RKS Film: “An Act of Worship”: United States as a Deeply Fractured Country

“An Act of Worship” is an attempt to have the viewer experience the Islamophobia faced by some Muslims in the United States. It is not a pretty picture and accentuates the hate and phobia fracturing America where hatred and distrust seems prevalent. Most of this hatred was not created by former President Trump and that man simply harnessed it and hitched a ride on it to political power and once there he augmented it.

The documentary does an excellent job of chronicling the extent of Islamophobia but only does a partial job in explaining why it exists. There is some connection of Islamophobia with the Iran Hostage Crisis, 9/11 and the various wars the United Sates has waged in Muslim countries but I felt the film could have gone deeper in dissecting the roots of Islamic hatred. For example is it the melting pot theory of immigrants prevalent in the United States to blame as Muslims don’t dress like “Americans”. Is it because they have a different religion or come from some societies that have honour killings? Yet the fact is that there are American Muslims who refuse to embrace the melting pot. Does this single them out? As a Canadian we are used to the concept of co-existence as opposed to the assimilationist melting pot yet last year three generations of a Muslim family were killed in London, Ontario as a deranged young man intentionally ran the family down on an evening walk. Chinese have been assaulted during the height of COVID. Black men and people of colour have been assaulted and killed by police. Canada may be only marginally better than the United States.

The story of these mostly young American Muslims deserves to be told but again I wish it had been more fully explained with a why. It is also very singular and negative as is often the case with so many documentaries. Surely the American population as a whole are not Muslim haters but one may say this documentary ignores the voice of their support of the Muslim community. One may also conclude that while there is Islamophobia in this world is there a streak of Americaphobia on the part of the Muslim community or would this be a politically incorrect statement? Phobias feed on phobias.

“An Act of Worship” is part of the 2022 New York Tribeca Film Festival. It has its world premiere on June 9th. It also screens on June 10/12. Unfortunately it is not available on line as part of the Tribeca offering.

You can catch the trailer here https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gsfcf7lez5r4q9t/AACzVqcnKpsEMmzsK4xifbSka?dl=0&preview=AAOW_TRAILER_4K_june5_2022.mov

It is directed by Nausheen Dadabhoy.

RKS Film Rating 81/100.

“Travels to a Different Time” : 3September1988:  Sosua, Dominican Republic: Sick with the Shakes! Armed Guards and Barred Windows

Bad start to a trip with a fever of 102 and the shakes compounded by waking up at 04:30 for a 06:50 flight from Toronto to Sosua. The limo arrived 10 minutes early upsetting my rhythm and was not appreciated. The airport was hopping at 05:30 and most of the passengers had checked in so a shitty seat for me. The plane was a WorldWays ancient DC-8. Aside from its age it is a solid plane and I have taken it to and from Europe in the 1970s without any complaints. Had a screwdriver to start the morning and being a charter flight peanuts instead of smoked almonds. Breakfast was a cheese omelette and a bran muffin with pathetic coffee. Surrounded by suburbanites from WASP central Oakville excited about downing pina coladas. The airport in Sosua is small and the first thing you see is a burnt-out plane just off the runway. Super humid. Hopped on bus and at hotel in 10 minutes.

Hotel called Playa Chiquita and is 10 minutes from town. It is a low rise and right on the beach. It faces a Dominican general’s villa on a cliff facing the ocean. The room is simple and well air conditioned. A television with international stations. The hotel beach is small but sandy and beautiful warm water and is encircled by rocky cliffs. The entrance to the beach is protected by a guard with a Billy club. All the houses have metal bars on their windows and some have armed guards. You get that feeling this is a dangerous country.

To dinner in town. Taxi was $2 and the roads are atrocious and the diver constantly swerving to avoid potholes. Dinner was a seabass in a white wine sauce for $3.75.

