June 5th, 2014 → 6:03 am
“He would drown the stage with tears,
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty and appal the free,
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed
The very faculties of eyes and ears.” – Hamlet
Egypt’s brave satirical comedian has finally succumbed to the death threats and agreed to go off the air. It is a sad day.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Politics/Politicians
May 31st, 2014 → 6:50 am
“The glass of fashion and the mould of form.” – Hamlet
I went to my annual summer opera with my girlfriend Karen last night. We saw The Magic Flute and it was wonderful, but I couldn’t wait to get home and out of my dress. You know, all through my twenties and even my thirties I wore nice dresses and tight clothes without the aid of any so-called “equipment,” but when I hit forty I decided to buy some Spanx. Oh my god. Is that what corsets felt like??
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Self/My Life
May 29th, 2014 → 6:17 am
“As imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Rest in peace, Maya Angelou. A fine poet that turned airy imaginings into striking realities and memorable personalities.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
April 24th, 2014 → 7:48 am
“This is my birthday, as this very day.” – Julius Caesar
Actually, we don’t know exactly when Shakespeare was born. It could have been yesterday, it could have been today. But it was certainly sometime around now, so, happy birthday Mr. Bard!
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
April 6th, 2014 → 9:56 am
“We will meet, and there we may rehearse most obscenely and courageously.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Went to a production of Noises Off last night (after a nine course meal that included fiddlehead ferns – my new favorite vegetable). It’s a play about a play; a comedy about the mishaps and mistakes that can take place behind the stage and in rehearsal. Hilarious!! I recommend it to anyone wanting a laugh and needing a night off.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
April 2nd, 2014 → 6:02 am
“We […] alone will sing like birds i’ the cage:
When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down,
And ask of thee forgiveness: so we’ll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
Talk of court news; and we’ll talk with them too,
Who loses and who wins; who’s in, who’s out;
And take upon the mystery of things,
As if we were God’s spies: and we’ll wear out,
In a wall’d prison, packs and sects of great ones,
That ebb and flow by the moon.” – King Lear
King Lear was recently performed in the Zaatari Refugee Camp, in Jordan. Hearing about it I pictured a sun-swept, bone-dry, dust-encircled platform with thin, but passionate refugees voicing their sorrows and hopes upon the stage. Acting in their wall’d prison. I wish I could have seen it.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
March 20th, 2014 → 5:58 am
“The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief.” – Othello
There was a story on NPR yesterday about a guy who bought a game console online, but then never received it. When he realized he’d been cheated he exacted revenge by texting 37 Shakespeare plays to the seller’s phone. It came to nearly 30,000 text messages. I like the joke, but my question is, did he type it all in himself?!?!
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Stupid/Evil People
March 13th, 2014 → 8:28 am
“For this, be sure, tonight thou shalt have cramps,
Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up: urchins
Shall, for that vast of night that they may work,
All exercise on thee: thou shalt be pinched
As thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging
Than bees that made ’em.” – The Tempest
Barack Obama was on the comedy podcast Between Two Ferns the other day. I don’t know about his performance, but I did spend an embarrassing amount of time at work yesterday (during lunch, of course!) watching a number of the other videos. Some were really funny!
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Politics/Politicians
November 5th, 2013 → 5:23 am
“I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes like stars start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand an end
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.” – Hamlet
It makes my blood boil when I hear about thieves like Cornelius Gurlitt – whose father left him over a billion dollars worth of Nazi-era stolen art – who live a comfortable life until they are 80 years old and never pay a thing for their crimes. The Nazis were terrible. And it continues to be terrible that their crimes still are not ended.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Stupid/Evil People
September 14th, 2013 → 7:01 am
“[The] Man delights not me.” – Hamlet
OMG, there was a hilarious article in the New York Times yesterday titled, “Too Much Shakespeare? Be Not Cowed.” It compared Shakespeare’s plays to The Wire, 24, 50 Shades of Grey, and The Book of Mormon. It talked about hating Shakespearean prose, not always understanding the actors, and being a Shakespeare skeptic, but in the end, admitting that while Shakespeare is hard, so is life. It was a fun, satisfying read. Yeah 🙂 Argh 🙁 Shakespeare.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art