I talked to a former air traffic controller who quit because it was too stressful. This morning he woke up at 07:00 and was ready to depart but the front door was locked making me think what would happen if there was ever a fire. We’d fry to death. The poor guy was yelling and bashing against the door waking everyone up. Finally someone came and let him out. I am glad he is not landing my flight! Out with the Germans who were snaping their cameras like crazy. They are a bit older than me but very conservative. They’ll get married in three years, live in the suburbs having beer belles and each summer they will load up and take their children to Yugoslavia. After breakfast on the move again but the German was tailgating and we bashed into the car ahead of us busting our headlight and damaging the other car’s fender. We had to go to the police station and fill out an accident report. We reached Haparanda after lunch. Cool as there is a Haparanda just over the bridge in Finland. We checked into a youth hostel. I did a big wash and had a glorious hot shower. After dinner I walked into Finland to a disco and entered with my press pass and had a couple of beers on the house. I talked with a Dane and a Frenchman. I stayed until the club closed and in the midnight sun walked back to the youth hostel.
RKS Film: “Box of Rain”: Rock n Roll Salvation Thanks to Deadheads
Lonnie Frazier as a 17-year-old accepted a lift from two high school boys that she knew but a lift to her car turned into a violent rape. Not having a trusting and loving home environment to heal in she accepted free tickets to a Grateful Dead concert in Colorado and headed off there with two friends on a journey that transformed her life in a Deadhead family from a life of fear into an accepting and trusting community.
She found salvation in the Deadhead community a travelling community of Grateful Dead fans that had their own lifestyle and community that resembled a caravan of gypsies following the band on their tour which became their own blueprint for life.
The documentary gives a perspective of the Deadheads as a trusting and safe community that saved Lonnie from a possible tragic end. Blind faith? Desperation? Hey if it isn’t broke no need to fix it.
Hear from Deadheads about how it was a unique community.
From a personal perspective I saw the Grateful Dead in I think 1973 at the PNE in Vancouver. I had a press pass so was invited to a backstage barbeque but I can’t recall much about that other than groupies, roadies and radio personalities. The concert was opened by Captain Beefheart and then the Grateful Dead for a nonstop awesome three-hour concert. The best live rock performance I have seen.
The question I ask was there real magic to this Deadhead community or was Lonnie at the right place at the right time? I suppose you as the viewer will have to decide that. But her involvement with the Deadheads was her salvation so who are we to criticize that?
A fascinating journey into the Deadhead community. You might call it a travelling Woodstock or Watkins Glen. An unconventional part of American history. An obsessive journey of a wounded soul or a movement with broader implications? Your choice.
Given the commentary of Deadheads the Deadhead community extends beyond Lonnie’s pain.
If only there was some Grateful Dead music in this documentary!
The film will be released on digital platforms as of May 3, 2022.
You can catch the trailer here https://vimeo.com/698791950/f29570d154
Directed by Lonnie Frazier.
RKS Film Rating 83/100.
RKS Film: “The Quiet Epidemic”: Sadness, Rage and Disgust
Ostensibly the American documentary “The Quiet Epidemic” chronicles the steamrolling Lyme Disease (LD) epidemic in the United States but it is far more than that. It is an exposé on the self-destructive greed and failure of the for-profit underpinnings of the American medical system and the moral and ethical corruption if not gross negligence of medical practitioners tied to Big Pharma. “Gross negligence” is so well described in the Civil Code of France, Quebec and Louisiana as something not even the stupidest man would do.
On a personal level “ The Quiet Epidemic” has been released at precisely the right moment as North America tries to crawl out of the COVID pandemic. It is in COVID times that we see a medical establishment somewhat divided amongst those that tow the party line of the CDC and NHI about vaccines, masking and the majority of the media that obediently props them up and those that dare question the “science”. Do you notice that CNN seems funded by Big Pharma with incessant and mindless pharmaceutical ads? Do you also notice the admonishments from those towing along with vaccine imperialism we must follow the science. Who controls this science that we must follow? If an analogy can be drawn to following the science in Lyme Disease you and I ought to be terrified.
“The Quiet Epidemic” doesn’t proselytize with narration as it lets those with CDC, NIH and the IDSA (Infectious Disease Society of America) embarrass themselves to the extent they are not following the science but rather ignoring it. Yes medicine has become politicized long before COVID. And the closed-minded supporters of the status quo are championing iatrogenic behaviour effectively letting thousands suffer and eventually die. It is always interesting to dig into “studies” supporting pharmaceuticals especially when the studies are conducted by those with ties to Big Pharma. Moral corruption.
Perhaps you can see how I think how on point this documentary is? I perhaps should stop here and say watch it now that I have unloaded the COVID medical debacle off my chest? No. Let’s start all over.
It was in 1975 that Lyme Disease (LD) was identified as a result of a huge spike of arthritis cases in Lyme, Connecticut which primarily affected children. LD is a tick-borne disease one of some 16 tick borne diseases. It is found in wooded areas and now it could be in your backyard throughout North America infecting some 500,000 Americans each year. It operates through a spirochete organism that resembles a corkscrew (the same type or organism is found in syphilis) that like a corkscrew bores into organs and destroys them. 80% of victims recover but 20% do not and they face a likelihood of suffering and death.
