20
May

The Making of Our Very Goode Video (sneak peek!)

Posted on May 20th, 2009 :: Posted in Alcoholic Beverage, Announcement, Mexico, news, video

UPDATE (5/26): The video has been posted so please watch & vote!

“This job is so for you!” That’s our friend Nikki talking after we told her we were applying for a Really Goode Job as Lifestyle Correspondents for Murphy-Goode Winery in Healdsburg, CA. It’s a sweet gig (get the details here) but they’re not just giving it away. Nope. All applicants have to submit a 60 second video.

Mexico’s wine industry is growing and improving (La Cetto petit syrah has become a favorite), but it’s centered mostly in the Valle de Guadalupe area of the Baja Peninsula. Here in central Mexico tequila is king. Since tequila has an official geographic denomination, like chianti and champagne and scotch does, only stuff made in approved areas can legally be called tequila. Which brings us to the Cascahuin Tequila Distillery in El Arenal, Jalisco, Mexico just north of Guadalajara and 15 miles from the town of Tequila itself right on the Ruta de Tequila.

We figured Murphy-Goode will get plenty of video applications shot in vineyards, so why bore them with another one? Instead we headed into a rolling field of gorgeous blue agave with our trusty Flip Video camera and a stack of cue cards and our ipod and a whole crew of supporters including Javier there in the background, Carlos (whose family owns Cascahuin) and our littlest guest star, Tedeo.

It was hot, it was dusty and blue agave is brutally sharp (yes, there was blood) but we had a ball shooting our application video complete with our own theme song written by our friend, guitarist Scott Metzger, art help from our friend Iliana and post-production polishing courtesy of Nikki, who was the very first one to come right out and say that this job is so for us.

The video is finished and will be posted soon.

Until then, here are some outtakes to tide you over and you can get even more details about our quest for a Really Goode Job at areallygoodehire.net.

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UPDATE (5/26): The video has been posted so please watch & vote!

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15
May

Influenza de Puerco

Posted on May 15th, 2009 :: Posted in Mexico, news

The idea was to wander back to Mexico City and catch a flight to Havana so we could travel around Cuba for a few weeks. Since Cuba’s suddenly become a hot topic in the news with high level government officials suggesting the US embargo should finally be overturned, which would make travel to Cuba legal for US citizens, we were anxious to get there before the flood-gates opened. Plus there’s something exciting about crossing a border illegally.

Anyway, a few days after we arrived in Ajijic to visit our friends Tom and Iliana and their kids David and Cristina there was sudden talk about a virulent flu breaking out all over Mexico and beyond. A few days later, Mexico City and most of the country was virtually shut down and flights to many countries, including Cuba, were canceled. We weren’t going anywhere.

Instead of whining, we chose to see this setback as an opportunity to settle down for a few weeks with friends, catch up on work and tackle a some long overdue projects like building this new blog–a task that had been on the “To-Do” list for way too long.

Ultimately, schools and most public spaces in Mexico were closed for nearly three weeks but things are finally starting to get pretty much back to normal. It’s nice to not have a store employee squirt disinfectant on your hands as you enter or see people walking around with face masks (even if most of them were wearing them as necklaces or headbands).

The so-called H1N1 “Snoutbreak” turned out to be little more than the regular flu sensationalized by the media and perpetrated by a government anxious to be seen as responsive and responsible (which, in our opinion, they were).