RKS Film: “All Must Die”: Norwegian Bachelorette Party Slasher Film

Gina (Viktoria Winge) is getting married to Even and there is a bachelorette party planned by her girlfriends in a remote cabin in the Norwegian woods. And it will have a horror theme.

Yes the girls are having a grand time boozing it up and joking as they head off in a van to the cabin. Then as evening sets in the horror games begin as Gina has to follow clues and riddles in a sort of horror treasure hunt. Gina discovers very horrific scenes in this little game. She is very uneasy and seemingly edging toward a terrorized state. But is it a game or something more?

Something has gone terribly wrong as in this “game” dead bodies start adding up. And close to the end of the film, the clever person you are, you’ve picked up on clues that started right in the opening scene and are developed throughout the movie! It may very well be that you are being misled!

I must be careful not to spoil a horror movie particularly when it is a bachelorette slasher film. But I took the bait and just got everything wrong. Now if I had paid very close attention to the opening scene of the argument between Gina and her fiancée Even I would have had the answer. Enough said other than only at the conclusion of the film will you home in on the significance of that opening scene!

Spooky with a devilish twist! Remember gal pal Stine has been committed in the past but someone else too!  Like a film with an unexpected twist this one is for you. Lots of blood and guts flying around. I say the biggest chill is at the closing scene of the film when a voice says, “You can start over again and this time it will be perfect”.

You’ll love the soundtrack.

RKS Film Rating 86/100.

You can see the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-BDtGEIvUc

This 2019 film will arrive digitally on August 2 including iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Xbox and Vudu. It was directed by Geir Greni.

RKS Wine: A Clownish Wine: No Disrespect Meant!

I see a wine with a “Fitou” appellation please forgive me but I think of a clown. I am not sure why? Perhaps it is my Montreal background where I recall a Quebecois clown Bobino that had a popular television show years ago. But Fitou has no similarity to “Bobino”. Should I report this to a neurologist as a reportable event?

While I ruminate over my mental state perhaps a focus on the wine that prompts the bizarre analogy should be tried. It is a blend of Grenache and Carignan. The Carignan was fermented separately via carbonic maceration and then blended with the Grenache and aged for one year in oak.

On the nose a juicy explosion of blackberry and black cherry embraced in a root beer and cactus pear perimeter. On the palate again blackberry rules the roost and not the “chickens have come home to roost” comment made by Malcom X after the assassination of President Kennedy.

Not a wine to titillate about but a hard worker that would be a great bistro wine with steak and frites or with a Bucky Burger at Deux Amis in New York City at 356 East 51st where you will encounter more locals than tourists from Idaho.

The wine is no clown but neither is it royalty. Given economic conditions these days I think I might feel more comfortable with a bistro winner than with a G 7 reception wine.

(Gérard Bertrand AN 990 2019 Fitou Grenache/Carignan, AOP Fitou, Gérard Bertrand, Narbonne, France, Liquor Control Board Of Ontario # 403683,$17.95, 750 mL, 14.5%, RKS Wine Rating 88/100).

RKS Wine: Quinta do Bom Retiro in The Douro: Bright Eyed and Bushy Tailed!

If my memory serves me correct I flew to Porto from Toronto in November 2014 on my very first European media tour. I was travelling with B a writer freelancing for a major Canadian newspaper. From the airport we were picked by our driver Mr. Antonio and guide L from the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto and off to the Douro to Quinta do Bom Retiro a Ramos Pinto estate. Never having been on such a trip I wondered what I was doing in Portugal! I suppose I had to fly by the seat of my pants for 5 jam packed days of predominately Port tastings. Now that I had perhaps 3 glasses of Port in my life you may say the stress and uncertainty was high. I wrote 12 articles on that trip. A winery shows me hospitality it is my obligation to repay it.

Our first stop if I recall was Quinta do Bom Retiro. Quinta is Portuguese for farm but most of the Quintas I have visited are more akin to a Chateau. The road to the Quinta off the main road was narrow and a mistake would send you plunging to your death. I recall there was a large group welcoming two Canadian journalists. We had a splendid dinner and Ports and table wines were awaiting us. I did my best to avoid my exhausted head from plopping into the fine cut of ox on my plate and at 9 p.m. I begged off and had a tremendous sleep as becomes one who hasn’t slept in countless hours.

