It feels like a plot spun from the mind of a Hollywood screenwriter — a high-octane, geopolitical thriller tailormade for … More
Category: Uncategorized
A Documentary Shows the Dark Side of Pegasus Spyware, but Lacks Context
All of us worry about the security of our phones and devices, especially as an increasing amount of our lives … More
The Turning Point Provides a Snapshot of the year 1851 in the Life of Charles Dickens
If you stroll down the aisles of a bookstore (or hop online) you’ll likely come across some spectacularly bold titles. … More
L.A. Theatre Works’ Engaging Stage Adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’ The Jungle
A 1992 production of The Jungle is a compelling and creatively-conceived adaptation of one of America’s most famous novels When … More
Jack London’s Semi-Autobiographical Novel, Martin Eden, Brought to the Screen
On nearly every page of Jack London’s thoroughly gripping 1909 novel, Martin Eden fights with himself and the forces around … More
A Visually Stunning Production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin
The central plot of Alexander Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin — the novel in verse which Tchaikovsky used for his 1879 opera … More
A Gem of Goethe’s — Hermann and Dorothea
There are two major works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe — the German polymath of the 18th and 19th centuries … More
A Short, Splendid Documentary on the Mabinogion
Like so many of the stories that make up the Western canon, the Mabinogion has its origins in an oral … More
When Pablo Became Picasso — A Documentary on The Beginning Chapters of the Artist’s Life
It’s not always easy to like Picasso the man. He treated others, especially women, as provisional muses who could be … More
The Beethoven Project shows the Joys, Rigors of Concert Life
DW-TV’s documentary (2010) follows the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen as they go through an intensive three months of rehearsals in the … More
An Intensive Dive into the Mind of Paul Klee — The Silence of the Angel
Paul Klee, the wildly imaginative and influential artist of the 20th century, is presented in this rather somber and slow … More
England’s Explosive Novelist: BBC’s The Heart of Thomas Hardy
Born in 1840, Thomas Hardy developed into a consummate writer and one of England’s greatest novelists. At Max Gate (a … More
The Strange, Beautiful World of Andrew Wyeth Explored in a Documentary
Not all subjects of documentaries are well suited for the medium. The story of some artists can be better and … More
A BBC Documentary Tells The story Behind Handel’s Famous Oratorio
Is any act ever completely selfless? It’s a rather popular question — though not a particularly interesting one, if you … More
DW’s The Germans — Frederick and the Empress
Bold and ambitious to a degree which could have easily wrecked his plans for a dominant Prussia, Frederick the Great … More
DW’s The Germans — Luther and the Nation
Forget about where one might stand theologically, there are a multiplicity of ways to tell the story of Martin Luther … More
An Ode to the Powers of Music and Love in Itzhak
Of the seven and a half billion people on the planet, only the most minute fraction of beings have the … More
DW’s The Germans — Barbarossa and the Lion
The Romans had a name for Frederick I, the man who entered their territory and was crowned emperor by Pope … More
DW’s The Germans — Otto and the Empire
Otto I, who became Holy Roman Emperor in 962, doesn’t have the same place in the popular imagination as his … More
A Subdued Yet Powerful Documentary — Beethoven: A Portrait
In this slow-paced, thoughtful, and charming documentary — now some thirty years old — Balint Vazsonyi and Anthony Qualye explore … More
DW’s The Germans: Charlemagne and the Saxons
If any example were ever needed to show that near polar-opposite traits can emanate from a single human being, Charlemagne … More
A Documentary shows Blockchain’s Power to Change Cities and Lives
It wasn’t that long ago that blockchain, Bitcoin, and other related technologies carried an air of unfamiliarity, if not outright … More
Painting Home — John Constable and His Native Suffolk
John Constable, born in 1776 and just a year after J.M.W Turner, never achieved the fame or success of his … More
Nature and Man Beautifully Collide in the Paintings of J.M.W. Turner
By the end of J.M.W. Turner’s life, he had captured the past fifty years of Britain’s vastly transformed world with … More
A BBC Documentary Sheds Light On the Dark World of Vermeer
The man who painted some of the most ethereal, calm-inducing, and subtly majestic scenes of everyday life might have experienced … More
Glasgow’s Grand Collector — A Look at William Burrell & His Work
Nowadays virtually everything is collected and stored, whether intentionally or not. Data and pictures, records and documents of all kinds, … More
A Biography-Centered Documentary On Spain’s Greatest Painter
It’s one of the most famous paintings in the world, capable of puzzling both scholars and average museum-goers alike. Containing … More
Outcast 19th-Century Artists Turned Celebrities of Their Time: BBC’s The Pre-Raphaelites
Formed in 1848, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood — like the second-generation Romantic poets before them — was a group of ardent … More
Better Late Than Never: Britain and its Renaissance
BBC2’s documentary, A Very British Renaissance, spans three episodes and captures the birth and development of the Renaissance in England. … More
Reviving Rubens — a documentary on the prolific Flemish artist
The number of ways to describe Peter Paul Rubens, the famed artist of the 17th century who exemplified the Baroque … More
Waldemar Januszczak Offers a Portrait of the Life and Times of England’s First Great Painter
Is it a blessing or a curse to live during one of the most tumultuous times in the history of … More
Review of Bitwise: A Life in Code
The saving value of technology in Imaging the Iliad: A Digital Renaissance
It’s easy enough to forget that the great literary and philosophical works of classical antiquity are available to us only … More
A Painter and His Milieu — PBS’ Cezanne in Provence
The relationship between artist and home is one of the most fascinating dimensions of the creative process. Even for those … More
Two Documentaries on the Gallipoli Campaign
Once strewn with tens of thousands of dead bodies — many of them rotting for weeks as they lay in … More
PBS’ documentary on the War of 1812
The War of 1812 is not the only war to be dubbed a “forgotten war.” Others, like the Korean War, … More
Review of Classical Literature: An Epic Journey from Homer to Virgil and Beyond
There are a few things one can be certain of when approaching classical literature. First, and something always to keep … More
Joys of the Aeneid in Book VII
It’s almost impossible to put down the Aeneid once you’ve picked it up. Whether you’re starting the epic all over … More
The Marvel and Mystery of Hadrian’s Wall: a review of Adrian Goldsworthy’s new book
Ancient historian Adrian Goldsworthy is the author of many memorable books, including Pax Romana and How Rome Fell. In a … More
Review of King of Spies: The Dark Reign of America’s Spymaster in Korea
Holbein: Eye of the Tudors documentary
The imposing figure — wide-framed, feet spread, powerful authority beaming from the eyes — of Henry VIII that many of … More
Review of A World Ablaze: The Rise of Martin Luther and the Birth of the Reformation
Review of Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities
Review of Collecting the World: Hans Sloane and the Origins of the British Museum
Review of The Classical Debt: Greek Antiquity in an Era of Austerity
Review of Civil Wars: A History In Ideas
Review of Istanbul: City of Majesty at the Crossroads of the World
Review of Variety: The Life of a Roman Concept
James Angelos’ The Full Catastrophe
This lively and revealing book counts as my first foray into the world of the Greek debt crisis. I vaguely … More
Review of Pax Romana: War, Peace and Conquest in the Roman World
The great poet Virgil wrote his epic Aeneid in the Age of Augustus. Centered on the founding of Rome via … More
Some passages from Lucan’s Civil War
After reading David Armitage’s Civil Wars: A History in Ideas, I read Lucan’s Bellum Civile. Armitage gives it close attention … More
Review of The Gustav Sonata
Thoughts on Looking for The Stranger: Albert Camus and the Life of a Literary Classic
In a post a couple of months ago, I wrote about the wild and often elusive journey that a piece … More
Review of Paul Auster’s 4 3 2 1
It’s the allure of wondering how one’s life might have turned out, might have transpired, had things been just a … More
C.S. Lewis’s lost Aeneid: Arms and the Exile
As A.T. Reyes relates the story in his introduction to C.S. Lewis’s Lost Aeneid: Arms and the Exile, Lewis’s unfinished … More
Review of Ancient Greece: Everyday Life
It’s never an easy task, I imagine, writing a book that surveys a broad period and a multitude of topics. … More
Review of The Man Who Invented Fiction: How Cervantes Ushered in the Modern World
Don Quixote is a novel which will never cease to be discussed, written about, or presented through art. Its protagonist … More
Review of Marathon: How One Battle Changed Western Civilization
The Battle of Marathon, fought in 490 BC, has just about everything you could want: an underdog against a powerful, … More
Time
If there’s one nagging worry that permeates our lives more than any other I’d bet it’s the passage of time. … More
Art and Its Journey
It’s hardly a revelation or insight to point out that a text (or any piece of art) doesn’t always have … More
Review of The Sea of Trees
The tangled, gloomy forest of Aokigahara, which sits near the base of Mt. Fuji, serves as the main setting for … More
Review of Where Shall Wisdom Be Found?
I don’t remember the precise circumstances of first encountering Harold Bloom, but I can recall with much fondness my positive … More
Review of Elena
Elena begins with a shot of a lone sparrow, soon joined by another, perched on a tree branch outside an … More
The Good, the Bad, and the Horrific in Eliduc
The first time I read Marie de France’s lais I had no idea how I was supposed to respond. Was … More
Random musings on different kinds of loss
Long before he wrote Part V of his Ethics, in which he culminates his geometrical treatise by discussing human freedom, … More
Present Ills and Past Pleasures
Forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit. This beautiful Latin line was written by Virgil, put into the mouth of Aeneas … More
Encountering Poetry through Gerard Manley Hopkins
There’s an intimidation factor to poetry that I think we all feel – or at least have felt – at … More
Review of Knight of Cups
It should be said upfront that if any of Terrence Malick’s films have turned you off— especially due to those … More
Review of Dante in Love
To approach any classical work — and Dante’s Commedia is no doubt one of the classical works of all Western … More
Spectatio 