INTRO / EXPERIMENT 1
To celebrate the quarter way point of our Wine, Wotsits, Western Adventure (well, if I hadn't recently added ten new films), I'm attempting a second ever double header, which includes a little scientific experiment.
"Beer before wine, feeling fine" is what they say. But would I? The (pseudo) 'science' behind it offers all sorts of wild theories, involving carbonation, absorption, your small intestine. Only one way to find out, test it on myself. Which beer to use? I passed up bottles of Green Devil IPA and Old Tom for something a bit less threatening at 3.5%, here it is, it has been a few years ......
On Sunday, we will try 'wine before beer, feeling queer'. How controlled these scientific conditions will be is a bone of contention in my mind. I have a feeling the 'variables' may be a bit errrm, variable.
TEAM NEWS
Three new followers to swell our burgeoning numbers to 53. Let's meet them.
Jack Martin (squad number 52) is a Hampshire dairy man from Tom Parker (his Great Grandfather) Creamery. The milk range looks fantastic, and although my 'lining stomach with milk before a night on the wine' experiment didn't work in 2020, I'd happily give it another try if they were Jack's exciting varieties rather than Happy Shopper own brand.
Ed Wray (#53) is a big money signing from Woking. He does brewing stuff in Horsham, I met him on a recent pub (remember them?) trip to Surrey, he drove me around, lovely chap, very warm and open and approachable. Delighted to have him on board.
Trumpton CAMRA (#54) is another lovely addition I know from my BRAPA days. As a Barnsley twild back in '83, some my earliest happy memories are being dragged around the living room floor in a cardboard box whilst Trumpton, Chigley and Camberwick Green vinyls played til they were almost worn out. "Again, again!" I probably squealed. Apologies to my parents at this point too.
Welcome all three. And remember, squad numbers 28 & 46 are available again if you want to join this crazy little cult.
A couple of things to mention. Well done Matthew Lawrenson (#16) for successfully hosting his second bespoke #WWWSI night. Reg Veg (#41) is in talks with officials to debut his own #PISSI (Port, ITV, Skips, Staying In) event. It is a concept, you can't deny it. Why not try your own, and post a picture of it on Twitter tagging me in?
Apologies to Dave Basic (#42), I spoiled the ending of The Revenant on this blog and he and Mrs Basic were forced to watch Jools Holland Hootenanny. No more end of film spoilers when talking about Westerns. Right, on with the action.
WOTSIT? WOT OF IT?
The first dice roll of 2021 evening brought us a 4, a nice number though with the other food I had on offer, it would prove a bit overwhelming. Oh well, I suppose it wouldn't be cheating to spread them out over both nights.
One gripe, all this eating giant wotsits of late made these seem very tiddly tonight, and dare I say it, slightly unsatisfying!
BEER BEFORE WINE
I'd done a Covid test that morning (don't worry, I don't have symptoms, just one of those where you are chosen at random on a National Database) and I was still awaiting the courier as the clock ticked past 17:30 start time. Was the guy/gal going to make the most unlikely #WWWSI cameo appearance ever? End result, Boddingtons leaning on Covid test.
He finally rang at 17:43 so I went down to meet him at his van with my sample. Wish I'd given him the Boddies too, for it was a proper dreadful drop, making about as much impression on me as symptomless Covid.
At least I could relax now and get into full blown #WWWSI mode, Herb Alpert was the music of choice as the wine was Spanish (which is kind of Mexican).
I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPE WINE
Monastrell this week, which sounded a bit too close to nostril for my liking after the earlier swab. Wrongo Dongo (recommend by the trustworthy Kevin in my Red Wine book) was the 'amusing' name, I cannot find a Mission variety anywhere outside the USA that will ship to the UK so if anyone has any ideas, let me know.
Must remember to only drink half a bottle. Of course, at this stage, with my Boddies on the go, I was simply opening it to 'let it breathe' at this point.
RIB TICKLING FUN
The food to pair with this wine if you are into that bollocks is sticky BBQ pork ribs, absolutely delightful, the meat just fell off the bone. The kind of time in life you feel particularly sorry for your Vegan sister. I did some crusty bread, fresh tomatoes and some halloumi fries (well, halloumi shapes) to add what I hoped would be a bit of balance.
But as we say on the London train network, Euston we have a problem, and that was that I was still drinking the Boddies whilst eating the ribs, rendering the whole food pairing thing obsolete. So I then downed the watery Boddies in one, and felt a bit queasy. Took my first sip of wine, and by 'eck petal, it tasted like wallpaper stripper (though I did settle into it, and very nice drop, black like a stout though!)
Best 'go through' for the main event.
GURLS ON FILM
Released in 1939, Destry Rides Again was my earliest Western yet. Number 88 in the 'league table'.
So did I enjoy it? You betcha, one of my all time favourites to date, absolutely superb. High on comedy, a parody of the genre to some extent, which shows how long Westerns had been around by '39, I guess. It had songs too, without spilling over into a musical, very catchy numbers though, simply adding to all round rootin' tootin' good time fun feel of the movie.
We had #WWWSI staple, a young James Stewart (who must've made more appearances than anyone else, I'd have to do some research) as Destry.
Basically, there's this lawless town called Bottleneck, and in the Last Chance Saloon (with elements of the Riverside in Sheffield, O'Neills in L**ds and any high intensity Lloyds No 1 - imagine Rodboro' Buildings Guildford if they gave away free shots), they appoint the town drunk as sheriff just so no one challenges the status quo, ringleader of which is Marlene Dietrich, who was far too big for her boots.
But the town drunk decided to take things seriously, and gets Destry to come back from wherever he's been. Well, they all take the Michael out of him at first cos he's a pacifist and doesn't even believe in using guns (a concept that might still be lost on some Americans in 2020 - rare WWWSI stern political point).
But his calmer techniques (and pouring a bucket of water over the scrapping ladies) eventually get results.
I can't spoil the ending under the new 'Basic Law', but the ending was to be my only gripe. It all felt a bit rushed in its attempts to tie up loose ends, blink and you'll miss it, or maybe I was drunk, but it just felt it reverted to type a bit. Destry even went to get his gun, and Marlene Dietrich fell in love with him, so yeah, bit of a shame, but the very end scene left me smiling. Well done Destry Rides Again, highly recommended.
You may notice I nicked photos online rather than taking them with my phone this week. Aim of this was to leave my phone out of the room, so I didn't get distracted. Definitely an improvement.
UP NEXT
So, being a two parter, I will be back on Sunday for part 2. The film is Seven Men From Now (I rolled a lower 1, it is film #89).
I will eat those final two bags of Wosits, have a buffet, and drink a beer (should be Boddies but can I face it?) after the rest of the Monastrell to see if 'Wine After Beer' makes me feel queer.
Also look out for the #WWWSI Dice Cup draw. If you are a follower, you will be entered in it. Exciting eh?
See you on Monday for the write up.
Si
p.s. Oh, and did I 'feel fine' next morning? No.