Nie Yinniang

Hou Hsiao-Hsien is a Taiwanese film director. He is a perfectionist and has spent almost eight years making his latest film, Nie Yinniang. Here it is called The Assassin, although “yinniang” actually means “hiding woman”, and it could be called The Woman in Black.

An Invitation…

St. Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday this year and I’m inviting you to a Valentine’s Day themed Recital in an especially beautiful location.

More About Books

The pleasure of rootling around in second-hand bookshops has largely been replaced by instant gratification delivered through shopping on the Internet; largely but not entirely.

Figaro, Where?

The Metropolitan Opera in New York has been broadcasting Saturday matinees live to cinemas in Europe for ten years. It’s a super way to see tip-top productions with the bonus of watching what’s going on back-stage and hearing the singers being interviewed.  Only been around for ten years but already I have my favourite moment.… Continue reading Figaro, Where?

Rebellion

Have you been watching War and Peace on the BBC? I haven’t either but what I’d like to see is Rebellion on RTE (the Republic of Ireland broadcaster). Just to bring you up to speed, 100 years ago, in 1916, when the rest of the world was concentrating on the First World War, Ireland had… Continue reading Rebellion

Flash for Cash

You’ve probably forgotten but at the end of November I wrote a post, a Flash in the Park. I’d like to continue the theme.

Published
Categorised as Business

Name Dropping

I had lunch this week with Janet Suzman. I like to name-drop. We had M&S sandwiches – there were all my favourites – and I had a spot of the house white. The house in question was LAMDA of which she is a Vice President.

Published
Categorised as Theatre

Don’t Stick to Your Knitting

It can be good advice, in a business context, to “stick to your knitting”. Getting on with the business you know can make sense but it can be commercial suicide.

Yield to Temptation

My attempts to forecast the price of oil and Shell shares have been spectacularly unsuccessful. In the short term, total washouts, in the longer term maybe they will come right. So I decided not to try your patience any further, until I saw a configuration of stars in the financial firmament that I have not… Continue reading Yield to Temptation

Tom, Tom and Harry

Andrew Ritchie’s encounter with Princess Anne, related in a comment on Man in Taxi, leads me to speculate whether he met any other members of the Royal Family.