Ataraxia

  Silence of The Lambs – based on the novel by Thomas Harris, another look at this is here http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/03/silence-of-lambs-based-on-book-by.html Hannibal Lecter vs Putin, Trump aka Orange Jesus aka OJ 8 out of 10     Silence of The Lambs is celebrated as one of the best films ever, and indeed, once upon time, yours truly concurred…seen in part again yesterday, it does please, it is evidently a formidable, ‘solid’ feature, but there are some flaws, at least when you look from here, that have escaped me the first, and maybe the second time – actually, I am not sure how many times was that, let us hope not too many…   I say not too many, because it would be a bit embarrassing to have to see Jodie Foster doing Clarice (if that is the name of that luminary, valiant, smart, intrepid, prophetic, creative, the list is without end FBI agent) on hundred times to see that there is something wrong there, again, just for this cinephile Actuall...

  The Three Sisters by May Sinclair aka Mary Amelia St Clair – one of her novels was highly praised by critics, including George Orwell, while Agatha Christie considered it one of the greatest English novels of its time 10 out of 10     This wonderful novel was published in 1914, it is included on the list of 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, and makes one wonder about how standards have changed, or they haven’t, at least in parts of the world, where women are still struggling to gain equal rights, and their having extramarital affairs is punishable, at times by death, which is called ‘honor killing’, because in this manner, the reputation of the males is ‘restored’   This is a very complex, rewarding novel, which you can get for free, either in eBook format, with the Gutenberg Project, or as an audiobook, at https://librivox.org/ where you can also volunteer, if you have the gift (alas, there have been some instances, one that comes to mind is The Home a...

  Steamboat Bill Jr by United Artists, Buster Keaton 9 out of 10     Buster Keaton was one of the most astounding thespians ever, and his performance as Steamboat Bill Jr is a clear proof, he is also one of the directors, albeit we find from IMDB that he was not credited with that position – a very amusing film, demonstrating that silent movies could be stupendous…   It was made in 1928, almost ninety four years ago, and it beats any of the Marvel productions if you ask me, it is a classic that has been aired by our local TVR Cultural, honoring the mission of the public, state funded channel – indeed, the only reason why such a media outfit should exist is to offer art and culture As it is, we have about two hundred various offers on cable, news, folklore (maybe thirty), sports, jobs, religion (another ten, perhaps), farmers, disco, rock music, you name it, it is on the remote, but in terms of culture, maybe we could refer to the likes of National Geogr...

  The Analects by Confucius 8 out of 10 for personal impact, but surely 10 out of 10 for hundreds of millions of Chinese, intellectuals, luminaries and others     There are two possibilities for the under signed: either Confucius works within the Communist system, Xi and his enablers use the old sage and his teachings as evidence, proof, China is different from the West, forget democracy and western values, we know better, and then for me this disqualifies it, or the Communists lie, corrupt the values, misinterpret their idol, and just falsify the truth to keep control   This could well be the most important book in the world, except for the Wisdom of Chairman (nay, they call their dictator president these days, it was chairman for Mao) Xi, maybe the Bible, seeing that there could be more Christians than dedicated Confucian followers, and we could consider some Hindu classics too. Nevertheless, for all the source of wisdom that is allegedly in there, yo...

  Benny Hill Time by Benny Hill – this is a sort of Trump, only the former is harmless, while the latter is as pernicious as it gets 7 out of 10 now, but more like 9 out of 10 decades ago     Looking at most of the schemes, runs, antics of Benny Hill now one has to wonder ‘what the hell was he thinking’, when he enjoyed, laughed at the silly pranks of this once popular comedian, at least he was in this realm, where we waited for the show to air, at the designated time, on National Television…   True, these were the bad, old communist days, when you had Benny hill, and similar fare, or Ceausescu, his exploits, the admiration and awe the population feels for him (no, they did not, but that was and still is what propaganda does, although in those modern, advanced days, idiots do not even need the State TV to put on blatant lies, they vote for a cretin like Trump just because they want to) As stated in the ‘headline’ of this note, the under signed feels we ...

  A Lost Lady by Willa Cather – author of The Professor’s House http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-professors-house-by-willa-cather.html and other acclaimed novels 9 out of 10     A Lost Lady is included on the list of 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, and the superb author has a few other works that have been successful, such as One Of Ours http://realini.blogspot.com/2015/08/one-of-ours-by-willa-cather.html that has won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature   Niel Herbert is the narrator and he seems to be infatuated with The Lost Lady - love is too grand a word for yours truly, ever since reading as an adolescent in a short story by glorious Thomas Mann that we can find real love and friends only in art, fiction, in spite of the boasting many trumpet ‘he loves her so much, there are no words to express it’, nay there are, and that feeling is sexual, not real adoration The character is young to begin with, but we will hear him after many years – by ...

Inception -The Shooting Script by Christopher Nolan, who has enchanted us recently with Oppenheimer http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/08/oppenheimer-by-christopher-nolan.html and other gems 9 out of 10     Christopher Nolan is the man of the day for the Screen Trade – there is a classic called Adventures in The Screen Trade http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/02/adventures-in-screen-trade-by-william.html by William Goldman, that will explain this phenomenon and so much more, it is a scripture for the thespian arts   He has recently bewitched audiences with his Oppenheimer – but before I plunge into a different subject, and abandon altogether, or for the most part Inception, let me say that the latter is fascinating, bewildering, dazzling, but often incomprehensible for yours truly, so, with that out of the way, this would be a disclaimer, spoiler alert, warning, you name it, thus maybe there is no complaint or retaliation Christopher Nolan is the favorite to w...

  Dracula and Other Horror Classics by Bram Stoker   with thoughts of Orange Dracula and the chance that he will rule the free world, again, from January 2025, if something dramatic does not happen– another look at the story is here http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/05/bram-stokers-dracula-based-on-book-by.html 8 out of 10     The story of Dracula is one of the best known in the world, at least as far as ‘blood sucking vampire’ goes, his land is also familiar to many more than would see it as part of the country I come from, Transylvania is recognized more as the realm of the count than the ‘land across the forests’, coming from Latin   I owe gratitude to Bram Stoker and the fictional count, perhaps even to the real Vlad Tepes aka Vlad The Impaler – actually, it might stand to reason to thank more the latter, seeing as you need the original, the inspiration, in order to produce the fiction, someone really fierce and terrible, like the Son of Dracul ...

  Oppenheimer based on the book by Kai Bird, co-written and directed by Christopher Nolan http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/08/oppenheimer-by-christopher-nolan.html 10 out of 10     Oppenheimer is not just the best motion picture of 2023 (yes, there is still The Killers of The Flower moon, Maestro, and the recently released on Netflix May December to be seen, and they will be among the best, but number one is still undisputed) but a phenomenon and will remain in history as a landmark.   Which is why this is a second note on the subject –the other one is at the link above – following after a spoiler alert, warning, disclaimer all wrapped into one – these lines are not interesting, leave before you feel you write a report ad I have Goodreads telling me this is ‘spam’, which they did for Cleo from 5 to 7 Thus, I keep posting the link until I get tired or canceled for good and all, because this is so god damn unfair http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/07/cleo-f...