Don't forget the gloves
The entire staff here at davidliss.com is very excited about the launch of The Devil’s Company (on sale now!). Check out an interview with me at As the Pages Turn, which features the answers to such trenchant questions as If someone were to write a book on your life, what would the title be? and Finish this sentence: “The one thing that I wish people would understand about me is…” You’ll have to click to find the answers, and last I checked, you may have to scroll down. There also a guest post at Blogging Authors on why I write about financial history when I could just as easily write about, I don’t know, bunnies or Kindles or even el Chupacabra. I guess that’s what the blog is for.
Dealing with the bank
Hey, am I the only one who thought the movie The International sucked? I figured I was going to like it because it has Clive Owen – who makes my short list of actors I’d like to see Benjamin Weaver. Hugh Jackman would be good too, though maybe we should save him for A Conspiracy of Paper: The Musical. We’ll see who is laughing on Broadway, my friend.
Anyhow, it’s got Owen and it’s a thriller about the evils of mega-capitalism. You’ve got people running around, shooting their guns, and there’s a bank at the center of it. I write stuff like that, so maybe my interest in this movie was totally narcissistic. Fine. The point is, it was long, bloated, and never quite figured out how to make the ugly side of banking interesting. Plus, I don’t think I’d ever noticed before the degree to which Naomi Watts has trouble acting. At first I thought it was cool that Owen and Watts don’t end up having a relationship. Way to go against the grain. Except then I couldn’t quite figure out what Watts’s character was doing in the movie at all. Certainly this film fails the Mo Movie Measure. Do you know about this? My wife just told me. This is a test devised by the cartoonist Alison Bechdel, who requires that any movie she sees have at least two named female characters who talk to each other about something other than a man. It is shocking how few films qualify.
Finally, my dear winos, I blog to you now of the 2005 Domaine St. Benoit Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Here’s my take: nose of cherry, vanilla, mint and sea foam. This is a rich wine that benefited form an hour of decanting. Dark dry fruit predominate – prune and raisin, with notes of tar, mineral, and milk chocolate. Very chewy tannins, good length and mouthfeel. A bit too acidic for my taste, and I like acidic wines. It has a somewhat humorless quality, fairly common among Châteauneuf-du-Papes, but it’s still a wine with a big, bold profile, which I dig. I bestow upon it an 89. $ 27.99
As always, my drinking habbits can be followed on my CellarTracker page.
There’s only one actor who should play Ben Weaver, and he is a stocky Navy veteran half-Jewish former amateur boxer named Andy. This Andy fellow is not actually an actor, but really, how hard can it be?
I think the lovely Hugh Jackman is too pretty and the lovely Clive Owen wouldn’t look good in a hat. I would like to submit the name of Gerard Butler, who would also do a good job but wouldn’t look right in a hat. Best of all, Rufus Sewell who can do anything. Including wear a hat. Yes, I think Rufus Sewell is the answer to this unasked question. You’re welcome.