Incendiary Propaganda

I saw "Farenheit 9/11" today.

There's something immediate about the way Moore takes his propaganda, backs it with his chosen imagery, and elicits emotion, both sympathetic and argumentative, depending on to what degree you might share his point of view.

File this link away for when you're done here: Unfarenheit 9/11 by Christopher Hitchens. You know, if you have any plans to see the movie at all, I really encourage you to go, and read this article after seeing the movie. What Hitchens does isn't a critique of Moore's politics. It's more an examination of the incomplete propaganda Moore is spoonfeeding his public.

The reason I suggest seeing the movie first, is that I walked into the theatre sympathetic to much of what Moore believes (that Bush and Co stole the election, that there's some reason the Saudis aren't being dealt with in the same manner that the Afghans and Iraqis have bourne, and that Iraq wasn't the problem, it was the distraction) in a very vague way, and walked out ready to vote Libertarian.

I was emotionally moved. And I was given just enough information to be dangerous in a discussion.

Moore examines the Bush family (and close confidante) ties to Big Oil, companies profiteering from the Iraqi rebuilding effort, and most pointedly, the Saudi royal family. He talks about the war in Iraq, and shows us imagery that seemingly establishes the minutes-before-bombing Baghdad as a kite-flying, mom at the farmer's market with a smile type of oasis nirvana. He (initially) shows the American soldiers as cowboys, keeping us thinking about the bloody, dead, and dying Iraqi civilians as we hear soldiers talk about putting metal music in their headphones while driving the tanks that are laying waste to this Middle Eastern utopia.

To be fair, he does come back around and for the last half of the movie shows soldiers wanting to get the hell out of there, harboring distrust of the government that put them there, and showing the effects of the war on the families left behind.

There are a few things that will stay with me from this movie. The Iraqi woman crying to the camera, wailing against the Americans because they've caused five funerals in her family over two months. The mother of a young soldier killed in action from Flint, MI whose every words drip with sadness and frustration.

But after reading Hitchens' article, I'm more able to recall the movie with some understanding that Moore did not, in fact, make points so much as he did sneering half-accusations in most cases. It's frustrating to remember how Moore bounced between the war and Homeland Security concerns, and devoted a relatively pointless portion of the movie to the unguarded Pacific Coast in Oregon.

It's a movie, now in retrospect, that I'm far less satisfied with than I was when I walked out of the theatre.

If you can take this movie for what it's worth up front, which is a tremendously biased and slanted piece of incendiary liberal propaganda, then go. If anyone walks out of this movie thinking Moore is right on point, and that there isn't anything else that needs to be said or thought about these issues, then I just wish I could revoke their voter's registration cards.

I'm glad I saw it, but even more happy that I've read that article immediately following.

Multi Report

So how do I spend a good portion of the late morning on a day off? Why, the $5/$1 multi on PartyPoker, that's how...

It was exciting early. As a matter of fact, I caught 88 in EP on the first deal, made my set, and had someone bet aggressively into me. All-in? Sure, and I double up.

For a good portion of the early going, I was sitting on nearly 4500 chips, and was top ten in chip count overall. Not bad for an 856 person multi.

Then, the cards went cold.

I could have just folded my way into the money, but got bounced 119th instead (top 90 paid). I had 67o, was in the BB, and had put on a folding clinic for about an hour, playing exactly zero hands outside the BB. Someone made a raise from LP pre-flop, I read it as a steal, and I pushed all of my 2800 remaining in with 200/400 blinds. Two callers, both had JJ, and there actually was a J on the flop.

Not that they needed to rub it in.

Well, whatever. I got two and a quarter hours of poker under my belt for $6. Big deal.

With the 14th pick in the NBA Draft, the Utah Jazz select...

One of the little things in sports no one ever talks about is the fact that Utah drafts white guys every year. Kris Humphries from Minnesota is just the latest example.

By the way, update coming tomorrow, I'm taking the day off from work tomorrow after getting soundly beat up today (not a bad thing, not my fault, just sometimes sucks to be the face of the program at work).

Bad News for Bob

It's not even out yet, and I already want one...

My Guesses...

