I am unsure how this wine ever reached the shelves of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.
Aroma: Smells like wine. What grapes? Hard to tell.
Taste: Tastes like wine and poor quality at that. Not any shred of fruit.
Conclusion: Do not purchase. If purchased return for refund or dump and run.
(Ranch 32 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon, Monterey, Ranch 32, Greenfield, California, $19.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 480269, 750 mL, 13.5%, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 50/100).
I suppose if you are an aficionado of horror films and have seen them all you might be sophisticated enough you can create a whole list of horror subgenres.
With “Flee the Light” you will be introduced to the Witchcraft and Possession subgenre. Horror has become a more sophisticated game than the 1958 film “The Blob” was! Of course, “The Exorcist” in 1973 may be the grandaddy of this subgenre. At university in Montreal I did a sociology project on reaction to the newly released “The Exorcist”. I attended at the lobby of the theatre where it was playing. There were people crying and running out of theatre. There were multiple fainting’s. It was close to mass hysteria. How can you approach such power in a film? A combination of great filmmaking a public relations slant that focussed on the hysteria.
Are you going to start running from the screen with “Flee the Light”? I do not think so. Your shiver meter will be running smoothly. Perhaps too smoothly as it should be smoking hot! The film is not a clunker so let’s set the record straight on that.
As a Torontonian I felt a connection seeing some of the scenes shot here and I know where! So I was pulling big time for the movie! Sentiment must take a step back from artistic quality. There is nothing wrong with the acting. How do you expect terrorized people to act? As a Canadian there is a directness and honesty about Canadian filmmaking and quite often creates the impression of a play rather than a film. The writing seems a bit patchy. The soundtrack is spot on and Canadian rockers “Tea Party” overdeliver with their song “Sister Awake”. What a perfect song for the Satan party! You can see the video for “Sister Awake” here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiPJ2zAgITg
I mean the film at this point looks like its rocketing to multiple standing ovations but like a North Korean ICBM it strays off target.
Delfi (Ariana Marquis) and Andra (Annie Tuma) are two sisters living in Toronto. Poor Delfi has been having flashbacks of a Wiccan ceremony in the woods. Therapy doesn’t work as in a spinetingling scene the psychiatrist is frightened with what he sees so Delfi is referred to a spiritualist. Delfi continues the decline and strangely goes to her computer and somewhat magically recreates the location of the Wiccan ceremony in the woods outside North Bay. So the girls go on quest of the location renting a cabin. They find the location of the Wiccan ceremony Delfi is having visions about. North Bay may be known for its beauty but there is Wiccan community there and probably 23 Tim Horton locations!
Matters deteriorate but in a direction that may catch viewers by surprise. You might not have expected whose soul is captured and who is on the hunted list! Kudos to the film for delivering an unexpected ending.
Canadian songstress Jane Siberry plays Kata with an awkward edge but I am not sure how a Canadian Wiccan cult leader is supposed to act. I think the “awkward edge” makes her performance work.
The dog’s appearance throughout the film becomes a bit annoying at times.
You can catch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08s-1hJz4DI
“Flee the Light” will be available on VOD platforms including iTunes/Aple TV, Amazon, Google Play,Vudu, Vimeo and on some cable and satellite providers on February 19, 2022.
Written and produced by Jennifer Mancini. Directed by Alexandra Senza.
RKS Film Rating 76/100.
Up early leaving my hovel and heading to the Sorbonne area. I found another hovel for $3.65 a night including breakfast. I walked most the morning seeing the Palais de Justice. What a city of incredible architecture, parks and monuments. Suffering from hunger pains I went to a market and bought bread, jam, cookies and that was my lunch. At seven I went out to a self serve cafeteria for chicken and fries with a half litre of milk. I walked around for an hour after dinner and sat down in a park with a bottle of beer then came home to bed. Expenses for the day $4.65.
