Two recent-ish films. First, Man on Fire, a gutsy film set in Mexico City, in which bodyguard Denzel Washington exacts gruesome revenge on the nasty people who kidnap the little girl in his care. The steering wheel/gaffa tape/fingers/sharp knife scene will have you squirming in your seat, but it's all OK because it's bad guys are getting what they deserve. Worth watching: it has a bit more going for it than the average action thriller. Second, Crash - a thoughtful, well written film that interleaves a day in the lives of several rather different (and in most cases, rather unhappy) characters in LA, with - you've guessed it - a 'collision' of sorts between them. A portrait of a rather dysfunctional city; the American dream in tatters.

Football was cancelled last night so I consoled myself with a glass of Touchstone Merlot 2004 from Vintage Roots. It's an organic Chilean Merlot made by Alvaro Espinoza of VOE, and it has a bit more spicy structure to it than many Chilean reds, alongside the trademark sweet, pure blackcurrant and plum fruit. Good value for £5.75. I have a question, though: why is it that Chilean wines taste so Chilean? Much more so than Australian wines taste Australian (although some Aussie wines are instantly recognizable when tasted blind as Australian, some aren't. Almost all Chilean red wines are instantly recognizable as Chilean). Does this make sense?