Tag Archives: Robert K. Stephen

RKS Films of China: “The Butcher’s Blade”: Death, Redemption and Noodles in the Song Dynasty

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 plentyContinue reading “RKS Films of China: “The Butcher’s Blade”: Death, Redemption and Noodles in the Song Dynasty”

RKS Literature: Buying Pornographic Postcards in Paris? (George Orwell)

“There were the Rougiers, for instance, an old ragged, dwarfish couple who plied an extraordinary trade. They used to sell postcards on the Boulevard St. Michel. The curious thing is that the postcards were sold in sealed packets as pornographic ones, but were actually photographs of châteaux on the Loire; the buyers did not discoverContinue reading “RKS Literature: Buying Pornographic Postcards in Paris? (George Orwell)”

RKS Japanese Literature: The Merest Whiff of the West Makes Tomada Gag (Tanizaki Jun’Ichiro)

“I did everything I could to resist the voice. But I could do nothing about the fear that gripped me tighter with each day that passed. By now, every aspect of my life in the West revolted me. I shuddered every time I had to walk past a high-rise building or get in a liftContinue reading “RKS Japanese Literature: The Merest Whiff of the West Makes Tomada Gag (Tanizaki Jun’Ichiro)”

RKS Literature: The Less than Luxurious Hotel des Trois Moineaux in Paris (George Orwell)

“The walls were as thin as matchwood, and to hide the cracks they had been covered with layer after layer of pink paper, which had come loose and housed innumerable bugs. Near the ceiling long lines of bugs marched all day like columns of soldiers, and at night came down ravenously hungry, so that oneContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Less than Luxurious Hotel des Trois Moineaux in Paris (George Orwell)”

RKS Japanese Literature: Tomada’s Transformation into a Westerner (Tanizaki Jun’Ichiro)

‘I was Japanese no longer! I had been transformed into a Westerner! To get there (Japan) you’d have to travel down to Marseilles and board a ship for the Orient. Eastward and eastward you’d sail crossing the seas for six weeks or more until you’d finally reached a small island country called Japan, where theContinue reading “RKS Japanese Literature: Tomada’s Transformation into a Westerner (Tanizaki Jun’Ichiro)”

RKS Literature: A Representative Paris Slum (George Orwell)

“It was a very narrow street-a ravine of tall leprous houses. Lurching toward one another in queer attitudes, as though they had been frozen in the act of collapse. All the houses were hotels and packed to the tiles with lodgers, mostly Poles, Arabs and Italians. At the foot of the hotels were tiny bistrosContinue reading “RKS Literature: A Representative Paris Slum (George Orwell)”

RKS Literature: Pretty, Undefended and Natural Daisy Miller (Henry James)

“Winterbourne was not pleased with what he had heard: but when, coming out upon the great steps of the church, he saw Daisy, who had emerged before him, get into an open cab with her accomplice and roll away through the cynical streets of Rome, he could not deny himself that she was going veryContinue reading “RKS Literature: Pretty, Undefended and Natural Daisy Miller (Henry James)”

RKS Literature: Pretty, Undefended and Natural Daisy Miller (Henry James)

“Winterbourne was not pleased with what he had heard: but when, coming out upon the great steps of the church, he saw Daisy, who had emerged before him, get into an open cab with her accomplice and roll away through the cynical streets of Rome, he could not deny himself that she was going veryContinue reading “RKS Literature: Pretty, Undefended and Natural Daisy Miller (Henry James)”

Toronto Hot Docs Festival: “Parasisi”: Wayana People Plagued by Intruders

“Parasisi” is a quiet yet threatening documentary. Take the opening minutes in a tender moment with a father and child bathing at dusk in the river then a scene with some roughnecks unloading battered steel barrels from a truck onto the riverside. What is in the barrels certainly can’t be beneficial for the river. ThreateningContinue reading “Toronto Hot Docs Festival: “Parasisi”: Wayana People Plagued by Intruders”

RKS Literature: Low-Minded Menials Talking About Daisy Miller (Henry James)

Winterbourne-to do him justice- as it were- mentioned to no one that he had encountered Miss Miller, at midnight, in the Coliseum with a gentleman; but nevertheless, a couple of days later, the fact of her being there under these circumstances was known to every member of the little American circle, and commented accordingly. WinterbourneContinue reading “RKS Literature: Low-Minded Menials Talking About Daisy Miller (Henry James)”