Reel & Read
Reviews of film, music, literature, and travel — plus reflections on teaching and creativity, by William Edward Villano.
recent posts
- Joshua Tree National Park Travel Review — Desert Landscapes, Rock Climbing, and Cactus Candy | by William Edward Villano
- If— by Rudyard Kipling: A Poem of Strength, Balance, and Moral Compass | by William Edward Villano
- Blackbird (2007) Album Review — Alter Bridge’s Soundtrack of Youth, Memory, and Loss | by William Edward Villano
- Saving Private Ryan (1998) Review — Sacrifice, Courage, and Spielberg’s War Masterpiece | by William Edward Villano
- Hidden Gems of Hawaiʻi’s Big Island — Green Sand Beach, Rainforest Paths, and the Hilo Farmers Market | by William Edward Villano
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Category: Literature Reviews
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Rudyard Kipling’s If— has always struck me as one of the most straightforward yet profound poems ever written. Its message is clear: advice from father to son on how to live a good, strong, and morally upright life. I first encountered it in school, but over the years it’s become something I return to when…
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I first read Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle“ in my 11th-grade English class, and it quickly became my favorite story of the school year. While many of the works we studied felt distant — stories from other continents, centuries, or worlds — this one felt close to home. The Catskill Mountains, where Rip wanders before his…
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Alfred Lord Tennyson’s The Charge of the Light Brigade is one of the most famous war poems in English literature. Written in 1854 after the disastrous cavalry charge at the Battle of Balaclava, it memorializes both the bravery and the futility of soldiers who rode straight into near-certain death. What has always struck me about…
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I first read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes at a point in my life when I was looking for stories that could draw me in and challenge me at the same time. The twelve short stories in that collection did exactly that. They were my entry point into the wider world of Sherlock Holmes, and…
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Some works of art do not simply impress us; they fortify us. William Ernest Henley’s poem Invictus has always been that for me. Whenever I have faced uncertainty, whenever I have felt the weight of circumstance pressing in, I return to those words as if they were a compass. The poem is a declaration of…
Reel & Read 