“The class laughed just as unanimously when the geography teacher talked about Yugoslavia. Today Tito is a “sinister and perfidious enemy”; but it was only two weeks ago that we were shown the film: “In the Mountains of Yugoslavia”, in which Marshal Tito was awarded the Order of Victory as our best friend and faithful ally. The debate about Tito continued during the break, and most of my classmates agreed that his only crime now was his unwillingness to blindly follow the Kremlin’s orders….”
Valdimir Rott, “In Defiance of Fate Book 1 Joy From Sadness”, 2009.
“The abolition of private property killed people’ s desire to create, to take care of themselves, to seek paths to survival and progress. The most essential part of any country’s gross national product-the contribution of each individual’s enthusiasm-was lost. By sending hundreds of thousands of Soviet people to the labour camps, the state tried to make up for this loss by using slave labour.
The logical answer to this situation was a common joke people told each other while looking cautiously over their shoulder:
“What will happen if you build socialism in the Sahara Desert?”
“The first thirty years nothing much. Then there will be acute shortages of sand…”:
Vladimir Rott, “In Defiance of Fate Book 1 Joy From Sadness”, 2009.
Producing single varietal Cabernet Sauvignon in Ontario is a risky business as far as I can see. Most often it is a bland experience but jazzed up with generous oak it just may surprise you.
Shale Ridge is located in Thedford, Ontario proximate to the shores of Lake Huron in Southwest Ontario. Their 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon is unoaked and there is no indication on its label where the grapes used were sourced from but the wine is VQA. This is an unoaked Cabernet Sauvignon. The risk meter is running hot.
Aroma: There is a truckload of lean raspberry and blueberry with secondary blackberry burbling about.
Palate: Tannic. And the lean aromatics become mean on the palate meaning they are lost in space….dissipated. Tartish cranberry intermingled with prevalent chalkiness.
Personality: Which adjective(s) in the review’s title would you choose.
Food Match: Meat lover’s pizza from Poppa John’s Pizza and Diner in Thedford.
“Loathe Thy Neighbor” is a low budget Canadian indie film shot in Bruce County, Ontario.
One can’t deny certain of its comedic elements but it is more of a character study than a comedy. Deeply unhappy characters seldom craft a comedy.
City slicker Will Larkfield (Brennan Clost) inherits a farm from his father who had set himself on fire in a Toronto subway station as after all he always wanted to be the centre of attention. Will has a multitude of allergies and his arrival at the farm is marked by the non-delivery of his EpiPen to neighbour Wanda Bellerose’s apiary. Wanda (Lauren Holly) is a cranky and provocative women with nary a kind or welcoming word for Will the “yuppy”. Valerie (Brittany Raymond), Wanda’s daughter, is a kleptomaniac.
Will, Wanda and Valerie are unhappy and possibly miserable characters masking their unhappiness through burying or camouflaging it through character flaws. We obtain hints of the rationale for their underlying misery but the film fails to delve deeper than this scratch on the surface but searching for that on our part may add some attraction to the film. Why do these characters act against social norms?
Weed smoking Officer Norwood of the local constabulary and the zany delivery lady Daphne lend a comedic bent to the film.
Joe (Shaun Benson) is the somewhat eccentric sage operating like the grassy character median before the East German section of the Berlin Wall.
The miserable, jolly and the wise are the buffet table offering a bit of everything for the viewer.
And yes there is an evil and seedy corporation lurking in the fields oddly uniting these diverse characters.
So disappointing to see that $10 US bill change hands especially in this day and age of strained U.S. Canada relations! And the Americanization of “neighbor” is slap in the face to Canadian viewers?
“Of course this is a very important year 1948. In this year, in the middle of it, I’ll also become a free man. And here, there are two points, listen carefully. Those who are released after their terms inside the USSR can go home on the next train. But here, in the Far East, the law is different. Here, after the release, only an invalid can go straight home: everybody else-now as free citizens-are kept here by the authorities to work in their field, under a contract, for 1-2 more years. An exception can be made only if a man gets a document from home, which proves that his family lives in poverty and needs its provider.”
Valdimir Rott, “In Defiance of Fate Book 1 Joy From Sadness”, 2009.
