Ataraxia

  Song of Myself by Walt Whitman Dazzling This is a mesmerizing work. It is one of the most startling chef d'oeuvres that I listened to. And I listened to it repeatedly and this is the second rating of the same book, since I heard the lines again in the past days. In the pool, of all places. With this new technology entering every corner of life, I took advantage. I swim every day, from Monday to Thursday for Half an hour and use a device to listen to an audiobook. And what can give you more energy, positive emotions than a poem by Walt Whitman. Scholars, writers and experts have included Leaves of Grass on the Guardian list of best 100 books ever written. Some would argue with that. Looking for some quotes, I found a comment, on the first page of the Google search that spoke in rather defamatory terms about Song of Myself... The most egotistical creation ever... It is all about me, myself... That may be one way to look at it, but I beg to differ. I think Walt Whitman is enchanted ...

  The Italian Job by Troy Kennedy-Martin 8 out of 10 The recent remake of the 1969  action film has better special effects, seeing as they have progressed so much over the decades. Notwithstanding that, the original seems to be so much better, if we disregard a few aspects that appear somewhat hard to believe. However, even the elements in the plot that flirt with the impossible can be accepted, given that this is also a comedy. Besides, the ending may be one of the best, in its complexity, puzzling outcome and invitation to wonder about what will happen next...after the end of the motion picture so to say. English criminals have set their their eyes on a large quantity of gold. Italian, hence the name of the feature. This does not make the natives happy and the ones to take issue are the members of the Mafia. In the first place,the authorities would play a role later. The legendary God of British cinema Noel Coward is Mister Bridger, the head of the English syndicate who woul...

  Little Speck in Garnered Fruit by O’Henry Absolutely fabulous- 10 out of 10   It is so stupendous to read and find new wonderful writers. Only last year- I think- I knew nothing about Flannery O’Connor, Jean Stafford, Bernard Malamud, O’Henry and this is naming just a few. In the meantime, these fantastic writers have become favorite creators. O’Henry has been encountered by the undersigned in a collection of 50 American funny writers and he is hilarious. I have written a few lines on the story of the kid who is kidnapped and then with a Stockholm syndrome in reverse he becomes the torturer of his jailors. Now I am off for a joy ride, with a collection of O’Henry stories to provide a honeymoon like experience.                 “The honeymoon was at its full” This is the start of this story which quickly moves into humorous territory: -            „...

  Succession created by Jesse Armstrong - Winner of nineteen Emmys, nine Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and a Grammy, and that may be just for the first season… it was called 'The most thrilling and beautifully obscene TV there is…' by the Guardian, and since they air it again on HBO here, I am looking at some of it, nevertheless, if you want to read more notes on films, there are more than five thousand posts on features from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other lists, along with reviews of magnum opera from The Greatest Books of All Time and other web pages on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html maybe you wish to subscribe     8 out of 10   I have already posted two notes on Succession, and one of them is here https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/12/succession-created-by-jesse-armstrong.html but since this is such a generous topic, and HBO is airing again earlier epi...

  The Old Man and The Bureaucrats by Mircea Eliade In the original:   Pe Strada Mantuleasa   This is an outlandish work, which has reminded me of Big Fish and Once Upon A Time in America, which are oddly enough, two American movies. Like in Big Fish, we have magic, a giant; even if in Mantuleasa the giant is a woman, extraordinary tales and an intriguing blend of surreal and (perhaps) real events. The premise of the book is rather plain, somewhat like you are taken into a spaceship, but you start on a backstreet, with someone walking a dog. Someone is moving into a new house and a professor happens to be nearby. He learns that the one who is about to change address is a former pupil. The professor tries to get in contact with this old acquaintance and to talk to him. At a different stage, this brought to my mind images from Once upon a Time In America, with Robert de Niro in his good old days. First of all, there are suggestions which make us think that the stories are ju...

  Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely   There are quite a few interesting and even funny stories in this psychology book.   There is the story of the nursery which imposed penalties on the parents who were late picking up their children: it did not work.  Before the penalties were imposed, there had been social norms which did the job, more or less- (some) parents were ashamed to be late and make teachers wait for them. Once another rule  was imposed, parents  thought they can be late, since they pay for it. When they saw their experiment fail, nursery officials went back to the policy of no penalty. The situation got worse, because people did not have to pay and both the economic and the social norm became kind of „expired”   When asked to do something for too little money, under the market value of the service offered, we tend to refuse. If the question is to offer a free service, we tend to be more inclined to accept (if we are not l...