The Politics of “Occasion” in King Lear
Lear fell because use he was too choleric and Gloucester lost his eyes because he was too credulous; but neither choler nor credulity worked alone.
Month: January 2019
Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier | Secret Knowledge by David Hockney
This is a blog post about the novel Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier which I first published on a previous and now defunct blog. The review morphs into a discussion of Secret Knowledge by David Hockney. I read the novel and at least a part of Secret [Read more…]
100 Yen Beers At Yataizushi Rakurakuen
The Rakurakuen grapevine was buzzing the other day with news that Yataizushi, the sushi-izakaya opposite Rakurakuen tram-stop, 寿司居酒屋 や台ずし 楽々園駅前町, was offering 100 yen beers all evening from Tuesday to Thursday of this week. I mentioned this to my loquacious quaffing partner, Brendan McG. and we agreed on popping into the [Read more…]
Robert Greene on the Relentless Rebel
I spent this afternoon listening to the Audible version of Robert Greene’s The Laws of Human Nature (narrated by Paul Michael), which I also blogged about – here – a few days ago. I especially enjoyed the section in the fourth chapter devoted to toxic personality types. amzn_assoc_tracking_id = “clevercuckoon-20”; [Read more…]
Surprise Birthday Treats In The Letter Box
I returned home from a class today to find two parcels in the letter box. Two books that I’d more or less forgotten that I’d ordered. Their arrival was timely as today is my birthday. One is The City and Man by Leo Strauss. The other is Machiavelli’s God by [Read more…]
My First Chess Book: A Tribute To Gerald Abrahams
I bought my first chess book from the post office and general store in Sandhurst, Kent, England, some time around 1975 or 1976. The book in question was the paperback version of Teach Yourself Chess by Gerald Abrahams. My original copy fell to pieces long ago. The one in the [Read more…]
Book Review: Concrete Island by J.G. Ballard
I wrote this review of Concrete Island, by J. G. Ballard back in 1988. Three years before that I had read a review of Empire of the Sun in a newly launched and short-lived literary magazine called Words, which folded a few months later (just after I had paid for [Read more…]
Boyan Slat and the Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch Cleanup
It’s amazing what you can achieve when you put your mind to it. This blog post is dedicated to a great guy called Boyan Slat and his mission to clean the oceans of plastic, starting with the Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch cleanup. Boyan Slat sitting in a section of the [Read more…]
Japanese Epiphany: Maji?
We are currently in the first week of Epiphany, the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles, more commonly known as the time when the Magi, or Three Wise Men (or Three Kings) follow a star from the Orient to Bethlehem where they find the Christ child. Here in Japan very [Read more…]