Category: Short Takes
The beginning of a beautiful friendship: Rick and Louie in Casablanca
As much as I’m a huge fan of Casablanca, I’m a bit ambivalent about the ending between Rick and Ilsa. Fortunately, the film fully redeems itself in the final moments between Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains.
A Manual on the Art of Fiction, fact and truth
It is only in the vocabulary of very careless thinkers that the words truth and fiction are regarded as antithetic. A genuine antithesis subsists between the words fact and fiction; but fact and truth are not synonymous. The novelist forsakes the realm of fact in order that he may better tell the truth, and lures…
Butterflies: Hope for the caterpillars
While we’re still fresh with images of butterflies… ‘How does one become a butterfly?’ she asked pensively. ‘You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.’ ~ Trina Paulus, from Hope for the Flowers I posted this as a note on my Facebook profile a while…
Speaking of spew… Jack Nicholson can’t handle the Witches of Eastwick.
This post in response to a now defunct post, “Jack spews the truth and nothing but” in which the author lauds Nicholson’s memorable line from A Few Good Men… “You can’t handle the truth!” and a few other memorable film quotes. I’d add to that list Jack Nicholson’s delivery of “Wait ’til they get a…
Winnie the Pooh and the Vinegar Tasters
The Vinegar tasters is among my favourite allegories and provides an excellent introduction to the three philosophies that dominated China through thousands of years: Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. For me, the most important of these is Taoism, a gentle, soulful and luminous philosophy. I’m going to be lazy and let someone else explain it all.…
The Butterfly through the eyes of Zorba the Greek
The Butterfly I remember one morning when I discovered a cocoon in the back of a tree just as a butterfly was making a hole in its case and preparing to come out. I waited awhile, but it was too long appearing and I was impatient. I bent over it and breathed on it to…
On the Edge of Seventeen: Stevie Nicks & Gabriella Cilmi
While posting the last couple of articles about young Gabriella Cilmi, this song intruded … “on the edge of seven teen”. Stevie Nicks, another young singer songwriter with a massive presence, though her fairy-like soulful countenance is nothing like Cilmi’s old soul, simmering sexuality.
Nothing Sweet About Me: Gabriella Cilmi’s enthralling presence
I’d watched this video a few dozen times before learning that Cilmi was just 17 when it was produced. Oh, my, God! A Nabokovian nymph leaving a wake of men so enthralled they hardly notice or care for their sad state of bondage. Uhhhhmmm…. Excuse me….. I seem to be at a loss for words……
Gatekeeper: My introduction to Feist
A while back I ran across the image below, The Gate Keeper, which made me think of a song of the same name, by Feist. It’s the first song of hers that I was able to put her name to, though I’m sure I’d heard her music before, and I already knew she often appeared…