Pauly: Did I see Phish, The Grateful Dead, or NONE in the following cities:

1. Amsterdam, Holland I can't imagine Pauly NOT having been to Amsterdam. I'm going to guess that he saw THE DEAD in the Dam
2. Reyjavik, Iceland I've read "The Blind Kangaroo," and I think that rules out Pauly NOT having been to Reyjavik. But did he see a concert there? I'm going to guess that he SAW PHISH play in Iceland.
3. Toronto, Canada I fully believe Pauly wouldn't open up his numerical selections with one of each (Dead/Phish/Neither), plus, Toronto seems like a likely Pauly destination for a show. Specifically, THE DEAD.
4. Boise, ID No one goes to Boise on purpose. I also don't think Pauly would have such an obvious choice on this list for the one place he HASN'T been. I am therefore going to guess Pauly SAW PHISH in this city
5. San Francisco, CA Too easy? The Dead are from San Francisco, but as I'm looking at this geographically, a roadie in the Pacific Northwest seems like it might not have resulted in a San Fran stopover. I'll say Pauly's been there, but NO SHOW was seen in Frisco.
6. Portland, OR Hippies are abundant in Portland. He absolutely SAW PHISH in Portland.
7. Buffalo, NY Chances are excellent Pauly's been to Buffalo, especially for a show. Let's say he saw THE DEAD up there.
8. Austin, TX Pauly has neither been to Austin, nor has he seen a show. NO SHOW.
9. Minneapolis, MN Ah, the crown jewel of the Twin Cities. This seems as out-of-the-way for Pauly as Boise and Jackson are, but maybe this is just an airport stop-over? NO SHOW in Minny.
10. Charlotte, NC Two North Carolina picks? Sheesh, this gets hard. I'm thinking he saw a band in one, and no band in the other. Since Chapel Hill is a college town, Pauly saw NO SHOW in the land of the NBA's Bobcats.
11. Denver, CO Denver seems like a great place to catch THE DEAD at old Mile High Stadium, right?
12. Jackson, WY This was the toughest one of the bunch. I've been to Jackson Hole, and list it as one of my favorites spots on the planet. Frankly, there ain't much up there. But, since I confidently typed answers to every other entry on the list, I'm left with one remaining choice: Pauly saw THE DEAD here. I grit my teeth and await your answer.
13. DC While I'm sure Pauly has visited the seat of our nation's government, I would bet that if you got technical about it, the concert venues Phish and the Dead would play in that area lie outside the city. In places like Hampton, VA. NO SHOW.
14. Hampton, VA Pauly SAW PHISH here, possibly at some sort of festival.
15. Chapel Hill, NC College town, and smart money says Pauly SAW PHISH on Tobacco Road.

Make sure you pick 5 Phish cities, 5 Dead cities, and 5 NONE cities. If you get 4 correct, you will win.

BONUS: there is one city on the list I HAVE NOT VISITED, pick that and you get one bonus point.

48 weeks

I thought this statistic was interesting:

I’ve been writing on a near-daily basis for just about 11 months now. I would say that a safe average estimate of my daily output over 48 weeks is somewhere in the neighborhood of 3.5 pages of MS Word content at 12pt font. Using the first 3.5 pages of yesterday’s post as a guide, that’s about 1100 words daily.

1100 x 48 wks x 5 days = 264,000 words.

That seems to fit, as I’m just shy of 324,000 words written (today’s post will push through that number) currently, and it’s safe to say that I’ve done 80+% of my blogging over the last twelve months.

The moral to the story, as always, is that when you come to visit Random Thoughts and Thoroughbred Selections, I stack ‘em deep – and sell ‘em cheap.

I’m a volume blogger. I know I’m not always interesting or entertaining, and I’m not anywhere near consistent with subject matter.

To me, that doesn’t matter. It’s not why I blog.

I stopped writing for a few minutes after typing that last sentence. ”It’s not why I blog.” I don’t really have a good answer it seems for why it is then that I blog. Maybe it’s because there is no good single answer to that question.

I blog to exorcise demons. I’ve vented periodically about my ex-wife and the financial ruin divorce wrought. I write about things that frustrate me, like getting rivered by the only queen left in the deck at Caesar’s Indiana, or how voicemail systems are a waste of my time and patience.

I blog to lament the past. There’s no secrets in that I am a man who has steadily been kicking his own ass over mistakes made, mainly with women, over roughly the last fifteen years of my life. I don’t have any problem with sharing what a weenie I was, or even am, in certain circumstances.

I blog to improve my own writing. Unlike high school and college, I’m generally not tasked to produce pages of work that’s topic-specific, and as I’ve always prided myself on my ability to communicate through my writing, blogging is terrific practice to keep my skills sharp.

