(no subject)
Aug. 5th, 2019 06:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. I saw the Shakespeare Meme going around, and...the only Shakespeare plays that I remember seeing are:
These are all stage productions:
Anthony and Cleopatra -- boring, even with Anthony Hopkins and Dame Judith Dench in the titular roles
King Lear -- better with Anthony Hopkins
Twelth Knight - at Stratford on Avon
Macbeth (stage in college, and two screen versions)
The Tempest
As You Like It (with the guy who voiced the cartoon Robin Hood and the gal from 3rd Rock from the Sun- Shakespeare in the Park)
Midsummer Night's Dream (an all nude, gay version of it -- which was interesting. It was hard to see -- we were far back and had to use opera classes, I also did it in theater class in the 6th grade, no it wasn't all nude -- I was in the 6th grade.)
Film productions:
Twelth Night
Richard the III (Ian McKellan)
Hamlet (four versions - Ethan Hawk, Mel Gibson, Derek Jacobi, Kenneth Brannagh)
Much Ado About Nothing (two versions and part of a third -- Joss Whedon, Kenneth Brannagh, and David Tennant)
Romeo & Juliet (2 versions)
Macbeth (2 versions)
Henry the V - (Brannagh version and a little of the Olivier)
Othello (2 versions -- one as a musical on the television series Fame, and the other with I think Kenneth Brannagh...)
Titus Andronicus (Julie Taymor's version)
I may have seen others but can't remember them. We studied Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, King Lear, Othello...sort of to death and beyond.
Shakespeare done well is brilliant, done poorly is sleep inducing. The trick is not to treat it like Shakespeare and have a bit of fun with it. Basically have it done by folks who aren't academically inclined but definitely theaterically trained.
2. Depressed and tired. Procrastinating making dinner. Hunted through my "meetup groups" to find something socially to do. But alas, it's all dinners and drink socials. OR painting and drinks in a park on a sheet. Or drawing naked people. OR scavenger hunts with alcohol and 100s of people after work no less. Or all day hikes in New Jersey, which requires a car.
Eh. no.
I'll probably go to church on Sunday, or try to, and maybe catch a movie after. Been a really bad summer for me socially speaking. Last year was much better. This could be adding to my depression. Well that and the state of the world at the moment.
We had two more mass shootings. This time in Texas and Ohio. It would be one thing if these were the ONLY shootings we had this year or the only ones we had in the last two or three or even ten years. But nooo...these are...I think I've lost count.
We have had mass shootings just about every month. I kid you not. They are that frequent. I checked the stats, and they've become so frequent that the news media only really reports on the big ones any longer -- such as more than five people get killed, and there was serious action. I don't know about anyone else, but I find this depressing.
The Doofus' response to the latest one? Oh perhaps we should look into gun control, and this is clearly a problem with mental illness -- and we need to put all the mentally ill away in asylums and things will be hunky dory. Shame we can't confine the Doofus in a mental asylum. Honestly, I think there are grounds, impeach him for being incompetent and crazy then confine him in a mental institution along with all his supporters.
When this happened in other countries, such as say New Zealand, Australia and Great Britain - they immediately enacted laws against guns and stricter gun control. When it happens in the US? What do we do? We argue endlessly about gun control. Because heaven forbid we take away the someone's god-given right to bear arms? I mean, why should they have to give up their gun collection or semi-automatics, just because some lunatic shot up a school? Also how else will they form a militia against an evil tyrant and protect themselves?
See? This is what happens when you start a country via a violent revolution. Of course that was when everyone was carrying muskets. Now people have semi-automatic weapons that can five six to ten rounds with the press of a button. But what they hey...it's their god-given right, through the bible and the constitution! Hoozah!
Granted if they tried to fight the government they'd be in for an ugly surprise -- considering our federal government has "drones" and missiles. Plus nuclear bombs.
I'm not sure that gun collection is going to come in useful. But you never know, we could have a fatal virus that turns everyone into a zombie -- so hey, don't want to give up those guns.
Sigh. I wish I could snap my fingers and their frigging guns would dissolve into dust, that all weapons everywhere would just dissolve -- sort of like how Iron Man dissolved all the weapons of planetary mass destruction with one quick snap.
Seriously, how selfish do you have to be to refuse to give up your right to own a gun to ensure safety for all? Is the ability to take pot-shots of squirrels in your back yard, really that important? And who needs a semi-automatic to do that? A bee bee gun is just as effective.
Meanwhile Lando (co-worker) did his "Rapture" rant -- about how all the good people are dying for the Rapture, and we're at the end of days. Sigh. He's kidding. But I suffered through it through the entirety of 2016 and part of 2017.
And people wonder why I'm watching Marvel movies.
3. Finished We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix -- which won the Good Reads Award for Best Cult Horror Novel. (The taste of the folks on Good Reads continues to boggle my mind. It got a few other awards too. I do not know why. I think people liked the overall theme -- which is sort of screamed at you repeatedly throughout the book, then posted in big letters at the end, just in case you did not get it. Uplifting its not, inspiring maybe, if you are into heavy metal music, Dolly Parton, and steel string guitars and like Stephen King light.)
