Lazy Saturday Reads: Shakespearean Insult Edition
Posted: April 23, 2016 | Author: bostonboomer | Filed under: just because |
Happy Weekend!!
Today is said to be the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death. As a tribute, I’m illustrating this post with famous Shakespearean insults. Several are drawn from this 2013 Buzzfeed post: 17 Shakespearean Insults To Unleash In Everyday Life. You can take a wild guess as to whom I might like to see some of these insults directed.
NPR: Shakespeare Saw ‘360 Degrees Of Humanity,’ And That’s Why He Endures.
April 23 is a big day in England: It’s St. George’s Day, a national holiday named for the country’s patron saint, and it’s also the day William Shakespeare is said to have been born and died. This April 23 marks the 400th anniversary of his death.
According to the Royal Shakespeare Company’s artistic director, Gregory Doran, the only account of Shakespeare’s death was written 40 years after it happened, by the vicar of the church where he’s buried. “[The vicar wrote] that Shakespeare and his friends Ben Jonson and Michael Drayton had a ‘merry meeting,’ drank too much and ‘Shakespeare died of a fever there contracted,’ ” Doran says. “So it sounds like Bill and Ben and their friend Mike went out for a birthday binge and overdid it, and he shuffled off his mortal coil.”
There was also a typhoid epidemic in 1616 and Shakespeare could have died of that — but Doran prefers the drinking story. Doran’s company is marking the 400th anniversary with four history plays, which they’re performing at New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music. The plays — Richard II,Henry IV parts one and two, and Henry V— reveal much about what makes Shakespeare great: his gift for lyric poetry, bawdy comedy and depicting heroic triumphs and tragic downfalls.
Actor David Tennant (known for his appearances in the TV series Doctor Who and Broadchurch) plays the tragic King Richard II. Tennant believes that, more than 400 years ago, Shakespeare saw how history repeated itself. “I think whenever you put [his plays] on, you see political resonances,” he says. “Maybe that says more about the fact that we, as a society, never seem to learn from history, or maybe it just talks about Shakespeare’s ability to get to the kernel of human experience and to be expressing those eternal truths about how we live our lives, how we attempt to create power structures” — structures that crumble, as they do for Tennant’s character.
A few more links to check out:
CBC News: Shakespeare’s 400th: celebrating the Bard 4 centuries after his death.
The New Yorker: Encounters With Shakespeare.
The Independent: William Shakespeare 400th anniversary: The Bard’s works on screen – the hits and the misses.
The Guardian: Shakespeare’s last act: a torrent of twisted fantasies.
Yesterday, Dakinikat called my attention to some very sad news. Crime writer Michelle McNamara died in her sleep on Thursday. She was only 46, and the cause of her death is still unknown. McNamara was married to comedian and actor Patton Oswalt and had a 7-year-old daughter.
From The New York Daily News: Writer Michelle McNamara, wife of Patton Oswalt, dies at 46.
Oswalt’s publicist, Kevin McLaughlin of Main Stage Public Relations, said Friday that McNamara died in her sleep Thursday. No cause of death was given but McLaughlin said the passing “was a complete shock to her family and friends, who loved her dearly.” ….
The University of Notre Dame graduate was the founder of website True Crime Diary, which shined a light on breaking news stories and cold cases.
She once said she founded the blog due her curiosity on criminal cases.
“I’m drawn to cases that aren’t so high profile, that are maybe even a little neglected, but which have enough evidence and clues that anyone with a will and an Internet connection can try to piece together the puzzle,” she said in a 2011 interview.
“That’s exciting to me. It feels like the difference between looking forward or looking back,” she added.
For the past couple of years, McNamara had been working on a book about an unsolved serious of home invasions, rapes and murders committed over several years believed to have been the work of one perpetrator whom McNamara called “the Golden State killer.” McNamara wrote a fascinating series of articles about this cold case that are archived at Los Angeles Magazine.
During their trip to Great Britain, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama spent some time with young Prince George at Kensington Palace on Friday.
NBC News: Prince George Stays Up Past His Bedtime to Greet Obama.
The younger generation of royals, Prince William, his wife Kate and his brother Prince Harry, hosted President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle for dinner Friday at Kensington Palace in London.