I blog for honesty. There are certain times you’ll see it from me, and certain times you won’t, but when I’ve got something brewing, I need to put it up, as I have no other true outlet for what I’m thinking and feeling at the moment. I lived in a state of denial for quite awhile, and I know that this blog has been as therapeutic for me as it has been time consuming.

I blog for community. While I’d write reams and reams regardless of my readership, it’s nice to know that there are about 60 of you that come to visit here on the daily (besides the random searchers and one-and-done link jumpers), and of that, there are some really good people in the poker blogging community who are all the types of guys I know I could have a beer with, play hours of cards against, and very much enjoy having them stop by to say hello when I’m playing on PartyPoker (sorry if I missed anyone (cough cough) in the links just above, and I promise to add to my “favorites list” soon, as I’m really lazy with improving my site and need direct links to some of the other blogs out there). I’m not writing for any of you, but I appreciate the support and comments and kinship I know is out there.

There are a million other reasons out there as well. So, to all who stop by, even though I’m not really writing for you in particular, thanks for reading. Leave a comment. I’m pleased beyond words that anyone finds this spot interesting enough to pay a visit, let alone return to read more.

Gamble-a-thon Week 6

I received the following email last night, and it's good to know that even though Pauly's on the road, he's still intent on trying to take my $5.

Here's the email, my picks later (to build suspense):

From the road. My turn. Please blog for us. Give me your answers on Saturday.

I have only seen Phish or the Grateful Dead in 5 of the cities. In the 5 others, I didn't see either.

Did I see Phish, The Grateful Dead, or NONE in the following cities:

1. Amsterdam, Holland
2. Reyjavik, Iceland
3. Toronto, Canada
4. Boise, ID
5. San Francisco, CA
6. Portland, OR
7. Buffalo, NY
8. Austin, TX
9. Minneapolis, MN
10. Charlotte, NC
11. Denver, CO
12. Jackson, WY
13. DC
14. Hampton, VA
15. Chapel Hill, NC

Make sure you pick 5 Phish cities, 5 Dead cities, and 5 NONE cities. If you get 4 correct, you will win.

BONUS: there is one city on the list I HAVE NOT VISITED, pick that and you get one bonus point.

best of luck,
McG

I now have TiVo…

…not to mention a much better DVD player than I had coming in. Very, very cool. I haven’t been able to buy myself a birthday present in quite a long time, so this is a well-deserved treat for me.

Yes, you heard me. I deserve TiVo.

It’s the Toshiba SD-H400 from Best Buy (linked to Amazon, at a price $100 higher). Listed at $449 on the Toshiba website, selling for easily north of $299 from most outlets, and I got it for $199. I wouldn’t have spent another $50 on it, but with an 80GB hard drive and free basic TiVo subscription service for life? I can’t lose.

So I now have TiVo, XM Radio, and Wi-Fi at home. I guess I’m an I-Mac short of “cutting edge.”

This TiVo thing is pretty cool. For a guy that doesn’t have a cable box, TiVo provides the same program information menus that TV Guide provides to the cable company on digital cable. So it’s easy to track quickly through the day’s programming to see if the mid-day episodes of “West Wing,” or the 5PM “Simpsons” I always miss due to commuting home are worth catching.

The way they break down the day’s programming on the program guide is also awfully cool. You have two columns. On the left, you scroll quickly up and down the current channels, where current programming is listed. But on the current highlighted channel you can look in the right-hand column and see the next seven or eight programs that will be coming up on that channel. Basically, I can review a half-day’s program choices on the entire channel lineup in about three minutes, and just make a couple of quick clicks to request recording.

After initial set-up was complete (via a modem call on the phone line), I was able to wire this right into my router, and now have TiVo hooked up to receive updates via the Net. Apparently, according to BadBlood (and my owner’s manual), I can network my TiVo with my laptop, and play MP3s through my stereo on the TiVo. Too bad I’m not an MP3 kinda guy, because that sounds pretty cool.

What worked out awesomely this morning was recording the 5AM SportsCenter, and fast forwarding through everything I didn’t care about. Major League Baseball? Buh-bye. College World Series? Who cares. Euro Cup Soccer? Puhleeze… I watched the NBA segments, the Carson Palmer piece, Kenny Mayne’s “Dodgeball” vignette, and the day’s Top Ten. Total time invested in watching SportsCenter this morning: less than fifteen minutes.

