RKS 2023 Film: “Your Fat Friend”: Just Say FAT!

You might be daring and say that at 350 lbs and wearing size 26 dresses 37-year-old American Aubrey Gordon is obese, chunky, husky, plump and a myriad of other names. You might find her a bit repulsive. You might lay out any number of judgements. You might even be derisive. And you might be taken back, very far back, when Gordon says your feelings are true and valid but please refrain from saying them to a fat person. You see Gordon, like Rodney Dangerfield and Aretha Franklin, is looking for RESPECT.

Gordon started an anonymous blog known as @yrfatfriend and it took off and then came her book and then a podcast. Yes, she is one of those “influencers” and in this documentary she recounts a slew of personal slights and filmmaker and director Jeanie Finlay brings in family and friends recounting the progression of Gordon from fat to obese. Whilst family and friends are supportive her mother and father seem to express remorse for their behaviours hence guilt over her obesity. What is particularly disturbing, but not unexpected, is the viciousness of her detractors on social media. Pure white-hot hatred. Yet on the other side of emotions many are delighted, if not liberated with her postings.

Fat people suffer discrimination in many settings. Gordon has been refused medical treatment because of her fatness. High anxiety greets her even thinking about taking an airplane as she must contort herself to squeeze into a seat.

Her amusing discussion on diet books, which she is an avid collector of, shows the inane world of diet books. Of course, most of us know that diets never work in the long run. What is disturbing is that Weight Watchers have rebranded themselves under the “wellness cloak” offering free teen membership despite that fact that statistics she has researched find female teens who have dieted are 18 more times likely to develop eating disorders.

A documentary worth your watching time as after all as Gordon points out 68% of women in the United States are wearing above size 14 dress size meaning fat ladies are in the majority.

Aubrey Gordon and legions of Americans are FAT. FAT may be the descriptor for the majority of Americans.

Is Gordon proud of being fat? I do not think so. I get the impression she is resigned to her wild and untamed body and is comfortable with it. She doesn’t want your admiration but would be satisfied with your respect and lack of hurtful comments.

What the documentary dodges is the overwhelming medical outcry over obesity in the United States and the health risks it poses. Not that we should all bow down to the medico elite but I would be interested if the doc had delved into this issue that obesity is not a “disease” (as labelled by the CDC) and not leading to a health crisis. Canadians have a socialized medical system funded by taxpayer dollars unlike the for profit American medical system. Obesity may be viewed somewhat differently in countries with socialized medicine where the entire population pays for its adverse consequences.

This 96-minute American-UK documentary has played recently at Tribeca and will be making its international travels so we all can view it.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 84/100.

RKS Literature: The Search For God

“The search for God: the longing of any hound for a master; give me a boss and I shall kneel at his enormous feet. All this is earthly, father, headmaster, rector, president of the board, tsar, God. Numbers, numbers-and one wants so much to find the biggest number, so that all the rest may mean something and climb somewhere. No, that way you end up in padded dead ends-and everything ceases to be interesting.”

Vladimir Nabokov, “The Gift”, 1962.

RKS 2023 Wine: Alentejo Love Affair with Alicante Bouschet: Alentejo Love Affair with Alicante Bouschet

Red wines from Portugal’s Alentejo are tied at the hip to the Alicante Bouschet grape known more for imparting colour to red wine than for its delectability. Whatever the reason as far as Alentejano blends if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

Here we have a Herdade do Rocim a Vinho Regional Alentejano being a blend of Touriga Nacional (40%), Aragonez (30%) and Alicante Bouschet (30%). Aged 6 months in 40% new French oak.

Aroma: Big time blackberry rules the roost but there is black cherry, cactus pear and fig.

Palate: Tannins imprisoned in the backroom here alongside any noticeable acidity. Blackberry takes centre stage as it did with the wine’s aroma but some blueberry pieish notes too. I make my own blackberry jam and think it is just fantastic in comparison to cherry/strawberry/raspberry/blueberry jams that I make. Moderately long finish.

