“Coral Ghosts”: Stunning photography but a sad story

Toronto Filmmaker Andrew Nisker’s “Coral Ghosts” presents the viewer with stunning cinematography but a tragic story about the death of the world’s coral reefs. Coral is a living organism and as it is extremely sensitive to increases in water temperatures it is “bleaching out” and dying. With its death the ecosystem that inhabits these reefs is also being wiped out.

One person dedicated to documenting the decline of the coral reefs is Dr. Tom Goreau a 70-year-old marine biologist. Perhaps saving the coral reefs is too late. Goreau seems to think the innovative restorative techniques devised to date are but a symbolic attempt to preserve what is vanishing unless global warming is quickly reversed. Dr. Goreau is President of the Global Coral Reef Alliance, a non-profit organization for coral reef protection.

And it is really a family effort as it was Dr. Goreau’s grandfather Fritz Goro who was a photographer for Life magazine that sparked a three-generation fascination with coral. It was at the Bikini Atoll in 1946 where he was witnessing an the effects of an open-air atomic bomb test by the Americans that he became fascinated by the coral growing in the waters off shore and invented an underwater camera to film it. Dr. Goreau’s father Thomas also dove frequently off the Bikini Atoll to document the decline of coral reefs and died of cancer at 45 after being exposed to so much radiation. Prior to his death he and wife Nora established a marine laboratory in Discovery Bay in Jamaica. Dr. Goreau just about grew up in waters of Jamaica until he left for MIT in Cambridge at 16 to study astrophysics.

Not wishing to meander into excessive details what is so compelling about this documentary are the artifacts and photographs taken by three generations of a family that are beautiful particularly of the healthy coral reefs giving the viewer an explosion of colour. What is not so beautiful are the algae covered dead and “bleached” coral reefs. What is frustrating is the slow response to reduce global warming and to possibly save the coral reefs.

Boxes of artifacts and thousands of photos of the coral are stored in a house in Boston but no money has been raised to save and protect the artifacts and photographs. In addition to Jamaica and the Bikini Atoll we are taken to the shores of Bali and The Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It is in Bali that Dr. Goreau developed a biorock process that involves sinking metal frames attaching starter corals to it. This process has resulted in the restoration of more than 150 coral reefs which protects the ecosystem, reducing the need for concrete barriers to prevent rising sea levels from causing damage. But this also supports tourism and fishing so it has economic benefits.

Filmmaker Nisker calls the documentary a “wake up call”. Indeed it is and if action is not taken quickly the coral reef show is over in a blaze of economic and eco tragedy.

The documentary should be showing on CBC GEM in the months ahead but it could be as early as the beginning of July. “Coral Ghost” is written, directed and produced by Andrew Nisker. You can see a trailer here Coral Ghosts 2020 – YouTube

“Taken by the Muse”: On the Path of Becoming a Filmmaker”: Seemingly random events shaping your life

Anne Wheeler is perhaps best known as an Albertan documentarian and filmmaker.

In the narrow sense this book is a chronicle of several life events in the 1970’s that shaped her into the filmmaker that she is. However in a more expansive sense it a universal story about certain events in our life that shape who we are today and I think it appropriate to say we all have these moments. I know what mine are but do not know what other transformative events in the future await me.

A “muse” can be defined as a “guiding genius” and Wheeler chronicles events that helped shape her career. And as these stories unfold it is clear her life has been guided by several muses.

One of her muses was Canadian author Margaret Laurence. Wheeler had adapted one of her short stories “To Set Our House in Order” and it was only after the film was made that Laurence called Wheeler and advised her she had to find her own truth, words that truly inspired Wheeler.

She notes that without a strong sense of purpose she became lost and it was only when destiny intervened that her journey of self-discovery truly began. She hopes her stories will stir her readers curiosity about themselves and the lives they are living. She certainly rang a bell with me. After reading the book I can better categorize the events that made me what I am today and we share some similar experiences especially travel opening up the mind and spiritualism giving a better perspective on life. If it can do the same for you if you want to give some thought of the life events that shaped you into what you are today this book is for you.

