Book #15: The Atrocity Archives, by Charles Stross

Mar 19, ’05 12:23 PM

I picked up Stross’ novelette The Atrocity Archives on the advice of Scott Laird, since I needed a something to dilute the brain-melting effect of plowing through chapters 18 "Minkowskian Geometry" and 19 "The classical fields of Maxwell and Einstein" of Penrose’s magnum opus.  I’m at the point with Penrose where I’m reading the text and only skimming the math…he lost me in detail a few chapters ago, sadly.   

Stross self-describes the book as a gloss on "Len Deighton, by way of Neal Stephenson."  Throw both of these into a universe where H.P. Lovecraftian "old ones" actually turns out to be the inhabitants of parallel universes with periodic access to ours via some serious spacetime weirdness, and you’ve got the effect.  Seriously, this was a fun read.  How often do you get spy novels which mix Victorian horror with modern technology with shadowy intelligence agencies?  This was my first introduction to Stross, but I think I’ll be picking up Singularity Sky for my next relaxation reading.

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Seattle Wine Storage website and new lounge

Mar 19, ’05 10:42 AM

Last week, Seattle Wine Storage (where I have my cellar) rolled out its new website, and opened the lounge and tasting room.  Chuck Miller, the proprietor of SWS, has done a fantastic job of creating not just a storage facility, but also a real wine community here in Seattle.  The newDsc00277_2 ground floor renovations include a wall covered in wine crate ends which creates a stunning effect (in person, find the wine which is upside down!).

Last Tuesday, after work, a number of us inaugurated the new lounge, which includes a table for BYOB wine tastings, dart board, and other fine amenities.  The billiards table is coming soon, apparently.  We began, appropriately enough, Dsc00276_1with champagne from Pol Roger; in this case the non-vintage Extra Cuvee de Reservee, which was tasty but otherwise not noteworthy.  This was followed by a 2002 Boxler Riesling Reserve, which I completely failed to identify as Boxler — it seemed bitter on the nose and somewhat waxy, so I guessed things like Deiss and Mann (to my shame, being a Boxler fan).  I followed this with the 1998 Trimbach Cuvee Frederic Emile, which was tight and unforgiving (but accessible in my cellar…).  Naturally, the second half of the bottle opened up nicely the next day and was terrific. 

I’m not going to discuss each wine here, but at the bottom I’ll list the wines not noted, since others at the tasting may want a record of things we tried.  A Pegau Cuvee Laurence 1990 was stenchy and triggered the inevitable controversy over "corkiness," but there was nothing wrong with this wine and after awhile in the glass it bloomed a bit and was nice.  The 1988 Gruaud Larose was in fine shape — still a bit primary, but deep and mellow with just a hint of green pepper.  Given how little we tend to drink Bordeaux in our group, I forget how much I like good Bordeaux.  All of mine is still way too young, so there’s something to look forward to…Dsc00280_1

The wine of the night for me was a magnum of the Bartolo Mascarello 1982 Barolo, brought by Chuck in tribute to the fact that Mascarello died earlier this week.  The wine started out with a typical "iron and blood" nose, soon blossoming with cherries, chocolate, and herbs.  The wine continued to be very nice well into our card game a couple of hours later, ending up with a bit of the "celery seed" thing that happens with Barolos that oxidize in the glass. 

We then tried a 1989 Clos du Papes Chateauneuf that I’d been saving. The wine still has some fairly serious tannins, and needed plenty of time after opening.  Deep and dark, the wine is very traditionally made with beefy, herbal, salty notes on top of the core "red fruit" grenache aroma.  I don’t know if I have any more left, but it will continue to age well for several more years, possibly seeming in 5 years muh like the richer 1983’s do now.  This was followed by a 1997 Beaucastel that nobody identified as such.  It was weird — most people thought Pegau from an overabundance of that juicy strawberry/cherry fruit and complete lack of leather/tar.  I suspect the wine, from a lesser vintage, is in an awkward phase and needs a few years. 

Other wines we tried were the 1996 La Chapelle (fairly nasty, possibly the bottle), the 2003 Hureau Lisagathe Saumur-Champigny (overripe to the point where it seemed oaky…), the Guigal 1995 Chateauneuf (a good spicy CdP), Morot Toussaints 1993 Beaune, Mt. Eden Chardonnay 1995, Droin 1999 Chablis Les Clos (good but strangely mossy or musky on the nose for my tastes), and Fritz Haag 1983 GKA Brauneberger Juffer. 

We drank a bottle of 1990 Suiduraut Sauternes while playing some cards.  The Sauternes was great; good acidity was balanced by a nice caramel sweetness.  The evening was a great success.

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Book #14: A Place So Foreign, and Eight More, by Cory Doctorow

Mar 14, ’05 8:57 PM

I needed a bit more relaxation this weekend, after struggling through some of the more abstract chapters of math background in Penrose’s Road to Reality. So I grabbed Cory Doctorow’s A Place So Foreign and Eight More from its sad, neglected place in my “incoming” stacks. I wasn’t disappointed.