Personality: How dare this Robert Stephen make any reference to jam as I am not jammy. He should be more careful to ever compare a wine from Alentejo to jam! I have lots of blackberry swirling about me. I am influenced by blackberry not taken over by it. Hmmmmph leave that corruption to certain Australian wines! Enough said.

Food match: As this wine is upset with me I should be careful but duck breast with some blackberry jam reduction sauce….reduced with both Port and this wine.

Cellarbility: This will sail into 2027 but will not noticeably improve with age.

Price: $18.95 (Ontario).

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 89/100. Mark Squires robertparker.com 89.

(Herdade do Rocim 2021, Vinho Tinto, Vinho Regional Alentejano, Rocim Lda, Leiria, Portugal, 750 mL, 14.5%, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 423574).

RKS 2023 Wine: A Douro White: Três Bagos

We see very little white wine from Portugal’s Douro region here in Toronto. Red is king there but it is not a quality issue. Could it be “the curse of the high reputational wine”. As far as table wines go the Douro produces the highest quality reds so has that frightened off wine drinkers from savoring Douro whites?

This Três Bagos has the usual suspects for Douro whites namely Viosinho, Gouveio and Rabigato. It is a product of stainless-steel vats and new French oak barrels.

Aroma: Apricots, pear, muskmelon, mango, pistachio halva and guava.

Palate: Mango and peach in a gentle, soft and luscious format. A neat little Algarvian orange hook in the medium length finish. Versatile for both sipping and food accompaniment.

Personality: I have some nice fruit and because the descriptor above indicates mango and peach I am certainly no Gewurztraminer but I am not one of those perhaps overly acidic Vinho Verde whites.

Food Pairing: Salt baked wild sea bass.

Cellarbility: Drink before 2025.

Price: $22.95 (Ontario).

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 90/100. Jamessuckling.com 92.

(Três Bagos Reserva Douro Branco 2021, DOC Douro, Lavradores de Fietoria, Sabrosa, Portugal, 750 mL, 12.5%, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 31185).

RKS Poetry: Toronto Hijacked Yet Again But Don’t You Dare Criticize!

Toronto Hijacked Yet Again But Don’t You Dare Criticize!

Bike lane tyranny where the miniscule lord over the many
and unlike the Lord brazenly give fingers to motorists while breaking all laws known to cycling
Charity runs down main streets
Charity walks all over the place
Charity hiking down expressways
Charity biking
Street festivals

Global inclusion touted by exclusionists in power rammed down the throats of the population
propitious Rainbow flags for a marketing month (not much sincerity in marketing) championed by this and that bank and
how did a day mushroom into a month?

So all you happy unthinking spouters
why can’t my group “Torontonians Sickened By Hot Dog Cart Foods”
get a permit for a march down Hospital Row to thank our brave frontline stomach pump operator heroes?
So what if all 46 of us don’t have the right to paralyze a city like all the others
a global inclusion pity!
Making me feel shitty

Robert K. Stephen

RKS Literature: Politics; The Unpaid and Paid Windbags

“Like many unpaid windbags he thought that he could combine the reports he read in the papers by paid windbags into an orderly scheme, upon following which a logical and sober mind (in this case his mind) could with no effort explain and foresee a multitude of world events. The names of countries and their leading representatives became in his hands something in the nature of labels for more or less full but essentially identical vessels, whose contents he poured this way and that.”

Vladimir Nabokov, “The Gift”, 1962.

RKS 2023 Film: “Here is Better”: Leaving That Box of Horror in the Desert

Yes, haven’t we all witnessed the carnage of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) particularly amongst veterans? Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Korea, France et al. Often it is the violent incidents associated with PTSD we encounter in the media. But there is also a quiet form of suffering without any violence except for violence against the soul of PTSD victims.