The Obamas arrived at Kensington Palace in rainy weather and were greeted by William, Kate and Harry who ducked under an umbrella to kiss Michelle Obama on each cheek. Dressed relatively casually, with no ties for the men, the party posed for a photo before heading inside.
Reporters caught a glimpse of William and Kate’s eldest child, Prince George, whose birth in 2013 sparked a global media frenzy. The young prince was allowed to stay up later than usual to meet the Obamas, and spent about 15 minutes with them.
In a photograph released to the media of the group chatting in a drawing room before dinner, a rocking horse could be seen, as well as a fluffy Portuguese Water Dog toy given by the Obamas to Prince George. Bo, the White House dog, is of that breed.
Read more and see adorable photos at the link.
In not-so-adorable news, the presidential nomination races drag on even though the winners are pretty much decided. On the Democratic side, party leaders and others who care about winning in November are getting sick and tired of dealing with Bernie Sanders nasty attitude, his truly repulsive campaign manager Jeff Weaver, his campaign surrogates and his dudebro supporters. The candidates’ wife isn’t winning a lot of friends either.
A couple of days ago, Josh Marshall had a few choice words for Weaver: This Dude is Toxic.
There appears to be a cleavage at the highest level of the Sanders campaign between Jeff Weaver and Tad Devine. The latter is in the more typical mode: We’re going to keep fighting and see where things are after the run of Northeast states in the next couple weeks. But Weaver, at least based on what he said last night on MSNBC is in a pretty different place. Weaver says that if Sanders is mathematically eliminated from winning the pledged delegate race, the campaign will spend June and July lobbying Super Delegates to overrule the pledged delegates and give the nomination to Sanders.
As I’ve mentioned a few times, the Super Delegate system, at least in its current form, is unjustifiable. It’s a time time bomb sitting at the heart of the nomination process. The only saving grace is that it’s just never going to be lit. History shows that the Supers always go with the pledged winner. And if they threw the race to the non-winner, it just wouldn’t get past go. Unless there was some pretty good argument that the race for pledged delegates was in effect a tie, it would blow up the party.
This is especially the case for the Sanders campaign since democratic process, transparency andnot letting the establishment choose the candidate has been at the heart of his campaign. Turning around now and asking the dreaded Super Delegates to hand Sanders the nomination is a pretty hard argument to make.
But Weaver appears to have won the argument, because Sanders has continued his vicious attacks on Hillary Clinton in his Pennsylvania appearances. Politico talked anonymously to a number of Democratic party “insiders” to get their reactions to Sanders’ continued attacks on the front-runner.
Insiders to Bernie: Don’t take the fight to Philly. A few choice excerpts:
Only 1 in 10 Democratic insiders said Sanders should try to woo superdelegates to help him overtake Clinton on the convention floor in Philadelphia if he finishes the primary season trailing in pledged delegates, as campaign manager Jeff Weaver suggested Tuesday night in a televised interview.
“I think it would benefit the Democrats to have Bernie drop out sooner rather than later and ask his supporters to coalesce behind Hilary,” said a Wisconsin Democrat, who, like all respondents, completed the survey anonymously. “He stands no chance of winning the nomination at this point, and the Democrats can show a united front while the Republicans are so deeply fractured.”
“Bernie made his point,” added one Colorado Democrat. “It’s time to bring the party back together. The longer he waits, the more damage he does. The question is whether or not he cares. The rest of us do.”
A Nevada Democrat suggested the Sanders camp should focus on “doing what’s necessary for a Democratic victory in November,” but said Weaver “made a fool of himself by declaring on MSNBC that Bernie would take the campaign to the convention even if they were behind in delegates and popular vote.”
“The primary is over. There is no path, and there is no math,” added one Florida Democrat. “The sooner he lands the plane, the better chance he has at building a real legacy from this.”
“If any adults actually supported Bernie, they would tell him to get out next Wednesday morning,” said a New Hampshire Democrat. “But he doesn’t have any adult supporters. So he will stay in.”
I have to agree with the person from New Hampshire. Bernie is going to do as much damage to Hillary and the Democratic Party as he possibly can.
I admit I haven’t been paying a lot of attention to the Republican race, but this Politico headline stopped me in my tracks this morning: Delegates face death threats from Trump supporters.
