I stopped writing so prolifically here when the Occupant assumed the presidency. When that person was reappointed by you stupid, stupid Americans, the heart went out of me. I think many things now, which would be worth recording, but dismay has dumbfounded me. But, to persevere.
That the Republicans should be so feckless as to bring Trump to the fore … have we learned nothing? We’ve heard an imperious mountebank say anything at all, as long as it promoted his cause, whatever it might have been (anti-American exceptionalism). We know now without any ambiguity what was meant by “Hope and Change”. Hope that our enemies are our friends. Change the definition of marriage. So obvious, now. But since we are stupid, stupid, stupid Americans, who never learn and become more and more decadent, only, then we must follow after the next loudmouth demagogue who says just anything that we idiots wish to hear.
No record, no achievements, other than adultery, bankruptcy and self-promotion. Wealth from, what? Casinos? It is an obvious if cheap question, who did the building in Trump’s developments? Illegal aliens? The facile, knee-jerk populist tropes he spews and spouts – he’ll make Mexico build a wall … he’ll end Islamism in a couple of weeks … just believe you him, it’ll be great – how very cheap, such talk. And now, since there is no Republican party, only American morons, this charlatan is the likely candidate. Against Hillary? What a nightmare.
Someone texted me, who would I vote for if it’s Trump-Hillary. I replied, would you rather eat your own shit or someone else’s puke. Something like that.
I’ve not been following it. I don’t like pornography because I do not like slutishness. But Cruz seems like a solid candidate. I’m not sure what the complaint against him is. He’s, um, an insider? Is that it? Can that be right? If so, boy, are you dumb. But of course you are dumb. America, land of the free lunch and home of the brave front. Idiots. You have pissed away the legacy, traded your heritage for a mess of pottage, or pot.
I had thought that the convention might produce some common sense, but some poll said that eighty precent of Republicans thought the delegates should be bound by the first choice. A new thing under the sun. When I saw the map of how it breaks down (that is the correct phrase) by state, lo! The red states go for Cruz and the blue states, which REPUBLICANS WILL NOT WIN IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, go to Trump. The states that will lose the election for us are the states that are selecting our candidate. Therefore, might we suppose that NOT being bound by the first ballot at the convention would be a more prudent tactic?
In this most recent Tuesday’s primaries, Trump won all five. All is not lost, but the Romney debacle taught me to face likelihoods more realistically. We shall not hope against hope. We, whoever we are, should work as we are willing, because otherwise the terrorists and liberals will have won.
And that’s probably why I’ve bothered to write this. Remember that phrase, the terrorists will have won? They did. Somehow Bush led to Obama, who has led us here. That so called war against so called terror somehow so unmanned us that we became as thoroughly decadent as the islamists said we were. Our institutions are destroyed, so how have the terrorists not destroyed us? The fall of two important buildings in NYC was all it took. Like Samson and the pillars of the temple of Dagon. Fifteen years down the line, and we find we have lost our country.
I have an old cat who pukes on my bed. I buy old-cat food, but guess I’ll try sensitive-stomach. It’s a hassle, and I curse, but I can’t be angry with her. She’s 14 or so, and she likes me. We have to be patient, and gentle.
Do I seem inconsistent?
J
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Friday, April 22, 2016
Reup
Here I am. Fallen silent in a way I had not foreseen. Submerged. I have much less physical pain nowadays. Something philosophical in that, the way we accommodated ourselves to circumstances. Gratitude must be a cardinal virtue. That's probably why God has allowed this horrible universe into existence -- that we may learn gratitude. Indeed, it's the core of Christianity. As a function of intellect "belief" and "faith" don't mean anything. When the soul encompasses that particular faith, it emerges as gratitude. Suffering, then, is the meaning of life. The Buddhists were right.
I feel like experimenting with small talk. Not a natural gift. I'm reading Dostoyevsky's The Idiot. Man. He's so good. I read The Brothers Karamazov, oh, 35 years ago. Always knew I'd read it again. It's next. I thought I'd dive back in with something shorter. Relatively speaking. It's a pleasure almost physical, how good he is.
