NAME THAT POEM: Today is the 72nd birthday of acclaimed American poet Sharon Olds. Who can tell me the title of the poem from which these lines come (which is also the title poem of her Pulitzer-Prize winning collection from 2012): Then the drawing on the label of our favorite red wine looks like my… Continue reading Trivia Question for November 19
Movie Review: Interstellar by Christopher Nolan
[av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Susanns.jpg’ attachment=’78’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] RUUD RATING Interstellar 2 JACQUELINE SUSANNS [/av_image] This week the United States and China signed a landmark agreement to curb carbon emissions in an effort to get global warming under control. Though for years the warnings of scientists have fallen on the deaf… Continue reading Movie Review: Interstellar by Christopher Nolan
John Donne’s “Batter My Heart Three-Personed God”
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Trivia Question for November 12
NAME THAT POEM: Armistice Day (the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918) ended the “war to end wars” whose centennial we observe this year. Name the poem and author from whom these lines come, by a soldier in that war who was killed by a sniper on November 4,… Continue reading Trivia Question for November 12
Movie Review: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Alejandro González Iñárritu
In the opening credits to Alejandro González Iñárritu’s new film Birdman appear these lines, which form the epitaph on Raymond Carver’s tombstone at Ocean View Cemetery in Port Angeles: And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so? I did. And what did you want? To call myself beloved, to feel myself… Continue reading Movie Review: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Alejandro González Iñárritu
Ted Hughes’ “Chaucer”
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Trivia Question for November 5
DON’T LEAVE ME THIS WAY: What famous novel ends with these lines? “I do not admit that Gopher Prairie is greater or more generous than Europe! I do not admit that dish-washing is enough to satisfy all women! I may not have fought the good fight, but I have kept the faith.” “Sure. You bet… Continue reading Trivia Question for November 5
Movie Review: St. Vincent by Theodore Melfi
[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 St. Vincent 3 TENNYSONS [/av_image] “It is what it is,” a bank clerk tells Vincent McKenna (Bill Murray) early in Theodore Melfi’s new film St. Vincent. Vincent, who has been trying to get some kind of relief from the bank because… Continue reading Movie Review: St. Vincent by Theodore Melfi
Poetry With Dogs -Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”
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Trivia Question for October 29
DON’T START WITH ME: What famous literary text begins with this sentence, and who wrote it? To write the Life of him who excelled all mankind in writing the lives of others, and who, whether we consider his extraordinary endowments, or his various works, has heen equalled by few in any age, is an arduous,… Continue reading Trivia Question for October 29