First it was an email warning Steve House, the Colorado GOP chairman, to hide his family members and “pray you make it to Cleveland.” Then there was the angry man who called his cellphone and told him to put a gun down his throat.
“He said, ‘I’ll call back in two minutes, and if you’re still there, I’ll come over and help you,’” House recalled.
Since Donald Trump came up empty in his quest for delegates at the Republican state assembly in Colorado Springs nearly two weeks ago, his angry supporters have responded to Trump’s own claims of a “rigged” nomination process by lashing out at Republican National Committee delegates that they believe won’t support Trump at the party’s convention — including House.
The mild-mannered chairman estimates he’s gotten between 4,000 and 5,000 calls on his cellphone. Many, he says, have ended with productive conversations. He’s referred the more threatening, violent calls to police. His cellphone is still buzzing this week, as he attends the RNC quarterly meetings in Florida, and he’s not the only one.
In hotel hallways and across dinner tables, many party leaders attending this week’s meetings shared similar stories. One party chairman says a Trump supporter recently got in his face and promised “bloodshed” if Trump doesn’t win the GOP presidential nomination. An Indiana delegate who criticized Trump received a note warning against “traditional burial” that ended with, “We are watching you.”
Wow! Can this campaign get any uglier? My guess is it can.
What stories are you following today?
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I couldn’t include even half of the links I saved yesterday. I’ll post a few in comments, but this one is from today.
President Obama gets a dig in at Bernie and supporters in London. From The Hill:
Vanity Fair thinks voters are getting tired of the candidate who has the most votes.
Has Hillary Clinton Outstayed Her Welcome? by T.A. Frank.
Um, no. Go fuck yourself TA Frank, whoever the fuck you are.
She’ll outstay her welcome when …. hmmm …. when she’s elected POTUS? No, we’ll want her to stay and get shit done. How ’bout at the end of her term? Nope, we want a 2nd term. …. How ’bout when she leaves office? Nope, highest popularity rating EVAH! I predict.
Fuck yourself from me too, TA Frank, you and your progbros.
T.A. Frank
Is T.A. Frank H. A. Goodman’s nom de plume?
Tapping out the same message for TA Frank, Fuck off, can you hear us now?
Have people finally gotten tired of gold, and now prefer tin?
Are the Beatles being played too much on the radio?
Was ‘The Great Gatsby” actually a terrible novel? Do some readers prefer “The Bridges of Madison County”? If so, why; and who are these people? Is Hillary Clinton one of them?
Do art critics now believe that Monet should have painted railroad trains and not flowers?
Is 2+2=4 so last millennium?
Is it fun to make up goading rhetorical headlines so as to draw interest?
Is Vanity Fair trolling for more Republican readers?
Did Donald Trump promise them a lot of money if he were elected?
Do the magazine’s publishers have any interest at all in the state of the country, other than is included in their own sales figures?
Good questions; we demand answers.
National Enquiring minds want to know!
Apparently Prince was into weird conspiracy theories.
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/article/prince-on-chemtrails-angels-and-9-11/
Bernie Sanders says he’d have to learn more about Hillary Clinton’s platform before he’d consider campaigning for her.
Now we know he wasn’t listening to anything she said in the debates. He was too busy wagging his finger and trying to interrupt her.
I honestly think Hillary would be better off without Sanders’ campaigning for her. He would probably just hit her with a lot of backhanded digs. I wish he’d go back to Vermont and STFU.
He wants “concessions” that can be attributed directly to him. It needs to be worded exactly as it has come out of Bernie’s mouth to be acceptable. That’s part of the “legacy” he is seeking.
I saw that the other day. Does he not know what an ignoramus he sounds like? Hint for Sen Sanders: Learn to read what’s on your opponent’s website — and in her resume — before opening your mouth.
If he’d ever looked at her policies, he’d know she’s a proud, strong liberal who has a long list of accomplishments and specifics for how to get even more into reality.
I would say that based on that NY Daily News interview, Sanders should start by learning his own platform first.
What a PRICK!!!
“I honestly think Hillary would be better off without Sanders’ campaigning for her.”
I agree
Agree.
The more he goes on, the more I need a stronger deodorant. Enough of that fucking yelling, let him go open a beer brewery for the bros.