Let’s glean some nuggets of wisdom from her collection of stories.

In “South of Mombasa” she makes a connection to a different culture through similarities in the cultures.” What I tell them now about my country seems as exciting and strange to me as it does to them.” In explaining her life to these African villagers, she realizes how strange and wonderful Canada is.

In “Downside Up” she takes a perilous ride in a airplane strapped in by men’s belts showing us her courage, ability to improvise and adaptability. It inspired her decision to withdraw from her MA and devote her life to filmmaking.

Wheeler says “But my passion was repeatedly stirred by unexpected challenges, by people who saw me more clearly than I saw myself. There were times when my muse was invisibly at work, provoking me, setting up obstacles, surprising me, triggering some magic, seducing me with the possibility that I could live with purpose, doing something I loved.”

In the “Woman That Didn’t Exist” she is profoundly affected by a resident in a long term facility who gives her a diary she wrote on the condition she promised to make a film about Prairie women who lived an unnoticed life. She says to Wheeler, “Ours is a different kind of history, but it is just as real. My story is your story now, and if you don’t do something with it will be lost. Do you understand that? Lost.”. Yes life can present us with unlimited potential through chance.

My favourite story is “The Devil and the Divine” which is dizzying story of her time spent in an ashram in India where she encounters guru Rajneesh and realized she had lost track of her purpose “I’ve become more competitive and less forgiving. While trying to prove myself I think I have lost my sense of purpose. I have so caught up in being as good as “the boys” that I lost my love of making films.” In the ashram she is given the name Ma Deva Mugdha translated as madly in love with the devil and the divine! Wheeler admits she may have been lost in her life journey. Here she loses her mind in a spiritual sense and deals with some of the tragedies and sorrows her life including being raped as a teenager. She finds healing in self compassion and mediation. In Western terms she has discovered mindfulness and radical acceptance and its healing powers and she finally feels ready to go on. She also discovers the death of a friend at the ashram that sent her reeling yet finding a new balance and finally saying good-bye to her dead father as she was denied the opportunity to say good-bye. “Life feels fresh and free. My burden of self doubt and guilt has been lifted. I walk away from the ashram, with an easy swing in my step, calmness in my being. I will try to live up to my new name – Ma Deva Mugda- in love with the Devil and Divine” and remind myself to do everything with awareness.” My father died when I was nine yet I never had the chance to say good-bye. 40 years later like Anne I accepted the death of my father through meditation and self compassion and forgiveness,

The last story in “Sheet on the Wall” where she films the life of a half Cree woman Augusta Evans. Augusta tells her to tell her own stories by starting with herself. Tell the stories that no one else can she tells Wheeler.

Feel free to take Wheeler’s book as a good fun read or perhaps something more seriously being taking stock of how you got to where you are now and being aware of who you are.

Or like me enjoy the stories and realize how your life has shaped you.

Published by NeWest Press and it sells for $20.95 Canadian and $16.95 USD. You can order the book at www.annewheeler.com

Wheeler has received the Order of Canada and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Director’s Guild of Canada.

If you are outside Canada best to order through Amazon, Indigo or Barnes and Noble.

British Columbia’s Meyer Family Vineyards 2020 Pinot Noir Rosé: a wine with the heart of a lion

The wine has a dark pink colour. Pinot Noir aromas weakly struggle to break through but remember this is a Pinot Noir Rosé and not a Pinot Noir! Cherry, raspberry and strawberry predominate. This is one of those “serious rosés” meaning there is not a huge amount of fruit on the palate. There is a fairly discernable streak of raspberry and cherry but I think the term I am looking for is muscular and I venture to say this is built more for food. A “bulldog” of a rosé or speaking of dogs like my Westie Dylan who is about 20 pounds but has the heart of a lion when he needs it. You know my wife and son were charged by a black Labrador which was off leash in a leash only park. It was a mean snarly bastard but wanting to protect its masters Dylan leapt out and challenged a dog 4 times his size which then veered off and took a chunk out of a Sheltie. If this was my winery I’d call the wine “Dylan The Westie Pinot Noir Rosé”

Speaking of food I would pair with a pasta with a fresh tomato, rapini, garlic and caper sauce topped with feta cheese. Or a simple wild Cohoe salmon brushed with EV Olive Oil topped with a sauce of capers and garlic.

