The cricket match being digitally projected at the back of the restaurant seems to have ended with one former British colony beating another. This is not the first match I’m watching today: the pharmacist up the road subjected me to…
The Master: When Cinema Challenged Us
As with most Paul Thomas Anderson films, The Master is proving divisive with audiences and critics alike. Most critics laud it—given Anderson’s reputation, they probably feel compelled to do so even if they are disinclined—but even amongst their ranks, it’s…
Is Might Right?
I recently finished re-reading T. H. White’s The Once and Future King for the first time in 10 years. I am big into Arthurian legend and need little excuse to read any author’s telling. Of all the Arthurian books I…
The Proposal, Part 1
The below was written shortly after Christmas 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. “What we offer is a clean conscience, Mr. Gant.” Silence impregnated the air in the well-lit, unadorned room. Only two chairs facing a table furnished the space. The…
The Fear
Fear. Creeping, crawling, subtle fear. A fog rolling through the dim, damp dark. Growing, enveloping, choking. Fear is a familiar foe. Some men fight it. Some flee to safety and familiarity. Some are paralyzed by it. A lucky few do…
A Song of Ice and Fire: Where We Are After Five Books
SPOILER ALERT: If you have not read George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire up to and including Book 5, A Dance with Dragons, you should not read this. The world that Martin has built and expanded…