I am neither a pro or anti vaxxer. I believe in informed consent. Review the facts if you can find them in the waves of government propaganda disguised as public health information. Be aware if you aren’t already if you don’t roll up your sleeve you’ll be penalized in many ways unless you show your “papers” to the airlines, merchants, restaurants, hotels etc. that are being bullied into asking you for your papers all of course for the “good of public health”.
But when the propaganda is directed toward children isn’t that low, crude, manipulative and overreaching? What is the next step a new “Vaccine Youth” movement that rewards children for informing on their unvaccinated parents, relatives and neighbours?
Commenting on the use of popular children’s characters to promote vaccines, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., chairman of Children’s Health Defense, on November 6th said:
“The use of trusted and beloved figures in this propaganda assault to induce children into submitting as guinea pigs to injections with an experimental high-risk zero-liability medical product with no proven benefits for kids is unconscionable and revolting.
“Big Pharma has turned Big Bird into a child predator.”
CNN and Sesame Street collaborated on a 10 part series the “ABC’s of COVID” where Big Bird, Elmo and other Sesame Street characters are “educating” children on COVID.
(Photo Lawrence Jackson Official White House Photo)
This Sunday I will have my last shift as a Marshall. The course will close at 4:45 and I will help round up the power carts, park them in a locked facility and then perhaps take a last look at the darkened golf course I have spent seven months of my life at and breathe a sigh of relief this punishing schedule of golf and Marshalling has come to an end. But I know there will be some reminiscing and reflection about being a golf Marshall and playing 40 rounds of golf. There will no doubt be a bit of sadness too that an interesting part of my life I never ever expected to have will conclude. So what are my final reflections?
The Ratio of Good People to Dickheads
When I was trained for 15 minutes as opposed to 4 hours due to a frost delay my veteran trainer Marshall said 90% of the golfers here are great people and 10% are dickheads. I would revise to say that if you are looking for a simplified black and white picture 98% are good people and 2% are dickheads.
The Hesitant Golfer
More than dickheads the slow golfer irritates me to no end. These are the golfers that overestimate their abilities stupidly. Beginners playing from the expert tees when regardless of sex they should be playing from the ladies’ tees. Then there are those that perform a time-consuming ritual of setting up and taking far too many practice swings. This delays the flow. Pardon my foul language but to these golfers I would like to say ( but do not), “Hit the fucking ball you selfish and ignorant bastards.” Mandatory golf etiquette courses should be implemented in Canada.
People Skills
There is the expression that you get more things done than being sweeter than honey. I have realized that I must set aside my personal thoughts and treat golfers as “patrons” and customers deserving of as much respect as I can give them. So it has been pretty please which is often ignored or not understood by many Korean golfers that seem to not understand what I am saying to them. So I’d like to tell the selfish golfers to move your ass but I have to do this in the politest fashion. As a customer I’d expect nothing less. A golf Marshall is in customer service.
Racism in Golf?
Who are the golfers? 70% Caucasian, 25% Koreans and the rest “others”. At my course the course is managed by a Korean owned management company. The staff are about 90% retired Caucasians who are not working for the scant money but golfing privileges particularly in COVID times where there is no place to travel to and few bookings are available to the public. One could argue up the percentage of staff so there is a better racial balance but the best Marshalls are those who know the course inch by inch and the fact is that golf is really a white man’s sport. I am not trying to defend anyone here but simply make a point to reflect reality. Yes I know black lives matter but blacks playing golf at my course are less than 1% of golfers. How can you implement global inclusion and diversity amongst golf course employees without a solid base of experienced golfers that reflect racial diversity? To do so is empty philandering to the phrases of the day. Corporate Canada plays this game so well.
And yes I know there is reverse racism being told in violent terms by a group of black golfers to stick my head up my fucking white ass when I so politely asked them could they please pick up their pace as they were two holes behind in timing. And I have been in a foursome where a Korean couple exploded against a black guy I played with in what I can only call a racist attack. Golf is but an extension of “real life”.