I skimmed most of the book. It's repetitive. And there's lots of needless filler. Boys groping and attacking one of the female protagonists in gruesome fashion -- which I skipped over. A lot of badly written song lyrics...reminding me of why I'm not a metal fan. Queen or The Runaways it's not. Or even the Stooges. Granted, I like Punk. And Hard Rock. Metal tends to be head-ache inducing, although it has its moments, I guess.
What works in the book, and there's not nearly enough of it -- is the descriptions of playing instruments. And playing music. The lyrics ...poetry they aren't. Unfortunately, it's also repetitive. She's constantly ripping her fingers apart on the strings. (I've played guitar -- it's not that bad. You build callouses.) And they are bleeding whenever she plays. (Really?) And the soul sucking demons remind me of something out of Harry Potter.
It's more horror fairy tale than horror. Where musicians sell their souls for fame and fortune -- the soul, here, being a metaphor for creativity and imagination and hope, without it -- you are empty always yearning for something, but not sure what it is. Just a poor slob beneath the wheel. And to overcome the Black Iron Mountain that devours your soul, you have to fight and do it a pebble at the time.
The story is about Kris Pulaski, former lead guitarist for a heavy metal band that she helped create -- who fights her way through a hellish landscape to reach the front man that betrayed the band and sold their souls to Black Iron Mountain. It's a bleak novel, that rails at a culture of cell phones and conspiracy theories thrown about on the radio circuit. Wondering what if they are true. And apparently the writer has a major beef with UPS. Don't know why -- FedEx is a lot worse.
It's okay. But I skimmed a good portion of it. And once again, where are the editors? Then again people gave him awards...so what do I know? I personally find it depressing that the book won awards, while other better books fly by unnoticed.
These are all stage productions:
Anthony and Cleopatra -- boring, even with Anthony Hopkins and Dame Judith Dench in the titular roles
King Lear -- better with Anthony Hopkins
Twelth Knight - at Stratford on Avon
Macbeth (stage in college, and two screen versions)
The Tempest
As You Like It (with the guy who voiced the cartoon Robin Hood and the gal from 3rd Rock from the Sun- Shakespeare in the Park)
Midsummer Night's Dream (an all nude, gay version of it -- which was interesting. It was hard to see -- we were far back and had to use opera classes, I also did it in theater class in the 6th grade, no it wasn't all nude -- I was in the 6th grade.)
Film productions:
Twelth Night
Richard the III (Ian McKellan)
Hamlet (four versions - Ethan Hawk, Mel Gibson, Derek Jacobi, Kenneth Brannagh)
Much Ado About Nothing (two versions and part of a third -- Joss Whedon, Kenneth Brannagh, and David Tennant)
Romeo & Juliet (2 versions)
Macbeth (2 versions)
Henry the V - (Brannagh version and a little of the Olivier)
Othello (2 versions -- one as a musical on the television series Fame, and the other with I think Kenneth Brannagh...)
Titus Andronicus (Julie Taymor's version)
I may have seen others but can't remember them. We studied Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, King Lear, Othello...sort of to death and beyond.
Shakespeare done well is brilliant, done poorly is sleep inducing. The trick is not to treat it like Shakespeare and have a bit of fun with it. Basically have it done by folks who aren't academically inclined but definitely theaterically trained.
2. Depressed and tired. Procrastinating making dinner. Hunted through my "meetup groups" to find something socially to do. But alas, it's all dinners and drink socials. OR painting and drinks in a park on a sheet. Or drawing naked people. OR scavenger hunts with alcohol and 100s of people after work no less. Or all day hikes in New Jersey, which requires a car.
Eh. no.
I'll probably go to church on Sunday, or try to, and maybe catch a movie after. Been a really bad summer for me socially speaking. Last year was much better. This could be adding to my depression. Well that and the state of the world at the moment.
We had two more mass shootings. This time in Texas and Ohio. It would be one thing if these were the ONLY shootings we had this year or the only ones we had in the last two or three or even ten years. But nooo...these are...I think I've lost count.
We have had mass shootings just about every month. I kid you not. They are that frequent. I checked the stats, and they've become so frequent that the news media only really reports on the big ones any longer -- such as more than five people get killed, and there was serious action. I don't know about anyone else, but I find this depressing.
The Doofus' response to the latest one? Oh perhaps we should look into gun control, and this is clearly a problem with mental illness -- and we need to put all the mentally ill away in asylums and things will be hunky dory. Shame we can't confine the Doofus in a mental asylum. Honestly, I think there are grounds, impeach him for being incompetent and crazy then confine him in a mental institution along with all his supporters.
When this happened in other countries, such as say New Zealand, Australia and Great Britain - they immediately enacted laws against guns and stricter gun control. When it happens in the US? What do we do? We argue endlessly about gun control. Because heaven forbid we take away the someone's god-given right to bear arms? I mean, why should they have to give up their gun collection or semi-automatics, just because some lunatic shot up a school? Also how else will they form a militia against an evil tyrant and protect themselves?
