I realize that I might be the only boozer at Roaring Shark, but I’ve decided in the name of eclecticism to write a post on one of my newish interests – California wine.  It will come as no surprise that California is by far the largest wine-producing area in the U.S., and one of the major players in global winemaking.  While other states may specialize in one or two wine styles (for example, Riesling and Gerwurztraminer in the Finger Lakes), California is large and geographically diverse enough to grow basically the full range of grapes and styles, from delicate Sauvignon Blancs to robust Cabernet Sauvignons.   If you buy wine grown in the U.S., there’s a very good chance it comes from somewhere in California.

Though California growing regions like Napa and Sonoma are well-known as winemaking and tourist destinations, it surprises many people – as it did me when I moved out here – that a good deal of the California wine consumed in the U.S. is grown and/or produced in places other than Napa and Sonoma: value-brand wine giant Bogle, for example, is based in the Sacramento Delta (literally down the road from my house), while a lot of Zinfandel is grown in Lodi, in California’s Central Valley.  Beyond quantity, there’s a lot of really great wine produced outside California’s marquee growing regions – a fact that I’ve tried to reflect in this list of five of my favorite red wines from California:

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Ok, as I said I would I wrote the ballad of zach. Of course this is my interpretation. I hope you enjoy, it was my intention to do a ballad of everybody here. This sort of came out of two things, one is the music from Diablo II which I like. The riff at the beginning is similar to one of the songs. Also I’ve been thinking about Shadow of the Colossus recently and was trying to do a version of some of the music which is in G minor. Obviously I played sotc on zach’s ps2. There are some mistakes in here but I’m pretty happy with this one, and I was just kind of having fun in the middle part. I wanted to have an ambient track of like forest sounds or rain in the forest, maybe I’ll do that at some point.

Download, Ballad of Zach

Definitely been neglecting the site recently. Zach’s been doing an awesome job keeping it alive even though he’s probably busiest of all. That’s why I’ve begun writing the “Ballad of Zach.”

I’ve been having some reservations about my fanfic. Although I have a pretty clear idea where to take the story I fear that I’m not as good a guitarist as Cloud, so I’m pretty self conscious being such a fan of the world. I’d like to find a way to keep posting music and to keep posting fanfic chapters however.

With the exception of “Survival Quest,” starring the underrated dermot mulroney haven’t watched too much to review. Although I have put Halo Legends on the queue so hopefully I’ll have a review up shortly although the word on the street is that it’s hit and miss.

For whatever reason Eric Clapton has always grated on me. I think it was one of those arbitrary middle school/high school decisions that I’ve never really had reason to revise. Anyway this cell phone commercial has been on non-stop during the olympics and I’m super sick of it. The thing I hate the most is the “move” Clapton does at 0:15. Other lowlights include the song (“I get off on ‘57 Chevys” cannot think of a less interesting thing to get off on) and Clapton doing his best Earthworm Jim impression at 0:11.