From a Newbie to a knight in the Order of Port Brotherhood!

Bottom line is that I have a soft spot in my heart for Ramos Pinto! So I see a Ramos Pinto wine “Duas Quintas” a happy light went on in my brain of days past.

The nose is crammed with a solid arsenal of black fruit particularly black cherry and blackberry. One immediately gets the impression this is a wine that takes no prisoners. Tannins are moderate and broad based. There is a bit of a chalky overtone with a bit of hot spice lingering in its finish. Again a cascade of black fruit. A strong willed and impetuous wine that is neither elegant or delicate but it is no monster. It certainly would suit a nice, rare slab of ox or Euro beef. A classic Douro wine that could use until 2024 to be a real cutie and ready to wink at you!

A blend of Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca.

(Duas Quintas 2018 Ramos Pinto, Vinho Tinto, DOC Douro, Ramos Pinto, Villa Nova de Gaia, Portugal, $19.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 359893, 750 mL, 14%, RKS Wine Rating 91/100).

“Virus # 26″ Director’s Cut: Chapter 13:”Lessons Learnt from the COVIDs: the Politicos”

The politicos at first glance seemed to be managing the COVID outbreak. Sadly the inability of the medical systems to handle the initial wave was a result of continual cuts made to the medical systems by the politicos. That meant less PPE and less front-line medical workers, no vaccine or anti virals and in effect deregulation of long-term care homes. Some politicians accepted the blame while others like former President Donald J. Trump who so tragically bumbled COVID management created a whole host of diversionary tactics to shift the blame or change the topic of COVID ineptitude on American’s minds. But during the second wave of COVID-19 in 2021 he was no more as he met his deserved electoral fate in the 2020 Presidential election leading to the victory of “Sleepy Joe” Biden chattering afterwards like a monkey about “election steals”. He also met a nastier defeat which we will talk about shortly.

By the time COVID Plus petered out in 2027 just about any political leader in power at the outset of COVID-19 in 2019 was either defeated in election, removed by coup or subjected to an assassination attempt.

So there you have it the blame game is easy to play in retrospect and I place it on the politicos for a variety of reasons the primary being lack of proper funding, the deregulation of long term care facilities, ignoring the severity of COVID calling it a nasty flu and in many countries the lack of socialized medicine making the lower groups in the socio-economic scale easy targets for the virus.

But I am not sure how apportioning the political blame will help deal with the next virus. I’d rather add up our collective lessons and learn from them.

Whether a democracy or authoritarian government most of them played it the same way with some willing to accept more risk than the others. A politician exists to see another electoral win. When matters go askew a politician looks for a third party to blame. The medicos were used as a human shield to deflect electoral anger i.e. we were just relying on advice from our medical team!

“Travels to a Different Time “: : 2August2000: Samos, Greece: Bickering, Pale Chicken and Semi Raw Potatoes: Taxi Driver with Bum Ticker

At this small hotel there are often bursts of bickering. It started off in the morning very loud and heated. Over what the bickering is in honour of no idea. I have a limited Greek vocabulary. After breakfast off to the archeological museum in Vathi. Very small but some marble statues from 300-600 BC from the Ireon archeological site. Samos in those days was a recognized power trading in Egypt and Cyprus so there are many artifacts from these cultures in the museum. Interesting but after visiting Ephesus certainly not an overwhelming experience. For lunch a tiropita (cheese pie) and an orange juice followed by a coffee in the main square. Back to hotel for a brief siesta and more bickering over some pale looking chicken and not fully roasted potatoes. I understand “kota” is chicken and “patates” as potatoes. The argument was about the food not being cooked sufficiently. The chef was gesticulating wildly. Up at 16:00 in the blazing heat needing a Greek coffee to rejoin the world. At 17:00 off up the hills with a taxi driver with a bum ticker. Going to the monastery at Flammarion and the roads are treacherous. His ticker goes it would be a fatal trip over the edge! What a view of island and Turkey across the way. The monastery was austere and located in a pine forest. I managed to walk straight into a wall luckily only dazed with no cuts. We met a 75-year-old woman who for some tragic reason had been living in the monastery since she was 14.  As the taxi driver had a passenger to back down to Vathi in half an hour invited for a coffee and cookies at his home. The town is small and olive groves abound. No stores in sight. The passenger we picked up was Australian and what a ride down with spectacular views. Dinner was a souvlaki of top quality. I love it when they stuff the fries in the souvlaki. A small bottle of wine with a cap. Looks almost like an old beer bottle. Poor quality but cheaper than Coca-Cola.

