July 12th, 2015 → 6:06 am
“A gentleman that loves to hear himself talk,
and will speak more in a minute than he will stand to in a month.” – Romeo and Juliet
The only problem with the above quote is that it refers to Trump as a gentleman.
Filed under: Blog & Politics/Politicians & Stupid/Evil People
May 20th, 2015 → 5:00 am
Hamlet: “Sir, I cannot.”
Rosencrantz: “What, my lord?”
Hamlet: “Make you a wholesome answer; my wit’s diseased.” – Hamlet
Forgive me for comparing Jeb Bush to Hamlet. But at least Hamlet was pretending to be a crazed idiot – Jeb Bush apparently is one. I still can’t get over his answer to Megyn Kelly regarding the Iraq War; does the entire Bush family live in a bubble, completely devoid of reality?!?!?!
Filed under: Blog & Politics/Politicians & Stupid/Evil People
May 9th, 2015 → 5:42 am
“To be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.” – Hamlet
As the number of contenders in the U.S. presidential race grows by the day, and I listen to them say stupid things on television, I wonder, are any of them honest? It is a rare trait, according to Shakespeare, as well as my own experience. Indeed, right now I’m dealing with someone in my personal life who is turning out to be disarmingly dishonest. How did I not see it earlier? But if Shakespeare is right and honesty is as rare as one in ten thousand, now I am wondering, how would I categorize myself???
Filed under: Blog & Politics/Politicians & Stupid/Evil People
March 12th, 2015 → 5:19 am
“Mere prattle without [evidence].” – Othello
Yesterday the New York Times published an article perpetuating the common misogynistic trope that women are innately stupider than men. It makes me crazy. That such arguments are still being said – and published in such respected outlets! – so nonchalantly shocks me. At least, my comment pointing out the ridiculousness of the argument was made a NYT Pick and through most of the day yesterday was the number one Reader’s Pick as well. At least some (maybe a lot of?) people out there do get it.
Filed under: Blog & Economics/Money & Stupid/Evil People
March 11th, 2015 → 5:18 am
“A nest of traitors!” – Winter’s Tale
Let me just state the obvious: if a group of Democratic senators had gone around a Republican president and sent a foreign leader a letter in an effort to undermine said Republican president, the conservative Right would have called those Democratic senators traitors. And I would have sympathized. As it happens, it was the other way around this week. And I’ll call it what it is – treason.
Filed under: Blog & Politics/Politicians & Stupid/Evil People
January 23rd, 2015 → 5:57 am
“Ye have angels’ faces, but heaven knows your hearts.” – Henry VIII
A photo from the Miss Universe pageant has apparently caused a political stir – because it has BOTH Miss Lebanon and Miss Israel in it. For god’s sake. Who cares? The uproar has caused Miss Lebanon to disown the photo, and blame Miss Israel for taking it without permission. Miss Lebanon may have a pretty face, but she has zero backbone; one can only hope that there is goodness in her heart at least.
Filed under: Blog & Politics/Politicians & Stupid/Evil People
January 17th, 2015 → 7:44 am
“Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.” – Henry IV, Part I
Why don’t we celebrate the heroes, such as Lassana Bathily, as much as we lionize the villains of our common tragedies?
Filed under: Blog & Other & Stupid/Evil People
January 3rd, 2015 → 6:47 am
“Whip me, ye devils, …
Blow me about in winds, roast me in sulfur,
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!” – Othello
Wait, that’s exactly what I feel like after our latest trip with American Airlines. We went to Mexico over the holidays, but our luggage did not! Apparently over the six days of our trip our luggage went to Dallas, China, Singapore, and then finally on to Mexico where it arrived on the day of our departure. As we were checking in for our flight home an agent told us to wait and, voila, our long-lost, at that point feared never-seen-again luggage, suddenly appeared! I laughed with incredulity and the tears ran down my face, until the AA agent then asked for my credit card for the fee to check our bag in for the flight home. I realize travel is all about the adventure, but after this last one, bandied about, insulted, hung up upon with customer service, I really do feel as though I’ve been whipped, roasted in sulfur, and then washed in gulfs of liquid fire.
Filed under: Blog & Self/My Life & Stupid/Evil People
December 6th, 2014 → 6:51 am
“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand?
No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.” – Macbeth
I was listening to a RadioLab podcast yesterday where the guest mentioned that in Shakespeare’s day, theatres used actual blood in their performances. There was no such thing as prop blood (let alone chocolate sauce!), so if a play like Titus Adronicus required a bucket of blood to be spilled, a bucket of actual blood was acquired (generally from a slaughterhouse) and spilled in the production. The guest went on to mention how, in the 16th century, really, people were quite familiar with the smell, sight, taste, and feel of actual blood – unlike today.
First, let me just say gross.
Second, let me add that I disagree in one sense – even today there are groups of people who are familiar with blood and have lots of it on their hands: white police officers, when they are faced with unarmed black men.
Filed under: Blog & Other & Stupid/Evil People
December 3rd, 2014 → 5:49 am
“If ever you have looked on better days,
If ever been where bells have knolled to church,
If ever sat at any good man’s feast,
If ever from your eyelids wiped a tear
And know what ’tis to pity and be pitied,
Let gentleness my strong enforcement be.” – As You Like It
The world could really use more kindness, understanding, and empathy right now…
Filed under: Blog & Politics/Politicians & Stupid/Evil People