Robert K Stephen (CSW)

RKS 2024 Film: “Space Cowboy”: Art in the Big Fall! Awesome! Spectacular! Addictive!

“Space Cowboy” is the perfect title for this American documentary. Joe Jennings is a cowboy of the air as a high-altitude camera flyer where air represents the Oregon Trail. His camera has caught sky diving stunts and sky surfing competitions. Sky surfing is an extreme sport were a parachutist jumps out of a plane onContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “Space Cowboy”: Art in the Big Fall! Awesome! Spectacular! Addictive!”

RKS Literature: Russians, Vodka and Strength (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)

“Pasha, vodka can’t make it any worse, you’ve got to realize that. Vodka is a cure for all illnesses. I’ll drink some pure spirit before the operation, what do you think? Here, I’ve got it in a little bottle. Why spirit? Because it gets absorbed right away, it doesn’t leave any surplus water. When theContinue reading “RKS Literature: Russians, Vodka and Strength (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)”

RKS 2024 Wine: The Great Gamay Comeback in Ontario?

Was it a decade or so ago that Gamay in Ontario looked like the next oenological prince of the Ontario wine kingdom? Then it faded like Harry and Meaghan and then made a comeback like Camilla? No discussions please on royalty who in Canada are seen as ready to meet the fate of Marie AntoinetteContinue reading “RKS 2024 Wine: The Great Gamay Comeback in Ontario?”

RKS Literature: The Never-Ending Imprisonment of Soviet Soldiers Who Fought in The Second World War: Seen as Spies! (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)

“Only a prisoner in his first years of sentence believes, every time he is summoned from his cell and told to collect his belongings, that he is being called to freedom. To him every whisper of an amnesty sounds like the trumpets of archangels. But they call him out of his cell, read him someContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Never-Ending Imprisonment of Soviet Soldiers Who Fought in The Second World War: Seen as Spies! (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)”

RKS 2024 Film: “Zombie Town”: Don’t Be Sucker Punched by Rent a Star

If you aren’t zombified by the time the final credits roll you are a superhuman and perhaps ready to star in the 467th Marvel movie. Not being attracted to zombie films I watched “Zombie Town” because Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase were featured actors. Their screen appearance was minimal all for the better as theContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “Zombie Town”: Don’t Be Sucker Punched by Rent a Star”

RKS Literature: Comrade Rusanov Once a Proletarian and Now a Party Bureaucrat Despises the Proletarian Kind (Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn)

“Gradually over the years he and Kapitolina developed an aversion to teeming human beings, to jostling crowds. The Rusanovs found streetcars, buses and trolley-buses quite disgusting. People were always pushing, especially when they were trying to get aboard. Insults were always flying around. Builders and other workers were always climbing in in dirty overalls, andContinue reading “RKS Literature: Comrade Rusanov Once a Proletarian and Now a Party Bureaucrat Despises the Proletarian Kind (Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn)”

RKS 2024 Wine: Boas Quintas Dão’s 2020 Gandarada

I had the pleasure of a recent visit to Boas Quintas in the Dão region of Portugal. After a hearty breakfast we headed off in a slight November fog to the winery. It was strangely North American in set up both in tasting room design and in marketing. Special Christmas combo packages were available ratherContinue reading “RKS 2024 Wine: Boas Quintas Dão’s 2020 Gandarada”

RKS 2024 Film: “Inedia”: A Deadly Convergence of Flummox and Eating Disorders

Cora’s aversion to eating spirals out of control to the point that she considers herself allergic to all foods even parsley. While at dinner at her sister’s she has a few bites of a bizarre vegetarian dish and runs to the toilet to induce vomiting. Her condition worsens. Her GP does not share her thoughtsContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “Inedia”: A Deadly Convergence of Flummox and Eating Disorders”

RKS 2024 Wine: Vineland Estates 2021 Game Changer Red

A bold statement indeed to maintain any wine these days can change the game. More marketing fluff but as I have said many times a label really makes little difference as what matters is in the bottle. For example, this year the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team has changed professional baseball in Toronto to aContinue reading “RKS 2024 Wine: Vineland Estates 2021 Game Changer Red”

RKS Literature: Comrade Rusanov as a Proud Soviet Stoolie for Stalin (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)

“Rusanov was not afraid of any of them. He had helped establish the guilt of them all, more boldly and openly as time went on. On two occasions he had even gone to the confrontation, raised his voice and denounced them. At that time it was not considered the least shameful to do such aContinue reading “RKS Literature: Comrade Rusanov as a Proud Soviet Stoolie for Stalin (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)”