My only gripes at this point, and none of these are a big deal all things considered, revolve around the fact that I now have to watch TV through the TiVo. First, I had just purchased a multi-device remote control, and now TiVo makes that remote pointless for everything except controlling volume on my amplifier. Secondly, the picture quality is dulled just a touch, but noticeably, by running the cable through the TiVo. That’s not a huge deal in my opinion, just a remark. And third, the remote control for this unit was designed by morons. The number pad for channels is at the bottom of the remote, and instead of sitting on the bottom row, the “zero” button sits to the right of the six. Huh? Don’t try to use it in the dark, I suppose.

As far as the picture quality goes, I may have the thing hooked up wrong. I’ve got coaxial in and out of the TiVo, along with the S-Video cable, and the yellow/red/white plugs out of the TiVo into the TV. Anyone have any advice?

I drank $2.99 wine this weekend. Crane Lake Cabernet. It wasn’t at all horrible. It’s like finding Pabst Blue Ribbon on tap for $1 mugs at a bar, figuring “what the hell” (assuming you’re not drinking it, like some poseurs are today, to be ironic or alternative), and finding out it actually tastes nothing like sewage infested turpentine.

I’m not giving up $8 bottles of Vina Alarba (my favorite cheapo Spanish red – it’s a nice little Priorat) to switch to $3 Crane Lake, but I’m not pouring the tail end of the bottle down the sink either.

That says something.

Just because I haven’t done this in awhile (maybe ever in this forum), here are a few red wine recommendations that I can offer (forget about specific vintages, I’m talking about what you pull of the shelf in the average liquor store):

>> Carmenet Dynamite Cabernet – about $18/bottle, but is complex enough to be interesting for a moderately priced red.
>> Vina Alarba (and) Onix – about $9/bottle - Two Spanish Priorats, which I feel compare to the Syrah type reds we’re used to. I like the Alarba as an above-average table wine type, and the Onix is interesting because it is made from grapes that grow from slate earth, and if you know that going in, it helps the flavor make more sense.
>> Nardi Rosso di Montepulciano – about $18/bottle – Very tannic, hearty, and robust. Not a wine to mess around with. Paired with spicy or robust foods, it is incredible.
>> Lemberger – $12/bottle - It’s an Oregon red with some sort of fancypants renaissance looking guy on the label, and it’s really, really good. It has a really rich flavor, but is still sweet and full at the same time, somewhat like the sensation of eating blueberries, whose taste is one of the many components of the Lemberger.
>> Barbera d’Asti (many different brands except Piedmontese – that one sucks) - $10-$20/bottle depending – Barberas are like mini-Barolos, meaning they’re probably a little more full than a Chianti, and are certainly more complex. Very good Italian vintage. Mondavi makes a good California Barbera (about $19) that might be easier to find than most of the Italian ones.

…Of the Last 30 Years…

With my birthday looming, I give you now a collection and assortment of lists that span the vast timeline of the last 30 years. All my favorites, in no particular order.

Top Five Detroit Lions
1. Leonard Thompson
2. Barry Sanders
3. Herman Moore
4. Chris Spielman
5. Shaun Rogers
5a. Charles Rogers
5b. Bennie Blades
5c. Billy Sims

Top Five Detroit Pistons
1. Isiah Thomas
2. Joe Dumars
3. Bill Laimbeer
4. Dennis Rodman
5. Rick Mahorn

Top Five Detroit Tigers
1. Alan Trammell
2. Lou Whitaker
3. Lance Parrish
4. Kirk Gibson
5. Enos Cabell

Top Five Michigan/Michigan State Athletes
1. Tyrone Wheatley
2. Plaxico Burress
3. Shawn Respert
4. Lorenzo White
5. Chris Webber
5a. Mateen Cleaves
5b. Morris Petersen
5c. Mill Coleman
5d. Scott Skiles
5e. Desmond Howard
5f. Charles Rogers

Top Five Best Meals Ever
1. Big Daddy’s Parthenon, all the Greek we could eat (mostly lamb)
2. Roommate and I bring back $50 worth of cans, buy an egregious amount of lamb chops, ate so much that I was forced to sleep in the same chair I had slumped into immediately following the dinner because I couldn’t get up.
3. Homemade seven courses of Italian by me, cooking for a dozen for a dinner party.
4. College graduation, got hammered and ate everything in sight at a Mountain Jack’s.
5. Wasted in college, called the pizza place crying telling them the pizza we had just eaten was the best pizza of all time.