The wine was sourced from the venerable McClean Road Vineyard in Okanagan Falls and Lakehill Road in Kaleden as well as from growers in East Kelowna, Naramata Bench and Oliver. Some of the wine was produced using the traditional saignée method while some batches were destemmed and left to cold soak for two days prior to pressing. The juice was transferred to stainless steel vats and older French oak barrels where it went through partial indigenous fermentation and remained on its lees for six months before being bottled.

Growing conditions for 2020 were very good. 200 cases were produced. The winery suggests drink through to 2023 and I’ll agree with that.

In the meantime Dylan is snoring on the couch beside me after doing 3 kms.at my local golf course closed due to the plague. In my salute to him I raise my glass and toast his heart of a lion. I will also toast the consistent high quality of Meyer Family Vineyards that has never let this wine writer down and should they ever do so I will be devastated. Meticulous and clever winemakers that they are I doubt that moment will ever arrive .The underlying constant tension of a wine writer!

I suggest you may wish to contact them at 250.497.8553 or info@mfvwines.com if you would like to order some of this wine.

(Meyer Family Vineyards 2020 Pinot Noir Rosé, Okanagan Valley, BC VQA. Meyer Family Vineyards, Okanagan Falls, British Columbia, $20.09, 750 mL, 13.5%, Robert K. Stephen Set The Bar Rating 90/100).

Poetry Break: “Lowlife Canadian Politico Medicos”

Lowlife Politico Medicos

Politico medicos do you forget the SARS outbreak we had
you had plenty of time to plan for virus bads
but did nothing as such poor planners
you have murdered thousands
ignorance and stupidity is your grime
is it time for a Nuremberg trial of your crime?
yet we are obliged to follow your advice
with your seemingly intelligence of lice?
seniors mowed down
you strike me with the intelligence of a clown
in the next election may all of you drown

You have failed us
like oozing pus

Robert K. Stephen

Jon Kabat-Zinn: “Full Catastrophe Living”: ,

“Remember, acceptance does not mean passive resignation. Not at all. It means taking a reading of the situation, feeling it and embracing it in awareness as completely as one can manage, however challenging and horrible it can be, and recognizing that things are as they are, independent of us liking or disliking the situation and wanting it to be different. Then we can intentionally or intuitively choose to be in what might be a wiser relationship to the present moment.”

Mayhem in British Columbia Tries its Luck with Wine in a Can

Last year I tried my first wines in a can a Merlot, Rose and Chardonnay. And the production process unfortunately resulted in a rather spritzy result which was corrected quickly in a subsequent batch and the wine was good.

I wonder what Mayhem canned wine will taste like. Canned wine is increasing in popularity here in Ontario but like the Astra Zeneca vaccine it is not taking the City of Toronto by storm. What is the reason for canned wine? It might be an ideal solution for those who don’t want a bottle sitting around for days or it might be good for picnic. In Toronto there has been some talk of relaxing the rules prohibiting drinking in parks due to COVID house arrest.

The first can is a 2020 Pinot Gris. There are some tiny bubbles and thank goodness they are not giving the wine a spritzy quality. Aromas of lime, lemon, vanilla and lemon wafer cookies. It has some substance on the palate. On the palate some pear, guava and pineapple. Short finish.

Sourced from Mayhem’s Anarchist Vineyard and from established growers in the Okanagan.

(Mayhem 2020 Pinot Gris Cans, BC VQA, $73.08 for 12 pack, 250 mL, Produced under License from Meyer Family Vineyards, 13%, Robert K. Stephen Set The Bar Rating 89/100).

