Jul 17 2012

Introduction to Wine, part IV: Reading labels and storing

In the third instalment of “Introduction to Wine,” we covered the different growing periods for the northern hemisphere. In this final chapter, I want to briefly demystify some of the components of a wine label, and discuss optimal conditions for storing wine in your home.

To get us started, let’s talk about wine labels and all the pieces of information that you might find on one. First thing’s first, though, there are huge differences between the label format of a “New World” wine and an “Old World” wine. We’ll start with the “New World” wines, which are the ones that are produced in areas outside of the traditional wine-growing regions of Europe and the Middle East. In particular, many New World wines come from the United States (primarily the West Coast), Australia, New Zealand, South America (with emphases in Argentina and Chile), and South Africa.

Reading a New World wine label - Caymus Vineyards Special Selection

As you can see from the image above, New World wines feature the producer’s name most prominently on the label. The region (Napa Valley, in this case) and varietal (which is the type of wine [in this case, Cabernet Sauvignon] are not nearly as demanding of your attention as the producer. Also, the vintage (which is the year that the wine was produced) is not a focal point of the label. These four parts (producer, region, vintage, and varietal) are the main components of a wine label, but there are other pieces as well. Some of the other information includes the alcohol content, the founder of the vineyard, and the country of origin, and the quantity of the bottle (in this case, the standard 75cl or 750ml).

In contrast to New World wines, Old World wine labels shift the focus more to the region and varietal than to the specific producer. As you can see below, the varietal is at the top of the bottle and the region directly below it; sharing the largest typeset. In general, Old World wine labels emphasise the region and then the varietal, but there can be some overlap between the two. The producer is generally not as prominent, and is often toward the bottom of the label, or even on a separate label elsewhere on the bottle.

Reading an Old World wine label - Montalcino region, Italy

Will all New World and all Old World labels be set up in this exact format? No; different producers will stylise the labels in their own way. That being said, they tend to follow similar patterns of prominence.

Shifting very briefly to wine storage, there are a couple main points to consider when looking for that “just right” spot to house your wines:

  • Temperature fluctuation is bad.
  • Light is bad.
  • Ageing too long is bad.

Simply put, you will ideally store your wine in a dark, cool place (like a cellar) in which the temperature seldom changes. That last point is important as well. Many people think that wines have to age, and the longer that they do, the better they will taste. While there are some wines that develop flavour complexities and subtleties over time, not all of them do. Further, wines will hit an ideal age, and it is possible to let them sit for too long. What happens is that the flavours can mellow to the point of muddiness, or worse yet, dullness. Also, many New World wines are meant to be enjoyed shortly after bottling or purchasing. So, unless you are quite certain that the wine you have will improve with time, pop the cork and enjoy! 🙂

Cheers,
Zach

Jul 16 2012

Screen lockers xtrlock and slock

For many years now, I have used a very simple screen locker called xtrlock in order to stop others from accessing my systems whilst I’m away from my desk. Some time ago, I switched from using Gentoo on my Samsung NC10 netbook to using Arch. Though I prefer Gentoo, it just didn’t make much sense to compile everything on that poor Atom N270 processor (think Chromium or LibreOffice). Anyway, Arch does not have xtrlock in their repositories, likely because it has been abandoned upstream since 2010 (although the Debian homepage for the package shows an update to version 2.2 as of June 2012). So, I needed to find an alternative package for locking my screen.

Seeing as I am a minimalist, I wanted something incredibly lightweight without a bunch of features that I will never use or dependencies linked to the libraries of some particular desktop environment. Through some quick searching, I found slock, which is arguably even lighter and featureless than xtrlock. Xtrlock displays a little blue lock icon in front of the active desktop, only allowing for cursor movement until one enters the password of the user who invoked it. Slock, on the other hand, doesn’t even show the desktop or an icon. Instead, it shows a black screen. Similar to xtrlock, slock requires one to enter the password of the user that started the application in order to see the desktop again. So, both applications are very similar in nature and execution.

Both applications also have a similar “flaw,” which likely won’t have much of an impact, but is worth mentioning. When the screen is locked using either application, one can switch to a different virtual terminal (by using the CTRL-ALT-F# combination for the desired virtual terminal) without entering the password of the user that started the locking application. Now, that user can log in to the system, but cannot kill xtrlock or slock unless they can become root. However, it does pose a bit of a security concern in some use cases that don’t really apply to my situation. If you can think of some other possibilities, feel free to leave a comment here, and I’ll further investigate.

So, which application is better? Seeing as they both accomplish the same task, they are both lightweight and unobtrusive, and they are both available via Portage, it would seem to be a stalemate. However, the two each have one exclusive plus, respectively. Xtrlock still shows the display. That means that if you are in an environment where you need to have an application (like ping or watch -n 1 'netstat -tupan' running even whilst you are not directly in front of your computer, it will still run and you can still see it. That may also be an unlikely use case though. Slock, by only showing a black screen and not indicating any type of other activity, may be an added layer of security through obscurity. In either case, both applications are relatively similar.

Cheers,
Zach

EDIT: Be sure to view the update to this post for more information about a security problem with startx and screen lockers.

Jul 15 2012

Blood Stain Child – Epsilon review

Recently, when I was browsing the interesting artists on the FiXT Store (which specialises in electronica, techno, electronic rock, and similar genres of music), I stumbled upon an artist that I had never even remotely heard of. Their band name is really disturbing to me; almost to the point that I passed on listening to them (but that would really be preemptively judging, now wouldn’t it?). I would summarise Blood Stain Child as a hard-hitting crossover between metal, J-Pop, and electronica that is topped off by incredible female vocals.

