A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity

“Lost in Puppydom: Rory Dylan Stephen’s Puppydom”

FOREWARD

My name is Rory Dylan Stephen. I am a West Highland Terrier. We are brave, loyal, curious, stubborn and knock you over cute.

I am a late summer pup.

If you query what is this smartass puppy doing writing his memoirs. For God’s sake he’s only a puppy! I am writing this masterpiece to impart a puppy’s perspective on life that is just beginning. Just chuck these guidebooks on puppy raising and get the skinny, the real thing from me. I am a puppy after all and you people reading this are curious humans. Yes, I can see right off the bat we are going to hit it off.

Why the title “Lost in Puppydom”?

Not to undermine my credibility but quite frankly I was lost. I barely remember my mother and well father was a flash in the pan….what were those lyrics, “Papa was a rolling stone. Wherever he went was his home.”

One minute I am cuddling with mother and my siblings, the next moment I am in a car with humans I think are strangers hurtling at great speeds to my destiny. There are colours, bright lights and voices overwhelming me. I am lost in space. I don’t understand what these humans are saying to me. No one was there to translate. And as I make strange sounds like whimpering and whining I am not sad or distressed but they think I am. They are lost in translation like me.

Poor Mr. Bill Murray in the movie, “Lost in Translation” as a man uncertain of his past, present and future. Quite like me in an automobile listening to classical music and traffic reports that are never encouraging travelling into and out of Toronto. Genn Gould pounding on his piano is making me nervous.

Press Release: New Serialized Novel to be Published: “Lost in Puppydom: Rory Dylan Stephen’s Puppydom

5November2025: Toronto, Ontario

A Little Birdie Told Me will be publishing on a serialized basis Robert K. Stephen’s “Lost in Puppydom: Rory Dylan Stephen’s Puppydom”. This represents a progression of canine centric novels previously published by Robert K. Stephen including “Memoirs of Dylan the Westie”, “Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog” and “Andrij the Orphaned Ukrainian Dog”.

The novel will be an autobiography of Rory Dylan Stephen, a West Highland Terrier, as pertains to his new life replete with joy, curiosity and fears. Expect true puppy insights.

RKS 2025 Travel: Destination Southeast Asia (Short Attention Span Version)

GROUP TOUR: PERSONALITIES IN THE MIX

Some group tours are for specific groups, members some of which are known by each other but most are an assemblage of strangers. For example I went to Southeast Asia with university alumnae the majority on this trip from Canadian universities.

I did not know any of the 16 other travellers.

You may be forced to meet and interact with strangers. And again, like Forrest Gump stated, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you may get.” Guaranteed you will like some chocolates more than others and you may dislike others.

I developed an instant connection with some and with others that connection took longer to gel. I can’t say any dislikes although came close to that when I made some “neutral remark” about a Yank tour member’s President I was told a tongue was stuck out in my direction.

Nothing requires you to socialize but best put on a friendly face and who knows you may enjoy hanging out with them. Remember signing up for a group tour means signing up for a Band of Brothers. You don’t have to like them, only live with them.

Next: The Extrovert

RKS 2025 Film: “Time Travel is Dangerous”: 99% Silly and Perhaps 1% Deserving Thought

Ruth (Ruth Syratt) and Megan (Megan Stevenson) are proprietors of a vintage shop “Cha Cha Cha” in the Muswell Hill suburb of London. Some of the older customers refer to it as a “charity shop” and given the rag tag merchandise they “source” from garbage bins that may be a more accurate description of their shop.

Be prepared for a quasi “Spinal Tap” mockumentary brimming with ripping British satire of pompous nerds, scientists, vegan vintage enthusiasts and dinosaur egg snatchers.

On a foraging expedition a strange find is made by Ruth and Megan believed to be an abandoned school project. It can be best described as a jazzed up bumper car from some travelling carnival. A far cry from the Bricklin in “Back to the Future” but as basic as the time travel machine in the 1960 movie “The Time Machine” based on H.G. Wells novel of the same name.

Ruth and Megan, crass commercialists struggling to keep their head above choppy financial waters, activate the time machine travelling to various time periods sourcing their vintage merchandise and how much more authentic vintage can you get! They are exploiting the time machine for profit! No intellectual machinations on their part. Hilarious moments while in the Wild West or a medieval fair resembling awkward Brit tourists like those on a cruise ship wandering the streets of Dubrovnik fanny packs and melting gelato in hand.

Ruth and Megan are raking in the dough and really dear viewer it is too good to be true! The Muswell Technology, Engineering, Scientific Thought and Innovation Society get wind of the time machine an abandoned project of one of its members Ralph (Ralph Sheldrake) who warns the entire fabric of the universe could be jeopardized by time travelling not to mention his imprisonment for three years in a time portal with monstrous creatures. Ruth and Megan are warned about the dangers to the universe possibly caused by excessive time travel and despite agreeing to the cessation with the Society being desperate for cash and lacking a sense of social morals they continue their travels with an incident happening to Megan transforming her into an unruly and self-absorbed teenager.

Misfortune escalates as Megan disappears into The Unreason playing some absurd game with a bunch of kooky characters and of note a Jim Hensoneque card dealer. The silliness continues at The Unreason perhaps to excess.

And do you think Megan and Ruth abandon their time travel?

Enjoy the journey into the satirical, whimsical, humorous and irreverent.

Director Chris Reading.

