Sybilla Oritur

My love affair with Banana Yoshimoto’s work continues unabated. Somehow, her narratives, in which nothing really happens, distill a sense of loss and love into the perfect bittersweetness. Sparse yet still passionate.
I began reading Hardboiled and Hardluck back in November. The first novella kept me up until 3am on a weeknight - which wasn’t the [...]

I haven’t been driven to buy an academic book “just because” in a long, long time. It was supposed to be skimmed for a paper, but as i couldn’t put it down, i ended up having to ask for an extension. I can’t recommend it enough.
Imperial City: Rome, Romans and Napoleon, 1796-1815 focuses on the [...]

I’ve come to the conclusion that if Robert Downey Jr. is in a movie i am going to end up watching it for he never seems to get himself cast into crap. It’s nice. Perhaps it’s just dumb luck, but i would like to think there are, out there, movie stars and starlets who actually [...]

Last week it rained and was unseasonably cold for four consecutive days. But the last, Saturday, all that i wanted to do was hide indoors under a blanket. However, instead, i went to the movies down by the Harbour - a theatre that has a full bar inside - very nice! This was after a [...]

I don’t know why but i keep forgetting about the Sainte Elisabeth. Be this because it’s tucked away on an adorable sidestreet or because each of my visits have been so relaxing and hassle-free, i do not know. However, i have been both in summer and in winter and enjoyed myself immensely every time.
As with [...]

I love cheap theatre and every year i drag myself to at least one fringe production in the city i am currently living in. That probably doesn’t seem like a lot, but i have a love-hate relationship with Fringe fests that i imagine has much to do with how the density of productions really taps [...]

Keegan, John. The Mask of Command: A Study of Generalship. London: Pimlico, 1987, 2004. 358pgs.
In my last year of high school, Mr. Goodman, my world history teacher, organized a formal debate lasting a fortnight in order to assess which countries were most responsible for the outbreak of WWI. Were it not for that experience [...]

Yes, i am unabashedly borrowing from FAIL Blog, but there is no better term for my experience with the Nikon L19.
My much-loved Canon Ixus/Elphi has gotten itself lost and, well, i need a camera. Poverty is a horrible constraint and i spent a lot of time two week-ends ago researching the best digital camera option [...]

Random complaint - was it not bad enough when in order to move the plot forward the writer’s of Grey’s Anatomy were forced to make-up an imaginary “friend” for Izzy? Now the writers of House, a show i actually don’t watch JUST because of how awful it is, have turned to EXACTLY the same HORRIBLE [...]

Within the first ten minutes of The Philanthropist, I had already found myself staring agawk with my hand over my mouth at the scenario on-stage. Billed as a dark comedy, this new play with Matthew Broderick as Philip, a philologist with no social skills but good intentions, was not misrepresented.
At intermission, I turned to my [...]