“You discover the boredom which is inseparable from poverty; the times when you have nothing to do and, being underfed, can interest yourself in nothing. For half a day at a time you lie on your bed, feeling like a jeune squelette in Beaudelaire’s poem. Only food could rouse you. You discover that a man who has gone a week on bread and margarine is not a man any longer, only a belly with a few accessory organs.”
George Orwell, “Down and Out in Paris and London”, 1933.
“Here, then, is proof that cruelty to animals is an issue only to a few Christians, not a pressing problem for the whole of Japanese society. Is this a matter for grief or celebration? Witnessing these scenes only deepens my sense that the Japanese are a warlike people who are sure to defeat the Russians once again in the future. Oh patriots set your minds at ease. As long as you can make a yellow man like me believe in the white man’s Yellow Peril, you should feel free to go on cursing your wives, oppressing your children and giving three cheers for the empire with glasses held high.”
Nagai Kafū, “Behind the Prison”.
You discover what it is like to be hungry. With bread and margarine in your belly, you go out and look into the shop windows. Everywhere there is food insulting you in huge, wasteful piles; whole dead pigs, baskets of hot loaves, great yellow blocks of butter, strings of sausages, mountains of potatoes, vast Gruyère cheeses like grindstones. A snivelling self pity comes over you at the sight of so much food. You plan to grab a loaf and run, swallowing it before they catch you; and you refrain, from pure funk.”
George Orwell, “Down and Out in Paris and London”, 1933.
THE ABDUCTION OF RORY DYLAN STEPHEN: THE SWITCHEROO
The Singapore Times Exclusive: Singapore gang connection revealed!
Bob and Fay realized it was time for a grooming. I might have been the hairiest West Highland Terrier puppy in Toronto.
I was taken to Guido and Wong a new canine grooming establishment in the Leaside area of Toronto.
Fay gave instructions to the groomer Jack Ruby. A puppy cut. I was matted so the puppy cut was going to make me look like a new recruit to the United States Marine Corps.
I was a naughty puppy trying to nip Ruby as I was scared shitless. Can you imagine human readers if you were being sent to the barber as a baby! They charged a “bad boy tax” due to my naughty behaviour! Please give a puppy a break!
As my cut was near its conclusion two men approached Ruby and she fell to the ground. I was taken by two burly men to a van in the rear of the establishment and placed in a crate. I was told to “SHUT UP” and if I didn’t, “You’ll be taken to Cambodia to sniff for landmines and die with the rats that do that job”. Rats? Landmines? Cambodia? Golly gee! What does that mean. Please. Please. I want to go home with Bob and Fay!
Bob and Fay picked “me” up after the grooming and they were so shocked at the appearance of such a cute puppy being shaved to the quick they could hardly believe it was “me”.
Everyone in the neighbourhood seeing “me” being walked shared the same opinion. Fay and Bob found it a bit strange “my” mornings no longer included a beg for bagel and toast and I heard them mumbling, “Rather strange. Rory’s morning routine has bagels and toast as its centerpiece!”
As Toronto Police Services (TPS) later concluded poor Jack Ruby was chloroformed and replaced by a look a like Westie trained by the Singapore Salakau gang.
Jack Ruby, fearing a revocation of her Canadian work permit threatened by the Salakau gang failed to mention to TPS her chloroforming.
I was taken to “Family Noodle Restaurant” on Toronto’s Spadina Avenue and greeted by a Madame Fong.
“Upon a wooden counter disturbingly overgrown with green moss sits a shallow, round sushi rice mixing bowl half filled with greasy water containing fish parts, shaved fish meat and rows of skewered shellfish that have been dried in the sun, almost all bearing price tags of ten sen or less. As far as I can see, the eyes of the dead fish are all stagnant and cloudy, the scales on their bellies have faded to a pale bluish white, and the chilled bloody edges of their sliced meat have lost so much of their freshness that the colours in each shop front are not only unpleasant but downright depressing. The sight of dripping blood used to terrify me whenever I passed a butcher shop in the West , but here, to the contrary, the thought of that this faded cold fish meat is the only source of nourishment for the blood of most of my countrymen fills me with irrepressible sorrow.”
Nagai Kafū, “Behind the Prison”.
“Should I become an artist? No, this is Japan, not the West. Far from demanding art, Japanese society looks upon it as a nuisance. Those of us with a deep-seated desire to devote ourselves to the Muses or to Venus must leave this fatherland of ours with all its stringent rules before we can begin to embrace our hearts. This would be of the greatest benefit both to the nation and to art itself.”
Nagai Kafū, “Behind the Prison”
“No, nothing in this world is as oppressive and debilitating as blood ties. Any other relationship-be it with friend, lover, wife; be it obligatory or constraining or difficult-is something one has consciously entered into at some point. Only one’s ties with parents and siblings are formed at birth and are unbreakable. And even if one succeeds in severing such relationships, all one is left with is the unbearable agony of conscience. Your Excellency. I am certain you have seen sparrows that have built a nest in the eaves of your home. No sooner do the young fly away from the nest than they escape forever from this fateful shadow. Nor do the parents make any attempt to bind their offspring’s heart with morality.”