You will have noticed my comprehensive scouring of the internet for Shakespeare productions. I expose myself to him every day. It's not that some play can mean just anything. It's that there's so much there, anything can be drawn from it -- as with the Bible, it says what it says, but you can prove anything with it. Stray thoughts: Tennant's Richard II -- by far the best production I've seen of that one; it's like they're doing it with understanding. I cannot stand Juliet, as always performed -- so much that I simply can't watch. I don't like hysteria. Actresses, please just say the lines and let the words do the work. You got the part -- you don't need to emote. Orson Welles was the most talented man of the 20th century. As expected, he was a charming jerk -- but he was always right in his artistic choices. He did the finest bit of voice acting I ever heard -- the moment of inarticulate realization. [Mercury Theater # 20 - 46-07-12 - The Search for Henry Le Ferre]
I found out last night that my mother has not been paying her mortgage. Again. There's a point where irresponsibility becomes wickedness. I said that I had thought this would never again happen. She has replied that she is a responsible person. What am I going to do? Imagine that this 81 year old woman is able to change? But it is ruinous to me, the dishonesty. That's why parents are so toxic. They plant the seeds. Both of mine were amazingly dishonest, and I have this huge trust-issue. Hmm. My father, also 81, is so consumed with fear and rage and depression that I don't suppose he can last much longer. When I was a young child he gathered his sons, his "offspring", and for hours would give soul-crushing lectures. I remember when I was twelve he'd talk about having been so depressed that he'd put a shotgun barrel in his mouth. Somehow I don't think his sons existed for any other reason than for him to use in such ways. Now he is likely near his end, and I care, but he's caused enough suffering. The wages of sin, and suchlike.
How am I different. Every vice is customized. Their dishonesty, my distrust -- equally poisonous.
I have several major projects in mind, but simply lack motivation. Two of them, I think, are actually important, like, to the world, or some part of it. People who read. But I am deeply discouraged, etymologically. My courage is crippled. My heart is constricted. No longer young, diminished by pain in a way that has made me old, much of my energy is spent or misspent philosophizing myself into being as non-crazy as I can manage. Not the same as health.
I started this blog years ago as a means of venting. I made a few contacts that were nice to have, to suppose the wide world had some like-minded folks in it. Here I am, again, then, at least this once, venting. No need to respond. The expression itself can help things fall into perspective.
J
I feel like experimenting with small talk. Not a natural gift. I'm reading Dostoyevsky's The Idiot. Man. He's so good. I read The Brothers Karamazov, oh, 35 years ago. Always knew I'd read it again. It's next. I thought I'd dive back in with something shorter. Relatively speaking. It's a pleasure almost physical, how good he is.
You will have noticed my comprehensive scouring of the internet for Shakespeare productions. I expose myself to him every day. It's not that some play can mean just anything. It's that there's so much there, anything can be drawn from it -- as with the Bible, it says what it says, but you can prove anything with it. Stray thoughts: Tennant's Richard II -- by far the best production I've seen of that one; it's like they're doing it with understanding. I cannot stand Juliet, as always performed -- so much that I simply can't watch. I don't like hysteria. Actresses, please just say the lines and let the words do the work. You got the part -- you don't need to emote. Orson Welles was the most talented man of the 20th century. As expected, he was a charming jerk -- but he was always right in his artistic choices. He did the finest bit of voice acting I ever heard -- the moment of inarticulate realization. [Mercury Theater # 20 - 46-07-12 - The Search for Henry Le Ferre]
I found out last night that my mother has not been paying her mortgage. Again. There's a point where irresponsibility becomes wickedness. I said that I had thought this would never again happen. She has replied that she is a responsible person. What am I going to do? Imagine that this 81 year old woman is able to change? But it is ruinous to me, the dishonesty. That's why parents are so toxic. They plant the seeds. Both of mine were amazingly dishonest, and I have this huge trust-issue. Hmm. My father, also 81, is so consumed with fear and rage and depression that I don't suppose he can last much longer. When I was a young child he gathered his sons, his "offspring", and for hours would give soul-crushing lectures. I remember when I was twelve he'd talk about having been so depressed that he'd put a shotgun barrel in his mouth. Somehow I don't think his sons existed for any other reason than for him to use in such ways. Now he is likely near his end, and I care, but he's caused enough suffering. The wages of sin, and suchlike.
