The Artist or Singin' in the Rain? Singin' in the Rain.

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My Mac's Dictionary app has this entry for "trifle":

trifle |ˈtrīfəl|

noun

1 a thing of little value or importance : we needn't trouble the headmaster over such trifles.

• [in sing. ] a small amount of something : the thousand yen he'd paid seemed the merest trifle.

2 BRIT. a cold dessert of sponge cake and fruit covered with layers of custard, jelly, and cream.

Those are separate definitions.  The British definition (#2) can be for something that is very rich, delicious, and memorable.  The first (U.S.-specific) definition has a disposable connotation.

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When we popped The Artist into the DVD player, I thought the film was going to be Definition #2 Trifle.  But instead it was a Definition #1 Trifle.

Though I am a silent film fan who hates musicals, I must say if you want to watch a film about a Douglas Fairbanks-type silent film actor who struggles with the transition to sound film while the perky ingenue he bumps into seems more suited than he to the new movies, rent Singin' in the Rain.

Also, Cyd Charisse

Singin' in the Rain is funny, very smart, post-modern before post-modernism, and always entertaining.  The Artist is about a man deeply blinded by his own misery and the woman who supposedly loves him but is at best a creepy stalker and at worst a succubus.  Without the cute dog, it would have been a melodrama, not a comedy.

Jean Dujardin's George Valentin goes from Fairbanks to self-pitying alcoholic John Gilbert so fast, that I'm not sure who "the artist" is actually supposed to be.  We see so little of Valentin's actual craft and so much his life's ruination that I'm not really sure if he's the artist in question.  He's also a thoroughly passive character allowing failure's quicksand to swallow him whole.  Singin' in the Rain's Don Lockwood is an active character; he may mull his failure for a bit and need a friend to give him a push, but he works to figure out how to salvage his career.  Thus Lockwood's art becomes the focus of Rain, while Valentin's emasculation is the focus of Artist.

Is Berenice Bejo's Peppy Miller supposed to be "the artist"?  As mentioned before, she ultimately comes across as uncomfortably pathological in her relationship with Valentin.  She watches his life fall apart, up close at times, then buys up ALL of his belongings and his right-hand man, Clifton.  And we're supposed to accept that as signs of human love and devotion?  Valentin's reaction to this unnerving discovery is completely understandable (though overly melodramatic with an inappropriate Hitchcock score theft).  I won't spoil what Valentin does, but let's just say it's not an act of loving acceptance.  So we know Peppy's a psychotic stalker, but is she an artist?  Her aggressive career advances lead her to superstardom, but -- because her screen performances are brushed by in quick montage -- we don't if she's devoted to her craft or just an excellent opportunist.

Ultimately, the Artist, or rather Artists, are the craftspeople behind the film.  The camerawork shines, the sets and costumes look lovely, the old Academy Ratio is much appreciated, the editing is solid, the symbolism (though occasionally heavy-handed) is enjoyable, and the music (aside from the Vertigo steal) is great silent film stuff.  It's very difficult to make a feature-length silent film in an age of noise, it's even more difficult to get something like that distributed widely, so big kudos to The Weinstein Company for putting their considerable heft behind it.

But when it comes to story and character, The Artist isn't a luxurious pleasure.  Peppy's obsessive fanaticism and Valentin's self-destruction are never reconciled and instead get wallpapered over with a quickie final scene that tends to no loose end.  Thus it became disposable to me once it was over.

Singin' in the Rain has a quickie ending too, but amongst all of the tremendous insider humor throughout the film, Don and Kathy scramble to address their challenges thus revealing layer upon layer of complex character traits.  And because they actually care about each other, they assist one another and work together when struggles befall them.

The Artist's characters don't.  She pities him while simultaneously building a shrine around his former self.  And he just pities himself.  So the happy ending either doesn't work or it's just another step in her obsession.  It's a mystery the film doesn't attempt to solve.  If the filmmakers treat this crux as "a thing of little value or importance", then this viewer will do the same with their art.

Single Malt Report: Cragganmore 20 year old 1991 Single Cask (Master of Malt)

Continuing with yesterday's theme of tastings gone awry, I present to you:

Product Link

Distillery: Cragganmore
Owner: Diageo

Independent Bottler: Master of Malt

Age: 20 years (March 1991 - March 2011)

Maturation: refill hogshead

Type: Single Malt

Alcohol by Volume: 54.2%
Cask: 1157
Limited Release: 274 bottles

This is likely a case wherein the whisky was fine, but the drinker's taste buds were not.  So, I'd best do some disclaimers here:

1.  Cragganmore distills a great spirit.

2.  Master of Malt is one of the best online whisky retailers.  Their Drinks by the Dram options have helped grandly expand my whisky world.

