Art & Life for October 2005

Photo of the Month

October is spooky! Ghosts and ghostly images!!

(Thanks Grant - it's an awesome photograph!)

Oh the humanity of it all…

This month's featured humanity is Culture:

I had the pleasure of attending a wine-tasting evening created by Sandi Marques of Cork and Karma. It was after an extremely stressful week and a not-so-great day, and even as I was heading out for my night on the town with Miss Margot, I felt like turning around and going home. I'm so glad I didn't. If I had I would have missed out on a lively evening replete with wine factoids and info. I even got to sniff little vials of horse, rotting earth, sulphur and cork. It's not every day that I get to do that. Although perhaps I should make the effort...but I digress. I failed miserably in the "guess the country" quiz, but that is beside the point. It was a first step toward discovering more about this living, breathing, enchanting libation called wine... So I highly recommend that everyone discover their sixth sense - for wine!

Wine of the Month

Sauvignon Blanc Taltarni Victoria Australia 2004

From the Pyrenees mountain district of Victoria, in southeastern Australia, about 160 miles northwest of Melbourne, this wine has big-bang, vibrant citrus and grapefruit flavours and just a dash of pineapple on the nose (and maybe a bit of fresh mowed grass?). The instant gratification of the zinging acid adds to create a perfect mouth-filling wine. Perhaps, too summery for October, but I enjoyed it, nevertheless! Cool label to boot. 3.5 stars (out of 5) $21

Vigna Faset Abbona Barbaresco Italie 1998

One word - yum!! This wine was shared at a friend's cottage, celebrating her birthday, while sitting on an expansive deck overlooking beautiful Lake Kushog. We sampled this delight from Piedmont and toasted our friend B. The wine was smooooooooooooth. It's got a big, round bouquet, and is velvety-smooth in the mouth. The tasting notes mentioned ripe black fruit, dark chocolate and burnt wood. Yep, it was all that and more. 4+ stars (out of 5) $47.50

Cool Sites for Wasting Time

Steve - Don't Eat It!
Steve's descriptions of various highly-suspect food products are amazing.
Garden Bubble Cam
Got some time to kill and don't know what to do? Press a button and view the streaming video of a backyard in Florida to see big bubbles float past the webcam.
Liquid Sculptures

Wow. Wow. Wow.

Stuff That Disturbs Me

As much as I love TV --and anyone who claims not to is in denial!!-- there is an equal amount of it that disturbs me. I'll spare you from my usual "the-(super-amplified)-poor-behaviour-seen-on-television-is-projected-back-to-society-and-in-turn,-society-takes-its-cue-from-this-surrogate-reality" routine, which often coincides with my "TV-as-a-single-window-of-communication-and-the-dominate-US-world-view" rant. So, what's buggin' me?

• The live coverage of a potentially fatal plane crash. The concept of news as entertainment really sickens me.
• That dreadful Pepto-Bismal (Pepto-Abysmal) gastric-horror, diarrhea conga-line dance. So stunningly tasteless and incredibly tacky and gross.

 And lastly --for this month anyway-- what's up with the freaky Burger King ads? They completely weird me out. The oversized plastic mask on "The King" is just unsettling and disturbing. But I suppose it is better than their last batch that featured a plastic surgeon and big prosthetic hand, presumably to sever some guy's real hand so he can hold the burger. Now, there's an idea to run with…sigh, who gets paid for these atrocities?

Stuff I Love

This month? This month I am grooving on:

• Big woolly sweaters
• I'm in retro mode, and listening to some of my old favourites lately, including...
• Mimi on the Beach (1984) by the awesome Jane Siberry

the great leveller is coming
and he's not going to stop to take your pulse
and he's not going to ask you why you're the way you are
and I think that's the worst part
you never get a chance to explain yourself

• Part-Time Punks by Youth, Youth, Youth
• Blitzkrieg Bop by The Hygiene Club
• The coffee at BU (Arcaffè) To die for!!!!!! (Okay, okay - I love the wines there too!)

Next Archive

Previous Archive

SEO Resources
B(abble)log
Art & Life

Search!

Archives

February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005