RKS Film: “End of The Line”: New York City Transportation System Teeters on Dysfunctionality

The documentary “End of The Line” presents the City of New York’s transportation system under the control of the MTA. The subway system is teetering on the edge unable to complete capital spending projects, political infighting and suffering from huge COVID ridership decline.

Having visited so many times over the past 5 decades the subway and to a lesser extent the bus system in New York walking and public transport are the way to get around although certain subway stations are crumbling and most are rather dingy to the extent they make Toronto’s subway stations look pristine. What a joy to be in the MTA subway stations when it is a hot and humid above ground and twice as bad below! The New York City experience!

But you can’t deny that New York City (NYC) subways are a jugular vein running through the city. Who needs a car in NYC?

NYC subways carry 6 million passengers a day and when you add bus ridership it is 9 million. There is lack of maintenance of equipment and stations. Its signal system is state of the art for the 1930’s. On time performance began to plummet frustrating riders. And then there is political infighting over transportation in NYC between the mayor and governor.

Then things begin to look hopeful with the appointment of Andy Byford the whiz kid behind the Toronto Transit Commission as President of the MTA in 2017. He launches a Fast Forward Plan to modernize the MTA but he is undercut if not back stabbed by then Governor Cuomo to the point he saw no option but to resign. And just after that COVID sweeps into NYC killing 131 MTA workers and decimating ridership.

Obama, Trump and now Biden pump up ambitious plans to hike American infrastructure spending to little avail or benefit to the MTA. Then Trump delays Congestion Tolls (used in London and Singapore) cutting off projected revenue to the MTA. At the end of 2019 more than 2/3 of projects in the MTA’s 2015-19 capital programme were not completed.

An interesting study that highlights the necessity to properly fund urban transportation systems before they crumble. It is all rather unglamourous but to avoid a collapse and an economic disaster a necessity.

“End of the Line” is already a bit outdated as Cuomo has resigned, there is new NYC mayor and Biden has replaced Trump. But still a canary in the coalmine documentary. If China has created 25 subway systems since 1990 why on earth is NYC’s subway system is in danger of obsolescence? Watch this documentary and hopefully you walk away with some insight.

“End of the Line” will be available in the United States on June 14 including Apple/iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay, VUDU and Microsoft.

You can see the trailer here  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR0VSSWQX04

Directed, produced and edited by Emmet Adler.

RKS Film Rating 87/100.

RKS Wine: Memories of Pilfered Gewurztraminer

Back in my rebel rebel period my pal would come over for a couple of glasses of wine before we headed out to our hangout in Montreal “The Rainbow Bar and Grill” on Stanley Street where my friend used to drink Tequila Sunrises like they were water and pine over a beautiful waitress Liz who, despite enormous tips he left her, paid no attention to him. Back to the wine. He smuggled Gewurztraminer for our pre downtown Montreal visit which he pilfered from his father’s wine cellar. It was rebel rebel behavior because so few people our age consumed wine. And it was good Alsatian Gewurtz so I have a soft spot in my heart for Gewurtz. Problem these days is that so few dare to drink this strange sounding wine. Alsace makes great Gewurtz but Ontario can match Alsace e.g. Cave Spring or Colchester Ridge Estate Winery and British Columbia too e.g. Mayhem Wines and Meyer Family Vineyards. Gewurtz has a definite taste profile that doesn’t beat around the bush with notes of apricot, peach, rose petal Turkish Delight and mango and it flirts between dry and off dry. It suits Asian food well particularly curries.

Going back to my roots mon we try an old reliable Alsatian Pierre Sparr Gewurztraminer. Aromas of freshly cut peach, apricot, mango, guava and Turkish delight. As far the palate this is a full-bodied white that hides its acidity so very well and it borders up to the off dry frontier. The finish is medium length which then takes a controlled skid into a bit of spicy brackishness. Lots of mango and pineapple swilling about. And yes curry is calling or Pad Thai with shrimp or tofu. An excellent sipping wine. If your mind is thinking barbeque halibut skewers marinated in a peanut sauce.