Nagai Kafū, “Behind the Prison”.
“There was R., an Englishman who lived six months of the year in Putney with his parents and six months in France. During his time in France he drank four litres of wine a day, and six litres on Saturday; he once had travelled to the Azores, because the wine there is cheaper than anywhere in Europe. He was a gentle domesticated creature, never rowdy or quarrelsome and never sober. He would lie in bed until midday, and from then till midnight he was in his corner at the bistro, quietly and methodically soaking. While he soaked he talked, in a refined womanish voice, about antique furniture.”
George Orwell, “Down and Out in Paris and London”, 1933.
Xinomavro, a Greek red grape, is problematic. It can be highly tannic and grape quality aside, if not sufficiently aged, your mouth is in for a battle. For this reason, I largely avoid Xinomavro.
Yet I have had the pleasure of Xinomavro aged some twenty years and it was remarkable.
I was at the Toronto Wines of Greece Trade and Consumer Tasting on 21April2026 and reluctantly tried several Xinomavros. The older the wine (within a five-year range) the better it was and even better when sustainable and biodynamic.
Let’s try a 2023 Young Wines Xinomavro biodynamic and sustainably produced from Thymiopoulos Vineyards.
Fermented and aged in concrete.
Aroma: Loads of cherry. Secondary notes of raspberry. Tertiary notes of blueberry. Clean and untainted.
Palate: Clean and pure. Moderate tannins with perfectly controlled acidity. Beautiful layered red fruit. I never imagined a 2023 Xinomavro could be described as elegant, but I am saying it here. Moderately long finish with a hint of spice.
Personality: You can scarcely believe I am so light on my feet! I think I am reminiscent of a Niagara Gamay Noir!
Food Match: Stuffed zucchini flowers.
Cellarbility: Consume by 2027-year end.
Price: $20CDN.
RKS Wines of Greece Rating: 90/100. Natalie MacLean 91.
(Thymiopoulos 2023 Young Vines Xinomavro, PGI Macedonia, Apostolos Thymiopoulos, Imathia, Greece, 750 mL, 13%).
Why so many Kung Fu films from China in North America? Surely there are more Chinese films of a non martial arts ilk deserving release in North America? Do I have to fly on Cathay Pacific to see them? But until and if that occurs enjoy “The Butcher’s Blade”.
“The Butcher’s Blade” packs in plenty of impressive if not spectacular Kung Fu action but possesses a modern streak encompassing political and moral corruption in a more complicated fashion than simply good guys and bad guys. The seemingly good guys may be eviller than the bad guys! And the bad guys including those whom you may have thought are the good guys are all very bad.
Put another way there is a heavy dose of bad guys messing in politics and grasping for power. There are issues of personal morality at play. Yes, swords are slashing, blood is spurting and unbelievable acrobatics grace the screen but there is something deeper.
Xue Buyi (Liu Fengchao) is a former member of the elite crack Eagle Hall militia who has for over a decade strayed from the elite into a lower level “constable” held in the lowest regard by fellow constables. His best friend is the noodle lady.
The core principles of Eagle Hall officers are capture, interrogation and execution.
As a result of a devastating flood a relief fund comprised of silver ingots is created which is robbed from the Treasury. Xue Buyi is set up as a fall guy for the robbery by Lord Zhang often referred to as Jailer Zhang but rescued seconds before beheading by Lord Huang Shining (Chunyu Shanshan) his former Eagle Hall master.
Xue Buyi is given a chance by Lord Huang to track down the thieves, a desperate lot as they murdered a sizeable police guard to carry off the loot. Xue Buyi and his former best Eagle Hall friend Li Zhen (Yuan Fufu) hunt down Nine-patterned Dragon and Seven-faced-Fox as leaders of the theft operation.
Track down these villains they do and the viewer is treated to a spectacular firework factory and illegal bank fight. There is some well-deserved soy sauce and rapist/slasher revenge involved. Speaking of soy sauce Eagle Hall members love noodles prepared by the noodle lady!
Silver ingots flow amongst the Eagle Hall militia involved upon the apprehension of Dragon and Fox. Payola it would seem as the mastermind behind the relief fund theft is not hunted down. That is where the political intrigue thickens and good and bad are terribly blurred but there may be honour and redemption for Xue Buyi.
Motto of the movie. Politicians are snakes and not to be trusted and in Kung Fu tradition it is safe to say good trumps evil!
Watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Rd3vQCGLU4.
“The Butcher’s Blade” debuts on Digital 12May2026 from Well Go USA Entertainment.
Director is Liu Wenpu.
RKS Films of China Rating 88/100.
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity