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The Road Home (Zhang Yimou)
Ostensibly this film is a glimpse of difficult times in recent Chinese political history, highlighting the perceived value of knowledge and learning, and illustrating the bonds of family love. It is a...
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Meditation Saves Life
It was an ordinary day in Ningbo, China, but an extraordinary miracle took place in a muddy 5-metre ditch. Was it really a miracle, or simply the wise employment of a meditation technique? Maybe a...
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The Spirituality of Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson referred to herself as a pagan. Some biographers would go so far as to label her a druid for her worship of nature. But was this apparently stubborn heathen life really built on...
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English as a Fecund Language
A Chicken and Egg Situation I spent a while teaching English as a second language in Thailand many years ago, and had a splendid time. Not only did I find the language (especially the written...
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Shaggy Muses
Behind every great woman They say that behind every great man there has to be a great woman, but behind a great woman? They do not mention. Perhaps we should look down toward the hearth. Shaggy Muses,...
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The Scent of Green Papaya
I revisited one of my favourite films last week. Every time I see it I love it more. Masterfully directed by Tran Anh Hung, it follows the life of a Vietnamese servant girl in 1950s Saigon. The...
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Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa
Miyamoto Musashi is Japan’s most famous swordsman. The account of his life, meticulously researched and documented by Eiji Yoshikawa in the 1930s, was carefully crafted into English by Charles S Terry...
View ArticleThe Lost Thing
Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing is a labour of love – a film of only 15 minutes which took 4 people 3.5 years to make. Anything worth doing is worth doing well, as the saying goes. I love to see any...
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Flaubert’s Saint Julian
It was Oscar Wilde who said, “The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.” I don’t necessarily agree with the first part – not...
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Sugarless Tea
I just found this enchanting short film, written and directed by Sai Selvarajan. It caught my attention by connecting India to Queens, New York (Sri Chinmoy came from India and made his home in...
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Easter Reflections
Easter was always my favourite time of year growing up. A long weekend with extra chocolate – what could be more appealing? Nature reaches a turning point at last. Birds are busy staking their claim on...
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The Real Mrs Tiggy-Winkle
One of the very (very) few German words I know is the one for hedgehog. I don’t remember where or why I learned it, but it stuck in my head because igel sounds like eagle, and there can be no two...
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The Mystery Plays
Since the Mystery Plays chart the story from Creation to Last Judgement, there is only God at the beginning – God with a Yorkshire accent. There’s a certain kindliness, a kind of certainty to a...
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Revelations of Divine Love
I’m currently reading Revelations of Divine Love, by Julian of Norwich (1373). Nobody knows Julian’s real name or where she began, and most other details are based on conjecture. But we do know she...
View ArticleEnglish as a Fecund Language
My grasp of the Thai language extended barely beyond the basic pleasantries and the buying of food. This was mainly due to the importance of inflections and polite appendages, which English has no care...
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