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Post by En on Jun 14, 2002 16:43:06 GMT -5
*blushes a bit* My family is kind of, well, aristocratic like that. My great-great-grandfather (who died in 1908) built the building I live in, and he knew his family history back to the 1600's, and when I looked online I found where one of my female ancestors from then was the daughter of a family related by marriage to the English throne back in the 1400's. So, the Shakespearean histories deal with my in-laws
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Post by Red <Avantgarden Gnome> on Jun 15, 2002 16:21:09 GMT -5
Well, I've made it a point to read all of them every since I found out I really liked ol' Willy. I started when I was eleven and in a very small production of 12th Night as Feaste and I finished Julius Ceasar last year. I firmly argee that Richard III is the best history, but Much Ado rivals for best comedy. I always had a soft spot for Winter's Tale just because it was so different from all his other work, I almost agree with DeFou's oppinion that it was written by someone else and Willy's name was put on it because his work was so popular at the time.
Mormons are overly fond of geneology for temple work so I never much got into it. *shugs* The fact that Willy was somewhat of a plagerist has always made me grin.
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Post by pottergirl on Jun 16, 2002 13:57:15 GMT -5
Awww... I need to read more Shakespeare. Oh, man, I found out that I have summer reading! I was so looking forward to having just one summer where I could read only books I wanted to read...<sigh> My dad started doing genelogy for my mom's side of the family and traced one branch back to the early 17th century, when they came over here. They got a Revolutionary War land grant in the 18th century and all sorts of stuff. And I have ancestors who fought on both sides of the Civil War.
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Fox Birch
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beauty lost
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Post by Fox Birch on Jun 18, 2002 4:21:54 GMT -5
wow... i really wanna read much ado about nothing...
i've only read a midsummer night's dream ((my favourite also)), winter's tale, othello, hamlet, as you like it, the taming of the shrew, macbeth, julius ceasar, and a buncha sonnets... ((shall i compare thee to a summer's day?? tee hee... that song "to quote shakespeare" is really cute... ))
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Post by Silver_Lion on Jun 18, 2002 7:28:57 GMT -5
Hmmm.... nobody reading the histories except En?...... I wonder why?
Much Ado is one of my favourites because of Benedic and Beatrice. They argue all the time and say horribly funny mean things to each other. And, the stor yis a lesson about trust.
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Fox Birch
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beauty lost
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Post by Fox Birch on Jun 18, 2002 7:32:43 GMT -5
hmm... sounds kinda like the taming of the shrew
lol in that case i'll definitly be reading it later! ;D
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gabi
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this is a working title for a really long book
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Post by gabi on Jun 18, 2002 18:39:59 GMT -5
Lemme see... I've read Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Nights Dream, As You Like It, The Taming of The Shrew, Hamlet, and Othello. I was about halfway through with Twelfth Night and Measure for Measure right before school got out, but I had to return them before I was done because, well, school was out. My favourite is As You Like It. Maybe because it was the first one I read, maybe because of the cross-dressing, or even because I genuinely liked the play. I have this poster I got at Borders on my wall that's the entire play all layed out on the poster. It's huge, and I love it. ('Cept for the fact that it's not up right now because I'm painting this weekend and had to take all my pictures off my wall ) Movie adaptions... I personally thought that the 96 version of Romeo & Juliet was better than the one from the 60s, probably becaue I've always thought Claire Danes was really cool. We watched both in 8th grade when we finished the play. Derek and Micheal (my Shakespeare cronies) liked the one from the 60s better for obvious reasons. I've seen Twelfth Night a bazillion times, it's always on TV. I know that 10 Things I Hate About You is a poor adaption of The Taming of the Shrew, but I can't help but like it. Julia Stiles is a really good actress, and at the risk of sounding like a hormone enraged teenage girl I must say that Heath Ledger is really hot. And a good actor and Aussie to boot. I haven't seen any others, but I did see As You Like It preformed on stage at the Herburger. I thought they did a great job, and my English class went and I had a blast. And we all shouted "Woo-Hoo!" at the end when everyone got married, as is custom for my cronies and I to do when we read a comedy.
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Post by Red <Avantgarden Gnome> on Jun 19, 2002 1:24:28 GMT -5
well, most all the comedies had some form of cross dressing in them. Since only men were allowed to act on the Elizabethan stage, can you imagine the King's men putting on 12th Night and having Viola be a man playing a woman playing a man. I'd love to do something like that someday. The nuances of such a role would be so much fun to play with! ;D Though I think the closest I can get to that now is if I landed Victor Victoria.