How am I different. Every vice is customized. Their dishonesty, my distrust -- equally poisonous.
I have several major projects in mind, but simply lack motivation. Two of them, I think, are actually important, like, to the world, or some part of it. People who read. But I am deeply discouraged, etymologically. My courage is crippled. My heart is constricted. No longer young, diminished by pain in a way that has made me old, much of my energy is spent or misspent philosophizing myself into being as non-crazy as I can manage. Not the same as health.
I started this blog years ago as a means of venting. I made a few contacts that were nice to have, to suppose the wide world had some like-minded folks in it. Here I am, again, then, at least this once, venting. No need to respond. The expression itself can help things fall into perspective.
J
Friday, April 1, 2016
Shakespeare Productions Online
This is a public service, with educational intention. Some would be available from libraries, even if it's interlibrary loan. No doubt streaming services can be useful -- and/but anything you want to keep, purchase.
I've linked mostly to professional productions. A few are pretty awful (!), and some are (sometimes surprisingly) excellent. Worth noting are the '65 LLL and the Chamberlain Hamlet; Stewart's Macbeth is close to flawless (aside from the sisters); the Jayston Macbeth has impressively intelligent performances (likewise, aside from the sisters). A few amateur efforts are included for the POV, when too few professional productions are available -- the disqualifications are bad sound and/or a distant static camera. Just for the history of it, I’ve included non-snippet silent films. There's more available, but I'll add as I please.
Links go dead, so there's that: Kozintsev's dubbed Hamlet, for example, and Maximilian Schell's from German TV -- although it's available after a manner of speaking. There are some sporadically hard-to-find works here. Sadly, the deep and vasty wood of the web is no safe place, and viruses lurk. If you find a dead link, or a toxic one, pls let me know (since 2016 exactly NOBODY has done this). Be that as it may, in your idle or intentful hours, here's a place to invest your time.
Links go dead, so there's that: Kozintsev's dubbed Hamlet, for example, and Maximilian Schell's from German TV -- although it's available after a manner of speaking. There are some sporadically hard-to-find works here. Sadly, the deep and vasty wood of the web is no safe place, and viruses lurk. If you find a dead link, or a toxic one, pls let me know (since 2016 exactly NOBODY has done this). Be that as it may, in your idle or intentful hours, here's a place to invest your time.
COMEDY / ROMANCE
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Two Gentlemen of
Verona
LLCC (static camera) |
Audio
Ark (VK)
Argo (VK)
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______________________
Taming of the Shrew
Stratford 2016
UAA (vk)
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______________________
Audio
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______________________
Comedy of Errors
RSC Strat Fest 89 Angoor 84 Hindi
|
______________________
Audio
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______________________
Love's Labour's
Lost
BBC 1965 BBC PotM Brett 1975
Branagh 2000
Stratford Fest 2017
Opera
|
______________________
Audio
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______________________
Midsummer Night's
Dream
Hall rsc 96
Globe
Taymor 14 2018
Trnka 1959 subtitles Kemp 85 |
______________________
Audio
OSF
|
||
______________________
Merchant of Venice
Tchaikowsky
opera
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______________________
Audio
|
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______________________
Merry Wives of
Windsor
Globe 2019 TxSF 2012
|
______________________
Audio
|
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______________________
Much Ado about
Nothing
Strat Fest
Opera
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______________________
Audio
|
||
______________________
As You Like It
NT 2016 Stewart 2019 gay Strat Fest CBC 83 |
______________________
Audio
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______________________
Twelfth Night
TxSF 2015
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______________________
Audio
