Three links from janni:

When Eaglet was shown these pics from the live theater production of Spirited Away, currently playing in Tokyo, they roared, “I NEED TO GO! WHEN CAN WE GO TO JAPAN?!” Being informed that, after a Japan tour, they are hoping to take it elsewhere in Asia and Europe only made them grumpier. You and me both, kid.

I have sometimes contemplated a fic in which Monkey King meets Gilgamesh. Fortunately, I don’t need to stress it any more, because someone has already memed it for us.

Mandarin noblewomen poetry battle.

---L.

Subject quote from Domino, Genesis.

That Shakespeare Bucket meme via oracne and rachelmanija (who also has a bunch of relevant polls), which involves listing productions of Shakespeare plays you've seen. TV productions are generally the BBC Complete versions from the early 80s (my family made a point of catching as many of those as possible when they were shown on PBS).

All's Well That Ends Well: Seen once on TV.

Antony and Cleopatra: Twice on TV, separate productions.

As You Like It: Twice live, once on TV. Want to see it performed more often.

Comedy of Errors: Seen at least four times, twice live. Favorite was the one with the Flying Karamozov Brothers, who really knew how to ham up the farce.

Coriolanus: Once on TV, want to see the movie.

Cymbeline: Once on TV and had nightmares.

Hamlet: Four times, TV & movies, plus a couple productions of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (that counts, right?).

Henry IV 1 & 2: Both parts each once on TV.

Henry V: Seen live once, and the Branagh movie twice.

Henry VI: Part 2 only, on TV. (That's the part with the choosing of the roses, right? Whichever part has that, anyway.)

Henry VIII: Once TV.

Julius Caesar: Twice live, once TV. Narrowly avoided acting in it.

King John: I think I saw the BBC TV production, but have no memory of ANYTHING about it.

King Lear: Twice live, once TV. Didn't like any production. Plus also Kurosawa's Ran, if that counts here.

Love's Labours Lost: Live once. Gains the most of any Shakespeare play by being performed over being read.

Macbeth: Second live Shakespeare I ever saw, performed at Howard University with an all-black cast, set in an African kingdom. Acted in it (Lady McBeth's Physician) at the Folger Theater. Seen two other live productions. Once on TV.

Measure for Measure: Live once, TV twice.

Merchant of Venice: Live twice (one including a procession of the dead of Auschwitz after Shylock's sentencing, aka The Sledgehammer of Venice), TV once.

The Merry Wives of Windsor: Live twice (one set in Windsor Trailer Park, not a good directorial decision).

Midsummer Night's Dream: Live three times, two movies (Kevin Kline & Mickey Rooney versions), one TV.

Much Ado About Nothing: Twice live, the Branagh/Thompson movie several times, the Joss Whedon movie once. The last showed that it's possible to pull it off successfully even if Beatrice and Benedick have no chemistry whatsoever, which I had thought completely impossible.

Othello: Once live, once TV.

Pericles: Once TV. Remember hardly anything.

Richard II: Once TV.

Richard III: Once TV, twice live, plus Al Pachino's Looking for Richard movie (his multiple takes on the opening lines is a stunning piece of acting in action).

Romeo and Juliet: Two movies (Zeffirelli and Lurman), once live (a university production where everyone was outshown by a strikingly intense Tybalt), once TV. ETA: Oh, right, and also West Side Story twice, the movie and once on stage.

The Taming of the Shrew: Once TV, one movie (Burton/Taylor), once live. All of them cut the frame story.

The Tempest: Once TV, either three times live.

Timon of Athens: Once TV, which was more than enough times.

Titus Andronicus: Once TV. Almost saw it live, but my flight was delayed.

Troilus and Cressida: Once TV.

Two Gentlemen of Verona: Once TV.

Two Noble Kinsmen: Nope.

Twelfth Night: First production I saw live, with actors playing Viola & Sebastian who really did look like each other, and deliciously hideous purple cross-gartering on bright yellow stockings. Seen twice more live, plus one movie (Bonham-Carter), and once TV. Plus 10 Things I Hate About You. My hands-down favorite Shakespeare play. A+ would see again.

Winter's Tale: Once TV.

---L.

Subject quote from Alonzo the Brave and Fair Imogine, Matthew "Monk" Lewis.

Following up on yesterday, a short shameful confession:

Despite all reminders to the contrary, my brain persists in thinking that "King Stephen was a worthy peer" was sung in Timon of Athens rather than Othello.

---L.

Subject quote from Henry IV Part 2, I.2, William Shakespeare.

