Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
I think Bill Murray may have been robbed for his Polonius in the Ethan
Hawke Hamlet from a couple of years ago, as well.  I just watched a
chunk of that, and I thought Murray was quite good.  I didn't finish
it, because it had to be back at the video store, but McLachlan didn't
impress me--he's too young for Claudius--and the Gertrude wasn't
ringing my bell either, but Murray, and, to a certain extent, Hawke,
were pretty good.  The American accents sound odd to me, speaking that
text, and I don't think I like a really whiny, indecisive Hamlet, but I
would like to see the rest of it.

We watched 6 Hamlets in class to illustrate characterization.  Yes,
it's official, my favorite *is* the Jacobi.  They were, for the record:
Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir Derek Jacobi, Kevin Kline, Mel Gibson,
Kenneth Branagh, and Hawke.  We just looked at "To be or not to be". 
It was an interesting experiment.  The kids survived it.  I was, of
course, in seventh heaven.

I may, eventually, rent "Lost", as long as I don't have to listen to
Whiny Girl babble.  I would like to see Murray & Johansen's
performances, it's just that I was ODing on her annoying self in the
run-up to the Oscars.

Was it just me, or was this the least surprising Oscar night in recent
memory?  Not a single shocker.  Weird.

Neil--Ooooo--Jude Law.  Good dreamcasting.  Keanu could surprise us
all--hell really could freeze over--but I always think of Sting in that
role.  I don't even care that he's probably too old now.  I just saw
Lock, Stock & 2 Smoking Barrels, and he was great in it.  Sort of
Constantinish, actually.

I was wondering about Hidalgo 'cause I thought somebody might have
seen a preview.  It looks fun.  And since Kill Bill 2 doesn't come out
'til April (how weary, stale, flat and unprofitable are the early
months of the year for moviegoers...) I may have to go see it.  Long
are the days 'til June & Harry Potter 3.

Am seeing The Chieftains on Friday because Debbie's boyfriend, Jason? 
He's a keeper.  He got 4 of us tix.  And then Saturday is Crowns at
the Goodman, Sunday is me doing a 4 page monologue at church for the
first of 4 days of our Mission (aaaaggghh!!!), then my friend Tresa is
coming into town from N.C.  I also have to turn in my grades for 135
students and write 5 weeks of lesson plans.  My house  is a sty, so
that needs a cleaning, too.  Exactly when all this is supposed to
happen, I'm interested to find out.  I suppose if I quit typing, and
went and started some of it.......

 
  

    
Kevin Kline did a _Hamlet_?  Dang, there are a lot of those out there.
 Someday I'll have to get some friends together for a weekend and have
a _Hamlet_ marathon... after we have a _Thin Man_ marathon.  (I once
dreamed that a bunch of my brainier friends did the latter -- and upon
waking, I thought, "That wouldn't be a bad idea!")

Mary, did you ever hear the duet Sting did with the Chieftains on _The
Long Black Veil_?  I'm not really up on their stuff, but I liked that
one a lot.
  

    
Naked pillows? !!!
  

    
I just got 3 dvds courtesy of amazon.com (and a leftover gift
certificate) and not one of them was Lost in Translation. Why? Because
the boy was talking about buying it and recently placed an order at
amazon. I don't know if he thought I was buying it, or if I just
misunderstood, but now we have many loverly dvds and not one Lost in
Translation, which is (of course) the thing I most want to see right
now. (So naturally, I'll pop in My Neighbor Totoro instead.)

Mary - watching so many versions of 'to be or not to be'... sounds...
beautiful! I recall one of my teachers once trying to explain the
poetry of Shakespeare with that speech by having different students
read it in different ways. The best was when someone tried to 'rap' it
(and I remember it not getting very far because too many of us were
laughing).

I'm refusing to diss Keanu as Constantine on the grounds that I think
I'd rather diss the movie as a whole. Actually, that doesn't sound
right. I think what I mean is that I'd rather criticize a script that
could allow for a Keanu-Constantine than criticize a perfectly decent
actor (unless he botches it) for being given a sketchy role. 

And in less than a month, HELLBOY comes out! Come on, how can you not
be excited. It looks like it's going to be incredibly cool and it's got
Ron Perlman in it. How can you not just be all bouncey with glee?!
Gotta say I'm more hyped up about that than Hidalgo... but that I'll
probably see both. :)

As for having too much to do in not enough time, I have no idea what
you're talking about. Convention in planning stages, wedding in 2
months, dress hardly even started, quilt due last November, work
(somewhere in there), and a rearranging of the house project that will
ultimately be a good idea, but NOW??? :)

-squeaks
May 10, if anyone wanted to join us for the afterparty at the goth
club. :)
  

    
Totoro, ToTOORRRO.  Totoro, Totorrro...lalala
Hot dang if I don't love Totoro.
  

    
(ceder) -- <1728> reminds me of an online coversation I was in a few
years back, where someone brought up "naked pudding wrestling."  Of
course, we started speculating on whether we could convince the pudding
to wrestle, especially naked.

-Christy gets attacked by a pudding can o' whup-a$$
  

    
Heh.  Did you know there's an energy drink called Whup Ass?  So now
you can open up a can of one?  I love that.
Almost as much as I love the can of Pimp Juice I even now have next to
my computer.
Red Bull?  How startlingly original.
  

    
Red Bull tastes like medicine.  Yuck.

I am very glad to see that Neil is taking a real vacation, for the
first time since pre-Sandman days.  Especially with extremely cool
daughters!  Love to them all.