Now off to the Rosé which is 100% Merlot. The bottled version was slightly different with a tiny bit of Cabernet Franc. Again it has a spritzy film floating on top of the pour but no spritz on the taste. It seems a bit lighter in colour than the bottled version. Aromas of cherry, strawberry and watermelon. On the palate notes of watermelon, raspberries and strawberries. This just seems less serious than the bottled version. Lighter and more carefree and a little less concentrated.

Being upfront with you I prefer wine from a bottle but for convenience sake it may be better to go with a can!

I see the tech sheet says it goes well with boating, golfing, poolside and licensed beaches. As golfing, boating and swimming can result in serious injuries drink with caution.

(Mayhem 2020 Rosé Cans, BC VQA, $73.08 for a 12 pack, 250 mL, Produced under license from Meyer Family Vineyards, 13%, Robert K. Stephen Set The Bar Rating 89/100)

If you’d like to order some call the winery at 844.629.4361.

“Amityville Poltergeist”: Where is the horror?

Here’s a typical horror movie with perhaps a twist which might be totally out in leftfield but when you make a movie be prepared for possible multiple interpretations.

Quickly then to the plot. After losing his mother to cancer Jim (Parris Bates) moves out of town leaving his father and sister behind. He hangs with Collin (Connor Austin) and Alyson (Sydney Winbush). These twenty somethings are stoners and drinkers seeming accomplishing nothing but getting stoned.

Jim needs cash so he lands a housesitting job while its elder owner moves in with her daughter Donna. Tony, her son, arranged the housesitting gig. She says to Jim I am afraid of what is in here and you’ll see it to. So we have ghouls appearing on television, smoke seeping under doors, a headless woman clumping up the stairs and very creepy music. Hardly terrifying. One can’t tell if Jim is dreaming or if these strange events are actually occurring.

If there are ghouls in the house they attach and transported into other homes of some of the unfortunate visitors to the house. Alyson returns home and is terrified of the ghoul she has seen and heads over to Jim at his house-sitting gig.

Prior to that the elderly lady’s grand nephew succumbs to her nagging about her fear and need for a gun and buys her her a pistol and you kind of suspect the real horror is about to begin. My take on this movie is the horror of gun violence in the United States and if you jump in terror it is not with all the usual horror movie schtick but the horror of gun violence.

Parris Bates plays the lost soul Jim perfectly and Winbush is one naughty girl and she plays that to the hilt. The rest of the cast is a bit stiff. For stoners their smoking of weed is unrealistic. For the real thing you “stoners” see “Easy Rider”.

You can see this on DVD and VOD on iTunes, Amazon, Xbox, Playstation and some local and satellite providers starting May 18th. Directed and written by Calvin McCarthy. You can see the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OvS3EVRD0A

Meyer Family Vineyards 2020 McLean Creek Road Gewürztraminer

With my head stuck in Alsace a few years ago if you had said Okanagan makes humdinger Gewürztraminer I might have thought you were on your way to Las Vegas with Hunter Thompson. Although in the past three years I have had some exceptional ones from the Okanagan. So knowing that 2020 was a great growing year in the Okanagan I have high hopes for the Meyer Gewurtz. And the cuttings for the grapes are from Germany. The McLean Creek Vineyard was planted in 1994 and the soil is comprised of alluvial and glacial deposits making up a mix of gravel and sandy loam.

Two batches of fruit were used the first loaded straight from the vineyard and was slowly and gently whole pressed to maximize juice quality without extracting harsh flavours. The other later picks were destemmed and slightly crushed and left to soak with the skins for 24 hours, then gently pressed. Both batches were combined, and a long cool indigenous fermentation occurred in stainless steel vats and older seasoned French oak barrels for four weeks. The wine was left on its fine lees for a further six months.

Mid golden in colour with deep and penetrating aromas of peaches, apricots, tangerines and a bit of honey. On the palate creamy but not flabby. You get exactly on the palate the characteristics of the nose. With residual sugars at 3 grams per litre I would call this a dry wine loaded with flavour. I am picking up some gravel on the palate with gentle acidity and minerality and a long finish. This wine gives top quality Alsatian Gewurtz a run for its money. A note that the acidity picks up a bit when the wine warms.

