Month: March 2020
Republican Senators Introduce a Motion to Censure Chuck Schumer for Threatening Supreme Court Justices
Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican, sponsored the motion and it already has fourteen senators joining in. This sounds like a good idea. Allowing the minority leader of the Senate to threaten judges without consequences is weak. He should be slapped down. Basically he is encouraging madmen like antifa to target the court. The Supreme Court has a number of important cases this year. Hopefully Roberts doesn’t make himself the spoiler an we get some progress on these issues.
Shakespeare in Film – Part 6 – Hamlet – Gibson’s 1990 Version
Mel Gibson became a movie star in such action adventure movies as Road Warrior and Lethal Weapon. But he was interested in more intellectually challenging projects and so eventually he became a director and produced some very interesting films such as Apocalypto and Passion of the Christ. But even before his directorial debut he branched out into less popular films. He starred in Franco Zeffirelli’s 1990 version of Hamlet which is the subject of this post.
Gibson was surrounded by a very respectable group of American and British actors with Glenn Close as the Queen, Alan Bates as the King and Helena Bonham Carter as Ophelia, Hamlet’s love. The staging is more naturalistic than the Olivier version and has a number of outside shots that make it feel less claustrophobic than the Olivier version. Interestingly the selection of scenes coincides closely to Olivier’s. Zeffirelli didn’t completely eliminate Rosencrantz and Guildenstern but they were minimized. And once again as in Olivier’s version it is Horatio who speaks the final lines of the play.
Without a doubt this version is much more emotional and the dialog is imbued with a more theatrical air. I won’t say that the intensity is over the top but it is decidedly less restrained than Olivier’s version. From a personal perspective I prefer Olivier’s rendering but by no means would I call Gibson’s performance poor. It is spirited and heartfelt but it lacks the polished perfection of Olivier’s performance.
In an earlier installment of these Hamlet posts I described the different acting methods used by the British Shakespearian tradition that concentrated on mastering techniques versus the American method acting school. Gibson is not an extreme method actor but he emphasized the emotional aspect of the part and that explains some of the difference between the two versions. But as much as Gibson is a good actor he cannot compare to Olivier. So, Gibson’s version is interesting and skillfully done. But it wouldn’t be the one I would add to my collection if I was only going to have one.
06MAR2020 – Quote of the Day
If you lay duties upon people and give them no rights, you must pay them well.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
06MAR2020 – Photo of the Day
A Eulogy for the Losers
And just like that, we’re down to two. Oh sure, Granny Warren is still in the race but after losing her “home” state there’s not much left to do but shovel some dirt on her carcass and call it a campaign. A newly reminted Biden is ready to spout inexplicable nonsense all the way up to the convention. Bernie is in a panic and will have to yell even louder and wave his arms even more wildly. It’s going to be amazing.
But what I want to talk about is what is to become of the losers. Just look at them. Sure, technically most of them still have high paying jobs and health insurance but how can they go forward with their lives when they’ve been forced to say ridiculous things now for half a year. All of them have raised their hands and said they believe in the Green New Deal and that AOC isn’t certifiably insane. Beto O’Rourke even claimed he was going to take our guns. And most importantly, they all made fun of the old white guys in the race.
And yet here we are and as far as the eye can see all there are is old white guys! So, it’s not like these folks are gonna get much love from Biden or Bernie. So, they’ll have to go back to work and make believe they’re Senators or ex-mayors or skateboarding Kennedy clones or whatever the hell Tom Steyer does nowadays. But one thing’s for sure. I’m gonna miss these crazy bastards.
Just think of all the fun and laughs we’ve had as each one explained how his plan was better than her plan, all without recourse to facts or even the magic of mathematics. Watching Kamala tell Creepy Uncle Joe that he had made her cry when he wouldn’t let her be bussed to a good school. Or ButtPete berating Amy Klobuchar for not knowing the name of the Mexican President. Or Fauxcahantas shaking with rage as she declared that Bernie had told her a woman couldn’t be elected President. And what about Spartacus trying to say anything at all? His pop-eyed expression and goofy voice always cheered me up. He never was coherent in any of the debates but he always looked so excited and hopeful, the poor little guy.
But my overall favorite was Beto. He postured and swore and skate-boarded his way into our hearts. I’m old enough to guess that he was put forward based solely on his resemblance to one of the Kennedys. Some child of the sixties in a newsroom must have made it his project to give the hapless Beto just enough publicity to force him on the public eye. Too bad they couldn’t get him to read from a better script. Every time he opened his mouth the stupid came pouring out and destroyed any doubts about how empty his big head was. So Beto is the poster child for the group. What does he do now? He’s not qualified for any useful task and he’s too well known to attempt a normal life as, say, a lifeguard or a movie usher. His choices are either to be locked away in a mad house or given a show on MSNBC. Interestingly enough, Chris Matthews’ “retirement” provides a ready-made spot for Beto. His audience would be almost as stupid as he is and therefore reasonably willing to listen to him jabber on in Spanglish about how, “el hombre naranja est muy malo.” You know the more I think about it the better I like it. In fact, I think all failed Democrat politicians should be warehoused on MSNBC or CNN. Eventually that much stupidity concentrated in one place should tear a hole in the fabric of space and suck the whole studio straight into another dimension, hopefully one inhabited by some Lovecraftian horror that can feast on their stupidity for millennia.
I know I’ve gone a little overboard but darn it I’m gonna miss those losers and I didn’t want to let them go without saying goodbye.
05MAR2020 – Photo of the Day
05MAR2020 – Quote of the Day
To act is easy, to think is hard; to act according to our thought is troublesome.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Shatner Moves On
Say it ain’t so! Well, my real question is, “Was anybody actually asking?” Actually, eventually they would. The desperation in Hollywood will require even the deceased Star Trek actors to appear in later movies as digital zombies, kinda like poor Fred Astaire dancing with a broom in some vacuum cleaner advertisement. But Shatner is right. He’s outgrown Star Trek. He’s ready for Hamlet. Well, maybe Falstaff. He’s old and fat enough for it. But I kid, I kid. Shatner is one of the legends of early television and deserves all the attention and mockery we give him.
Hat tip to one of the Shat’s biggest fans for passing this along.
Creepy Uncle Joe – The Comeback … Kid?
How could I have doubted Joe? Look at him go. He’s got the Joe-mentum. Poor Bernie. So sad. Poor Mike. Poor Fauxcahantas. Well let’s hope they can keep him going until November. He’s been sounding pretty raggedy recently. I wonder which historical figure he’ll confuse President Trump with when he’s trying to put him down? Ronald Reagan? Teddy Roosevelt?
Corn Pop, Leg Hair, Ukraine Money, Shoulder Grabbing. Bring it on!