It is a deep-lying patriarchal instinct in the dog that leads him-at least in the more manly, outdoor breeds-to recognize and honour in the man of then house and the head of the family his absolute master and overlord, protector of the hearth: and to find in relation of vassalage to him the basis and value of his whole existence, whereas his attitude toward the rest of the family is much more independent.”
Thomas Mann, “A Man and His Dog”, 1918.
“He knows that history professors do not love history because it is something that comes to pass, but only because it is something that has come to pass: that they hate a revolution like the present one because they feel it lawless, incoherent, irrelevant- in a word unhistoric: that their hearts belong to the coherent, disciplined historic past.”
Thomas Mann: “Disorder and Early Sorrow”, 1925.
“For a human being tends to believe that the mood of the moment, be it troubled or blithe, peaceful or stormy, is the true, native, and permanent tenor of his existence: and in particular he likes to exalt every happy chance into an inviolable rule and to regard it as the benign order of his life-whereas the truth is he is condemned to improvisation and morally lives from hand to mouth all the time.”
Thomas Mann, “A Man and His Dog”, 1918.
We move to a Chilensis 2017 Signature Series Pinot Noir from Chile’s Casablanca Valley. The Casablanca Valley is Chile’s premier cool climate wine region with its gentle Pacific Ocean breezes, early morning fog and old granitic soils that create a rich tapestry of terroirs and make it one of Chile’s top white wine producers. So how does Pinot Noir fare?
Aroma: A classic Pinot Noir bouquet with plenty of raspberries and strawberries with a dusting of milk chocolate.
Palate: While not delicate it is not gruff and aggressive as some Chilean Pinot Noirs can be. Why not say it is medium bodied? It lacks definition on the palate. While enticing aromas rule the glass on the nose here on the palate where has the fruit disappeared to? A bizarre combination of preserved cherries, rutabaga and gravel.
Personality: I am not pleased with RKS 2023 Wines’ review so far. So what if I lack oodles of fruit on the palate. A politer statement might be I am a lean Pinot Noir! Get this Canadian to Chile and we will show our Casablanca brilliance.
Food match: A classic “Friday night wine”. You know what I mean by that right?! Pizza, burgers or leftover pasta. Wink. Wink.
Cellarbility: No point in that. Drink by the end of 2023.
Price: $19.95 (Ontario).
RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 86/100. Jamessuckling.com 91.
(Chilensis Signature Series Pinot Noir 2017, Casablanca Valley, Via Wines, San Rafael, Chile, 750 mL, 15%, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 28591).
Did Someone Allegedly Get Regrettably Horny with Stormy?
Someone I know well once said that all men think with their dick
What a sexist prick!
Like Adam and Eve those private parts must be covered up
or better said “settled” to supress the muck
Politicians in particular must be careful with the dalliances they pick
as getting horny with Stormy they might be burning candles at both ends of the wick
It is bad enough this January 6th insurrection
but an alleged fling and allegedly improper papering is a bad for the political complexion
and a grand danger for re-election
unless of course it is all a socialist Vermonter’s plot
fuelled by CNN rot
everything ruined by a bloody erection it would seem
Robert K. Stephen
We move to another Chilean red wine a Rucahue Gran Reserva Cool Climate Cabernet Sauvignon from the Maule Valley in Chile.
The Maule Valley is Chile’s largest viticultural region which is one of the most geographically and climatically diverse encompassing the Andes to the east, the sunny plains through the central corridor and the rolling coastal hills to the west, which makes it possible for both red and white varieties to thrive. Unlike many other Chilean growing regions, the Maule Valley does not have maritime influences yet it maintains a favourable diurnal temperature differential.
Aroma: Some very rich blueberry and black cherry if you put your nose to it. Minimal streaks of raspberry floating around.
Palate: Tannins leaning toward the heavy side. More blueberry and black cherry but firmly knit and not flashing their stuff. Do you call that cloistered or discreet? I detect some struggle between the oak and the fruit. The oak strikes me as a bit raw. Not really an ideal sipping wine. Best off with food.
Cellarbility: Will handle well into 2025 but a difficult call to determine if it will improve. I find the oak a bit raw and not well integrated into the wine but that may just a matter of time.
Personality: I am super confident you will like me. This writer thinks I may be a gimped up by my oak and suggests I may integrate a bit better with my fruit in just a few more months. He is a brilliant guy. I agree completely!
Food Match: Grilled flank with chimichurri sauce with a red onion salad on the side.
Price: $24.95 (Ontario).
RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 87/100. Patricio Tapia 93.
(Rucahue Gran Reserva 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon, Maule Valley, Rucahue , San Javier, Chile, 750 mL, 14%, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 27212).
“My father, you know, had the temperament of the north; solid, reflective, puritanically correct, with a tendency to melancholia. My mother, of indeterminate foreign blood, was beautiful, sensuous, naïve, passionate, and careless at once, and, I think, irregular by instinct. The mixture was no doubt extraordinary and bore with it extraordinary dangers. The issue of it, a bourgeois who strayed off into art, a bohemian who feels nostalgic yearnings for respectability, an artist with a bad conscience. For surely it is my bourgeois conscience makes me see in the artist life, in all irregularity and genius, something profoundly suspect, profoundly disreputable: that fills me with this lovelorn faiblesse for the simple and the good, the comfortably normal, the average unendowed respectable human being.”
Thomas Mann, “Tonio Kröger”, 1903
This is an organic wine. It is from the Itata Valley which is Chile’s oldest viticultural region producing wine for over 450 years and Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon are leading the new wave charge.
Aroma: Big pulses of blueberry with lesser notes of raspberry with Obidos Licor Ginja (sour cherry liqueur from Obidos in Portugal).
Palate: Moderate tannins in this full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon. Blueberry rules both as fruit and also as blueberry pie! A grippy bit of milk chocolate coats the cheeks. The finish may not be long but it is super clean somewhat of a hallmark for any organic wine.
Personality: Hey man I am organic man! Clean living, healthy food and I meditate. I am far from a west coaster Lilliputian! I am a serious hipster.
Food match: While I go with beef, lamb and rich pasta sauces I can say avoid me with Parmesan cheese.
Cellarbility: Drinkable now. Hold until 2025.
Price: $17.
RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 92/100.
(Miguel Torres Andica Gran Reserva 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon, Vale Del Itata, Miguel Torres, Curicó, Chile, 750 mL, 13.5%, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 25933).
“And after all, what kind could be truer to the spirit of the times? Gustave Aschenbach was the poet-spokesman of all those who labour at the edge of exhaustion; of the overburdened, of those who are already worn out but still hold themselves upright; of all our modern moralizers of accomplishment, with stunted growth and scanty resources, who yet contrive by skilful husbanding and prodigious spasms of will to produce, at least for awhile, the effect of greatness. There are many such, they are the heroes of the age.”
Thomas Mann, “Death in Venice”, 1911.
As a reviewer of films prior to taking up this all-consuming habit I often laughed years ago with a review or two of a film that trumpeted, “You’ll Stand Up and Cheer!”. I laugh no more as with this documentary I found myself standing up and cheering not physically but mentally. Why?
Firstly, as a reviewer of documentary films I have watched a plethora of documentaries on the exploitation and decimation of aboriginal populations in Brazil, the Philippines, Peru, Canada etc. It is a never-ending sorrow story. Drug addiction, substandard living conditions, disappearing habitats and on and on. Stereotyping of misery?
You will not find that dead head force in this documentary. A rare positive glimpse of aboriginal culture in Canada. It is so exciting, fulfilling , inspirational and it just lifts you above the stereotype of misery. In fact it is so good you may stand up physically or mentally and cheer at various points in the documentary. It may even cause an eruption of goosebumps!
Logan Red Crow is an Albertan Cree teenager who races horses bareback in relay teams. She has a supportive rancher family. A nervous father, a mother who puts her trust “above” and trainer brothers. These relay races are dangerous and you will see a few nasty spills. Logan Red Crow’s father has two relatives injured by horses. One is in a wheelchair and the other bedridden. Logan Red Crow loves and trusts her horses and there is mutual respect and understanding between horse and human!
Logan Red Crow just keeps improving until she reaches the world’s best “Indian” horse racing in the annual Casper Wyoming “Indian” horse race. Irrespective of the final result stand up and cheer for Logan Red Crow and the producers of this documentary.
A right on soundtrack that veers away from the maudlin and sappy. And well the cinematography is spectacular.
An entirely welcome take on aboriginal life in Canada. While we must not ignore the tragedies in aboriginal Canada surely we are entitled to cheer positivity. I am.
Directed by Banchi Hanuse.
It won the prestigious Big Sky Award at the 2023 Big Sky Documentary Festival in Montana.
This will play at the Toronto Hot Docs Festival on April 29th and May 3 and then will stream 5-9May.
RKS 2023 Film Rating 94/100.
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