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______________________
Troilus and
Cressida
Globe 2009 The Face of Love 1954 | ______________________
Audio
BBC 2005 (VK)
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______________________
Measure for Measure
|
______________________
Audio
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______________________
All's Well That
Ends Well
|
______________________
Audio
|
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______________________
Pericles
Strat Fest 2015
|
______________________
Audio
|
||
______________________
Winter's Tale
|
______________________
Audio
Caed 1961 Gielgud
|
||
______________________
Cymbeline
|
______________________
Audio
|
||
______________________
Tempest
Strat 1982
Strat 2019 sub VK RSC 2017
Purcell Ballet
|
______________________
Audio
BBC 1974 (VK)
BBC 2001 (VK)
Argo (VK)
CBC (VK)
|
||
=====================
HISTORY
|
|||
King John
RSC 2021
globe
|
Audio
|
||
____________________________________________
“AN AGE OF KINGS” – 1960 BBC series
. Richard
II / Henry IV1,2 / Henry V / Henry VI1,2,3 / Richard III
The Hollow Crown 2012
|
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______________________
Richard II
|
______________________
Audio
|
||
______________________________________________
Falstaff”
Opera
|
|||
______________________
Henry IV, Part I
The King 2019 H4 2020 |
______________________
Audio
BBC 1973 (VK)
LS Connery
|
||
______________________
Henry IV, Part II
The King 2019 H4 2020 |
______________________
Audio
McKern
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______________________
Henry V
The King 2019 Babakitis 2010
|
______________________
Audio
|
||
_____________________________________________
Henry VI (1,2,3) & Richard III
HC: The Wars of the Roses 2016
|
|||
______________________
Henry VI, Part I
RSC reading
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______________________
Audio
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||
______________________
Henry VI, Part II
|
______________________
Audio
|
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______________________
Henry VI, Part III
|
______________________
Audio
|
||
______________________
Richard III
Spacey,
Globe
|
______________________
Audio
|
||
______________________
Henry VIII
|
______________________
Audio
|
||
=====================
TRAGEDY
|
|||
Titus Andronicus
|
Audio
|
||
______________________
Romeo and Juliet
SFVP 2001
Carlei 2013?
Globe 2019 Studio One Animated Stratford 1993 Globe 2000 Port
Ballet: Tchaikovsky 2013
Opera
1920 comedy
|
______________________
Audio
RSC Bran (VK)
|
||
______________________
Julius Caesar
Stephens
NT 2018
Opera
|
______________________
Audio
|
||
______________________
Hamlet
Chamberlain 1970
Tennant RSC 2009 Globe 2015 Globe 2018 woke Almeida 2018
Mundell 2003 Ramsay 2011 Evans Hallmark 1953 Schell 1961 Rylance Law
Gassman 1955 Italian Chinese 1990 Dean Glyndebourne VK sub |
______________________
Audio
LATW
|
||
______________________
Othello
Strat
Richardson adaptation Eccleston 2001 All night long 1962 A Double Life 1947. OK Gassman 1956 Italian Omkara Hindi 2006
Opera
Verdi
Rossini
|
______________________
Audio
|
||
______________________
King Lear
Welles 1953 Kozintsev (dubbed) Hordern BBC PotM 1975 RSC Sher 2016 McKellen 2008 McKellen OK 2018
Blessed (VK)
Feore Hopkins 2018
Magee (VK)
Sh Lives 2016 RET
Marshall Ran subtitle
Verdi
opera
|
______________________
Audio
Argo (VK)
Columbia
|
||
______________________
Timon of Athens
RSC 2019
|
______________________
Audio
|
||
______________________
Macbeth
Welles. 1948 Evans 1960 Liverpool 2011 Branagh NT 2013 Strat Fest 2017 Globe 2020
Almeida 2021
Maqbool 2003 Hindi Sangrador 2001
Verdi:
|
______________________
Audio
|
||
______________________
Antony and
Cleopatra
|
______________________
Audio
|
||
______________________
Coriolanus
Fiennes 2011
NTL 2020 Stratford 2019 RSC 17 Globe Studio One 1951 |
______________________
Audio
|
||
==========
Two Noble Kinsmen
|
==========
Audio
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||
______________________
Edward III
|
______________________
Audio
|
||
______________________
Sir Thomas More
|
______________________
Audio
|
||
______________________
PBSF 1995
|
______________________
Audio
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||
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