For many years and in fact still in present days a good part of the medical establishment thought or tried to have the public believe the course of treatment was antibiotics. Prominent medical organizations such as the CDC, NHI and IDSA treated the rise of LD and its physicians who contested their views as Lyme Loonies. They who worship “science” conveniently and hypocritically ignored any science that challenged their treatment guidelines.
Indeed LD is no game as we encounter some of its victims who die and suffer terribly as certain elements of the medical establishment, Big Pharma and insurance companies have so many vested interests, usually profit. Suffering and death should have been eliminated but stubbornness and the profit motive in the American medical system have precedence over the well-being of patients.
The sad fact is that some 50 years after the recognition of LD very little has changed including suffering and death.
Can you say that this documentary makes me sad? You are right but it infuriates me and brings me close to rage that the pig-headed medical establishment is little better than accessory to murder.
As an investigate journalist in the documentary notes why is it that my dogs can take meds for tick borne diseases but no such treatment is available for humans. This is criminal.
On a last note in the course of researching for a book I acted as a golf marshal last year. I was asked many times why I was not wearing shorts. I replied “Lyme Disease”. Little recognition registered.
You can see the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8pBkzUwb88
It will be in theatre at Hot Docs on May 2/6 and can be streamed (geoblocked to Canada) for 5 days from May 3.
The co-directors Lindsay Keys and Winslow Crane-Murdoch met through their Lyme doctor’s office in 2015.
RKS Film Rating 92/100.
RKS Film: “African Moot”: A Dual Personality Review: Toronto Hot Docs
Ok, what is a “moot”? It is an experience just about all law students suffer or enjoy. It is a mock trial in front of judges based on a fictional case. The judges may be actual judges or legal practitioners. It involves hours of preparation added on to a crushing workload of everyday lectures. So in addition to simulating litigation it also imparts what it is like balancing a heavy workload which many lawyers suffer from.
Having practiced law for 33 years I still remember my moot with my partner Nina at McGill University in Montreal. We had a case of a young man convicted of drug dealing. He was tricked by police to make a drug deal so the issue was if there was “entrapment” which might result in the charge being dismissed. Talk about stress and pressure!
In this documentary law students throughout Africa participate in an annual pan-African moot competition. So I have been there and done that and have an inside track few viewers will have. So I will assume a dual personality in this review.
My View as a Lawyer
This documentary captures the anxiety, terror and joy of a moot. The preparation. The rehearsal. The exhilaration. The challenges. It also gives a snapshot that however much you prepare a question or two from a judge can cause you to stumble and falter no matter how well you have prepared your oral argumentation. At times acting and improvisation can save your butt. It also may determine your appetite to become a litigation lawyer or as they say in the United Kingdom a barrister. As a lawyer I thought this an accurate and entertaining if not a nail biting documentary.
My View as a Film Critic
I worry that the intricacies of a moot and legal argumentation may be lost on the average viewer. What I identify with and smile about may not have the same effect on the non lawyer viewer. For the non-lawyer this may be but a foggy “game”. It may be too complicated to digest and for the filmmakers I say a principle in tort law that you take the victim as the victim was. In other words you take the viewer as they are.
You will see the stress and the tension. Emotions are flying all over the place but will the viewer be able to really connect with the emotional roller coaster faced by these students? Has the documentary become too obscure and complicated?
The End Result
As a lawyer viewer I can closely identify with the preparation, rehearsal and final performances and it resonates with me. As a lawyer I give it a 90/100.
As a non lawyer I see this as complicated and difficult to digest for the non lawyer viewer. I would give it a 79/100 rating.
It is more than simply a moot but an examination of African society and how it views the future of African justice. But are these intricacies apparent to the viewer?
You can see trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93ZDZBnfbnA
The film can be seen in theatre at Hot Docs on April 30 as a world premiere and on Wednesday May 4. As of May 1 it can be streamed for 5 days geoblocked to Canada.
A film by Shameela Seedat.
RKS Poetry: “The Beady Eyed Man and Concentration Camps”
The Beady Eyed Man and Ukrainian Concentration Camps
The beady eyed Russian man
or perhaps the Messiah according to the Grand Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church
fond of $30,000 watches
establishes “filtration camps”
bolstered by mobile crematoriums on wheels
the bells of Adolph Eichmann the final solution ring a final peal
mass graves full of a killing zeal
forgetting beady eyed man all the Russians liquidated in Nazi “filtration camps”
RKS Wine: Croix de Bonpas Côtes-du-Rhône Villages
The Croix de Bonpas Côtes-du-Rhône Villages 2019 is a blend of 60% Grenache, 30% Syrah and 10% Mourvedre.
On the aromatic side notes of big fat almost overly ripe strawberries, blueberries, cactus pear and a tad of black licorice.
