Robert K Stephen (CSW)

RKS Literature: Mr. Micawber’s Creditors (Charles Dickens)

“The only visitors I ever saw or heard of, were creditors. They used to come at all hours, and some of them were quite ferocious. One dirty-faced man, I think he was a bootmaker, used to edge himself into the passage as early as seven o’clock in the morning and call up the stairs, toContinue reading “RKS Literature: Mr. Micawber’s Creditors (Charles Dickens)”

RKS Literature: The Secret Agony of My Soul (Charles Dickens)

“No words can express the secret agony of my soul as I sunk into this companionship; compared these hence-forth every-day associates with those of my happier childhood-not to say with Steerforth, Traddles and the rest of those boys; and felt my hopes of growing up to be a learned and distinguished man crushed in myContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Secret Agony of My Soul (Charles Dickens)”

RKS 2024 Wine: Encruzado to the Rescue?

So many Portuguese white wines have a functional element of suitability with food and their thinness and acidity making many of them a superb match with seafood a commodity which Portuguese menus are rarely lacking. Rabigato, Viosinho and Arinto do not exactly make stellar sipping wines. I had the privilege of visiting the Dâo wineContinue reading “RKS 2024 Wine: Encruzado to the Rescue?”

RKS 2024 Film: “Evil Does Not Exist”: A Puzzling Name for This Film!

The most recent Ryusuke Hamaguchi film entitled “Evil Does Not Exist” is a puzzling one considering evil is omnipresent in the film. The best I can devise here is that there is an absence of evil in nature but interpose man with nature and evil is inescapable. Debate it if you wish but has RyusukeContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “Evil Does Not Exist”: A Puzzling Name for This Film!”

RKS 2024 Wine: Caught in the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc Groove (or trap?)

Many wine drinkers hear “Sauvignon Blanc” and their mind races to New Zealand. Whether the Sauvignon Blanc fad has faded is not apparent but what is apparent New Zealand is enjoying the ride on its tail and why not! Of course, or maybe not of course, you are aware Bordeaux produces some Sauvignon Blanc ofContinue reading “RKS 2024 Wine: Caught in the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc Groove (or trap?)”

RKS Literature: The Cruel Mr. Creakle Looks for His Next Victim (Charles Dickens)

“Here I sit at the desk again, watching his eye, as he rules out a ciphering book, with a pocket handkerchief. I have plenty to do. I don’t watch his eye in idleness but because I am morbidly attracted to it, in a dread desire to know what he will do next, and whether itContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Cruel Mr. Creakle Looks for His Next Victim (Charles Dickens)”

RKS 2024 Film: HOTDOCS 2024: “Silent Trees”: A Minefield to Somewhat Normalcy

Sixteen-year-old Runa fled ISIS controlled Kurdistan with her parents and four younger brothers. Trapped in a forest between Belarus and Poland her mother is felled by hypothermia and later dies in a Polish hospital. The family had spent 18 days in a frozen forest attempting to enter Poland. The Polish government had previously retaliated againstContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: HOTDOCS 2024: “Silent Trees”: A Minefield to Somewhat Normalcy”

RKS 2024 Wine: A Ritzy Montreal Pinot Noir from Westmount from the Tête Carrée!

We try a Westmount Willamette Valley Pinot Noir from Oregon. Westmount is a ritzy suburb of Montreal perched along Mont Royal. The home of the wealthy English sometimes referred to as Tête Carrée by the plebeians down below. So seeing a Pinot Noir from Westmount Vineyard and having travelled through Westmount countless times when livingContinue reading “RKS 2024 Wine: A Ritzy Montreal Pinot Noir from Westmount from the Tête Carrée!”

RKS 2024 Film: Hot Docs 2024: “A Photographic Memory”

Should I simply refer to the American documentary “A Photographic Memory” as rich, eerie, extensive, thorough, melancholic, uplifting and intriguing? Or might I say it is going to be remembered as one of the best Hot Docs 2024 documentaries? Considering the enormous sums I am paid to review films, the mind-boggling swag bags that flowContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: Hot Docs 2024: “A Photographic Memory””

RKS 2024 Film: “Jeanne du Barry”: Grandiose, Pomp and Circumstance but Somewhat Vacuous: Poor Yawny Depp

It’s hard to pan a film with such lavish wardrobe in a Versailles setting. I have been to Versailles twice and it is certainly indicative of grandeur and wealth but with “Jeanne du Barry” populate it with rich period costumes of the era of Louis XV it is worth the price of admission to seeContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “Jeanne du Barry”: Grandiose, Pomp and Circumstance but Somewhat Vacuous: Poor Yawny Depp”