The Golf Marshall at the Low-End of the Power Structure
Who has the best overall view of what is going on at the golf course? Is it the Pro-Shop people who sit in the clubhouse having no idea what is going on or the Marshall in the thick of the action? The Marshall responds to reality and the Pro-Shop to complaints and these complaints are their selfish priorities. If a golf course was a plantation the Pro-Shop employees are house slaves and Marshalls field slaves. There is no democracy in golf.
Keeping People Informed
Aggravated golfers are the Marshall’s worst enemy. It is usually those ahead of us that are slowing the game they say but it is often 6 to 7 holes ahead that the culprits can be tracked down. Then you ask these culprits to speed up and circle back and inform the delayed golfers you have asked the laggards to speed up and most will look at you in the eye and sincerely thank you. Basic customer service.
The Ultimate Flattery
Having played the course for 35 years and playing 40 or so rounds this year I know, or I think I know, each inch and angle so when I am asked for advice how to play a hole I really get engaged and briefly and concisely explain the conservative strategy and the aggressive strategy and when each may be appropriate. I know this course better than a radical white wing preacher in Aylmer, Ontario knows his Bible!
Comedy and Lightheartedness
I have been told by “management” my communication skills and humour have been appreciated by golfers. After a year there are some 100 golfers that address me by my first name! Who are these people?
Could it be that those hang dog faces I have tried to cure with a few mindfulness trained phrases I have picked up in being certified in mindfulness in Europe and Canada have worked. I bless a few golf balls as a Marshall and receive heartfelt thanks about improving a golf game and then like the Pope I am blessing cases of golf balls. At times Marshalling can be a riot. I bless tees and give out golf balls to create huge goodwill. It helps to ask friends to speed up as opposed to hostile adversaries.
Golf is Love
If only all the world played golf we could unite and bypass starvation, hatred, racism and war. We ae a golfing world. Stupid naïve me.
The Ultimate Lesson
Not to belittle golf but I love it and its foibles and wrinkles. If I can make a difference by making the 18 holes a pleasant experience, I will do all I can. So please treat a Marshall with respect as he or she is under the guillotine of pace management. A cruel but necessary god.
The Slovenian film “Inventory” invokes memories of Hitchcock and Kafka. It is an interesting mix of dark comedy, a thriller and a man in the dark about who his enemies might be until it drives him just about mad.
Boris Robič is man just past middle age who is a technical assistant at a business college. He is an unassuming man. One night after dinner in his study two shots pierce his window. Boris is not injured. The police are called and an investigation begins. Boris responds to police questioning that he has no known enemies. The police encourage him to create an inventory of all his relationships so they can try and identify suspects. Boris obliges the police who review all his relationships and conclude there are no suspects or witnesses hence the investigation will be closed. But it is not closed in the mind of Boris who starts his own investigation and finds his best friend dislikes him for stealing his girl and marrying her but only enough to spit in his beer and not kill him!
It is like Josef K. in Franz Kafka’s “The Trial” who is put on trial for crimes he does even know what they are. There may be a killer out for Boris but it is beginning to drive him mad as he can’t figure out who that assassin may be! The tension mounts and Boris seems to be heading for a mental smash up. He starts to think his wife is poisoning his food so she can be a benefactor under his life insurance policy.
His colleagues and superiors at the business college urge him to take some time off for his own good but this seems more of a tactic to distance themselves from Boris and his perceived nefarious dealings than concern for his well being. One gets the feeling that Boris is like Jimmy Stewart in Hitchcock’s 1954 “Rear Window” suspecting but not being able to prove that the person in his binocular’s sight is a killer. A feeling of hopelessness and the thrill awaiting the viewer of justice being done.
Then like magic the police appear to have cracked the case and discovered the assailant. Boris returns to his old self. Well the ballistics don’t match. Boris is back in the rabbit hole.
Boris played by Rados Bolcina is an everyday type of guy suddenly caught in a potentially terrible crime that at first puzzles him but then drives into unhealthy obsession very much like Jimmy Stewart in “Rear Window” but is not delivered the satisfaction of seeing the apprehension of a criminal.
