Wine as a Hobby
Earlier this year, I made the conscious decision to take up wine as a hobby. I consider myself fairly lucky on that front, as Emily’s parents are also enjoy wine, which gives me the opportunity to try a lot more than I’d normally have the opportunity to try. This also means I get to look over older issues of various wine magazines and the like when they are done with them. Saves me the money that I’d potentially spend on these sorts of things, especially given my track record with reading magazines.
However, I did invest in a book about wine (Wine for Dummies, if you must know), which I have read bits and pieces of to help me understand various wine terminologies as I come up to things I don’t quite understand. Even though I’ve been doing reading on wine and all that sort of thing - I’m still not all that sophisticated in my tasting of the actual products.
I can follow the ‘procedure’ for wine tasting, but when it comes right down to it, I’m not really that good at describing the taste or smell of the wine that I’m tasting. It could just be experience (or lack of). I don’t know. It doesn’t bother me all that much though. When it comes right down to it, either I like the wine or I don’t.
So, with that said, I’ve recently had a few wines that I’d like to recommend to you.
First is from Cono Sur’s Viognier (2007) from Chile. I really enjoyed this wine. I found it to be very easy to drink. Can’t beat the price either as it goes for around $12.
I also had an inkling for a Rose (and by that, I mean it was hot out and I didn’t really want a white). Emily picked out a bottle from Capcanes Montsant, Mas Donis Roset 2007 (~$23) from Spain for me, and I was quite pleased with it. I enjoyed drinking this wine, though I did note that the flavor could have been a bit fuller.
Finally, I think I’ve noted this wine before, but Gazela’s Vinho Verde (2007, Portugal) is really enjoyable. A slight carbonation makes the wine tickle your tongue in very good ways. Another easy drinking wine that is excellent for enjoying with people on a patio. Again, very affordable, ~$13.
So, I like my wine. Maybe I can’t tell you what flavors I taste or smell, but I don’t care and neither should you.
Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog
So, I almost missed this.
Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog
You have until the end of today to watch it. I recommend you do so.
My other writing
I haven’t had much going on that I’ve felt the need to post here about since my last update, but I’ve been fairly busy doing posts elsewhere or running games for people.
As I mentioned a few posts ago, I’ve started a new blog Reviews from a Dead Planet, where I will be posting my game reviews from now on. I’ve most recently reviewed Don’t Rest Your Head and prior to that was a review of the near final copy of Hot War. I think both games are very cool. If you want to know more, give the reviews a read.
Secondly, I’ve decided to run a series of interviews with a variety of independent gaming publishers over at Canadian Geek. The first in that series was posted today, which was an interview with Tom McLaughlin of Mind Storm Labs. I’ve got several in the hopper, so keep your eyes peeled there for more in the future.
Secrets of the Galaxy has had its third session and is going very well. The wiki is slowly being updated to reflect the ongoing actions of the campaign. I’m very excited about how well things are going so far and I look forward to seeing how things turn out.
Last night I ran my first session of Rippers, which was just character creation. It will be run as a drop-in game, so whomever shows, shows. It should be alot of fun, especially with the wide variety of characters we have so far.
So, that is pretty much all I’ve got right now.
Going to Vegas in 41 days or so.
Cherry Wine?
Recently, I picked up a bottle of Elephant Island Cherry (2007). That’s right, a wine made from cherries rather than grapes. In fact, all of Elephant Island’s products are made with fruits other than grapes.
I had heard good things through my interweb travels about this producer, so I decided I’d check them out. Originally, I was looking for the Black Currant (2006), due to the good review in my Top 100 under $20 book, however, I found the 2007 Cherry and Black Currant at Aligra in West Edmonton Mall. Intrigued by the Cherry, I opted for that bottle instead. I also picked up a bottle of Moselland Riesling Avantgarde (I can’t recall the Vintage), mostly because the bottle was too cool looking not to buy.
Before I get back to the wine, I’d like to note the enjoyment I received from shopping at Aligra Wine and Spirits. The individual that was working at Aligra was very helpful in helping me select a Scotch to purchase for my Dad for Father’s Day. He hasn’t received it yet, so I can’t vouch for the reliability of the advice. She did note that the bottle I did purchase was well received at the Scotch tasting they had a few days prior to my visit.
Anyway, the wine. I’m really unsure what to think. The first glasses I had was pretty average in my opinion. It tasted like cherries. I certainly wasn’t blown away. The next day, I had a couple more glasses. It was really tasty, I quite enjoyed drinking it. So, perhaps the food pairing the first night wasn’t quite right, or the pairing on the second night was perfect. I don’t really know. Maybe it tastes better as it sits open in the fridge (which I doubt). If you want to give something different a try, Elephant Island Cherry is definitely that. I don’t think I’ll be buying another bottle of this one, but I’m definitely still on the prowl for their other offerings.
Also, I’ve posted a new recipie, Stuffed Pork Chops. I hope you enjoy it, I certainly did.
Reviews from a Dead Planet
Its been recommended to me that I move my game reviews to a dedicated site, so I’m doing so. I’ll still post them here, but they will be posted on a ‘time delay’, so that the review site is the first stop for game reviews.
Here’s the link:
Philosophy is Over and an Exciting Weekend!
I’ve got a very exciting weekend coming up.
Before the weekend starts however, I have the final ‘midterm’ for my Philosophy class. I know I was complaining earlier about how philosophy hurts my brain (which it does), but I’m really glad I had the opportunity to take the class. I was able to learn a few new things and I was also able to find ways to help understand why I hold certian beliefs and defend things that I believe. I’m sort of disapointed that the course is over, as there are several subjects that we didn’t have the opportunity to cover that I feel would have been really interesting to cover (for example, we only had a single class on Metaphysics).
