the emotional difficulties these Nisei (second generation Japanese Americans) faced balancing their Japanese heritage against their insistence in proving their loyalty to the United States. The 442nd fought in Italy and Minoru paid the supreme price.

The 442nd called for 1,500 volunteers but close to 10,000 Nisei volunteered. The 442nd based on its size was the highest decorated unit in United States military history. Fifty-five years after the war 20 Nisei in the 442nd were awarded the Medal of Valour.

I have seen several documentaries on the internment of Japanese Americans after the United States declared war on Japan on December 7, 1941. Whereas Kishi Bashi’s “Omoiyari” virtually shouts at you about the injustices suffered by Japanese Americans during World War II “Nisei” lets you make your own conclusions in a subtle fashion. Both the films leave a bitter taste in your mouth. You can read my review of “Omoiyari” here https://setthebarlifestyle.wordpress.com/2023/09/22/rks-2023-film-a-song-film-by-kishi-bashi-omoiyari-american-concentration-camps-for-japanese-americans/

Nisei shows with two other shorts on 29November 2023 at the Crescent Theatre in Beverly Hills California. After the shorts are screened there will be a Q&A with filmmakers moderated by Renee Tajima-Peña.

“Nisei” was written and directed by Darren H. Rae.