Up at 9 to bread, honey and coffee for my German friends and lemonade for me. Three hours on the road and we were in Sinsheim where most of them lived. We had a big meal of sausage and potatoes with beer. Germans drink gallons of it! We went to the family brewery for a tour. Most towns in Germany have their own brewery. We then went to Clement’s grandmother’s who insisted upon feeding us another big meal. After that feast off with Clement in the VW to stay with his friends in Heidelberg but they were not in so he drove me to the youth hostel full of Yanks with their Eurail passes and Europe on $5 and $10 a Day. Had a hot shower, read and dozed of. I get along very well with Germans my age.
“Andrij The Orphaned Ukrainian Rescue Dog”: Chapter 5: Rallying the Troops and Big Plans for Me That I May Not Like: Am I Going to Canada?
In a few days I am up and walking with a bit of a limp. Time seems to be running short. Our troops are bashing the Russians with Stinger missiles and we have shot down their MIGS with a late delivery of Patriot missiles. Why oh why hasn’t NATO pounded that stupid long and vulnerable convoy of Russian troops. They could have destroyed a huge part of the Russian army in twenty minutes. Putin takes the West as a fool and I must agree as the world watches the Russian genocide.
I am getting healthy and ready to serve my homeland. I have killed a Russian now I want to kill more and more. My blood is boiling out of control.
President Zelensky and I are good friends. He is under a crushing amount of stress. He takes me out for several walks a day and secretly smokes a cigar. One day he says to me to sit. I listen to him. He tells me what an inspiration I am to Ukrainian soldiers and civilians. He says that he wants to send me to the front as an inspiration for our brave fighting troops. I bark a big YES and nuzzle our President.
The next day I am wearing a flak jacket with big Ukrainian flags on both sides and with bodyguards we head to several key defensive positions. There are tired men and women with weapons. But there are too many old men and teenagers. They are willing to fight to the death and so I am I. We have death of our loved ones to give us strength. The Russian troops have vodka and looted treasures. Corrupt scum.
As I walk amongst our brave defenders there are cheers for the “bravest of all”. Western media is in on this and what I can do to rally the West for our cause I do. Dogs around the world are acting strangely barking like maniacs to join this canine jihad.
We are holding our own. The Russians thought they would march in and conquer us. Watch out you arrogant and corrupt bastards as we are going to march to Moscow and string up Putin by his balls for the world to watch. Just watch us.
So I head back to Kiev and get a bath washing the mud and fleas off my body. President Zelensky comes to me and asks, yes he asks and does not order, if I would like to go to Canada and help our defence. Before he can continue I growl and shake my head as here is where I belong. He shoos away his aides and comes up to my face and he holds it with tears in his eyes and says I am the bravest Ukrainian dog and that all of Ukraine loves me and how much the Russians hate and fear me but there are bigger things I can do in Canada. What does he have in mind? He rushes off and tells me I will learn tomorrow.
RKS Wine: The 97 Point Challenge: La Causa from Chile: Exile Me to Algeria for Rehabilitation
Some may run like lemmings for those wines scored in the mid to high 90’s especially if they are affordable. When I see a wine that is in this range I take up the challenge to see what the hype is about unless of course it is rated by Mr. Sky High Luca Maroni.
In this case the 97 has been awarded by Decanter World Wine Awards. The wine is a blend of 72% Cinsault, 18% País and 10% Carignan. Miguel Torres an extremely respectable vintner from Spain is the man behind the wine. I am a great fan of Cinsault when part of a blend or on its own if carefully tended. Cinsault and Pinot Noir were cloned in 1925 in South Africa to create the quirky Pinotage.
So this wine has to be knockout. Right?
I must admit I am a bit shell shocked by two rotten Pinot Noirs in succession that were so poor quality they must be returned. Ok I’ll spill the beans Eastdell 2017 Pinot Noir from Ontario and a 2019 Fabrègues Pinot Noir from France.
On the nose I immediately recover from shell shock and enjoy the black earth (a polite way of saying barnyard), artisanal organic cherry, beet juice, raspberry and milk chocolate. Classy. On the palate mild tannins. The first impression is that this is a dilute wine but give it a second or two and it shows a fine and high-toned cherry influence. However as hard as I strain my will and tastebuds the wine simply can’t deliver at a high calibre on the palate.