Blood Stain Child - Epsilon album cover

1. Sirius VI – 9 / 10
Right from the start, you get a feel for the eclectic mix of hardcore, J-Pop, and electronica that makes this album incredibly unique. There is pounding guitars, bass, and drums mixed with some synth and the combination of screams and a piercing female voice. The sound is somewhat like organised chaos that all seems to fall into place during the chorus. A great introductory track that sets the stange for all that is to come.

2. Forever Free – 10 / 10
This track starts off with just synth and drums, but quickly introduces the hard-hitting guitars and screams. The verse is primarily the screamer and the whispy female vocals in the background, which makes it somewhat dissonant. However, that dissonance only makes the consonance of the chorus that much stronger. The bridge features a mild guitar solo, and then a somewhat more prominent one thereafter. In the last minute of the song, the guitarists pick up the pace a bit, and the song closes with primarily synth and drums. Overall, this is on of my absolute favourite tracks (especially during my long runs).

3. Stargazer – 10 / 10
Starting with a dance-style intro, and going into a very melodic verse with only female vocals, Stargazer sounds more poppy than the previous two tracks. The chorus continues the easy-flow of this song, and one really has to listen for the musical subtleties that are sprinkled throughout the background of the track. The breakdown and subsequent rebuild during the bridge are perfectly structured, ending with a guitar solo that transitions into a heavily-mixed vocal part with lots of effects. As the title may imply, this track is stellar.

4. SOPHIA – 10 / 10
This song starts with a very catchy mix of synth strings, beats, and vocals, and leads into a faster beat with heavy guitar riffs during the verses. The chorus really elevates the song to a new level, incorporating storytelling lyrics and high-pitched vocals that contrast the low-end crunch of the band. Just when you think you know where the song is going, it breaks back down into the synth strings and beats. It ends with another strong repeat of the chorus and fades…

5. Unlimited Alchemist – 9 / 10
The mix in the beginning of this track isn’t as clean as it is on some of the previous ones, but still shows the band’s ability to contain their energy and structure it accordingly. The guitarists and the keyboards seem to all do their own things during the verses, but yet they still sound like they are playing off of one another. The mix really cleans up during the bridge, and allows you to hear all parts–the rhythm guitars, the keyboards, the beats–clearly. It finishes in about the same place that it started, but ends a bit abruptly.

6. Electricity – 9 / 10
Great pop-electronic feel in the beginning with strong synth, rhythmic guitars, and equally following vocals. Except for one very brief period around 1’50”, this track remains at the same aggressive pace throughout, and never misses a beat. It carries with it a strong current that certainly lives up to the title, but the vocals are not as impressive as in some of the other songs on the album.

7. Eternal – 10 / 10
From the mood-building introduction of the track, one can almost feel the musical eruption that is coming. The verses are primarily comprised of screams and dissonant guitars, with the chorus being filled with pure female leads and heavy double-bass drum beats. There is a great break-down during the bridge that lasts for several measures, leading back into the same power of the post-introduction verse, (but with the addition of some incredibly reaching vocals and two nice solos).

8. Moon Light Wave – 10 / 10
The shortest track on the album starts with a guitar part that mimics the vocal patterns presented in the upcoming chorus. The mix of heart-pounding hardcore (in the vein of All That Remains) and ear-popping beats makes this another fantastic track on the album. My favourite part is that around 2’15”, it seamlessly changes key. The only problem with the song is that it’s simply too short.

9. Dedicated to Violator – 7 / 10
The introductory vocals seem a bit overmixed, which makes it difficult to understand the lyrics. In this track, the loud crunch of the guitars is overtaken by the synth and drum machine. They are still there, but very faintly in the background as if only to provide some structure to the track. About halfway through, there is a nice piano portion that picks up, and a short lead line from one of the guitarists, which then shifts back into the pop-sounding chorus. Though it is a good track, it seems to fall short of the momentum that had been building with the eight tracks leading up to it (though it does indicate versatility).

10. Merry-go-Round – 10 / 10
The techno-esque start with pitch-bending synth is followed by a guitar hit that is likened to being musically punched in the face. The verses have nice blend of strong vocals and muddied screams, as well as subtle musical segments followed by hard riffs. To me, this is one of the perfect mixes of metal and pop that I’ve heard in ages. Since the song pivots between the two styles, the title seems to be another tie-in. If I thought it ethical, I would give it an 11 out of 10, but I’ll refrain. 🙂

11. La+ – 8 / 10
The opening verse (especially how the vocals are juxtaposed with the rhythm guitars) reminds me a bit of a harder Evanescence. This is one of the few tracks where I feel like the guitar solo actually detracts from the overall sound. The song seems a bit choppy throughout, and the solo exacerbates that lack of fluidity.

12. Sai-Ka-No – 6 / 10
This song can be seen in one of two lights. It can be seen as COMPLETELY out of sync with every other track on the album. Conversely, it can be viewed as the acoustic, mellow ending song that further demonstrates the band’s ability to change things up. However you would like to view it, it does feel a little odd when compared to the other tracks, and in my opinion, is out of place given the bonus track to follow.

13. Royal Sky – 9 / 10
Back to the typical sound that tied many of the tracks together, Royal Sky drops the tempo a little bit, but leaves the hard-hitting metal rhythms unscathed. In my opinion, this should have been the standard closing song and, as such, taken the place of Sai-Ka-No before it. The slower pace without sacrificing aggression provides a perfect finale.

This album is nearly perfect in its eclectic and unique mix of musical styles, and is fantastic as a workout album (especially when doing something that is aided by repetitive rhythm and blood-pumping guitar crunch). It seemed like too odd of a blend to be positive, but it really worked for me. I urge you to at least check out some of the minute-long, free, sample tracks over at FiXT.

Overall, it adds up to 117 / 130, which equals a very prominent 9 / 10:

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