Author Archives: rdavies

1967’s The Stranger, director’s Luchino Visconti’s totally faithful adaptation of Albert Camus’s excellent 1942 Existentialist novella. Meursault (Marcello Mastroianni is perfectly cast) is a likable, ordinary, humble, easy-going, honest man who seems mostly like a spectator of life, going with … Continue reading →

Last week and now this week, Japan has taken top honours at the Augusta Master’s–both men’s and women’s. The world really and indelibly comes to the States and the world of golf in a huge way. Matsuyama is an exceptional, … Continue reading →

Amazon workers voted against having a union.They know Bezos would fire anyone who would not accept his shameless Dickensian 19th century job conditions.They (and their families) want to survive and get ahead.They know what side their bread is buttered on.Forced … Continue reading →

I would not think or believe that the currently viral elephant is capable of representational painting of itself unless I was present and saw it happen myself. (CGI is much too commonplace these days.) Conversely, I would, though, believe elephants … Continue reading →

With snow on the ground and nowhere to go, I flicked on Julie Andrews hosting the PBS New Year’s Vienna Philharmonic concert for Jan. 1, 1916. Excellent Strauss music, Vienna scenery, beautiful dancing, and shots of the Danube valley during … Continue reading →

when your rough hands catch onto a smooth glasses-cleaning cloth.

On Friday afternoons, we had a free period at the end of the day that could be used for homework and study. I dragooned a couple of classmates into staging a ‘hip’ reading of the wall scene in A Midsummer … Continue reading →

On my short list:Tightrope (Clint Eastwood and Bujold)The Iceman Cometh (American Theatre’s presentation)Insomnia (Pacino and Williams)Jesus of Montreal (satire on religion and modern culture)The Godfather seriesBleak House (BBC series)Week-end (Godard)War and Peace (Russian)selections from the BBC Shakespeare and Henrik Ibsen … Continue reading →

when I was young in the late ’50s and he was in Winnipeg still, training to go into the navy. I just noticed online that he passed away in Halifax in his 80s and had been a career navy man. … Continue reading →

think of all the greats already forgotten or who will soon be forgotten. I wonder how many of the following geniuses and greats are actually known today and/or will be forgotten by subsequent generations: AquinasAristotleBachBeethovenIngmar BergmanBlakeRachel CarsonCervantesCharlemagneChekhovConstableda VinciDanteDarwinDescartesDickensDickinsonDurerEinsteinErasmusGalileoGoetheGoyaHandelStephen HawkingHomer (not … Continue reading →