Give me a bowl of BC shrimp green Thai curry or Thai mussels with loads of coriander, coconut milk, scallions, fish sauce, garlic and scallions over rice. When and if I hit the right side of the pearly gates give me a bowl of either of these dishes with the Gewurtz when I arrive.

Very informative and educational label full all the details you need. 168 cases made. The marketing department at MFV must have been having a wild party when they priced this at $16.61 or perhaps they realized that COVID was ravaging their customer base economically and decided to give them a break. Whatever the case if you are a Gewurtz lover this deserves a case purchase and serves as an example for those scaredy cats of Gewurtz exactly what they are missing.

(Meyer Family Vineyards 2020 McClean Creek Road Gewürztraminer, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Falls, BC VQA, $16.61, 750 mL, 14%, Robert K. Stephen Set The Bar Rating 94/100).

Mayhem Rosé and the Great Toronto Goat Theft

Although there seem to be few power Ontario reds in comparison to the Okanagan in British Columbia Ontario rosés can be ferociously good and world class. I have not encountered many rosés from British Columbia.

In fact I just had a fantastic rosé from Featherstone Estate Winery in Niagara in Ontario and it merited a very high 94 points. So now Mayhem steps up to the plate facing a “red hot pitcher” so as to speak. Can it hit a home run to win the game?

This rosé is from the Anarchist Mountain vineyard in Osoyoos and is 95.5% Merlot and 4.5% Cabernet Franc. Like some dying Portuguese tradition it was foot stomped. Boy I missed that party! The final blend comprises of 33% neutral French oak barriques and 67% aged in stainless steel tanks.147 cases were produced. 2020 was one of winemaker’s Ajay Chavan’s favourite vintage years.

Batter Up!

Sage brush notes dominate the nose giving the wine a serious attitude which is lightened up by lesser notes of watermelon, raspberries, strawberries and a smidge of cherry Kool-Aid. A streak of that seriousness is on the palate and lingers. This is a full-bodied wine and it doesn’t frolic around in the palate like a puppy wanting to head out the door for a walk. There are notes of a variety of red fruits so well integrated into the wine they meld into a ball of complexity creating a nuanced wine. Although the fruit suddenly surges into life in the medium length finish of the wine.

So the pitcher unloads a 99 mile per hour fastball heading right over the plate and the Mayhem player rips into it. Up the ball goes way out to left field and hits the top of the fence bouncing back into the park. The Mayhem batter arrives at third base with a stand-up triple with one more batter to go.

The wine’s serious streak makes it a match for cabrito (Portuguese baby goat) and no offence intended but a 3-month-old Nubian baby goat, Juniper, was stolen a few days ago from Riverdale Farm here in Toronto. I assure you it was not me!

If I can be simplistic I think there are three varieties of rosé;

Fruity and fun and good easy sipping wine
Serious and meant more for food
Bland and boring

(Mayhem 2020 Rosé, Okanagan Valley, Anarchist Mountain Vineyard, (produced under license of Meyer Family Vineyards), BC VQA, $20, 750 mL, 13.3%, Robert K. Stephen, Set The Bar Rating 92/100).

P.S. Mayhem was following a very tough act from Featherstone Estate Winery but putting all humor aside it was at the right place and in a different category than Featherstone which was in the fun and fruity category which given COVID disgust and fatigue was perhaps the elixir needed to lift the spirits.

Mayhem suggests charcuterie, spring salmon and sunshine for this wine. If we have a summer of freedom instead of perpetual lockdowns (for our own good of course and the for the good of politicians who had ample opportunity to plan for COVID after SARS) then we add friends and relatives to the Meyer suggestion I’ll go with it. Until then I did not steal Juniper! I may be a wine writer, one of the few, that likes goat but I am not a kidnapper!

Why does this wine writer keep speaking about a goat? He denies any comparison to Raskolnikov in Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment.” By the way it was lamb I was cooking on the barbeque.