4August1972: A Meal Fit for A Prince (a poor one)
One can see so much of Paris simply by walking around and that I did today for hours. There is so much beauty to behold. More rain. Lunch was some water and grapes. After lunch it was to the Samartine department store and bought a canteen and a can opener. My second lunch was a cold can of ravioli with bread and strawberry jam. A strange lunch. Dinner was at the self serve cafeteria I ate dinner at yesterday. Dinner was beef, mashed potatoes, milk and a carrot salad. I strolled around after dinner and sat on a bench with a small bottle of wine and listened to the street singers. I returned home to my hovel not pleased that the chambermaids failed to clean my room.
Photo: Fotini Stephen
We flew on Overseas National Airways from Malaga to Paris. Mom is staying on board heading back to New York. It will be her birthday flight. And Robert at 16 years of age in Paris all alone! I have been well trained in frugal living in Europe so will have to put my skills to work. I took the crew bus into Paris and it dropped the crew at a nice hotel I certainly can’t afford. They were nice enough to give me a few snacks from the airplane. In the pelting rain off to find a room. The youth hostel was full. I ran into a 25-year-old American grosser chick called Karen who was looking for a room. It took us 4 hours to find some rooms at $6.00 each. Too rich for my budget so I will move tomorrow. We went out for dinner. I sleep with my money belt under my pillow and when taking a shower I take it in a plastic bag. Sleep was not great as I arrived at my room and the towels were dirty and the bed unmade and there were some sort of bugs on the sheets. My mom told me crabs were a big problem with the flyers my dad served with and they make your life miserable. In my best Parisian French I asked the front desk to give me clean linen and report the sheet infestation.
Photo: Fotini Stephen
If you read about mindfulness there is a constant theme that regular meditation is a panacea for an improved life. A sit-down meditation is envisaged and recommended but there are other forms of meditation such as mindful walking, mindful eating and for me last year it was working out a regime for mindful golf.
So if you somehow don’t have the time for a sit down meditation will the world fall down? I don’t have the answer but for several months last year while working at a golf course at crazy hours and playing a huge amount of golf at equally crazy hours that sit down meditation became difficult. However, working at a golf course and zipping around in a golf cart there were moments for a quick three-minute meditation supplemented by devising a plan for mindful golf. I talked with some of the regulars about how mindfulness might improve their game and I was surprised to learn that 20% of golfers were practicing mindfulness. Then it was bad ankle problems taking me off course of regular sit down meditation.
My world did not fall down but easing back into a set time to do sit down meditation brought a sense of “It’s Good To Be Back In This Space”. I am not sure how to describe that but a 15-minute mediation combined with some chair yoga had the effect of calming me down. Back to the formal meditation process was a “vacation for the mind”. It was akin to coming home from a long vacation. You don’t often understand what you missed until you return to what you missed.
Don’t fall under the wheels of mindfulness experts that seem to say daily mediation is required like antibiotics to fight an infection. Meditate in a fashion and at a time you feel comfortable with. Not to be dramatic but trust your soul to be your guide.
“TRY: Stopping, sitting down, and becoming aware of your breathing once in awhile throughout the day. It can be for five minutes, or even five seconds. Let go into full acceptance of the present moment, including how you are feeling and what you perceive to be happening. For these moments, don’t try to change anything at all, just breathe and let go. Breathe and let be….give yourself permission to allow this moment to be exactly as it is, and allow yourself to be exactly as you are. Then, when you’re ready, move in the direction your heart tells you to go, mindfully and with resolution.”
Jon Kabat-Zinn “Wherever You Go There You Are” Hachette Books
The bottle is definitely old school. Heavy tonnage. Not exactly carbon neutral!
It has a dense black cherry colour. On the nose its very tight fisted holding on to its aromas like a bargain shopper hunting the bins for a 70% discounted wine. But you can’t snuff out the black cherry, black plum, toasted coconut, blueberry with a twist of coal. On the palate there are moderate tannins but the wine is tight and compact like the U.S. First Division Marines marching at boot camp on Parris Island. There is some cherry, raspberry pie, black pepper, black licorice and Mexican cactus pear intertwined with lavender. Medium finish to this full-bodied wine. Given the serious nature of the wine it is not really a sipping wine but would pair well with high quality grilled Argentinian beef or with a full range if eats at an Argentinian asador. A nice cut of more anti-biotic North American jacked beef would do nicely.
