Tag Archives: Robert K. Stephen

RKS Literature: Squashing Your Rival: Balzac’s “Lost Illusions”

“Baron Sixte du Châtelet was of the opinion that the little rhymer would succumb, sooner or later, in the hot house atmosphere of applause, or perhaps that, intoxicated with the prospect of future glory, he would commit some impertinence that would consign him again to his original obscurity. While awaiting the decease of the youngContinue reading “RKS Literature: Squashing Your Rival: Balzac’s “Lost Illusions””

RKS Literature: Infatuation: Balzac’s “Lost Illusions”

“He did not notice her faded cheeks, or the brick red blotches on her cheek-bones, the result of boredom and a certain amount of ill-health. His imagination seized, first of all, on those ardent eyes, those elegant curls that caught the candlelight, that dazzling whiteness – so many points of light that drew him likeContinue reading “RKS Literature: Infatuation: Balzac’s “Lost Illusions””

RKS 2023 Wine: A Cab Franc from Quai du Vin in St. Thomas Ontario

Cabernet Franc is Ontario’s top red wine. Putting my mouth where my money is or is it putting my money where my mouth is? The Sparta Moraine isn’t exactly crammed with wineries just cornfields and a lonely Quai du Vin. What can Quai du Vin do with Cab Franc? Aroma: Ah yes those bright andContinue reading “RKS 2023 Wine: A Cab Franc from Quai du Vin in St. Thomas Ontario”

RKS Literature: The Misfortune of a Great Intelligence (Balzac)

“One of the misfortunes to which great intelligence is subject is that of understanding everything too well. The standards by which these two men judged society were all the higher, because they themselves were low on the social scale, for unknown men are apt to revenge themselves by their lofty outlook. But their despair wasContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Misfortune of a Great Intelligence (Balzac)”

RKS 2023 Film: “Iron Butterflies”

On July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 17 from Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down by a Russian missile killing all 298 persons aboard the Boeing 777. On November 17, 2022 a Dutch court found 3 of the four Russian defendants guilty of 298 counts of murder imposing a lifeContinue reading “RKS 2023 Film: “Iron Butterflies””

RKS 2023 Film: “Storage Locker”: A Clunker Any Way You Categorize It?

The public relations blurb received concerning “Storage Locker” rather indicated it was a horror movie. In fact it won the award of Best Feature and Best Director at the Hollywood Blood Horror Festival and has been screened at a few horror film festivals. If you are looking for a “serious” horror film here and enjoyingContinue reading “RKS 2023 Film: “Storage Locker”: A Clunker Any Way You Categorize It?”

RKS 2023 Film: “PIGLADY”: Can the PIGLADY Bring Home the Bacon? The Great White Pigs!

“PIGLADY” is an American horror film although if you can’t take vicious man-eating pigs seriously there is a comedic element in PIGLADY. PIGLADY is remotely founded in fact. Susan Monica was a former Navy sailor who served in the Vietnam War as a man and eventually became a she and the owner of a pigContinue reading “RKS 2023 Film: “PIGLADY”: Can the PIGLADY Bring Home the Bacon? The Great White Pigs!”

RKS 2023 Wine: Cornfield After Cornfield: Then Quai du Vin Estate Winery in St. Thomas

While taking a bit of R&R in Port Stanley, Ontario I discover Quai du Vin Estate Winery in St. Thomas, Ontario quite near to the tiny town of Sparta. Yes there is signage to direct you there but don’t expect any concentration of wineries on Fruit Ridge Line. Instead you’ll see cornfields galore and damnContinue reading “RKS 2023 Wine: Cornfield After Cornfield: Then Quai du Vin Estate Winery in St. Thomas”

RKS 2023 Wine: No Need to be Spooked by Bordeaux! The Branson Burger!

Yes, wines from Bordeaux can be enormously expensive beyond the purse strings of those who have to count their pesos. And they can be enormously complicated with classification, left bank, right bank, first growths and on and on. But there are many small producers offering wines at yes “bargain prices”. The EU is drowning inContinue reading “RKS 2023 Wine: No Need to be Spooked by Bordeaux! The Branson Burger!”

RKS Literature: A Swindler of a Man on the Run (Dickens)

“Shame, disappointment, and discomfiture gnawed at his heart: a constant apprehension of being overtaken or met – for he was groundlessly afraid even of travellers, who came towards him by the way he was going – oppressed him heavily. The same intolerable awe and dread that had come upon him in the night, returned unweakenedContinue reading “RKS Literature: A Swindler of a Man on the Run (Dickens)”