Monday, April 27, 2009

The Spy Who Came In From the Cold: the film

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The Spy Who Came In From The Cold is based on the novel of the same name written by John Le Carre'. I haven't read the novel yet,...
Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The Rubaiyat: Quatrain VIII

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First Edition: Quatrain VIII And look--a thousand Blossoms with the Day Woke--and a thousand scatter'd into Clay: And this first Summe...
Monday, April 20, 2009

P. D. James: The Private Patient

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P. D. James' most recent novel is The Private Patient . It is as enjoyable as her previous mysteries featuring Adam Dalgliesh of the Me...
Saturday, April 18, 2009

Three SF Films: Species, Cube Zero, and The City of Lost Children

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Species is a traditional SF offering. The plot--duping a naive human scientist into providing a means of reaching Earth--has been done num...
Thursday, April 16, 2009

James Cagney: White Heat

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James Cagney, who gave an excellent performance in Public Enemy , surpasses himself in the classic gangster film White Heat . I quickly for...
Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Ray Bradbury: A Graveyard for Lunatics

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Ray Bradbury's A Graveyard for Lunatics Mystery Category: talented amateur Yes, in case you are wondering, this is the Ray Bradbury of ...
Friday, April 10, 2009

Star Trek: The Next Generation

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Having finished viewing all of the original Star Trek episodes, I moved on to the next series-- Star Trek: The Next Generation . My tentat...
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Wednesday, April 8, 2009

The Rubaiyat: Quatrain VII

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This is one of my favorite quatrains. First Edition: Quatrain VII Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring The Winter Garment of Repent...
Friday, April 3, 2009

Takeyama Michio: Harp of Burma

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On March 14, 2009, I posted a commentary on two Japanese anti-war films, one of which was The Burmese Harp . According to the director, I...
2 comments:
Wednesday, April 1, 2009

April's air.....a haiku

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Greetings, This seems appropriate for today. It is my favorite haiku. April's air stirs in Willow leaves...a butterfly Floats and ...
Tuesday, March 31, 2009

John Donne: 1572--March 31, 1631

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John Donne's birth date, aside from the year, is unknown, so I thought that I would post this on the anniversary of his death. If more...
10 comments:
Monday, March 30, 2009

Greg Benford: Across the Sea of Suns, Galactic Center Book II

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Nigel Walmsley is back--just as obstreperous and cranky as before, and still a pain in the bureaucratic backside. This is a bit surprising ...
Thursday, March 26, 2009

Robert Frost: March 26, 1874--January 29, 1963

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THE TUFT OF FLOWERS I WENT to turn the grass once after one Who mowed it in the dew before the sun. The dew was g...
Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Combination Plate 5: CJ Sansom, Steven Saylor, Colin Dexter, TV's Peter Gunn

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C. J. Sansom's Revelation An historical judicial detective tale, The detective: Matthew Shardlake Setting: London, during the reign of...
Friday, March 20, 2009

Kurosawa's _Rashomon_ and Martin Ritt's _The Outrage_

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Warning: I have included considerable information about both films, including the endings. As anyone who has visited Fred's Place mig...
Monday, March 16, 2009

The Rubaiyat: Quatrain VI

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From the first edition of Edward FitzGerald's rendering of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam : And David's Lips are lock't; but in d...
Sunday, March 15, 2009

Andreas Eschback's The Carpet Makers

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The Carpet Makers is the first novel written by the German author Andreas Eschbach . It just happened to win the SFCD -Literature Prize, o...
Saturday, March 14, 2009

The Burmese Harp and Fires on the Plain

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Recently I viewed two films that were directed by Ichikawa Kon (1915-2008). I hadn't heard of him prior to watching these films and wa...
Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Edmund Crispin The Case of the Gilded Fly

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Edmund Crispin The Case of the Gilded Fly First published in 1944 Type: Talented amateur The Detective: Professor Gervase Fen, Professor ...
Friday, March 6, 2009

Is it a police procedural or a PI or...?

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Several years ago I was scheduled to teach a lit class that focused on mystery works. Unfortunately the class didn't make it, but I did...