3.  Their own bottlings have been quite good so far and I hope they keep it going!

4.  Candidly, I probably flubbed this one.  No one else's reviews show the quirk that I experienced.  There just was a sensory misunderstanding between the malt and I.  My only defense is that this was about a year ago, before I'd even started the Single Malt Report postings.

Ruben of WhiskyNotes has a good review of it here.
The Casks has an in-depth write-up on it here.
Gal at WhiskyIsrael also has a very positive post on it here.

Compare their notes of malt, mint, flowers, juicy fruits, ginger, green tea, honey, and apples with.....um.....this:

NEAT
Color -- Straw with a gold hue
Nose -- Alcohol-forward, apples, actual wood planks
Palate -- SALTY SALT, perfumed, caramel, salted caramel
Finish -- Alcohol heat on the gums, spicy and long

WITH WATER
Nose -- More sugary, caramel chews, dried apricots, cherries, maybe a hint of vanilla?
Palate -- Oak, SALT
Finish -- Still hot and spicy, but now there's SALT in the finish

Water brought out the better nose characteristics.  But I had a difficult time finding the palate because...

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I felt like a cow at the salt lick.

This isn't one of my prouder malt moments, but I want to make sure that I share both the clarity and confusion in my whisky journey.

As this tasting was done over a year ago, perhaps I can chalk it up to a newbie tasting fail.  I remember sitting there, staring at my Glencairn glass thinking, "Crap, I can't taste anything but table salt.  Is that vanilla?  No, that's more salt.  Fruit?  Nope, salt."  And because no one else online has noted sodium chloride...and the bottler does consistent good work...and the distillery makes good stuff......that leaves one party with the issue.

This sort of thing happens from time to time.  We aren't always in our best tasting shape, just like we're not always in our best biking shape or our best dancing shape.  A stuffy nose, allergies, exhaustion, or just lack of focus can effect how receptors transmit information to the brain.

So, this was probably a decent dram.  I encourage you to read the positive reviews that I linked to above.  The 700mL bottles are sold out, but the samples are still for sale here.  Master of Malt also put out a second Crag 1991 single cask release here.

I'll be reporting on another Master of Malt single cask release next week, and it's likely to be something quite different than this.  We can all hope, right.  ;-)

Availability - Master of Malt only, samples only

Pricing - Bottles have sold out, samples are 4.50GBP plus int'l shipping

Rating - 78

NOT Single Malt Report: Slane Castle Irish Blended Whiskey

Sometimes one's senses don't cooperate during a tasting.  Sometimes one gets a bad sample.  Sometimes the whisk(e)y was stored improperly or has been sitting at the bottom of a mostly empty bottle for years.

These variables often result in a less than optimal set of tasting notes.  There have been times that I've tasted something and went "What?"  Then I compare my notes to those of others who have tried the same drink......and it's as if we've tasted completely different whiskies.

Though the tasting experience is subjective, if I try a dram of Glen Garbage and discover notes of rotten milk and mercury while everyone else finds characteristics of dried fruits, chocolate, and mint, it's fair to say that I've experienced some level of a whiskey fail.

I feel like I'm mostly alone in my judgement of Hakushu 12yr.  I really wanted to love it, almost bought a bottle of it blind.  All the tasting notes I'd read online sounded quite nice.  But instead of nosing and tasting hints of citrus, lemongrass, licorice, vanilla, pepper, and flowers, what did I find?  Salty-beefy-cheesy farts.  And per my notes: "a watered-down Laphroaig 10 meets Glenfiddich 12 infused with a kitchen gas leak."

So there was a fail in there somewhere.  Maybe it was the sample.  Maybe it was me......or rather my senses -- I did not smell like salty-beefy-cheesy farts, I think.

I'm humbly posting two reports this week that I believe were examples of whisk(e)y fails.  Today, it's Irish, tomorrow it's Scottish.

Distillery: Cooley
Brand: Slane Castle
Type: Irish Blended Whiskey (single malt + grain)
Current Owner: Beam Inc.
Age: at least 4 years
Maturation: first fill ex-bourbon casks
Alcohol by Volume: 40%

Slane Castle is one of the several indie bottlings produced at Cooley Distillery.  With the recent Beam Inc. takeover, all or most of these indies will stop production as the new owners want to keep as much juice as possible for their major brands (Kilbeggan, Tyrconnell, and Connemara).  At the moment, Slane Castle is still for sale all over the US and their website is still active.

