I have now seen Hamlet performed live. On Broadway, starring Jude Law, no less! It's been a dream of mine to see the play live ever since I fell in love with it, lo these twelve years ago. Cowboy had to go to NYC for work this past weekend, and Dano and I went along for the ride. One of Cowboy's coworkers is also a Shakespeare fan, so she and I decided we could not miss out on the chance to see this production.

I missed the first five minutes of the show, due to a stomach disturbance I blame on NYC food, but I was back in my seat before Hamlet himself wandered out on stage, so I wasn't too sad. Anyway...

It was magnificent.

The set was very austere, with tall stone walls on both sides, and a back wall that could be big wooden doors, or it could be open to the "outside" with a brick wall behind, or it could just be an interior wall. There were very few props, just a chair or bench now and then, and swords/daggers when needed, etc. -- quite minimalistic.

The costumes were modern, all blacks and greys, except during "The Murder of Gonzago" when the Players wore all white. The men wore expensive suits and ties, while Gertrude and Ophelia wore dresses -- most of the characters were attired similarly to the audience, in fact. Horatio was the rebel, always in biker boots and a black leather jacket, with long black hair slicked back into a queue. And Hamlet wore many shades of grey, very layered, and more casual on a whole. (In this pic, you see Horatio, The Ghost/First Player, Gertrude, Hamlet, Claudius, and Polonius taking a bow.)

As for performances, Gertrude was sympathetic, and a strong woman, not a silly one. Claudius was excellent, and his closet soliloquy was heartfelt and compelling. Polonius was officious, but not unbearable. Ophelia was okay, though she was portrayed as timid and pliable. Laertes was acceptable. They went the rash, young, headstrong route, which is not my favorite interpretation. He was sweet to Ophelia, but lacked that brotherly protectiveness I always look for. But I'm hugely picky about my Laertes, and only Liev Schreiber has ever played him to my complete satisfaction (so far), so I wasn't too disappointed.

Horatio. Ahhh, Horatio. Not only was he hot, he was good. This Horatio was the best friend Hamlet totally needs -- strong, resilient, quiet, and completely devoted. He seemed to exude an aura of "I'm here, don't worry," and also a sense of protectiveness. And his "Now cracks a noble heart" brought me to tears, it was so heartwrenching. He had a great voice too, deep and just a little husky. Reminded me a lot of a young Cary Elwes, with his movements and body language, anyway. He'd make a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts.

And then, there was Hamlet. I'm not a big Jude Law fan -- I like him okay, but I don't seek out his movies. But he CAN act. No question. His Hamlet was confused, melancholy, jumpy, and so very tired of this whole mess. He did several scenes barefoot, which pleased me no end; it seems when he put on his antic disposition, he took off his shoes. And he made me cry twice, with his "Rogue and peasant slave" soliloquy (which he got clapping and cheers for, and rightly so, as it was probably his best moment) and his "If it be now" speech, which is not a place I usually choke up. He was just soooo tired of it all and ready to die if need be, so at peace with his fate after railing against it for so long... I loved it. Excellent portrayal overall.

I really liked the way they staged the first part of the bedchamber scene between Hamlet and Gertrude. A big, white, sheer curtain dropped down parallel to the backdrop, and Polonius hid behind it on the audience's side, while Hamlet and Gertrude were behind it, where they were still visible, but not perfectly. It reenforced the fact that we, the audience, are all eaves-dropping on the play, which rocked. When Hamlet stabbed Polonius, then the curtain fell down over him and we could see the whole stage again.

And I adored all of the soliloquies -- Hamlet broke the 4th wall every time and addressed us as if confiding his innermost self to a diary or bosom friend. The overall effect, for me, was to make me want to run down to the stage, throw my arms around him, and promise that everything would be all right. It was intensely personal and awesome.


The "To be or not to be" soliloquy was probably the least personal of all -- Hamlet came onstage "outside," with snow falling around him and blanketing the ground. He was still barefoot, and did most of that speech far away from the audience, only coming closer toward the end of it. A very meditative reading, and quite delicious.

And the end was perfect. Hamlet died in Horatio's arms, with Horatio sitting on the floor, one knee up to support Hamlet a little, who died with his back to Horatio's chest. After "Now cracks a noble heart," Horatio kissed him on the forehead, very reminiscent of the death of Boromir in LOTR. And then Horatio stayed there, cradling him, through the rest of the scene. He looked very much the steadfast, protective, broken-hearted friend to the end. He would periodically smooth Hamlet's hair, or lay his cheek on Hamlet's forehead, and remained very focused on him, only paying Fortinbras the barest attention. Perfect. I was bawling.