I’d been intrigued but ultimately unsatisfied by Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Doctorow’s first novel and the source of much Net fascination over “whuffie” economics. I think my mediocre reaction to D&O ultimately led to Place So Foreign languishing in the to-do pile for so long (Amazon reports that I bought the book in Oct 2003, so that’ll tell you how big the “incoming” stack has gotten…).

Not all of these short stories grabbed my attention, but at least two are gems. “To Market, To Market: The Re-branding of Billy Bailey” is a superb story about a world where elementary school kids fashion self-images as “brands,” seeking sponsorships from companies who get the benefits of viral marketing. Fasincating — though scary — idea, and incredibly well done.

But the best story of the lot is “0wnzored” (with zeros, in case your font doesn’t show the difference). A fast-paced tale of bioengineering and the frontiers of hacking, the story immerses you in Silicon Valley/tech industry geek culture. I felt overwhelmingly nostalgic for 1996 reading it.

OK. Back to serious reading, including Levy’s Original Intent and the Founder’s Constitution, as well as finally getting to the physics chapters in Penrose….

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Book #13: Speaking American: How the Democrats Can Win in the Nineties, by David Kusnet

Mar 14, ’05 8:44 PM

I picked up Kusnet’s book after reading his New Republic article on the Inaugural speech. Kusnet, a former speechwriter for Clinton, Dukakis, and Mondale, is well-placed to comment on how Democrats continue to “get it wrong” when speaking on the issues. Speaking American is an older book, from right before the 1992 elections, and this was the book’s real attraction. Kusnet was writing at a time when Democrats had last won the White House in 1976, and had fielded two lackluster candidates in a row. Clinton’s magical ability to connect with people on both sides of the aisle was yet unknown to most of us.

And Kusnet’s message was that Democrats had been getting away from their roots, and were losing the middle class through a lack of populism. Dukakis was the epitome of this problem — perceived widely as an Eastern elitist, he failed to convince the middle class that he firmly grasped their interests, mostly because the rhetoric of the Democrats since McGovern had drifted towards talk of the poor, rather than the working middle class.

I won’t go through the details here, because in fact I read the book to anchor some thoughts I hope to post on Progressive Commons. Suffice it to say that in looking at a wholly unrepresentative sample of Democratic speeches from the 2004 campaign, I think we’ve learned some of the lessons Kusnet discusses but not all, and Kerry in particular was unable to project the right image even though he said many of the right words.

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Book #12: Murphy’s Gambit by Syne Mitchell

Mar 7, ’05 6:24 PM

I wasn’t going to blog about Murphy’s Gambit, by Syne Mitchell, because it’s more "snack" reading. But Will Baude and others are blogging everything as part of the 50 Book Challenge, so I’ll fess up to guilty pleasures as well. Basically, my brain hurts after prolonged exposure to radiation Richard Rorty, Roger Penrose, and Richard Posner, and I needed something fun. Morgan’s book was kind of disappointing, so I picked up Murphy’s Gambit yesterday, which I believe is Mitchell’s first book. It’s "hard" science fiction, which more than ever means fidelity to real physics, along with gory descriptions of the same. MG is set in a future where twelve large corporations control human colonization of the galaxy, with tight control over the only means of quickly moving between inhabited systems. Humans are divided into floaters (those who live and are adapted to zero-gee conditions), and the rest of "grounder" humanity. You can guess who is oppressing whom here. At any rate, it’s a fun book and I recommend it along with Mitchell’s more recent books ("Technogenesis" and "Changeling Plague").

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Recent Wines: Tempier 2002 and Servin 2002 Chablis Les Pargues

Mar 6, ’05 6:52 PM

Only a couple of notes this week.  I tried the Domaine Tempier 2002 regular bottling this week.  Although I revere Tempier, buy Tempier every year and am rarely disappointed, the 2002 is definitely a tougher vintage, and less pleasing than any vintage in memory (possibly stacking up like 1994).  This is likely due to the disastrous conditions prior to the 2002 harvest, which wiped out the southern Rhone Valley and wreaked havoc throughout Europe.   Who knows, the single vineyards may turn out better, given more rigorous selection and smaller production.  I feel bad writing this, since Tempier is probably my one "indispensible" wine, but I gotta be honest about my reaction to the 2002 regular.

The real gem this week was a bottle of Domaine Servin 2002 Chablis I bought on a whim from Whole Foods.  The wine is from the lieu-dit of Les Pargues, which was formerly a premiere cru vineyard but is now declassified.  So this wine is technically an AOC from a named lieu-dit, which leads to better-than-average quality at an incredibly reasonable price.  Whole Foods has the wine at $18 retail, less with case discount.  The wine, which is bottled unfiltered, is lush and full on the palate, with a lemon cream nose punctured by massive minerality.  No kidding — this is real Chablis for less than $20.

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