Ataraxia

  Burn After Reading by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen the auteurs of such classics as Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Blood Simple, reviewed on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/maybe-you-have-some-ideas-click-on-link.html   9 out of 10   In an interview aired some years ago, Joel and Ethan Coen talk about their first film https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/blood-simple-by-joel-and-ethan-coen.html Bood Simple, with Frances McDormand, married to Joel Coen, in the leading role of the wife that is abused by her husband   The budget was so tiny that they could not afford any extra expense, indeed, this was a fantastic achievement, with very little spending – there is memorable scene – well, actually so many – in which this body has to be taken out of the car, taken to a field, but a truck is coming on the road, from the opposite direction Because they could not film this many times, or a few, coming down to one take and that is it on the littl...

  Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America by Maggie Haberman 10 out of 10     I admire Maggie Haberman to the point where if she is invited on CNN, where she is an analyst, i stop what i am doing and pay attention, for she always has something interesting to share, then there is the charming voice, the appealing attitude, and the smartness of what a very pertinent thiner has to say...   Counterintuitevely perhpas, it is also funny, because the subject she is such an expert on (obviously along with many other things) is the very opposite, a loud, uncontrelled, iratic, emphatic, pompous, strident, preposterous, foolish fellow, and when she presents herself, it makes the mouse so much smaller. There is a Latin saying ‚parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’ and this describes perfectly The Confidence Man in my view (which would enhanced by this marvelous book) since he promises so much, ‚you will win so much, you will be tired of winnin...

  Note on Charlie Wilson’s War, written by Aaron Sorkin, based on the book... | realini

Journey to Ixtlan by Carlos Castaneda is supposed to be one of The Fifty Spiritual Classics, they are listed in a book by Tom Butler -Bowden, reviewed on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/maybe-you-have-some-ideas-click-on-link.html   7 out of 10   Journey to Ixtlan has good advice and offers the possibility for transcendence, perhaps obtain a Higher state of consciousness – or The Highest State of Consciousness – which is exactly what we need, if it brings about Nirvana, as per the definition, then there is Noting else to look for, for you get there when there are   -           No more cravings   However, hoi polloi, people like this reader find it difficult to take off, to get to Flow https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/flow-by-mihaly-csikszentmihalyi.html instead, I found aspects that were annoying, this Wizard Don Juan   appeared irritating, aggressive and insulting, which ...

  The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell 11 out of 10 as a Definite, Ultimate Magnum Opus The Siege of Krishnapur is not just a winner of the prestigious Booker Prize -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winners_and_shortlisted_authors_of_the_Booker_Prize - for 1973 , it is also shortlisted for the Best of the Booker and it is indeed one of the best books one can ever read in that it is extraordinarily comprehensive, investing time in the middle of a terrible Siege to ask and give some pertinent, if often from opposing camps answers to some of the most relevant questions regarding God, the different faiths and the attitude to life – as represented by the clash between two cultures (in the middle of the fight culture is dismissed by one of the protagonists of the conflict) and one figure comes to mind, that of the ‘Prime Minister’, the Indian who is introspective, meditative throughout and he is not moved by any of the catastrophic events taking place around him. The attac...

  Note on The Deer Hunter, writer, director Michael Cimino, with Robert de... | realini

  Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann is on The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, but perhaps more importantly, you find it on the 911 th spot on The Greatest Books of All Time site, which uses an algorithm that has taken in more than sixty compilations with the best works – many of these are reviewed on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/maybe-you-have-some-ideas-click-on-link.html   7 out of 10   The omens were good: there is an appealing introduction, only somehow, within it, there is the sense that this is the key to all of this Valley of The Dolls, just like it tells you about Everest, and how you have some sort of disappointment, once you reach that top, explained very well by Harvard Professor Daniel Gilbert…   In his classic of psychology Stumbling on Happiness https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/stumbling-on-happiness-by-david-gilbert.html he looks at situations where we say I would be so happy, if only, and this...

  No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy 10 out of 10     No Country for Old Men is better known as the movie that has won Best Picture, Director, Screenplay and Supporting Actor  at the Academy Awards and other prestigious trophies all around the globe– what a magnificent, haunting piece of performance art Javier Bardem gave the audiences – and indeed, it is a rare case of reverse inspiration, where the novel is actually coming from the screen into the pages of the opus and there is very little to discern, if anything, as different from what we have seen in cinemas or television and we read about, except perhaps that where Javier Bardem starts walking off into the sunset, weird haircut and all, we still have about forty minutes, maybe an hour to read in the book…   If mesmerizing Javier Bardem has won an Oscar – and so much more – for a ‘supporting role’, yours truly begs to differ and state that he thinks Anton Chigurh is the most memorable figure in t...

  Note on Sex, Lies and Videotape | realini

  Blood Simple by Joel and Ethan Coen                 Blood Simple is the first chef d’oeuvre of the Coen Brothers They are now established geniuses and cheered as a couple of cinema’s best creators and filmmakers. Blood Simple was the work that launched their careers. Ethan and Joel Coen explain in a documentary called American Cinema about this first project they launched in 1984. It was followed by classics like: Fargo- recently noted on by this viewer here:  http://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.ro/  - The Big Lebowsky, No Country For Old Men, True Grit, The Man Who Wasn’t There, O Brother, Where Art Thou and others In the days of making Blood Simple, the unknown Coen Brothers did not have the funds that would pour their way today. Therefore, they had to be frugal in the extreme, drawing up the scenes in detail, because they had little money. Joel and Ethan Coen give the example of the scene whe...

  The Big Lebowsky, written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen A different version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at: -               https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVa4_CsRStSBBDo4uJWT8BSWtTTn0N1E  and    http://realini.blogspot.ro/ To my great surprise, this stupendous comedy has not been included by The New York Times on its list of Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made. But it is popular with the public: -            http://www.imdb.com/chart/top?ref_=tt_awd This is the list of top rated films on IMDB. Jeffrey Leon Bridges has what I think could be the best role of his career- as much as I know it and compared with other endeavors. I much prefer The Dude to Bad Blake or the old cowboy in True Grit. Bad Blake has won Jeff Bridges an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, but The Dude is more appealing. In fac...