What do we mean each time we speak communication so often set adrift on a sea of misunderstanding What we try to say becomes foggy, misty intangible and tenuous drifting wisps blown away in the wind A wrong word changes things but so does how we speak why we speak history of our interactions plays…
Review “Hard to be a God” by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky were writing in Soviet era Russia, and the environment in which they worked gives their books an added nuance, knowing the societal constraints under which they were working, and what they managed to achieve. This is the second book I have read by these authors, and I have enjoyed it just…
One little seed
There’s something a little magical about planting pushing those seeds into the good earth water and fertilise and wait with hope for the first small shoot There’s something rather exciting about tending those babies weeding and watering enough sun, enough shade protecting from pests and day by day watching them grow There’s nothing…
Breathe
Struggling to survive and you don’t know which way to turn suffocating under the weight of all that tribulation So breathe, just breathe in and out, nice and slow life is in the breath and life begets hope Your body aches as does your spirit you’re going through the motions day to day, hour…
Belief
She said I was doing really well, and I didn’t believe her. She said I was a natural, and I didn’t believe her. She said she wanted me there, and I didn’t believe her. They said I made mistakes, and I believed them. They whispered behind my back, and I believed them They judged…
Listen
Listen to the car air conditioning, engine noise, tick tick of indicators and all the others on the road backwards and forwards busy busy always going someplace Listen to the people talking always talking sometimes good and deep, songs and beauty sometimes mean and cruel and shouting often chatter chatter echoing in emptiness …
Review “Rashomon”
This film was released in 1950, and directed by the great Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. Ostensibly a murder mystery, it relates the tale of a samurai who has been found dead, his wife raped, and the enquiry into how this happened. The whole story is told in flashback. The framing device is that of three…
Cat Demands
Flighty cat, in a mood says give me cuddles, give me food let me out and let me in scratch me underneath my chin let me sleep upon the bed let me climb onto your head I will flex my claws and purr I will shed a lot of fur I will yowl and wail…
Review “Onibaba”
‘Onibaba’ was released in 1964, and is a black and white Japanese film directed by Kaneto Shindo. It’s often billed as horror, and it is certainly horrific, but not in the way you might expect. In fourteenth century Japan, during a time of civil war, two peasant women (Nobuko Otowa and Jitsuko Yoshimura), struggle to…
The mirror’s reply
Magic mirror on the wall who is the greediest one of all Politician, autocrat, living soft and getting fat Mining magnate, money maker Earth destroyer, lying faker, Oil exec, smog purveyor air killer, world betrayer All the rest, half asleep led around like mindless sheep Magic mirror on the wall says all of you. I…
