“Wearing a holster gave you the ritual edge in authority. Even in spite of their training and the weeks apart spent establishing their rank through punishing drills and endless parades, the officers were vey young and most of them slimly built compared to the veterans of lumber camps and railroad gangs. In the end, itContinue reading “RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: The Ritual Authority of a Holster”
Author Archives: Robert K Stephen (CSW)
RKS Wine: 2021 Plan de Dieu Côtes-du-Rhône Villages
The Plan de Dieu Côtes-du-Rhône Villages has rich aromas of hulled ripe strawberries, black cherry and bright spice buffed up by a tad of root beer. Tannins are moderate. The flavour is intense and rich perhaps too rich and power laden to be a good sipper. Loads of ripe strawberries which are at their peakContinue reading “RKS Wine: 2021 Plan de Dieu Côtes-du-Rhône Villages”
“Travels to a Different Time”: 15March2004: Getting to Costa Rica from Toronto
Up at 03:00 for an early morning flight. Insane. Andrew, highly motivated was up in in a flash ready to go. The limo arrived 7 minutes early which is much better than 25 minutes early. Due to an ice storm the driver reused to climb the icy steps for the bags. I managed to throwContinue reading ““Travels to a Different Time”: 15March2004: Getting to Costa Rica from Toronto”
RKS Literature: Timothy Findley’s “The Wars”: Kill Training
“What he wanted was a model. Someone who could teach him, by example, how to kill. Robert had never aimed a gun at anything. It was a foreign state of mind. So what he wanted was someone else who had acquired that state of mind: who killed as an exercise of the will “ TimothyContinue reading “RKS Literature: Timothy Findley’s “The Wars”: Kill Training”
RKS Film: “The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry”: Initially a Cheesy Romantic Feel-Good All-Over Film Pulls Itself up from its Bootstraps to Possibly Reach Epic Proportions?
“The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry” initially canters on for 30 minutes being a cute feel-good Harlequinesque romance and then darkens quickly and becomes haunted by tragedy, jealousy, infidelity and a whole host of evil vibes. But through this transition from light and fluffy in the immediate moments it spans over a decade. YouContinue reading “RKS Film: “The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry”: Initially a Cheesy Romantic Feel-Good All-Over Film Pulls Itself up from its Bootstraps to Possibly Reach Epic Proportions?”
RKS Wine: Washington Trio
1.Columbia Crest H3 Merlot 2018 ($20.95) 91/100 It is rather odd that in the Liquor Control Board of Ontario’s Vintages Catalogue for the August 13, 2022 release JamesSuckling.com gives the wine a 90 rating in a review dated July 12, 2021 stating it should be consumed now which is one year after the LCBO putContinue reading “RKS Wine: Washington Trio”
RKS Travel: Thessaloniki’s Museum of Photography and Fred Boissonnas
When in Thessaloniki Greece I make it a point to head over to the revitalized Port district to visit the Museum of Photography that never disappoints with its monthly themed expositions. Architecturally a modern gem and always low key in terms of attendance. In September they had an exhibition entitled “Fred Boissonnas and the Mediterranean”.Continue reading “RKS Travel: Thessaloniki’s Museum of Photography and Fred Boissonnas”
RKS Travel: In the Plaka District in Athens: Where Have the Greeks Gone?
So we are staying at Sweet Home Boutique Hotel in the Plaka district in the heart of touristy Athens near the Acropolis and Syntagma Square. I hear American accents and Yanks everywhere. In fact there has been such an influx of American tourists this September leaving me thinking where have all the Greeks gone? JustContinue reading “RKS Travel: In the Plaka District in Athens: Where Have the Greeks Gone?”
RKS Travel: The Greece I Know and Don’t Know
We arrive bedraggled in Athens after an overnight flight from Toronto. Ordinarily if these were pre-COVID times we would risk waiting two hours in Athens for a connecting flight to Samos but instead decided to say overnight 17 kilometres from the Athens Airport at a town called Vravrona at a hotel called Dolce by Wyndham.Continue reading “RKS Travel: The Greece I Know and Don’t Know”
RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: John Stuart Mill: What Should be the Power of Society?
“Apart from the peculiar tenets of individual thinkers, there is also in the world at large an increasing inclination to stretch unduly the powers of society over the individual, both by the force of opinion and even by that of legislation: and as the tendency of all changes taking place in the world is toContinue reading “RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: John Stuart Mill: What Should be the Power of Society?”
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