This dense and compact wine will sail nicely into 2026 as its tight clenched fist may be pried open with age like Charlton Heston’s cold dead hand clutching his firearm to the delight of the National Rifle Association.
(El Enemigo Single Vineyard La Esperanza Bonarda 2017, Mendoza, Argentina, Piedemonte Al Sur, Mendoza, Argentina, $21.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 629782, 13.5%, 750 mL, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 92/100).
We are moving down the coast a bit from Torremolinos to Fuengirola. The day started with a fly on my lip waking me up. Denise’s brother-in-law was going to give us a lift to the apartment we have rented for two weeks called Perla 2 owned by Sofico. The suitcase was broken as it only closed on one side. We made it safely to our apartment. We invited Denise and her brother-in-law up for a drink on the balcony. We had trouble figuring out how the stove worked but the manager explained how to work it. On our walk we passed a Spanish language school where I enrolled in a two-week class with classes from 7-9 each night. We bought some vegetables, fruit and fish at a market. Stale bread for a ham sandwich for lunch. We couldn’t find anyone to repair the suitcase. I went to my class. Our teacher is called Pablo and I am the youngest student. Most are middle aged people. We had an excellent fish dinner and off I went searching for a discotheque. This routine went on for two weeks. I am not impressed with the Costa del Sol. The water is not particularly clean unlike the crystal-clear waters of Greece and Yugoslavia. There are high rises everywhere and loads of tourists. I am eating very well but there is more to travel than a full stomach. In simple terms there is little excitement here. I might as well be in Miami Beach.
Margaret Mary Stephen Diary Entry: It is fun to cook here. I get up each morning while Robert is asleep and go to the local market which is a large two floor building with the ground floor selling fish and meat and the second-floor fruit and vegetables. There is a huge selection of fresh fish but as expensive as they are we are trying many of them. One shop sells only spices so I bought a bit of many of them. I don’t recognize them but cooked spaghetti sauce with some of them and it was very tasty. The tomatoes are huge and sweet and the lettuce very green and curly. The onions are big and sweet too. I am cooking squash too. The mushrooms are very dirty but once cleaned they are the best I have ever had. The eggs come in plastic bags or cartons. I cook a lot with wine as it is so cheap and tasty.
A comedy about anal sex! Really? Yes and it is handled with tact with really no raunchiness in it. Oh my pushing the envelope in a mainstream film! Can I say daring and innovative?
Frank Tsigas (George Tramountanas) is a middle-aged family man packing a few extra pounds. His wife Laura (Kendra McDermott) prompted by Frank’s desire for a spicier sex life and her wish to see him shed some weight makes him a bet that if he can loose 50 pounds in three months there is a reward of anal sex awaiting him or as the film politely refers to it as “Browntown” or “chocolate cha cha”. Get it?
As it looks like Frank may win the bet Laura gets increasingly stressed out. Thank goodness for her friends that have a lighthearted view of the matter.
Frank is a professional blogger working for a blogging outfit and for years he has wanted to win “Pitchfest” a contest for bloggers and writers which if won means a publishing deal. Frank anonymously blogs about his bet and hits skyrocket.
If there is such a thing as “comedic tension” it is in this film. It should bring a smile, or more likely a smirk on your face.
I can’t tell you the ending.
Tramountanas as an actor and director has crafted a comedy about a delicate topic and he pulls it off. McDermott excels in her role as a wholesome suburban wife slightly confused and bewildered with the possible consequences of her bet.
You might want to think of this as a ground-breaking comedy and crafted to deal with a sensitive topic almost taking it to the level of a spoof aka chocolate cha cha.
The film arrives on digital platforms on March 22, 2022.
You can see the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaqJpHBVgRE
RKS Film Rating 83/100.
The Social Relevance and Contribution to Society by the Kardashian Clan
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Robert K. Stephen
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