“Inventory” is part of the 2021 Canadian European Union Film Festival and can be seen virtually on November 12 and 13.
The 106-minute film is written and directed by Darko Sinko. In Slovenian with English subtitles. For more information you can see the Festival’s website at https://www.cfi-icf.ca/euff
One might look at a bottle of California Cabernet Sauvignon and see the winery is located in Sonoma or Napa home to some high-end Cabernet Sauvignon. But look at the label closely and it may not refer to a specific American Viticultural Area (AVA) in California but state “California Cabernet Sauvignon” which means by law 100% of the grapes must be from California so in fact although the winery is located in Napa or Sonoma none of the grapes could be from those AVA’s. A similar note could be made for wines produced in Prince Edward County in Ontario. The label may state VQA Ontario but not VQA Prince Edward County. So the consumer may think the grapes are from Prince Edward County but in fact the grapes may have been trucked in from Niagara.
In this case we try a Mina Mesa Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles. This means at least 85% of the grapes made to produce the wine are from the Paso Robles AVA. So purchase an AVA designated wine and you are drinking at least 85% of grapes from that AVA.
How about this Mina Mesa 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles?
On the nose fresh picked blueberries, blueberry pie, black cherry, cassis and fresh sage leaves. On the palate some freshly baked blueberry pie predominates, pomegranate with a full mouth feel and gentle tannins. It has a gentle lingering finish with a tiny bit of brine to it. For $16.95 can we say a truly authentic Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles.
The wine drinks well on its own but I think it has a calling for grilled beef with Portobello Mushrooms marinated in soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame seed oil. Best consumed by the end of 2022.
(Mina Mesa Paso Robles 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon, Mina Mesa Wines, Greenfield, California, $16.95, 750 mL, 13.5% Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 17808, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 90/100).
Montreal, Tuesday, November 9, 2021 – The 24th edition of the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) starts tomorrow, Wednesday, November 10. The festival will be held in theatres until November 21, and online from November 14 to 25 on the festival’s platform enligne.ridm.ca, accessible everywhere in Canada.
Opening night
The festival will open with the screening of Futura by Pietro Marcello, Alice Rohrwacher, and Francesco Munzi on Wednesday, November 10 at 7 p.m. at the Cineplex Odeon Quartier Latin (by invitation only). Presented in partnership with the Italian Institute of Culture in Montreal, Futura captures a troubled time in which the global pandemic forces us to reflect on what the future may hold. The film will be preceded by Des voisins dans ma cour, a Quebec-made short by Eli Jean Tahchi, which explores the boundary between the Parc-Extension neighbourhood and the Town of Mont-Royal: a physical barrier that highlights the divide between two neighbouring communities.
Vitaly Mansky comes to Montreal
Filmmaker and producer Vitaly Mansky will be in Montreal from November 15 to 19 for a retrospective featuring seven of his films.He will be in attendance at the screenings of Close Relations,Pipeline, Putin’s Witnesses, Under the Sun, and his most recent piece, Gorbachev. Heaven,for post-screening discussions with the audience. Festivalgoers also have the chance to attend a masterclass with the filmmaker. This free event (reservation required) will take place on Wednesday, November 17 at 5 p.m. at the Cinémathèque québécoise.
Quebec filmmakers in attendance
This first week of the festival includes several highly anticipated Quebec-made films. Furthermore, the filmmakers will be in attendance for discussions with the audience following the screenings.
On Thursday, November 11, festivalgoers can discover Henri Pardo’s film Dear Jackie, a cinematic letter to Jackie Robinson that draws an eloquent parallel between time periods, shedding light on the existence of racism and racial inequalities. Meanwhile, The Gig is Up by Shannon Walsh investigates the trickery inherent in what is often, erroneously, called the “collaborative economy.”
Friday, November 12 brings Under Silence and Earth, the first feature from Gisela Restrepo, in which she goes to her parents’ native Colombia to search for the body of her aunt, who took part in armed conflict; along with Alone by Paul Tom, which brings together three very different stories from people who fled their homeland as children to seek refugee status in Canada, leaving their parents behind. The filmmaker and the film’s protagonists will be in attendance to meet with the audience. This event is presented by Télé-Québec.
