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The Great Pumpkin has arrived! DarkMatters, Spooky Avatars Halloween Party!!


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14 hours ago, Androdion said:

Covid made me thirstier, and with whisky and beer she barely touches it. Maybe an imported Belgian or German beer every now and then, but she doesn't touch the scotch. So the wine cellar ended up becoming something of a pet project for both of us since we can both appreciate zee wine. Last week we went for a ride around the Douro, which is the river that crosses the northern region where the Port Wine is made. That was great, and we even got to visit a wine estate and do some tastings. Really nice.

Last photo is from a few weeks ago, it has since had some comings and goings I'm afraid. :D The ceiling is even higher so I have at least a couple more racks that aren't shown in the picture. We're nearing 100 bottles right now, but we're also starting to be more selective with what we buy instead of buying in bulk. We're trying to focus on keeping a balance in terms of quantity and quality. From left to right there are five different wine regions represented, the main ones in my country (Douro, Dão/Bairrada, Lisboa & Vale do Tejo, Alentejo).  It's fun doing this. :drunkards: 

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Androdion... thats a pretty epic shot.  And at the same time I imagine the whole culinary world of Portugal, its history and the waves it makes in daily food blogs and programs...  ahh, that delicious fish...and all this wine! I've pinged Lujate just to have him see this shot!

@lujate

...he's a thoughtful wine drinker as well... glasses and everything.  Also ..I love how when you look at your cellar from this vantage... I can almost see that map that you describe as painted over the image... an infographic! :D

 It seems like we always have to have family or community share things before we believe that its "real" and can have some impact in our lives.  So... doing the math..if you have enough space for 100 does that mean that as a oenophile... to indulge in this hobby.. u have to go through at least one bottle a week?

lol...I'd have to work on that!

:lol:

gogo

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Well, actually I have room for 240 bottles there... :blush:

First time we decided to do this I was thinking about reaching some 12 bottles per region, with double that amount for Alentejo which is our favourite region, and then upkeep it. But once I started placing wine by region and she started checking out the wine promotions in supermarkets all hell broke loose, ha ha. We'd go to buy this or that and come home only to realise that one region had double the amount of the others. Hum, that can't be as they need to be balanced, so invest in that other region when you can. Then comes September and every retail shop we know started making wine fairs left and right, so we started filling up the regions. You see, the two lower rows are just white with the top three being just red, then each region is on the vertical. The problem is that after trying out more than a few you start thinking "wait, we don't have that brand we like, or that other brand" or "look, a regularly expensive wine just got to a decent value", and off you go to spend more money. Hence why we have almost 100 bottles right now. And then you stare at the open spaces... :twitch:

As for the drinking, yeah, it's an unfair fight that the wine cellar keeps winning. :lol: But we try to give it a fight. Part of the fun of going to the Douro region was to have that feeling of familiarity with producers, and like I said we went to an estate where the owner basically had us there eating and drinking his (not so cheap I might say) wine. It was great, and then you buy more bottles and you try to find something of similar quality and taste. It's quite the hobby, and it's fun because we can both take our part in it.

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Just now, Timotheus said:

Oh you pitiful mortals.......

ahh ahahha... Timoooooooooooooo in full and regal spook wear...  yes...there is a whole wall of delicious Androdion and wife styled imbiberies awaiting you... and into the party you go sir!

:viking:

gogo

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3 hours ago, Androdion said:

Well, actually I have room for 240 bottles there... :blush:

First time we decided to do this I was thinking about reaching some 12 bottles per region, with double that amount for Alentejo which is our favourite region, and then upkeep it. But once I started placing wine by region and she started checking out the wine promotions in supermarkets all hell broke loose, ha ha. We'd go to buy this or that and come home only to realise that one region had double the amount of the others. Hum, that can't be as they need to be balanced, so invest in that other region when you can. Then comes September and every retail shop we know started making wine fairs left and right, so we started filling up the regions. You see, the two lower rows are just white with the top three being just red, then each region is on the vertical. The problem is that after trying out more than a few you start thinking "wait, we don't have that brand we like, or that other brand" or "look, a regularly expensive wine just got to a decent value", and off you go to spend more money. Hence why we have almost 100 bottles right now. And then you stare at the open spaces... :twitch:

