Movie #9 - The Godfather

One may wonder: How is it possible that a movie aficionado like me hadn't seen the godfather yet?
Well, in fact, I did see the movie before, but I realized that I did not remember anything about the movie except for one or two blurred scenes. I saw the movie when I was very young and one thing that fascinated me was the fact that the memories I had of this movie was that I had really enjoyed it, even though I saw it at an age when I was more interested in action loaded american blockbusters and when I couldn't sit still for three hours to see such a slow paced movie. So, I decided I needed to devote my full atention to this classic... and what wonderful three hours I spent watching such a cinematic opera prima.
The camera angles, the choice of light, the sets, the dialogues (oh man the dialogues! - leave the gun, take the cannoli; I'll make him an offer he can't refuse.), the acting (Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Duvall in such a constrained but wonderfull part, James Caan, they're all great), all tied together with an unforgetable score... it gives you the feeling that you were entitled to witness for three hours to the events of a mafia family in the 1940's and 1950's in America and you simply believe that those characters will live on after you turn off the tv or walk out of the movie theater (well actually, 18 of them, including the horse don't live on).
Definitely, one of the greatest movies I've ever seen and if this sounds like a cliché that's because sometimes reality is obvious and the majority is sometimes right.
Do make an effort to see this movie if you haven't (or even if you have seen it before, it's always a pleasure).

And an honorable mention to the movie Love Story

While on honeymoon I enjoyed one of the most romantic, lame and cliché movies ever.
Love Story (1970) is a movie by Arthur Hiller which tells a classic story of a forbidden love between up class Harvard Law student/hockey jock (Oliver Barrett IV/Ryan O'Neal) and Radcliffe music wonk (Jennifer Cavalleri/ Ali MacGraw).

It does not deserve to be on the list, but it does deserve an honorable mention. And the reason for it is simple: it contains all the cliché elements of a romantic movie such as the tragically simple script, the lame music (world wide famous piano excerpt) and the profound phrases ("Love means never having to say you're sorry"); however, it was this movie who introduced most of them to popular movies. Besides, it's an opportunity to get a glimpse at Tommy Lee Jones in his film debut

You should check it out if you have two hours to spare.

Back with 2 more wines

I'm back.
While I was away I enjoyed two very nice wines.
One is definitely better than the other but the two deserve to be mentioned here.

a) Wine #4: Callabriga. Another wine from the Douro Region. This one from Casa Ferreirinha.
Contrary to the other wine that I will mention here, this one was ready to drink as soon as the cork was out.
Here are some tasting notes (not mine) in Portuguese:
O Callabriga foi produzido na Região do Dão duma mistura das castas Tinta Roriz, Touriga Nacional e Alfrocheiro Preto, exprimindo a vivacidade sensorial característica da região. Apresenta uma cor vermelha profunda com aromas vivos de frutos frescos e maduros, e tem algumas notas resinosas e ervas aromáticas. Encorpado, é abundante e firme nos taninos, com a acidez viva. Esta acidez está ainda presente no final frutado e vivo.
They suggest this wine to go with meat, but for me it was a perfect company for a very nice gilthead seabream (Dourada).

b) Wine #5: Passadouro Reserva 2004. Once more, a fine Douro wine. This wine is clearly superior to Callabriga, uncomparable I would say. I coudn't find some tasting notes, aside from some common comments that I can certainly agree with: Rich full bodied wine, red fruit, vanilla.
It takes some time to be in a condition to be enjoyed. I waited almost two hours before I considered it to be ready, but it was definitely worth the wait. It is another wine by Dirk van der Niepoort, a dutch youngman who took care of the independent family business that exists in the Douro region since 1842. I still haven'd had a Niepoort wine that I did not enjoy.

Away for two weeks

For a very good reason, I will not be posting any message in this blog for the next two weeks.
I'll be getting married this weekend and will be away on my honeymoon for two weeks.

If you need me, you can try to reach me here :)

A presto

On Kings of Leon

A friend of mine kindly offered me a CD (I can´t remember the last time I had been offered a CD!).
The CD was from the band Kings of Leon, the album was Only by the night with a cover reminding a Rorschach test.
It was the first time I heard Kings of Leon, even though the name was familiar for some years now. I really enjoyed this album. THe music was very rich, with every song revealing an interesting detail that highly enriched it.
However, I'm still not able to say whether I will consider this band in my list of artists, because this is all I know about this album. And in fact, the friend who gave me the album told me that he personally didn't like all the other stuff by this group. I need to find out more about this band and will do it soon.

An update on the lists

What I've enjoyed so far:

Movies:

1) Slumdog Millionaire
2) 2001 Space Odissey
3) Dr Strangelove
4) It's a wonderful life
5) JFK
6) In the Valley of Elah
7) In Bruges
8) The graduate

Books:

1) The lady with the dragon tatoo

Artists:

1) Tim Christensen
2) Elbow

Wines:

1) 3 Bagos Lavradores de Feitoria (Douro - White)
2) Cortes de Cima (Alentejo - Red)
3) Dolium (Alentejo - Red) (this one I haven't talked about it yet. Will do that soon..

The first wines

As those who read this blog since the beginning know, this blog was created as a platform for me to talk about some of the things  I intend to enjoy during the duration of my post-doc that takes place between the Netherlands (Nijmegen) and Portugal (Lisbon). The things I proposed to talk about are movies, music artists, books and wines. However, so far I hadn't talked about wines.

So, here is the first time.

First, let me say that it is not my intention to pretend to know about wines. The goal of talking about wines here is simply to make some humble suggestions to those who kindly follow ths blog. But, in any case, I will leave (whenever possible) tasting notes (definitely written by others) about the wines I suggest.

This weekend I tried two wines that I absolutely enjoyed: Três Bagos Lavradores de Feitoria (White) and Cortes de Cima (Red).

The Três Bagos I tried is a dry white wine from the Douro region which doesn't have the pretension of being an exceptional wine, but it was definitely appreciated.

You can check some more info on this wine here (only in Portuguese).

Cortes de Cima also has both white and red wines. Cortes de Cima is a family owned and run vineyard and winery located in Alentejo, Southern Portugal. It produces several wines (like Chaminé), among which are the wines with the same name as the winery. 

I had already tried the Cortes de Cima White a few months ago and it had really surprised me. That is why I tried the red this weekend and it was at the same fantastic level. More information in english here.

I hope you have the curiosity and chance to try them both.