Three Quebec-made films will be shown on Saturday, November 13: Pier-Luc Latulippe and Martin Fournier address a sensitive subject and find a ray of light in the darkness in Upstairs; Far Beyond the Pasturelands by Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis and Maude Plante-Husuruk follows a young mother who hopes to improve her situation by taking part in a traditional expedition to the Himalayan mountains, in search of a priceless mushroom; and Resources, a sobering and thought-provoking film, gives a voice to the migrant workers at the heart of the food system that sustains this country.
On Sunday, November 14, Yasmine Mathurin’s One of Ours depicts a young man forced to question his identity: adopted in Haiti by a Calgary couple, he finds his Indigenous status, inherited from his adoptive father, denied by the authorities of the All Native basketball tournament.
International films not to be missed
The RIDM is pleased to present the best of international documentary filmmaking. Thursday, November 11 is a chance to see Zuhur’s Daughtersby Laurentia Genske and Robin Humboldt, which follows Lohan and Samar as they start a new life in Germany with their family after escaping war in Syria, and the newfound freedom that allows them to express themselves as young trans women. On Friday, November 12, Vincent Meessen’s Just a Movement takes an original perspective on the story of Omar Blondin Diop, a Senegalese Marxist activist also known for “acting” his own part in Jean-Luc Godard’s film La Chinoise.
Four years after winning the RIDM People’s Choice award for her powerful documentary Speak Up, Amandine Gay returns with A Story of One’s Own, which explores international adoption through five intertwining stories.The filmmaker, alongside producer Enrico Bartolucci, will be present for a discussion with the audience on Saturday, November 13.
Also followed by a discussion with the filmmaker is The Hill by Julien Chauzit, a hybrid feature film that witnesses a dawning ecological awareness among four young people. The film will be shown on Sunday, November 14. The same day, audiences can see Little Palestine, Diary of a Siegedirected by Abdallah Al-Khatib, a highly charged documentary in which the filmmaker, a political activist, turns his camera on the plight of the Palestinian refugees living in the Yarmouk camp. Filmed between 2011 and 2015, this is a record of a brutal siege imposed by the Syrian regime.
The Soirée de la relève is back
The Soirée de la relève, presented by Radio-Canada, is back for its seventh year. The selected films by emerging filmmakers will be shown on Sunday, November 14 at 7 p.m. at the Cinéma du Musée. This year’s films are 5:1 by Sara Ben-Saud, a personal yet universally relatable short exploring family dynamics during the pandemic; Casting Nelly by Jérémie Picard, a tribute to Nelly Arcand in the words of the actresses auditioning to play her role; The Future Innu by Stéphane Nepton, a poetic film that sees him walking through the streets of Montreal, his mind a portal to the far-off land where his roots lie; Sœurs by Julia Zahar, a touching and intimate piece that looks at the liberating power of creation; Le Vendeur de Broadway by Simon Larochelle, which follows a charismatic Québécois man selling Christmas trees in Manhattan; and The Southern Wind directed by Aucéane Roux, which examines the surprising transformation of a francophone village in northern Ontario.
INIS: 25 years of documentaries
To celebrate its 25th birthday, INIS presents a screening of some of its best documentaries on Thursday, November 11 at 7 p.m. at the Cinémathèque québécoise, followed by a discussion with INIS directors exploring their films and stories and how documentary cinema has evolved over time. The screening will comprise L’absence qu’il reste (Tobie Fraser), Chevette 83 (Luis Oliva), Of Insects and Men (Helgi Piccinin), Fissure (Eli Jean Tahchi), Floyd (Pierre-Yves Beaulieu), Jo (Carmen Rachiteanu), Le poids de la ressemblance (Marie-Claude Fournier), and Salomé & Joseph (Laurence Dompierre-Major).