Top Five Concerts
1. Blues Picnic, 1993
2. Vernon Reid’s Science Project @ the Knitting Factory, circa 1997
3. Henry Threadgill’s Very Very Circus @ Sweet Basil circa 1997
4. Max Roach, jamming with my professor and TA – jazz history class circa 1995
5. Steve Winwood in Salt Lake City, circa 1991

Bottom Five Concerts
1. HORDE Fest (Blues Traveler, Lenny Kravitz, Natalie Merchant)
2. Phish, circa 1995
3. Jazz Pianist Marcus Roberts (you can see me nodding off on the PBS telecast), circa 1995
4. Bob Dylan (“I was there” more than “It was cool”), circa 1996
5. A Tribe Called Quest (but not De La Soul) circa 1994

Best Pizza (besides the one mentioned above)
1. Clover Bar, Grand Haven, MI
2. Ray’s (Original Ray’s in the Village), NYC
3. The Alibi, Rochester, MI
4. Tomatoes Apizza, Farmington, MI
5. Round Table Pizza, Sandy, UT

Best Parenting Efforts, observed
1. “How can you have a pizza buffet and have no pizza on the buffet?” – my old man, right before he got really mad
2. Tossing my asshole youth basketball coach out on his ass instead of taking his b2b sales call – my old man
3. “He was not stoned all the time.” – my mom’s denial of our foreign exchange student’s “chronic” habit
4. “Go ahead and finish off the keg if you want.” – my old man, daring my friend and I after my graduation party
5. The PBS fundraising auction victory bringing Bozo the Clown to our house for a big party – both parents

Best TV Shows that never made it
1. It’s Your Move (Jason Bateman vehicle)
2. Sledge Hammer!
3. Automan (the hero that had as a sidekick a blinking green cursor)
4. Howard Stern’s CBS Saturday night show
5. Futurama

Top Five Cartoons of my youth
1. Transformers
2. MASK
3. Droopy the dog
4. Hulk Hogan’s Rock and Wrestling
5. X-Men

Top Five Trends/Hobbies, personal
1. Poker
2. Blues Harmonica
3. Madden Football
4. Cooking
5. Fantasy Football

Top Five Worst Trends/Hobbies, personal
1. The trumpet (three years and out)
2. The mullet years (two plus years in middle school)
3. Boy Scouts (just didn’t give a shit)
4. Dungeons and Dragons (second through fourth grade only, I assure you)
5. Pee Wee Football (way smaller than everyone else, didn’t like contact)

Top Five Aversions/Fears I’ve Developed
1. Bees
2. An unseen bug that might be a bee
3. Mayonnaise/Sour Cream products
4. People who are physically too close to me
5. Mushrooms

More to come?

But only if you factor in the leap years…

I feel screwed.

Screwed out of my own 30th birthday.

It all started Friday with an afternoon visit from a co-worker from out-of-town who brought over a couple of handheld games (Yahtzee! and Poker) as a gift from some of the people I talk to on the phone on the daily. That was a sweet thought. The Poker game is a terrible travesty of computer programming, however, and one has to concentrate really hard to figure out what suits the cards are due to the way they puzzle-piece the graphics together (the “heart,” for instance, has puzzle-piece elements of the “spade” and the “diamond”).

Still, that was right nice of them.

With Pauly coming by for a visit this Saturday, I torpedoed my mom’s machinations to whisk my brother, his fiancée, and I down to Chicago on the train for lunch. She didn’t expect me to be busy. Who would? So with Bob coming back this weekend (he’s going to Baltimore next weekend), the track was our destination of choice for Saturday night. I should have known something was up when Bob secured these plans two weeks in advance (not his style), but was surprised by my mom and cousin (not to mention M and his fiancée, but I knew they were joining us already) and a birthday dinner.

Seven days early.

Oddly, both my mom and I used the same line independently that Saturday, saying that if you factor in the leap years (30/4 = 7 days and change) over the course of my life, I was truly 30 on June 19th, not June 26th.

So, I got birthday dinner and birthday presents on Saturday from my mom (and brothers, who pitched in). I got a four foot stainless steel kitchen work table, which was badly needed (and just in time for Sunday), and the most garishly kitschy (and cool) antique gambling-themed party set (five glasses, glass snack bucket, aluminum tray) you’ve ever seen.

