GAI LAN AND DUCK BACON
SO THERE I was, shopping at Mitsuwa, our local Japanese supermarket, for sashimi, inari sushi, salmon bento, and pickled cucumber. It’s a full marketplace, complete with Books Kinokuniya, boutique shops, … Continue reading
A POND AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, PART 2
HENRY DAVID Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience discourse first appeared as an essay “Resistance to Civil Government; a Lecture delivered in 1847” in Aesthetic Papers, a New England periodical. Thoreau had recently … Continue reading
A POND AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, PART 1
HENRY DAVID Thoreau wrote, “I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government.” His writings on this influenced the thoughts and actions of Mahatma Gandhi, … Continue reading
A MODEST PROPOSAL FOR DISNEY IMAGINEERS
IT IS rare that I turn to Variety, America’s weekly entertainment trade magazine, for political updates. Typically, the Orange County Register and The New York Times suffice for balance, along … Continue reading
NIKOLAI GOGOL’S GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR
IT’S A “story as timely as today’s headlines.” Well, maybe only in that Nikolai Gogol is a Russian and his play The Government Inspector, 1842, is a satire about greed, … Continue reading
THE TSAREVICH AND THE BALLERINA, PART 2
THE RUSSIAN bioflick Matilda, detailing Tsarevich Nicholas’s affair with ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya, isn’t scheduled for release until October 2017. However, it has already generated lots of buzz in its homeland. … Continue reading
THE TSAREVICH AND THE BALLERINA, PART 1
SOMETIMES I encounter fascinating things even before they occur. Precognition? Or just stumbling into the right place at an earlier time? Recently here at SimanaitisSays I’ve mentioned the fall of … Continue reading
THEATER ARTS—BENOIS PÈRE ET FILS
LIKE FATHER, like son, they say. Fortunate indeed for the Russian-born theater arts pair of Alexandre and Nicolas Benois. Their careers extended from 1895 to 1978, encompassing costume and set … Continue reading
MIXING CHURCH AND STATE—THE GORDON RIOTS
A DECADE BEFORE American rebels ratified the United States Constitution, including its First Amendment definitively separating church and state, Britain was roiling in the Gordon Riots—largely on grounds of religion. … Continue reading
GREAT ACERBIC LINES
H.L. MENCKEN was a 20th-century journalist who specialized in acerbic writing that’s still a delight to read. I don’t always agree with Mencken’s view, but I savor his expertise with … Continue reading
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