My long time guilty pleasure

Wine of the Week:
Coldstream Hills Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 - Trish and I went out to dinner with Lynne and David on Thursday night and Lynne posted on Facebook that she was looking forward to having a steak. Good steak is at a premium where Lynne works at the moment - that being Mumbai. 

Anyhoo, what else goes with a good steak (or pork belly for that matter) than a strong, full bodied Cab! Now, I usually am a Pinot fan when it comes to Coldstream Hills but the Cab definitely holds it's own and seemed to get the thumbs up from all at the table. 
http://www.coldstreamhills.com.au 

By the way, if you are in the Sylvania area in Sydney then try a restaurant called Luke Benchmark. The food is very good and if you are a fan of oysters then trying their hot and cold oyster plate is a must. No cash for comment here; just a fan of the place. http://www.lukebenchmark.com.au

Every so often, the time comes when one feels the need to cleanse the soul and confess to something that has one has kept a secret to most for a long time. And while the general modus operandi has been to go to your local place of worship and enter a small, curtained booth with the cleric of choice ready to hear your spray, I have decided that my confessional shall be the interweb. So dear friends, here it is...

I am and have been for a very long time, a big fan of the Logies.

It all started when I was a wee lad growing up in a humble abode in Bexley. Back then, the Logies were on a Friday night and as I was an afore mentioned wee lad, I didn't have much say on what was on the TV and I wasn't exactly painting the town red in my Primary school days. 

So there I would be in front of the TV, with my PJ's on and my copy of TV Week next to me; the one with all the nominations listed and at the ready to fill in the winners - much the same way that Eddie McGuire still marks down the goal scorers in his copy of the Footy Record every week! (Seriously, I saw him on Anzac Day and he was conducting the task so studiously...)

Once the screen filled with the sight of Australian TV's finest sitting in the ballroom of the Southern Cross or Hyatt on Collins in Melbourne (pre-Crown Palladium) I was transfixed. The fact that it was always in Melbourne seemed to add to the glamour of the event...naturally this was before I actually visited Melbourne. (Just kidding friends)

It was a different time then. 'A Country Practice', 'Sons & Daughters', 'The Sullivans', 'Hey, Hey it's Saturday' were shows that seemed to dominate the nominations at the time while it was the early days for a small show called 'Neighbours'.  

And when it came to the Gold well, the names just roll off the tongue - Don Lane, Mike Walsh, Daryl Somers and as the 80's went into the 90's - Ray Martin, Lisa McCune and Jana Wendt managed to collect their fair share. Those were the days too when they finished the coverage with the preview of the cover of the 'special edition' TV Week with the Gold Logie winner on the front!

Then there was Bert. 

While Graham Kennedy was and always will be the undisputed King of Australian TV...the Logies well and truly belong to Bert Newton. He has done it all - hosted them, won them - from Gold Logie to most popular State TV Personality (surely they need to bring back those categories...Anne Wills - record 19 Logies; all as the most popular TV personality in South Australia!). 

Let's face it - those years when Bert was sent to oblivion in the early 90's and into the new millennium were the dark years for the Logies (Remember Wendy Harmer???). Once he came back and no matter how big or small his role was or is, the Logies regained it's shimmer. I look forward to the day when the top of the Logie is replaced with the image of old Moonface!

So as I eagerly anticipate tomorrow night's ceremony, here are some 'facts' (thanks to Wikipedia) that you may want to take with you to any Logies parties or to add to the workplace conversations come Monday morning when dissecting the night's events while watching Karl Stefanovic get through another 'Today' show thinking that the beverage service was still happening...

• Graham Kennedy and Ray Martin both have won the most Gold with five; Lisa McCune and Bert have won four.
• Daryl Somers has been nominated for the Gold 14 times, winning three times. The next was John Wood who was nominated 11 times, winning once.
• Kylie Minogue is the youngest Gold Logie winner; Alf Meagher (last year's winner) the oldest.
• Home and Away has won the most Logies with 34 with Neighbours second with 30.
• The Logies have only strayed north out of Melbourne four times since they started in 1959...that's four more times than the AFL Grand Final ever will!

Up from the rabbithole - Mk II

Wine of the Week: 
Dominique Portet Fontaine Cabernet Shiraz Merlot 2008 - Blends are unique specimens; some people like them and others can not stand them, preferring not to cross the varietal streams so to speak. For me, this one does take a little time to get in the groove but after that you go through the three blends as you take each sip. The pepperiness of the Shiraz, the body of the Cab and the roundness of the Merlot. This one comes from the Heathcote region in Victoria. As the days get cooler (in Sydney anyway), the reds start to come into their own. http://www.dominiqueportet.com  

Yet again, I begin by apologising for the very lengthy gap between posts. There has been a lot going on which has left no time (mentally or otherwise) to give my views, rants etc. I can't promise that I will be more regular in my postings...but I will give it a red hot go!

While I have been deep in another rabbithole, the world itself keeps spinning. In NSW, we have a new Premier...the Australian Cricket team has a new Captain...and 2011 seems to be the year that Earth is exacting it's revenge by a thousand cuts. Not that I am putting all of those events in the same basket - just what's top of mind when typing. 

A couple of weeks ago, the city was abuzz and in awe of a horse called Black Caviar and the anticipation of it continuing it's winning run. My mate Skull sent me a text ranting about the fact that Sydney had gone mad for Black Caviar and stating that what was the big deal about a race horse? I couldn't really understand Skull's angst which was the same intensity as it was when Melbourne Cup time and everything was about Bart Cummings; just figured that he had a thing against horse racing. 

However, I understand now how someone as level headed as Skull can get to such a angry state. That understanding is due to three words - 'The Royal Wedding'. 

Now, I am not an anti-royalist but I am struggling to understand the what the big deal is with the upcoming nuptuals? I mean, it is Sunday night and the news anchors have started to set up camp in London. The breakfast shows are starting the on-site countdowns as of tomorrow and the coverage is only going to increase to the point of minute by minute, blow by blow coverage come wedding day on Friday (then again, I am kind of waiting to see if Kochie yells out to Kate's carriage expecting it to stop and her handing him her garter as a token of appreciation for his week's concern).

Is there a genuine interest in the wedding? Or are the media trying to generate a self serviing buzz or worst still, resurrect memories of 1981 and Charles & Diana's walk down the aisle?

Don't get me wrong - I wish the happy couple well and mazeltov to them but do we need the 24 x 7 coverage? That and new media has made it worse - I mean really, do we need an official Twitter stream for Friday??? 

I am not a big fan of banning things for the sake of them but my wife has placed a ban in our house on all wedding coverage for the week - finally, something in the world that makes sense!!!