On the palate moderate tannins, rhubarb pie, white pepper, blackberry and blueberry clafouti. Moderately long finish. Match with duck breast with cherry preserves, steak tartare or Greek Keftedes.
(Croix de Bonpas, AOC Côtes-du-Rhône Villages 2019, Bonpas, Caumont-sur-Durance, France, $17.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 22283, 750 mL, 14%, RKS Wine Rating 89/100)
RKS Wine: Stag’s Hollow 2021 Muscat Frizzante
I know Stag’s Hollow in British Columbia’s Okanagan for some very serious high-quality wines. They are also not shy about pushing the boundaries with their Albariño, Dolcetto and Tempranillo. And they are at it again with a Muscat Frizzante. You will not see much Muscat wine produced in Canada.
More than a decade ago I attended the New York Wine Expo and sparkling Muscat was hot with rappers quaffing it and acreage was expanding rapidly in California. It certainly isn’t as hot as used to be. Can Stag’s Hollow bring back Muscat’s aura?
It is packaged in 250 mL cans with some playful colouring. On the nose a hallmark Muscat aroma of peach rules the roost with nectarines, Orri tangerine and a bit of honey. A light fizz but this is no Brut! The hegemony of peach asserts itself on the palate. The addition of 9% Albariño adds some acidity rescuing the wine from cloying sweetness. Sparkling Muscat is a wine I believe a glass or two might suffice so a can is perfect with its “large pour”. Great for people on the move in the summer. If you can find pizza with peaches as a topping this wine is for you. Similarly, if you can find a hot day as the slight fizz is a good thirst quencher. Serve chilled.
The wine is a blend of 53% Orange Muscat, 38% Muscat Ottonel and 9% Albariño.
Enjoy on a hot day.
$32 for a 4 pack of 250 mL cans. Perhaps it is best to order from the winery at stagshollowwinery.com
RKS Film: “Sam Now”: The Cycle Repeats
“Sam Now” is a creative adventure into self-discovery that casualties in life often repeat themselves inflicting harm on the next generation.
Sam Harkness and his bother Reed had been amateur filmmakers since childhood especially after discovering an old Super 8 camera in their garage. A favourite character in their movies was a superhero “Blue Panther” they created. Sam was the actor and Reed the cameraman. They lived a comfortable middle-class life in Seattle with mother Jois and father Randy.
Jois disappears without a note or a clue in 2000. Reed and Sam decide to make a movie about the Blue Panther finding Jois. Talking about police bureaucracy and an obsession with privacy the police respond to a missing persons report saying they have located Jois but she wants no contact with her family.
Through their own detective work they locate Jois living with Professor Edward Gosselin in Oregon. Jois had confided with a fellow employee at a local restaurant in Seattle she would be leaving with a man that took her to his speaking engagements throughout the world. An exciting life.
Sam claims not to have been affected by the defection of Jois. But life experiences dictate otherwise as he has trouble forming lasting relationships and he dips a bit too heavily in the bottle. Brother Jared was affected seriously by his abandonment.
After not seeing his mother in three years Jois presents no concrete answer for what she did to Sam other than saying she had to see herself and get out of the control of everybody. One might think she is a classic airhead with a cruel and selfish streak in her. But she has a secret that explains her lack of remorse about her abandonment of her family. She proclaims that she is not the one that needs mending. She seems above it all. As a viewer you may find some compassion to accept why she might have done what she did but it may be more difficult to forgive. In this regard that is the same conclusion you might reach after seeing another Hot Docs film “Silent Beauty” for which you can see my review here https://setthebarlifestyle.wordpress.com/2022/04/18/rks-film-silent-beauty-a-monstrous-chain-of-pedophilia/?fbclid=IwAR1PVCXylOto_tjE-UGGUCh2nunkgx-RRsIEo3yozNMblxmbWTyNEK8I4VU
In both films the cycle of bad is so easily transferable from generation to generation.
On the lighter side of things I wondered if “Sam Now” was a documentary about a movie or a movie about a documentary.
Playing in theatre at Toronto Hot Docs on May 1/5 and as of May 2 it will screen virtually for five days.
Directed by Reed Harkness.
RKS Film Rating 77/100.
RKS Poetry: “The bald and beady eyed man and the fascists”
The bald and beady eyed man and the fascists
The bald and beady eyed man
works relentlessly to “save” Mother Russia from the fascists
who is saving Russia from the beady eyed fascist?
Robert K. Stephen
“Travels to a Different Time” : 4July1975: Umea, Sweden: Germans Getting Piggish
Woke up freezing cold and with great bravery uncovered myself and quickly dressed. The Germans were up and stuffing themselves with breakfast and never even offered me some. I had no food. Come on guys have a heart as I got you in free to a couple of discos and beer to boot. Fortunately a gas station we stopped at was selling some milk so I had a litre for breakfast. I am drinking 3 litres of milk a day as it is so cheap as compared to other beverages. We stopped for lunch but again they stuffed their yappers not offering me a bite. God bless em. We ended up in Umea and thank goodness for a marketplace. I was ravenous. Made it to youth hostel in Umea and played some Frisbee with some Danes and a Swede.
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 