For Father’s Day Sunday I was elected to cook dinner for eight (Italian, of course), and spent most of the morning preparing the food (I’ll run down the menu and give you a recipe shortly). I arrived at my dad’s place and wasn’t in the building five lousy minutes and he trots out my birthday present (couple bottles of wine, couple glasses, various gourmet type foods, Corgi bookmark) as well.

So, if you’re keeping score, everyone who could possibly be coming to the table with a gift for me did so one week early.

And therefore, I won’t actually have any presents to open on my birthday.

Screwed!

All in all though, I got good stuff. You know you’re getting old when you’re asking for stainless steel kitchen workbenches and bottles of wine for your birthday. I’m well over the edge of old mentally, I’ll tell you that.

I actually do have one last birthday present coming.

The one to myself.

In the Best Buy ad yesterday, they advertised a combo DVD player/TiVo from Toshiba, list price $300 for $200. The only DVD player I have is my PS2, which sucks, so this will be a welcome addition to my collection. And, freaking TiVo! I had actually given up on acquiring TiVo, as I wasn’t willing to spend $200 on a TiVo stand-alone unit, but if I can get a DVD player built in, you can sign my ass right up.

Plus, I’m taking myself out to dinner on Saturday (with Pauly – don’t worry my man, I’ll cover whatever you’re not budgeted for) and hopefully eating a veal chop as big as my head, and drinking a $75 bottle of seven year-old Brunello from my namesake’s vineyards in the Montalcino region of Italy.

Happy birthday to me.

The Father’s Day Menu

All homemade (by me) from scratch…

Appetizers
>> Bruschetta – bread with melted fresh mozzarella, topped with fresh tomato/onion/garlic mixture
>> Brown Rice Parmagiano Salad – served cold, brown rice with tomato, onion, lemon juice, fresh basil and parsley, olive oil, lemon juice, and real Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese grated in.

Main Course
>> Boursin beef rolls (recipe follows)
>> Blanched fresh green beans
>> Rigatoni and sauce

Dessert
>> Cannoli with almonds

Recipe: Boursin Beef Rolls

Ingredients:
3.5 lbs of bottom round roast
.25 lbs of Proscuitto sliced thin
One package Boursin Cheese
Bag of bread cubes (stuffing)
Milk
One white onion, cut into strips
Six to ten cloves of garlic, crushed
One can tomato paste (small can)
Two ladles of fresh marinara sauce
Dry red wine
Olive Oil
Salt/Pepper/Garlic Powder

>> A couple hours early, pour the bread cubes into a bowl and pour some milk over them. You’re not trying to drown them, just get them all a little wet. Let them soak in the refrigerator for a couple hours.

>> Take the bottom round roast (raw), and slice against the grain quarter inch thick slices that should end up about two inches across and five to six inches long. Pound these slices flatter with the toothy side of a tenderizer on both sides.

>> Gather the Proscuitto, Boursin, and bread cubes, along with the salt and pepper. Take one of your beef slices, and put a couple slices of Proscuitto and lay them across the beef. Hit it with salt and pepper. Take a bit of the Boursin and spread it across the top quarter of surface area. On that same top quarter, take a good handful of bread cubes, squeeze any moisture out of them, and put them atop the Boursin. Roll this up into a tight package and secure with a toothpick.

(With the amount of stuff here, you should be able to make 8 rolls)

>> Get a large skillet ready, and pour a good amount of olive oil in the bottom. Saute the onion and garlic for a few minutes in hot oil, then add the beef rolls to the pan. Apply salt, pepper, and garlic powder to the rolls in the pan. Brown them on both sides briefly, then add a liberal amount of red wine to the pan. Allow the beef rolls to soak in the wine for a couple minutes on each side, and remove and transfer to a baking dish. Do not discard the remaining contents of the skillet.

>> While still hot, add one can of tomato paste and two ladles of marinara (or so, whatever works) to the pan, stirring it together with the wine, onions, and garlic. The sauce will thicken and be very rich and beefy. Season further with salt and pepper to taste.

>> With an oven preheated to 425 degrees, ladle sauce from pan evenly over the beef rolls in the baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 30-45 minutes.

These things turned out awesome. Hope your attempt to cook them turns out as well as mine did.

Major breaking news...

I got TiVo today. Happy birthday to myself on that one. More to come...