Well, after my last post this is not much of a surprise:
What Be Your Nerd Type?
Your Result: Drama Nerd
You sure do love the spotlight and probably have a very out-going and loud personality. Or not. That's just a stereotype, of course. Participation in the theatre is something to be very proud of. Whether you have a great voice for musicals, or astounding skills for dramas/comedies; keep up the good work. We need more entertainment these days that isn't television and video games (not that these things are bad, necessarily.)
It’s DVD Pirate night at my place. No, I’m not watching Pirates of the Caribbean. Sure, Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow would make for a nice Pirate night, but I want to watch more than just dastardly pirate types. No, I’ve got singing and dancing pirates entertaining me, Gilbert and Sullivan style.
After my post on Leap Day and watching the clip from Pirates of Penzance, I found myself needing to see themovie again. Me, my mom, and my sister had fallen in love with that movie after watching it on TV way back in the early 1980s. Youtube had plenty of snippets from the 1983 movie, plus various stage performances, including high school and college versions. But I wanted that 1983 movie. After all, it offers the opportunity to see one of the greatest Pirate Kings of all time: a young and vibrant Kevin Kline. And did I fall for him in that role.
Unfortunately, that film is not available on DVD. Curses! What I did find is a DVD of the original stage production that the movie I loved was based on. This 1980 version of Pirates of Penzance was one of Joseph Papp’s summer Shakespeare festival productions. On the centenary of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, Papp and director Wilford Leach decided to have fun. With a cast that included pop stars Linda Ronstadt and Rex Smith, along with pros like George Rose as the model of a modern major general, the free show in Central Park proved such a hit that it eventually moved to Broadway, running over 700 performances. One of the more successful revivals, the musical won a variety of Tonys, including one for Kevin Kline as the Pirate King.
Papp and Leach took liberties with Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operetta. One change was making the Pirate King, usually performed by an older and less swashbuckling actor, more like our Errol Flynn image of a pirate. Kevin Kline was the perfect person to bring this new dashing King to the stage. Kline had been in a few Broadway shows, winning the “Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical” Tony award for On the Twentieth Century, but it was the Pirate King role that put him on the show biz map.With the success of of his role as the Pirate King, he was cast to recreate the role for the movie version (and why is there no DVD version of that movie?). He was also offered the role of Nathan in Sophie’s Choice, and since then he’s had a successful film career (he steals several scenes in the recent Definitely, Maybe).
The stage version that I am watching shows the fun that the audience had, sitting in the park and watching a new twist on an old classic. They also seem quite enamored of Kline and his Pirate King. I’m enamored too. Just watch him ham it up in dashing style:
I spent a late night on Tuesday following the primary outcomes. Yes, I was disappointed that Clinton made a bit of a comeback, as I’m at the point that I want the Democratic nominee to go after McCain instead of the two candidates going after each other.
Feeling rather burnt out last night I decided to finish a book last night. Jasper Fforde’s title, Lost in a Good Book, described my attitude perfectly — it was a pleasure to lose myself in something entertaining. Tuesday Next’s adventures make me laugh, and where else can you have Miss Havisham of Dicken’s Great Expectations speeding in a sports car in order to beat Alice in Wonderland’s Red Queen to a book sale?
Tonight I may head to bed early and read some more. I started a biography on George Washington and it’s pretty darn interesting. I’ve always found Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Ben Franklin much more fascinating historical characters, so I really bought the book to see if I could find a way to put Washington on my fascination list. He’s always seemed rather boring to me. Ha! What a fascinating history so far: massacres, stifled ambitions, tobacco farming, and an ongoing suspicion of being cheated by London businessmen have filled the pages so far, and somehow I’m liking good ol’ George.
And yes, the Kindle makes reading easier. Reading is a one-handed affair, which is nice when I’m also trying to eat at the same time. No longer do I have to hold the book in one hand and turn the page with the other. Now I just hold the Kindle and quickly push the Next Page button. By the way, if you just got a Kindle I recommend you do what I do to limit accidentally hitting buttons: fold back the front of the Kindle cover and place the elastic band to hold it in place (I learned this on the Kindle forum). Here’s a photo found on Flickr showing the cover folded back:
If you’re laying in bed on your right side you can slip your hand in between the cover and hold on with just a few fingers as the elastic holds your hand in place (photo example). Your thumb is in a the perfect position for pushing the Next Page button. If you’re on your left side, your hand fits around that same cover to the left of the Kindle. Your thumb can rest along the bottom cover clasp putting it into perfect position to….guess what? Yep, push the Next Page button. It’s the perfect lazy reader’s way to read a book.
Just got back from seeing The Other Boleyn Girl. It’s an historical soap opera, but I guess that’s the way it was back then. What else could you expect if your family expects you to be “extra nice” (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) to the King. Not that Eric Bana, as King Henry VIII, is a terrible king to have to be nice to. Unfortunately, both Mary and Anne Boleyn (Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman) find their relationship as sisters rather strained. Of course, Anne ends up Queen of England, but at an eventual cost. After all, King Henry VIII is well known for getting rid of his wives.
You know, I have had problems with my little sister (she never paid attention as I bossed her around), but I’m glad that in our family we never had to deal with the headsman’s blade. Not that we would have caught the eye of the King anyway.
A! What’s that spell? Why, it spells “A” — also the grade I am receiving in my one spring semester class. My instructor liked my papers, and looking at the results for my final paper, my instructor gave me the full points available. That put me into A territory with plenty of points to spare.
Give me an ‘A’!
Give me an ‘M’!
Give me an ‘E’!
Give me an ‘N’!
What’s that spell? Why it spells “Amen.” Amen and Hallelujah, I’m almost through with my Master’s degree. One more class to go.
DilettanteVille 