From a Politico article on Hillary’s speech on guns in Connecticut on Thursday.
I’m not sure that kind of tone-deaf remark is going to help Bernie in CT, Jane. That’s an argument right out of the NRA playbook.
….And when she wasn’t running against Barack or against Bernie, Hillary was for sensible gun laws.
Jane sounds as deluded as Bernie’s other supporters: “remarking that her husband has a more solid record on the issue than Clinton’s.”
We should politicize the issue that assault weapons for sale on the civilian market enable tragedies such as Sandy Hook.
Instead of interviews she needs to get those tax returns out of the closet. ☺
Here they are
Thanks mouse
I don’t think we’ll ever see his tax returns because after next weeks contests he’ll slowly begin to fade into the sunset of impossibility and no one will give a damn anymore. I’ll just be glad when the old guy is G-O-N-E.
This ought to become her full time occupation!
AP: Delegate math: How Tuesday could close door on Sanders bid.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/3248daa84d6f45f59749d44843419eff/delegate-math-how-tuesday-could-close-door-sanders-bid
Wow…..That math is more than challenging to Bernie, it is impossible!!!
When we look back on the Democratic primary of 2016 we’ll see that it was over after Nevada. The rest was media hype and Sanders’ camp greed, nothing more.
Yup, we’ll soon be writing “that’s the way it was”.
It may be too soon for Bernie to give up the limelight and scoring a few more points for his significant but limited range of issues. Time is running out, however, for him to do the right thing and garner respect instead of backlash.
“You are as a candle, the better burnt out.” Thanks for that gem, BB.
lol “bernt out.”
Bet there is indeed a connection between those incidents.
I’m very sure there is.
Mother cat takes care of orphaned puppy. So sweet.
Calico kittens; I die!
O. M. G. That is just tooooooooo cute!!
For anyone who didn’t see Weaver’s whacked out performance on Hardball last night, I found part of the video. Click the link to see.
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They’ve been doing this for months and FINALLY someone calls them out on it. I’ve complained about it many times and it’s not going to stop until Bernie stops. If they had any evidence of the quid pro quo we would have seen it by now. It’s a tried and true way of casting aspersions against a person’s character without any proof whatsoever. It would be like someone saying “I saw you steal food in the grocery store” and me having to go to the store and have them play store video to prove that I didn’t. If Hillary releases those speeches it is an enormous mistake. If she gives them that it will be something else within a couple of days. Maybe they’ll want to see her PAP Smear results, who the hell knows with these guys.
Eggs!Act!Lee!!
Where is the list of disclosures that applies to ALL candidates? It seems there’s an ever expanding list for Clinton, and nada for anyone else.
Where are Bernie’s tax returns???
I can’t believe he’s dodged that bullet for this long. I think he’s not releasing them because he knows he’s out of the race technically but wants to hang on for a while to feel important.
I think that’s why Weaver keeps harping on the speech transcripts so everyone forgets that we haven’t seen the tax returns yet.
Are you ready for Rosario Dawson claiming that Sanders supporters are being bullied?! And she uses Monica Lewinsky in her speech in Delaware.
Yhttp://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/rosario-dawson-monica-lewinsky-222352
Sorry. Here’s correct link.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/rosario-dawson-monica-lewinsky-222352
That’s a desperate move!!!
Here’s The Bern shrug.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-dem-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/04/rosario-dawson-monica-lewinski-sanders-222362
Whiny Bern says DNC has not been fair to him. Boo hoo
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/bernie-sanders-democratic-party-fairness-222355
I am always grateful to read about peoples and places, and life, and how we all go about living and dying, knowing that none of us are perfect or accepting. I like looking around, and seeing all the photos, and hearing stories. Often times, I am struck in ways that sometimes I can’t explain, and sometimes when I have, you’ve seen me having a melt down. My mind filters back, to these people and their homeland. I am grateful that Dak posting the story of the Yurok Tribe in Northwestern California, plagued with a high rate of suicide. It brought back some memories of my trips to that area, and the people I knew there. I know the sorrow of having known a very fine man, and his sister, when he committed suicide many years ago. I am reliving that pain, that loneliness. I had to remember their names, and see their faces. I had to remember the roads that took me there, I had to remember the trees, the Trinity River, the Klamath, with great fishing, and the time I wanted to learn how to do basket weaving. How I learned the stories of the acorn, and collecting them became a pastime for me. I don’t know you any have ever been there, but it’s a beautiful land, The roads are dangerous, high up in the mountains. The trees, oh my, they are so huge, so beautiful. The sugar pine tress with biggest pines that always sat in a basket nearby my chair. I don’t know if you have ever seen California Madrone trees, but it’s a wonderful hardwood, kind of what I call Iron wood. I tried to grow that in several locations, and was never successful. The birds, they talk and sing, and put you to sleep, while listening to the running waters over huge rocks. A place where you could take a copy of Sylva Path’s poems, and lose yourself in the sun.
