Memoirs of Casanova by Giacomo Casanova http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/06/casanova-inspired-perhaps-by-memoirs-of.html - 8 out of 10

 

Memoirs of Casanova by Giacomo Casanova http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/06/casanova-inspired-perhaps-by-memoirs-of.html

8 out of 10

 

 

In the new age of Woke, Cancel Culture, Casanova must be a no go, anathema, and the subject dropped like a hot potato, only this a free space and furthermore, there is no audience to talk about, so we are not spreading misinformation, vile sexism, because there is nobody to read these lines…and that is the way it must be

 

The usual spoiler alert, warning, disclaimer might not be justified here, now, for if you are a decent reader, then you are not interested in the Memoirs of Casanova, never mind what some obscure fellow named Realini has to say about it – it is after all evident, that was a really bad ruffian, sexist and selfish

His name has come to represent the philanderer, the one that does not stay in one relationship for more than the time it takes to have sex, ergo the word ‘relationship’ is not appropriate, he may have missed the significance, but we could also take a more tolerant view and say he suffered from priapism and other ailments

 

We could see this eternal quest for the bed and one, or more women to jump with in there as a mental illness, going back, as the cliché would have it, to childhood, where poor, little Giacomo has missed on paternal affection, and then looked for it in perpetuity, trying to have love through sex, and multiple partners

I actually identify with the man, and have been through a pathetic, long, long line of partners, in my case, because I have started (Way too) late and thus would continuously try to compensate and get more of the ‘forbidden fruit – a doctor told me, prompted by my father, that ‘you fuck or you do not, the time of the penis passes’

 

One other indulgent view might even celebrate Casanova as one of the first liberals, maybe ultra, or progressive, whatever we could call him – The Economist, in the Johnson column, has looked at the way the significance of words change, how what was acceptable, politically correct some time ago, is now a no-no

We could also do no better than read The King’s English http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-kings-english-guide-to-modern-usage.html by Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis, who looked at how words are misused, and change meaning – one example is infamous, which comes from infamy, but had started to be badly used as ‘famous’

After all, Casanova has entered the ‘menage a trois’, maybe even before this was a thing, and he must be praised for it – I just realized that I am probably talking nonsense, and have the fabulous luck to be without a public, thus nobody will cry out ‘cancel him, vile beast’, I have had a complaint some days ago

 

It regarded the absence of a spoiler alert – and there is one above now – and I would push this as proof of my modesty, why use a spoiler alert, when you have nobody to alert, it is superfluous, pompous and futile, but hey, given that there is a ‘reader’, I comply, even if he is now off to greener pastures

There may be another reason for this frantic urge to have sex, and that could be a broken heart, which again, was my case – spoiler on top of warning, I am really off now, writing about my worries, forget Casanova…psychology studies have demonstrated that if we write about our grievances, failures, it helps

 

At the start of the nineties, I meet a nice woman (I will make it short, though I am tempted to talk about the dog, how she in fact started talking with him, etc.) and then offer her a ride in my Audi, which was some twenty years old, but the equivalent of a helicopter then, when all you had on the roads were a few lousy jalopies, Dacias

So she takes the ride, we talk for a while, and then she says she is…Miss Romania, and then I laugh a little and retort that I am Casanova – I am mirthful now, I said something else, maybe the Maharajah of Beluchistan or something, but if I am supposed to talk about Casanova, at least I should use him as a prop here…

 

Only she meant it, and she was, which shocked yours truly, who entered this phase of denial, then acceptance of this incredible luck, or god damn miserable misfortune, depending on how we see it, after a few days confessing my love – Thomas Mann http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-magic-mountain-is-classic-that.html has a lot to object to that  - which may or may not have been deep and radiant…

From fall to spring, it could have been a paradisiacal eight months, maybe less, or more – Einstein said ‘When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes; when you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it seems like two hours…That's relativity’- but once she told me to get lost, if not in these words, I have fallen into depression, seen a shrink, thought I would die, and then…presto, Casanova resurrected.

