https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/abr/arp/B08DL6GPJS?ref_=sin_abr_cat_art_list&theme=light "Normal People is one of the most realistic and heart-wrenching depictions of how young love nestles itself within the universal, vulnerable heart. It is a story that lays bare the beauty and brutality of coming-of-age discovery and first love with all of its divine, euphoric highs and melancholy, longing lows. The truth embodied in these characters makes you want to jump right into the pages to express your own empathy for what is being said and left unsaid. We have all lived these honest moments of connection and miscommunication in the soulful, connective force that is love. If I had to give this book a rating with stars I would give it a shooting star indeed."

"I was raised Catholic and I still consider myself a fairly spiritual person even though I have a hard time identifying with most Christians in this country. But I still maintain a belief in God and in Jesus, and that gets tried on a daily basis. The older I get, the wiser I get, the tougher it is to believe in a divine power or whatnot. So that movie appeals to me on that level alone. To take it beyond, it’s just a fantastic Martin Scorsese picture. Great performances in it. The first portrayal of Christ where I was, “Wow, this might be what it was like.” He wasn’t a guy of all beatitude and perfection. He was a man, first and foremost, who just happened to be the son of God."

"Tokyo monogatari, perhaps better known to non-Nipponophiles as Tokyo Story. Any film by the great Yasujiro Ozu will do, especially if it has Japan’s walked-away-in-mid-career huge star, the divine, mysterious, heart-seducing Setsuko Hara, who, Garbo-like and at the peak of her popularity, vanished into obscurity, never to return to the screen. I discovered her hideout in Kamakura, Japan, and briefly glimpsed her, refuting my cabdriver’s assurance that she was long dead. She lives yet, in her mid-nineties. Don’t pass this way without losing your heart to Miss Hara—Japan’s “eternal virgin”—on the screen. Also, same film, the great Chishu Ryu, who teaches the entire acting profession how to play, at a still youngish age, an ancient and enfeebled oldster. He is, one critic said, “old in his bones.”"

"It was the first classical music where it really sounded aggressive and almost punky. I just love the formalism of it, and even when I think about it, I get shivers. It really sort of does something to me that other music doesn't. I just love the way there's no drums and bass, it's just a lot of people going at it really rhythmically and beautifully arranged. Also, the harpsichord is right. The first time I heard the music was on the Peter Greenaway film of the same name, and that would have been maybe 1989. I remember thinking the film was mental, but I really liked the music! Obviously he did a few others of Greenaway's, and they're all fabulous of course, especially Prospero's Books. It was fun to meet him [The Divine Comedy played with the Michael Nyman Band at the 1997 Edinburgh Festival]. He was a wild man, as they say over here. He certainly knows his own mind. He'd spend the rehearsals with his headphones on listening for Crystal Palace's results and trying to flirt with the cello player, and I love his spectacles, he's always got a good range of eyewear!"