“Virus # 26” : Director’s Cut: , “Lessons Learnt From the COVIDs: The Cult of the Front-Line Worker”

There are the medical professionals and politicians who form the top of the pyramid in the COVID narrative but there are also grocers, gas station attendants, bus and taxi drivers and a whole host of people in “essential businesses” that remained open throughout the COVIDs.

Hey I was one of those front-line workers as a cardiologist at a major Toronto hospital so I am the last one to express an uncaring thought or word about front-line workers. Indeed I’ll even go along with the politico propaganda campaign that called them heroes because given the poor planning and hospital cuts of the politicos for most countries in the world that had a decent healthcare system there simply were not enough front-line workers, a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and anti-virals to fight the battle. Budget cuts or “rationalizations” if you prefer.

However these medical front-line workers were manufactured into a cult by the media and the propaganda. Again back to my travels in the 1970s in the Iron Curtain countries where socialist realism art played a predominant role in the “education” of the proletariat. Brave factory workers with the hammer and sickle flag in one hand and a hammer in the other striving to meet the objectives of the Central Committee’s 10-year plan.

The media had a field day showcasing the brave front-line medical workers with sappy music and dialogue and special 3-minute specials like “Our Heroes”. I can tell you we were all simply doing our job under difficult conditions and for the non-physicians for substandard pay, no life insurance or short- or long-term disability plans. Although many jurisdictions did come through with some increases for medical staff battling the COVIDs. What good is a few extra dollars for your family when you die when you have no life insurance or are disabled without disability plans?

My thoughts on this were that the front-line workers were used as a propaganda tool for morale purposes for the politicos and for touching and emotional stories by the media. And as people are amoebas, they lapped it up.

What was disturbing was the militarism developing in terms of the vocabulary used for COVID such as “battle”, “war”, “skirmish” “front-line” and like the Americans in Vietnam we had daily kill and wounded counts. And then the inane flights of the American Blue Angels and Canadian snowbirds to “boost the morale” of the population or should we say troops. Speaking of war where were the budget cutting politico traitors? Some countries might call the politicos who had whistle-blowers and critics of government management of COVID disappear or fall out of windows murderers.

Don’t get me wrong front line workers are heroes as anyone with a brain realizes that. What bothered many of us these heroes were an agent of political control and shamefully used as propaganda.

Photo Robert Tuomi

RKS Wine: Wineflation: Los Clop Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon: Management Discussion with Analysts

Many wine aficionados literally run to the LCBO for highly rated wine. It is a game to snatch a winner before others beat you to it. In this case it is a Los Clop Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 from Argentina rated a 97 by Decanter Magazine. When I see a score like this I think sometimes a reality check is required. Is there wineflation involved? What do market analysts think of the wine?

Analysts Tracking Development of Los Clop Wine in Burlington Vermont Stock Exchange

We are off to perhaps 52 week high with a nose redolent with blueberry, blackberry, cassis all tinged by smoke and dark chocolate. The market analysts from Aromatic Capital forecast a beat the street for the next quarter! The economists from Palate Infrastructure International cite the well integrated structure of the wine with acids and tannins in glorious harmony noting that investors should focus on the fulsome body of the wine noting that investors in a 3–4-year investment time horizons will see a decent return on their capital. Notes to their report state management of Bodega Clop have structured the operations of the wine so that currently its fruit is still deeply embedded in the wine and with favourable cellaring conditions management projects full development of the wine by 2025. The Albanian State Pension Board in a recent earnings call with Bodega Clop queried why management is insisting the wine be chilled slightly. Clop’s chief export officer said this is nothing the analysts should be concerned with as the practice of serving red wines slightly chilled reflects consistent practice among savvy wine consumers. Failure to chill red wines particularly in the summer months will lead to a flabby and sloppy impression!

