RKS Japanese Literature: Eyes Blinded by Worldly Passions and the Artist (Natsume Sōseki)

“I suppose you could say that the artist is one that lives in a three-cornered world, in which the corner the average person would call “common sense” has been sheared off from the ordinary four squared world that the normal inhabit.

For this reason, be it in nature or human affairs, the artist will see the glitter of priceless jewels of art in places the common herd fears to tread. The vulgar mind terms it “romanticizing”, but it is no such thing. In fact the phenomenal world has always contained that scintillating radiance that artists find there. It’s just that eyes blinded by worldly passions cannot see the true nature of reality. Inextricable entanglements bind us to the common world; we are beset by obsessions of everyday success and failure and by ardent hopes-and so we pass by unheeding….”

Natsume Sōseki, “Kusamakura”, 1906.

RKS Poetry Anthology (All We Get Are The Coffee Grinds)THE BIG B

THE BIG B

Your sons and daughters attend the best schools

While we carry the tools

and you try to categorize us as uncouth fools

cocaine at the big frat party

where anyone over 50 considered farty

drive the big cars

travel to countries afar

their brown Adriatic touched faces gleam

but for us Winnipeg is but a dream

sometimes it feels like we are being used

shoved out and abused

they live it up

we throw it up so they can flaunt their Afghan puppies

I’m just as content with my guppies

Robert K. Stephen

RKS WINES OF ARGENTINA: Kaiken Ultra 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon

Kaiken can be trusted to deliver good Malbecs but can the same be said for its Cabernet Sauvignons? The only way to so determine is to open a bottle of Kaiken Ultra 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon from Mendoza.

Grapes grown at 1,050 metres. 45% of the wine in French oak barrels (1/3 each in new/second/third use) for 12 months.

Aroma: Blueberry rules the roost. Way behind black cherry and dark chocolate. Decant for a richer nose and palate.

Palate: The blueberry keeps on rolling on big time. Overstimulated raspberry rollicks on the tongue. Tannins leaning on the heavy side. A mid length peppery hot finish with a tad of sweetness.

Personality: If blueberry is the hallmark of many a Californian Cabernet Sauvignon and you wish to avoid patronizing the wines of a threatening country and becoming state 51 like Canada, Greenland or Venezuela a good alternative awaits.

Food Match: Thai grilled pork.

Cellarbility: Down the hatch no later than 2028-year end.

Price: $23 CDN.

RKS Wines of Argentina Rating: 94/100. Joaquíin Hidalgo 94.

Kaiken Ultra 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon, Mendoza, Aiken, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina, 14.5%, 750 mL).

Sampled 3June2026.

RKS Japanese Literature: The Journey and its Poetic Component (Natsume Sōseki)

“While we are on our journey, shod in our straw sandals as of yore, we may do nothing but grumble about its hardships from dawn to dusk, but when we come to tell the tale to others, we will never make a murmur of such complaints. No, we will speak smugly of its fascinations and pleasures and even proudly prattle on about all the things that annoyed us so much at the time. We do not do so from any intention to deceive ourselves or lie to others. Rather, the contradiction arises because on the journey we are our everyday selves, while when we tell the tale we speak as poets.”

Natsume Sōseki, “Kusamakura”, 1906.

“Lost in Puppydom: Rory Dylan Stephen’s Puppydom” : THE ABDUCTION OF RORY DYLAN STEPHEN: EASTERN & ORIENTAL EXPRESS HERE WE COME!

The Singapore Times Exclusive: THE ABDUCTION OF RORY DYLAN STEPHEN: EASTERN & ORIENTAL EXPRESS HERE WE COME!

Bobby Jr. was entrusted by his mother Madame Fong with the task of finalizing arrangements for a Fong charter of the Eastern & Oriental Express (E&OE) train for a journey through Malaysia.

This is luxury train travel Bobby Jr. said to me and, “Rory you may have a key role to play. This is the reason we brought you to Singapore as our guest. Your job is to cozy up to Sir Nicomshire and help my mother get what she wants. I promised you days ago no harm would come to you and if Mommy gets what she wants I will personally escort you back to your home in Toronto. I will give you further instructions once we are the train which will be next Sunday, four days from now.”

Home! That set my tale wagging. I was so happy to hear that for the time being I was not asking why the big cozy up was needed.

Fifty guests were invited and the journey was to be hosted by Madame Fong. I recognized the name of Sir Reginald Nicomshire, the fellow that organized Singapore Westie of the Year, the contest I won. I attended a “victory party” at his mansion in Singapore and we hit it off spectacularly so any big cozy up would be puppy’s play!

