September 12th, 2013 → 6:06 am
“Britain’s a world by itself, and we will nothing pay for wearing our own noses.” – Cymbeline
A friend of mine forwarded to me the following bit of British Humor, care of John Cleese:
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Politics/Politicians
September 10th, 2013 → 5:59 am
“O beauty,
Till now I never knew thee.” – Henry VIII
How exciting, the experts have confirmed the finding of an authentic Van Gogh painting, “Sunset at Montmajour.” I wish I could happen upon one of those hidden away up in my attic! Come to think of it, when was the last time I’ve even been in my attic??
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
August 21st, 2013 → 5:52 am
“O, it
offends me to the soul to hear a robustious
periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to
very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings, who
for the most part are capable of nothing but
inexplicable dumbshows and noise: I would have such
a fellow whipped for o’erdoing Termagant; it
out-herods Herod: pray you, avoid it.” – Hamlet
A friend of mine turned me onto Thug Notes the other day. Their tag line: “Classical Literature. Original Gangster.” They make quick five minute videos of classic works of literature, gangster style. Totally hilarious. Of course, my favorite is Thug Notes – Hamlet where Laertes warns Ophelia that Hamlet “might just hit it and quit it.” And the poisoned chalice at the end is “Elizabethan Hator-ade – gotta have it.” And while it has the potential to go over the top, no worries, it doesn’t. There’s no out-heroding Herod here!
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
August 12th, 2013 → 6:24 am
“Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds.” – Sonnet 116
I’m currently reading Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon, and it’s quite engrossing. I’m learning all about dwarfs, prodigies, schizophrenics, and more. At one point Solomon vigorously disputes the above quote, saying it is not true that love is constant, but instead that it “alters all the time; it is fluid, in perpetual flux, an evolving business across a lifetime.” I think the distinction may be between love in the short run and love in the long run. Over the long run, sure, love evolves. But if in the short run your love for someone easily alters, it probably isn’t actually love, but something else.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Other
July 29th, 2013 → 5:45 am
“If we should fail?”
“We fail? But screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we’ll not fail.” – Macbeth
That seems to be the mantra of the thieves of the Kunsthal Museum art heist. I’ve been fascinated by this story for weeks now, where robbers walked off with works of art by Picasso, Matisse, Monet, Gauguin, and others from the Kunstal Museum in the Netherlands. Authorities had begun to close in on the culprits in Romania, when it was reported that some crazy old mother burned the hundreds of millions of dollars worth of art in a stove (!) thinking it would save her son; that if the authorities couldn’t find the actual paintings, they couldn’t convict her son of anything. Now, there’s speculation that her admission was a lie, a story told to make the trail of the art itself go cold. This entire escapade is worthy of a Hollywood movie. I just pray all that beautiful art isn’t really burnt to cinders in some crazy old woman’s basement…
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
July 16th, 2013 → 6:50 am
“There is no more mercy in him than there is milk in a male tiger.” – Coriolanus
The last few years have seen a lot of discussion and awareness brought to the issue of childhood bullying. But the best essay/poem/performance I’ve seen about it so far is the one I saw last night, by Shane Koyczan. Go to his website and scroll down the homepage to the video of his “To This Day” TED talk. It’s amazing.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Other
July 14th, 2013 → 6:42 am
“To marry him is hopeless,
To be his whore is witless.” – The Two Noble Kinsmen
I heard recently that the play The Two Noble Kinsmen is the only one of Shakespeare’s plays never to have been adapted for either film or television. So, I quote it here today to give it some attention.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
July 12th, 2013 → 6:25 am
“What craker is this same that deafs our ears
With this abundance of superfluous breath?” – King John
I recently came across a discussion of the origin of the slur “cracker” (which took place because a witness in the George Zimmerman murder trial testified that Trayvon Martin referred to Zimmerman as a “creepy-ass cracker”). To my surprise, the earliest use of the term is apparently Shakespeare (!), in the quote above. Who knew we could thank Shakespeare for such treasures as “hobnob,” “madcap,” “bloodstained,” and yes, also “cracker.”
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Other
July 1st, 2013 → 6:38 am
“When that this body did contain a spirit,
kingdom for it was too small a bound.” – Henry IV, Part I
I blogged a few weeks back about the work of Dr. Laura Bates teaching Shakespeare to prison inmates in Indiana. In her book about the experience she talks a lot about a particular student, Larry Newton. He sounds absolutely remarkable, learning (thoroughly) the complete works of Shakespeare, leading discussion groups about the plays, even writing workbooks to help teach Shakespeare to other classes of inmates. His “favorite freakin’ quote” is apparently the one above. And it is a good one. When your spirit is content, well-nourished, and unafraid, life seems to have no bound.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
June 21st, 2013 → 5:51 am
“Open locks,
Whoever knocks!” – Macbeth
I first heard about Shakespeare classes in prison facilities on the radio program This American Life (Episode 218 – I broke down in tears the first time I listened to it). I recently came across Dr. Laura Bates and her work teaching the bard in maximum security prisons. I’m really not sure why, but these stories just break my heart and then lift me up all at the same time. Something about people making the effort to open locks – into others’ lives, into mysterious literature, into a world of empathy, redemption, and kindness. For me, life doesn’t get more vibrant than this.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art