Ataraxia

  A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean was nominated for The Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1977, and was adapted for the big screen – the film was directed by Robert Redford and it stars Bradd Pitt in a leading role – you find notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other relevant lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html and YouTube channel   9 out of 10   I have written a note on A River Runs Through It https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/a-river-runs-through-it-based-on-story.html if in fact I do not have two reviews on this, and the present one would make it three…it does not matter, both the book and the motion picture are excellent and worth reading and watching   Paul Maclean is the rebellious young man, in the movie, Brad Pitt is charming as this endearing personage, who gets into trouble, but most often for the right reason: at this dance, he beats ...

  Matilda by Roald Dahl is ranked 1325 th on The Greatest Books of All Time, indeed, it has an extraordinary, enticing main character – you find thousands of notes on magnum opera from The GOAT 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   Matilda https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2026/03/note-on-matilda.html is a fantastic character, and I have already posted a video on my YouTube channel on the subject, that was about the film adaptation, with an excellent cast, especially Danny de Vito as the horrendous, if hilarious father, a con artist, just like the Orange Caligula   We live in the age of the crook, in my view – though I have to be careful with this, for I have been kicked out of Goodreads and then I hade vicious comments on my allergy for the Orange Monster – the free world has as leader, and what a role model, a maniac, absurd, demented, stupid, vile in...

  The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin, included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list  https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/23/bestbooks-fiction 10 out of 10     One of the enticing, thrilling aspects about this novel is that although it is included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list in the Comedy Section, it is clearly a crime story also, if not mainly – indeed, yours truly had to stop reading and look up the list to see where it is situated, for he was confused, thought this was taken from comedy, only blood was about to be spilled and we are told in advance…   Indeed, the introduction is amusing enough, with the train arriving in Oxford, but only after prolonged effort (seeing as this 4 to 11 October 1940 and in parts of the world – including here – trains still take ages before reaching their destination, if they ever do, the humor can be lost on some of us) with the music of Walpurgis, the engine sounding as if it is dismantled...

  Socrates – A Man for Our Times by Paul Johnson is a wonderful book – you find thousands of notes on magnum opera from The Greatest Books of All Time and other relevant lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html and YouTube channel, perhaps you care to visit   9 out of 10   Paul Johnson https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/intellectuals-by-paul-johnson.html is the outstanding author of Intellectuals, and having enjoyed that so much, I was eager to read Socrates, indeed, the writer has a history of Christianity that I could – maybe should – read, except it is around twenty four hours long   Socrates has always been a favorite role model for me, as a teenager, I had the chance to encounter him in spirit, learning about the famous Oracle of Delphi statement that he was the wisest man of ancient days, and then how he was puzzled, not arrogant over it, and realized it must be because he does not claim t...

  Quadrophenia – written by Dave Humphries, Martin Stellman, Franc Roddam, and directed by the latter is one of The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made – you find thousands of 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   There are some phenomenal actors in this motion picture, one of them is Ray Winstone https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/last-orders-is-fabulous-breathtaking.html before the days of his Sexy Beast, The Departed, Last Orders, or even Cold Mountain filmed near my house in Rosenau, about twenty five years ago   Jimmy Cooper is the hero, or anti -hero maybe a better description, of this movie, released in 1979, forty-seven years ago, and he looks like a Rebel Without a Cause -incidentally, this is the tattoo which this psychologist has, the one I meet at the gym, who got me into some trouble, little mess, bust still, I am...

  The Silent World by Jacques-Yves Cousteau was The 1957 Winner of The Oscar for Best Documentary, it was also the Palme d’Or Winner in 1956 and it is one of The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movie Ever Made – you find 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   Jacques-Yves Cousteau was a pioneer of ocean exploration and a ‘celebrity’ when we were very young, we watched his documentaries with great interest and elation – they were aired on television under Ceausescu because there was nothing political about the seas, whales and fish, or at least commies did not mind it   The politics were in fact connected with the paramount duty to save the oceans, and the planet in general, drawing attention to the threats posed by humans to the life of various (if not all species) and we see striking images with the beauty of the under-water life, fish, plants, cor...