 

Talked to almost every skirt I saw, asked if we have a future together (if a brief one) got rejected in 90% of the cases, but then even with this failure rate, 10% of tens of thousands of small talks would still put you in the Casanova domain…yes, this could be a mea culpa, it was wrong – however, I must insist that I talked, and talked, and then when it was mutual, we stopped talking and got to ‘business’- only it was an effort to find affection, and I ended up here, alone, with just two macaws for company, and pouring my misgivings on this page…

 

 

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world  – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html  

Some favorite quotes-

From To The Heritage:

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

85 out of 100 for England in Colour

84 out of 100 for Ancient Powers

Kajillionaire by Miranda July - 8 out of 10

 

Kajillionaire by Miranda July

8 out of 10

 

 

Kajillionaire has had its premiere on HBO, a few days ago, and there are some mixed feelings about it in this corner of the world, however much it was appreciated by experts – the proof is the metascore of 78, which means that most of the critics have found this movie exhilarating, and you should take their word for it

 

By the way, what follows is not of much, if any interest, and having said that, the duty of putting in a spoiler alert, warning, disclaimer is fulfilled, and from now on, if you continue, well, I am absolved – somebody asked for a spoiler in a comment, and by saying that – with modesty – I do not think these lines worthwhile, I have gone above and beyond my duty towards the audience – which is actually a mirage

Old Dolio is the main character in the narrative, and she is portrayed by Evan Rachel Wood, an actor (I guess the days of using actress are gone, for feminist reasons, I wonder) that has been at the center of a documentary, looking at her relationship with the bizarre and apparently abusive Marilyn Manson

 

Think of the warning above – to be idiotic, I would just mention as a sort of stupid joke, when you look at the fellow, you must see that it is not going to be an easy connection, come on, this is the Devil tempting you (kidding, remember, and besides, I do not believe in Satan or his counterpart) and you better stay away

Blink – The Power of Thinking Without Thinking http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/05/blink-power-of-thinking-without.html by glorious Malcolm Gladwell is the book to read, a classic of psychology, to understand the effectiveness of The Thin Slicing Effect, or The Harding Effect, this is at work in the research of John Gottman

 

The latter is the ultimate expert on relationships, he is able to tell within a minute or so, if a couple would stay together, or they would separate, and his accuracy rate is over ninety percent, and he has also written a classic of psychology, The Seven Principles of Making Marriage Work http://realini.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-seven-principles-of-making-marriage.html with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to be worried about, Contempt, Stonewalling, Defensiveness, Criticism…

To return for a moment to Kajillionaire, Old Dolio has this bizarre name, first of all, because her parents are really peculiar, rotten we could say, they are swindlers and thieves, unable to show emotion, sharing with her the spoils of their schemes, but so disturbed and sick that -spoiler – they rob her

 

The father, Robert, is the incredible Richard Jenkins, who brings panache, and makes the role complex, combining that loathsome side with a humorous attitude, this abject father does have some charm, albeit on the whole, it is disgusting to see someone push their child into a life of crime and depression

Theresa is the mother, and we have here another giant of the big screen, Debra Winger, taking on the part – Debra Winger is the Jennifer Lawrence of some three decades ago – although we must see what Ms. Lawrence will do in the future, her last role was a major disappointment, an annoying film – and she shined like a real star

 

To mention just one major success, Terms of Endearment http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/02/terms-of-endearment-written-by-james-l.html is a fabulous motion picture, however difficult she seemed to have been on the set – I have seen that somewhere, but maybe it is just gossip

And the way it works (better said it does not) I jump from one topic to another, in a real browning movement, chaotically, and now let me tell you about gossip – the story comes from the stupendous Doubt http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/04/note-on-doubt-with-p-s-hoffman-m-streep.html which is a must see

 

Philip Seymour Hoffman is the corrupt priest, Meryl Streep is the nun that exposes him, Amy Adams is a more tolerant and doubtful sister, and Viola Davis the mother of a boy that is the target of the pedophile clergy…the father however is very angry about gossip and tells the congregation this symbolic tale

One woman was very free with the things she said about her community and spread rumors and the like, until her priest told her that she has to go home and cut the covers of her pillows and set free all the feathers outside the house, and then he told her to go collect all those feathers, to which she said ‘but father, this is impossible, they have been taken by the wind all over’, and she was rebuked ‘you see, that is gossip’

 

It was not quite like that – maybe not at all – but hey, it is so enchanting to know that ‘you have been warned’, if you are still around and thus I can get into Games People Play http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/09/games-people-play-by-eric-berne.html which is our third psychology classic for today

Anyway, Miss Evans kind of spoils some of the excellence of the film, she has chosen, maybe with the writer-director Miranda July – some sort of outré take on the role (which clearly has had massive appeal, because, hey, look at the metascore again) which annoyed yours truly, but then I am no good judge, mea culpa