In theatres and on demand 21November2025.

You can watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guhjvS2YhQQ

RKS 2025 Film Rating 84/100.

RKS Literature: The Brutality of the Hun and Trench Warfare (Pat Barker)

“The other expression was the trench expression. It looks quite daunting if you don’t know what it is. Any one of my platoon could have posed for a propaganda poster of the Brutal Hun, but it wasn’t brutality or anything like that It was sort of a morose disgust and it came from living in trenches that had bits of human bone sticking out of the walls, in freezing weather corpses propped up on the fire step, flooded latrines.

Whatever happens to us it can’t be as bad as that.”

Pat Barker, “Ghost Road”, 1995

RKS 2025 Travel: Destination Southeast Asia (Short Attention Span Version)

ON A GROUP TOUR: WHO IS LEADING THE TROOPS

Group tours are guided by an itinerary designed by the tour company. A schedule of activities is in the itinerary and a timeframe for execution. This is not to say every minute is planned. There are often slots of free time to pursue your own activities.

There may also be elective activities, often at a cost.

My experience is an early breakfast and out the door on the bus no later than 09:00. Onward tourist soldiers!

Many tours are cross jurisdictional involving planes, ferries, ships and railways.

A with you all the time “tour director” travels with you throughout your tour. The tour director handles transportation, feeding times, site admissions and offers insights as the sites visited. Indispensable for medical emergencies of which there were two on this trip requiring hospital admissions. Tour directors assist with visa and entry requirements where possible.

A tour director is a mother hen, confidant and drill sergeant all executed in a diplomatic fashion….hopefully. On this tour we had a very skilled and gentle diplomat. This was made apparent in an airport in transit security check where a Chinese tour director was bellowing commands in an aggressive fashion to his browbeaten group!

There is usually a country guide in addition to the tour director, an expert on the sites visited in each country .

At times the incessant commentary delivered on a bus microphone is just a bit too much if you have had a long day and want moments of quiet to savour what you have seen .

Next: Your fellow travellers: What to expect

RKS 2025 Travel: Destination Southeast Asia (Short Attention Span Version)

ON A GROUP TOUR: IN THE ARMY NOW

Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia in four days. 8 flights in 14 days. All this is an ambitious undertaking.

In joining a tour group you lose a great deal of independence. You are a prisoner of an itinerary. Up at 4:30 a.m. to catch that ferry. A plethora of morning out the door and on the bus at 07:00. But on the bright side of life as the song goes in “Life of Brian” you will see more than you could ever do on your own. Many details are taken care of so a tour can be a stress reduction experience. You are in the army now.

Forrest Gump stated “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’ll get and while an itinerary offers certainty who is in your group is a box of chocolates. Introverts may struggle with the forced socialization. Extroverts will delight.

NEXT: Who is leading the charge of the Light Brigade?

RKS 2025 Film: “Meet, Greet & Bye”: Feel Happy, Feel Sad and Finish with a Smile

The feature Filipino movie “Meet, Greet & Bye” commences a North American theatrical release 14November2025. It has its happy lighthearted moments, nose dives into sadness and pulls up the throttle to the land of smiles.

Baby Lopez Facunda (Maricel Soriano), a dynamo Filipina mother and grandmother reveling in her family life and feeding them faces a challenge of the reoccurrence of her cancer.

The family urgently demands (not asks) Baby undergo chemotherapy resisted fiercely by Baby not wanting to yet endure the side effects of chemo. Just returned from United States son Tupe (Piolo Pascual) manages to convince her to undergo chemo if he secures tickets for a meet and greet with Baby’s K-Pop idol Park Seo-Joon. That attempt is riddled with hilarity.

Attempts are made by Brad (Joshua Garcia), younger brother to Tupe, to secure miracle medicine perhaps a sad reflection on desperation to find the “miracle cure”.

The Facundo family jolly on its shell is suffering covertly (at least initially) from jealously, resentment, broken promises, misunderstandings, fatherly rejection, family expectations and the hidden wounds of Filipino emigration. And as we all know or may soon know death and dying in a family can rip it apart or conversely wholly or partially heal it. This is food for thought. Is the film about these less than humorous attributes and comedy is but a way to deal with them?

There is certainly nothing wrong with the serious been delivered with hearty chuckles now and then.

Directed by Cathy Garcia-Sampana.

You can watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAT2bQxDyVM

RKS 2025 Film Rating 86/100.

RKS 2025 Travel: Destination Southeast Asia (Short Attention Span Version)

WHY THESE DESTINATIONS?

Being a dedicated Europhile feeling most at home particularly in Portugal and Greece I have been willingly absconded to Southeast Asia by a “significant birthday” present and no I am not referring to 65…God no!

Being an “Ugly Canadian” but not along the 1958 novel “The Ugly American” it is not the lack of McDonalds, Tim Hortons or Canadian consular offices that make me shy away from Southeast Asia or fear of the Kung Flu (thanks Trumpy) or SARS emanating from ill managed Chinese virology centres but a total unfamiliarity with the languages and a different alphabet. I can live without Budweiser but street signs I can read are a wonderful security blanket.

My God I travelled through the Iron Curtain full of confidence (or blissful ignorance) and now chickenshit fear of different alphabets. Is this a phobia suffered by old gizzards…now I told you this is not a 65 celebratory event.

Next: Deprivation of Liberty and the “Group Tour”