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A Private Function by Alan Bennett

  A Private Function by Alan Bennett A different version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at: -               https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVa4_CsRStSBBDo4uJWT8BSWtTTn0N1E   and    http://realini.blogspot.ro/ A Private Function is a hilarious comedy. Alan Bennett is a wonderful writer and I have already enjoyed quite a few of his works, including the excellent: -            History Boys, The Clothes they Stood Up In, Kafka’s Dick, The Madness of King George, Forty Years On and An Englishman Abroad The cast is also fabulous:                                                 ...

Note on Whatever Happened to Baby Jane

  Note on Whatever Happened with Baby Jane | realini

A Brief History of Everything by Ken Wilber – I did not like this, actually, I did not get it and that may be all I should put in here, still, you know my review has just ended and I could mention that I have more than five thousand reviews on magnum opera from The Greatest Books of All Time and other sites, plus about the same number of notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other pages on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html 6 out of 10 H.L. Mencken was one of the greatest luminaries https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-american-credo-by-h-l-mencken-and.html and one of his jocular, and excellent definitions is ‘Historian: an unsuccessful novelist’ I am not saying that Ken Wilber is an ‘unsuccessful novelist’, albeit I am sure I admire Mencken, and if he says so, well, I believe him, the main point here is that the Brief History of Everything appears too bizarre for this reader, and that surely says everything about how shallow I am, and nothing about the book and/or the author There was on spoiler alert in the first line, up there, albeit this does not seem to cover me, protect me from evil- I have just had a ‘review’ deleted from Goodreads (and worse had happened to me there) because it was flagged, and then they saw ‘it is not about the topic’, so I was warned and then executed, the note was deleted In some ways, it makes sense, especially if they were consistent, besides, I have included a spoiler alert, after the alert, had a few words to say about the ‘Stream of consciousness’, also about Proust https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/le-temps-retrouve-by-marcel-proust.html who does not stay on subject for twelve volumes Anyway, we have in my country a fellow who had been number one, I think he still is, on the number of ‘reviews’ he had posted, except these are frauds, his profile seems to be a joke, he has no friends, and I did not take the trouble to investigate, but if one looks at the activity, they could see he has hundreds of ‘reviews’ posted in one day And they do not belong to him Notwithstanding this, I signaled the fact, and what Goodreads was act against me, as I have said above Having rules is paramount, indeed, I will quote another favorite writer, William Golding https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/12/lord-of-flies-by-william-golding.html author of one of the Top 100 Best Books, and one of my favorites, Lord of The Flies, which is about this group of boys that are stranded on an island In an interview that I have listed to – or read it, I can’t remember – William Golding explains why he had only boys on the island: he knew about male characters, and then with both sexes present, he would have to deal with the sex issues… When asked about what the most important aspect was, the novelist explained that he wanted to show ‘what happens when you have no rules, without rules you have nothing’ which seems to make the case for Goodreads and their retaliation, but again, do not just act against me, look at the man who has maybe 4,000 fake posts! Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works ‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

Imagine
  A Brief History of Everything by Ken Wilber – I did not like this, actually, I did not get it and that may be all I should put in here, still, you know my review has just ended and I could mention that I have more than five thousand reviews on magnum opera from The Greatest Books of All Time and other sites, plus about the same number of notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other pages on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html   6 out of 10   H.L. Mencken was one of the greatest luminaries https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-american-credo-by-h-l-mencken-and.html and one of his jocular, and excellent definitions is ‘Historian: an unsuccessful novelist’   I am not saying that Ken Wilber is an ‘unsuccessful novelist’, albeit I am sure I admire Mencken, and if he says so, well, I believe him, the main point here is that the Brief History of Everyt...

The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch by Lewis Dartnell - This book was awarded The Sunday Times "New Thinking" Book of the Year in 2014, and The Times Science Book of the Year the same year…It was also awarded Best Science Books of 2014 by io9 - The Times called the book "an extraordinary achievement", and "a great read even if civilization does not collapse" – you may wish to visit my bog or/and my YouTube channel where there are thousands of reviews on books like this, and magnum opera from The Greatest Books of All Time and other pages, plus notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other lists https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html

Imagine
  The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch by Lewis Dartnell - This book was awarded The Sunday Times "New Thinking" Book of the Year in 2014, and The Times Science Book of the Year the same year…It was also awarded Best Science Books of 2014 by io9 - The Times called the book "an extraordinary achievement", and "a great read even if civilization does not collapse" – you may wish to visit my bog or/and my YouTube channel where there are thousands of reviews on books like this, and magnum opera from The Greatest Books of All Time and other pages, plus notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other lists https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html     8 out of 10 The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch reminds me of the apocalyptic scenarios from Planet of The Apes https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/11/planet-of-apes-based-on-novel-by-pierre.html and other sc...

Sherlock Jr. directed by and starring Buster Keaton is one of The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made – you find more than five thousand notes on films from The NYT 1,000 and other pages, plus about the same number of reviews on magnum opera from The Greatest Books of All time and other lists on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html

  Sherlock Jr. directed by and starring Buster Keaton is one of The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made – you find more than five thousand notes on films from The NYT 1,000 and other pages, plus about the same number of reviews on magnum opera from The Greatest Books of All time and other lists on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html   8 out of 10   Buster Keaton was one of the greatest film makers of all time, and his presence on The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made is both justified in my view and a proof of the value of his work, he made his features, that is he directed and had the leading role, about one hundred years ago, the passing of time could have sent this into oblivion   -           But it did not   Sherlock Jr is played by Buster Keaton, in what is a silen...

Rocco and His Brothers, written – with six others – and directed by Luchino Visconti 9.4 out of 10

  Rocco and His Brothers, written – with six others – and directed by Luchino Visconti 9.4 out of 10 Rocco and His Brothers aka Rocco E I Suoi Fratelli is one of the best motion pictures ever made, included on The New York Times ‘Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list, one of the most honorable: https://www.listchallenges.com/new-york-times-best-1000-movies-ever-made/list/19 the cast is superb, nec plus ultra, with Alain Delon in a memorable role, that of Rocco Parondi, Renato Salvatori as one of his brothers, the antihero of the narrative, Simone Parondi, Annie Girardot as Nadia and a spectacular ensemble, directed by one of the best directors ever, Luchino Visconti. Rocco and His Brothers, supervised, cared for, instructed, managed to some extent by their mother, Rosaria aka the excellent Katina Paxinou, move from the south to Milano – even in the politics of Italy, the predominant League originates from what used to be the Northern League, an outfit advocating the separation of the mu...

The Man Who Invented Christmas, based on the book by Les Standiford

  The Man Who Invented Christmas, based on the book by Les Standiford This is a charming film about a chapter in the life of the great, fascinating, radiant Charles Dickens The audience is also invited to explore parts of the childhood of the genius writer, who has suffered so much. His father John Dickens, the wondrous Jonathan Pryce in the picture, was sentenced to go to prison. In the film, this is a dual character, with a number of shortcomings, including an inclination to profit from the fame of his son. At one point, Charles stumbles upon his father, as the latter was rummaging through the trash for documents. John Dickens was selling various papers, books that contained an autograph or dedications from his son. The memory of childhood haunts the author, for after his father was jailed, Charles Dickens had to work for twelve hours a day. As he arrives at a horrible working site where children as young as five were working, he is invited to talk about his father. When he says ...