 

 

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world  – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

From To The Heritage:

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“the Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special…Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

84 out of 100 for History's Crazy Rich Ancients

82 out of 100 for The Visitors

The Garden of Finzi Continis aka Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini by Giorgio Bassani – another look at this marvelous novel is at http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/note-on-garden-of-finzi-contis-directed.html - 10 out of 10

 

The Garden of Finzi Continis aka Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini by Giorgio Bassani – another look at this marvelous novel is at http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/note-on-garden-of-finzi-contis-directed.html

 

10 out of 10

 

 

The Garden of Finzi Continis is that rara avis, rare bird, a fabulous novel, included on the list of 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read https://poemeglume.blogspot.com/2023/04/1000-novels-everyone-must-read.html and adapted more than successfully for the big screen, the film was nominated for multiple awards

 

As a motion picture, it took the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Motion Picture (this has been changed to international feature, I think this is the new name) was also shortlisted for Best Adapted Screenplay and it is indeed one of the best movies you can see, directed by legendary Viitorio De Sica, absolutely a memorable spectacle.

With the War in the Middle East raging as we speak, this is a powerful, compelling narrative that has anti-Semitism, discrimination at its core, as the plot takes us to 1938, to begin with, in Ferrara, Italy, just as the fascists of Benito Mussolini were imposing new restrictions, abuses on the Jewish population.

 

By the way, Italy has now a far-right leader, and those parties in power, folks that were enthralled with Mussolini and that doctrine, albeit they seem to be more restrained, at least on some subjects, and the far right is overall on the ascendant, The Economist has just had an issue with this problem at the center

Even Sweden, cherished as the bastion of progress, a role model for the rest to follow, has now support for the government from those dark corners, and look at the madness in America, where Trump is waiting to become commander-in-chief again next year, and that is just bonkers, and they have crazies everywhere

 

It looks like this note will go places, but it might escape the control and not cover much, if anything about the Finzi- Continis, let us just say that this was a rich, Jewish family, that could live isolated from the horrors on display for some time, but then the fascists thought of more traumas and – spoiler alert- they might get to them

You would better stop reading here, because having just said that the tragedy is about these initially privileged humans, who fall very low (I am also very upset about that nice Great Dane, who is seen when things become desperate tied with a cord, and probably left to suffer there) I am jumping through time and look at the present

 

Israel has been attacked by vicious, disgusting terrorists – that the BBC has qualms about calling with the proper name, they resort to militants, because they have some rules, but is this right, I wonder – and more than fourteen hundred people have been killed, the overwhelming majority of them civilians…

They have murdered babies, old folks, raped women, set their victims on fire, it is a long list of inhuman, beastly acts, which appear ‘justified’ in the eyes of some, because of the ’70 years of colonialism’, a period during which the Palestinians have had no state, and suffered at the hands of Israel’

 

I admit here to being ‘biased’, that is I am clearly on the side of the Jewish people – full disclosure, my daughter has taken some sort of test, which seems rather uncertain to me, and she came out 11% Jewish, which may make me more than 20%, seeing that she takes half from her mother, presumably

The Garden of Finzi Continis and other real stories show part of the immense suffering that Jewish people have suffered through millennia, it is not just the Holocaust, the Inquisition tortured them in particular, look at the fabulous The Netanyahus, winner of last year’s Pulitzer Prize Winner, written by brilliant Joshua Cohen http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-netanyahus-account-of-minor-and.htm

 

From this marvel and history, we learn that Jews had converted to survive, and still the Inquisition will go after them, they have been expelled, discriminated against, made to suffer, envied, and hey, look at the fantastic achievements of this small community (if we compare it with so much larger populations)

From Einstein to Oppenheimer http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/08/oppenheimer-by-christopher-nolan.html in art, science, literature (my favorite, and one of the world’s most glorious is Proust, who had Jewish roots) the world has to be grateful for the discoveries, masterpieces, technology and so much more, given to humanity by this brave people

 

Yet, they have been massacred and there have been cries of joy, on the streets of Arab countries, but in other dark places as well – yes, there has been mistreatment of Palestinians, but never in the gruesome, monstrous manner shown over that catastrophic weekend, they have never entered a village, city to machine gun innocents – by the way, Islam is a religion of peace, it forbids these killings

 

 

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world  – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

From To The Heritage:

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“the Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special. Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”