I will probably go through some wit withdrawal this week as a result,
but my brother visits this weekend, so that oughta hold me for a few
days.  :)
  

    
It's gone quiet here... too quiet.

ACK! AAAAAUUUUGHHHHH! IT'S GOT ME!

RRAAAAAAAAUUGGGHHHHHH!

-squ...
  

    
Jouni writes, from off-Well:




MISTRESS!

FEAR NOT MILADY! The MIGHTY JOUNIAC IS COMING TO YOUR AID!

(starts running and draws his sword)
  

    
(gets the heck out of the way)
  

    
Your majesty--yeah, I love that CD.  As a matter of fact, they did Mo
Ghile Mar on Friday.  It was a great gig--there's not an acoustically
bad seat in the house @ Symphony Center.  And they brought some cool
Irish dancers & other musicians.

Saw "Crowns" at the Goodman on Friday.  Fabulous!  See this show!

Did not fall into orchestra pit on Sunday when I did a monologue at
church.  Mostly because there was no pit.  At least now I can relax &
enjoy the rest of the mission.  We've got a great speaker, a liturgist
from Florida (the difference between a liturgist & a terrorist?  You
can negotiate with a terrorist), and Wednesday night's concert is
supposed to be a chick from NYC whose CD my choir director is
producing.  I've heard the rough mix & it is amazing.  She's a jazz
singer with a fantastic voice.  I'll put up her name when I remember it
;-)

Mousely one--I will now cease to bitch.  None of my stuff is
important, in the greater scheme of things.  But a wedding in 2 months?
 That's a heart attack in one phrase!

Mary (who has apparently given up reading for Lent)
  

    
Question for you Folk Underground fans:

Does _Buried Things_ (Not _Night of a Million Zillion Ninjas_?  Rats!)
have more than one Neil-penned song on it?

thanks
  

    
Oh yeah -- And, does the last issue of _1602_ come out tomorrow or
next week?
  

    
1602 Tomorrow. 10th of each month or shortly thereafter.
  

    
Let's see... Reading from the liner notes I see we have 3 Neil lyrics:
Folk Underground, Going Wodwo, and The Butterfly Road
  

    
THREE!  Wheee!  And I remember Mary mentioning "Going Wodwo" once and
saying it was good.  I think it was only a poem at that time. 

And thanks, Dodge!  I wasn't sure about this month, because it's a
slightly larger issue and Neil (or somebody) said something about it
coming out in "late March."
  

    
Hm. Then maybe it won't be out on the 10th. I'd not read that. I guess
I'll just call the comix shop and see before I go get it. 
  

    
Me 2.
  

    
heh, after typing that I didn't realize I'd be offline for a while.
Looking back, it's kinda silly and funny. Thanks for the daring rescue,
Jouni. :)

1602 is out on Wednesday next week.

Wedding in 2 months isn't a heart attack (or even a panic attack) just
as long as you have very loose ideas of what "perfect" is, and how
(un)conventional you want stuff to be. 

Plus it helps to have ins with club promoters (having the reception at
our favourite club), caterers (using the club restaurant, but I also
have an uncle who does catering as a back up, should I need it),
photographers (modeling has its perks) and an officiant (our friend
Dave). It also helps to enjoy crafting stuff (like invites and the
dress), and to have a grandmother who owns a travel agency and who has
a friend who does cakes (honeymoon is already taken care of and the
cake is in the works).

No heart attack at all. 

-squeaks
who never knew she had so many connections until it came time to use
them.
  

    
Cool!  And thanks for the _1602_ info.  The guy at the comic store I
called today said it was coming "at the end of the month," so you're
more clued in than he is!
  

    
Well, don't quote me on 1602's date. I was just told that by about a
dozen customers on Wednesday - did I ever mention how less-geeky I feel
working in a comic shop? The customers always make me feel that way.
It's kind of nice. Especially when you consider that the boy and I
actually took our Magic cards to lunch the other day. 

So, I'm discovering the problem with such a fast paced wedding
planning. You get on a roll and boom boom boom one thing after another
gets done (which is GOOD!). Then things get done and you start freaking
out thinking there should be more, and there's not, and you start
going through some kind of minor withdrawal. In other words, my skirt
will be done in a few hours and I'm still on a buzz wanting to just get
a ton of stuff done... and there's not a whole lot else to do!

Then again, I'd rather have this than the having too much to do and
not enough time/motivation problem. :)

So, in random comic news, has anyone else picked up Abadazad?

-squeaks
never knowing what topic to stick to in this arena
  

    
*Sticking* to a topic?  What's that?

Hey, can I have some of your excess energy if you're not using it?  I
have some cleaning and organizing to do this weekend.  Otherwise, I
guess you could use it to do that quilt that was due in November.  Or
chase Thing e around.  Hmm, maybe I can borrow Thing e instead.
  

    
Yeah. And send some my way. This weekend I MUST unpack some things and
get the house finally in order. A little bit at least.
  

    
Whoa, let's get one thing straight here. Don't go confusing my
motivation with energy. :)

And no one borrows the kitten. Even if I'd think it was okay, she'd go
through withdrawals after not sleeping on my head for a full day. At
least she's generally stopped trying to smother me in my sleep. ;)

So, the skirt would be done, but I forgot to buy hook/eyes... grrr.
And I forgot to get them today too. double grrr. But tomorrow I WILL
buy them, dag nabbit. Wheee!hjuyyyyyyyy (<-- kitty on keyboard
syndrome)

-squeaks
who must attend to the needs of the Thing now.