“In her eyes Vronsky, with all his habits, ideas, desire – his whole spiritual and physical temperament could be summed up in one thing – love for women – and this love, which she felt ought to be wholly concentrated on her was diminishing. Therefore she reasoned, he must have transferred part of it to otherContinue reading “RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenin”: Love and Jealously”
Author Archives: Robert K Stephen (CSW)
RKS Literature: Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenin”: Count Vronsky’s Code of Principles
“Vronsky’s life was particularly happy in that he had a code of principles, which defined with unfailing certitude what should and should not be done. This code of principles covered only a very small circle of contingencies, but in return the principles were never obscure, and Vronsky, as he never went outside that circle, hadContinue reading “RKS Literature: Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenin”: Count Vronsky’s Code of Principles”
RKS Wine: Bachelder “les Villages” 2020 Gamay Noir: Gentle Elegance
As far as red wine flows in Ontario Gamay is often a winner. What does Thomas Bachelder do with a Gamay? As for aromas amidst the smoky overlay expect black cherry, cherry and rhubarb crumble and a tad of cloves. A lightweight wine very smooth but a seam of complexity rests in the palate withContinue reading “RKS Wine: Bachelder “les Villages” 2020 Gamay Noir: Gentle Elegance”
RKS Travel: Toronto to Athens: Escaping the COVID Shield
In 3 years I have been somewhat housebound as far as international travel goes. Paris in October of 2019. How great it was. Time to spread the wings so off to Greece for a real vacation. Very smooth car ride to Toronto’s Pearson Airport. Expecting pandemonium, we left some 4 hours of cushion. But believeContinue reading “RKS Travel: Toronto to Athens: Escaping the COVID Shield”
RKS Literature: Passage of the Day from Tolstoy’s Anna Karenin; Count Vronsky’s View of Himself
“In his Petersburg world people were divided into two quite distinct classes. One – the lower class – commonplace, stupid, and above all, ridiculous people, who believed that a husband should live with the one woman to whom he was married, that young girls should be virtuous, woman chaste and men virile, self-controlled and strong;Continue reading “RKS Literature: Passage of the Day from Tolstoy’s Anna Karenin; Count Vronsky’s View of Himself”
RKS Film: “223 Wick”: A Clunker with Some Saving Graces?
Let’s face it “223 Wick” in its entirety is a clunker. Repetitive flashes of light, eerie voices and a whole host of tiresome horror film effects. Trite plot and mostly wooden acting. Of course in the midst of disaster one must recognize some positive points. This is not a horror film as the usual dimContinue reading “RKS Film: “223 Wick”: A Clunker with Some Saving Graces?”
RKS Passage of the Day: Tolstoy’s Anna Karenin: Two Classes of Women
“Oblonsky smiled. He knew that feeling of Levin’s so well – that for Levin all the girls in the world were divided into two classes: one class included all the girls in the world except Kitty, and they all had all the human weaknesses and were very ordinary girls: while Kitty was in a classContinue reading “RKS Passage of the Day: Tolstoy’s Anna Karenin: Two Classes of Women”
RKS Wine: A Mavrud from Bulgaria
A rare Bulgarian wine makes an appearance made from the Mavrud grape. Mavrud doesn’t have a stellar reputation but when properly subject to oak ageing it makes a solid simple wine. This wine was aged in barrels crafted by a cooper at the winery. Lots of raspberry and cherry on the nose. There is alsoContinue reading “RKS Wine: A Mavrud from Bulgaria”
RKS True Story: Roma Panhandlers and a BMW in Athens
So I am sitting in a neighbourhood square in the Pangrati district of Athens having a late lunch with my wife and some friends. In the course of an hour 3 Roma panhandlers appeared putting on a dramatic and a tiresome act that has been perfected over the decades. It could be Rome, Paris orContinue reading “RKS True Story: Roma Panhandlers and a BMW in Athens”
RKS Literature: “Gotcha” by Robert Fulford
“In the same way literature offers us the opportunity to escape the two most pressing forms of bondage in our normal existence: time and ego. Emotionally and intellectually , literature dissolves the rules of time and beckons us toward Periclean Athens, Czarist Russia, Elizabethan England, and a thousand other moments of the past. By lengtheningContinue reading “RKS Literature: “Gotcha” by Robert Fulford”
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