Thirteen million Americans are suffering from PTSD. Some 20 veterans a day are committing suicide suffering from PTSD. And Canadian vets as well are suffering after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. These PTSD victims may kill their entire family and then turn the gun on themselves. In Canada more vets have committed suicide than died in Afghanistan.

“Here is Better” tracks four United States military vets that had served in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. An intelligence officer sent on dangerous missions in Iraq without backup facing death at any moment. A U.S. Marine raped by men in her unit. A U.S. army driver seeing her husband blown up in Iraq. A Vietnam door gunner with a 1969-1970 tour of duty in Vietnam. PTSD can affect many suffering from trauma but American vets are three times more likely to suffer from PTSD than civilians. And it is not only direct combat that spawns PTSD as it can be the stress of operating as a soldier that is enough to trigger PTSD.

“Trigger” is a key word. A sound. A voice. A memory. They all may be harbingers of a PTSD reaction. It may affect all ranks of soldiers and manifest itself in such reactions as hyper alertness, fear, rage, isolation, terror, depression, violence and panic.

My father was a Royal Airforce flyer in the Battle of Britain. I recall on a rare occasion he’d take out his photo album full of photos with his squadron. Most of his friends were killed in action. His best friend who I was privileged to call “uncle” survived. My real uncle was shot down flying a mission over France at 22. Yet in those days it was be a man and suck it up.

Vietnam vets have fought tirelessly to recognize PTSD as a war injury. There are now therapies used with some degree of success which are described in the film. Eye Movement Desensitization, Cognitive Processing Therapy, Prolonged Exposure Therapy and Eastern spiritual exercises. The Cincinnati VA Trauma Recovery Centre offers a 7-week residential programme to deal with PTSD and has a 70% success rate meaning those in the 70% are no longer considered to be suffering from PTSD.

Best you listen to the horror stories of these four vets to understand the triggering events of PTSD and how each managed to climb out of the hell hole perhaps not to be cured but how to manage PTSD so it no longer has a suffocating grip on them.

As Dr. Kathleen Chard of the Cincinnati VA Trauma Recovery Centre states, “I don’t want to take away the memory but remove the control that memory has over you.”

Combat not only kills it destroys minds. PTSD is a disease that is finally getting the attention it deserves after hundreds of years of taking its toll.

Here and now is certainly superior to then and there and the tortured past.

Limited theatrical release on 23June2023 in the United States with a 27June2023 VOD release in North America.

You can watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmfAoB6TYMo

 Directed by Jack Youngelson.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 90/100.

RKS 2023 Wine: A Bordeaux That Tastes Like Rusty Nails? Mon Dieu!

The 27May2023 Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) Vintages Release catalogue has a snippet of a jamessuckling.com review for a Château Clou du Pin 2020 stating, “There is a rusty note in the finish that reminds you of rusty nails.” Indeed a most interesting descriptor! Yet “clou” in French means “nail” and thank goodness not a fingernail!

Aroma: There is no mistaking the Merlot in this 100% Merlot! Leaving aside this highly brilliant observation it is an aroma of controlled lushness. Loads of black plum, black cherry and blackberry.

Palate: Drum roll please as we await that rusty nail taste! Big tannins hold back the fruit but give it some Rodney Dangerfield respect. There is a bit of licorice and pepper on the finish along with homemade cherry jam but damn if I can find any rusty nails.

Cellarbility: I think this needs some decanting unless you have the patience to hold for 3-5 years.

Food Match: Grilled beef tenderloin or an Eggplant Parmesan made with field eggplant and tomatoes. Can’t wait for eggplants in August here in Ontario! Food a must for this wine.

Personality: I resent being nailed down by some wine writer stating I taste like nails. Probably some AI plot against me. I am a bit tough and chewy which a bit of aeration or ageing might help but being not a vampire no nail through my heart please.

Price: $18.95 (Ontario).