As for the drinking, yeah, it's an unfair fight that the wine cellar keeps winning. :lol: But we try to give it a fight. Part of the fun of going to the Douro region was to have that feeling of familiarity with producers, and like I said we went to an estate where the owner basically had us there eating and drinking his (not so cheap I might say) wine. It was great, and then you buy more bottles and you try to find something of similar quality and taste. It's quite the hobby, and it's fun because we can both take our part in it.

Beautiful hobby.   I'm envisioning the visiting of fairs and the chuckling and discussions tween yourselves re where to go, what to buy and whom to imbibe from.. are you documenting or chronicling what you're liking, favorites and especially dark duds?

:lol:

gogo

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I'd buy you all a drink, at least that'd mean there's no more Covid restricting our lives!

We've been playing it by ear really, and trusting our memories on that. You've got to make your brain work after pumping so much grape juice, ha ha. But we've got a few favourites here and there. Still on the more commercial circles so to speak since there's a really really huge variety of wines in my country (I'd say you have hundreds, easily). Maybe one day further down the road we'll be more enticed by expensive wines, but right now we're still learning and tasting.

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1 hour ago, gogoblender said:

ahh ahahha... Timoooooooooooooo in full and regal spook wear...  yes...there is a whole wall of delicious Androdion and wife styled imbiberies awaiting you... and into the party you go sir!

:viking:

gogo

I had to rep some personal history as well ;) D2 was my first venture into RPG gaming and is and forever will be in my heart next to Sacred (Underworld). 
And it's soo good to see some more love for Constantine here! That's probably my third favorite movie of Keanu Reeves, after The Matrix and John Wick. 

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On 10/13/2020 at 10:34 PM, Daedalus said:

there you go, lemme see if it works :)

 

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I just noticed the graph paper in the first pic...is this how facial drawings are always created? Im just thinking here..is it for proportion? I seem to have vague recollections of something like this in my horribly failed art class in high school

:4rofl:

gogo

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32 minutes ago, Timotheus said:

I had to rep some personal history as well ;) D2 was my first venture into RPG gaming and is and forever will be in my heart next to Sacred (Underworld). 
And it's soo good to see some more love for Constantine here! That's probably my third favorite movie of Keanu Reeves, after The Matrix and John Wick. 

Its funny, after saying out loud to Schot just a while ago how I just cant seem to get into the actor himself,  Keanu Reeves ...  I will though acknowledge those movies you listed him in ... John wick completely took me by surprise.  I remember just slowly playing the beginning of it wondering how long I could possibly put up with it...when lo and behold I completely got sucked into that insanely deep, brilliantly thought out world of the dark assassins... absolutely thrilling moment when he pulled out those coins to " pay " for things in that world...  

I'm thinking though that he's had great luck in being cast in perfect roles for him... or... are we talking chicken/egg?

 

:lol: 

 

gogo

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okay okay...yah speed was fun...but ...wasnt it cuz the movie was good? That was a pretty forward idea for its time, and the pacing was great... at the risk of you throwing another Reeves movie at me I'll venture to say that he was the weakest part of that movie 

there!

go on and throw that tomatoe :P

 :tomato:

gogo

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7 hours ago, gogoblender said:

I just noticed the graph paper in the first pic...is this how facial drawings are always created? Im just thinking here..is it for proportion? I seem to have vague recollections of something like this in my horribly failed art class in high school

:4rofl:

gogo

Yes, it is indeed to properly construct the face and body with the right proportions :)

My maestro call this phase "Basic forms". Basically, you can summarize anything in life by drawing simple object. In this case, you can start the face by drawing a circle and an oval for the chin. Of coures, afterwards, you add details and tweak the form so that it correspond to what it should. But, those basic forms allow you to draw a very simple base without having to lose too much time if it's wrong (especially if you start adding details).


