Ataraxia

  Las Bizarrias de Belisa by Lope de Vega   What on earth (but I was tempted to say- the hell) does this lady want? -            Las bizarrias indeed! From the start, Belisa is not the kind of heroine that I like to read about. She rejects suitors for the flimsiest of reasons, this one has a beard, that one has a hair I do not like and so on. The title refers to Belisa’s manner of dealing with life and people. I listened to an adaptation which is called “Capriciile Fenisei”, with George Constantin in one of the roles. Having the greatest actor that I know in this play made me listen to a play that I would have otherwise stopped in its tracks. There may be some fun in it, for those who enjoy a farce and role playing. In fact, I need to correct somehow the last statement: -            We all play roles and games One of the classics of psychology is the book Game People Play by Eri...

  The Shooting Party by Isabel Colegate was adapted into a film that is one of The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made – you find a multitude of notes on motion pictures from The NYT 1,000 and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html and YouTube channel   8 out of 10   This has reminded me of Anton Chekhov https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/12/the-shooting-party-by-anton-chekhov-we.html and his own Shooting Party, he famously said "One must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn't going to go off. It's wrong to make promises you don't mean to keep." There are different versions of this   Indeed, the principle is respected in The Shooting Party by Isabel Colegate: except there is not one gun, but maybe more than one hundred, ready to murder hundreds, probably thousands of pheasants, ducks and other poor animals – Sir Randolph Nettleby does offer a defense at some point, s...

  Embers by Sandor Marai would be ‘Candles burn until the end" in Hungarian, it was called ‘Elegiac, somber, musical, and gripping, Embers is a brilliant disquisition on friendship, one of the most ambitious in literature’ – Embers is ranked 459 th on The Greatest Books of All Time site, and I wonder if it would not have about the same place were I to organize a sort of ‘personal favorites’ list – there are thousands of reviews of books from the GOAT and other sites on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html   9 out of 10   Embers has reminded me of Footprints in The Jungle https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/04/footprints-in-jungle-by-somerset.html by one of my favorite authors, Somerset Maugham, in which this couple has plotted to kill the husband, and they did it, in the…jungle   First, we get the background, The General is arguably the main character of the narrative, albeit we could also say that Konra...

  Only Angels Have Wings written by Jules Furthman, Eleanore Griffin and Howard Hawks, directed by the latter is one of The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made – there are a few thousand notes on films from The NYT 1,000 and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html                                8 out of 10   I have seen Cary Grant recently in Suspicion https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2026/02/suspicion-written-by-samson-raphaelson.html another feature from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, one in which Cary Grant plays the opposite, or almost, of Geoff Carter   If the personage from Suspicion was…well, dubious, he is the one the title refers to, albeit he might not be as nefarious as initially thoug...

  The Story of O by Pauline Reage is ranked 807 th on The Greatest Books of All Time site and it was considered ‘a provocative and influential work that continues to resonate in literary and cultural discussions, challenging readers to confront their perceptions of desire and submission’, in fact, some will be horrified, while a few will be delighted to find their BDSM fantasies expressed in a ‘mainstream’- and I wonder about that, seeing as it was banned in France – work…there are a few thousand reviews of books from The GOAT and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html   6 out of 10   The Story of O has reminded me of Anais Nin https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/12/a-model-and-other-stories-by-anais-nin.html and her erotic tales, which are really out there, pushing the boundaries: where were these books when I needed them, which is at the age of fourteen, sixteen, limited to The Decameron as I was? ...

  Moments That Made The Movies by David Thomson – I will refer here to Payday by Don Carpenter, which is one of The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made – there are multiple notes on films from The NYT 1,000 and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html     8 out of 10   Payday is not just one of The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made, it has made it on my own list of favorites, and it should be among the first 200 or so, it reminds me of This Is Spinal Tap https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2026/01/this-is-spinal-tap-written-by-and.html another formidable film, though the latter is a comedy   Rip torn is phenomenal in the leading role of Maury Dann, a country music singer, I have been wondering why this extraordinary thespian has not had more chances like this, I mean being cast in the anti-hero or hero roles…yes, we have seen him in The Insider, Marie Antoinette, but support...