Slate’s wine columnist Mike Steinberger weighs in on Sideways, perhaps my favourite film of 2004. Though he generally likes it, he can’t help but display some typical wine geek insecurity. He worries that Paul Giamatti’s portrayal of Miles Raymond, a character who is, in his words, “a bit of a wine asshole” will reflect badly on all wine lovers. He implicitly worries that people might think the character’s arrogance and selfishness somehow flow out of his being a wine connoisseur. Mike, relax! Miles is a character in a movie. He’s not representing everyone who loves wine. He’s not representing all middle-aged men. And no, Mike, he’s not representing you.
Although I do consider myself a wine lover, I’m not obsessive, and the thing I liked most about the film is that it’s not particularly about wine at all. It’s about life, with all its disappointments and its pleasures. And it’s about the crazy broken people who live it.
UPDATE: About an equal number of people get it and don’t get it on the eGullet Forums. When someone says the movie isn’t believable because a “true wine geek wouldn’t…”, I just had to roll my eyes.
Somebody peed on Rex Reed’s cornflakes again:
NY Observer: It’s Anarchy! Film’s New Hacks
At least he’s consistent. Almost everything he hates, I love, although I think we can find some common ground over Hudson Hawk. But honestly, Rex, why so cranky? (via bombippy)
Police in Paris have discovered a fully-equipped cinema in the caverns underneath the city. It appears to be the work of the “Perforating Mexicans”, one of the city’s secret societies of “cataphiles”, people who enjoy exploring the hidden network of catacombs and tunnels that stretch for over 170 miles. This reminds me of the Troglodistes in Caro and Jeunet’s film Delicatessen. (via kottke)
Dateline Hollywood: “Non-hipster denied entrance to ‘Lost in Translation’”
This site is hilarious. It’s like The Onion but without all that serious political satire that makes my head hurt. I especially like the fact that they have a “printer-friendly” and a “printer-antagonistic” version of each article. Somebody at Dateline Hollywood really knows their CSS stuff! (via boingboing)
Ok, you MUST go and read my long-lost pal John’s review of the Ben and Jen trainwreck Gigli. John also makes some very good fonts that I once used on this site, which was how I first made his acquaintance, oh, about five years ago.
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