“The men who surrounded Stalin quickly figured out the rules of the chief’s game and started playing up to him in every way they could, sniffing out suitable “enemies” in their own midst and helping destroy them. Under such arrangement, those who witnessed and participated in the “purges” at the top could not stay alive for long. They “knew too much” and therefore had to be destroyed. The whole thing started to look more and more like a madhouse, a universal insanity… Yet Bernard Shaw and other Western liberals sang the praises of the new regime, their earnest enthusiasm brought on by sudden blindness. The world had never known anything like that before, and no one could believe that such an irrational, bloody way of life could become the foundation for state policies.”
Vladimir Rott, “In Defiance of Fate Book 1 Joy from Sadness”, 2009.
Battersea Wines is a virtual winery operating in the Collab Wine & Beverage collective based in Ontario’s Niagara-on-the-Lake. Currently comprising 12 virtual wineries using shared production facilities and staff.
Battersea Weiss is a blend of Viognier, Marsanne and Pinot Gris.
Aroma: Lemon, Niagara peach, tangerine, pineapple and guava.
Palate: Dry but not bone dry. Approaches a hint of creaminess on the palate. Apricot, Greaves’s apricot jam and muskmelon all in a lively format with a gentle acidity that begs for food.
Personality: Admit it. I am an unusual blend for Niagara. The Pinot Gris in me restrains what could be a tropical temperament. Viognier and Marsanne are not widely “comfortable grapes” for Ontario consumers so I am a bit brave.
Food Match: Lake Erie perch or pickerel fish and chip style! Cornish hen/pork ribs/rabbit grilled with peach bbq sauce but hurry as soon Niagara peaches have a bad habit of mealiness in late August and September.
Cellarbility: Go up to your Christmas turkey in 2025!
Price: $26 CDN.
RKS 2025 CANADIAN Wine Rating: 89/100. Wine Align Community Score 90.
“Once they had seized power in Russia, the Bolsheviks began to direct all of their energy and all of the country’s wealth toward a single goal: to stay in power, to keep power in their hands. Hence the instant rise of the Great Terror, the suppression and destruction of not only actual but even potential, possible dissent or resistance. Lenin started it. Stalin, who seized supreme power by means of incredible cunning and a gangster’s perfidy was obsessed day and night with crushing everyone under his dictatorial boot. Stalin didn’t care which of his closest associates from his inner circle to send to their deaths-let them all live in constant fear. It’s an old gangster trick: beat up your own, so that others will fear you as well.”
Vladimir Rott, “In Defiance of Fate Book 1 Joy From Sadness”, 2009.
If there was it would have to be a wine that continually delivers in quality and sensory satisfaction irrespective of price.
From a Niagara, Ontario perspective we might suggest Cabernet Franc as a reliable wine. In British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley we might say Pinot Noir. From Portugal’s Douro we might suggest Touriga Franca/ Touriga Nacional. We could continue with such a list for many pages.
For Greece a reliable red I have encountered is Agiorgitiko. Damn near impossible to pronounce.
We try a Nemea Wine Cooperative Agiorgitiko. The cooperative was founded in 1937 and now has some 400 members. The wine was matured for 12 months in French oak.
Aroma: Black cherry, cassis, blackberry and notes of the arid summer Greek countryside.
Palate: Rich black fruit avoiding jamminess with the right amount of acidity and judicious use of oak. Hints of anise. Tinge of pepper on a moderately long yet full finish.
Personality: Admit it! My Agiorgitiko buddies and I rarely disappoint unlike Xinomavro with its roaring tannins requiring careful ageing. Call me everyday if you wish. Call me a mutt with so many growers in my blood. Sticks and stones won’t break my bones!
Food Match: Stewed lamb shank or goat or okra simmered in a rich tomato sauce.
Russia-a wealthy country with a highly educated population, a country that had peacefully gotten rid of serfdom and was on a path of rapid, successful industrial development-was handed over to the Bolsheviks without a real struggle. The Russian intelligentsia, the nation’s brain, underestimated the danger and allowed a great country which had been drawn into the global slaughterhouse of World War I to descend into complete anarchy and lawlessness-until power was seized by a group of ignorant, brutal, greedy people using the Marxian idea as a cover. It’s hard to say how sincere the Bolsheviks were about building a utopia of universal equality, and whether they had the faintest idea of what it meant.”
Vladimir Rott, “In Defiance of Fate Book 1 Joy From Sadness”, 2009.
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