Drinkhacker liked it quite a bit.  John Hansell of Whisky Advocate wrote a pair of very positive reviews for this whiskey. He noted that it was full of "honeyed vanilla, soothing caramel, lively summer fruits, golden raisin, subtle date, and butter cookie" and that it was very drinkable.

Sounds yummy, right?  Especially for this blogger who loves him some Irish whiskey.

So I was able to get my hands on a pour of it while in San Diego this year.  Here's what I found:

NEAT:
Color -- Medium gold
Nose -- Clean oak, minerals, grain-HEAVY, ethyl, light manure, stale, (wife says it smells like tar fumes)
Palate -- plastic toys, both sugary sweet and vegetal, edamame, grassy
Finish -- Saccharine sweet

WITH WATER:
Nose -- Wet cardboard, fleshy, dirty underpants
Palate -- hay, paper, cream, light oak, cheap wine, weak
Finish -- hay & manure, zoo-ey, old moldy basement, Please will it ever stop?

Where are those butter cookies?  Lively summer fruits?

I'm a firm believer that a plastic toy or manure note can actually work well in a whisk(e)y or wine.  But whatever was going on here was just funk when integrated with my nostrils and tastebuds.  Looking at other reviewers' notes, it seems like we'd tried different booze.  They spoke of pleasurable drinking experiences and I (who have had more Irish whiskey than I can ever quantify) found the worst Irish porta-potty distillate I've yet tried.

Was it just me?  I don't know.  I'd had a Powers 12yr an hour earlier and that tasted fine.  Could the Slane bottle have been sitting open on the shelf since the whiskey arrived on US shores in July '09?  Possibly.

Either way, something went awry.

Availability - Some liquor specialists
Pricing - $25-$35
Rating - 65 (low rating may or may not be due to old stale bottling)

Bruichladdich-Rémy agreement completed

The Rémy Cointreau / Bruichladdich acquisition agreement is now official.

Mark Reynier, the financial saviour of Bruichladdich in 2000, and now the man who has taken the most abuse (by the always patient online vox populi) for being a sellout during the Rémy Cointreau negotiations has posted his explanation of the goings-on of his company's financial history.  It was up on the Bruichladdich site, then pulled "for clarifications".  It's an objective but bittersweet post.

The sale for 58M GBP is significantly more than most online guesses had been.  At $90,000,000, it's the highest amount ever paid for a Scotch whisky distillery.  Rémy says they won't cut any jobs.  In fact they're hoping to double production, thus creating local jobs.  Per Mr. Reynier's post: "As with other Rémy businesses, Bruichladdich will continue to be a stand-alone company, operated from Islay, with Islay maturation and Islay bottling."

Additionally, per the most recent Whiskycast, the distillery employees had been receiving company stock as part of their compensation; many stand to make six figures when the sale is complete.

Finally, Mr. Reynier, who has taken the brunt of the online "sellout" complaints, was the only board member to vote against the sale.

Single Malt Report Standings as of July 21, 2012

Let's check in on the standing after two weeks...

(My methodology uses pageview counts from three different sources in an attempt to suss out which posts are spammer heavy and which ones are getting the real clicky traffic.  Then I apply a very (not) sophisticated algorithm.  And from that I get a Top Ten.)

SINGLE MALT REPORT STANDINGS AS OF 7/7/2012 (out of 86 posts / 95 whiskies):

#10  Lauder's Blended Scotch Whisky NC

#9  Millstone 8-year-old French Oak, Dutch Single Malt -1
Lauder's and Millstone are almost tied now.  Macallan 12 has put some ground between itself and them.  So 10th place is essentially a battle between a post visited for its pictures of windmills and, um, Lauder's.

#8  The Macallan 12-year-old Single Malt +1
I finally got a prediction right.  As news about the future of the Macallan range spreads, so do the Macallan post views.  Mac 12 is now solidly in eighth.

#7 Powers Gold Label (Blended Irish Whiskey) NC
Again, Powers Gold keeps getting bushels of clicks.  That's okay with me.

#6  The Macallan 18-year-old Single Malt NC
This has gotten interesting.  Mac 18 is now almost tied with Chivas.  I thought Chivas would have taken the #4 spot by now, but it's likely to be kicked down to 6th by Mac 18 this week.

#5 Chivas Regal 12-year-old Blended Scotch Whisky NC
The Chivas excitement has been curbed.  After madly streaking like Frank the Tank, its views have mellowed out.  Its daily view average has dropped 65% in the past month.

