February 11th, 2012 → 7:54 am
“Though what they will impart
Help nothing else, yet do they ease the heart.” – Richard III
A smart person told me the other day to write in order to ease my pain. I’m happy to report that I found some time to do that yesterday and it worked! I don’t know if I’m going to be able to keep it up in any kind of a consistent fashion – with a young baby and a full time job right now it is just so hard to carve out regular chunks of time – but if I can, I will. The writing life is for me.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Self/My Life
January 14th, 2012 → 2:50 pm
So I just watched the Swedish version of the movie The Girl With the Dragoon Tattoo (I still haven’t seen the U.S. version). And I thought it was quite good! I even liked the changes they made, like having the run-in with the boys in the subway station, and how that showed early on that she was a fighter. I’m pretty sure this Lisbeth wasn’t under 5′ either, but whatever, I’ll just have to get over that. Verdict: Thumbs up for the Swedish version of The Girl With the Dragoon Tattoo.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
January 6th, 2012 → 6:26 am
I was recently told that the 1965 film by Orson Welles Chimes at Midnight is a MUST SEE Shakespeare film. I had never even heard of it before! I found short clips of it on YouTube, but the entire film appears to be unavailable anywhere in the United States. Anybody out there know anything about it??
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
December 28th, 2011 → 8:19 am
“Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue. … Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand thus, but use all gently… Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor. For anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is to hold, as ’twere, the mirror up to nature.” – Hamlet
I received the Playing Shakespeare video release from Athena studios for Hanukkah, with legendary director John Barton of the Royal Shakespeare Company and astoundingly young appearances by Judi Dench, Patrick Steward, Ben Kingsley, and more. Bottom line: AMAZING! Truly, truly awesome acting and directing going on in those videos.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
December 20th, 2011 → 6:58 am
“Though she be but little, she is fierce.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
I’m hearing a lot of (positive) hype about the new (U.S.) version of the movie The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. It may indeed be a good movie, but I know already that I am disappointed they did not cast Lisbeth as she is described in the book. In the book she is 4’10” tall – quite little, and quite fierce. I was sort of looking forward to a movie with a star character as little (and as fierce?) as me, but I guess not this time…
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
December 15th, 2011 → 6:25 am
No quote today, but a friend turned me on to the following link, that I just had to share with everyone. It is to a bunch of letters to Santa written by Shakespeare characters. If you don’t find it hilarious, there’s no hope for you: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/letters-to-santa-written-by-shakespeare-characters
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
November 16th, 2011 → 5:55 am
“You two are book-men.” – Love’s Labor’s Lost
One of my favorite novelists, Ann Patchett, and a friend of hers, Karen Hayes, have apparently decided to open a bookstore in Nashville simply because no one else will. “I have no interest in retail; I have no interest in opening a bookstore. But I also have no interest in living in a city without a bookstore,” Ms. Patchett is quoted as saying.  That’s a real dedication to books, I’ll say!
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
October 17th, 2011 → 8:22 am
I saw the play God of Carnage this weekend and it was hilarious; wild, crazy, madcap like a horse gone wild. My only criticism was the ending. It didn’t come together very well at all, it just sort of, stopped.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
September 21st, 2011 → 6:37 am
“I love long life better than figs.” – Antony and Cleopatra
This quote seems a little odd, until you realize that in ancient times “fig” had a sexual connotation. Aristophanes, for example, in Peace wrote: “Pick your figs. May his be large and hard. May hers be sweet.” On that note, the choice between a long life and figs can indeed seem like something of a toss-up.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Other
August 24th, 2011 → 5:44 am
“A dish fit for the gods.” – Julius Caesar
I watched a rather old production of Julius Caesar last night, which had Marlon Brando in it as Mark Antony. After watching him in A Streetcar Named Desire awhile back as well, I can attest that I now totally get why Brando is considered such a huge, transformative actor. He was quite handsome as well! My god, his magnetism really does just jump off the screen.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art