I gotta say I laughed out loud in the Di Capprio version of R&J when the guns had "Sword 400" emblazoned across the side.
Has anyone seen 10 Things I Hate About You? I have a hard time when they take works that I like and reduce them to "Teen" movies. This one had some good points though. (psst! For those who don't know, it was a remake of the Taming of the Shrew story)
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gabi
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this is a working title for a really long book
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Post by gabi on Jun 20, 2002 20:19:07 GMT -5
As much as I don't like 'teen' movies, I liked 10 Things I Hate About You. It was funny without being stupid or raunchy, had a really good soundtrack (Long live Save Ferris and Letters to Cleo!) and I'll say it once again: Heath Ledger is hot. Really hot.
As a movie I liked it, but as Shakespeare I didn't. Does that make sense?
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Post by pottergirl on Jun 21, 2002 18:29:15 GMT -5
Yeah, it totally makes sense, because that's exactly the way I feel. I prefer the 96 Romeo + Juliet, but the Zepherelli is very good, too. They're just very different from one another. Every English teacher I know, on the other hand, hates the Luhrmann version.
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gabi
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this is a working title for a really long book
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Post by gabi on Jun 21, 2002 19:12:49 GMT -5
Really? My English teacher this year didn't like it either, but my favourite English teacher of all time liked it. That's why we watched it in class. (Shh... we weren't supposed to tell)
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Post by En on Jun 22, 2002 13:47:11 GMT -5
Weird. My English professor made me go see the new R+J... even went with us. She loves it. The billboards especially. I really dug the exploration of Catholicism and Catholic icons, like the monster Jesus statue and the Sacred Heart everywhere.
Another good thing: They used the original language... but they interpreted it, they made the lines sound like they just thought of that. Zeferelli's production is the more classical version, the one that interprets the language as courtly, aristocratic. I'm not sure which interpretation is valid but the Baz version is SO much more accessible.
And can I just say Claire Danes did something that direly needed done with Juliet? She made Juliet a thoughtful, intelligent, trusting, love-starved young woman, instead of a big-eyed cute girl. It was believable. It was more real. It was a character instead of a caricature.
Along that line... Julia Stiles did more with Kate than some women seem to in Shrew. I couldn't believe it the one time I saw the play and the Kate actually acted like she really got "tamed"! What a load of crap! She just learns how to play Calvinball with her new husband. Her closing speech is supposed to be impish and full of double entendres, not sincere. Ugh.
And wasn't it Julia Stiles in Ethan Hawke's recent Hamlet? Which film sucked big monkey toe, except for two things: Ophelia, who like Juliet finally got a personality and character motivations (it makes SO much more sense to think she might have been depressed BEFORE Hamlet left for England... makes it possible for her to go around the bend later), and Polonius, who cracked me up and was the only funny thing in the show. Hamlet is supposed to have funny stuff. That's what makes the tragedy so tragic -- you have to believe that these people had reasons to live for you to feel bad about them dying.
And... the indi film gimmick was stupid. *rolls eyes* Hi, I'm Ethan Hawke and I want everyone to think I'm all up on the Blair Witch craze. No, that's not going to make my film obsolete in five years.
As for Much Ado -- I liked Branagh's, though Hero and Claudio were kind of weak. I dated a guy who played Benedic (and Puck and Hamlet) in a traveling company once, boy was that a trip -- let's just say he got the part because he WAS Benedic
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gabi
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this is a working title for a really long book
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Post by gabi on Jun 22, 2002 14:03:58 GMT -5
Julia Stiles does a lot of Shakespeare. She was in Hamlet (which I didn't see) and in O which was Othello (which I didn't see either). I can honestly say that she's one of my favourite actresses. Off subject, but I loved The 60's which she is in. I'm such a flower child.
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Post by En on Jun 22, 2002 14:59:58 GMT -5
also off subject... I used to date Julia Stiles' stepsister. woo boy, that was crazy too.
But hurray for flower children! Only -- if you want another perspective on the lives of actual flower children (and there was a lot of unpleasantness, let me tell you -- major discrimination against them) check Fatal Vision by Joe McGuinness (sp?) -- about a guy who tried to fake a copycat killing to look like the Sharon Tate murders. Sharon Tate and company were allegedly murdered by drugged-out hippies.
Anyway. I haven't seen O -- what was that like?
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Fox Birch
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Post by Fox Birch on Jun 23, 2002 3:51:49 GMT -5
lol! that's like my favourite teen movie! it was so sweet!
one thing, though, what was up with the chick's name being macbeth? i thought that was kinda weird... or was it just a nickname?
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