Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai


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Like Outer Mongolia

middleton-extremes-on-the-silk-roadIt took me a while (…) but I’m finally getting into Nick Middleton’s Extremes along the Silk Road.
I’m kicking myself for having waited so long, as the book is turning out to be a lot of fun, and filled with information and nicely-observed detail.

Middleton’s a good writer – to the point and amusing, very British in his approach to the idea of crossing the Gobi Desert as part of his exploration of the Silk Road.

And there’s a point where I had to stop and pause for a moment.

Early in his adventure, Middleton is spending some time as a guest in a local family’s ger, the round yurt typical of Mongolian nomads, and he observes how the daily routines and the lifestyle of these people has not changed in generations.

And I thought, well, neither has it changed hereabouts. Continue reading →


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One hundred years

Yesterday I saw this on the Facebook page of musician Richard Thompson.

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Very moving tribute on the anniversary of The Battle Of The Somme, enacted all over Britain.Participants dressed in WW1 uniforms, standing or sitting quietly. If spoken to, they hand you a card that says their, name, rank, and when they were killed. Photo is from King Cross Station today.

I shared it, because I too found the idea very moving, and it reminded me of a song.
But we’ll talk later of the song. Continue reading →


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The Olivia de Havilland Centenary Blogathon – Raffles, 1939

What’s wrong with Olivia de Havilland and me?
I don’t know – probably it’s all those movies with Erroll Flynn, but lovely de Havilland is one of those actresses that are a delight to watch, but for the life of my I never remember when it comes the time to make a list of the favorites.

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But that’s ok, anyway, because this is The Olivia de Havilland Centenary Blogathon, organized by the In the good old days of Hollywood blog and the Phyllis Loves Classic Movies blog – and you should follow the link and go there to check out the other entries in this blogathon.

Here on Karavansara, we’ll spend some time with Raffles – the amateur cracksman. Continue reading →


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Tarzan as superhero?

0514_tarzanThere’s a new Tarzan movie doing the rounds – I haven’t seen it yet because here in the sticks where I live it will be distributed at some later date, but I plan on seeing it.

Now, one thing that’s leaving me a little bit peeved is, there’s a lot of people out there that go on about Tarzan being a superhero… he is a superhero, he should be treated as a superhero, the franchise should go the whole superhero way…

I am always wary when a movie critic tries to tell me a movie sucks based on the fact that

they should have made it differently

I love science fiction and what-ifs, but if the movie sucks, please tell me why it sucks, not how it would have sucked less in your opinion had you been the director.
And you see, I’m not so sure about this whole superhero business. Continue reading →


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Bud Spencer, 1929-2016

CarloPedersoliItaliaYesterday night I got the news of the death of Carlo Pedersoli, better known as Bud Spencer.
He was born in Naples in 1929, and had started out as an Olympic swimmer and water polo player.
He was also a car racer and a songwriter – but his CV included a lot of odd-jobs.

Then, after a number of bit parts in Cinecittà, he was offered a role in Dio perdona… io no – a seminal spaghetti western in which he teamed up with Mario Girotti, also known as Terence Hill.
It was 1967.
The year I was born.

Now, it is complicated to explain what the Spencer & Hill team meant for Italian kids in my generation.
This connects with the post I did two days ago, about needing heroes when we grow up.
So, if you don’t mind, I’ll digress… Continue reading →