“Dear You” is an epic familial tale focusing on love, friendship, compassion and loss but there are many stories hovering around the apparent simplistic plot. And the film is a solid hit in China being the second highest grossing film there in 2026 and attracting audiences throughout Southeast Asia. It also has sparked controversy inContinue reading “RKS CHINESE FILM: “Dear You”: Many Stories Behind the Story”
Author Archives: Robert K Stephen (CSW)
RKS TURKISH LITERATURE: Insult Islam: You Die (Orhan Pamuk)
There was, for example, the poet Nurettin, who admired all things European but took little interest in politics until the day a radical Islamist news paper unearthed something he’d written years earlier-an essay on art and religion-and distorted it to charge that he’d insulted our faith”; afraid of looking frightened, Nurettin dusted off his oldContinue reading “RKS TURKISH LITERATURE: Insult Islam: You Die (Orhan Pamuk)”
RKS American Literature: Wait for the End of Segregation? (Martin Luther King Jr.)
We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jet-like speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those whoContinue reading “RKS American Literature: Wait for the End of Segregation? (Martin Luther King Jr.)”
BEYOND PUPPYDOM: INCIDENTS, ACCIDENTS, EXPLORATIONS AND MAYHEM: RORY DYLAN STEPHEN TELLS IT LIKE IT IS: ONCE STUNG ALWAYS SHY
I can scarcely believe I am in Switzerland undergoing “medical treatment” but then again after my Southeast Asian abduction adventures my life seems destined to be one of a rapid maturity. My philosophy is roll with the punches. Playing along with my abductors in New Jersey, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia saw me through safelyContinue reading “BEYOND PUPPYDOM: INCIDENTS, ACCIDENTS, EXPLORATIONS AND MAYHEM: RORY DYLAN STEPHEN TELLS IT LIKE IT IS: ONCE STUNG ALWAYS SHY”
RKS TURKISH LITERATURE: Turkish “Religious School” Students Wouldn’t Hesitate to Chop You to Pieces for “Offending” Islam (Orhan Pamuk)
“Those religious high school boys you saw in the cells today have your face permanently etched in their memories. They’ll throw bombs at anyone and anything; they don’t care as long as they are heard. No one who’s even slightly westernized can breathe free in this country unless they have a secular army protecting them,Continue reading “RKS TURKISH LITERATURE: Turkish “Religious School” Students Wouldn’t Hesitate to Chop You to Pieces for “Offending” Islam (Orhan Pamuk)”
RKS TURKISH LITERATURE: Turkish “Religious School” Students Berate Europe (Orhan Pamuk)
But now, no one could hear anything above the booing and catcalls and angry whistles from the religious school boys. Despite the guilty, fearful silence at the front of the auditorium, few could hear what Funda Eser was saying that when the angry girl tore the scarf off her head, she was not just makingContinue reading “RKS TURKISH LITERATURE: Turkish “Religious School” Students Berate Europe (Orhan Pamuk)”
RKS CANADIAN WINE: PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY CHEATERS?
Approximately 220 kilometres from Toronto and 370 kilometres from Montreal lies Prince Edward County or “the County” as it is affectionately known as. It has its own geographical designation as some of it wines are “VQA Prince Edward County” but many of the wines bottled in the County are made from grapes trucked in fromContinue reading “RKS CANADIAN WINE: PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY CHEATERS?”
RKS TURKISH LITERATURE: The One by One Islamist Clean Up in Turkey (Orhan Pamuk)
The Islamists have embarked in a clean up operation. They’re taking care of us one by one. If you want to save your skin. I would advise you to increase your faith in God at the earliest opportunity. It won’t be long. I fear, before a moderate belief in God will be insufficient to saveContinue reading “RKS TURKISH LITERATURE: The One by One Islamist Clean Up in Turkey (Orhan Pamuk)”
RKS Literature: Easy American Victims: Inept and Unflappable Delhi Pickpocket (Salman Rushdie)
India can be a tough country for Americans, who are seen as walking dollar signs and, what as innocents abroad: legitimate targets, easy meat. Within hours of checking in at their five-star South Delhi hotel, they had been importuned, without ,leaving the grounds, by money changers offering them the best black rate in town forContinue reading “RKS Literature: Easy American Victims: Inept and Unflappable Delhi Pickpocket (Salman Rushdie)”
RKS Literature: The United States the Real Victor in Vietnam (Salman Rushdie)
My idea was that the war in Indochina hadn’t ended at the time of the ignominious U.S. withdrawal. They’d left a wooden horse standing at the gates, and when the Indochinese accepted the gift, the real warriors of America-the big corporations, the sports culture of basketball and baseball, and of course rock’n roll-came swinging outContinue reading “RKS Literature: The United States the Real Victor in Vietnam (Salman Rushdie)”
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 