Might as well relate a story about another goat. I was spearfishing in the Aegean in the early 1970’s and I bumped into something floating in the water…a goat head!

For shipping details contact 844.629.4361.

Did you think the COVID vaccine is 100% effective?

COVID Variants May Emerge That Are Not Covered By Vaccine, Scientists Warn

By Steve BaragonaMay 09, 2021 05:45 AM

People wait after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against the COVID-19 in a vaccination center of Lyon, central France,…

In a rare yet expected development, a small number of people have developed COVID-19 after they have been vaccinated.

“Nothing is 100% in this world,” said Gigi Gronvall, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

As new variants emerge around the world, however, scientists say it is critical to look out for these rare cases. They could be signs of something more serious.

“It’s possible that more variants might emerge that are not covered by the vaccine,” Gronvall said. “That’s why it’s important that these breakthrough cases are investigated.”

May 7, 2021; Cumberland, Georgia, USA; Lucinda Shelton of Acworth, GA receives her covid vaccination administered by a worker… — Lucinda Shelton of Acworth, Georgia, receives her covid vaccination administered by a worker from Emory Healthcare at the ball park prior to the game between the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies at Truist Park.

Of the 95 million people fully vaccinated by April 26, 9,245 COVID-19 infections were reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That comes to less than one-hundredth of a percent, though CDC says it is an undercount.

“Not every single individual that receives the vaccine is going to respond” to it, said Jacques Ravel, associate director for genomics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine Institute for Genome Science. “We are not 100 percent sure that even though those people have been vaccinated, they actually had mounted an immune response.”

To discern the difference between a weak immune response and a breakthrough virus variant, scientists need to read the genetic code, or sequence, of the virus causing the vaccinated patient’s infection.

The University of Maryland is part of a nationwide network of institutions sequencing COVID-19 coronaviruses. Ravel said his institute has not seen any patterns in the viruses infecting vaccinated patients. This, he said, more likely indicates “people who did not respond positively to the vaccine and are just infected because they were not protected.”

If, on the other hand, “you start seeing over and over the same variant in that population, that’s when you start to be worried,” he said.

An elderly Palestinian man receives a shot of the Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine in the West Bank city of Nablus on March 22,… — An elderly Palestinian man receives a shot of the COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine in the West Bank city of Nablus on March 22, 2021.

So far, the vaccines generally are working extremely well, even against the variants. In the latest real-world findings from Israel, where the variant first identified in Britain is dominant, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 95% effective. The U.K. variant spreads more easily and may be deadlier than the original.

But there are some cautionary signs. In a study in Qatar, where the variant that emerged in South Africa made up half the cases, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was only 75% effective. That variant has also proven to be better able to break through other vaccines as well.

The shots still protect against the worst cases, though. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was more than 97% effective in preventing severe illness and death in the Qatari study, for example.

“Even if you have a breakthrough infection,” Gronvall said, the vaccine “is still really worth it.”

The “good” news, if you can call it that, is that the British variant is so transmissible that it is crowding out other variants in many parts of the world.

“It’s almost — I would not say a positive thing, but it’s really helping in taming the more dangerous variants,” Ravel said.

Migrant workers register for Covid-19 testing in the Central district of Hong Kong on May 1, 2021, after the government ordered… — Migrant workers register for Covid-19 testing in the Central district of Hong Kong on May 1, 2021, after the government ordered the tests after two domestic workers were found to be infected with a more infectious variant.

In another piece of dubious good news, many of the most concerning variants share the same mutations, even when they appear on different continents. That may mean that the virus can mutate in only a limited number of ways.

“Maybe this is it,” Gronvall said. “Maybe it’s not possible for the virus to have entirely different mutations that we haven’t seen yet and still function.”

Vaccine makers are already adapting their shots to the new strains, just in case. They are not needed yet, but new variants continue to arise.

“We are in a race,” Ravel said. “We’re fighting this battle constantly, and we just can’t put our guard down.”