2022 has presented this writer with too many wine tasting crashes and who is rubbernecking at this “Riders in the Storm”? I am either growing super discriminating or crashing into the hellfire of wine infamy. Dare I criticize or fail to uphold a 97 pointer. Might as well exile me to North Africa to be rehabilitated in Cinsault vineyards.
(La Causa Cinsault/País/Carignan 2019, Valle del Itata, Chile, Miguel Torres, Curicó, Chile, $22.95, 750 mL, 13.5%, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 89/100).
P.S. All that glitters is not gold.
“Travels to a Different Time” : 15August1973: Bled to Munich: Mega Ride with My German Friends: Pizza and Beer in Munich
The hitchhiking Gods have been extra special to me today. Up at 5:30 for a hot shower and then gobbled down breakfast and thumb out by 7 a.m. Half an hour later picked up by the German kids that had taken me to the ferry to Hvar in Yugoslavia and asked me to join them. But I had already been to Hvar so we parted our separate ways. So like a week later they are heading back to Germany and they pick me up. I had only known them for a few hours but it was like a big reunion as their VW bus picked me up! We cleared the Austrian and German borders no problem. What beautiful scenery in Austria. The Austrian and German roads are superb in comparison to the derelict Yugoslavian roads. After travelling nonstop for 6 hours we stopped at a farmer’s field in Germany and had a big, delicious lunch of spaghetti and meat sauce. In the early evening we ended up in Munich and passed through it picking up some pizza and beer. Pizza! You must be kidding! Slept in my tent in the farmer’s field.
“Travels to a Different Time” : 13/14 August1973: Two More Days in Bled, Yugoslavia
13August1973: Firming up Return Date: Running into My Homies From Bulgaria: After breakfast went with Lynn to the post office to make a call to Overseas National Airways in Frankfurt to see what our return dates to North America would be. For me it looks like August 20th. I made some mushroom soup for lunch and saw my Bulgarian homies from the youth hostel in Sofia. After lunch a swim with a Dutch friend across the lake and back. Did some food shopping on the way home and fried up some potatoes and butchered a macaroni and cheese. It was atrocious. Half the youth hostel and I went to see a movie after dinner.
14August1973: Pain in the Ass Move: Up at 8:00: Had breakfast in my room as the kitchen was crowded as the hostel is filling up. I went for my last swim of 1973 from 11-2. Made a big omelette for supper being pissed off I had been asked to pack up and move by the warden as a family was taking my room. Off to bed for a luxurious sleep as tomorrow heading North towards Germany.
“Andrij the Orphaned Ukrainian Rescue Dog” : Chapter 4: Under the Care of Our President Zelensky: Tsar Putin Puts a Bounty on My Head!
I wake up in a strange shadowy place. I am in the land beyond? I have a searing pain in my leg and there is blood all over my white fur. I am in pain and I cry and a man comes over and tries to reassure me. He says he is an animal doctor who has been ordered by President Zelensky to take care of me. He gives me an injection and I fall asleep.
I wake up again and my leg does not hurt so much. And then the most remarkable thing happens! Our President Zelensky comes and sits by me and he pats my head and thanks me for being a hero of the Ukraine? He talks to me and tells me my murderous attack and killing of “The Brute” was captured in video by one of the soldiers in the patrol I ran to. The video has been shown on national television and Ukrainians are very proud of “Andrij Hero of The Soul of Ukraine”. Soldiers fighting the Russians are shouting my name as they start a new offensive. They are pushing down the Russians in the mud they deserve to die in.
Before I know it many media are in the room watching President Zelensky give me the highest military honour of the Ukraine! The media swarms in and hears Zelensky tell my story. I understand I am an inspiration to the free world. My video has appeared on Russian state TV courtesy of top rate Bulgarian hackers. Demonstrations against Tsar Putin are sweeping Russia. President Zelensky shoos out the media saying I need my rest. Perhaps I am dead after all. I fall asleep again with President Zelensky and his aids surrounding me and singing our national anthem. A simple orphaned dog having such huge effects on human history.
Tsar Putin has put a reward on my head of $5 million dollars.
RKS Film: “Madelines”: Quirky Satire of Sci-fi Time Travel Film?
