Burnin’

The Wall Street Journal investigates more than stocks and bonds, for people who make money also enjoy spending money. As one of those people, I especially enjoy spending money on fine wine from Oregon’s top producers.

Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, who write the Journal’s “Tastings” column, suggest several pinots from the banner 2006 vintage, while also providing some background on the specialness of the fruit and the local industry that’s grown up around it.

We are delighted to report that Oregon Pinot continues its upward trajectory. The difference in the wines over the years is remarkable. We found again and again in this tasting that the wines have developed a confidence and depth that beautifully complement their lovely fruit. The wines have not only a purity of fruit but a purity of vision that is very attractive. Like Burgundy itself, these are wines that speak softly to the more romantic parts of our being.

The winemakers allowed the vineyards themselves, the fruit itself, the terroir itself, to star. This is what makes great Pinot what it is — an expression of place. When we tasted these wines, we imagined the vintners standing among the vines crushing a grape between their fingers, smiling broadly and deciding that the best thing they could do is not screw it up. This made the wines, on the whole, both tasty and relaxed, as though no one was trying too hard (though we know, of course, what really goes into this).

The couple’s “Dow Jones Oregon Pinot Noir Index” follows:

Domaine Serene “Evenstad Reserve” 2005 (Willamette Valley). $52.99.

Foris Vineyards Winery 2006 (Rogue Valley). $18.99.

Yamhill Valley Vineyards “Estate” 2006 (McMinnville, Willamette Valley). $19.95.

Beaux Frères 2006 (Willamette Valley) $54.95.

Francis Tannahill “The Hermit” 2005 (Willamette Valley). $41.99.

King Estate Winery “Signature Collection” 2006 (Oregon). $29.99.

Ponzi Vineyards 2006 (Willamette Valley). $37.99.

Roco (Dundee Wine Co.) 2006 (Willamette Valley). $39.99.

Make your own yearbook photo at Yearbook Yourself. Geek Sugar named the ad supported site “Website of the Day” back in August. It’s good for a laugh or two, not to mention a new profile picture for your favorite soc net.

Things About Portland That Suck is kind of funny, I have to say. There are so many nice things about living here that you can forget, or simply choose to overlook the not so good things. Like the site’s Reason #56: Wannabe Suicide Girls.

Contrary to the beliefs held in the hearts of hundreds of scantily dressed, overly inked, dyed and pierced girls in Portland, they are in fact not ALL Suicide Girls.

I know it’s shocking… but not all of these “gorgeous”-yet-alternative girls actually get paid to take it off for the camera.

Some other zingers include Street Kids With Pets; Moped/Scooter Gangs; McMenamins’ Service; Dixie Tavern; Your Band; and White Guilt.

This site is on its way to becoming Portland’s version of the smash interweb success, Stuff White People Like.

According to John Foyston at The Oregonian, 12 Oregon breweries claimed a total of 21 medals at the 2008 Great American Beer Festival held October 9-11 in Denver. Eleven of Oregon’s 21 medals were gold, giving Beervana more than any other state.

Here’s the list of award-winning craft beers made in Oregon:

Alameda Brewhouse Black Bear XX Stout
Bend Brewing Co. Hop Head
Cascade Brewing Co. Cascade Kriek Ale
Cascade Lakes Brewing Co. Blonde Bombshell
Deschutes Brewery Bachelor ESB
Deschutes Brewery The Dissident
Deschutes Brewery Chinquapin Butte Golden Ale
Full Sail Brewing Co. Full Sail Pale Ale
Full Sail Brewing Co. Session Premium Lager
Hopworks Urban Brewery Organic IPA
Laurelwood Brewing Co. Himmelbrau Helles
Pelican Pub & Brewery Surfer’s Summer Ale
Pelican Pub & Brewery Le Pelican Brun
Pyramid Breweries Pyramid Crystal Wheat Ale
Pyramid Breweries Pyramid Apricot Ale
Pyramid Breweries Blackwatch Cream Porter
Rogue Ales Dry Hopped Red
Rogue Ales Hazelnut Brown Nectar
Rogue Ales American Amber
Widmer Brothers Brewing Co. Hefeweizen
Widmer Brothers Brewing Co. Drop Top

Alemeda Brewhouse, for one, is located right up the street. I’ll be sure to order a Black Bear XX Stout (a four time winner in Denver) next time I’m in.

BTW, check out this list of brewers located in Portland. To say it’s extensive is putting things mildly.

Romensko points to this fascinating interview with Chris Rose of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

SEVEN DAYS: How was the Times-Picayune perceived before Hurricane Katrina?

CHRIS ROSE: We’ve always been a very vital and vigorous part of the community here . . . What did not happen before the storm that happens now is that, when you get introduced as being from the Times-Picayune at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon, people stand up and clap for you. We’re treated as heroes.

Katrina brought back that very poignant, meaningful mission of journalism — like it really, really mattered every day what came down on people’s doorsteps. Suddenly, high school students to folks 90 years old were reading the paper because we were the only ones people could trust.

The storm brought down a quintessential dichotomy in the community: There were those who cut and run, and there were those who stepped up, at great sacrifice. There’s no question, no question, the Times-Picayune stepped up. And in the vacuum of political and corporate leadership, we carried the fucking day in this town.