I don’t want to eat my shirt but if you don’t like this Gewurtz but I am tempted.

Fondest Gewurtz experience post rebel rebel was pre COVID on the patio of Cave Spring Vineyard in Niagara, Ontario having some cheese and superb herbed fries and Cave Spring Gewurtz on a patio on a glorious fall afternoon.

(Pierre Sparr Grand Réserve 2020 Gewurztraminer, AC Alsace, Pierre Sparr Bebleheim, France, $19.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 747600, 750 mL, 14%, RKS Wine Rating 92/100).

“Travels to a Different Time” : 8September1983: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico: Will That Texan be Found in a Back Alley with a Knife in His Back? The Corruptive Force of Tourism

More delicious eggs Mexicana for breakfast. Had a swim at the pool and watched the hawkers on the beach selling blankets, carvings, dresses and jewelry. Hotel security watches them like a hawk to give the gringos some unmolested time lest they be swarmed. They are not permitted on hotel property. Does the hotel own the beach or have they greased the palms of local officials to deprive the locals access to public property? If you venture outside of this protective custody they do swarm you saying “ Hey Meester…you wanna buy?” Some are skillfully funny asking you as a big spender if you want to buy some of the best junk on the beach. Dinner was another snapper filet but I noticed a couple of young Mexican guys very raunchy and sleazy looking fawning over a very drunk Texan saying “Don’t worry. We’ll get you back to the Sheraton”. He was so far gone I wonder if they had drugged his drink. He was so out of it he couldn’t lift the coffee cup to his mouth. Hopefully this poor Texan will not be found robbed next morning in a back alley with a knife in his back. Tourists in Puerto Vallarta seem to be fair game. Tourism in a dirt-poor country corrupts both locals and gringos absolutely.

“Travels to a Different Time” : 7September1983: Puerto Vallarta and Yelapa Beach, Mexico: Vomiting Californians and Texans!

After drifting off to the sounds of a pseudo-Santana band up at 07:30 for the trip to the exotic Yelapa Beach. Mango juice and some strange sugared pastry for breakfast. Took a taxi to Pier Maritima where in Mexican fashion the boat was an hour late. The taxi driver “claimed” he could not change a 1,000 peso note so I had to hunt down a shop that would change a 1,000 peso note. I have the feeling I am being scammed as the driver gave me change for a 500 peso note and he had a wad of pesos under his floor mat. In Mexico one is left with the impression locals are hellbent on ripping off the “rich gringos”. Taxis are plentiful and used by gringos whereas the locals will take a communal taxi, usually VW buses, for a fraction of what they would pay for a private taxi. The passengers on this rough crossing were Texans and Californians. Canadians are rare here. Well 40 or so of the gringos were puking up a storm. The beach is beautiful and sparsely populated and surrounded by tropically vegetated hills with clouds lazily rolling over their summits. The muddy river nearby full of bark clouds up the water on what could be a spectacular beach. There are many shacks with no roof just a hammock. Beach vendors thankfully are few just a couple of children selling coconuts and bananas. The Yankees loved the parasailing. At the boat for the return trip children were charging for photos with parrots or iguanas and the Yankees loved it! Thank goodness the return trip was smooth and was accompanied for part of the trip by jumping dolphins.

RKS Poetry “Canadian Media Toadies”

Canadian Media Toadies

We saw the Canadian media play toadies in the COVID manipulation playbook
Rush and get your lifesaving vaccine as your patriotic duty trying to inveigle the masses by line, sinker and hook!
What happened to reporting the news which instead was propping up the politico-medico elite
sucking on the profitable Big Pharma teat
And again impartiality with the old bird’s Platinum Jubilee
Eager newscasters try to whip up excitement for the “head” of  our nation
an event “we are all looking forward to”
for “our queen”
what the Canadian media won’t do for a Covid-Royal dream team!
all between commercial breaks for a hand cream

