The good news is that I have in fact been continuing with the Shakespeare stuff, the "remedial accumulation of cultural capital"). I just, for various reasons, haven't been putting up posts. So, over the next few days, you will get Measure for Measure, All's Well That Ends Well, Merry Wives of Windsor, As You Like... Continue Reading →
Pericles – Bad Romance (Bard to the Bone #05)
Number 5 in my "bard to the bone" project. Year written: 1608 Context of the writing (Shakespeare’s career, political events it was responding to): The theatres were closed (Plague) and there was a “colourful” guy who had written a novel on Pericles. Bill wrote Acts 3 to 5 Plot in a paragraph: Pericles, a pince,... Continue Reading →
Moorhens, habits, podcasts and King Lear
The moorhens continue to fascinate. Many of the "smudges" (what the wife and I call the babies, all black fluff and sphericality) seem not to have made it to adolescence - "nature red in tooth and claw" and all that). I am back in the habit of morning yomps (weighted jacket full of coins and... Continue Reading →
Incumbent tactics: copyright as news suppression, BBC editorial choices…
Sometimes a Bluesky feed (and yes, I am as at risk of falling into the scrolletariat as anyone else) offers up a bleak perspective on the way we live now, and what we are invited to see, and NOT to see. I had never thought of the way the police might play music not just... Continue Reading →
The Lay’Em Out Brigade
Just saw this footage of an Australian journalist reporting from Los Angeles getting shot in the calf by a rubber bullet. https://bsky.app/profile/luckytran.com/post/3lr5amqrwlc2j It puts me in mind of various things, including Jack London's novel The Iron Heel. ALSO, this poem below, which I learned about via Shakers and Movers, an astonishing song by Midnight Oil.... Continue Reading →
Cymbeline = imbecile-y (Bard to the Bone #04)
Yes, Cymbeline is an anagram of Imbecile-y. You can call it anagrammatical determinism if you like…. The play: Cymbeline Year written: 1609 or so Context of the writing (Shakespeare’s career, political events it was responding to): srsly, who cares? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymbeline Plot in a paragraph: I’d need more than a paragraph. It’s a mess. Cymbeline is... Continue Reading →
Timon of Athens: Bard to the Bone #03
Third of the plays in my “Bard to the Bone” effort at familiarising myself with the rest of the 38 plays (I have good familiarity with three or four, so-so with some others, little with some and, er, zilch, with about half). Year written: 1606 Context of the writing (Shakespeare’s career, political events it was... Continue Reading →
Dead-checking
Just found this, a photocopied page from the Australian magazine Arena 77 (June-July 2005), about dead-checking, which you don't see portrayed in too many war movies... Evan Wright (RIP), wrote Generation Kill, which was made into a very good miniseries. To be crystal clear - If I were a soldier deployed to a war zone... Continue Reading →
Troilus and Cressida – wtaf? (Bard to the Bone #02)
Bard to the Bone explained here. The play: Troilus and Cressida Year written: 1602 Context of the writing (Shakespeare’s career, political events it was responding to): the forever war against the Irish was dragging on, and this is an “anti-war” play about the futility and banality of it all (causes, characters etc). Apparently you can... Continue Reading →
Pankaj Mishra’s “The World After Gaza” – indexed!!
Pankaj Mishra is an Indian public intellectual. His new book "The World after Gaza" is most definitely worth your time. I will write about its argument, its gaps and its reception (predictably tedious and tediously predictable as that has been in some quarters) at a later date. For now, this. One SERIOUS flaw with the... Continue Reading →