There’s also this bit:

The writers and the photographers were in the city and management was relocated to Baton Rouge by virtue of our building flooding. You take management and move them 70 miles away from staff, and we win two Pulitzer prizes. You think that’s a coincidence? That’s not only a paradigm shift to follow in journalism, but in any corporate structure.

Rose’s collection of columns, 1 Dead in Attic is now available from Simon & Schuster. Rose originally sold 65,000 copies of a self-published edition.

I’m glad we had the opportunity to visit Alaska in August of 2007. Having been there, I feel better equipped to understand some of the thinking emanating from “The Last Frontier” that now shapes our news cycle.

Salon founder David Talbot, concerned with the right wing attacks on Obama that question his love for country, writes:

The Republican ticket is working hard this week to make Barack Obama’s tenuous connection to graying, ’60s revolutionary Bill Ayers a major campaign issue. But the Palins’ connection to anti-American extremism is much more central to their political biographies.

It’s a revealing article and I enjoyed reading it, but I have some issues with it. For one, I’m not ready to say the Alaska Independence Party–which Todd Palin once belonged to, and Sarah Palin recently gave a shout out to–is an “anti-American extremist” organization.

image courtesy of Kayak Juneau

The fact that AKIP sent a Governor to Juneau in 1990 is one argument against this derisive labeling. Unless, of course, a majority of Alaskans are anti-American extremists.

Honestly, I know little about this political party or the people who support it. From what I can see in their platform, it’s essentially libertarian, with some “extreme” views on property rights thrown in. The point is I don’t need to agree with AKIP’s platform to agree that third party politics is of value to the citizens of this nation. Also, the idea of Alaska as a separate nation is not hard to conceive. It’s hard in that Imperial America would never let those natural resources go without a fight. But if you skip over that part, and see it from an Alaskan’s perspective, it makes some sense.

I’d actually take it much further and suggest that America could be divided into a group of nation states defined by its natural bioregions. If states’ rights hadn’t been so severely trampled by Reagan and company, this might not be as necessary as it is today. But they were trampled, and the homogeneous federalism that we endure today is no answer for a nation with many distinct cultures tied to place. For sure, all Americans have things in common, but not like they do with the people who share a climate, a dialect, water and food sources. I’m sure many in Alaska wonder what elected officials and bureaucrats in Washington, DC know about their lives. I wonder this all the time, but I don’t consider my views to be anti-American.

We need wild ideas and extreme points of view to help us stretch. It’s the way to a better future. America is often touted as “the cradle of democracy,” by political figures of all stripes. Great, then let’s push the envelope and find new ways to increase our personal liberties while also securing sustainable paths to energy, food and water. Can you think of a better time to reinvent ourselves and the way we do things in this country?

What qualities make a maverick a maverick?

Can a hockey mom from small town Alaska lay claim to the word “maverick” and be believed by large segments of the voting population? I don’t think there’s any question that she can, and that fact has a fiery old lady from Texas upset.

Samuel Augustus Maverick

According to The New York Times , Terrellita Maverick, 82, a San Antonio native who proudly carries the name of a family that has been known for its progressive politics since the 1600s, shrinks a little each time she or her children hear Sen. McCain or Gov. Palin use the term to describe themselves.

Let’s look at where the meaning of this word developed:

In the 1800s, Samuel Augustus Maverick went to Texas and became known for not branding his cattle. He was more interested in keeping track of the land he owned than the livestock on it, Ms. Maverick said; unbranded cattle, then, were called “Maverick’s.” The name came to mean anyone who didn’t bear another’s brand.

As Maureen Dowd points out, also in today’s New York Times, “True mavericks don’t brand themselves.”

old postcard advertising Call of the Wild Museum in Gaylord, MI

I love this image, which we happened to pick up yesterday at an antique store in NE Portland. Exactly why I love it is hard to say. It has something to do with nostalgia I feel for a time in this country that I did not live through. Namely, the early part of the 20th century. I love the books from that era, the jazz, the cottages and bungalows, the hats and wool jackets, the flappers. Most of all I love the palpable sense of frontier. It’s such an evocative time, I think sometimes I can taste it.

Film critic, Roger Ebert, discusses the vice presidential debate as theater in today’s Chicago Sun Times. His is one of the more relevant approaches, given that TV has totally altered how politicians get elected in this nation.

I get the feeling that the powers that be in the Republican Party saw what happened to Nixon in 1960, and collectively agreed to never let that happen again. And for the most part they’ve been wildly successful at selling their mythical version of a much slimier reality. But I digress.

Here’s some of what Ebert saw in Governor Palin last night:

When she was on familiar ground, she perked up, winked at the audience two of three times, and settled with relief into the folksiness that reminds me strangely of the characters in “Fargo.”

Palin is best in that persona. You want to smile with her and wink back. But who did she resemble more? Marge Gunderson, whose peppy pleasantries masked a remorseless policewoman’s logic? Or Jerry Lundegaard, who knew he didn’t have the car on his lot, but smiled when he said, “M’am, I been cooperatin’ with ya here.” Palin was persuasive. But I felt a brightness that was not always convincing.

I think Palin is clearly Marge, not Jerry. A comment on Ebert’s post by “Citizen Spain” says it best:

What annoys me most is that Palin’s disarming Marge Gunderson quaintness has transformed a significant portion of our population into drooling, blathering Mike Yanagitas. Such a super lady!