It occurs to me that I've never actually linked to Bartleby's rich collection of poetry anthologies, the source of several I've reported on here (including Poems of Places).

And speaking of high art, given the number of secondary school and university productions of Into the Woods, it's no surprise there's a lot of low budget Milky Whites. My fave. (via)

And speaking of failures, this demo of supposed historical rapid-fire archery (via) is getting critiqued (via) a lot.

---L.

Subject quote from "Lines on the View from St. Leonard’s," Thomas Campbell.

The Buffalo News reviews a meeting of the local Board of Education as an experiment in absurdist theater. (via)

It may not be a catbus, but it is a catkindergarten. Or maybe a katzenkindergarten.

Ten (plus two) skybridges. (via GP)

---L.

Subject quote from "Future Foe Scenarios," Silversun Pickups.

So I came across the phrase "poets alone should kiss and tell" and thought, "Oo, that'd make a good refrain for a ballade." Fortunately, before I got very far, I googled and found that, unfortunately, Dorothy Parker is way ahead of me here.

Which sounds like a good excuse to mention other things I've encountered on the 'net. 'Cause, peoples, there's some funky stuff out there. By the departments:

• Department of Toshiro Mifune Appreciation, from Badass of the Week. (via)
  
  
• Department of Archeology is Cool: continuing reports of a lost monumental civilization in the upper Amazon basin. (via)
  
  
• Department of Awesome Ethnic Curses.
  
  
• Department of Pastiches of UTTER BRILLIANTINE BAKED IN AWESOMESAUCE.
  
  
• Department of Stop-Motion Animations Created by Photographing Pictures. It's slightly less impressive when you realize he took frames from someone else's animation, but only slightly.
  
  
• Departments of Still More Illustrations of Traditional Japanese Monsters and Still More Photos of the Sapporo Snow Festival.
  
  
• Department of Trippy Localizations brings us the Noh Hamlet. I especially like Horatio's introductory soliloquy followed by giving the "to be or not to be" speech to a random villager.
  
  
• Department of The Big Picture: we's gots yer fire and yer ice -- what else do you want?
  
  
• Department of Political Briefs: One take on what didn't go wrong in Canada the past few years (via), and the U.S. states with gay marriage bans have the highest divorce rates -- and the lowest divorce rates are where gay marriage is legal. Gay marriage damages marriage? No, it doesn't. (via)

And in conclusion, thefourthvine watches Star Trek: TOS for the first time -- hil-lar-ious writeups ensue for Amok Time, The Trouble with Tribbles, and City on the Edge of Forever. (via)

---L.

I knew the new Collected Poems of William McGonagall has additional works not in his three collections. I hadn't known one is a previously unpublished play: a sub-sub-Shakespearean wonder called Jack o' the Cudgel, or The Hero of a Hundred Fights. (Note to angevin2: It's set in the court of Edward III.) Judging from extracts quoted in reviews, it's never been performed because it's unperformable.

Leave the minstrel, thou pig-headed giant, or I'll make you repent
For thou must know my name is Jack, and I hail from Kent.

Declaim that iambic pentameter with a straight face, if you can. Later, when the king knights him:

Sir Jack, I give thee land to the value of six hundred marks
In thine own native county of Kent, with beautiful parks
Also beautiful meadows and lovely flowers and trees
Where you can reside and enjoy yourself as you please.

Clearly, I need this.

---L.

Every year, the city puts on a free Shakespeare play in the park. Community theater, so it's rarely brill -- but it's rarely wretched* either, and sometimes the director brings good insights to the play. This year was The Taming of the Shrew. We went anyway.

And were surprised to see the frame story actually performed for once. Also, Kate and Petruchio almost were convincing -- if their chemistry and pure lustful heat had been continuous instead of sputtering, the final scene would have worked. Mind, "working" means making an otherwise fluffy play as disturbing as Measure for Measure -- but I'd like to see it do that. So I sat back and laughed at the well-turned slapstick and rapid-fire banter. There was one absolutely brilliant moment, when Petruchio showed up antic for his wedding and asks

Wherefore gaze this goodly company,
As if they saw some wondrous monument,
Some comet or —

and that, dear people, was when the baseball field next door started the fireworks.

The production stopped for ten minutes to watch, from the stage, the pretty booms bang off. A minute in, Petruchio said to the audience, "Now that's some monument." The cast worked in ad lib references for the rest of the play -- such as Petruchio's apology for being "in some part enforced <gestures towards the fireworks> to digress."


* The Midsummer with a Peter Pan Puck was probably the low point.

---L.