My freshman year of college, I was roomies with this great gal.  We got to be friends during our senior year of high school and became pretty much inseparable.  We finished each other’s sentences and were generally on the same wavelength about all manner of things.  Of course, along with that came plenty of inside jokes that were HILARIOUS to us but made no sense to anyone else.  (Aside to Val:  Bag!  Bag!  Don’t forget the bag!)  Just the other day I texted her after seeing something that jogged my memory and she took that opportunity to remind me of our genius business idea  – to become the go-to expert consultants on any subject in the world.

I’m beginning to see that it is going to be VERY hard for me to explain this without looking like a moron.  (What’s that you say?  Too late?  Oh well.) Basically it boiled down to this:  sometimes people are dumb and make stupid decisions and really, they could save themselves a lot of trouble buy just asking US.  I mean, come on.  Wouldn’t it just make sense to ask a couple of completely unqualified 19-year-old college freshmen if you should wear that dress, or buy that TV, or park your car right there or build that major highway?  DON’T YOU KNOW ANYTHING?!?!?! 

And now, I have come full circle with this realization:  my blog is our consulting business.  I tell you what movies to see and what wine to drink.  As if my opinion is really that important.  It’s only a matter of time before I’m showing up at your houses to say I TOLD YOU SO when you buy a bottle of Big Tattoo Red (DON’T DO IT). 

All that, to introduce a couple more movie and wine reviews.  Sigh.  I really need to get out more.

Shooter -  I was able to convince N to watch this with only a minimum of arm-twisting.  It was…okay.  The plot was reasonably well-developed, I guess, but the acting was stiff and kind of unconvincing.  Plus, Danny Glover had a thing going on with his speech that was beyond distracting.  I don’t know what the deal was but it sounded like he was talking around a dental guard or something.  I’ve seen him in plenty of other movies (the Lethal Weapon series is among my faves) and he has never had a speech impediment before.  I do like him though (but not really as the bad guy) and I like Mark Wahlberg, but pretty much all I can say about this movie is EH.  Not bad, but not good either.  Just kind of there, and waaaaaaaay too long and brutally violent for what it was.  And finally, couldn’t they have come up with a better name for the main character than Bob Lee?  No offense to anyone named Bob Lee but, really?  If it were me, I would have used Robert.  Or Lee.  Or even just Bob.  But not Bob Lee.  I’m just saying.

As for the wine, as usual, I have found that my rate of consumption far outpaces the rate at which I write reviews.  I have also discovered that there are only so many things that a layman can say about wines.  I’m running out of adjectives.  “Light”, “refreshing”, “crisp”, “fruity”, “bold” and “smooth” only go so far before it becomes obvious that I don’t have any idea what I’m talking about.  Oops, there goes my secret.

 Dr. Wilkomm’s Blue River Riesling.  SO good.  Sweet and very easy to drink – not bitter at all.  Highly recommended.  BUY SOME. 

If you aren’t familiar with Messina Hof (the local winery around these parts), you should try and find out if it is available for purchase in your area.  I haven’t been disappointed yet, and the White Zinfandel was no exception.  The Messina Hof Gewürztraminer is particularly good, by the way.

This California Rose came recommended by my dad, of all people.  It has a little more bite than I like in my pink wines but it is not bad if you like stronger flavors.

 

This Australian Chardonnay (Lindemans) was pretty decent as well.  Not the best one I’ve tried, but good for such an inexpensive choice ($5 at the local Sam’s Club).

There you have it.  More reviews than you can shake a stick at.  Happy Monday.