Robert K. Stephen

“Travels to a Different Time” : 6September1983: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico: More Adventures with Hotel Night Clerk

Before going to bed that odd hotel night clerk phoned me at 23:30 to say today I would have to vacate the room for reasons which were not clearly stated. I asked the reception in the morning what the night clerk was babbling about. They had no idea. Is this typical Mexican confusion? Walked into town in a cloud of diesel fumes with more than a few vehicles requiring a new muffler. Even when you reach a sidewalk it is being torn up. In fact all of Puerto Vallarta seems torn up. Are they preparing for a huge tourist boom? Tomorrow off to the exotic Yelapa beach.

RKS FILM: “The Story Won’t Die”: The Maturing of the Syrian Artistic Refugee Community

Since 2011 over a half a million people have been killed in the Syrian conflict and 6 million out of 13 million Syrians  have become refugees. Assad the Syrian tyrant teamed up with the Butcher of Bucha before he was slaughtering Ukrainians so he could learn how to slaughter Syrians with chorine gas and cluster bombs with hospitals a favourite target. Butcher in training.

This documentary focuses on many of the younger members of the artistic community who fled Syria after being targeted for repression or fearing imminent repression by the Assad regime or the friendship of Mother Russia’s bombing.

These are bright and talented dancers, visual artists and musicians who headed to Europe many through hazardous trips to the Greek islands of Samos and Lesvos. Initially they display an anger and sadness about the destruction of Syria but eventually the realization of some is that whatever they have done in protest has accomplished little as tyrant Assad remains in power. There appears to be a shift in this community based in Berlin, Paris and Amsterdam that their continuing stress is becoming self destructive so there is a focus to find joy in their new lives.

Have they abandoned Syria? Not really as many have families trapped there so the link to Syria is there but like most immigrants ties to the homeland slowly weaken over the years as they integrate into their new world. An effort from David Henry Gerson. It will be released in Los Angeles on June 10th and in New York on June 17th. VOD platforms will have the film ready for distribution on June 21. You can watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdfdS_Z-lLg

RKS Film Rating 80/100.

RKS Wine: Mayhem’s 2021 Riesling

No I am not going to kvetch about Niagara Rieslings this time. Enough negative vibes in a world that has enough negativity in it. So can Mayhem take it up a notch and introduce some positivity into the Canadian wine world with its British Columbia Riesling?

It has some aromatics that get my positive Riesling meter clicking not with radiation poisoning but with an aroma that is laid back yet assertive enough with apple, pear, lemon meringue pie, icing sugar and slate. This is no doubt a dry wine but absent a vicious acidic streak like Riesling in the Ontario Ford Nation. The palate is discrete interwoven shyly with apricot, peach, tangerine and a gentle acidity. More in the Germanic style than a Niagara Riesling. I am taken aback by the 15.2 grams of residual sugar per litre. Riesling has an uncanny ability to hide its sugar. As it stands in the bottle I think it is a food centric wine with a pork schnitzel with some pig knuckles on the side. Dry enough for lake fish and if you are in Ontario with a Lake Erie fish fry. If in British Columbia perhaps with some grilled Snapper filet.

The grapes were picked from the Garagan vineyard in Naramata from 18-year-old vines. The grapes were whole bunch pressed and fermented in stainless steel then aged on its lees for 6 months before bottling in neutral French puncheons (36%) and stainless steel (64%).

I have noted the residual sugar and as the wine warms up and you concentrate you will note some faint sugar. The winery suggests pairing with pulled pork sandwiches, mulligatawny soup or fish and chips. I’ll agree with that.

As only 161 cases produced best to contact the winery for shipping at www.mayhemwines.com

(Mayhem 2021 Riesling, Naramata Bench Okanagan Valley, BC VQA, Mayhem Wines, Okanagan Falls, British Columbia, $20.87, 12.60%, 750 mL, RKS Wine Rating 89/100).