Then, those construction lines can be erased later :) 

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21 hours ago, gogoblender said:

Androdion... thats a pretty epic shot.  And at the same time I imagine the whole culinary world of Portugal, its history and the waves it makes in daily food blogs and programs...  ahh, that delicious fish...and all this wine! I've pinged Lujate just to have him see this shot!

@lujate

...he's a thoughtful wine drinker as well... glasses and everything.  Also ..I love how when you look at your cellar from this vantage... I can almost see that map that you describe as painted over the image... an infographic! :D

 It seems like we always have to have family or community share things before we believe that its "real" and can have some impact in our lives.  So... doing the math..if you have enough space for 100 does that mean that as a oenophile... to indulge in this hobby.. u have to go through at least one bottle a week?

lol...I'd have to work on that!

:lol:

gogo

Wow gogo, you've got a heck of a memory.  My DIY wine rack only holds 65 bottles.  If I could find the space, I could use a second rack.  Although it's been so long that I'm not sure how I made the first one.

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23 minutes ago, lujate said:

Wow gogo, you've got a heck of a memory.  My DIY wine rack only holds 65 bottles.  If I could find the space, I could use a second rack.  Although it's been so long that I'm not sure how I made the first one.

ha...yes! I remember you chatting about wine years ago.... all those glasses you spoke about intrigued me.  This resonated a few years later no, not to  far back when we went to go visit my cousin in the country and he had MASSIVE balloon glasses... ridiculous...but so fun! I remembered from TV how we were supposed to swirl and swirl and keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep swirling so that you can get the wine to oxidize its surface layer to oxygens and release delicious fumes and tastes...it actually worked

:drunkards: 

gogo

p.s. lujate, any rhym,  rhythm or madness to your collection? like by region, or other particularity?

 

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31 minutes ago, Androdion said:

Man, Keanu's roles pre-Matrix are pretty much forgotten by everyone... But when you think of it look at the movies of which he was a part of, many if not all dealing with both real life drama and fantasy worlds:

  • River's Edge (young metalheads who kill someone and get screwed in the head because of it)
  • My Own Private Idaho (River Phoenix playing a narcoleptic and him his lover IIRC)
  • Bram Stoker's Dracula (Mina's fiancé)
  • Point Break (co-starring with a anti-hero surfer Swayze)
  • Johnny Mnemonic (dude's an intel smuggler who uploads his own brain with computer files)
  • Chain Reaction (action flick with military secrets)

And who could forget, one of my all-time favourite movies... The Devil's Advocate! :bow: "Vanity, is definitely my favourite sin." Al Pacino playing Lucifer on Earth?! Well sign me in already!!! That one just gets me each and every time I see it, it's just so intense and well written. But yeah, first John Wick is the bomb too. The sequels though, too much action too little story. I almost snoozed watching the third one last Friday. The first one though is killer.

wow... JOHNNY MNEMONIC... how COULD i have forgotten that movie... that movie when it came out tore me up...just loved it and adored that dolphin, and supervillian Dolph LUndgren was it? 

U know... the more I think about  it, the more I realize that perhaps Keenau Reeves intersected in a part of my life that may have gone dormant lately... I really did enjoy the kind of movies he was in

:sun:

gogo

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38 minutes ago, Daedalus said:

Yes, it is indeed to properly construct the face and body with the right proportions :)

My maestro call this phase "Basic forms". Basically, you can summarize anything in life by drawing simple object. In this case, you can start the face by drawing a circle and an oval for the chin. Of coures, afterwards, you add details and tweak the form so that it correspond to what it should. But, those basic forms allow you to draw a very simple base without having to lose too much time if it's wrong (especially if you start adding details).


