Turning Shakespeare Inside Out--Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

I first saw Rosencrantz and Guildenstern on stage in the 80s, but Tom Stoppard wrote it in 1966. I loved it.  I loved it not just for the clever way that the playwright inserted his characters' point of view into the story, using a sort of theatrical kaleidoscope that showed something completely different (a technique used in later plays like Wicked) when the view shifted, but also for the language.  R&G is very much a play about language. The play is full of quotable lines--"Who is the English king?" Rosencrantz asks. "That depends on when we get there," Guildenstern responds. The Player has a great speech about the kind of entertainment he and his players provide, offering up love, blood and rhetoric in various combinatins, but always with blood. ("The blood is compulsory," he says.)

In 1990, Stoppard directed a film version of his play starring Tim Roth and Gary Oldman (Commissioner Gordon himself). Both men look impossibly young (Roth was 29, Oldman was 32) and Oldman actually has a scruffy Heath Ledger-in-the-Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus-thing going on.   Oldman plays Rosencrantz as an innocent fool,  with Roth playing the only slightly more savvy Guildenstern. The two play off each other really well, especially in an early scene when they're trying to remember what they're doing riding toward Elsinore and when they're trying to figure out exactly what's going on with Hamlet. 
The movie is currently streaming live on Netflix, or you can buy it used from Amazon for less than $5.

Drink like Shakespeare

The Beer Connoisseur Online has an interesting post about what Shakespeare drank. (The conclusion is that he was a fan of ale but not of beer.) I remember a line in one of the Henry plays where the bard is dismissive of people who have "a taste for small beer,' which I assumed was something like Miller Lite.Shakespeare Online goes beyond beer and ale into the wine that would have been available to Shakespeare and his characters. (Falstaff was very fond of sack.) The article is sprinkled with quotes from the plays. The blog Not PC has a "Beer O'Clock" entry from 2008 about shakespere and beer.

Beer Advocate has rated Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout a 94 (exceptional), while their colleagues have given it a 97, making it a world class beverage.
The United Nations of Beer offers a Shakespeare t-shirt with a beer quote on it.

You have been warned!!!

Sometimes apartment living gets me down.

My apartment building isn't that large--30 units--and I know people on all three floors. The landlady really tries to foster a community feeling by decorating for any and all holidays and by doing things like putting out candy for Halloween. People are generally cordial when passing in the hallway or sharing an elevator. The dogs who live here are social ice breakers. And yet ...it doesn't feel like a community.
Someone on my floor is UNCLEAR on the concept of what a trash room is for and assumes it's fine to leave smelly food trash on the floor rather than dump it in the chute. Someone in the apartment thinks that defacing the elevator door with obscene graffiti is an expression of creativity. Someone thinks that it's okay to let their dog piddle in the stairwell (because you know, it's just too far to walk that extra FIVE steps to the outside door). And then there are the people who prop the outside door open, thus negating the purpose of the locked garage. Three different cars have been stolen from that garage and the security tapes (yes, there is a security camera) who that all three of the thieves entered through an unlocked door.
I could make myself nuts complaining bout this stuff but instead, I use it in stories.
Yes, I will turn you into a hateful character that readers will mock!
I will expose and exploit your classless behavior.  I might even use your first name.
You'll likely never know.
You certainly won't change your behavior.
But I will feel a LOT better.

Shakespeare by the Sea

I had no idea when I began the Summer of Shakespeare that there was so much Shakespeare in the Southland or that so much of it was free. A company called Shakespeare by the Sea is celebrating its 15th season of Shakespeare this summer, touring Los Angeles and Orange Counties with Two Gentlemen of Verona and Romeo & Juliet. The performances are free and take place at parks throughout the area (most of which are not actually by the ocean).
Here's a list of the venues, along with donation thermometers to let you know if a performance is fully funded or not (in case you have a little extra cash).
For me, the nearest performance will be August 2nd in Glendale; the play will be R&J.
timeless Tales. Ticketless Admission.
FREE SHAKESPEARE!

All things Elizabethan

When you start thinking about Shakespeare, you inevitably start thinking about the Elizabethan era. I was looking for information on Elizabethan-era music, and ran across this site, which is simple but chock full of information about everything from Elizabethan cuisine to Elizabethan sports. I knew that they played tennis in Shakespeare's time (remember in Henry V when the French ambassador sends Henry a gift of tennis balls?) but I had no idea that they also bowled. They also enjoyed dog and cock fighting, as well as bull and bear-baiting. (Again, I knew about the bear-baiting but not about the bull-baiting.) Anyway, the site is a great way to while away a few minutes if you're taking a break from doing the things that pay your rent.

Smother Mother--New NoHo Noir

The heat is on over at NoHo Noir. We haven't heard from Shannon Garrick and her son Liam since he testified against the gang shot-caller who killed the motel owner. Shannon's mother Maeve McConnaughey is still here and let's just say, she's overstayed her welcome. Check out the latest installment here. As always, illustrated by Mark Satchwill.

No Shakespeare for me this Sunday

There's probably a quote from the bard about "best-laid plans" and so forth, but none comes readily to mind. I was supposed to go see A Midsummer Night's Dream tonight at Griffith Park in Los Angeles. (Free!!) Instead, I will be going next week. Stay tuned.