#4  J&B Rare Blended Scotch Whisky NC
J&B's spot is secure, though it's entirely possible that Mac 18 will challenge it in August.

#3  The Glenlivet 15-year-old French Oak Reserve Single Malt NC
'Livet 15 is actually pulling better daily numbers than Famous Grouse but is so far behind that it'll be stuck here for a looooong time.

#2  The Famous Grouse Blended Scotch Whisky NC
Views continue to slow but the Grouse's spot is secure.

#1  Glenfiddich 12-year-old Single Malt NC
Number one.  Carve it in stone.

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BIG MOVERS
(note: adjustments have been made to the Ardbeg Taste Off views since I discovered that three posts have been getting lots of spambot views)

UP
Springbank Spring Break, Part 2 jumps up 9 spots to #39
Jameson Blended Irish Whiskey continues to climb, moving up another 7 to 31st place
Dewar's 12-year-old Special Reserve hops seven spots to #29.  Really, people?
Bulleit Rye Whiskey keeps movin' on up, this week it's 7 spots to 26th place.  That's a 25 ranking climb in four weeks.

DOWN
No big drops this time.
Springbank Spring Break, Part 1 went the opposite direction of Part 2, dropping 5 places to #27
Bunnahabhain 12-year-old plops down 4 spaces to 24th
Macallan Cask Strength moves down 4 spots to #33
Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon drops 4 to #35
Michael Collins Irish Blended Whiskey drops 4 places to 45th

NOTES FOR THIS WEEK, BAD PREDICTIONS FOR NEXT WEEK

As mentioned in the Movers note, there was a weird glut of hits on the three Ardbeg Taste Off posts that didn't show up on the more legitimate metrics measurements.  So I've handicapped their counts and will keep an eye on them.

There are two legitimate challengers to the Top Ten now.  I'm rooting for either of them to supplant Lauder's.  But I doubt that sort of change will occur before the next set of standings.

I'm predicting some moving and shaking amongst the Top Ten over the next two weeks.  There's been a lot of movement in the Top Twenty and I expect that to continue.  Yes, the blends are moving in, but there are some surprise single malts holding ground.

The Glen Garioch 12-year-old was the only rookie to debut in the Top Fifty.  My next few reports are quite the mixed bag, so I have no idea how they'll fare, view-wise.

This two-week pause worked pretty well again, so I intend to list the next round of standings on the weekend of the 4th.

Thanks again!

The Flailing Writer Goes Gardening, Part IV

It's been seven weeks since my last confession gardening post.  I'm not sure if the joys have balanced out the heartbreak on my balcony, but it's one of the more meaningful experiences I have each day.

The parsley, died.

The first cilantro, died.

The zucchini, died.

The second cilantro plant, barely living.

A blight has taken out almost half of the cherry tomato plant.  The heirloom tomato plant won't live much past the summer.

With the same powdery fungusy blight covering the new squash plant's leaves, I'm spending some time tending to all of the blights with an "organic" copper spray.

Sorry, no pics of the bad news.  And no pics of the second round of fertilizer tea from a couple weeks back.  That was hella feculent.

How about some good news?

The heirloom tomato plant has produced five ripe fruits, the first of which we'll try tonight.

The cherry tomato plant has squeezed out twenty ripe ones so far, and may have about that much remaining on the vine!  As the temperature gets hotter, the fruits have taken on a very pleasant sweetness.

We have the aforementioned new squash plant.  I put it in a wider pot than the ex-zucchini had to see if that helps root-wise.  She's blossoming already.

I think this is the first girl blossom.

Ruby here, was nearly dead three months ago, now she's blooming like crazy!

We also have a new mint plant (for beverages, Mediterranean dishes, and general sniffing) that has taken well to its spot in the sun. The chives have rebounded after the bugs were killed off. The basil has remained perky all month.  Fern the First and Fern the Second have been moved to a shadier cooler spot and are now building up new fernish undergrowth.

Finally, Pepper has been fully resurrected, producing seven beautiful chili peppers.

I still love this and I'm still learning. I'm already making mental plans for next year: having three cherry tomato plants and perhaps some sort of planter contraption that'll allow enough root space for two healthy zucchini plants.

For those of you with gardens, whether in the ground or eighty feet in the air, I send my best wishes for your crops!

Quick Booze Nooze, courtesy of Remy Cointreau

Remy Cointreau just announced some massive gains in their fiscal first quarter.  Could this have something to do with the sudden big offer to Bruichladdich?  Coincidences aren't often allowed in high finance.