Ataraxia

Bonnie and Clyde by David Newman Perhaps we could look at the infamous bandits, and set them versus Trump and Pence 10 out of 10     This would be bordering on blasphemy (so there is already a warning, right here, disclaimer and spoiler alert all rolled into one) for those who support Trump, and land in these parts, if that would be a remote possibility, as it is, there is no life on this lonely planet, where we have these lines, so might not offend anyone   Bonnie and Clyde have been two infamous con artists, and so is The Confidence Man http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/09/confidence-man-making-of-donald-trump.html even if the folks that vote with him would be outraged (again, they are unlikely to be here, and so is anybody else) by this opinion The parallel came to me because there are similarities (and quite a few disparities) there is this ghost than hangs over the world, the chance that the ultimate moron will reach again the most powerful position i...

  Epistolary edited by Gabriel Liiceanu http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/11/50-minutes-with-plesu-and-liiceanu-10.html 10 out of 10     This wonderful book contains letters exchanged between the brightest minds we have in this realm – there is the exception of Eugen Simion, the late president of the Academy here, a rather horrid attack on luminaries that were so much wiser than this fellow, who came to lead a forum that should be only for the crème de la crème, yet, his presence at the top in fact reveals the ‘values’ that have reached what should be the chamber of the nec plus ultra – and as such, much of what is being debated is quite inaccessible   Ergo, the spoiler alert, warning, disclaimer, and maybe the way out of accusations of spam – one of the notes I have posted on Goodreads, Cleo From 5 to 7 http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/07/cleo-from-5-to-7-aka-cleo-de-5-7-by.html has been deleted, because it was considered spam, while the one who is the #...

  Forrest Gump by Winston Groom – this is looked at in my garden, here http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/06/note-on-forrest-gump-based-on-novel-by.html   Today, this note looks at Gump versus Trump 10 out of 10     This motion picture has had an enormous impact on yours truly – I have seen it in the small cinema theater in…Caciulata, a tiny holiday town, near the Carpathians, where Dan Minulescu used to rent a villa, took me and a couple of girls there on weekends, and then on such a short vacation we went to the movies.   It was a revelation, and so was Wolf http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/06/wolf-with-jack-nicholson-directed-by.html with incredible, supernatural Jack Nicholson as the man who becomes a werewolf, after he is bitten on the highway, a fantastic spectacle, showing us the intensity with which we need to smell, feel, live what – this was seen in the same cinema, in Caciulata, near the woods, with two smashing guests What comes to m...

  The Westminster Alice by Saki – author of http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-unbearable-bassington-by-hh-munro.html 7 out of 10     Saki has three or more books on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list http://poemeglume.blogspot.com/2023/04/1000-novels-everyone-must-read.html and one of them is The Westminster Alice   What is the point though, if yours truly has no joy in reading it…joking aside, this is all I have to say about The Westminster, before I descend into ranting and spam, as label by Goodreads, which has sent me an email In other words, let us be clear, do not read these lines, and maybe we do not get into reporting, complaints, because the warning, disclaimer, spoiler alert is more than obvious – I did not like the book, full stop   ‘the rest is silence’ to quote Shakespeare, but I need to vent off, there is this guy, who lives in the same country with me, called Socrate – he chose the name, most likely, to suggest he is...

  Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres looked at here http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/02/note-1-on-captain-corellis-mandolin-by.html 8 out of 10     On quite a few levels, the adaptation of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin is a disappointment, for you have such a team of extremely talented, Oscar Winning artists, and yet the performances, especially that of Nicolas Cage, are not satisfying, but in the case of Cage, this is downright irritating, annoying and really bad   Never mind Leaving Las Vegas, for which the actor has taken home an Academy Award, but Antonio Corelli gets a treatment to put Wild at Heart, Leaving Arizona, and Peggy Sue Got Married http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/05/peggy-sue-got-married-written-by-arlene.html to shame, however worse this gets Nicolas Cage has had serious money trouble, according to those shows that look at actors, how they shone, but in situations, the troubles they have gotten into, this one has gone on a ...

  Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list http://poemeglume.blogspot.com/2023/04/1000-novels-everyone-must-read.html in the Crime section 9 out of 10     This novel was described as "the most sensationally successful of all the sensation novels" and indeed, there is the unexpected there, at the end, this note might reveal The Secret, so let us place a disclaimer, spoiler alert, warning here, so that anybody could avoid these lines, which are not safe on most levels   Lucy Graham is the heroine or anti- heroine of the novel, she becomes the Lady Audley from the title, when she marries Sir Michael Audley, before this, she was a governess, and with the investigation that will be launched, however unofficial, we will find more ‘secrets’ about this compelling woman, and her dark penchants Robert Audley is the nephew of Sir Michael Audley, a barrister without much activity (in fact, none whatsoever...

  Pain Hustlers by Evan Hughes 8 out of 10     This would normally be a story that we find ‘incredible’, only in the world of today what will classify as hard to believe, the notion that hundreds of thousands of Americans have died due to overdose looks like a hard to accept scenario, especially if we add that this happened with drugs prescribed by…doctors   It was not something that happened at street corners, in ‘awful neighborhoods’, and many, if not most patients got hooked without knowing, or desiring any of it, since all they wanted was to be relieved from Pain, hence the name of the book and film, which has the wondrous Emily Blunt in the leading role of Liza Drake Patients with cancer were eventually given fentanyl (the drug has an invented name in the movie) which is now so infamous for being the conduit for the Devil, death and destruction, it alleviated their pain, but to extract profit regardless of suffering, human lives, these companies pu...

  Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell, author of North and South http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/11/north-and-south-by-elizabeth-gaskell.html 9 out of 10     Elizabeth Gaskell was a fabulous writer, along Mary Barton and North and South, she has another two books, Cranston and Ruth, on the list of 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read http://poemeglume.blogspot.com/2023/04/1000-novels-everyone-must-read.html that I look forward to reading   These works are also available on https://librivox.org/ with two versions, some of them, one read by one person, and another with a collective of volunteers – you could also participate, if you want – the story is compelling and gripping, with a background of ‘working class struggle’, which is what Marxist theory had history described as, a long conflict between the rich and the poor, with the latter winning in the end. We have had that ‘stupendous victory’ in our parts, that is Eastern Europe if you care, and we had a lon...

Doctor Zhivago The Screenplay by Robert Bolt, based on the book by Boris Pasternak – another look at Doctor Zhivago is here http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/12/doctor-zhivago-by-boris-pasternak.html 10 out of 10     Doctor Zhivago is that rare film, which is so much better than the inspiration, at least if you ask me – and by the way, you should not read this, there is a disclaimer here, which brings us to…Trump, who said in one of his hallucinations that he cannot be held responsible for fraud, because he has a warning on his contracts   Something along the lines of ‘you have to do your work, due diligence, the figures could be higher, you have to check’, in other words, we do not tell the truth (not necessarily) and it is up to you to verify, and in the fraud case he is facing in New York, he tries to use that argument, or defense, which is preposterous He has been declared guilty of the crime, we have to see how things develop, if he loses the license to ...