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I’ve known and know a number of girls and women named Karen. I cannot think of anything bad about any one of them. One Karen I dated in high school. Others I’ve met and/or worked with while becoming friends and colleagues with. All of them are very nice with nothing derogatory that I can think of nor remember. Yet “Karen” has become a pejorative in our current hyper “woke” culture. “Karen” has become a caricature of that certain middle-aged white woman calling 911 on children skateboarding in the cul-de-sac, dog-walkers in urban parks and that bossy woman demanding to see...

In her disappointment, Kristina was driven to watch the 1967 Soviet epic that won director Sergei Bondarchuk an Oscar. "The interiors, the decor, the Moscow winter and the war scenes especially are ideal there," she told the BBC. "Of course Field Marshal Kutuzov and all the fighting were shot with such expense you wouldn't expect any flaws." No effort and no expense were spared in providing the Soviet film-makers with what they needed. 3,000 Soviet soldiers were drafted for one battle scene 57 museums donated exhibits for the shoots More than 40 state firms were enlisted to produce replica weapons...

The first episode of the BBC's new costume drama War and Peace was watched by more than six million viewers. The drama, which stars Paul Dano, Lily James and James Norton, has also won rave reviews. The adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's novel averaged 6.3 million viewers, peaking at 6.7 million. It was up against ITV's Endeavour and spy drama Deutschland 83 on Channel 4, which averaged 4.4 million and 1.2 million viewers respectively. snip - Downton Abbey star James plays Natasha Rostov in the drama, with Dano - who starred in 12 Years a Slave - as Pierre Bezukhov and...

Principal photography has started on the six-part adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s classic War And Peace which is being made by BBC Cymru Wales in partnership with The Weinstein Company and BBC Worldwide/Lookout Point. Paul Dano, Lily James and James Norton are already aboard to star, with new additions to the cast including Jim Broadbent, Gillian Anderson, Brian Cox and Ken Stott. The epic drama is written by House Of Cards and Bridget Jones‘ Andrew Davies. Anderson was nominated for a Golden Globe for her turn in his 2007 adaptation of Dickens’ Bleak House.

Leo Tolstoy was born 185 years ago today, on September 9, 1828. This archive video tells the story of the last days of the giant of Russian literature and the fate of his family estate, Yasnaya Polyana.

Steven Nichols over at the Reformation21 Blog shared a passage from Leo Tolstoy in which Tolstoy said Christians can not believe in the Christ who preached the Sermon on the Mount and the Christ of the Creeds. Tolstoy wrote in The Kingdom of God is Within You:

Since we have just finished celebrating Pesach and our exodus from Egypt over 3,300 years ago, I thought it might be interesting to look at our impact on the world through the eyes of those who we have impacted! Here are some thoughts for your consideration: "Some people like the Jews, and some do not. But no thoughtful man can deny the fact that they are, beyond any question, the most formidable and the most remarkable race which has appeared in the world." -- Winston Churchill-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The Jew is that sacred being who has brought down from heaven the everlasting...