RKS Poetry Anthology (All We Get Are The Coffee Grinds):”FRUSTRATED YOUNG EXECUTIVES”

FRUSTRATED YOUNG EXECUTIVES

Group at the bar

Hoping for that big break

Lying at the bottom of an empty glass

Castrated ambitions

Thwarted

Recalled in fantasized dialogue

Of lust frenzied materialism

Only to be lost in

Yet another glass

“Lost in Puppydom: Rory Dylan Stephen’s Puppydom”: THE ABDUCTION OF RORY DYLAN STEPHEN: AM I LOSING MY PUPPYHOOD?

The Singapore Times Exclusive: THE ABDUCTION OF RORY DYLAN STEPHEN: AM I LOSING MY PUPPYHOOD?

If you have been following my story from its inception I was deep into puppyhood. Peeing and pooping wherever I felt like it. Teething on everything. Not obeying commands. Puppyfighting. Nonstop playing. Gamboling around the backyard. Eating puppy kibble.

Then out of the blue kidnapped. Hanging around with people of dubious if not criminal character. Witnessing payola and money laundering. Associating with murder victims. Staying in luxurious hotels. Eating Asian food. Winning (sort of) Singapore Westie of the Year. Partying with the elite of Singapore. Seeing Bangkok and Angkor Wat. Drinking jasmine tea. Rat hunting training.

Add it all up is it fair to assume I have lost my puppyhood, my innocence? It seems I am not a nine-month-old West Highland Terrier but rather a nine-year-old one.

Is this maturity too rapid? I have seen in just a few weeks what most dogs will not experience in their entire lifetime.

When this novel commenced it was all sweet and innocent. Cute anecdotes but my life has transcended that. Yes, I even received a note from a reader everything has become so dark: for goodness sake murder! I just can’t continue reading any more!

Don’t we all wish we could wallow in the innocence of puppyhood forever. If wishes came true pigs would fly!

RKS Russian Literature: A Dreadful Absence of Both Good and Evil (Nikolay Gogol)

“No one had seen him, even once, being any different from what he always was, whether on the street or at home. Had he but once showed any concern for anything, had he got roaring drink and burst out laughing in his drunken state, had he even abandoned himself to wild grotesque revelry of the kind a brigand abandons himself to in a drunken moment-but there was not the faintest shadow of any such thing in him. There was nothing at all in him, nothing either evil or good, and there was something dreadful in this absence of anything.”

Nikolay Gogol, “Dead Souls”, 1842.

RKS Russian Literature: A Russian Philanthropic Swindle (Nikolay Gogol)

“For instance, having set up some philanthropic society for the poor and having contributed considerable sums to it, we lose no time in commemorating such a praiseworthy event by throwing a dinner for all the leading dignitaries of the town, thereby expending, of course, half the sums that have been contributed. With what remains, a magnificent apartment is immediately rented for the committee, with heating and watchmen, after which all that is left for the poor is five and a half roubles, and even then, not all the members of the committee can agree on how to distribute the sum, and each pushes for some female relation of his.”

Nikolay Gogol, “Dead Souls”, 1842.

“Lost in Puppydom: Rory Dylan Stephen’s Puppydom”: THE ABDUCTION OF RORY DYLAN STEPHEN: BACK IN SINGAPORE TO A FURIOUS AND GREASY HAIRED MADAME FONG

The Singapore Times Exclusive: THE ABDUCTION OF RORY DYLAN STEPHEN: BACK IN SINGAPORE TO A FURIOUS AND GREASY HAIRED MADAME FONG

Our private jet touched down in Singapore being greeted by customs officials in the private jet hangar. Rather odd, but perhaps so Singaporean that a team of gum sniffing dogs scoured the aircraft for that substance if found smuggled in could lead to a public caning. Who cares about heroin smuggling in Singapore when there is gum and its den of corruption to be concerned about!

There were several hundred people awaiting us as we cleared customs mostly members of the Singaporean Westie Fanatics Club. “Welcome Home Cuddlecakes” a few banners proclaimed. Home……yes I did feel Singapore was my home..at least for a few seconds!

I could scarcely recognize a greasy haired woman waiting for us in ripped jeans and a Talking Head’s T-Shirt as Bobby Jr.’s mother.

We waded through a group of cheering “fans” to Madame Fong’s limo. Amira had veered off after clearing customs. Madame Fong hated Malays and consequently hated Amira, a relationship Bobby Jr. concealed from Mommy!

A heated argument ensued Madame Fong cussing her son mercilessly calling him many unprintable names. The gist being he had met with the Shermans and the two Vietnamese Gentleman and now they were all dead. How had he a “stupid incompetent asshole” “fucked up” so miserably!

How were the murders rightly attributable to Bobby Jr.! What a nasty woman Madame Fong was. I felt like urinating on her vintage Keds.

When we were dropped off at Singapore Shangri-La her parting words were, “I trust you can prove you are not a total incompetent and not screw up our trip on the Orient Express!”

Are we going on some train trip? I once watched a movie with Bob, “Murder on the Orient Express” and it was centred on a murder. The last thing I need to be involved with is another murder!