“Madelines” challenges the viewer to arrive at some coherent conclusion. This could be the result of poor writing or very clever filmmaking. In “Madelines” be prepared for innovative and creative filmmaking. What is enjoyable is the possibility of multiple interpretations. I could quell my curiosity by speaking with director and co-writer Jason R. Miller but that would give me an unfair advantage over my dear readers. I assume of course Miller had linear and logical progression in mind!
Ok we start on a serious vein with young scientists Owen (Parry Shen) and Madeline (Brea Grant) working on a time machine project. Madeline, liking her wine a bit too much, breaks her own rules of multiple testing before a human trial can be made by transporting herself in the time machine but makes a coding error that results in a Madeline from another dimension being transported to Owen’s and Madeline’s backyard that will continue for another 9 years theoretically throwing the whole universe out of whack. So each Madeline must be killed. This is where a vital clue is dropped that this is not your ordinary sci-fi film. The scientists become killing machines as each time a Madeline appears in the backyard they must kill her. But wait their backyard is in a suburban neighborhood in plain view to neighbours so how serious could the film be?
The funder of this experiment Ray is hardly a professional venture capitalist so it is hard to take him seriously. At some point one simply must abandon the idea that this is a serious film.
The solution proposed by Madeline is to go back in time and correct the coding error so in the future there will be no Madelines appearing daily. As things go awry and the “replacement Madeline” takes precedence over the “real Madeline” who perishes in a struggle with a “new Madeline”. There are signs that the “replacement Madeline” is evil. The result is that Madelines start appearing daily. In one humorous scene numerous Madelines are sitting in the living room drinking glasses of wine. It starts getting a bit ludicrous until it looks like a quasi-zombie film! Invasion of the Madelines! But instead of zombies with intestines hanging out of their mouths there are multiple Madelines with glasses of wine in their hands.
My conclusion is that “Madeline” is a satire of a B sci-fi movie. If that is wrong Plan B which is it a light hearted and highly camouflaged interpretation of the spread of COVID. I am sure both interpretations are incorrect but I had a pile of fun figuring out what the heck is going on here.
So don’t be prepared for a serious sci-fi movie. The ideas are pure sci-fi but the delivery of them is far from serious. And if it is a satire there are a few chuckles but not really many laughs which makes it all the more difficult to pin this film down. It is co-written and directed by Jason R. Miller and co-written by Brea Grant. The film will be released in select theatres and on Demand starting April 1st.
You can see the trailer here https://vimeo.com/682005841/57121e93ef
“Travels to a Different Time” : 12August1973: Bled, Yugoslavia: Birthday Soccer Game and My Dirty Old Man Cough: The Dirty Looking German Girls
Woke up to my 18th birthday. Legal drinking age and more responsibility blah blah blah. I figured out that I have had only 4 birthdays in Canada. This is my third successive birthday in Europe. Will there be a marching band or my favourite meal with a birthday cake? Dream on intrepid traveler! Well a good birthday breakfast of scrambled eggs, black bread, honey, plum juice and a piece of sweet cake. No swimming today as it was overcast so instead a nice three hour walk around the lake. Came home and whipped up a dinner of rice, peas, black bread, beer and some cucumber. Some dirty looking German girls came in as I was finishing my supper. Hopefully they will enjoy a hot shower. Peeu the smell as they walked by like Pig Pen with a cloud of dirt following him. After cleaning up I watched the end of a Russian film and went out with some of the fellows to play a soccer game against a local soccer team practicing nearby. We rag tag decadent capitalist youth whupped them and I scored three goals. Out to celebrate my birthday with a huge helping of ice cream and a delicious chocolate pastry. Much to the delight of the patrons of the youth hostel I gave them a few dirty old man coughs I am famous throughout the European youth hostel circuit for. Lots of clapping. What an odd birthday.
Speaking of dirty German girls such can be the plight of low budget young travellers as on occasion extended travelling days make a shower a difficult task. In some countries a hot shower is but an illusion as cold showers rule. But my view is that no one wants to be stinky and dirty. You are a representative of Canada and of your generation so best to be as clean as you can. A bath! Forget it.
“Andrij the Orphaned Ukrainian Rescue Dog” : Chapter 3: “My Bloody Revenge: If This is Death I Die With Honour”
I am out of the city on the bus to what we have learnt is Romania. There is no room left in Poland to process and feed us. I am hungry and thirsty and have lost my hearing from the explosion on the truck. There are 4 dogs on the bus all with their mistresses. I have no one. What will I do when I get to this place called Romania?