RKS Wine agrees with the direction Bodega Clop is taking with the Cabernet Sauvignon and advises buy a few NOW to last over the next few years as market timers rarely prosper. Forget dollar cost averaging with this wine as given its quality it may be sold out quickly meaning in a few weeks it may unavailable and my contacts at Bodega Clop indicate inventory is very low.

Baloney Investment Management located in Jerks and Caicos Islands noted the subtle elegance of the wine.

In the recent earnings call with Bodega Clop Ravage and Savage Portfolio Managers asked the chief Foodie Officer of Bodega Juan Pepita what food the wine suit as their investors would were demanding an answer. Pepita states beef and more beef or wild boar stew! Pepita said for Omega concerns the beef should be grass fed.

Tony Bogart of Laramie Manufacturing informed RKS Wine that purchasers of the Laramie Plastics luxury Garden Set would receive a free case of the wine with purchases over $2000 USD disclosing this in its annual SEC filings.

(Los Clop Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2015, Paraje De Altamira, Vale de Uco, Bodega Clop, Mendoza, Argentina, $21.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 668327, 750 mL, 14%, RKS Wine Rating 93/100).

Wine drinkers are advised to consult their investment advisors. RKS Wine takes no responsibility for unsatisfied purchasers and by reading this posting you are deemed to forgo any legal action against RKS Wine. CAVEAT EMPTOR!

“Travels to a Different Time” : 1August2000; Samos, Greece: Salivating Dog Wants My Jugular; The Impeccable Logic of Greek Coffee

After breakfast down the hill to Vathi to pick up a ticket on Olympic Airways to Athens. I sometimes go down a dirt path as a shortcut but there is a vicious dog that would like to sink his teeth in my neck and rip it out. Thank goodness the brute is chained but I wonder if he ever escaped they would have to return me to Canada in a pine box. Purchased the ticket. Wandered over to the main church and a great selection of icons. Had a coffee at a Starbucks looking place and it was a top-rated latte! They also have an imitation McDonalds here in Vathi. No thanks. Greeks are huge coffee drinkers. Traditional Greek coffee time seems to be at 16:00 after an afternoon nap. Impeccable logic to deal with post nap grogginess. Morning day and night. Café frappé is very big in Greece and understandable considering the heat. Unfortunately someone had stepped in horse manure so there was more than coffee aromas in the café!  Salad and fish for lunch and off to Kedro beach and this time big waves with some 20 people at the beach including a large contingent of topless German women who somewhat scandalize the locals.

“Travels to a Different Time” : 31July2000: Samos Greece, Ephesus, Turkey: Off to the Ancient Greek Ruins: Turkish Merchant Harassment  

