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My friend Tracey WINOLJ and i took advantage of a 2 for 1 movie coupon i had and used it last night, on it's last day of validity! We went to see Bottle Shock which is about wine and Napa Valley and has Alan Rickman in it. It wasn't a big, dynamic movie, just a nice little one. I liked it but i think it could have been better. It's based on a true story, of a blind wine tasting event in Paris in the 70s that a California winery won, to the shock and surprise of ... well.. the world, really. It's based on a winery in California, run by a man who used to be a lawyer, from what i can tell and then decided in to buy a vineyard and make the perfect bottle of Chardonnay. He and his son, Bo, always seem to be at odds. Bo is drifting through life, he parties, he loves women but he does know a fair bit about wine. They take out their frustrations in a makeshift boxing ring, Bo usually being on the losing end but getting a few licks in just the same. Bill, the father, is divorced and his ex wife, we find out, is now with one of his former law firm partners so there's resentment and anger there and a lot of frustration as the winery eats up more and more of the bank's money.
Enter into the story, Steven Spurrier, a British man who has a wine shop in Paris. He's most definitely knowledgeable about wines to the point of being a wine snob who thinks nobody can make a better bottle of wine than the French but his little business is suffering too and stories of the upstart California vineyards are starting to drift across the pond. He decides to set up a blind wine tasting contest and visits Napa Valley to see if there are any wines that might possibly be good enough to be entered. Mainly, then, we see him driving around to the vineyards and asking to taste the wines and he's maining on the periphery of the storyline. Bill Barrett has no intentions of allowing his wine to be entered but his son has other ideas.
Actually some of the smaller parts were the ones that wished they'd done more with. There's also Freddy Rodriguez as Gustavo, who works with the Barretts but is secretly making his own vintage. Gustavo grew up in Napa and has winemaking in his blood. Sam is the pretty blonde new intern that comes to work with the Barretts and there doesn't seem to really be much reason for her to be there that i could see other than the obligatory love interest. They could have done more with her. I think it would have been good to have more storyline between Gustavo and the Barretts but that's not what the movie was about. The owner of the neighbouring shop in Paris, Maurice (Dennis Farina) was good as was the female bartender in the local bar, Jo who, if i was a bloke, i'd have found hotter than blonde Sam. Apparently she was Faith in the Buffy and Angel series.
Still, it wasn't all that bad. Nice scenery. Alan Rickman. Good friend to go see it with. Half price. Worked for me!
Last day at work. Vacation starts tomorrow! Have a pedicure at lunchtime. Pick up the rental car tomorrow. Need groceries and wine and cider and a coffee maker. I lost mine. I know, I know! How can you lose a coffee maker? But i can't find it. It's a small one. I've got the coffee pot, just not the maker. I'm sure i took it out of the cupboard to make room but no idea where i stashed it. I only just bought it a year ago March when my old one died.
Federal Election in Canada in October. The mud slinging has begun. The Conservatives (yes, the ruling party at the moment) had a website up that showed a bird crapping on the Liberal leader's shoulder *smirk* They took it down quick but not before it hit the national media. The PM apologized for it and the Tories vaguely blamed it on young web developers having a joke. Yeah right. The television networks weren't going to let the leader of the Green party in on the tv debates because she hasn't anyone in an elected seat in Parliament. However, she does have one seat, an Independent that joined the Greens and she *is* the leader. A couple of the other party leaders, including the PM, didn't seem to think she would have contributed significantly either. There's been such a stink that they've let her in. She's been hollering about the Good Old Boys' Network and it's been in the media daily. Oh, ok, you can play. They don't take her very seriously. Ok, it's not as if the Green Party was in with any sort of chance of winning the election and running the country but so what? They're running a candidate in most of the ridings across the country. That's serious enough for me.
Enter into the story, Steven Spurrier, a British man who has a wine shop in Paris. He's most definitely knowledgeable about wines to the point of being a wine snob who thinks nobody can make a better bottle of wine than the French but his little business is suffering too and stories of the upstart California vineyards are starting to drift across the pond. He decides to set up a blind wine tasting contest and visits Napa Valley to see if there are any wines that might possibly be good enough to be entered. Mainly, then, we see him driving around to the vineyards and asking to taste the wines and he's maining on the periphery of the storyline. Bill Barrett has no intentions of allowing his wine to be entered but his son has other ideas.
Actually some of the smaller parts were the ones that wished they'd done more with. There's also Freddy Rodriguez as Gustavo, who works with the Barretts but is secretly making his own vintage. Gustavo grew up in Napa and has winemaking in his blood. Sam is the pretty blonde new intern that comes to work with the Barretts and there doesn't seem to really be much reason for her to be there that i could see other than the obligatory love interest. They could have done more with her. I think it would have been good to have more storyline between Gustavo and the Barretts but that's not what the movie was about. The owner of the neighbouring shop in Paris, Maurice (Dennis Farina) was good as was the female bartender in the local bar, Jo who, if i was a bloke, i'd have found hotter than blonde Sam. Apparently she was Faith in the Buffy and Angel series.
Still, it wasn't all that bad. Nice scenery. Alan Rickman. Good friend to go see it with. Half price. Worked for me!
Last day at work. Vacation starts tomorrow! Have a pedicure at lunchtime. Pick up the rental car tomorrow. Need groceries and wine and cider and a coffee maker. I lost mine. I know, I know! How can you lose a coffee maker? But i can't find it. It's a small one. I've got the coffee pot, just not the maker. I'm sure i took it out of the cupboard to make room but no idea where i stashed it. I only just bought it a year ago March when my old one died.
Federal Election in Canada in October. The mud slinging has begun. The Conservatives (yes, the ruling party at the moment) had a website up that showed a bird crapping on the Liberal leader's shoulder *smirk* They took it down quick but not before it hit the national media. The PM apologized for it and the Tories vaguely blamed it on young web developers having a joke. Yeah right. The television networks weren't going to let the leader of the Green party in on the tv debates because she hasn't anyone in an elected seat in Parliament. However, she does have one seat, an Independent that joined the Greens and she *is* the leader. A couple of the other party leaders, including the PM, didn't seem to think she would have contributed significantly either. There's been such a stink that they've let her in. She's been hollering about the Good Old Boys' Network and it's been in the media daily. Oh, ok, you can play. They don't take her very seriously. Ok, it's not as if the Green Party was in with any sort of chance of winning the election and running the country but so what? They're running a candidate in most of the ridings across the country. That's serious enough for me.
