The WP map does show my hits have come from 32 countries around the world with USA back in first place but with Turkey & Ghana in the top 10! Most popular posts was Picture Perfect 129 with the Buried Moons post from last month from last month up there too! The most interesting fact is that posts in my archives have gotten a hundred or so single hits as someone is goring though past Chapters of both Picture Perfect & Coal Dusters!
Picture Perfect: 132 sections, about 186,000 words posted so far with about 4000 more to written to wrap things up!
Read ‘The Masterpiece’ another in Emile Zola’s the Rougon-Macquart series. It is, I think, the only one in the series that is a roman a clef – based on real artists in Zola’s life & including one Pierre Sandoz, novelist – based on himself. It is a powerful exploration of the creative drive, the emotional & psychological cost of both success & failure. Like many of Zola’s novels it’s a documentary – this time about the art establishments of Paris – the grand salon & the salon de refuse. Amazing.
Reading James Jones ‘Thin Red Line.’ I found ‘From Here To Eternity’ more a soap opera than a war novel but ‘Red’ is totally different as it follows the harsh life of warfare told in vivid, action packed scenes. The combat descriptions are intense, the psychology of these men is brilliantly captured & conveyed. Yes there are even some ‘gay’ passages. Who knew it was easier for these men to get whisky than it was to get water. Highly recommended as a study of machismo & the interior lives of men under life & death pressure.
Rewatched Stalker the 1979 Russian film by Andrei Tarkovsky based on the novel Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. I was stunned by this movie the first time I saw it several years ago. Amazing cinematography, intense performances & a wild philosophical text, which at time, I barely understood. Since that first viewing I have read the novel – highly recommended – & rather than wait for it to reappear on TCM I ordered the 2 disc Criterion edition. I watched the extras first to see what information they might add to the film. Well worth it & also highly recommended.
Coming up in September will be Stratford Festival productions of As You Like It & Hamlet 911.
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TOpoet 