Out the door at 06:15 to the port to catch the boat to Ephesus or rather to Kusadesi in Turkey then a bus to Ephesus a la tour! Breezed through passport control and aboard a small excursion ship at 08:45 to Kusadesi. An hour into the journey on calm waters and one could see the Turkish coast which like Samos is mountainous and enveloped in a haze of heat. Kusadesi was set amongst lush vegetation and after 30 years I am back in Turkey. Through Turkish customs and they are happy to relieve you of an entry tax and most disgustingly of all our passports! Why on earth. Massive anxiety with a passport out of my hands. I have guarded it steadfastly on all my travels including sleeping with it and showering with it. Off on an air-conditioned bus hugging the coast up in the hills. There are several tourist resorts on the coast and the beaches looked very enticing but not as stunning as Greek beaches. After 30 minutes we reached the destination and had a Turkish female tour guide. There were many buildings so I will not describe them all. The lavratorium was the communal WC for the upper classes. A long stone bench with holes cut in it. No privacy but it did the” job”. In the colder months slaves used to warm the stone so their master’s butts would not be chilled. The library of Celsius and the theatre were impressive. Ephesus was Greek, then Roman then Ottoman. It was a two-hour tour and we headed out on the bus for our Turkish buffet lunch. Cafeteria style packed with tourist buses. The food was quite good and very similar in many ways to Greek food. And those fabulous Turkish peaches I have not had in 30 years. Worth the wait! Herded back on the bus to an “artisanal Turkish handicraft” site. Yes a bloody Turkish carpet factory. All had Turkish apple tea and a talk on carpet weaving. Interesting but then a swarm of salesman descended on the unsuspecting gringos. Turkish bazaar style pressure to buy buy buy! We had a couple of hours on our own in Kusadesi after that fiasco. Hit the bazaar where the carpet salesman were replaced by a horde of merchants coaxing, wheedling and lying to get you into their shop. Ah you are Canadian I have a brother in Vancouver! Best deals ever! Memories of hawkers on the beaches of the Dominican Republic. Any interest in their goods and they’ll pounce on you like a vampire. If you walk away they pretend to be insulted. This is not charming. It is a Turkish con and annoying and crude. The bazaar was narrow and winding and counterfeit goods abounded. Lacoste rip-offs were abundant. A pleasure to escape Turkish harassment and board the boat for the return trip to Samos. A rough trip back with large swells causing vomit outbreaks. Man there were people puking in shopping bags. I have been on the water since before I could walk so no problem for me. Managed to have a great fish dinner in Samos and as the heat cooked me to a frazzle out like a light at 10! A few dreams of pleading Turkish merchants grabbing my arm saying how much they loved Canadians. After all there must be hundreds if not thousands of their brothers in Canada!

“Virus # 26” Director’s Cut: Chapter 11: “Lessons Learnt from COVIDs: The Failure of Social Distancing”

During the COVID-19 waves there was a politico-medico obsession with social distancing to the extent failure to adhere to it could result in warnings from COVID-19 “police forces”, fines, imprisonment and of course the dressing down given by “outraged” municipal, state, provincial and federal governments. These dressing down tantrums were as tedious as the propaganda supporting social distancing. Mayor John Tory of Toronto was on the public stage and seemed to revel in indignation to the point of absurd comedy. Premier Ford of Ontario looked like the big bad wolf ready to huff and puff and blow the house down i.e. close down the economy again.

There is a bit of contradiction in the term “social distancing” in that yes it enabled crippled hospital systems ravaged by the financial cuts imposed upon them by the politicos to barely hold on and treat the infected and that fitted the political agenda which almost always was short term. The contradiction is that social distancing protected many from immediate infection but made them easy targets for subsequent waves particularly after economies began reopening. Once reopening occurred any pull back would not be tolerated by populations ravaged by unemployment and its consequent suicides, depression and anxiety. So it was short term pain for even longer term pain. Social distancing ruined millions financially as well as psychologically. It also bankrupted governments.

It introduced a stubborn and pervasive nasty streak in both politics and social life. Demonstrations became violent and food lines were a breeding ground for extremism which we will deal with later. Although we have no data backing this up the thought by many of us physicians in 2030 was that had there been no social distancing herd immunity, as ugly as it would be to develop, would have reduced the decimation caused by social distancing.

Lastly we must ask why was social distancing so widely accepted during the early COVID–19 days? Aside from the long arm of a pathetically small group of COVID police it was fear that kept many in a state of what seemed to be eternal lockdown. And the fear was fuelled by governmental propaganda, people’s ignorance and the never-ending media stories about doom and gloom with real time spinning casino slot machines spewing out the three lemons of deaths and infections. Just when the curve had flattened in many countries then horror stories about India and Brazil flooded the telescreen with mass burial grounds being the topping on the fear flavoured sundae. You gotta scratch your head and wonder why COVID-19 was really any worse that many other pandemics where there was no social distancing? I mean the conspiracy theorists had many holes in their arguments but one that made sense to me was bring the fear to a feverish (no pun intended) pitch and set the way for Big Pharma to develop a most profitable vaccine.