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 88/100. Jamessuckling.com 89.

(Château Clou du Pin 2020, AC Bordeaux Supérieur, Domaines Fontana, Gensac, France, 750 mL, 15%, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 28727.)

RKS 2023 Film: “Tramps”: A Riotous Explosion of Music, Art, Dance, Fashion and Early Drag of the New Romantics

So what is a tramp? A hobo meandering along with his belongings in a kerchief on a pole tramping along aimlessly. Or it could mean a “trashy” and promiscuous person. In the Canadian documentary “Tramps” the New Romantic culture is explored from creation to death and it has elements of both views of what a tramp is.

New Romanticism is a London based movement running from the early 1970’s and fizzling out in the early 90’s. Mostly disaffected youth not sharing their parent’s dreams of respectability and “success”. With little money but with much creativity you might wish to say they established a movement of punk music, new art, creative dance, film and fashion, heavily costumed and made-up personages living in squats and hanging out in clubs like The Roxy Club, The Cha Cha Club, Taboo Club and The Blitz.

The punk movement perhaps was one of the catalysts but as one commentator noted punk become clonal lacking creativity. If there is one definitive marker of the New Romantics it was “creative dressing and makeup” that formed the essence of the movement.

A key component of the New Romantics were queers. Much of the New Romantic fashion by today’s terms could be called drag. It was drugs and AIDS that decimated many of the New Romantics in the early 1990’s and weakened it. It was also the lure of fame and fortune and interestingly, high student debt levels that killed the New Romantic movement.

Although urban anthropologists may revel in the film many will be riveted to the screen by an explosion of costumes, make up, art, bizarre artistic productions and music commented upon by the now mature elements of the New Romantic movement. When and if you watch it just consider the cultural influence of the New Romantics.

On June 22, 2023 “Tramps” will have a special Pride screening in Toronto at the Ted Rogers Hot Docs Cinema followed by a panel discussion. Expect a July theatrical release.

Directed by Kevin Hegge. You can watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M594Ucn2pY8

RKS 2023 Film Rating 91/100.

RKS 2023 Wine: Paringa Estate 2019 Mornington Peninsula Shiraz: An Affordable Côtes-Rôtie?

When I saw the Paringa Estate 2019 Mornington Peninsula Shiraz having just under 5% Viognier added to it I thought perhaps it might be somewhat similar to a Côte-Rôtie of the Northern Rhône in France where Viognier is added to the Shiraz in very small quantities. Côte-Rôtie is very dear in price. I have two 2005’s which on release years ago were $60. Now? I’ll go with a more economical $32 Paringa on sale down from $37.

The Viognier was co-fermented with the Shiraz and aged for 11 months in seasoned French oak.

Aroma: Plum, blackberry, raspberry and black earth. As for Australian Shiraz in a class above most others. Happily, there is a latent raging acidity that is barricaded from asserting itself as if by magic. The only thing to send it spilling into the wine would be a direct hit from a Russian…..ooops Iranian supplied drone.

Palate: Smooth and rich with creeping tannins. A tad of white pepper. Plum, blackberry, raspberries on steroids like an East German (DDR) swimmer all with a long finish. The acids on the palate are even better hidden than on the nose.

Personality: I am what you might call a cool climate Shiraz with more in common with a Western Australian Margaret River Shiraz than those boastful big ass Southern Australian Shiraz’s. No insult intended. Up to you to determine if I am better but as we Aussie mates must stick together like our “stickie” brethren just say I am different.

Food Match: Served slightly chilled with Mushroom or Chicken Adobo. Best consumed with food.

Cellarbility: Will sail into 2027.

Price: $32 as a clearance price (Ontario).

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 92/100. Jane Faulkner 95/100.

(Paringa Estate 2019 Peninsula Shiraz, Mornington Peninsula, New South Wales, Australia, Paringa Estate Winery, 750 mL, 13.5%, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 10581).