Of Wine, Starbucks, and the Academy

Dee and I spent a whole Saturday in Napa Valley this past weekend. We had a wonderful time going from 1 winery to the next and sampling some really expensive wine. The experience was exciting and a bit intimidating as well. I guess people who tour the wine country are folks who have a lot of money. Also, we’re not very experienced at it compared to some of the tourists we met. It’s so easy for someone to spend $100 at just 1 stop. The average fee for tasting is $10 and the price for a bottle ranges from $16 up to $300. We asked one of the hosts what makes a bottle of wine so expensive and she said, "You do." Yes, wine is expensive because the public is willing to pay outrageous amounts of money for a bottle of pinot, merlot, sauvignon blanc, etc … In any event, it was a fascinating experience. I really learned a lot and it made me appreciate wine even more. I know a lot of you out there are beer-drinkers, but a wine tour is definitely something I would recommend to anyone.
Recommend: Silver Oak Cellars, Peju Province Winery

On the way home yesterday, my front passenger side door was damaged at a Vallejo plaza parking lot. (I was sitting in the passenger side. Dee was driving). I opened my door without looking first to see if there was an on-coming car ready to take the space beside ours. Sure enough, as I swung my door open, the other car hit my door. I now have a 3inch dent on the bottom of my front passenger door. May this be a lesson kids, just because you’re excited to get coffee at Starbuck’s, you should still be aware of your surroundings. Luckily, I had no injuries except for a humiliated ego. Also, the coffee tasted bland because of the accident.

No big surprises in last night’s Academy Awards. Million Dollar Baby is a great movie. Out of the other Best Picture nominees I saw, Sideways & Ray, Clint Eastwood’s film was a cut above both of them. Jamie Foxx deserved the Best Actor nod although I was also pulling for Clint Eastwood. Morgan Freeman finally got a well-deserved Oscar, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if Thomas Hayden-Church won for Sideways. Hillary Swank made me a believer in her after seeing Million Dollar Baby. I can’t envision another actress portraying that role in such a convincing manner. Natalie Portman’s character in Closer was the most compelling, but the movie was so over-rated – no surprise that Cate Blanchett won in her category. As for the show as a whole, I thought it was quite boring. Chris Rock was excellent though. But, the speeches were lame as usual.
Note to celebrities: Stop thanking people we don’t know or care about. And when the music starts, that means that your time is up and the Viagra commercial is standing by.

Quotes of the Day

"The Republican convention started this past weekend, so don't forget to turn your clocks back four hundred years."
-Jay Leno

"Too bad all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxi cabs and cutting hair."
- (The late) George Burns

"There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again."
- George Bush (who else?)


Quotes Courtesy of "Sound Bites" Daily Calendar

A Surprising Turn of Events ...

... for the heavy-metal band, Korn. Read more ...

This is another story that shows the importance of Faith in one's life. Fame and money can't bring us happiness when our soul is not pure.

Being Roger Ebert

Looking for some good videos to watch over this long weekend? Here are some that I’ve seen recently – some I highly recommend and some you should just stay away from. Enjoy!

THE GOOD
Saw – Not for the faint of heart. A very intense and well thought out thriller, but it’s the surprise ending that made this film unforgettable. Grade: A+
Close Your Eyes – Twisted, thrilling, and grotesque. Any movie that involves an eyeball is definitely a must-see. Grade: A (Overall), A+ (For its creepiness factor)
Ray – An extremely good film and a well-deserved Oscar nominee. Foxx did a great job. My only complaint: it was too long and it ended abruptly. Grade: A
Cellular – Surprisingly entertaining. Beneath the car chases and the chaos is a pretty good plot and enough surprises to keep everyone happy. Grade: A-
Bourne Supremacy – My head is still spinning. Grade: B
Manchurian Candidate – After seeing the whole 2-hours of this, I’m still confused. Thrills and chills included. Grade: B
The Notebook – An absolutely heartbreaking movie. Fairly well written. A must-see for all you hopeless romantics. Grade: B

