Fancy.Prose.Style.

May
15th

Thu

“So charismatic is Stewart as an actor that he can make the simple act of preparing a ham sandwich one of the scariest things you’ve ever seen,” Mr. Spencer wrote.

Seriously. I’ll never look at a jar of mustard the same way ever again, especially since Mr. Stewart accidentally dropped it on the floor during last night’s performance. Just seeing that yellow goo go splat across the gray dungeon-esque set made it difficult to sleep last night.

This was the first production of Macbeth I have ever seen that was truly, genuinely scary. It was also the first production that was easy for me to watch. Mr. Stewart made the whole production flow beautifully and it wasn’t until after I left the theater that I realized how freaked out I was. Mr. Goold’s staging is very smart and his design choices are solid and well-executed. There is a great deal of the showmanship necessary to an engaging Shakespeare production (the banquet scene in particular comes to mind, although I don’t want to spoil it for anyone else by describing it) and yet the showmanship is built on such a sturdy foundation that the audience doesn’t disconnect when the loud music stops or the lights are not longer flashing and we are left with just a spotlight and an actor. It is Mr. Stewart who carries this production, of course - he relegates even the simplest bit of stage business to the realm of the divine and I will never forget the smooth and intelligent motions of his hands as he slapped ham and cheese on bread to make a sandwich for Banquo’s murderers - but his charisma and buoyancy support the performances of everyone around him.

I also found myself struck by the similarities between Hamlet and Macbeth as deeply philosophical men who make radically different choices but ultimately end up the same. Both have similar “to be” monologues and ultimately conclude that “my thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth” and “from this moment the very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand.” As the New York Times points out, Mr. Stewart’s portrays Macbeth a deeply introspective, almost dreamy man. His murderous bent and his psychotic break with reality come as a surprise to him in his lucid moments, and his realization that it all signifies nothing is the conclusion with which all ambitious men dodge and parry with the weapons of their achievement. His death, then, comes as a nihilistic surrender and not a valiant last stand. It’s a sensible and worthy intrepretation performed with unparalelled elegance.

Cindy McCain Sells Sudan Investments

squashed:

…as in it took until mid-May of election year to realize that maybe it was time to divest from Sudan.

bullshit:

Drawings by kids recreated in real life (from here or here)

May
14th

Wed

It's That Time Again!

Every year, there comes a time (now) when I decide that I am definitely going to apply to grad school.

I spend months preparing to apply, set myself timelines, request brochures, and studying for the GRE’s. Then the time actually comes to do the work and I bomb the GRE’s, blow through my time lines, turn the brochures into decoupage for a craft project and re-commit myself to life without a Master’s Degree.

Then I take a long hard look at my job and the cycle starts all over again.

May
13th

Tue

Can You Catch Up on Lost Sleep?: Scientific American

May
9th

Fri

Bleak House

One of the characters has just spontaneously combusted.

“I cannot tell you how important it is that we understand the true nature of Islam, that we see it for what it really is. In fact, I will tell you this: I do not believe our country can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam. I know that this statement sounds extreme, but I do not shrink from its implications. The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed, and I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore.”

Parsley is not shy about his desire to obliterate Islam. In Silent No More, he notes—approvingly—that Christopher Columbus shared the same goal:

“It was to defeat Islam, among other dreams, that Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World in 1492…Columbus dreamed of defeating the armies of Islam with the armies of Europe made mighty by the wealth of the New World. It was this dream that, in part, began America.”

—

- Rod Parsley, whom John McCain calls his “spiritual guide”

I’m not in favor of using people’s religious advisors as weapons against them, nor am I suggesting that John McCain agrees with everything Mr. Parsley says. However, in the interest of fairness, shouldn’t these remarks be getting the same amount of press coverage as Reverend Wright’s? Doesn’t this association at least demand some sort of explanation from Mr. McCain?

Barack Obama took his pastor’s indefensible remarks and responded with the most eloquent and relevant speech on race relations this country has every heard, with the exception of Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech. It seems Mr. McCain doesn’t have the guts to attempt to do the same with this shameful piece of fundamentalist Christian hate speech.

May
8th

Thu

Jenny: The person who invented packing peanuts also needs to explain why sometimes they smell like popcorn, and, yet, I cannot eat them.

Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.

— Dad’s most-quoted Dickens quote, from David Copperfield.

Things I Have To Say

1. There is a very special circle of hell for people who leave office bathrooms a mess and expect “someone else” to clean it up. The “someone else” around here is me, and lately I am quite amazed by both the level of mess that grown adults can make and their lack of qualms at leaving said messes to be cleaned up by others. If you’re old enough to have a job, you’re old enough to leave the bathroom as you found it. Good thing I don’t work in a bar.

2. The person who invented packing peanuts has some serious explaining to do.

3. I love Charles Dickens. LOVE love love. If I could please have a year off from doing anything else so I could sit down and read them all, that would be nice.

Thank you.