It’s a primitive lifestyle, is so extremely rural, and off the grid. And I can only imagine the hardships have increased. The Yurok tribe have split off into several rancheria’s. They do border the Hupa Valley reservation. Unlike other Native Americans, they haven’t been forced off there homeland. Many have left to obtain the white man’s education programs, only to return home to the same lifestyle as before. And that’s not always good because there is violence, against women, there is alcohol, and now worst than ever, heroin and drug dealings, and GUNS. I know that members are trying to get the message out to tell someone who can help them before resorting to suicide. So many of them, like the rest of country, are learning from their environment, many do not grow up in a secure place where they consider themselves valuable. Like the rest of country, people aren’t listening and afraid to be. And of course when you have an 80% poverty rate, and with 70% of the people without telephones/electricity, what do you have to lose?
I think this suicide rate in Indian Country and all across our country is a warning to us, and about surviving. The water, the sun, the mountains, and the people are crying out. And I fine myself worrying, because I am no so sure this country is fine. But I certainly have all the faith that Hillary, as women we will keep the fire going.
I agree with this, Fannie – I lived in California for 33 years and the land there spoke to me very deeply. That the Native peoples there are suffering as they are breaks my heart – that the Big Trees, the Animals, the Ocean, the Air are suffering is almost unbearable to me.
I am not a religious woman at all, but I pray that these conditions lessen and that the humans and other beings in this area are able to live their lives in Beauty, Peace and Pleasure.
I always enjoy your comments, Fannie – thank you.
Ditto!!!
TY……….I miss California too. I remember over a year ago, Hillary said when women are strong, their families are strong too. Sometimes I wish the balance of all the Indian Casino’s where shared throughout the country in the reservations. Casino’s aren’t the answers either.
Back in my day we were part of the DQI university program at Davis. I don’t know if that was a successful program or not. We thought it was, because it used their languages, their way of life into university lives, into the main stream.
The California Madrone Tree is in decline because of the drought, as well as the Redwoods just suffering and dying. I am so happy to hear that the damns are full, and California is turning around. The fires, and the mountain slides have been horrific. So too are the many fights for the Natives, including the Klamath River Salmon fishing and hunting, and waterways all over the state are in a big battle. Mother Earth needs help.
That is heartbreaking!!!
New Today
Pennsylvania NBC/WS/MARIST Presidential Poll Clinton 55 / Sanders 40 Clinton +15
Look at the breakdown of this poll
“Clinton leads among African Americans (67 percent to 29 percent), those ages 45 and older (66 percent to 28 percent), women (62 percent to 34 percent), self-identified Democrats (60 percent to 36 percent) and those strongly supporting a candidate (59 percent to 41 percent).”
“Sanders holds the edge among those who are under 45 (60 percent to 37 percent), those who are “very liberal” (58 percent to 41 percent), independents (55 percent to 39 percent) and men (49 percent to 45 percent).”
http://m.dailykos.com/stories/2016/1/21/1472973/-New-study-reveals-worriers-and-over-thinkers-tend-to-have-high-IQs-and-are-linked-to-creative-genius?_=2016-04-23T10%3A59%3A58.892-07%3A00%3Fdetail%3Dfacebook_Pro
Links to some new psych research BB
This ties in with other work showing that “grumpy people” are far more likely to come up with new ideas and to point out problems and come up with solutions, compared to the be-happy-don’t-worry types. Even though they are not considered good team players or as “likable”. After all, if everything’s fine, there’s nothing to improve. The ones who worry about “what if?” tend to be more prepared.
Yea. All this makes me feel redeemed.