THE BAD
The Village – A good drama about secrets and deception, but it’s a below average thriller - pretty disappointing. Grade: B-
Shark Tale – This movie got an Oscar nod for "best animated feature"? It had its moments but the story is below average at best. Plus, the art and animation is not that impressive. Grade: C+
Anacondas – What good fun! This movie reminded me of the last 2 installments of Jurassic Park. No plot – just good ol’ fashion animal versus human carnage. Grade: C+

THE UGLY
The Core – I ordered this free movie from On Demand cable – I’m glad it was free. This movie is so unreal and so over-the-top. Armageddon had nothing compared to this plot. Grade: C-
Wimbledon – Eliminate the "corny" love story and you have a pretty darn good tennis movie. The matches were visually entertaining. Grade: C-
Shall We Dance? – About as boring as a movie could be. Even J-Lo couldn’t save this one. Grade: D-
Wicker Park – Let’s put it this way, after the first 30 minutes, I turned the DVD player off. Grade: F

More thoughts on the Oscar nominations:
Death to the Academy for leaving off Paul Giamatti as a Best Actor nominee! Shame, shame, shame! The guy should have been nominated for American Splendor in last year’s Oscar as well. Where’s the respect?

Music's Biggest Night (mare)

Bono said that this year's award show was the best he's ever seen. I disagree. As in any award show, I saw plenty of hits and misses. Here they are:

Hit: Queen Latifah hosting
Miss: Queen Latifah performing

Hit: U2 winning a Grammy
Miss: U2’s performance. Should have stuck with "Vertigo" guys.

Hit: John Mayer's "Daughters"
Miss: It won for song of the year over Alicia Keys's song? I love you John, but Alicia should have gotten that award.

Hit: James Brown performing with Usher
Miss: Usher performing with James Brown

Hit: Green Day’s "American Idiot" performance and for winning a Grammy. Finally, they’re now considered real artists. Many believed that they actually saved rock n’ roll this year. Cheers!
Miss: The Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute. Yup, rock n’ roll’s dead.

Hit: Melissa Ethridge and Joss Stone’s tribute to Janis Joplin
Miss: Gwen Stefani and Eve’s tribute to themselves

Hit: Alicia Keys and Jamie Foxx’s duet.
Miss: J-Lo and Marc Anthony’s duet. Excruciatingly painful to watch.

Hit: Black Eyed Peas
Miss: "Let’s Get It Started" – enough already!

Hit: Performace by Kanye West
Miss: Angel wings on Kanye West

Hit: 8 wins for the much beloved Ray Charles
Miss: It came too late.

Biggest Hit: Alicia Keys – the best performance by far. She’s awesome!
Biggest Miss: The rendition of "Across the Universe" by Stevie Wonder, Bono, Velvet Revolver and company. Horrendous and sloppy! Did they even rehearse for that?

Link: Mac's thoughts on last night's Grammy Awards

Tidbits

Tim Goodman, one of my favorite Chronicle writers, wrote an interesting and funny column in today’s Chronicle about Jennifer Garner. Quite frankly, I don’t understand America’s fascination with the show Alias and Jennifer Garner. I enjoyed her in 13 Going on 30, but that’s about it. She’s very charming, but not as HOT as most men think she is. The same goes with the following, in my opinion: Janet Jackson, Brittney Spears, Christina Aguillera, Tara Reid, Sharon Stone, and the Hilton sisters. All are very over-rated and overexposed.

I’ve been enjoying the music of John Mayer recently. The guy’s a true prodigy. Don’t believe me? See him live.

The Warriors have lost 17 of 20. A season filled with hope and optimism has crashed and burned under Montgomery’s wing. As a suffering fan for about 12 years now, I continue to remain hopeful. Although, I believe I will die an old man without seeing the Warriors win another championship. Life is cruel.

Quote of the Day:
"My esteem in this country has gone up substantially. It is very nice now when people wave at me, they use all their fingers."
- Jimmy Carter

Quote of the Day

"Politics and the fate of mankind are formed by men without ideals and without greatness. Those who have greatness within them do not go into politics."

- Albert Camus, French writer
(Quote courtesy of Soundbites daily desk calendar)

My Response To ...

... the President's State of the Union Address:

GEORGE: Tonight, with a healthy, growing economy, with more Americans going back to work, with our nation an active force for good in the world, the state of our union is confident and strong.