Thank goodness one of the dog owners has some sausage and bread and gives me some to eat. She also gives me some water. She calls me a sweet little thing and she cries even more when she says she can’t take care of me as she has her own dog and children to take care of. I understand and try to comfort her as she moans about her husband back in Kiev fighting the Putin stormtroopers.
Despite having bright flashes affecting my vision my stomach is full and I start to doze off and then again a deafening explosion as something hits the bus. Many women and children are killed. I am fine and hop over the dead bus driver and sit outside the bus. There are 4 Russian soldiers coming towards the bus with their pistols. Saying “Ukrainian Bastards die”. They board the bus and I hear shooting for a few minutes and cries for help. Then all is silent. They throw a few grenades at the bus and walk away laughing. I am grabbed by the neck and taken into the woods by a soldier they call “The Brute”. The soldiers are driving a van with Ukrainian license plates. These vermin are spies and mercenaries. The Brute smiles at me speaking sweetly and calls me a Ukrainian cur and motions for me to have a piece of sausage. I see a glint of steel behind his back. I understand Russian but don’t flinch when he says he will skin me alive and force a Ukrainian soldier to eat me. My rage, hatred and terror come into my blood and I have one thing on my mind and that is the honour of my master Anatoli, his wife Boyka and the two children Danilo and Daryna. I edge closer and give a horrifying growl and with adrenalin pumping lunge high up at the throat of The Brute who in this last second hopefully feels terror of a sudden death. I rip out his throat and taste his blood amidst the stench of vodka on his breath. His companions are stunned and seizing the scant time I have I run deeper into the woods and they are cracks of rifles and I hear bullets whizzing all around me and my hind leg is burning with pain but I run zig zagging in and out of the trees. There is blood on the snow. I am so tired I can’t go much farther but I run into a Ukrainian patrol of soldiers that order me to sit and stay. I see them as angry as I am kill the invaders and they shout very angry and bad words. They come back and I am getting very sleepy. If this is death then let it be said I died with honour.
RKS Film: The Hellenic Film Society USA Presents “My Name is Eftihia”
The Hellenic Film Society USA continues its “Greek Films on Demand” enabling viewers globally to access feature films, documentaries and film shorts made by Greek filmmakers, as well as films that promote the cultures of Greece and Cyprus.
Their two March offerings include “My Name is Eftihia” a bio pic from 2019 capturing the inspirational and tragic life of Eftihia Papagiannopoulou (1893-1972). She fled the Turkish genocidal attack and burning of Smyrna in 1922 lucky enough to board a ship to safety as many countries refused to assist these victims. Instead they watched hundreds drown trying to swim to what they thought was safety.
Upon arriving in Greece she became involved in the theatre and then moved into composing songs of the rebetika and laika genre. She was a prolific composer selling her compositions to Greek singers such as Vassilis Tsitanis. She was a contemporary to Rosa Sarah Eskenazi a well-known singer of rebetika.
Her story is one of grit and determination divorcing her husband 20 years senior to her age she then married a policeman Giorgos Papagiannopoulos (Pigmalion Dadakarides). The tragic side of her life is that she was a ferocious gambler constantly in debt. She would sell her songs and the rights to them at a low price to finance her gambling addiction.
The acting and costuming looks like big budget. Karyofyllia Karampeti (older Eftihia) and Katia Goulioni (as younger Eftihia) give fierce performances and Thanos Tokakis (Loukas) as her manservant, confidant and assistant offers a brilliant and measured performance as a homosexual when such a sexual status was vilified in Greece. In the 2020 Hellenic Film Academy Awards Dadakarides won best actor although one could argue Tokakis was equally if not more deserving. Goulioni won best supporting actress. The film was awarded Best Film.
I had only wished more attention had been given to the Turkish genocide in Smyrna a brutal act the non-Hellenic world needs to know more about. If I could tell you of the torture of the Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church of Smyrna you would surely agree with me. And if only we could have heard more of her music! Get your Kleenex ready for the ending of the film and the closing song and perhaps then you’ll understand the emotionalism of the lyrics of Eftihia Papagiannopoulou.
You can see the trailer for this 123-minute film directed by Angelos Frantzis here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNNhL6EKkkw
From around the world you can stream this film from March 4-March 13 at www.hellenicfilmusa.org
RKS film rating 91/100.
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