Then, those construction lines can be erased later :) 

Its actually a joy when you see that "magical" things such as drawing can actually be explained as being something that can be understood and learned... who knows for me... maybe in those later years on the beach.. a wind-blown sketching scenario may call!

:dance2:

gogo

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49 minutes ago, lujate said:

Wow gogo, you've got a heck of a memory.  My DIY wine rack only holds 65 bottles.  If I could find the space, I could use a second rack.  Although it's been so long that I'm not sure how I made the first one.

Wine racks are a fairly common thing here. Fashionable even if I might say. The ones I have though are more old school, as those are actually made from a specific sort of brick we have for building. Go figure! :D

I'm curious though, do you guys in North America ever find Portuguese wines for sale other than Port Wine? I mean red, white, rosé and the likes of it.

PS: I'm not a buff for glasses to be honest, even my scotch is served on old school tumblers. I'm not craving for Glencairn glasses just because they're supposed to be "the thing".

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gogo, I don't have much variety in my wine.  I can't go wrong with a French Bordeaux or any Pinot Noir from a major Pacific coast producer.  I love a good New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, but they have an annoying habit of tasting like green pepper juice (from high methoxypyrazines).

 

Androdion, I can't name any wines from Portugal and I've never seen any, but I must confess I've never looked.  As for glasses, I have three.  They're all the cheapest glasses the wine shop carries, but still much more expensive than a Walmart set.  I have a Burgundy glass, a Bordeaux glass and a white wine glass.

 

 

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I have some Ikea wine glasses. :lol: I guess the medium isn't very important when the drink is good.

Like I said above we have tons of wine producers here. So much and so many that I'd risk saying that Portugal is for wine like Scotland is for scotch.

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So I also got a scary halloween avatar.

Scream was a movie that I watched just after it released, my sister had a party at our house and invited a few friends over. I was actually not old enough, I was only 9years old, but wanted to watch it... BIIIGGGG mistake. It terrified me for years. For a few months afterwards, I could not sleep alone in my own bed, I would go and sleep on the floor in my middle sisters bedroom, I was convinced that the killer is looking for me and ONLY me... I eventually got over it and have watched all the movies in the franchise.

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Speaking of drinks, a Portuguese muscat wine won the the gold medal on the Muscats du Monde 2020 edition. It's sold for 20€ (bought it for 15€) and as I'm trying it for the first time I can assure all of you that it's really worth its price. It's bloody incredible! :o

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On 10/15/2020 at 8:04 PM, Androdion said:

Wine racks are a fairly common thing here. Fashionable even if I might say. The ones I have though are more old school, as those are actually made from a specific sort of brick we have for building. Go figure! :D

I'm curious though, do you guys in North America ever find Portuguese wines for sale other than Port Wine? I mean red, white, rosé and the likes of it.

PS: I'm not a buff for glasses to be honest, even my scotch is served on old school tumblers. I'm not craving for Glencairn glasses just because they're supposed to be "the thing".

You  know, until now Id never paid attention to the geography... only price and max drunk per bottle :lol:   I feel a mini project building up... maybe buy two at a time from a region and start taking notes? 

this sounds like an adorable project!

:heart:

gogo

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On 10/16/2020 at 6:33 PM, lujate said:

gogo, I don't have much variety in my wine.  I can't go wrong with a French Bordeaux or any Pinot Noir from a major Pacific coast producer.  I love a good New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, but they have an annoying habit of tasting like green pepper juice (from high methoxypyrazines).

 

Androdion, I can't name any wines from Portugal and I've never seen any, but I must confess I've never looked.  As for glasses, I have three.  They're all the cheapest glasses the wine shop carries, but still much more expensive than a Walmart set.  I have a Burgundy glass, a Bordeaux glass and a white wine glass.

 

 

I have glasses

Ikea

...working on them... ! soon as pandemic over, gonna look for those massive balloon things...

monster drinking!

:viking:

gogo

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