DAVE M: We have a healthy, growing economy? Where? Lay-offs are still rampant. Businesses are still closing down. Oh George, you’re such a kidder.

GEORGE : America's economy is the fastest growing of any major industrialized nation. In the past four years, we have provided tax relief to every person who pays income taxes, overcome a recession, opened up new markets abroad, prosecuted corporate criminals, raised homeownership to the highest level in history, and in the last year alone, the United States has added 2.3 million new jobs.

DAVE M: Man, where do I even start. You’ve provided tax relief, but not to EVERY person. We are still in the middle of a recession (once we stop losing jobs, then you can say we’re ok). We’ve prosecuted corporate criminals? Who? ENRON doesn’t count, that was back in 2003. Oh, you were probably referring to Martha Stewart … nice catch Mr. President. The U.S. may have added 2.3 million jobs, BUT how much did we lose? And, what kind of jobs are being added?

GEORGE: My budget substantially reduces or eliminates more than 150 government programs that are not getting results, or duplicate current efforts, or do not fulfill essential priorities. The principle here is clear: A taxpayer dollar must be spent wisely, or not at all.

DAVE M: Finally, a wise decision. There is a lot of dead weight out there.

GEORGE: To make our economy stronger and more productive, we must make health care more affordable, and give families greater access to good coverage, and more control over their health decisions.

DAVE M: Easier said than done. But, a good start Georgie Boy!

GEORGE on Social Security: The system, however, on its current path, is headed toward bankruptcy. And so we must join together to strengthen and save Social Security.
As we fix Social Security, we also have the responsibility to make the system a better deal for younger workers. And the best way to reach that goal is through voluntary personal retirement accounts.

DAVE M: Isn’t that why we have 401k plans? If the system is broke, fix it. Just don’t abandon it. And, privatization is not the answer.

GEORGE: Our nation, working with allies and friends, has also confronted the enemy abroad, with measures that are determined, successful and continuing. The al-Qaida terror network that attacked our country still has leaders but many of its top commanders have been removed.

DAVE M: Really? Top commanders? But you still don’t have Osama. That’s like saying, "We captured Lex Luthor’s henchmen – SUCCESS"! You’re funny, George.

GEORGE: Our country is still the target of terrorists who want to kill many and intimidate us all, and we will stay on the offensive against them until the fight is won.

DAVE M: Don’t you mean, "stay on the defensive?" That's why it's called, Department of Defense.

GEORGE: America will stand with the allies of freedom to support democratic movements in the Middle East and beyond, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.

DAVE M: Yeah, but will our ALLIES continue to stand with us? Or, should I say, "What allies"?

GEORGE: The United States has no right, no desire and no intention to impose our form of government on anyone else. That is one of the main differences between us and our enemies.

DAVE M: So, invading Iraq and "spreading democracy" over there wasn’t meant to impose. I didn’t know that we were invited to invade?

GEORGE: We will not set an artificial timetable for leaving Iraq, because that would embolden the terrorists and make them believe they can wait us out.

DAVE M: Actually, there’s no timetable because there’s no exit plan. There wasn’t one from the beginning and there won’t be anytime soon.

DAVE M: Yay! Four more years of this! Yay!

Perks

One of our new clients, Extreme Pizza, delivered 3 extra large pizzas and a large bowl of salad to our office yesterday. Total worth: $103.00. Extreme Pizza is brand new to the Walnut Creek area, and the owner was kind enough to treat us with delicious pizza free of charge. Man, I haven’t had good pizza like that in a long time. What a way to promote a restaurant! Anyway, the one benefit of being a Chronicle employee is that we get these little perks every once in a while – from free food and movie passes to concert, sports, and theater tickets. As a matter of fact, I attended Game5 of the World Series back in 2002, courtesy of the Chronicle. I took one of my aunts to see Beauty and the Beast at the Orpheum Theater for free. The Chronicle was responsible for my first 49er game. I saw James Taylor & Lenny Kravitz live via Chronicle seats. I’ve seen Warrior games "luxury" style from the Chronicle suite at the Coliseum. I love these perks! If only they could get U2 tickets for me, I’d die a happy man. Thanks Chronicle!