DON’T START WITH ME: What famous novel (by what author) begins this way? In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. “Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this… Continue reading Contest Question for September 24
Author: Jay Ruud
Movie Review: This Is Where I Leave You by Shawn Levy
[av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/SusannTennyson.jpg’ attachment=313′ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] RUUD RATING This Is Where I Leave You TWO SUSANNS AND A HALF TENNYSON [/av_image] In his 2009 novel This Is Where I Leave You, Jonathan Tropper included significant passages of stream of consciousness that involved flashbacks about Judd Foxman’s relationships with his older brother Paul,… Continue reading Movie Review: This Is Where I Leave You by Shawn Levy
William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 73: That Time of Year Thou Mayst in Me Behold”
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Contest Question for September 17
Author Ken Kesey was born on this date in 1935. Though he is best known for his classic novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest and the subsequent film with Jack Nicholson’s iconic performance, Kesey’s second novel, Sometimes A Great Notion, was also made into a successful film in 1970. For bragging rights for the… Continue reading Contest Question for September 17
Movie Review: The Drop by Michaël R. Roskam
[av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Tennyson-180×180.jpg’ attachment=’77’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] RUUD RATING Magic In The Moonlight 3 TENNYSONS [/av_image] Lonely and laconic bartender Bob Saginowski’s life seems to take a turn for the better when he finds a wounded puppy in a trash can in the yard of a woman named Nadia. He… Continue reading Movie Review: The Drop by Michaël R. Roskam
John Milton’s “Methought I Saw My Late Espoused Saint”
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Contest Question for September 10
Mary Wollstonecraft died on this date in 1797 at the age of 38, 10 days after giving birth to her daughter, who would become the author of Frankenstein. Wollstonecraft wrote novels, a children’s book, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, and philosophical treatises, and is remembered today chiefly for her Vindication of… Continue reading Contest Question for September 10
Wallace Stevens’ “The Emperor of Ice Cream”
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Contest Question for September 3
DON’T START WITH ME: What famous novel by what important writer begins with this paragraph (in English translation): On May 20, 1859, a hatless gentleman somewhat over forty years old, wearing a dusty coat and checked trousers, came out on to the doorstep of a little country inn on the X— Highway and inquired… Continue reading Contest Question for September 3
A Review of Calvary by John Michael McDonagh
[av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Shakespeare-180×180.jpg’ attachment=’76’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] RUUD RATING Calvary 4 SHAKESPEARES [/av_image] John Michael McDonagh’s Calvary, the follow up to his 2011 triumph The Guard, finally made it to central Arkansas after some weeks of limited release in the United States. The film premiered at Sundance early in the… Continue reading A Review of Calvary by John Michael McDonagh