I would say Jude Law combined Mel Gibson's almost reckless energy and drive with Richard Burton's weary snarl, if I had to compare him to performances I've seen on dvd. The cast on a whole was excellent, and I'm so glad this was my first live Hamlet. Bravo. My only regret is that I'll probably never get to see it again, as it closes in December.

Sigh. How have I neglected this blog for so long?

Okay, time to catch up a bit on what's going on around here.

First off, I'm preggers again! Which is pretty much why I haven't blogged here much. Between running around after almost-two Dano and the whole pregnancy thing, I've fallen behind on lots of stuff, this blog included. Oops. I'm 18 weeks along right now, and going to have an ultrasound next week, so should be finding out what this little Jellybean is then.

This year's Combat! fanfic-writers' Recon, dubbed Rebelcon, was awesome. It was in NC, so you know I loved that, and we had lots of fun together as usual.

Haven't been to a movie theater since my previous post, so nothing new to write about there. Just nothing out right now that I want to see. Hate that late-summer/early-fall slump.

And my creativity is sorely lacking while I'm pregnant (it was last time around too), so I haven't been writing much either. Until now -- these last few days, I'm suddenly back into it again, and working on revising the three Combat! stories I wrote for NaNoWriMo last year. Pretty jazzed about that, so hoping this will continue for a while.

My craft store is still around, and I'm doing three craft shows this fall with my merch from it. Actually, the first one was on Saturday and was pretty disappointing, so not going there, thanks anyway.

I'll try to blog more often in the future, honest!

This is my 500th post. Shazaam.

I went to see Public Enemies today. It was pretty good. Johnny Depp handed in a surprisingly restrained performance -- he was subtle and charming and vicious. Christian Bale had a pretty boring character. Not a lot to do but look determined, though in the scene between him and Dillinger's girlfriend, he was sweet. But still determined.


It was nice to see David Wenham in a big movie again. He didn't have as big a role as he did in Australia, but it was a fair-sized one. And Rory Cochrane had a nice role too -- I really only know him from the FBI mini-series The Company, and maybe they decided he looked good in a fedora in that and decided to put him in this, dunno.

Anyway, the storyline was pretty much your standard Movie About Bankrobbers. No huge surprises, good or bad. The dialog was good, sometimes really good, but never fabulous. The sets were great, the costumes rocked, and the music was okay.

But the cinematography? Ugh. Almost entirely handi-cam stuff, very rarely a moment where everything stayed still. And um... the last third or so was shot really oddly. When they got to the shoot-out at the little cabins in the WI woods, all of a sudden, it looked and felt like a teenage movie shot for YouTube. The cameras got extra-shuddery, the lighting went weird and sort of flat, and there was no music or any sort of non-diegetic-sound at all. The picture got grainier, and the whole thing felt very amatuer. It got a little more normal after that sequence, but not entirely. I'm assuming it was supposed to emphasize the way John Dillinger's world was slipping out of his control, but to me it was very off-putting.

So... if you love Johnny Depp, it's worth seeing just for him. But otherwise, I'm not so sure. And I'm afraid it gets three Warheads.

But one cool thing about this movie, for me: I visited a place where part of it was filmed before it came out! That's a first for me. I've been to filming sites for The Fugitive and The Patriot and lots of western stuff like Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, but those visits were all long after the fact. But last summer, when I went to visit ED in Oshkosh, they'd just finished filming parts of Public Enemies there a few weeks earlier. She took me around to where some of the exteriors and interiors were done, and in one building, part of a bank interior set for a hold-up scene was still up. I snapped a couple pics:













I think they're from the first hold-up in the movie, but I'm not sure. Coulda been the last one. Not a lot of the set left, as you can see.

Farewell, Karl Malden :-(

From Where the Sidewalk Ends to On the Waterfront, from Pollyanna to The Birdman of Alcatraz, you have never failed to delight and entertain me. From General Omar Bradley in Patton to Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire, you played unlikeable characters likeably, and made merely likeable characters endearing.

I miss you.

Six policemen wearing kilts walked into a Dunkin' Donuts.