Box office
To ensure that access to the program is simple and affordable, several ticketing options are available. Tickets for theatre screenings are $13 each; a $2 discount per ticket applies to purchases of five or more tickets. These tickets can be purchased via the online box office or at the festival’s physical box office at the Cinémathèque québécoise.
For online-only viewing, the RIDM Passport at $85 allows audiences to watch the vast majority of the festival’s films via the enligne.ridm.ca platform from November 14 to 25. Subscriptions for a single block, which covers one third of the online program, are also available at $30. All the details are available on the festival website.
THANK YOU TO THE RIDM’S PARTNERS
The RIDM gratefully acknowledges the support of its valued partners: the Gouvernement du Québec, the ministère de la Culture et des Communications, SODEC, the Secrétariat à la région métropolitaine, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ville de Montréal, Téléfilm Canada, the Conseil des arts de Montréal, Tourisme Montréal, the Centre des Services aux Entreprises – Intégration en emploi (Emploi-Québec), the ministère des Affaires municipales et de l’Habitation, Crave, Canal D, the Canada Media Fund, Télé-Québec, the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), TV5, Radio-Canada, Post-Moderne, the Société civile des auteurs multimédia (SCAM), PRIM, BDO, the Cinémathèque québécoise, and Studio Chop Chop, as well as Benoît Parent and Arthur Gaumont-Marchant.
The RIDM’s 24th edition will be held in theatres from November 10 to 21
at the Cinémathèque québécoise, Cinéma du Parc, Cinéma du Musée,
Centre Pierre-Péladeau, and Cineplex Odeon Quartier Latin,
and online everywhere in Canada from November 14 to 25, 2021
For the past few years Meyer Family Vineyards (MFV) in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley has released a tribute Chardonnay. This time it is a tribute to the late Terry Threlfall a Vancouver born sommelier operating at the time of his death in London. He was 43 when he passed in 2020.
The 2020 Chardonnay vintage was an excellent one. The grapes were from the Old Main Road Vineyard in the Naramata bench in British Columbia. The soil is comprised of alluvial deposits making up a silt loam overlying a clay loam. For most of the ferment it was done in stainless steel vessels and the wine was transferred to French oak (22% new) to complete fermentation. 500 cases were produced.
Yes the oak is noticeable but of sufficient intensity to give the wine character and not overtake it. As for aromas pineapple, guava, tangerine, honey and peach. On the palate the character-building quality of the oak is apparent. The palate is like a shy ballerina looking tiny and delicate but bursting with talent and grace. There is no other way of describing the wine as elegant and very polished. There are notes of tangerine, peach and butterscotch.
I raise up a phrase I have used to describe MFV Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs and that is do not bother spending a bundle for Burgundian counterparts. MFV does it so good. If you are looking for a lightly oaked Chardonnay that is elegant pick up this magnificent Chardonnay.
(Meyer Family Vineyards Okanagan Valley Naramata Bench 2020 Tribute Series Chardonnay-Terry Threfall, BC VQA, Meyer Family Vineyards, Okanagan Falls, British Columbia $ 30.52, 750 mL, 13.5%, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 95/100).
MFV you have done Terry proud! The price may be daunting but given its quality grab a case before the rest of Canada figures out how good it is. Check out the MFV website at https://mfvwines.com/collections/chardonnay
Chris Carson is the winemaker.
This is so good it will be hard to resist consuming it this year. I think it will improve in the bottle over the next three years and hold steady after that until 2028.
I ran into a golfer today who related a semi-sweet story. Several years ago he was golfing with his ageing father at Scarlett Woods Golf Course in Toronto. On the 17th hole Dad smacked a decent drive that hit a sprinkler head from the irrigation system. It took an aggressive forward trajectory resulting in a very pleased Dad who said this was his best drive in ten years. His second shot hit the lip of the bunker and took a crazy bounce 10 feet from the hole! Dad drained the birdie putt and noticed a pain in his left side. His son noticed this and suggested they leave the course. Dad said no as he was on a roll. The 18th hole was a par three and Dad soared past the green hitting a tree behind the green which took a bounce back on the green 5 feet from the hole. Dad putted in for his second birdie as pleased as punch and beaming with delight son and Dad headed home. Son was getting concerned about Dad’s pain thinking it might he a heart attack which it was so off son rushed Dad to the hospital where he died with his last words being “With those birdies I am ready to go.” He then smiled and died. As per his request his ashes were scattered by the tree he hit on the 18th hole.