The course itself was presented in an interesting manner, utilizing popular movies to illustrate philosophical concepts, which I think really helped solidify my understanding. The movies that we watched were “Waking Life”, “The Matrix”, “Bruce Almighty”, and “Being John Malkovich”. I really enjoyed the format and I am disapointed that we were not able to cover “The Matrix Reloaded” and the metaphysical concepts that are presented there, as I think that potentially could be extremely interesting.
Onto this weekend!
Saturday is Free RPG Day. What is it? Much like Free Comic Book Day, members of the industry prepare special items to give away to help introduce the hobby to a new generation. This is the second year of the event and I hope that it becomes as successful as its comic counterpart. I’ve been organizing events at Happy Harbor Comics volume 2 and 3 to assist with the flow of the day. If you’ve ever had the inclination to give an RPG a try, please come out. We have short (1-2 hour) games running throughout the day using various different settings, which barely scratches the surface of what is being given away (or what is available).
On Sunday, Emily and I are going to Cirque du Soleil’s Saltimbanco, which is very exciting. We have fantastic seats, which I’m really hoping work well. This will be my third Cirque show, the others being La Nouba and Varekai. I’ve really enjoyed the other shows I’ve seen, so this should be no different. Also, later this summer, Emily and I will be seeing O during our trip to Las Vegas.
Anyway, I’m going to have a busy weekend, but it should be some fun.
The Moscow Connection
Last night, I had the opportunity to run my first game using the Savage Worlds (Test Drive Rules) ruleset. For the game, I decided to run one of the “One-Sheets” that are provided Pinnacle entitled “The Moscow Connection”. The premise of the game is that the head of the American branch of the Petrovich crime family, Alexy Petrovich, has a problem. He was directed to ensure a particular container would clear customs and have it delivered to its destination by 6am tomorrow. Alexy was able to get his cousin a job at the docks, ensuring that the deal would go down smoothly. The ship was due hours ago, but Alexy has not heard from his cousin and he isn’t answering his cell. Its 11:30pm and Alexy needs to get the cargo to its destination, or his family will face dire consequences.
I don’t want to write out the entire session, but I did want to give a few notes about Savage Worlds.
First, the card based initative is FANTASTIC. Each round, all involved in combat are delt a card. The GM then runs through the ranks (A through 2, jokers are wild!) with actions. So with this mechanic, you might be last in one round but first in the next. I think it leads to a fantastic way to keep combat fresh and exciting.
Second, the system itself is exactly what it describes itself as. FAST! FURIOUS! FUN! Conflict resolution is extremely quick. The possibility for character death is very real.
I’d like to do up a bit of a better review of the system, but I’d like to give it a go through using a different setting, just to give the rest of the rules a try. The system is designed to handle anything you throw at it. From what I’ve seen in the rules, it does that with ease. Pinnacle does a great job supporting the game with free one-sheets and other downloadable content and providing some extremely interesting settings. The fan community has converted pretty much anything you can think of to work with Savage Worlds. Third-party products also look very interesting.
In short, Savage Worlds is awesome.
Alternative Novel Distribution
The authors Scott Sigler and David Wellington get how to use the internet to get people excited about their work. While I’m not 100% sure that they developed their methods of content delivery for the same reasons, but they’ve been able to become quite successful at their craft through these innovative methods of reaching an audience.
If you’re not familiar with their works, allow me to provide a brief overview for each author. Interestingly enough, both authors write horror - I’m not sure if that fact is relevant or not, but its an interesting point.
Scott Sigler is known for releasing serial podcasts of his novels prior to their release in print. His offerings include EarthCore, Ancestor, and Infection/Infected. I’ve listened to EarthCore (and I’m anxiously awaiting EarthCore 2) as well as Ancestor. I recommend both, but I think EarthCore was stronger. I found out about Sigler’s books through another podcast that featured a lot of New Media.
David Wellington is known for releasing his novels as serials on individual ‘novel blogs’. His offerings include the Monster Trilogy, 13 Bullets and Plague Zone. I’m currently reading Monster Island, the first book in the Trilogy, but Emily quite enjoyed the ones she’s read. We discovered Wellington’s work when we were browsing the horror section at Chapters.
What I like about these authors is that even though they’ve found commercial success, they continue to stick to the model they found their success through. Even though the books are being given away for free (in an ebook, audiobook or as a blog story) when they are released in the book store, they still sell very well. These authors have successfully used New Media to find a wide audience, which have shown them great loyalty and allowed them to enjoy success selling physical copies of their books.
If you like horror/thrillers, give these authors a try. I’m quite satisfied with what I’ve read so far and I look forward to their new works.
The Secrets of the Galaxy
Last weekend I had the opportunity to begin The Secrets of the Galaxy, which is my first face-to-face RPG campaign. I’ve been really excited about it, ever since I was approached with the possibility of running such a game at the beginning of the year (wow, that was nearly 6 months ago!). As I’m comfortable with the rules for Jedi in the Star Wars Saga Edition, it was the perfect opportunity to run an adventure set in the Old Republic.
I’ve set up an wiki where I can keep track of everything in the game and to provide my players with some sort of ‘guidebook’ that will help them remember key information about what has happened and the like. It needs to be populated with some more data, I just haven’t had the time to do it properly.
Anyway, the first session went very well and I’m really excited to see how everything plays out.
Philosophy
I’m definately not cut out to be a philosopher. It hurts my brain.