Nope, not a joke in need of a punch line (though it could be one). That actually happened while Dano and I were at DD yesterday. Six policemen, all wearing kilts. I didn't muster up the courage to ask them if that's how policemen around here normally dress (and since I usually see them sitting in their police cars, it's possible, I suppose), or if there was a special occasion. They were way too jolly to have just come from being an honor guard at a funeral or something, and I'm pretty sure there was no early 4th of July parade going on.

I have outsmarted a pair of mourning doves. Yay me.

Last summer, we had hanging pots of flowers on the porch that opens off our bedroom. I overestimated how much sun would hit them, and they didn't do very well. After they all died, I just left the pots there because I wanted to use them again this year, but had nowhere else to store them. This spring, a couple of mourning dove decided one of the pots would be a great place to build a nest and hatch a pair of offspring. We thought this was adorable, and Dano enjoyed looking at the birds out our window every morning, especially after the babies hatched. We didn't mind them being there, because it was too cold out for us to plant flowers in the pots anyway.

So the baby doves hatched and grew and flew away with their parents. Yay!

A few days later, the mommy and daddy birds were back. Before we managed to put any flowers in those pots, they laid another pair of eggs. We sighed. We rolled our eyes. We resigned ourselves to another month of not being able to use our porch, for fear of disturbing them. Eventually, I planted impatiens and begonias in the four pots they weren't nesting in, and reserved enough flowers for "their" pot so I could plant them as soon as they vacated.

(We actually don't know that this is the same pair, but they seemed very focused on using the same pot again, so we assume they are. But according to Wikipedia, mourning doves can hatch up to 6 clutches of eggs a year.)

All went well -- both babies hatched, ate a great deal of regurgitated whatever, and eventually flew away. After we saw no birds for 24 hours, we assumed they'd moved on, and I planted the reserved flowers in the hanging pot.

Yesterday morning, they were back. Trying to nest in that pot again. Smooshing down my flowers. Cowboy went out and shooed them away several times while he was getting dressed, and left me to defend the fort when he went to work. I spent two hours running out onto the porch every five minutes or so to clap my hands and yell and wave plastic bags to scare away the birds. They kept coming back. And they began to build another nest. I threw away the twigs they brought, and they just came back with more.

I thought about making a scarecrow. I considered wrapping all the plants in plastic wrap until they got bored and left. I thought about playing loud music on the porch.

And then I realized there was a very simple solution: no hanging flower pots, no nesting spot. I brought in the pots and put them in the pantry, which has lots of light, as well as a baby gate that keeps a certain little mister out.

The birds were extremely confused. They spent several hours perching on the porch railing, craning their necks around to look for the missing flower pots. Periodically, one or the other would fly up a couple feet, to where the pots formerly had been, and flutter around. Maybe they thought the pots had just turned invisible or something. At any rate, by noon, they gave up. We haven't seen them since.

So yes, yours truly has outwitted a couple of bird brains. Aren't you proud of me?

I watched The Crimson Pirate (1952) last week, and all I have to say is, I haven't had that much fun watching a pirate movie since the first Pirates of the Caribbean film! I'm not saying I loved this the way I love Curse of the Black Pearl or anything, but it was a resoundingly enjoyable film.

Okay, okay, a lot of that is due to the fact that Burt Lancaster spent most of his time looking like this. Though this picture doesn't do his manly biceps and triceps justice, I'm afraid. He also spent a remarkable amount of time swinging through the air while brandishing a cutlass. They definitely put his circus acrobat training to good use, that's for sure. I've never seen someone climb up and slide down so many ropes in one movie. Also, he got to dress in drag, and he makes a remarkably attractive woman. No, I'm kidding -- he makes an extremely ugly woman and no one in their right mind would ever be fooled by him in a skirt and blonde curls for a second. Which made it even funnier.

I can't actually tell you what the plot was about, as I'm a bit fuzzy on it myself. Something about stealing guns and pretending to sell them to some rebels, and then double-crossing the rebels by telling the British officials where to find the rebels, except then they decided not to do the double-cross part, except then they decided to do it after all, except... somewhere in there, I got lost. And I didn't care. The plot was entirely beside The Point, which was that Pirates Have Fun! Lots and lots of fun. They sail around and swing on ropes and taunt soldiers and walk around on the bottom of the ocean with a boat over their heads and kiss women and never, ever, ever stop smiling. Especially not Mr. Muscles And Teeth, who was having the most fun of all.