In Egypt I was cursed, kicked, spat on and shot at. In human eyes I am a simple beast. Why was I thrown out in the street like an old rag? Why did animal control try to shoot and poison me? I can say you are mean fucking bastards. You are lowlife scum and yes you are.
I mean as a dog we are companions to humans and in Egypt guardians of the tombs of the pharaohs! I have the blood of the ancient pharaohs in me but I was treated as some low life scum. You know all we dogs want is to be cared for and if I can be sappy, to be loved.
When I have to go out and pee at 5 in the morning and bark to wake up Bob to take me out that is care and love. And to be taken up in the cold winter to snuggle under the covers that is love. So simple. So very simple but ignored all over the world not only in Egypt but in Canada and the United States.
What have we dogs done to deserve such abusive treatment? We are in your control and you hold our destiny in your hands. We are needing your love and compassion so why do some of you treat us so very badly? By doing so you show us and other caring humans you are not above the animal kingdom. You are scavengers and scum.
So why do you hate us you humans. Is it because we are animals you think are stupid? Excuse me humans. Those of you who abuse us are stupid and cruel. May the curse of the pharaohs visit your house! Those who abuse us are weak and seeking to exhibit power over us dogs.
But listen to me! There are those humans that love us dearly and treat us as a best friend and a precious soul. There are some of those in Egypt that are dedicated and caring so please I am not singling out Egyptians as canine killers. This sub strata of humanity lives throughout the world. For goodness sake in China, Vietnam and the Philippines we are treated as meat.
The beginning of the golf season may be riddled with April frost delays but that is the beginning and the golf hormones are raging. The frost delays creep back in late October and early November. Yes it is like the end of a life of a spawning salmon. Tee-Off times can be delayed anywhere from an hour to 4 hours. The desperation of golfers in the parking lot is evident. No golfer wants to end the season in disgrace and with self loathing. So they pace up and down the parking lot looking like addicts needing a fix of the golf drug. Chugging Tim Horton’s coffee and dreaming of redemption on a final game before winter forces them to head south assuming they can afford it.
At some point you would think that reality will set in. That the golfers will realize just how mediocre they are and one or thirty games will not change that but then again this golf addiction knows no end. There is no overdose or liver damage just self-loathing about the last game or the games before that.
A golf addict lives on hope based on the fix of a golf game. There is no overdose death There is only winter as a Naloxone kit.
I see these poor wretches pacing the parking lot waiting hours for their last mainline injection of golf. As a Marshall I am above this pathetic display but thank goodness Monday is looking good for my game! I am above all this shit. I think I am.
I am sure you have a favourite Christmas classic. Is it National Lampoon’s “Christmas Vacation”? “Home Alone”? “A Christmas Carol”? “White Christmas”? “It’s a Wonderful Life”?
Looking for something new? Might you find it in “See You Next Christmas”?
Annie (Christine Weatherup) and Tom Clark (Vin Vescio) hold their annual Christmas party “Clarkmas” in the film over a seven-year period. Annie’s cousin Natalie (Elizabeth Guest) starts a relationship each year at Clarkmas with Logan (A J Meijer) but it never quite develops into a serious relationship until year seven of Clarkmas where it looks like the sporadic relationship is over until it is suprsingly deepened on New Year’s Eve. Yes romance can be slow to develop.
You might want to classify the film as a romantic comedy but it has more serious angles to it particularly how having children changes one’s life and the changing attendees at Clarkmas…lot’s of children!
Can I take a guess this will not be a Christmas classic? But as such classics go it may be 40 years before we find out. In the meantime a lighthearted look at the evolution of relationships and of the great Clarkmas!
The film will be released on various digital platforms on November 9th.
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 