September 30th, 2017 → 5:41 am
“Leave thy lascivious wassails.” – Antony and Cleopatra
wassail – to drink copious amounts of alcohol and enjoy oneself with others in a noisy, lively way; to carouse (n. a carousal)
Personally, I could go for a lascivious wassail right about now.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
June 5th, 2017 → 10:44 am
A shout out to Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, Liam Gallagher, and all the other musicians (and fans!) who came out for One Love Manchester. The terrorists will never win.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
May 6th, 2017 → 5:29 am
“These news are everywhere; every tongue speaks ’em.” – Henry VIII
Apparently in the 16th century ‘news’ was considered a plural noun. Today, it is “singular in construction.” When did that happen? I often forget whether ‘data’ is considered singular or plural. Politics? Economics? They can be both. It’s exhausting, this protean nature of language!
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
April 28th, 2017 → 5:08 am
“…the devil is a niggard.” – Henry VIII
If you type “niggard” into Google, it auto-corrects into “niggardly,” neither word of which has anything to do with blackamoores (the primary term for blacks in Tudor England). It means, simply, a stingy person.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
April 24th, 2017 → 6:07 am
“Who is it that can tell me who I am?” – King Lear
No one, but since I’m not one for unfounded conspiracy theories, I’ll just assume Shakespeare was Shakespeare and celebrate the joy of his birth (which was sometime this week). Happy birthday Shakespeare and thanks for the beautiful literature!
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Other
March 23rd, 2017 → 5:38 am
“Adversity’s sweet milk, philosophy.” – Romeo and Juliet
There was an author in the 1990s that I just loved, Alain de Botton. Somehow, I lost track of his work and simply assumed he’d stopped writing. I discovered this week that in fact, he is still writing, on religion, on love, on aesthetics, and somehow I had just missed it. I look forward to ordering some of his latest books; I only hope they are as good as The Consolations of Philosophy and How Proust Can Change Your Life.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
March 5th, 2017 → 5:37 am
Shakespeare is apparently more popular in the rest of the world, than he is in the UK, a recent study finds. Apparently that is because the way Shakespeare is taught in the UK (and many other English speaking nations) kills it for most people. How sad! Though I do kind of understand. I didn’t love Shakespeare when I was first exposed to his works in middle school. My love only came much later. At the same time, I have always assumed that early exposure planted the seed; that I might not have grown to love Shakespeare now, had I not been force-fed him earlier. Who knows. Either way, I am glad the bug finally bit, and I feel kinda bad for others who never grew to appreciate the taste of the fruit.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
March 1st, 2017 → 1:23 pm
“Henry the Fifth, too famous to live long.” – Henry VI, Part I
I found this antique pocket edition of Henry V the other day. Is it not adorable? It’s a bit tattered and worn, but I like it even more for the use. It means someone read it, and possibly even regularly thumbed through it, and didn’t just keep it around for looks. Finding it made my day. Plus, who doesn’t like Henry V, once he’s done being Hal?
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
February 10th, 2017 → 5:50 am
“You, minion, are too saucy.” – The Two Gentlemen of Verona
I love minions! Hilariously, here Shakespeare is using “minion” as “hussy”. I knew minions were servants, sycophants, vassals, and stooges, but hussies? Love it!
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
November 17th, 2016 → 5:34 am
Shakespeare wrote this about the first Queen Elizabeth, of course, but I’ll project it onto the second. Just watched Netflix’s new series The Crown and found it both interesting and entertaining. We all have such varied, difficult, and surprising lives to lead, royalty included.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Politics/Politicians