Sunday, April 06, 2008

Study Break

Almost there -- the test is Friday/Saturday, and so starting one week from today I will be able to enjoy my weekends once again. I plan to get some serious skiing in.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying a short study break with tonight's Netflix offering, Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj. It follows the proud tradition of college comedy movies, largely by ripping off all of them. And like all great college comedies, it requires absolutely no intellect to watch -- exactly what I need after a full day of engineering problems. Ah, how wonderfully formulaic.

It is not without its moments, though -- one of my favorites:

Snooty British Student: "Let's settle this like my ancestors did!"
Taj: "You want to exploit me economically?"

....and I'm drunk. Tonight's wine recommendation:

"Echelon" Shiraz (California Central Coast, 2003 vintage): This wine meets both the requirements of a good Shiraz: (1) it goes down smooth, and (2) it's cheap. $12.99 at your local BevMo ($6.53 while their 5-cent wine sale is on), this wine starts out by loading a shotgun with blackberries and shooting them directly into your nose. One you get over the initial fruit blast, this wine proves to be very well balanced, almost silky, with enough of a kick (13.7% ABV -- about standard for California wines' ever-increasing proofs these days) to make you forget its shortcomings. I'm 2 glasses in, and I know I have. Unlike most affordable reds out there, it has some years under it's belt -- this wine's been around as long as the US military has been dicking around in Iraq (yes, it's been that long; I just checked. Depressing, isn't it?). And just as the long years of a protracted war inure us to its horrors, this wine won't sting like its younger brethren. In general, the longer a bottle is aged, the more expensive it becomes -- it costs producers extra when they don't sell their product until 5 years after making it -- and I have to say that Echelon is a good value for the money. My only issue is with the capitalized and trademarked "Beyond Merlot" slogan burned onto the back label. Must be how the price got down.

Right; time for some sleep.

"Daddy's not coming anywhere!"
-Dr. Saikat Patel

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