See? This is what happens when you start a country via a violent revolution. Of course that was when everyone was carrying muskets. Now people have semi-automatic weapons that can five six to ten rounds with the press of a button. But what they hey...it's their god-given right, through the bible and the constitution! Hoozah!
Granted if they tried to fight the government they'd be in for an ugly surprise -- considering our federal government has "drones" and missiles. Plus nuclear bombs.
I'm not sure that gun collection is going to come in useful. But you never know, we could have a fatal virus that turns everyone into a zombie -- so hey, don't want to give up those guns.
Sigh. I wish I could snap my fingers and their frigging guns would dissolve into dust, that all weapons everywhere would just dissolve -- sort of like how Iron Man dissolved all the weapons of planetary mass destruction with one quick snap.
Seriously, how selfish do you have to be to refuse to give up your right to own a gun to ensure safety for all? Is the ability to take pot-shots of squirrels in your back yard, really that important? And who needs a semi-automatic to do that? A bee bee gun is just as effective.
Meanwhile Lando (co-worker) did his "Rapture" rant -- about how all the good people are dying for the Rapture, and we're at the end of days. Sigh. He's kidding. But I suffered through it through the entirety of 2016 and part of 2017.
And people wonder why I'm watching Marvel movies.
3. Finished We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix -- which won the Good Reads Award for Best Cult Horror Novel. (The taste of the folks on Good Reads continues to boggle my mind. It got a few other awards too. I do not know why. I think people liked the overall theme -- which is sort of screamed at you repeatedly throughout the book, then posted in big letters at the end, just in case you did not get it. Uplifting its not, inspiring maybe, if you are into heavy metal music, Dolly Parton, and steel string guitars and like Stephen King light.)
I skimmed most of the book. It's repetitive. And there's lots of needless filler. Boys groping and attacking one of the female protagonists in gruesome fashion -- which I skipped over. A lot of badly written song lyrics...reminding me of why I'm not a metal fan. Queen or The Runaways it's not. Or even the Stooges. Granted, I like Punk. And Hard Rock. Metal tends to be head-ache inducing, although it has its moments, I guess.
What works in the book, and there's not nearly enough of it -- is the descriptions of playing instruments. And playing music. The lyrics ...poetry they aren't. Unfortunately, it's also repetitive. She's constantly ripping her fingers apart on the strings. (I've played guitar -- it's not that bad. You build callouses.) And they are bleeding whenever she plays. (Really?) And the soul sucking demons remind me of something out of Harry Potter.
It's more horror fairy tale than horror. Where musicians sell their souls for fame and fortune -- the soul, here, being a metaphor for creativity and imagination and hope, without it -- you are empty always yearning for something, but not sure what it is. Just a poor slob beneath the wheel. And to overcome the Black Iron Mountain that devours your soul, you have to fight and do it a pebble at the time.
The story is about Kris Pulaski, former lead guitarist for a heavy metal band that she helped create -- who fights her way through a hellish landscape to reach the front man that betrayed the band and sold their souls to Black Iron Mountain. It's a bleak novel, that rails at a culture of cell phones and conspiracy theories thrown about on the radio circuit. Wondering what if they are true. And apparently the writer has a major beef with UPS. Don't know why -- FedEx is a lot worse.
It's okay. But I skimmed a good portion of it. And once again, where are the editors? Then again people gave him awards...so what do I know? I personally find it depressing that the book won awards, while other better books fly by unnoticed.
no subject
Date: 2019-08-06 04:38 am (UTC)The male author did better with female characters than some other male authors, but honestly: that's not a high bar.
no subject
Date: 2019-08-06 12:28 pm (UTC)Yeah, it did. I know. Blew my mind as well. Bram Stoker Award. Good Reads Award. And it's a really poorly written book. He repeats the same descriptions endlessly. And very pedantic about music. Heavy metal sold out too and isn't that great, the boy needs to expand his horizons. And don't get me started on Dollywood.
The best bits were how he handled the female characters - and how all the characters were not pretty in the physical sense -- providing a sort of pseudo-realism to the writing. . But I've read male writers who've handled female characters better than that. So definitely not that high a bar.
If felt a lot like a very didactic ballad about the harsh realities of the lower middle class and how heavy metal is their anthem.
no subject
Date: 2019-08-06 05:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-08-06 12:23 pm (UTC)Sigh. Oh well, I thought it was more...so I suppose that's something. But alas, it was about that many or more the last year...and we aren't through with this one yet. So on average we've had approximately 300-500 a year...or around that. But hey, as the gun owners state we have that many with car crashes....granted cars are created to transport people not kill them, but apparently that distinction is lost on people. There should be a test, if you can't distinguish the difference between a car and a gun's uses, you can't own a gun.
no subject
Date: 2019-08-06 05:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-08-06 06:08 pm (UTC)Yeah, I know, Don't really need to know the statistics. I'm snarking at it to keep myself sane. At this point, I think true change will only happen when the stubborn assholes lose something precious to them personally. Otherwise we're doomed.